Le bump. Been a while. For you new RP servers, list your channels too! TLDR though - most every rp server uses "OOC" as an alternative for General chat. It works across all planets/zones (just not cross faction). Some servers use a variant, or have good luck with an actual IC chat channel, but what you're looking for first and foremost is that way to turn off the trolls in General and locate other rper's when in game. The more people use OOC, the more the community grows, as it gets used a lot more than these forums do.

Can you repost this super-useful content -here- as well? This will be needed for the upcoming free pass weekend!

Oooh, new link. But it bears some repetition. I'm going to try to get the new thread author to re-port his linkies here. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=347109

Let's keep this up where people can see it!

I really love what you are saying here, Neechi. Rpers, especially new/shy ones, can be VERY defensive. Telling people they're doing things wrong, without them asking for your advice beforehand, can definitely result in a lot of hard feelings and anger. There are ways to be polite about it, sure. But often the best way to handle things is to try to respond ICly, and lead by example, as you say. Most of the time we're dealing with just minor issues like someone meta-gaming another's name or job, and those issues can be handled very gracefully.

I'm re-linking this here, since I believe it was formerly a sticky thread on the now-defunct "Community/RP Server" forum section. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=33477 Check here for the links to any unofficial forums and websites for your RP server!

I'd say that it helps to remain flexible when dealing with others, since drama is usually best avoided, but then I might get flamed for stating anything that might be seen as subjective. >_> But pretty much everything anyone is going to say here is nothing more than opinion, anyway. If you can avoid an argument with someone - even if you believe you're right - it still can be viewed as taking the higher ground. I realize that this would be an affront to many people's sense of self-righteousness, though, but I will continue doing what I do. I don't personally need to "win" in every situation. After all, it's ONLY -rp-. One can walk away. If I am affronted by another's behavior, I simply will choose to keep my RP 'casual' with them from that point forward.

Gary Larson?

Join a persistent-world server for a game you like. Or join Second Life, or an FFRP channel on IRC. I think the issue is that since MMO's provide a smorgasbord of activities, you end up with folks who rp, pvp, pve, do space battles, chat, hang out and stare at walls while cooking dinner, change baby diapers, craft, erp, hang out with guildies, raid, etc etc etc... Unless you are dealing with settings that are pretty much 100% RP-only, running into rp is random w/o initiating some ooc communication much of the time (weekends or very high pop areas, and luck can also come into play). The thing is, people also don't rp for very long at a stretch either - so the associated MMO activities actually keep them around longer to be available for RP. There ends up being far more rpers here then in a PW, but they are scattered- thus the need for OOC coordination, or at least hubs, where people can fall back to for casual rp. "Serious" rp pretty much -always- takes some setup.

We Hawkers are usually not well known for our sensitivity and tact. ^_^ There's a certain - dark humour - that creeps in as a defense mechanism after many, many years doing FFRP across various forms and dealing with drama. You either pick up a thick skin, and learn to joke about it, or you become one of those RAGEY players who's angry at everyone, all the time. That being said, I'm sort of boggling that people can manage to take offense over work initiated to help others voluntarily. But this -is- the internet, and sore butts abound. I've even been flamed for suggesting that people -not- take my opinion as dogma, and figure things out for themselves. And this is why I regularly take long breaks from this forum and go back to my website.

Some other articles to read: http://www.forcejunkies.com/2012/01/03/so-you-want-to-be-a-roleplayer http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=16177 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=14038 Good general advice here, though it's mostly WoW-specific: http://rpmadesimple.com http://toomanyannas.com/ask-anna/ask-anna-what-is-rp

Thanks for bringing some rationality back into this thread, Cassie. ;-) Quite honestly, people that complaing about not being able to find RP usually end up unhappy wherever they go, because they depend on other people entertaining them too much. Unless you -only- like to sit back and watch, there is going to be a certain amount of work involved in keeping any community going, and promoting your own storylines and plots. I would also add that one has to determine their own ratio of pvp/pve/rp, and take this into consideration too. Some servers are more pvp-ish, some have big rp-raiding guilds, some have mostly full-time rpers who are carrying on old storylines from SWG days. Some servers are easier to break into the scene(s) for, whereas others are already well established, or dominated by major guilds. You kinda gotta test the waters for your comfort level. The servers are still young, but they do have their own personalities. And since each faction usually has a different demographic, you have to consider them separately too. I also get tired of the "my server is better" chest-thumping. I refuse to engage in it. Every server has people who are happy to be on it.

Just about every server has their own website, too. We used to have a sticky post listing all the websites - anyone know what happened to it? Mighta gotten eaten when the older RP community forum section was taken down. I know a number of those early sites are probably kaput now, so it may behoove us to start a new one, but: it's confusing since we also have the "RP servers" forum now, where everone can prefix posts with a specific server name ([Trask Ulgo]. [Progenitor], etc). Right now we have folks looking all over the Bioware forums to find stuff.

My boyfriend would agree with you, Yuuj. He always does things ICly first, and runs with what most people throw him most of the time. However, he's not the sort to be bothered OOCly by most stuff, so even if someone uses something "against" him, he'll find a way to make it work. It may affect how much trust is afforded that individual down the road - but usually, awkward situations are salvageable. I'm always hyper-concerned I might offend someone, so I tend to send out those little tells beforehand. And yea, some people really hate surprises. To each their own, though. IMNSHO, the whole point of MMO rp (since it lacks a GM to create drama) is to learn to catch the curveballs thrown at you by other players.

Last time I looked, the "2 custom channel max" bug was still unfixed. So like a lot of others I suspect, I'm using them for "OOC" and a semi-private channel I use to keep in touch with friends cross-guild. Anything else I create, simply for a special event or scene, I do so knowing that it will go POOF when I log off. Still, this bears repeated stressing - getting as many rpers on your server's designated OOC channel will do wonders for enriching a community and bringing people together. I try to let every stray rper I run into know about it, but since I mainly play on one faction, it only goes so far. When you're visiting planets, spread the word in General chat too!

Anyone know of any new emotey features/improvements yet, or on the docket?

Just keeping this bumped

This discussion comes up on every MMO I have ever played. Usually about once per year. As another responder argued earlier, all of this confusion and drama can be avoided by simply being a little flexible, and having an OOC discussion with the parties involved. BE POLITE - don't rules lawyer, even if you think you're in the right - and people will thank you for it. RP is not a game where you should be out to "win". And drama is usually simply worth avoiding.

Helps if you play a bit of a tom-boy or a ball-buster. And since most people assume female players are guys anyway, it's a bit of a moot point. Rpers usually don't flirt in order to pick up chicks IRL. Besides, usually it's the females who are the most sexually aggressive in MMO's, I've found.

The game gets awfully boring if you don't let things slip out now and then. It's sort of like playing a character that never makes mistakes. We're not going for absolute realism here; we're going for what makes a good story and involves others. Letting people overhear things facilitates RP. And most of the time, they won't do anything about it -anyway-.

We had a guy with the title "Merciless Cunnlingus" on our server, who managed to get all the way to the low teens. I think it's just a game with some people. *waits for her second ban warning from Bioware*

Anyone know anyone from one of the RP servers going to this thing? I strongly suspect that it will be heavily PvE/raiding oriented, due to the demographic counts that need to be made the most happy, with PvP guilds coming in second and RP last. BUT I figured we'd hear of -someone- from a major US RP server getting invited. I've applied for the heck of it, because I think I have a good feel for what rpers are looking for in the game (even though I'm not in a mega-guild by any means). Yet I feel the only real advantage I have over others ends up being financial - I can afford to go. >_> On the off chance someone from our RP servers does get invited, or already has been, we should endeavor to discuss with them some of the top priorities (no need to list them here... yet) - preferably balanced against what's feasibly possible over the next year. The key, I think, would be representing us as balanced, mature, dedicated, and having a stronger voice than we have formerly been perceived as having. (yes, this is a cross-post from the RP forum section, but I needed something that could be read by all and not filtered out)

I played such a weirdly f-ed up character (who probably would've made a fine Sith) in my last MMO, that I insisted on taking it lighter here. So I decided to run with a rock/cantina band that is a cover for a spy operation. Ergo, much of our RP revolves around bad habits, dealing with fans, abusing spice, womanizing, gambling on Huttball, and trying to avoid doing what our band manager/Handler asks us to do. Generally not very emo or angsty. >_>

I suppose it pays to plan ahead. Most of my crew came from the Earthen Ring WoW server (again, these are just the folks who enrolled when I did, around xmas) - but our server *still* ended up split across various servers due to the guild-prelaunch thing, since not everyone was reading the same forums (or forums at all), and of course, many wanted a fresh start. I fell into that camp myself, I suppose - following a few really old-school rpers who had some industry connections, or were favorite writers of mine, to Ebon Hawk. The community certainly seemed big enuf to have people spread out across multiple servers. To whit, I've mainly tried to bring about a certain "personality" to our server (something I only have an effect on Empire side, though), thru the merging of people from WoW and various sci-fi mmo backgrounds. We're definitely going for more of a dark comedy approach than being super-serious... but I can't speak for everyone else on our server, certainly. But because most of us just started playing in the last month, this presents a different set of both problems and opportunities. Time will tell how much consolidation and server-settling will occur, as people find thier homes.

My general answer is to stick to planets like Nar Shaddaa -- I am always running into Pubs in the cantina there -- BUT, it's hard to do much more than casual rp with them due to the lack of ability to whisper. The main need for this is to faciliate OOC communication and coordination, so you can plan and explain stuff w/o annoying the hell out of everyone around you. Some of us deal with this, if we have compelling reasons to play "both sides", by making mirror-alts of our characters on BOTH sides... (we simply don't level the alt very much). The alt looks exactly like our main, of course, and should have a similar class (but for example, bounty hunters can play smugglers just fine). This way, after meeting someone in a more casual setting, we can continue RP with them in their own setting, when things may need to get more serious. Plus, it's sneeeeaky. Force-wielding characters may have a much harder time pulling this off, of course.