Role Playng in PS

[blubasso]

The first time i entered in Hydlaa Plaza i remained freeze for several minutes to try to understand the graphic interface. An explanation is good but you must handle it \"on the field\" to use it at best. In the meaningwhile i refused 3257 challenge requests. None come near me to say:\"hey man, are you a newcomer?\" Then i started to move me to search something not so definited but just to move me! No money and no weapons... so i started to explore the city and i discovered the sewers and the tavern (plus a magical shop non opened, yet). Tavern empty and sewers full of people that run and run and run and such strange monster filled with tattoo everywhere that killed me the first time i asked them \"Sorry Mr: what time is...\" SLASH!!!
I think the Gili\'s idea to spawn the first time the newcomers closer to the Tavern is a very good idea because it\'s natural to enter inside it and ask the barman or the people inside it infos about Yliakum world. It\'s the most logical stuff a newcomer think to do...
Neither me i RP at 100% because you could do some \"service communications\" and we cannot think to RP maybe for 4 hours without ask for a pause... so for me is a 95-98% RP and the rest...no

Stefano

[Neocuda]

I completely disagree on moving the spawn point to the tavern. The first time I fired up this game (over a year ago) I very much enjoyed exploring the area and finding the tavern tucked away in a corner. This is part of what makes the adventure fun. Finding things.

Next thing, people are going to be asking for teleporters so they don\'t have to waste time going anywhere.

I remember how it was in the MB version. Almost constant greetings being fired out. Shouted discussions always rolling. Role playing in the Temple was almost always assured. And if it was too busy there, people would spill off into the tavern for more RP fun.

The difference experienced in the CB version is almost chilling. Rarely do people greet each other. No open air discussions occur any more. I remember only once, I stumbled into the tavern and there where some RPers  hanging out.

And about all that I hear in the air are the sounds of the leaches, sponges and PLs trying to get what ever they can out of you. And then there\'s all the noobs running around asking everyone how to play the game because they are too lazy to read the manual but will read it if you type it all out on screen for them. Not like they didn\'t exist in MB but when you increase the user base by at least ten times....

I think they should make it so hard to level that no one would want to. Then the RP would come back more.

[Nimfis Altmer]

Now that i think about it im starting to agree with neocuda..Finding new places is what makes this game a fun adventure..

[Kaseijin]

plaza makes very much sense as a spawning point when you come to a new town ...the first place you walk to is the center of the town and then you begin where to next

now if your character is a drunk....well...then a tavern would be a good place

plus if the spawning point was in the tavern the place would lose a lot of it charm as there would be too many people poping up...

[Ashamn]

Originally posted by Neocuda
Shouted discussions always rolling.

Omg so good memories..

[Neocuda]

Originally posted by Kaseijin
plus if the spawning point was in the tavern the place would lose a lot of it charm as there would be too many people poping up...

Yes. It would get way too crowded in and around the tavern. The plaza has lots of room for the crowd to spread out.

[Nimfis Altmer]

Yea the plaza is the only sensible place to spawn if you think about it... I mean who would want to spawn in the sewers :-P   lol im jp....

[blubasso]

\"plus if the spawning point was in the tavern the place would lose a lot of it charm as there would be too many people poping up... \"

No, not IN the Tavern but NEAR the Tavern to give the char a choyce

[Nimfis Altmer]

Originally posted by blubasso
\"plus if the spawning point was in the tavern the place would lose a lot of it charm as there would be too many people poping up... \"

\"NEAR the Tavern\"

Yea thats good except if all those people start poping down they would obviously head to the tavern thinking it might be a store of some type..Besides i woulnt want to look out the door just see find out its raining Dwarves and diabolis! Good thinking but...I think we should leave it the way it is

[Iurisdictio]

I tried reading all the posts in detail, but eventually it all blurred in my head as arguments about who are right and who are not.
No offence to anyone who posted so far, that\'s just the way my mind works.

First of all, I am fairly new to roleplaying.
My first \'rpg\' I finished (4 times) was Star Wars Knights Of the Old republic. Some of the die-hard roleplayers might stop reading right here, but bear with me. I had to start somewhere. (mind you I still like those kind of seek-and-destroy-rpg\'s)
I had a go at Morrowind as well, but I ended up emptying every crate/barrel/empty room/whatever I could find. I needed the money to finance my trainings so I could fence off the next troublesome creature or assasin (I love black so my first assassin assassination got me a nice suit ). In my experience the game had a low momentum, slow pace if you will, due to the holdups caused by endless training/credit gaining.
My first mmorpg was Project-Entropia, not a good example of role-playing in my experience, but others may disagree.

U still with me so far? Thanks. You do not know me (yet) and I need you to understand my frame of reference.

Ok here comes the good/bad part...
What really got me started on Planeshift is the way you talk to Non Player Characters. In adventures a system of pre-defined questiom -> pre-defined answer is nice, you already have enough puzzles to work out, or laugter to surpress in the case of LucasArts adventures.
This system has alway been a big turn-off for me in rpg\'s. It\'s like reading a chapter, where you can select the sequence of the paragraphs.

The style in Planeshift differs in the fact, that you have no pre-defined questions. Yes of course you have rules. You cannot expect a game-developer inventing an ai with impeccable feeling for grammar (even faulty grammar like mine) as well as developing a playable mmorpg. (To appreciate the problems of how to get an ai to respond to you like a human being would, try to read up on grammar-check programs or translation programs. Mind you those programs don\'t have to cope with slang and leet/1337)

Having to think about the question you should pose to get more information out of the NPC you are talking to instantly gives you a more immersive \'feeling\'/experience. You really have to read what he says, so you can spot clues for further lines of inquiry.
Now it becomes more fun to walk up any NPC and start talking away. Hey, wait up there are also characters walking around with Green names, maybe they have something to say as well, or these characters are interrested in the same NPC as me (seeing as you spend more time talking to NPC\'s you meet more people who talk to the same NPC)

I don\'t know what the developers are capable of and/or what their plans are, but when a NPC reacts differently to various characteristics of Player Character like they do in e.g. Morrowind (The more the are alligned with you or like you the more information they are willing to share *), you get an even better feel for your character.

I think the real roleplayers out there who need a nudge would benefit from talking to NPC\'s. It got me more into the game than any other feature/person in game so far. (I have to give credit to Elscha for being very kind in game. Not in a rpg way but as gamer to gamer or as I prefer to say, person to person)

* a small note on this : You can have several NPC\'s with similar quests and bonusses for different types of players. So an \'evil\' player takes on the quest from an \'evil\' NPC and a \'good\' player would get to do a similar one for a \'good\' side NPC. Receiving their respective bonusses, being a \'good\', \'bad\', or neutral bonus. Thus leaving a balance between good and evil.




Man, oh, man the ramblings I can churn out with 2 hours of sleep and a tough day at work... Let me know what you think people, pro\'s and con\'s, just don\'t flame me wildly... I can\'t get enough sleep as it is...

[jorrit]

Originally posted by Nimfis Altmer
Yea the plaza is the only sensible place to spawn if you think about it... I mean who would want to spawn in the sewers :-P   lol im jp....

Actually we do plan multiple race dependend spawn points. For example, akkaio is another good spot for spawning.

Greetings,

[Nimfis Altmer]

I see...I guess i take that back then )

[Gilibran]

I said \"in front\" of the tavern not \"in\" the tavern   Laanx help us

I agree that a large portion of the fun should be and is  exploring. But this isn\'t so much about exploring as it is about how to get people to roleplay more, and I think that\'s a responsibility of both the newcomers and the more experienced players. And that the more experienced players have some obligation to teach the newcomers.

@kaseijin, I think it\'s not logicall to first go to the plaza and then see where you go next

If you enter a city in a world like this you have to pass the guards first so they are the first people you speak to or can ask where the best place to be is for a meal and a drink.
And i doubt they will sent you to the plaza. They will more likely send you to the tavern of wich the owner pays them the most to send travelers to his Tavern. It\'s not on a travelers mind after a days walk to go sightseeing. A good meal, and a drink some local storytelling by the fireplace perhaps if they still feel up to it,  followed by a good nights rest. To start fresh in the morning discovering/exploring the city.

That\'s why i brought up the idea to have the first spawning point in front of the Tavern. Not to overflood it with visitors, but to give the newcomers a little hold and something familiar, because i think i can safely say that 95% of all adventuring starts in a tavern, so why not the possiblity to start exploring a whole new world.

[Nimfis Altmer]

IM very conflickted between to arguments  8o  8o  Well i guess ill just agree to disagreewatever that means.....

[buddha]

Well, for the tavern idea...

Why not multiple taverns owned by players?   At some point I imagine they are going to implement guild homes, so players can have \"property\". Then merchants will have \"storefronts\".  That will be awesome.

For now, there is no reason why we can\'t hold our conversations in a corner near the square, that allows new people to wander up.  It\'s not like we really need chairs...

It\'s really up to us to set the mood.