One essential component to a game world that caters to role players must, imo, incorporate some limits to keep the game true to its lore ... ie. a medieval setting should not include skateboards, bikinis, race cars. etc.
One essential component to a game world that caters to role players must, imo, incorporate some limits to keep the game true to its lore ... ie. a medieval setting should not include skateboards, bikinis, race cars. etc.
A good point, but even at the most basic level it becomes a hard line to tread. In LOTRO, there were players that raged about anachronisms, such as a particular feathered hat that was out of place for the setting. In Pirates of the Burning Sea, certain skills felt like they crossed the line from plausible skill to "magic", which proved a no-no for some of the roleplayers and many of those looking for realistic maritime combat.
From the items you list, I assume you are referring to ArcheAge. They did exactly what you mentioned.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
One essential component to a game world that caters to role players must, imo, incorporate some limits to keep the game true to its lore ... ie. a medieval setting should not include skateboards, bikinis, race cars. etc.
My son played Archeage, but I did not. I had no idea they put those things in the game. I do admit to often referring to Archeage as 'the game that put in everything but the kitchen sink'.
My son, is a casual role player at best, didn't like Archeage. One of our team members played it as well and didn't last long. Most of their complaints were about the bots running around. But they both also found it difficult to interact.
As a writer, I absolutely agree with you. I want a game to stay true to the lore. I don't even want to hear people talking about a football game in public or as happened to me once, I don't want to be proselytized to about real life religion from someone who wanted to save me, even in private. lol
As for adding the skateboards and bikinis, this was a decision made by a game company/designers that wanted to cater to EVERYONE, not just a core group of people. In the process, they cut off the fringes.
A good point, but even at the most basic level it becomes a hard line to tread. In LOTRO, there were players that raged about anachronisms, such as a particular feathered hat that was out of place for the setting. In Pirates of the Burning Sea, certain skills felt like they crossed the line from plausible skill to "magic", which proved a no-no for some of the roleplayers and many of those looking for realistic maritime combat.
LOTRO and to a lesser extent SWG had these issues because they were well known universes, with lots of information out there. Some people really get into the little details.
An original world can help combat this, but even then, set in any particular timeline can make it difficult. My Unity friends laugh at me because I like to stick as much as possible to realism. However, when you have an original world with different cultures, none of them have to be exactly like earth's history.
I might be an atypical responder to this topic but hopefully you'll find what I have to say useful.
I am not much of a role player myself (although I will in play and chat "in character" albeit sparsely, when playing with those who are) but I always select role playing servers as my preferred spot in games that offer it. I do this because I enjoy immersing and pretending that I'm a character in the game world.
As such I enjoy and prefer many of the same things in my MMOs as the role players do. I like consistency in lore and visuals and hate anachronistic costumes and items that detract from the immersion. I also much prefer while playing to chat about the game world itself rather than what Donald or Hilary got up to today.
Role players approach the games as I do except more so and their visible and audible role play adds local color consistent with the game world.
I don't role play myself because I find most of the conversations I overhear from those who do, stilted and rather amateurish when performed by all except those rare dramatically talented players. I'm certainly not one of those
If the game world is crafted well enough, I don't really need special props, costumes or emotes to enjoy myself but I understand why others do.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I don't role play myself because I find most of the conversations I overhear from those who do, stilted and rather amateurish when performed by all except those rare dramatically talented players. I'm certainly not one of those
If the game world is crafted well enough, I don't really need special props, costumes or emotes to enjoy myself but I understand why others do.
Immersing and pretending your character is in the world is role playing! I would say you are a role player, even if you don't always role play when you play games.
There are all sorts of different role players.
I am the type that puts my player in the environment and develops her based on her experiences in the game. She will always have a background but no one but me sees that. As I get to know others, I reveal more about her and they learn about her the way we learn about people in real life. When I make decisions, I try to make them based on my vision of her, what she would do, not what I would do.
I am not the type of roleplayer who creates a script, finds friends to join, and then improvises according to the script but never strays far. I tried this once and it was annoying. I was new to the game and the others had their stories. They kept telling me to read this or that on the forums..but it felt wrong to me. My character did not know them...why would she learn all this stuff? I wanted to get to know them, and I did...and after they gave up on PMing me every time I did something they didn't like, the settled in and let me play my way. It was okay but I was never really part of their story because their improvisation did not go that far.
Now...that is not to say I don't like stories in games. In another game I played, players could submit stories and get help from developers to run them. Outside players might stumble into a story, as I did, but the players were very good and bringing you in without you needing to know outside material. It was very important in that game to keep player information separate from character information. I found this a lot of fun and it added to the development of my character. I was able to get involved in solving mysteries and other dramatic events like a trial, all based on a story created by other players.
None of this required extra content, including props or costumes, because the stories were created and evolving based on what was already in the game.
@Iselin Thank you for your comments. You definitely are the type of player that I would like to meet in a role play game. You are respectful of others and not afraid to join in. I have met many like you and often they became really great role players, and i mean the type that like you, enjoys being in character and doesn't try to distract others who do.
Comments
From the items you list, I assume you are referring to ArcheAge. They did exactly what you mentioned.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
My son, is a casual role player at best, didn't like Archeage. One of our team members played it as well and didn't last long. Most of their complaints were about the bots running around. But they both also found it difficult to interact.
As a writer, I absolutely agree with you. I want a game to stay true to the lore. I don't even want to hear people talking about a football game in public or as happened to me once, I don't want to be proselytized to about real life religion from someone who wanted to save me, even in private. lol
As for adding the skateboards and bikinis, this was a decision made by a game company/designers that wanted to cater to EVERYONE, not just a core group of people. In the process, they cut off the fringes.
An original world can help combat this, but even then, set in any particular timeline can make it difficult. My Unity friends laugh at me because I like to stick as much as possible to realism. However, when you have an original world with different cultures, none of them have to be exactly like earth's history.
I am not much of a role player myself (although I will in play and chat "in character" albeit sparsely, when playing with those who are) but I always select role playing servers as my preferred spot in games that offer it. I do this because I enjoy immersing and pretending that I'm a character in the game world.
As such I enjoy and prefer many of the same things in my MMOs as the role players do. I like consistency in lore and visuals and hate anachronistic costumes and items that detract from the immersion. I also much prefer while playing to chat about the game world itself rather than what Donald or Hilary got up to today.
Role players approach the games as I do except more so and their visible and audible role play adds local color consistent with the game world.
I don't role play myself because I find most of the conversations I overhear from those who do, stilted and rather amateurish when performed by all except those rare dramatically talented players. I'm certainly not one of those
If the game world is crafted well enough, I don't really need special props, costumes or emotes to enjoy myself but I understand why others do.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
There are all sorts of different role players.
I am the type that puts my player in the environment and develops her based on her experiences in the game. She will always have a background but no one but me sees that. As I get to know others, I reveal more about her and they learn about her the way we learn about people in real life. When I make decisions, I try to make them based on my vision of her, what she would do, not what I would do.
I am not the type of roleplayer who creates a script, finds friends to join, and then improvises according to the script but never strays far. I tried this once and it was annoying. I was new to the game and the others had their stories. They kept telling me to read this or that on the forums..but it felt wrong to me. My character did not know them...why would she learn all this stuff? I wanted to get to know them, and I did...and after they gave up on PMing me every time I did something they didn't like, the settled in and let me play my way. It was okay but I was never really part of their story because their improvisation did not go that far.
Now...that is not to say I don't like stories in games. In another game I played, players could submit stories and get help from developers to run them. Outside players might stumble into a story, as I did, but the players were very good and bringing you in without you needing to know outside material. It was very important in that game to keep player information separate from character information. I found this a lot of fun and it added to the development of my character. I was able to get involved in solving mysteries and other dramatic events like a trial, all based on a story created by other players.
None of this required extra content, including props or costumes, because the stories were created and evolving based on what was already in the game.
@Iselin Thank you for your comments. You definitely are the type of player that I would like to meet in a role play game. You are respectful of others and not afraid to join in. I have met many like you and often they became really great role players, and i mean the type that like you, enjoys being in character and doesn't try to distract others who do.