What do you seek, and what did you find?

[Cairn]

The more and more I play planeshift, (it's drawing on 7 years, some of you are quite older than this even.), the more and more I find my RP and RP goal changing, for the good [I presume]. In essence when I first started, I was focused on single-character driven roleplay, assuming the hero mantle, epic dueling, etc. and these are all quite nice, and can be easy given the fantasy atmosphere and tremendous lore you can work with.
Within a few years though I had begun work on what I felt were massive tapestries, multiple characters and split or weaved plots, some lasting up to a year or more IRL. These I thought to be more challenging and would earn me a more deserved spot in a pantheon, per se, of 'great' roleplayers.
However coming back to PlaneShift as it is and in my current state of mind has put a new perspective in me.
Both of the goals I ascertained to were noble, and well, but both were aimed to improve, well, me. Some of the greatest forumers and members of this community have been selfless enough to produce simple, yet incredibly well-made characters that improve the ingame community as well as the experience of the game itself.
So, my new perspective is just that, and includes my challenge to you: Roleplay for and with others. You are given a character to develop yourself, but you cannot 'force' its development I feel. It should evolve as you as human would evolve when placed into these situations; The world develops you, your interactions develop you!
Too often I have seen and been guilty of forcing my character into a rut because that is the way I want him/her/kra to be, and I will not deviate even under extraordinary circumstances. I do not wish that upon people. Yliakum is a fair semblance of a pulsating world, and within that you should take into account the actions of others and the effect it has on the small story you created for your character before it was plopped into Hydlaa.

That being said, I want to ask you all,

When you first started, what did you aspire to? Did you find it? And if so, what's your next goal?

[LigH]

When I started in September 2005, I was curious about my very first MMORPG at all, after playing only little in this genre, just got to know the "Gothic" series. So I was just a little used to the concept of NPCs with a basic kind of "mood" and the importance to carefully chose either polite or rude conversion.

My start was surprisingly easy. I took my time to losten to people, approached politely, tried to be IC (without really knowing this concept even). It took me a while to understand that my main goal here was to develop a character especially regarding its character.

When I posted a story made up from my character creation details, I already hoped to be able to obtain a house and make herbal potions. Well, the first part was possible via the guild I joined due to roleplaying with important people; the second part is becoming implemented "soon™"...

[Rigwyn]

when I started in November of 2007, I was accustomed to single player RPGs. My idea of role playing was God Modding people on yahoo chat. I had always wanted to play a multi player RPG, and this was my first chance.

What I found was that people just trained and joined guilds which were nothing more than groups of players who trained.... and trained.... and trained...

I grew bored and was about to leave the game. I saw people were complaining about role playing on the forums and really wanted to give it a try, but I had no clue where these role players were. Anyone I tried to role play with was like, "oh, that. Yeah, I don't do that stuff, later dude."

Finally I looked on the guilds section and found two role playing guilds that appealed to me. I tried to see which dark empire member were on. I goofed and typed in "who dark'  in main without the forward slash. FAIL!  Knowing how stupid that looked, I wandered away from that spot and went up the steps towards the north gate.

Oddly, a fenki named kaisa started to talk to me in character. Who was this person? I continued the dialog which lead to a game of cards ( crystal facets ) in kada el's and a challenge to do some dirty work. She pointed me to a weapon smith and challenged me to pick pocked him as he slept!  Before long, I was in The Outlaws!

What I seek now, are opportunities to create immersive role plays  that players of all types can enjoy and participate in. I like to write, so for me, this also serves as a venue for writing. At the moment, I'm taking a short break from rp to focus on other things, but will definitely return.... and hopefully with a bang!

I should add, my next goal is to run a more high fantasy style event - something less evil, and more magical.

[Cairn]

Hah! Kaisa was good stuff. 

LigH, I have always enjoyed roleplaying with your characters - and you are correct about the simple choice between polite and rude, it can have a huge impact on every facet of your character and the reaction to it. Probably moreso than appearance, even.

[Vilthis Trayus]

Kaisa was the person that kick started my RPing when i joined in 2009. He played a mentor role through a char called Giroum Duphra.

I started of with this game with some experiences in role playing with some table top games. I had a read of the settings in planeshift and what really drew me into the background was the religion, particularly Dakkru and the sort of struggle against the an insidious force that seeks to corrupt the natural order of things (Blackflame). I never really found any meaningful ways to push my story forward since alot of 'Dakkruist' aren't really orthodox to playing their worship as per the 6 truths, 6 falsehoods and most importantly the 4 revelations.

I ended up taking a break from the game and then returning again recently to see how I can try revive this directiong I'd like to take as a detective noir, inquisition business sort of story line. I've given some attempts writing my ideas here.

http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=37059.msg421416#msg421416

[Cairn]

I agree, Vilthis, many players who claim "dakkruist" do not realize the religion behind it. Of course this is true of many players, which is why there should be some sort of drawable bank of knowledge to draw on when creating your character 

[Rigwyn]

I never really found any meaningful ways to push my story forward since alot of 'Dakkruist' aren't really orthodox to playing their worship as per the 6 truths, 6 falsehoods and most importantly the 4 revelations.

Of course this is true of many players, which is why there should be some sort of drawable bank of knowledge to draw on when creating your character

This, in my opinion, is something that guilds should provide. When I joined the Outlaws, existing players in that guild taught me *how* to play a criminal. That included giving me a copy of the law so I could learn what is illegal from an IC perspective. They also set good examples, such as planning crimes from an IC perspective and playing out their character's consequences.  A good Dakkruist guild could provide the new player with such information and support. It would be nice if there were more *solid* rp guilds that did this sort of thing.

[Cairn]

 
Seek and ye shall find. Give me about one more day.

[Aramara Meibi]

A good Dakkruist guild could provide the new player with such information and support. It would be nice if there were more *solid* rp guilds that did this sort of thing.

if only.

[Rigwyn]

A good Dakkruist guild could provide the new player with such information and support. It would be nice if there were more *solid* rp guilds that did this sort of thing.

if only.

?

I'm not suggesting in any way that DeaD doesn't ... I just don't know much about DeaD aside from its leader ... but if I were to roll a new Dakkruist, DeaD would be one of the first guilds I would check out. 

[Cairn]

See: Sempetor