I know that being new I am subject to much ridicule, but I must ask:

Why not have a forum here at the site dedicated to where players can roleplay?

I have come up with a few pros of the idea, as shown below.

1. Newbs, such as myself, can roleplay here to get a better idea of how the players view their characters.
2. Said newbs would benefit from this because I have noticed that it is often looked-down upon if someone were to jump into the game without having a fairly clear grasp of the story and what makes their characters the way they are. An example of this would be like me taking a woman to a poker game who doesn't know a spade from a shovel.
3. Even upon reading the available game lore, one may not quite have a clear view of the game from a RP stance. A forum dedicated to this would profit not only the newer members but also those who may be veterans but might be shy or embarassed to admit a lack of understanding.
4. By providing an area for players of all experience levels to practice and refine their skills the quality of the game as a whole will be drastically improved. This is so because if people are able to practice in an enviroment where the pressure of actual in-game playability is removed they can make errors without detracting from the experience shared by all members of the community. In other words, practice makes perfect.
5. Also, some people might come around to sample the enviroment and to see what sort of level of maturity they can expect from their fellow gamers before trying the game. Just like buying a car (it would be foolish not to test-drive anything).
6. Or there may be people who, regardless of experience status, have access to a computer at times when they may not be able to download or play the game, but have time to interact with some familar faces and would really enjoy doing so.

I know it may seem like a stretch, but based on the points provided above, I would like to see some serious consideration for this idea. At any rate, thanks for taking the time to read this post, as well as any possible replies which it may incur.

Do you mean an out-of-character forum ABOUT roleplaying, or an in-character forum where you roleplay by posts?

If the former, I think its a good idea.

Actually, a section could be created with two separate divisions. One for OOC discussions about IC, and an IC one where RPing would take place. In the end I think it makes for a better enviroment when you allow people to interact on their own terms and then apply the skills they've learned to their gameplaying.

The skills you learn doing message-board roleplaying are vastly different to those required in a more active environment. They're two different kinds of games. You may as well play D&D in a Lusternia setting and it'd have as much effect. The former might work much better, but then you're subject to biases from the other 3 organisations. (I can just see Daganev coming on and trying to (horribly) dictate the Serenwilde RP again, which just confuses matters.)

I've actually found myself thinking about making a pencil-and-paper RPG out of Lusternia, because I love the background, but there are days when the foreground can go rot.

Do it Gwyl! Through...hmm...email?

EDIT: I wouldn't mind a roleplaying forum where kick back and have a little fun.

That'd be good.

(Blargh, but not a forum one! A real P&P one!)

A forum about RP. Meh. We've got General.

Wow, I can only imagine what sort of threads would pop up...


Thread: A happy day in the Serenwilde!

Vix is happily romping about the Mother Tree and being a total snugglebunny.

RandomSeren is too!

Random-uber-strong-Mag comes in ghosted and kills everyone! The end!

About RP? You have the general section for that.

Doing RP? Terrible idea. A good number of people have a hard time distinguishing between ic and ooc anyway. Lusternia, the game, is our world. Would we start saying, "Well, on the mystical boards so and so did this to me, so here I have to do this." The other reason why this is bad is because in order to maintain a good RP environment, I think the game needs to be devoid of all ooc. All of it. No clans, no nothing. The boards need to follow this, by not having anyone RP here. After all, these forums are used to discuss things that happen in the game, and that is all.

I have to disagree. General, from what I see is for a bunch of things, none of which are directly about RP. Currently, we have one thread about the Balances of the Game, while then we have one about how you cannot wear great robes with other articles of clothing underneath. I personally think that a forum about RP would be wonderful.

Plus...
Imperian has a roleplaying forum, and we all know that we are better than they are!

Certainly a valid point, but people not being able to distinguish between IC and OOC is a simple matter of not having the elementary ability of being able recognize fantasy from reality. How hard is it for anyone to discern that in real life no one wears armor, carries a sword, or flings about magic? You also mentioned that the game needs to be devoid of OOC--again that would not be applicable to a RP forum. If people can get more into the enviroment of role-playing they are more likely to take the situation seriously, thus shedding any notions of randomly shouting 1337 commands during a scenario which is completely inapplicable. Also, as I mentioned in the first place, there needs to be a placed for people to practice before they jump head first into a game where they don't know exactly how they are expected to act or what sort of performance is expected of them. By raising the standard in an out-of-game setting you can expect to see a vast improvement in the quality of RP that takes place in-game. Just a tip, but analyze this situation from a marketing perspective. The developers of various MMORPGs don't provide RP forums just for the fun of those coming there, but also because it allows for the development of player maturity and interest in the game. It is a simple sociological fact: if someone is confident in their abilities and comfortable with the enviroment, they are more likely to provide a superb command performance on demand. As with training soldiers in real life, if you train them to think creatively in any situation by simulating varied scenarios, they will have a stronger chance of survival in any given condition. The forum would have the same effect. If someone can see what to expect from the game, as well as a paradigm of how to act, they are more likely to conform to that ideal beforehand.

Well considering I was about to make a thread proposing a roleplaying forum, yeh, we need one. Im not talking about forum based roleplaying, but rather a forum to discuss roleplay.

I think a forum about roleplay in the world would be usefull... There do tend to be quite a few people who fight and kill, and die, and kill critters, but know relatively nothing about why their doing it, but just doing it cuz that seems to be all there is for them... I think its kind of sad because Lusternia has an amazingly well thought out RP Background to work off of, and for people to just wander through it in a daze killin weevils and rats and not knowin what all the strife is about is just.... Grr...

Hmm.... I need to write my Background soon. Tharruk and Daganev keep bugging me about it, but yea, Roleplay Forum.

That just isn't true. There may be a few mid-level nobodies who are like that, but they are all kids no one cares about, who don't even come to these forums. Nearly all of the fully developed players know their roleplay and act accordingly, to my experience.

You might want to reconsider the wording of that post. Comes off as a little offstandish at first.

However, as I have said before, a crucial step in developing a good sense of identity is toying with your persona. Some years ago I used to RP on the boards for a game called Shadowbane (it is out now and your to have a ingame character to post there anymore, or I wouldn't even be here) where I had witnessed this time and time again. The thing that really helped me see this was through a tournament (deemed the Tournament of Valour) which over several occasions allowed me to notice the vast difference in general attitude of those who participated in contrast to those who did not. The improvement was phenomenal, and after four of these tournaments I was quite proud to be running it, because not only was it the largest event in the community but I got a great sense of accomplishment out of seeing people grow into the people that they were trying to be by being critiqued on a level that had not been provided before. This being because the event had more than just myself as a judge and drew about 50-60 people to it at a time. I had noticed then that if you provide people with a place where they can make an attempt at playing out a scene which had some restrictions (as far as what was considered kosher and what was uber) but was generally wide open to their perspective based on the lore, they could provide superb examples of why I wanted to play the game. The enviroment after the birth of the tournament was excellent no matter what thread I participated in or read. I always thought that it was a great atmosphere, because people would actually take their success or losses and improve their character formats. It seemed that each tournament turned out more exciting, interesting, and entertaining each time all on the account that everyone would vie for the title of Champion with all that they had. The revelence is this: if we play out roles in a place where making a mistake is acceptable because then other people can call you on it and allow you to correct it, then most people would notice a difference in the ability of people to RP. Though, there will still be some people who will not conform, or take critical advice simply because they are stubborn. As Lincoln said, "You can please some of the people some of the time; you can please some of the people all of the time; you can please all of the people some of the time; but you can never please all of the people all of the time." Or something very close to that.

P.S.--Might I also note that when I said I had seen an improvement in the ability of the posters to RP I was not excluding myself. That event really helped us all to mature as RPers, which is why I feel Lusternia is at a loss without such a place.

Great post ithylar, a perfect example of why this is a good idea.

For what it matters, thanks. I try not to be too lengthy or prosy, but it just happens that way. Guess it is because I like to get my point across clearly. Again, thanks for the support.

Another reason why to never RP on the forums:

They're forums. You say something, reply to something, and
1. It has no effect on the game, and
2. It heavilly distorts the ic/ooc line, and
3. t's quite difficult to roleplay here, when it takes a certain amount of time to post, reply, you get ninja'ed, etc. The ONLY thing that could be RP'ed here is a "magical newsboard".

And if you talk to me about magical newsboards, or websites in game, I'm likely to kill you. I've done it before.

I'd take your puny head and squeeze it until you writhe and scream in agony.

Oh wait. I was roleplaying there.

Hard to tell when it starts and ends, hmm?

Keep it in game.