10-26-2009, 04:23 AM
First and foremost: Tell us about yourself, as a player:
I started playing EQ around '99, full of expectation that these new-fangled mmorpg things were going to recapture the fun and excitment of my teenage years playing pen and paper rpgs.
It soon became apparent that that wasn't going to happen, yet the novelty of working with and getting to know (ooc) players from all over the world was enough...I was hooked for a couple of years or so.
Once the novelty wore off I found myself less and less satisfied by the loot and levelling aspects of the game.... I needed something more to keep me hooked....it wasn't there so I quit.
A friend dragged me to WoW and then quit, I loitered around for six months or so until the "new-game" factor wore off. Then the disappointment that none of these games seemed to involve any actual rp kicked in.
On the verge of quitting, I decided to give a new server a try and couldn't believe my luck when my first day saw a chance meeting in the pub in Thelsamar lead to me getting dragged into a major conflict between two guilds, one an offshoot of the Scarlet Crusade and the other a resistance movement dedicated to halting this Scarlet Inquisition's growing political influence in Stormwind..... late '06 (I think it was?) on Darkmoon Faire really was an increadible time for rp....this was what I'd been longing for all along. EVERYBODY rp'd. A "lol" in /say would draw an immediate response from a dozen or more people pointing out that this was an rp realm etc etc....it was great.
A work-related break of a month or two and I returned to find it had all changed. DMF was now listed as "recommended" in the server selection screen and all the kids who had got WoW for Christmas had invaded. The rp survived within a small, somewhat insular, community of rp guilds; islands in a sea of "lol omg rps r n00bs".......it was tragic.
Rp confined to a within a handful of guilds was a poor substitute, to me at least, for the open, immersive rp environment that we'd lost. I moved to Moonglade but gradually came more and more disillusioned with the average WoW player.
I was in a downward spiral, almost exclusively soloing, avoiding whenever possible the social elements of the game, until finally the endless tedium of listening to players calling each other "f***ing retards" or "your momma..blah blah blah" got too much and I decided I simply didn't want to spend my evenings in the company of these people anymore. I quit once and for all......I can't see myself ever playing "official" WoW again.
A brief flirtation with AoC followed by LotRO got me my gaming fix.....incidentally LotRo was good for rp, but having been heavily into Tolkien since the age of about 11, I think the whole setting was just too "special" to me...for want of a better word. There were just too many things that jarred with my own personal idea of Middle Earth and I couldn't get the immersive feeling....nothing against the game...it just wasn't right for me.
So there you go, I've spent the last year or two on the verge of accepting that a decent rp environment just isn't possible in the face of the total indifference shown by 99% of game developers. Most seem to show no interest whatsoever in providing a genuine rp environment other than tacking "RP" onto the end of a server name.....well, I'm sure a rant here would be a waste of typing....preaching to the converted and all that.
I still harbour a spark of hope that one day I'll find myself once more in a living, vibrant environment where rp flourishes, with a player base that actually shows some respect for both themselves and for others, and with whom I can enjoy spending time.
I have my fingers crossed that this private server, with it's greater focus on rp, an active policy of ensuring an rp environment and with GMs who care about rp <gasp> may restore my faith that the "rpg" part of "mmorpg" can be more than a marketing tag.
What country do you come from? What is your primary language?:
I'm from the UK, my primary language is English.
How did you get into Warcraft?:
As mentioned above, a friend recommended WoW after I'd quit EQ.
What made you seek our server over others?:
Although I was vaguely aware of private servers, for some reason it was only recently that it occured to me that there may be private servers dedicated to rp......doh!
I must admit that this one was the first I looked at and although I went on to look at others (the Epilogue one looked interesting with the total scrapping of stats, gear being almost purely cosmetic, and the idea of subclasses) in the end I kept coming back to this one.
I think you may have had me from the moment I read the rules and thought to myself "this lot are serious about what they're doing"...not deadly serious in so much as there's no room for fun and laughs...but serious enough that those fun and laughs don't come at the
expense of the rp.
What kinds of roleplay do you enjoy?:
Reading the "tell us about yourself" section it may come across that I have very narrow and uncompromising tastes in rp, but that's really not the case. I tend to regard everything I do, in online games or even single player games, from an IC pespective. I'm perfectly
happy bimbling around IC without the need for major rp encounters, as long as it's in an environment where I can immerse and know that others are IC, even if I'm not directly interacting with them.
I love what I used to call "drive-by rp".A brief exchange with a stranger on the docks while waiting for a boat can bring the world to life just as much as some big, dramatic storyline within a guild...if not more.
Having said that I very much enjoy politics and intrigue between/within guilds or factions.
I've tended to steer clear of the romance side of rp. I know that ideally there should be no problem seperating IC and OOC interactions, but in this day and age the prospect of having to explain this to a non-rper who wants to know why I'm spending my evenings on the
internet pretending to be head over heels in starry-eyed love with a character who turns out to be played by a 14 year old boy ...... there's just too much potential for misunderstandings, it can all get a bit dodgy, and to be honest I get enough pleasure from other forms
of rp that I don't feel like I'm losing anything by abstaining from that particular aspect.
What is your favorite race/class? Why?:
I'd have to say that my favourite class is, without a doubt the hunter. Perhaps it's something to do with all the time I've spent solo, mentally IC despite being all alone. To me it seems that hunters are one of the few classes where you can progress IC.
When playing a priest for example I'd occasionally find myself wondering why exactly they're out here in the middle of Stranglethorn Vale killing raptors for some dwarf, rather than back in town tending to the spiritual needs of their people.
With a hunter you can wander the wilds slaughtering anything skinnable, cookable or simply challenging, heading back to civilization with a full pack of hides to be worked into leather goods for selling.
If the mobs are right even grinding can feel like rp if it's simply how your character makes a living.
Or perhaps I just like the idea of being the weather-beaten, slightly grubby back-woods type who rolls into town from time to time to be sniffed at by the townies in their shiny armour and silken robes?
I've enjoyed playing rogues and priests too, although mainly in pvp settings more than rp....more due to lack of opportunity than choice.
As to race, I have always, going right back to my first experiences with pen and paper rpgs, gravitated towards dwarves. I just feel comfortable with them. Although, having said that, shortly before I quit WoW I began to lean more toward orcs.
Orcs seem to me to be one of the more interesting races in terms of their history. There's alot of potential for some very complex, multi-layered personalities in a race with such a turbulent history, at once both perpetrators and victims of atrocities and injustice.....very interesting.
What are your expectations of this server?:
To quote myself from somewhere up there.....
I have my fingers crossed that this private server, with it's greater focus on rp, an active policy of ensuring an rp environment and with GMs who care about rp <gasp> may restore my faith that the "rpg" part of "mmorpg" can be more than a marketing tag.
It would be great to rediscover the pleasure the social aspects of an online game can bring, given the right community.
Out of all of our rules and regulations listed on our server, which appeals to you the most?:
As I stated earlier, I was instantly impressed by the lack of compromise where rp is concerned...a refreshing change from the complete and utter apathy displayed by Blizzard.
Perhaps of equal appeal, is the rule concerning respect. To be honest it was the attitudes of what seemed like the majority of WoW players towards one another that finally drove me to quit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means a sensitive soul who gets upset by conflict, but night after night of having to listen to the tediously incessant, unimaginative name calling and bickering.....maybe it's my own fault for doing AB on alliance side?
Lastly, tell us a story! It can be short, it can be long; but most importantly, we want to see your work in action. Go!:
The orc's fingers closed around the carved, kodo-bone handle of the dagger a second before she even realised she was awake.
She could feel the wolf's saliva cooling on her cheek as her eyes flickered open to meet the unwavering amber gaze.
The great black head, barely visible in the deep shadow, swung slowly to the left; the direction of the road, some two hundred paces away from the small, scrub-fringed hollow where they lay.
The wolf returned it's attention to the orc, awaiting the signal. The orc blinked once, slowly, and the wolf was gone.
Without turning her head the orc glanced briefly at the low moon; it was still several hours until dawn.
She closed her eyes again and lay in the darkness, every nerve straining to penetrate the profound silence. She slowed her breathing, allowing a faint, but regular, rasp to creep out as she exhaled.
There!
Behind her she heard a long, faint hiss and knew that no more than five paces away a dagger had been slowly and stealthily drawn from it's sheath.
Still she felt no urge to move, her trust in her companion was absolute.
A handful of seconds passed, feeling like hours, she caught a faint scent of......honey?.....and..........rice?.....yes, wild rice: wild ricecakes....an elf.
When it came the sudden intake of breath behind her seemed deafening. She rolled towards her would-be assassin and caught a glimpse in the moonlight of a slender figure, half turned toward the movement it had sensed too late.
The wolf hit the elf full in the chest and the orc felt a soft leather boot against her arm as the weight of the wolf bore the elf toppling over her.
Instantly she was on her knees and reaching for the elf's wrist, she felt a bone crack and the long elven blade fell to the ground. The elf opened it's mouth to cry out, but managed nothing more than a soft gurgle as the wolf's jaws closed around it's throat.
The orc was now straddling the struggling elf. She grinned as the elf turned it's eyes pleadingly towards the large yellow moon, hanging a hairs-breadth above the rim of the hollow.
Leaning in close to a long pointed ear the orc whispered in the hateful common tongue,
"She's not going to save you"
The silver light in the desperate, leaf-shaped eyes faded as the long serrated blade of the kodo-bone knife slid smoothly up under the delicate ribcage and into the elf's heart.
The orc glanced at the wolf, their eyes met and the wolf lowered it's gaze; there were no more scouts nearby.
She reached out and ruffled the thick fur behind the ears to which she, once again, owed her life.
I've just previewed this post and it's enormous. Sorry about that, but I really don't feel inclined now to redo it more concisely.....besides, at my age the inalienable right to ramble on is one of the few perks.
Hodge
I started playing EQ around '99, full of expectation that these new-fangled mmorpg things were going to recapture the fun and excitment of my teenage years playing pen and paper rpgs.
It soon became apparent that that wasn't going to happen, yet the novelty of working with and getting to know (ooc) players from all over the world was enough...I was hooked for a couple of years or so.
Once the novelty wore off I found myself less and less satisfied by the loot and levelling aspects of the game.... I needed something more to keep me hooked....it wasn't there so I quit.
A friend dragged me to WoW and then quit, I loitered around for six months or so until the "new-game" factor wore off. Then the disappointment that none of these games seemed to involve any actual rp kicked in.
On the verge of quitting, I decided to give a new server a try and couldn't believe my luck when my first day saw a chance meeting in the pub in Thelsamar lead to me getting dragged into a major conflict between two guilds, one an offshoot of the Scarlet Crusade and the other a resistance movement dedicated to halting this Scarlet Inquisition's growing political influence in Stormwind..... late '06 (I think it was?) on Darkmoon Faire really was an increadible time for rp....this was what I'd been longing for all along. EVERYBODY rp'd. A "lol" in /say would draw an immediate response from a dozen or more people pointing out that this was an rp realm etc etc....it was great.
A work-related break of a month or two and I returned to find it had all changed. DMF was now listed as "recommended" in the server selection screen and all the kids who had got WoW for Christmas had invaded. The rp survived within a small, somewhat insular, community of rp guilds; islands in a sea of "lol omg rps r n00bs".......it was tragic.
Rp confined to a within a handful of guilds was a poor substitute, to me at least, for the open, immersive rp environment that we'd lost. I moved to Moonglade but gradually came more and more disillusioned with the average WoW player.
I was in a downward spiral, almost exclusively soloing, avoiding whenever possible the social elements of the game, until finally the endless tedium of listening to players calling each other "f***ing retards" or "your momma..blah blah blah" got too much and I decided I simply didn't want to spend my evenings in the company of these people anymore. I quit once and for all......I can't see myself ever playing "official" WoW again.
A brief flirtation with AoC followed by LotRO got me my gaming fix.....incidentally LotRo was good for rp, but having been heavily into Tolkien since the age of about 11, I think the whole setting was just too "special" to me...for want of a better word. There were just too many things that jarred with my own personal idea of Middle Earth and I couldn't get the immersive feeling....nothing against the game...it just wasn't right for me.
So there you go, I've spent the last year or two on the verge of accepting that a decent rp environment just isn't possible in the face of the total indifference shown by 99% of game developers. Most seem to show no interest whatsoever in providing a genuine rp environment other than tacking "RP" onto the end of a server name.....well, I'm sure a rant here would be a waste of typing....preaching to the converted and all that.
I still harbour a spark of hope that one day I'll find myself once more in a living, vibrant environment where rp flourishes, with a player base that actually shows some respect for both themselves and for others, and with whom I can enjoy spending time.
I have my fingers crossed that this private server, with it's greater focus on rp, an active policy of ensuring an rp environment and with GMs who care about rp <gasp> may restore my faith that the "rpg" part of "mmorpg" can be more than a marketing tag.
What country do you come from? What is your primary language?:
I'm from the UK, my primary language is English.
How did you get into Warcraft?:
As mentioned above, a friend recommended WoW after I'd quit EQ.
What made you seek our server over others?:
Although I was vaguely aware of private servers, for some reason it was only recently that it occured to me that there may be private servers dedicated to rp......doh!
I must admit that this one was the first I looked at and although I went on to look at others (the Epilogue one looked interesting with the total scrapping of stats, gear being almost purely cosmetic, and the idea of subclasses) in the end I kept coming back to this one.
I think you may have had me from the moment I read the rules and thought to myself "this lot are serious about what they're doing"...not deadly serious in so much as there's no room for fun and laughs...but serious enough that those fun and laughs don't come at the
expense of the rp.
What kinds of roleplay do you enjoy?:
Reading the "tell us about yourself" section it may come across that I have very narrow and uncompromising tastes in rp, but that's really not the case. I tend to regard everything I do, in online games or even single player games, from an IC pespective. I'm perfectly
happy bimbling around IC without the need for major rp encounters, as long as it's in an environment where I can immerse and know that others are IC, even if I'm not directly interacting with them.
I love what I used to call "drive-by rp".A brief exchange with a stranger on the docks while waiting for a boat can bring the world to life just as much as some big, dramatic storyline within a guild...if not more.
Having said that I very much enjoy politics and intrigue between/within guilds or factions.
I've tended to steer clear of the romance side of rp. I know that ideally there should be no problem seperating IC and OOC interactions, but in this day and age the prospect of having to explain this to a non-rper who wants to know why I'm spending my evenings on the
internet pretending to be head over heels in starry-eyed love with a character who turns out to be played by a 14 year old boy ...... there's just too much potential for misunderstandings, it can all get a bit dodgy, and to be honest I get enough pleasure from other forms
of rp that I don't feel like I'm losing anything by abstaining from that particular aspect.
What is your favorite race/class? Why?:
I'd have to say that my favourite class is, without a doubt the hunter. Perhaps it's something to do with all the time I've spent solo, mentally IC despite being all alone. To me it seems that hunters are one of the few classes where you can progress IC.
When playing a priest for example I'd occasionally find myself wondering why exactly they're out here in the middle of Stranglethorn Vale killing raptors for some dwarf, rather than back in town tending to the spiritual needs of their people.
With a hunter you can wander the wilds slaughtering anything skinnable, cookable or simply challenging, heading back to civilization with a full pack of hides to be worked into leather goods for selling.
If the mobs are right even grinding can feel like rp if it's simply how your character makes a living.
Or perhaps I just like the idea of being the weather-beaten, slightly grubby back-woods type who rolls into town from time to time to be sniffed at by the townies in their shiny armour and silken robes?
I've enjoyed playing rogues and priests too, although mainly in pvp settings more than rp....more due to lack of opportunity than choice.
As to race, I have always, going right back to my first experiences with pen and paper rpgs, gravitated towards dwarves. I just feel comfortable with them. Although, having said that, shortly before I quit WoW I began to lean more toward orcs.
Orcs seem to me to be one of the more interesting races in terms of their history. There's alot of potential for some very complex, multi-layered personalities in a race with such a turbulent history, at once both perpetrators and victims of atrocities and injustice.....very interesting.
What are your expectations of this server?:
To quote myself from somewhere up there.....
I have my fingers crossed that this private server, with it's greater focus on rp, an active policy of ensuring an rp environment and with GMs who care about rp <gasp> may restore my faith that the "rpg" part of "mmorpg" can be more than a marketing tag.
It would be great to rediscover the pleasure the social aspects of an online game can bring, given the right community.
Out of all of our rules and regulations listed on our server, which appeals to you the most?:
As I stated earlier, I was instantly impressed by the lack of compromise where rp is concerned...a refreshing change from the complete and utter apathy displayed by Blizzard.
Perhaps of equal appeal, is the rule concerning respect. To be honest it was the attitudes of what seemed like the majority of WoW players towards one another that finally drove me to quit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means a sensitive soul who gets upset by conflict, but night after night of having to listen to the tediously incessant, unimaginative name calling and bickering.....maybe it's my own fault for doing AB on alliance side?
Lastly, tell us a story! It can be short, it can be long; but most importantly, we want to see your work in action. Go!:
The orc's fingers closed around the carved, kodo-bone handle of the dagger a second before she even realised she was awake.
She could feel the wolf's saliva cooling on her cheek as her eyes flickered open to meet the unwavering amber gaze.
The great black head, barely visible in the deep shadow, swung slowly to the left; the direction of the road, some two hundred paces away from the small, scrub-fringed hollow where they lay.
The wolf returned it's attention to the orc, awaiting the signal. The orc blinked once, slowly, and the wolf was gone.
Without turning her head the orc glanced briefly at the low moon; it was still several hours until dawn.
She closed her eyes again and lay in the darkness, every nerve straining to penetrate the profound silence. She slowed her breathing, allowing a faint, but regular, rasp to creep out as she exhaled.
There!
Behind her she heard a long, faint hiss and knew that no more than five paces away a dagger had been slowly and stealthily drawn from it's sheath.
Still she felt no urge to move, her trust in her companion was absolute.
A handful of seconds passed, feeling like hours, she caught a faint scent of......honey?.....and..........rice?.....yes, wild rice: wild ricecakes....an elf.
When it came the sudden intake of breath behind her seemed deafening. She rolled towards her would-be assassin and caught a glimpse in the moonlight of a slender figure, half turned toward the movement it had sensed too late.
The wolf hit the elf full in the chest and the orc felt a soft leather boot against her arm as the weight of the wolf bore the elf toppling over her.
Instantly she was on her knees and reaching for the elf's wrist, she felt a bone crack and the long elven blade fell to the ground. The elf opened it's mouth to cry out, but managed nothing more than a soft gurgle as the wolf's jaws closed around it's throat.
The orc was now straddling the struggling elf. She grinned as the elf turned it's eyes pleadingly towards the large yellow moon, hanging a hairs-breadth above the rim of the hollow.
Leaning in close to a long pointed ear the orc whispered in the hateful common tongue,
"She's not going to save you"
The silver light in the desperate, leaf-shaped eyes faded as the long serrated blade of the kodo-bone knife slid smoothly up under the delicate ribcage and into the elf's heart.
The orc glanced at the wolf, their eyes met and the wolf lowered it's gaze; there were no more scouts nearby.
She reached out and ruffled the thick fur behind the ears to which she, once again, owed her life.
I've just previewed this post and it's enormous. Sorry about that, but I really don't feel inclined now to redo it more concisely.....besides, at my age the inalienable right to ramble on is one of the few perks.
Hodge
