08-02-2011, 06:08 PM
This was made as to not derail Grak's topic. I also don't intend to rant as much, but I do have a bit to ramble on about. I'm going to do my best to not be offensive, and focus on roleplay rather than singling out people or groups.
That being said the first rant off topic was about...
Lesbians and stereotyping
I know some people feel more comfortable rping as a woman, and feel more comfortable being paired with women, but there's something about the lesbian roleplay that doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps, because as it's implied, it seems people are making roleplay centered around lesbians as a genre rather than just have a character who happens to be a lesbian. I am not involved in any of this personally, but it seems that it's made out to be a gimmick.
Oddly enough I've seen the inverse of this as well, but not on CotH, perhaps because the male models don't lend themselves well to this. I have more than once seen a pair of girls roleplay yaoi together in public comments on deviantart and they pretty much end up ERPing (yes, in public comments). Almost always the girls are rping out the uke/seme stereotypes (pretty much submissive/dominant) and always making the men so effeminate you can barely recognize them as men. They're always one being shy and blushing while the other is sort of being forward and suggestive.
Either way there seems to be a lot of stereotypes and fetishizing applied to both lesbian and yaoi roleplay. It seems a lot of lesbian rp is cutesy, naïve and flirty while yaoi is very feminine, and both are rather lustful. I could see why others would choose to bash this type of roleplay, it has less to do with being gay and more to do with how the rp is centered around the orientation, and to some extent done in the most fan-servicey way possible.
Some people are probably going to say “but I'm in a lesbian rp that's really deep!,” but I feel like this argument still stands. Some people just want the kind of relationship that's the most attractive and appealing to them.
I wish I could articulate my argument in a more coherent way than that.
Maybe we should just be friends
I've decided to avoid romance in general lately. I really like pairings and I am such a mush for romance, but I realized that it seems that pairing a character definitely leads to a lack of interest in it later. Then again I am an alt-a-holic.
I found with Carana I can have roleplay where the character can enjoy the same intimacy or bonding with another character and still not date, and be just friends. I think it makes things less complicated and puts less pressure on logging onto the character just to hang out with their significant other.
Friends can offer a close bond and relationship. They can be someone to hang out with. They can be your shoulder to cry on. They can be there when you need them to be and it just feels like from a roleplaying standpoint a friend can do everything my character could want. I think I've felt a lot less pressure on a character when I know I don't have to log in to keep their significant other interested.
That being said I think I may retcon most of these relationships if we have a server restart in Cataclysm.
That's not to say that I won't avoid all romance. I think it just won't be the first option for my character's relationship for someone unless I go roll a married couple with a friend.
How I roll
I'm starting to think that in PvE events there really shouldn't be much reason to roll against the DM. Unless you're going up against something special, the cannon fodder shouldn't really need to be put on equal par with the player.
I came up with some simple idea of how a fight could be like if it's PvE. Imagine it as a rolling scale.
1-20 is a complete miss
21-49 is a weak attack, one that really wouldn't be detrimental to the foe
50+ is a standard or strong attack.
The idea is that you don't have to beat the DM's rolls to hit. It also gives this idea that more often than not you'll hit your foe but maybe you won't hit hard enough, or maybe the foe is sturdy, or maybe you're physically weak. Either way, I think it gives the player more morale than missing almost every turn of the event, especially when the event is large enough that you may have 5-7 minutes between each attack you can get.
The idea is that constant hits, even if they are weak, are probably a more accurate representation of the character's competence and ability towards fighting. I think most people with a weapon are likely to hit a few times but not hit hard enough. The case where you have to beat a DM's roll and miss if you don't gives the idea that your character can't hit the broad side of a demolisher with their sword. I think a sliding scale would be a much more fair and balanced system considering how simple it is.
I remember when I played dungeons and dragons we usually never had to roll against the DM's rolls to see who made the hit. We just had to beat their armor class, and we had a bonus to our rolls depending on our character's skills and abilities. Sometimes we missed completely but sometimes when we failed the roll the DM would describe that our blow glanced right off the enemy. I wanted to sort of match that concept.
I hope an idea like this for PvE will catch on. At least then the effectiveness of the fighting won't be entirely based off of who rolls better.
The Island of Indulgence
Perhaps I'm not in the right clique or seeing the right rp, but when I go to Asholme it feels less like it's an evil island and more like it's indulgent. I guess the idea of villains getting their own haven and utopia feels rather strange. Perhaps it's because I feel like it's more compelling to face adversity, and it's more compelling to be the underdog. And I am definitely one to like villain rp, but I think I would rather prefer the types that are fighting for some cause(it could even be a misguided one) than just vie for the greatest amount of power that they have.
That being said I don't mind Asholme. I know I can't say whether I love it or I hate it without stepping on someone's toes, but I've been using it for rp from time to time and haven't had much problem with it. I do feel uneasy, however. Asholme is like Duke Nukem Forever. It had a long time of planning, and a lot of anticipation, and I don't think it would be able to live up to the hype that surrounded it. I'm just afraid for all that's been put into it it'll either peter out, or some drastic measures will have to be done to pump life and interest into the rp spot.
I don't wish for it to fail, however. I wish well for Asholme, even if it's rather controversial and indulgent. To wish any less would be.. well, mean-spirited and I don't have any reason to want to see the place fail. On the most part I am uneasy but I want to see good happen to it.
Prestiges
I must admit I am one of the many that was rather excited to see a new prestige system come out and I was definitely eager to try... except I didn't know which prestige I wanted to do and for what character. And after awhile I thought of some but realized that overall, I didn't want to take the time and the effort involved for it.
I'm not really offering any feedback or criticism to the prestige system. I'm just saying that I realized that I lost interest in prestige characters. I am even considering retiring my steamwarrior, Railey, though I will still offer her as a teacher to people seeking the prestige. I believe if we have a restart for Cataclysm I won't be remaking my prestige character.
Does anyone else feel the same about any of their own prestiges, by the way? I'm just curious.
Anyways, that's all I have for right now. I hope I didn't step on too many toes and I hope everything came across as clear as I would want to.
((Also I don't mind if you find a topic that derails this thread. I don't expect everyone to need to make a new thread just because another subject came up))
Edit: Some more thoughts
Antisocial Awkwardness
This one has been bothering me a bit lately. I have a hard time playing characters that are awkward, shy, quiet or antisocial. It feels like every time I want to rp someone who is inept at social skills I end up being very outgoing and chatty with other folks ICly. I think that may be my nature, it may be because I want to be a part of the roleplay, or I just may be forgetting that I'm not rping the character the way I want to.
Because of that if you notice Maya becoming a little more quiet and different it's because I'm trying to turn her back to what she was before I had that spurt of social roleplay. It feels awkward doing a complete 180 like that but I accidentally had a few days where I rped her as I hadn't intended.
And I don't mind playing social butterflies but I'd like one character that's asocial and a weirdo.
That being said the first rant off topic was about...
Lesbians and stereotyping
I know some people feel more comfortable rping as a woman, and feel more comfortable being paired with women, but there's something about the lesbian roleplay that doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps, because as it's implied, it seems people are making roleplay centered around lesbians as a genre rather than just have a character who happens to be a lesbian. I am not involved in any of this personally, but it seems that it's made out to be a gimmick.
Oddly enough I've seen the inverse of this as well, but not on CotH, perhaps because the male models don't lend themselves well to this. I have more than once seen a pair of girls roleplay yaoi together in public comments on deviantart and they pretty much end up ERPing (yes, in public comments). Almost always the girls are rping out the uke/seme stereotypes (pretty much submissive/dominant) and always making the men so effeminate you can barely recognize them as men. They're always one being shy and blushing while the other is sort of being forward and suggestive.
Either way there seems to be a lot of stereotypes and fetishizing applied to both lesbian and yaoi roleplay. It seems a lot of lesbian rp is cutesy, naïve and flirty while yaoi is very feminine, and both are rather lustful. I could see why others would choose to bash this type of roleplay, it has less to do with being gay and more to do with how the rp is centered around the orientation, and to some extent done in the most fan-servicey way possible.
Some people are probably going to say “but I'm in a lesbian rp that's really deep!,” but I feel like this argument still stands. Some people just want the kind of relationship that's the most attractive and appealing to them.
I wish I could articulate my argument in a more coherent way than that.
Maybe we should just be friends
I've decided to avoid romance in general lately. I really like pairings and I am such a mush for romance, but I realized that it seems that pairing a character definitely leads to a lack of interest in it later. Then again I am an alt-a-holic.
I found with Carana I can have roleplay where the character can enjoy the same intimacy or bonding with another character and still not date, and be just friends. I think it makes things less complicated and puts less pressure on logging onto the character just to hang out with their significant other.
Friends can offer a close bond and relationship. They can be someone to hang out with. They can be your shoulder to cry on. They can be there when you need them to be and it just feels like from a roleplaying standpoint a friend can do everything my character could want. I think I've felt a lot less pressure on a character when I know I don't have to log in to keep their significant other interested.
That being said I think I may retcon most of these relationships if we have a server restart in Cataclysm.
Spoiler:
I know I'd like to keep Taeva with Tzekel if Hawk doesn't mind because their relationship is actually rather fun and quirky. I'd also like to keep all pairings with Rigley because of obvious reasons <3
That's not to say that I won't avoid all romance. I think it just won't be the first option for my character's relationship for someone unless I go roll a married couple with a friend.
How I roll
I'm starting to think that in PvE events there really shouldn't be much reason to roll against the DM. Unless you're going up against something special, the cannon fodder shouldn't really need to be put on equal par with the player.
I came up with some simple idea of how a fight could be like if it's PvE. Imagine it as a rolling scale.
1-20 is a complete miss
21-49 is a weak attack, one that really wouldn't be detrimental to the foe
50+ is a standard or strong attack.
The idea is that you don't have to beat the DM's rolls to hit. It also gives this idea that more often than not you'll hit your foe but maybe you won't hit hard enough, or maybe the foe is sturdy, or maybe you're physically weak. Either way, I think it gives the player more morale than missing almost every turn of the event, especially when the event is large enough that you may have 5-7 minutes between each attack you can get.
The idea is that constant hits, even if they are weak, are probably a more accurate representation of the character's competence and ability towards fighting. I think most people with a weapon are likely to hit a few times but not hit hard enough. The case where you have to beat a DM's roll and miss if you don't gives the idea that your character can't hit the broad side of a demolisher with their sword. I think a sliding scale would be a much more fair and balanced system considering how simple it is.
I remember when I played dungeons and dragons we usually never had to roll against the DM's rolls to see who made the hit. We just had to beat their armor class, and we had a bonus to our rolls depending on our character's skills and abilities. Sometimes we missed completely but sometimes when we failed the roll the DM would describe that our blow glanced right off the enemy. I wanted to sort of match that concept.
I hope an idea like this for PvE will catch on. At least then the effectiveness of the fighting won't be entirely based off of who rolls better.
The Island of Indulgence
Perhaps I'm not in the right clique or seeing the right rp, but when I go to Asholme it feels less like it's an evil island and more like it's indulgent. I guess the idea of villains getting their own haven and utopia feels rather strange. Perhaps it's because I feel like it's more compelling to face adversity, and it's more compelling to be the underdog. And I am definitely one to like villain rp, but I think I would rather prefer the types that are fighting for some cause(it could even be a misguided one) than just vie for the greatest amount of power that they have.
That being said I don't mind Asholme. I know I can't say whether I love it or I hate it without stepping on someone's toes, but I've been using it for rp from time to time and haven't had much problem with it. I do feel uneasy, however. Asholme is like Duke Nukem Forever. It had a long time of planning, and a lot of anticipation, and I don't think it would be able to live up to the hype that surrounded it. I'm just afraid for all that's been put into it it'll either peter out, or some drastic measures will have to be done to pump life and interest into the rp spot.
I don't wish for it to fail, however. I wish well for Asholme, even if it's rather controversial and indulgent. To wish any less would be.. well, mean-spirited and I don't have any reason to want to see the place fail. On the most part I am uneasy but I want to see good happen to it.
Prestiges
I must admit I am one of the many that was rather excited to see a new prestige system come out and I was definitely eager to try... except I didn't know which prestige I wanted to do and for what character. And after awhile I thought of some but realized that overall, I didn't want to take the time and the effort involved for it.
I'm not really offering any feedback or criticism to the prestige system. I'm just saying that I realized that I lost interest in prestige characters. I am even considering retiring my steamwarrior, Railey, though I will still offer her as a teacher to people seeking the prestige. I believe if we have a restart for Cataclysm I won't be remaking my prestige character.
Does anyone else feel the same about any of their own prestiges, by the way? I'm just curious.
Anyways, that's all I have for right now. I hope I didn't step on too many toes and I hope everything came across as clear as I would want to.
((Also I don't mind if you find a topic that derails this thread. I don't expect everyone to need to make a new thread just because another subject came up))
Edit: Some more thoughts
Antisocial Awkwardness
This one has been bothering me a bit lately. I have a hard time playing characters that are awkward, shy, quiet or antisocial. It feels like every time I want to rp someone who is inept at social skills I end up being very outgoing and chatty with other folks ICly. I think that may be my nature, it may be because I want to be a part of the roleplay, or I just may be forgetting that I'm not rping the character the way I want to.
Because of that if you notice Maya becoming a little more quiet and different it's because I'm trying to turn her back to what she was before I had that spurt of social roleplay. It feels awkward doing a complete 180 like that but I accidentally had a few days where I rped her as I hadn't intended.
And I don't mind playing social butterflies but I'd like one character that's asocial and a weirdo.