RPing Planeshift: How to "Enforce" it

[Cha0s]

Please note that these suggestions apply to when Planeshift is officially released (not alpha, beta, etc.) as they are impractical at this time.

The simple method for enforcing RP in Planeshift is to make RP the only method of advancing in the game with any sort of rapidity.
\"How is this possible?\" you ask. Well, it\'s simple really. Killing things doesn\'t give you much in the way of progression points or loot. The only way to get PPs and loot is to do built-in quests and GM-run quests.
\"GM-run quests? We can\'t do that. There aren\'t enough people for that, and the GMs are just supposed to be like police anyway.\" Well, you know what? That needs to change. There need to be more GMs and they need to be given the tools and the time to run quests and events for players. This encourages RP and rewards players for RPing by allowing them to advance their characters. Remember the origin of the \"Game Master\" (or \"Dungeon Master\")... This is what my Dungeon Master friend stated it as: \"A Dungeon Master creates and runs a world for his players.\"
Game Masters should be involved in helping the players discover the world and helping them roleplay.

I have played games that use this system and it really works. There is very little OOC/Power-leveling and what little there is is easily dealt with by the DMs. Now, granted, I was involved with this on a smaller scale (20-player server), but the world was much larger than in PS and there were fewer DMs. I believe that such a system could be extended to PS and that it would be beneficial for all roleplayers if it were. Obviously there would be slight changes to incorporate the differences between these two different types of games, but the general concept should stay the same.

Anyway, sorry for the loooong post. Any comments anyone?

[Ralas]

Originally posted by Cha0s
The simple method for enforcing RP in Planeshift is to make RP the only method of advancing in the game with any sort of rapidity.

I think this is a great idea.  I admit to spending probably too much time killing things and leveling up, even though this is not exactly in my character\'s nature.  I do it because it\'s fun, and because I can\'t always find people with whom to RP.  But a system like you suggested would solve this, and my character wouldn\'t have to do something with which he\'s not really comfortable just so that I can have a few hours of entertainment.

[Cha0s]

Thanks. Also, if a system like this were implemented, there would be more RPers and therefore less boredom/urge to go kill things (which would be worthless anyway ). So the system not only encourages RP, but also makes it easier.

One other thing that I forgot to mention before is that this system will also probably make things funner for GMs as well since they would have to set up and run events where they get to RP as well (by possessing NPCs usually). This sort of interaction is beneficial to everyone in the community really, except the non-RPers, who don\'t belong anyway.

EDIT: too many smilies

[keifer]

Great idea! I really like the idea of a GM quest feature, it would make it more fun for the normal players, and it would probably be a _lot_ more fun for the GM.

I would probably suggest adding in a screen when creating a charector, that explains how to role play. I know that there are alot of such guides on the forums, but, there is probably a sizeable chunk of players who haven\'t been on the forums enough to find those posts. I know i just found them, erm, today. :\\

[Cha0s]

Good idea. An explanation of the general rules of RP, what\'s expected on the server, etc. should be incorporated. It would probably be better in some sort of tutorial, though, as most people are likely to skip large bodies of text that stand between them and the game.

[zanzibar]

Bad idea.  I think there should be a ballance between the two.  Quests should be a major source of advancement, but fighting monsters must also provide experience.  The goal should be to find the right ballance between the two.



Also, you should be able to gain experience without spending money.  With training, you just advance at a quicker rate.

[Cha0s]

But with that setup, power-levelers could just go out and kill things for experience and completely ignore quests and GM events since they\'d be advancing at the same rate as the RPers anyway. The goal is to make players unable to advance in the game without RPing. The reason for this is that Planeshift is about roleplay, not power-leveling.

[wormking]

Ok idea, GM quests and stuff like that is a good idea. But you should always be able to get experience from fighting things, it would just be much slower then quests and stuff. Like it could work like this: if someone just went down to the sewers and killed a rat then he would get 5 experience, but if someone was doing a quest to get rid of the rats in the sewers then he would get 25 experience. (obviously those aren\'t actually numbers that should be used, they were just an example) So doing quests would get you experience MUCH faster.

[John_Thazer]

Hm...nice idea...I am quite sick of GMs doing nothing but standing one one place banning random people Perhaps they will be actually useful now?

[Cha0s]

@ wormking: Exactly. Though it works better when taken to extremes as it is on the NWN server I play on. For example, on that server, the first quest is worth 75 or 100 XP (I forget which). Killing the bats in the cave where the quest is gives you about a total of 10 XP (1 XP each). Huge discrepancy.

The key thing is to make it impossible for people to gain levels faster by killing things than by RPing, even if they put in more time. That way power-levelers just get sick of the game and leave while the RPers have a lot of fun and stay.

@ John_Thazer: Yup. The GMs probably are bored too, you know.

[zanzibar]

Originally posted by Cha0s
But with that setup, power-levelers could just go out and kill things for experience and completely ignore quests and GM events since they\'d be advancing at the same rate as the RPers anyway. The goal is to make players unable to advance in the game without RPing. The reason for this is that Planeshift is about roleplay, not power-leveling.

I said ballance.  I did not say they had to be equal.


Let people advance through monster killing.  Just make it so that quests are more desireable.

[zanzibar]

Here\'s the biggest single reason your idea is wrong:

It lacks realism.

[Cha0s]

So you\'re telling me that killing the same creatures over and over again teaches you more than doing a plethora of different quests that incorporate said creature-killing in addition to other things, such as puzzle-solving, teamwork, and resource-management?

If Planeshift gets the advanced GM-event system I\'m talking about here, then these things will be parts of quests all over Yliakum. There\'ll be a default set, sure. But there\'ll also be quests created by GMs to challenge and inspire players. You\'re trying to tell me that killing monolithic hordes of creatures teaches you more?

I just don\'t buy it. You learn the most by having a variety of different experiences, not repeating the same thing over and over.

[hitancrias]

I don\'t think it\'s a good idea. A GM is not a DM. I think it\'s better if they stay at the sideline to watch if everyone behaves okay and to monitor the help-channel. If players have to decide if people role play good enough to earn a quest reward, it\'s just a matter of time till things go wrong. By the way, it would be very boring to role play the standard quest situation over and over, that\'s better left to npcs.

I think player made quest are good as long as they are the result of a need. Not as a mean to \'enforce roleplay\'. If a warrior guild asks a couple of smiths to forge them some weapons, it\'s way better then a GM giving out \'official quests\'.

[Cha0s]

*sigh* I need to explain this better... GMs are not currently DMs. But they could be made into DMs. I\'m sure they\'re probably bored out of their wits as it is now, and this would provide a way for them to have a little fun as well.

Also, the GMs would not \"hand out\" \"official\" quests. The GMs would possess/create an NPC and cause the quest to just happen in a normal way. There\'d be no \"You\'ve got a new quest!\" message. Players would just flow naturally right into the quest.

Example: Harnquist runs up to a bunch of players standing around in the Plaza: \"Some rascal has stolen my forging hammer! I can\'t forge anything without it and I can\'t run fast enough to catch him. Can you go get it back for me? He ran towards the sewers...\" etc.

The GMs would then award XP if the players successfully completed the quest or if they declined for RP reasons they might also get a (much smaller) reward for good RP. If they took the quest, they\'d get XP based on how well they did. Good RP during the quest would warrant a greater reward. GMs could also hand out items under RP circumstances, i.e. in the above example, Harnquist might give each PC a special sword for helping out.