SERENLEAKS: Notes on Adasser (or How to Help Us Help You RP)
SERENLEAKS: NOTES ON ADASSER (or How to Help Us Help You RP)
Typically, when an administrator takes over a god role, they write about their reasons: Why did I take So-and-So? How difficult was the event that revealed X? What inspirations do I draw upon to develop God, the Godly God’s personality and beliefs? Etc. etc.
For my first post, I rather introduce you to a second role I have had the chance to develop over the course of the past couple months, who may be the more significant figure I have taken on. And I am sure by the title you all know whom I am talking about: Adasser, now-Wolverine’s Mask.
On the forums, Everiine gave a pretty accurate history of Adasser. He was one of the weaker Serenguard guards, all of which were dismissed except for him in favor of the stronger centaur ones. And for some reason, these guards are flirts: their program being a strange semi-sexualized sea of forestals tropes. We are not sure why this was the case, but let it be known, that if the players didn’t enjoy the guards neither did the Serenwilde administration. In fact, I distinctly recall Lisaera telling me that she hated that elfen guard so much and we joked about invading Serenwilde just to get rid ofhim.
But, you work with what you got. So instead of killing off the-elfen-guard-soon-to-be-Adasser, we started to flesh out his character. Adasser was one of my major pushes to motivate more roleplay in Serenwilde. Furthermore, he was an attempt to give “life” to some of the NPCs that exist in the forest. I am really interested in trying to make NPCs have a semblance of player life; I want to make them act like players do, react like players do, have stories like players do. So, we worked to make Adasser more self-aware, then he got a name, and finally, he became his own denizen. During that time, we adjusted his program to reflect a slow transition from that weird, flirtatious personality to something more well-rounded (though there are still notes of the wacky in his portrayal).
Everything came to a head when we made Adasser ask to go on a vision quest. I think I can speak on behalf of the Serenwilde administrators that we love these vision quests. They are intense, greatly written moments of roleplay, and the best part of them that they are player-on-player. There is very, very little administrator interaction, and if we do end up participating in any capacity, it is just a colourful message or two (although, some recent ones have been more elaborate than that). It is also interesting on another level, because it requires players to trust each other to produce something that is really cool. That is the type of experience we hope to encourage throughout Serenwilde. So, Adasser became our first attempt.
But also, I think Adasser can represent a very helpful model for both players and administrators. The only reason why we were even able to consider this is because we were reading the logs that are posted about the Serenguard vision quests. We were able to read comments from the forums about how some of us thought the guard was silly, so we were able to find places we can work on. We were able to think about how to make guild lore more visibly seen in the larger organization. So I have a couple things I would like to ask, in hopes to cultivate more Adassers in Lusternia:
1) Post your logs – all of them. Between you and other players, between you and mobs, between you and Gods (although the latter might be a bit more sensitive, especially if you are a part of secretive Orders like that nasty Manteekan’s). By posting your logs to the forums, the administration have a mostly permanent space to read and learn about lore. And what is better is that it educates other administrators about said lore. I do not know much about Magnagora, but by reading logs by players, I can get a firmer grasp on the roleplay.
2) Allow time – between interactions and emotes. If Adasser interacts with the Great Chieftain of the Serenguard one day, do not expect him to immediately do it the next. Allow time for things to grow organically. The same logic applies to emotes. Give each other time to respond, carefully. But also allow time for administrators to recall information that might not be easily remembered. We do have a method of writing comments and notes about various mobs and characters, but that information is not as readily available as you’d think.
3) Always be sure to SAY TO mobiles when you want to get our attention. We may not be able to jump to you immediately, but we are notified when that sort of things happen.
4) Think of mobs that are not always the most noticeable. Serenwilde has a pretty good track record of asking everyone about something, but definitely think about talking to mobs that are not in the limelight. Maybe not Brennan or Chuchip, but maybe Ulthaed or Hhuramu. This is especially the case if these mobs are “older” as they might not have a decent personality, which gives us room to flesh out something new.
