Roleplay Pet Peeves

[TemporalVileTerror]

My biggest roleplay pet peeve would probably be the massive over-abundance of second-person use of "you" in game narrative and description text.

An NPC saying "You are weak" is fine.  That's the NPC's opinion.  They're not defining the player-character; they're expressing a non-player character's personal view.

The pop-up box when entering a mission saying "You're incapable of basic self-control and rudimentary intellect" is just gear-grinding.  That's the godhand narrator robbing the player of agency.

[twozerofoxtrot]

 

7 hours ago, Tyrannical said:

I went to Pocket D and there was 4 different people texting on their phones. Sometimes even you'll see people standing right next to each other texting (I assume) each other!

 

It's been a few years since I've gone, but I used to see this in clubs all the time. Art imitating life.

But as far as people texting away while solo: I think it's a way for them to be available for RP without actively engaging in it. "Fishing for RP" is what I like to call it. It frees them up for other tasks outside of the game (or maybe enhancement flipping, etc), but still keeps them available if someone sends a tell or walks up.

[Haijinx]

While we are on the subject,  RPing in a club, bar, etc as a go to is a pet peave of mine. 

 

This isn't just a COH thing, it transcends games, and formats (pnp, etc).  

 

Plenty of times the only rp is at the tavern, the dungeon is a mechanics heavy slog.

[Moka]

2 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

While we are on the subject,  RPing in a club, bar, etc as a go to is a pet peave of mine. 

 

This isn't just a COH thing, it transcends games, and formats (pnp, etc).  

 

Plenty of times the only rp is at the tavern, the dungeon is a mechanics heavy slog.

I don't mind the downtime RP but I do miss the vast amount of RP teams like on live. 

[Starforge]

4 minutes ago, Moka said:

I don't mind the downtime RP but I do miss the vast amount of RP teams like on live.

Some of the best RP I've been a part of is that banter during RP missions.

[TemporalVileTerror]

I know I haven't got around to implementing my incentivization programme for it, but I do encourage folks to consider checking out:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/clubs/14-roleplay-a-day/

There are a lot of lovely areas to try to encourage fellow players to conduct roleplay which aren't night clubs.

Mind you, I'm not against the night clubs.  I've tried a few times, but I just don't "vibe" in those places.  Some things I just can't roleplay my way through, I guess.  

It's strange, in a way.  I can slip in to the role of half a dozen bickering characters in a single scene, all with different motivations and plans and personal experiences . . . but trying to "relax" in a night club just sets my teeth on fire.  In roleplay, or in the real world.  Doesn't matter.

[Arctique]

37 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

While we are on the subject,  RPing in a club, bar, etc as a go to is a pet peave of mine. 

 

This isn't just a COH thing, it transcends games, and formats (pnp, etc).  

 

Plenty of times the only rp is at the tavern, the dungeon is a mechanics heavy slog.

 

Personally I think the problem is more when people stick exclusively to the bar/club/tavern RP. Those types of settings can still be surprisingly vital though, an easily recognized social hub like that can really help build connections that feed into more impactful RP storytelling outside the club.

 

Like a lot of the time when I'm trying to lay the foundations for some sort of RP story arc on one of my characters, I might just spend some time with that character hanging out at Pocket D with a couple of friends that are already involved in the upcoming plot, and occasionally discussing plot threads relating to what's to come, in between the usual casual banter and slice of life moments. Sometimes this can lead to others in earshot getting curious and contributing to the conversation, wanting to learn more about the story at hand and providing a way to form connections between characters, and potentially end up along for the ride if things click right.

 

Like for example, Hero A and B are hanging out at the bar chatting as old friends. Their conversation turns to pondering possible ways to stop Villain X that's been giving them trouble lately. Hero C looks up from their texting and offers some ideas of their own after overhearing the conversation. A, B, and C continue talking and getting to know each other from there, and soon enough when it's time to fight Villain X, Hero C has joined the fight when it would have been just A and B otherwise.

 

To me, that just feels more organic than joining a random RP mission team. That can be fun still in it's own right, but if I'm looking to get some new faces on board for a larger story, I'll head to somewhere like Pocket D to dangle some plot hooks around.

 

tl;dr: Bar/Club RP can help enhance RP outside the bar/club. All about that networking!

[TemporalVileTerror]

Yes . . . but to the point of it:  Can't we sometimes do that networking at a place that -isn't- a bar/nightclub?   Please?

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by TemporalVileTerror
Added the "sometimes" to stress that I don't want to get rid of club roleplay . . . just expand from it.

[TheCorvus]

5 minutes ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

Yes . . . but to the point of it:  Can't we do that networking at a place that -isn't- a bar/nightclub?   Please?

 

Possibly. What are the location-agnostic requirements for a successful "networking" zone?

 

1. A reason to casually stop by (examples include parks, stores, banks, etc)

2. Safety. The first time you have your pickup line interrupted by a demon attack is funny. The 10th time is infuriating.

3. Neutral ground. This isn't as important as the first two if it's in addition to Pocket D, instead of replacing Pocket D.

4. Props. So much easier to have things around to play off of, such as chairs, lights, trash cans, etc.

 

What else?

 

Once that's sorted, you can start looking for places that might work.

Edited March 15, 2021 by TheCorvus

[TemporalVileTerror]

Sorta already did:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/20019-roleplay-pet-peeves/page/10/?tab=comments#comment-335226

[TheCorvus]

I would have a hard time coming up with a reason for casually stopping by most of those. That's the biggest thing the bar scene provides. I would think alternatives would have to provide the same thing.

[TemporalVileTerror]

I suppose that might be quite the impasse.  I can think of WAY more reasons to casually visit all of those locations with more ease in this setting than a nightclub.  Night clubs seem like planned destinations to me, not casual hangouts.  I suppose that's just my hang-up, but I have heard some other players lament similar concerns.

[TheCorvus]

There are places that might work, but you'd have to work up enough people going to create it's own gravity, in a sense.

 

Which University is most used? Maybe get a few people to go there and do some RP-ing. you might suck people in.

 

Same thing for the Market, magical-type places, etc.

[Arctique]

9 minutes ago, TheCorvus said:

 

Possibly. What are the location-agnostic requirements for a successful "networking" zone?

 

1. A reason to casually stop by (examples include parks, stores, banks, etc)

2. Safety. The first time you have your pickup line interrupted by a demon attack is funny. The 10th time is infuriating.

3. Neutral ground. This isn't as important as the first two if it's in addition to Pocket D, instead of replacing Pocket D.

4. Props. So much easier to have things around to play off of, such as chairs, lights, trash cans, etc.

 

What else?

 

Once that's sorted, you can start looking for places that might work.

 

I think another big one to keep in mind, is if people can easily identify "this is where people meet up and RP". There's a reason bars/taverns tend to be the RP hot spots for casually meeting people in most settings. They're places that, even in the real world, are designed specifically for meeting new people.

 

If I was a new player looking for places RPers gather, would my first instinct be to hang around the bank in Atlas Park, or the Midnighters Club, or that rooftop garden in Atlas? Probably not. Those places can make for nice areas to hang out and RP and do provide a reason to just be casually dropping in, but people aren't going to just naturally be drawn there to meet people unless they already know that's the designated "hub".

 

Parks would offer a good alternative, like for the sake of new player accessibility I'd suggest the park directly across the road from the Atlas statue. It's literally right behind you when you first zone in on a new hero, so somebody new looking to join into the RP community would need only make a single 180 degree turn to see people RPing and figure out "ah this is where i go to meet people". But then the problem there is that only really works for blue side. What's an equally accessible and recognizable spot for villains? What about an easily recognizable social hub that's a co-op area for both sides to mingle?

 

I can understand 100% just personally not clicking with the bar/nightclub setting for casual RP. Especially when it would just make no sense for a particular character to hang out there. It can be hard to get an alternative to gain traction in an already established RP community though, because the bar RP tends to become a bit of a default for a reason.

[TheCorvus]

3 minutes ago, Arctique said:

I can understand 100% just personally not clicking with the bar/nightclub setting for casual RP. Especially when it would just make no sense for a particular character to hang out there.

 

Yeah. None of my cryptids would have any reason to even go to a bar, much less have an idea of how to act when they got there.

[Arctique]

6 minutes ago, TheCorvus said:

 

Yeah. None of my cryptids would have any reason to even go to a bar, much less have an idea of how to act when they got there.

 

I am a cryptid and I have no idea how to act at a bar either.

[Andreah]

23 minutes ago, Arctique said:

I am a cryptid and I have no idea how to act at a bar either.

I'm just a person who doesn't do or like bars. I can pretend, but it's hard work and not fun.

 

I have an easier time roleplaying and bantering on missions. I don't care if it slows us down, especially if everyone else doesn't care. 😄

[Black Zot]

15 hours ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

My biggest roleplay pet peeve would probably be the massive over-abundance of second-person use of "you" in game narrative and description text.

An NPC saying "You are weak" is fine.  That's the NPC's opinion.  They're not defining the player-character; they're expressing a non-player character's personal view.

The pop-up box when entering a mission saying "You're incapable of basic self-control and rudimentary intellect" is just gear-grinding.  That's the godhand narrator robbing the player of agency.

 

See also: Twinshot, Dr.Graves, and any other arc where the writer assumes the player character is a blithering idiot.

[Andreah]

I can agree with that. They're writing for my character like that doesn't rise to a peeve for me though, but it is annoying.  I have less trouble when they write what my senses tell me, or what involuntary reactions I might have, but it's also an indicator the writer was getting a bit lazy, or themselves hasn't ever been in a roleplay community before. Even as the GM, you just don't write lines or thoughts for other players' characters.

[rookery.]

13 hours ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

I know I haven't got around to implementing my incentivization programme for it, but I do encourage folks to consider checking out:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/clubs/14-roleplay-a-day/

There are a lot of lovely areas to try to encourage fellow players to conduct roleplay which aren't night clubs.

Mind you, I'm not against the night clubs.  I've tried a few times, but I just don't "vibe" in those places.  Some things I just can't roleplay my way through, I guess.  

It's strange, in a way.  I can slip in to the role of half a dozen bickering characters in a single scene, all with different motivations and plans and personal experiences . . . but trying to "relax" in a night club just sets my teeth on fire.  In roleplay, or in the real world.  Doesn't matter.

Rp being drunk on redside of Pocket D. 

Now imagine someone comes up to you who is cursed to say the opposite of whatever they mean.

Hijinks ensued!

 

Thanks for the listing!

[Sovera]

11 hours ago, Arctique said:

 

I think another big one to keep in mind, is if people can easily identify "this is where people meet up and RP". There's a reason bars/taverns tend to be the RP hot spots for casually meeting people in most settings. They're places that, even in the real world, are designed specifically for meeting new people.

 

If I was a new player looking for places RPers gather, would my first instinct be to hang around the bank in Atlas Park, or the Midnighters Club, or that rooftop garden in Atlas? Probably not. Those places can make for nice areas to hang out and RP and do provide a reason to just be casually dropping in, but people aren't going to just naturally be drawn there to meet people unless they already know that's the designated "hub".

 

Parks would offer a good alternative, like for the sake of new player accessibility I'd suggest the park directly across the road from the Atlas statue. It's literally right behind you when you first zone in on a new hero, so somebody new looking to join into the RP community would need only make a single 180 degree turn to see people RPing and figure out "ah this is where i go to meet people". But then the problem there is that only really works for blue side. What's an equally accessible and recognizable spot for villains? What about an easily recognizable social hub that's a co-op area for both sides to mingle?

 

I can understand 100% just personally not clicking with the bar/nightclub setting for casual RP. Especially when it would just make no sense for a particular character to hang out there. It can be hard to get an alternative to gain traction in an already established RP community though, because the bar RP tends to become a bit of a default for a reason.

 

This is old as time though, and yes, annoying. Even back when I RPed in text only MUSHes the grid would be VAST, I am talking in the order of 300+ rooms, all of them with their own description. Travel through a park, reach a city, all the streets, the alleys, the shops. Keep traveling, leave the city, climb a mountain, more paths.

 

But players would log in the OOC zone. Port to the IC grid, walk 3-4 rooms to reach the central square and then from there only to their private houses.

 

In all the games I've (tried to) RP there is always a central hub. And it's nice that RP happens in guilds, it's nice RP happens here and there, it's nice that RP happens in scheduled events, but if there is no central hub I can go and sit and meet people then RP is doomed as far as I am concerned.

 

 

Pre-mega servers GW2 was my golden years of RP. I had my race's home city for RP (ASURA REPRESENT!), then there would be the little nooks and corners each krewe (guild) had staked claim to around said city, then the RP in the human city (as always players flock to human races), and then guilds would have their own staked claims in the open world. As a -very- social character with a lovely friend whom I duoed with this was the best. We would check our race city, RP some, bounce around the other krews and be welcomed with suspicion or hostility (ICly krewes don't mingle well because of industrial espionage). As a merchant we would bounce around the other guild's homes trying to strike sells (so, hear me out, we put this on your roof and it collects sun power and heats your bath water! AND we then recycle and filter the water so you don't need to throw it away and fill it up again!).

 

The RP was organic and the early efforts at creating quick moving story from the devs was not well accepted in terms of game play (temporary content that disappeared once the event was done, and I'm not talking of rewards but big things like destroying a whole city and later on rebuilding it), but for RP it was -amazing-. Until the megaserver nation attacked and that was the beginning of the end.

 

 

I digress. But my point is having those RP spots was the best.

 

Then I try games like Rift which used to have a RP population, ask where the RP spots are. There is only one. Go there. It's empty. Check later. Empty. Check many days in a row. Empty.  Be told that there is RP but in guilds.

 

Then I try ESO and on a good day I could find 3-4 persons in the RP spot. Be told RP happened in guilds.

 

What is the point if I log in and no one is around to RP with?

 

 

For all the faults WoW and WoW RP has my favorite thing is to flying around the city and see 30+ roleplayers around. Some are in the Cathedral Square, some are in the many taverns, some are by the park, some by the fields where it is common to have the RP spars and perform RP group tactics.

 

There is basically a room for all. My little mage apprentice almost never stuck around in taverns and would nearly always be over the parks to enjoy the sun and greenery. My lush battle hardened warrior usually spent her days in some tavern or other having liquid lunch.

 

 

It is true that CoH does not have this. We used to have the Galaxy Girl 9PM meetings which were my alternative to PD back in issue 6-7 all the way to 14, I think, which was when I left. But now we have Pocket D, and the myriad myriad bases. My current little barbarian paladin has no particular place in PD but I try not to over think it. She is not there to have a drink. She is there because other people are there (just like me 🙂 ).

 

I saw attempts at using Atlas for RP, but I never understood it. Why try to RP around non RPers? Who wants to be trying to have a 'serious' conversation while a non RPer is talking about a movie or talking about their favorite farming builds and both chats are mingling? I rather prefer to have RP happen away from the PvErs to avoid this.

 

The way to hook people into moving away from Pocket D is not easy though. All games I tried to RP in had their official RP place and then efforts made to bring it outside which slowly petter and die. If we go X off meta place for RP, find it empty, we can either sit there and idle waiting for others to come or we leave for the RP spot we know people are at.

 

 

Now, one thing CoH does have and that beats WoW handily is that in WoW we RP only against imaginary enemies. We write text, we say there is an enemy there, etc. We either fight grey mobs or empty air. In CoH when we want to RP a fight we do a TF, or a radio mission, or an arc, or write an AE arc and customize mobs, or even just pick one random AE arc and run it ICly like a gosh darned quest. And with thousands of arcs we get enough 'quests' to last for a while without mentioning making our own.

 

I -love- this of CoH.

[rookery.]

Blue side Pocket D does have a gravity about it. Most likely caused by it being THE place to go to find Rpers back in Virtue days....so old habits and all BUT, with all the clubs which advertise in the D, it should be easy enough to advertise for other things there as well.

 

Someone could make up a hospital, a church, a college campus, a beach, a public market, a museum and on and on and then advertise for them in the D. I know most of those things exist in the game but with some of the absolutely brilliant basework I have NO doubt they could all be made better. There are some scary good people out there.

 

As for why nightclubs are so popular is it just because they exist IRL for no other reason that to meet people, people watch and consume social lubricant (Thanks Adjust!) and that translate easily into the virtual space?

 

I mean VT did the Monkey Fight club on redside and it was pretty awesome but it wasstill to a certain degree a nightclub, a seedier blood sport one, but the same concept.

 

Outside of a mall...where else do humans go to just meet people enmasse?

 

/e ramble off.

[twozerofoxtrot]

On 3/16/2021 at 1:53 AM, rookery. said:

Outside of a mall...where else do humans go to just meet people enmasse?

 

Usually MMOs.

[TheCorvus]

3 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Usually MMOs.

Yes sir. A year ago today I told my boss, "Ok, I'm going. I'll see you in a couple of weeks when this blows over."

 

We haven't been back since, other than a skeletal crew to keep stuff maintained.

[Xeres]

Roleplay for me doesn't come easily, so doing it all the time is just much.  No, I don't -have- to do it all the time, but telling people "no I don't want to RP right now" just feels weird.  So I want to RP sometimes, but not all the time but people want to RP all the time, and that becomes much.  So I just stopped doing it again.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Xeres