The major, major, major problem with instancing as your sole RP fix is this:
1) You only start with a maximum of 2 people in your party and finally ending up with 8. This is a git in a large guild where you really want to be chilling out with *everyone* at the same time. In WoW I was a member of PIE and we were 100 strong before we split up owing to differences. A 100 strong GW guild hasn't really got anywhere private to meet up UNTIL they get a bunch of players together to take on the Hall of Heroes or buy a guild hall sigil. That's a damn long way away and might well be utterly unobtainable for smaller guilds who are casual gamers rather than hardcore PvP'ers.
2) The more important thing in an RP perspective - no chance to bump into other people for RP opportunities. This was great in NWN - everyone on an RP NWN server WAS an RP'er. You started talking, they started responding whether you had been real life mates for 10 years, mates in game for 2 years, or whether it was their first time logging on. Okay, NWN came with DM enforcement. But you know what I mean.
There NEEDS to be a place where people can go to meet like minded RP people who are not in their guild/party. It's an essential part of forming RP stories. At the moment, with the chat channel being cluttered as it is with trade, 'omg i'm a girl stripper loolololol'...not exactly good for RP.
This might sound a bit self-important but I honestly feel that catering to an RP population contributes vastly to the longevity of a game in today's fickle market. NWN is a prime example. Persistent Worlds in NWN are still going strong what, 2-4 years after the games was released? Give an RP'er a safe haven with an easy way to make lots of friends and meet like-minded people and they will not move on to another game. That's the way I work, anyway...
Role-Playing Districts
Shiryou Kattami
Melmoth
Nothing to add. Good post, Shiryou (espacially the longifety aspect of NwN is something ArenaNET must agree with). I think we could include this into the petition. What do you think?
Last points on our to-do list:
- Description of our will to moderate the districts on our own
- Support from gwguru-mods
This is what we got at the moment:
Last points on our to-do list:
- Description of our will to moderate the districts on our own
- Support from gwguru-mods
This is what we got at the moment:
Quote:
|
Dear ArenaNet: First of all, we would all like to thank you for bringing us this wonderful game, Guild Wars. All of us enjoy this game immensely, and applaud your effort and dedication to this project. Thank you. One thing which is vital to the solidification of an online community is roleplaying, or RP for short. Through role-playing, players can immerse themselves to a greater degree in this world that you have created, and hence, will increase the enjoyment that they will get out of the game. Put shortly, roleplaying is key to those who wish to truly suspend their disbelief about this fantasy world. While roleplay-enforced servers are present in other online games, we realize that roleplaying is not for everyone - certainly, it is something which requires time and effort. Also, some people dislike roleplaying for various reasons. It is for these reasons that we propose the establishment of role-playing districts in addition to international districts and local districts. As mentioned before, these districts will allow roleplayers to do what they love to do best, without interfering with others' enjoyment of the game. Should you establish these districts, all will be happier - the roleplayers will enjoy the benefits of a channel free of out-of-character chat, and the normal players will continue to go about on their daily business, with more fellow out-of-character players to discuss and trade with. We are aware of the fact that GW does not primarily focus on RP but on fast-paced and action-oriented gameplay. Because of that, the "prototypical" GW player (and we respect that ArenaNet has to focus further game-development on the needs of the masses first - just to keep it financed with it´s no-fee concept) might not be the typical roleplayer as found in other (MM)ORPGS. Nevertheless, with little technical (and/or) financial effort you could be winning over a group of consumers you might not have been primarily aiming at. RP could be a further factor of long-term motivation besides the storyline and the PvP-features. We don´t expect a fully equipped RP-environment and no major intervention concerning the general gameplay. For hardcore-roleplayers GW may not be the right game at all. But establishing one RP-district per outpost would give the ones who aim for RP a "home" inside the GW-world. Of course we read your statement concerning ingame-roleplaying in Fansite Friday 35. The major problem with instancing as your sole RP fix is this: 1) You only start with a maximum of 2 people in your party and finally ending up with 8. This is a git in a large guild where you really want to see all of your friends and members at the same time. A 100 person strong GW guild hasn't really got anywhere private to meet up until they get many players together to take on the Hall of Heroes or buy a guild hall sigil. That is a very long way away and might well be utterly unobtainable for smaller guilds who are casual gamers rather than hardcore PvP'ers. 2) The more important thing in an RP perspective - there is no chance to meet other people for RP opportunities. Privacy as given in instances may contribute to roleplaying because of the similarity to Pen & Paper roleplaying games. Isolation won´t. There needs to be a place where people can go to meet like minded RP people who are not in their guild/party. It's an essential part of forming RP stories. At the moment, with the chat channel being cluttered as it is with trade and out-of-character interaction, it is not exactly good for RP. This might sound self-important but we honestly feel that catering to an RP population contributes vastly to the longevity of a game in today's fickle market. Give an RP'er a safe haven with an easy way to make lots of friends and meet like-minded people and they will not move on to another game. No matter what the decision is, thank you for reading this proposal. Enclosed below is a list of signatures of those who share our ideas. |
Anno Domini
Excellent! I like it! 
Defafnyr
Agreed. It's excellent. Now, where do we post this and collect signatures?
Shiryou Kattami
Indeedy
Strife
I'm an avid role-player... I've played most of the MMORPG's out there, including a few MUDs and pen-and-paper RPGs before EQ arrived.
Unfortunately, I'm not much of a guild person. While I love to roleplay, I rarely involve myself in any organization, even if it's tagged for roleplaying purposes. I've been in many guilds before, but I stopped after a while and never really got back into it. That being said, the only way I can find roleplayers is via forums.
If you're into roleplaying, I'd suggest going to the RPing forum and make it known, either with an actual role-playing thread or jsut a small introduction. That way, people like me that would rather not join a guild can see who's interested in roleplaying in game and add you to our friend's list. Otherwise, I'm just stuck running through towns with mobs of people sitting around dancing naked. Not my idea of fun.
On a side note, why does no one use the roleplaying forums? I was going to start a thread in there, but seeing as the interest in that area seems non-existant at the moment, I didn't bother. Does anyone plan on actually roleplaying there?
Unfortunately, I'm not much of a guild person. While I love to roleplay, I rarely involve myself in any organization, even if it's tagged for roleplaying purposes. I've been in many guilds before, but I stopped after a while and never really got back into it. That being said, the only way I can find roleplayers is via forums.
If you're into roleplaying, I'd suggest going to the RPing forum and make it known, either with an actual role-playing thread or jsut a small introduction. That way, people like me that would rather not join a guild can see who's interested in roleplaying in game and add you to our friend's list. Otherwise, I'm just stuck running through towns with mobs of people sitting around dancing naked. Not my idea of fun.
On a side note, why does no one use the roleplaying forums? I was going to start a thread in there, but seeing as the interest in that area seems non-existant at the moment, I didn't bother. Does anyone plan on actually roleplaying there?
Anno Domini
Strife, we kinda dropped the idea of the RP guild, and opted for a petition to have an RP district.
The RP forum seems more focused on storytelling than in-game roleplay and that's not exactly what I want. I want to interact with RPers in-game.
Anyway, if what you want is meeting RPers stick with this thread 'cos we might present the above petition to the developers. Crossing fingers.
The RP forum seems more focused on storytelling than in-game roleplay and that's not exactly what I want. I want to interact with RPers in-game.
Anyway, if what you want is meeting RPers stick with this thread 'cos we might present the above petition to the developers. Crossing fingers.
Melmoth
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Defafnyr
Agreed. It's excellent. Now, where do we post this and collect signatures?
|
Strife
As this is a free game, I don't think the Devs are going to feel very obligated to listen to a minority. However, I will gladly sign any petition that calls for a roleplaying disctrict.
However, take into consideration that even if there is a designated 'RP district', we're going to be dealing with floods of griefers. At the moment, the only way I keep track of roleplayers is just adding them to my friends list. While I like the idea of a district for us in theory, I'm not entirely sure how well it would work live.
That, and the fact that the chat system is horrible.
However, take into consideration that even if there is a designated 'RP district', we're going to be dealing with floods of griefers. At the moment, the only way I keep track of roleplayers is just adding them to my friends list. While I like the idea of a district for us in theory, I'm not entirely sure how well it would work live.
That, and the fact that the chat system is horrible.
Melmoth
Quote:
| As this is a free game, I don't think the Devs are going to feel very obligated to listen to a minority. |
Strife
Don't get me wrong, I want this to happen, and would be the first to sign if I had the opportunity. However, I'm a little reluctant to allow myself to become too optimistic. With many MMORPG's in the past, not too much has been done to cater to the actual roleplayers (there has been some good things done for them, I will admit).
I want role-playing districts. I want more things implemented that makes this game feel a little more immersive. I want the chat system to be trashed, torn apart, and re-built from scratch. However, at the moment, we just need to find a common ground that we can work with until something is done from the developers, such as designating a district until one is made specifically for us.
I want role-playing districts. I want more things implemented that makes this game feel a little more immersive. I want the chat system to be trashed, torn apart, and re-built from scratch. However, at the moment, we just need to find a common ground that we can work with until something is done from the developers, such as designating a district until one is made specifically for us.
Defafnyr
Well right now, I'm using International district for RP. I'm open. however, to any other district to use right now, in the meantime, until/if anything is implemented. Just take a vote and I'm there.
Chat system though, can't RP anywhere we go with all the d00dz spam making our chat window scoll faster than we can read the few RP lines within it. Totally need to trash the current chat system and start over.
Chat system though, can't RP anywhere we go with all the d00dz spam making our chat window scoll faster than we can read the few RP lines within it. Totally need to trash the current chat system and start over.
ArcticFlame
I agree with the comments about the chat system, but what advantage will spammers get from bringing themselves to the proposed RP district? His attempts to sell things will be undoubtedly unsuccessful, and he will bring his business elsewhere. No one has reason to spam an RP district - they can get far better results for themselves if they spam other districts.
Strife
They don't come to spam, they come just to annoy. In that respect, we can just /ignore them.
At the moment, I think the general agreement is that district 5 is for roleplayers. I've gone there a few times before, but it was quiet. Fact of the matter is, it's just hard to roleplay when the entire city can hear the conversation you're trying to have with a friend.
We could designate district 5 for roleplayers, but the real roleplaying won't really take place until you leave the district and enter an instance.
At the moment, I think the general agreement is that district 5 is for roleplayers. I've gone there a few times before, but it was quiet. Fact of the matter is, it's just hard to roleplay when the entire city can hear the conversation you're trying to have with a friend.
We could designate district 5 for roleplayers, but the real roleplaying won't really take place until you leave the district and enter an instance.
Defafnyr
Alright, someone has created a petition. Let's post it on it's own thread and get signatures. Someone else pleast take care of the petition thread.
I'm going to start a thread polling RP district for votes on that.
I'm going to start a thread polling RP district for votes on that.
Defafnyr
Vote set up HERE
Kara
I would love to see an RP district. If you think about it, just HAVING one (which would preferably be international in nature) would better our experience. It doesn't matter if it's moderated or not. The fact that we'd all know exactly where to go for roleplay would be better than what we have now.
At the guild-hall.net forums, we decided on District 3 as our unofficial district, because there's not always a district 5, and because the international districts are really crowded and full of multi-language spam.
An International RP district designated by ANet would REALLY help roleplayers out.
At the guild-hall.net forums, we decided on District 3 as our unofficial district, because there's not always a district 5, and because the international districts are really crowded and full of multi-language spam.
An International RP district designated by ANet would REALLY help roleplayers out.
ArcticFlame
Quote:
|
Dear ArenaNet: First of all, we would all like to thank you for bringing us this wonderful game, Guild Wars. All of us enjoy this game immensely, and applaud your effort and dedication to this project. Thank you. One thing which is vital to the solidification of an online community is roleplaying, or RP for short. Through role-playing, players can immerse themselves to a greater degree in this world that you have created, and hence, will increase the enjoyment that they will get out of the game. Put shortly, roleplaying is key to those who wish to truly suspend their disbelief about this fantasy world. While roleplay-enforced servers are present in other online games, we realize that roleplaying is not for everyone - certainly, it is something which requires time and effort. Also, some people dislike roleplaying for various reasons. It is for these reasons that we propose the establishment of role-playing districts in addition to international districts and local districts. As mentioned before, these districts will allow roleplayers to do what they love to do best, without interfering with others' enjoyment of the game. Should you establish these districts, all will be happier - the roleplayers will enjoy the benefits of a channel free of out-of-character chat, and the normal players will continue to go about on their daily business, with more fellow out-of-character players to discuss and trade with. We are aware of the fact that GW does not primarily focus on RP but on fast-paced and action-oriented gameplay. Because of that, the "prototypical" GW player (and we respect that ArenaNet has to focus further game-development on the needs of the masses first - just to keep it financed with it´s no-fee concept) might not be the typical roleplayer as found in other (MM)ORPGS. Nevertheless, with little technical (and/or) financial effort you could be winning over a group of consumers you might not have been primarily aiming at. RP could be a further factor of long-term motivation besides the storyline and the PvP-features. We don't expect a fully equipped RP-environment, nor major intervention concerning the general gameplay. For hardcore-roleplayers, GW may not be the right game at all. But establishing one RP-district per outpost would give the ones who aim for RP a "home" inside the GW-world. We realize that you have already made a statement concerning ingame-roleplaying in your article, Fansite Friday 35. However, there are a few problems with having instancing as the only roleplaying within the game. These problems include: 1) You only start with a maximum of 2 people in your party, and the largest number of people in any given party is 8. This isn't a solution in a large guild where you want to see all of your friends and fellow guild members at the same time. A 100 person strong GW guild does not have anywhere private to meet, until they get many players together to take on the Hall of Heroes or buy a guild hall sigil. That is a very long way away, and might well be utterly unobtainable for smaller guilds who are casual gamers rather than hardcore PvP'ers. 2) The more important thing in an RP perspective - there is no chance to meet other people for RP opportunities. Privacy as given in instances may contribute to roleplaying because of the similarity to Pen & Paper roleplaying games. However, Isolation will not. There has to be a place where people can go to meet like-minded roleplayers who are not in their guild/party - this is an essential part of forming RP stories. At the moment, with most chat channel s being cluttered as it is with trade and out-of-character interaction, roleplayers are hard-pressed to find a safe haven. We believe that catering to an RP population contributes vastly to the longevity of a game in today's crowded market. Give an RP'er a safe haven with an easy way to make lots of friends and meet like-minded people, and they will not move on to another game. No matter what the decision is, thank you for reading this proposal. Enclosed below is a list of signatures of those who share our ideas. |
Kara
Oh, that letter is excellent! Please do send that! 
Defafnyr
I like as is. Start it's own thread, spam the other boards for them to add signatures so they know it's here for them to sign if they'd like, and we can start signing it.
Melmoth
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ArcticFlame
A few grammar fixes, and a few changes to make the proposal slightly more 'professional' in language. Please improve/edit/build upon this letter! The better the letter, the more seriously we will be taken.
|
.. so we can start to collect signatures.
Melmoth
Hello? Is this whole thing going to die?
Strife
Give it time. Roleplayers are few and far in between.
If you'd like my opinion, I'd state some proposed suggestions along with the problems you listed. Don't just say 'This is what's wrong.' Give them something you'd like to see in place of it. I think you may have proposed fixes to the problems in your letter, but make sure to point them out specifically.
If you'd like my opinion, I'd state some proposed suggestions along with the problems you listed. Don't just say 'This is what's wrong.' Give them something you'd like to see in place of it. I think you may have proposed fixes to the problems in your letter, but make sure to point them out specifically.
ArcticFlame
Thanks for the suggestion, Strife! We want one district per outpost, what else do we need? It's hard to make a list with one object. However, I've rearranged the letter as to make it slightly more clear where we're going with the letter, and cleaned it up a little.
Quote:
|
Dear ArenaNet: First of all, we would all like to thank you for bringing us this wonderful game, Guild Wars. All of us enjoy this game immensely, and applaud your effort and dedication to this project. Thank you. One thing which is vital to the solidification of an online community is roleplaying, or RP for short. Through role-playing, players can immerse themselves to a greater degree in this world that you have created, and hence, will increase the enjoyment that they will get out of the game. Put shortly, roleplaying is key to those who wish to truly suspend their disbelief about this fantasy world. While roleplay-enforced servers are present in other online games, we realize that roleplaying is not for everyone - certainly, it is something which requires time and effort. Also, some people dislike roleplaying for various reasons. It is for these reasons that we propose the establishment of role-playing districts in addition to international districts and local districts. As mentioned before, these districts will allow roleplayers to do what they love to do best, without interfering with others' enjoyment of the game. Should you establish these districts, all will be happier - the roleplayers will enjoy the benefits of a channel free of out-of-character chat, and the normal players will continue to go about on their daily business, with more fellow out-of-character players to discuss and trade with. We realize that you have already made a statement concerning ingame-roleplaying in your article, Fansite Friday 35. However, there are a few problems with having instancing as the only roleplaying within the game. These problems include: 1) You only start with a maximum of 2 people in your party, and the largest number of people in any given party is 8. This isn't a solution in a large guild where you want to see all of your friends and fellow guild members at the same time. A 100 person strong GW guild does not have anywhere private to meet, until they get many players together to take on the Hall of Heroes or buy a guild hall sigil. That is a very long way away, and might well be utterly unobtainable for smaller guilds who are casual gamers rather than hardcore PvP'ers. 2) The more important thing in an RP perspective - there is no chance to meet other people for RP opportunities. Privacy as given in instances may contribute to roleplaying because of the similarity to Pen & Paper roleplaying games. However, Isolation will not. There has to be a place where people can go to meet like-minded roleplayers who are not in their guild/party - this is an essential part of forming RP stories. At the moment, with most chat channels being cluttered with trade and out-of-character interaction, roleplayers are hard-pressed to find a safe haven. We are aware of the fact that GW does not primarily focus on RP but on fast-paced and action-oriented gameplay. Because of that, the "prototypical" GW player (and we respect that ArenaNet has to focus further game-development on the needs of the masses first - just to keep it financed with it´s no-fee concept) might not be the typical roleplayer as found in other (MM)ORPGS. Nevertheless, with little technical (and/or) financial effort you could be winning over a group of consumers you might not have been primarily aiming at. RP could be a further factor of long-term motivation besides the storyline and the PvP-features. We believe that catering to an RP population contributes vastly to the longevity of a game in today's crowded market. Give an RP'er a safe haven with an easy way to make lots of friends and meet like-minded people, and they will not move on to another game. We don't expect a fully equipped RP-environment, nor major intervention concerning gameplay in general. For hardcore roleplayers, GW may not be the right game at all. But establishing one RP-district per outpost would give the ones who aim for RP interaction a "home" inside the GW world. No matter what the decision is, thank you for reading this proposal. Enclosed below is a list of signatures of those who share our ideas. |
Anno Domini
Again, looks good to me.
Melmoth
Okay, so I will post this in a new thread. We should annoy the mods, so they make it sticky
Edit: Did not post it yet. Do you think the "Sardelac Sanitarium" is the best place? I think it is more of a "project" now but a suggestion. Maybe "The Inner Circle" is a better place? As posts have to be validated through the mods we automatically get their attention.
Edit: Did not post it yet. Do you think the "Sardelac Sanitarium" is the best place? I think it is more of a "project" now but a suggestion. Maybe "The Inner Circle" is a better place? As posts have to be validated through the mods we automatically get their attention.
ArcticFlame
That sounds like a better idea. This is not merely a suggestion anymore!
Allister Audeley
I throw my full support behind this idea, I'm a roleplayer, and can never find very many of my kind. Maybe also a good "Character Introduction" thread would be nice, so we can find out a little bout each of the roleplay characters who enjoy In Character interaction. The thread I mean, is here
Also a possibly roleplaying event like this Roleplay Event, Thoughts Please
A roleplay district to meet everyone, and to host events in would be great! I hope this idea gets some attention!
Also a possibly roleplaying event like this Roleplay Event, Thoughts Please
A roleplay district to meet everyone, and to host events in would be great! I hope this idea gets some attention!
Anno Domini
Submitting this to the Community Work is the best thing. So has it been done? We only have to wait for them to approve it?
Melmoth
I haven´t posted it yet, I wanted to hear your opinion (on where to post it) first. I´ll do it this evening (I´m at work atm.). Let´s get this started 
DragonEye
Go for it!!
It would be sooooooo great to have a RP disctrict. I simply hate those guys running around like maniacs and shouting slang.
I have been looking for RP'ers too but have not found a lot of them. I will be starting a guild that is only accessible for RP'ers soon. That way we will be able to meet up easier.
I was wondering if there are already some RP guilds.
Matt.
P.S.: where do I sign the petition?
It would be sooooooo great to have a RP disctrict. I simply hate those guys running around like maniacs and shouting slang.
I have been looking for RP'ers too but have not found a lot of them. I will be starting a guild that is only accessible for RP'ers soon. That way we will be able to meet up easier.
I was wondering if there are already some RP guilds.
Matt.
P.S.: where do I sign the petition?
Melmoth
I did it:
Now we only have to wait for the validation.
Now we only have to wait for the validation.
Defafnyr
/cheers
Strife
...and we may be waiting a long time. There's no way to know. In the meantime, I'd strongly suggest roleplayers to start finding one another now. Simply waiting for this to take place is lazy. I've already had the pleasure of meeting a few likeminded RPers in game... the more you know off the bat, the easier transitioning will be, if this ever pulls through.
Melmoth
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Strife
...and we may be waiting a long time. There's no way to know. In the meantime, I'd strongly suggest roleplayers to start finding one another now. Simply waiting for this to take place is lazy. I've already had the pleasure of meeting a few likeminded RPers in game... the more you know off the bat, the easier transitioning will be, if this ever pulls through.
|
When it is visible, we should start phase 2 of our project:
Spread the word!
We shall promote our petition in other GW-forums and community sites as well as ingame. We need to collect a large number of signatures, otherwise ArenaNet will think of this as a joke...
Melmoth
Anno Domini
Excellent job, Melmoth, Arctic and all the guys who worked on this petition.
Let's hope the result will be as good.
Let's hope the result will be as good.
Raven Agorath
I have started a RP Guild with some friends, Veritas Crusade, We welcome anyone to join ,
I am looking forward to any RP'n being done at all, i have gone to every server and recived nothing but hate Im's..Kinda like Hate Mail but more anoying and faster to appear
I am looking forward to any RP'n being done at all, i have gone to every server and recived nothing but hate Im's..Kinda like Hate Mail but more anoying and faster to appear
Anno Domini
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Raven Agorath
I have started a RP Guild with some friends, Veritas Crusade, We welcome anyone to join ,
I am looking forward to any RP'n being done at all, i have gone to every server and recived nothing but hate Im's..Kinda like Hate Mail but more anoying and faster to appear |
Anyway, it's a great great thing there are RP guilds, let's stay in contact, we might still do cool stuff together if our guilds interact somehow.
Imagine an RPed PvP session.
steve baisden
I posted to another thread, the petition thread started by Melmoth. I am behind this 100%. I am looking for a good guild to join, and would rather join an RP guild than anything. When I first started playing MMO games, this was the experience I was looking for. It came as a disappointment that the whole idea of playing in character was ridiculed. And of course there are the griefers and various other subspecies to contend with. Just yesterday, I was playing in a district in GW and in a town, someone was commenting on female character's breasts, other juvenalia like that. I would love to see a place where we can get away from that garbage. So my character name is my real name, message me if you have a cool guild to join. I am a 9th level Ranger/Monk. Maybe we can get together and *play*.
Steve Baisden
[email protected]
Steve Baisden
[email protected]