Thoughts about RP servers...

[Vicario]

I am thinking of one day transferring Arclite to an RP server, so the idea brings up another thought: What are the people of her kind like on there? How do Hunters behave? How do female Belfs act? What makes female Belf Hunters tick?

Basically, I'm asking this to see how the concept for my Hunter as an RPC would compare to what the RPing society has seen so far, along with the fact that I might be able to learn about some more specific concept pitfalls/insufferable cliches/etc. that are best left avoided. I won't make an idea text wall/fence containing my ideas for her unless it is necessary.

Also, does this belong here or in the creativity section?

[Saturo]

In my experience, people on RP servers act more maturely, and tend to be a bit more helpful. But it actually depends on their character.
As to how to RP a female Belf, I have really no idea. However, roleplaying them like some snotty teen from [name of bad teen tv-series here] might work. You can also be a kind individual. Or someone that's really fascinated by trolls. And so forth.

Making up your character is the fun part of an RP server.

[Athulryes]

I think it depends on your RP server if you're asking about how people act. I'm alliance and I'm Argent Dawn and not many people appear to RP and the RP'ers I do find tend to be clustered in Goldshire which is also where a bunch of annoying people are too :\

[Ryai]

Cliche's to avoid:

Vampires.
Werewolves.
Being a lover of one.
Being a lover of both.
Being related to Arthas.
Being Arthas' lover.
Being Arthas' daughter.
Being Arthas' sister.

Things to avoid:

Stripping in WSG for money.
Stripping on a post box for money.
Dancing naked, for money.


The other thing most people seem to think is that all female belves are haughty, self imposing creatures who think they are holier than thou. Which may or may not be true but, my first two Belves, Zeldei and Amarai, I made siblings/twins of a sort. Even if not an rp realm I like to give my characters backgrounds. Because Zeldei is a warlock he has a short temper and he knows he is all powerful- or he likes to believe he is. He shows little to no mercy unless ordered otherwise. He absolutely loathes the alliance as much as the scourge for abandoning his people to the merciless slaughter that Arthas brought down upon them. He hates the scourge to the upteenth degree. He is also very over protective of his sister, and he usually acts before thinking when pissed off enough.

ie in a story I was writing he actually tried to summon a bleeding Pit Lord

His sister Amarai is a ranger/hunter. She has less of a pull for Arcane like most hunters, and she strives to keep this balance. She's a shy bookworm and she just loves to be alone with her books and her pets. She also sees nothing wrong with having a Devilsaur or Chimera, and doesn't understand why everyone fusses so much over them. She doesn't care about being the best, and is quite happy to live and let live.


You should take some time and build upon your character, granted this may seem alot for non rp realm characters, but I've been building them up since day one, and I used them in text roleplays with a friend of mine, which let me develop them farther. These are just examples, ofc too :p

[Vephriel]

Though the site itself has been retired for a long time, Blogatelle has some excellent tips on roleplaying in general. Check out the bar on the right hand side and look at the Play Files, they have some great ideas and background to go on for just about every race.

http://blogatelle.wordpress.com/

[Azunara]

Well, my blood elf is different from norm, so you don't particularly have to try and fit a common theme. You can do what you like with exceptions.

A lot of what Ryai said, avoid being something stupidly overpowered, like dragons. (I've only seen one person who pulled off being a dragon well, and that's because they kept it secret and never went dragon form.)

I recommend something about your character that makes that unique and stands out. My hunter is totally normal, a ranger. She's serious and treats her pets like equals. Beyond that, she's boring to RP.

Now, take my druid. She prefers her cat form, she adores cookies, she speaks to cats and thinks of herself as an Ambassador to them, keeping them in check from eating each other and killing people. (Cats can be eeeevil.) She gets a whole lot more RP time and I love her for it. People stop and do something because she's so weird, sitting and meowing to her cats.

Also, pick a spot in the most popular city, and just RP. I.E 'So and so makes bandages, a huge pile of them by her feet.' Lastly, RP is like group pugging. You get good days, you get bad days.

-Azu

[Aleu]

People tend to be much more mature on RP servers, however Blood Elves... They don't tend to get as much RP as others too. Well not unless you're in one big RP guilds. >_> Random RP on the streets is no unheard of, but you may not get as much of it. My Belf doesn't get that much RP, but lately I've been poking around for people to make plots with and it's working out fine.

My druid gets most of the RP due being the biggest and most well known Tauren RP guild. The biggest RP guild for Blood Elves has Blood Knights in it... In which my Blood Elf does not like at all. >.<

On Wyrmrest Accord, Silvermoon seems to be the hot spot for most RP. Thunder Bluff has some, Brill does as well. Orgrimmar and Undercity has next to none. (You'll find it every now and then.) This is due to the Hordes lack of taverns.

[Vicario]

I am speaking of characters rather than RPers, so I should have realized that when I made the topic.

Basically, my character would be kinda like a Dwarf Hunter in the body of a Blood Elf. She'd have an odd preference for (or at least an acceptance of) guns and not very Belf-ish pets (which may or may not include a bear.) Not surprisingly, she wouldn't be real close with the Farstriders. I would need to develop her background to reflect her strange choices, though. The facts that she's tomboyish and that she's far from being part of the aristocracy could be part of the story. I haven't really heard of many middle-class or lower-class Belfs, so the idea seems interesting.

In short, she's one of the not-so-cultured Belfs.

@Aleu: I'm not surprised.

[NotTheFace]

Just try not to be a Mary Sue. Don't know what a Mary Sue is? Well basically it's severely cliche personality/character. An example:

"My name is Legolas Aragorn, son of Arthas, and I trained under Anduine Lothar and Uther Lightbringer. I wear all black plate armor and look awesome. My voice is deep and the ladies love me. I'm also a mercenary pirate ninja who drinks a lot. I have cool scars on my face and chest to prove how awesome I am. I can also kill you in one punch and I never lose a fight. Oh, and I am also half-dragon, half-vampire and half-werewolf. Don't worry, it makes sense."

If you are worried about your character being a Mary Sue, you can take this quiz. It's long, but it is also pretty enlightening and entertaining.

http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html

[Kryte]

Hm. Well, it depends on the server. A lot of RP servers, especially the older ones, are very much like PvE or PvP servers (depending on their classification) with a few roleplayers rolling along in the background. On these servers, while it is possible to find RP, it's usually done in guild circles and with friends. Not a lot of random RP, which is a shame, and it's really a totally different experience than what you find on some servers, where RPers can make up the life and soul of a town. Argent Dawn is one of these older, 'dead' servers.

Unless you already have a social group established somewhere, I would recommend you roll new characters on a couple servers to get a feel for the environment and what people are like. Different servers have different ideas about what's generally "acceptable". Moonguard, for example, seemed to me to have a high incidence of people who were elitist about character level. You can also check the realm forums to see how many RP-related threads are up, and from that you can get an idea of the activity level of the server.

As for things you should avoid... Don't make your character too powerful. Don't god-mode. Don't randomly start fights with people, or escalate conflicts to fights unless you have to. Try to keep your surroundings in mind -- for example, it's not a good idea to try and shank someone in a crowded bar, or have your demon out in the middle of the Cathedral. Share the spotlight -- don't try make your character the center of attention all the time. Keep your character's society in mind, have it influence them, but don't make it the be-all end-all of their personality.

[Vicario]

@Face: Been there, done that, learned the flaws. I've actually done some RPing and story-writing discussion before on Gaia Online, but I am new to the idea of roleplaying on WoW.

[Saturo]

http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html

I got 81. Apparently Saturo is an "Über-Sue".

[Vicario]

http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html

I got 81. Apparently Saturo is an "Über-Sue".

Don't be sad. Many characters of professional works get scores like that. It's all in the execution, and characters that score 81 are simply harder to pull off than those that score 11.

[Saturo]

You just made me want to put in superman in that thing...

[FlightofthePhoenix]

I'm part of an RP server. I can't compare it because I haven't really been active in any others. (I have a Draenei mage sitting on a server somewhere). However, my observations that it seems mostly like a regular server. Roleplay is not a huge thing but you will come across assembled groups quite a bit. If you want to do so, I'd suggest looking at the guilds. There's quite a few available. My fiance is in one. Doing a roleplay pickup group is pretty unlikely. I want to but my guild doesn't and I don't know how to ask for it. Um... sometimes you do get the nekkid ones. People joke about erotic roleplay quite a bit. Never been involved in it. Oh, and avoid Goldshire. It's nicknamed Pornshire. I think you can guess why. Your character sounds interesting. If you ever join mine, I'd love to meet up with you and roleplay. Go out and have fun!

[Vicario]

Hm, I could create a level 1 to watch your RP server in action.

[Azunara]

Bah! Cenarion Circle is better than all your RP servers!

...

No, of course I'm not biased!

And yes. Avoid Goldshire at all possible costs. *shudders*

[Vicario]

Because you all said I shouldn't go there, I'm in Goldshire right now. Lotsa women in dresses, cats, and... raiding Belfs?

Oh, and one cliche I learned was present: a gnome that is treated like a human child.

[Karathyriel]

I only ever play on roleplaying realms.
I fact, roleplaying was the reason I started playing WoW back in 2006.

It is a sad thing that rp-realms are literally overrun by people who don't give a damn about roleplaying and Blizzard themselves don't seem to give a damn about it.
But then, you have to keep in mind that your style of roleplaying might differ by far from the style of others.

You don't have to play a stereotypic blood elf. Look at all the people in real life. Yes, there are typical Americans, typical Germans and typical French. But there sure are as much untypical Americans, Germans and French as well. Just take your time to think of a rough sketch of your characters story and invent the details as you go along. You have no idea, what crazy, cool or funny ideas you get while playing!

Just try to stay in character and let people see that you are roleplaing. Choose an appropriate name and then see what happens.
It always worked for me...

[Ryno]

Don't ever go to Goldshire as an Alliance toon.

E V E R .

That is all.