RP in our heads

| Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A few weeks ago (not here) I claimed that we RP in our heads. We might not tell stories to our random PUGs and proclaim our deeds in gchat, but in our minds we have a bit of backstory and character motivation, a personality for our characters. I said RP isn't dead and gone, just under the surface, perhaps waiting to come out.

I think I was wrong. Sure, some people, including me, have a story for their characters. But I suspect most do not. I cannot prove this, since "hidden RP" and "no RP" look the same, meaning that I couldn't prove my initial claim either, except based on personal experience in my own head. But even with myself, I know that most of what I do has no story reason.

Sometimes I go fishing. Sometimes I cast a few times, realize I'm bored, and log off. I doubt my character story has any relevance. While she does have a habit of searching for obscure items, I'm not sure a turtle fits in there. She should be in Stratholme trying to get Baron's sword; which actually she was a few days ago.

RP is dying, and I think it's taking gaming with it. Yes, gaming. Playing games. When was the last time you were really playing WoW? When was the last time you did something and were not thinking about your addons, the cooldown on a boss mechanic, the drop chance of an item and what Rawr says it will do for your DPS?

I've run an extensive analysis of what type of posts bring in the most views and comments and moving forward I will only post the 'best posts' rather than just writing whatever I feel like. This is to become a better blogger. However I will still have a variety of posts, just on different blogs. Anything intended to be humorous will be at Troll Jokes are Underpowered, theorycraft at Troll Racials are Overpowered, RP at Troll Tales, any character events at Tales of a Troll Paladin, and anything economics related I will email to My Two Copper. Hybridization of blogs is for noobs.

P.S. Meta-blogging isn't all that much fun, I wonder if gaming has similar patterns for most people.
P.P.S. There's nothing wrong with meta-gaming/theorycraft, but when it takes over all activity, that's not so much fun.

9 comments:

LarĂ­sa said...

I hope you're joiking about running all those different blogs. I think it's a terrible idea. I want your blog just as it is, with its special mixture. Don't overfret about it.

Last time I played WoW and just played it... well... the 2-manning in Maraoudon was just like that. And our guild anniversary. Two little gems of gaming experiences.
WTB more of those.

And <3 meta blogging. But I'm a bit of a weirdo in that sense I suppose.

Anonymous said...

I Rp when i pvp. When i Focus fired i nerdrage and log on my DK. You know, paladin turning from the light.

And when we kill LK. Except i still have my holy mightstone from 4 years ago and need to use it whenever i get to go ret on a LK kill.

killtehnoob
Ursin

Rivs said...

I think RP really detracts from the game...RP might be dyeing cause really talking about made up adventures isn't as fun as doing them.

Is RP dyeing killing gaming HELL NO!. When I play Halo I don't pretend to make a backstory for Master Chief. Or when I play Monopoly, I don't RP I'm the shoe.

When I play WoW, I live in the NOW...

I like to win, and downing bosses is like winning. When you progress, and down bosses, or to put into terms of Monopoly, passing GO, and collect my 200 dollars.

Theorycrafting is just trying to ensure the deck is in my favor, like buying only the good properties.

To me the fun comes from going in with 10 or 25 of your friends, take care of business, and joke around a bit.

But raiding is not the only thing I do in WoW, I have fun PvPing, or even playing the AH.


As for RP, it can't die fast enough for me.

Klepsacovic said...

@Larisa: But would you want to meta-blog to the point of destroying what you actually enjoy?

@Anonymous: I wonder how many paladins have been saving their mightstone for Arthas.

@Rivs: Of course you're not making a backstory of Master Chief. He already has one. But are you going step by step calculating the exact number of pistol shots needed to kill an elite with his shield down and reading five-page articles on the behavior of grunts when fleeing vs. attacking?

Different people enjoy playing at different levels. And in different games. in a FPS I don't RP a long story, but there's still some context: I'm an American or German and you're the other side and I'm trying to put a bullet in you. That's RP, just not very deep.

I'm not trying to encourage RP in the form of people sitting around for four hours before a raid detailing all their adventures and motivations. That would be very boring to me. But something in the middle, something to remind us that we're fighting something more than a collection of game mechanics, that would be nice.

Leah said...

2 days ago. former guildie and his real life friend were running various older raids to get the friend some achievemnts and it started with him asking me to come along tank Ony for them. we ended up going to Kara and figuring out how to 3 man Nethersprite (he healed to full a few times :P ) and then had some fun messing around in ZG.

then a week or so ago, another former guildie and I were messing around in ICC 5 mans. I know there are people who solo them with no issue, but 2 manning them with a very fresh 80 was a lot of fun :)

don't split up your blog please!

Adgamorix said...

I have to agree, splitting up the blog isn't needed - that's why there are tags to indicate which posts are what types. I regularly skip posts on blogs that I don't feel like reading (like say BBBs fiction, I just don't enjoy reading on my computer screen - I want a book) - but I always enjoy his posts.

As far as RP goes, I absolutely have a story in my head. How my Paladin draws her powers, the forging of Val'anyr, etc. I'm just (IMO) a terrible author - I can't put the story picture/scene I see into the quality of writing to describe it.

I even rolled a baby Forsaken - just so I could have that lore/RP background.

Klepsacovic said...

I should have tagged this post "will be misinterpreted". I have no plan to split up my blog. I was trying to highlight the absurdity of extreme min-maxing and how it can damage what is an otherwise enjoyable process.

@Leah: There's something about two-manning content that feels much different than 5-mans, and especially raids. Maybe it's the extremely peresonalize sense of trust and responsibility.

@Adgamorix: If I consistently used tags, I imagine that would be very helpful to a lot of people, including myself. Alas, I have a bad habit of alternating between generalized tags and specific, often ending up with a tag list like: molten core, vanilla, raiding, pve, soloing, instances, gear, loot, paladin, tanking
You get the picture.

Ratshag said...

Got one of me team members raiding the Ice Cream Social in part 'cause raiding be fun, and in part 'cause it makes fer a heckuva story. But then, I's just a simple orc from Durotar, so is not surprising I's doing it wrong.

Anonymous said...

barebacked riding in Nagrand for kicks with a friend.....

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