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General Discussion => The Speakeasy: OOG/Off-topic Discussion => Topic started by: Varrent on 09 Jul 2011, 14:15
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So as most of you probably know by now I am rather new at the Roleplay side of EVE. My only past Roleplay expeierience was with D&D, but that ran with a dungeon master and this is a very differerent setting. I'm also trying to integrate myself into the community better and get involved with you all, so here goes:
My question was, out of pure interest and curiosity, why do you roleplay? What got you started, etc.?
I personally got into it because I loved the PF and love all the stories that can evolve. I actually got started after applying to Veto, and learning about the great RP community EVE had hidden from me out in lowsec as a newbie, so.
Anyhow, i'm interested to hear from you all!
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I RP because I can't stand to play games purely as games. Rather, I like to see the game itself as a way to tell a story, and so my characters have to be embedded into the fictional universe in a way that makes sense and fits in.
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I was a very - active, fanfiction writer as a child. Roleplaying came as a natural extension of my story writing, and the unknown engagement with other people was fascinating. I'm not an overt fan of being a solo writer, and I find roleplaying helps to realize the living fantasy world that I find engaging.
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It gives a reason to undock and do shit, because to be perfectly frank... I have yet to find an MMO that stands on gameplay alone. It needs something more, and RP gives that motivation.
... sometimes. Lately it's been rather crap.
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because it allows me to extend the gameplay and "inmersion" to everything i do in this "mmo sci-fi fantasy". So in short is about enhacing the game for myself.
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I have yet to find an MMO that stands on gameplay alone. It needs something more, and RP gives that motivation.
Interesting point. Do you feel this way from the start of the game? Or only after you've played it for a while? Because I find myself agreeing with you, however only after a couple months of just the gameplay. I find most games can stand on gameplay initially, but the community and RP is what keeps me around.
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Well, initially most MMOs can stand on their own, gameplay wise. But sooner or later, often within just a month or two, the gameplay alone isn't enough to keep me playing. If I haven't found a community I enjoy by then, the game is uninstalled. Singleplayer games or normal Multiplayer games often have far better gameplay solutions in that regard, allowing me to enjoy it for longer or something I can return to after a while.
MMOs rarely manage that, unless there's a community/RP to be had.
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I'll echo Casiella, Ghost Hunter, and Mizhara. To me, games require a bit of extra imaginative input to be worth playing. I never play anything solely for the strategy of it. Accumulating isk, standings, killmails, etc. are all just numbers games. I like to look beyond the numbers and immerse myself in the games I play as if they are unfolding narratives. I like the roleplay community because it makes that possible, offering interactions that aren't inane, mechanics-based, or otherwise fourth-wall-breaking.
Another way of putting it, I suppose, is I can't stand anyone else besides roleplayers. :)
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I started roleplaying in EVE because I ran into someone who was freaking out over being recruited at by a roleplaying corp -- and I was bored enough that I decided to play along. A few weeks later, I got frustrated with myself enough that I decided I needed to start being social (I'd been playing the game for a year, without getting as much as a deep shield scratch from another player, and I fell for a stupid trap.). I still had a copy of the awesome recruitment mail Strix had sent that freaked out player, so I looked them up and conned them into accepting me.
This pretty much explains why I roleplay. I get bored, or I get frustrated. I run into people, and we tell each other stories. Sometimes, one or both of us freak out.
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Someone told me to.
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I never really considered myself a role player. I'd played EVE for a bit and taken a long break when my trial account expired but came back to it one day.
I was mining in my Iteron pewpewing the same Veldroid in the same rookie system I'd started in for what seemed like (and probably was) hours relearning the game. At the same time I was reading what I considered "fluff" back then - you know, the background storylines, the news articles that kind of stuff... and then I found it.
An old news story about how Intaki had been denied the vote in the Federation elections. I thought for a moment, double checked my profile and confirmed what I suspected...
I was Intaki! They couldn't do that! How dare they?!
And at that moment, surrounded by noobs in their Navitas frigates, Velators and Iteron Mk1s, all oblivious to the little revelation going on inside my pod, that little roleplay-gland in the back of my brain twitched and squirted it's murky contents into my bloodstream.
I found and applied to the ILF the next day.
As to why I still do it?
It definately gives my actions meaning and worth. Those sploding pixels on screen might give the hardcore 100% PvPers something shiney to look at on screen but I think those of us who roleplay and invest emotional value to what those pixels represent take something more from the game when we log at night.
It turns out I'm more emotionally attached to my Intaki side than I thought I would be when I first started. I could sometimes be forgiven for questioning whether I'm roleplaying at all at times, lol.
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Immersion, basically.
A game, book, movie, or story is more interesting to me if I can "immerse" myself into it, if I can "feel as if I am there" - and forget that it's a game, book, movie or story (not literally, of course, more in the "suspension of disbelief" sense).
As a side note, I also find it interesting to note that there are vastly different kinds of "role-playing" and what people enjoy in it. I sometimes wonder if it's really useful to put all of the different ways, some of which are inherently incompatible, under a single term. It does appear to me as if that can cause quite a lot of bad blood without any need, as can be seen by the frequency of "urdoinitwrong" appearing in such discussions.
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I enjoy being able to step out of reality into a really fantastic amazing world, and I definitely find that roleplaying adds to that world, making it deeper, more immersive, more vibrant, and honestly, just more there.
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Why roleplay, you say? Hmm, that's a good question. I do much less of it these days than I used to.
Like most others here, it's about immersion. The challenge of acting out another persona and imagining how they would behave or respond to various situations has been of immense interest to me. Roleplay is a bit like a math equation: the character personality variables are plugged into various unique equations (situations), and the outcome is a huge unknown. What usually kills that is predictability; I like NOT being able to predict outcomes, otherwise it gets boring. The alternative, especially in MMO country, is ripe with illiteracy, immaturity, homophobia, and internet e-peenery that doesn't really inspire me to keep playing.
And as others have said, roleplay gives meaning to my actions for the character. I don't just run missions for any corporation; I have always chosen ones that seemed appropriate for my characters. I don't just pvp to kill people for killboards, I have found a reason to justify said character's behavior. I don't ever let it limit my behavior, it lends substance to it.
It also lets me be creative in ways that I may not pursue out of the game that I can here. Artwork, writing, game design, these are things that I love to do but would seldom take the initiative to do if I didn't have an immersive universe to play with.
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I roleplay because it lets me do things and be people I cannot or will not actually do/be.
I roleplay because if I wanted to be myself, I'd just go outside.
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I just kinda got dragged into it, and it stuck.
Eve is the only place I've ever Roleplayed in my life. Well, except for this one time, when.... no no... nevermind.
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I just kinda got dragged into it, and it stuck.
Eve is the only place I've ever Roleplayed in my life. Well, except for this one time, when.... no no... nevermind.
Pretty much this exactly :yar:
In the meantime I also did some rp in star trek online, which is slightly different because you have your guy instead of a spaceship and "real" character-to-character interaction, but compared to EVEs text based rp both have up- and downsides.
Big advantage of EVE is that you're not at all restricted, while STO rp is restricted to the scenery you have in the game (which is great, but even with the foundry you can't create new places from scratch).
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I started roleplaying many years ago when I became addicted to text based MUDs. That kinda fizzled out when I discovered EVE as I was too engrossed with the 'Ooh, Shiny' and it was the game I'd been waiting for my whole life!
I rediscovered my love for RP when I entered the EVE's Next Top Model competition, and I'm now firmly entrenched in it!
As to why? Well originally it gave me the chance to 'be' somebody else, and now that has grown to the point where I enjoy telling it as part of an interactive story from my viewpoint. It's also a kind of therapy for me; my characters have been exploring and working through issues that I've struggled with in RL, quite effectively I might add, and it's also stopped me from burning out in EVE.
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Three reasons:
First: I enjoy adding life/flavor to a world in which I am investing time (and money) and interacting with the community at large in a way that we can all enjoy our imagination and help each other bring even more life to the world. (Also known as roleplaying).
Second: The lore of Eve is fantastic, if a bit filled with holes and lacking at times. It's fun to see players filling in the holes.
Third: I know myself well enough to know that I would be bored out of my mind without roleplay in this game.
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Biggest reason? My comp was overheating any time I undocked for long so I needed something to do while waiting on the new computer to arrive.
Actually, that's not the biggest reason at all. That's just what got me really stuck in. Prior to that, it as just fun.
Also, it's an escape from reality, and courtesy of a chronic health condition, reality will occasionally choose to really, really suck. Last time I got really sick, I spent as much time RPing as I could manage. Fuck you, real life.
More philosophically, I've always enjoyed playing pretend, overactive imagination and all that. Roleplaying is just the grownup word we use for it. Let's us act a little more dignified about it.
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Short answer: Because EVE is a sandbox. Sandbox games are only so fun as you can find your own motivations and enjoyment. By RPing, you give yourself another reason to actually do things, shoot and pod people, etc
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I've started getting in to RP because I want to keep the game fresh. Right as I was getting started Incarna drops and Monocle-gate happened. All of the resulting drama kind of sapped my will to play. So I'm taking a little break until next month. Then back to it!!
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I think I started actually RPing on my own in computer games properly in Morrowind. I love rpg games, but Morrowind is where Meb first started - evil, sexy, powerful bitch who did things her way (yes she rose to the top of the Telvanni first).
When I started Eve, I decided to carry her over (the apostrophe wasn't meant to be in her name, despite minmatar stereotypes). She wasn't evil at first, but she was certainly wicked. Kaleigh helped me get more into roleplaying her with others (Glamour Bunnies 4eva). Then one day Meb lost a ship and gained a taste for blood.
The rest, is another story...
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I rp in most things. Even in games that aren't really RP games, I end up trying to make decisions based on the concept I have of my 'character'. It often leads to me losing strategy games as I'll do things not strictly in my advantage for RP reasons.
I also refuse to play as a bad guy in any game, ever. I wouldn't even play as the Empire in Rebellion back in the day, because, you know, bad guys.
When I found out about RP in EVE I got into it as soon as I could.
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I started RP'ing in EVE because I felt involved in events that took place. My oldest toon's views were not planned as much as they simply happened due to my personal interests and a lucky choice of toon race and bloodline. From there is turned, simply put, into what keeps me going in EVE – as funny and entertaining as this game is, doing RP on my different toons, presenting different takes on events etc, enriches the experience. For me.
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I shall echo many others here and say that I RP for immersion. Any game I play, I try to sink into my character, whatever I've chosen to roll. I could just screw around and do whatever, but I've found that trying to fit myself into the setting means I play for much longer. It gives me a purpose to follow and a goal to reach for within the game, even one as open ended as Eve.
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I play for RP.
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I RP because this is a roleplaying game....everyone in Eve is not a pod pilot in real life.
I took RP to the next level because it gave my character more immersion and reasons to do stuff other than ISK earning/killing ships in a non-linear sandbox environment.
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I RP because this is a roleplaying game....everyone in Eve is not a pod pilot in real life.
...who told you this!
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Because our characters are far cooler than we will ever be :yar:
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
While Esna doesn't neccesarily match me in personality, I will admit that to a degree Esna went liberal Amarrian in the beginning because I had a great deal of trouble getting into the "hardliner" mindset; the sheer, inherent illogicity of it grated against an entirely personal desire for my positions to be rationalized out. I imagine now that I've got a couple years RP experience under my belt it would be easier (I'd literally never RPed before that), but at the time it was the only way to avoid driving myself nuts and tearing my hear out going "But... but... but... that doesn't make SENSE! Why would he think that?!"
Now, why do I RP... because frankly, I was bored. Utterly bored. I got into this game long before I got into RP, and at the time I was a generic mission runner scrabbling up enough ISK for my first battlecruiser. While nowadays I might actually undock more if I weren't RPing, or go off into 0.0 to run some big comglomerate or something, at the time something to do whie running missions seemed quite awesome. In the mean time, I've come to greatly enjoy the community and RP as a whole, and I don't think I can see myself willingly giving it up any time soon.
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
This char is quite close to myself, but not the same though. On another hand, it is not my first RP (I played it on swg before and all my drafts and weird starting characters were done here mostly), and I usually tend to shape my characters differently, which means here that Lyn is the exception (maybe because of the way eve works and how serious and politized is the universe). I generally start from an archetype and gives it depth. Here I did the opposite, shaped the character itself then applied it on an archetype to add depth. So yes, usually I play very typed characters, that have probably not a lot in common with me (a young idealistic medic, a ruthless and pragmatic slaver and a blasé scurribous veteran soldier planned for swtor if ever I come to play it, for instance).
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
I do, pretty much. If I RP someone evil and/or badass I always end up feelin bad in the end :lol:
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I started out basically RPing myself. That character still exists but has largely been shelved - pulled it out briefly to try and be a part of the A'J project but realized quickly how inconducive that cacophany was going to be for the way I work and think. I found that the closer a character is to the RL me, the more unpleasant it is when misfortune befalls them, so I mostly stick to the character that I can't connect to as easily - like my psychotic monster, Vicky, who has almost nothing in common with me except her loyalty to those she trusts.
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I like games with interesting narratives, but these days the trend is toward the cliche and overly-epic. Players deliver more engaging stories these days than developers usually do.
I don't enjoy tabletop or anything of the sort, but I like getting immersed in a game's universe. Anyone ever remember that epic 60-70 page manual for Homeworld?
Also it's a good thing to pass time while being camped. :D
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
If I was playing myself, I wouldn't be playing a capsuleer. I'd be an Agent. Probably a Level I. "Yeah, if you're so great, hotshot, why aren't you getting to talk to somebody more important than me? So, settle your ass down and start making up some good lies about how you're going to make sure those freaking <insert pirate faction here> stop turning up in my system." Yep. That'd be me.
I do use my interests, though. :P
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For why I roleplay, I suppose I got into that through wanting to play tabletop RP, but I never managed to get a game together and IRL I'm shy enough that I never could get into character the way I wanted to. Then I got into Star Wars Galaxies and EvE, and realized that no one was ever going to see my face and that I could do what I wanted, which was really freeing for me, and really fun. Which probably says something about my mental state, but whatever. ;)
As for how much of me is in my characters, it varries. Saikoyu is probably the most like me IRL, shy, bad at fights (verbal or physical), etc, but she is a lot more passive than I usually am. All of my alts that I RP with are usually based around Sai, so there is less of me in them, and usually I just started of awith a key concept and then based the rest around either actors in shows or people I know. A'kua is based a lot on several Belly Dancers I know, and Chantel is basically a female version of Captain Jack from Dr. Who/Torchwood, but without the angest, yet anyway.
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
There's a lot of me in my characters, but no one character is completely me. They represent different facets of my personality but I suppose more idealised.
Wamp, for example is the brooding, proud narcissist trying to find his true path in life. Somewhat conflicted yet very loyal.
My other guy is almost the opposite in many ways, yet complements Wamp perfectly. Loud, proud and 'in your face' he's not afraid to speak his mind and have a lot of fun in doing it. Underneath the partygoing exterior is a very sensitive man who is loyal to those he holds dear.
He's also a complete slut. :D
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...He's also a complete slut. :D
But it's endearing.
Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
Personality-wise, I'd say Merahl is fairly close to myself. Perhaps more even tempered. For the rest, though, I'm sad to say I am not a studly 49 year old Sebiestor war veteran :oops:
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<--- RL Sebiestor... >_>
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He's also a complete slut. :D
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:yar:
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Anyone ever remember that epic 60-70 page manual for Homeworld?
Holy shit, yes.
I also remember that I still have my limited editions x-wing (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Farlander_Papers) and tie-fighter (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Stele_Chronicles) collector booklets. Fucking epic, game publishers do not do that kind of stuff anymore T_T
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I RP because this is a roleplaying game....everyone in Eve is not a pod pilot in real life.
...who told you this!
Now I have a picture in my head of you sitting at home in your paper mache pod while playing Eve. :lol:
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I RP because this is a roleplaying game....everyone in Eve is not a pod pilot in real life.
...who told you this!
Now I have a picture in my head of you sitting at home in your paper mache pod while playing Eve. :lol:
Hey! Its airtight for 6,4seconds and looks plain badass! Also, for immersion, im obviously playing naked.
Still working on the goo problem though, so far it soaked the pod and dissolved it everytime i tried, was a bit messy!
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Side question: how many people RP versions of themselves, whether in terms of personality or areas of interest (e.g. RL businesspeople doing trade and industry, etc.)?
I do, pretty much. If I RP someone evil and/or badass I always end up feelin bad in the end :lol:
I never had this problem, atl not in ME2. The problem there though is that 100% renegade is considered by the developers to be bad-ass, ruthless and merciless to one's foes. In reality, 100% renegade score - accepting the renegade option all the time - is just the recipe for a total asshole.
I had no problems maxing out my renegade score playing the role of the utterly merciless ruthless 'mission done at all cost' type, but I also ended with half of the paragon meter decked out due to accepting options that were logical and expected, for example, in regard to crew-members and companions and their issues.
As such, this is just an example that it's possible to be 'evil' or darker than your average hero, without being an utter, unsensitive prick as well.
And as for the original question... the only toon of mine simmilar to myself in RL was BB, and that was the original way of thinking, reasoning and some facets of personality. This morphed over time and now only a few parts of him retains hints of 'me' and how I might solve stuff/think. As for the others, they are mostly stand-alone works with little or no connections.
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I would say it'd be difficult to play something you aren't capable of comprehending. Humans have the capability to do awful and wonderful things if enabled in certain situations, so in a way I think all roleplay is somewhat of a journey of self-exploration.
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Aria said how that you can't RP something that isn't "of" you, and that even if your character is different (reacts differently to situations), it is still very much in the capability of who you could be IRL.
Even with female characters played by guys, are "surrogates" or idealized versions of women we desire. Certainly been like that with how I play my adult female characters.
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Even with female characters played by guys, are "surrogates" or idealized versions of women we desire. Certainly been like that with how I play my adult female characters.
That may be true in some cases, but I don't think it's an accurate generalization that men play female characters according to our idealized desires any more than the inverse is true: I don't believe women always play male characters that match their idealized desires.
In fact, I generally play female characters closer to myself without worrying too much about the gender aspect - and I speak from significant personal experience when I say that relationships with women too much like myself don't work... >_>
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I'm fairly late to MMO's. My path in roleplaying has been tabletop RPG's (of all kinds) on to rubber sword fantasy LARPing and finally here.
I like the mental effort of coming up with a character and putting myself inside their head. Like most people my characters share some traits with me but are usually different in some significant way persona-wise.
I'm not really into playing utterly psychotic villians. It just doesn't do anything for me (usually, a tabletop called SLA Industries being the exception). That said I find saintly hero types just as boring (usually, I've managed some very heroic Humakti in Gloranthan tabletop games though).
One definite attraction for doing this in EVE is the reaction of non roleplayer rookie pirate types when they find out that a corp full of roleplayers aren't the pushovers that they where expecting. Much sweeter tears than any carebear tears ever could be. I've always been partial to cyberpunk settings as well. EVE is very much that, only with a wider scope than most.
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Eve is the only thing I play with besides my grandbabies. :) I agree with many of the reasons expressed above related to “why” and “role-play”. I will not guess as to others reasons, as for mine…
1. It allows me to explore with others things that are “normally” against my nature.
2. It affords me a measure of control over the “universe” in which I play.
3. It is occasionally fun.
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This thread should be moved to the reception area.
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well, for me its basically getting to see through the eyes of someone who is the exact opposite of me in every way (Deitra = shy overly optimistic, childish girl, me = more so social, generally mature imho, guy) Really I prolly suck at rping though I find it fun. In my boredom I write short stories and such, and I've yet to make a male protagonist who isn't either a cookie cutter godlike protagonist or basically me in whatever situation I'm writing about. Really the char I play was a creation when I was day dreaming while(afk mining) writing a 65 page paper to get my bachelors degree. And actually made it a char after my daughter was born. But that's a totally different story.
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For fun. Also give context to what my character does and why. If I can't quite make his actions fit an in-character context I won't be doing it.
Also, I like to imagine things up.
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So much necro.
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I like to roleplay to inject an extra dimension into the game.
I like the challenges of going against my better judgement as a player to do things that Karynn would want to do... hanging around to burn wrecks and corpses as offerings to the Ancestors when I should really gtfo; only flying Minmatar and preferably Thukker ships; keeping a bit of contraband in the hold to make high sec more interesting... that kinda thing!
Acting out Karynn with other players is also a challenge for me. I generally have fun with the character, but sometimes it feels like hard work. She's the polar opposite of me in most regards and I don't think I would get on with her in RL.
Also, making and selling drugs is naughty in RL. In a game, it's fun!
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I roleplay just as an extension of the characters I write. It's pretty much that simple. There isn't any 'part of myself' or 'exploration' involved, though more power to those that find that sort of thing useful with roleplaying. For me, it's just a form of storytelling.
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It's the next step. I've read books, I've written stories, it's time to live them, even if they're small insignificant ones they're out there to be had, a whole world of fantastic things to do and create with limits imposed only by imagination.