Wailakee’s tauren roleplay guide has been getting some link love over on my realm’s forums, and for good reason. It is definitely a good resource if you want to start playing a tauren – it condenses all the Wow Wiki articles into one spot.
The Roleplaying Revival Movement
Quill, a former resident of my server, raises some interesting points – primarily about the nature of roleplay and the importance of random roleplay – in a recent forum post calling for a “Role Playing Atmosphere Revival Movement”.
Read what they have to say (any italics or bold text is my own emphasis):
The Role Playing Atmosphere Revival Movement
WHAT IS THIS?
The Role Playing Atmosphere Revival Movement is a concept that everyone — light RPers, heavy RPers, even your friends on the server who don’t go in for what is classically considered RP on these realms — can get involved in to make the RP realm environment more welcoming and conducive to getting others to role play.
It is a series of behavioral changes, each small in scope, that combined make the realm atmosphere much more interactive. It will help bring those who are afraid to role play out of their shells, because the sort of behavior you will be performing is the sort of thing they can easily emulate. Ultimately, it brings more people into RP.
WHY IS THIS NEEDED?
Look at the history of the realms with the RP ruleset. Open world role play dies off fairly soon after the server opens. Initially, few people know each other and thus they react to strangers more, but as one finds their own RP circle, those reactions diminish. Inevitably people get bored of the game and leave the servers or the game altogether, but new people never come into RP at the same rate, because that initial interactive atmosphere disappears.
If we are to learn from our own history, and from other games that have achieved this in a more successful light, we must change our behavior and bring that interactivity back into the environment. If we want RP to survive on our server of choice, it’s important that we do not do as those before us have done and close off to the rest of the community.
HOW DO I HELP?
The following are some simple behaviors that will cost you very little time and bring you more role play on average:
* Use emotes (and, if needed, says) for every possible character reaction. When you can, use the default slash commands.
Prose and creativity are well and good, but commands like /nod are generally faster than typing out your own and that convenience means you’ll do it more often. Use them to show your character’s reactions to everything during your routine. Turning in a quest and the questgiver says something interesting? React. Win a needed auction? React. Get something great in the mail? React. Someone enchant your gear? React. See someone impressive walking by? React. Put those little reactions out there for people to see and, potentially, to use.
* Observe what others are saying and doing, and react to those as well if at all possible.
If your character has an opinion at all about something going on, react! Say something, do something. If your response is to be quiet and ignore it, emote that, too. Hate death knights? Spit on the new ones coming through town. Watch what others are doing and be ready to toss something their way. Put your character out there. Make them react to the world and the people around them. Too often, we find ourselves in tunnel vision; break down that tunnel.
* Adjust your behavior to your given environment.
Walk, don’t run, into the presence of your faction leader. Kneel before them if you’re turning in a quest. Wave at the auctioneer. Salute the guards. Stroll through town rather than dashing through on your mount if you have the time. Call out a battlecry if you’re jumping into the fray, even if you’re raiding. By treating your environment as if it matters to your character, you enrich the environment for both yourself and others.
HOW WILL THIS BEHAVIOR CHANGE HELP RP?
Role playing is a social activity. It should be encouraged everywhere on a realm with the ruleset, and it should be ideally encouraged by everyone. RP has become an activity that takes place where people congregate — in inns, primarily — where very little of consequence actually occurs. By bringing your RP with you wherever you go and showing the entire community you’re doing it, you in turn encourage others to react to what you’re putting out there. The overall change, if people adopt this strategy, will make the realm healthier for RP as a whole.
Do your part to make this realm more RP friendly today!
I especially liked the comment about using the games built in emotes instead of crafting your own every single time. It really does move roleplay along faster.
Review: Digital Culture, Play, and Identity
When I originally stated that I would review Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, I had no idea how phenomenally silly that statement is. To tell you the truth, I had just peeked in it, and after reading a few lines, thought, ‘I should talk about this book.’
I was completely unaware just how rich this text is. It was published by the MIT Press in Cambridge, to begin with, and all of the contributors are distinguished academics in their own right. To even attempt to provide feed back on par with the original texts is a bit presumptuous. (I do have an academic vein in my body, but I do not, as of yet, have a degree. One day, I hope.)
But I don’t like backing out of a promise, so I’ll try to provide at least an overview regarding this book.
Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader was inspired by a group of researchers posing as the in-game guild “The Truants”. Together, they spent hundreds of hours immersed in the game world, collecting, sharing, and revising data for their individual theses.
The book’s prologue, humorously entitled “Introduction: ‘Orc Professor LFG,’ or Researching in Azeroth” and written by researchers Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg, provides a general background as far as how the project began, the basics of the World of Warcraft game, and an introduction to the current trends of thought in game theory.
And yes, the introduction is worth reading, because it contains all sorts of crunchy interesting statistics – ones that are useful for quoting back later to that relative who’s always questioning why you play ‘that there kid’s video game’. Try this one for size:
“Nick Yee… a scholar who explored MMOS for a number of years… says it is ‘easy to dismiss video games as pointless activities that only teenagers indulge in. The truth is that the average age of MMORPG players is around 26. In fact, only 25% of MMORPG players are teenagers. About 50% of MMORPG players work full time. About 36 percent of players are married, and 22 percent have children.’”
Included is a reader’s guide, which has two main purposes: explaining the four categories of essays into which the book has been divided (Culture, World, Play, and Identity), and providing summaries of each chapter within that category.
Culture is concerned with, you guessed it, in-game culture, specifically how the game socializes and trains us – for example, in the first essay entitled “Corporate Ideology in World of Warcraft”, researcher Scott Rettberg examines how the game economy shapes us to believe in the “capitalist fairytale”, where hard work equals pay off.
The Culture section also compares, contrasts, and incorporates various out of game cultural elements and what they mean in game – think feminism, post-colonialism, and gender construction, for starters. The essays in this chapter are unanimous in, as the authors’ put it, “…their rejection of the idea of an innocent game…”
And man, is there nothing I love talking about more than the fact that WoW isn’t an innocent game. Sing it, Truants, sing it.
The second section, World, focuses on the structure of the gameworld: how “real” it is, how to define reality, and whether “real-ness” is even desirable to start with. The main topics were myth narrative, geography and the role of death.
Play deals primarily with how users act within the world, especially role-players, and what “play” means to the users. It raises a series of related questions: What actions can we define as play? What is considering “cheating”? Do different players have different goals? What is the point of role-playing in an unchanging world?
What I especially enjoyed from this section was Torill Mortensen’s essay, “Humans Playing World of Warcraft”, in which she examines player deviance: the facts that many users play the game in ways that don’t line up with the goals the game designers have set for us. And yes, role-players are part of that bunch: perhaps the most prominent of deviants, since role-play is only minimally supported by the game environment and drains time away from the all-important process of leveling.
Oh, you deviants, you.
Finally, the closing section of Identity scrutinizes the relationship between player and character. How much can we, as players, empathize with our creations? How do players choose their names – a decision that represents them within the game world even more than character appearance? Can a player ever feel that they “are” their character?
As I said before, it’s virtually impossible to discuss every single question this anthology raises. And yes, the authors are not necessarily the voice of god on these subjects – game theory is, if this anthology is an indication, a new and rapidly evolving field. But I can tell you it’s an utterly fascinating read, and it’s quite satisfying to see WoW get the “adult” treatment, instead of being treated as a mindless diversion. If you can get your paws on this book, by all means, do so.
Overall Rating: 4.0
P.S. This book mentions a variety of blogs for those interested in reading similar material. Terra Nova is one of them, and it’s so good it’s on my permanent reading list.
A Few Words on Stagnation
Today I found a thoughtful thread regarding cliques and stagnation at WrA.net, a site that I occasionally browse but have almost no time to post in. I’m sharing it with you all by way of a bone to chew on.
The original poster, Kwake, said:
The sad fact of things is that roleplaying communities, whether in WoW or otherwise, are notorious for degenerating into exclusive and unfriendly messes which lead to their eventual death, or worse, their persistence as sad examples of our hobby which refuse to die off; the kind of thing new roleplayers become discouraged by and griefers point to when tarring the rest of us with the same brush.
Cause and symptom are the same in this context. For the purposes of this discussion I’ll lay out solid definitions for the two major issues which everyone has seen and can relate to in one way or another:
Cliques/elitism: The person or community heavily shies away from or outright refuses to interact meaningfully with anyone who is not part of the established group. This can range from simply making it difficult for newcomers to contribute or get involved in anything, to slamming anyone who breaks away from what the group views as their established, ‘correct’ way of doing things.
Common quotes associated with cliques and elitism include:
“There is no RP on this server unless you are in a guild.”
“Everyone in that city speaks in their racial language and refuses to even physically acknowledge anyone else.”
“That character/event does not fit in the lore.”
“I did something to make person X angry so now noone will rp with me.”
Cliques and elitism damage RP communities by making roleplaying more drama and effort than it is worth.
Stagnation: Stagnation, while it is less repellent and is rarely a source of drama as the above, can be just as much of a problem because it likens the RP community to a gangrenous limb, hanging on and doing nothing new or interesting. A total lack of RP, or a prevalence of samey and rigid interaction is the definition of stagnation. This ranges from a lack of opportunities for meaningful character interaction outside of the comfort zone of Silvermoon City, to the extreme of being unable to find even Taverncraft RP simply because noone is initiating. People respond by transferring to the new RP promised land server and the problem gets even worse.
Stagnation is tied in with the above issue in that it can be caused by a prevalence of clique mentality, but can be defined separately as the lack of anyone stepping up to initiate or organize RP for others. It is the equivalent of a full house on open mic night with noone brave enough to perform.
Common quotes associated with stagnation include:
“I have alot of ideas for this character but there is no hotspot for anyone other than elves.”
“Sometimes you can find tavern RP but there’s nothing deeper than that really.”
“Everyone on this server takes themselves really seriously so I can’t just jump in and goof around.”
Stagnation damages RP communities by limiting opportunities for RP outside of established norms and hotspots, or simply not letting it exist at all.
So what can be done about it?
I was going to post a fairly long couple of paragraphs here detailing what I see as the root causes of these issues and what people can do to eliminate them; however, I decided that rather than write an essay I’d like to get the community members talking and discussing the issue themselves, as I cannot profess to have all the answers. Instead I’ll post some statements for people to offer their own take on, and a list of my personal rules of thumb for busting these dramas in my own RP.
As always I invite everyone to put in!
—
Kwake’s Thoughts:
As is my approach to things, I will not pussyfoot around the problems; I will call out specific places and occurrences of incident but I will not name any names.
1. Cliques/elitism and stagnation both exist on Wyrmrest Accord and are very, very common. If you cannot see this, you are either not looking hard enough or are part of the problem.
2. As on many servers, Silvermoon City RP is seen as a hotbed of these problems and yet remains the most common place to find RP. Not only should those who frequent SMC be doing something to combat this, but the rest of us should be exerting the effort to establish new hotspots in accessible locations.
3. Thunder Bluff is also a common place for RP but a common complaint is that the roleplayers there only speak in Taurahe. I believe that the issue isn’t so much that everyone is speaking Taurahe (why shouldn’t a race speak their language in their own city?), but that the prevalence of the language barrier is a smokescreen; a lore-viable, off-putting but quickly justifiable means of excluding others who are not part of the group. Tauren and non-tauren alike have complained in public venues that beyond the language barrier, the established Thunder Bluff crowd tend to totally ignore emotes and attempts to communicate with them in taurahe or otherwise. I find it hard to believe that everyone in Thunder Bluff is unable to understand Orcish.
Kwake’s drama-busters:
1. Have a sense of humor. Something that many people who RP in WoW forget is that it is NOT Forgotten Realms; there is not a rigid set of atmospheric rules by which the storytelling or the universe abide to. Joke NPCs based on real-world celebrities and memes are extremely common. While orcs are hardline honorific tribals they also burp and fart and ride motorcycles. The Death Knight starting zone, one of the darkest and most emotionally intense areas in the game, could not go five minutes without having Siouxie the Banshee in plain view and enemy mobs announcing they have crapped their pants.
2. Add some depth to your comedy characters. On the other side of the coin, drama and seriousness is what leads to long-term emotional rollercoasters and real character development. Even an explosive gnome scientist can have, for example, serious commitment issues or an absentee father. There is a time and a place for comedy and seriousness in RP but a person should not be excluded for favoring one or the other.
3. Be flexible in regards to the lore and game mechanics. There’s roleplaying as a demon dragon who plays golf with Thrall every thursday and there’s a warlock or paladin firing a gun. Everything is a balance and if a character is taking an out-there concept and making an earnest attempt to play it in a realistic (or blatantly unrealistic) and interesting way, you should hear them out.
4. Stop complaining so much. You are only hurting yourself and your community by constantly excluding and calling out others for not adhering to your personal standards. Yes, some things are outright stupid and making fun of them is okay. Some things aren’t and you shouldn’t avoid a person or event just because they don’t stick to the same hardline set of rules that you and your group do. Use your gumption to determine the difference, I’m not going to do it for you.
5. Contribute before condemning. Don’t like the way an event is being run, or the attitudes of people who frequent a particular hotspot? Go and put in for awhile and see how those people accommodate you and your RP style. If they turn out to be welcoming and give you an opportunity to display your strengths, you’ve successfully overcome a major obstacle. If they are wholly uninterested in hearing you at all, then you have grounds to say something about it.
6. Be interested in other peoples’ characters. A common complaint of RP is that those who do it are only looking for a venue by which they can show off their character to others, or worse, tell them all about them in ooc channels instead of actually acting them out. Try to make others look good before yourself.
7. Run your own events and outings. You don’t even need to organize and execute your own public gatherings, just round up some friends and go harass the locals. RP only exists when people initiate. Don’t fall into the trap of always being a guest and never the host.
Good stuff.
In Defense of Real ID
Update: Suspicions confirmed – Blizzard has officially reversed their decision, and Real ID will not be required to post on the forums. I’m letting the post stand, regardless.
On Tuesday, Blizzard-Activision announced that all forum users, including Blizzard “blues”, or moderators, would have their Real ID names displayed on their forum posts. They claimed it was part of an effort to “reduce trolling”. Apparently, they’ve rescinded the part of their policy concerning Blizzard employees, but not the general player base.
As you can imagine, there’s been an uproar: the official thread has reached a thousand posts, and that’s not counting the dozens of protest threads springing up on both the general and realm forums. Many players are publicly canceling their accounts.
WoW players are, in short, not happy. The real ID system has been a subject of controversy since it’s inception. Some players are delighted, citing convenience and cross-faction utility, while others feel it displays a worrying breach into user privacy and a sleazy “e-Harmony” or “Myspace” social-free-for-all attitude. However, I think we can tentatively say that the majority of users feel the forum changes are a step too far.
I’m part of that majority, but I’m alarmed that so many players are descending into a frenzy. No, I don’t believe the forum changes are positive, but that doesn’t mean that the Real ID system as a whole needs to be totally trashed. Real ID has benefits for some players and would benefit from some minor tweaking – namely, don‘t display the “friends of friends”, and keep the old forum system of posting as characters. Avaryse over at Rolecraft makes a good suggestion, as well: the use of a global handle instead of your real name.
A few of those benefits of Real ID are (in case they have been forgotten in this media flurry):
- Cross-faction roleplay
- RL friends aren’t separated by server
- Keeping track of the friend with altitus
- Real ID is not mandatory
Here are the most common arguments against Real ID that I appear to be seeing:
Argument #1: “Stalkers and other unsavory types will use this information to slander, defile, and harm you, going so far as to post your personal information for all to see.”
Any time you connect to the Internet, your unique IP address can be discovered and then plotted on a map via satellite. It is particularly easy to figure out someone’s IP address if the user posts on any kind of forum or blog, pseudonym (character name, in this case) or not.
Put another way, hackers don’t need your name to find you. If anything, snagging your IP address is easier, considering the fact googling your name will bring up hundreds of false hits. So, while having your name attached to your form posts is anything but desirable, it is not “suddenly” putting you at risk. You already are at risk.
Oh, and by the way, your argument loses some effectiveness if you use Facebook. And please, don’t try to say you “don’t use Facebook“. It’s like saying you don’t eat fast food – statistically, you have.
Argument #2: “I have [a young sibling, a son, a daughter, a cousin, a niece, nephew, small street urchin] that is [X] years old and this is making the internet not safe for them.”
I hear this “think-of-the-children” argument far too often for my liking.
Sorry, but the internet is inherently unsafe by its very design, and insisting that we must baby-proof the internet is ignorant of human nature*, insults the mental faculties of the children we seek to “protect”, and unnecessarily restricts the actions of reasonable, critically thinking adults.
Children are, contrary to popular belief, not that different from their adult counterparts. Sure, they may make mistakes and they may not have yet formed their own opinions, but that’s a reasonable condition considering a finite amount of time on the Earth. They are just as inquisitive and capable of learning as their adult counterparts – perhaps more so.
Sit down and discuss internet safety with the kids in your life. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.** And keep in mind if little Johnny doesn’t understand the basics, he has just as much a chance of getting in trouble without Real ID: names, phone numbers, and emails are shared just as easily through a regular whisper.
All in all, there’s an easy way to avoid all this melodrama: don’t use Real ID, and don’t use the forums.
But, Versed, you say, I pay fifteen dollars a month to use all aspects of the game, and that includes the forums.
Technically, the forums aren’t part of the game – they’re a supplement, a supplement only a small fraction of players use. If chatting in-game doesn’t suit certain purposes, there are other ways to connect with your fellow WoW players – community sites and unofficial forums, for example. We won’t wither and die if the forum changes go through (which, between you and me, I don’t think they will).
In closing, a fellow resident of my server raises some of my points here if you’d like further reading.
—
*: I’m referencing the fact that we, as human beings, have reasons for using the internet as we do – we like the illusion of anonymity because it enables us to do and be what we may not be allowed to in our non-virtual lives, find the answers to questions we’re afraid to ask, etc. And we will continue (regardless of age) to use the internet for “inappropriate” things. Any safeguard will become woefully out of date in the face of our own ingenuity.
**: I’m not saying that the family unit is the sole institution responsible for raising a child – on the contrary, I think it’s simplistic and insulting to say, in general, “[So-and-so] did [X] wrong because you didn’t raise so-and-so the right way.” But it is also wrong to place all the responsibility on all the other institutions – the Government, the Public School System, and so on, partly because they can’t handle it and partly because the words that come from our loved ones will always mean more than some obscure edict.
A Statement of Goals
The goals of this blog are as follows:
- To give me a place in which to put my thoughts about the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft
- To provide advice and ideas for the intermediate to advanced World of Warcraft roleplayer
This blog will rarely (if ever) touch upon “beginner roleplayer” topics. I feel there are plenty of resources out there for those new to the roleplaying scene – take, for example, RP Made Simple.
I have been inspired by such roleplaying giants as Blogatelle. Though I will likely never grow so famed, I plan on upholding similar standards for quality content.
As a result, there will be no posting schedule at this time. I’d much rather post irregularly with thoughtful content, as opposed to the alternative.
Addendum: Given the layout, title, inspiration for this blog, etc, I reserve the right to write pretentiously and employ unnecessary words like “addendum” whenever I so choose.
Versed 