Roleplay & You
I basically live for writing and roleplay so if this game doesn't have a vibrant roleplay community, I won't play.
Who else is in my boat? Who isn't?
Who else is in my boat? Who isn't?
Comments
However, I am going to decide early on what motivates her, what she likes and doesn't like, her persona, etc... and go from there doing everything IC and finding ways to interact with allies, enemies, strangers and the like to help increase immersion.
ETA: And of course there's sometimes I log in just for mindless bashing/grinding/whatever tasks I can do without thinking.
I'm not looking to make waves in the RP world but I hope I can entertain regardless!
Whereas roleplaying is more about 'playing a role', i.e., crafting a persona distinct and separate from your own to create a story for them which generally requires some original effort to write about their body language, vocal tone and so on rather than relying on preset emotes and the say command.
Some people might disagree with my views but coming from very RP-focused environments, I find the general consensus to be that roleplay in text-based environments is an exercise in creative writing, hence the distinction for me between RP (active, requires writing) vs. staying IC (passive, can rely on command input or short sentences). It could also be viewed on a scale of heavy vs. light RP.
Beyond that, there are also things like people who just stand around in spots for long periods of time and don't respond to people. I established this pattern with people who are more focused on PK than roleplay, but given as I don't get to know everyone too well I could be wrong. Another one is where people cut and paste lines directly from the game into city chat or into their motto or warcry.
I agree that the lines between the two are blurry but just think of it as a level of consistency and not necessarily quality of RP. Just look for the inconsistencies and you'll find those who don't want to RP all the time.
If anyone has any pointers on that don't be shy about pointing them out to me. I love to learn, but I am slow at it.
I should be sleeping but I’ve been thinking about how I build a character and now I’m wondering how y’all do as well.
For me, I go in with a rough idea with a few basic points to build from. I don’t like anything too detailed because the most interesting part of my characters isn’t their past but how they fit into the unraveling story in the game. I see how a character reacts even to the intro ... How they feel about the situation they find themselves in. How they react to NPCs and other played characters. Within a week or so of solid playing with interactions I have a foundation to build from.
But now I’m curious how others do it. Please share!
I'll 'actively rp' as has been described here when I'm in the mood but that is secondary to the long term development of the character and story.
I'm not going to tell everyone about the specifics of my character either. Some may come out in rp but most is just for me and my own enjoyment.
If I log on, say nothing and pk someone seemingly at random - it's not. The rp around pvp is what makes it fun for me. Without the rp I'd just hang out at the arena.
Not that I make a habit of that sort of pvp; it's just an example.
For me the rp is everything but my interpretation of rp seems to be different so I picked #2
An idea can be something as simple as a word, a belief that I hold, a question that I want to ask, a moral that I want to impart, a theme that I want to explore, etc. For example, 'duality' — I once had a character that I set up with two very distinct personalities, not in the split identity sense, but rather a hidden nature vs. a public face that they presented to the world. Their name represented that duality, their ethnicity, their parentage, their supernatural powers, etc. There was a duality to everything they did and everything they were. Another example, 'change and revolution' — I wrote a story in which I wanted to explore 'change' in every sense of the word, within a world I'd designed. It underwent sociopolitical change, religious upheaval, geographical change (through natural disasters), and explored both the process of revolution and the aftermath of it for everyone involved. The characters, similarly, underwent significant changes and I wanted to dive into how they each cope with that. Some crumble, some are rebuilt. Alliances, relationships and loyalties change as people rediscover themselves. Etc.
I might want to impart a grimdark, nihilistic GRRM-esque moral of nobody wins and everyone loses and life isn't fair, in which case my character's backstory will probably reflect that through a series of unfortunate events and the character will be a bitter wreck of a human being who's experienced and been shaped by betrayal. Or since this is sci-fi maybe I wanna explore an optimistic world of possibilities in terms of what the future holds.
I'll then flesh out the details starting from the outside in. Once I have the overarching theme I build the skeleton — race, gender, class, city etc. — and then begin filling in the more superficial details like appearance, style, quirks, mannerisms, accent.
I'll share I have two concepts I'm juggling currently. One's Celestine Ascendancy because I like the theme there of economic inequality and might want to create a glorious business magnate who indulges in all the excesses of wealth while contemplating (and maybe flirting with) the poverty of the world below, the injustice of the world she lives in and an insidious desire to find something more meaningful in life than all the material possessions she's gathered around her. One's a dirt-poor Scatterhome Human Scoundrel who feels a strong ancestral tie to Earth, has a tattoo of it on her back and feels a general sense of displacement in the cloak-and-dagger alien universe where she's got to scrape by to survive. Thinking about the aesthetic of these characters would be last on my list after figuring out who they are as people and where they come from, which in turn comes secondary to the core concept I want to explore with them.
It also helps to figure out what you actually like doing and build from that. Don't make an intrepid explorer unless you like exploring. Don't make a business magnate unless you like shopkeeping and politics. Don't make a Human in the Celestine Ascendancy unless you like the idea of having your character treated like a second-class citizen. Don't make a Decheeran if you'd feel weird not expressing a binary gender.
(Someone mentioned being self-conscious about rambling so I hope this ramble makes you feel better.)
This gets put out there every so often in IRE and other games throughout the MUD community, but if you haven't read this article on players who suit MUDS, give it a read: https://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm. Richard Bartle is basically the expert on MUDS, and gives a thorough explanation not only of the four basic types of players, but why a balance of the four is vital to a game.
(this is getting off on a tangent soooo if someone were to start another thread with a poll about what Bartle type you think you are, that would be cool)
Syaja said:
I made a couple alts in Achaea, after my first character, that were deliberately NOT me, once I'd got the hang of the game. They were a lot of fun, but I didn't have time for alt life so I went back to just playing my main. I also have three character concepts ready to try out Starmourn with.
I think I tend to first pick an org, race, and class that I like (and that fit together well), and then I let that inspire the character. What I want from a character also comes into play ("I've been playing a sweet young female for a while, I want to try something different. Let's do a gruff older male"). Once you get this picture of a few basic points in your head, you can start crafting the backstory of why they are the way they are, which tells you how they will react to different people and circumstances in the future.
Does that mean I'm a 14 year old??
I do this a lot too, especially when it's a new setting/game/style that I'm roleplaying within. Even if my character isn't necessarily exactly me, I will give myself that crutch of allowing parts of my personality to come through in a character, that way it's a lot easier to react quickly to things in a gut-check situation. I find this can make characters a lot more believable as well.