Roleplay?

[Dimetrius]

Warning: This is a VERY LONG POST.

Something I've noticed lately about Akanbar is that a good majority of our players seem to be without much direction. Some are content to simply
log in, and do one of two things: bash their socks off, or sit around and chat to whoever will listen.

There isn't anything wrong with this mentality. Akanbar is, after all, a game, and everyone is entitled to enjoy it however they want to (rules
permitting). I tend to log on and, if no one interesting is around I can engage in conversation with, sit around pointlessly and write up silly
things like this.

This does, however, tie into a recent problem that we've been having. We don't tend to attract many novices; the ones we do entice tend to leave
shortly after, more often than not. While there are a good many things that contribute to this, the one I've chosen to address is (as I feel) a core
concept within any roleplaying environment - character definition.

Everyone has their own ideas about roleplay. Some think that it can only be called roleplay if the gods are animating mobs and giving us all some
insane task to do. Others prefer a more personal approach, and try to mold every word and action on behalf of their character into the grand
scheme of things.

Things have been pretty dead, lately. This brings roleplay to a grinding halt, given that a lot of the time there are only a handful of people
logged in. But why not put this time to good use, and try to flesh your character out into someone interesting that will be remembered by that
novice that's on the fence about sticking around? If every player that we currently have could mold their character into one of those memorable
figures, a lot of good could come of it.

DEFINING YOUR CHARACTER

PART ONE: INSPIRATION

At the core of every decently-played role is the inspiration. It can come from anywhere, really; novel characters, historical figures, even
drawn from your everyday life. While you should never make your character a carbon copy of a real person, or someone else's fictional entity,
the best characters are the ones that you can 'slip into', that have some defining characteristic that you find enjoyable and easy to relate to.

Your character should be the personification of whatever it is you wish to bring to the world.

My character, for example, is a religious zealot that alternates between being overly-tyrannical and off his rocker to being completely silly and
somewhat embarrassing to be around. For the darker, more serious aspect of Dimetrius, I've often drawn from one of my all time favorite
fictional characters from the Dragonlance novels, Raistlin.

To me, Raistlin has always been that diamond in the rough. A dry and typically-mocking sense of humor, a sharp wit that never fails to lock
him in as 'that asshole' of the bunch, but also a profound sense of wisdom that comes from being the no-nonsense sort. He's dark, he's
mysterious, and he's enticing to a point.

The things that make Raistlin so memorable are close to things that I feel make Dimetrius memorable. While he's egocentric, blunt, and
sometimes downright rude, he's the sort of person that you would want on your side in an argument or battle. He has a strange sort of
charisma that makes him influential and almost admirable at times, even though he's utterly intolerable most others.

PART TWO: MOTIVATION

Simply saying your character is 'like XYZ' isn't enough, though. To really define and flesh out your character, it helps to defer to things
that are already in place within the game, such as the divine or your city. What drives your character? Why does he or she do all of the
things they do, or not do they things that they could?

Again, the best thing I can do to exemplify is ramble on about my own character. Dimetrius isn't just an ass for the sake of being an ass,
though some might have differing opinions. To Dimetrius, there is no greater good than the appeasing of his god. As far as he's concerned,
every mortal and god alike takes a back seat in his life - all that matters to him is the will of Xyrath.

Of course, with Xyrath currently (and for all I know, permanently) being somewhat non-existent, this makes things a little fuzzy. Without a
god to log in and tell you quid pro quo what you should be doing or trying to accomplish, basing your character around religion will require a
great deal of extra effort and inventiveness.

To remedy this, I bring in my favorite aspect of Dimetrus: his sense of duty to a silent god. If you were to ask Dimetrius in-game why he
follows a god that hasn't been seen or heard for quite some time now, you could get any number of answers. It boils down to a sense of
purpose. Dimetrius feels as though Xyrath is omnipresent, always watching his every move and relishing in his undying servitude. He
(somewhat desperately) tries method after method of catching His attention, and would go to the ends of the earth to be given some
indication of His favour.

Religion is but one of these resources, though. Your character could be motivated by a sense of justice, retribution, greed, anything at
all you can come up with. Where this part shines is when you can easily align it to something that exists within the game; a Templar
that battles to spread the good faith of the Light, an Assassin who lives to deliver vengeance to those who would harm his allies,
anything.

In fact, as far as I can tell, two of those examples are already being personified in Akanbar. They might come off as too commonly-done
or run of the mill, but that is where the next bit comes in.

PART THREE: PERSONALIZATION

Anyone can jump into a half-built role and claim they're the next big thing. You could create a Templar, and harass every Golgonian citizen
you come across because you're hard-coded to be their enemy. But when the day is done, what have you accomplished? You've filled your
role, but was it memorable?

I would have to say no! The best part about roleplay is that you can literally be anything you want to be. You could create that
Templar, sure. But instead of following the status quo, what if you were to be a knight driven not by a sense of justice and duty, but by your
own internal conflict that tempts you to align yourself with the darker forces?

Obviously not everything needs to be so dramatic, which is where moderation comes into play. Some are content fulfilling their expected
role to the best of their ability, and I can name a handful of people who do this exceptionally well. But providing your own personal quirks
and story to your character is what makes them -yours-. It's what separates the generic "I do this because it's what I'm supposed to
do" from the "I do this because my character is...". To fill a role, you can't simply do what is expected. Your character is yours to steer
and control, for better or worse, to strive to meet any goal you can plan out for them. Make it easy for them, or make it hard,
but always try to make it memorable!

IN CLOSING...

The single most important thing you can do to flesh your character out is to commit to it. If you want people to remember you as being that
flighty Warden who tends to lose his staff, BE that flighty Warden that tends to lose his staff. Saying once and done will have very little
impact.

Instead of sitting around chattering the hours away, create a little story for you and your fellow players to go through. Have your character
strike up a conversation with someone they normally wouldn't, without immediately jumping into the "You're an enemy, go away" mindset.
You'd be surprised how much you can learn about another character, and the things that drive the associated player to fill their role in the
way they do, by just taking the time to interact with them.

Make Akanbar fun again. Think up a role, and play it!

[Dimetrius]

COMING SOON...

- Tips for separating in- and out-of-character.

[David]

I agree with a lot you're saying here my friend. The only thing that has bothered me for some time is there is no more feeling of logging on and really having the feeling that Golgonath is against Elysium or vice versa. The driving point of many muds/WoW's/Guild Wars...etc etc games of the world is some form of conflict. Roleplaying is an art to many and to those that are capable of such high end roleplay should be applauded in many senses. To me roleplay often stems from a greater good in a world that is full of conflict, it is a lot easier to roleplay a bloodthristy Forsaken that is constantly battling Elysians than a bloodthristy Forsaken that is only battling say brigands and heretics. I tend to think that the lack of roleplay stems directly from the lack of conflict that Akanbar currently has.

Nobody is perfect and this I am not, clearly from this character to my other. My time has dwindled to almost nothing now on Akanbar and that is because I am now a house owner and sometimes coming home from work and cleaning the house/cooking dinner for my family outweighs logging on Akanbar to sit around the Centre/Bash heretics/or talk about the old times of when people actually had goals/aspirations as characters of Akanbar.

Just my two cents.

Edit:

This wasn't a post about tower raids/city raids at all, it was just a simple suggestion that there is no real feeling of us versus them or vice versa. I think that within itself drives roleplay of characters and sub-plots to arise.

[Viridiana]

I forget which Divine said it regarding raiding time etc (probably Jaethor). That the guard respawn times were set as they were for a reason. (Insert obscure boxing reference about one beating the other down constantly).

From my perspective, the lack of conflict, and thus roleplay, stems from constantly being beat down essentially. Hrm, let me explain. In regards to you David, you are just -too- good. Please understand, this is not meant as a jab, insult, accusation, etc. But you are just too good and for most, it demoralizes your enemies. (Wait, let me finish) Yes, this should inspire others to grow, improve, strive to be better than you. But the fact is, something you do combat wise is just exceptional. There is a reason you haven't been beaten in what, years? Be it coding experience, thinking outside the box with your tactics. Whatever the reason, generations of players -cannot- seem to beat you. This is no fault of yours of course. You are playing the game to the best of your abilities, which happen to be exceptional.

Now, when I became MOA I had very few options. The city was demoralized and raiding came down to whether or not David was awake in the lands. We needed a win. A few actually, to get people's confidence up, restore some patriotism in Golgonath, and to prove that there is still fun to be had playing as a Golgonian. And being Golgonian, there's some latitude in ethics.

(I'm not proud of this next part and I'm sure many already know via OOC communication methods).

I declared that no offensive action would be taken against Elysium while David was present. Period. Aside from the fact that it would be silly to just volunteer to be killed, I wanted to make sure that the only thing David got to flex his muscles and skills with were mindless NPC's. Serfs were recruited as often as possible so infiltration would have as little impact as possible. And so on. It would even go so far as to abandon raids if David showed up and purposely continue when he would BB or leave the lands. It was blatant and obvious, I know.

Being the spiteful b***h that I am, if we could not stop or kill David, I wanted to hurt him in another way. As the avid combatant that David is, I took away what he enjoyed the most. Combat. The idea being that if I took away David's primary reason for existing (primary, not solitary), there would be no reason to exist.

I wanted to make life for David such a bore that he would eventually stop waking up. I would not give him the entertainment or the exercise at the cost of Golgonian blood.

So there's the paradox. Obviously playing below your maximum potential on purpose would be awful. But when you're so good that people, no matter how hard they try, cannot beat you, they eventually stop just wanting to die and simply avoid you. Again, not your fault and I'm not trying to start an argument or insult you. But I know this is how a lot of people feel in this situation. I'm just the only one willing to admit that I cannot beat you and have to resort to less honorable means to 'combat' you. And I am sincerely sorry for that.


Edit: For those that are going to reply with 'that's cowardly!' I would like to rebuttal with this. In the same sense as someone who flees during a challenge to heal up and continue time and time again. I call it cowardice, they call it tactics. Why just let yourself die if you know you are going to, right? Think about that. At least I'm being honest.

[Pyrok]

Dimetrius: Make Akanbar fun again. Think up a role, and play it!

I'm not gonna dodge the personal issue i have with that statement. I can't 'pick' or think up a role as I tend to get very bored of a role quite quickly after a while. This even shows up in terms of guilds for me, I can't stick to one guild for a long period of time, which now with Pyrok pushing somewhere around 150 years old, is coming to bite him/me in the ass.
I'm not complaining or bragging (this isn't the thread for such things), I'm stating something for posterity:
I have a role. A part to play in the grand stage of Akanbar.

I don't want Pyrok to be some pants-wettingly fearsome figure, or a justice oriented acolyte of the people. And for all i speak of it, I don't want him to be a pirate either.
Pyrok, despite my complaints, is exactly the way I want him. Flaky, mildly untrustworthy, unreliable and yet still able to get where he needs to thanks to the good graces of others.
Some might call him a leech on society. I think he just gets blown around by the wind too much.
Pyrok is exactly where I want him to be, and the way I want him to be.
Paranoid to the point of insanity, capable of great humor and the occasional snide remark, mildly arrogant about his abilities and deeply embarrassed when someone brings up his past.
For all intents and purposes, that's who Pyrok is. Whether that's roleplaying or not is irrelavent to me most of the time, I'm not going to broadcast that I am roleplaying. If you can't figure it out, why should I spell it out? If you start speaking OOCly to me, Pyrok will 'play along' with whatever you're talking about. Ignoring OOC statements, or calling someone out for OOC behaviour is counter productive, there's very few ways of dealing with it. I just took the easy route.

[Dimetrius]

I don't want Pyrok to be some pants-wettingly fearsome figure, or a justice oriented acolyte of the people. And for all i speak of it, I don't want him to be a pirate either. Pyrok, despite my complaints, is exactly the way I want him. Flaky, mildly untrustworthy, unreliable and yet still able to get where he needs to thanks to the good graces of others.

You have your role, I'm failing to see the issue here.

[Pyrok]

Neither am I now that I look back at it... seemed like a good idea before coffee.

[Chyren]

I'm pretty sure a few of you are over-thinking this.

The main part that I see lacking is consistency. That said, if there is a REASON you're not acting the same way all the time about XYZ, let people find out about it and RP things.

What you do in the game shapes who your character is and what he/she stands for. If you joke with my character(s) in tells all the time and then try to assert your leadership position it will not do much to change the way he/she responds, for example.

[Dimetrius]

I'm pretty sure a few of you are over-thinking this.

The main part that I see lacking is consistency. That said, if there is a REASON you're not acting the same way all the time about XYZ, let people find out about it and RP things.

What you do in the game shapes who your character is and what he/she stands for. If you joke with my character(s) in tells all the time and then try to assert your leadership position it will not do much to change the way he/she responds, for example.

This guy has it down pat, listen to him.

[David]

I'm pretty sure a few of you are over-thinking this.

The main part that I see lacking is consistency. That said, if there is a REASON you're not acting the same way all the time about XYZ, let people find out about it and RP things.

What you do in the game shapes who your character is and what he/she stands for. If you joke with my character(s) in tells all the time and then try to assert your leadership position it will not do much to change the way he/she responds, for example.

One is able to joke in tells and then exercise their leadership roles quite easily given if the person in question is acting out of line. Consistency is one thing, but for consistency to work the characters themselves shouldn't need to be consistent, but the landscape they come to should be consistent. When the world changes constantly, a little bit of that consistency must change. What I am saying as a person that is 25 years old in real life, I am not the same person I was even a month ago. The same can be said about my fictional characters in a mud and/or whatever else. Are they dramatic changes? No, but we as people are constantly changing, but usually for the most part one thing typically should remain the same....which is....

Akanbar's consistency should be the fight between good and evil at the for front and the characters involved then should be wanting to oppose the other. This we do not have, thus no roleplay is generated and if so it's done so in small packages or is quickly stopped/ignored. I am sure you know this all to well with Silas's issue and being caught by a Divine's hand and no mortal, it is awfully hard to be consistent when you're setup for failure.

Clearly my roleplay is much more geared towards combat as Viridiana's player pointed out, and that is a personal choice. Clearly something I as a player have always taken great pride in, and have been called every name in the book nearly. A few people roleplaying events everyday for the next few real life years isn't going to generate the same population Akanbar had than it did during the war between two cities and Golgonath.

Here's to hoping this made a bit of sense to you all, I know it did to me.

[Chyren]

I really just glanced through the post for the moment, but the Elysium/Ysallyra war vs Golgonath was definitely not the highpoint of players. It was way before that, when I remember just starting out and it was 20+ people easily at night.

[David]

I really just glanced through the post for the moment, but the Elysium/Ysallyra war vs Golgonath was definitely not the highpoint of players. It was way before that, when I remember just starting out and it was 20+ people easily at night.

Never said it was the highpoint, was just giving a basic reference. I remember those times as well, they were grand times. When towers weren't even around!

[Malic]

When towers weren't even around!

Ah, but city guard groups were limited to ten per location and you only needed five decent templars for a city raid.

As to the orginal topic: I agree with a lot that is being said. I think people should consistantly roleplay, but their role doesn't always have to be consistant. I do sometimes wish the realms weren't so rigid in their ethos, that a group of like minded citizens could perhaps alter direction slightly for a generation or so. We saw that begining to happen in Ysallyra before it got stamped on.

I admit I'm a somewhat goal orientated player, I like to achieve things. I like to see an impact of my efforts. Currently I'm struggling to come up with anything better than "Get Khazir to worshipful" each month. Now I know this post is about roleplaying, and I've played roleplay "enforced" games before, I rather enjoyed them. Once I get into the groove I'm actually alright at it, but in Akanbar I don't find that groove because there isn't that air of magic that makes me want to. Half of the tiny current population stand in the same spot for hours on end. (Yes, yes, level 1, I know. It was an accident.) And there generally isn't anything going on, no global events, no news, just the same thing again. I mean no offense to the admin but I really am not interested in roleplaying events that I have to instigate (edit for clarity) via means of msg'ing or email a god. It again, removes the magic. This is only acerbated by the fact that only instigated events take place, thus you know these roleplaying events have a clear begining and a clear ending, further removing them from the day to day life in akanbar. They have become the exception not the rule.
I applaud your efforts to try and create a better roleplaying environment for everyone, but we've been down this road many times. And one thing we should all know from experience by now is that asking our somewhat apathetic playerbase to resolve it by themselves isn't going to work.

Sorry for being gloomy.