How do you Role Play in an Action MMO?

zeruin · March 2013

Not trying to stir anything up, but how do you role play in an action MMO like Neverwinter? I mean, I know there are certain elements of RP in these games.. that's why it's called MMORPG. But when you guys say RP, I feel like you D&D guys take it to a whole nother level. RP for PnP players definitely has to involve quite a bit more immersion into playing your character, but how do you plan to translate that into an MMO game?

Do you guys type in character as if you are really the character you are playing?

When do you find the time to do such typing? Active combat and dungeons surely don't allow time enough to sit and have dialogue with one another.. do they?

Is it just me or does it seems like most people who RP aren't as concerned with how strong their character are, as opposed to how interesting their character seems? Do you guys care about end game and Min/Maxing at all?

Please enlighten me.. for I feel that the RP population is going to be fairly large in this game and I want to understand your ways.

civildude · March 2013

Everyone that RP's does it a bit differently. Some will type in character pretty much all the time while in game. Myself and most others use /say or sometimes party chat for staying in character. It really depends on what we are doing and what we agreed to do beforehand. I imagine in neverwinter when we go through eachother's foundry missions we'll be using party, say, and emotes to be in character and using either teamspeak or guild chat for out of character communication. My guild will have all different kinds of players in it so some events we do will be in character and some we won't do in character at all.

Usually do the in character talking inbetween combat while in dungeons, or we have events to be in character that don't involve combat at all. We'll just sit in a tavern and talk. One of the events we did in SWTOR was a boxing tournament soon after the released the unarmed combat stuff. We had about 16 people in a cantina for an hour or so fighting in a round robin tourney and did it all in character. By the end we figured out that unarmed combat was based entirely on the stats that bounty hunters and imperial agents used and so that was the last tournament we did since it would never even be close to have everyone fighting.

I definitely care how strong my character is and how the gear he wears looks. I no longer spend the time doing min/maxing of stats like I did a few years ago when I raided in wow, but I do try to make sure I can hold my own in end game content. It's hard to RP as a bad HAMSTER if every time you go out to fight you suck.

Edit: Shameless plug for my guild's recruitment thread http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?62731-Pax-Gaming

You make the time to RP in the games you play. It is less about maximizing how much loot you get in the time you spend playing and more about finding ways to enjoy the game. I hope my answers helped!

babylon · March 2013

zeruin wrote: »

How do you Role Play in an Action MMO?

I go "pew pew" when I fire off my weapon.

daytonamax · March 2013

Questions, questions, questions. In my opinion, based off my MMO RP expireiences:

zeruin wrote: »

Not trying to stir anything up, but how do you role play in an action MMO like Neverwinter?

Using Local chat with a mix of emotes. ie "Bartender, ale!" /emote drink

I mean, I know there are certain elements of RP in these games.. that's why it's called MMORPG. But when you guys say RP, I feel like you D&D guys take it to a whole nother level. RP for PnP players definitely has to involve quite a bit more immersion into playing your character, but how do you plan to translate that into an MMO game?

See above answer.

Do you guys type in character as if you are really the character you are playing?

Yup *looks at answer above*

When do you find the time to do such typing?

When we are playing the game... *looks at Zeruin funny*

Active combat and dungeons surely don't allow time enough to sit and have dialogue with one another.. do they?

Not usually. But if your group insists on it, I would suggest using such magical items like The Mask of Teamspeak, or The Tiara of Ventrillo.

Is it just me or does it seems like most people who RP aren't as concerned with how strong their character are, as opposed to how interesting their character seems? Do you guys care about end game and Min/Maxing at all?

I consider these separate things myself. RP is something to do when you not raiding Ork, or smiting the Lich, etc.
I personally, have never really been into the min/max thing. I find those people more in the realm of PvP, where all are the Troll race and they only speak Trollolololo.

Please enlighten me.. for I feel that the RP population is going to be fairly large in this game and I want to understand your ways.

I hope I was helpful to you. Good journeys. *picks up oversized Holy Symbol and walks out of tavern*

foolishlobster · March 2013

I wonder what this game's Drozana Station will be. (STO reference)

doctorcomics · March 2013

First, congrats to the OP for courtesy and politeness. You are obviously taking care to not seem rude to roleplayers and that's cool.

I think it is generally true that roleplayers, "aren't as concerned with how strong their character are, as opposed to how interesting their character seems." Of course there are exceptions. Some roleplayers play the same character for YEARS, so that character gets pretty powerful. And for some roleplayers, being powerful is part of the character concept, so min/maxing is part of the package.

There are a lot of ways to roleplay in an action RPG and they're not all that different from other games. Yes, the point of roleplaying is to "type in character as if you are really the character you are playing." That seldom happens in battle. But it is easy to do between fights, and roleplayers tend to get a lot of "before and after battle" RP. Some players hotkey in-character battle cries and such, so their character shouts out his war cry during battle. As voice chat has become more common, many groups use that to roleplay. This doesn't work so well for guys playing the hot elven sorceress, and some people really prefer writing to talking, but for veteran tabletop players, we're used to roleplaying with our voice, so its no big deal. Some guilds designate some channels as in character and others out of character, so people can type AFK in the guild chat or whatever and no one thinks anything of that. We reserve party chat and local chat for in character observations.

Some groups don't like to roleplay in dungeons at all, preferring to keep RP to social situations. But others really enjoy "in the field" RP. Military guilds in Star Trek Online can get very into the command structure of roleplay in Star Fleet. Personally, I think that is one of the reasons that game has become so successful; military veterans love it, because they get to give orders and haze the greenies.

We can talk about roleplaying on these forums endlessly, but until you see it happening, and jump in yourself, it all sounds a lot weirder than it is.

bobcat1313 · March 2013

If you go into a dungeon with 4 other RP you won't be flying through it. After a few pulls, chat a little, talk about how you took down that orc or whatever. I usually just talk about loots and beers with me dwarf. I don't RP enough to get into a RP guild or anything but I don't mind joining a RP group now and again and farting around with my dwarf. I kind of like action type RPers where you have some fun and actually get some adventuring in also, but there is also to fast. I honestly hate just flying in a dungeon and people getting pist off cuz you stop to talk to them. Even if I'm not RP I like to chat a little bit. I think its crazy joining a 30min dungeon and not saying anything to each other is kind of silly. Thats how WoWs dungeon system was getting before I left a year or so back.

All I can say is, I've never seen a RP go out of there way to ruin someones play time, but I've seen tons of other people trying to destroy RPers game time.

nikkal · March 2013

This is a large reason I very much miss the old style of MMORPGs. Downtime = socializing. When you're all sitting healing up and medding after a fight, you're socializing. Making friends, getting to know your fellow groupmates, RPing.

With the rapid fire fight to fight to fight style of play that MMORPGs have begun using, for the most part you either have to socialize or fight. Which leads to the silent dungeon runs, where everyone is just running through the dungeon to get to the end as quickly as possible so they can do it again.

keirkin · March 2013

nikkal wrote: »

This is a large reason I very much miss the old style of MMORPGs. Downtime = socializing. When you're all sitting healing up and medding after a fight, you're socializing. Making friends, getting to know your fellow groupmates, RPing.

With the rapid fire fight to fight to fight style of play that MMORPGs have begun using, for the most part you either have to socialize or fight. Which leads to the silent dungeon runs, where everyone is just running through the dungeon to get to the end as quickly as possible so they can do it again.

This is what voice chat is for. You can socialize while you fight. I guess if people can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time, they would be able to socialize in voice chat and fight in this game at the same time.

Built into the game even

ryger5 · March 2013

Our guild is trying to build a "Role Player's Manual" to help address this very question. We welcome feed back on it. Although it addresses how to build characters for our guild. It also addresses the raw mechanics of RP.

SHADOW - RP Guide

We'll be updating that document later this week, also putting it into Wiki format with more pictures and examples.

I am glad you asked the question. There's some who believe you CANNOT role play in a game like NWO. Some who believe RP in an MMO is not as rich or diverse as it is on a table top, which isn't true, it's just different, they both have superb strengths, but also both have limitations.

Also RP is really easy and it is really fun. Perhaps most of all, RP isn't a thing where you either "all in the pool or all out". You can actually just dabble a toe or two into RP, when you feel like it. It's very adaptable that way.

RP is growing. There are more role players in games all the time. The RP is better now than ever before. There are some RPers who will try to tell you the opposite, but I look at the size and volume of various RP forums and sights and it's pretty clear to me RP is a growing hobby.

And don't let anyone try to snob you about what is and what is not good RP. The only rule in RP to observe is be respectful of others. That's it, everything else, creatively, is fair game and don't let anyone try to narrow your avenues, options and methodologies in the name of "good RP". It's a lie.

somthgelse · March 2013

doctorcomics wrote: »

We can talk about roleplaying on these forums endlessly, but until you see it happening, and jump in yourself, it all sounds a lot weirder than it is.

Well said. Ouch. My RP skills have majorly atrophied. Something happens at age 35 in that we all get jobs and are too tired to do anything on a weekend but flop before a computer and move a mouse, so no driving to a friend's house to do TT AD&D anymore. That was more important when you wanted to get away from the 'rents and hide in somebody's basement. It was immense fun and I'd love to do it again, but reality bites.

There was a time before everyone got really really really sick of WoW where you could roleplay in certain games and people really went along with it. Not blaming the WoW players, just saying, that it probably wasn't the culture there is all. Was a time in a legendary place called Qeynos where if you saw someone else, you greeted them politely and bowed, perhaps noting what a peaceful day it was. And they'd reply that surely it was peaceful today now that the gnolls had been driven back a bit, but we must maintain our constant vigilance. I actually had conversations like this a few years ago. Try it today. Hah.

Middle Earth is hosted on some servers that are quiet enough where people will reply to you in character if you say something on the RP channel. Don't try that on the busy servers.

In TT AD&D, we had a minor punishment for using information your character wouldn't have, i forget what it was, I think it was something like a -3 to hit for your next 5 rolls. You could use it, but if you did, you had to take the heat with it. The minus applied to the whole group, so you couldn't for example have the least damaging person take the minus. I mean, for example, if the group broke into halves and through talking some critical decision was being made, and everyone knew the "right choice" but your characters couldn't know. You either had to have an obvious reason why you'd make the right choice for real, or roll random and take whatever the dice said, or decide the right way and take the minus, but only one of these.

RP in tabletop made game decisions that affected the later on storyline, and as a DM, I was often making it up as we went along and doing a halfway decent job. These decision points and RP moments used to give me the fodder for what happens next, and honestly in tabletop I couldn't live without it. I did write scenarios and come up with maps, but did not fill out every detail because really players had a way of wandering off in another direction... some random fight would end up grabbing too much attention and then we'd spend two months on something I hadn't planned anyway. Eventually we'd get to my scenario, but by then, I'd have to change the level of everything, and all the planned loot. So RP was a great way to get ideas on the fly if you had a group that got obsessed with random encounters. They'd say, well, these didn't just appear here for no reason, where is the nest? and I'd sigh... off we go....

In MMO's I think it is less important because what happens next is already decided. The content is written, and the "goodness" of the content is often in the playing and replayability of it. If there is a way to make the content have some funny moments or situations that seem impossible but will come out rosy in the end, then those become good tales to tell later. "You wouldn't believe that little kender slingshotted that orc right between the eyes just as the guardian succumbed to his wounds. The orc was so stunned that the cleric had time to say a prayer that resurrected the guardian and everything went smoothly from then on!" *takes a drink of grogg* "But you shouldda seen the look on that orc's face with his eyes crossed! HAH!"

But if the orc is unstunnable, meh.

syfylis · March 2013

You say "ah this game is great" and then your friend say "yes you are right it's a awesome expierience" and then after all that said you just go "enough of this role play" and you log out.

ryger5 · March 2013

somthgelse wrote: »

In MMO's I think it is less important because what happens next is already decided. The content is written, and the "goodness" of the content is often in the playing and replayability of it.

Nice post!

I wanted to highlight this quote though, because I think there is a little bit of a misnomer that RP in MMOs can't have dynamic/evolving plots or that none of your RP is consequential.

That's not quite true. I most definitely understand why the statement is made and that on the surface, nothing your character does in the game is ever going to change that Blue Dragon quest up on the mountain, (that is as you say repeatable content).

But plot-based RP is rich and the stories you can craft and weave in a MMO can rival those of tabletop. The scope of these stories can never touch hard coded content, but also it never has to.

I love table top RP. I still play it. It has superb strengths.

But MMO RP is just as rich. It has a different set of strengths, but the flexibility of the plot is quite elastic. I could go more into this, but don't want to utterly derail the thread.

Nice post, great thread, thanks to the OP for posting it!

keirkin · March 2013

somthgelse wrote: »

Well said. Ouch. My RP skills have majorly atrophied. Something happens at age 35 in that we all get jobs and are too tired to do anything on a weekend but flop before a computer and move a mouse, so no driving to a friend's house to do TT AD&D anymore.

I past 35 some years ago. ( Ahh to be 35 again ) I table top game one day a week every week (a 6 to 8 hour session), unless that day falls on a holiday. I have friends my age that play once a week and something else like the first sunday of the month or something like that. tabletopping is still alive and well in the 35+ crowd.

wizardsreach · March 2013

somthgelse wrote: »

In TT AD&D, we had a minor punishment for using information your character wouldn't have, i forget what it was, I think it was something like a -3 to hit for your next 5 rolls. You could use it, but if you did, you had to take the heat with it.

Thanks, that reminded me of lots of good times, like the wandering damage creature, looking forward to this game and possibly roleplaying in it. I'm old enough to remember Tunnels and Trolls, and characters you could keep on an index card. Doesn't have to be complex to be fun.

firesnakearies · March 2013

I think it begins with trying to think about your character as a CHARACTER, not just a "toon" or "avatar" for playing the video game with. Think about who they ARE, what their motivations and personality are, and how they see the world. Try to immerse yourself into the mindset of your character, as you go through the game and engage with its setting and situations. And from there, it's an easy transition into interacting with other players' characters in that same way.

samuraikings · March 2013

I hope that anyone who roleplays is polite enough to not do it during the middle of a PUG. If you ask and everyone is ok with it, then by all means, but I can't tell you how annoyed I have been by people hotkeying shouts and talking as if they are their character in the middle of a dungeon I am seriously trying to run through. I hope that most people will save that for friends and/or guilds that support it.

I'm not against RPing, to be honest I wish I had a group to play tabletop D&D with, but that is where the roleplaying belongs, with other roleplayers. I just hope the RPing community is as respectful of non-RPers as we are of you.

Anyway, good luck with it and I hope you guys have fun as this game seems like one of the best(story-wise) to RP to, just please don't hotkey shouts in a PUG....

elve · March 2013

I think there is significant difference between PnP and computer game role playing. At least for me there is. In PnP it is all about the story, the characters you create and the way you interact with each other. The system you are using - the battles, the skill checks and so on are not as important as telling a story, making plans and executing them and generally having fun. When it comes to video game RPGs things get really different. While the story is important it is more about the systems that stay in the background - the min-maxing or balancing of stats and skills, the combat mechanics and exploiting them and so on. Acting as a character would... well, sometimes, but it is not as important if you want to make something else.

the1tigglet · March 2013

How does anyone RP in GW2 or TERA? They make a space for it. In this game tho players have the chance to make their own space. You can actually make your own dungeon mastered missions in the foundry this should make it even more valuable a game for RP.

If they do what I suspect they'll do in this game like they did in STO for fleets (guilds) and give them an instance for guildhalls, I'm sure there will be plenty of places to RP in no time. They already have the classic setting of the Tavern.

horrorscope666 · March 2013

How does Arnold, Sylvester, Bruce and Clint do it? You have action role playing. Play as a barbaric killer that you are. Don't go from killing 1000's of baddies into some pristine/proper communications afterward about fluffy things. Talk about how you killed and how you will kill again! Natural born baby!

razorjack156 · March 2013

Ok, first off, there are more RP because of the simple fact there are more people who play these games, a lot more. Their own special breed. Don't get me wrong, I love them .. they were always so easy to kill on PvP games LOL (sorry, I had to go there).

I can't help but picture a RP group in a dungeon when one of their members falls to a boss ... and suddenly all the characters stop moving as "NOOOO! (player name here)" and "Vengeance will be mine!" fills the group chat box .. as the boss continues to wipe the floor with the rest of the party.

How do you Role Play in an Action MMO?

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