Encouraging Role-Playing?

[Balance]

Hello, I would like to adress an issue that seems to be plaguing the RP servers in game.

 

While there seems to be occasional RP going on, the main problem is that outside of actual RP guilds, It is becoming increasingly hard to find and meet random people to RP with, and when i say increasingly hard, i mean that since launch i have not come across a single act of people initiating roleplay with people they do not know in a random occurrence.

And as a person playing on a RP server who is highly populated i find this a bit hard to stomach, as i know from other games how much impact this could have on the community of a game and as a factor of its enjoyment.

 

The main reason for this?

Apparently, people roll on an RP server for a few reasons, one might be to find a server with a more mature population, and a second reason is to actually participate in roleplaying.

the population of players stemming from the second branch are surely plenty to be had, however there is one big problem.

Most of them may not have actually thought out their characters, or have none or very little experience with roleplaying.

This is ofcourse to be expected, and as a result, this population of players (which in my opinion makes the bulk of the server population) is very hesitant to actually initiate roleplaying, especially with a random person who they may not know how his response will be... you can imagine it would feel a bit silly for a newbie to try and rp with someone who turns out to be a non-roleplayer.

their only option seems to be to join an rp guild, and start from there, but you can see how this is not always a viable option.

 

My suggestion?

RP Flagging, yep, just like you can see a player is flagged for PvP, why not have an RP flag?

If i see someone who is flagged for RP wandering across the plains of Tatooine for example, you could be sure that i would try to initiate a conversation of some sort.

this not only encourages and legitimizes RPing, but also leads to more grouping and so forth.

 

I'm sure you people can come up with more, but here's just one suggestion to get us started.

[HeavensAgent]

their only option seems to be to join an rp guild, and start from there, but you can see how this is not always a viable option.

Why wouldn't this be a viable option? I'm a newcomer to RP, having had no interest in past games. Finding an RP guild strikes me as the logical first step, I've I'm in touch with several of them right now as I try to find a good fit and a general feel for the play style.

 

RP Flagging, yep, just like you can see a player is flagged for PvP, why not have an RP flag?

Bad idea. Really bad idea. You are literally asking that a flag be provided that states: "I want to RP, I'm right over here; come get me grieffers."

 

 

As an aside, what server are you on. The situations you describe, about a lack of spontaneous RP in the open world, is alien to my server.

[Darkojin]

A few older MMOs had a flagging system, and those worked fine. SWG had (ROLEPLAYER) over your head if you wanted, EQ2 has you show up as Roleplaying in /who. Its not really a new concept, and in neither of those games, did I see people greifed for wearing those tags (in all honesty, I sometimes saw hardcore PVPers running around battlefields wearing it too).

 

Right now, the only way to know if someone is definatly an RPer in this game, is when you see them talk with parenthesis when OOC, or have (OOC) before some things they say.

[flyersfan]

As an aside, what server are you on. The situations you describe, about a lack of spontaneous RP in the open world, is alien to my server.

 

I play on Jung Ma and we have the same problem. As a PvP server with absolutely no moderation in terms of RP, we're overrun with non-RPers to the point that I generally feel uncomfortable RPing out in the world. However, I suck it up and do it anyway. I make it a point to use /say with my guildmates when we're questing or doing an event in order to promote the RP atmosphere on the server. There is "open" RP on Nar Shaddaa in the Lower Promenade, but you'd be hard-pressed to find it elsewhere. I've actually never seen it out in the open world unless I started it.

 

I had the same problem on Ajunta Pall and Ven Zallow (horrible place) as well. Since the RP servers have no moderation, you can do whatever you want there. Master FluffyBunnies of the Imdabest legacy can freely run around doing his thing. I used to report all these names until they put up the blurb under RP servers that says non-RP names won't be moderated. Since then, I have accepted the fact that BioWare won't be supporting RP and it's now in our hands.

 

As for the suggestion made by OP about RP flags, HeavensAgent is correct. It's just asking for trouble. People won't flag themselves in order to avoid being griefed. Again, these things aren't moderated on RP servers, so it basically negates the point of putting the RP prefix there.

[flyersfan]

A few older MMOs had a flagging system, and those worked fine. SWG had (ROLEPLAYER) over your head if you wanted, EQ2 has you show up as Roleplaying in /who. Its not really a new concept, and in neither of those games, did I see people greifed for wearing those tags (in all honesty, I sometimes saw hardcore PVPers running around battlefields wearing it too).

 

Right now, the only way to know if someone is definatly an RPer in this game, is when you see them talk with parenthesis when OOC, or have (OOC) before some things they say.

 

Yep, I do that too. Every once in a while someone will ask (( why I talk like this )), and it pains me to have to explain it to someone. People amaze me sometimes.

[HeavensAgent]

I play on Jung Ma and we have the same problem. As a PvP server with absolutely no moderation in terms of RP, we're overrun with non-RPers to the point that I generally feel uncomfortable RPing out in the world.

That's odd; I'm on Jung Ma as well, but I have no trouble finding and/or initiating spontaneous RP as I progress through general game content. It helps that we have RP guilds on the server that take a proactive approach to RP activities. Thankfully, the community has been very forgiving of my stumbles and mistakes. It makes for a very positive learning experience.