TheNakedNinja

All righty, crossing my fingers than an epic raid or two is on the books tonight!

Ah, okay. I guess I'll try it again next week. Thanks!

Ever since i20 was released, MS raids seem to have disappeared. I was looking forward to trying it in a league, but every time I get there at the scheduled time, not a soul.

Are MS raids a thing of the past, or am I just showing up at the wrong zone instance and times? Zones, being Rikti Warzone 1, and times being what's posted in the sticky.

It's on test. Don't think it's live yet.

I started playing around '04 myself. And I just hit 50 with my main about two or three months ago.

And actually, I did it by accident. I was getting so carried away with doing missions and getting involved in the game's stories, that I leveled on an AV team who needed a heavy-hitting scrapper. I was like, "Oh, cool. I didn't even realize I was that close."

Lots of good stuff in here.

My only serious advice: if you want to interact with people in your environment, take the initiative and be direct about it. Example: if you see people at one of the bars in Pocket D and there's little conversation being had, don't just lean against the bar and expect someone else to question why you're brooding there... More likely than not, if no one recognizes you at that particular time, you're going to be very lonely standing there. If there's a character who interests you, speed things along by being the one to break the ice.

Of course, that's not so easy for players portraying "shy" characters who aren't so socially overt. I've seen people use emotes to let others know they're prime for interaction, but I'd advise against running up to lone characters in corners, rub up against them, and emote like crazy in order to entice them to interact with you. I personally find that irritating when players beat around the bush with me. Either say something, or move along. Because just sometimes, there are players who put themselves in unassuming corners for the purpose of observation, and watching other people craft stories.

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for your comments and input on this matter.

After reading through everything, and having a good night's sleep on the matter, I've come to my own conclusions.

I think the bottom line here -- whether I'm in violation of the EULA or not -- I should not be the subject to any form of harassment in this game for any reason. Period. It's not my job as a player to police the game world. If I see something that offends or bothers me, I petition it, and let the GM's handle it. If the real game police say it's fine, then that should be the end of the matter.

Now, on the subject of whether I'm in violation or not -- or if I'm infringing on copyrights or trademarks... First, no, I'm not going to put up screen shots, give out the bio, or name, for the purpose of this discussion. And it's not because I have anything to hide (if the higher-ups want to investigate it, that's completely out of my control). It's because I want the mere concept to be as objectionable as possible; which is why I've refrained from using names.

The name is of my own design, the bio is of my own design (and intricately weaved with several of my other characters, and characters within the CoX universe), and the character is not being portrayed as the inspirational subject. As in, I did not pluck the trademarked character from his origin and decided to play as him in CoX. Again, with the looks, the most defining aspect is probably the hair -- and I love the hair, so I don't wish to change it. There were several other options in the character creator I could use to make him look pretty spot on, but that didn't appeal to me. I'm not using an exact likeness, and stealing that particular character as my own.

And while I realize that this is a very gray issue, and I also realize that owners of intellectual properties have an obligation to protect their assets -- and very rightfully so; they cannot lay claim to powers, general clothing, and hair styles. If that were the case, then NCSoft wouldn't be able to legally include practically any of the power sets we currently get to enjoy. And the costuming options would be cut down dramatically.

On the subject of there not being any new ideas anymore, well, I kind of agree, and kind of disagree. Statistically, there are very few truly unique ideas in the sense of never having been explored before. But ideas are constantly being evolved and rethought -- and are flavored differently depending on who's cultivating them.

However, there's a whole other concept of creating an idea so popular, and so large, the fans start to take a conceptual ownership in the property. And thus, you have things like parodies and fan-fiction that populate the Internets and magazines. On the absolute literal level, these are never "legal". But if these companies start to take a completely totalitarian approach to their property, they begin to alienate their fan base.

It's an interesting dichotomy that I consider to be a poetic conflict of interest. On one hand, you have a corporation who physically owns characters and places. Their need to protect their assets is set on a purely business perspective; their characters make them money, and no one is allowed to make money from said characters without the owners getting a piece (or all) of the pie.

And then you have the fans who simply don't see the concept of the business models, and only fall in love with the characters, stories, and universe as a whole. Though they have no monetary investment, they do invest their devotion and emotions into the same characters that the corporations own. Mostly, fans want to interact with these characters based on the fundamental of love, rather than the drive to profit off of them. But the corporations, legally, can only see things in black and white, lest they risk absolving the complete ownership of their assets. It's a mutual love-hate.

Not to mention the idea of one iconic character and archetype inspiring generations of "knock offs". It doesn't take a rocket scientist to spot DC and Marvel counterparts.

I think ultimately, as more of these games are put on the market, it's a subject that's never going to really go away. That's not really an excuse to "knock off" characters and intentionally use them, but I think there's a difference between knocking something off, and being inspired by something and someone whom you admire.

Yeah, I think I'm going to keep playing my guy for as long as I find entertainment in the experience -- along with my other characters. And in further interacting with other players, if they actively voice in opposition to my character, I'll politely ask them to keep it to themselves. If it escalates, I'll thank them for their passion, put them on ignore, and move on with my virtual life. I'm not spending $15 a month on drama that can easily be avoided. Heh.

Once again, thank you all for the comments. I feel a lot better just getting all my thoughts out.

Well I appreciate your response and input.

The name is completely different and unique, the bio is completely my own, and the character's only real resemblance is the hair, face, and vest [kind of]. He's not even colored the same. Honestly, if I just changed the hair into something else, no one would probably even tell. But I don't want to do that, simply because I'm satisfied with the way he looks as is.

I've seen other players get away with far more blatant copies of other truly iconic characters; right down to the nomenclature. And I've seen far more eerie rip-off characters created between different video game and animation companies...

But you know, where do you really draw the line? I see a lot of characters heavily influenced by established IPs, and characters with bios that originate in already-established universes. I mean technically, aren't they all in violation and warrant their characters genericized and bios wiped?

Honestly, I think from now on, I'm just going to feign dumb....

I just feel that the need to heckle is incredibly petty. I see my own share of what I consider to be dumb character concepts, very lame attempts at RP, or very bad team management. But I don't reach out and try to put the other person down in any way. It's a game, and we're all in it to have fun. If I see something I don't agree with, I just shake my head and move on.

All right. I was enjoying some double XP action and doing my RP thing, going from one team to the next.

Then I get to the last team of the night, and lo and behold, I recognize a character who frequents Pocket D. I was excited, thinking, "Oh boy, a fellow RPer. This should be fun."

She basically spent half the mission bugging me on why based my villain on a cartoon character. I asked her not to start that squabbling nonsense, but she retorts that she'll start it every time she sees a "knock off character". She demands to know why I'd knock off a character rather than creating a wholesomely original idea. I replied, that this was my "fun" character. She asks, "why can't you do both?" [have fun and do an original character]. I ended the conversation by saying, "This is how I define my own fun."

Now, my personal feeling on this... I've played nearly fifteen different characters throughout my playtime in CoX. And of that fifteen, I'd say that three of them were blatant knockoffs whom I just wanted to have fun with. As of now, I really only play four of those characters with any regularity. Two of them are wholly original characters whom I cultivated quite thoroughly. And of the other two, one is "inspired" by a cartoon character, and the other is just a blatant rip off a video game character. A note on that last character, I have more fun getting recognized by players than actually doing any real role playing with him.

Now, I pay my $15 dues every month just like everyone else. I'd say that I have every right to play the game how I wish (without negatively impacting the play of others) without warranting others to tell me how I should play. If that means one day, I'll play an original creation, or another day, I'll play the character inspired from one of my favorite cartoons, it's my $15. And if it really bothers you that much, then I believe the best thing you can do is to not interact with me, rather than actively trying to ruin my good time.

Now please educate me here... Am I wrong for thinking this?

I was just complimented by a player on my team for a little sequence of events with my binds.

I was playing an MA/NJ stalker on a team of 6. The brute accidentally pulled two mobs on us, causing the team to retreat. We made our way further back and started to rest, but one of the bosses, still somewhat week from our botched alpha strike, still held its agro on me and found his way to our rally point.

When I saw him, I fired off my binds:

Me: Local: "So you want me, $target? Well there's a price..." $$ Taunt1 emote.

I closed the distance while firing up build-up, landed right next him, and defeated him with an assassin strike.

Me: Local: "...Your life." $$ Crack knuckles emote.

I hopped back to the resting team, and whipped out a book and started reading as if nothing major had happened.

One of the players PM'ed me and said that from his perspective, it look "incredibly badass" and wished more players would do what I do. I've just been validated! ^_^

But yeah, even though I haven't received any complaints about the assassin strike local spam, I'm going to back off. I have a lot of varied one-liners to make the character interesting, but only one announcement for his assassination strike. There are a few variations, like tapping an enemy on the shoulder and then shouting the move in his face before completing the move, but I'll save it for select enemy encounters. Oh, and for the record, it's not "Iron Slash". That was just a hypothetical example.

Slight change of subject:

What are your thoughts on text binds during team combat? Example: a stalker binding his assassination power with a local chat string that says, "Iron Slash!"

With two of my characters, I've taken the time to map several in-character phrases ranging from, "Where do you think *you're* going, $target?" for chasing down a mob; to, "Your fight's with *me*, $target!" to let the others know that I'm taunting or engaging a mob that's attacking a teammate.

I'm usually the only one on my group who seems to have bothered with it, but so far, I've received no outward complaints. Although when I group with a particular quiet set of people, I kind of feel I'm doing it too much when the chat space is filled with my character yelling out stuff in local speak... But about a quarter of the time, I find that one or two others start attempting the same in-character fighting, though I can tell that a lot of it isn't binded.

Just wanted to know how many of you guys would find that sort of thing annoying.


And on a side note, I started actually publicly interacting with my contacts. For example, after I complete a mission, I'd whip out the cellphone emote, "call" the contact, and respond to him or her in local. At first, I thought it'd be the equivalent of artistic masturbation -- as in just doing it without the intent of there being an audience... But more often than not, I'd notice one or two players drop by to see what all the commotion was about.

I'm not sure if they think I was being immersive... Or if I was just being stupid and/or crazy to talk to a non-interactive NPC. But I don't know, I feel as if I'm inserting myself into the story and game lore by adding my own little part to it. I do a lot of soloing now, just so I can pace myself and actually enjoy some truly engaging stories. I'm just wondering how awesome it would be to team up with a couple of other players who want to enjoy a group experience in the same way. Eg, one player "relaying" a contact's intel to the rest of the team, with everyone following and being engaged in the mission arc. Versus the usual monotonous XP grind...

Highlight from last night:

I was pondering how I was going to afford to enhance-slot my budding ninja. I had no influence on other characters, so I made a grinding plan and was considering slitting my wrist...

...Then someone broadcasted, requesting assistance in trading some large ammounts of currency between characters. I helped, and I got $1,000,000 for my troubles.

I became a very, very happy little ninja.

In my experience, the people who use short text don't really know how to type efficiently to begin with. Hence, why they use short text. And I don't say that as a slight against them. Not everyone can type at 80 words a minute.

Personally, I'm of the camp who types far faster spelling properly (or with the intention of spelling the word correctly) than to try to use a form of short hand. It's a skill I take for granted until I see student come in who can't type to save their lives. I thought we were beyond the age of two-finger typing. @_@

Yes, being a bad speller doesn't make you "stupid". It does mean you should be paying attention to what you're reading. I used to be a rather atrocious speller, until I took the initiative to actually focus on the words my spell check keeps picking up. After a while, my spelling improved. At least to the point where I don't butcher words too badly.

All I can say is wow...

I mean, if people are using the D to do legitimate socialization, then do what you'd do in real life: when you find someone interesting to talk to, go off and chat in a quiet corner. I see it constantly; small knots of people all over the place having quiet conversations away from the oh-so-popular Blueside bar.

As for the whole satanic thing... Well, I'd take all that "negativity" as back-handed compliments. You know you're playing your character well when people actually begin to worry about you. Lol!

... Well don't look to me for your homework!

Hmm... So there's a nuke-run technique, huh? Pardon me if this is the wrong place to ask, but are there such things are organized collaborative Warburg runs to procure said nukes to use on Hamidon?

I'm also one who doesn't get hung up about proper spelling and diction. As even I have some trouble spelling some of the bigger words my characters often use. Decent grammar helps, though.

The main issue I seem to run into with roleplaying, however, is really just finding something interesting and heroic/villainous to talk about -- a problem usually localized in Pocket D. I know we're all people behind the avatars, and it's natural to rely on small talk... But I find my personal world kind of up-side-down when confronting aspects socialization.

Personally, when I'm at the bar of a restaurant, I don't go up to strangers and forcibly try to start a conversation. And strangers don't do the same to me... So it's alien for me to, as an avatar, go up to another avatar and strike up an interesting conversation. And when the conversation actually happens, it's usually Seinfeldian: conversation about nothing.

Now with that said, my major strength comes in terms of how intimately familiar I am with my main character. I know just about everything about him. What he's done, where he came from, his motivations, etc. It's to the point where I've actually freaked a couple of people out who attempted to stump my knowledge of my own character. So I can regale instances and interesting stories to woo the other player -- but I always end up feeling that the interaction is one-sided and very me-centric, even though I try to engage the other, only to have them come up with nothing in return. I don't like being that selfish, but to keep the conversation going, I usually find myself the one responsible for saying something interesting, and ultimately coming back to something about my character.

Roleplaying in a place like Pocket D is kind of difficult in my opinion. There are a lot of people just hanging out, only there to really observe and watch a story unfold rather than being a part of one. I've seen only a mere handful of RPers taking the initiative to engage in provocative topics.

Example:

I remember some kind of "dream demon" manifested to protect humanity, and a sentient robot sent to protect humanity, have a very thought-provoking debate on what action would best benefit humanity -- two very distinct forms of thought with ultimately the same goals. Blew my mind. It was that conversation that affirmed my paying $15 monthly for this game.

Example 2:

An agent from "God" working red-side only saw things in black-and-white. Good or evil. She took things at face value, refusing to see anything deep. She engaged demon characters and whatnot, again, having provocative discussions off people's true nature.

Those kinds of interaction are too-far diamonds in the rough. Most of the time, I see mostly SG cliques in the D, RPing amongst themselves. And even then, a lot of their "RP" is just a lot of obnoxious vulgarities. I don't mean to single out any particular SG, but I've seen quite a number of the Abandoned Warehouse in there, cursing up a storm between each other. I suppose I don't get it...

At any rate, I still continue to try and participate and bring my character into light. Although lately, I've gone back to one of my red-side characters I created when CoV was born. And I've begun doing simple RPing in every team I've been in thus far. It started becoming infectious, and everyone else started falling into character...

I know some people say that RPing extensively on teams may be a ticket to annoying the others, but so far, it's led to nothing more than tight-nit groups who become genuinely disappointed when someone needs to bow out.

I sent in a petition earlier today, and customer support refunded my character 250 Vanguard merits! They also politely encouraged me to refrain from using the power until it's fixed... >_>;

Is it customary to reply with a thank you? Or would that just be clogging up ticket space?

Suddenly, I can no longer summon an HVAS. My summon animation on the character plays, and the summon buff icon appears, but no HVAS. Anyone else had this happen to them?

There goes 250 Vanguard merits...

Here's my question: what are the non-RPers doing in Pocket D to begin with?

I made a character on Pinnacle nearly a year ago on a request of one of my RL friends. He'd never set foot into Pocket D beforehand, and thought the setup was pretty cool. But, there was absolutely noone there. Not a soul but the two of us. He said that there was never a reason to be there. Not even as a thru-traffic to get to Faultline.

I can understand a non-RPer to be curious and pop his head in just to see what the hub-bub is about. But I don't know; I can't help but feel the only other reason that non-RPers go to PD is to actively grief other players who are just trying to have fun. I think it's a shame that people feel the need to ruin it for others. We all pay monthly to exist in the same game world. We shouldn't have to put up with it.