Devs, cater more towards roleplaying??

[Velvathos]

If any of the developers have time, they should cater towards roleplaying, the UO community, is not as well as it once was.. We can blame the players, but we can also blame the developers, I remember players would have their own stories and like every two weeks would be the community spotlights... UO can't have a strong community, if the devs or anybody else, new reporters, aren't catering towards the aspects of roleplaying more often.. I mean, what happened down the road?

I remember in an interview with Kerowyn, they said this..

"This has to be one of my favorite things to be involved with. I love reading. I love fiction. I love hearing about other people's experiences, whether in-game or in real life. So it's only natural that I would enjoy this part of my job as well. There are times that we'll solicit stories by posting a spotlight topic to FYI -- the last one was 'Quest Adventures,' I believe. I have the delightful task of reading the submissions that are sent to the [email protected] mailbox, and then choosing and editing the ones we ultimately post on UO.com. One thing I've discovered from reading all those submissions is that there are a lot creative writers in our community!"

I agree, the roleplaying fiction aspect is the one of the best part of this game and it is the reason we have lasted so long, we all love the community, we like player run establishments, and after-all, this is an MMORPG.. Latley, the community has just been falling apart, those left that are still roleplaying and trying to cater towards it, have a very difficult time doing so, I have a hard time here on Pacific, it has slipped away, lot of people make fun of me when I roleplay, they make fun of my Orc, I can't speak Orcish to anyone, what happened there? Orcs use to be popular.. Again, this is due to the lack of anyone, including the devs, catering towards the RP community.. A lot of roleplayers have quit, understandable, but we havn't been getting any new blood, there is no interest, everyone wants the UBER L33t PWNAGE items so they can PvP, that is just a minor aspect of this game, but everyone treats it like it is the only one as of late..

We also use to have pictures of the week and establishment screenshots... Not anymore, no, we can't have that..

I think a good reason to quit the game is cause of a bad-shape the community is in, I think many players have quit for this very reason, and it is an area where the developers need greatly become involved in.. No strong community, no UO..

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

I miss the ability of player run towns to be given special features like fountains or seating areas. I'm not sure why this couldn't be done again, or at least some sort of decorating system that allows for this type of thing when a certain amount of housing in an area is owned by the same guild?

*shrugs*...la

 

[Connor_Graham]

I have a hard time here on Pacific, it has slipped away, lot of people make fun of me when I roleplay, they make fun of my Orc, I can't speak Orcish to anyone, what happened there? Orcs use to be popular.. Again, this is due to the lack of anyone, including the devs, catering towards the RP community..

How would you expect anyone that doesn't speak Orcish to answer back after you've spoken to them? Why would you expect someone that doesn't RP to all of a sudden change their minds and RP with you because you've spouted unintelligible gibberish at them? Roleplaying is all good and well if that's what you enjoy, but not everyone is into it, and you shouldn't expect them to be just because you want them to.

 

[love2winalot]

This really needs to be brought back. It also has an added advantage of getting to know your neighbors, but as a game town, it would help combat the, "LUNA" is the only place to sell monopoly. It would also make money for EA as more players to play multiple shards would move to the one that they are part of the town.

This is one of the best ways to get players to group together, without trying to force it on them. I remember buying a house from another player that was in our town area, and going and buying him a bigger one in a different area, and just trading with him.

 

[Ni-]

RPing is a niche inside of a niche game. There is a pretty nice RP environment on Chessy that sprawls Felucca, Trammel, and Tokuno. An Orc guild is one of the major parts of it. I have an orc in it, however, I don't speak Orcish very well, so he is not very active in it. I play in KR and in KR you can have an Orcish skin/paperdoll.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

It would be nice to see more RP support, yes.

However, the current event cycle seems to be designed with RP in mind to a degree. There's fictional reasons for everything, and we're seeing the repeat of characters things and concepts that we've seen before, but then appeared to vanish (Aileen, Casca, Sherry, Avery, the FoA, the term "eored," etc.). This helps RP by making the environment seem more real, like it's a place that plays by its own rules, and where things don't happen entirely at random according to the needs of some external story.

(For those who don't remember the use of eroed, btw, which I actually didn't myself!, see this link: http://town.uo.com/bnn/article_578.html)

So while I agree with the poster's premise? I think they are doing a better job with developing the world that we RP in front of than we sometimes give them credit for.

-Galen's player

 

[Gildar]

The game doesn't need to be catered more towards roleplaying, it just needs to continue to be roleplayable.

The developers should spend time with additions that benefit more than just roleplayers.

Storylines like the current one, combat balancing, general bug fixing - all good for the game as a whole. Cater towards the community as a whole, not just the niches.

 

[MalagAste]

Oh I agree about bringing back things..... seers/councilors...... they are needed.... you take a tour of any of the Japanese shards and see the difference.... it's sad....

And they don't just cater to the roleplayer...... seers used to make events that anyone could participate in... granted it helped if you knew what was going on story wise....

There are lots of things EA could do that would benifit roleplay and larger guilds ..... there are many guilds who own large areas of land.... I think there should be some way to get a bonus for having a player run town.... stables, road access perhaps..... maybe better bank access.... seating would be nice outdoor training area...... several things. Just that someone would eventually cry about other folk getting things and will call for a nerf to such things.... unfortunatly there is always someone that spoils things for everyone else......

I would like it if EA could find more things for entire guilds to do... to me a Peerless anyone of them should NEVER be something you can solo...... EVER same with champ spawns...... these things are not meant to be soloed..... they are supposed to be very difficult..... would certainly give guilds more to do as a group..... right now it's hard to do a dungeon crawl or anything and not have folk bored stiff ..... spawn is either slow..... low or too easy.... I recall when as a guild we used to hunt dragons...... and people would die left and right...... and it was challenging and scarry all at once..... I also recall when the sick laughter of a liche used to send chills down my spine as I knew my death could well be coming soon....... but now I hardly bat an eye at a liche..... or even a Liche Lord..... an ancient liche doesn't even raise my brow...

As for roleplaying .... unfortunatly roleplayers themselves are to blame for some of the problems of late..... either from making themselves too elite and turning off other players...... or by putting too many conditions on the roleplay of others..... or by not going out and making things happen.... not everyone can be a follower...... having things to do in-game roleplay wise takes work.... and imagination.... but the same folk can not keep making this happen.... or eventually they burn out... It helps to come up with new stuff though if EA is providing some sort of event... to base some roleplay off of.. though it's not necessary it certainly goes a long way toward giving everyone something to do.... granted some see the new quests as just another thing to gather and points to score...... but to a roleplayer.... the council has been murdered. There is an investigation to do..... evil to vanquish.... and order to restore. It's events like this that give people things to do.... and certainly EA could go a long way to keeping folk entertained.... and happy.

Though its my firm belief that even if they NEVER changed another thing.... roelplay could still go on and on and on..... UO is what you make of it..... that's what makes it so great..... YOu can change the lands..... you can build a town you can get together with friends and make something ingame..... you can build an auctionhouse..... you can host a festival..... You can host a bunny bash...... a poetry contest.... whatever you imagine... if only you apply yourself and plan..... that is what makes this game so much more than most any other..... You are only limited by your imagination....

 

[canary]

One of UO's great strengths is that it is VERY rp'er friendly, they often fail to remember that, though.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

One of UO's great strengths is that it is VERY rp'er friendly, they often fail to remember that, though.

This is surely true.

Let me add some specificity.

The biggest reason, in my view, that UO is RPer-friendly is that it, when properly used and framed, has a world that is both "closed" and "open" enough to support RP. It has lore, it has background, but that background isn't strangling. There are even some who RP and ignore that background entirely.

But...Even among those of us who do not ignore that background, there's still a lot of room to play around.

-Galen's player

 

[Velvathos]

How would you expect anyone that doesn't speak Orcish to answer back after you've spoken to them? Why would you expect someone that doesn't RP to all of a sudden change their minds and RP with you because you've spouted unintelligible gibberish at them? Roleplaying is all good and well if that's what you enjoy, but not everyone is into it, and you shouldn't expect them to be just because you want them to.

Unintelligible gibberish? You are aware that most Orcs in UO, speak a language called "Black Speech" made up by a real man? A popular one known as Tolkein?

The basic words we speak as orcs in UO, is black speech.. A language made by Tolkein..

 

[Velvathos]

The game doesn't need to be catered more towards roleplaying, it just needs to continue to be roleplayable.

The developers should spend time with additions that benefit more than just roleplayers.

Storylines like the current one, combat balancing, general bug fixing - all good for the game as a whole. Cater towards the community as a whole, not just the niches.

I guess it depends what server your on, Catskills has an excellent RP community.... I think the developers need to cater towards the community as a whole, we had the "community spotlights." I remember one was about two people meeting in real life through the game, and got married both in game and real life, it was part of a valentine's day thing, I would have never known something like that could happen, I enjoyed reading it..

http://www.uo.com/spot_59.html

Roleplaying or not, it catered towards the community, gettin' our stories out like that, I remember there was always both Non-RP and RP articles, but it catered towards everyone..

We also use to have pictures of the week, some were very funny, I saved quite a bit to my computer, and pictures of player establishments, this catered towards the community, and made our establishments possible, and well known, I think it is good the developers are making up some lore and all that stuff, but along the way, they shouldn't forget what we want to show as well, I don't know about you, but I want to hear and know about all the recent establishments and stories that players write up, otherwise, the community just seems dead, I think one of the developer should try to take time to do that for us..

I think you know what I am trying to say..

Edit:

I understand that most news reporters here on stratics do articles about their own experiences, if I were a news reporter, I would probabley do the opposite, but I know nothing about HTML, so I can't be one, =P

 

[Phaen Grey]

Over the past Year since the Magincia Invasion, the group of people I rp with have made a concerted effort to incorporate the happenings of npc's in the event content into our own storytelling. Its added a dynamic and interaction on a larger scale and brought a lot to our roleplay community. Items from the events have been wonderful plot devices for other stories and have a lot of future roleplay potential. I don't think its fair to anyone one group for the devs to focus sole attention on, but by adding content geared on a smaller scale to different groups over time there is something for everyone.

I happen to think the Devs are doing a good job and I have really enjoyed the new content added to the game I love to play.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Unintelligible gibberish? You are aware that most Orcs in UO, speak a language called "Black Speech" made up by a real man? A popular one known as Tolkein?

The basic words we speak as orcs in UO, is black speech.. A language made by Tolkein..

It doesn't matter who made it up or what it's called. If the person it's being directed at has never heard of it, much less understand it, it's unintelligible gibberish to them.

 

[Erekose]

All it takes to RP is imagination and other people who want to join you. If you need the devs to make special features to facilitate roleplaying then you're doing it wrong.

 

[Salty Pete]

All I have ever needed to properly role play is text chat. Don't get me wrong... Tools to add things to the game world are cool and add flavor, but they aren't more important than the text chat.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

All I have ever needed to properly role play is text chat. Don't get me wrong... Tools to add things to the game world are cool and add flavor, but they aren't more important than the text chat.

I disagree, at least partly, with you and Erekose, and this is how and why.

RP starts with imagination and text chat. But mechanics add a lot.

Here's one example: Towns. With the game mechanic of customized housing, you have a limited ability to actually have the houses in your town, and the streets for that matter, look like they look in your head. You don't just have to go with an image that exists only in your head (because then why play a game at all, why not just do RP free-form via instant messenger), but you have an actual visual to look at and bounce off of and play around with and interact with.

Here's another example: Fighting. Sure, fighting could be done through "pure," mechanics-less RP as well....But that gets troublesome. People can RP having powers that overwhelm everybody else's. People can RP having fighting abilities and experience that they cant' possibly back up. A game mechanic for fighting allows you a limited ability to actually have something to play off of and interact with. "I invoke my power" gets very stale, very quickly, however much fun it seems like for awhile. At its worst, free-form RP combat resembles the South Park ninja episode, where Cartman claimed that his Ninja "has a lot of powers." Or another South Park episode wherein the lads were playing war, and Cartman had "super-secret armor on that is impervious to your bullets."

Now I'm not saying free-form RP is always that way. I'm saying that game mechanics adds something. That's all. Really!

Now let's briefly talk about in-game fiction. A game with no in-game fiction would be, I would argue, not be a good RP environment. Everyone walking around could be anything, at any time, for any reason.

On the other hand, a game with RP fiction that is too set, too specific? I was told that an MMORPG called Saga of Ryzom was very RP- and fiction-heavy, and it was great for awhile....But, then, a funny thing happened....The manufacturers changed the fiction and suddenly a lot of players were forced to either go against the official fiction or change their characters' backstories. Not a pleasant thing for an RPer to have to do.

(Disclaimer: I've never played that game and am going from second-hand accounts.)

One of the reasons I wasn't attracted at all to Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar was that the story and characters were already set. Nothing I could do could even potentially have any impact on the set storyline. While I've never had any intent of having a major impact on UO's broad storylines (when they exist), the point is that I conceivably could. Star Wars Galaxies, which I did play for awhile, for all of its virtues also had that issue.

-Galen's player

 

[Salty Pete]

Now let's briefly talk about in-game fiction. A game with no in-game fiction would be, I would argue, not be a good RP environment. Everyone walking around could be anything, at any time, for any reason.

A game with no in-game fiction is the PERFECT role play enviroment because then people are free to act as the characters they wish to portray.

However, in the interest of having a common theme for characters to relate to each other I do agree that a game has to have some amount of back story (ie Sosaria, the Star Wars world, Warcraft etc.)

What is not needed though is an A-B-C story line for all characters to follow. Instead what should be in the game world are simple game mechanics for characters to be allowed interaction with each other. A way to kill each other, trade items and communicate. With those basic tools the best kinds of role play are possible. Structured stories get in the way of the best kinds of character driven player created story lines... The ones where every player's character is on an equal footing. A virtual world.

 

[WildStar]

Unintelligible gibberish? You are aware that most Orcs in UO, speak a language called "Black Speech" made up by a real man? A popular one known as Tolkein?

The basic words we speak as orcs in UO, is black speech.. A language made by Tolkein..

It doesn't matter who made it up or what it's called. If the person it's being directed at has never heard of it, much less understand it, it's unintelligible gibberish to them.

I will openly admit to being a role-player and really making the effort to understand Orc. However, it is understandable by anyone if they only put a little effort into it. I respond in regular English to the Orc, as they seem to understand it. "Demz ib ebil." is a short simple example of the Orc language.

WildStar
Grand Duchess
Kingdom of Dawn (A Player-Run Town)
Baja

 

[Gildar]

A game with no in-game fiction is the PERFECT role play enviroment because then people are free to act as the characters they wish to portray.

If there was a clear way to communicate the player-created fiction to everybody (world actually changes based on activity - towns get damaged from attacks, etc), and a clear starting point.
Otherwise, people will constantly dispute what is "real".

 

[Velvathos]

All it takes to RP is imagination and other people who want to join you. If you need the devs to make special features to facilitate roleplaying then you're doing it wrong.

Don't think anybody here ever said we did need special features... Back in the day though, roleplaying was much more fun, cause the game was much more real, the more realistic a game is, the better the roleplaying, cause roleplaying enviroments are realistic..

 

[Connor_Graham]

However, it is understandable by anyone if they only put a little effort into it.

And, as I said, if someone isn't a roleplayer, and has never heard of the language, they wouldn't even know nor care to put any effort into it. It would simply be unintelligible gibberish that some stranger they've never seen before is spouting at them.

You'd think someone spouting it off would get the hint when the person tells them they have no clue what they're saying......

 

[Velvathos]

And, as I said, if someone isn't a roleplayer, and has never heard of the language, they wouldn't even know nor care to put any effort into it. It would simply be unintelligible gibberish that some stranger they've never seen before is spouting at them.

You'd think someone spouting it off would get the hint when the person tells them they have no clue what they're saying......

I was thinking maybe the developers could post a official dictionary of the orc language in UO on the UO website, and for other creatures as well, we know that there is one, we hear the NPC's spout it all the time when we kill them..

 

[Landicine]

I think there is a fine line between shared fiction and metaplot. Shard fiction is setting details and factions and general details. When someone happens in game, if the players get to take part, that's shared fiction. Metaplot is rigid plot details that players have no input on. A lot of tabletop RPGs have complex metaplots (World of Darkness, Shadowrun) that don't always help play. I don't think standardized roleplay stuff is a good idea; I feel it crosses into metaplot. There should be a difference between the roleplay communities on LS, Siege, Europa, etc. because roleplay is defined by the people doing it. Events that both roleplayers and nonroleplayers can enjoy (Magincia, the current FoA mess) do help roleplay by giving us a shared fiction. I don't have a problem with it as long as it isn't too restrictive.

I do however like the idea of more tools. The sandbox nature of UO makes it excellent for roleplay. Tools for running events could be used by roleplay, but also would be used by social players who don't get into character. Tools for personalizing houses, items, characters, etc. are also useful for roleplay. I remember an orc who used to live in a fancy villa who was so happy the day he could turn it into an orc fort and remove the flower gardens.

 

[Velvathos]

Landicine, you have spoken of what has been troubling me... Thank you!

UO Guide actually comes to mind right now, they have features screenshots and player establishments that the devs don't feature for the players anymore..

 

[Lucy of Kenton]

my own experience of roleplay was very poor. seems that rp'ers havent moved with the times and do the same thing over and over again. and leadership giving permission to invade with overwhelming numbers and simply wipe you out.
someone mentioned imagination but seems it was missing from the group i joined.
still i said i would try it so i did