The "I'm Bored" Conversation Thread

[Illysia]

You know this forum used to have more player to player interaction, I mean aside from Holy Flame Wars. People used to talk about stuff in general and relate to each other aside from the IC and IG interactions. Looks like the community could use this and I am currently bored so here is a thread for that.

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Even though the basic principles of RP are pretty much the same everywhere. Context sure does make a difference.

Since PS is supposed to an RP game you don't have to hide out to RP, it's generally accepted that you can RP just about anywhere. It also seems like it is easier to imagine plots in PS although it seems to be easier to work them out in other games. I say that because the RPers have to work harder to band together and support each other in other games.

However, PS does at least have this one big advantage right now. People RP halfway decently or not at all. I have seen far fewer characters in PS that make you question if you are really seeing what you think you seeing. Seems like the cybering has gone down, and most of the people, whether they RP a lot or not, actually do seem to have a decent amount of skill at it. I have seen some pretty cringe worthy stuff elsewhere.

What do you think?

[Rigwyn]

Seriously, I am starting to think that full blown text RP is too taxing for most folks. It seems like a bit of a contradiction to be basically "writing" while in a 3d mmorpg. I know this statement is the opposite of what I've said in the past and it reflects my changing views.  It would be nice if we could both "roleplay" and "do shit" at the same time. How to fuse the two together seems kind of tricky.

As for getting people to role play, I'm wondering if perhaps the original role playing crowd was born from the non-rp crowd. Perhaps its best for population numbers to rise before pushing for RP.

[Illysia]

Well, there is talking instead of typing but I'm not sure how many people bother to get Vent servers for RP. Not to mention that all those guys playing female characters would be soooo busted. Broken immersion anyone?

From what I have heard from players that were around long before me, there wasn't so much roleplay in the beginning so in a way you are right. But at the same time there weren't so many people either. I think the real problem is not numbers but people not feeling comfortable reaching out to RP with each other.

I've been on when there were only 20 people online, by all accounts" too few" people for RPing, and found several RPers to suck into an RP and I knew several others on could RP but simply weren't. The community isn't tight knit enough to really promote widespread RP. People really need to stop and get to know each other's characters.

I know people think it's boring, but RP needs more simple social RP to build the backbone for more complex RP. And by social I don't mean "How's your mother?". I mean talking time to use your character to dig into the background and motivations of the characters around you. Taking time to help each other to develop characters. It doesn't stop at character creation or the last thing you wrote on your own.

[Rigwyn]

I'm not crazy about Vent as I don't want y'all to hear mah dysfunctional family screaming in the background while I'm trying to pull off a fake female English accent in a land where English do not exist. Broken immersion? Mmm I don't know... some folks might like the idea of a female character that looks convincingly female but sounds questionably male

Yes, PS has spiked shields, long, thick swords and traps.         
Seriously though, gender is far more complicated than a simple binary.

I'm more of the opinion that its better not to force things. ( Get your mind out of the gutter xD ) RP will happen when its ready.

[Illysia]

Well, in real life gender is as complex as you make it, but, in MMO land, gender, especially as it relates to females, gets really narrow really fast. That would be why women in MMOs are generally not allowed to have pants, not allow to stand without their hips sticking out at an odd and uncomfortable looking angles, and why sometimes certain "assets" seem to be larger than their heads. And we won't get into what these become when there are customization sliders, hackers, or both. :p

However, at least in PS you actually can play an ugly woman if you really wanted to. But, one of the funny things about RP in PS lately is that you can't easily pull off character flaws, quirks, and hindrances due to players making their characters so darn understanding. My poor Danao can scarcely be moody and sulky about being mistaken for woman when it so often doesn't come up or everyone quietly ignores the elephant in the room. XD

Even baddie characters can probably easily develop a fan following.

The problem though is that you can't keep a game running and interesting if you have to wait and wait and wait to get RP. Especially for an RP game.

[Rigwyn]

You want Danao to be misunderstood, ridiculed, and not easily accepted, but instead you get a sickening level of understanding that you feel breaks immersion. Perhaps its the expectation of not fitting in that is wrong. Are you correct in assuming that his life should be worse? Maybe the way his is being treated in game is actually an accurate reflection of how he would be treated in the real world if he were with the players in question?

I do understand your point. Its like when you play a monster, crash a wedding party, and everyone is all like, "Hey, sup dude. Have some punch." In both cases, perhaps is the expectation of a certain outcome that leads to disappointment?

( Yes, I have had experience with the latter xD )

[Illysia]

Well, sure. You are right. But I'm not playing as Danao in the real world with the players now am I? And even in real life, that level of understanding and consideration is not even normal. However, it happens with almost all my characters' quirks. Something or another always gets in the way of me playing it out.

For instance, Zandral is disliked but most of the time people seem to not really know how to respond to her. I can see ignoring her ICly but I think she gets ignored because people aren't quite sure what to do about a character that is surly or judgmental without being a mortal threat to other characters.

Telnavi is a shameless gossip but there is nothing to gossip about, but that reminds me that I need to make up some more news. Dahserai seeks knowledge but usually ends up imparting more than she gets. Megheraine is a practical woman but there are few opportunities to show it. Ech is not slow mentally but simple in kra's mindset but it takes time RPing with someone for that to be obvious. Illy is fresh out the DR and nuttier than a fruitcake but she is in Oja and there aren't many to RP with and she isn't quite in a state fit for travel. I just can't get a quirk to stick. :p

[Rigwyn]

"And even in real life, that level of understanding and consideration is not even normal."

Actually, I know a good few folks from another internet community who are much like Danao. I also know one or two folks in real life with a similar circumstance ( though  not exact) and have seen the same reactions in real life.  Most, but not all people are in fact generally accepting or at least outwardly polite while secretly curious, however its only when the discussions touch certain sore spots that there is any conflict. Usually, from my experience, its when people exhibit ignorance or assumptions of a heterosexual, cisgendered norm that conflicts in discussion arise - or when people question the validity of one's gender expression or gender identity.

Out of curiousity, in your rp with Danao, do characters avoid such topics with him?  If so, have you considered  going there with Danao? Ie. Somehow exploring these topics and exposing his sensitivities?

Again, if you need a certain type of response from other players in order to feel like it was a good RP, then that might be a problem. That's part of why I'm not really into RP as much as I used to be. I actually prefer writing single author short stories for this precise reason.  As an author, you can shape the dialog exactly as you feel it should go.

[Illysia]

With Danao, it is rare that people really go into depth with him. But it's kinda like that with all my characters. It's hard to get enough of a rapport to were people feel comfortable or compelled to dig. But in Danao's case, appearance is only one aspect of him, it just happens to be the most obvious, but pretty much none of his aspects get much play. In all honesty though, I created the character while in a gender studies class and I wanted to see how dynamics of gender, not so much sexuality, played out in game. I found that such dynamics are very inconsistent since they barely come up at all.

But it's not so much a certain response that I need, but rather a certain level of depth. If you never go beyond the surface, I kind fall flat in my RP because I am really going for the multidimensional aspects. For instance, my characters are at this point all "good" but "good" was only a defining trait of one character and even that was tempered by personality. I miss interact with the characters that were so distinct that your could describe traits and it was pretty obvious which character was being talked about.

However, I'm too social to just write on my own. It's too introverted a task for me. I need more collaboration than that which is why I like RP. I like telling stories, just not on my own.

[Rigwyn]

Have you considered perhaps just having regular discussions with people on gender related topics instead of trying to act out a scenario with characters? The funny thing about this is that at some point, you are going to react as yourself rather than as your character - or you are going to get sloppy as a certain level of depth is approached. ( I don't mean you, I mean other players who are no prepared to delve into an RP that is that deep. )

If I make a character with a history and personality that makes sense for planeshift, lets say. Say I make a sword smith for example - with a rich history that supports his current state and reasons for his trade. Next, he's exposed to a character with gender issues, deep philosophical concerns, or someone who likes to discuss deep ethical or moral topics. As a player, I now have to rethink the character in a much greater level of detail if I am going to make him respond as opposed to giving my own personal responses.

[Illysia]

Ah, see I thought of that. That's why he is an otherwise very straight forward character. Even Danao himself doesn't delve in the deep philosophical aspects of how he relates to the world. He is just highly opinionated about it.

For instance, normal family, no unusual deaths in his background, simple backstory and premise for being in Hydlaa, simple occupation, simple goals. Most of those things don't have much to do with gender issues. I purposely sought to keep his story from becoming to cumbersome due to herding people into interacting with his quirk.

But that is why I also advocate thinking about how your character will react outside of their "home" context, that is the one you start them with and use as their comfort zone. I have a tendency to work on such things as a matter of course since I love character studies, but maybe others don't until they are forced to which is why I wrote the Character Context Check to begin with, to help those that haven't thought about it.

But I'm pretty sure that for most of my characters, I can tell you exactly how they will react in pretty much any given situation. Reaction doesn't have to be complex, merely consistent with their character.

[LigH]

Its like when you play a monster, crash a wedding party, and everyone is all like, "Hey, sup dude. Have some punch."

Somehow like at the Magic Convention. There was a Dermorian girl who appeared drunk and with little care about her appearance, insulting Sarras and others... but most people seemed to ignore her. Possibly because the on-stage activity was a lot more important. Just bad timing? Or also some uncertainty of handling the situation for the bystanders?

[Illysia]

Wait a minute, there was a dermorian girl insulting people and it wasn't Sarras?!?

But yeah, it might be that they didn't know what to do with it or maybe it was just a matter of not knowing how to accommodate the RP and the Convention at the same time. Depending on how much chatter there was, it would already be hard enough to keep track of one conversation.

[Rigwyn]

Lol! Nice catch, LigH.

To be honest, I started out with that character, then realized that it just wasn't working. It wasn't very believable to me and I suddenly got the feeling that I wasn't going to be able to play this character very well. I didn't want to disrupt or derail the event either. I was just trying to play as rude, stanky character.

[Illysia]

XD So it was you.

Maybe simply doing rude would have gone better. However, I would say it is always difficult to play a new character in a situation like that. I personally have to do one on one RPs with other characters to feel out a comfortable flow for the character and then I can take them to big venues later.