Roleplay II

[Postmaster]

Originally posted by Emraht

In my first note on roleplaying I described what roleplaying was
and how Genesis is a roleplaying game. Now I would like to apply
that to how Genesis currently fosters a roleplaying environment.

Roleplaying and powerplaying are not mutually exclusive. If you
ask any veteran, "Would you like to be a champion?" you will be hard
pressed to find a single one who would turn down the offer because
they're "a roleplayer". Wanting to be big and/or powerful is a
universal desire felt to a varying degree by all players. I say also
roleplaying is a desire universal to nearly all our player base.
Some pay little attention to it. Others require a greater level of
immersion in the world to enjoy it.

That said, the guild system on Genesis has fostered and encouraged
a roleplaying environment through the allocation of power to players
through guilds. Guilds requiring more immersive roleplay from their
members have traditionally benefited from greater or more exclusive
powers:

* Knights vs. Gladiators: Two very old guilds. The gladiators
require no roleplay or adherence to any rules. The knights have
an application period, squire period, and must behave in strict
accordance with the measure.

- As a result the knights got a wide range of high weapon skills,
high defensive skills, powerful specials, block, rescue, a cool
keep with lots of services, a war system, and a rack that saves
gear through armageddons. The gladiators have a chest to dump
their gear in, solid core fighting skills, and an arena.

* Mages vs. Monks: Two very old guilds. The monks (kahedans and
dragon order) require no particular style of roleplay, have very
basic rules regarding conduct, and have a low requirement
application process. The mages have a demanding application period,
an incredibly hard apprenticeship, and a very difficult full member
period requiring adherence to an extremely long list of rules and
restrictions, and that requires a high level of roleplay in order
to be successful at the higher levels.

- As a result the monks have a nice guild hall, messaging, high
defensive skills, and a variety of special attacks. The mages have
a variety of arcane powers, deadly abilities (tempered by heavy
weaknesses), a cool guild hall in an evil city, and a definite
advantage in player fights.

There are many more comparisons that can be made between guilds with
high roleplay and join requirements like the spirit circle, vampires,
and takhisis priests and those with low requirements and few rules like
the mercenaries, neidar, and dragonarmies, but the above two should
demonstrate the point: Power fosters roleplay.

If a mercenary is balanced in power with the morgul mages, who will
go through months even years of hard work, dedication, and roleplay to
become a mage when the same power is available on the first day in the
mercenaries? Why apply to be a knight squire or become a takhisis priest
disciple when you can become a gladiator and whip them in a fight right
off the bat? Balanced power will kill Genesis, because it will erode
our system of fostering roleplay.

Roleplaying does not happen in multiplayer online games when it is not
required or encouraged. In my brief time on World of Warcraft, I was
publicly derided and humiliated for mentioning anything even remotely
akin to roleplaying. Yes, I can choose to roleplay, but if no one
roleplays back, what's the point?

If roleplaying is not aided by hard code, it cannot exist. If a
takhisis disciple can tell a priest, "Blow off, I'm going to whack stuff
with my friends." how can there be any roleplaying? If anyone can
become a neidar shieldbearer but the neidar have no control over them,
how would a neidar elder feel if a shieldbearer told him, "I don't bow
down to neidar or even elders so shove off."?

Roleplaying is not just a choice. It's encouraged by the system. If
we do not reward it, it will not have an environment in which to prosper
and flourish: in which it can affect the people, places, and things in
the world! It will die, and so will Genesis.

Roleplaying and long, difficult apprenticeships weed out unstable
individuals who would abuse the greater powers that exist in elite guilds.
Elite guilds that have abused or overused their powers risk losing them.
They get nerfed. Thus elite guilds have always policed themselves with
strict codes of conduct. Gorboth would tell you that roleplaying cannot
be factored into how powerful a guild is, because (using the mages as an
example) the Nazgul could promote everyone in the guild instantly to
nazgul and then tear through the game killing everyone on sight. However
in the 15+ years the mages have existed, this has never happened. The
system of policing itself has proven effective and thus the guild still
exists. The truly abusive incidents regarding elite guilds have come
from the wizard ranks, but I doubt the arches or keepers will bring this
up.

I ask those in power and those caught up in the rolling snowball of
change to weigh their next decisions carefully. Genesis is a unique
roleplaying game. When we are a text based WoW, there will be no
reason to play here for a roleplayer like myself or for a gamer better
described as a power player. We can't compete with WoW on mechanics,
but we can blow them out of the water with our roleplaying environment.