If you RP to the point of talking in vent like your character you should most def. do one of two things. ! go get laid and 2 punch yourself in the face so we dont have to.
Role playing in the bedroom is the only time it is ok.
Non-roleplaying: You ride by and see a noob getting owned by a mob and say, "Dude, need some help?"
Roleplaying: You ride by and see a noob getting owned by a mob and say, "Sir, I daresay said beast is getting the best of thee. Desire thee another sword by thy side?"
(The latter example is kind of extreme, but that is roleplaying.)
The first example is not non-roleplaying In both cases the player stopped to render aid, and there was nothing said that was out of the context of the game. Roleplaying doesn't only mean speaking like a Renaissance fair reject.
If you RP to the point of talking in vent like your character you should most def. do one of two things. ! go get laid and 2 punch yourself in the face so we dont have to.
Role playing in the bedroom is the only time it is ok.
so you fake it too
ow and yeap am more into game play, but do like there to be a reason/story behind what Im doing in a game....and even better if got a choice and "make a diffrence" in the game...but would never be "acting" other than the usual talk crap over gameplay themes
I don't, because I played real RPGs face-to-face with real people many years ago, and MMORPGs bear no relation to actual Roleplaying. MMOs might claim to be an RPG but with their cookie-cutter classes and races they are all invariably a "rock, scissors, paper" type of game with a very fancy front end, and absolutely no game mechanics to facilitate, reward or even encourage Roleplaying. Personally, I wouldn't even waste my time.
This is why, Gameplay should always come over Story.
Developing a MMORPG game which the main feature is it's story, leads to doom or niche.
Not going the name the MMO I am referring to, but I will let you figure that out on your own.
Actually the games that have no story at all are niche games. You know, sandbox games. The mmo that have the most developed story (imo) is the most succesful. Wow does have the strongest story of all the other mmo I played.
No, the reason most Sandbox re niche, are do to the niche features they choose to use. Has nothing to do with story.
FFA
Full Loot
Bad PvE
Well I do see bad pve as a lack of story.
It was a reply to the comment of the op which stated that a mmo with a strong story element leads to doom or niche which is not true. Wow have the strongest story out there but is still far from niche. Is story it's main focus? No but it helps boosting it's numbers. Op stated it as a competition too. Gameplay or story but I don't see why not both.
I''ll certainly agree with you here, WOW's story carries it, because it certainly doesn't succeed due to its excellent gameplay.
I enjoyed role playing back in the days before voice coms, now not so much.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
This is why, Gameplay should always come over Story.
Developing a MMORPG game which the main feature is it's story, leads to doom or niche.
Not going the name the MMO I am referring to, but I will let you figure that out on your own.
Actually the games that have no story at all are niche games. You know, sandbox games. The mmo that have the most developed story (imo) is the most succesful. Wow does have the strongest story of all the other mmo I played.
No, the reason most Sandbox re niche, are do to the niche features they choose to use. Has nothing to do with story.
FFA
Full Loot
Bad PvE
Well I do see bad pve as a lack of story.
It was a reply to the comment of the op which stated that a mmo with a strong story element leads to doom or niche which is not true. Wow have the strongest story out there but is still far from niche. Is story it's main focus? No but it helps boosting it's numbers. Op stated it as a competition too. Gameplay or story but I don't see why not both.
I''ll certainly agree with you here, WOW's story carries it, because it certainly doesn't succeed due to its excellent gameplay.
I enjoyed role playing back in the days before voice coms, now not so much.
I'm somewhat in the same boat, I like RP'ing back in my UO days and it was a popular thing to do in UO. We had guilds that roleplayed Elves, Orcs, Kingdoms and etc. Your imagination was your only limitation really at the time. We caravaned things around with an army in tow when we moved things from house to house, fought off bandits trying to relieve us of our valuables, fought over land (Idocs so that we could snag the house plot), had massive battles in GvG warfare (Yes at times these were 100 vs. 100 lol), defended cities against Mob raids etc.
Though a few things really helped and promoted the whole thing. Devs and GM's actually role played toons in the game to give announcements as well as when they held live events. And by live events I don't mean just holiday events. Events we held every weekend to every other weekend in which there would be some epic event such as a city being attacked by hordes of mobs, or some battle between Lord British and Lord Blackthorne.
They began doing this again recently and even had a live gm and dev ran RP event leading up to the launch of the Stygian Abyss. The devs and GM's acted out everything for weeks taking on the roles of important and minor chars to the story.
The world and it's freedom and mechanics, The Devs and the rest of the game staff and the community made it an environment where you just wanted to RP.
No other game has delivered that and thus I've had zero desire to RP in any other MMO that i've playerd sadly.
WoW doesn't have that many roleplayers. But roleplayers are in short supply in most mmos these days. So I would not say WoW fails in that regard.
The OP's idea that a role playing game simply means one gains levels and advances is not what it means. But it doesn't matter because that's what most people think and it would be a waste of time trying to persuade them otherwise.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
WoW doesn't have that many roleplayers. But roleplayers are in short supply in most mmos these days. So I would not say WoW fails in that regard.
The OP's idea that a role playing game simply means one gains levels and advances is not what it means. But it doesn't matter because that's what most people think and it would be a waste of time trying to persuade them otherwise.
I carry a subscription to GameInformer magazine. Got it free with my Gamestop discount club membership.
There have been several instances, in my past yr of subscription, where an article will classify a RPG according to the ability to customize your character over lvls/skills.
Off the top of my head, when the discussion was about ME1 and ME2, and how BW did away with as many choices in the sequel. When you see discussion about "sandbox" in SPG....they are akin to themepark MMOs. Those games sure dont allow you to progress by only being a cook/dancer/trades. They dont give you a huge open area, and some tools to place content and say "give me 50 bucks".
You say it isnt the correct interpretation....so I suppose you set the standard? The appeal of a RPG is the build a character dynamic for most. Which is why the ones carrying on in character with a "have at thee" mentality are few and far between.
Going back to EQ1...there was a whole ONE server for RP. The folks that played PnP dont like to acknowledge that the genre is made up by the majority of folks that dont enjoy that stuff. We look to game, and not to have virtual realities where RP is the draw.
If you think the online RPG industry is aimed for the "fair maiden" crowd you are sadly mistaken. They were the minority before MMOs went mainstream. Thus the industry jargon is being utilized to reflect their market.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
WoW doesn't have that many roleplayers. But roleplayers are in short supply in most mmos these days. So I would not say WoW fails in that regard.
The OP's idea that a role playing game simply means one gains levels and advances is not what it means. But it doesn't matter because that's what most people think and it would be a waste of time trying to persuade them otherwise.
I carry a subscription to GameInformer magazine. Got it free with my Gamestop discount club membership.
There have been several instances, in my past yr of subscription, where an article will classify a RPG according to the ability to customize your character over lvls/skills.
Off the top of my head, when the discussion was about ME1 and ME2, and how BW did away with as many choices in the sequel. When you see discussion about "sandbox" in SPG....they are akin to themepark MMOs. Those games sure dont allow you to progress by only being a cook/dancer/trades. They dont give you a huge open area, and some tools to place content and say "give me 50 bucks".
You say it isnt the correct interpretation....so I suppose you set the standard? The appeal of a RPG is the build a character dynamic for most. Which is why the ones carrying on in character with a "have at thee" mentality are few and far between.
Going back to EQ1...there was a whole ONE server for RP. The folks that played PnP dont like to acknowledge that the genre is made up by the majority of folks that dont enjoy that stuff. We look to game, and not to have virtual realities where RP is the draw.
If you think the online RPG industry is aimed for the "fair maiden" crowd you are sadly mistaken. They were the minority before MMOs went mainstream. Thus the industry jargon is being utilized to reflect their market.
No I did not set the standard. But I watched the standard being set.
I was playing "RPGs" before there were any videogames. If you had ever sat around a table with friends, roleplaying your character and enjoying the roleplaying of others, then you would know that there used to be a lot more to them then mere advancement and item aquisition. Sure that was a part, but it was not the only part, as it may seem to many people nowadays.
If you want to think that an RPG is just getting the next purple, go ahead. To you that may be all it is. But for those of us who watched them evolve all the way from pen and paper to present, all I can tell you is you missed out on some of the fun.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
WoW doesn't have that many roleplayers. But roleplayers are in short supply in most mmos these days. So I would not say WoW fails in that regard.
The OP's idea that a role playing game simply means one gains levels and advances is not what it means. But it doesn't matter because that's what most people think and it would be a waste of time trying to persuade them otherwise.
I carry a subscription to GameInformer magazine. Got it free with my Gamestop discount club membership.
There have been several instances, in my past yr of subscription, where an article will classify a RPG according to the ability to customize your character over lvls/skills.
Off the top of my head, when the discussion was about ME1 and ME2, and how BW did away with as many choices in the sequel. When you see discussion about "sandbox" in SPG....they are akin to themepark MMOs. Those games sure dont allow you to progress by only being a cook/dancer/trades. They dont give you a huge open area, and some tools to place content and say "give me 50 bucks".
You say it isnt the correct interpretation....so I suppose you set the standard? The appeal of a RPG is the build a character dynamic for most. Which is why the ones carrying on in character with a "have at thee" mentality are few and far between.
Going back to EQ1...there was a whole ONE server for RP. The folks that played PnP dont like to acknowledge that the genre is made up by the majority of folks that dont enjoy that stuff. We look to game, and not to have virtual realities where RP is the draw.
If you think the online RPG industry is aimed for the "fair maiden" crowd you are sadly mistaken. They were the minority before MMOs went mainstream. Thus the industry jargon is being utilized to reflect their market.
lol... the standard for RPG was set long before video game RPG's existed. DnD being of the most popular.
But yes, mainstream has stolen the term and diluted it like they generally do. Pen and paper RPG's came first and determined what an RPG is, but it seems to be a habbit that terms get confiscated when a company tries to capitalize on the familiarity of the term even though they don't actually use it correctly then others follow suite in an attempt to do the same until eventually the term loses any meaning at all.
Short for role-playing game, it is a game genre where one or more players adopt a role and act it out.
I mean common sense would have led you to the same conclusion.
Free range gameplay IS storytelling, and really the very best kind. It is spontaneous, genuine, shared and unique.
When you and your comrades check out a map and decide to embark on a journey through the dangerous woods to travel to a remote dungeon, and the things you encounter on the way, once there, and how you deal with them IS the story, and a much better story than any canned crap devs come up with.
Free range gameplay IS storytelling, and really the very best kind. It is spontaneous, genuine, shared and unique.
When you and your comrades check out a map and decide to embark on a journey through the dangerous woods to travel to a remote dungeon, and the things you encounter on the way, once there, and how you deal with them IS the story, and a much better story than any canned crap devs come up with.
Freedom IS dynamic storytelling.
To me there isn't a whole lot of storytelling in there. Think about it, you have characters that have no personalities at all, no history, no motivations, they exist to run around and kill things. Then you have no dialog at all, I know players talk but that is dialog between players not characters. To me the story developed is about people playing a videogame, not characters in a fictional world. And the stories you get are at the Dick and Jane level, a statement of who did what, nothing deeper.
I would really like to see a game let the player develope a personality for their character that actually affects the gameplay and put everything you do in context of your character, not you.
All men think they're fascinating. In my case, it's justified
1) I make a personality for my character, including a flaw or two.
2) I try to play that person as true to the personality as I can. It's hard.
3) I do and say things they would even if no one is around. Because *I* don't exist, *they* do. lol
4) I do things that they would do, even if it is detrimental to my gameplay. This has lead to some very good and interesting role play sessions with others.
5) at the end of the day people always seem to like my characters and even non-rpers have been 'sucked in' to my world at times.
6) I have fun, but I am also told this behavior is ultra rare. I can live with that as long as I have fun.
Well I heard a interesting argument from a WoW-Hater on these boards, referring to the idea that WoW isn’t a RPG because nobody Role Plays.
I understand that, by using the word NOBODY, the person was really meaning “Not Most”. And I would agree with that. But only WoW? How many other MMORPGs out there have a community made up of mostly Role Players?
The way I look at this term, (Role Playing Game), doesn’t deal with Role Playing a character, but developing a character.
What many people on these forums misunderstand is that RPG means it is a system with progressive character advancement, not a means of people roleplaying in the game.
----------------
This is why, Gameplay should always come over Story.
Developing a MMORPG game which the main feature is it's story, leads to doom or niche.
Not going the name the MMO I am referring to, but I will let you figure that out on your own.
The majority, the vast vast majority of WoW's player base does not roleplay. There are a great many of them that don't even know what the MMORPG industry is. You find the most RPers on older MMOs, or "hardcore" ones.
Originally posted by Garvon3 The majority, the vast vast majority of WoW's player base does not roleplay. There are a great many of them that don't even know what the MMORPG industry is. You find the most RPers on older MMOs, or "hardcore" ones.
. I saw a survey once that said only 5% of all MMO players roleplay.
The majority, the vast vast majority of WoW's player base does not roleplay. There are a great many of them that don't even know what the MMORPG industry is. You find the most RPers on older MMOs, or "hardcore" ones.
.
I saw a survey once that said only 5% of all MMO players roleplay.
It's becoming less and less frequent as the years go on, and the games stop appealing to the core RPG players and virtual world socializers, and appeal more and more to the casual 11 year old play for 10 minutes in an arcade game with elves type crowd.
Old Ultima Online was rife with Roleplay, as was EverQuest
The majority, the vast vast majority of WoW's player base does not roleplay. There are a great many of them that don't even know what the MMORPG industry is. You find the most RPers on older MMOs, or "hardcore" ones.
.
I saw a survey once that said only 5% of all MMO players roleplay.
It's becoming less and less frequent as the years go on, and the games stop appealing to the core RPG players and virtual world socializers, and appeal more and more to the casual 11 year old play for 10 minutes in an arcade game with elves type crowd.
Old Ultima Online was rife with Roleplay, as was EverQuest
What Everquest 1 game were you playing?
There was ONE....repeat ONE roleplay server. Items werent tagged "no-trade" on it either(dont remember if epics were), in an attempt to bolster popularity. Brad luved the roleplay server....the majority of his customers didnt.
The stereotypes are beyond old....it isnt just kids that cant stand RP. RP is more popular among those who used to play PnP games. Age has nothing to do with it.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
It depends on what you consider roleplaying IMO. When I log into darkfall and begin interacting with other players and the world I do not talk about real life. I don't talk like I'm living in our world. At the same time I don't push myself not to do things the game allows.
I was playing AOC on an RP server. I tracked someone who was sneaking one time across a desert. I called out his name and warned him to leave or he was going to die. He sends me a tell "((how do you know my name))" apparently if your not speaking in game speak you use (()).. anyway.. I simply replied, how the fuck did you just sneak across the desert unseen.
My point is, I play my character. I don't try to make it something it is not and I do not involve any real life with it. When I log into a game, I'm playing a character. I'm playing a different role. And that, IMO, is roleplaying.
I do both, I try to be as much in character, meaning I imagine myself in the character I am playing, thinking how I would act/react in that "virtual world" as if I am actually there, but I won't get as far as trying to emulate in speech. I often will go OC when trying to help people get a grip of a game.
Kinda the reason why so many MMORPG don't appeal to me that much as I want a world to "live" in and some some massive combat game, already play plenty of multiplayer games that are just that and simply want my MMORPG experiance to be allot more then most current MMORPG's seem to offer.
Story is for me something of a back ground, just like in real life we have our history and I set my own path, I always thought MMORPG would evolve into more of our own paths, but feel that due to how the world is today not many have the imagination anymore to do so, everything needs to be told, most things I consider to become more and more handholding, cause if these games don't hold most hands then often it results in many people becoming bored due to the lack of imagination, unfortunaly these day's people don't even seem to understand what a gamers meaning is of having imagination as often noticed on these forums, as some people will asume it means you need to make believe things that arn't really there, which already shows they have no clue what is meant with using your imaginition.
The majority, the vast vast majority of WoW's player base does not roleplay. There are a great many of them that don't even know what the MMORPG industry is. You find the most RPers on older MMOs, or "hardcore" ones.
.
I saw a survey once that said only 5% of all MMO players roleplay.
It's becoming less and less frequent as the years go on, and the games stop appealing to the core RPG players and virtual world socializers, and appeal more and more to the casual 11 year old play for 10 minutes in an arcade game with elves type crowd.
Old Ultima Online was rife with Roleplay, as was EverQuest
That makes me laugh. The 1+ year i was playing EQ (since beta), I had seldom seen anyone RP. There are plenty of OOC chat, gear chat and camping drama.
Roleplaying in MMO’s relies too much on the graphics of the game. There you are in your furs with your axe, so that makes you a Barbarian Axeman right? Wrong.
What you say and do is roleplaying not how you look or what level you are. Also the chat system is awful, I can do more in one night of table top than in a month using a text box. These two problems really hold RP back in MMO’s, but there is good RP out there, you just have to get past the girls in ballgowns and the men in plate armour.
Despite what the fanboys will tell you, RPG video games have nothing to do with roleplaying your character in a sense one pretends to be a part of the gameworld but rather in the freedom of choice as to how to approach various situations and the ability to control your character's growth in terms of stats, armor, and appearance. Many of the forerunners to the modern day MMORPG were fairly condusive to roleplaying as UO has some great RP capabilities and a somewhat strong RP following if you know where to look. In its day, RPing was somewhat common in EQ, and even SWG gave the player plenty of options to feel as if he or she had a place in the game world. These days, with MMORPGs becoming nothing more than an e-peen swinging, level increase dog and pony show that they are today, most MMOs simply aren't condusive to roleplay as there's simply very little in the way of making the player feel as if he or she belongs to the world outside perhaps player housing.
These days, roleplaying is best left up to indy MMORPGs, MUDs, and my personal favorite, persistant worlds from either of the NWN games.
Comments
If you RP to the point of talking in vent like your character you should most def. do one of two things. ! go get laid and 2 punch yourself in the face so we dont have to.
Role playing in the bedroom is the only time it is ok.
The first example is not non-roleplaying In both cases the player stopped to render aid, and there was nothing said that was out of the context of the game. Roleplaying doesn't only mean speaking like a Renaissance fair reject.
so you fake it too
ow and yeap am more into game play, but do like there to be a reason/story behind what Im doing in a game....and even better if got a choice and "make a diffrence" in the game...but would never be "acting" other than the usual talk crap over gameplay themes
I don't, because I played real RPGs face-to-face with real people many years ago, and MMORPGs bear no relation to actual Roleplaying. MMOs might claim to be an RPG but with their cookie-cutter classes and races they are all invariably a "rock, scissors, paper" type of game with a very fancy front end, and absolutely no game mechanics to facilitate, reward or even encourage Roleplaying. Personally, I wouldn't even waste my time.
I''ll certainly agree with you here, WOW's story carries it, because it certainly doesn't succeed due to its excellent gameplay.
I enjoyed role playing back in the days before voice coms, now not so much.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'm somewhat in the same boat, I like RP'ing back in my UO days and it was a popular thing to do in UO. We had guilds that roleplayed Elves, Orcs, Kingdoms and etc. Your imagination was your only limitation really at the time. We caravaned things around with an army in tow when we moved things from house to house, fought off bandits trying to relieve us of our valuables, fought over land (Idocs so that we could snag the house plot), had massive battles in GvG warfare (Yes at times these were 100 vs. 100 lol), defended cities against Mob raids etc.
Though a few things really helped and promoted the whole thing. Devs and GM's actually role played toons in the game to give announcements as well as when they held live events. And by live events I don't mean just holiday events. Events we held every weekend to every other weekend in which there would be some epic event such as a city being attacked by hordes of mobs, or some battle between Lord British and Lord Blackthorne.
They began doing this again recently and even had a live gm and dev ran RP event leading up to the launch of the Stygian Abyss. The devs and GM's acted out everything for weeks taking on the roles of important and minor chars to the story.
The world and it's freedom and mechanics, The Devs and the rest of the game staff and the community made it an environment where you just wanted to RP.
No other game has delivered that and thus I've had zero desire to RP in any other MMO that i've playerd sadly.
WoW doesn't have that many roleplayers. But roleplayers are in short supply in most mmos these days. So I would not say WoW fails in that regard.
The OP's idea that a role playing game simply means one gains levels and advances is not what it means. But it doesn't matter because that's what most people think and it would be a waste of time trying to persuade them otherwise.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I carry a subscription to GameInformer magazine. Got it free with my Gamestop discount club membership.
There have been several instances, in my past yr of subscription, where an article will classify a RPG according to the ability to customize your character over lvls/skills.
Off the top of my head, when the discussion was about ME1 and ME2, and how BW did away with as many choices in the sequel. When you see discussion about "sandbox" in SPG....they are akin to themepark MMOs. Those games sure dont allow you to progress by only being a cook/dancer/trades. They dont give you a huge open area, and some tools to place content and say "give me 50 bucks".
You say it isnt the correct interpretation....so I suppose you set the standard? The appeal of a RPG is the build a character dynamic for most. Which is why the ones carrying on in character with a "have at thee" mentality are few and far between.
Going back to EQ1...there was a whole ONE server for RP. The folks that played PnP dont like to acknowledge that the genre is made up by the majority of folks that dont enjoy that stuff. We look to game, and not to have virtual realities where RP is the draw.
If you think the online RPG industry is aimed for the "fair maiden" crowd you are sadly mistaken. They were the minority before MMOs went mainstream. Thus the industry jargon is being utilized to reflect their market.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
No I did not set the standard. But I watched the standard being set.
I was playing "RPGs" before there were any videogames. If you had ever sat around a table with friends, roleplaying your character and enjoying the roleplaying of others, then you would know that there used to be a lot more to them then mere advancement and item aquisition. Sure that was a part, but it was not the only part, as it may seem to many people nowadays.
If you want to think that an RPG is just getting the next purple, go ahead. To you that may be all it is. But for those of us who watched them evolve all the way from pen and paper to present, all I can tell you is you missed out on some of the fun.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
lol... the standard for RPG was set long before video game RPG's existed. DnD being of the most popular.
But yes, mainstream has stolen the term and diluted it like they generally do. Pen and paper RPG's came first and determined what an RPG is, but it seems to be a habbit that terms get confiscated when a company tries to capitalize on the familiarity of the term even though they don't actually use it correctly then others follow suite in an attempt to do the same until eventually the term loses any meaning at all.
Short for role-playing game, it is a game genre where one or more players adopt a role and act it out.
I mean common sense would have led you to the same conclusion.
R- Role
P- Playing
G- Game
Notice that
R- Stats
P- Level
G-gear
Just doesn't fit lol.
The development of a character these days is more like itemization.
If you're trying to improve anything with a number, then you aren't roleplaying.
Free range gameplay IS storytelling, and really the very best kind. It is spontaneous, genuine, shared and unique.
When you and your comrades check out a map and decide to embark on a journey through the dangerous woods to travel to a remote dungeon, and the things you encounter on the way, once there, and how you deal with them IS the story, and a much better story than any canned crap devs come up with.
Freedom IS dynamic storytelling.
I can't vote on that, story and gameplay are both very important to me. Why is there just 2 alternatives?
I do roleplay but not all the time (and I don't play Wow). It can be both fun and boring depending on the company and activety.
To me there isn't a whole lot of storytelling in there. Think about it, you have characters that have no personalities at all, no history, no motivations, they exist to run around and kill things. Then you have no dialog at all, I know players talk but that is dialog between players not characters. To me the story developed is about people playing a videogame, not characters in a fictional world. And the stories you get are at the Dick and Jane level, a statement of who did what, nothing deeper.
I would really like to see a game let the player develope a personality for their character that actually affects the gameplay and put everything you do in context of your character, not you.
All men think they're fascinating. In my case, it's justified
I role play in almost every game I play.
1) I make a personality for my character, including a flaw or two.
2) I try to play that person as true to the personality as I can. It's hard.
3) I do and say things they would even if no one is around. Because *I* don't exist, *they* do. lol
4) I do things that they would do, even if it is detrimental to my gameplay. This has lead to some very good and interesting role play sessions with others.
5) at the end of the day people always seem to like my characters and even non-rpers have been 'sucked in' to my world at times.
6) I have fun, but I am also told this behavior is ultra rare. I can live with that as long as I have fun.
The majority, the vast vast majority of WoW's player base does not roleplay. There are a great many of them that don't even know what the MMORPG industry is. You find the most RPers on older MMOs, or "hardcore" ones.
I saw a survey once that said only 5% of all MMO players roleplay.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
It's becoming less and less frequent as the years go on, and the games stop appealing to the core RPG players and virtual world socializers, and appeal more and more to the casual 11 year old play for 10 minutes in an arcade game with elves type crowd.
Old Ultima Online was rife with Roleplay, as was EverQuest
What Everquest 1 game were you playing?
There was ONE....repeat ONE roleplay server. Items werent tagged "no-trade" on it either(dont remember if epics were), in an attempt to bolster popularity. Brad luved the roleplay server....the majority of his customers didnt.
The stereotypes are beyond old....it isnt just kids that cant stand RP. RP is more popular among those who used to play PnP games. Age has nothing to do with it.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
It depends on what you consider roleplaying IMO. When I log into darkfall and begin interacting with other players and the world I do not talk about real life. I don't talk like I'm living in our world. At the same time I don't push myself not to do things the game allows.
I was playing AOC on an RP server. I tracked someone who was sneaking one time across a desert. I called out his name and warned him to leave or he was going to die. He sends me a tell "((how do you know my name))" apparently if your not speaking in game speak you use (()).. anyway.. I simply replied, how the fuck did you just sneak across the desert unseen.
My point is, I play my character. I don't try to make it something it is not and I do not involve any real life with it. When I log into a game, I'm playing a character. I'm playing a different role. And that, IMO, is roleplaying.
I do both, I try to be as much in character, meaning I imagine myself in the character I am playing, thinking how I would act/react in that "virtual world" as if I am actually there, but I won't get as far as trying to emulate in speech. I often will go OC when trying to help people get a grip of a game.
Kinda the reason why so many MMORPG don't appeal to me that much as I want a world to "live" in and some some massive combat game, already play plenty of multiplayer games that are just that and simply want my MMORPG experiance to be allot more then most current MMORPG's seem to offer.
Story is for me something of a back ground, just like in real life we have our history and I set my own path, I always thought MMORPG would evolve into more of our own paths, but feel that due to how the world is today not many have the imagination anymore to do so, everything needs to be told, most things I consider to become more and more handholding, cause if these games don't hold most hands then often it results in many people becoming bored due to the lack of imagination, unfortunaly these day's people don't even seem to understand what a gamers meaning is of having imagination as often noticed on these forums, as some people will asume it means you need to make believe things that arn't really there, which already shows they have no clue what is meant with using your imaginition.
That makes me laugh. The 1+ year i was playing EQ (since beta), I had seldom seen anyone RP. There are plenty of OOC chat, gear chat and camping drama.
RP ... very rare.
Roleplaying in MMO’s relies too much on the graphics of the game. There you are in your furs with your axe, so that makes you a Barbarian Axeman right? Wrong.
What you say and do is roleplaying not how you look or what level you are. Also the chat system is awful, I can do more in one night of table top than in a month using a text box. These two problems really hold RP back in MMO’s, but there is good RP out there, you just have to get past the girls in ballgowns and the men in plate armour.
Despite what the fanboys will tell you, RPG video games have nothing to do with roleplaying your character in a sense one pretends to be a part of the gameworld but rather in the freedom of choice as to how to approach various situations and the ability to control your character's growth in terms of stats, armor, and appearance. Many of the forerunners to the modern day MMORPG were fairly condusive to roleplaying as UO has some great RP capabilities and a somewhat strong RP following if you know where to look. In its day, RPing was somewhat common in EQ, and even SWG gave the player plenty of options to feel as if he or she had a place in the game world. These days, with MMORPGs becoming nothing more than an e-peen swinging, level increase dog and pony show that they are today, most MMOs simply aren't condusive to roleplay as there's simply very little in the way of making the player feel as if he or she belongs to the world outside perhaps player housing.
These days, roleplaying is best left up to indy MMORPGs, MUDs, and my personal favorite, persistant worlds from either of the NWN games.