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Storyboard: Are we still having fun?
Roleplaying events, like any other sort of roleplaying, require a bit of give and take. The person organizing the event puts in a lot of work coming up with a plan and being ready to adapt to changing circumstances, sometimes to great effect and sometimes to... less great effect. But it's not all down to the organizer. If you're actively participating in the event, you have a certain level of obligation, just like you have an obligation to actively participate in a tabletop game. Nobody likes the guy who isn't paying attention and groans with exhausted relief when you finally get to the part that he was waiting for. Organizers are supposed to make sure that the road to the fireworks factory is neat, but what can you do as a participant to make sure that your interest stays up, even during the parts that drag before you get to the fireworks factory? As you've probably, guessed, I have several suggestions.
The Daily Grind: What do you do when you're out of content for a game?
I've subscribed to Star Wars: The Old Republic since launch, but right at this moment I'm running a little low on things to do. I've got almost every class story completed; my high-level characters have explored all the content I care about. There are still a few more things here and there, but the newest patch can't come soon enough. And that raises the question of what you do when you just don't have as much to do any longer. Some people switch to exclusively roleplaying. Some people farm. Some people log in to chat with guildmates, and some just don't log in any more at all. What about you? What do you do when you're out of content for a game? Do you want to explore all the content first, or do you just explore the bits that interest you and then decide you've seen enough? And when that happens, does it mean it's time for a break or time for you to leave? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Storyboard: Happening before it's even happened, part 2
Two weeks ago I wrote a column on the ups and downs of planning RP developments before they take place. I ended on the note that it's very important to decide exactly how much to plan ahead, but then I ended the column before actually offering any guidance on how to determine how much to plan ahead. Instead, I promised to talk about that... in two weeks. In television, this is what is known as a cliffhanger. It gets you back in time to watch the next episode, you see. Like so many other elements of roleplaying, there are no hard and fast rules about when something is or isn't a good idea, but there are certainly guidelines. So let's look at some questions to ask yourself before you plot out your roleplaying ahead of time, simple inquiries that should let you know whether this is worth planning ahead for or not.
Storyboard: Grieving in character
Grief is not the same as being sad. Being sad is something I've discussed before, and it's a temporary emotional state. Grief is a filter, something that colors your whole perception and pushes you into a holding pattern of regret and sorrow. Real grief colors even things you do that make you happy so that even as you're smiling and laughing there's a pall over what you do. It's the way you feel when you lose a parent. Or a lover. Or a nation. Or almost anything profoundly important that you can lose, that you weren't ready to lose, that you don't know how to exist without. The point is that it's a very important human emotion, one that is going to come up in roleplaying. But it's also a problematic one because you have to convey what is in large part an internal sensation externally. So how do you get the sense of grief across without just making your character into a constant font of moping?
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR mid-term report card
It's history lesson time. In 1996, Dr. Richard Bartle, who earned his PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Essex, wrote a paper analyzing the different types of gamers who play massively multiplayer games. At the time, these games mostly consisted of MUDs (a genre Bartle helped create), but there were certainly enough data from Bartle's study that could be ported over to MMORPGs, which is exactly what Erwin Andreasen and Brandon Downey did in 1999 and 2000 when they created the Bartle Test. Since then, the Bartle Test, which breaks up online gamers into four general categories (achiever, explorer, killer, and socializer), has been used as a standard in discovering which online games players would enjoy most. Why bring this up? Well, we are about six months into the second year of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first year was fraught with high expectations and slow delivery. Many failed attempts at greatness made the first year of SWTOR a bit of a downer. However, in this second year, in light of the ever-changing market of MMORPGs, the Star Wars MMO took steps to put itself on a better path. Using the Bartle Test as my litmus test, I will break down and grade this year's performance so far.
Storyboard: Happening before it's even happened
I've been doing something I almost never do as I prepare for the relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV: I've been planning ahead. Let me rephrase. There's always some planning that goes on beforehand, usually between Ms. Lady and me. But that planning is generally a bit more abstract, a vague set of character goals. I'm not only going in with vague ideas of what will happen now; I'm going in with an answer to one of my main character's central problems as soon as the relaunch starts. It is the exact opposite of vague in every way, shape, and form. There's something to be said for knowing what path you're taking before you go in, but there are also some pretty major drawbacks. Today, I want to look at the idea of planning roleplaying events and interactions before the game has gone live, preparing for things that will happen before they actually can happen. It's a road fraught with perils, drawbacks, and disadvantages... and a few advantages despite all of that.
The Guild Counsel: Finding common ground in guild management
Trying to describe a guild is like trying to describe a chimera. Sure, a chimera is an animal, but it's got the heads of a goat and lion and a snake for a tail. Add in the ability to breathe fire, and you have the ultimate mish-mosh of fauna. Guilds are no different. On the surface, all guilds are a network of players, but there are as many different sizes and types of guilds as you can imagine. Given that fact, I sometimes feel it's an impossible task to write a column about guilds and have it resonate with everyone. And last week, Massively reader Justin brought up that very subject. Is there common ground when it comes to lessons of guild management?
Tamriel Infinium: Immersing yourself in The Elder Scrolls Online
Throughout my time as a gamer, I have seen game designers struggle with immersion because not everyone views immersion the same way and every designer wants his game to pull you in. The more you play one designer's game, the more likely you will buy his or her next game. In the case of MMOs, the greater the immersion, the greater chance you will spend more money on subscriptions or in the cash shop. Some gamers find first-person views with in-your-face action immersing; some, like me, find rich lore and a solid storyline immersing. The Elder Scrolls Online faces perhaps the hardest task. Not only does this game strive to immerse the already existing divisions between the RPG crowd, but it also has to contend with the different platforms on which it's releasing. Our commenters on this site are heavily divided on the console-vs.-PC subject. To top it off, some have already been turned off by Bethesda's shying away from calling the game an MMO. Today, I face head-on some of game's immersion pitfalls and tackle the divisive comments from last week's Tamriel Infinium.
Storyboard: Both sides of roleplaying
I don't mind disagreeing with someone, but I really like to know why because the why usually leads to more interesting conclusions. You won't be surprised to know that I spend a good portion of my time thinking about how the divide in roleplaying has happened. It's definitely there, and it often gets painted as a divide between newer and older players. There are people who point to Star Wars Galaxies as one of the greatest games for RP of all time, and there are those who look at it and just don't see what the big deal was. It's too much to come down purely to difference in taste. The idea has been rolling around in my head for a while, but a few discussions on the topic finally pushed me into the conclusion that what we're looking at is a split between ramblers and orienteers. We're treating two distinct hobbies as the same thing because they've got a lot of overlap, but despite what we think, that overlap is narrower than it seems at a glance.
Massively reminisces on Star Wars Galaxies' 10th anniversary
Has it really been 10 years? Yep, Star Wars Galaxies did indeed launch on June 26th, 2003. And yep, this is indeed an anniversary post for an MMORPG that closed down in December of 2011. Why the reminiscing about a game that we can't -- ahem -- play any longer? Simply put, SWG deserves it. If you're reading this article, you already know why it deserves it, so we'll skip the sandbox proselytizing and get right to the part where Massively's Starsider veterans raise a glass and share a few of their favorite launch-era memories.
Hyperspace Beacon: Why I roleplay in Star Wars: The Old Republic
"There is a diabolical twist to Star Wars fandom, you see, that defies comprehension and yet is the life-blood of all Star Wars fans. It is this: Star Wars fans hate Star Wars." That singular truth was originally penned in a JIVEmagazine essay titled The Complete and Terrifying Reality of Star Wars fandom. Unfortunately, the essay no longer exists on the internet. Don't click on the link; I just wanted to credit the original author. That link is quite dead. The essay goes on to explain that the true Star Wars fan does not actually like the core aspects of the franchise. From the stiff and forced script of the prequels to the whiny mouth of Luke Skywalker, a "true" Star Wars fan hates all of it. Even the cuddly Ewoks and comical Jar Jar Binks don't escape our nerdy wrath. I can't even pretend that I have all the answers, but I believe the same compulsion that drives Star Wars fans back to each and every movie and convention despite the primary principles that he or she finds wrong with the franchise is the same compulsion that drives a Star Wars: The Old Republic player back to the game. Just read some of my past Hyperspace Beacons; you don't have to step back far to find an article where I extensively berate the development decisions. Yet here I am still playing nearly every day since day one.
Storyboard: Operatic soap
If you've never watched a soap opera before, you owe it to yourself to do so at some point. I don't just mean a single episode; I mean spending a month or so really following a show, unraveling the plot and character interrelationships, and trying to really get what's going on. Let me tell you, these things are crazy. Silver age comics crazy. And they're dying out, so you want to catch them before they're gone. Despite that, I generally use soap opera as a pejorative term because while the shows might be entertaining, they're not good at character development or drama or nuance or most of what makes RP enjoyable most of the time. They're well-written only insofar as they're written to convince you to watch the next episode, not in the sense that they form any sort of overarching narrative. And while RP can creep into that territory at times, that's generally a problem rather than an acceptable endpoint.
Hyperspace Beacon: The roleplayer's guide to SWTOR event planning
Amidst the critiques and patch reviews, the reasons I stick with Star Wars: The Old Republic sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Despite being irritated by the way BioWare handled specific parts of this Star Wars MMORPG, I still find the setting and the storytelling to be superb. These interwoven tales of adventure and chaos provide an incredible platform for my favorite thing to do in an MMO: roleplay. I've covered several topics about roleplay in this column. From breaking into the community to an RP wishlist to resolving RP-related conflicts, I've might have covered everything except for one of the most basic of roleplay elements: How do you host a roleplay event in SWTOR? Although Star Wars: The Old Republic varies in its presentation and tools, the types of events you can throw are pretty similar to the ones you can throw in any other MMOs. The tiny details vary, but the three basic type of events can be narrowed down to social, PvE, and PvP.
Storyboard: Roleplaying hasn't gone anywhere
Certain phrases just tend to stick in my craw. For example, the idea that back in the day MMORPGs really supported roleplaying, but now they don't any more. You can't really lose yourself in modern games. You get the idea; I've talked about this before. The calls that roleplaying is dead are quite convincing except for the fact that roleplaying continues and does not appear to be going anywhere. If anything, I'd argue (from anecdotes, so without much scientific merit) that roleplaying populations seem to be expanding, which makes sense, since with more and more people playing games online, more and more of them are going to be totally keen on pretending to be an elf. But I can understand the sentiment because from another perspective it can seem totally on the mark. So I'm going to just go for the simple version and discuss the ways in which things haven't changed all that much after all.
The Soapbox: The soft launch scam
Back in the golden days of video games, there was no such thing as a soft launch. Nintendo didn't send out test copies of Super Mario World to special "backers," and Sega didn't ship half-finished Sonic games with promises of further content updates. Games, for the most part, were played only after they were finished, printed, packaged, and shipped. Even on PC, beta testing was more of an earned honor exclusive to players that showed dedication to a title and its community. Here in these modern times of Internets and always-ons, however, things are different. It would seem as though developers need only make enough game content to shoot a reasonably convincing trailer before the publishing team can begin collecting money by slapping a "BETA" sticker on the webpage and offering fans early access. Over the last few years soft launches have become increasingly common -- especially for creators of online games. The line between "in testing" and "done" is becoming blurred, and publishers are reaping the benefits while players suffer.
Storyboard: For me, it was Tuesday
I want to tell you a love story. It's not a happy one. It's about Daniel and Rachel. Rachel loves Daniel. She didn't expect to fall for him, but she did. The problem is that Daniel doesn't love Rachel back. More than that, he can't even conceptualize feeling for Rachel what she feels for him. She acquiesces, acts as a friend, listens to Daniel talk about his true love Samantha. She watches Daniel date Olivia. She gets attacked by Olivia for her affection. She pays attention to the fact that Daniel still talks about Samantha when she's been gone for a year, even though Daniel doesn't mention Rachel at all if she's not around. This is not a happy dynamic for Rachel, but it is certainly dramatic. The problem is that Rachel and Daniel are characters, and Daniel's player is making a point of being aloof and dismissive toward Rachel because that's the whole point. So how do you ignore Rachel without making Rachel's player feel left out of roleplaying?
Storyboard: Getting back the spark
People occasionally ask me, "How is it that your roleplaying is so exciting?" To which I can only ask, "How is yours so boring?" A lot happens when I roleplay. Relationships start and stop, alliances are made and broken, plots are hatched, crazy schemes are set into motion, and things generally just happen. I've had characters kill other people off permanently, had characters killed off, run through cycles of desecration and redemption. Some scenes have gone better than others, but at the end of the day, I can say that my roleplaying has been full of stuff happening. But I see a lot of people who feel their roleplaying is stagnant. Their groups have dissolved, their stories have been told, there is no more spark there. So today's column is all about getting back into the paint and turning your roleplaying experience from stagnant to dynamic, taking you from a boring set of routines into a series of stunning and enrapturing revelations. In other words, here's some advice to get the spark back in your roleplaying.
Storyboard: As stupid does
Playing a stupid character is oddly frustrating because it's incredibly difficult to do. This should not be the case. This should, in fact, be the opposite of the case. Playing someone with the mental alacrity of a ball of twine should be much easier than your brilliant wizard. But when you try to play a dumb character, it's easy for that character to wind up slipping into periods of pointless stupidity without acting like any of the nitwits you've actually dealt with over the course of your life. Intelligence is a hard thing to quantify at the best of times, but some of our characters are meant to be just plain slow. I've played a few, and it's always a challenge to make the character feel like a person instead of a caricature. So here are some tips for making your big dummy feel appropriately oafish and endearing instead of just being a strawman.
Stick and Rudder: Why all the love for Roberts and Star Citizen?
I was talking with a gaming buddy recently who missed the whole space sim experience in the 1990s. He's a Star Wars fan and a real-life pilot pushing 40, so it surprised me to learn that he'd never heard of Wing Commander, Freespace, X-Wing, and the like. My jaw really hit the floor as our conversation turned to current games and I began to evangelize about Star Citizen and Chris Roberts. "Who's Chris Roberts?" he asked, with a straight face.
Storyboard: The way it was for three years
Roleplaying is the same as it ever was. People are still shoehorning in lore characters into backstories, someone is a sparkly magic vampire, and you can still turn a corner in a tavern to find two people with a decided lack of gear or public shame. (In Second Life, that corner is the one you turn to download the game.) But I've had three years of talking about it, so it's at least a little different than it was. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's better. Every year I like to take a look back at the past year, talk about what worked well, what didn't work at all, and what I'd like to do in the future. So it is for this year, complete with a nice big surprise down at the end there. Regular readers may be less surprised, but you can just bear with me.
