On Character Arcs/Roleplay and Staff Involvement

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Karjus
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Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:28 am

On Character Arcs/Roleplay and Staff Involvement

Post by Karjus »

This is mostly a post to throw my few cents in a discussion that came up on Saturday's voice chat, as well as perhaps some advice for those who want to hear it.

The topic of conversation was mostly to do with how much can characters change/influence their world, how to involve staff to do this, and what do players need to do right to get access to things that other people have.

I'm going to try and break this down into the above points, so I don't meander too much.

1) Character Change/Influence on the World
A comparison to tabletop games were brought up, and how they offer so much freedom and it is fair to say that many MUDs do offer a lot more than your average CRPG. At the same time, you have to remember this is still a CRPG. It is also a growing one, and one that consistently has a lot of players for a few small team of GMs. This may mean there is the occasional moment where something unexpected happens, because staff happen to be around and are able to drop in to make a situation more "interactive" but it isn't the norm. You are not going to get that tabletop experience, especially not consistently or with the majority of the world. Don't expect to turn the world upside down, because you'd prefer X, want a faction to go down Z path, or want Y now. I'm not saying don't have your character engage in the roleplay that makes sense for them but just realize you might not be able to influence the overall world/setting. In a current running event? That might be different as you've staff actively running something that is working off character input and involvement.

2) Staff Involvement
Personally, I've always felt that if you're setting yourself up to rely on staff involvement for something then you're setting yourself up for failure, especially if it is something that you feel is critical to your character as a whole. Going back to tabletop vs CRPG on point 1, this isn't a game where people are going to have tailored/handcrafted experiences. Using the commands that are logged/flagged up to staff doesn't guarantee staff involvement in that moment, or even in the future. It does however help staff understand your character, which can help build up to something if it warrants it. Be it recognition by an Immortal, an NPC being around when staff have prepared to talk to, or a slight change in a room to reflect what has happened. Trying to force things, either via violence on unique NPCs, by trying to do things so overt they can't be ignored or by constantly asking staff for direction is just going to leave everyone frustrated. Don't be the "Are we there yet?" person. Play your character, be consistent, be passionate, and don't rely on others for your enjoyment of what you're playing which leads me into...

3) Getting Access to Things
Don't ask, don't expect, and don't tell. There isn't a list of boxes you have to tick off, like an achievement system to unlock something. Stick to the theme of the world, play your world, and try to at least pretend that the world is "alive" even if the staff can't constantly be around to make it so as much as they wish. I imagine the people who have received anything, were surprised and had no idea it was coming but it just happened as long, ongoing RP.

Last but not least, Rias has been pretty open about what he considers "Never going to happen for players", which are the Blood Cult, Inner Light, and the Dunwyr. Probably others, I'm missing. If it isn't on Rias' outlined societies, then it might not be planned. Also, getting banned/ruining reputations with towns is never going to be a fun thing. Rias has mentioned several times, there will only be two sites with all amenities. The eventual second main faction town (Mistral Lake) and Shadgard. Everything else is going to lack a lot. That's a very *hard* path to walk especially when we don't even have the second faction town available yet. And, if you get banned from both, you aren't going to get a third strike.

These are my few cents of playing Cogg, and due to being on GMT mostly don't see events that players didn't really construct themselves. Hopefully it might help some people stop feeling like they're being missed out.
- Karjus

Speaking to you, XYZ says, "Never bother to wash it. It gets dirty again anyway."
Speaking to XYZ, you say, "I hope you don't treat your ass the same way."
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Lexx416
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Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:14 pm

Re: On Character Arcs/Roleplay and Staff Involvement

Post by Lexx416 »

I appreciate you taking the time to write this out. I think these are all incredibly valid points, and I think they can all be addressed by a pretty simple piece of advice.

Do what is fun, and do what makes sense to do, but with all things on the game, temper your expectations. It's so easy to overhype something in one's mind, especially given the game is in early release, and given the nature of the game and setting creates so many unknowns.

The folks that have had cool, special things happen have been consistently roleplaying their characters for a while (a year or more), and I'd be surprised if anyone that's had a Cool Special GM Interaction actually expected it to happen.


So, do your fun ritual things, and be consistent, and organize neat little things. But don't bring OOC expectations of gratification (immediate or otherwise) into it. And most of all: have fun. I think if a character is doing Spooky Ritualistic RP because the player enjoys it, rather than the Player expects something to happen, it makes that Spooky Ritualistic RP better than if they were just after special things or interactions.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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ocayucos
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Re: On Character Arcs/Roleplay and Staff Involvement

Post by ocayucos »

Ever since CLOK, I have played a sailor character, and it was difficult sometimes because for the longest time there wasn't even an ocean to visit. But I played the sailor because that was who I wanted my character to be and I had fun doing it even if I had to make up reasons why I was so far inland all the time. I got my sailcloth custom items done by merchants to make myself look and feel the part even without any ship to be sailing on. I would always talk about wanting to get back on the sea because that's what my character would say, but I would still enjoy playing even if that never happened because the game didn't ever have sailing. I could still RP it, and I could say sometimes I was gone for a while because I found a job crewing a ship running supplies to ports in the quarantine or something like that.

I have a special opportunity now, and it's very exciting! It was offered to me, not by request. But if it never happened, that wouldn't change my enjoyment of playing my character. I was already able to have fun playing before this happened, even when I was just making up an entire side of him that never actually happened in the game.
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