Roleplay and Why You "Hate" it

[grimjim]

Because that's the way I like playing it.
It's like saying "why eat christmas pudding at all if you're not going to put brandy sauce on it ?", because I like it with clotted cream. As I said, everyone's different. You'll never understand why I enjoy what I do any more than I'll understand your perspective so it's pointless even trying, best to just accept that everyone's idea of fun is different.
I'm a target orientated person, if I don't have a target to reach then I get bored, I get a sense of achievement from advancing through the levels, and the guild events are also fun - I was introduced to "Yuboball" this week and that was hysterical.

Not really.
It's like trying to eat Christmas pudding despite having a nut allergy and nuts being an essential and integral ingredient in Christmas pudding.

I can accept that people's ideas of fun are different, provided they don't impose, but RP region chat - or anywhere else - doesn't impose in the same manner, say, a PvPer can impose their style of play.

Given the names of the games are Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, roleplaying would tend to be somewhat indicated.

Unfortunately it seems like in the medium of CRPGs role-playing has come to mean 'experience point progression' rather than actual roleplaying. Damn shame

[hmclee]

Everyone is involved in roleplay to some extent whether you talk "roleplay " in region, around, or guild chat or not. It is a matter of personal preference, I believe. If one person chooses to roleplay one way and another chooses to do it another way, what is wrong with that? The assumption that because a player doesn't want to be involved in the "language" roleplay that they aren't roleplaying their character in the world around them is a fallacy.

What I find disheartening about any topic on this forum, is the super imposing of some on the ideas, thoughts, opinions on others with their own as if they have an inherent right to destroy, flame or harass others who don't and won't think like them. If the world or Atys was made up of all those who thought alike only, then both would be a dull. boring place, indeed.

If you express another opinion, another point of view, another idea, another thought on this forum, you get flamed with a barrage of reasons why you should think, act and be like them, whoever "they" are, which is why most people don't post here. An opinion, imho, is presented as a reasoned argument, without personailzation, for a position and should not be an attack on the thoughts, ideas and opinions of others. A disagreement with another's opinion, idea or thought should be presented in the same way.

These are my opinions, they don't have to be yours. No offense is intended and my apologies in advance if any taken.

[iwojimmy]

.....
What I find disheartening about any topic on this forum, is the super imposing of some on the ideas, thoughts, opinions on others with their own as if they have an inherent right to destroy, flame or harass others who don't and won't think like them. If the world or Atys was made up of all those who thought alike only, then both would be a dull. boring place, indeed.

......

But I roleplay a Matis, and our ideas are always better than everyone elses

[mugendo]

Roleplay is percieved as 'Geek' gaming by a lot of 'normal' people who play online games....of course a lot of these same people never take on the persona of thier character........
How many times have I heard of the achievements of 'normal' gamers when THEY are MASTER SARGEANT in Battlefield 2,
THEY are JEDI MASTERS in starwarsgalaxies,
THEY are FEARED AND RESPECTED in world of warcraft...

...and it is nice to know THEY have their grasp of reality and fantasy firmly in place as they walk away from me ......WEARING THEIR FOOTBALL SHIRT BEARING 'THEIR' NAME.....BECKHAM.

[qatzer]

Roleplay is percieved as 'Geek' gaming by a lot of 'normal' people who play online games....of course a lot of these same people never take on the persona of thier character........
How many times have I heard of the achievements of 'normal' gamers when THEY are MASTER SARGEANT in Battlefield 2,
THEY are JEDI MASTERS in starwarsgalaxies,
THEY are FEARED AND RESPECTED in world of warcraft...

...and it is nice to know THEY have their grasp of reality and fantasy firmly in place as they walk away from me ......WEARING THEIR FOOTBALL SHIRT BEARING 'THEIR' NAME.....BECKHAM.

I'm glad you said "a lot of these same people" and not "these same people".

I've never worn such a football shirt in my life and never will cos I'd feel just as daft as I would if I started trying to speak "in character" Besides which, I hate football, but that's another issue ....

Although I guess those that do would point out that they are showing their support for that person, not trying to "be" them, and therefore the 2 things are completely different and incomparable.

As far as the in-game declaration of reaching targets go, there are 2 ways of looking at that depending on your perception of it. When I say "yay, lvl 100 elemental" it's because "I" have hit that target, my character is nothing more than a mouse pointer used to carry out the actions. When I log in and say hello to the guild, it's me saying hello, just the same as it would be if I was speaking to them via a chatroom, the clump of pixels in front of me is irrelevant. To the RPer, "I" means their character, because their viewpoint is totally different, and when they type "hello" it's their character talking.

I think trying to imply someone else has a certain grasp (or lack) of fantasy and reality is unwise, none of us know what's going on inside anyone elses head, and not one of us can say any particular stance is "normal".
Best left well alone, it's miles off the OP's initial question anyway. I believe the topic was "why do some people hate RP"

[grimjim]

As far as the in-game declaration of reaching targets go, there are 2 ways of looking at that depending on your perception of it. When I say "yay, lvl 100 elemental" it's because "I" have hit that target, my character is nothing more than a mouse pointer used to carry out the actions. When I log in and say hello to the guild, it's me saying hello, just the same as it would be if I was speaking to them via a chatroom, the clump of pixels in front of me is irrelevant.

Then you have to wonder, why play an RPG really? *puzzled*

[qatzer]

I don't think I'd ever manage to explain because you view things differently to me.

Put it this way, someone said earlier that everyone RP's to a certain degree, I don't agree with that.

I'm seriously into racing games (GP4, CMR, TOCA etc). When I play those games I'm not pretending I'm a racing driver, I'm just using my joystick to guide a 3D computer generated car around a track in the quickest possible time ahead of the other "cars", it's challenging, it takes skill and practice, and I enjoy it, but it's still just a game, a bunch of pixels onscreen in my view.
Fact is, that's how I see it, and if I didn't get some enjoyment out of it I wouldn't be doing it in the first place. I'm sure I'm not the only one with that perspective. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I first got heavily into games when it was little more than a few square white blobs onscreen, hardly a basis for roleplaying, on the other hand maybe some of the roleplayers come from that same era, who knows. We are who we are. Or maybe it's because I have Asperger's Syndrome and we tend to view the world differently to everyone else anyway

For real race drivers, or aircraft pilots who use simulations it's radically different, they visualise themselves physically driving the circuit or landing the plane, I don't, but I still get fun out of it.

[grimjim]

I'm seriously into racing games (GP4, CMR, TOCA etc). When I play those games I'm not pretending I'm a racing driver, I'm just using my joystick to guide a 3D computer generated car around a track in the quickest possible time ahead of the other "cars", it's challenging, it takes skill and practice, and I enjoy it, but it's still just a game, a bunch of pixels onscreen in my view.

Mild Asperger's is linked with male dominated geeky hobbies btw, including roleplaying games

Point is, in that car game you're not roleplaying, but it isn't a roleplaying game.

You could turn a racing game into more of a roleplaying game but the fun of the racing games is in tuning, racing, crashing and beating the computer (personally I find racing games deadly dull for the most part, I can spin in my chair if I want to go round in circles ).

In an RPG you're playing a role within the context of the world and that's where the point, the name and the design of the world is (or should be) centred.

[qatzer]

Mild Asperger's is linked with male dominated geeky hobbies btw, including roleplaying games

Point is, in that car game you're not roleplaying, but it isn't a roleplaying game.

You could turn a racing game into more of a roleplaying game but the fun of the racing games is in tuning, racing, crashing and beating the computer (personally I find racing games deadly dull for the most part, I can spin in my chair if I want to go round in circles ).

In an RPG you're playing a role within the context of the world and that's where the point, the name and the design of the world is (or should be) centred.

LOL spinning in my chair makes me dizzy, and there's no challenge to it

You're right about Asperger's being linked to geeky hobbies, I've had lots, but if you find someone with Asperger's who plays in character it's almost certain they've been given the wrong diagnosis.
Classic symptoms are a thought process that is logical in the extreme (everything's black and white, there are no gray areas), and a very factual point of view. "Normal" people, in our view, overcomplicate everything. Not least this game lol. But that's not a criticism, it's just the way it looks from our perspective.
If you bear in mind that people with severe Asperger's find it impossible to tell a lie, and even struggle to withhold the truth when the situation justifies it, even in milder cases trying to instill a character into a bunch of pixels just feels like a totally bizarre concept. For more severe cases it would be completely impossible. You won't find an Asperger's sufferer indulging in "small talk" because we're useless at it and it seems pointless. RP talk is much the same in principle.

I'm sure RP adds much more depth to the game for those that are into it, but as I don't see it, I don't miss it. Once I've hit level 250 in every branch I'll no doubt get bored and move on, but as that's going to take significantly longer in this game than others I've played it should keep me busy for a lot longer than the others did
In the meantime, the levelling is challenging, guild events are fun, and it's cool meeting and getting to know new people from such a diverse range of countries. Those are the 3 things that for me make it fun to play I've had an illness for years that's kept me housebound most of the time, this type of game is my opportunity to make friends and keep contact with the outside world. I could say it's mmo's that have kept me sane for the last 4 years (relatively speaking of course lol)

[katriell]

You're right about Asperger's being linked to geeky hobbies, I've had lots, but if you find someone with Asperger's who plays in character it's almost certain they've been given the wrong diagnosis.
Classic symptoms are a thought process that is logical in the extreme (everything's black and white, there are no gray areas), and a very factual point of view. "Normal" people, in our view, overcomplicate everything. Not least this game lol. But that's not a criticism, it's just the way it looks from our perspective.
If you bear in mind that people with severe Asperger's find it impossible to tell a lie, and even struggle to withhold the truth when the situation justifies it, even in milder cases trying to instill a character into a bunch of pixels just feels like a totally bizarre concept. For more severe cases it would be completely impossible. You won't find an Asperger's sufferer indulging in "small talk" because we're useless at it and it seems pointless. RP talk is much the same in principle.

I disagree.

You can never apply a "behaviour ruleset" to a group of people, especially if they're a group of people with Asperger's or other forms of autism.

Perspectives and behaviours that apply in face-to-face interaction do not necessarily apply in text. For example, small talk and such is almost impossible for me except when it's done in text. I can't roleplay or act in person, either, but I love it in text.

From my perspective, RP is part creativity, part challenge, and part escapism. Those three combined make it fun for me. And yes, I do have Asperger's, even though I fit only a few of your...qualifications. What you listed are only classic symptoms.