Enlivening SSL RP

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=11586763199&sid=1

Made by Terugan.

"We've had a nice long chat on LFRP about what can be done to promote SSL's rp.

First off, if you don't have something constructive to say, can we try and keep this thread totally do discussion? "Good luck" and "This will fail" posts are perhaps encouraging or discouraging, but make no actual contribution to the thread, and just create noise.

Right, what it looks like was decided on, is to create a new RP hub, and the two that were most liked in the channel ( and feel free to suggest more ) were TB - at the pond, and Orgri - in the Valley of Honor.

It has to be one of these two for two reasons.

SMC and UC have the wrong atmosphere to fit the majority of characters, whereas the pond is very neutral, and the valley has a nice open space, and plenty props to go around.

Secondly, it -has- to be somewhere in or next to a main city, as the easier it is to "jump in and out" of the rp, the more likely someone is to get involved, if he or she has time constraints, is too low level to visit another place, or has not got a mount to get there in any reasonable time.

I'll ask someone to link this thread on WeAreLegion for me, and I'll bump this thread daily to attract some attention.

Guild leaders, please feel free to ( and encouraged to ) link this thread on your guild sites, the more input the community sees, the better for everyone.

I'll bump this thread now and then to get as much attention as possible.

Now, what we need to make this work is a core group of regular rp'ers, who would gather there as often as they can, to promote the area. The more active people see the place, the more people will visit it. We saw this with the TB pond a long time ago.

Hm, I don't have much left to add, but I'd love to get SSL back to what it was in it's glory days."

I don't think there is anything I could add to the opening post. So I wont.

Lets get this discussion going.

Personally, i've not really ever seen the need for rp 'hubs'. it kinda relies on ppl gathering in a place just because 'thats where ppl go'

However, as the OP asked for purely positive contributions, i'll try to be constructive.

From my point of veiw, a series of regular events, that are open to as many as possible (and that don't stop just because the person that usually runs them happens to be absent for once ) and are well advertised is much more useful from an rp perspective.

Look at it this way...when i want to go out for a night, i don't just go to Manchester and hang around on the off chance that i'll find something interesting just because i know lots of other ppl will be there. I look on the web or in a newspaper for the kind of things i'm interested in and pick something out.

I see what you mean, Vypra, but regular rp events do require someone to be there all the time to keep them going. The beauty of an rp hub is that as long as people are there, the hub exists.

Think of it as a park, or shopping center. People gather there just because other people gather there too, and it's nice and convenient.

One way to go about it is to strengthen your guild RP. "But sir! Guild RP only leads to RP clique's and wierd incestual relationships between elves!" Calm down kiddo. That's only if you're in one of those guilds. Strengthen your guild RP, make sure your guild has a working agenda and a raison d'être and that you have a reason being in it other than just "I'm in a RP guild! Yay! Now I have more victims who I can force my incredibly interesting lone wolf character story upon, with his murdered parents and his search for blood vengeance!"

Then through the guild try and shape the world, go out of your way to make sure the guild has a reason to either clash or work together with other guilds and then, then little grashopper, one has reason to do stuff that has impact on the real RP scene. Often as individuals you end up doing RP that only has impact on your character development and your own character history, who to be quite honest, most other RP'ers couldn't give more a fuck about.

So as RP hubs like inns and stuff can be fun once in a while if you meet interesting RP'ers who actually do something different from just RP'ing drunk or ask you how your day has been, it is ever so much more fun if you feel yourself a part of something greater, a larger plotline, a larger agenda that you are not alone in trying to achieve. Strengthen your guild RP and RP shall fall upon you like the warm, gratifying product of a bukkake fest.

Chowlawu wrote:

I see what you mean, Vypra, but regular rp events do require someone to be there all the time to keep them going. The beauty of an rp hub is that as long as people are there, the hub exists.

Think of it as a park, or shopping center. People gather there just because other people gather there too, and it's nice and convenient.

There is no such thing as "the beauty of a RP hub". The beauty of an RP hub can be compared to the beauty of the old tranny whore down on the corner, with her smeared lipstick, greasy hair and ripped stockings. Where poor men go to get their cheap back alley handjob.

Parks are just full of drug addicts and annoying guys who throw frisbee's at passersbys and shopping malls have nothing but idle teens who compare zit collections, and fat consumer wives.

Convenience in this regard only means ease of access to RP that does not challenge your mind and thus you get what you pay for.

Ofcourse, not all have the same expectations that I have, I mean.. I am en elitist (and because of that I get all the girls) so ofcourse, go ahead with your "RP hubs" if you think -that's- what gonna attract RP'ers from other realms.

While I agree that you're not likely to get involved in the most interesting storylines through meeting people at the RPond, it still fulfills a purpose. Propose I have a brand new character, that does not yet know anyone and is not in a guild. And I want to rp. Sure, I can walk around randomly and emote at npcs and hope that eventually some other rper might spot me and start talking... But that will take a lot of time and effort. Knowing that there's a place where rpers go hang out when they have nothing better to do means that there's always a place where you can find people. And sure, we do have the lfrp channel, but it's quite a difference between walking over somewhere and just happening to run into someone, and planning in advance to meet someone's character to rp specifically with them.

Quint, you always have such a wonderful way with words

Ry...this is the situation i faced when i transferred to SSL. There was no lfrp channel. I didn't know anything about what was going on or who were the people to contact.

I certainly didn't know about the rp-pond and tbh, i never even went there until i'd already got involved with the rp on SSL.

I read the realm forum. i saw what rp stuff had been posted and by whom and i kept my eyes open for those ppl/ guilds when i was in game. In short, i put in a bit of effort and found an opportunity to get involved.

The only thing i think we should be doing to encourage new rp-ers is to make sure we all constantly publicise the rp we are involved in and advertise the stuff we plan to be doing in the future

However, the less forward among us may not be comfortable doing such things, hence why i think that the regular events are the most important thing for actually meeting new ppl.

Certainly, the current events being organised by the Heritage, Sang Real and Ashen Order ppl (to mention but a few) are a good start

Vypra wrote:

Quint, you always have such a wonderful way with words

Surprised? He's a theatre guy.

IMO RP hubs can be a good thing, so long as they are not treated as a meeting point simply to RP. If people are there, they are showing that they are happy to RP with others that turn up, but they should be there for an IC reason too.
With something like that, it then opens up the possibility for RP stories to spread, others to get involved and so on. Sadly, this has very rarely been the case as most people seem to think that a hub is a great way to get their RP and so they get lazy with the rest of it. I'm pretty sure that some people used to think "I'm going to go to the Keel tonight to get my RP fix and stuff" and never thought to take the RP beyond the threshold!

Conclusion:
Hubs are good for cross-pollination of RP and simply getting others involved in stuff, but should not become THE thing that people do for RP!

RP hubs can be decent if done properly. E.g. Forsaken guys hanging around Gallows' End. And yeah if you get a new char or w/e. Though I wouldn't expect much from an RP hub. Best find a guild.

Hello.

Creating a new hub solely for the purpose of roleplaying sounds like a sinking ship that has yet to leave shore. An "RP hub" should be a location that is already visited by a lot of players, it's gonna be very tough to get an active one going in a place like Thunder Bluff. Instead, you should be looking at locations that are easily accessable and that are commoned by a fair amount of players.
Dalaran would be an excellent location for general roleplaying. It suits the requirements; a neutral, easily accessable and oftenly visited location.

All of this aside, this doesn't strike me as the optimal idea to attract more roleplayers. Instead you'd want to organize some mind-blowing one-time events, some interesting weekly events etc.

Elena wrote:

Hello.

Creating a new hub solely for the purpose of roleplaying sounds like a sinking ship that has yet to leave shore. An "RP hub" should be a location that is already visited by a lot of players, it's gonna be very tough to get an active one going in a place like Thunder Bluff. Instead, you should be looking at locations that are easily accessable and that are commoned by a fair amount of players.
Dalaran would be an excellent location for general roleplaying. It suits the requirements; a neutral, easily accessable and oftenly visited location.

All of this aside, this doesn't strike me as the optimal idea to attract more roleplayers. Instead you'd want to organize some mind-blowing one-time events, some interesting weekly events etc.

As I said on the other thread in SSL, Dalaran is damned laggy a lot of the time so it doesn't make for a decent place to RP. Also, it stops new characters from being able to join in, which is why TB and Org have been suggested as where to base it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again (that statement I've never said before, but have always wanted to)

I see manufactured hubs as only a way to alienate people. You'll get a few big players with one of their lovely storylines furthering the plot and people will watch it. I used to do it all the time in Thunderbluff. Id wander to the pond in hopes of kicking of my career in rp, see liontooth trying to convince someone that its really him and he's just looks like a child (it was a long time ago forgive the inaccuracy) and I'd be all "oooooooh...I'll just fish and watch, I mean I don't want to get in the way'. I use this example only in the hope of showing that new players will probably be too intimidated by the more experienced characters doing their thing.

Personally I think the best way to promote that rp is very much alive is to go to the starter zones. I spent last years Hallows End giving out armour to every recently resurrected forsaken and got far more RP from that than just walking around emoting in the centre of town. Theres allot of stuff you can do to get people involved there but there oppurtunities that are very rarley grasped.

Anyway, thats my two pun.


and I'm sorry for secretly stalking Liontooth and co. It's very much out of my system now

Just sitting around and watching the "big guys" doing the RP might be fun as well, for beginner RP-ers, to see how the thing is usually done. But I have seen the attitude that "they are great guys, I am just a n00b, I'll never be as good as them" too - which is really sad.

I myself always enjoyed my time at the RPond in Thunder Bluff; as Dobanga, I've always been a very social and mischievous tauren, and I had a lot of fun by mocking the other roleplayers around.

However, I agree that organized RP events (bar nights, tournaments, ceremonies etc.) are much better than "RP hubs" that are just there because "you can find RP there".

Tsk, so typical Liontooth to steal the limelight from others... heh heh.

So, looks like there's more or less an agreement here that RP hubs is the solution then...

I say nope a diddly!

However, a sticky on the forums both official and un containing a list of common RP hangouts would be a good idea. Im finding the hub thing a little to contrived.


Personally I think those super neato cool Silvermoon rules are a more imaginative and effective step in the right direction. So woo for that.

Quin, solution is a strong word, but an rp hub -cannot- be a bad thing for rp, when it is allready fairly hard to find more than a single person in any given area.

As things stand, we don't have a large enough community to have active rp everywhere, so if we have one place, even if there's little IC reason to be there, at least your character can be exposed to it.

That said, I don't think we should stop at that, we do need to promote other forms of rp. Being events and such.

RP-hubs are a good thing, aslong it won't become the main spot to RP

Fallout is a kewl game. :D

PS. Got my student loan approved, so I'll be able to get back playing on a somewhat more regular basis. However I'm leveling a Warrior on Argent Dawn since a few weeks back, so yeah. Advertise eventual hubs so that I can come and /moo, or /giggle, a bit if I have time.

I'm probably going to end up repeating people her, knowing me. But oh well.

One specific difference I've noticed in my break to Argent Dawn as an Alliance is the difference in RP style. Ussually, the RP on Horde side, at least here on SSL is made up almost entirely of schedueled events and it's often pretty difficult to find anyone 'just hanging around' inbetween levelling and the next event for some general RP.

Whereas on the Alliance side, the hubs are generally around Goldshire and Stormwind, where you can always find events and heaps of random RP. Goldshire is famous for it's bad reputation. Which, quite frankly it deserves, although around the lake there can often be found many a decent RPer. Three of some of the best RPers I know I found around there.

And as great as RP events are, some general, random, unofficial and informal RP is what holds the events together. And frankly, we Hordies got none.

Did I repeat anyone? I ain't sure...I'll go check. *reads the rest of the posts*

Way to post on an old topic, Mind.