RP server in issue 20.5

Bear with me here.

This may be a pipe dream, but I am wondering if we could have an official/unofficial RP server that wasn't inundated with non-RPers. I have no problem with people playing the way they want, but I would like a place ... one place ... where content and in-game persona meant something.

I know there are a zillion problems with this. "RP" itself means different things to different people. There's light, medium, heavy, adult, and many other levels/types of RP. I suppose to me, the big distinction I'm making is between content/character-oriented players and power-oriented players. I know there are no bright lines, and maybe we should just self-police this by only gaming with friends/SG mates that share our views on these subjects. That seems to be the developer's solution -- and after all, how do you police RP? I just know that I'm running out of /ignore slots.

My perception (and feel free to correct me here) is that the powergaming aspect of the game has become heightened or otherwise elevated as the game has evolved. Maybe that's part of the MMO evolution too. I don't claim to have the answers. I just know that it's hard for me to stay in my medium-RP comfort zone when someone is having a powergaming discussion on the help channel.

That said, powergamers don't have a monopoly on irritating behavior. And there are times I want to "just play" or level up without RPing at all. I have some RP toons, some "experiments," and some fun characters that nonetheless never developed their own RP identity. As I said, I know there are no bright lines.

Also: I don't think the VIP server solves this issue -- the VIP / non-VIP distinction has nothing to do with the content / power distinction.

Lastly, I know many folks have a vested interest in Virtue and don't want to leave it, but I've also wondered whether we should collectively have a RP reboot and start on an underpopulated server.

Just dancin' in the dark here. Feel free to comment.

How would you police the new RP server? Have NCSoft support move the characters of non-RPs that decide to crash the party to another server? I don't think that NCSoft would agree to the financial expenditure there.

RPers need to police their own space. Someone gets on your team that refuses to RP, kick them.

RPers don't deserve their own server any more than farmers or numbercrunching power gamers deserve their own servers.

Virtue will always be the unofficial RP server.

It just needs some encouragement now that powergaming is a mainstream activity for post-50 content.

Step 1 would be a static thread dedicated to RP raids.

... I wouldn't even favor kicking them.

I'm as into RP as it gets. Literally every character I have was made with the intention of RPing them, and I've put a great deal of thought and effort into their backstories and personalities. My friends and I have in-character banter during missions, act appropriately in response to clues, and on occasion will even alter our tactics during fights because our characters specifically hate or specifically don't want to hurt a specific group (Doesn't happen often, nor when it's a particularly difficult spawn, but yeah.) I've actually had interactions that consisted of my friends and I street-sweeping mobs too low to grant any rewards and conversing about it, just for the RP aspect.

And I would never kick a non-RP-er off my team, and if they express irritation with RP I stop RP-ing.

This game isn't a game about roleplaying. We're playing a different game on their turf, not vice versa. They get priority.

NOBODY should get priority. We're given a sandbox. The roleplayers are on equal footing with every one else. We all pay a subscription fee. (For now, I guess.)

I actively avoid people in game that don't play as I do. RPers can do the same. Don't try to entice me into your roleplaying. It won't work. I was a theatre/physics major and played D&D and Champions for many a year in my youth. If I want to roleplay, I'll find another outlet to do so.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with kicking team member 8 when 7 of them want to roleplay and he doesn't.

As an RPer that also enjoys just playing and not RPing, no.

I like being able to find both in one place.

The trouble with an "enforced" Roleplay server is that it's pretty difficult to define, and almost impossible to police. I have an account on an RP server in a fantasy game. I've seen heated arguments in their version of Broadcast, because one person is "Thee" and "Thou"ing everyone, and another person thinks that sort of thing is practically griefing. Then you have the divas and god-moders, who get all bent out of shape when they announce some "Fundamental Law" and everyone else ignores their statement that they just ripped Mako's heart out (or whatever it was that they did.) Even within "proper" roleplaying groups, there will be people who really hate certain things and would love to see those players gone. (Catgirls would be an obvious target for this.)

So if you're going to set up a "mandatory" RP server, who gets to define what roleplay is? How constantly does everyone have to toe the line before they risk getting deported? And how do you deal with the situation (which *WILL* happen) where someone just wants to hang out with friends for half on hour, and don't feel like switching characters even though "realistically" those characters shouldn't even be in the same room? (IE, "Did Batman just take Harley Quinn to the drive through?")

Won't happen. Let it go. Play your game.

You're all right, of course. There *is* no definition of RP we could all agree on, and no way to police anything.

given that rp stems from imagination it is hard to concieve that two people will follow one rp long term let alone 20 let alone 2000 rpers....
MY POINT : MORE RPERS dilute the story
I always liked the little rp i thought of it as shakesperian in nature and enjoy sitting and watching a group or 3 individuals rp

I'm in agreement with Xan here, Virtue is the Unofficial RP server. Simply trying to pull people to a new one is a waste of time. They aren't, as of this moment, going to give us an official RP server - The VIP maybe the closest thing to it but even then the VIP lounge is an existing example to how "well" that worked; people who prefer to grief or troll as of today have access to the lounge already.

Power-gamers are Roleplayers too.

@Vince

This article may be relevant.

http://www.warpwatchers.com/board/to...mog-vs-mmorpg/

"Forging a Dark Millenium: MMOG vs MMORPG".

Pretty good detail on the key differences between the two. CoH falls on the MMOG side of the fence at times.

I've suggested in-chat that an RP server might sustain itself with a small core of interested or dedicated RP'ers if the PvE XP rewards were a few percent, perhaps five percent, lower, and the server had "Official RP Server" tagged to it.

Now, granted, this is about as likely to happen to CoH as any other wild and crazy player idea.

I feel, and have experience from another gaming life, that those truly interested in a good roleplay experience, or being among roleplayers in a community sense even if they're not individually roleplaying frequently, would make a small speed of progression trade to get it.

I feel such a system would be self-enforcing, especially if character transfers out were allowed, but not in.

My in-chat reception was pretty cold; and I even got angrily Godwin-ed by one responder.

There are so many ways to enjoy RP on CoH that it's not necessary to make a new server for it. Unlike other MMOs, we can even use the AE to custom create stuff and go inside. I've been here all 7+ years and not had troubles with non-RPers. If you're speaking of griefers, well, those types of folks will grief wherever they go.

I doubt that Paragon or NCSoft can enforce RP any better than we have, as a community.

Why not use. Ae to role-play?