Real life first

Of course, I have to bid my farewell to Big Red Kitty aka BRK who has announced that he's taking a leave from WoW and blogging. Dechion just posted a great post about the same incident, much better than I could ever think of writing.

I got to know BRK quite short while ago. Sure I had seen links and references toward his blog, but as being a hunter isn't much like me, I had avoided that track. But knowing how well known character BRK is, it hadn't slipped by. It's a loss for a while, but surely BRK has built up such a momentum in hunter and WoW blogging that someone will come up and continue from there. Like it was with Phaelia's announcement, the mourning lasted for a while, and the blogging continued.

As a matter of fact, I'm writing because it's quite frightening to think of the similarities of these two prominent bloggers to 'take a leave': personal reasons, neglecting family/spouse, real life. Dechion put it very nicely in the last two phrases of his post:

The forest grew darker still as the bonfire went out, but the home fires burned all the brighter. In the end that is what matters.

That should be what matters: home, family, the community we're really living. Not the virtual reality, fantasy world.

It saddens me enormously to read that -however prominent and respected member of this geekish MMO community ever- has finally noticed how s/he has neglected the real life, the one that really matters.

Like I posted earlier , everyone of us, who is playing WoW, War, EQ, EQ2 with any fervour is a hardcore player: How hardcore depends on the definition. If you take the time which you use in game or in game related activities and turn that into any other hobby, I bet you could be master of anything. Just think of all the time spent in MMO turned into practising singing, playing a guitar or a piano, riding, skating... Anything.

That's a lot.

And if you think of someone spending similar, or even less time in a hobby, you most certainly think of that person as being some sort of fanatic or too involved in the hobby.

Time to think again.

Like I commented in Saresa's Destructive Reach that my wake up call came when my kids were asked where I was better than other daddies. The youngest, 7 years old, responded: My daddy is best in playing WoW. Mind you, I am not raiding, don't have a single level capped toon and I'm not spending most of my time by the computer. Though my family sees it that way.

I wish all the best to BRK and Phaelia and may the balance between life and hobbies be reached for the rest of us.

My thoughts on roleplaying

This is the second post in the series responding to Azariel's questions, defining my view on role-playing in MMO's and in games in general. First one dealt with definitions, this on my thoughts about roleplaying in games.

Total Immersion

The most memorable gaming experiences, both in pen and paper and in computer games, for me have been the ones I can only describe as total immersion to the game. Taking up the story so personally that you really take the place of the avatar/character on screen. This comes up from several factors, but for me the most important is that I'm interacting with the world as the character, not as the player through the character. Thus there should be better tools to interact with the world in character rather than using the game as a social interface tool.

Chance of making change

Another important issue is the possibility of the single character to make difference in the world. It's the small things that make it, like scribbling your signature on the toilet wall... not that I'm encouraging it in real, but the tangible 'mark' you/your character makes to the world. In MMO's currently the issue is relevant because of the fact that the NPC you have to kill will spawn back in few minutes only to be killed again later by another player, the quest giver will be handing out the same bundle of notes to be delivered right after you have acquired yours and so on. 

If the character kill a boss or a quest mob, this mob should be done with: no more encounter, and rest of the game should reflect that.

Which leads to the next one.

Character impact in the world

The standard heroic high fantasy story tells about the stable boy who gets to be the hero saving the world. Naturally the sandbox world would make this harder to acquire, as the stories would rely so much more on the shoulders of the character interactions and the world. However, in a story and quest driven surroundings of EQ2 and WoW, the main storyline, even though coming together from several quests, should be possible and even encouraged. I myself have gotten frustrated over the lost questlines in WoW, namely the Sillithids (the 'chapters' are spread across and without a growing storyline), Burning Hand (the storyline dies too soon, just when the starting Horde character starts to get interested) and so on.

The stories could come up with a story for the character, where this characters actions really make the difference, have an impact in the world as whole. It doesn't matter if this is just an illusion, but it would be very real and personal experience for the player. In WoW the new Phasing technology seems to be capable of creating the illusion that your character is making the difference: My bet is that this will be the main focus of the Blizzards secret MMO project.

All actions have consequences

In the real world you can be an asshole, but the world will treat you like one, too. If you steal, you'll be facing the consequences. Why on earth isn't this viable in the fantasy world? In WoW you are encouraged to kill NPC's not following the consensus, you are asked to steal and murder without any consequences.

However, in single player games like Fable2 and Oblivion your every decision effects the way NPC's tied to certain factions interact with you. Cheat one, and the others will not trust you. Kill someone, and you'll have the guards chasing you. How hard could this be to implement in a MMO? Darkfall has something along the lines, though if the scale goes from -100 to +100 as Syncaine reported, it makes is possible that you kill baddies till you are at +100 and then some of your own without any consequences as far as you don't drop below 0.

Tools of the trade

The current MMO's are more like social playgrounds for the gamers instead of the worlds in which the characters live: the tools of interaction are very limited at best and the game aspect is way too profound. However, you cannot win a MMO, as there are no real winning conditions.

Like I have earlier stated, the social tools should be upgraded. In role-playing side the upgrade should be made so that the interface itself reflects the in character and out of character interactions, making the player-to-player interactions more character-to-character based, and thus creating more immersive surroundings.

If you think of WoW, the role-playing tools are very inadequate and to really role-play your character you have to work the system around to make it work. Instead, IMO it should be the other way around: to be able to interact only out of character should be the harder part.

Recap

Even the earlier single player games have had the technology to make each playing of a game different through the effect of what you as a player decided to do. The persistent world however breaks this illusion by forcing the same experience to every player, regardless of the decisions they make.

I'm not saying that these things are viable for execution with the current technology, but they could be worked towards the end of total immersion.

The reward should be satisfying, immersive experience, in which the decisions you make as a character make the difference in the world. And in the story of the character.

Scarp-tastic Me-Me..

Well, look at that.

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”

Honest Scrap... Clearly discarded stuff, mean't for recycling. That's what Softthistle from A Little WoW For Me thinks I'm worth. To be honest, this meme has been going around in ever speeding cycles only because of the requirement to find 7 blogs to recommend.

We'll see about that...

Because of the rules of engagement, all I can say is that I'll do my best to recycle other bloggers thoughts with my own little twist in them. And by saying that, I have to best them all. Well, not maybe Tobold or Syncaine, but most everyone else.

The Rules are thus:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

I'm so bleeding meticulous in following the rules, I'm going to do whatever the doctor prescribed. Seven bloggers that have helped me to become the blogger I am. And hopefully are not tagged earlier...

1. Hudson from Hudson's Hideout. His outbursts and downright up to the point posts come in decent doses, never failing to tickle my fancy. Keep them coming, bro!
2. SaraPickell from Symptom of a Greater Cure. In her own words "witty and at least mildly sarcastic", though the last few posts have been in a bit more stronger tones. Great read, not least because she's brilliant writer.
3. Dechion from Dechion's Place (genius naming, eh?): not the shortest posts ever, but the ones I read word for word. Great thinking, great deliberation and great execution. Top notch!
4. These memes wouldn't be anythign without Heartless_. Doubt that he will respond, but Heartless_Gamer treats everyone with similar (dis)respect, regardless of game. Honest to the core.
5. Pete from Dragonchasers: so broad view on games with so much passion. Worth every post.
6. Somehow these economist blogs have slipped past this, so I'm going to favour Marcko over Gevlon this time: both are experts in gold making and AH in WoW, but Marcko gets the award for his Just My 2
7. My list wouldn't be complete without Ysharros and Stylish Corpse.

The next part... Ten facts about me... This is the part I hate.

1. I'm an early riser. On weekdays, I'm up at 5 am, weekends... 7 am. Rest of the family snores till 11 am, so I have plenty of time to check AH, do a couple of quests and take the dogs out.
2. I have 4 kids. Three of them play WoW under my account. My eldest, our daughter, doesn't anymore, because at the age of 14 (almost 15), boys who play WoW are more interesting. She could beat them on PvP anyday, though.
3. As of the kids wasn't enough, I have 4 Irish Wolfhounds. Talk about 'peace and quiet' around our house.
4. I love to read and write. However, I have seldom time for either.
5. I have a long drive to and from work.
6. I have started practising Shorinji Kempo just this spring. I'm on bruises and sore almost every day of the week. Loving it.
7. I formed a Guild in WoW for me and my brothers to hang around. We still have 14 others in the Guild regardless of the fact that we are mainly neglecting them.
8. I started WoW on US server only to notice that the time difference made playing a nightmare. Playing on EU servers isn't much better due to the population.
9. I hate spring... or actually, the end of winter: muddy, wet and messy.
10. My BMI was 30.6 in the beginning of this year. Now its 29.4, and my fat % has decreased more than that figure suggests.

Oh, and one extra tidbit: I'm going to attend to a half marathon on May and I haven't ran within the last few months due to the weather. No running at all. I'm going to die.

There you have it. Hope you like what you see and even more so, I hope the ones tagged will notice this crappy thing.

C out.

Definitions of Role-Playing

This is the first post inspired by the comment made by Azariel in How about roleplaying? and I'm trying to define my views on roleplaying and more importantly, roleplaying in computer games and MMO's. Granted right away, that I've not played in RP server except in EQ2, but that didn't result a single roleplaying experience within the short time I was playing in there.

The issue is such that it requires definitions, even to the people who are playing. If nothing else but to have a common basis and nomenclature from which to discuss. Here we go.

 

What is roleplaying? What is RPG?

Wikipedia:

Roleplaying refers to the changing of one's behavior to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role.

while roleplaying games are defined as:

A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters and collaboratively create stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games.

In addition, roleplaying games are:

A role-playing game (RPG; often roleplaying game) is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters.

And further more, computer rpgs:

A computer role-playing game (CRPG) is a broad video game genre originally developed for personal computers and other home computers. ... The earliest CRPGs were inspired by early role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons, and attempted to provide a similar play experience.

Despite a spectrum of features and game styles, there are some elements common to the CRPG genre. Perhaps the most salient is that of the avatar, with its quantized characteristics that typically evolve over the course of the game, and take the place of the gamer's own skill in determining game outcomes. Another common element in CRPGs is a well-developed fictional setting.

Whole lot of definitions.

My personal view of roleplaying games, be it pen and paper rpg, computer/console rpg or MMORPG is that the character depiction, avatar, should be considered as a person in the fantasy world with it's particular rules and laws. Thus I'm very much in favor of the original definition of the Roleplaying.

While I play, I think firstly from the point of view of the character, then from the point of view of my personal greed for power and advancement. And for me there are no winners nor bragging rights in RPG's except from the character point of view. Claiming ownage in pen and paper games is pretty much impossible as the interpretation of the world and rules differs from group to group: thus it was unnecessary point of the game. However, the current MMO's tend to put the emphasis on the GAME rather than the ROLE-PLAYING, making the playfield completely different.

Skin crawl or taking the class

However, the definition of MMORPG is somewhat more detailed and more gamelike. As a matter of fact, Wikipedia states pretty clearly about roleplaying in MMORPG's, that:

Some MMORPGs also may expect players to roleplay their characters – that is, to speak and act in the way their character would act, even if it means shying away from other goals such as wealth or experience. However, as this behavior is far from being the norm, most MMORPG players never actually play the roles of their characters. Still, MMORPGs may offer "RP-only" servers for those who wish to immerse themselves in the game in this way.

So for the roleplaying servers the game should be more on the Roleplaying than on the gear grind and theorycrafting. WoW is more -from this point of view- for taking the class and learning the role of the class than roleplaying the character. That, however, has become the norm of the MMO's from early on, and there doesn't seem to be any difference in the game rulesets (levels, skill based) at all.

Would there be interest for a MMO in which the world -and the ruleset- forces the player to take on the character and do the skin crawl?

Roleplaying vs. Ruleplaying/Power playing

Where theorycrafting rules and gear and levelling is more important than growing the character as such, the power playing rules. In WoW this has been made easier and easier over the life of the game, speeding up the levelling and making the over-levelling of instances and quests a norm. In a sense the game is a vague shadow of the vast content it has, because currently the new players are fast forwarded through the content that really is the Fantastic Journey of the new created character to the Herodom. Purely by roleplaying you gimp your character, as you make your weapon, gear and buff choices based on the character's perception, not to min-max the stats. I have that on my protection warrior: instead of having two-handed sword, which is vastly better for levelling purposes, he has taken dual wielding instead: sticking purely on swords, the human weapon, instead of the axes and such. Min-maxing favours ruleplaying, and WoW -and majority of the concurrent MMO's- clearly encourages this.

Gear and ownage

Like I stated earlier, in pen and paper games claiming ownage is more or less impossible due to the fact that the rulesets, worlds and gearsets differ vastly from a group to another. However, in MMO's the persistance of the world imposes same rulesets, gear and interpretation to all. This massive multiplayer surrounding does however make unique gear less unique due to the fact that it's impossible to have loot tables which would take the uniqueness into consideration. Also 'unique' quest rewards become norm as more or less all the characters finish the same quests. Thus there are no bragging rights with gear anymore, as every content is grindable to the point that eventually everything is available to the one with most persistance.

Which leads to the fact in current MMO's: is the most succesfull player the one who has most time to put into the game, or the one having the most fun in the game with much less?

Random Thought #3: Same old, same old

Caught myself 'reading' 237 blog entries through my reader. Learned a lesson, which dmosbon politely told me after I had Tweeted that I lost my appetite to write anything to this blog of mine after reading other blog entries. The lesson is: write before reading your reader.

Point taken.

The blogosphere seems to be full of the same old: PTR news and discussion, why WoW is so good/bad/better than game X, why game X is better/worse than WoW and so on. What's new?

Actually Tobold posted a nice wall of text about why Age of Conan, Warhammer and Darkfall didn't succeed in being the WoW killer. While he's making it pretty provocative, I cannot but think in similar veins. WoW just did everything better than the competitors and has being improving over time, regardless of us vocal minority who report the problems in the game.

For me it's simple: I have my brothers in WoW, and they are not willing to switch to some new, unknown game. So I stay. And I don't have the time to start a game in which the social tools might be better, the challenge is bigger and the options more varied simply because it takes enormous amount of time to get into the social circles, grow the character and learn the game.

Dumbed down it may be, but WoW is the best there is around for the real casual player me. It could be easily better, if the level distribution wasn't so screwed and up heavy, so the world would seem more alive. And the social contacts were there. 

But that's another story.

I wish you a good weekend, where ever you may roam, what ever you may do.

Don't hurt yourself.