What a wonderful topic for me to come back on. I'm not dead yet, I swear! =) I've just been settling into a new life in glamourous Hollywood *cough* and been enjoying the limited amount of freedom being an adult endows. It's not really all that much. In fact, it may be more restricting than being a student. But I'm here to blog about games, not life. So I'd like to talk a little about one of my long-lost loves: Roleplaying.
I like roleplaying. Anyone who knows me outside of my guild will know this about me. In Dungeons & Dragons and in chat rooms, I greatly enjoy taking on an alternate persona. After all, by training and trade, I'm an actor. Mostly for fun now, but it's still a passion of mine. So naturally, I have on at least one occasion attempted the RP experience offered by World of Warcraft.
My first experience with an RP server was when I created my human rogue on the ever-infamous Feathermoon server (if you don't know why it's infamous, well, do a search and I'm sure you'll find an interesting tale concerning the Deeprun Tram). This was before I really understood the mechanics of WoW, and had my own aspirations for what I wanted my rogue to become (regardless of whether or not that was possible for said rogue). This was, I believe, my first Alliance character (at the very least, my first human), so I was rather enjoying my exploration of a "new" area. Around level 15 or so, I found a rogue-only guild called the Cutthroat Crew, named for a particular alleyway in Stormwind City, and was quickly accepted as something akin to the guild princess. This was mostly due to the fact I was, at the time, the only female among us. I had fun bantering with some of the more flirtatious vagabonds (nearly all of whom were also human), but this rogue borrowed from my D&D incarnation of her: she only appreciated the company of those with an elven heritage.
Yet there was one time she was almost swayed from her typical predjudice of other races (including her own). However, I'd like to do that little excerpt justice, and I'd be digressing a bit too far from my point.
My point is, I had a rich history of fun interactions on my RP server. After I effectively left the server to level on Mug'thol with the majority of my friends, anytime I returned, I could never quite experience the same magic. Gone were the days of seeing "Rogue LF RP, pst" in trade, and in came the same trite Barrens-esque chat about Chuck Norris and your mama. I would never run into another kind hearted player who would practically sacrifice themselves for my benefit, all in the name of character-driven chivalry. I would never find another kind gentleman to address me as "M'lady" while I tried to hide my true, shadowy nature.
So my question is this: Is the RP element of the game dead everywhere, or just on Feathermoon? Are there better servers out there where I could take or re-roll my rogue for this purpose?
I rather enjoy RP servers, or at least their intent. I'm sure I'm not the only one. If anyone could direct me accordingly, I'd be most appreciative.
3 comments:
Maelstrom, the first PVPRP server has lost most of it's roleplayers. However, several of them have migrated to Moon Guard, a pure RP server which seems to have an active community.
Sorry I'm not answering your question but I liked the way you described role playing. I used to play WoW, however, I quit due to my dissatisfaction and to the fact I needed to focus on my real life more. Anyway, the experiences and fun you had gives me a sense of longing for the game I missed. I played only on PvP servers because I believed that would involve raiding towns and staging massive warfare outside of battlegrounds. However, what I really wanted (including non-instance warfare) was for people to be involved with their surrounding and play along to the lore of the game. I wanted people who could create elaborate stories about their character, guild, or otherwise. I wanted seriousness out of people who were just too focused on "pwning" others to care. I don't have an exact idea where I'm going with this, but I think what I'm trying to say is your interpretation of role playing gives me a hopeful happiness to know that there are others who wanted the same thing I did.
Good luck locating a good RP server, although your message is over a month old. And find interesting people who enjoy role playing as much as you or I would.
Emory again. Maybe a little late to be responding to this topic, but hey, whatever ;P
Anyways. I started playing this game on an RP server that was older, and never really saw much RP. But when Moon Guard was created... it was RP heaven ^.^ I migrated to MG only about a month after it's opening, and rolled a blood elf priest who later became my first lvl 70 character. After the server opened up to transfers, it died out a bit, but it's still there, you just have to look for it.
I find that, once you've played the game for a while, and gotten into the mechanics of it, the numbers tend to get in the way. Especially once you've hit 70, it takes away alot of the magic of the game, the epic-ness of it. I can remember back when my priest was younger, around level 30, my guild held an event, where one of the officers was kidnapped and taken to Blackrock Depths, and they went to go save her. It all seemed so awesome at the time, but now that I've seen every nook and cranny of BRD, it doesn't seem as cool anymore.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that once the game has been tainted by the raiding and the pvp and the theorycrafting, etc., it is hard to just step back into the RP side of it, although I still do at times. But if I could give it all up, and start fresh at lvl 1, with none of the knowledge I have now, I'd do it.
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