god-modding
Latest
Hyperspace Beacon: Tips for roleplaying in The Old Republic
I had a game developer tell me recently that he wished more players were like roleplayers because roleplayers are easier to cater to. Having been in MMO roleplay communities for the last nine years, I have to both disagree and agree with him. Roleplayers need special tools and good quality-of-life mechanics (like sitting in chairs!) in order to find a game extremely enjoyable. However, he was correct when talking about content. When the content runs out -- when every raid is on farm, when PvP is no longer a challenge, or when all that's left is dailies to grind -- the majority of players start to slip out of the game. But when developer content runs out for a roleplayer, she begins to make her own content, if she hasn't already been doing just that. And the game is still fun! When I started roleplaying in an MMO for the first time, a friend of mine who started with me summarized my feelings about roleplaying that game: "This is the reason I started playing in the first place." What he meant was that when he started playing Star Wars Galaxies, he wanted to live in the Star Wars universe, and roleplaying actually allowed him to do that. Star Wars: The Old Republic offers its own opportunities for immersion. It's not the same as SWG, but it does share the same universe. So how do you get involved in the fun that roleplayers have in SWTOR? I'm glad you asked. I have some quick and dirty tips for you on how to get started in your epic Star Wars MMO adventure!
All the World's a Stage: A little help from my friends
All the World's a Stage is a column for cooperative minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening. Roleplaying a new character can be hard, even for advanced roleplayers. Usually you only begin with the fragment of a character, some vague idea of what you want your character to be like. Even if you have a pretty clear idea of your character already in mind, you may discover that actually playing that role in communication with others causes issues to come up that you never could have thought of all on your own.Thankfully, roleplaying is a cooperative activity. Unlike PvE and PvP, there is no "versus" in RP. Even if two characters are bitter nemeses, still their characters must cooperate with one another to share an interesting story. Otherwise, they will find themselves "god-modding," or roleplaying in such a way that they don't give one another any room to improvise. (Two god-modders may fight something like this, using custom emotes: "Darkmystery stabs Elfman and cuts out his heart," followed by, "Elfman dodges Darkmystery's sword and then rips his head off," and so on.) These people aren't really roleplaying in the same way that two people shouting at each other in different languages are not really communicating. Roleplaying's very nature requires that each person work together with every other person, or else it isn't really roleplaying at all.Though the rare "god-modder" can attract a lot of attention, in fact most roleplayers are quite eager to cooperate and assist one another as much as possible. For every one drama queen or king who simply must be the center of attention at all times, there are 5 roleplayers standing in the background listening quietly, wishing that someone else would talk, and 15 more who went off to roleplay their own stories instead. Most roleplayers reach out to each other for support, suggestions, background story ideas, and are more than willing to lend a helping hand in these areas to anyone who asks. Such mutual reciprocity forms the foundation of what roleplaying is all about.
