Role Play Conference

[Takashi]

Furthermore just because Takashi said that everyone is allowed to interpret things as they see fit, doesn't mean that it's ok to interpret things without reasoning behind them.

Actually.... It does mean that. Frankly, if someone wants to start a conspiracy theory about the Kami working together with an elite group of homin crafters to make the ultimate weapon to eradicate all traces of life on atys... well more power to them. That's what people and homins do. If you don't let people think for themselves then they may as well all be NPCs who just speak scripts.

Of course everyone thinks their opinions are right. If they didn't then they wouldn't have them. And of course everyone is welcome to share them with others, but nobody may ever try to tell other people that their opinions are not valid. By denouncing their opinions, a person is only degrading the value of their own. Would someone be more inclined to listen to another who said. "You have a valid point, but at least hear me out." Or someone who said "You don't know what you're talking about. This is how it is. Believe me. I know."

Thanks for listening guys!

Takashi
Ryzom GM
Windermeer Events Team

[sk8rss]

Here's how I see this "RP" thing going. Everyone's gonna be complaining left and right about how their feelings are hurt. Which is bull. Sorry, but it is, second everyone's gonna be sitting there saying they can interpret things just how they want. Fine, agreed, I can't stop you, and I encourge you to RP your characters however you want, but be prepared for me to call you an idiot if you're being one. Other than those few mix-ups happening....I hope it's successful, I however, will be at work.

[raynes]

Actually.... It does mean that. Frankly, if someone wants to start a conspiracy theory about the Kami working together with an elite group of homin crafters to make the ultimate weapon to eradicate all traces of life on atys... well more power to them. That's what people and homins do. If you don't let people think for themselves then they may as well all be NPCs who just speak scripts.

Of course everyone thinks their opinions are right. If they didn't then they wouldn't have them. And of course everyone is welcome to share them with others, but nobody may ever try to tell other people that their opinions are not valid. By denouncing their opinions, a person is only degrading the value of their own. Would someone be more inclined to listen to another who said. "You have a valid point, but at least hear me out." Or someone who said "You don't know what you're talking about. This is how it is. Believe me. I know."

Thanks for listening guys!

Takashi
Ryzom GM
Windermeer Events Team

I see. This clears things up a lot for me.

I knew that player actions didn't amount to much in this game. I could accept that because the stuff I did had meaning behind it. That meaning was based upon what the lore explained. Now all the RP I have done, the events I have tired to hold, and the events that I wanted to hold in the future are pointless and meaningless. I say that becuase they are based on expalination written in the lore. If either the reasons for that explaination are ignored or only a few select follow the lore as I have then they hold no purpose. I mean sure I am this devoted Kami extremist that hates the Karavan. But what's the point of that if it has no meaning.

Due to this everyone might as well know that I was trying to put together a event where the Kami side would attack The Kuild camp in the Nexus. It was going to be planned out where the Karavan side would come in and defend the Kuild camp in a pvp brawl. I'm not doing it now. I don't have the energy (or the interest to be honest) is trying to set something like that up. On that same note the attacks on the two Master of the Goo and Black Circle camps are also not going to happen.

If I do something in game it has to have meaning and significance. I can now see that none of it ever will.

[eohlwyn]

Actually.... It does mean that. Frankly, if someone wants to start a conspiracy theory about the Kami working together with an elite group of homin crafters to make the ultimate weapon to eradicate all traces of life on atys... well more power to them. That's what people and homins do. If you don't let people think for themselves then they may as well all be NPCs who just speak scripts.
(snip)

Thanks for listening guys!

Takashi
Ryzom GM
Windermeer Events Team

Thank you for participating Takashi.

Now as to the question of how to hold events when there is such immense diversity amongst interpretation, it's quite simple.

You hold them.

Like the devs do.

No matter how any given characters interpret any given thing, when larger scale events such as battles, "evil take over the world schemes", weddings, races, invasions, espionage and natural disaster occur, characters react. Events are there to create plot twists and obstacles to a normal character's progression, they enrich developement, and encompass everyone regardless of how they see or interpret them.
They don't have to follow or subscribe to an outline of anything.

If a wave of Kitin all started dancing the conga and donn'd too-too's you better believe that anyone there to see it would react as thier character would react.
For example- some might scrub thier eyes out and decide it's time to quit the goo. Some might decide it's a trick of the enemy to decieve them and attempt to kill the offending Kitin off. Some might take it as a sign of the coming of Ma'duk and bow down to pray. No matter what anyone believes the purpose of that "event" is, it creates story, and interest, (or nightmares for some for this particular example../shiver ); but it relieves us of the status quoi day to day grind and gives our characters something to help define them, as well as direction.

After an event such as that for instance, the believers of the coming of Ma'duk might decide they must build a temple or even create offerings to the god, and set about doing so before he arrives. Or those thinking it was an enemy trick might plan a counter attack and arrange of "trick" of thier own to avenge thier eyes.

The possibilities are endless.
And no one has to agree with them.
Just agree to respect the people exploring them.

I think this is a strong and mature enough community to overcome any issues of cannon or rules if people simply take the time to recall the main goal here.

that being, as I understood it, to foster roleplay.
I hope and trust that the conference planned and those attending will truely hold to that focus, and not let arguments of specifics get in the way of building and nurturing a creative community.

[sk8rss]

Ugh, the more I think about this the more I realize that it's really going to take extremists on both sides to do anything interesting. Some people must just like the every day level grind that means nothing until an event comes around...but seriously, why not try making things happen our/yourselves?!...oh well (sorry, I know I'm probably regurgitating someone else's post)

[jgi47ak]

I haven't read this thread too carefully but I want to share my point of view. Like Raynes, I have noticed that the vast majority of Matis do not seem to have "normal" Matis views or beliefs. However, my view of the situation is that it is part of a moral break down of Matis society and I try to correct it by role playing. I believe one of my guild's first threads was something to the effect that our guild's goal was to put a stop to these loose morals. I try to role play a Matis who is concerned about the apparent "problems" of Matis society. I suspect that most Matis NPCs still hold normal Matis beliefs though =P. The funny this is that Raynes has done more to promote my cause than I. The KoK role played well and encouraged some Matis PCs to be less neutral at the Karavan Convention thing my guild hosted. I don't think we need rules to make people act the way they are "supposed" to. I think that through good role playing you can get the same affect (to a lesser extent maybe) but in a much more beneficial way. I'm kind of rambling here and would like to be more concise but hopefully people can understand what I'm trying to say. Maybe instead of this abnormal Matis behavior interfering with role playing you can somehow use it to your advantage instead?

I try to play my character as a hard line Matis and Karavan follower but I haven't read extensively into it (I did not know about the reading/writing thing) but if someone points it out to me I'll try to act correctly. I like playing the game more than researching it =P.

When I chose to make my character Matis, I did so because I liked the woodlands environment and knew nothing of the whole Kami/Karavan thing. Incase other people made their decision of their character's race in a similar way that I did, I think that we should not force people to act a certain way.

Ivarion
Gladius Jenae

[ackir]

...encouraged some Matis PCs to be less neutral...

That is awesome, spiffy, and cool wrapped into one.

[raynes]

Thank you for participating Takashi.

Now as to the question of how to hold events when there is such immense diversity amongst interpretation, it's quite simple.

You hold them.

Like the devs do.

No matter how any given characters interpret any given thing, when larger scale events such as battles, "evil take over the world schemes", weddings, races, invasions, espionage and natural disaster occur, characters react. Events are there to create plot twists and obstacles to a normal character's progression, they enrich developement, and encompass everyone regardless of how they see or interpret them.
They don't have to follow or subscribe to an outline of anything.

If a wave of Kitin all started dancing the conga and donn'd too-too's you better believe that anyone there to see it would react as thier character would react.
For example- some might scrub thier eyes out and decide it's time to quit the goo. Some might decide it's a trick of the enemy to decieve them and attempt to kill the offending Kitin off. Some might take it as a sign of the coming of Ma'duk and bow down to pray. No matter what anyone believes the purpose of that "event" is, it creates story, and interest, (or nightmares for some for this particular example../shiver ); but it relieves us of the status quoi day to day grind and gives our characters something to help define them, as well as direction.

After an event such as that for instance, the believers of the coming of Ma'duk might decide they must build a temple or even create offerings to the god, and set about doing so before he arrives. Or those thinking it was an enemy trick might plan a counter attack and arrange of "trick" of thier own to avenge thier eyes.

The possibilities are endless.
And no one has to agree with them.
Just agree to respect the people exploring them.

I think this is a strong and mature enough community to overcome any issues of cannon or rules if people simply take the time to recall the main goal here.

that being, as I understood it, to foster roleplay.
I hope and trust that the conference planned and those attending will truely hold to that focus, and not let arguments of specifics get in the way of building and nurturing a creative community.

You don't think Takashi and the folks at Nevrax design and come up with events based upon the interpretation of the story they want to push? Come on. The invasions so far have been created and run about one interpretation of the story. That being that the Kitin are out to kill the homins. If you take that idea out of the game then their events mean nothing.

That's the irony of Takashi posting here. He is saying that everyone can interpret things as they want but in order to make events happen and the story go forward the majority of the game has to follow his and nevraxs interpretation of events. He is also saying you can't make anyone follow any one interpretation, yet he and Nevrax do it all the time.

As an example they need the players to follow the line of thinking that the Kitin attacked Atys 3 generations ago in a mass swarming. They need this in order to make the story work and to make their invasions make sense. So to make that happen they have npcs that talk about it, they write articles pushing that idea, they have events that center around Kitins attacking and so on. If a player were to read just the background and not any additional information they could very easily come up with an interpretation that the entire Kitin catastrophe is a story made up by either the Kami or the Karavan to keep homins under their control. That's not an acceptable interpretation so they do thing to make sure people don't think that and instead follow one that they want to push.

[raynes]

Actually.... It does mean that. Frankly, if someone wants to start a conspiracy theory about the Kami working together with an elite group of homin crafters to make the ultimate weapon to eradicate all traces of life on atys... well more power to them. That's what people and homins do. If you don't let people think for themselves then they may as well all be NPCs who just speak scripts.

Of course everyone thinks their opinions are right. If they didn't then they wouldn't have them. And of course everyone is welcome to share them with others, but nobody may ever try to tell other people that their opinions are not valid. By denouncing their opinions, a person is only degrading the value of their own. Would someone be more inclined to listen to another who said. "You have a valid point, but at least hear me out." Or someone who said "You don't know what you're talking about. This is how it is. Believe me. I know."

Thanks for listening guys!

Takashi
Ryzom GM
Windermeer Events Team

Yes, so long as their view on things doesn't go against the plans you and nevrax have laid out. If a large number of players started to play according to a view that would conflict with what you want to push, the devs would be throwing in game elements, and you would be holding events to make them fall back into what you want them to beleive.

[zumwalt]

In the begining, the planet was a dark and deserted place, much like an ordinary moon really, with the exception of the only life aparent on the surface were these bug like creatures.

How they got there is really no mystery at all, for you see, the Karavan were experimenting on creating the ultimate warriors for there battle of supremecy in the galaxy.

They were tired of hand to hand combat and sending in valuable troops to take over planets or at the very least eradicate the life on those planets so that they could eventually control it.

These creatures, as they deemed to call them, were the Kitin.

The Karavan dropped of groups of them in transport ships onto the surface of unsuspecting planets, and later came back to lay claim to the planet once there was not oposition.

There was one flaw in the Kitin though, and the Karavan knew it. For them to grow these mutated beasts, they needed a very dry atmosphere and a planet that was near to dead, this way the Karavan could control the food source that the Kitin had, and thus control the Kitin themselves.

About a centry later, the Kami came along, traveling through space, looking for the source of the Kitin infestation, when they stumbled upon Atys, home to the growth pods of the Karavan with the Kitin sheltered beneath the surface in stalls.

The Kami, both taking Pity on the planet and on the Kitin for there plite, set to work on terraforming the planet so that both plant and animal alike could flourish.

The Karavan did not notice the work of the Kami, since they worked in secrecy on the opposite side of the planet than the breeding grounds, and this allowed the Kami to work there will on the planets surface and beneath.

The slaves to the Karavan, this being the Tryker and Matis, worked diligently for there masters in both growing and training the Kitin without a thought that they were really slaves to the Karavan's will.

The slaves to the Kami were brought to the surface to help them to work there magics, this being the Fyros and the Zoria, who worshiped them as Gods and did see no wrong in what they were doing.

Eventually the two met as the grassy plains and forest overtook the planet, and the Kitin food was now abundant, neither the Kami or the Karavan could control the Kitin and there onslaught of both sides.

As the Kami and Karavan fleed, they took with them as many followers as they could to safer grounds on Atys so that they could build anew and try to again regain control of this Kitin force, that was both gaining in knowledge and power as every day arose.

This is where our story has now lead us, to this day, all sides fight back the Kitin and try to gain full control of the lands for there own purposes.