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.
Versed 