Ryzom

EDIT: Changed the topic to be more accurate.

Rather new around here...

I bought this Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game because I needed a new addiction. I've come into this knowing that there is no such thing as a commercial MMORPG that is purely roleplay. The simple fact is that too many game players nowadays are only interested in hack and slash, and even go as far as to ridicule people who roleplay.

I was hoping that there would be at least some small community that enjoys roleplaying, that I might find and fit into. But seeing this roleplaying forum for this community is hardly used, is not too encouraging.

What makes or breaks an MMORPG for most people, isn't the skill system, isn't the level system. It isn't the graphics, or the connection quality. It's the community. If you don't enjoy the community, you're not likely to stick around. And I have some experience in online communities, as I've been playing games online for around 9 years now, starting with the original Quake.

One of the things I've noticed is that, if the community is great, it will survive even through aging graphics, horrible lag issues, and even extended periods of down time.

Point in case is the Confederation of Planes and Planets which is an organization of multiple persistent worlds using the game Neverwinter Nights.

In the CoPaP, RP is enforced. You're expected to stay IC at all times, and keep Out of Character, real life stuff, to the forums, or in private tells. This is for immersion reasons. People want to RP and get into their role. Immerse themselves in the world, and forget about the troubles of real life. It's kind of like acting, without a script, I guess. And this is what I'm just now coming from. I realize it wont be like that here, but it would be nice to see some RP.

Now, NWN wasn't tailored for PWs. In fact, it took third party software to make it truely viable. But even then, the engine shows that it wasn't intended for this purpose when you get a lot of people logged on to a server that has a large module file. Lag can be horrible at times. And the graphics of NWN are old, and looking rather flat, in the face of some of the newer games today.

But the community is 2000 strong, and still growing. Three years after the original NWN was released. Part of it is because we've put together a great set of persistent worlds that are fun to play in. But if the community wasn't great, if they weren't friendly, and easy to get along with... there wouldn't be much of a community of which to speak.

So far, Ryzom has this as a strong point, from what I've seen. The community seems to be great compared to other MMORPGs out there. But, really, is this an RPG? Is there any roleplaying to be had? If so, I'd be very interested in hearing about it. Working towards goals, like getting an apartment, or that next level, or skill; conquering that new challenging mob, or just simply exploring; they're all well and good, but rather empty for me. It's like reading only the battle scenes in the book, and then reading the ending, skipping all the content in between.

So, veterans, what are your views? Is RP largely accepted and embraced here? Or are RPers driven off and ridiculed like I've experienced in other MMORPGs, like UO.

-Faileas

you may want to talk with raynes

I just started reading the Windermeer forum, and noticed much of the RP is going on in there.

Still, I'd like to hear the views of some of the vets.

-Faileas

xenofur wrote:you may want to talk with raynes

What monster have I started? There is rp community comming out of the closet so to speak. For many months no one really rp'd in this game. then a few of us got fed up and started doing it. Me and another player formed the Kult of Kami (who I think you spoke to in game). This was followed buy a group of players forming a guild to be out enemy. SInce then more and more people have started to get involved in the aspect of the game. Right now we are in a very strange place in game. There are basically two types of players. One group wants to rp and wants to do so without limitations except for the guildlines set forth by game rules. The other group doesn't want to rp and feels that the RP'ers should only be able to rp in certain conditions (basically the "you can rp, just not around me" arguement).

My suggestions to you to get involved in rp in game.

1) Learn the game lore.
2) Decide what part you want to play based upon the lore.
3) Just start playing that part
4) Ignore those who tell you it doesn't belong in game.
5) Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have the right to rp around them.

Look me up in game (I'm on after 8pm est most nights) and I can try to help you get more involved.

jfoxp wrote:So, veterans, what are your views? Is RP largely accepted and embraced here? Or are RPers driven off and ridiculed like I've experienced in other MMORPGs, like UO.

-Faileas

"I salute you, homin Faileas, and I wish you a pleasant stay in Atys".

In any MMRPG, as you said, there are players that RP and players that don't. Ryzom in this sense is no different. For several reasons, and until recently, I found it hard to RP, although I'd like to, due to sveral reasons (see below) but I still have to see a RPer driven off and ridiculed.

* The game still has a few bugs, unimplemented features and, although some of us have gone through all the betas, there are things to learn regarding how to properly use the skills. Gameplay dynamics change often in patches, and I, for one, wish to know how they work and how to make use them efficiently.

* Fame was buggy. Doing missions for a tribe could mean negative fame with them. This prevented a few players from actively doing missions (I mean months ago), and to some extent, part of the fun and roleplay.

* Lore is still scarce. The encyclopaedia has been half implemented very recently. The background of Atys just appeared a few weeks ago.

* We are a small (but nice ) community. Some players (and I applaud their efforts) organize events: Doubletap organized a harvesting competition (hard!) and Gfunk set up the "Amazing Matis Race". Although it is true that events are not strictly related to RP, it makes it easier to.

* Most RPers I know are not "full RP". They are also interested in leveling and getting better. The way XP is shared tends to favorize homogeneous groups, although it is still possible to roleplay, it is not easy ("Use <150 skills,plz". It would be nice to hear some "Dear friends, I'm afraid that my sorcery skills don't help you to get better at your arts" or something like that. At the very beginning, I wanted not to talk in terms of levels, but I found it hard, so I just dinged levels as my friends do.

Some positive thoughts tho:

Just jump into it. Don't get stressed if you receive a cold answer and don't expect everybody to do so. Some GM events ago, I just started roleplaying in region, I moved to Fairhaven and Yrkanis, I called for help, and the answer was very positive (Knights of Blue Fame, Ballistic Mystix guilds come to mind) others would prolly have roleplayed if they were logged in.

Due to playing timezones, I dig a lot. When I find a new homin, I start roleplaying "Hello Azbukan, how are you doing this fine day?". In most cases, I've had a nice conversation while I harvest. I've also found "hi dude, what level are you?"

I like to roleplay, but this does not mean that I don't like to get XP, get levels, feel powerful, grind (name it as you wish). I tend to think that there are reasons to mix IG and OOC.

Things are getting better: some players are putting some effort into this,
Raynes is roleplaying a kami extremist, and there are opposite karavan guilds like Melinoe and GJ. Tensions arise and the background and lore is more and more present in the game. Roleplaying, Raynes organized a raid against enemy tribes.

I believe Ryzom community is in general Mature enough to roleplay. Nevertheless, don't expect Atys to be a strong roleplaying world. There are also some well known unwritten rules (I am going to state the obvious, I know) :

* Roleplaying does not compulsory mean to speak in 17th century english (although it may be fun to) with "thys and thous and thees"

* Players should see the difference between the IG char and the person behind it. It is quite hard to play "evil" in any MMRPG, to the extent that it can be considered against the code of contuct in some extreme cases.

* Roleplaying is not used as an excuse to harass and insult. "GO f*** yourselft Mo** kami adept"-like sentences or unacceptable behaviour like "touching" a harvester's sources so he can't dig (in a effort to punish the harvester for storing mats, although GMs clearly stated that using NPCs as storage was neither a bug nor a exploit) is a no no.

* Roleplayers tolerate players that don't roleplay and viceversa.

As a summary. The Ryzom RP community is not huge, but it is neither non-existant. Be patient and look for players that share your ideas


Regards,
Ani.

Roleplay and XP gain are not mutually exclusive.

What I'm saying is that, XP gain without RP, just feels so hollow. heh

Back to the analogy I made... playing an MMORPG without any RP is like skipping through a book and only reading the battles, and the ending. If all I wanted to do was run around and kill stuff, and talk about levels, there are plenty of other games out there, free ones, even.

But, I came here for the story. The background I've read. I came here for the concepts that this game aims to execute. The fact that it'll grow. That the *players* are the main driving force behind digging up the world's lore in game. The fact that there's a cohesive, over-arcing storyline that the players really affect. I've seen other MMOs try, but it all feels disjointed and silly. Ryzom, on the other hand, seems to have this together.

As for people trying to say "That doesn't belong in this game."
Umm... heh... Where do they think MMORPG's came from? What do they think the "RP" in the title MMORPG means? The base concept came out of a desire to have a massive online world for a large commuity to ROLEPLAY in. If Ryzom isn't meant to have Roleplay, it wouldn't be branded as an MMORPG, and likely wouldn't have the storyline, and background info that it does.

-Faileas

I believe Ryzom community is in general Mature enough to roleplay. Nevertheless, don't expect Atys to be a strong roleplaying world. There are also some well known unwritten rules (I am going to state the obvious, I know) :

* Roleplaying does not compulsory mean to speak in 17th century english (although it may be fun to) with "thys and thous and thees"

* Players should see the difference between the IG char and the person behind it. It is quite hard to play "evil" in any MMRPG, to the extent that it can be considered against the code of contuct in some extreme cases.

* Roleplaying is not used as an excuse to harass and insult. "GO f*** yourselft Mo** kami adept"-like sentences or unacceptable behaviour like "touching" a harvester's sources so he can't dig (in a effort to punish the harvester for storing mats, although GMs clearly stated that using NPCs as storage was neither a bug nor a exploit) is a no no.

* Roleplayers tolerate players that don't roleplay and viceversa.

No need to tell me these unwritten rules. They exist anywhere there's online RP.

As for tolerating those that don't roleplay. I never said I had a problem with those who choose not to roleplay. What bothers me is when those who don't want to roleplay, cause problems for those who do, or to a lesser degree, make fun of them, make them feel unwanted, or tell them they can't RP here, or there, or around them, etc.

-Faileas

This game has some rabid RPers, too bad the server pops weren't higher so the RPing could be used to a larger scale.

I've never really partaken much into RPing in any other MMORPG I have played due to the lack of any real RP community in other MMO's but, what I've seen in this game looks rather interesting. Raynes from what I've seen does a top-notch job of keeping it involved and getting others into it, RPing can be much like a good book if you're deeply enough involved with it.

RP has had a bumpy start here. When I joined there were two role-play guild, Birthright and Light of Trykoth. Both of them ended up crumbling. Lately things have gotten better, there are now at least 4 role-play oriented guilds that are active and healthy, but the RP is still in its early stages.

Most of what we're doing now is drawing battle-lines and establishing boundaries between groups and defining our position in the game world. There's not much subtlety to it, and our characters are all pretty 2-dimensional right now. That will change as we find a balance and add more depth to our role play.

A consequence of this is that almost all the RP now is centered around the Kami/Karavan conflict. It's giving the game a highly polarized atmosphere, and some guilds with similar positions on the conflict are almost seeming to be the same guild (Silver Watch and Gladius Jenae as well as Comitatus Praetorian and Kult of Kami might as well be two different guilds instead of four over the last couple of weeks).

Give it time and I think it will develop much more and be open to many more styles of RP. We'll also get more posts on this forum as more starts to happen. Ryzom's world is very RP-driven, and events happen in which the GMs role-play characters, so I would definitely stick with the game. It has amazing potential for role-play and that's why I'm here.

madnak wrote:RP has had a bumpy start here. When I joined there were two role-play guild, Birthright and Light of Trykoth. Both of them ended up crumbling. Lately things have gotten better, there are now at least 4 role-play oriented guilds that are active and healthy, but the RP is still in its early stages.

Most of what we're doing now is drawing battle-lines and establishing boundaries between groups and defining our position in the game world. There's not much subtlety to it, and our characters are all pretty 2-dimensional right now. That will change as we find a balance and add more depth to our role play.

A consequence of this is that almost all the RP now is centered around the Kami/Karavan conflict. It's giving the game a highly polarized atmosphere, and some guilds with similar positions on the conflict are almost seeming to be the same guild (Silver Watch and Gladius Jenae as well as Comitatus Praetorian and Kult of Kami might as well be two different guilds instead of four over the last couple of weeks).

Give it time and I think it will develop much more and be open to many more styles of RP. We'll also get more posts on this forum as more starts to happen. Ryzom's world is very RP-driven, and events happen in which the GMs role-play characters, so I would definitely stick with the game. It has amazing potential for role-play and that's why I'm here.

It does sound promising.

I just have to wonder if RP going on in the game will ever have any place in the on going story. I have to wonder if something that happens as a result of RP will ever be "news-worthy" or even "event-worthy" in the sense of being a part of the story going on in the game.

-Faileas