Duelers are good Roleplayers?

[zanzibar]

I don’t like labels, but people on this forum have said that the “duelers” in the game are among the best “roleplayers”.

From what I’ve seen, these are people who duel a lot and try to give it the appearance of roleplaying.  But the entire existence of each character seems completely occupied with who’s angry at who, who killed who, who’s better at fighting than who, who’s disrespecting who, and so on.  It’s empty, shallow, and annoying to be around.  And after a while it just gets redundant.  How many times can you start trouble with people before you get bored of it?  You’re basically just a troll who’s using Shakespearean English to disguise what you’re doing as meaningful and interesting when in truth it's neither.  You're just treating the game as an arcade game.  And maybe that's fine, but why pretend you're something you're not?

Of course, they aren't all like this, but is this supposed to be good roleplaying?


And yes, I see the irony in this post.

[Nurahk]

To take it to another level.

The Death Realm at this moment is incomplete, it is supposed to be much harder to escape than it is and so, taking death so lightly as to fight everybody you see is exploiting a weakness in the settings -> Development (Meaning that the process of development can only go so fast and so the setting is slightly compromised) which is, in itself, bad Roleplaying.

People who never duel, on the other hand, aren't that good Roleplayers either, unless they've come up with a reason (For instance, while in city declining a duel is acceptable because one would assume the guard would be watching).

[zanzibar]

There are a lot of OOC activities that people commonly engage in.  Camping spawn points is a powerful example.

For me though, there's just something obnoxious with the way people seem to put dueling on a pedestal.

[drah]

People have NOT said that duelers in general are among the best roleplayers in the game.

People have said that SOME of the duelers they know are among the best roleplayers that they know in Planeshift.

There is a difference... and I'm not sure whether you've intentionally done so or not... but you have taken things out of context and inferred things that weren't claimed or stated by anyone.

Also, the people that are saying this... are referring to the roleplaying of those people... AWAY FROM DUELS!!

It seems that you've taken a statement out of context... and have misunderstood what people were referring to when they mentioned roleplaying.

Also Zanzibar... It may seem "obnoxious" to you... but it's really really simple...

People enjoy dueling because it's fun and it uses player-skill which can make it more exciting. - People aren't trying to put duelers on a pedestal, but many were wanting to resist change in a part of the game they find fun.. and so were very vocal in that other thread.

[Nurahk]

Also, the people that are saying this... are referring to the roleplaying of those people... AWAY FROM DUELS!!

As much as I enjoy roleplaying with "duelers" as you say.  One should always be incharacter and, we are disputing about whether or not dueling to such a large degree is good or bad roleplay.
Granted, this thread can turn into a flame war (knowing these forums that means it will) but, I much rather hear everybodies opinions.
So, no attacks and try not to be too defensive.

[zanzibar]

Drah, let's say that everything you're saying is true.  That still leaves much of what I said untouched.  I see these people roleplaying with a particular pattern and focus.  I'm commenting not just on what other people have said, but also on what I've seen.

[drah]

"From what I’ve seen, these are people who duel a lot and try to give it the appearance of roleplaying." - I've covered that.

"But the entire existence of each character seems completely occupied with who’s angry at who, who killed who, who’s better at fighting than who, who’s disrespecting who, and so on." - Ohhh... you mean all the reasons that would cause a situation to escalate into physical violence?  Yes.. reasoning that fits the behavior observed... is so shallow isn't it?!!

"And after a while it just gets redundant.  How many times can you start trouble with people before you get bored of it?  You’re basically just a troll who’s using Shakespearean English to disguise what you’re doing as meaningful and interesting when in truth it's neither." -- Yes, much more realistic is a world full of polite people who are all civilized!!!... it's not like we have shallow-minded thugs, idiots and bullies in the real world is it?!?

"You're just treating the game as an arcade game." - If that were true we wouldn't even speak to people, that in itself refutes this false statement.

"Of course, they aren't all like this, but is this supposed to be good roleplaying?" - Depends on the character, if the character is supposed to volatile and itching for violence... then it is good roleplaying.  If the person is supposed to be a level-headed priest... then it's bad roleplaying. To call it bad roleplaying regardless of this factor doesn't make much sense... If they act the way their character is supposed to behave... it's good roleplaying. -- It does sound like you are just trying to pin a "Bad-RP" label on the majority of those who like dueling.

[Nurahk]

Drah, I respect you, but you are avoiding the issue.

Is the amount of duels that these "duelers" participate in too much for good RP?

[zanzibar]

There's a lot in between everyone smiling and being nice to one another and everyone swearing at eachother and dueling each other.  More to the point though, we're talking about killing people.  Do you realize how messed up a personality you have to have in order to do something like that?  It's way past just being "volatile".

Ohhh... you mean all the reasons that would cause a situation to escalate into physical violence?  Yes.. reasoning that fits the behavior observed... is so shallow isn't it?!!

When it is crude and artificial, then yes drah, it is shallow.

[drah]

Well, in the YWL we get around the issue by treating a game-mechanics death as an injury to the point that the injured person can no longer fight. -- This at least allows us to have full duels without RP repercussions.

As for the amount of duels these people participate in outside of the league.. and their effect on RP... well... I'm yet to know of a particular instance where a dueler came along and spoiled an RP, so... to be honest... I guess I don't have the experience to comment on that particular point.

[zanzibar]

We've already established that you and I have different ideas of what it means for the roleplaying atmosphere to be spoiled, so...

[Sangwa]

Dueling is as fun to me as crafting. Too many duelists make duels seem something boring and vulgar to me. Normally people would brawl, fight in groups and mug. You don't brawl with weapons though, and group fights and mugging usually involve more than two people fighting at the same time, not one person figthing at a time. This doesn't usually happen, from what I've witnessed.

But pointless duels aren't just the worst part. The worst part are pointless wars. Creating good and evil out of nowhere just so people can fight on a big fancy war. It's dumb and steals the ambience of a setting that should have midly intelectual beings, not war mongrels (like it happens on hack n slashes.)

And if the new PvP makes people less inclined to PvP because it depends on their characters more... Great! Go away. I don't like any of you. 

Duelists some times spoil RP when you're standing on the Plaza and they are picking fights there. They don't even know they're in a city, let alone in a plaza with guards nearby that would quickly put an end to any kind of bloodshed and disorder.

[emeraldfool]

I find duelists annoying. The amount of times people have stood in front of Harnquist spamming me with duel requests because my character insulted them... Usually at the most interesting parts of the RP. Once this one guy was doing this, and alternating between shout "click accept" and "you COWARD!"  while my character was obviously hallucinating, even when somebody else kept saying "Look, he can't hear or see you, what the heck are you doing?"


My point is, there are hundreds of far more interesting ways to resolve conflict in an RP than /challenge, and personally I find it very difficult to RP mid-duel.
Personally I find it far more satisfying to outsmart an opponent than kill them...

[bilbous]

Cyrano de Bergerac, the Three Musketeers, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp ... Need I say more?

[emeraldfool]

Cyrano de Bergerac, the Three Musketeers, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp ... Need I say more?

The way PS works, you can't have witty dialog in a duel like the Three Musketeers...

It's just whacking and dodging.