Attention all MMORPG players!!

[Macatron]

I just came across this article tonight, and thought that everyone who plays online should take a look at it. It really does bring up some good points, and gives some legitiment steps as to make for a better overall online experience. Go here and check it out:

http://rpgplanet.com/features/articles/honeymoon/

[Wrentia]

I think the real problem is that the actual "Roleplay" in MMORPG's is quite limited. The end all and be all of the online RPG is to gain levels, have cool items, and do things most players don't. The problem is, to get to these high levels and to have the nifty items takes hours and hours of repetitive action. Everyone knows that Monster A drops Item B every X hours. Thus the camping that is rampant in EQ.

A system that promotes actual roleplay above hack and slash is needed. A system the rewards roleplay more than camping. A system without static spawns. A system with a more realistic combat system. A system where things in the world change. Hmmm, I seem to be describing something I've heard about.....oh yea....Arcanity!

-Wrentia

[Rai Azimon]

Wrentia wrote:
"A system that promotes actual roleplay above hack and slash is needed. A system the rewards roleplay more than camping. A system without static spawns"

I have been in many "roleplay " groups, in various games over the years. I don't see how any system can promote roleplay. I can roleplay on a message board if I have to, but I can't hack and slash on a message board can I? (trick question, because if I could I'd be "roleplaying" it!)

Roleplay is all in the minds eye whether you do it at the keyboard or at your therapists office. I really don't understand why you think roleplay can be limited by a game, because my mind goes beyond any particular game I happen to be playing. You can't promote/reward roleplay within a system. You either RP or you don't. You feel it or you don't. If its forced, what good is it? Then you take away the very essence of roleplaying,and thats the creative freedom and individualistic expression each person puts into their roles.

I just didn't understand your point at all I guess :(
Maybe you just wanted to pad your post count, I notice you had something to say under pretty much every topic :P

Aluve rivvin!

Rai Azimon

[Ruadin]

I think alot of people often use the term "role play" in a general fashion, refering more to the gaming environment than the actual meaning of the term. Its true that role playing is in the mind of the individual, but a good MMOG makes several tools available that facilite such a thing. Hence, if I wanted to role-play a bounty hunter, a good game environment would allow some means;
- for people to post bounties
- for me as a bounty hunter to pursue a bounty
- for me to capture targets
- for me to restrain targets if death is not specified
- for me to drag or carry targets back to town
- to be able to collect my bounty once the deed is done

Any one can role-play the bounty hunter without such a system in place by simply bringing back a corpse to the individual who's paying the bounty - but the presence of
such a system allows for better role-play. It enhances the game in a way your mind cannot.

If you went to a play of Henry VIII and the actors were dressed in t-shirts and jeans, would you enjoy that experience as much as one in which they were dressed up in costumes? I know I wouldn't...

[toray]

Producing an atmosphere conducive to role-playing is the hard part. You need either player conflict on an organized and large scale to provide the dynamic for role-playing, or you need a significant enemy to oppose that has clearly defined goals players can work to thwart.

Failing that, you get a game where all people are trying to do is increase the size of the numbers on the spreadsheet that represents their character. Asheron's call is experiencing this right now. A large number of us have reached a level where advancing our spreadsheets is prohibitively expensive... we start saying "what's the point"? And as we look around, we cannot find any other reason to play the game. So we start to look for other games.

True role-playing can be done in any medium, as Wrentia said. But game-play in a MMORPG has to provide sufficient immersion to encourage role-playing.

I'm wondering if Arcanity will show us the numbers. And I'm hoping they won't. I don't want to know that I need to put 23000xp into str to raise it a point (or 1.1 million, as is the case in AC for me to raise anything). I don't want to be able to see the stats of monsters and other players. I would like to see "about the same as you, stronger than you, FAR stronger than you" etc when looking at something and "more dextrous than you" etc... can't ID non-physical stats at all, even to that degree. Within our own characters, I'd like to be able to specify to what degree I focus on each skill (ie, 10% of my focus to working on my physical fitness, which will increase Str and Dex), 50% to working on swordsmanship, 20% to working on healing, and 20% to working on learning to speak Phoenician or whatever... That dictates where the XP I earn is spent... then tell me my degree of mastery in a skill, with a bar that gets filled as I get closer to reaching the next level of mastery...