Alright this is probably my last post on massive. I have nothing to lose now.
The biggest issue with roleplay that I have seen hinder the player base since I started roleplaying on this server (what feels like ages ago) is that organized character development is limited to certain players and characters. If people consistently wish to play a character, oftentimes they like to see that character develop and progress towards a goal. This is fine if you play within the noble system, military, or sometimes even in a gang system. But, commoners have little to no opportunity to make any progress towards a goal (It doesn't even have to be positive progress, per say, as failure can change up a character just as much as success can). I have spoken with several members of various positions within the community regarding how they have gotten their characters to the position that they have. Most of the time I get the answer "you have to know someone/you have to know a staff member." I do not think that this is how it should be.
I remember getting a player quest in 2016. I was able to take the things that I had worked for IRP and put them into actual progress for my character, outside of some organization of strict caste system. The example below was when I had a character go on a research mission to hyarroc. Even though I didn't quite grasp how the roleplay system worked at the time, I still understood that my character had done something other than bumming around, waiting for a world-wide event to happen so that he could roll the odds of getting included or not.
Nowadays, if a player wants to make development towards a personal goal, they either have to make that personal goal within some sort of organization or try to make up some progress of their own. But, there is no way to back this up. Since I'm leaving anyways I'll use another character of mine as an example.
Louie Louie (found here) is based around a quest to suit a woman of nobility, despite being a varran. This quest is absurd, which is why it is fairly fun to roleplay the different situations and psychological justifications that the hopeless romantic uses. I know that it isn't a good idea to develop an entire character around one main goal, which is why I've developed secondary motivations and more personality/character traits and likes about him throughout the years, which oftentimes clashed with this main goal and made for even more interesting character interactions and conflicts.
Anyways, Louie Louie got an idea that he could use some sort of magic to make himself appear ailor, as to give himself a chance at suiting this woman. So, to aid towards this progress, he met up with Dr. Fong's rat character in the sewers about people of esteemed magical ability. The rat king sent him to xilthruim the lich king (played by magivore), but warned him to bring him a present, noting his particular interest in odd books. Louie then went to a bookshop that just happened to be open, trading a maiar tooth (a vital souvenir from a part of his backstory) for a crude tome of void worship. Xilthrium took this book and told him that he needed to contact a registry of the magi for the name of a white spirit mage. Louie then wrote to several spirit mages, making all sorts of contacts in the process and creating several unique roleplay scenarios (reporting the info he got back to xilthrium funnily enough), but found that there were none registered.
Now, there are two possible places where a player quest could be of great use, cultivating more of this sort of roleplay. The first would be to potentially find an npc spirit mage to teach him. But, what would have been ideal was, after finding all of these resources, taking them to a player quest, and getting a result. I know fully well that dressing up and disguising oneself as an ailor probably wouldn't have worked, but Louie might not have, or might have been overlooking some things. If he failed, that would've given some great character development, an ability for Louie to re-evaluate his life and maybe move on to other things, or fall into a depressive state and go to an all-time low. Under the slim likelyhood of success (noting the rolling mechanic player quests used to use), he might have wound up having his cover blown but developing a sort of "forbidden love" storyline, or maybe freaking out at the idea of having to pull the charade at a next big event, knowing the limitations of such a spell, comedy ensuing.
But, the development got stumped. I wasn't sure whether to write a lore story or just say something happened, or simply remain sitting around. I even tried joining Louie into the local navy (what was called the "silver lining" at the time) under the idea that a war hero might be able to compensate for his unusual race.
The system of player quests would have been great for this scenario. I loved going from place to place to work towards a main goal, even if the goal likely wouldn't have worked out. It inspired a lot of really interesting and fun roleplay along the way (Xilthrium had some very interesting and thoughtful conversation with Louie; you have to be really ignorant to not realize your motives are skewed when even the dark lord is telling you to "just be yourself"). The idea of the commoner playerbase going around and doing this is such a great idea because it would liven the server up so much. People would have more to do in taverns than just sit around and talk about local politics or try to pick up a fight for no reason. This is especially true of people who aren't in communities, like families or clubs (however rare it is for a commoner club to exist). A lack of progression options may even be the cause for the rarer races being played so little, as I may be killing the ovirran populace with my departure.
The common issue with the player quest system is that it requires a lot of work by staff members. I really appreciate all of the work you guys do already in regards to planning events, running noble systems, reviewing player apps, etc. But, there has to be some sort of compromise between nothing and everything. Perhaps there are some inefficiencies (or personal problems) that are holding up the workforce. Perhaps you guys could recruit more lore staff, there are certainly a plethora of willing people who make excellent candidates. Or perhaps you guys just shift some resources towards the less cared-for player base: the commoners. I think it would help the server a great bit.
P.S. Thank you to all the people on here who helped me along the way, I really appreciate all of your patience with me throughout the years. When I first joined, I was rather immature and going through some difficult time. But, as I grew more into the community, I think I figured out a lot about social norms and life in a global community. I learned a lot of lessons about life on these forums, and it helped me grow into who I am today. Sorry for all the times I hassled you guys.
The biggest issue with roleplay that I have seen hinder the player base since I started roleplaying on this server (what feels like ages ago) is that organized character development is limited to certain players and characters. If people consistently wish to play a character, oftentimes they like to see that character develop and progress towards a goal. This is fine if you play within the noble system, military, or sometimes even in a gang system. But, commoners have little to no opportunity to make any progress towards a goal (It doesn't even have to be positive progress, per say, as failure can change up a character just as much as success can). I have spoken with several members of various positions within the community regarding how they have gotten their characters to the position that they have. Most of the time I get the answer "you have to know someone/you have to know a staff member." I do not think that this is how it should be.
I remember getting a player quest in 2016. I was able to take the things that I had worked for IRP and put them into actual progress for my character, outside of some organization of strict caste system. The example below was when I had a character go on a research mission to hyarroc. Even though I didn't quite grasp how the roleplay system worked at the time, I still understood that my character had done something other than bumming around, waiting for a world-wide event to happen so that he could roll the odds of getting included or not.
Nowadays, if a player wants to make development towards a personal goal, they either have to make that personal goal within some sort of organization or try to make up some progress of their own. But, there is no way to back this up. Since I'm leaving anyways I'll use another character of mine as an example.
Louie Louie (found here) is based around a quest to suit a woman of nobility, despite being a varran. This quest is absurd, which is why it is fairly fun to roleplay the different situations and psychological justifications that the hopeless romantic uses. I know that it isn't a good idea to develop an entire character around one main goal, which is why I've developed secondary motivations and more personality/character traits and likes about him throughout the years, which oftentimes clashed with this main goal and made for even more interesting character interactions and conflicts.
Anyways, Louie Louie got an idea that he could use some sort of magic to make himself appear ailor, as to give himself a chance at suiting this woman. So, to aid towards this progress, he met up with Dr. Fong's rat character in the sewers about people of esteemed magical ability. The rat king sent him to xilthruim the lich king (played by magivore), but warned him to bring him a present, noting his particular interest in odd books. Louie then went to a bookshop that just happened to be open, trading a maiar tooth (a vital souvenir from a part of his backstory) for a crude tome of void worship. Xilthrium took this book and told him that he needed to contact a registry of the magi for the name of a white spirit mage. Louie then wrote to several spirit mages, making all sorts of contacts in the process and creating several unique roleplay scenarios (reporting the info he got back to xilthrium funnily enough), but found that there were none registered.
(Louie was lying in the letter, he was really trying to find the name of a white mage so that he could seek apprenticeship-another scenario that would've likely cultivated some interesting roleplay by putting both characters in an interesting scenario)
Now, there are two possible places where a player quest could be of great use, cultivating more of this sort of roleplay. The first would be to potentially find an npc spirit mage to teach him. But, what would have been ideal was, after finding all of these resources, taking them to a player quest, and getting a result. I know fully well that dressing up and disguising oneself as an ailor probably wouldn't have worked, but Louie might not have, or might have been overlooking some things. If he failed, that would've given some great character development, an ability for Louie to re-evaluate his life and maybe move on to other things, or fall into a depressive state and go to an all-time low. Under the slim likelyhood of success (noting the rolling mechanic player quests used to use), he might have wound up having his cover blown but developing a sort of "forbidden love" storyline, or maybe freaking out at the idea of having to pull the charade at a next big event, knowing the limitations of such a spell, comedy ensuing.
But, the development got stumped. I wasn't sure whether to write a lore story or just say something happened, or simply remain sitting around. I even tried joining Louie into the local navy (what was called the "silver lining" at the time) under the idea that a war hero might be able to compensate for his unusual race.
The system of player quests would have been great for this scenario. I loved going from place to place to work towards a main goal, even if the goal likely wouldn't have worked out. It inspired a lot of really interesting and fun roleplay along the way (Xilthrium had some very interesting and thoughtful conversation with Louie; you have to be really ignorant to not realize your motives are skewed when even the dark lord is telling you to "just be yourself"). The idea of the commoner playerbase going around and doing this is such a great idea because it would liven the server up so much. People would have more to do in taverns than just sit around and talk about local politics or try to pick up a fight for no reason. This is especially true of people who aren't in communities, like families or clubs (however rare it is for a commoner club to exist). A lack of progression options may even be the cause for the rarer races being played so little, as I may be killing the ovirran populace with my departure.
The common issue with the player quest system is that it requires a lot of work by staff members. I really appreciate all of the work you guys do already in regards to planning events, running noble systems, reviewing player apps, etc. But, there has to be some sort of compromise between nothing and everything. Perhaps there are some inefficiencies (or personal problems) that are holding up the workforce. Perhaps you guys could recruit more lore staff, there are certainly a plethora of willing people who make excellent candidates. Or perhaps you guys just shift some resources towards the less cared-for player base: the commoners. I think it would help the server a great bit.
P.S. Thank you to all the people on here who helped me along the way, I really appreciate all of your patience with me throughout the years. When I first joined, I was rather immature and going through some difficult time. But, as I grew more into the community, I think I figured out a lot about social norms and life in a global community. I learned a lot of lessons about life on these forums, and it helped me grow into who I am today. Sorry for all the times I hassled you guys.
