Consistency in roleplay?

[Stormay]

I feel like the bigger issue is that in my entire time of playing since I started back (over 24 hours in game) I have seen a total of 2 people. I am not really complaining though, it is summer and I have been at all the noob places, so I doubted I would see anyone at all.

[Boris]

As talked above, it simply goes further than being banana and then being a grape. First you learn English, then you learn RP. That's the case for numerous players that play even now. First you develop a proper vocabulary (this part can take years and years) and then you educate yourself on what RP really is. To many it's simply "saying *smiles* instead of XD" and I'd say a large majority of players do not play a made up character, they simply play the game as themselves.... and that's okay! When I started playing pen&paper, I was playing every character the same as well.

Kat, if the issue is really close to your heart, I'll give you the keys to RP school. Instead of complaining about it, you can actually do something about it.

- Boris

[Mike]

as for backing yourself into a roleplay corner... that sucks, done that many times and NOT ONCE have I skimped out of the roleplay for some halfassed "what I want for fun" thing, that's trash roleplay. i even had a character that HAD to become a murderer because of the way in which current guild alignments were during the time, did I want to hell no... but the character is more about honor and for them to say fuggit would be ENTIRELY BAD ROLEPLAY... so I didn't do it because IT WOULD BE BAD ROLEPLAY

I've got tons of stories about how great I am too, next time I start having caps lock level issues I'll let people know about them too. See you in game, bro.

[Raemonn]

It's hard to maintain "consistency" because the metagame interferes with the game in subtle ways. Case in point:

1) PvP/Robbing
2) Transactions
3) The Status Quo ("The" for added dramatic effect)


Roleplaying (i.e. literally "playing the role") of a, for example death-worshipping knight is made harder, though not impossible, because I - the player of Raemonn rather than the character - will have to adhere to metagamerules. If I would play the character straight, I would attack players yelling, possibly a macro, something along the lines of "DEATH IS FREEDOM! Dennac shall free you from your mortal bounds!" Actually doing this would get me jailed/ban-wiped faster than yelling Sieg Heil in Jeruzalem.

Transactions, same issue in a different way. I place a message on these fine boards that I want to buy something, someone contacts me via ICQ, we meet IG. That's already metagaming in a strict sense, and thus not really consistent roleplay. Consistent roleplay would mean actually finding someone, and exclusively contacting this person within the game itself.

And, of course, the Status Quo. Whatever happens, things more or less will stay the same. A town may change guards, a new Cabal might rise to force Law/Imperial actually upholding law and liberty, et cetera ad infinitum. In a more practical sense, nothing really changes. Towns do not get deserted/abandoned, Britain is not yet a sprawling metropolis, no religion has been permanently defeated, et cetera ad infinitum.

Is all of this bad? Hell no. I'm not dissing anything or anyone here. The point of my babbling is that I, essentially, agree with Boris. "Pure" roleplay is nigh impossible due to the restrictions of the game and the metagame, as well as different levels of skill at roleplay. Personally, I am already happy to see people try. Especially newbies. In fact, and to conclude, I often "broke" consistency of my own character in order to help newbies out. I might have been a psychotic robber wish a shweet Shcottish acshcent, who "technically" should not have cared. But hey, I rather help newbies out in the early game in the hope of 'em sticking around, than maintain consistency for the sake of consistency.

[Boris]

Nevertheless pointing fingers is useless.

"My RP is better than yours" is like hanging at Brit Bank in full auros and indies, laughing at newbies in their leathers.

- Boris

[Raemonn]

My roleplay brings all the Charha's to the yard. Damn right, it's better than yours.

[Meghana Arroway]

As for the point of Kat's thread, I think we all got it. Pangaea is not alone with this problem.

Perhaps more RP events? For the newbies, for the vets. For everyone. Not necessarily a hunting trip, or a dragon attack. Just... RP!

The more people do it, the better they get the hang of it, and see the fun of it.

[Boris]

And it's good to keep in mind, you don't need us (the staff) to pull out a RP event. Surely we can help with decorating and whatnot - but eventually the players have the keys for success.

- Boris

[Kat Asherstone]

As talked above, it simply goes further than being banana and then being a grape. First you learn English, then you learn RP. That's the case for numerous players that play even now. First you develop a proper vocabulary (this part can take years and years) and then you educate yourself on what RP really is. To many it's simply "saying *smiles* instead of XD" and I'd say a large majority of players do not play a made up character, they simply play the game as themselves.... and that's okay! When I started playing pen&paper, I was playing every character the same as well.

Kat, if the issue is really close to your heart, I'll give you the keys to RP school. Instead of complaining about it, you can actually do something about it.

- Boris

Hand them suckers over, anyone that wants to refine their personal rp I'm more than happy to help, a refined character is a good character is a happy player.

[Kat Asherstone]

And it's good to keep in mind, you don't need us (the staff) to pull out a RP event. Surely we can help with decorating and whatnot - but eventually the players have the keys for success.

- Boris

So many times staff isn't around, I wish we had the "seer" position like OSI did as a person who's only role is to just run around making quests and stuff