What are you going to do to encourage Role Playing in Arcanity?

[George]

Design Staff:

The tone that you guys & gals set for your game is going to go a long way in determining what kind of players you will attract, maintain and lose. What are you going to be doing, individually and collectively, to encourage a good role-playing environment in your game? From the moment a prospective player hears/read about Arcanity, then visits the website, downloads and install the game, patched up to the latest version, makes his first character, players a while, to the moment he/she then logs offs and starts asking him/her self if its worth playing again. What will you do to make role-playing an integral part of the game, and not just an “afterthought”?


Future Players:

What are you going to do once your playing to encourage role-playing in the game?

Future Arcanity Webmasters:

What will you do on your website to encourage role-playing, a sense of community, a comfortable place to gather and exchange stories, ideas, strategies and tips, maps and so forth?

Will you take the EQ route and post detailed maps of each dungeons/zones, give people detailed accounts to finishing quests, provide detailed charts and articles on how to power level / min-max, chose the better weapon/equipment/spell/ character class and so forth? Or will you do something different?

What kind of focus will your website have? Characters, maps, news, articles, stories, comics, message boards, art, etc….

I have some ideas of my own as to what I would like to do to encourage role playing for this game, but I will save that for latter. :)
George
Arcanity Scholar in training

[UBIK]

im going to make people want to roleplay by kicking all the SiR dOoDz, and sacraficing them to my gods, bwaha ha ha ha

[Wrentia]

I'll supply the sticks....

-Wrentia

[Rend]

The only way to encourage roleplaying is through actions(roleplaying your own character) And secondly, all those sites that give spoils of EQ, ie. "everlore" were the sole reason for me losing interest in the game. Its no fun when you can just download a map or the guide line to a quest.

[Su'ulMorda]

Or more depressingly, when everyone else has all this detailed information, uses it and walk all over those who don't, with it. And then, you get left way behind because you didn't want to spoil it for yourself. There seems to be very few who are able to resist the temtation to peek...
I did until recently, then ended up dropping the game in boredom, for the above reason and others...

[BelDragos]

I know what you mean. My girlfriend's oldest son lives for the cheat codes and refuses to listen to me when I tell him that by using them he already got beat by the game.

[Neville]

In general, I believe firmly that players are responsible for contributing to the flow of RP, and also in fact the touchstone off which decent CM's spark their own ideas.

One does not get where one wants to go without firstly letting your CM where you are headed or aiming, and secondly by leveraging the skills you possess, and building relations with other influential peers. My precise contribution will vary dependant on my final choice of PC, but in general I plan to start out early on by taking note of names, and speaking to other PC's, getting a feel for their "attitude" and having them come to understand mine. Over time I'll see who is there to stay, and by that time will likely have some ideas of what game objectives I want to aim for. That's when I will likely approach those people and present myself, hopefully by which time my name and reputation will stand for itself. And we can look at pooling resources to achieve a common goal. Earlier on I am probably equally likely to team with a group as I am to try and explore a bit on my own...

In essence though: I plan to develop my persona, as well as my skills, and spend significant amounts of time in dialogue, rather than going for an outright maximised killing-time. So expect me to get to know you. :)

And if the combination of my ideas, the game CM's ideas, and your own ideas does NOT forge us a cool story, then my sad conclusion will prolly be that the game-world could not support a decent story. But I seriously doubt that will be the case with A, so buckle up that blade, and step this way...



[Edited by Neville on 01-31-2001 at 04:26 AM]

[Kintoun]

Player side... Setting examples is the best way to show the new players that this isn't another EQ or AC action game.

Developer side... Also I wouldn't mind seeing the website for Arcanity being set-up RP style. What I mean is for people to get a REAL sense that when they join this game, they better expect people to be RP'ing everywhere, and this person will also join expecting to RP.

A neat way of doing this is to play with HTML to give players an option to do a quest on the webpage in order to DL the game. Also instead of making frames that just say, "main" "players" "game" "system reqs" and etc, make the webpage setup like a small town where players talk to the different NPC's to gain info or access to DL the game. This would give people a real sense that they are going to play a RP intensive game.

[z_man93]

How about being able to report people for too much OOC chatter. Just like reporting someone that would PK.

Also the idea that the player base will stay around 10,000 will help to keep this game for the RPers.

And Kintoun has a great point. We as players will need to walk the walk when it comes to staying in-character and roleplaying. And setting an example for new players.

[UBIK]

i can sum all this up with one fingure motion or two words.....

<thumbs up>"good idea!"

heh heh heh i bet i made you think i was gonna say something else....

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

I'll supply the fire for the sacrifice's that UBIK supplies and Wrentia puts on the sticks.

Positive re-enforcements are also a good way of encourging RPing. Stay in charactor yourself. When you see 2 newbies begging and as a high level charactor want to help out, which should be rewarded?

Hey I'm a newbie, got anything ya can spare man? or
Pardon, M'Lord I just arrived in the city last eve and was robbed while searching for a inn, could you help me?

Also, I would like to see the CM's give rewards for good roleplaying. Nothing powerful, but something perhaps fun or unique.

When someone approaches you and says "Hey, Whats up Dood?
I would either not respond at all or inquire into their state of mental health as they are speaking jibberish.

All forms of re-enforcement.

OK there's my 2 pence worth

[Kintoun]

My fav reply... "My name is not dood"

someone who begs OOC... "Aspire to my greatness, and you will be rewarded as I have."

people who blatently talk OOC all the time... ignore them, then send them a OOC msg saying, "OOC: Please do us all a favor and try to adopt at least some sort of role playing style."

[BelDragos]

I agree with Kintoun. We must all participate in the role-playing or the DOODZ will think it's ok to come in and trash the house we are trying to build.

[Su'ulMorda]

True and I agree as well.
Just be prepared for some trash-talk from those doodz that either don't know what role-playing is or equate it with something that is done by people who are "geeks" or some other type of person to be derided by the immature.

[z_man93]

I know of one thing that should not be incorporated into the game, if we want to protect role playing. And that is global chatting. I am playing Lineage the Blodpledge right now, and as soon as I log-on I am hit with tons of chatter....

"selling this and that, buying those, kill so-and-so he's a moron"

I hate it, it can be turned-off, but it is one thing that really destroys the role playing environment.

[Neville]

This is a very, very good point...

OOC chatter is a nasty thing. HOWEVER, I am fairly sure that a CM or other game-controller "announcement" channel might be useful... But maybe not.

More importantly though, there should be SOME IC way to communicate amongst a party. Or to send messages if you are for instance the commander of a unit. Is communication limited to in-room speech? Is there any catering for whispers, shouts, (ie range of noise?). And are there any devices available that could allow folks to communicate amongst each other if they all attune to the same set of objects (sort of like Palantiri in LotR).

In other words: I fully agree that OOC chatter is a mess waiting to happen, but there should be a way to communicate IC and I was thinking we should avoid shooting outselves in the foot trying to preclude the wrong things.

Staff input?
N

[Prophet]

Long distance communications are sometimes vital to any player of online games.

A good example is the way Ultima Online is SUPPOSED to work. Near-by speech immediately visible and Gems that can be purchased to talk to another character anywhere in the game world. (doesn't work in UO.) Perhaps a special item (easily available) to talk directly to a CM or other game manager.

Myself, I dislike the idea of global chatter. It's distracting.

[BelDragos]

Welcome to the boards Prophet.

[Wrentia]

I can see the following:

1. Seeing in game says from nearby people.
2. Something similar to the "yell" command in EQ. It basically shows the line "BelDragos yells for help from the west". It is still limited in scope of area covered.
3. World wide auction channel that has to be turned on by the player.
4. Private tells between players.
5. Group channel
6. Player Guild channel
7. CM announcement tool.

Things I don't want to see:

1. OOC channel
2. the "zone wide" shouts

Things I am not sure about:

1. A help channel, where newbies can ask a question of more experienced players. Again, this is something the player would have to turn on.



Just some thoughts

-Wrentia

[z_man93]

Regarding Wrentia's item #3, I have to oppose a worldwide chat/auction channel. Even if it can be turned on and off, it becomes a great temptation to rely on it due to its simplicity and ease of use. And I think that has a negative effect on direct interactions with other players.

I do like her idea about the help channel.

One example based on the same premise is how you choose your path (warrior,monk,etc..) in the game Dark Ages. In order to choose a path you need to be mentored by someone of that path that was of at least the 15th level. At first I thought it was a pain to have to find someone to mentor me, but I found that I made some good friends that were able to help me with many situations. Now I know that you do not need to choose a path in Arcanity, but I'm just giving this as an example of how it helped role playing.

[BelDragos]

Good point.
It would make the players role-play.

We should concider the option.

[z_man93]

Sorry, I was being rushed while writting that last post so I didn't really get to end it how I would have liked.

Basically, the point I was trying to convey, is that forcing interactions with others not only adds to role playing but really helps build friendship that would otherwise not exist.

Also one more idea, the benefits of hunting in a group should outweigh those of going solo. This not only builds friendships but also trust

[Kintoun]

Yes one thing that EQ was ood at pushing was forcing players into groups, and thus effectively forcing players to make friends. That was probably the greatest aspect of EQ that I can think of. Being able to sit long hours, wasting time with friends, even if they are huge distances apart in RL.

</emote says with brilliant shining eyes>And I believe that I have made quite a few friends here.

[Neville]

> 1. Seeing in game says from nearby people.
> 2. Something similar to the "yell" command in EQ. It
> basically shows the line "BelDragos yells for help
> from the west". It is still limited in scope of area covered.

These I agree with: basically necessary. Only thing I'd be curious about would be how "ranges" are determined :)

> 3. World wide auction channel that has to be turned on by the player.

And this I have to be against: How can you justify this IC? Is there really a way your player could let everyone in the world know what was on sale?

> 4. Private tells between players.

Now, assuming this is OOC, I like the idea from a "generating RL friends" point of view, and as a tool for helping resolve issues OOC. If it's IC then I expect there to be an IC justification for me to be able to use it...
And it stand to reason that not everyone has the Spell of Farspeech, or the ability of a Telepath. I will assume though that "players" means OOC.

> 5. Group channel

This is a _useful_ thing to have, but again: IC or OOC?
I don't need it, OOC, unless I am trying to orchestrate a timed attack IC and need to check all the players in my group are ready... If there are both IC and OOC channels though, I suspect the tendency after a while would be to just check OOC that everyone is ready, then dive in.
Neglecting the IC and roleplay stuff.

> 6. Player Guild channel

Why, and how? If I am out of the Guild Office, then I am out of the office, and reaching me should be an IC issue, no?

> 7. CM announcement tool

Agreed this will be needed. No other way to usefully organise bigger events.

And I too would back the Help channel whole-heartedly. It gives the Sir Doodz guys one more chance to discover the right way to play...

N

[z_man93]

Neville is really going for realism, but I would have too agree. I think communications can have a dramatic effect on role playing and keeping people IC.

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

1. Seeing in game says from nearby people.
2. Something similar to the "yell" command in EQ. It basically shows the line "BelDragos yells for help from the west".

I agree with Items 1 and 2. this could simply be a radius effect. ie so many 15 feet around the player. I would also like to see a shout command that carried a little further radius. So when I make the mistake of opening that dungeon door I just shouldn't. I can warn other players of impending doom. IC of course"Pardon me good gentles, I appear to be being chased by a nasty band of banits"

3. World wide auction channel that has to be turned on by the player.

I am indifferent to this so long as a player may choose to turn it on or off. Although I would love to see a weekly Player Bazzar set up. A common Cross-Roads where players on Saturday could travel to and spend their hard earned money. A auction channel wouldn't be needed if a players knew that they could travel to the Cross-Roads Bazzar on Saturdays and find whatever they desired there.
4. Private tells between players.
5. Group channel
6. Player Guild channel
7. CM announcement tool.

Whole heartedly "Aye" to 4,5,6,7. For OOC and IC reasons.

Things I don't want to see:

1. OOC channel
2. the "zone wide" shouts

As there won't be zones, I certainly don't want to see world wide shouts. As mentioned above I would like to see a shout that perhaps had a little further radius than either say or yell.

Things I am not sure about:

1. A help channel, where newbies can ask a question of more experienced players. Again, this is something the player would have to turn on.

A very nice idea indeed Wrentia.

[Kintoun]

Great observation on the fact that BelDragos will be yelling for help quite a bit Kymeri. I would really NOT want to see a OOC channel as thats a way of telling players "it's ok to not be IC". One thing that most people hated about EQ and AC was the fact that nobody RP'ed at all! So if you never give people a chance to talk OOC, then this might remedy that problem. Another thing that I just thought of was to maybe have an in-game filter that one could enable to help him at least sound like he/she is RP'ing. This filter would replace the more common words with more rustic sounding words. So when a player tries to say, "Hey dude wassup!?" It comes out "Hail friend, how art thou?"

O and nice pic Kymeri! It's good to see that I can inspire some people! (Lina Inverse[Kymeri's pic] and Xelloss Metallium are both from the anime Slayers)

[BelDragos]

( Everybody's picking on me again )

:)

[Morte]

And that surprises you? How curious.

[Slitherrr]

Quiet you, you don't have a leg to stand on.

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Chuckles

[Kintoun]

But he has a shoulder to rest on eh Slitherrr? Heh heh

[Wrentia]

Hmmm.....

Coming Soon to a Village near YOU!

The Reptillian Monk Comedian Extrodinaire!

Slitheeer!

and his traveling gang of floating skulls...

Coming Soon to a Village Near YOU!


-Wrentia

[UBIK]

heheh

[Morte]

/emote pellets Slitherrr with eyeballs. The crowd cheers him on, to ever greater eyeballs. The crowd goes mad with glee, and sadly has to be put down. But nevertheless it was a succesful show.

[Dogmeat]

Just a little opinion on what I think we need.

First, I think when you set up a scenario to teach the newbies to roleplay, you should set an example of good roleplaying, as has been said. However, you should not use the 'verily, thou hast smiteth me!' Elizabethan pseudo-english that a lot of people try to pass off for roleplaying. (which would be okay in an elizabethan setting of course)

Second, I think there should be OOC and auction channels, both of which should be defaulted off but can be turned on if you want. Also, they should be limited to being heard within a certain area, maybe a 1-2 miles in each direction.

Third, /shout could be OK, but I'd want to see it broadcast at a somewhat short range, maybe 100 yards.

Fourth, you can't really ban all the s1r d00dz, but as there is going to be a way to report people who PK a lot, I think maybe there should be a way to report people who talk OOC off the designated OOC channels or just act like morons. Maybe you have a 'wanted' level for the good/bad deeds you do, and then some scale of staying in character and roleplaying well.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

[Indigo]

I agree for the most part with the communications discussion going on here. A full world chat is a bad idea because it is much easier to chat randomly then to actually go find someone to ask. A bizzare for selling things is much more IC then letting someone sell to another half way across the continent. It takes more effort, often rp effort to sell your wares to whoever and also opens up the possibility for players to become merchants ect.. tells are good.. thats where ooc goes when you cant say it out loud.. and ya like you will never ever talk ooc..so do it in tells. I like limited shouting for trouble circumstances but if its used or can be used to give coordinates or be a spoiler then the range is too big.

I also agree that players will have a big part in keeping the world in character BUT only as much power as the game company gives us. If we have a problem player who is shouting the football scores and we tell them its not IC and to take it to tells, he may or may not comply.. in fact he might get worse.. but if a Gm backs us then chances are we might have a good rp atmosphere. In most mmrpgs there was roleplaying before the masses hit. But the game companys will wipe the characters who were rping and throw them back to the start. Those players, knowing the game to a point.. will powerlevel themselves back..All the community that was built is usually lost. Its no wonder that when 10,000 people rush in the door roleplaying is lost. The only one that ever remained rp was because the game company insisted on it. It was actually written into the user agreement.. thou shallt roleplay or not play. It wont matter what we do, unless we have support.

Roleplaying is like acting it is a learned skill and not everyone is really good at it. But the best help a player can give is a good example. And if you happen to meet someone who has no clue what is IC and ooc then take the time to explain it to them nicely.. people want to play..and I think that most will find that roleplaying is way more fun than being themselves in a huge 3d chatroom. *cougheqcough*

My fingers are crossed.. oHHH let this be the one! :):):)

[George]

Hmmm.. interesting stuff here. Still haven't read anything from the Development Team or from any future webmasters......

[Kintoun]

Expanding on Indigo's and Dogmeats ideas...

The CM's could even enforce RolePlay points like they do in text based MUD's and MOO's. If you see someone that is roleplaying you have the option to give them one of your finite RP pts. Then next time this player "levels" Their stats are increased more depending on how many RP pts they are given. If 2 players get together and only give each other RP pts as they receive them... then there is no stopping that exploit. But if a player asks for a RP point from a stranger, this play is ALL but expelled from the game. It's REALLY shunned upon.

In this way the people who roleplay will be of equivalent power to the powergamers that don't. Thus encouraging powergamers to roleplay and earn those RP pts so they level better.