Roleplaying, I have become convinced, is the key to UO's survival
Walking around Malas this afternoon, looking at players' houses, I was reminded of something I have long thought.
More UO players engage in roleplaying than they often like to admit. The issue to me isn't why don't more players roleplay. To me it's why don't more players who do roleplay admit that that's what they're doing.
Roleplaying can be many things, but the first thing it is, is simply recognizing that you and your character are not the same thing. I guarantee you that no one reading this has ever fought an orc, or a dragon.
When I walk around Malas, I see all kinds of buildings, set up in very fantasy RP ways. I see mini-player towns, I see shrines to various gods or to various creatures. The owners of these houses are characters I haven't heard of, so they likely aren't in any RP community on my shard, and they don't appear to think of themselves as engaging in roleplaying.
Yet, I submit, it's roleplaying, or at least is the start of roleplaying, to build a shrine to some creature that fascinates your character, or to build an inn, or to think of your characters as being brothers, or having a religion (many non-roleplayers I've met over the years have done just that).
We are not our characters. Admitting that is how roleplaying begins.
Immersion in the game is how it continues.
Clearly players who think of their characters as being brothers and sisters, who build Inns in Malas out in the middle of nowhere, and who build shrines to their characters' gods, are seeking immersion in the game.
So, to me, the issue isn't why don't more people roleplay, but why don't more roleplayers admit what they are doing.
One possibility is that people think roleplayers have to talk in thees and thous. But I think most players have interacted with roleplayers and know that we don't talk that way for the most part.
So it's not that.
Another possibility is that people think that roleplayers are snide and rude and cliquey and prone to pettiness. But I think most non-RPers have friends in RP and know that at the very least, we aren't any more prone to that than other players are. Haven't you ever met cliquey, snide, petty PvPers, or rares collectors? You sure have.
Is it that roleplayers tend to be weaker at other aspects of the game? I think most people also know that this isn't true; some roleplayers are weak, some aren't. Just like everyone else.
So it's not that.
So what is it?
Personally I think people are for whatever reason fearful of some of the implications of being roleplayers. Sooner or later it means a certain amount of surrender to in-game things having meaning beyond what they literally appear to be. The Ornament of the Magician is more than just a 2/3 ring with LMC and LRC and Energy Resist. It's a duplicate of the bracelet of some great wizard, whose glory you can now share in because you have one of your own. Grimswind Ruins is more than just a weird area in the game, it has a past and perhaps a future.
For some reason many people seem scared to surrender to the game that way, to find non-literal meanings in what they do. But why? I mean come on now, you already spend hours making virtual shoes and killing virtual orcs. Why's it so bad for those activities to have some meaning beyond what they literally are?
Also, some people might fear having to join an RP community, for various reasons.
I submit you can RP without having to join an RP community. It's possible to interact with EMs or other representatives of EA in an in-character manner, and with RP communities, without actually joining an RP community.
But honestly, if you did join a community, would it really be so bad? Sometimes joining an RP community can be a pain in the ass, trust me on that one, but at the end of the day these stories are a lot more meaningful, I submit, when someone else shares them.
Maybe joining a community might cause you to get to know someone out-of-character, and to see them not just as an annoyance, but as a participant in your own character's story. There are worse things. Many worse things.
Much is made of UO's "sandbox" approach to being an MMO. What gives meaning to your in-game experiences in a sandbox game is roleplaying, whether it's roleplaying as part of a community, or just playing the game in such a way as to buy into the fantasy. Or whether it's actually called roleplaying or not.
Roleplaying is the key to UO's future. Without it, let's face it, in many ways UO kind of sucks. It's the potential for immersion to participate in and tell a story, that makes UO good.
And, as I started this post by saying, way more people roleplay than like to admit it. So why not admit it? If you don't want to join an RP community, just interact with it when you run into it. Almost every shard has one, so far as I'm aware. Instead of saying "let me get my other toon" say "let me get my brother the alchemist."
*shrugs* Many of you roleplay without admitting it. Try admitting it, and see how it adds to our in-game experience. And, after a few months of walking around admitting that you are, and have always been, a roleplayer, maybe write down a background for your character. Just what you've always thought; only thing different is now you're writing it down, making it more permanent.
Then, maybe find other people like you. You can usually find them in taverns, or at the in-character EM events.
*smiles*
-Galen's player
Walking around Malas this afternoon, looking at players' houses, I was reminded of something I have long thought.
More UO players engage in roleplaying than they often like to admit. The issue to me isn't why don't more players roleplay. To me it's why don't more players who do roleplay admit that that's what they're doing.
Roleplaying can be many things, but the first thing it is, is simply recognizing that you and your character are not the same thing. I guarantee you that no one reading this has ever fought an orc, or a dragon.
When I walk around Malas, I see all kinds of buildings, set up in very fantasy RP ways. I see mini-player towns, I see shrines to various gods or to various creatures. The owners of these houses are characters I haven't heard of, so they likely aren't in any RP community on my shard, and they don't appear to think of themselves as engaging in roleplaying.
Yet, I submit, it's roleplaying, or at least is the start of roleplaying, to build a shrine to some creature that fascinates your character, or to build an inn, or to think of your characters as being brothers, or having a religion (many non-roleplayers I've met over the years have done just that).
We are not our characters. Admitting that is how roleplaying begins.
Immersion in the game is how it continues.
Clearly players who think of their characters as being brothers and sisters, who build Inns in Malas out in the middle of nowhere, and who build shrines to their characters' gods, are seeking immersion in the game.
So, to me, the issue isn't why don't more people roleplay, but why don't more roleplayers admit what they are doing.
One possibility is that people think roleplayers have to talk in thees and thous. But I think most players have interacted with roleplayers and know that we don't talk that way for the most part.
So it's not that.
Another possibility is that people think that roleplayers are snide and rude and cliquey and prone to pettiness. But I think most non-RPers have friends in RP and know that at the very least, we aren't any more prone to that than other players are. Haven't you ever met cliquey, snide, petty PvPers, or rares collectors? You sure have.
Is it that roleplayers tend to be weaker at other aspects of the game? I think most people also know that this isn't true; some roleplayers are weak, some aren't. Just like everyone else.
So it's not that.
So what is it?
Personally I think people are for whatever reason fearful of some of the implications of being roleplayers. Sooner or later it means a certain amount of surrender to in-game things having meaning beyond what they literally appear to be. The Ornament of the Magician is more than just a 2/3 ring with LMC and LRC and Energy Resist. It's a duplicate of the bracelet of some great wizard, whose glory you can now share in because you have one of your own. Grimswind Ruins is more than just a weird area in the game, it has a past and perhaps a future.
For some reason many people seem scared to surrender to the game that way, to find non-literal meanings in what they do. But why? I mean come on now, you already spend hours making virtual shoes and killing virtual orcs. Why's it so bad for those activities to have some meaning beyond what they literally are?
Also, some people might fear having to join an RP community, for various reasons.
I submit you can RP without having to join an RP community. It's possible to interact with EMs or other representatives of EA in an in-character manner, and with RP communities, without actually joining an RP community.
But honestly, if you did join a community, would it really be so bad? Sometimes joining an RP community can be a pain in the ass, trust me on that one, but at the end of the day these stories are a lot more meaningful, I submit, when someone else shares them.
Maybe joining a community might cause you to get to know someone out-of-character, and to see them not just as an annoyance, but as a participant in your own character's story. There are worse things. Many worse things.
Much is made of UO's "sandbox" approach to being an MMO. What gives meaning to your in-game experiences in a sandbox game is roleplaying, whether it's roleplaying as part of a community, or just playing the game in such a way as to buy into the fantasy. Or whether it's actually called roleplaying or not.
Roleplaying is the key to UO's future. Without it, let's face it, in many ways UO kind of sucks. It's the potential for immersion to participate in and tell a story, that makes UO good.
And, as I started this post by saying, way more people roleplay than like to admit it. So why not admit it? If you don't want to join an RP community, just interact with it when you run into it. Almost every shard has one, so far as I'm aware. Instead of saying "let me get my other toon" say "let me get my brother the alchemist."
*shrugs* Many of you roleplay without admitting it. Try admitting it, and see how it adds to our in-game experience. And, after a few months of walking around admitting that you are, and have always been, a roleplayer, maybe write down a background for your character. Just what you've always thought; only thing different is now you're writing it down, making it more permanent.
Then, maybe find other people like you. You can usually find them in taverns, or at the in-character EM events.
*smiles*
-Galen's player
