On an RP server, the majority of players will be in a constant state of RP only breaking it occasionally in /ooc (out of character), so you will have more meaningful interactions and others will understand what you're doing compared to the general public on a PvE server who may be confused or get upset replying to "RP speak" or a character that is chauvinistic etc.
You can play on whatever server you like and RP anywhere that suits you best but an RP server is a dedicated Roleplaying server and can sometimes have different rulesets to help keep the RP and not break immersion.
philo said:
In reality a RP server attracts more trolls than a standard server.
Haha… good joke philo.
Balanz said: what would I get out of a Roleplaying Server that I would not get out of simply staying in character on a normal server?
I think Kilsin answers it well.
But let me paint you a picture. Imagine servers as high schools. You head over to PvE High and during lunch you sit down at a table and start “roleplaying” with the group. Some of the group starts laughing at you. One person in the group throws chocolate pudding on you. The alpha of the group gives you a wedgie! At RP High, everyone understands you and you don’t have to be fearful to roleplay.
I answered this in a different thread. But for me, it's an agreement by players that choose that server to do their best to play as their character as often as possible. We all have different abilities to stay in character or play the role (mine is actually fairly unimpressive!). I choose RP servers because *my* expectation is that our real world issues stay out of the game and while we're in the game world we pretend to be in that world.
It's all going to depend on that players you surround yourself with. My hope is that there is a higher percentage of "role players" on an RP servers because.
With respect - Kilsin is wrong at least in terms of how these things used to work in other MMOs. Obviously VR can force whatever rules they like on their own servers.
Historically a roleplaying server is one where people are encouraged to roleplay. To pretend they are the character. Thus, someone might say "I just gave 20 platinum to my sister" rather than "My character just put 20 platinum in shared storage for an alt".
Rulesets never force people to roleplay but they make it easier and try to give more of a sense of immersion. There may be OOC channels (out of character) and IC channels (in character) and people asked to stay in character if they use the IC channels. But no one will be forced to use those channels. There may be special naming rules going beyond the usual rule of "nothing too offensive". Back many years ago when roleplaying rules were actually enforced on roleplaying servers it would be routine to have a name changed by the developers or even volunteer support if it clearly broke immersion by referring to real world things, clearly violated the applicable game lore or was simply a ridiculous name.
"the majority of players will be in a constant state of RP only breaking it occasionally in /ooc (out of character)"
In my experience as a roleplayer back in the day. Some players would spend much or even most of their time roleplaying. Many players would do some roleplaying but mostly spend their time doing what people do on normal servers - crafting, questing, killing mobs etc. Many players would almost never roleplay but prefer the server because the names were more reasonable and roleplayers were perceived as being nicer and having fewer trolls than the run of the mill hoi polloi. Maybe some server in some game had most players roleplaying most of the time but I never saw that in the games where I played on roleplaying servers.
RP servers are really just a server which draw players who are more oriented to the lore and willing to participate in in-character roleplay.
The RP servers I played on were actually a very good mix of both PVE and PVP, general/global chat was not in-character, but any localized or maybe guild chat was.
RP servers usually draw more thoughtful people in my experience.
RP servers allow sillyness and freedom. We all have adult lives full of responsibilities and deadlines. When I get to RP I get to loosen the leash and chain. My Halfling will be impulsive and flighty, silly and whimsical. I'll spend all my coin and winnings on a gamble or just give it away. I will purposely try to race MOBs and train a village of miserly Scar miners, or what have you.. no calendar no bills no clients nothing that I have to do but follow my instincts and curiosity.
During the off-line hours I am allowed to image what adventure or high jinks my little fellow will get into. I don't want extra spreadsheets or big plans to have to stress over. I can brainstorm a personality and flaws for the character and play with options. Fun
I personally think RP servers are a blast with the right people. One time I went into an RP server as a naked chick and some guy offered me like some 300 silver..which is very little. He said I deserved it lol.. another time I went as Male but... I don't know how to get into RP without knwing what to really say to people lol
My take:
RP directions: when you get to the lake, go around until you get to the row-boat with the broken oar. There are other boats beached there but only one with a broken oar. Careful of the fisher-Skar that wanders there, it can throw the spear it carries and its red to me. Then run straight out from where the front of that boat with the broken oar was pointing. Keep going until you see some boulders in the trees, we're near there. Shout when you get there and we'll come around and look for you as well.
Non-RP directions: "We're at coordinates 1000.75 , 750.36, 10.10." - Im at loc 1000 and 750 and I dont see you, what is that third number? " oh you wretched rat-faced cheese-biter. Those are map coordinates don't be an idiot" - but the world knows Loc, all good people use loc. "no they dont, they use map coordinates, you cant go wrong! die die die" - bye
RP talk: Solely using "thou" and its various conjugations does NOT always mean roleplaying. Having a backstory is not necessary, but its nice. Not everyone is an orphan, your parents can still be alive and as merchants or NPC's in town. Who knows, you may run into a long-lost sibling/cousin-make up on the fly back story/instant friends.
Like the punchline to the joke, Greek son named Euripides seperated from his brother. Tears his pants, walks into a random tailor and hands the tailor the pants. The tailor is his long lost brother but the greek son doesn't recognize him. The tailor asks, "Euripides?!" To which the greek son replies: Yeah, can you fix them? (Euripides = you-rip-a-these? you-rip-a-dese?).
Why play? sometimes you get into some moods where the game is a backdrop to a story you are working your characters through in real time and sometimes there are incredible moments.
philo said:In reality a RP server attracts more trolls than a standard server.
I've found quite the opposite, but I haven't played much MMORPGs in the last couple years, so maybe it's changed...
For me, I've never been 'an RPer', but I prefer RP servers because there tend to be less immature and unpleasant players and more players tend to try not to break the fantasy immersion too much.
Basically, don't be overtly out of character much. So, not really "stay in character all the time" as much as "don't break the immersion too often".
Don't keep making real life, pop-culture or 'other' fantasy references. No spam about your political views or trenday Twitter memes. No pretending your a robot (no, the gnomes didn't tinker a giant automaton called Optimus Prime). No calling you character Legolassss or Gandolf.
Use comms channel appropriately. If someone has the Out Of Character channel (/ooc) switched off because they are role-playing, they don't want to see spam OOC comments in the general channel.
Other channels - just use them properly. Trade in trade. Look for groups in LFG. Be helpful in help (but NO OVERT SPOILERS please! hehe).
This is all so players can actually filter comms for the playing experience they want.
Stuff like that.
RP servers just tend to be more mature and about characters enjoying the fantasy world rather than constant silliness reminding you you're playing 'a game' with 'gamers'.
Yes, there are some that are much more serious about the role-playing and spend hours 'acting out' improvised scripts embellishing their imagined character bios, etc. I respect that and let them do their thing without ruining it for them, but very rarely 'get involved' in that kind of thing. When engaged by them, I will respond 'in character' and I'll dis-engage 'in character' pretty quick hehe.
I never played on a dedicated RP server, but back in Vanilla EQ we still did a bunch of roleplaying. It wasn't like everyone always felt the need to speak in character or anything, but some people did take it farther than others.
I think that for some people, the Roleplay aspect of these kinds of games gives them a chance to put out parts of their own personality that they feel like they can't express a lot in their normal lives. People can act silly or weird and pretend like it's not really them, but it's just their character. Back then, the internet was still not as advanced as it is today and we didn't have the social media we have today. So this kind of Roleplay actually helped people make new friends and even some romantic relationships.
Sometimes you'd need to drop character and clarify when flirtation was just roleplaying. One time I was grouped with my Guild leader and his wife and one of our other Officers who was a female Wizard played by a real life girl. I was roleplaying a bit in group chat and things got flirty between myself and the Wizard. Suddenly the Guild Leaders wife sent me a private message asking me if I was just role playing or if I was really trying to flirt with the Girl who was playing the character. Apparently the girl who had been being very flirtatious in roleplay suddenly realized that maybe I was really trying to flirt with her for real. So we actually had to pause and I explained that this was all just for fun and she didn't need to worry that I was looking for a real relationship. We could then resume the Roleplaying and I toned down any flirtatious behaviour and we could just enjoy the game.
One other time we had a Female Cleric in the Guild who was very flirty to me one time when we were just duo'ing some Giants in Rathe Mountains. I was acting all Macho or something because I was a Monk so my gear made my character look buff with muscles exposed and such. After this went on for a while the real Guy who played that character told me that he was a Guy and was hoping I didn't mind that he was being so flirty we me. Turns out he was gay and he didn't want me to feel threatened or that he had hidden that from me. It helped build a friendship and he was able to be open to me about himself in a way that he wasn't in his normal life, since nobody knew about his preferences. We didn't really flirt after that, but it still made him a lot more comfortable that we could still roleplay and he didn't feel like he had to hide that part of himself when gaming with me.
We had one Ogre in our Guild who only spoke in character saying things like 'Dis is gud fighting... Me smash gud!' and stuff like that. One time one of us said something about him in Guild chat that was teasing about him being a dumb Ogre and he said 'Yeah! Me da Dummiest!' and then a pause and then he said... 'Wait one minute!... Why you little!!!' just like Homer chasing Bart on the Simpsons. We had a lot of fun. One time years later I was chatting with this Ogre guy out of character and he said in all seriousness that when he was playing his Ogre he actually felt dumber. He said that if he played before work, he would find himself thinking in Ogre-Speak and had trouble saying things properly to his co-workers.
This guy was hugely popular on our Server and everyone knew him. When his character finally got Married in game it was the most largely attended event to date on the Server. One of the Game Masters came and officiated the wedding and there were hundreds of people there. The server almost crashed and the lag was insane. It took place in Everfrost peaks on the ramp leading up to Black Burrow and every once and a while some newbie player would come by and be all like 'What the heck is going on... why is there so many people here!'. I think they actually had several Guides (Volunteer GMs) there whose soul job was to kick out any griefers who showed up trying to cause trouble with so many people there. They would summon them to other zones with warnings not to come back or face mini-bans on their accounts.
I think when the time for the actual ceremony to take place the GM had to ask people who weren't actual friends and guildies to leave the zone so that they could perform the wedding without lagging out. I really wish I had a copy of his wedding Vows written all in Ogre-Speak and acted out with sniffles and loud nose blows and such. It was a lot of fun and none of us got any exp or loot out of it. Well I guess the happy couple got some in game presents... so at least they got phat lewtz!
For a while after, our Ogre guildy would brag about it all the time in pickup groups talking people into inspecting him so that we could see his wedding ring he wore even though it had crappy stats. I'm guessing he only put it on when he was trying to get people to inspect him, but still... it was all part of the roleplay.
One of the other Monks in our Guild was a Girl who played the game with her husband. She loved to roleplay and her husband told me one time that she would constantly have guys trying to give her things and go out of their way to help her. Her husband confessed to me that when around lvl 40 or so (50 was the cap then) he seriously considered restarting his character as a Female because players were so much nicer to her than to him. I teased him that it was just because he was a Barbarian Shaman and people didn't like his gruff exterior. We used to roleplay that I was her Monk Mentor because I was actually one of the Top pullers in the game and she was having me teach her all the tricks, so we roleplay'd it out that she was like my apprentice. So when we were in PUG groups people didn't get so bothered that she was pulling instead of me even though they knew our exp would have gone faster if I had been pulling. The Roleplay meant people hardly noticed.
It's funny thinking back on it now... because back then I used to think Roleplaying was just casually and it's surprising to think about just how much we actually did roleplay. I remember the guildies who helped me pick out my Surname to fit my character and how long it took for us to work it out.
Anyway... sorry for blabbing on about it. Just my reminiscing.
GoofyWarriorGuy said:...We had one Ogre in our Guild who only spoke in character saying things like 'Dis is gud fighting... Me smash gud!' and stuff like that....
Good post, Goof, well made.
I extract the above comment because I knew an ogre in EQ that was very similar - not sure they ever spoke out of character, but they didn't say much anyway!
I did it myself too. It was actually very relaxing to 'role-play' stupid and just be a dumb warrior smashing poop and not worry about 'thinking' and explaining much!
GoofyWarriorGuy said:[...]
I think that for some people, the Roleplay aspect of these kinds of games gives them a chance to put out parts of their own personality that they feel like they can't express a lot in their normal lives. People can act silly or weird and pretend like it's not really them, but it's just their character.
[...]
Fansy...(chaotic good before it was - wayyyyy before it was thought of?)
RP servers often bring player interaction to the forefront. The simplest method of this is for characters to talk in full sentences instead of MMO short hand. This sounds minor but it is a real game changer for the feel of the world and the greatest draw to RP servers. The simple act of looking for adventurers, instead of spamming LFG/LFM, makes the game feel far more engaging. You are looking for assistance take down the gang's leader instead of "LFM (Quest link)"
RP servers shun the real world chat spam. People ranting about real world topics are often muted and shunned or sometimes banned depending on the game.
It is often funny. Someone will ask a question and instead of the simple "I debuff AC" you get "I make it easier for the pointy end of your dagger to go into the golem... Sorry I forgot who I was talking to, those angry rocks are called Golems."
RP players and servers overall often branch into two main categories. RPing adventurers where the game world limits your character is the most common. What your character does in the game defines their adventure. You talk in first person and decide how your character interacts with the world and the players. The second branch has people who wish to play pretend (I know this is insulting but I clearly fall into the previous option) These people will make up stories, take prisoners, negotiate ransoms, have all sorts of impossible backstories the game world entirely ignores... much like the quests in most modern MMOs making every single player the chosen one.
Jobeson said: The simplest method of this is for characters to talk in full sentences instead of MMO short hand.
Haha, I totally forgot about my first encounters with "leet speak" ... it was *very* looked down upon on my server back in 1999-2003ish. I had totally forgotten about it because no one seemed to care in WoW (which was the next big game I played for a long time).
I totally agree, speaking in complete sentences or even complete thoughts goes a long way on RP servers.
So on a RP Server, players are expected to tolerate Roleplaying, and avoid breaking immersion. Additionally, there may be special rules, and they may be enforced by the company. This is what I remember from the RP Server and EQ1 in general:
My main was a human Magician and devout follower of Karana. Wherever he was, when it started raining:
/shout Praise Karana! Bringer of Rain!
And of course, when the rain stopped:
/shout Praise Karana! Keeper of Rain!
There was an Alternate Ability called Pet Ventriloquism. I had a hotkey that went something like:
/pet attack
/pet say "The Verdict is Guilty! The Sentence is Death!"
The RP server had special language rules. Initially, you only spoke your racial language, but if you "heard" text in a different language, it would be mangled until you skilled up in that language. I remember trading languages.
Unless this was worked well into in game quests and lore, with the assumption that everyone usually spoke Common, I don't think that would work so well in Pantheon.
I am less clear on this memory, maybe it was a wish of mine. I seem to remember emotes as text commands. So if I typed:
:grits his teeth and glares at %t.
then the characters near me would read:
Balanz grits his teeth and glares at Haagen.
I can see how that could become very disruptive, but perhaps it could be a feature in RP servers, and not available elsewhere. That might incentivise RPers.
Jobeson said:*snip*
RP players and servers overall often branch into two main categories. RPing adventurers where the game world limits your character is the most common. What your character does in the game defines their adventure. You talk in first person and decide how your character interacts with the world and the players. The second branch has people who wish to play pretend (I know this is insulting but I clearly fall into the previous option) These people will make up stories, take prisoners, negotiate ransoms, have all sorts of impossible backstories the game world entirely ignores... much like the quests in most modern MMOs making every single player the chosen one.
Well, personally, I fall into the latter. I think dismissing it as simply pretend, or a desire to be a chosen one does lose a lot of the nuance behind why people craft narratives. People like to use an MMO setting similar to a D&D setting, creating characters with ongoing storylines that go beyond just being an adventurer. In my case, I like when a game's mechanics and playstyle facilitate roleplay on a roleplaying server, so that I can actually, mechanically play out my character the way they actually are. In other cases, people might not want to play as an adventurer in character. They might enjoy being a priest, or a tradesperson, or a hermit. What it really boils down to is: Does the game provide avenues for me to play out my character's fantasy, or not?
I might say my character has an NPC enemy, per se, but they wouldn't exactly exist in the game world for me to do be able to do this. Same with my character's backstory - crafting that narrative is part of the fun, and I enjoy going to player-led events, like weddings, or feasts, or even DMed events that are run exclusively by players. While I don't expect this of Pantheon, games which allow adventure creation can help facilitate this beyond theatre of the mind style events.
Personally, being on a roleplay server not only means more access to people willing to roleplay, but a general experience with less trolls, a more laid back atmosphere, and the ability to become fully immersed in the game world by actively roleplaying out my character as I do gameplay, in addition to the narrative-crafting I mentioned. This is why I like special rulesets, too. Censoring of names, even the expectation that people roleplay being somewhat enforced, less tolerance towards trolls, and a lack of an OOC chat are all good things about roleplay servers. As an aside, having to learn everyone's language is fun, too, ala EQ1.
Balanz said:So on a RP Server, players are expected to tolerate Roleplaying, and avoid breaking immersion. Additionally, there may be special rules, and they may be enforced by the company. This is what I remember from the RP Server and EQ1 in general:
My main was a human Magician and devout follower of Karana. Wherever he was, when it started raining:
/shout Praise Karana! Bringer of Rain!
And of course, when the rain stopped:
/shout Praise Karana! Keeper of Rain!
There was an Alternate Ability called Pet Ventriloquism. I had a hotkey that went something like:
/pet attack
/pet say "The Verdict is Guilty! The Sentence is Death!"
The RP server had special language rules. Initially, you only spoke your racial language, but if you "heard" text in a different language, it would be mangled until you skilled up in that language. I remember trading languages.
Unless this was worked well into in game quests and lore, with the assumption that everyone usually spoke Common, I don't think that would work so well in Pantheon.
I am less clear on this memory, maybe it was a wish of mine. I seem to remember emotes as text commands. So if I typed:
:grits his teeth and glares at %t.
then the characters near me would read:
Balanz grits his teeth and glares at Haagen.
I can see how that could become very disruptive, but perhaps it could be a feature in RP servers, and not available elsewhere. That might incentivise RPers.
EQ2 actually did something neat here, requiring certain languages to be learned to do certain quests. I would go beyond using it to gate out expansion content, which they used to do, but I would also have NPCs speak more than one language. And, as a quest designer on a project, you might want to pay attention to what becomes the 'lingua franca' of the server, and have a lot of NPCs know it, because, well, the dominant language would make sense to know. You can even pre-empt this by having certain languages known in power centers. Say, for instance, and area has Humans, Dark Myr, and Gnomes. The local law enforcement and military might be humans, so people in the area would be speaking whatever the human tongues are. Basically, I''d not assume that everyone only speaks one language, as far as NPCs go. I'd step a little further and have, say, font design for them, and they show up in those fonts whenever players speak them.
As far as pet ventriloquism, that was an innate ability in Anarchy Online. It worked really well, and people would do fun stuff, like get into arguments with their pets, or perform renditions of Monty Python sketches fitting the game lore. It was pretty fun, and I can imagine it would be really neat for roleplay. On that note, being able to pose and move the pet would also be useful. In FFXIV, you can order your carbuncle to stand on certain spots. They still have to act in your emote, sadly, but it would be really fun if you could also, say, make them sit down or lay. Since Druids get cute cuddly fox pets, you can imagine all of the fun RP shenanigans you can get into here.
EQ's slower paced combat worked well for roleplay, too. You had to sit and med, so, well, that would be a good excuse to get some roleplay in at your camp. If your content has no breaks, there's no natural place to get your roleplay in.
I love to RP, I find taking a break from pulling just to mess around breaks the tedium. Its also a great way to get to know the people you are with. I also pick RP servers because of the quality of players. They tend to be less high strung, more forgiving. IMO, I will always pick a RP server first and formost.
Firiona Vei (or something similar) was the Roleplay server in EQ correct? Didn't it allow only one character on the server per account? And evil and good races couldn't group together? I always regretted not starting a character on there.
What other server rules did it have? Like were all weapon and armor drops no trade or lore? Would these rulesets be something you would welcome in Pantheon?
Anyway, this was an excellent discussion thread. I might very well join my first RP server.
Nanfoodle said:I love to RP, I find taking a break from pulling just to mess around breaks the tedium. Its also a great way to get to know the people you are with. I also pick RP servers because of the quality of players. They tend to be less high strung, more forgiving. IMO, I will always pick a RP server first and formost.
Actually yes, to add to my earlier motovation to join RP servers in the past, my experience is also that there tends to be a greater weight put on immersion and less on performance and competition. Less histrionics, unless it's being role played! ;)