The changing nature of Role Play

I’ve always thought of myself as a role player. Sure, over the years playing MMOs I’ve become somewhat lax because most people don’t role play. Commonly, when interacting with people, it is OOC (Out of Character). However, almost every decision I make about my character development and their activities is based in the individual personality I’ve created for that character. I’ve been playing GW2 on the unofficial role play server, and it seems role play has changed over the years. I mean drastically changed, to the point I don’t think I could call myself a role player any more.

How I play…

Every one of my characters has some sort of back story. They have individual tastes in fashion, activity and even behaviour. My initial vision for the character might change over time as they interact with the world, but that’s just natural, people change. I have an extensive history in table-top role play, starting as a teen playing classic Dungeons & Dragons during lunch time in school. I often play characters that are developed based on a character concept, which isn’t always the most effective by the system, but it’s fun to play anyway. To me that’s the heart of role play, the development of a unique individual through whom you experience each unique fantasy world.

I still play table-top RPGs when I can but these days MMOs are just more accessible. I have taken what I like from table-top and do my best to bring it into MMOs. My characters have sensible, world relevant names, and I even take the time to name my pets where possible. Back when I first started playing MMOs people considered me a hard core role player. I thought I was pretty role play light, but compared to other people at the time I was pretty full on. I really haven’t changed my style much over the years, I still role play to around the same level I used to. I make use of emotes, even writing my own custom emotes where appropriate. Basically, I play in character and view the world through my character’s eyes as much as I can. However, I do often communicate out of character because it’s just easier to deal with non role players if I do that, I see it as being considerate to their preferred style of play.

So what’s changed?

The role players I’m encountering in GW2 are a new generation of role players and they fall into two main camps.

In the first camp they don’t even use regular chat channels, all communication is done in custom emotes and read more like a book or play than anything else. I’d be pretty fine with all that, but the differences don’t end there. The key difference I’ve found is that these people play out their own stories at the exclusion of the game. Rather than interact with the world as it is, they write their own stories. This is all very admirable, I think they really seem to have fun and play a good game. If they are having fun then awesome, I don’t mind that they don’t play my way, they are enjoying themselves and that’s why people should play these games, for fun.

The other role playing camp has derived from the way computer games define the genre. For a computer game to be tagged a role play game it only really needs to meet one criteria; you have to have a character or characters that advance in level and gain abilities. A result of this rather loose definition of role play, is that many people think that’s all role play is. They don’t accept that playing your character any different from your real personality has anything to do with role play. Actually, many people of this mindset think playing other than your natural personality is creepy or weird.

Note that the two camps of modern role play are actually opposites in many ways. One side believes role play lies only in the stories you create, while the other places zero value on story and is only interested in advancement. This dichotomy is one of the reasons that role players will clash. How can they see eye to eye when they are each looking the other way?

How is this different?

I like to actually play the game as it’s been published. I first encountered this style of role play in LotRO (Lord of the Rings Online), where I teamed up with a couple of people who wanted to start a role play based guild and they cited classic table-top as their basis. When it came to working out what to do, they didn’t have a clue, they just wanted to sit in the tavern and talk about stuff, stuff that seemed ignorant of game world events. I was kind of disappointed. I tried to move the conversation to game events, chatting about bandit raids etc and I role played them out the door to start doing quests and being a hero. It lasted maybe an hour, I won’t go into details but these people were determined to not actually interact with the world. It frustrated me and I left.

I also encountered a lot of story based role play in LotRO, where people would write a story for others to play though, often with pre-set roles and lines. Well, I sat in on a few but it all played out more like a bad tv soap opera than any form of role play I recognised. It wasn’t for me. I love a good narrative, I read every night and get really drawn in to the story aspect of Anime and movies. These stories were just…not for me I guess.

What’s the problem?

Most of the time modern role play is an esoteric art that really does no one any harm and acts as the vehicle for the enjoyment of those who indulge. GW2 does create situations where role players can get your character killed and ruin game play for others in an area. I see groups engaged in a similar style of role play, creating their own stories and doing a lot of sitting around talking. This is fine, but GW2 has this thing called Dynamic Events. These events are semi spontaneous events that alter the conditions in an area. For example, the village you’re in might become attacked by centaurs. Now if that happens around me, I tend to react and try to play the hero and drive off the centaurs. Not the role players though, they will do their best to ignore the game event in favour of their created event. I wouldn’t mind so much except these Dynamic events scale up in difficulty based on the number of people present, even if those other people are not actively taking part. This can mean there’s two to three people trying to complete an event that is scaled up for twenty people. To me, it seems kind of rude to sit idle.

Here is where I differ from the current definition of Role play. I believe that my character is a part of the world, thus when events occur in the world, good role play means reacting to the event as your character would. Another point of difference is that I like to see my character advance. By advance I mean gain levels, learn new skills and gain new gear. Spending all day in the pub does not allow advancement, nor does the creation of new characters for the sole purpose of playing a role in a story. So while I appreciate the creation of your own story I eventually want to actually play the game.

And then it gets weird…

Then there is eRP, aka erotic Role Play. Back when I first started playing MMOs this was called ‘cybersex’ or just ‘Cyber’, and it was favoured by sleazy people, usually school boys playing female characters. Now it seems that eRP is a common part of role play. Ok, that’s fine, sex is a natural part of life so fair enough, but it’s not something I personally feel comfortable with when playing with people who are largely strangers to me. One guild which invited Incarnica to join explained that while they are not technically an eRP guild, their guild is a ‘health spa’ and therefore there is a lot of ‘touching’. Yeah… not for either of us. I guess I lack imagination or something (I think maybe I just have a little too much imagination).

In closing…

Rather than draw any lines and suggest the modern version of role play isn’t actually role play, I’d rather just accept the fact that my style isn’t what people consider role play. I can also accept that maybe I’ve just never found a group of online gaming role players I was compatible with. So I’m not calling foul on what role play has become. Consenting adults are perfectly free to indulge in any behaviour they enjoy so long as it brings no harm nor breaks the laws of the land; this includes the laws of fictional lands like an MMO world.

Now, I really don’t want to say the modern definition of role play is wrong, I totally think that if you are having fun then great, go for it. I admire the dedication it takes to create stories that never allow you to actually advance your character. You are playing only for your story and that’s dedication. However it’s not for me. If I want to engage in a soap opera I’ll watch one on tv. If I play an MMO I actually want to see what the developers spend thousands of hours creating. It’s about end goals. If I do a little role play in the bedroom I’m not doing it for the story, I’m doing it to spice up the love life and eventually there will be sex or I’m going to feel somewhat unsatisfied with the experience. Well, if I role play in an MMO and we don’t get out and do some adventuring, then I’m just not feeling it.

I guess I shall call my style Immersive Play (IP?), not role play. I immerse myself into the game as much as people allow. I want to experience the world through the eyes of the avatar I’m playing. If I’m chatting in the general say channel, then I tend to be chatting about the game world, using words suitable for the character I’m playing. My Charr warrior is a violent beast with a noble heart, my Asura engineer is a raving pyromaniac, my Human thief is a playful rogue, my Sylvari elementalist has a wide eyed curiosity about the world with the cold vicious streak of a force of nature. Each character is their own person, role play… erm, I mean immersion, allows me to experience the world through many unique perspectives. So okay, I’m not a role player, but hell I have a lot of fun!