[MUD-Dev] Supporting RP+PG

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On Sun, 22 Jun 1997 11:05:35 PST8PDT, "Huibai" <ashen at pixi.com> wrote:

>I want to hear from some more strictly RP-oriented people to
>know if that would be feasible.  If I'm running around just killing
>goblins to work on my sword-swinging skill, would it bother you
>if I didn't follow a storyline for myself? If I act like a person who
>belongs in Goodhaven town while I'm there to heal, would that
>be sufficiently respecting the roleplayers' goals in the game?

I think so. I don't think it really hurts my game experience if you walk
in, go to sleep, and then get up and leave a little later. It would,
however, hurt my game experience if you walked in, complained about your
difficulties, and proceeded to report your stats. My main problem with
non-RPers is the way they throw out game-based terms that my character
has no idea about. "What's your level?" Well, probably the best
indication of that I have is some particular type of monster I can slay
single-handedly; as a wizard, or a priest, I might mention a
particularly difficult spell I've mastered. As a thief, I might brag
about my skills as a pickpocket. But it's hard to reconcile that with a
conversation in character. When I say "I can best the strongest ogre
bare-handed!", that doesn't tell you much when you just want to know if
our levels are close enough together that we could possibly form a group
to go get an item you want. 

It's also worth noting that RPers can annoy non-RPers similarly. If I go
out into the town square and hold a long conversation with a friend in
flowery Old English, complete with flamboyant gestures and posturing,
the non-RPer standing there trying to read the help is going to get
spammed by all this stuff which is -- to him -- completely unnecessary.
And while we could coldly say 'Well go read help somewhere else!', they
could say the same thing to us when we complain about their gamespeak --
'Well go RP somewhere else!' ;)

>In bars and taverns, however, all race languages are 100% 
>understood, and OOC/RL conversation is thus supported as
>well as permitted.  I.e. out in the world, you should be a part
>of it, but come back and have a beer and chill if you want to
>get off-theme.  Viable? Dreaming?  Need input, Stephanie...

I'm not sure that's a good idea. If I walk into the tavern as a
roleplayer, and I walk up to someone else (a non-RPer) and order a beer
and clap him on the back and say 'What ho, my good man! And how has life
been treating thee in recent days?', I would rather not hear 'I hit a dt
and lost all my eq, so I can't go out and do anything. Lost two mill xp
too!' This adversely affects my ability to stay in character; I feel
like I've just been handed a turd at a French restaurant or something. I
walk in with an expectation to interact with other characters, and
instead I get gamespeak. This is annoying.

Unfortunately, there's no real solution. Perhaps the only way to really
handle that sort of thing is to have specified areas that are set aside
for out of character interaction... but even then, you have to trust the
non-RPers not to go in and annoy the RPers in other areas with
gamespeak. In many cases, this trust is actually well-given. When you
trust the players to be adults, a lot of the time they will surprise you
by actually being adults. The people who aren't would usually have been
problems of a different sort in any case.

>What are a couple
>things that role players are going to look for to support them in their
>goals?  I've already been struck by lots of good ideas from this list,
>e.g. livings with inherent 'tendencies' in lieu of hardcoded sequences
>of action.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that the only thing I
personally find an obstacle to roleplaying is a lack of other RPers. If
you give me five other people online that I can talk to, I don't care if
there's anything to kill or not; I can have a fantastic time discussing
things with them. It's not so much the advancement that concerns me, I
just want to play my character. And I have a lot of fun in towns, just
heading to a tavern with the guys and speaking in archaic terms and
using odd insults like 'Thou maggot-swilling churl! Go and boil your
belly, lest I smite thee proper.' As long as I have other RPers to
interact with, I'm happy. We can make our own atmosphere, most of the
time... and that alone is enough to keep me satisfied with the game.

-+[caliban at darklock.com]+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
 I am here to grind your eyes harder into the miasmic bile of life; to 
 show you the truth and the beauty in the whisper of steel on silk and 
 the crimson scent of blood as it rises to meet the caress of a blade. 
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