PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Shadow Rogue on November 26, 2013, 07:21:09 pm
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I have heard many opinions of how to RP or what makes good RP but I have never completely understood it. Role-play as defined on www.planeshift.it as Role play: To assume or represent in a drama; act out. Ok, I understand that but how. The site later says to create a character with his own goals, fears, joys and weaknesses. Ok, not a problem. Then finally you act out your character’s life. This example is given on http://www.planeshift.it/roleplay.html
The kran looks at the written page, tilting his head a bit and scratching the top with his left hand. - "Well, I never been a novelist, but that should do it, I guess." He stands up from the giant crystal table, picks a thick cloak and looks outside the window of his sculptured stone house. He concentrates a bit and thanks to his magic vision, he reaches the Hydlaa plaza.
- "mmmm... there is still much more to do, but things are surely getting better. Time for some magic!"
Based on what I have seen there are many different kinds of RP and ways to go about it in PS. Personally if I have a choice to actually go out and do what my character likes to do or to stand in town and act out what my character likes to do I am ALWAYS going to go out and do it because it adds a real feel to the game while opening up dynamic RP opportunities by meeting others who are doing similar tasks. The whole idea of creating an event or planning out RP is completely unnecessary to me. For me, role-play begins as soon as I log on and ends when I log off. Everything between is my contribution to making the game more lifelike.
Some people may argue that planned out events or RP storylines are necessary to make things interesting but I find I am just ignored when I try to join in (this has happened many times). If players want to have PRIVATE RP events, then they should CREATE A NEW CHAT CHANNEL so they are not filling up the main chat with their closed events that are obviously not meant to be heard. The worst case that I can remember is when someone walked up to me, asked me a question but as soon as I answered they completely ignored everything else I said. If I had been rude then I can understand a response like that but so many times I have just simply wanted to RP and have been ignored or some control freak tries to take over of the situation.
Bottom line the ONLY wrong way RP is to be forceful (god moding) or simply not even trying at all. Don’t feel you have to RP like others. Go your own way.
Feel free to comment if you have anything of value to add.
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Some people may argue that planned out events or RP storylines are necessary to make things interesting but I find I am just ignored when I try to join in (this has happened many times). If players want to have PRIVATE RP events, then they should CREATE A NEW CHAT CHANNEL so they are not filling up the main chat with their closed events that are obviously not meant to be heard.
Can you elaborate on what you mean here?
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I'd like elaboration too. I don't think IC interaction can be private in the sense that it should need a private channel, since even if the characters mean for it to be private, someone can always RP an eavesdropper/spy.
Planned events can be difficult, depending on what kind of planned events you mean. No one should get ignored though.
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@ Shadow Rogue:
A pity Lolitra isn't anymore with us. She used to plan as little as possible, to improvise as much as possible, allowing everyone taking part in the play to push a little into an own direction.
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I have heard many opinions of how to RP or what makes good RP but I have never completely understood it. Role-play as defined on www.planeshift.it as Role play: To assume or represent in a drama; act out. Ok, I understand that but how.
Practice and experiment.
The whole idea of creating an event or planning out RP is completely unnecessary to me.
Correct.
Some of us do things to stir the pot so to speak because we get a little tired of plain day to day role play. Some players prefer regular day to day role play and dislike any kinds of plots or what have you. Personally, I like to cause controversy with my character. He has goals and agendas that naturally conflict with the well being of everyone else. Such conflicts can sometimes give rise to action and result in a lot of fun.
For me, role-play begins as soon as I log on and ends when I log off. Everything between is my contribution to making the game more lifelike.
Same here with rare exceptions.
Some people may argue that planned out events or RP storylines are necessary to make things interesting but I find I am just ignored when I try to join in (this has happened many times).
I'm not sure what you mean by *planned*, but plots and storylines - whether they happen naturally or due to some kind of player maipulation, are not necessary.
As for being ignored, I would wonder what your approach was for joining in, and whether or not you gave other players enough time to respond? Some of us take literally minutes and minutes to think up and write our posts. Some roleplays move at a glacial crawl. I could see how this could be perceived as being ignored.
There have been times when an unfamiliar player has come to me and tried to interact. Before I could respond, they had taken off... o.O
If others are not acknowledging your presence, then perhaps you are not blending in? One mistake I've seen players make is they run up to a group and try to get everyone to stop what they are doing in order to save their damsel in distress or whatever. The backfire from this sort of tactic is even greater when the crowd approached consists of evil characters who would never even consider playing the hero.
A common way to blend into a group is to approach it, and write out an emote that shows that you are watching, or aware of what they are doing.
For example:
/me watches SinisterSam and BettyBoop from across the room as he flips though his book.
Typically, players will try to acknowledge you even if their characters are unaware of you - ie. because you are behind them or whatever.
SinisterSam continues to stir his beer with his filthy, wart infested finger as he gabs to BetteyBoop about his back hair, unaware of Rigwyn's presence.
This right here means, "I, the player see and acknowledge you. My character is unaware."
If players want to have PRIVATE RP events, then they should CREATE A NEW CHAT CHANNEL so they are not filling up the main chat with their closed events that are obviously not meant to be heard.
I agree if there is a good reason why - for example, if the players do not have physical access to a house and wish to role play something that is happening inside.
Unless they are doing this, any character should be able to approach and interact.
The worst case that I can remember is when someone walked up to me, asked me a question but as soon as I answered they completely ignored everything else I said. If I had been rude then I can understand a response like that but so many times I have just simply wanted to RP and have been ignored or some control freak tries to take over of the situation.
Sometimes in RP we do make mistakes. You can always send an ooc tell to the person in question. If it is accidental, then it is also possible that they did not realize that they did this. I know I 've made this mistake on occasion without realizing it until later on.
As for controlling the RP, that falls into the god modding category and is not really cool. It's one thing when players decide to go along with a player-lead event. In this case, they are giving this leader some slack and leeway. It's another thing when this lead player does things that piss off everyone else. The latter goes against the spirit of communitive role play. My advice for the latter case is to discuss it with them first and try to work it out. If you can't resolve the problem with them, then don't play with them. Their power to lead comes from those who choose to follow.
Bottom line the ONLY wrong way RP is to be forceful (god moding) or simply not even trying at all. Don’t feel you have to RP like others. Go your own way.
You can also contact a GM and ask them to listen in and give you some feedback. Seasoned GMs like Sarva, Daxa and Venalan will be able to quickly spot and make sense out of situations like these. A quick /who game will show you which ones are currently on and visible via chat.
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Some people may argue that planned out events or RP storylines are necessary to make things interesting but I find I am just ignored when I try to join in (this has happened many times). If players want to have PRIVATE RP events, then they should CREATE A NEW CHAT CHANNEL so they are not filling up the main chat with their closed events that are obviously not meant to be heard.
Can you elaborate on what you mean here?
I will try to elaborate. What I am trying to describe is the times that I have come across a group of players and stop out of curiosity. Normally I would listen a bit, then decide if my character would join in the conversation or not. If I think he would, I then greet the characters (usually by /greet or with a very short, simple greeting) then wait for a response. I understand it can take some time to reply, but over the course of 5-10 min when the characters say multiple long lines with absolutely no acknowledgement to my character its pretty obvious I'm being flat-out ignored. I have tried to draw a little attention to myself without being annoying in the case that they are just very busy. My methods of doing this include shuffling around a bit with my character and/or typing out a few small reactions to what is going on. Its not like I'm trying to be a glory hound that wants a ton of attention. Most of the time I'm just attempting to join in a conversation.
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People don't usually walk up to strangers in the middle of conversation and expect to be included. It's weird. Would be weird for our characters, too. If you want to be involved, you should directly address the strangers, and your character should have a legitimate reason. Ask for the time, the location of an NPC, where you can buy something, or whatever. Maybe if your character is outgoing he could jump right into the conversation, but don't be surprised if the strangers have a bad reaction.
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@Rigwyn
I'm not sure what you mean by *planned*, but plots and storylines - whether they happen naturally or due to some kind of player maipulation, are not necessary.
What I mean by planned is when you come across a group of characters that are all reacting to what one person is saying. This person is the ONLY one that moves the story forward almost as if the story has already been completed and is just now being unveiled to the audience. This single performer just ignores anything that is not directly inline with their planes while the rest is the audience is expected to simply react occasionally.
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People don't usually walk up to strangers in the middle of conversation and expect to be included. It's weird. Would be weird for our characters, too. If you want to be involved, you should directly address the strangers, and your character should have a legitimate reason. Ask for the time, the location of an NPC, where you can buy something, or whatever. Maybe if your character is outgoing he could jump right into the conversation, but don't be surprised if the strangers have a bad reaction.
I do it all the time irl and do not offend people. I do not understand why it is frowned on so much in PS.
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Don't use /greet
Everyone ignores it or assumes that it was accidental.
As for those who are trying to lead some sort of an event, its possible that you have run into someone who doesn't play well... I don't know and can't say without seeing for myself.
My experience has been that people tend be rather friendly or inclusive, but your experience seems to say otherwise. Have you tried contacting the person or people in question?
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I do it all the time irl and do not offend people. I do not understand why it is frowned on so much in PS.
I think you need to elaborate more in your posts.
Where do you do it in real life? If you're at a cafeteria, a bar, an event, or a concert, that makes sense. But what if you saw two people talking to each other on the side of the road (assuming they are not at a bus stop), would you butt in? What if there was a couple at a restaurant having a conversation. Would you join them? Or if you saw someone working at their craft, do you think it is appropriate to interrupt if you are not a customer or a friend?
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Don't use /greet
Everyone ignores it or assumes that it was accidental.
Hey, Rigwyn,maybe the devs should take it off the splash screens?
What Shadow Rogue is saying is far too true. I have seen it quite a bit in the 3 years I've been on PS.
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Don't use /greet
Everyone ignores it or assumes that it was accidental.
As for those who are trying to lead some sort of an event, its possible that you have run into someone who doesn't play well... I don't know and can't say without seeing for myself.
My experience has been that people tend be rather friendly or inclusive, but your experience seems to say otherwise. Have you tried contacting the person or people in question?
I have never tried to contact them. I tend to be a short-sighted at times so instead of working towards an agreement I am more likely to make an incorrect assumption that the other player(s) did it on purpose. This is probably because I normally give my actions a lot of thought before I go ahead with them.
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I do it all the time irl and do not offend people. I do not understand why it is frowned on so much in PS.
I think you need to elaborate more in your posts.
Where do you do it in real life? If you're at a cafeteria, a bar, an event, or a concert, that makes sense. But what if you saw two people talking to each other on the side of the road (assuming they are not at a bus stop), would you butt in? What if there was a couple at a restaurant having a conversation. Would you join them? Or if you saw someone working at their craft, do you think it is appropriate to interrupt if you are not a customer or a friend?
I understand what your getting at. I almost always try to feel out the conversation before I do anything. This is primarily so I do not intrude or begin talking about something that my character would have no interest in.
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I'd roleplay with you, Shadow Rogue. ;D
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Don't give up Shadow Rogue! Although I've almost never had the kind of experiences you've described, the few times I did, it was frustrating. I'd say just continue what you're doing until you find the right players to have fun with. It sounds to me that you're doing the right thing by at least waiting to see what's happening between some characters before jumping into the conversations. I can only guess that maybe the times you've been ignored, either the other players were new/not experienced, or for whatever reason, did not notice your character or thought their characters would ignore yours in the particular situation. A tell or something would have been nice of them if that was the case.
It's also a good idea to check the current descriptions too if you have a chance first. Some of us put anything currently notable about appearance at the top. I've many times been in the middle of a stressful rp situation only to have someone waltz up with a cheery greeting, completely out of place for most characters if they'd known what was going on first. In those situations, I always attempt to let the other player know the circumstances usually in my next line. For example; /me continues weeping, drawing knees upward toward her chest while hands cover her eyes and the stranger's greeting goes unnoticed. This, to me, is not a rebuff meaning your character should go away, but simply an invitation for the character to do what they may in that situation now that they know better what is occurring.
Like Rigwyn pointed out, I've all too often been too slow in typing a response only to have the other character disappear before I can hit the enter key. I have also come across situations where some appear to be talking on a private channel and ignored what was going on around them, or were so engrossed in training they never notice a hello. Just don't let it discourage you. Many seem to have their own ways of playing so just keep looking for ones you fit in with. I'm sure they're here from what you've described of your rp style.
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... been too slow in typing a response only to have the other character disappear before I can hit the enter key.
Recently I greeted someone and gave him an advice. He stood still, and I waited for a response ... waited ... waited ... and then said it will be his choice, and turned to the tavern.
Suddenly he replied how he hates that people leave before he replied.
It turned out that his hardware (touchpad) kept moving the focus away from the edit field so he had technical issues completing a sentence. Reasons can be incredible. Unreliable hardware will belong to the most annoying.
But people preferring to build up extremely elaborate sentences ("writing novels") exist as well. ;)
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My char loves to listen other people conversation when he hammers at the smith and make comment about it to himself out loud.
Well he's like that. It can drive to nice RP with them involving me (happy or not) in their chat or them ignoring me and i don't mind since i am intruding anyways ;D
So Like Dannae said, just give it a go and if not.. then so be it ! Jump to the next. Just the fact that you try will drive you to meet cool people and have nice fun RP.
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@Rigwyn
I'm not sure what you mean by *planned*, but plots and storylines - whether they happen naturally or due to some kind of player maipulation, are not necessary.
What I mean by planned is when you come across a group of characters that are all reacting to what one person is saying. This person is the ONLY one that moves the story forward almost as if the story has already been completed and is just now being unveiled to the audience. This single performer just ignores anything that is not directly inline with their planes while the rest is the audience is expected to simply react occasionally.
I'm a little late in commenting on this, but I had a few more thoughts on this:
It sounds like you are talking about "railroading".
It's not bad that some players tend to take the lead and others tend to play more passively and follow. This is normal. The railroading that you are describing can be quite off putting to some. My suggestion is to simply walk away from it if the player in question insists on doing this.
Any player is welcome to take the lead and start their own story, event, conflict, party, conversation, picnic, "krazy kran kra-kini kontest", "secret meeting of morally ambiguous minds with a hidden agenda" or whatever. ::| ;)
So what's "Rail Roading" ?
Its the act of trying to force a role play to follower a predetermined plan. To those who prefer free-style role play, it can be quite annoying, however; If players prefer to play this way, then that's their prerogative.
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Thank you all for your time and advice. You have done a good job at answering my long-standing, RP questions. Hopefully, I will have better success in my upcoming attempts to RP.