A Call For Diversity

[Sourpuddle]

While I applaud the idea behind this thread, I also point out that it's unrealistic to expect that these problems will ever get fixed.

I don't think the goal is to "fix" the problem, as much as we're trying to bring awareness to the issue. With this thread, we're atleast getting that goal done.

There are some problems with the following arguements that "RP in Neutral Hubs are the way to go", and it's very simple. While it's really nice to have everyone cluttered in one safe area, it also raises and festers problems (get this, it'll sound ironic) like racial tolerance, cultural indifference, and generally, seemingly weak character concepts (which, sometimes are actually the opposite when you dig deeper into the character). Booty Bay works fine, but only for players who know how to effectively create their characters with depth, otherwise newer players are influenced by all the wrong ideas.

That's not the only problem, but I'll let you chew on that. This is going great, guys.

But I'm not and it isn't, so that doesn't matter beyond expressing my general feelings on the matter.

Man, I wish I could vouch you. What you said was basically ignored by everyone else in the post, but I read it. I mean, it's nothing new (although worded very nicely), but it's really refreshing seeing a Peon write something like that. Made my day, for what it's worth.

[Holynexus]

You can always ask in OOC ( I think it's /join chat) if you wanna RP, some people can answer, that or hang around in Hygal, it aint so hard.

[Dae]

Alright, so Dwarf or Tauren it is! Now, the question is, how does someone like me, who is new to the server, get into the RP you are all describing (the deep, immersive kind)?

I am a North American Player, West coast (Pacific Standard TIme) who mainly plays weekday evenings and randomly throughout the weekend. It wasn't so much a problem in retail as I played on CC (Cenarion Circle) and it was a West Coast based server, so many players had the same schedule as I did. Fast forward into my first venture into private servers and I found myself on a European server. Tons of people to RP with, but at the wrong time. Prime RP time (evenings) in Europe is mid-morning for me, and I am out the door and off to work. I can be active on the forums (like I am now) but not in game.

So, rolling a dwarf priest, which I am comfortable RPing, might be a good idea, but if one is available when I play, perhaps a Tauren Warrior (something I would like to try) would be a better choice because there are three other people that who prefer to play Tauren's with a similar RL schedule.

Does that make sense? Last thing I want to do is come up with a great character that I am excited to play, like a Dwarf Priest/Missionary, and find out that 90% of the population during my play time is in Silvermoon; or roll a Tauren Warrior and go looking for a clan to join, only to find everyone is in SW.

Which perhaps is part of the problem? If a new player comes in and see's that it is mostly Blood Elves online during the time they regularly play, they might be more inclined to roll one; vice versa for Humans. Whatever RP they have access to based on the times they play might influence the race they decide to pick.

Honestly, I think you're getting a bit of a bad first impression of the server with this thread. Sillymoon, Stranglethorn Vale and (to a lesser degree in my experience) Stormwind tend to be three places that always have RP going on, but by no means does this mean that its the only places to have roleplay. In fact, I tend to find these places a bit boring for roleplay, as it is so often just tavern or city talk RP. When I roleplay here, I hang out in the Out of Character Cavern and make friendly banter with the others present and feel out what they're interested in or take a look at the Who's Online or look at the player map and PM people to see if you could join their roleplay. This is responsible for all my favorite experiences- when you take a chance to talk to other people to plan a bit even with spontaneous roleplay, you get to wind up in unusual zones and in situations where your race or class is less relevent to your character's reason for being in that geographic location.
Not to mention, when you have the chance to stop and talk about roleplay, you could very well get people to alt hop or even encourage someone to make a new character of an unusual race on the spur of the moment, with the understanding that the proceeding roleplay will shape this new individual's identity. So I'd definitely go dorf or moocow- the presence of either is exactly what causes the kind of RP scenarios I hope would be more commonplace.

And if you have plot ideas, even spur-of-the-moment, one-shot events, please share them with us on the forums!
(Why yes, I like random events, how did you guess?)