RP and power/strength/capability 'level' of participating characters

[Kaerli_Stronwylle]

So, it seems that there are some open questions as to just how powerful our characters should be from a RP standpoint...and some significant differences of opinion too, so I wanted to at least get a feel for where various folks were coming from.

[Illysia]

It probably depends on the scenario the character's are in. I doubt anyone wants someone who can't take rats going out on a hunt with them. And your expertise level in a trade might not have any bearing on combat skills.

[Zalya]

It really depends. I don't think it should ever go past high powered. But a char who can handle their own is fine. I personally favor the under powered, as it makes things more interesting. Charging someone head on in a tavern because you have the ability to fight is boring. But going around their backs and ruining their reputation? That is fun.

[Rigwyn]

But going around their backs and ruining their reputation? That is fun.

+1  <3

I didn't vote as there was no option that said "I don't care", or "It depends."

If you mean stats, then enough that I can conveniently carry whatever stuff I need and travel liberally without having to keep stopping and taking breaks along the way. Rolling a knight has satisfied this for the most part.  If I'm going to give stuff away, then I need at least one character for looting and generating tria.

It also depends on who you are playing with. If fellow role players have an expectation that you match trained skills with RP skills, then some training is needed to match the character.  I dislike this very much in PS for multiple reasons. I would rather just declare some reasonable stats and then just play with those without changing them. If increasing skills is a part of the rp ( ie. a long term quest or something) , then fine.

What is reasonable? Again, it depends on the character. I'm really not a fan of over powered characters because it leads to immature play and impossible scenarios - and immature players. I would rather play with someone who takes damage and accepts their character's weaknesses as to do so takes a certain level of maturity and detachment.

[Taya]

I'm also not going to vote.

I don't care about a character's abilities (unless I am working on an RP that requires someone with a specific skill or lack of skill in order for it to be realistic), what I care about is HOW the roleplayer handles the skills.

For example, if you want to RP as a high level master mage, that's fine. But if you walk up to me and type "/me waves his arms and causes Taya to die screaming in a giant fireball." I'm just going to sort of sit there and laugh at you. On the other hand, if you play a mage who you say is high level in everything, but then RP that the magic has affected his mind to the point where he's not in touch with the world, so often doesn't see if someone's about to stab him in the back, then this can be interesting (assuming of course that the RPer is mature enough to let those sneak attacks work and so on.)

Another point is that I don't think the power level is really all that relevant for 'normal' in town RPs. I could be playing as a master in a way, adept in others, who is also an excellent armour maker, blacksmith, cook, fist fighter, knife thrower, professional rivnak racer and... you'd never ever know - unless of course my character was inclined to wave these facts in your face every few minutes.

And that's the real point I think I want to make. Relying too heavily on what your characters skills are for RP can be boring and off-putting for others. On several occasions I've tried RPing a very weak or a very disadvantaged character only to have "oh just train until you can hunt trepors then you'll be fine" thrown in my face. And that's boring, since it's like saying "everyone can be powerful and kill things" whereas I like RP that accommodates characters of any ability.

[Volki]

I like to think characters that are obviously OP have retard strength and treat them as if they are mentally challenged.

[Chessire]

The thing is characters are not strong or weak, they have strengths and weaknesses that are subject to change. People who choose to play extremely strong characters all the time have a problem understanding this. If you go around playing "the strongest fighter" or "the best ranger" your character herself is an act of godmodding. You impose your character as stronger than anyone else and starting a RP on those terms is outright rude to the other players.

There are characters of weak, medium or even extreme strengths but these things are determined by the quality of one's roleplay. In my experience you can't really decide beforehand the strengths of your character, these things are determined by the people you meet. You may have people accept your character's strength but have it prooved he is not so smart in the end. If that happens you can't be like "no, he's smart too".
Just because game characters have a level it doesn't mean its normally like this. On the contrary, while roleplaying we have a chance to throw away all power levels and allow skilled swordsmen bite some dirt and clumsy youngsters make an improbable kill, all for the sake of an interesting story.

[LigH]

I believe the diversity is the most probable attribute of people you meet in a roleplay; but the distribution will have a peak at the average. Ask C.F. Gauss about it.

[tman]

I'm kind of confused by the question.  Is it asking what actual numerical stats the other character has, or what the player acts like the character's stats are?

[Gilrond]

I agree with others. Diversity and realism withing the settings are more important than any specific range of abilities and attributes.

[Roled]

I too did not vote, for an ingame reason and for what I think of as a meta-reason.
IG, the quality of the rp is what matters to me. IF for the purpose of the rp, the character says they "are" something, and something reasonable within the worldview of Yliakum, then ok by me.  "Stupid as a stone" in the character "eye"D matters not if the character is interesting, fully formed.  Two quick examples: Roled met a person- seemingly new, or maybe an alt- no stats.  However we had a fine, deep, surprising conversation, that forwarded RR's character by the questions she asked him.  Hopefully the same happened for the character he shared a meal with in Kada Els.  Second example, in the Gofis plot that seems to be having an inclusive and growing life of it's own, yeah!    one character says he's a certain rank, a certain job, attendant with the pomp and circumstance that position might afford.  OK by me! It's like live rp improv- believe it, say yes, carry forward, be real enough and stretch the story enough.

The meta observation, and I wonder how prevalent this is, is that since our numbers are woefully down, there are often times when the only things to do really are hunt, train, mine, craft, or talk on gossip.  Maybe we don't have a lot of time, and don't want to rp just to leave quickly and leave others in the learch.  Maybe we just got off a shootty day at work and are ooc crankypants.   Anyway, there are reasons to train and level that are ig and reasons that are ooc. For those of us whose characters are not interested in actual pvp fights (RR has only deliberately fought another character maybe 3 times in 5 years?) stats are simply insignificant.  It is seldom RR flaunts his actual stats magick skills ( altho recently for rp purposes he got annoyed enough to flaunt) because RR simply isn't interested in fighting and his player isn't interested in rps that revolve around pvp stat challenges.

That's idiosyncratic.  I am NOT saying that every player should hold the underlying value system and bias that I, and to a different extent Roled, hold- that is the freedom of this kind of mmorpg character development.  I am only saying that, for me as RR's player, stats are a personal player achievement, it's fun to cast heavy duty magick and take down vilenauts, but except for defense of the weak and stopping evils in their rp tracks (if pvp becomes involved) RR isn't interested in if he's stronger or weaker than you.

Long, thanks for the chance to be thoughtful about this.
 

[Sadie]

  Another non-vote here ...
  I am not a good RPer, though I do try. However, the stats and or skills of others has never occurred to me to be important unless we are hunting together, or something of this nature. I think what Gilrond said, "diversity and realism" are what makes RP interesting.

 

[Eonwind]

is it a sport not going to vote anymore? 
oh well I'll pick up all your vote rights and use them as I see fit 

[LigH]

So far, the result is quite normally distributed, with the expectable extreme troll vote.

[MishkaL1138]

I know who voted the last option: it wasn't me, and they weren't trolling. I'm just saying <w<