The Art of Roleplay

[Russell of Los Angeles]

"RPing is limited by the imagination of the weakest person" - by Bastille of PSO, concerning Roleplaying in MMORPGS.

I think this statement applies to Cantr.

As a corollary, I would say: Roleplaying is a cooperative activity. So, roleplaying well is not just about being a good roleplayer, but having other other good roleplayers to play with.

Please discuss.

[Lauren]

Absolutely!

I find that if a character is spawned in a place without very active, expressive people, he/she loses interest in staying there, and might lumber around for the rest of their lives, being just as boring.

On another note, one of my favourite characters was spawned where there was no one, and has developed a colourful personality based on he's a thief and hates everyone.

[Pie]

COOL!!
I AGREE!!
Ti5 I5 Tot411y 1337!!!

COOL!!!

[Lumin]

I've actually seen boring towns livened up considerably by a single determined roleplayer. If one person sets an example, others are often inspired to join in.

Then again, it's equally likely that one person can set all the examples they want and the rest of the town will still go on obliviously collecting potatoes and sleeping...

It all works out in the end though, since boring towns practically invite criminals to prey on them, and there's nothing like a successful heist or murder to stir things up.

[Leo Luncid]

I totally agree. There was once a tournament where my character get to see duels between the strongest characters; the one thing that really doesn't entertain me, though, is that they're just hitting each other instead of adding roleplaying combat. Sure, the characters who witnessed it can be entertained since they're "seeing" the scenes themselves, but the players should earn the fun as well. And besides, since it's so general that hitting a character could be as simple as just moving your arm so that you could "hit" your opponent, the characters may view the combat very individually, may not enjoy it, and may even cause confusion. I am one of those characters, and he is frustrating over it. And geez, isn't that what tournaments are for: entertainment? I'm sure particapants could make at least a sentence or two of how they are going to attack and how did they avoid or block their opponents attack. C'mon, let us actually see some action for once.

[Pie]

*GASP* YOU HAVE A CARACTER IN SON d'ORIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Leo Luncid]

At least you don't know who it is, and I don't know who is yours. Now back to the topic.

[Lauren]

Hm... I just recently visited San d'Oria. Your leader was really, really, really, really, really not apt to trade with me. I was sad...I need some clothes!

[Nick]

I hate towns that are all roleplaying and no society.
A role is built over Cantr years of life, having a path and making your personality over things you have seen and expeienced.
When a town is clogged with 20 year olds who RP pretty much the same in every city in Cantr, it gets annoying sometimes.
Cantr is a society simulator. The role is gained by being involved in the society, the role playing comes natural.

[DylPickle]

At least you don't know who it is, and I don't know who is yours. Now back to the topic.

Oh jeez.. I wonder.


I agree. That tournament is a prime example. There was no RP in it at all. Kind of a waste. But, it was something new-ish.

I do agree that you definatly RP better around other talented RPers. I find it's the little, simple things that count the most. Even something as simple as eliminating those that say "It won't let me... yada yada yada" when an error message pops up. Stupid, simple things like that.
Meh. I'm semi-ranting. I'll stop, lol.

[KiNG KiLL]

I think being a part of a fairly large town with, say 10-20 characters, is the most fun. In larger cities you tend to become just one in the crowd, naturally. Or you just get tired of trying to learn everyones names.

But I really hate the dull mountains or the epic deserts. Some places has 0 characters and a very very long way to walk to find food.

Oh, by the way... San D'Oria was equal to hell for my character...

[Leo Luncid]

I hate towns that are all roleplaying and no society.
A role is built over Cantr years of life, having a path and making your personality over things you have seen and expeienced. When a town is clogged with 20 year olds who RP pretty much the same in every city in Cantr, it gets annoying sometimes. Cantr is a society simulator. The role is gained by being involved in the society, the role playing comes natural.

I'm really confused by what you're saying, Nick. What do you mean by "roleplaying pretty much the same?" That people roleplay the same personalities? Or is it that people roleplay their character very frequently?

[Songthrush]

Nick means that strained "attempts" to roleplay by newspawns and near-newspawns tend to just result in cookie-cutter characters, as repetetive and boring as they are arbitrary. He's advocating taking your newspawn through life first, and then slowly use your imagination to build up their unique character based on what happens to them IN GAME, not what you arbitrarily invented.

That's just an opinion though; I've seen superb roleplayers who disregard that idea, or who have a little of both - arbitrary initial character conditions and acquired traits that are related to the game mechanics.

[Leo Luncid]

Hmm... Well, there are players with arbitrarily invented flexible characters, and could change personalities through in game events.

[Nick]

Yes but creating characters in environments that would never bring up a personality like that is plain ridiculous, and bad RP.