<Sighs about the almost complete lack of any roleplaying on Order>

[imported_Ssilmath]

I know that this probably belong in the Order boards, but General is much more visible and much more read...


I have noticed three very depressing things in my 9 months on RP servers, things that are accepted and even encouraged to be the status quo, and they should not...The only times I have ever wanted to quit playing HZ was from these problems, not from a broken game...

1: "WTB 5k bronze bars need levels PST" There are several things wrong with this, #1 being the way it is said..."I need to buy about 5 thousand bronze bars to aid my skills" is much better and makes me want to help out much more than the former...Secondly, this attitude is of the lazy who want everything now, then claim that there is no game content...bullshit, there isn't, you just don't want to do it...

Even seeing "WTB steel longsword socketed PST" gets my blood boiling...how hard is it to say "I need a steel longsword with a crystal socket in it, are there any journeyman smiths out there that can make me one?" More words, yes, but much better roleplaying and shows that you are not lazy...&lt;Shrugs&gt; Maybe I am just old fashioned or crazy, but if you are on an RP server, that is how you should talk...

2: I have found that only a small percentage of people have any depth to their character...Few people have an accent, speak to other races differently, laugh without saying "lol", have an attitude or even have a purpose...Clerics, which diety do you serve? Reavers, why did you choose your profession? Druids, when did you hear the call of nature? Mages, how old were you when you found out you could cast? Chaos warriors, why are you so ******** chaotic? Monks, what made you decide to put aside weapons and armor to learn to use your fists? Why did this Paladin decide to learn mage skills? Sure, out of character it was for multicast, to make the ultimate fighter, but why in character? Why is your name the way it is? When did you find out you were gifted? How old are you? Why do you make armor and not tools? Who are you?

I am not saying you have to write an exhaustive history, or go into RP channels and roleplay, or anything like that, but for Kass's sake, have some personality, that's the whole point of being on an RP server...

3: Powerleveling, the most controversial subject of them all...I worked for 8 months to get level 100 Paladin, level 100 Armorer, and now am working hard to develop my plot...why is it that I got a tell from someone who got bronze armor from me three days ago and now wants Cobalt Ring? This especialy makes me want to quit the game...all of my hardwork is just so much bullshit to these people what can acheive in days what I worked for months to get...And people tell me that my gameplay is not affected by this, yeah fucking right...when the Aegis finally attack, I'll have some powerleveled 100 healer at my back who doesn't know their job, and I will die because of it...that is how they affect my gameplay...shame on people who ask for free levels, and even more shame on the mother fuckers who give them out...

Feel free to agree, disagree, flame or support...these are my two cents and just my observations from Dawn and Order since March...

[imported_Ssilmath]

So, tell me Kumu, how is 'lol' and 'WTB levels' and 'Hey, did you here about the ball game' and 'i wuntz levelz, help me' roleplaying in any shape or form...I never once saw you doing any, but I guess you are the resident expert on what it means...

[Vahrokh]

Ithink he was pointing out that it's of low RP quality lol-ling, and dysleptic talk "kthxbye""wtfpwned" "m8 u w4" and surch stuff.

Prolly it's subjective but those abbreviations are commonly despised in roleplay since they just taste of childish lazyness and 133t speak.

[Tryagain]

there has to be as well the spirit of Roleplay in a game. The game as well has to support it.

I remember when I played my cleric on EQ1 Fennin ro. I played a Dwarven cleric and RP'ed the reverence to Brell the dwarves diety.

Umm and where is that in Horizons ? When I play a dwarf in horizons I sure don't feel in the spirit of it all. Wish the races had been done a bit better to make them distinctive in their weaknesses and strengths.

Then again some people just don't get the concept of a Role play server. Its what you make of it really.

Perhaps a reminder that Order is a Roleplay server would be in " order " ?

[Aquarius]

Since i do not play on Order i have not really read the role playing rule-set. But if its something that really bothers you from a toon in game.For example constanly breaking of theRP-code in thechat channels for all to see etc..do as suggested above,tell the player that he/she is on aRP server and should try to get into charactair. If this does not help, there is always the choise of reporting said player to AE/Tulga, how much this will help i do not know. Otherwhise there is always the choise of not letting it disturb your playing,it is you only that control your mind, so the choise is to get upset or not to get upset [;)]

[Aquarius]

By the way if i would have been role playing.. i guess there would have come an apiffany in the drunkenes on some tavern, my toon passed out and he had this strange dream about the mighty lords from the realm of the blight in some near or distant future, that was not for me to tell, opening the a rift between the realm of the blight and this realm... he suddenly felt that he must somehow muster strength to be able to face this horrible threat that was on its way, and the only way to muster strength was to seek out the masters of each fighting school and try to learn their secrets on how to make a better fighter.

ps. i do not have all the schools ds.

[Vindra]

... breaking of theRP-code in thechat channels for all to see etc..

Uhm.. not playing on Order either - and we Europes don't even have a RP shard - but how would the idea of a worldwide chat channel fit into a RP setting anyway? Kind of.. telepathetic inter-mind-communication??
I do RP in /vicinity or /say - but in /market I use "wtb.." nonetheless. Or should I start with "/em sends out a mindcall to all living beings on Unity: Hail thee - I want to gain access to a..." - nah, not really..

But one thing is for sure: not one of the MMORPGs on the market really deserves that name from a RPers point of view.. it's all only MMOGs that can be found.. some with a bit RPing, some with a bit more, some with none at all.. You want RPing? Go P&amp;P with your friends..

[Aquarius]

[img]/Web/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]Aquarius wrote: ... breaking of theRP-code in thechat channels for all to see etc..

Uhm.. not playing on Order either - and we Europes don't even have a RP shard - but how would the idea of a worldwide chat channel fit into a RP setting anyway? Kind of.. telepathetic inter-mind-communication??

Who says roleplaying has to be in a certain type of world, you could applay role playing to a space colony or whatever you have going on in the world of choise. Roleplaying must take into consideration the world that you are in. The world of Istaria have a communications devise that is the chat channels, just as we have phones or internet in the real world.

[imported_Denrath]

I watched this same thing come up in UO quite a bit too. The problem is that different people have different ideas of what RP should and should not be. In UO I had characters who had different personalities, histories, whatever, and some that didnt. For some, to have a story just wasnt that vital. Here, I have one character, Denrath. As such, I feel no need to give him a different personality. He has one, one that people seem to enjoy. Oddly enough, it is the same personality as I the player have. Some people would say that isnt roleplay because it isnt something different. *shrugs*
I could care less. I think I wrote up a short story once on Denrath, I just dont remember what it entailed anymore. If someone came along and asked me my history, I would only be able to tell them from when I started the game to this day...period. I am sorry if that doesnt meet what you feel RP ought to be, but as I said, different people have different ideas about what RP is.

[Phillip]

RP had more merit of existance in the early days of HZ, at least on Spirit.

when i was in Dalimond, i could see dozens of people, roleplaying merchants, trading, bartering, selling their goods.... not this market chat channel thing we use now...

yeah, a chatroom, real RP-r-us huh?

hey ,in LoTR, them elves had chat channels. yet they RP...

confused now.

sigh.

[Bori Grimbattle]

Ssilmath is unfortunately correct. Role-play on Order has dropped a significant amount in the last while. Witness the AE sponsored role-play channel. Once there were no fewer then 20 people in the channel and all would take part. Now you find no more then 2 or 3 and usually the same ones.

Marketplace is another strange one. As the most populated channel everyone gravitates there. Now for those saying a chat channel has no place in role-play do not forget this is a rp shard. In my opinion they could do away with the Market channel and create central markets. That would be more role-play but would also raise a hue and cry from everyone invloved.

However I have been dragged into role-play or initiated it in Marketplace and it is usually quite entertaining. There are those that will tell you of course to take it elsewhere but there are also many more who want that kept alive. Can't please everyone.

So as Marketplace is supposed to be in character how many have gone to a market (irl) and heard vendors yell out "PST me as I am WTB a 2HC mithril weapon?"

What is on the chat channels is NOT MEANT to be text. So remember that. It is meant to be speech.Whether on some mystical pyschic hotline or an Istarian version of closed circuit televsion.If I am going to project a request to you across a hundredmiles I am NOT goint to project text! Even the first morse code or drum signals were not text based messages.You do not phone up a local car dealer saying " I WTB a new car---PST me with the info" now do you?

[imported_Leannae]

If you took the average statement seen in the chat channels and using proper pronounciation to sound out the words, it would make absolutely no sense. We all learned back in elementary school how to sound out letters to form words, but daily phrases like "I c, ty" So taking the first lesson in life on communication we ever got, that translates to "Eye ca, tie"

But.. It's a game, right? I'm lazy so it's okay to use short hand, right? There are no devs to enforce it anyway, right?

[Pharcellus]

Sadly, the real problem is enforcement. AE sets the rules for the RP shard, but does little to nothing to enforce them. As such, players can't be expected to police themselves, and as there are no consequences for breaking the rules, they might as well not exist.

Of course, the problem runs far far deeper than lax enforcement of RP rules. The game seriously lacks any depth to foster RP. This is borne out in the way the game has turned. It is now just a system, where the only things that are important are the numbers and mechanics to obtain them.

Before anyone can really point a finger at any player for not RPing, everyone needs to point their finger at AE for failing to create a world where RP is not only encouraged and fostered, but is deep and fertile enough to support it on an ongoing basis. Until then, no amount of player-sponsored events or flowery language in a chat channel (while nowhere near each other) is going to make a difference, except to the very few whom that suffices to pass as RP.

[evilkarl]

When I first joined marketplace on dawn the WTS, WTB, LTS etc irrated me. I personally prefer to using long form when ordering equipment or selling items unless I am taking the piss eg "WTB larger spell book",

Although I'm not a rabid RP'er I have always found the chat channels to be an odd concept for an RP shard. Although I once saw it explained as a psychic link between gifted that allows them to communicate across distances or something.

There is a lack of RP on Order especially in the supposedly RP marketplace. However I know many came to an RP server simply to avoid the "l33t" type folks and power levelers...just ashame a few of them exist on order.

[LaiAhna]

Ok not only do I fully agree with you on this subject as it is. I also found it very hard to role play without the needed content to do so. The only thing that seems to be ongoing in this game is the lvling hamsters. All there is to do is kill stuff , craft and build. Bland. I was finaly bored to tears with it and as you said. No roleplayers hardly anywhere in the game.

The roleplaying channel is fine if you are happy with that as a roleplaying idea. For me it sux. Simply because real roleplying happens while doing things. Interacting with others in the things we are doing. Not in a chat channle. Or I could be in a free chat room for that. Where is the fluff and content?

[imported_Leannae]

The thing is, and it seems to be a point that is so often missed is, the channels give us who ARE crafting something to break the boredom. If I were to drag all my friends out to the platinum fields or cotton fields with me for the SOUL purpose of roleplay, I'd imagine they'd get pretty fed up, pissed off and down right bored, for the sake of open roleplay. You're more than welcome to go to a free chat room for channel Roleplay, but you won't get any character development done or anything major accomplished. A few people who have posted against roleplay in a chat channel never feel the sheer boredom of crafting alone because, frankly they don't craft.

But chat channels aren't the issue here at all, what is the issue is simply.... You logged into a roleplaying server and several.. sadly not a few but SEVERAL insist on using internet shorthand to speak in a channel. And what's really, really sad is they don't stop with a channel, many of the same people who " ? wear r sum1 who can hlp pl me" talk like that, do so in open chat. It's in the rules if I'm not mistaken, or it was posted by Amadan, Zideon and a few other devs that although AE cannot police the channels 24/7 (much as they'd like to) it's up to us as players to do the policing. What ends up happening is, fights break out.. verbal and abusive fights. [:(]

So, in the end.. most of us who do roleplay in a chat channel end up ignoring those or finally answer the question just to quiet them down.

[Phillip]

the chat channels take aweay the immersion of it all.

i don't ever have to go to 'market' in HZ. there are no merchants setting up shops.

[AA0]

I don't mind market at all, I just imagine it as a whole market place with people in it. As with all marketplaces there is chatter, and gossip, and non sales related topics.

I do get sick of the massive amounts of shortcuts taken however. I try not to use them, but have occasionally stuck in one here or there, mostly just PST, because I really don't think please send tell is any better for RP purposes.

Lately there has been large disregard for all roleplaying, and I would have sworn I was on chaos sometimes. People taking about rw events and how their friends are doing (using real names, not characters) right open in marketplace is just appualing. I heard Ssilmath groan just a few days ago at how horrible these people have become.
While Ssilmath's typing often gives me headaches trying to figure it out, I do think he makes a great effort playing his character.

Another point that was made is the new PLer syndom. These people have no respect, no manners, and don't give a ******** about anything in this game. They get their levels, disrupt gameplay, and make the whole game unenjoyable. From people asking for the best armour in the game after 2 weeks, but still don't even know what they can wear, or anything about techs to people hounding me for some of my gear I have and earned. The number of tells I've gotten about PLers wanting to pay for my crystals (none of which know how much they are worth or rare some are) is growing each day.

I'm really getting sick of it, and something needs to be done to stop the trend of these players ruining what we once had. AE is not helping the least bit on forming community or stopping PLing.

[imported_Leannae]

You've got to be kidding me... Chat channels take away from the immersion? Doesn't: typing on a keyboard, looking at a color monitor, clicking a mouse, the television blaring in the background, the telephone ringing, anything and everything that represents the outside world, take away from immersion? Expecting your hunted kills to drop you moneyshould take away from the immersion then, because I've yet to see a deer or bear during hunting season with a pocketbook full of coins, armor and weapons to drop so I have better gear without buying it off a vendor. [:P]

As for the rest of the thread, yes. Roleplay seems to be lost, and not only in chat channels. As I stated before, I've heard some of the same people from said chat channels sitting in any given racial town using the same shortcuts/shorthand and language. Right after merge, there was heavy roleplay going on, people were involved in an ongoing story that occured nightly.. Unfortunately, a few other people decided it was out of bounds and it stopped.. Sadly, we lost players because the roleplay died.

No word of a lie, we had a player back on Spiritpop into a channel on a roleplaying shard and seriously said "Come on people, stop roleplaying here, it's annoying." (cleaned up for literacy)

I don't mind mindless banter in marketplace or any other chat channel as long as it's in character. Marketplace to me, is the same as going down to the grocery store... If I see someone I know, I sure as hell am not going to ignore them and stick to my shopping only for fear the store manager will throw me out for talking about something other than produce. [;)]

Bottom line is, we're on a roleplaying shard.. If you don't want to be involved in channel roleplay, fine. But at least have the decency NOT to interrupt it with modern day shortcuts and chatter.