Is RP a dying art form?

[moyaku]

... I think we have an awesome community here ...

+1

I love our community too XD That ruins our objectivity tho

[kalindra]

Just to answer Acridiel : Aniro's community of RPers is very hardcore. On that server, PvP and RP go hand in hand and some guilds get bashed on public forums if their actions are "Non-RP". Yep, that's a bit like the opposite extreme to what you were saying.

My question is "Who the hell is to judge if my actions are RP or not, do you pretend to know my character better than I do ?" It's partly because of that kind of discrimination that, even if my mother language is French, I play on Arispotle, where I can be semi-RP all I want without any finger pointing or discrimination. RPers are welcome, and they don't feel like it's their duty to dictate how a player is supposed to play their character. To me, Aniro is scary, even as a tabletop and Live Action roleplayer.

If you think I really feed marshmallow-coated people to big predators in real life, something is wrong with your perception of reality. (Though I somehow wish I could.) Do marshmelloes exist on Atys ? I decided they do. The Atysian recipe is my own secret though.

[acridiel]

Well, I´m glad that 08 ends with such a pleasant surprise
Or rather, that my fears are calmed, as said before.

For quite a long time we had almost a situation of open warfare between some extremely aggressive PvP-Non RPers and the Semi- and Hardcore RPers.
There were attempts to "negotiate" with these people, but they all failed miserably and ended in flames.
Luckily the people behind the open hatred that sometimes was heaped upon RP are gone and will hopefully not return.

Nowadays thanks to two extremely dedicated hardcore RP Guilds (one sadly broke up recently due to internal problems) the Art is accepted and tolerated by most.

For that I´m thankful, but like Jaice said, the fanatics deal works both ends.
I like to call myself not Semi- but rather RPer of Opportunity. I play when I see people doing it and I speak normally with those of whom I know they don´t regularly and I as a RL person do not like PvP. That´s in one way because I really suck at it and because I´ve too often seen it bring out the worst in people to really enjoy it.
For that I´ve been called "Not true RP enough." by members of my old guild, and while I hold no grudge against them, I still think this approach is extremely wrong.
They should be happy for each RPer they can find and not alienate them with arguments like that.

Now I´ve opened my own guild and am trying to get it running with the InGame background of Bards and peaceful negotiators (The Gandhi approach some call it ), but sadly up until now, no-one seems to be interested in this kind of play. And while my post in the Guild section has quite a few hits, nobody has yet approached me on it.
It is a moment of great pleasure find a new player RPing in any situation nowdays and it pains me to see so many not even caring to try and find a "normal" name. I´ll never understand this strange need for fecal/sexual/war/justweird naming of a character that sould represent YOU! XD

So, well my fears of RP slowly dying on Arispotle are laid to rest, but all in all they still remain.

CU
Acridiel

[kalindra]

Yeah, the weird "out of place" names are a bit bothersome, but is there really anything we can do about it. If we start reporting names that aren't offensive just because they aren't "fitting" we'll soon end up with an uproar like on Aniro, be considered as Jerks and naming "faschists".

Take innocent names like "Pantschesnut", "Studdmuffin", "Headlesshero". Nothing we can really do about those except let them be.

[fiach]

My only advice on naming is.... create a name thats easy to PM.

[beaut666]

I smell a blog post coming from this subject! Thanks Sam the Man!

If you think about what Sherk said..about thr marshmallows...then you can see the entire roleplay "thing" summed up in marshmallows.

a) There is no mention of marshmallows in Lore, but there is no mention of them not existing.

b) We do use the word "marshmallow" in our Earth talk, but we could also use the word "spaceship", "mount" or other words that might have different word equivalents on Atys.

c) Even the fact that I know some RP'ers that would see Sherk using "marshmallow" and would truly wince silently for her rough, Earth speech, and even though it fits in with some of the "style" of words on Atys, and even though there COULD be marshmallows and not be far off from Atys reality (they COULD have sweets), plenty of people would not like her "silly" word. Those are the players that give RP the "too serious to have fun" title.

d) So, what words/phrases are allowed? Who makes the rules?

I say it is like Sherk says...up to the individual to make up their own. And like I mentioned, a character could easily be crazy or just funny (roleplayers sometimes, and I mean SOMETIMES, are the type that seem to never crack a smile ) and mention things that other Homins would go "Huh?" to.

Also, it is harder to make people laugh than cry, as they say in movies. It's true with roleplay: while not easier to do it WELL, it is at least common for roleplayers to be overly dramatic or overly serious.

Rarely will you see a roleplayer playing a "crazy person". I think that point of view...the humorous, all-over-the-map one, is valid and needs to be encouraged!

Editors note: I am NOT saying roleplayers are too serious. I am saying that they CAN be. We all know that. lol

Beau

[kalindra]

I never thought molten marshmelloes could sum up the whole situation. But I do crack some Atysian "racial" jokes...

"Don't expect him to "grow up", he's a Tryker, that's against their nature."

"Next years, for Christmas, some boxes will contain mushrooms that make you grow... but only in Fairhaven."

It's like an elf cracking a joke about dwarves, only, in an Atys fashion.

Moral of the story : you don't need to act as a gloomy character with a tragic past to be RPing. We all start as refugees, we ALL have a tragic past.

And I play a Fyros, roughness is normal for them, right ? If I wanted to speak snobbish, I'd roll a Matis.

[thlau]

It is hard to say if RP is a dying art form. We are already used to categorize role playing in none, semi, and high.

For my part I consider being a member of the semi role playing group and base most of my actions on the role I assumed. But what I don't do is making other players to understand my motives. That way some may perceive me as a non role player.

In my opinion Ryzom offers a very role playing and community friendly environment, and it is well used that way. I can't compare Ryzom to TCoS, WoW, WAR, but I am able to compare it to V:SoH, TR and AoC, and Ryzom is the only game of those that allows you to build you a name, and being recognized by it simply by playing your role, without the ballast of classes, races and factions that place you in a drawer. Sure there come some expectations build up by your race, and maybe the title you show, but here you are free to be what you like.

So in Ryzom there isn't a reason to stay if you aren't at least latent interested in role playing. So no, here it isn't a dying art form.

Other games that like to distinguish between PvE and PvP and special RP servers I got the impression that a roleplayer is a soon to be extinct species, especially because they rarely offer room for a semi role player to develop. In my experience PvP and RP don't mix well, but the semi roleplayer is a good emulsifying agent to make them go well together.

[acridiel]

My Lylanea is at heart a Matis, but nowhere above cracking a joke or poking fun at someone. Be it Matis, Zoraï, Fyros or Tryker. Sometimes she may get all "typical" Matisian, but mostly just to throw people off the loop, or when in presence of royalty (NPCs that is), or to "hold up the mirror to someones face".
She´s after all a bard too, her favorite Joke is an old one:

"A stuffy Matis walks into a Bar in Fairhaven and angrily announces:
"Whom of you midgets has dared to paint my Mount outside a bright pink?!"
All Trykers are rolling on the floor laughing.
A big, mean looking Fyros gets up from his seat and in a deep, growling voice says:
"Me!"
The Matis judges him up and down and sheepishly replies:
"Hehe, its dried, would you like to put on some varnish now?"



CU
Acridiel

[memiki]

I like that joke acridiel it was funny

I don't think RPing is really dying, it is not as active as years ago. I know ones that are still doing it but it seems to be either people don't have the imagination anymore or that now the mindset is to PvP more than to play the game, which is fine if it can be done for fun.

I have just found that PvP players sometimes get a tad to serious. It is a game and hence it should be fun, not griefing other players, or calling names or just being annoying.

RPers over all try to really get involved into what the story behind the game is.
There is a great Lore in Ryzom so I do wish it would get the notice it deserves.