LETS TALK ROLEPLAY!
DISCLAIMER ~ I am just a normal, run of the mill woman who loves to play MMOS and RP. I have zero knowledge of how a game gets made. I am however aware of the years and migraines that go into making one. What you will read here will not have big dev words or abbreviated gaming terms that cause my mind to question why. Instead, you`ll find opinions, hopes and dreams that I believe is shared throughout the rp community. PLEASE keep that in mind as you read on.
Hello again Pantheon peeps!
Though I am new to RP, I have been playing MMOS for well into 10 years. I have come to love the creative energies rp produces. There is no better place to get those creative juices flowing than a brand new world that allows for imagination, uniqueness and a tickle trunk full of options.
In my world (from a RP perspective) there are certain things that need to be in place for my rp to take place at all.
CHARACTER CREATOR
There has been some incredible leaps and bounds concerning one’s ability to build a truly unique character. There is one in particular that I`m sure most of you are aware of and that is BDO`s CC. I will not go into great detail as most who are here have seen it in game or have watched the many you tube videos showing exactly what a wide array of options it housed.
My only complaint with it was that the base faces you choose to build from were really not that different. But again, considering what came before, this is a small issue. I am hoping that the CC for Pantheon will be just as good.
REALISTIC LOOKING CHARACTERS
This is not to say that I need to be able to count the pores in the face of my beautiful Elf maiden, it means realism helps you become more involved/immersed in your character. There are many out there who are more than happy to run around the world with cartoon looking characters that are bright and colorful and malformed. This is great for those who like that or simply don`t care, but having my toon look as realistic as possible with well-proportioned extremities is a must. Please no massive hands and feet! That brings us to the breast and butt sliders.
In reality there are many different types of woman of all shapes and sizes and colors. (The reason I am using women as my example is simply because I am one and that is honestly what I see running about most.) The female sex however is different for each race. African American women have larger more rounded bottoms and thighs (which a lot of women strive for) Asian women for the most part, are of a smaller build all the way around. Caucasian women, other than their skin color, do not really have any major discerning physical traits that separate them from the rest. There are of course exceptions to every rule.
But... all women have breasts! Small, med, large and "good lord you poor soul!" The difference being, although again there are exceptions, most are proportionate to the body type. Larger women have larger breasts period. There is really nothing wrong with giving your toon some ample assets but let’s keep it real. Perhaps there could be a slider associated with height and weight (if those will exist) that would give you a range of least to greatest depending on the height and weight you choose.
In all the movies I have watched concerning Elves, there was never an image of said race that housed the moutainess mamories I see running about the worlds like those puppies don`t weigh a thing! The same should (in my opinion) be applied to the butt slider. I am uncertain as to if this would be a huge undertaking for the devs, but I wanted to put it out there.
ARMOR, CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES
This is a big one and may require a break to arm yourself with a fresh cup of coffee, hell make it a pot!
Let’s repeat after me the wonderful word. GRIPE. Also known as, whine, mutter, carp, rail, bellyache. I`m sure you get my point. :P
NOW there is a thread concerning armor appearance and weapons located here: Appearance-Gear-and-Weapons but I wanted to take a stroll into this topic concerning roleplayers.
Armor, clothing and accessories are a HUGE tool used in roleplay. It helps us to better immerse ourselves into the atmosphere we are in the midst of creating or one that has been created. Having the ability to have a rp wardrobe is soooo helpful for the rp environment. How would you implement this you ask? Well hold your horses, I`m getting to it!
I have read and am seriously getting the feeling that most do not want the option to have a "glamor, skin" system installed in Pantheon simply because in some opinions, it breaks the immersion to see someone running about in a french maid uniform (ick) or worse still a bright pink bikini (ick ick ick!). Allot of roleplayers (if not most) prefer this type of "skinning" to be axed before it makes it game side. This absolutely breaks immersion!
HOWEVER... Giving your roleplayers clothing they can dye is a wonderful way to show you care and understand that roleplay is not an easy thing to do without proper visuals! "So, again Avi, what do you have in mind?" Well, why not just give them the ability to craft, purchase from player vendors or receive from drops the clothing that is already walking about the streets?
"It will be boring having players wear npc clothes." NER ER, no it won’t! because you have also given them the ability to dye each individual piece. These pieces have no stats, no special anything. They are just clothes to keep your nakey body covered while you’re out and about in the cities and towns. In this you also give them the ability to mix and match the said pieces.
Maybe "Jon Snow" (I couldn’t help it) has a delicious pair of leather knee boots that would look amazing with the fitted brown leather vest you purchased off (what did they call a female of scandalous birth? ..Let’s call her Judith) "Judith Snow" and those would look great with the beige skirt/pants that you crafted earlier in the day. You`ll be the sharpest looking patron at the "Thirsty Maiden Tavern" (shameful plug) tomorrow night!
If the clothes are already available than there is little extra work for the amazing artists who deal with that. That does not mean we would put up a stink if you wanted to create more for us. WINK! WINK!
The dyes would be nothing crazy, just earth tones and colors that would be seen in the world on a normal basis. But you could have rare colors that perhaps would be seen on the more upscale members of society. Perhaps you could have them available through crafting, player vendors and through drops. There really is no need to skin anything. If you give the player the ability to dye different aspects of the piece of clothing (accents, threading, piping, ruffles. etc) than you end up with tons of diverse looking pieces that will keep your rp community happy for months and months and months!
If you’re going to have a cash shop, there is no reason why you could not sell "patterns" for new pieces..this way your players still have to hunt through the world to get the mats to make it. Wanna keep it fair? Patterns purchased off the cash shop can only be used and crafted by the purchaser. This keeps potential problems at bay and also adds a source of revenue for the game. I can promise you, roleplayers would purchase this and anything apparel based from the cash shop. Cosmetics are not game breakers if they are created with forethought to the environment in which we live.
The same could be said for accessories. Hats, Belts, scarfs, jewelry even leather satchels. I do not know if you will be making jewelry have an appearance when equipped, but if you are than it need not follow the basis of anything written above. As it would be on or off regardless as the player likes. I`m not big on hats/ helmets except that the option to hide them be available.
BELTS. This is a pet peeve of mine. If the belts are to be shown than please take the time to make sure they fit the toons. I am thinking that perhaps this must be a difficult thing to have fit properly around the waists of so many different styles of body as the huge thick FLOATING eyesore seems to happen a lot where they are shown on the body. If this IS a massive undertaking, then please also give us the option to turn this off.
In the end you would not be able to skin ARMOR or WEAPONS. Armor and clothing would be two different aspects. This way you keep the two separate and everyone happy.
HOUSING
There is nothing more fun and satisfying to a roleplayer than being able to build and decorate your own personal space. This also gives non roleplayers an option to create a store for their wares. I heard Brad McQuaid say in an interview hosted by youtuber boogie2988 (found here Interview )that he wanted a player driven economy and also that players would find a space where they could sell their wares in any given area. This is fantastic news. With the idea of housing, players could sell their wares from their homes/stores. This makes for awesome rp and normal gameplay.
Perhaps.. if this idea were available, players could craft their own furniture and special things like " furniture patterns" (bolts of cloth, a shelf with food items/potion items, carved wooden mannequins that displayed clothing armor, weapon stands or wall mounted weapon displays, these last two could come with armor or weapon already on it. etc ) these special "patterns" could be purchased from the cash shop, player vendor or picked up from a drop.
It would be wonderful, though perhaps petty, to ask that furniture be scaled so that it fits the player. Obviously an ogre is not going to sleep comfortably on the bed of a halfling. A fix perhaps would be to label the "patterns" ogre bed, halfling bed and so on. Again i realize perhaps this is petty but if we don`t ask it may not cross the minds of our gracious creators!
There is also a need to have the ability to ban/boot people from player homes. That the only people who can come in are on your friends list and once they are deleted they can no longer access you home. The option to lock your home is also awesome.
Concerning decor items: (Food items, dishes etc... static components that are already in the game being used to decorate npc homes and buildings) Can we have these available to craft as well. I`m not asking that new 3d models be made.. just that we can use what is already available inside the world.
CREATING PORTRAITS
In AA one of the things I found completely awesome was the ability to create our own portraits for the walls of our home. From the cash shop you could purchase an item called "crest brainstorm" and it allowed you to put your own images into the game and attach them to your ship sails, cloaks, and wall decor for your home. To use this, you had to find a crest printer in-game (found in every town center) and make sure your image was of a certain size. You put the resized image and renamed it .ucc in your UCC file located in your game folder than payed the price and clicked create.
The downside to this was that some people found it a grand idea to make a mural of Brittany Spears and paste the side of their house with it (not that I have anything against Brittany). But that was not the rule, most people used them as they were meant to be used. A possible solution for this could be perhaps by controlling where the images came from, say only screenshots that came from a certain folder in game files could be used.
FARMING
I am not certain as to what plans are in store for farming but I do hope there are some. I would love to have a space where my house is to plant crops, medicinal plants, food stuffs, or just be able to plant trees and flowers around my home. How you would do this? Well there are several ways this has been incorporated in prior games but It all depends on how housing works and whether or not it is instanced or static. AA was static, BDO was instanced.
There is tons more I could say on all these subjects and I am hoping this thread will be a place where we can discuss these elements and more.
Please bring on your thoughts!
Aviana Summerwood
P.s...... I realized I capped the post subject and I did try to fix it but it seems I can not. Please Admin fix this if you would. :)
Good ideas! If these cannot be implemented game-wide, place some or all of them on an RP server.
I'd like to add:
1) height slider (within reason) for each race. That way all eleven males are not the same height.
2) girth slider (again within reason) for those who like Friar Tucks.
3) A moveable camera. I like taking screenshots of characters including close ups. In several games it was possible if one could position the character in such a way that the camera collided with an object and be pushed in closer to the character's face. It would be nice to not have to go through those gymnastics.
4) make many of the clothes, jewelry, furniture, dyes, etc. craftable and not soul or account bound. I'd like to craft and sell interesting items.
5) town clothes please. If the character is crafting dyes or potions, then he/she could swap into a smock.
Sparks said:1) height slider (within reason) for each race. That way all eleven males are not the same height.
2) girth slider (again within reason) for those who like Friar Tucks.
4) make many of the clothes, jewelry, furniture, dyes, etc. craftable and not soul or account bound.
Definitely need girth and height sliders. Ill go even further and say I hope that most (75-95%) of gear and crafts or whatever be tradable.
For roleplaying there is a lot that can be done inexpensively. And I think about the price tag a lot for this. But there are also things which are expensive I really want to talk about.
Character animations are going to cost a lot of money, but sometimes character animations for ‘emotes’ can be very awesome. I recall in everquest you could use the animation for pointing but hand-type the emote which goes with the animation. So instead of: [Jorgon points at Jadek] (the animation of pointing happens) you could write [Jorgon sneers and points at Jadek] (the animation of pointing happens). If Animations do come into the game, having some code which lets us access the animation for use in our own way would be very awesome.
The usual /emote [type what you wish], is a very good tool as well for roleplaying.
Now when it comes down to character design … that’s where I have a specific request.
*deep breath*
This is hard to write about.
I am of the LGBT community (Or LGBTQ). That is, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender(, Queer) community. We don’t exactly conform to the usual stereotypical view of what X should look like. Before I go on I’m going to drop some terminology to help out
an·drog·y·nous
adjective
1) Partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.
2) Having the physical characteristics of both sexes
Gender fluidity is important for those who are LGBT looking to make a character that truly represents them. Androgyny is what I am focusing on here. Anyone who wants to pick male or female can do that, and conform to what it is they wish. But those who are in the middle like LGBT community, we need there to be less rigidity with character design.
It can be as simple as allowing there to be an option for female characters to have NO breasts at all. And allowing both sexes to choose any hairstyle there is or nearly all. Which means women who can have short buzzed hair or no hair at all (bald), and men who have the flowing final fantasy hair which could easily go on any woman.
I’d also like to add that there be an option for make-up. Meaning the option is open to anyone to have it on or off. If earrings and hair-pins are cosmetics you get when you make your character, allow them for both genders.
If the option for facial sculpting is available it can make this a lot easier. Your face is a giant part of ‘who you are’, allowing a degree of sculpting would bring me a lot of joy. There are fair faces in every race just as well as there are terrifying or horridly ugly ones, let players get in there and make what they wish.
There ... I did the thing.
-Todd
tehtawd said:For roleplaying there is a lot that can be done inexpensively. And I think about the price tag a lot for this. But there are also things which are expensive I really want to talk about.
Character animations are going to cost a lot of money, but sometimes character animations for ‘emotes’ can be very awesome. I recall in everquest you could use the animation for pointing but hand-type the emote which goes with the animation. So instead of: [Jorgon points at Jadek] (the animation of pointing happens) you could write [Jorgon sneers and points at Jadek] (the animation of pointing happens). If Animations do come into the game, having some code which lets us access the animation for use in our own way would be very awesome.
The usual /emote [type what you wish], is a very good tool as well for roleplaying.
Now when it comes down to character design … that’s where I have a specific request.
*deep breath*
This is hard to write about.
I am of the LGBT community (Or LGBTQ). That is, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender(, Queer) community. We don’t exactly conform to the usual stereotypical view of what X should look like. Before I go on I’m going to drop some terminology to help out
an·drog·y·nous
adjective
1) Partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.
2) Having the physical characteristics of both sexes
Gender fluidity is important for those who are LGBT looking to make a character that truly represents them. Androgyny is what I am focusing on here. Anyone who wants to pick male or female can do that, and conform to what it is they wish. But those who are in the middle like LGBT community, we need there to be less rigidity with character design.
It can be as simple as allowing there to be an option for female characters to have NO breasts at all. And allowing both sexes to choose any hairstyle there is. Which means women who can have short buzzed hair or no hair at all (bald), and men who have the flowing final fantasy hair which could easily go on any woman.
I’d also like to add that there be an option for make-up. Meaning the option is open to anyone to have it on or off. If earrings and hair-pins are cosmetics you get when you make your character, allow them for both genders.
If the option for facial sculpting is available it can make this a lot easier. Your face is a giant part of ‘who you are’, allowing a degree of sculpting would bring me a lot of joy. There are fair faces in every race just as well as there are terrifying or horridly ugly.
There ... I did the thing.
-Todd
I am all for equality as you know but in regards to character creation and roleplaying, while I think it is a great point to bring up, we are just not quite at that point in development yet, so it is definitely something we can keep in mind as we progress, but know that you are among an awesome community who I know will support everyone, no matter their opinions or preferences in life. :)
When it comes to RP'ers, it is actually astonishing how cheap it is to be able to cater for them in modern game engines. There is a VAST amount that can be done, just by utilising the concepts of 'templates'.
If every item in the game has
a 'template', 'texture' (or more than one), 'Dye/colour' and 'scale'
then it is possible to ensure the crafting process generates 'finished products' using a class that re-uses these.
Thus, the crafted Bed might be :-
Mahogany, not birch (texture=Wood_mahagany_1), be for Halflings (scale=0.5) with red sheets (Dye=Dye_Colour_red_FF0000) OR
Metal framed (texture=Metal_iron_2), be for ogres (scale=2.5) with dirty white sheets (Dye=Dye_Colour_white_D3D3D3) ETC
I am firmly of the opinion that armour/weapon styles need only be linked to stats vis their category... Eg PLate can 'hold' a higher +AC bonus than Leather or Wood can. Beyond that, I would prefer the ability to mix-and-match items and equipment ... then dye them ... then have crafters break them down to 'learn' templates wheich they then try to use to create new stats on a given 'template'.
For :
(a) Player housing (instanced)
(b) User-defined textures
I have a 'meta' issue, in that (as you allude) these can have consequences beyond those intended. Player housing can fragment the population and imported textures can be used to show ugly/jarring images etc.
PS: @tehtawd
Many MMOs offer shorter haircuts for females etc. It is my hope that the game will have a fair few options for faces/hair/body combinations for ALL my characters (Main tends to be male Mage, but i also tend to have a stuck-up sidekick female chanter alt to put the boot in when needed). I alos fail to see why any breast slider should not go all the way down to 'zero' (rather than A or B), or that the faces should include at least one 'tough', 'ferocious' or even just 'ugly' female plus at least one 'androgynous' male face (though too many eastern-imported MMOs seem to be 99% 'pretty boys' or 1% 'really old fart'! Where is the 'slightly ruggedly handsome' face?).
PPS; With emotes - it occurs to me EQ1 could use 'emote' to create 'Amsai glares witheringly at you and your anti-gnome jokes' without having to have specific visuals etc. This was done by ensuring the command produced text in the chat that was designated as 'emotive' and was displayed as such.
I'm gonna be the bad guy and disagree with a lot of what's being said here.
I don't think that housing is absolutely necessary for roleplay. While it may be nice, it's not a deal breaker if it's not there and I personally don't see an absolute need for it. Is it nice? Sure. But when we roleplay, we're already playing make believe, so I see no reason why we can't just go out and find a location in the world and call that a house for our character. I know in games that I've played in the past, even when housing was available, my character often didn't have her own house. Sometimes she stayed at an inn, sometimes I "took over" a cool-looking house in one of the cities. Housing is nice, but I honestly don't think it's needed. It's at a mid range of my personal desire list for an MMO.
I don't think that having farming is necessary for roleplay. If you want to roleplay that you're a farmer, find a cabbage patch and crouch in it. We're already playing make believe, so make believe that it's your cabbage patch, and that you're really farming. Even in ArcheAge, when I had an expansive garden and could place a farm wherever I wanted, I didn't sit there and continuously plant and harvest as I was roleplaying with someone. I would just mention it in my writing. Temariah pats down the fine soil around the delicate sprout she just planted, giving it a tender stroke against its vibrant leaf, then turns to Toxa. "Oh thank you, that would be lovely." I didn't actually plant a thing in that roleplay. It would be really annoying to keep interrupting my writing with mechanics.
If you like farming, then like farming, but I honestly don't think it's anywhere remotely near necessary for roleplay. It's an easy thing to call yourself a farmer even without a farming mechanic in the game.
I don't think that being able to make portraits is necessary for roleplay. Once again, it's a nice touch, but really not necessary. As long as there are lots of stock options for different designs for different furniture (assuming there's housing that allows this type of thing), I'm happy. I'm more than satisfied to use my imagination when I'm writing. After all, the game is never going to be exact for roleplay. We are always going to have to pretend in some senses.
I don't want a character creator as complex and superfluous as BDO. That customizer was just way too much, and as the OP even mentioned, the vast majority of good-looking characters really ended up looking similar. As long as there are the contemporary customization staples of hair color, hair style, eye color, a few different facial feature options (nose, lips, eyes, ears, jaw, etc) height and weight sliders, I'm happy. No character customization is ever going to look exactly like the character I envision in my head, so close enough is good enough.
Now some things that I do believe are necessary, and the communities I've been a part of generally agree are things such as realistic characters (as opposed to biological anomolies), LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of clothing and armor options (like LOTS!!), and at least a good array of basic emotes, along with the generic emote such as /em or /me to indicate that you are performing action instead of speaking.
These are just my thoughts and opinions, and though I disagree with several points the OP made, I'm not intending to discredit. Only giving voice to the things that I personally feel are truly and absolutely necessary. There are a lot of things I would like to see, but those things are luxuries. They aren't necessary.
Interesting: The OP title is about role-play, but the post is mostly about character look and feel, not much about the actual 'role playing' some players do. Good stuff, though and I approve, since I'm not a hard-core RPer, but I really appreciate my characters looking and feeling the part. It's big for my immersion - I like to look the part and have people stay in character (or at least not be jarringly and obviously 'real' and/or 'modern') but that's as for as my role-playing goes.
Also, I have to say, nice one Todd :) I appreciate people who are open with their differences without being in-your-face about it.
I'm not a 'member' of the LGBT(Q) community, but I always like to see some androgeny in character creation. I favour the tough, atheletic females rather than the soft, sensuous males, but it's all good.
I've no idea what it says about my sexuality hehe but I always prefer my characters to be women that are somewhat blokish. I'm not a feminist, particularly, but I guess I just don't appreciate the hulking, oiled-up Conan types as much. I call it the Lara Croft syndrome. She isn't a bad archtype for the kind I like - yeah she's busty and sexy, but badass, not bimbo. I'd even go as far as liking the Arya Stark character, though I prefer them a little more 'heroic'. Ellen Ripley is another good example from another genre.
So, yeah, options are good, but Black Desert Online? Argh that was infuriating. You'd have to be a graphic artist and have studied anatomy to know what to do with that interface, even if you had a really good idea of what you wanted in mind, which most people don't, that interface was way way over-the-top for me. And I'm a person that develops IT software. I've used and made some complex interfaces and sheesh! Wow! They just handed over a CAD product with no instructions! Ugh.
I prefer the game's graphic artists to produce a good selection of racially appropriate 'starter' faces and then be given a (limited) selection of sliders to adjust them to make them my own. After all, they have the overall look of the game to consider and they have the skill to know what to change to make faces/bodies different but not be too 'weird' (within the racial type and within just common sense). Sure it would be interesting if there were some 'plain' or even 'ugly' starter faces/bodies, but let someone go completely free with that kind of toolage and you don't just end up with 'different' you end up with the equivalent of a child's finger painting in flesh *shudder*.
There's a similar issue with colour dyes. Please no neons or hot pinks or even black-hole-blacks. In high fantasy things should look 'realistic' within the lore. Even in the archetypal high fantasy film, LOTR, I found Gandalf the White's robes ridiculously, luminously, jarringly white for someone who travelled so much in the wilderness. I guess he *was* a very high level magician - maybe he summoned a new robe every hour... So, sure someone wants to have their armor look more matching - let them apply a subtle green tint to the whole lot, but, please let it be subtle. Nothing should look like it requires magic to produce the effect unless it *is* magic producing the effect (in which case I'm hoping things like armor sets based in rainbow unicorn lore really doesn't get past the drawing board). I believe Elder Scrolls Online did this well. Lots of options. All subtle.
Housing. Meh. Was excited the first time it came up (EQ2?) but as soon as I tried it I thought *shrug* why am I doing this? Didn't see the point soon after trying it and still don't really. For me, it's kinda like a mini-game with no connection to the actual game. I'd love it if the devs thought up a reason for housing to actually be functional, but I can't see a good one, myself.
Clothing and armor. Personally, I don't care for dressing differently in town or to have role-playing sessions, but I do care a lot about what my character looks like. I would really like the option of 'cosmetic' slots that override the look of the actual functional slot, but I firmly believe this should be limited to armor you have worn (and thus is appropriate to your class) and have to 'destroy' to make a look you can use. So, no borrowing a robe of uber-ness and using it as a look. To use you robe of uber-ness look you have to trash it, not sell it. The cost of CostumeQuest.
'Modern' outfits are ridiculousnesses that noone ought to have to realise are out-of-the-question for a high fantasy setting (tuxedos, ball gowns, bikinis and swimming trunks, bunny onesies, robot costumes, whatever). I'm rarely so whole-heartedly against an idea, but *shrug* here I am. If it's allowed, please make it a 'costume' flag that I can choose to see their adventuring gear instead. *shudder*
Costume 'pets'. I dislike them unless you're in an RP (not adventuring) setting and even then I would switch off seeing them if possible. Seeing someone fighting a dragon with their cat, bunny rabbit and monkey in tow is just silly.
There’s a few comments in the OP about a cash shop... I'm pretty sure they have said there will definitely not be a cash shop though I suppose that’s always subject to change.
In terms of character creation I think as much variety as possible within what is suitable for each race, an Ogre with an Elf's hair cut would just be daft...
I like dyes and crafting fashion gear to wear around town, I also like the idea of being able to craft accessories which can be added to armour purely for cosmetic purposes, things like spikes, skulls, crosses etc... Everything needs to fit in the world though.
Housing is nice but not essential...
tehtawd said:an·drog·y·nous
adjective
1) Partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.
2) Having the physical characteristics of both sexes
Dwarves without beards (male or female) is blasphemy!
j/k I kid ... kinda.
But yeah, character customization tools like Saints Row would be amazing (within reason).
edit: spelling eludes me.
I love everything That has been said here! It is always a necessary component in any new endeavor to have opinions whether they are agreeable or not.
Though I agree housing/farming/portrait creation is not an essential for role-play, it dose add atmosphere. I did not mean they were essential, only that they add depth to role-play. I apoligize for any misleading words.
Best to you all!
tehtawd said:This is hard to write about.
I am of the LGBT community (Or LGBTQ). That is, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender(, Queer) community. We don’t exactly conform to the usual stereotypical view of what X should look like. Before I go on I’m going to drop some terminology to help out
an·drog·y·nous
adjective
1) Partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.
2) Having the physical characteristics of both sexes
Gender fluidity is important for those who are LGBT looking to make a character that truly represents them. Androgyny is what I am focusing on here. Anyone who wants to pick male or female can do that, and conform to what it is they wish. But those who are in the middle like LGBT community, we need there to be less rigidity with character design.
It can be as simple as allowing there to be an option for female characters to have NO breasts at all. And allowing both sexes to choose any hairstyle there is or nearly all. Which means women who can have short buzzed hair or no hair at all (bald), and men who have the flowing final fantasy hair which could easily go on any woman.
I’d also like to add that there be an option for make-up. Meaning the option is open to anyone to have it on or off. If earrings and hair-pins are cosmetics you get when you make your character, allow them for both genders.
If the option for facial sculpting is available it can make this a lot easier. Your face is a giant part of ‘who you are’, allowing a degree of sculpting would bring me a lot of joy. There are fair faces in every race just as well as there are terrifying or horridly ugly ones, let players get in there and make what they wish.
There ... I did the thing.
Sparks said:Good ideas! If these cannot be implemented game-wide, place some or all of them on an RP server.
I'd like to add:
1) height slider (within reason) for each race. That way all eleven males are not the same height.
2) girth slider (again within reason) for those who like Friar Tucks.
3) A moveable camera. I like taking screenshots of characters including close ups. In several games it was possible if one could position the character in such a way that the camera collided with an object and be pushed in closer to the character's face. It would be nice to not have to go through those gymnastics.
4) make many of the clothes, jewelry, furniture, dyes, etc. craftable and not soul or account bound. I'd like to craft and sell interesting items.
5) town clothes please. If the character is crafting dyes or potions, then he/she could swap into a smock.
It is not my intention to have the role-players moved off to a site of their own. I think it is better, since there will be no PVP and PKers (Thank the Godz!) to keep us all on one server. It is only recently that I have started role-playing and in all honesty I was never bothered by rpers in all the time I played mmos. In fact it was the exact oppisite. The people who find "us" intolerable" were the ones crashing role-play because in their mind we are buffoons. Yet... even these occurances were few and far between in my experience. So, eventhough the things listed in the OP are for depth and atmosphere they are also enjoyed by regular gamers who like the creative aspect of the what those things offer. Cheers :)
tehtawd said:
I’d also like to add that there be an option for make-up. Meaning the option is open to anyone to have it on or off. If earrings and hair-pins are cosmetics you get when you make your character, allow them for both genders.
-Todd
For some reason when I read this I thought of David Bowie and in particular Ziggy Stardust. I thought he really did the androgynous thing well, the look, the makeup etc. I think being able to create a style that suits your personality is important not only for RP but general immersion as well.
AvianaSummerwood said:It is not my intention to have the role-players moved off to a site of their own. I think it is better, since there will be no PVP and PKers (Thank the Godz!) to keep us all on one server. It is only recently that I have started role-playing and in all honesty I was never bothered by rpers in all the time I played mmos. In fact it was the exact oppisite. The people who find "us" intolerable" were the ones crashing role-play because in their mind we are buffoons. Yet... even these occurances were few and far between in my experience. So, eventhough the things listed in the OP are for depth and atmosphere they are also enjoyed by regular gamers who like the creative aspect of the what those things offer. Cheers :)
Oh, no doubt. I prefer role players not be shunted off to a separate server. In the few MMOs I have played, the RP servers had the better overall player environment, i.e, less toxic chat and player behavior.
While all of the trappings can help with RPing, I have found the biggest factor for me has been NPC reactions. If I chose in character creation to be low born or a certain race, cast, religion, or alignment it would be nice if NPCs had at least some positive or negative reactions to that fact.
I will throw in one more suggestion - have social spaces like taverns, open air markets, temples, colleges, guild halls, etc. Maybe include some mini-games appropriate for the spaces.
If you know your 'Bartle', you know of the '4 types of gamers'. (Google:'Bartle test' OR Bartle Test)
Modern MMOs tend not to cater to socializers at all! (viz WoW players not even chatting in groups/raids). They also care little for Achievers (Pay-2-win = anti-achiever) or Explorers ('come here' markers on your maps etc). Since RP'ers are predominantly socialiers+Achievers+Explorers, this means modern MMOs really don't do anything for you at all. Which is a pity. Most RP'ers I have ever known are happy enough to co-exist on standard PvE servers (higher population, no PK'ers and remarkebly little 'anti-RP' sentiment). So it isn't *that* hard to keep them happy!
All Pantheon has to do is provide:
a. Versatile chat (easy to use with multiple channels/panes, item links, removable filters, colour-coding)
b. Variety of character shapes/faces/races
c. Variety of weapon/armour shapes/look colours/tints
d. Space within the Char-screen (inspectable) for 'Background info'
e. Some form of 'titles', accolades etc
With just this merry minimum, RP'ers could likely get by until the DEVs can add some extras.
PS Can i put in an order for a calico cat than lives in my backpack and peeks out from time to time?.
... and before you DEVs ask... NO!, 'a gnome hiding in my backpack' will NOT do as an alternative!!!
For me.. roleplay was central to my love and addiction for EQ. The group I played with created some awesome stories.... written in and out of game. Some things that would have helped our role play...
1) the ability to have guild wars ( it was in EQ then removed)
2) the ability for players to create and send scrolls and letters ... mail does not do it.. an article you could write on and read would be awesome
3) disguises... your character being able to temporarily have a different name and appearance
4) once voice came along.. the ability to disguise / change the voice to a character's voice
5) a forum on the official game forums for on-going stories.. where the originator / author can invite / control which replies are published to keep a story going without spam
6) a designation of "family" not related to guild. .but the ability for players to show relational links to other players
7) the ability to name pets / familiars without paying bogus cash ....
8) a role playing prefered server is not a bad idea... but make the ruleset discourage money seekers. FV was a great concept destroyed in part by the tradeable gear....
I would also add the ability to have chat that is a certain area (Inn, tavern, player home etc.) be instanced so normal "say" chat does not interfere with what is going on inside. Along with this a favorable amount of allowable text characters so we may add more than a couple sentences. :)
AvianaSummerwood said:Sparks said:Good ideas! If these cannot be implemented game-wide, place some or all of them on an RP server.
I'd like to add:
1) height slider (within reason) for each race. That way all eleven males are not the same height.
2) girth slider (again within reason) for those who like Friar Tucks.
3) A moveable camera. I like taking screenshots of characters including close ups. In several games it was possible if one could position the character in such a way that the camera collided with an object and be pushed in closer to the character's face. It would be nice to not have to go through those gymnastics.
4) make many of the clothes, jewelry, furniture, dyes, etc. craftable and not soul or account bound. I'd like to craft and sell interesting items.
5) town clothes please. If the character is crafting dyes or potions, then he/she could swap into a smock.
It is not my intention to have the role-players moved off to a site of their own. I think it is better, since there will be no PVP and PKers (Thank the Godz!) to keep us all on one server. It is only recently that I have started role-playing and in all honesty I was never bothered by rpers in all the time I played mmos. In fact it was the exact oppisite. The people who find "us" intolerable" were the ones crashing role-play because in their mind we are buffoons. Yet... even these occurances were few and far between in my experience. So, eventhough the things listed in the OP are for depth and atmosphere they are also enjoyed by regular gamers who like the creative aspect of the what those things offer. Cheers :)
Juts for the record we will most likely have separate PvP servers for those who wish to engage in PvP if there is enough support for it but our game is PvE first and foremost and PvP will not affect PvE at all, we may also have some special ruleset servers if the support for them is there, one of the ideas put forward so far has been a hardcore RP survival server which I think could be a lot of fun (and punishment) if done right but we will not force RPers to play on their own server, that is something you will be able to do on any server you wish :)
Kilsin said:AvianaSummerwood said:Sparks said:Good ideas! If these cannot be implemented game-wide, place some or all of them on an RP server.
I'd like to add:
1) height slider (within reason) for each race. That way all eleven males are not the same height.
2) girth slider (again within reason) for those who like Friar Tucks.
3) A moveable camera. I like taking screenshots of characters including close ups. In several games it was possible if one could position the character in such a way that the camera collided with an object and be pushed in closer to the character's face. It would be nice to not have to go through those gymnastics.
4) make many of the clothes, jewelry, furniture, dyes, etc. craftable and not soul or account bound. I'd like to craft and sell interesting items.
5) town clothes please. If the character is crafting dyes or potions, then he/she could swap into a smock.
It is not my intention to have the role-players moved off to a site of their own. I think it is better, since there will be no PVP and PKers (Thank the Godz!) to keep us all on one server. It is only recently that I have started role-playing and in all honesty I was never bothered by rpers in all the time I played mmos. In fact it was the exact oppisite. The people who find "us" intolerable" were the ones crashing role-play because in their mind we are buffoons. Yet... even these occurances were few and far between in my experience. So, eventhough the things listed in the OP are for depth and atmosphere they are also enjoyed by regular gamers who like the creative aspect of the what those things offer. Cheers :)
Juts for the record we will most likely have separate PvP servers for those who wish to engage in PvP if there is enough support for it but our game is PvE first and foremost and PvP will not affect PvE at all, we may also have some special ruleset servers if the support for them is there, one of the ideas put forward so far has been a hardcore RP survival server which I think could be a lot of fun (and punishment) if done right but we will not force RPers to play on their own server, that is something you will be able to do on any server you wish :)
This is very interesting Kilsin..
Do you mean like hypothermia in colder regions, dehydration in desert areas? The need for a campfire in the event you fall into a freezing river? Eating and drinking through the day? Please feed me!! lol I love it!!!!! This would be wonderful. The whole idea of having to use your common sense in a realistic manner to get through the world is extremly attractive to me!
AvianaSummerwood said:Kilsin said:AvianaSummerwood said:Sparks said:Good ideas! If these cannot be implemented game-wide, place some or all of them on an RP server.
I'd like to add:
1) height slider (within reason) for each race. That way all eleven males are not the same height.
2) girth slider (again within reason) for those who like Friar Tucks.
3) A moveable camera. I like taking screenshots of characters including close ups. In several games it was possible if one could position the character in such a way that the camera collided with an object and be pushed in closer to the character's face. It would be nice to not have to go through those gymnastics.
4) make many of the clothes, jewelry, furniture, dyes, etc. craftable and not soul or account bound. I'd like to craft and sell interesting items.
5) town clothes please. If the character is crafting dyes or potions, then he/she could swap into a smock.
It is not my intention to have the role-players moved off to a site of their own. I think it is better, since there will be no PVP and PKers (Thank the Godz!) to keep us all on one server. It is only recently that I have started role-playing and in all honesty I was never bothered by rpers in all the time I played mmos. In fact it was the exact oppisite. The people who find "us" intolerable" were the ones crashing role-play because in their mind we are buffoons. Yet... even these occurances were few and far between in my experience. So, eventhough the things listed in the OP are for depth and atmosphere they are also enjoyed by regular gamers who like the creative aspect of the what those things offer. Cheers :)
Juts for the record we will most likely have separate PvP servers for those who wish to engage in PvP if there is enough support for it but our game is PvE first and foremost and PvP will not affect PvE at all, we may also have some special ruleset servers if the support for them is there, one of the ideas put forward so far has been a hardcore RP survival server which I think could be a lot of fun (and punishment) if done right but we will not force RPers to play on their own server, that is something you will be able to do on any server you wish :)
This is very interesting Kilsin..
Do you mean like hypothermia in colder regions, dehydration in desert areas? The need for a campfire in the event you fall into a freezing river? Eating and drinking through the day? Please feed me!! lol I love it!!!!! This would be wonderful. The whole idea of having to use your common sense in a realistic manner to get through the world is extremly attractive to me!
We don't have any specifics yet but if I had my way it would be as you described and more! I loved the "Frostfall" mod for Skyrim so having a system like that in Pantheon on a special ruleset server would be awesome! But we will need to wait until we get closer to launch or after launch and see what the community wants and if there is enough support to justify opening a server like that, I hope there is, personally :)
Frostfall website - http://skyrimsurvival.com/home/frostfall/
Nexus link for anyone interested - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163/?