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Is there a point to an MMO attempting to code an RP game?
Ever since the first Neverwinter was launched on AOL at $2.99 for the first minute and $.99 per minute after, there has been an attempt to bring role play to the ever increasingly connected world. (Yes, I started on Bulletin Board Systems using an 8 Baud Modem in a laptop computer weighing 24 pounds.) Back then, private servers supported BBSs where college students got the number to dial in from friends and we could chat and RP while we were supposed to be studying harder. While that was going on Pong morphed through Joust, Bard's Tale, Myst, and on into a plethora of online games.
One of the pen and paper game mechanics quickly adapted by video gaming is the attainment of status through acquiring points. This variation was no different than Pac-Man, Frogger, or Donkey Kong. It took little or no imagination on the part of developers to adapt. Another aspect of RP that was quickly worked into video games was the Puzzle. Many such puzzle problems occured in Zork, Myst, etc. From the clues, work the puzzle to open the door, open the chest, access the next section, find the next clue, get the prize, etc. Worked throughout were concepts of theme, and occasionally even a plot with some kind of almost dialogue to let you know why you were going to slaughter the next 50,000 avatars.
One thing that did not come from Pen and Paper was the Hollywood Effect. Developing principally in America, it is no surprise that these games quickly took on the veneer of casting, directing, and production of a Hollywood screenplay. No game worth its salt today attempts to market without a Cinematic, and the cinematic usually has nothing whatsoever to do with what players will see while they are in game. No MMO so called RPG hits the shelf without hundreds of "cutscenes" and "cinematics" to entertain the player with a sense of storyline.
So, with all of this why do I only say they are so called RPGs? Simply put, they do not provide for the options needed to be RPGs. Having a bar where people emote 5 second dance bursts in their underwear while they profess juvenile fantasies is fine for the retrograde thirteen year old I suppose. However, real role play, real acting, is the journey of the character beyond the barriers of fear, ignorance, infidelity, immorality, or undisciplined life with which they began their story. Consider the story 'Braveheart', which is not about William Wallace - but, about Robert the Bruce who through his observations and participation in the resolute and unchanging dedication of William Wallace desires to and changes into a better man. This is what RPGs currently lack.
There are two games out there coming close to bridging the gap between the MMOG and what could be a real MMORPG, StarTrek Online and a space opera based game. A different company's development of interactive storylines and NPCs, both as henchmen and at large in the game, which track and react to the actions and choices of the player are phenomenal breakthroughs in the RP arena. Cryptic, in remaining relatively true to the story lines, themes, and plots of Gene Roddenberry left the potential for characterization more open in STO than they have in Neverwinter. Roddenberry specifically prohibited interpersonal soap opera plots be interwoven into the Star Trek story lines. All the exploration was either within the character, supported by colleagues, or dealing with things originating outside the ship, supported by colleagues. Differences of opinion and position between crewmen were handled through the ships chain of command, if they needed to be handled at all. The environment in STO is rich, and provides for a wide array of well supported character background stories and role play all of which can be written and executed by the player. (Neverwinter, could easily have supported an equally well developed environment but has not because of the limitations I will delineate below.) An effective combo of these would be the next step in MMORPG development.
As it stands, I have made a Role Play characters in Neverwitner. It is an Half-Orc Control Wizard being developed for Storm, as that is all we have. Half-Orc is the only thing that comes close to having the right colors of skin and hair to fit the concept. However, because this is the wrong race with the CW (developed based on RP) I expect to never participate in any higher level content and to be disinvited from raids, etc. My first CW cannot do anything that is appropriate to her concept because the powers she needs do not exist.
This is where Cryptic has let us down. They failed to provide for the range of Role Play and individual entertainment in our game play. Hair colors are too limited, skin colors are too limited, race options are too limited, class options are too limited, skill options are none existent, feat chains are poorly explained if at all, class powers/spells are too limited and in trees that do not represent anything worthy of being called D&D, - or in other words: the expression of personal character concepts is so narrow or non-existent as to make what had potential to be a powerful RP experience utterly lacking in RP opportunity. And yes, I did play with wooden trucks in a sandbox while using my imagination. The fact is, those trucks more adequately supported RP for their purpose than does this bastardization of D&D.
I am still waiting for an actual MMORPG. One where character development does not merely mean the mass accumulation of points by those trying to fit three cars in a two car garage. I had hoped Neverwinter would move forward in that direction. However, just as the prejudice of personality will be the last to be addressed in the real world, so I suspect the expression of personality will be the last to be supported in the virtual world.
One of the pen and paper game mechanics quickly adapted by video gaming is the attainment of status through acquiring points. This variation was no different than Pac-Man, Frogger, or Donkey Kong. It took little or no imagination on the part of developers to adapt. Another aspect of RP that was quickly worked into video games was the Puzzle. Many such puzzle problems occured in Zork, Myst, etc. From the clues, work the puzzle to open the door, open the chest, access the next section, find the next clue, get the prize, etc. Worked throughout were concepts of theme, and occasionally even a plot with some kind of almost dialogue to let you know why you were going to slaughter the next 50,000 avatars.
One thing that did not come from Pen and Paper was the Hollywood Effect. Developing principally in America, it is no surprise that these games quickly took on the veneer of casting, directing, and production of a Hollywood screenplay. No game worth its salt today attempts to market without a Cinematic, and the cinematic usually has nothing whatsoever to do with what players will see while they are in game. No MMO so called RPG hits the shelf without hundreds of "cutscenes" and "cinematics" to entertain the player with a sense of storyline.
So, with all of this why do I only say they are so called RPGs? Simply put, they do not provide for the options needed to be RPGs. Having a bar where people emote 5 second dance bursts in their underwear while they profess juvenile fantasies is fine for the retrograde thirteen year old I suppose. However, real role play, real acting, is the journey of the character beyond the barriers of fear, ignorance, infidelity, immorality, or undisciplined life with which they began their story. Consider the story 'Braveheart', which is not about William Wallace - but, about Robert the Bruce who through his observations and participation in the resolute and unchanging dedication of William Wallace desires to and changes into a better man. This is what RPGs currently lack.
There are two games out there coming close to bridging the gap between the MMOG and what could be a real MMORPG, StarTrek Online and a space opera based game. A different company's development of interactive storylines and NPCs, both as henchmen and at large in the game, which track and react to the actions and choices of the player are phenomenal breakthroughs in the RP arena. Cryptic, in remaining relatively true to the story lines, themes, and plots of Gene Roddenberry left the potential for characterization more open in STO than they have in Neverwinter. Roddenberry specifically prohibited interpersonal soap opera plots be interwoven into the Star Trek story lines. All the exploration was either within the character, supported by colleagues, or dealing with things originating outside the ship, supported by colleagues. Differences of opinion and position between crewmen were handled through the ships chain of command, if they needed to be handled at all. The environment in STO is rich, and provides for a wide array of well supported character background stories and role play all of which can be written and executed by the player. (Neverwinter, could easily have supported an equally well developed environment but has not because of the limitations I will delineate below.) An effective combo of these would be the next step in MMORPG development.
As it stands, I have made a Role Play characters in Neverwitner. It is an Half-Orc Control Wizard being developed for Storm, as that is all we have. Half-Orc is the only thing that comes close to having the right colors of skin and hair to fit the concept. However, because this is the wrong race with the CW (developed based on RP) I expect to never participate in any higher level content and to be disinvited from raids, etc. My first CW cannot do anything that is appropriate to her concept because the powers she needs do not exist.
This is where Cryptic has let us down. They failed to provide for the range of Role Play and individual entertainment in our game play. Hair colors are too limited, skin colors are too limited, race options are too limited, class options are too limited, skill options are none existent, feat chains are poorly explained if at all, class powers/spells are too limited and in trees that do not represent anything worthy of being called D&D, - or in other words: the expression of personal character concepts is so narrow or non-existent as to make what had potential to be a powerful RP experience utterly lacking in RP opportunity. And yes, I did play with wooden trucks in a sandbox while using my imagination. The fact is, those trucks more adequately supported RP for their purpose than does this bastardization of D&D.
I am still waiting for an actual MMORPG. One where character development does not merely mean the mass accumulation of points by those trying to fit three cars in a two car garage. I had hoped Neverwinter would move forward in that direction. However, just as the prejudice of personality will be the last to be addressed in the real world, so I suspect the expression of personality will be the last to be supported in the virtual world.
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. ~ Cecil Beaton
Post edited by wudwaen on
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My first example will be Tera & STWOR because both have an RP servers. Yet nobody Rps on the RP servers. Worse the non-rping vibe of MMO gaming community has affected these servers that if you point out there is no rping on an rping server you just get lol'ed at. Why bothering to label servers an rp server if the admins aren't willing to enforce the Rping rules? You shouldn't what's the use.
My second Example is DCUO. The company tries hard to keep the rping alive and at first the gaming community was like all into it. Once again the rping community didn't hold its ground and it crumpled. Worse is the way the MMORPGs are set up. This you can blame on Devs. If you look at RPGs that are MMOS in general...you can't really set up rps like you can in forum form. This is both a blessing and curse because you are limited by the technology plus the resources to purchase said technology available. Even if a company can produce the best RPing environment available via cyberspace you must figure in how you can get your environment to the public. Upon this function, you realise most people don't have the technology to recieve your softwared product. So as a dev you must make a choice: RP perfection or achieve mass opportunity of availability. This in turn reduces the environment rping factor because of the technology that is presented.
Now the third reason is the illiteracy of the general gamer. Most have absolutely any clue on what roleplaying is because most have never experienced it. Also the difference of transition from LARP to Rping tabletop to rping theatre to rping forums to rping via gaming.
Finally, its the attitude of most gamers. They just don't care.
So yeah blame the gamer not the devs or game.
I only wonder, why to not play NWN2 instead? There is still a lot of RP shards and game doesn't look that bad. It has certainly more PnP feel than Neverwinter MMO. Surely, it's not a MMO, but it only makes better for RP.
Again this is the fault of the Dev.s. Let us say someone goes and makes an MMO from Highlander. Without RP it quickly devolves into a kill fest of running around taking heads and protecting oneself and others from rogue Watchers. What made the show was setting and banter with a climactic combat as the finale of each episode. Players rarely have that setting and reasons for that banter.
Further, VOIP assets in almost all of these games are HAMSTER-poor. I am in a gaming clan and we use TS3. RP is more effective with intonation, pitch, tone (threatening, beguiling), idiom, accent, etc. Again, barely supported in games.
More importantly, in order to achieve the ambiance of character presentation, players are coerced through hundreds or even thousands of hours per game in life-control grind. Who has time for RP when you have to accumulate 20,000 to 50,000 X each for 7 weapons on just one ship.
Explain to me again why I have a computer that is cobbled together with parts over 2 years old and I can run games, TS3, and my browser and Devs can't create functional VOIP chat rooms and VOIP game rooms for small instances in their games?
Being raised in a family full of librarians, my literacy level may be slightly skewed from the norm. And I unwillingly concede the point because I have observed what American education has become and what it is based upon.
While the players may be blamable for ignorance, the Dev.s assist in both perpetuating that ignorance and in failing to support the better. If they were not so complacently providing needless and mindless grind instead of a better quality and player developing experience, then we just might get better games.
Further more, if I have to read another whining drivel filled post about how someones pet RP concept cannot be exactly reproduced in game X I think I will hurl chunks. Here is a hint, you play what the game allows you to play, much like you play what a pen and paper DM allows you to play. I saw some loser in a tavern a few weeks back having to constantly stop and OOC remark that his character was not in plate or mail or whatever like the character was displaying but actually in leather because he was not actually a guardian fighter but some other sort of fighter that is not actually in the game. He didn't get much RP accomplished this way.
If a game only lets you play human, then you play human and don't run around telling people you are actually an elf or whatever. If your RP concept is so rigid that you cannot adapt to what a game gives you to work with then you need to become more flexible or go play a different game.
I come from a PnP background where you played within the boundaries the DM set for you or you didn't play in that campaign.
Realm of the Demiurge Foundry Works
Neverwinter isn't D&D, it is a MMO based on a game that uses D&D terms but isn't really D&D either. NW is fun (for that matter so is 4E), but it isn't D&D, and once you wrap your expectations around that you will be able to enjoy the game for what it offers and not worry about what it does not.
The fact is, even in the online character creator for 4E D&D there is no such thing as a Control Wizard who is only limited to throwing snowballs. There is a wizard class who can develop spell sets and skills to augment the party in a certain way. Neverwinter is devoid of that development. They took a game that was bastardized into near annihilation in order to accommodate programmers and then reduced the playable options to so limited an amount as to step backwards to arcade game of Gauntlet some 20 years ago. You can be any kind of fighter you want as long as its Valkyrie.
And here is a hint: Nothing is going to get better if we remain a nation of sheep. So hurl chunks if that is what you have to do. Accept a life of rote limitations and parochial conceptions if that is your limit. I will not.
When I want to play a game with lots of intricate character options I log into RIFT, I don't cry on these forums about something this game is not designed to provide me. I enjoy this game for what it offers and don't worry about what it does not.
Realm of the Demiurge Foundry Works
Neverwinter isn't D&D, it is a MMO based on a game that uses D&D terms but isn't really D&D either. NW is fun (for that matter so is 4E), but it isn't D&D, and once you wrap your expectations around that you will be able to enjoy the game for what it offers and not worry about what it does not.
Ad hominem. Is this where I am supposed to respond with something equally childish like, "How's your daddies?" Really...
Then we can only agree to disagree. As my signature line indicates, I do not hold complacency as a way of life.