What stops you from RPing?

[Yuriohs]

I've always wanted to RP, but what stops me is not having enough info to really do it.
It seems so easy to jump in a lake off a clif, but if you jump in blinded, you might land on a rock.

Because I know some people want to RP but they get stopped cause either they don't know whats going on, or they have no idea where to start. Like with the shadow story chronicles that ended, I grasped a good bit of what happened, but that was towards the end lol.

This server is a RP server, I mean its not required, but people should be comfortable when there just starting to do it u know?

[Braun]

I think it's boring. I have gone to the events with monsters, those are ok.

I would rather fight in PvP though.

[Ellie]

The tinnnnyyyyy character limits (and general lack of actions.) <--- Ingame.


In general... Ina was a char of mine before heRo. I just adapted/made her here aswell. (So happy to find I had the choice of not one, but two hair with buns. And a pink/blue/white palette. oO), so she already has a personality and backstory. And I doubt her backstory, or her.. semi-half dryadness would be allowed here.
And I don't really want to adapt her to here, and have two Inas.

[Yuriohs]

But why don't you use her story in RP's though? I mean you could switch it up so that its cool for HeRO.

[Fruityla]

The fact the heRO RP is frozen in time.

I couldn't think of anything more witty, sorry D=

[Yuriohs]

As in, it can't move on?

[azurerogue]

Uhm...you can role play without following a set story line.??This isn't a console game - the GMs influence, and can even control, the frame of the story but what each player does is up to them in terms of role playing.

This is why I don't role play on heRO.??It is NOT a role play server.??Yes, we have fun story lines that are quite interesting and I give the GMs tons of credit for that - they do a great job.??But there's only so much you can role play in a game that is fundamentally built on exponentials.??No "true" role play character would have 130 STR and like 1 INT and still be able to speak comprehensibly.??So, what we're trying to do here, in effect, is mix power gaming with role playing...??

If you're going to do that, then there is no framework with which to effectively measure character abilities within the RP (because, clearly, it isn't actually dictated by stat/skills, but rather by whatever the player happens to feel like doing).??So, really, this is a server where some people like to pretend like they can do whatever they want.??The role playing here is arbitrary and capricious.??If this WERE a role play server, I would be totally in - I love role playing, and I've been missing my fix of it now that I'm not in college anymore.??

That being said, if you're willing to give up a character slot to inefficiency and actually base your characters stats off of how you would want them to be in their world - by all means, be my guest.??But remember that even the RP story arcs involve battling monsters, something which any "real" role play character would most likely be terrible at (because they are not, generally, power-gamed - thus making them inefficient at a game in which the difference between even 120 and 100 in damage stats is HUGE, let alone even bigger discrepancies).

Sorry for the long response, but I have long been resentful of this server being called a "role play" server, because it isn't.??It's a great server with great features and wonderful side stories and GM-run extended events and storylines, but that is NOT necessarily role playing.??

EDIT: The other thing that frustrates me in heRO is that, especially given the theme of the server, everyone who DOES try to RP always deems themselves a hero who should influence everything.??It's fine for a party, or group of RPers, to have one or two people like that - but attempting to role play when every character believes themselves to be super powerful/important/entitled gets really grating...??I don't blame people for this (I mean, come on, we play on *heRO* server), it just drives me away from RP even more.

EDIT2: Also, this is not a RP server because RP is optional. There's no way to have consistent and fun role playing when half of the community is uninvolved. It's even less fun when the other half (not really half, but run with it) who *DO* RP only do it when it's convenient - falling in and out of character.

Sorry, that is all now.

[Slate]

My reason for not roleplaying is the same as Yuriohs' - I have little idea what the roleplay climate is actually like so I'm hesitant to get myself involved because it's quite likely I've interpreted some things about the past plots and whatnot incorrectly. I don't wanna embarass myself by jumping in with the wrong ideas.

As for Azurerogue's comments, I'm also a long-time roleplayer, having been a part of roleplaying forums and DnD for quite a while, but I don't quite agree with the stance presented.

There's no reason to think that stats should affect the attributes of the character; it's entirely possible to seperate the mechanics from the character's personality. In real life, having a lot of intelligence would not limit one's ability to swing a sword, nor would being particularly agile or strong be a detriment to casting a spell. In RO, however, this -is- the case. Characters only have a certain amount of stat points to go around and their effectiveness is decreased violently if they splash into something they have no use for. It's rather arbitrary to say that one should build a character stat-wise to reflect their actual ability. There are plenty of flavorful reasons that someone roleplayed as unintelligent would be able to cast spells, or why someone roleplayed as weak would be able to deal considerable damage with a weapon. Yet if you did so stat-wise, your character would be virtually unplayable. Let the stats do what they're supposed to; they're there to make your character competent, not to define him or her.

Azurerogue's other point, I think, is more valid. In a server in which roleplay is optional, especially when it is displayed primarily in events and whatnot, the only side of roleplaying the players see is the epic scale. Since roleplay is not encouraged at all times, the more personal aspects of roleplaying dealing with character depth and relationships are ignored because when people are roleplaying, it's usually in a competitive environment: they're on a side that is competing against the other side. Real stories aren't as cut-and-dry, and the major conflict is rarely the entire plot.

That ties into why people paint themselves in the colors they do on heRO roleplaying. People roleplay because they want to do something. Nobody wants to play a character who has no effect on the plot, and the heRO roleplay is about plot - one epic-scale plot in which people are either important or nameless. In a server where roleplay takes place at all times, it takes a different dimension. People are willing to do things with their characters that on a server like this they wouldn't otherwise do, because the grandiose chronicle is only part of the roleplay experience. Here, since roleplay is based first and foremost on the conflict between the light and dark factions, people design their characters so that they can have some effect on that plotline. That is not, of course, a bad thing. Everyone likes to think of themselves as important; character should not be an exception. It is somewhat depressing however that only some of these characters get to fulfill the potential they were made to.

I'm not, of course, saying that the way heRO handles roleplaying is bad. Not a lot of people are willing to remain in character all the time, as it removes the important community aspect from the MMO experience. But not all those people wish to avoid roleplay entirely, so having it be a world-affecting investment is a good incentive to get those people in on something they like to do. The problem is that the number of people who want to participate is always increasing and the plot doesn't have room for them all.

[Ellie]

I dun want to remake Ina.
She is Ina. Not Ina and Ina 2.0.

Because really, heRo won't accept her like this: Ina

[Amara]

I love RPing, but the story of the light/dark stuff and what's going on with all that so far doesn't interest me at all. I prefer more personal, one on one type RPing. To get into the Rping on the server seems to require in depth knowledge of a story I am not interested in.