Roleplaying

[gorboth]

So, the actors guild. I love the idea that we could make this significant somehow, and that it could become a truly important thing to people. What I question is the degree to which it is actually a meaningful concept on its own. It was an entity that existed after I stopped playing a mortal in any active way, to the extent that I never really felt or experienced the guild or what it meant to people directly. I just remember how much the ripples were felt throughout the game when Gadez scuttled the ship.

So ... if the actors club were brought back, what would make it meaningful to people? Why would they want to join? Is the prestige of membership enough on its own? I guess that would mean it is very exclusive in terms of who is allowed in, so to do so would be meaningful? Or, does it need something attached to it like the free-emote? It would certainly be easy to de-couple that from the Wize Person's pin, and have it be a unique offering from the Actor's Club again. Or, would we need to do something much more significant yet? Perhaps all guild specials are tied to membership in the Actors Guild, and if you are not a member, your power is significantly less? A radical concept, of course, but perhaps something like this would be necessary to combat the holy-grail-of-stat-grindership?

Thoughts?
G.

[Manglor]

So, the actors guild. I love the idea that we could make this significant somehow, and that it could become a truly important thing to people. What I question is the degree to which it is actually a meaningful concept on its own.
[...]
So ... if the actors club were brought back, what would make it meaningful to people? Why would they want to join? Is the prestige of membership enough on its own? I guess that would mean it is very exclusive in terms of who is allowed in, so to do so would be meaningful?

I think that, coming from someone who loves to RP and has seen his efforts diminish greatly, the reward needs to be tangible yet not game-breaking. So let's do this...we reboot the Actors Club and the wizards hand-pick active players who represent a broad spectrum of guilds, races, alignments and who are known for their RP abilities. (Or if not wizards picking, maybe a poll? Keep it unbiased, etc.)

They "run" the club and oversee the initiation of new members. New members are voted on and need majority voting to be allowed in. Voted on based solely on their ability to RP and keep OOC/IC separate. No politics(!).

Now, to keep it fair and so it doesn't break the game, what about something like this as a perk: Players wearing the pin of the actor's club mask are recognized by shopkeeps (including Karkadelt) and ship-captains in Sparkle. They get discounted rates and free boat fare. Maybe the men/women of Sparkle swoon when a beautiful/handsome member of the Actor's Guild walks by (like Swordmasters/Knights of Solamnia in Kalaman).

Remove free emotes from Wise People and give back (wiz monitored) to Actors Club only, as it once was.

Add a special room in the Inn in Sparkle for Actors and those they allow only (teams, not an 'allowed' list) where they can sit around a fire, enjoying beverages of their choosing for free. RP, sip coffee, chat, etc. Picture the rich aristocrats sitting around smoking cigars and sipping brandy. "Yes, twas a fine day of troll slaying, it was. A noble hunt, to be sure."

To advertise who's in the club (how to find like-minded people) add a notifier like the "+" next to newbie-helpers to identify who's into RP. Use a "!" or something similar. Do not, however, introduce a new RP-line for chat

Just off the top of my head.

[Arcon]

So, the actors guild. I love the idea that we could make this significant somehow, and that it could become a truly important thing to people. What I question is the degree to which it is actually a meaningful concept on its own.
[...]
So ... if the actors club were brought back, what would make it meaningful to people? Why would they want to join? Is the prestige of membership enough on its own? I guess that would mean it is very exclusive in terms of who is allowed in, so to do so would be meaningful?

I think that, coming from someone who loves to RP and has seen his efforts diminish greatly, the reward needs to be tangible yet not game-breaking. So let's do this...we reboot the Actors Club and the wizards hand-pick active players who represent a broad spectrum of guilds, races, alignments and who are known for their RP abilities. (Or if not wizards picking, maybe a poll? Keep it unbiased, etc.)

They "run" the club and oversee the initiation of new members. New members are voted on and need majority voting to be allowed in. Voted on based solely on their ability to RP and keep OOC/IC separate. No politics(!).

Now, to keep it fair and so it doesn't break the game, what about something like this as a perk: Players wearing the pin of the actor's club mask are recognized by shopkeeps (including Karkadelt) and ship-captains in Sparkle. They get discounted rates and free boat fare. Maybe the men/women of Sparkle swoon when a beautiful/handsome member of the Actor's Guild walks by (like Swordmasters/Knights of Solamnia in Kalaman).

Remove free emotes from Wise People and give back (wiz monitored) to Actors Club only, as it once was.

Add a special room in the Inn in Sparkle for Actors and those they allow only (teams, not an 'allowed' list) where they can sit around a fire, enjoying beverages of their choosing for free. RP, sip coffee, chat, etc. Picture the rich aristocrats sitting around smoking cigars and sipping brandy. "Yes, twas a fine day of troll slaying, it was. A noble hunt, to be sure."

To advertise who's in the club (how to find like-minded people) add a notifier like the "+" next to newbie-helpers to identify who's into RP. Use a "!" or something similar. Do not, however, introduce a new RP-line for chat

Just off the top of my head.

Sounds good except change the name from actors club, it is very anti rp to admit that you are roleplaying. Change it to something like The Club of Legendary Heros/Villains.

And make sure that just because someone is liked don't mean they rp. Very hated people can be RP and people everyone like are not. It should not be a popularity contest.

[Manglor]

Sounds good except change the name from actors club, it is very anti rp to admit that you are roleplaying. Change it to something like The Club of Legendary Heros/Villains.

And make sure that just because someone is liked don't mean they rp. Very hated people can be RP and people everyone like are not. It should not be a popularity contest.

Good call on the name, you make a very good point.

I tried to stress the lack of politics. Just in case I didn't make it clear, I agree 100%

[Laurel]

http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/art ... medev-4173

read, understand, memorize
pure RP (or any other "pure" approach) will die out

I love how the same ppl whine here about lack of RP and do all sorts of utter lack of RP in Gen - quite a common approach the moment it's about friends or bypassing rules or getting better/more monkey anuses (different per category of player)

[Arcon]

http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/art ... medev-4173

read, understand, memorize
pure RP (or any other "pure" approach) will die out

Who has said anything about pure rp? We are talking about adding more rp to a game where rp have almost died.
Will it help? I don't know.
Will it hurt? Most likely not.
So is it worth trying? Yes.

[Kiara]

Will it hurt? Most likely not.

Any change will be disliked by some. Thats the nature of things. For YOU more RP focus is a positive change. But I would not trust that _every_ player feel the same way.

[Manglor]

Will it hurt? Most likely not.

Any change will be disliked by some. Thats the nature of things. For YOU more RP focus is a positive change. But I would not trust that _every_ player feel the same way.

I still think it's worth bringing RP back to the forefront. I can't see people leaving over trying to increase this very important aspect.

[Karpath]

Bring it back by all means but make it a club like ie. Storytellers. With special benefits like shopkeepers swooning over someone, special rooms only for this and that, RP chatting or what you wish to call it will eventually lead to eliteist behaviour / selecting of close friends etc as it happened in the past. Even with any wizard hand picking who is good at roleplaying and thus deserves to be a member. Being picked to join a club should not be the motivation behind roleplaying in my eyes. And free emotes should remain with character age, when you've passed 300, 400 or even 500 (800 for some) days with one char you are _probably_ wise enough to know how to use them. Karpath was in the club, used free emotes at times and I still do.

Oh and most of you probably know of this but answer "in character" and see if you roleplay what you think you roleplay :

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20001222b

[Makfly]

Unless you can quantify good roleplaying, then having the Actors club around with the same faulty setup will probably be a disaster.

The old Actors club was, perhaps, a good idea but terrible in practice. Consistent roleplayers didn't get in, friends invited friends and the whole thing was not a catalyst for roleplaying, but a stagnant symbol of nepotism.
If it should be revived, the structure should certainly be reworked into something were it is not based off of someones individual idea of what "good roleplaying" is.

Never the less I do think it's very nice to hear that you, Gorboth, are willing to somehow reward roleplaying within Genesis. It will be exciting to see what will come out of it!

Working with the leaders of guilds could be a good first step and encourage them actively to lead by example. Also do not be afraid to prod (depose?) guildleaders who are completely inactive on this or even go against the theme of the guild.

Supporting and facilitating roleplaying by code would also be good. Create more places that have a roleplaying focus - Like the Goatfeather Cafe for instance.
Perhaps think about ways for players to effect the world around them by non-violent means.
Maybe a 'War room' where members of the evil/Neutral/Good guilds could meet and negotiate, propose and vote on troop movements/reinforcements, buy mercenary troops, create shared goals across guilds.
Let the room be filled with powerful (but defeatable) guards from the guilds involved, so that it'd be a dangerous place to assassinate other guildmembers, but still a possibility.
Let there be a real gain for participating in these types of activities. Enough to not wanting to miss out, but not enough to unbalance the game.
Create some "diplomatic" weekly/monthly mission (quests) for guilds. All guilds have someone that could present the whole guild with a mission, so it can easily be wrapped in thematically logical explanations.
Anyways I'm just brainstorming, and I'm sure the Admin and community could come up with something better given a little bit of time. But the point stands, that the Wizards can do quite a bit by creating "roleplaying focused" content.

EDIT: I know that guilds from different realms may not have anything in common, but if the Admin wanted to make the alignment system the axis for roleplaying it could be done in that way. Genesis is a cross-realm game after all, so maybe it would work...or maybe it wouldn't.