PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: SuburbanPlankton on August 18, 2005, 09:21:29 pm
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So I\'ve been playing PlaneShift for a couple of weeks now. It\'s my first real foray into on-line role playing, and I must say I found it more difficult than I expected. Not the game itself, but the role-playing aspect.
I haven\'t done any RPG in quite a few years. Back when I did, it was me and a bunch of friends, sitting around a table throwing funny-shaped dice around. I find on-line RPG to be different, and to me more difficult, in a several ways:
* In \"traditional\" RPG, you know who you are playing with. They are your friends, or friends of friends. You know how old they are, what gender, their physical characteristics, etc. In a MMORPG, all you have to go by is the name and appearance of the character. I have no idea whether the people I\'m interacting with are male, female, young, old, whatever. I find that to be a bit disconcerting, because I can\'t judge my companions by anything other than what I see on my computer screen.
* Along the same lines, the interaction between players is limited. In RLRPG (Real-life RPG), you have all sorts of non-verbal communication that adds to the experience. On-line, you can only simulate such things using chat commands; you have to do a lot more work to fill in the scene in your head.
* The limitations of the interface tends to detract from the role-playing experience, at least for newcomers. I\'m not referring to any specific limitations in the PlaneScape interface in particular, but rather the idea of needing to enter commands into a GUI (or text-only, for that matter) interface in general. You are fighting monsters, having a conversation, and attempting to heal your wounds, all at the same time. These actions all require use of different parts of the GUI, so they cannot be performed simultaneously. This makes for a somewhat disjointed experience.
For these reasons, and out of a general sense of newbie-ness, I have not done much inreaction with other players up to now. I have preferred to keep to myself, mainly exploring and mapping, and interacting with NPCs, trying to get my hands around that interface. I\'ve fought quite a few rats, and manages to get a level or two and be able to acquire some rudimentary equipment. But I\'ve been reluctant to get together with other players, basically for fear of making a fool of myself.
Fast forward to last evening; I was in the sewers trying to knock off a few more rats to earn some money for training. There were ac couple of people already there battling gobblers, so I was waiting to see if they would mind me taking on the small stuff, when I was asked if I wanted to join their group. I almost declined, for the reasons stated above. Then I thought, \"what the hell, this is a ROLE PLAYING game, I might as well start playing a role\".
So I joined, we fought, we chatted, we role played. We spent the better part of two hours fighting gobblers and tefusangs. I found out that I wasn\'t the greenest player in the group. I was able to offer help to some, and reeive it from others.
Hard-core role-playing fanatics might not appreciate the way we played: we didn\'t always stay in character (and didn\'t explicitly state when we were OOC), we sometimes used modern language and made references to pop culture. But sometimes we were 100% in character as well. I think a lot of that depended on who was talking at the moment; some of us were more into the role-playing and others not so much so.
But all-in-all, it was a great experience. It\'s quite a bit different from table-top role playing, but by no means is it inferior. The fact that I can play any time of the day or night, and always find someone else to interact with, is a definite attraction. I found PlaneShift to be a *good* solo adventuring game, and with the expected improvement/expansion in upcoming releases, it should become a *great* solo game. But once I took the plunge into role-playing, the game took on a whole new dimension. I\'m now hopelessly hooked!
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Firstly, welcome to PS! And I\'m glad you enjoy RP, it is the heart and soul of Planeshfit, and those who don\'t figure this out tend to get bored quickly. Or they don\'t get bored and remain as PLers, which is fine IMO so long as they don\'t detract from RP, but sadly it seems that most of them do.
PS is also my first and only MMORPG. It is harder than a table-top, but it can also be more rewarding. I don\'t really care about not knowing the person behind the character as to me, that can provide distraction. Here, all you know is the character, and I think that helps give PS its immersive quality.
For me, it is hard because there is no DM or GM, in the traditional sense of the words, to direct the RP. Everyone is part player and part GM, making up storylines as they participate, which is difficult. However, good stuff tends to just happen if you stay in character, and to me this is far more rewarding than all the time I spent playing D&D.
Which brings me to my last point of interest: It is perfectly acceptable, IMO, to not designate OOC chat IF it\'s in group chat, guild chat, tells, or you\'re reasonably sure that no one is going to hear. In the sewers, if you\'re just using /say, you really should designate OOC chat properly. There are many, many, players who don\'t, and IMO this detracts from the game. I tend to ignore those who don\'t designate their OOC chat, because those types usually regard me as freaky for being IC. Weird, huh. You didn\'t say which kind of chat you were using, so I dont know if this is necessary, but I would only ask you to properly designate OOC chat in /say in the future.
And don\'t be afraid of RP. No one here is going to judge you, as long as you are IC, and as long as you don\'t attempt to control someone elses RP (such as /me throwas a bottle at (person) and she catches it. Not such a good example i know but I think it gets the point across.), as long as you keep the setting in mind, and as long as the ideas you play are not too far fetched.
Keep in mind that there are many who don\'t follow the above guidelines. Which I guess is fine as it does not violate any rule that I know of. But I tend to disregard them because I have found their presence to often be irksome.
Anyway, welcome to PS. RP when you want to RP and kill stuff when you want to kill stuff, but most importantly, have fun.
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Regarding not knowing the person behind the character, it\'s different than what I am used to, but I think I will actually like it better once i am used to it.
With a MMORPG, a player can truly become any character they wish, if they are willing to commit to the role. If I know that someone is a short, fat, balding man, then it\'s hard for me to role-play with his Amazon warrior character, because I just can\'t picture him in that fashion.
But here, if you say you are a female Dermorian, I have to take your word for it. If you are into the role, then I know no different, which helps me to immerse myself that much more deeply into the world.
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Originally posted by SuburbanPlankton
If I know that someone is a short, fat, balding man, then it\'s hard for me to role-play with his Amazon warrior character, because I just can\'t picture him in that fashion.
No, no. See, if you picture someone in a different role, you are still picturing that person, and not their role. Let the other person worry about assuming the role, and pay attention to what their character is doing. It\'s true that this is easier when the only possible contact with the player him/herself is through OoC statements that are even frowned upon, as in the case of a good MMORPG. Just remember that when you roleplay, your character knows nothing of the other players, only of the characters that they are roleplaying.
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Yes, that is what I was saying in my previous post. It\'s easier in am MMORPG to disassociate the player from the character, because you don\'t have any information about the player other than what they choose to reveal.
It *does* make it a bit more challenging, IMO, having limited information about other players. But this is only because it is not what I am used to, and because in table-top RPG most players choose to play characters that are similar to their own appearance and personality.
It is more challenging, but I do feel it is a better system, because it forces you to play your role more completely, making for a more immersive experience.
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Please change your name. only RP names are wanted here.
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Please change your name. only RP names are wanted here.
My character\'s name is Alvyn Brandr. SuburbanPlankton is my \"nom de net\", which I use on all message boards which I post to.
Should I decide to join a Guild (which I most likely will), I will register there with my character name, so as to stay IC. But here, where the very nature of the discussion is OOC, I didnt\' think it would be as issue.
I have added a signature, which hopefully will clear up any confusion.
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Alvyn Brandr hmmm any relations to Valbrandr? :D
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Yes I would reccomend joining a guild, they are very entertaining and, provided you choose the correct Guild, you will be supported and included and taken on grand quests with the rest of the gang!
I\'ll try and get hold of ya in the game :D As long as you don\'t live on the other side of the world or somethin..
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I would reccomend against joining a guild, at least right away. Good guilds are not for everybody, and most guilds are not good. There are some good ones, but you must make sure that the guild\'s purpose suits your character. This requires much thought and research, as well as discussion with guild members and leaders. I have two characters: One of them has slowly learned to despise all guilds. The other is a happy member of The Feline\'s Lair. Please do not be in a hurry to join a guild.
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Guilds are useful ways to find out the secrets and tricks of the game, as well as info on different locations and how to get there. They can also supply you with weapons and tria if you need it.
I\'m in Guild Knights for fun, since it\'s a bunch of fun lovin guys who run around killing things. Before that, I was in Twin Blades which had a more serious flavour to it with more sinister intentions. Before that, I was in Courier which had potential but didn\'t accomplish its master plan before falling apart.
Each guild has become a part of my personal history, and I have relationships with the surviving members as well as other guilds as well. Don\'t just join a guild at random, do do some research, but at the same time I wouldn\'t take everything so seriously. The guild system is just that, a system. It is neither inherently good nor bad -- it\'s what you do with it that counts.
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Alvyn Brandr hmmm any relations to Valbrandr?
I think he\'s my uncle\'s brother-in-law\'s first wife\'s next-door-neighbor\'s former hairdresser\'s second cousin, thrice removed.
As for Guilds, I have been doing quite a bit of research. I have culled my original list of about 20 down to a half-dozen or so that seem to fit my character\'spersonality and lifestyle. But I think I\'ll wait a while before joining one, in order to flesh out my character a bit more. Either that, or the devs wipe everything again, and I\'ll join up afterwards and start fresh with everyone else.