Topic
[Discussion to the decreasing population of roleplay]
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Good evening there fellow role-player, this is a long post and it will take some of your time to fully comprehend and read it, I ask that you do not post as I am probably posting a second part to conclude it some more, thanks.
First and foremost, I’ve been role-playing since last July on the realm Defias Brotherhood, starting in a forsaken guild called The Cult of Shadow, dedicated to the religion of the Forgotten Shadow. I enjoyed my role-play, but all around me I saw veteran players leave, disappear, and stop role-playing, due to various reasons. Some just lost interest in the game and left. I tried Argent Dawn on my character Amarachus, I never truly enjoyed it because of the lower quality, but the large amount of people always drew me to it, it always made me want to try something, try a concept and actually have fifteen or twenty people, because it felt cool, but then that lost interest and people have been saying that even Argent Dawn is losing members. I scouted around for a bit, Sporeggar, Ravenholdt, Scarshield Legion, The Venture Co, have all literally died, Sporeggar is one of the most quietest realms on the European server, I can’t personally speak for the other realms but there seems to be a lack of role-play on the other realms as well. This brought me to one conclusion; the role-playing population on European realms is diminishing slowly as each month goes by, slowly and surely people leave and others move into guilds that only do PvE and PvP content, and eventually those people lose interest in role-play itself. I personally play this game, to role-play, to flesh out a story, to create an environment that isn’t set, that doesn’t depend on Blizzard releasing a new dungeon or instance, and that is entirely down to me. As somebody who cherishes well thought out guilds, concepts and ideas, I’ve got something I want to propose to every role-player on the European realms, an idea that will shock, annoy, disturb and make you write something in retort, probably making fun of me, accusing my intelligence of being low, but my goal isn’t to prop myself up, my goal isn’t to make myself famous, I am calling out to every single role-player who truly believes in World of Warcraft as a game and as a compatible environment of role-play. I call for unity in the entire role-playing community. There are threads made about the merging of a realm, but as players, is this not possible for ourselves, can this not be achieved through a well organized and though out mass migration to say, one realm? I’ve never believed in this ridiculous idea of ‘realm nationalism’, it’s what you make of the realm, not its history that shapes you. I’m a person with a strong vision, this vision is a realm with a strong role-playing community, a realm with a fresh start, a realm with no grudges and no hate, no power mongering and no griefing, seems almost impossible.. Wrong! I believe this can be achieved with a mass migration process to an unpopulated realm, void of all life, and empty for the taking of the role-playing population. I truly believe that if an attempt can be made to spark interest in a realm then this project can take off based on a dominant role-playing population with proposed guide-lines. I am proposing that a large amount of role-players create an alt on the realm x Alliance side and attempt to re-ignite the realm through planned role-play and events. |
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Edited by Morthimus on 25/11/11 23:55 (GMT)
Here is a list of suggested guide-lines I would like to see brought openly to debate
There are three golden ‘rules’ that most role-players tend to abide, when I say most I mean most of those whom I have interacted with. Metagaming in my view ought to be prohibited unless given under consent by all parties involved. Metagaming is the use of Out of character knowledge for your beneficial purposes of your character. For example, you receive a whisper that gives you the location of a secret whisper, this whisper is out of character yet you use this information to take this secret sword for your character’s benefit. Power-play in my view ought to be prohibited and only used under consent from all parties involved. Power-play involves many things, not only is it emoting a character stronger than everybody else, it is also involves claiming a position of ‘power’ or ‘authority’ that nobody has asked ever you to fill, being a responsible event creator does not require your character to be a figure of authority since organizing events is more OOC. God emoting in my view ought to be prohibited and never used under any circumstances. God emoting generally occurs in a situation involving other players and is generally defined as an emote that shapes the situation without the consent of another player, thus the name of ‘god’ associated with it. Taking IC things OOCly Sometimes we all get frustrated if our character is hurt because face it or not we create a bond with said character and do not want to see him/her put back, hurt or even wounded. However, please look at it from this perspective, the person you role-play has nothing personal against you, he/she does not have a personal vendetta and do not harm your character and bring you ‘negative’ role-play purposely, all role-play is good, never feel personally offended by an in-character action! Server lore vs Blizzard lore I’ve come across this argument a few times on various realms; it’s hard to say what is fair which is why I’d like this specific concept to be left to interpretation and debate. Naming policy In short, the naming policy on each realm with the 'RP' tag requires you to have a name that is in accordance to an actual person, what I mean by this is that, use a name that would be fitting in a fantasy novel of some sort. Example : Unnacceptable - Pwnzor leet noob Acceptable - Venira, Morthimus, Laleen, Mortior, Niara, so and so forth ^^ Mutual realm-wide agreement on a highest rank Right, in every single realm we have our overly high ranked statue character, so my proposition is to at the beginning limit what rank will be recognized realm-wide as a rank of authority. I propose a Civilian rank of Magistrate(lawyer/speak) and Staff-Sergeant(head of the guard forces). Every faction will have their own equivalent, as I'm not updated on every faction in-game I'l briefly cover for Stormwind! Role-playing add-ons It's in your own interest to download one of these Flag RSP 2 Total role-play 2 My role play & Gryphonheart Items! |
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Edited by Morthimus on 26/11/11 14:34 (GMT)
Side-note, please create constructive and civil critique to maintain order in the realm forum of Blizzard, this is merely a discussion that I bring forward to all role-players of the European Blizzard World of Warcraft role-playing community.
My personal perception on guilds and concepts In my view I think before creating any move we all ought to agree on creating a guild for concept x and concept y, rather than making two to three guard guilds, so and so forth. Another personal suggestion I’d like to make is before creating a guild, create a thread on the realm forum and wait for feedback from the members of your community, maybe there is already a guild with the concept you have taken, maybe it is better to join the guild in existence and contribute your ideas to it rather than creating an entirely new guild and competing for every single member that enters the realm. Again, this is my personal view and I enforce nothing, I merely propose an idea. Each guild will hopefully grow out of it's starting racial/city guild and progress into a specific concept that alternates all over Azeroth, with frequent OOC communication there should be plenty of role-play for all :) On the subject of racial guilds; I’ve decided to set up a variety of racial guilds in conjunction with people I feel I can rely on to make a few starting events to weed out those truly interested in promoting role-play, leading, co-operating and organizing role-play on said selected realm. My aim is to establish a guild for each dominant race, this would include a human guild, orcish, dwarven, forsaken, blood elven. I will personally oversee the creation of these guilds, the creation of ranks and starting events over the course of a few weeks; in time I hope to gain help and assistants so all the duties that I will hold at the beginning and gradually flesh out for other people. Each guild will first start off from their capital slowly gaining numbers and then proceeding to do less generic events that revolve more around characters than Kingdoms, at the beginning however everything will revolve around a capital city, just to start things off. Why me? Probably a question you wonder, what makes me qualified to do all this, to organize it. Being honest, nothing makes me qualified. I am just another role-player, granted with ambition and vision. I’ve only role-played for a year, and through that year I watched my realm slowly, and gradually slow down in activity, people leave, the quality lowered, it was a pity. I believe that before more lore is released that could potentially drive away more players is brought into play, this is a final attempt in creating one solid role-playing realm with a high population and good reputation instead of several struggling realms fighting each other for every single new role-player that comes to their realm. I believe I am capable of successfully organizing and creating a solid base for a realm, an arrogant statement from a person you have never heard of and have no reason to trust, but a statement none the less. On influential ranks Basically, any rank above Sergeant will be considered an influential rank - Anything in relation to politics such as mayor or governor or magistrate will be considered as an influential ranks, my suggestion for this sort of position would be for the person to Post a thread on the realm forum of Sporeggar as to why exactly they think they should be in this rank, what they intend to do at this rank, how they can help the server, and who can 'vouch' for them. This 'application' will then be debated and discussed for three days on the realm forum, by anybody whom wishes to contribute, ( as well as a vote), in the end both for and against will be counted and the position will either be rejected or accepted as an acting magistrate, lieutenant, so and so forth. Please debate this! |
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Edited by Morthimus on 25/11/11 13:50 (GMT)
What am I asking of you?
I’ve been thinking of a simple and basic way of introducing people to this realm, and a mass/sermon to the Holy Light in the Cathedral of Stormwind is all I could think of. Roll your alt, any race of the Alliance and bring him/her to this Cathedral. No set date is yet given It is not time to beg Blizzard for server merging, action must be taken by us, the people, if we want to improve our own situation, improve our role-playing scenario than let us join together, come together and create something worth of value. Thank you for your time and patience in reading my post and I hope that you can see the points I mention. Please do not hesitate to respond, I look forward to hearing the opinion of other people. Edit : I'd like to mention that I would enjoy if people rolled new and random named characters so as to meet new people through interaction rather than through history, thanks. |
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Edited by Morthimus on 27/11/11 18:06 (GMT)
Guild compendium :
Alliance Kingdom of Stormwind [In planning] Dwarven-Gnome [In planning] Night elven-Draenei Horde The Hammer of Hellscream - Needing signatures [In Planning] Blood elven - Forsaken |
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Edited by Morthimus on 25/11/11 20:27 (GMT)
Opening event(s)
- The first and foremost opening event of Sporeggar will be on Alliance, in Stormwind, inside the Cathedral on the 7th of December at 20:00. This is the mass opening event, it will be a mass / sermon about the Holy Light followed by random role-play in Goldshire and Stormwind City! This event will be posted everywhere, role-play and leveling has already begun with <Kingdom of Stormwind> leading the way, thank you for reading! More will be added in due time. -The second event will revolve around a gathering in Kalimdor and will be directly related to pro-Garrosh pro-Horde, it will (hopefully) involve every race available and gather up as many interested Horde alts as possible! -Thirdly, I'd like to get things going uniquely for each faction and race, so if you have any suggestions please drop them below! There will probably be cultural, political, spiritual or religious gatherings for each race, more than likely ^^ |
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Edited by Morthimus on 28/11/11 01:59 (GMT)
The project is currently broken into one viewable phase, so as not to disclose everything straight away I'l reveal things week after week.
Phase A Alliance & Horde The creation of a faction guild for both Horde and Alliance. Complete recruitment and promotion of random role-play as well as large and planned events, Creation of realm guide-lines and a concrete base of reliable and dedicated role-players. Planning of other racial guilds as well as separate concepts unrelated to cities/whole races. i.e cultists. Perhaps the first RP-PvP battle, somewhere. Alliance Basic goals for Phase A Establishment of the Church of Holy Light Establishment of a judiciary and law system Establishment of an effective guard system Establishment of routinely people assemblies, magistrate assemblies, official announcements, military training. Horde Establishment of an official Horde army Establishment of routinely training and moving Establishment of good communications with the Eastern Horde Planning on where to begin an assault |
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Edited by Morthimus on 26/11/11 23:06 (GMT)
Signing up for this project, please post your name and preferred faction as well as a brief application template!
Name : Faction : Class : Position within society : Noble,citizen,soldier,guard,homeless person, diplomat, merchant, thug, petty thief, so and so forth. Alliance Name : Anorak Faction : Alliance Class : Magi Position within society : Diplomat - Name : Glenys Faction : Alliance Class : Priest Position within society : Clergy - apprentice priestess - Name: Marhyan Faction: Alliance Class: Hunter Position within society: Worker - farmer, beginner hunter - Name : Merríe LaVey Faction : Alliance Class : Rogue/bard Position within society : Minstrel - Name: TBD tonight (will edit) Faction: Alliance Race: Human Class: Mage Position within society: Arcane tailor and trader. Favourite pastime: Fishing. - Name : Walter Darkmoore Faction : Alliance Race : Human Class : Warrior Position within society : Guard Hobbies : music, art, a cigar and food - Name: Quanaar Faction: Alliance Race: Draenei Class: Mage Position: Teacher/scholar/advisor (?) - Name : Hellyna Godwin Faction : Alliance Class : Druid, natural healer Position within society : Girl next door - Name : Herkin. Faction : Alliance. Class : Paladin Position within society: Guard. - Name: Marro Faction: Alliance Race: Dwarf Class: Hunter Position within Society: Merchant Horde Name: Illineria Faction: Horde Race: Blood Elf Class: Mage Position within society: Doesn't matter. She's got some experience, however. ------------- |
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Well this idea is awesome and I completely approve it but as stated so many times before is that the main issue will be to decide which server. I myself would never leave Argent Dawn due to the large population. While it've large population of RPers, I just love the amount of PVPers and PVEers they've due to I myself began my WoW experience on a PVP realm which took me into the liking of PVE and PVP.
But overall I find that it may be time to try to merge few of the servers together due to they begin to slowly die, that's not just RP servers. |
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Edited by Morthimus on 25/11/11 02:30 (GMT)
Well this idea is awesome and I completely approve it but as stated so many times before is that the main issue will be to decide which server. I myself would never leave Argent Dawn due to the large population. While it've large population of RPers, I just love the amount of PVPers and PVEers they've due to I myself began my WoW experience on a PVP realm which took me into the liking of PVE and PVP. I personally nominate Sporeggar, a realm that is not used, a nuetral realm, a realm that none enter, a realm that none can wave their flag for. Edit :
No, I think Blizzard won't do anything for commercial reasons, so it's up to us to act, and nobody else. |
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That's actually a very good idea to deal with griefers and the like, making a new unofficial RP server. Problem is that most people on established servers don't want to roll new characters and level them up without 'looms or pay the money to transfer their characters over. |
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Hi there, but that's the point, role-playing is not about levels, gold, or looms. We're going over to develop our character and interact with other interesting people, as well as use the environment, I feel leveling should not play an important factor as the level 85 character's on other realms can be used for other aspects of the game when necessary. |
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True however for those who roleplay guard or military characters or the like they will need the levels in order to commence RP so before this idea starts in earnest you should advise that the few days to a week before be used for OOC leveling so that they can wear the RP equipment they want to on the launch of this idea and so that the new realm can begin to grow as soon as it starts rather than opening with a completely disorganised group. This general idea gets my stamp of approval however...not like that means much but still. |
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True however for those who roleplay guard or military characters or the like they will need the levels in order to commence RP so before this idea starts in earnest you should advise that the few days to a week before be used for OOC leveling so that they can wear the RP equipment they want to on the launch of this idea and so that the new realm can begin to grow as soon as it starts rather than opening with a completely disorganised group. Every single persons approval counts as something, I believe in that. And yes, I was considering perhaps proposing a guide-line in relation to level, but that would be silly, I am sure things can be negotiated without any problems for combat and such, and I agree, guard armor is dependent on the type of guard's those wishing to get involved will want to have, militia or town guards ^^ |
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Edited by Ameras on 25/11/11 02:35 (GMT)
That's why I think you should at least give a decent amount of time warning to anyone who wants to take part in this.
I'd also like to point this out as even before the advent of RealID this wouldn't work as there are some cases of people being found out despite crossing servers and outed for their past reputation. |
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Edited by Theodoric on 25/11/11 03:08 (GMT)
This is an interesting idea. That's for sure.
It migth need time to grow on the realms that are being moved from, though. Possibly by starting out with "RealmX RP night" as a weekly or so event, then increasing activity in time. On the other hand, as you mentioned yourself:
For that reason, most people who already RP might have some problems just packing their bags, if you get what I'm saying. A well-established character isn't easily replaced by an alt in ugly gear with no contacts on a new realm. EDIT: Add that generally, we like our guilds, and a whole guild transfering just isn't that probable. Starting a simliar anew? Might work, granted, but it would have to establish itself anew, possibly under new leadership = More work for less RP than staying on [Current Realm] for many RPers. |
Not really gonna work, some peoples' standards vary too much, some people drive eachother nuts and some people are pillocks.
My friends are here, my character's name may not be so available on a larger realm without sticking in every foreign letter ever and I just...Don't want to. Which I get is the same argument of a non-Rper sticking around but I don't wanna go, even if the realm is dying off. Another thing with roleplay seemingly declining, as we learn more and our standards raise we gradually play with just about anyone less. If you want to make roleplay more frequent then...I dunno, try and get out there a lot. Start roleplay rather than standing about expecting someone to come up to you and Rp. Try and help people improve - I've found that asking if people would like constructive criticism goes over well more times than it doesn't. |
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I like your ideas and agree that something needs to be done to help us RP'ers fnd some immersive haven. TVC is a low pop server for example, and despite best efforts using various alts and rp ideas, it's hard to get rp going outside of a guild here. I've seriously contemplated trying some of the rp ideas on another server, particularly the rp around this alt.
Interesting experiment, but I love Horde rp and I know I won't settle Alliance side (i've tried a few times). Best of luck, i'll be watching the thread to see how this develops. |
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Edited by Morthimus on 25/11/11 08:32 (GMT)
Past reputation would mean nothing at a fresh beginning, it's a chance to wipe the slate clean, roll a new character and see what happens :)
That's the idea actually, what I intend to do is organize a day that every sort of person turns up, bartenders, bar attendee's, guards, criminals, etc, that is something that could potentially work ^^
That's the whole point of the need for random naming ^^ My friends are here, my character's name may not be so available on a larger realm without sticking in every foreign letter ever and I just...Don't want to. Which I get is the same argument of a non-Rper sticking around but I don't wanna go, even if the realm is dying off. In a self-reflective manner does this not seem silly? When I read 'I don't wanna' I read it in a kid-like voice, sort of amusing. Surely being rational and logical you would realize your realm is dying and move to do something about, (on some realms it's far, far far to late for that), this is not merely an attempt to re-create random, general and planned roleplay on a mass scale, but to bring a whole realm to life from a combined effort. I like your ideas and agree that something needs to be done to help us RP'ers fnd some immersive haven. TVC is a low pop server for example, and despite best efforts using various alts and rp ideas, it's hard to get rp going outside of a guild here. I've seriously contemplated trying some of the rp ideas on another server, particularly the rp around this alt. For hordies there will be some sort of gathering on Kalimdor more than likely arranged a week or days after the initial 'opening' via the first event. Please tell your neighbors, your friends, your fellow role-players about this thread, spread the word, thank you. To add : I'm aiming not for fifty people, not for a hundred people, I wish to see much more, and all I need is people making a low level alt and running to Stormwind, let's see what we can, it's quite simple in my view, all people need to do is have a bit of faith. The attitude of "Well I'm not doing it if other people aren't doing it" will only make other people say the same thing and in the end have nobody show up! Read it, consider it, let's experiment it :) |
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Almost impossible to organize. A vast amount of roleplayers don't use the forums and, even if this was generally agreed to, there'd be little way of advertising this option to them.
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