OOC: You Can't Change the Storyline

[______________Scorus]

Originally posted by Luxxan

Maybe you should all focus on making yourselves known to the world of Rubi-Ka and those people who run it, instead of whining about the fact that a bunch of nobodies don't seem to be making a difference.

How? I have sent email after email explaining what I would like my character to be and how I can help the clans with my combination of personality and skills. I have sent tells to everyone that I ever hear about in the context of a GM or important NPC. I have appeared and tried to be vocal at every event that I am online for. I have posted several times here in-character in the hopes of attracting some attention. I have asked and asked WHEN my guild will be able to join the Knights of Avalon and get our marching orders directly from Galahad.

All of these have been met with complete and utter silence. I take that back, Cosmik did mention that it would be good if we could join the clans and departments and he would get back to me. Thusfar he hasn't. Yet certain players that have previous relationships with GMs seem to get center stage every time at every event (notice how the same names keep coming up in the reports?). And I did try asking some of those players, they said, "um, ask <insert GMs name here>." A tell was sent and again greeted with silence.

And through this whole experience I get more and more the feeling that Funcom just doesn't know how this should work. They have started a game that was supposed to have interactivity between players and NPCs with no concept of how it should work. I firmly believe they are flying by the seat of their pants and in something of a panic mode that we all took their hype seriously.

I wait to hear what steps I should next take. Thanks for your help.

Scorus

[______________Luxxan]

I'm sure if every player that wanted to be involved in the story sent "email after email" about their character and sent every GM who logged on constant tells it would make for a better gaming experience for everyone.

If you want to be involved in the story, take part in the events, just like you said you have been doing. If you want to become known, you don't do it by pestering the GMs to make you important, go out and be important. Being a part of the story has little to do with talking to GMs; it's about working with your fellow players to create a story outcome.

[___________Chagidiel]

Well spoken Luxx... and to those not feeling the story is about them, read Tapperts post in this thread...he sums it up better then me...

[______________Scorus]

Well, I kind of took Funcom seriously when they said that crats would be politicians and diplomats and designed my character to be a diplomat. I don't expect a position of leadership but I can't acheive what I want to acheive, working toward bringing some of the non-humans into sympathetic and symbiotic relationships with the clans, without some kind of help. I don't expect to be a lead negotiator at a table until I have earned that right through extensive and successful game play, but there is no way for me to even apprentice myself into that kind of a situation.

Remember the event when the Manteze representative was attacked by a player (or a GM, it was never figured out which) when they were in Tir negotiating with the clans? After that I sent tells to the clans' diplomats and the Manteze diplomat, volunteering my services as a junior diplomat, whether that meant helping in discussions or serving coffee. Nothing. I sent emails with IC ideas about how the clans could try and ally the Manteze, cyborgs or rhinomen. Nothing.

Until there are interactive NPCs, there is no way to interact with these races without Funcom's prior approval and support. I thought that I had my big chance after the above-mentioned Manteze situation (which I logged on for the tail end of). I thought that if I identified my diplomatic asperations to clan diplomats that they would at least send me a "keep up the good work, we might could use someone like you later" tell. I was hoping that if I said the right things to the Manteze representative(along the lines of 'We respect and honor your traditions and look forward to negotiating at the end of the three month war'), that perhaps I could earn a friend, or at least some respect, from him. Nothing.

I guess I'm expecting too much. I was expecting an interactive world. It seems like there are two worlds: those that the PCs play in and those that the NPCs play in. And each is mostly an observer to the others.

Anyway, I've ranted enough. Trash me and get it over with. :]

Scorus

[______________rebell]

Hello all !!!
This message is going to be OOC here so I might be able to get my point across... I took alittle break from AO recently. I was just real frustrated with all the problems AO had(some are still in the game but things are looking alittle better). Alot of the gameplay is not fun to me either... Im kinda burnt out with alot of things. Before I came back to the game I realized something.. You gotta role play in a role playing game!!!.. Im burnt out with the whole kill and get xp and better equip over and over again... so everything is all the same just another level higher. When I do missions it changes nothing and Im sure the guy we were supposed to kill shows up in many other players missions and does nothing for the clan or the world of Rubi-Ka. Right now there really is no way we can make a true difference or have a purpose. If you kill someone they just show up again(you or the clan gain nothing).... If the clan takes over an outpost, its not theirs.... Missions are meaningless except for getting better stuff... So why do I still play you might ask.... Well I still think AO is one of the best online games out there and I have a duty with my clan.... Ive made some good friendships also... Now back to my point of role playing. I try to strickly role play with my character when Im playing the game. Everything else is pretty much boring to me..... It makes the game a whole lot funner. Doesnt it make sense?... We are playing a role playing game. You gotta role play or everything is all just kill and get better stuff. I dont like that style of play and I dont know how anyone would. If you play like that you coud pretty much just play the game by yourself... why play an online role playing game then? and why be in a clan? Trust me it makes the game alot better when you stay in character... Think.. I helped a fellow clanmate with a mission. It was way below my level but I enjoyed being in character and helping a not as experienced clanmember with the mission. Find out what the mission is about and stay in character with it(wouldnt you do that if you were really in a clan?). If the clanmembers need to be experienced.. go out and "train" with the other clanmembers and help each other out... Make every experience like you are actually in the world of Rubi. Im tired of hearing complaining about the game on clan chat. Dont do that! It wrecks my role playing experience. It might wreck others too... Do that through email or even private chat if you just want to mess up your time on AO. I really dont know how much longer I will be playing this game but as long as I do I want to make it fun by role playing and staying in character. Please think about what I have said Journeymen... and please dont wreck mine and your experience with the game... it opens a whole new game when you stay in character.
thanks, Rebell

ps- Now Im not saying roleplaying will fix everything... it will just help alittle.... the problems I stated still need to seriously get fixed or AO will die when the other games come out..... trust me. We need to feel like we are actually making a difference in AO.... The decisions we make need to effect the world of Rubi-Ka.
-A side point... the combat system needs to seriously be fixed... not .. i shoot him, he shoots me, i shoot him, he shoots me.... that is not real combat at all!!!!!!!!!! Its hard to roleplay combat with that system

[________________mege]

The biggest loop that has been thrown into the RP scheme has been the Amnesty.

OK... direct example... imagine Star Wars role playing... you're a rebel that has been hiding from the Empire your whole life and you are suddenly welcomed with open arms. Likewise... imagine you're an Imperial who has killed and chased after Rebels your whole life, and now you're ordered to go make them a pie... make sense? NO. (for those of you whom haven't caught on, AO has an almost identical conflict to Star Wars)

The above is what Funcom is asking us to do... some have been able to take it in stride - great! Some almost ignore the logical aspect of the decision and follow blindly - great! But then there's the 99% of the rest of us... *sigh*

[___________Chagidiel]

I disagree Mege

I think the amnsety has great ly improved the possibilities to roleplay. A great many topics have had to be duiscused that not too many people ever were expecting.

True, for those who made a simple, borning "my whole family were eradicated by the evil clans/Omni " it might feel a little awkward at first. But really, now you have to think about what your character really wants to do. Your character has now been given a moral descicion. he does not have to be what he started out as and he has to ,make a new descision based on new fact. maybe the evil clanner/Omni isnt that evil after all...

Now thats real roleplay

And I hope that even if the story is a classic (in movies ok, but in a RPG rather dull and boring) starwars story right now, that will eventually change to something more intresting, and so far, it could.

[cold]

Well people, sure you'd like the story to react to your actions, but, would you like it if some hi-level kids decided to kill every major player they can find and end the story that way ?

[________________Sent]

Originally posted by Snarf


Perfect example: Do you REALLY think FC had intended there to be a Radiman double in omnihq? Yeah, riiighhht. They invented that crap when they saw that Radiman was dead. Radiman simply can't die until Funcom wants him to die. It is SO obvious that FC made up that multiple-Radiman crap to AVOID players from altering the storyline.

Snarf

It's hard for me to imagine someone being killed and comming back considering I've been killed over 100 times and I'm still kicking in Rubi-Ka. (sarcasm off)

You want involvement in the story?
http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/news/

Leave your whines, along with you guns, at the door.

[______________Scorus]

Originally posted by reality
Well people, sure you'd like the story to react to your actions, but, would you like it if some hi-level kids decided to kill every major player they can find and end the story that way ?

Sounds like a vacuum of power that players would get to jump right into. Whichever side could overcome the anarchy and get their ducks in a row first would have a huge advantage.

Scorus

[___________Chagidiel]

Well, if that would happend, it would only be UO all over again (at least my experience of that game) a couple of guilds fighting each other day out and day in, for the eventual peace treaty now and then...And thats not a very good story, now is it...Rather dull and boring in the end, i would say..

[________________Thug]

And ill let you in on a little secret as well...Remember all those dungeons & dragons scenarios you played some years ago...well, the story were quite ready then as well...You were suposed to kill that dragon, save that kingdom and get that tresure...

The only difference is that while we( who have been GM for some years with a lot of experince ) has become rather good to hide the fact that most of the adventures already were done and the outcome was set. I supose this fact is a little harder to hide in a computer game...
------------------------------

You sucked as a DM then. our groups veered away from pre-set endings almost right after they started. our outcomes were never pre-determined. one gathering would set the stage for the next, and the one after. all the while the dm was readying for the next week with the new scenerio in the campaigne. hehe.

[___________Chagidiel]

Well, excuse me, I must have been abit vauge...I though it was rather obvious, that you cant improvise the ending, or do even close to the work an ordanary GM does, when you got 40 k people around, and a computer game. That, my friend, is the point...

And another point to this is, that while Dungoens, tends to be more of "hack n slash" it seems AO will make an atempt to be more of a real roleplaying game (with Hack n slash for those who wants) thus more story involved, witch includes more carefully planing then the regular game...

[_____________Mescale]

Originally posted by Alyia
Seriously you guys have obviously never roleplayed. Roleplaying is not about making a difference, its about giving individual reactions to events that happen. If you make a difference thats just a bonus.

Amen there sister, Game Masters Make the story up thats why they are called Game masters, they are masters of the Game see?
Role Players play a role, that role is the role they play now if that role becomes an important role or a uselss role, its up to you.

Role Playing isn't about what Funcom does its about what you do, the only way Roleplaying happens is if you make it happen so if its a Guild meeting or a night at babboons, or standing on your soapbox expounding your views to the unenlightened.

You want role playing you better role play, how is Funcom supposed to include any Player Characters in its story if you all Suck so much at Role Playing.

How about you start your own story, which goes on comletely separate from Funcoms.

[________________Crin]

The point singularity repeatedly battered our position. The Gravi force field was holding, but our limited energy prevented extending it to cover the entire base. Thanks to our industrious engineer we’ve been able to refocus the field at the points of impact, virtually extending our protected area, but I fear our reaction time won’t keep up. If I die, please tell my family that I love them and hope to…

Transmission ended at source.
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Pong RP (Role-playing)

Sure anyone can role-play, but without the game mechanics to support it, it’s not going to happen.

[______________Xombie]

Except Aberic did kill him

No, he most likely terminated. A level 200 gun cannot kill a level 350 in one shot, and i doubt that Aberic even had a level 200 gun.

[_______________Snarf]

> No, he most likely terminated. A level 200 gun cannot kill a level 350 in one shot, and i doubt that Aberic even had a level 200 gun.

You've obviosuly never seen the b/f/fa combo, which is still, for all purposes, a one shot kill.

[Cheddar]

Originally posted by Snarf
> No, he most likely terminated. A level 200 gun cannot kill a level 350 in one shot, and i doubt that Aberic even had a level 200 gun.

You've obviosuly never seen the b/f/fa combo, which is still, for all purposes, a one shot kill.

Except Aberic is MA

[Slingback]

Aristotle thought a lot about the whole question of whether plot or character is more important. He arrived at the conclusion that plot is more important.

I would tend to agree. Without a plot to give context to your character then you are just another uber-soldier putting the smack down on MOB after MOB.

Funcom is telling an epic story which I can experience first hand - and to be perfeclty honest I respect them for even trying.

However, and this comment is aimed at every poster who is whining about the lack of roleplaying in AO, Funcom is trying to tell a story in which we can participate. But our participation must react to the game world.

If you want to go down in history as Rubi-Ka's John Wilkes Booth - fine with me. But as long as your actions take point of departure in the story, and you don't expect the story to take point of departure in you, then everything will be fine.

But if you start whining about the game world not reacting to your actions then think about this scenario:

Aberic (or some other charcter) carries out an action which is contrary to the wishes of Omni-Tech (which is, remember a Facist Company)

Omni-tech revokes this person's ressurection insurance, and threatens to do the same to anyone who associates with them.

Omni-tech bans them from entering OT cities.

Omni-tech brings in their military to deal with the problem permanently. (remember the ICC ruling only prevents the OT military from attacking the Clans - not from dealing with "Internal OT security matters")

Now that would suck, right? But it would be the game world reacting to your actions...

And it could be implemented really easily too...

Interaction is a two edged sword - and believe me it gets really sharp out at the cutting edge...

[__________Merkaba715]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Aberic is a Martial Artist. How could he equip a gun and kill someone in PvP with one shot? And even if he could, what about the 40% damage cap? What about the intercepted communication Machevelli was refering to and being ignored due to the simple fact that it had nothing to do with the trial? I agree that it didn't, but now that its over, don't you think an investigation should be started to find out the real assasin? There is no way Aberic, at his level, could kill Radiman at lvl 350 in one or two shots. I believe there is something else going on here, and everyone is blinded to this because they are so lost in trying to say FC isnt letting us RP. I believe that there is something else happening. Maybe, and this is just my opinion, Aberic was the scapegoat for a larger plot. Kinda like when drug smugglers are transporting tons of drugs across the border, they give tons to lots of different people and then tip off the police to one of the 10 people that are carrying it for them. Something else is going on, you people are just too hell bent on saying FC sucks to see it. Go back and read the transcript again. Machavelli, please post any screenshots you have of the assasination attempt. As for me, I am going to hunt down the Colonel with some friends of mine and find more out about him. Kudos to all for making this story interesting.