Behind the Curtain: Blurring the lines

I find it strange that sometimes the world created for our MMOs isn't always well served by the game itself. World building is obviously a vitally important part of designing an MMO, but what if the world created for a particular game becomes so enthralling, so exciting, that the structures of the game leave some players feeling constrained? What happens when players have ideas and stories they want their characters to play out, but the game provides no tools or options to do so?

How many times have you wanted to take the story behind your MMO just a little further, to push the envelope and really get into the world you're spending your free time in. Have you ever finished a quest chain and thought, "What happens next?" Have you ever wondered what Stormwind would look like if Onyxia'sdisguise stayed uncovered? Have you enjoyed an MMO enough, or more specifically, enjoyed the world enough, to actually step away from it and create your own adventures in it, outside of the game?

If so, your first resort of course, is to hit up the official forums and start QQ'ing for all you're worth. Nothing shows how much you love a game's universe/story/lore/background like hardcore trolling. Just remember, a cogent argument, correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling are all signs of idiocy, and must be rejected at all costs. Once you've found your board of choice, spam until your fingers bleed or you're banned by a moderator – whichever comes first. Either way, you'll have made your point in a universally accepted way.

You could also try to inject some RP into your gaming. A tricky subject, is RP, and one that can garner flames with the mere suggestion. I've never actually taken part in any in-game RP. That's not because I look down on it or think any less of RP'ers; it's simply that I've just not got round to it. I have enormous respect for people who take the (frequently pathetic) RP tools given to us by developers and bend them to their will. There are gamers out there doing amazing things with in-game RP, and I applaud them for it.

Sadly, as much as you may enjoy in-game RP, there's only so far that you can take it before you come up against whatever restrictions the game mechanics place upon you. It's at this point that you may feel the need to step away from the game itself. It seems counter-intuitive, that to enjoy an MMO world more, you may have to logout, but stick with me.

Unfortunately for you, you may find yourself feeling the way I sometimes do, and you'll be hankering for beer/more control over where you go and what you do with your character. Your only resort may be to step away from the game itself, and spend some time with the RPG version. When I say 'RPG' here, I'm talking old-school pen and paper, friends around the table, GM grinning evilly as he ask you to roll a Spot Check, RPG. That may not be the commonly accepted adjective, it may even be wildly incorrect. I don't care; my column, my rules. Until I get told off.

First off, RPGs have the obvious benefit of getting you in the same location as other people who you know, and hopefully, actually enjoy spending time with. We all have horror stories of people we've met online who make us want to pull a Thích Quảng Đức to protest the fact they're allowed to pollute the gene pool. Like it or not, it does us good to 'unplug' for a bit and spend some face time with other people. Hopefully the fact that you're spending said time in a wantonly geekish activity should help ease the pain somewhat.

Playing an RPG version of an MMO gives you the ability to still play with other people and still get into the deep, immersive experiences that we can't easily get at online because technology lags behind our imaginations.

Let's look at the two heavyweights on the scene just now; Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and World of Warcraft.

WAR obviously has a massive amount of RPG material out there, should you require it. Unless you've been living under a rock, you should be aware that WAR is based on an existing universe. If not, please crawl back under said rock, as you're not fit to grace society. Beyond the obvious Warhammer Fantasy Battle tabletop wargame, there is the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game. Originally published back in 1986 by Games Workshop themselves, the WFRP is currently published by Fantasy Flight games, and gives you pretty much everything you need to carve a career in the Old World. For all that WAR is a great game, what if you want to be the secret Chaos Cultist in Altdorf, the worm hidden deep in the heart of the apple, gnawing away slowly, instead of the howling berserker armed to the teeth and scaling the walls?

WoW is well-served by World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game. Originally just Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game when it was first published in 2003, the name and rules were changed for its second edition in 2005. Eleven sourcebooks have been published for the RPG, but you'll be hard pressed to find all of them in the shops, given that more than one of them are now out of print. You'll have more luck if you're willing to settle for PDF versions. Exploring the Undercity in WoW can take you about 15 minutes, maybe 30 if you're lucky and get lost. In 'reality', the Forsaken capital city is likely to stretch for miles underground, with the RPG and a good GM, you could spend months down there and never even consider seeing sunlight.

So, what is my point? I'm honestly not sure. If I had to make a point, I suppose it would be that sometimes, as much as I love my MMOs, I end up feeling restricted by them. As I said above, I'm not an RP'er, but I can't help but create backstories, histories and fluff for every character I've ever rolled up in any MMO I've played. Ideas, images and snatches of stories come to me unexpectedly – I find myself scribbling the family history of my female Draenei Warrior in the margins of my notebooks when I'm the middle of work meetings. I know how many siblings she has; if she's left or right handed; her sexuality; if she's a vegetarian. I know there's no place for any of these things within the game mechanics, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about them, and sometimes I feel compelled to do something with them. Because I love the setting so much, I choose to spend even more time there, just not in the MMO.

Hopefully that doesn't make me a bad person. I know it makes me kind of a strange person, but at least I know I'm not alone in that. Hit the comments and let me know that you're with me.