Rp Rules?

[Happy]

Personally I do not understand this. Isn't a game supposed to be fun? How many rules can a game have and still be fun? Especially when it comes to role play that takes creativity and should have freedoms to do so. That is what role playing is all about. Is not role play the development of a character within the 'world' you have created?

Why all the conflict? People of like minds should role together. That would make the conflicts stop and make it more enjoyable for everybody.

Many seem to leave this game unhappy of where it is heading. Maybe something should be rethought here. 

[Tuxide]

Personally I do not understand this. Isn't a game supposed to be fun? How many rules can a game have and still be fun? Especially when it comes to role play that takes creativity and should have freedoms to do so. That is what role playing is all about. Is not role play the development of a character within the 'world' you have created?

Why all the conflict? People of like minds should role together. That would make the conflicts stop and make it more enjoyable for everybody.

Many seem to leave this game unhappy of where it is heading. Maybe something should be rethought here. 

I concur.  Some people on this forum and who play PlaneShift are unwilling to accept that there are people with philosophies that conflict with their own.

I'd like to label them all, but not in such a way that violates Godwin's Law.

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

There are two servers precisely to get differing philosophies their own play field to enjoy their own distinct play style.

In other games I have played people make elaborate player made videos to mock rpers, I'd like to see the ezpcusa people gather resources to make things like that a reality, because it is fun.

The rpers on Laanx should be happier with the changes we added to Laanx, but we'll see.

[derula]

Personally I do not understand this. Isn't a game supposed to be fun? How many rules can a game have and still be fun?

Have you ever played a card game? Without rules, playing cards aren't much fun. Using them to build pyramids is about the only thing you can do with them without any rules. Even sorting needs the rules in which order they go. Game rules are what makes them fun. And different sets of rules can lead to very different kinds of games. Some of them require a lot of understanding, others don't need much of an intellect.

I think more complex rules don't necessarily mean restriction, or less fun. They just establish a different kind of game.

[Happy]

Pardon, I was speaking of role play based on creativity and imagination that should have no boundaries nor rules if it is true role play of course. Very different from a card game so it cannot be compared, I believe.

[Tuxide]

There are two servers precisely to get differing philosophies their own play field to enjoy their own distinct play style.

[...]

The rpers on Laanx should be happier with the changes we added to Laanx, but we'll see.

That's not really what I meant, I think there are conflicting philosophies even between roleplayers.  Making more rules cannot solve such conflicting views because these are personal issues.  It's up to the players to find a suitable troll bridge that makes the two sides come together, not the people who run the game.

[Akkaido Kivikar]

I find the biggest problem is adherence to Settings....

PlayerX: "I don't have to follow the law, I can duel in Hydlaa, they won't do anything and even so, what has the Octarchy done for me?"

PlayerX: "Our guild comes from XYZFantasyland, where we run the place."

PlayerX: "I killed a great dragon, and wear it's tooth around my neck."

As more and more Settings info becomes available, the expectancy laid upon RPers and guild masters to make things stick to Settings grows greater.

The typical 'lol', 'lmao', 'brb'.... it's gotten to the point where I just mentally ignore them with ease. Seeing non-Settings RP just trashes my experience.

@Tuxide: I agree with your view, but the covenant is more about drawing a line, not about favouring one view over another. Distinguishing RP from non-RP properly.

@Happy: You've obviously never played D&D, Warhammer, or other games. Taking out the rules leaves everything absolutely open for abuse, godmodding and crap. It's like the concept of anarchy, it just cannot work because there's always a griefer.

[Happy]

What are the "conflicting philosophies" between role players?

What would be a "suitable troll bridge" that makes the two sides come together?

If you wish to have all on the same page then the people who run the game must be agreeable also. Is this not a team effort?

Yes I have enjoyed role play games with little or no conflict between players.

[bloodedIrishman]

I find the biggest problem is adherence to Settings....

PlayerX: "I don't have to follow the law, I can duel in Hydlaa, they won't do anything and even so, what has the Octarchy done for me?"

PlayerX: "Our guild comes from XYZFantasyland, where we run the place."

PlayerX: "I killed a great dragon, and wear it's tooth around my neck."

As more and more Settings info becomes available, the expectancy laid upon RPers and guild masters to make things stick to Settings grows greater.

The typical 'lol', 'lmao', 'brb'.... it's gotten to the point where I just mentally ignore them with ease. Seeing non-Settings RP just trashes my experience.

@Tuxide: I agree with your view, but the covenant is more about drawing a line, not about favouring one view over another. Distinguishing RP from non-RP properly.

@Happy: You've obviously never played D&D, Warhammer, or other games. Taking out the rules leaves everything absolutely open for abuse, godmodding and crap. It's like the concept of anarchy, it just cannot work because there's always a griefer.

This covers it.

The covenant doesn't restrict roleplay, its necessary so everyone can have a good time and know whats fine and what isn't.

[Irgendwer]

I find the biggest problem is adherence to Settings....

PlayerX: "I don't have to follow the law, I can duel in Hydlaa, they won't do anything and even so, what has the Octarchy done for me?"

Exactly the attitude, every psycho, NRA activist and afghanian warlord has. Why again, can't this be the choice of my role to play? Oh, btw. duelling in public places is/was not allowed in western societies for centuries - Nobody cared though. Ever read a book by Alexandre Dumas ("Three Musketeers" for example)? The adventures of Casanova? Maybe seen a western movie with a shoot out at high noon on main street? For historical reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel#Opposition_to_duelling
And don't even get me started on bar brawls.

The world is not full of law abiding citizens and the Octarchy, though being powerful, does not have the means, modern police has to enforce the law. Besides, the ever so holy roleplay, which is hold in ever such high regard on this game has, by definition, something to do with character development. Character development may very well include conflict (in fact, it is the spice in an otherwise dull character). If my character was to encounter the murderer of my family in the tavern, boasting about how he dealt with my sister, you can count on me not asking him politely to step outside the city gates, so we can "discuss" the matter in a lawful manner. This would be outright silly, pointless in terms of roleplay and serve no purpose beyond satisfying the whims of some rule fetishists!

PlayerX: "Our guild comes from XYZFantasyland, where we run the place."

PlayerX: "I killed a great dragon, and wear it's tooth around my neck."

The fact, that dragons do not exist on planet earth did not keep the brothers Grimm from writing fairy tales about them. The fact, that nobody ever set foot on the moon till 1969 did not keep Jules Verne from writing a novel about it, almost 100 years earlier. The fact, that Bigfoot does not exist does not keep souvenir shops from peddling kitsch, supposedly made out of bigfoot bodyparts to tourists. In medieval times, it was en vogue to sell narwhal tooth as unicorn horn and chicken bones as relics from saints, nobody had ever heard about (at least not until the fat friar told the story, he just invented). Superstitious people attribute ever squeak in the middle of the night to a poltergeist and see phantoms in every blurry shape. Weather balloons turn into extraterrestrial spacecrafts and crop circles into messages from aliens, if mixed with a bit of media spin.
Hollywood even turned it into a whole industry to "go against the settings" of planet earth.

Heavens forbid, that we ever use our imagination, when roleplaying! The idea, that Player X could either be a complete lunatic, an honest, but gullable idiot or bullshitting the hell out of everyone for personal gains is obviously too far fetched.

The typical 'lol', 'lmao', 'brb'.... it's gotten to the point where I just mentally ignore them with ease. Seeing non-Settings RP just trashes my experience.

Something, that trashes my experience is, when someone forces me to step out of my role of being a complete lunatic, an honest, but gullable fool or bullshitting the hell out of everyone and I have to have an [ooc discussion of what narrow minded people consider to be acceptable and what not].

@Tuxide: I agree with your view, but the covenant is more about drawing a line, not about favouring one view over another. Distinguishing RP from non-RP properly.

@Happy: You've obviously never played D&D, Warhammer, or other games. Taking out the rules leaves everything absolutely open for abuse, godmodding and crap. It's like the concept of anarchy, it just cannot work because there's always a griefer.

The rules of (A)D&D and others are, that you throw a Dwhatever, add a bit of something and look the result up in table soandso. You might be surprised, that such rules exist in Planeshift in terms of game mechanics, enforcing pretty well, whether you hit something or not. The game mechanics, by the way, can or rather could be used to stop people from godmodding. Just make the whole world open PVP and I guarantee you, nobody will be godmodding a blade of the dragon slayer in my presence (at least not without that being put to the test).
It is actually your precious little covenant (which btw. was agreed upon in the same way, that it was agreed upon to build a bypass through Arthur Dents house: By only asking those who wanted it and ignoring the voices of those who didn't), which allows all kinds of crap, abuse and godmodding. It is the perfect excuse for people running around, bullying and threatening other people to "roleplay" (in which "roleplay" means "whatever I consider it to be"), demanding that they sheath their weapons in the city (sure thing, if there is an armed and dangerous guy walking down the street, the sanest thing to do is stepping up to him and demanding him to follow the law, which he is obviously ignoring on purpose for whatever reason) and generally educating people about what they think is good and right, but which they obviously never wasted much thought about.

[Earowo]

to add to all the law stuff, how come when your bein chased by a guard they can just freaze you? why dont they just chase you like youd expect them to? i've only been chaswed by a guard once, the rest freazed me...
ah the guard days...
havnt been to bad fer the past few months

[Vannaka]

[...]

I think I love you.

[Shangshi]

Exactly the attitude, every psycho, NRA activist and afghanian warlord has. Why again, can't this be the choice of my role to play?

You don’t have to follow the law, but if you make a character that permanently kills someone, you have to be ready to face the consequence. That if you get caught you will be permanently killed and cant whine about it.

The fact, that dragons do not exist on planet earth did not keep the brothers Grimm from writing fairy tales about them. The fact, that nobody ever set foot on the moon till 1969 did not keep Jules Verne from writing a novel about it, almost 100 years earlier. The fact, that Bigfoot does not exist does not keep souvenir shops from peddling kitsch, supposedly made out of bigfoot body parts to tourists. In medieval times, it was en vogue to sell narwhal tooth as unicorn horn and chicken bones as relics from saints, nobody had ever heard about (at least not until the fat friar told the story, he just invented). Superstitious people attribute ever squeak in the middle of the night to a poltergeist and see phantoms in every blurry shape. Weather balloons turn into extraterrestrial spacecrafts and crop circles into messages from aliens, if mixed with a bit of media spin.
Hollywood even turned it into a whole industry to "go against the settings" of planet earth.

Heavens forbid, that we ever use our imagination, when roleplaying! The idea, that Player X could either be a complete lunatic, an honest, but gullable idiot or bullshitting the hell out of everyone for personal gains is obviously too far fetched.

The fact that dragons don’t exist in PS don’t stop you from writing stories about them, but like in the 1800 and in PS now, how many people do you think will believe you if you claim to have killed one??? none, but I’d read the book if a good story about one is written. It may even end up in Jayose's library.

There is no moon in PS, but feel free to write a book about flying off to one if you want, but you can’t claim to have been there, as it doesn’t exist.

If you want to make up some beastie and sell fake body parts to tourists to some fake tourist spot you make up, feel free, but don’t expect many to come.

The thing is that the PS world is rather small compared to earth, and there is nothing stopping you saying our guild use to rule  the land where we came from but the fact is that the Octarch rule.

And with your whole comment on game mechanics allowing you to  stop god modding, that could be god modding in upon its self. I’d like to point  you to something timmothy wrote a while back.

It's kinda like "mechanics say who plays right" and those who play for other reasons, will sooner or later go.
It's the mechanics which say which kind of game it can be and dependant on that the "fitting" people are attracted.

No. You're actually, really, really wrong. It's an incomplete game, mechanics are extremely underdeveloped and still being worked out. Settings determine your character, not mechanics. For example. Settings allow me to avoid a magic spell that would one-hit me, then flee the scene to avoid a fight. Mechanics do not.

Someone maxes magic and armour and swords and dagger and axe and...and and and and....... and using that to play a dagger master sword wielding axe swinging dark way blasting crystal blinding ore melting fish grilling armour wearing poet is, well, ridiculous. and I’d like to point you to something Phinease wrote

How were things different ?

Well, as I mentioned above, things were more epic. Now the community is bigger and there's a lot more stuff going on, even if it's mostly lower quality. So it's hard for a really great idea or guild or whatever to stand out from the masses. Also with the game actually having mechanics now, it becomes hard for people to RP a powerful character without having the muscle to back it up. That's easiest for melee - oriented characters, but even for them it's not that easy. It's rare you'll find someone who roleplays well and also has a high-level character. Back then it was a little different, power was almost entirely political, or to put it another way, the community gave you power. You then wielded that power within your RP, possibly as direct skill in combat, but other people respected and fell in line with your RPed power because of your power within the community.

That is how I try and RP, acting strong because the people I RP with believe  me to be strong, I don’t just RP strong as I’ve done the training. Though I do have the training to match the strengths that people see me as having.

(and a side note, guards dont chase you because they dont have too, because they have magic wands and can freeze you.)

[EStripus]

Last I remember: the covenant was supposed to be a guide of how to RP correctly, for those that have never RP'd.  It is helpful to have a guide like this when venturing into something new. The versions of the 'covenant' that I have read are all good and fairly similar, it teaches people how to RP a well rounded character and how to interact with other players to create a fun interactive environment, regardless of what game/world you choose to play.

RPing is a skill, it takes time to get really good at it and to learn to divorce your RL self from your PS character(s) personality. Many people try to force stories to conform to what they want to happen, it takes practice and discipline to remember RPs do not always have the expected result (even when partially planned out in private OOC convos)...sometimes they do work out how we think they will.  Many people new to RP don't realize one key to good RPing is remembering the good results and the bad results; play your character consist with the outcomes, so the character grows richer and deeper in personality.


@Irgendwer: I have no problem with people that want to peddle imaginary beast parts or wear them, but the RPer must have that idea in their head that their character is a con-artist, deluded/insane, easily fooled (at least for the questionable topic), etc.  I have a feeling most of the people that do something like that, believe their character really "killed a dragon in Yliakum" because they didn't read the settings.

@Happy: The devs have worked very hard to create a unique world for us to play in, so yes it is important to follow the settings to the best of a players knowledge when creating RPs and a character's history.  This is not a free-for-all. If your complaint is with the covenant, then read my opening line.

As Jacula mentioned in one of his topics, you do not have to be a perfect RPer to have fun. But I would add this, in my humble opinion: We should all be trying to raise our RP skills to the next level and showing good faith to stay within settings. Engage in RPs with other characters to support testing the boundaries of settings. Worlds that involve magic always have a lot of room for imagination without actually breaking the history/settings/theology of the world. RPs are sometimes about exceptional situations; exceptional situations create drama; drama creates personalities; personalities create unique characters; unique characters create variety during any RPs.



PS: Fast typers and wordy players, give time for other people to respond to what your character is saying or doing.  Some people type slow, encounter lag, or need a moment to consider how their character will respond [some guilds use a 'pause' request].  This is a suggestion for smaller group RPs; larger RPs have a tendency to move faster, use your descretion.

[Earowo]

(and a side note, guards dont chase you because they dont have too, because they have magic wands and can freeze you.)

i really dont have to worry bout gaurds anymore, but them havin a magic wand that can freaze you halfway across town, dont you think thats kinda ridiculous?