Roleplay Today.

[Solarispulse]

To be clear, I am not trying to insult anyone. This is the conclusion i drew after a month or study on roleplay. Some of the things to follow may not come well to some, so i kndly ask, not to insult me too harshly.

This study started several months ago, counted the hours and days I spent on this would build up to a month. The motive? Curiosity.

As I was saying... me and my girlfriend always played wow, since the release. After BC we decided to try and play other characters, so instead of my tauren warrior I made a bloodelf paladin, my girlfriend set aside her troll shaman and became a bloodelf warlock. Sadly my work occupied a considerable ammount of time, and my paladin stayed low while her warlock grew...

One day, upon coming home I found her a bit upset. So, as any good man, I asked what the problem was.

Out of boredom she tryed a character on a RP/PVP realm. But, despite the rumors wich made roleplay seem appealable, she encounterd several situations where she was insulted and ignored. Now, you might think it was her fault. But 5 years with her are enough to say that she is a person mature enough not to start or support such things. After hearing what happen, as i had to, curiosity started to build up. She never got back on her "roleplay" character, her warlock being now quite close to the endgame, but I started to take more and more interest on the subject.

I started reading the WoW roleplay thread, very nice storys, very complex characters. Reading most of the threads was like reading a book. I moved on to the Roleplaying Realm forums. One by one. Alot less consturctive then the Roleplay Forum, but there, as well I found some nice storys.

Finnaly, I decided I was versed enough in the basics of roleplay to experience it first hand. So, wich server to pick. The best choice was the same one gu girlfriend got insulted. Now I am not sure it it is wise to name the server, and for the moment I will not. I decided to try the horde side first.

I was there as a plain observant, so I made an undead rogue, something that I belive, draws no attention. And I started looking for people roleplaying. Alas, no luck, despite my expecations the Glades were tottaly empty, not a soul to see... I saw the first people dueling outside the Undercity. Waching for a while I understood that it was just a test of skill and no actual roleplay.

Inside the Undercity, alot more people, but still no Roleplay. So I was forced to request some information over the general chat, regarding Roleplay locations. Shortly I was kindly directed to the streets of Silvermoon City.

And so I dragged my undead's carcass to the city of the elfs. The sight was nice, I saw people dressed in casual clothes walking around the city. It was a nice picture to see. Like these people have blend in the actual city itself.

This was the roleplay capital of the Horde on that server, it seemed. I wached for a bit, followed a few around, trying not to interfere in any way, thus not spoiling any plans these people had. Unfortunatley I was forced to leave as real life called.

Later I got back on, and started to observe. I saw several people standing about, not interracting with eachother however. A lonley maiden stood on the edge of the fountain, obviosly looking for someone to contact her. What made it so obvious? Her constand /sigh emotes.

Finnaly a brave elf paladin dared to initiate conversation with her. By the looks of it they knew eachother but vaguely. What began as common chit-chat, turned into a spark or romance. Like a french movie, where he gives his heart ot her and she says no, while meaning yes. It was a bit amusing to wach. Altho not the ideal blood elf aproach, as far as i read, but still a good attempt. As i decided to leave the 2 lovebirds alone and move to another group that gatherd while i was spying on the two.

Incidentally, i found another similar situation among the group. As one male was, once again, declaring his feelings twards another maiden, with a few friends as backup perhaps.
---

After several days spent in Silvermoon City, and getting myself muore suited for my research, such as getting the required tool to read people's flags and getting my humble undead a little story of his own, not original, mind you. But something to answer if asked. A roach merchant.

As much as i hate to say it, however, I was deeply dissapointed in the Roleplay going on there. What at first seemed amusing, turned out to be a religion most of the roleplayers live by.

The similarity betweend Silvermoon and a highschool yard filled with jocks and cheerleaders, all pretty and rich, was becoming ridiculos. Everyone was flirthing with everyone elce. Rololeplay consisting out of a series of flirts and steamy emotes. And the brave heroes quests consisted out of finding a relationship after another. Furthermore, I was given the opportunity to see the rudeness I was thold about long ago. I was insulted myself several times for not "roleplaying" properly. Even if i wasn't doing anything elce but sittyng in a corner waching and waiting for someone to buy my roaches. Alas, a roach merchant's silent presence was upseting some of the community, who boldy thold me to ((Go roleplay for real)).

Now, given that I never said a word, occasionaly responded to the few that came to ask about my roaches, I don't see how those people could have interpreted my roleplay in any way.

So, it comes to a simple question: What is real roleplay? Is it the over-used aproach Silvermoon is filled with? The sensual male bloodelfs with tragic pasts? I am sorry, I don't feel this is right. I understand a majority would take that aproach, but everyone? I am also aware of the Bloodefl Lore wich implys a tragic past. But on 6 people out of over 30 have their flags written according to the lore.

---

Two weeks passed and I took a few notes on the regulars. I knew their characters and I knew their storys. At some point I got to meet the person behidn the character, and, again, sorry to say, but I was deeply dissapointed.

I broke one of my own rules and stepped up for a person that was being harassed on the general chat for, ironicly, asking about roleplay on the server.

I ended up being thold that...I "have never seen the inside of a woman" by a good memeber of the community. Ofcorse I didn't spend much time time trying to figure out where he came up with that. But I felt I had enough information to draw a conclussion.

I was wrong. A friend of mine, from my old guild, who has been thold by my girlfriend about my "research" offerd to help me. He got me a ticket ot Shat, where I could use the potals for fast travel. Why?

While his words about the Silvermoon community were poor, as I knew myself. He asked me to give the realm a chance.

One day he came online and quickly had me to log my roach merchant and meet him in the tauren capital.

There I wached several members of a guild, all being non-elfs roleplay, and I can say I got lost into their words, into their emotes. It was so... somooth so well timed. Everyone waited for the other to finish, no foolish arguements or boasts of grandure. A redeeming quiality to the Roleplay on this server.

3 days ago, i came upon 2 undead roleplaying. They were trying to figure out who they were. Looking for clues around Brill. Again some quiality roleplay.

I feel dissapointed to say however, that such roleplay is indeed rare, atleast in my experience, while the "popstar" roleplay seems to grove bigger and bigger...

As I feel my research concluded on the horde side, I moved on to the Alliance side. The roach merchant is gone, replaced by a dwarf miner. I don't have nearly enough information to present for now, but I'll be sure to write abput it once I do. And only then will I reveal the server where I was.

[Polaba]

RP Forum is that way VV

[Naolin]

I play on the EU-Argent Dawn roleplay server, and I must say I agree. I been playing there a while now (more then a year I guess) and I also play horde (undead rogue female)
Silvermoon is also the capitol for RP on the horde side. Me and my guildies have mostly been avoiding the place like the plague only going there when we are looking for trouble or to ridicule people.
Nice RP is far and wide in between, I got lucky that I got in a reasonable well RP guild (Factio Funestus, shameless advertisment)
But it seems that RP in silvermoon at least for the largest part on our server is "foreplay" for the well known "Cyber"
For now I have given up on RP outside my own guild.

As for alliance... well they have night elves and its even worse (I had an alliance main for a while)

[piscene]

I spent a little while on a RP server, and I can't say that I ever saw any role playing at all. Or maybe all I saw was flirting, which doesn't qualify as RP in my opinion.

Maybe RP within a guild is the only way to do it.

[Valas Azuviir]

From what I've gathered most actual roleplay takes place within the confines of a guild on the RP servers. SMC is indeed cyber city for the most part, though you got some good folks there every now and then.

Me?? Well, most of my characters are somewhat... addled.. in one way or another.
But if someone wants to rp a bit, then I got no issue with that, usually they tend to try to engage me when I'm busy with stuff though. And considering a number of my characters are oh so cheerful Forsaken.. Well.. groucheyness can ensue..

But more often than not it's more giving out pointers. Something along the lines of:

Better get used to it, kid. You're fresh out of the tomb, you dawdle around too long and you're going to end up as lunch for the scavengers.

You can sit and moan about your condition, like some Blood Elf, all day, but that's not going to change a thing and most of the rest of us do have more important things to do.

Like what? Like gathering our strength. It's not as if we can procreate naturally. We have to be a bit more... pursuasive in our conversions. And as soon as that Alliance is out of the way then we can focus our attention at our real target. The Lich King.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm nobody's lapdog. I bow to the Dark Lady, because that is my choice, not because I'm being made to, like some bloody puppet. That's the difference. And if anyone can kill that overgrown icecube of an Arthas, than it's our beloved Dark Lady.

So what's it going be kid? You with us and will you become stronger or will you become nothing more than a footnote in some history page, if even that much??

How to gain your strength? Try the folks in Deathknell, they have plenty of tasks for a fresh one like yourself. I underwent the same trials many a moon ago, but that was then and this is now and I'm kinda busy here. So anything else?

[caldepen]

I don't think this game lends itself or promotes rp all that much. Sure you can find it if you look hard enough but I joined a rppvp realm just because I found all the silly names distracting and thought that a rp realm would be better for that and it was but other than that I did not note any real difference.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

I don't think this game lends itself or promotes rp all that much.

I tend to agree. While I will have a particular concept in mind when I create a character, and particular style I play that character with, the game doesn't lend itself well to roleplaying.

As a long-time D&D DM, and one of the developers for the D&D campaign setting Dark Sun, I tend to like the dynamism of an interactive setting, where the players' actions actually impact how the world works. WoW and other MMOs just don't offer that. If I go kill Illidan, he's only dead until the next time someone goes into Black Temple and fights him. There is no sudden empty position needing to be filled. Beyond the quests and whatnot for things, once you've completed those quests, it isn't like the NPCs change their attitudes, what they are doing, and in the end the players are living in a world where what they do doesn't really amount to anything as far as the world is concerned. NPCs don't interact based on the characters' backgrounds, they don't really interact beyond the basic requirements of WoW (quests, vendors, etc.) Even single-player RPGs are more dynamic, if still scripted and far too often very linear. It's one of the reason I only designate the genre as MMO, not MMORPG.

That said, I've played on roleplaying servers, and it is interesting to interact with other players on some level as those roles. But that only really goes so far, there is no benefit whatsoever for roleplaying, and the roleplaying seems like something detached from the game itself. I'll still play my characters with a specific concept, a guiding principle in what I do with that character (like my technophile dwarf hunter, my outdoorsman orc hunter, my lunatic troll shaman, etc), I might occasionally make up emotes and tie them to macros, or maybe say something "in character", but it all feels like an uncomfortable fit for WoW in the end.

[Solarispulse]

That said, I've played on roleplaying servers, and it is interesting to interact with other players on some level as those roles. But that only really goes so far, there is no benefit whatsoever for roleplaying, and the roleplaying seems like something detached from the game itself. I'll still play my characters with a specific concept, a guiding principle in what I do with that character (like my technophile dwarf hunter, my outdoorsman orc hunter, my lunatic troll shaman, etc), I might occasionally make up emotes and tie them to macros, or maybe say something "in character", but it all feels like an uncomfortable fit for WoW in the end.

What I did not say directly, and was rather trying to imply is that Roleplay, where i observed it is nothing more then... an online dating service. There is little to nothing interest for the actual lore of the races, for their actual habits... Just a convenient image that promotes the person in every way possible aiming for ultimate perfection. Is that why people roleplay? Because the Roleplay forums show a different side of this. It shows people that roleplay characters according to their nature and culture, adding to this combination parts of their personality or applying a peronality that fits. That is roleplay.... and I feel confident in saying this given that I know what roleplay is not.

[Solarispulse]

Anyhow, even if I don't have enough information to describe the alliance Roleplay, I will add this little itch that has been bothering me since I switched to the "good guys".

I will skip the introduction and try to stick to the subject, wich regards tragic pasts.

I got used to everyone having a tragic background. I guess it's an excusable element since the word setting has been ravaged by wars and tragedy. But when most people have an oath sworn to some bruttaly murderd relative/friend/lover. It gets a bit boring, and perhaps anoying.

Anyway, I am mostly doing my observing, for now, in the reknown Goldshire, wich is not as I was thold. Perhaps I didn't come at the right time, but there were no groups of femal nightelfs dancing naked on tables, as most described.

Putting that aside, and the seemingly unending romace that happens here as well, I want to point out several things.

After hearing a bold paladin's story, pretty well described, and reading his flag I felt I got drawn in the Twilight zone. His family was slain by... Bloodelfs when he was young. Wich I found a bit odd, well, alot, since the lore states that the Humans and Bloodelfs had a close alliance between them, only to have it shred by and ignorant human racist that drove the remaining elfs into their exodus. And that was 5 years ago, in game, ofcorse.

I am not trying to derail from the subject at hand, but it bothers me to see shards of lore misused so bruttaly. It bothers me to see how some people make up farfetched reasons to hate a horde faction.

Upon asking that paladin's age when his tragedy occured, and upon his answer, by calculating his age then and adding the 5 years since the catastrophy, that would make him 11. He wasn't very happy about it, let me tell you.

Moved on to a young Druidess, that came to Goldshire to spread the teachings of Cenarius. Now that was good. A noble quest. She wasn't too bad all around, in fact she was great. Even her clothing was apropriate. She had no flag however. But her emotes made up for it. A well played druid, at the first sight.

The downside of our little chat was when we talked about the other naure embracing race, the tauren. Now, I am not certain if she was roleplaying a naive girl as well, because, like I said, she was very good, but she belived the Tauren and the Nightelfs would leave in peace. Ofcorse I am aware of the symbol of nature, as it represents neutrality. An observant, so to say. But I think she, and all the people who share her perspective forget one thing. The Tauren are not all druids, while they are a culture that respect naure above any other horde reace, they are still the same people that call allys the orcs, and the orcs are responsable for several plights upon the good nightelfs. To add they are the ones that slain the fabled Cenarius. Namely Hellscream being the one who shut the demi-god down. While under demonic influence? If I read correctly they accepted the corruption, perhaps not fully aware, because they could not slay Cenarius on their own.
Not to mention that Grom Hellscream is revered as a hero to the Horde races of Kalimdor.

But the balance and neutrality between the two races, the druidess spoke of, has already been achieved by what we call the Cenarion Circle. Sadly few use that and would rather make up ideeas that simply stabl the Azerothian lore. Again I will point out that she was perhaps roleplaying a naive character.

Other things similar are not worth a full description. But since being a RP/PVP realm, people tend to force to note when it comes to reazons for hating the opposing side, forgetting about lore.

More to come...

[Polaba]

Blood elves can be druids too, just look at yourself!

Maybe Taurens, Night Elves and Blood Elves should start their own faction :grin:

All things considered, this isn't an RP game. They have servers that they call RP but, like Xlorep said everyone does the same thing essentially, kills the same stuff and goes the same places. I think someone with even a mediocre back story should be praised, because at least they put some thought -whether the lore behind it is correct or not - into Role Playing. I played an RP server for literally 20 minutes. After a level 3 asking me "pray tell, what be the way to the tavern", I quit it for good. It's a game, not a life. You should be able to act however you want, but since RP servers are set aside for acting like the character you are and not the guy behind the computer pressing keys, you should only RP on them, no?

[Naolin]

Actually the only thing keeping me to the RP server is my guild and my raiding community, if it wasn't for those two things I would have transfered to and PvE server a long time ago (or quit), just because for some reason it seems harder to find pve groups on the horde side of this RP server as well. (no idea if its better on a pve server but one would like to think that ;p)

I think its right RP has probably no real place in WoW the game is too big and not tailored to take care of the RP community.

[caldepen]

Hey Xlorep I liked the Dark Sun world! I even played the vid game and thought that had merit as well. I can't remember too much though, something about being a gladiator and breaking out of the pits or something. Fun though... Does my brain have that right?

[Shellar]

After a while, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of WoW players:

a) Appreciate watching a good RP scene
b) Can't be bothered actually participating in one

With that in mind, I do engage in RP - on Normal servers.

[Valas Azuviir]

Hey Xlorep I liked the Dark Sun world! I even played the vid game and thought that had merit as well. I can't remember too much though, something about being a gladiator and breaking out of the pits or something. Fun though... Does my brain have that right?

That would be Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, it's sequal, the somewhat buggy Wake of the Ravager starts you out differently. Then again, you get to fight a Tarrasque in that one. :shocked:

That's like a bunch of level 20s taking on Arthas. :tongue:

[caldepen]

Man I liked those games. Remember original Pool of Radiance? When getting a +3 two-hander really meant something. I played the next two as well, silverblades and whatever the other one was called. Really good combat style getting all your dudes in the right spots to lay down some lightning bolt or ball of fire law. And having a great main guy who you kind of liked better than the rest in your party and gave him all the good stuff...

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

Hey Xlorep I liked the Dark Sun world! I even played the vid game and thought that had merit as well. I can't remember too much though, something about being a gladiator and breaking out of the pits or something. Fun though... Does my brain have that right?

I actually never played the two video games. Didn't really care much for the older D&D video games much. However, I am part of the Athas.org (http://athas.org) team that has been converting Dark Sun officially to 3.5e D&D (and will do it for 4e when it gets released next year).

That would be Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, it's sequal, the somewhat buggy Wake of the Ravager starts you out differently. Then again, you get to fight a Tarrasque in that one. :shocked:

That's like a bunch of level 20s taking on Arthas. :tongue:

Yup, that would be the two. Of course, one of the problems with Wake of the Ravager was because there was a Tarrasque in it, which has no place on Athas. There are other problems, it brought in a lot of "standard" D&D creatures that didn't belong in Dark Sun at all. Illithids spring to mind.

Man I liked those games. Remember original Pool of Radiance? When getting a +3 two-hander really meant something. I played the next two as well, silverblades and whatever the other one was called. Really good combat style getting all your dudes in the right spots to lay down some lightning bolt or ball of fire law. And having a great main guy who you kind of liked better than the rest in your party and gave him all the good stuff...

Heh, see.... I never got into the video games. I've been a long-time pencil & paper roleplaying gamer. The video games were either way too linear, and/or the storylines were horribly cheesy. My Dark Sun campaigns are, well.... not for the feint of heart :devil:

[Valas Azuviir]

Man I liked those games. Remember original Pool of Radiance? When getting a +3 two-hander really meant something. I played the next two as well, silverblades and whatever the other one was called. Really good combat style getting all your dudes in the right spots to lay down some lightning bolt or ball of fire law. And having a great main guy who you kind of liked better than the rest in your party and gave him all the good stuff...

That would be Pool of Radiance -> Hillsfar (not mandatory, but it made your characters a wee bit stronger in the next game) -> Curse of the Azure Bonds -> Secret of the Silver Blades -> Pools of Darkness.

The other FR Goldbox serie was the Savage Frontier one. Gateway to the Savage Frontier followed by Treasures of the Savage Frontier.

Then you had the Krynn ones.
Champions of Krynn -> Deaths Knight of Krynn -> Dark Queen of Krynn

There was the Buck Rogers in the 25th century version as well.
Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed (never got my hands on the latter though).

And as for the Mind Flayers, I rather liked facing them in the DS setting.
*Psionic Blast*
Hey, that tickles. Cut that out, scratch that, I'll carve you out instead.
*chops monster into bits*

[MrBCorp]

(3rd post)...blah blah blah spelling errors etc blah blah etc...

I'm not too surprised that people are disregarding or changing the lore to suit their needs. After all, Blizzard have been doing that for years.

[Ardani]

I've played "real" role-playing games (of the pen and paper variety; D&D, World of Darkness -- yes, I love Dark Sun too) for about 12 years, and coming into MMORPGs, I was always pretty dismissive of what passed for RP there. Ultima Online was my first real MMO, and that did the best job of approximating it, but even then, to my mind, it completely lacked the quality and atmosphere of a good p&p game. WoW doesn't even begin to touch it.

I'm on an RPPvP server, though. I played on a regular American PvP realm for a while, and then when I left because my schedule no longer matched my guild's very well, I realm-hopped through the European servers quite a bit. I ended up settling on Venture Co. not because of the RP, but because one of my oldest friends runs a very successful guild on there. And at this point I can say that I wouldn't play on anything but an RPPvP server.

If you go looking for organised, deep role-playing, you'll be disappointed. You'll be disappointed if you look for anything that approximates the atmosphere of a p&p game. But if you can enjoy it for what it is, there's some thoroughly entertaining spontaneous RP to be found. My boyfriend and I decided to wander into Ironforge (we're Horde) to get his tailor the Red Winter Clothes pattern. We dressed up in cheap outfits and left our gear in the bank, and ended up having an amusing time role-playing with the residents of Dun Morogh... mostly through emotes, obviously, although we kept it up in /say for ourselves. (It's actually all the more fun to RP with people you can't understand, sometimes. For all you know they could be saying "lol noob", but that doesn't stop you from going to town with the characterisation.) We've landed in Hammerfall to find the inn full of people discussing their experiences with the Alliance in character, and merrily joined in.

If you don't try to compare it to "better" forms of role-playing, but just go where you will and do what you want and jump into (or start) any decent RP that you stumble across, it does add that little bit of extra spice to what's already a good game, and RP/RPPvP server communities do seem that little bit more inclusive and friendly. I don't think the RP servers deserve giving up on just because they aren't what they could be.

[Herald of Doom]

Well let's all thank Chris Metzen for altering the lore pretty much every two days or so. I've given up on following the lore, I feel it doesn't at anything to actual RP I encounter. Give or take a few things my main characters background fits and although it's a fairly standard rp setting (clumsy but energetic apprentice was sent out on a mission by his master,fails and thereby causes his masters death and is now making up for it to his masters spirit) it seems to get me some nice rp at least once a day. (argent dawn alliance side).

HoD

[caldepen]

There was the Buck Rogers in the 25th century version as well.

Hey I forgot about the buck rogers one! That was fun too! What was the other space one that may have been a bit different where you sailed around in space pirate ships? That was sort of cool too.

[Valas Azuviir]

Hey I forgot about the buck rogers one! That was fun too! What was the other space one that may have been a bit different where you sailed around in space pirate ships? That was sort of cool too.

Probably Spelljammer, from what I gathered it was even more buggy than Wake of the Ravager, never released on this end of the pond either.

[Diamondcz]

Well, I like roleplaying and I find quite sad what you said about those Silvermoon people. Seems like people don't really try make a proper roleplay and act quite arrogant against those who are trying to find the right way. It's kinda funny, though, that I haven't met many people who'd take roleplaying seriously i.e. try to portray some other character besides their real self. Usually there are just people who ask questions like "where are you from?" and "are you a boy or a girl?" Oh well :/

[caldepen]

All who play, rp to some extent. I mean you build a toon and escape into a different world for a bit. Just that some take it to another level. Getting married in WoW, and other stuff is not my idea of fun. But if it is for others great!

[Stowned]

Only real rp I've done was on Emerald Dream as my lock. While leveling on the rp/pvp server, it was fairly fun to tell another hordie to "Be alert! Alliance filth roams these hills."

That's about as far as it goes.

Too bad the Alliance couldn't understand my witty mid-fight banter. "Back you human scum" doesnt sound as good as "Bur wibbly moerter camn."

[Kaldresh]

I'm on an RP server and do encounter it on occasion. Usually it's someone I see while I'm engaging mobs and they either hail me or help out and are obviously in character. I respond in the same vein - but I've got to tell you... some of us just aren't good at it. :) I'd love to do it, but once I get past the intros and thank you kind sirs, etc., I don't really know where to go with it. Feel kind of stupid standing there going "uh.... give me a sec...." Stupid maybe, but there it is.

[caldepen]

Just say "forsooth" or "tallyho!" and wander off aimlessly.

[Mincemaker]

Well, I like roleplaying and I find quite sad what you said about those Silvermoon people. Seems like people don't really try make a proper roleplay and act quite arrogant against those who are trying to find the right way. It's kinda funny, though, that I haven't met many people who'd take roleplaying seriously i.e. try to portray some other character besides their real self. Usually there are just people who ask questions like "where are you from?" and "are you a boy or a girl?" Oh well :/

Well, a proper roleplay does not mean you have to deviate too much from your real self. My character, for example, while his past is different from my actual past (a criminal past), his philosophies, his world views and how he does things are actually representative on how I usually go about doing things in real life. Why? Because it's easier to stay in character all day doing just that. No, I don't ask those kind of OOC questions, no sir, but how he kills people (methodical), how he solves problems (rational and logical and outright cold and straightfoward), and how he mingles with people (all relationships are strictly professional), and why he does things (to protect own's interest) are based on how I live my Real Life.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

Well, a proper roleplay does not mean you have to deviate too much from your real self. My character, for example, while his past is different from my actual past (a criminal past), his philosophies, his world views and how he does things are actually representative on how I usually go about doing things in real life. Why? Because it's easier to stay in character all day doing just that. No, I don't ask those kind of OOC questions, no sir, but how he kills people (methodical), how he solves problems (rational and logical and outright cold and straightfoward), and how he mingles with people (all relationships are strictly professional), and why he does things (to protect own's interest) are based on how I live my Real Life.

Interesting. Me, I like to work with a particular concept which I build the character around, it becomes a philosophy on what that character does, what professions the character takes, and sort of the "world view" I take with it. Case in point, my two hunters. They are quite different, and don't do things even remotely alike. The first is my Orc Hunter, who I based off of my last EverQuest character (an Ogre Beastlord transformed into an Orc Hunter). Not too bright, but a tracker, tends to stay away from large cities and society, outdoorsman, living off the land. As a result, he has leatherworking and skinning as his professions, he tends to eat food strictly from what he makes with cooking (and feeds his pets from his cooking when possible), I prefer bows with him, and developed him with the philosophy of boosting/advancing his pet (he's Beast Mastery spec). My Dwarf Hunter I originally made as someone completely different from him. She's a technophile, ergo an Engineer. She likes guns, things that go bang or zap, tends to think and see nature as needing to be "improved". She is more of a "go-getter" kind of character. I've developed her as more of a survival/marksmanship build as well.

[Solarispulse]

The time spent on the good side of the camp drove me to change server, so not too seem too mono-dimensional on my thoughts on alliance roleplay. Sadly it didn't help...

---

Dissapointed in the lack of interest in roleplay or lore and seeing the famed roleplayers more interested in real life details about the persons they RP with, on the Sporeggar server, I decided to change my research location, hoping that I will see a change. But I was wrong. In fact I was very wrong. It seems there is no difference between roleplay and forplay, perhaps the setting. Wow roleplay is the equivalent of a pickup bar or disco.

Was I unlucky to withness this display of bihaviour? I think not? It cannot be coincidence, like i said, I decided to change servers because the face of roleplay was no different then the one I saw on the horde side.

---

Like the Horde, the Alliance has a reknown location where "roleplay" can be found at most hours of the day, namely Goldshire... and perhaps Stormwind.

Now, I decided that I've given enough indulgence to the matter and perhaps it's time to give it my straight thoughts.

Goldshire is practicly populated by Nightelfs, a race that seems to have lost it's traditional lore to the eyes of many, and gained an icon, wich has a more proper place in the fantasy world these people creeated. And frankly I too share the same image. While some time ago, the words "nightelf huntress" or "nightelf priestess" would bring to mind a picture of a woman with blueish or otherwise purple skintone, elongated eyebrows and ears, and glowing eyes, mounted upon a large panther, streching a bow or casting a spell. Today sadly, given my experiences, the words above force me to picture, a bikini tabledancer.

The image of the nightelfs in Goldshire is no different then the image of the Bloodelfs in Silvermoon. Dressed in formal and revealing clothes. And while the fashion is suited for the bloodelf, it is not for the nightelf. Now I am not trying to dictate anyone's roleplay. But this is not roleplay, my friends, this is a convenient image that serves a different purpose then another level of gaming experience. It serves a hidden purpose, wich I am sick of repeating. and even sicker of meeting in every character I saw.

While on the Horde side I was more passive in my research, I decided to become a bit more involved, and rather then just standing and waching, I decided to inquire the information, ofcorse not as an interogator. The information people share when meeting eachother. And let me tell you, these people just love talking about themselfs, ofcorse if you are the right person. Sadly my dwarf was not the kind of person that would stirr any interest to the beautyqueens and kings there, thus I was forced to creeate a character whos looks would spark more interest. So it came that I made a male nightelf and a female. Sadly the female never made it to Goldshire since the run there was long and I decided to repace her with a human female. And indeed those gave rezults. I could attain information about the people there without being dismissed quickly as I was on my dwarf.

Later it came to memory what I said before. About the striking resemblence in bihaviour with an american highschool where harsh judgements are given upon looks and not value, where material possesions are regarded much highly then any extraordinary quality. The kind of existance that brands others as the "no-lifers"...

Not to wander off the far from the point, the examples to follow are no different then the ones posted in the opening post, perhaps not in detail, but on a general scale, they are identical, so you can skip this part.

---

The information gatherd was on my female character, as i am sure, most expected. With alot of help from my girlfriend for the more feminine touches. A simple backround story, the daughter of a farmer that sold vegetables to the goldshire folk, an intriguing story for the heroes that sought to resque ladys from the dullness of life and hurl them into a life of luxury. Something my character would not give in to. Later I felt forced to change her flag, so she whould get less attention on the related subject, so I made her 10 years old. Well that didn't have the effect I expected... I recieved many wispers that requested information about the person behind the screen, out of the blue from strangers, you know, simple questions, like where I'm from, if I am indeed a female, or how old I am. I decided not to respond after I got called a "slut" by someone who didn't get the answers he was looking for.

Back on subject, one funny experiance was with a nightelf that was botherd by my character's immunity to his charms using a simple excuse, or facts rather, wich is that races don't mix. From there on it became funny,as he started convincing me that humans are not good, even as my character was herself a human, and he insisted that nightelfs are the best choice a girl can have, picturing them as... something that does not resemble even a phrase from the nightelf lore. Amazing how deep some would sink in you-know-what for something as trivial as this.

Another funny event was while I was preparing dinner, and heard my girlfriends laughter upstairs, while she was minding the farmer girl, as my cooking skill is higher then hers and she took an interest in my research as well, helping me extend my research. Not long after that, she called me upstairs to show me what caused all the laughing. Apparently the farmer girl's innocent presence had cought the eye of one of the local nightelf girls, who saw her as "competition". Funny indeed. The best insult she came up with were the poor girl's clothes. They were not pretty enough, not sexy enough. Hmm... a 10 year old farmer girl and sexy dresses... something like that would be just plain wrong. I allowed my girlfriend to handle it. And she did, quite skillfuly, not with snappy comebacks, but rather reacting like the shly young girl I stirved to make her seem. Namely starting to cry and asking to be left alone. And let me tell you, that had a much grander effect. As the farmgirl's tears, as I forsaw, drew the "heroes" to her aid. Alas the incident ended with the nightelf rival, ignoring my farmgirl, even as me or my girlfriend said anything to her or about her OOC.

These were the few of many funny encounters I've had, and I laughed on the spot, but looked back upon, they are, in fact, tragic. But enough of the farmgirl, let's move on to my nightelf male warrior...

An unfortunate nightelf who was born blind, a pilgrim that spread the teachings of Cenarius (something I stole from a druid girl I met some time ago). He was armed with a stick and wore a robe stained by mud and dust. So, with a more or less tragic past, I felt I would fit right in the society. Getting a lvl 6 character to Goldshire from Dranassus, is not fun, let me tell you.

My pilgrim's days in Goldshire were less fun then the farmer girl's, some sought to correct me with manufactured ideeas about Cenarius, just for the sake of arguement thus promoting their own image, pushing it deeper into perfection. People so confident that their thoughts, and ideeas would change written lore, just because it was them saying it... a bit silly. A certain female took interest in my pilgrim, convinced that under the dirty robes was in fact a heroic Demon Hunter... Sadly he was not.
I had alot of duel flags thrown if my face by those braves over petty differences, such as those stated above. I kept my image, explaining that a man with no sight that can't even defend himself from a bump in the road had no chance aghainst a "brave" hero, such as those that wanted his blood, and asking forgiveness, only to be called in exchange a "Coward".

After several incidents that shared the same subject and people, it came to mind that the motive for it was not in fact a difference of ideeas, but a method for making these...braves, feel better about themselfs, as, everyone being a hero, it's hard to find weaklings to prey on. So I gave up on the pilgrim, wich was becoming a regular victim.

What is left to describe is the constant flirting, but I will not. As I am sure you are as bored with it as I am.

I feel that enough time has passed me by while I was doing this research and it's time to come to an end. I feel deeply dissapointed on what I saw, and if asked about roleplay, I will not answer kindly. Atleast not about casual roleplay. As people here said, guild roleplay is a shadow of the ideal, alas, I rarely experienced it, so I have little to say about it. I would love to do some research on in however, because frankly, I am a bit dissapointed that I had to paint a grimm picture overall, sadly I am not familiar enough with RP guilds to have enought information to reach a conclussion. So any help is appreciated. So, with no further dealy, here is what I learned...

---

Roleplay today is in fact forplay. I don't have a name for the people it attracts, but I know they are not at all different from oneanother. Characters are turned into golden business cards and thrown in the faces of others wether they like it or not. Roleplay is an excuse to open a path to hidden desires, to draw information trough a "smoother" tactic. Or a waly to feel better about yourself, sadly by stepping on others, rather then trying to enjoy the fantasy world with them. A mix of rudeness and pride come as the elite roleplayer's main tools, and not lore or atleast common sence, if not manners. A sad display of things we see in the every day life, things I'd classify as filth. Filth dragged into a game ment to be an escape from the problems of every day life. Problems that seemingly we can't live without, and would rather bring them with us no matter where we go, and force them upon others. Human nautre? Perhaps. But not something that excuses us from showing a curtesy or manners even from beind a screen to a stranger.

If you read this far then I thank you for your kind attention. Perhaps I am wrong about it all, but it is what I saw, or better said, what I was shown. But then again, the earth looks flat from where I'm standing...

Also I would like to say I am sorry for the vast number of spelling mistakes. English is not my birth language, and while my work requires me to speak it, wich I do well enough, i think , it does not require me to write it.

[Ardani]

Solarispulse, no offence, but although it was well written I can't lend your post much credence. You've ignored most of what you've been told in this thread, and your "research" seems to consist of going to hotspots known for poor/unconventional roleplay, creating characters deliberately designed to attract the wrong kind of interest (you changed from a dwarf because you didn't get enough attention from the "beauty queens"? Why did you want that attention when you knew these people were not out to provide the kind of roleplay you were looking for?), never leaving the starting areas -- going to Goldshire for quality RP is a little like looking for Homer in the chick lit section -- and not attempting to join roleplaying guilds with a good reputation, yet you use this basis to decide that "roleplay today is in fact foreplay".

Well, if you go looking for muck, you'll find it.

[Solarispulse]

Wether you chose to belive me or not is your choice. Like I said, this was done out of pure curiosity and not aiming to prove something. It's a hobby, my work consists out of similar study and, as you can see I enjoy it a bit too much.

The hotspots I went to are the only few I knew of, rember, I am a "fresh" roleplayer. While I am sure you know the best spots to roleplay on your server, I on the other hand do not, and any roleplay aside Goldshire, was encounterd by accident, and not worth mentioning.
You also misunderstood my intention when I changed characters. Yes, attention was the aim, but not the kind you think of. I think I already thold you why. But I won't mind repeating myself...

As the dwarf miner, I was dismissed and ignored, the reazon was obvious, the lack of interest. And since I wished to deepen the analisys of their characters, I had to get a bit more personal, by personal I mean more then just standing in a dark corner observing. As I already did that, it was time for another aproach, and frankly I the things gatherd while waching silently in goldshire were identical -in detail- with the notes taken in Silvermoon. I don't think neither you or I or anyone would have liked to see the same thing all over again. And I felt that having the same approach all over again would not only be boring, but superficial. So again, yes, I sougt attention, but not the kind you imagine.

I also suggest to read my opening post, and my last post to it's ending, my posts refer in most part to casual roleplay. As I stated before, I have very little experience with guild roleplay, and the little experience I have is held in high regard and wieved as actual roleplay.

Also I did not wish to "infiltrate" and guild simply because I feel that is below me, and a guild that accepts me should be aware of my intentions from the start. And given that I starded the research in one place I didn't wish to leave it off to start a different type of research wich involves things much different, in preparation atleast. Again, please, read my post in full before passing judgement.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

Your "research" is biased, however. You sought to prove your point, rather than be open to other possibilities. The methods you used to conduct your research was strongly focused on a particular kind of roleplay, and then you have blanketed the findings across the board. I am not saying your heart was in the wrong place on it, just that your own personal perspective and point of view has clouded your judgment a bit.

[Solarispulse]

That may be so. But please explain.

[det]

Being on ER for 3 years now, my observations match with the OP on his realm. There is very few RP, incredibly annoying talk in trade and general and actually in general chat people ATTACKING RP.

If not to RP myself, at least I respect it, endorse it and was hoping for a pleasurable community. Maybe I have to play on a PvP or other "non_RP" server to apprechiate what we still have, but all in all it is a bit disappointing at times.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

That may be so. But please explain.

Ok, then I point you back to the previous post just above yours which I replied to:

Solarispulse, no offence, but although it was well written I can't lend your post much credence. You've ignored most of what you've been told in this thread, and your "research" seems to consist of going to hotspots known for poor/unconventional roleplay, creating characters deliberately designed to attract the wrong kind of interest (you changed from a dwarf because you didn't get enough attention from the "beauty queens"? Why did you want that attention when you knew these people were not out to provide the kind of roleplay you were looking for?), never leaving the starting areas -- going to Goldshire for quality RP is a little like looking for Homer in the chick lit section -- and not attempting to join roleplaying guilds with a good reputation, yet you use this basis to decide that "roleplay today is in fact foreplay".

Well, if you go looking for muck, you'll find it.

[Kaldresh]

I have to agree that the casual roleplaying is.... pretty bad. The OP is correct about that. We could have saved you quite a bit of time in "research" on that topic. But thinking back to when I played D&D a bit before I was married, ALL of that was bad! lol

I realize it is confusing that there are RP servers which have very little RPing going on, but those who have stated before that WoW isn't very conducive to RPing are also correct. Where you are going and what you are going to do is already scripted. Who you are is already scripted. The lore, assuming anyone can make heads or tails of it at this point, is already scripted. This isn't a role-playing game - just a game with a few realms called RP which some brave souls actually engage in and most everyone else just plays at.

Computer games are linear - role playing is not. True roleplaying is going to occur where anything can (and often does) happen. That just isn't possible in a computer game.

I don't think the OP is ignoring what others have posted, so much as what has been posted doesn't really tie in to what he was doing. So I guess the bottomline would be: I agree with your findings, but think the research was unnecessary to begin with.

[Ardani]

Okay, I'll try to rephrase what I said in my previous post, since it seems my point was missed (except by Xlorep).

Let's imagine that I went onto a forum full of film fanatics, and posted an essay explaining how I feel all movies are gory based on having watched five horror films. I get a bunch of replies telling me that not all horror films are gory, and furthermore, not all films are horror. I get suggestions on where to look for films more suited to my taste. So I go away, watch another five horror films, and then come back and complain that they were all gory too, so clearly I was right in the first place.

Okay, bad analogy, but it's 3am here. Still -- if you catch my drift, that's what you're doing with RP in WoW. You received a lot of comments on this thread in response to your original post which explained many things about WoW RP, including why you were looking in the wrong place for the kind of RP you were seeking. So you went away and proceeded to look in what you'd already been told was the wrong place for substantiation of your point.

Goldshire RP is not highly regarded by anyone. I don't know where you got that idea. It's the subject of much mockery on many RP and RPPvP realms. If you want to find quality RP, make a character that you will enjoy playing (not one designed to elicit a response, especially a response you don't actually want), and play them through the game. Don't mill around the starting areas looking for the holy grail of RPing. Do the quests, get the character to level 30 or so (trivial to reach since 2.3). Interact with people in character in the wider world, outside the starting areas. All of those quality RPers, they're not RPing instead of playing the game, they're RPing as well as playing the game, so they're out there doing stuff too. You may not always get in character responses, sometimes (hopefully rarely) you may even get rude ones, but unless you're on a ghost server, you will find some roleplayers. You will start to get the lay of the land as far as RP guilds and communities and RP hotspots go. Furthermore, the higher in level you get, the more likely you are to find people who are serious about their character.

That's assuming you really are looking for good RP, and not just trying to substantiate a pre-existing belief that it doesn't exist.

[Mincemaker]

Looking for RP in hotspots is generally a flawed to find roleplay opportunities. Generally, you can expect Paris Hilton-type of characters skulking around such hotspots. Places for really good RP are generally away from those areas, out in the fields. And as such, it is advisable to try and stay in character in everything you do in game.

For example, you are doing a quest involving killing boars. That is a deed that can either be OOC or IC. So, let's turn it into something IC. How you go about killing the boars can already speak volumes of what kind of character you are. Do you run around killing every single boar you see? This pretty much showed that your character is a battle-frenzied butcher. Or do you always seem to just pick a boar out of so many boars to kill? This suggests that you are a very specific hunter. Or do you like to herd many boars at once in a place and then kill them all at once? This kind of suggests that you are a very efficient genocidal maniac, as such deeds is akin to herding the offending targets in one spot (like a concentration camp) and then wipe them all out on the spot.

Then, include a reason why you are killing the aforementioned boars. Is it for food? Is it because it's a job? Or do you have something against boars? Or do you just happened to be a life hater who happens to find himself surrounded by boars? Or you are paranoid and thought the boars are out to get you?

Methods of killing in the field, added with a reason, either logical, illogical or just plain ridiculous, and you slate yourself as a roleplayer. That is how I meet good roleplayers, that is how I roleplay and that is how I make an impression. I don't need to go around spewing my life stories, I just go out and do something in a specific way and if there are other roleplayers out there, they may or may not take notice, and then, a bit of interaction and you have a good roleplay interaction brewing right there.

Now extend the IC-way of killing things into your every gesture. How your character interacts with others at sight can also slate you as a roleplayer. You don't normally see everybody in real life treating everybody the same, and since roleplaying is essentially pretending that you are a real guy living in the game world as though it's the real world, the same thing is carried into it. Do you scorn warlocks for one reason or another? Are you cold towards everyone? Do you seem to avoid one NPC for one reason and always go to another NPC? All these and you mark yourself as a roleplayer, and other roleplayers, upon contact with you, will home in towards you and start roleplaying if they find you interesting enough.