Do we need an Official RPing server?

Just finished visiting Pocket D where a "RP" SG was arguing with a group of nonRPers and telling them to go to another server. Was somewhat funny to watch. I really enjoy seeing two people start a fight online and hear them talk about how they're gonna kick each other's butts if they don't shut up and leave.

Like either could really do anything.

But it got me thinking, I remember that WoW has official RP servers where if even your name wasn't good enough they would ban you from the server. Would you want Virtue to be like that?

Part of me would, I think since AE was introduced there's been alot more idiots on Virtue and a whole heck of a lot more Marvel/DC clones. Call me biased but I wouldn't mind it going back to being mostly RPers around Virtue.

If the devs ever did make Virtue the Official RPing server do you think that it would hurt them in the long run with people getting kicked/leaving Virtue?

Honestly I believe an "Official" RP server does not need to exist. A person can log into any server as it is and play out their role however they wish. If you start to designate things officially then you have to start catering to more people's demands. There will be those that demand an "Official" PvP server if the role-players get their own place. There will be people on Virtue (or what-ever server is chosen as "Official") that will feel that they do not belong since it's now "Official" and they do not role-play like others do if at all. There will be people on the other servers who will now be able to "Go to Offical server dumby rper noob." or however it is those L33t types talk. *chuckle*

Nah...can't really see a need for an official server. No need to tie up GM with checking wether "Lord Fizzlebum" is an actual role-player or not in the vein of the game universe. Maybe if such a thing was included in the begining of the game it would have worked but not now.

HA like anyone in CoX would want an Offical PvP server

We got an unofficial one, whats the point? Sides' it keeps grifers away cause a shiny "Rp server" tag put up by NCsoft can be a magnet.

Hah.... I was present during that entire spectacle. Both parties were in the wrong. And I'm sad to say that the ones who claimed to be the "true" 1337 RPers were the instigators.

I'm not sure if having an "official" server designation would make much of a difference. I'd think that if a person were to pick a server with the soul purpose of RPing, they would most likely have done their homework before choosing a shard. I remember when Star Wars Galaxies was starting up, the forums were buzzing on which server would be the unofficail RP server.

Well, I RP. I would prefer it if Virtue were the official RP box, but i'm not sure that is going to happen. If it does, cool, if not, no big deal I suppose.

As an aside, has anyone noticed a few larger non-RP SGs have relocated to our little paradise on the web? I've seen several SGs recruiting lately, couple of them said they 'relocated' here.

Just wondering.

My WoW main is on Moon Guard, which was the largest RP server when I quit a year ago. Being on "the" RP server is a mixed bag, but mostly positive. I only recall two real rules concerning WoW RP servers.

One, you can't have a name like "l33th4x0r" or "50Cent". "L33t-speak" and real-world references in names are prohibited. You had to change such a name, and only if you persisted in breaking the rules would you get banned. Few Virtue character names would get zapped on Moon Guard. WoW also has a random name generator you can use if thinking up a permissible name taxes you too much. Guild names are mostly exempt.

Two, if you are going on about real-world events -- e.g. the Super Bowl -- in local or a public channel and someone asks you to stop, you are obligated to do so. Only if you ignore such a request can you be petitioned. This was very rarely requested or enforced, and you were better off just avoiding the channels in which the idiots told hilarious Chuck Norris jokes.

These aren't exactly onerous rules, and most people on Moon Guard were not active roleplayers. The primary effect of the "RP server" tag was to funnel the "l33t50centh4x0r" crowd mostly away from the "carebear" RP servers. My opinion was that it was a more mature, more casual, and good-natured population. If someone did try to give a role-player grief, he was usually given more grief in return by the locals, who liked their server whether they roleplayed or not.

On the downside, your more serious (and better) raiders tended to avoid RP servers (and probably PvPers as well). This is probably what caused me to quit, since there just weren't any slots available in the very few good Moon Guard raiding guilds, and I refused to transfer to a more-populated l33t raiding server.

Finally, being almost exclusively a PvPer, I did try Freedom first. Now I do NOT roleplay in PvP. I could not possibly do both at once and do not try. But in one of my first groups on Freedom, I mentioned something in team chat about...Lord Recluse, maybe. It wasn't anything anyone on Virtue would recognize as "role-playing". Right away I got some grief from a teammate about Freedom NOT being the roleplay server, and how I should GTFO if I was a roleplayer. Apparently mentioning anything about NPCs is Freedom-style role-playing.

So I guess I don't belong on Freedom, but Virtue PvP has curled up and died. Probably time to look for another game.

I like official tags. I think they help establish, that RP is accepted on a particular server - and it can provide some substance to conflict resolution.

For reasons, that I still do not understand, some people are so damn hostile about role play. Indeed, I was verbally abused for role playing just this weekend. An official tag at least gives you some credibility, that the behavior exhibited is supposed to be tolerated on the server.

But, really, all an official tag does is help guide newbs. I spent a year on Guardian in 2005, before realizing Virtue was the RP server, and even then, because there was no official tag I debated switching over, given I had managed to find RP pockets on Guardian.

Tags, I argue, work. They aren't critical to a game's success, but they do help guide players to an appropriate community.

The real solution of course, isn't permanent servers at all, but rather shards (or virtual servers if your prefer), that you can join (even create) and invite your friends to join, or set up meta-tags to describe. That will come, in time, and as radical as it sounds would be a great asset to MMOs.

Anyway, tags aren't a bad thing. I'd welcome them. I'd also say for an unofficial RP Server, Virtue has a higher percentage of role players than most. And that if you're not role playing with this game, I think you're missing about 70% of its fun. Really, this game ain't all that on the PvE front - and is downright dreadful on the PvP front.

But the base editor, coalitions, multiple costumes, arena zones and AE make it a superb RP space. In some ways, one of the best out there, bar none. It's a shame COH doesn't realize this and advertise this element more heavily.

Strangely, RP tags on other games, are often a maturity filter. People who do not RP will gravitate to an RP server, just because they tend to be more peaceful, more mature and feature a lot less l33ter rubbish.

Then again for every 1 role player, there are 50 power-gamers. I think we're a dying breed in many way. So, we're not exactly a community to bank on.

But really, all a tag gets you is it helps a new player decide what server is right for them, a useful guide, and I like games that go out of their way to make a new player's experience as pleasant as possible.

I've played on Shadow Council for years, nobody was banned for a name.

Shadow Council was a great server, highly recommended, the RP tag did nothing but help that server in my view.

Only if they let me move all 30 of my toons off this server for free.


I was on virtue, before it was the "Official Unofficial Official, etc. etc.. RP Server)


They are right, RP folks are the minority, so perhaps since your IN THE MINORITY, then move to a smaller server, establish a whole new RP community there, I suggest Triumph or Infinity. You'll have the D to yourselves & entire areas of to RP in, without issues with the Non RP folks.

Either way, trying force all non RP'rs off this server, GL with that, you'll have to somehow convince us all to move & how it's far more easier for us to gather teams on a dead server to level.





JJ

I think part of the problem with the recent griefers is now we are number one. It was not a year ago when Freedom was always yellow during peak hours and virtue was green with occasional dips in yellow if something was going on. But recently, that's changed. For reasons beyond me (PvP stuff?), Virtue is now the only yellow I've seen during peak hours. Which gets me thinking that the problem isn't that we're official, but that we're populated. There is going to be a team for L337-H4xor to join in addition to Katgirl Katie. Which is why people who are new to CoX b-line to Virtue. We have the numbers for play.

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.

I'm a casual RPer, meaning I RP when the moment strikes me. I don't RP during SFs/TFs or Missions because I like to speed through them. So when I do engage in PvE content I tend to remove myself from teams that want to feel immersed in RP so I don't ruin their immersion.

Turning Virtue into an "Official" RP server would ruin that casual RP game style. I think part of the allure of this Server is that you "can" RP if you want to, but you have that choice.

Instead of turning a Server into an "Official" anything. I prefer the community and developers to "encourage" rather than "enforce."