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Does RP'ing in MMORPG actually exist?
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shaman's tear
Eager Tradesman
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Does RP'ing in MMORPG actually exist?
   

Is there a mmorpg out there with people actually roleplaying? I've tried EQ RP server but it was very disappointing..why do people join a RP server with no intention to rp?! I would gladly pay to be part of rp-enforced game (suddenly reminded of the Seinfeld 'soup nazi' episode ).
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Post Sun Jul 28, 2002 11:01 pm
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Xanaki
Ghost of Asheron
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Joined: 07 May 2002
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It is very easy to say that "This server is a roleplaying server only" but it is very hard to enforce the rules. I've seen many join in a roleplaying server in DAoC just because there will be less d00dz, griefers and other garbage in there.

I played DAoC only on RP servers (Guinevere) and enjoyed it a lot. Most people there will not role play but there are guilds that do that. Besides, on Roleplay servers it is much easier to report things that do not fit in because they are more closely watched after all. Even it is very hard.

I do not think that a 100% roleplaying server would not even be possible. Nobody really can be in character all the time. There will be slips and off character discussion, that is just a fact. But atleast on RP servers it is not so common.

I surely hope that AC2 will have a RP server too.
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Post Sun Jul 28, 2002 11:53 pm
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Provis
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I'd say there are at least some people in every game out there that really makes an effort to roleplay, if only all those people would go to one server. Of course it's hard to define roleplaying, not many people use thee's and thou's and even fewer use them correctly , but does usage of thee and thou constatute roleplaying? I think not, to me roleplaying is simply having a set standard of rules that govern how to play a character and avoiding talking about the "real world" in game, like saying how one's FPS suck.

I for one always tried to roleplay in EQ and before that UO. Now that doesn't mean I used thee's and thou's but it did mean I always followed guidelines when playing with certain characters. Like one of my characters in EQ, a bard, HATED magical transportation and refused to teleport anywhere with anyone.
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Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 4:24 am
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Xanaki
Ghost of Asheron
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Heh, I think that 'thee' and 'thou' alone are not roleplaying. Sadly many think that. I've seen many that think this is enough, "If I say 'thee' I am really roleplaying. But no, roleplaying is living your character. When you speak you speak with the mouth of your character. When you act, you act like your character would act in situations.

There is one big problem with roleplaying. An example, some time ago when I was playing DAoC there was a guy who roleplayed a sovinist fighter who abuses women (well, not the prettiest idea I KNOW but he *WAS* really roleplaying). Well... you can pretty much imagine what happened. Some did not understand (even it was a roleplaying server) that and the guy got warnings and had to stop that, not sure if he even got himself banned.

So, in current games, if you want to roleplay a *BAD* person, it really is not possible because of the CoC (Code of Conduct) and other rules the game has. People report this kind of behaviour to the admins.

I have never roleplayed a bad person, I've been always good. I really do not think there really can be true roleplaying servers until this is possible. There should be bad persons too.

I fear it will fall down to its own impossibility.
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Last edited by Xanaki on Mon Jul 29, 2002 10:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 7:39 am
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Provis
High Emperor
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I had a similar experience while playing my wood elf bard in EQ. I didn't get in trouble with the GM's but I might have if I would have kept it up.

Being a wood elf I naturally didn't like dark elves, well early on in the game (we were about level 6ish) me and my friend wanted to go to Qeynos and a dark elf had agreed to show us the way. I kept on talking to my friend about how lower darkies are and our guide really got pissed off and told my friend to make me shut up or she'd get us killed. Needless to say I stopped roleplaying the rest of that trip.

So it's also hard to roleplay a racist. That kinda sounds weird but how many wood elves do you know that actually likes dark elves?
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Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 3:13 pm
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The Omen
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quote:
So it's also hard to roleplay a racist. That kinda sounds weird but how many wood elves do you know that actually likes dark elves?


Not many.
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Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 5:56 pm
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Ekim
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Role Playing in MMOGs currently is a joke, in my opinion. I played DAoC on Guinevere too and most of the time when I encountered someone that said they didn't want to roleplay I asked them why then did they choose THIS server out of them all?? "Because it sounded cool!" was the most often heard answer...

I never really hardcore roleplayed there myself either. But at least I avoided any and all RL discussions and always tried to keep "in character" when speaking, meaning that I talked in relation to our surrounding when commenting about wheather, for example. I never used any "thee's" and "thou's".That's not roleplaying unless you character is supposed to talk that way. But Role Playing wears many faces
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Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 7:37 pm
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Xanaki
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Yes Ekim, but it only is a joke if you LET it to be a joke. Let me explain. If you tell someone something in-character and he responds out-of-character, do you stop playing in-character because of that?

Many of the best moments in my DAoC Guinever time were situations like this. People like that (what you described) could not even understand what we were doing, they thought we were crazy. Because I had a bunch of friends who we stayed in-character. Eventually the idiots (who just joined the RP server "because it sounded just cool") left our company and left us in peace...

Moments like that make my virtual life worthwile
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Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 8:07 pm
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MoonDragon
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The best MMORPG roleplaying that I've ever witnessed was in the early days of AO. Few stubborn people "took over" one of the night clubs and proclaimed it their own RP heaven. They organized themed nights, get togethers, competitions, celebrations, etc. They put up a website and encouraged any sort of role playing. As in staying in character type role playing. People bought drinks to each other. In fact, some people even pretended to be bartenders (at significant in-game monetary loss). People would dress up and just chit chat about anything and everything game related. Some people attempted to be guards. Females went to the bathroom to change and chat about males. It trully felt like a different reality. I don't recall anybody ever asking a question like "what car do you drive" or "where are you from" or "who one the last night's b-ball game." I don't know what it is like today as by the time I left AO other clubs started popping up all over the map. There were also many wanna-bes towards my end there as well. People who didn't have a clue what it means to RP, but they heard somewhere that this is the place to be, for social events.

Overall though, it was great. No other online game that I know of ever had such a strong RP ability (I haven't played UO though). I've attempted to quantify what made it so cool many times. The best I could ever come up with, was designated places and items for loafers. The fact that there were many "social" items in the world. Things like banjos, chairs, wine bottles, empty glasses, a LOT of clothing (not armor), etc. There was nothing like walking into the room with some novel combination of clothing that nobody attempted before, that looks good. Or even showing up with a piece of clothing that is very rare to be found and therefore is quite unique on the wearer.
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Post Mon Jul 29, 2002 8:23 pm
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shaman's tear
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I understand the difficulty of maintaining a rp-strict game but I was just hoping there was one out there with a less chance of seeing some dwarf spout on about the latest Limp Bizkit or Eminem song.
I suppose my dream mmorpg would have active gm's portray npc's in character & enforce rules against abuse of ooc players.
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Post Tue Jul 30, 2002 12:33 am
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MoonDragon
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The question is, what is ooc? Some would argue, quite vehemently to say the least, that unless you're speaking in "thees" and "thous" you are not RPing properly. Some would report Ratman as a foul and non-RP name that needs to be changed, in the name of all things RP (this is actually true story).

So, who are these police to say what is RP and what is not? Will we start having lobbies that compete for certain definitions of RP with the "government?"

If so, then they better come up with RP ways of refering to shopping channels, global channels, clan chat, personal messages, lag, disconnects, bad pathing, NPCs, quests, camping, XP, levels, XP farming, item farming, spawns, spawn farming, bad clipping, game bugs, and a host of other presentation medium related concepts that one cannot do without.
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Post Tue Jul 30, 2002 1:37 am
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Ekim
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@Xanaki
Yes, you might be right. But then again the vast majority of the population was so much not-RPing-inclined that you have to admit you ended up being a visible minority if you kept up RPing in the open. I gave up at one point... I mean, I never spoke ooc (or anything RL related) and didn't permit it in the groups I formed. But I can't say that I RPed much after the second month. It wans't very worthwhile since not very many people joined me, and those that did thought it was a joke.

@Moondragon
I agree with you completely. AO might have many, many faults, but it's probably the game that gives you the most tools for role playing out there. There's tons of items that are there simply for the fun factor. I honestly never did give AO much of a chance. I enjoyed it until that faithful Friday patch... Then I quit. And I never joined anyone, I didn't even group in the 3 months I was there! I joined a guild in the last few weeks of my life there but it didn't work out very well, and I was gone very soon after. But I guess had I given it more of a chance I could have had some great RP experiences.
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Post Tue Jul 30, 2002 4:08 pm
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SuperCowMan24
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ahhhh, the good roleplaying
   

the key to MMORPG roleplaying lies in who you play with. if you wanna roleplay, try getting NWN and about 5 of your friends, that would work. hehe. but personally some people DO like to roleplay, on the NORMAL servers. all you have to do is find them. i played a Dark Elf warrior with an elaborate story, he was struggling to rid himself of his heritage as a mean evil dark elf, but wasnt doing too well. I met an enchanter, also dark elf who loved to roleplay, and a few other people as well. so we had a great time, of course we had to isolate ourselves from the general "d00dZ" public, but it was the greatest fun id had in a while. thank goodness if you are evil your friends wont report you .

i play everquest mostly, ive tried Asheron's Call, Dark age of camelot, all Ultima, ALL of them, and i like everquest the best...
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Post Fri Aug 02, 2002 8:12 pm
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Myrthos
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I haven't played a hell of a lot of MMORPG's. The only one where I ever encountered true roleplaying was in A Tale in the Desert. But then again, there is absolutely no fighting or leveling up involved in that game. So I assume it attracts a certain type of player that is more willing to roleplay.
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Post Fri Aug 02, 2002 9:00 pm
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