roleplay
Latest
Anti-Aliased: So long, and thanks for all the woah pt. 2
My personal favorite moment? Past attending a few of the Merovingian's parties (being a faction leader in the organization certainly qualifies you for the guest list), it had to have been investigating into the street magician, Cryptos. Cryptos appeared in the Mega City with a bang, placing "Cryptos coffins" all over the city as he popped out of them at certain intervals to speak riddles to players. As I attended one of the coffins for its speech, the clacking of heels turned my attention over my shoulder, my camera falling onto Niobe walking down the street towards me.She commented that she was surprised that I actually found my way down a street without falling over in a drunken stupor, while I smirked and laughed. Soon afterwards, a whole vanguard of Zionist players showed up, backing up Niobe with guns -- lots of guns."Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right here, *Lady* Return." She mocked. That would be when I pulled out the three best words in the Merovingian organization arsenal."You owe me. I helped you in the church at the funeral. You cannot neglect your debt, Niobe," I replied with a strong smile. She acted taken aback and motioned to the others behind her. The players all lowered their guns and shot me angry looks, to which I shrugged happily and laughed.In no other game could social combat be as effective as physical combat. You didn't always have to shoot your way out of a situation if you knew the right people... or just paid enough of them.An MMO not all about combat? Lies!Certainly the combat of MxO was awesome. You had great martial arts combat, you had insane wire-fu moves, and you even had bullet time. (It would basically slow down on your screen just long enough to show you some great action, then it would speed up again to match up with the action that had gone on while you were slowed down.)But some of the real charm of the game came in the fact that puzzles were hidden inside of it. Billboards, the newspaper, and even specially constructed events started by a simple forum post or a simple tell from a character lead into stories told in live action.The game had elements of collaborative puzzle solving, social tension started by organizational warfare, and a driving sense of community that no other game that I've played since has come close to having. People were there to really interact with the world, not just hit level 50 and grind their faces on endgame.Hopes for the futureIt's sad to see this game go, but I have the strong personal opinion that this game did not die because it embraced different styles of gameplay. It died because it stopped embracing them.What MxO was offering players no other game offered. If there had been more polish to the static content and the developers would have stayed on their path of dynamic storytelling, I think this game would certainly would have continued on with a loyal fanbase because it would have offered gameplay that no other mainstream MMO to date has embraced.And, with any luck, perhaps we'll see another attempt at this universe in the future. Look at what we have with two Star Wars MMOs coming out. The potential is still there for a great Matrix Online game.With all of this though, thank you developers for all of your work, and thank you Sony Online Entertainment for keeping it up as long as you did. While I may not agree with all of the decisions surrounding the game, the effort was still there to keep the game alive for as long as it was.Everything that has a beginning has an end. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who hates aimless hate. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
WoW Moviewatch: The Scytheguard Recruitment Video
It's been a little while since we've had a guild recruitment video on Moviewatch, so I was pretty happy to get a note from Horror. He told us about the Scytheguard Recruitment Video, which he'd built for his Forsaken-only roleplay guild on Sentinels.The video's got a few good ideas behind it, and has a few things that could be improved. First, I liked Horror's idea for a voice-over. Since his guild is exclusively for the undead, starting off with that nightmarish "you can't breathe anymore" idea is a great start to roleplay. That being said, I think the opening went a little longer than needed. Anyone checking out a trailer needs fast-paced action, or they'll wander off.I think showing snippets of Northrend is also a good idea. There's enough random footage of gameplay out there that you want your prospective recruit to know you're progressing, and enjoying current content. Otherwise, they may assume your guild's just a few friends who threw a Fraps up on YouTube. (And while there's nothing wrong with that, it might get in the way of recruitment.)Now, this was Horror's first and only video so far, so I can see why he's using an unregistered Fraps. But if he does more videos, he should go ahead and grab the registered version, and get the watermark off the top of his video. The video looks neat, but the watermark's a little distracting.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch
All the World's a Stage: The Art of Roleplaying
This week, David returns (again) to All the World's a Stage as a newly married man, feeling particularly happy and joyful, and overflowing with enthusiasm for just about everything he loves in life.The relationship between rolelplaying and real life is a multifaceted one. If you have read this column before, you've probably seen some mention of roleplaying as a creative art form, but for some readers, it might be a bit difficult to imagine roleplaying as an art. After all, some might say, it's just a bunch of people sitting around, pretending their characters are real people, having real problems and real stories, all in spite of a game environment in which one's character can't actually affect the world in any way that matters. Problems of continuity, such as instanced dungeons in which many people can slay the same monster at the same time over and over again, make some people feel as though there's no story value to the game at all, and that anything roleplayers do is a waste of their time.The trick for roleplayers is to think of roleplaying as something more like freeform play art, in which the main point of the art isn't so much the end product that results from one's efforts (as it would be in painting, novel-writing, or composing music), but rather the thoughts, feelings, and inspiration that come to mind when we actually engage in the process of the art itself. The closest parallel to another art form might be improv acting games, where the whole point is to make things up for you and the other actors to enjoy, rather than to deliver a performance for a separate audience; but if you've enjoyed something so simple as building a sand castle on the beach, then you probably have a good sense of what it feels like to roleplay. Fingerpainting, mandala-making or even just freeform music and dancing can all give a similar feeling like what you get in roleplaying: the sheer joy of creation.Some roleplayers need no more justification for their art than that they enjoyed themselves. But others look at their own roleplaying careers and see certain things that they've taken away from their roleplaying experience over time. These things are usually not as solid as an actual painting or recorded song, but they still have a kind of solidity in the roleplayer's mind, as they positively impact his or her real life in several ways.
All the World's a Stage: Going to the Chapel
I'm back again for another week, guest-writing once again for David Bowers. Today's All the World's a Stage is themed in honor of Mr. Bowers, for whom today is a special day. Everyone at WoW Insider is wishing him the best and it's in the spirit of the festive and celebratory that we take a little bit of time to talk about the roleplay wedding. Last week, we talked about some tips for setting up a roleplay event. These included a small series of steps that would help you formalize and execute an actual plan for such a gathering. Today, we're going to focus in on a specific kind of roleplay event -- the "roleplay wedding." Roleplay weddings come and go in popularity. Just now, it's been a long while since I've heard of one happening on my server. But around this time last year, it seemed that I couldn't take a quiet stroll in Darnassus without tripping across a pair of Night Elves getting handfasted. So, let's talk about that most sacred and beloved of roleplay subjects -- the wedding.
All the World's a Stage: Hosting your own roleplay event
So, you're a roleplayer. You may be a deep immersionist, an escapist, or a light roleplayer. But, for whatever reason, you've decided now is your time to go that extra mile. You're not only enjoying what roleplay has to offer but you now want to gather up a group of roleplayers to interact all at once. And you don't just mean in the same Guild. You want to gather them in a single in-game location, at a single in-game time, and all play together. You want to host your own roleplay event. A lot of the best roleplay events happen spontaneously. The best roleplay event I've recently intended was entirely accidental. Three or four folks were squatting in front of the Eventide bank in Dalaran, chillin' on their riding bears while waiting for the next instance. I thought it was funny, and parked my own white riding bear next to them. And then someone else did. And someone else. Within a few moments, there was a horde of forty or so bears walking through Dalaran. Someone asked "WTF are you guys doing?" Thinking fast, the leader of the procession said "This is an in-character mourning parade, in honor of the fallen Alliance hero." I can't say the name of that hero for fear of spoilers, but I'm sure the readers of ATWAS get the idea. It was awesome, and spontaneous. But that's not usually how events happen. Usually, someone has to invest time, effort, and even money into formulating the idea, building the event and agenda, and then executing the whole shebang. And don't think that a successful roleplay event doesn't take a lot of time. You'll get out of your event what you put into it. So, let's take a moment this week and talk about what you can do to build your own successful roleplay event.
Breakfast Topic: Ignoring achievements for roleplay reasons
This is Bedrock. He is what many might call "Achievement obsessed." (Yes, I know, there's a slightly different word most folks use, but this is a family blog.) He's the kind of chap who's run Stratholme about five million times, desperately hoping for the Baron's horse to drop. And yeah -- he's even on his way to the "Insane" title.But among Mr. Rock's tour of Azeroth, there's one achievement that he just can't bring himself to do. Yes, my friends, Bedrock is not yet DEHTA'S Little PEHTA.Bedrock is a Hunter on a roleplay server. He likes to roleplay, even if he doesn't spend every moment of every day full of "yea verily" and "thee" and "thou." But he identifies with his character, and generally tries to achieve some level of immersion. And whether the DEHTA crowd is a joke or not, he just can't bring himself to do war against his personal idol. Mr. Nesingwary is somewhat a hero for Bedrock, and collecting the ears of Hemet's friends just doesn't seem right.So, for roleplay reasons, Bedrock has ignored the DEHTA achievement, even though he's also one of the Achievement hounds. What about you? Is there any quest out there you refuse to do, because it just doesn't seem to line up with your character?
WoW Moviewatch: Warsong Defensive Event Trailer
This isn't the first one we've seen, but I love it when we get trailers for roleplay groups or roleplay events. The Warsong Defensive on Shatar (EU) is holding a roleplay event from February 8th until February 15th. As the story goes, a disgruntled Scourge fellow named Paggorn is stepping up to the plate at Wrathgate, and ready to lay some smackdown on the Scourge. You can find more about the event on the official forums. This is the trailer for that event, cunningly titled Warsong Defensive Event Trailer. The author apologizes for letting the music drown out some of the narration, which I have to admit is probably the most distracting part of the trailer. Other than that, the whole thing was pretty good, when viewed from the lens of something to get you roleplaying. The movie has equal parts effects-stylization and raw in-game graphics. I think when you're putting together a roleplaying trailer, you can't stray too far away from in-game graphics, because then you're distancing yourself from the immersion you want to feel in game. The music is pretty solid and motivating. I think the only criticism I'd really have is that the trailer should do more to promote what's happening at the event. It's a pretty awesome video, but it does leave me wondering what will happen at the event itself. Still, it does make guess about whether I can get a character ready in time for the event, which probably means the movie succeeded. If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
RP guide to Azeroth races
Blogatelle, a multi-author blog on WoW roleplay and commentary, has just finished an exhaustive series of play guides on the 10 playable races of Azeroth and how each perceives and interacts with the world, their allies, and their enemies. Regular readers of WoW Insider and particularly All the World's a Stage may also recognize the primary author, Sean, as one of our commenters here on the site.Even if you're not a roleplayer, the guides are fascinating. They're well-written, thoroughly researched, and a supremely entertaining (and sometimes funny) guide to the mindset of each race. The guides also give some background into how each race arrived at the perspective that it did, and points out that there are several race combinations (notably Tauren/Gnome and Troll/Draenei) who really know very little about each other, and must rely on the often-biased opinions of their faction colleagues. And even beyond that, it keeps digging into the shifting nature of politics within each faction: why are the Forsaken and the Blood Elves on shakier ideological territory with each other now? Why are the Night Elves so standoffish with the Alliance as a whole, and why do the Humans in particular react badly?I honestly can't say enough good things about these guides. No, they're not official lore, and there's necessarily some conjecture based on game mechanics and vague ingame hints concerning what's going on, but they seem pretty damn accurate to me. If you're in any way interested in Warcraft's lore, or in understanding why certain things in the game work the way they do, the full list of guides is here.If you're interested in roleplaying your race and class in-game, check out our own series of guides, All The World's A Stage.
WoW Moviewatch: Darkwinds Scourge
The Darkwinds Scourge is a roleplay Guild on the Sha'tar realm. They've created this machinima as a kind of trailer for their Guild. In terms of setting up a movie to help promote your Guild's themes and ideas, I think this works pretty well. The shot locations are spot on, and the music's totally appropriate. (The song is by Disturbed, I think.) The movie is credited to Almighty Farseer.As a machinima, the visiual narrative could use a faster pace. The author's stuck in the loop of cool shot after cool shot. Individually, they all work well, but strung together, the scenes move a little slow. While AF says that the Guild is an evil-themed troupe, with the in-character goal of punishing "the traitor Darion Mograine," I'm not sure there's enough contextually in the movie itself to draw that conclusion. Some subtitles or screen overlays would help that immensely, and help draw the viewer into the story.Still, it's a trailer piece for a Guild, and on that level, it works fantastically. It would be nice to see more Guilds put this kind of effort into branding themselves, and I look forward to more in this genre.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
Brush up on your roleplaying with WAR's RP guide
We've asked our readers before if they like to roleplay, but maybe more folks would jump on board with a little primer to help them along. The GOA team have made their "Short Guide to Roleplaying" available on the Warhammer Online site to promote RPing, and educate those that have a vague interest in the matter but don't know what to do. It all begins at character creation. Hint: there's more to it than just choosing how your avatar looks (although that's important too). Deciding on your character's personality and background is also part of the creation, as well as fitting everything into the existing Warhammer lore.The guide itself isn't too WAR-specific, and could be used by any MMOer looking to brush up on their roleplaying skills. GOA did however interview a roleplaying fan from the Burlok server, who said that the lack of a "walk" option and the inability to sit down are two things that could be changed to make the RPing experience even better in WAR. Despite the issues that seem to come up in most popular MMOs with RPing, the interview suggests that WAR's roleplayers are already having a pretty good time.
Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online's lore
A significant twist in EVE Online's lore was announced on Christmas day: emancipation for much of the subjugated Minmatar race. EVE's far-future galactic setting of New Eden is characterized by struggles between the four (playable) races. Of those races, the dynamic between the theocratic but cruel Amarr and the tribal Minmatar is often one of master and servant. The Amarr enslaved the Minmatar race centuries ago; this is a prevalent aspect of the backstory (lore), the game's missions (quests) and factional warfare, as well as a focal point of the roleplaying that some players opt to engage in. Even some player alliances have taken a stance for or against slavery in the game. (Those who don't play EVE might be surprised to learn that slaves can be bought and sold on the open market as a low-cost commodity. Note, however, that the players themselves cannot be forced into slavery. It's just an aspect of the setting... one which is intended to evoke response from the players.)CCP Games has decided this change in the Amarr-Minmatar dynamic was warranted in terms of New Eden's backstory, with the freed slaves numbering in the hundreds of millions, although the existence of slavery in EVE is still far from being abolished.
What to do after the zombie apocalypse
Ah, zombie apocalypse. We hardly knew you. Your sudden departure leaves a lot of us confused, even if Blizzard swears it was all on purpose and according to plan. Regardless, the zombie plague seems to be over for now. We talked last week about how you could roleplay your sudden transformation into the undead brain muncher. Now, let's take a bit to talk about how your survivors are going to be feeling about this mess. Remorse. If you acknowlege that you died, came back as a zombie, died as a zombie, and came back yet again as a humanoid race, then you should probably acknowledge that you did some pretty horrible things. It's one thing to think, "My God, I ate the neighbor's cat," but there's a whole level of horror involved with "My God, I ate the neighbor!"This also supplies that most beloved motivation for roleplayers everywhere -- angst. You can be horrified ("I ate the neighbor!"), angsty ("And I liked it!"), and perhaps even be corrupted ("I'd do it again!"). If the memory of your wanton deeds aren't enough to sustain your remorseful roleplay, you can look to further naughty urges to supply more angst.
Roleplaying your zombie apocalypse
Step one is to become a zombie. Step two, rampage around a lowbie zone. Step three, scream "Braiiinnnns!" for everyone to hear. Step four, wait for an immersive roleplayer named "Pwnsurface" to kill you, in accordance to his Retribution Paladin's most tightly held beliefs. Okay, there's a little more to roleplaying the event than that. It's tempting to launch yourself at the suspicious crates and transform into a brain-hungry beast. But to borrow a quote from a roleplayer on Shadow Council, if you're going to do that, chances are that what you're really doing is "taking an OOC day." Most characters in the Alliance and Horde aren't yearning to find themselves transformed into an instinct-driven cranium muncher. Zombies are not only evil, they're members of the Scourge, out to destroy all life as we know it. They also have fairly bad personal hygiene. (Okay, so maybe they're not that much different from the Forsaken.) But to us players, Zombies are cool. You get to do stuff, and attack people, and explode, and convert people into zombies, and it rocks! And while your character might find itself outta bubblegum, and decide to start kicking butt instead, you-the-player might feel bad for ruining someone else's good time. Still, there is roleplay to be had here!
Scourgebane RP event on Shadow Council on October 25th
Here's a roleplay event, nicely timed to take advantage of the brain-munching Zombie plague. The Scourgebane Resolute on Shadow Council are holding a rally tomorrow (Saturday, October the 25th) to kick off their withdrawal from Outland, and re-focus their miiltary efforts toward Northrend. And like any good military body about to launch a strike, they want to convince the community of Azeroth that the Scourgebane are in the right, they have a plan, and everyone should go with them. The leader of the rally will be providing an inspirational speech, which is also recorded as an audio file. You can get a copy on their their Guild's website. And while they don't provide any information about other, structured activities, you can probably expect a plethora of roleplay, duels, and discussions about what the Scourgebane will be up to in Northrend. Since this event is taking place on the fringe of Brill, Alliance characters could drop by and hang out, also. It's on the way to the Wicker Man, which makes it easy for you to visit and say "Howdy!" (Alliance are invited, and since this is an RP server, you don't get insta-flagged for wandering nearby.) The Scourgebane don't explicitly say they'll be ganking zombies on sight -- but they are called the Scourgebane. Brain-munch at your own risk.
All the World's a Stage: Hallow's End and you
This week on All the World's a Stage, Michael Gray fills in to talk about how you can use Hallow's End specifically for your character. David Bower will be back next week to tackle "So you want to be a Blood Elf."Maybe more than any other Azeroth holiday, Hallow's End celebrates a significant event in the history of our characters. According to the offical community site, Hallow's End is Azeroth's celebration of the Forsaken's break from the Scourge. (Personally, this makes me even more happy that we got the new model for Sylvanas in the recent content patch.)The story of how the Forsaken broke free is certainly significant. But the fact alone that both the Horde and Alliance do celebrate this break is even more meaningful. Let's take a look at some of the impacts it can have for classes and races ... behind the cut.
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's disguise 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?
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a tauren
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the sixth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. The first cultural influence you'll probably think of when you see the tauren and walk around in their villages is "Native American." That's fine as far as it goes, but you should remember that they're mainly based on the stereotypical image of what Native Americans are rather than their actual reality. I'm hardly an expert on Native Americans, however, so rather than try and speak for these differences, I'm just going to put the whole issue aside and take tauren as tauren rather than parallels to any human culture. Besides, aside from certain aspects of architecture, music, clothing, and mythology, the tauren are really their own species. They are quite general enough to remind us of all kinds of different cultures around the world, many of whom cherish the earth, revere their ancestors, and try to live in harmony with the world. Some people say that the tauren are the noblest and most peaceful of the races in World of Warcraft, but for most of their history, they have been at war with the vicious centaur -- though not by choice. The centaur have always been very hostile towards tauren, driving them out of their ancestral homelands, slaughtering them and even cannibalizing them whenever possible. In a way, the centaur seem like four-legged versions of the nastier trolls who never joined the Horde. When Thrall came to Kalimdor and encountered the tauren in the midst of their struggle against the centaur, it marked the beginning of one of the greatest changes in tauren history.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a gnome
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the fifth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. Gnomes are probably the easiest race to roleplay in World of Warcraft. They have a strong (and mostly accurate) stereotype that people just get instantly, and there's a childlike "blank-slate" quality about them that means that they don't have to have complicated backstories. In fact, you could define the gnomes as a race without a history to speak of. They are so very curious and inquisitive that they ask questions about everything, that they try to unravel any mysteries they encounter, and consider their personal life stories to be of little account. They've written tomes upon tomes on the inner workings of multi-polar data transfer relays and eletro-magnified parallel power circuits, but it never really occurred to them that they should write down the history of their species. They are a people always looking into the future, and whatever passes beyond the infinitely precious present becomes lost to them in the unseen reaches of the past -- out of sight, out of mind. That's not to say they have no memory -- they make use of their superb memories in carefully constructing their world-renown masterpieces of technological craftsmanship! Rather, it would be better to say that their minds only serve up memories relevant to the inquiry at hand. So if the orcs paved through azeroth a while back and destroyed everything in their path, well that was bad and all but it was a long time ago and who wants to hold a grudge? If the monstrous troggs came from the bowels of the earth and destroyed their cherished technological city of Gnomeregan... well, they'd love to get it back, but it's no reason to be unkind or uncheerful!
The Daily Grind: Which WAR server is right for you?
Today marks day one of the headstart for Warhammer Online players, which means we're curious to know what server type everyone is going with and why they've made their choice. While many are sure to simply hit up a core server without any extra rules, there are always players looking for that additional flavor. Many of us here at Massively are heading for core homes ourselves, although there are a few planning to check out a roleplay server. We happen to enjoy the shenanigans that can happen on the RP servers, so long as it's nothing that will cause us to scrub our eyes with baking soda.Strangely enough, we haven't of anyone we know going for an "Open RvR" server. Our guess is that it's because most people will be more than happy to play the RvR that Mythic has already setup for them in the core (and even RP) servers.
The Digital Continuum: The calm before the WAR storm
Do you know where your developers are tonight? Chances are the guys and gals over at Mythic Entertainment are busy scrambling to triple-check everything for the second time today. Meanwhile, the rest of us are awaiting one of three "launch" days with bated breath. Many of you are probably waiting for Tuesday, when the general pre-orders get to join the head start. However for a lot of players day one is coming tomorrow. So on the eve of "Hurricane WAR" approaching, I felt like going over some random bits about the game before it's no longer a beta and instead a newly launched MMORPG.
