#mmorpgs

[meandering-mind]

How did you get into RP?

Here's a question for you all. No matter how far back or which game, how did you get into RP on the MMORPG scene? What or who got you hooked? How were you shown the ropes? I was thinking of some dear memories of mine, and I wanted to see if others maybe also have memories of their first RP days they'd like to share.

[azure-infinitum]

In SWTOR Galactic Seasons 6, titled "Building a Foundation," players can unlock a new Stronghold based in Copero as a reward on the reward track.

[canmom]

mmo rp is kind of fundamentally not so different from RPing in any messaging program, something we've been doing since the days of IRC. the story you co-create is primarily driven by what's written in the text box. no matter how well made the emote animations are, they are not communicative enough to really tell a complex story, so you always fall back to prose. your character's voice will be limited to a handful of nonverbal expressions - a laugh, mm-hm, uh-huh. you are constantly having to reinterpret bits of game jank as you construct your mental version of the 'real story'. and yet

these visual aids do make a really substantial difference in how you experience it i think. to honestly a kind of surprising degree. of course having a character design on screen helps avoid writing tons of descriptive prose - but there's also a lot that can be done with simple movement through space, like a character positioning themselves besides another, retreating to sulk, getting up to dance.

like in visual novels and manga, you have essentially a set of codified, symbolic expressions - but in FFXIV, every race has its own set of very charming and polished animations for nearly every emote, which adds a huge amount of info in how you interpret that character (and slot them into the otaku database). a roegadyn will by default be loud and brash, a viera refined and dreamy, a lala mischievous and childlike. a mi'qote is a cat. since all of these are chosen by the player, they act as a strong signal of what your character's deal is - their body language comes across even if it's not like the actual scene fully acted out.

and what's fascinating to me is that even when i know what the player looks like irl, i still find myself responding to their game embodiment in how i think about them, i don't picture them irl... but also, having the embodiment helps me get into character. I have two alts, and with each one i feel drawn to a different style of roleplay. just like a list of prompts in a ttrpg sourcebook, the embodiment you've chosen gives you something to bounce off when you're improvising.

roleplaying is very similar to improv comedy, and many of the same analysis concepts - 'offers', 'yes, and' - apply. we're essentially improvising a digital puppet show. building up an RP venue and customising our model is a way of laying out props to help that process roll smoothly.

i often dream about an mmo animation system that would be less janky - more control over camera placement, better handling of interactions between player characters and characters with their environment, more ability to plan out timing and blocking and so on - essentially trending towards multiplayer source filmmaker.

the problem is that such a system would probably have way too much cognitive overhead to be usable in real time improv. i think what something like ffxiv shows is that even very simple elements - besides the emotes, your character looks towards your target and moves their lips when you talk, you can adjust their expression and there's animation hooks all over the place line chairs you can sit on - can actually be a very expressive palette and people are pretty good at filtering out the jank when they want to create a story together.

indeed, it becomes a skill - knowing what animations you have, how to reinterpret them, how to line yourself up with other players. and in the end you don't remember the time spent shuffling forwards and typing /hug again and again, or standing up and sitting down repeatedly until it lines up right. you remember the cute sight of your character sitting beside your friend, looking fondly at each other.

there's also another angle which is like... i find real life 'going out' very difficult - usually hitting a point of information overload very quickly in a pub environment, and while music is easier to manage than a wall of conversation, i never really learned how to interact with strangers at a club, concert, convention. I'm not good with alcohol. when i try to a pub, i usually end up retreating into myself and ducking out. in mmos, though... i find prose much more easy to be expressive in, and the limits of the animation system kind of level the playing field a bit in terms of The Autism when it comes to body language and the like.

still, sometimes it feels like a very sad existence - i rely on this simulacrum, pretending i am being intimate and social with people i can't touch through a computer program that draws triangles. everything in an mmo is muted, blunted by the medium - which makes it 'safe', but also tinges it with a loneliness that can't really be broken. but for now, i guess the simulacrum is all I've got, you know? and i can appreciate how it's put together, all the effort that has gone in from devs and players alike to realise this alternative channel for connection.

but yeah. i guess it comes back to this again... there's a reason my online 'face' is a low poly approximation of an animal!

[distantsonata]

Shadowbringers

[wishmasters-muse]

Welcome the the first official CAVE update!!

Day 1 concluded in arranging a potential future server pizza night. Sharing Among us Pizza pics and planning a soon to be meowing session. 🤣🤣

For a first day venture I'm honestly impressed how much everyone just... glued together. If you want in to join us, inviting other friends, join us in the Cave to share your interests and make friends.

⚠️⚠️Reminder: YOU MUST BE 18+⚠️⚠️

[halloweenpixl]

[vaporwavechaogarden]

[shilohsylvanian]

I’m making another character (lmao) in my very niche 2008 mmorpg and need another Calico Critter surname!  here’s a few of my characters as an example^ Limited to 10 letters so keep that in mind!

I also already have a Hucklberry, Bramble, Sweetpea, and Beaufort. 

[aywren]

Excellent video - for all MMO players.

[gapol]

LOTRO: How to Fight and Survive

Around the same level:

Weak enemies: Just attack is enough

Strong enemies: Try to defence/heal until enemies run out of mana, then switch to attack

Note that fighting on horse is stronger.

Also note that some classes, eg. Rune-keeper has very much of mana and can fight for long.

[bye2k]

[momotech764]

alright, i need help:

i have MMORPG Disease but nobody else wants to play them with me because mmorpgs are ass and i can't make friends *inside* the game because gamers cannot be trusted (and meeting new people is scary)

my main gripe (aside from horrific monetization practices which are kind of a Genre Staple), is that character creation (in games that even have it) is Extremely Bad. good luck trying to make your character fat, and God help you if you're not white.

so... give me your recommendations. I'll join your guild or whatever. i want to play an mmorpg with my partner so bad but having bad customization is a dealbreaker

the only criteria i'm asking for are like. a decent selection of skin tones and SOME degree of body customization. it doesn't even have to be that good, it just has to Be a Feature:tm:

list of games NOT to recommend:

Warframe (i play it already)

PSO2NGS (we've played it)

Elsword, Archeage (i've played them before and the customization isn't good enough, also @archeage: fuck kakao)

WoW, Elder Scrolls (absolutely not.)

[azure-infinitum]

'AC Scratch Ticket: Basilisk Beauty' in PSO2NGS offers dragon-themed traditional Chinese outfits and dinosaur CAST Parts. Share your favorite from this Scratch Collection! 🦖

[canmom]

every RP character, in TTRPGs and MMOs alike, ends up reflecting some facet of me. I mean how can it not? I only have this one brain, this one idiolect, this one set of experiences to use as material, this one set of aesthetic tastes. some characters are more aspirational, some are more vulnerable expressions. even when I look to characterise a character negatively, I will draw on my experiences of getting stuff wrong and putting my foot in it, or fears about what I might become, or already be without realising it.

but also all of them bring in their own facets. it's not exactly like they take on an independent existence as like tulpas or something, I'm still aware of making decisions about which direction I'll choose to take them. yet as you spend time inhabiting a character, you start to build up an intuition - kind of like a palette of expressions you have established and practiced. this is how this character laughs, these are her turns of phrase, this is what makes her excited, these are the prose styles that fit her. you discard parts of the original concept and add things that emerged at the table/rp venue. you're not even thinking about that consciously, it's just "right now I am being Rachine, and when I'm in that state of mind, the Rachine-isms come to me".

i think - because I tend to end up saying all things are the same - it's actually very much like learning a language, or a new art form, or a fighting game.