Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Roleplaying - safety nets

  1. #1

    Question Roleplaying - safety nets

    Not sure this is the right place for this thread... but its kind of related.

    I have a kind of psycholgical/social question about safety nets in online rpg... it'll take me a little to explain apologies...

    Basically... roleplays other forms all have safety nets...

    table toppers tend to be groups of friends and they share pizza and munchie attacks where they can chill out of character even though they have been fighting all day

    Live Roleplay times out either at the end of a night or at the end of a weekend... and gives people that have been immersed in high emotion the chance to chill and slap each other on the back... I can't count the times I have been screaming and feuding all day with someone and been sooo relieved to be able to find their camp at the end of the night congratulate them on amazing roleplay and allow the cloud of hatred to evaporate over a beer... likewise after 4 hours solid of crying in character while another character ran round an event site accusing me of murdering his wife just after I had written a poem of love for their wedding... If I hadn't know the player well and been able to shout you b*stard lots at him in a jokey way afterwards the aftermath would have been difficult...

    Work/training scenarios have facilitators and real life discussions

    Now none of the above are failsafe...But... in AO and other MMORPG's I'm not sure if this safety net exists at all... everyone logs on and off at different times... and I find that at the end of a strenuos bout of Rp its frequently to late at night to do anything but log...

    Obviously the argument "get a life" carries some weight here... but I and I think many others love roleplay because its immersive... and I like/need help getting back to the real world...

    So what I'd like to know is does anybody have a succesful mechanism, are OOC tells enough... can IRC or ICQ help... or can getting the avatars together at reets and dropping character do it?

    Please don't respond to this thread by citing instances where you've encountered huge problems... that won't help anyone... but if anyone has constructive suggestions I'd love to hear them

    I'd like to know for two reasons... one cos this character is getting more and more involved in RP and is losing her journalistic detachment which prevented any such issues occuring...

    and two because I think it is a VERY interesting point for the development of MMORPG's in future... particularly as RP gets more popular... and as the online gaming community grows... Its already clear that friendship groups transfer as guilds between games... if the reverse occurs - Ie friendship groups are destroyed because the RP has no let up... the RPG part of the games may well deteriorate...

    Any thoughts?

    thanks for listening
    Kat
    (firmly grounded in reality - honest!)

  2. #2
    I may be wrong, but I think what you are saying here is that we need a little time somewhere between the RPing to have an OOC break. And we also need to let the other people we may be arguing with from the opposite side know that we are just RPing, not to take it personally...If I am wrong in my interpretation please let me know...

    The best way I have found to tackle these situations are:

    If you are in an arguement with someone of the opposite side, just send them a quick OOC tell and let them know you are just RPing, not to take it personally.

    If you need a break from the RPing, you can tak in tell to each other in OOC. Or like you said, you can go sit somewhere or whatever, and chat for a little while in OOC, it helps to relieve tensions that may arise. If it is too late for a OOC break when you get done with your RP and you need to log, just send them a quick tell saying you had fun, and they RPed well and such...Or you could always catch up with them the next time and have that drink
    Sepentura

    "The future is in your hands."

    Former Leader - Sea of Change

  3. #3
    yeah exactly what I was getting at... and your suggestion is what I've been doing to some extent...

    I just wondered whether it was enough... I'm knew to the online world... and have been through a lot of high emotional role play in the live scene that really needs personal communication to sort out... and I wondered whether keyboard comms could cut it or not

    guess I should think positive and assume that they will!!!

  4. #4
    this is a story, but not a bad one. I think it might be an example of such a relaxation.
    I got killed fighting "Omni Scum". I was, of course, yelling at the Omni and arguing. Before we started a fight (quit an honourable Omni, I should say, waiting for us both to be ready ), I sent a mistell to them about how I was about to go get me arse kicked fighting. We (the Omni and I) had a good, ooc laugh about it and then omni killed me. We laughed some more after that and we went about our way.
    I think this is what you are saying, yeah? Sounds like a good idea. You can go nuts staying IC 24/7! Even the most hardcore RPers take a break once in awhile. I even had a nice chat with Father Chagidiel (Omni and intellectual adversary on the boards) in game about star Wars galaxies. He is a nice (and european ) bloke. All RPers should read this.

    Uwen
    Bliqz: "anything Uwen says is a vicious and ugly lie"

  5. #5

    Umm...

    I may be showing my inner geek here but...

    My brother got me into Role-playing when I was about 9. I took hold of the RP like a vise. I"ve been role-playing since. Even went so far to start developing my own game. (shameless plug ain't gonna happen for my game Habitat which can be reached at http://www.rpgnet.net/habitat cause I just won't do that )

    Anyhow. I've found that RP is somewhat difficult to get out of one's mind when doing it for a weekend or so. I agree that there should be ooc breaks and such to let each other know that its just a game, its just rp. Don't take it personally. Gods know I"ve seen people take it personally (not here though...yet).

    I've found that the easiest way to break one's mind out of the RP-frame is to go do something totally opposite for a while. Take a walk, go play some frisbee, or some other physical activity. It wakes the body and mind up and breaks the atmosphere of the game you are playing.

    If you're not the physical type or its not a good time (2am) to go outside. (Weather permitting)...then just go to the kitchen, fix a snack...watch some TV...just disassociate yourself for a while from the RP, and if you can the room where the RP took place.

    That's what helps me...hope it helps some.
    I'm not a psychologist or anything like that. I'm an observer of human nature.

  6. #6

    Other Way...

    Or you could do what my room-mate suggested.

    Take a shower, while you're still wet, open the freezer and stick your head against the inside of the door. By the time you get loose, you should pretty much be out of the frame of mind.

    But then again, My roomie belongs in a sanitarium for the criminally insane...so...*shrug*
    I'm not a psychologist or anything like that. I'm an observer of human nature.

  7. #7
    I feel that when you enter an online world and begin roleplaying, you should really leave your 'real self' in the real world. What I mean by this is the whole idea of roleplaying is that you take on this new identity. I like to feel that when I'm in the online world I'm not myself, and that if my character has disagreements with other characters in the online world, thats all it is, the characters bickering. I think people who take these little arguments personally really need to distance themselves from the real world a bit when they are playing. I'm not a 'hardcore' roleplayer, my online roleplaying has been restricted to just MUD's before AO, but I feel it ruins the illusion when people talk OOC to tell them they're only joking. If you can't handle it, and take what happens too seriously then I wonder if online roleplaying is really for you?

  8. #8
    I kind of agree about breaking the mood...

    thats why its so difficult in the online game... in the other forms I mentioned the OOC bit comes at a seperate time.

    And its not that I bring want people to be able to bring their real self into it... but its being aware that for some... particularly people for whom the concept of rolepay is new... they might not see the difference between a roleplayer attacking their character whilst loving their roleplay and a player attacking them...

    I don't think anyone wants to cause that level of upset... but precisely because we can't force everyone to roleplay and leave part of them in the real world... many people play this game as themselves or end up identifying very closely with their characters ... there will be occasions where one has to check if the fury is IC or OOC

    I still think MMORPGS can be difficult precisely because there is no ideal way of doing this...

  9. #9
    Film director extraordinairre RandaZ's Avatar
    You know, possibly the best way to let someone know that you're RPing in character and not actually angry at them is to use emotes.

    *Tappert glares across the room, searing a hole in his opponents eyes.*

    That's better than ((I didn't mean that you know, right right?))

    Most people, if they're truely angry, won't bother typing emotes so if you're on the receiving end, you can tell that it's just RP by the simple existence of purple text. Tappert for instance has acted melencholy and distant several times around his friends, and they've all caught on to one degree or another.

    As for a general stress reliever at the end of the day, I tend to just inventory what's in my room, and restack bookshelves and the like.. Hmm... wait a minute... that's what I do in-game. *sighs*.


    Tappert
    Slotine Zembower
    R.U.R. Member (RK1)

    Tappert Solminski
    Tailor of Rome-Blue (RK1) [currently MIA]

  10. #10

    Hmm... not so bad really

    Well, I'm pretty much in character all the time when in game.

    [If I'm saying something OOC, I bracket it like this]

    Pretty simple really... [no one seems to get too confused and it has the same general tone as comfortable chitchat across the table.]

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •