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This isn't intended to be a "how to" post, but instead a discussion thread where GMs and players alike can explain how they choose to play DR, what they do when playing, what sort of overall playstyle they prefer to use, and what about what they do that they find really enjoyable.
This idea stemmed from a different thread over in Policy, where some questions were popping up that didn't really fit into what that thread was about, but I thought they might be a good basis for a discussion elsewhere!
So, I'm going to start this off with my own preferred playstyle, and then respond to some questions/comments from the other thread that are better suited to this discussion :)
My playstyle is very RP heavy. That's probably unsurprising, since I ended up becoming the head of the Events Team on the GM end!
I've played very RP heavy antagonist characters. They were inevitably involved in a fair deal of PVP fighting because of their personalities, motivations, and actions, but the RP was always the important part. I did train considerably (because that can be fun too!) and was ultimately in the higher circles/skill numbers, but I never skill or circle chased, and actually the most visible of these characters of mine mellowed out significantly as they gained skills and abilities -- that character's PVP fighting stopped almost entirely long before they were very 'big'. This was due to character development along the way. Yep, I got my text-face pounded in a LOT. Way, way more than anyone who knew those characters ever realized, that's for sure. That was fine to me, because it was about playing the character, and the character would have acted that way, win or (more often) lose. These characters also attended tons of events run by others (PCs and GMs), liked to make up and tell stories, pointedly avoided invasions when they didn't care about a city being attacked or helped in invasions when they did, talked to other PCs face to face and on the gweth both a TON, and did things like spend stupidly huge amounts of time in the old Trader tents because they ended up getting hired to do so by a Trader who thought it was funny that they'd frequently insult the Trader's customers and cause all sorts of mischief which brought the Trader some excitement in their otherwise boring time tending shop.
I've also played very RP heavy not remotely antagonist characters! Sometimes they ended up involved in PVP anyway, most frequently by blundering their genial way into upsetting someone who decided to start a fight over it. None of these characters were ever high skill or circle, but they were still very, very involved in RP. I dragged bodies and recovered weapons in invasions that were too dangerous for me to attack in. I died trying to fight in those invasions anyway! I fought successfully in invasions that were better suited to my skill level. I engaged random PCs in conversations constantly. I talked on the gweths. I shopped a lot and made a bunch of Trader friends and had great RP interactions with them over time. I helped a friend start an Unofficial Order and ran a bunch of events for that. I attended events of all kinds that others ran, both PCs and GMs. I was silly, I was serious, but above all, I was always reaching out to engage with anyone and everyone in every way I could think of. I did that because that's what is most fun for me. I did still train a fair amount, but these characters ended up in so much RP that was time consuming that I trained less than I did with some of my other characters. I didn't really miss having the numbers.
> (Me in the other thread) I found lots of things to engage with, even when I was hunting, that kept me super involved.
>> (Player in the other thread) Like what? I'm not questioning it, but I'm curious what suggestions you could give.
Some of this I mentioned above, but the gweths and crystal rings were both really big for me. I spent a lot of time engaged in IC discussions and debates with people, either individually or on the wider gweth. A lot of other cool RP opportunities were sparked by this! Yes, I did get smashed plenty. No, I didn't have permagweths nor did I have the cool new ESP system to make that less burdensome, but I also didn't really care. You gotta break eggs to make cakes.
I also just struck up conversations with anyone I saw, or at least tried to. Yes, I struck out a lot. Plenty of people never responded. Yes, I died plenty, but that was almost always because my character was being a jerk. I did this even when hunting. There weren't always people in my hunting areas, but if there were, I'd try to talk to them ICly, regardless of the type of character I was playing. A jerky character of mine might insult them as I walked by, a friendly one might say something nice to them, a less smart one might ask a bunch of confusing questions because they don't understand even simple things about the area, etc.
And finally, I RPed by myself. Yeah, I know what people will say about this one. No, I didn't make multiple characters and have them play out conversations and scenarios together. That's not really my jam. However, I did absolutely talk to random room atmo creatures or act in response to random atmo events (including the weather), NPCs, even the creatures I was hunting. I'd insult them, try to chat them up, run around and chase a squirrel, whatever. It amused me, and I found that it helped me stay in character no matter what I was doing. Plus, you never know when another PC might come by and react to what you're doing, or when a GM might be watching and have the game world react too! I've had both of those things happen bunches of times as a player, and one of my absolute favorite things to do as a GM is to just randomly catch a player doing something and have the game world react to it.
In short, I RP and I RP constantly.
> (Me in the other thread) Mostly, though, that's because I really, really enjoy RP, and because I have zero desire to just hit .hunt.
>> (Player in the other thread) I think that's fair, but the game doesn't really reward you for RP or push you into RP (downtime). It rewards you for scripting. I'm not sure it could change at this point, but in terms of rewards it's pretty clear.
I disagree here, but that's likely because we're using entirely different definitions of 'reward'. In both my experience as a player and my practice as a GM, this is one of the very few games that absolutely does reward people for RPing. You're talking about strictly constant mechanical gains, while I see the rewards of RP, especially consistent RP, as potentially bigger than any skill or stat boost could ever be. You can very literally change the entire game world with your RP (outcomes of world changing events differ depending on player RP actions, entire world changing events are INITIATED due to player RPed actions). That's not going to happen out of exp grinding. On a more day to day basis, RP can be just extremely fun and interesting to participate in. It's not something you ever grind. It's always different. You can't script it, but there is also no allure in even trying to because it is an active thing. You don't RP because you feel you have to (policy states that you just have to not be OOG so as to not be disruptive the environment, after all), you RP because it is fun. Besides the frequent RPAs that do give mechanical benefits to RPing, that fun is absolutely part of the reward. This is a game after all. Isn't fun ultimately the only real reward of any game?
So, that's how I play DR. What about you?
-Persida
Thanks for posting this. I think it's a great idea if only to get a sense of how the forum posters play the game.
Here's mine.
1. I like variety. I like to explore a system, go deep on it, figure out what it can do, and then move on.
2. I like to script. I like optimizing my code to be more efficient and more powerful. I don't really care about individual player's power except when interacting with the systems or other people. Then it's blatantly obvious.
3. I like to RP in small chunks. When I first started playing, I was much more heavily into the RP. My bard spent hours working on new songs without even training anything, for example; however, I feel lately that the stories have all been told. We need a new event to revitalize the game. We need an incentive to draw people to it, and we need to penalize less for not being in combat 24/7.
4. I like to reroll at least once a year, if not more. I get bored with the slow grind that is the upper levels, and I usually reroll somewhere around 100-150th because it gets stale. I have every ability. Now it's the slow, multi-year journey to joining the 20k TDP club or capping those abilities by fighting the same mob for 6000 hours and then moving to the next one.
5. I like options. I dislike being forced into certain tracks for extensive period of time (one creature for months and months). I dislike extensive penalties (this is still a game, not a job!) such as the time to unload social outrage, isolating penalties of the necro guild, the shock system, the justice system, and a lot of the sorcery system.
6. I run multiple characters because I feel forced to. Teaching and spawn generation are just too powerful. Maybe this is by intent, but it also means I feel more compelled to train constantly since I'm paying to do it. I get that it's not a whole lot, but it's a deep-seated mentality.
7. I don't PvP at all. I'm not interested in pitting my skills (see #4) against someone who has been around for 2 decades as one player or another. I also find the bracket system to be fundamentally flawed as it rewards classes that intentionally slow down ladder progression due to higher stats. I get that people enjoy it, but it's not my thing.
8. I like to be helpful. Most of my characters focus around support classes because it's a positive way to create interaction in what should be a social game; however, I've been yelled at more than once because someone has their own pet that they want to get the experience.
By the way, to be constructive, here's how I'd fix the points in #5-7
1. Finish states of beings, and let necros rejoin the rest of the game. It's an MMO. Let people socialize without overly gimping their class.
2. Social outrage should drain while out of the game, and it should be capped at 20 minutes.
3. Better tools to manage shock. Empaths should have a ritual spell to increase sensitivity (reduce shock), and decrease sensitivity (increase shock).
4. Some way to normalize PvP. Put everyone at max ranks and stats in an arena and let them duke it out in a GvG and PvP fashion.
5. Some way of multi-classing. Take the FF14 approach that lets you play multiple classes on the same character.
6. A tool that allows you to increase spawn, or make spawn room based rather than player based.
7. A tool that teaches you, so you don't need pets. (see #8)
8. A way to socialize while running combat scripts. Maybe make familiars open to everyone and let us use that as a chat room (people are already doing that out of game, but you shouldn't encourage people to leave the game to talk to each other). Let familiars listen to and teach classes or do other non-combat things that teach their players. Maybe call these ghosts or shades or something. This gives the OOC benefits and encourages socialization without making people feel like they're playing the game wrong.
9. Sorcery failures should result with the item at the feet, or completely blowing off the hands shouldn't happen.
10. Lower caps for functional uses, or higher learning rates for the low-end of skill. Adjust the skill curve to greatly weight the earlier levels. Greatly speed up progression. Still let people grind for marginal gains. You see this in games like BDO, and it works because it gives the developers a way to build a dynamic end game without trying to balance for dramatic power swings between 1-50.
11. More differentiation, less homogenization. Right now, it feels like most guilds are 90% the same. You put up your cyclic, you train all weapons, and you have a different command for your guild ability. Maybe add a few arbitrary penalties because why not, and voila. You're now a new guild. I understand it's easier to code that way, especially with limited resources, but it's making guild hopping for something fresh less enjoyable. Prior to 3.0, "cyclics" were the domain of the bards and barbarians. They excelled at them. Straight cast spells were the magic primes. Secondaries and terts had interesting abilities, but their rank progression and defensive priority was what made them special. Now everyone trains all armors, all defenses, all weapons, and intentionally caps their own progression to basically do all the things at once, and do those better.
12. Bring back general requirements for circling. Encourage people to do more than 1 thing 24/7 to gain circles. I get that this was done to artificially stretch out the game. It slowed down circling because you couldn't do so much at once, but it also makes that feel less engaging. "Oh, I need empathy again, what a surprise". Either that or remove the benefit of circling past 100. Move the spell slots and TDPs to sub 100. Let 100-200 be vanity circles.
13. Give the option of building kits. I don't like that my Empath feels obligated to train weapons to increase charisma. I want my empath to be a summoner without being gimped. I don't like that my stealthy rogue is wearing heavy plate. I don't like that my moon mage is using a two-handed behemoth instead of just being the pure mage. Sure, you can not do that, but due to how combat and stats work, you're penalizing yourself by trying to play the pure mage.
Now, I'm sure not everyone will agree with everything I posted above. That's fine, but this is how I play and how that's changed over the last two decades.
So, I'm going to preface this with 'I am a huge lore nerd'. I discuss the lore ad nauseum. I'm part of a number of communities with varying degrees of overlap, one of which had to spin off a separate channel because I was arguing/talking about Necromancer stuff so much. My primary reason for engaging in this game is the lore, because over the (truly disgustingly long) period of time I've played this game, I've watched the lore grow from 'pretty cool' to 'exactly what I'm interested in', and recent literature I've read has all fit well with DRs greater cosmology. And the people! I've known some of these players for a very long time, and our relationships have grown such that we're routinely coming up with suggestions for 'things your character may find interesting/fun'. This community of friends that knows both the real life leanings of one another and what everyone's character would likely say/do/think in a given situation.
So I want to reiterate this point - my primary reason for engaging in this game is the lore and my community.
But, I would say about 95+% of the time I actually spend playing DR is not RPing, and I don't feel there is anyone to blame for that. During the day, I'm chatting with people I've known for a very long time, often about the game (and the lore!), planning events that we'll be getting up to. During the evening, when those events happen, it's usually an hour or two of conversation and/or stuff, but... That's it. I don't expect anyone to treat the game like a larp chat room 24/7, because the game has numbers, and those numbers matter. And I consider myself lucky - most of my hosted/advertised events result in people showing up and participating, and over the last 2-3 years I've had some really cool stuff happen in game and been involved in some really great RP.
But this game has numbers. And those numbers matter. While it's entirely possible (and preferable, I'd say!) to have RP interactions that don't result in 'and now I'm killing you because I have bigger numbers than you do', there are more hours in the day than there is 'player interest in repeating the same discussions about the lore'. So, the majority of my interaction with DR is glancing over to my other screen or work tablet regularly to check the conversation or gweth windows, and tweaking my scripts to optimize learning. I've known plenty of people who aren't interested in scripting, so don't, but I don't know many who stuck around very long or are very active outside being nudged to show up for a thing. Personally, I am also interested in watching the numbers get bigger, and because I recognize that that particular enterprise is simply a matter of 'trade time for numbers', I spend as much time logged in as I can be responsive for, and even if that time isn't spent RPing, it's time that I'm playing at least one aspect of the game I find interesting.
I love my hosted events, the arguments. I love the events my friends put on. I love getting a gweth from someone who 'has something serious to discuss' and heading to a bar to pick up a text drink and solemnly discussing things, or wisecracking about silly people in the game, or speaking in mixed metaphor. I like my forest hobo main. But I also want to be clear about something - 'people who like scripting and making the numbers bigger' is not a good predictor of 'people who are disinterested in RP'. Everyone seems to be playing DR for different reasons. I've had events disrupted by people who show up and start 'face pounding' just to be disruptive. I've had people respond to my RP by pounding my face in, and I've also had people try and dox my LinkedIn account after they failed to pound my face in sans any sort of RP interaction.
So, 'what is DR' to me? DR is an idle grinder handled by scripts, with an amazing setting/lore and community that you can get up to RP in/with. Both of these parts of the game are important. I'm not going to reopen a discussion about PvP balance, but I'm sure the topic will get brought up, but in my ideal DR world, lore reveals, events, storylines, etc, would move forward at such a pace that that could be the primary mode of interaction. But they can't, because no player should be expected to do nothing but sit around larping, and no GM should expected to be continuously writing a novel where the PCs are all the characters.
I personally feel that my RP has been rewarded, but not mechanically. I've had GM interaction with some of my events, I've had people show up and participate, I've been able to gweth argue with people and not be smashed. And that's great. But this is a persistent game world with a grind that represents literally 5+ years of skill drain (not just time in game, actual skill drain). We know that conflict (PvP) is considered part of the game world, and we know that conflict (PvP) is in large part determined by ranks. We can only be told so often to just accept getting your face punched in before the decision to engage in the non-RP side of Dragonrealms starts looking like a valid choice, and more importantly, a valid choice that doesn't have to diminish the choice to continue to engage in the RP side.
Wall of text, I'll pass the soapbox for now.
>So, that's how I play DR. What about you?
I have a very different play style, personally.
I love scripting. Not the copy/paste, .hunt advanced Genie scripts most people use. I love writing my own scripts, and I love that SF scripting is difficult because it makes it more difficult to write complex scripts. My hunting script is crazy complex at this point, and I have a few versions for different guilds. That's part of the fun, going into new systems and figuring out how to script them. So I have characters in every guild, but they're all mid-low level, ranging from as low as 10th to my highest level character being just over 80th. I'm still tweaking the scripts, when I get a chance to play. I don't care about having the highest numbers, I just enjoy writing the script and making sure it works.
My RP was always pretty light. I liked to just hang out and chat with people. I never used an RPA, because I was always wanting the ability to give them out. As soon as I got the ability to give them out, they went to whoever I was RPing with at any given moment. This was before PIRP, which I never made it into anyway. I don't care about shifting the policy of nations IG, or any of the rewards Persida talked about. To me, the rewards of RP are in meeting new people and making new friends. It still brings a smile to my face when I log in my highest level character and run into someone who remembers him.
Javac
That one guy
If you have questions or comments in regard to this post please email me at DR-JAVAC@play.net.
I have a very different play style, personally.
I love scripting. Not the copy/paste, .hunt advanced Genie scripts most people use. I love writing my own scripts, and I love that SF scripting is difficult because it makes it more difficult to write complex scripts. My hunting script is crazy complex at this point, and I have a few versions for different guilds. That's part of the fun, going into new systems and figuring out how to script them. So I have characters in every guild, but they're all mid-low level, ranging from as low as 10th to my highest level character being just over 80th. I'm still tweaking the scripts, when I get a chance to play. I don't care about having the highest numbers, I just enjoy writing the script and making sure it works.
My RP was always pretty light. I liked to just hang out and chat with people. I never used an RPA, because I was always wanting the ability to give them out. As soon as I got the ability to give them out, they went to whoever I was RPing with at any given moment. This was before PIRP, which I never made it into anyway. I don't care about shifting the policy of nations IG, or any of the rewards Persida talked about. To me, the rewards of RP are in meeting new people and making new friends. It still brings a smile to my face when I log in my highest level character and run into someone who remembers him.
Javac
That one guy
If you have questions or comments in regard to this post please email me at DR-JAVAC@play.net.
> I love writing my own scripts, and I love that SF scripting is difficult because it makes it more difficult to write complex scripts.
Not to derail this, but I feel your pain! I too write my own scripts, and like you I have a base script and then class-based extensions and libraries (such as my spell manager) that's shared across all guilds. It's just so much easier to do the same thing in Genie. It's more complex, sure, but it takes a fraction of the code.
For the record, I used SF scripting for the first 10 years of my DR career. The movement portions alone were SO LONG. It wasn't complex, but just lengthy.
> It still brings a smile to my face when I log in *my highest level character* and run into someone who remembers him.
And that's the great divide. Newly minted high-level characters today will likely not have that experience. Why? Because they spent the last 2 years getting there rather than the last 20 years playing.
Guys, please don't start posting off topic in this thread. If you want to discuss any side ideas or comments that you have based off of what anyone else posts about their playstyle, what they enjoy about it, and how they go about it in the game, please start a new thread in an appropriate folder for it.
Thanks.
-Persida
Thanks.
-Persida
I believe I play for different reasons at different times. A little back history is that from 95-00, I played Gemstone mostly. I played a Warrior of reknown, but I spent the majority of my time escorting people from IMT to Wehn, and just RPing sitting in the Abandoned Inn near Hill Giants for the rest of the time. I made a lot of friends, and to hunt I could ring in and ring out. I did play DR, but only for spurts. I became a full-time DR player when I sold my Warrior to help fund my wife's engagement ring in 2001. My main character in DR was a gnome thief. I had terrible weapon skills, but I had high stealth & stealing as I pretty much only went around and stole from people. I died a lot from snipes back then, but it was good times. Lots of conflict, lots of fun.
For my current "how I play DR", there's a few reasons:
1) I play for the numbers game.
Many people just won't get this, but I think internally most RPG players love the numbers game, whether it's hidden or not. They love the feeling of making a character that goes from barely killing rats to the hero of the realm. I'm also a programmer by profession, so I love tweaking things to get the most out of them. I've said it a lot to the people I play with primarily, but this is a second game in a game for me.
2) I play for the friendships.
I've made a lot of friends in DR, especially the last 2 years which I've been back and remained subbed. Many acquaintances, but one person in particular that I talk to all the time, even while not in DR. We've made plans to meet up IRL, as they don't live too far, etc. Actually, a few of us live within 3 hours of each other, so this has been planned for a while. The one I mentioned earlier in particular we first met dueling each other, old school style, at the Graveyard. And now we've gotten to the point of sharing family pictures, etc. LinkedIn relationships with a few others also formed as most of us are in the same basic career field. We've fought/argued, but we've remained friends.
3) I play for the RP.
Now, this might get a bit rude, but I'm going to put it out there. There's been great RP in DR that I've been involved in (I really enjoyed the recent keep invasion), and then there's other "RP" that is just not my cup of tea. Personally, I wouldn't consider it RP. This is the "cutsies, cuddles, spellies, cupcake eating, tea swirling Roleplaying" that I want no part of. I remember an orc chief attacked Hib not too long ago, maybe a year, and people were talking to this GMNPC with phrases like "you're a big meanie head", or something ridiculous like that. I get we're not in a Abercrombie or Erikson novel, but it's to the point now where I mainly don't get involved because it's just too cutsie for me. DR is actually a pretty grim world. The combat messaging alone, but just look at the new Risen system, it's very dark. But the best time I have with this game is when I am actively doing everything, scriptless, engaging with pcs, npcs, combat, or skills. The absolute most fun I've had has been my Necro, Cleric, and Moon Mage. MM's are just an incredibly fun Utility class that has many tools for RP.
Again to reiterate, this is my opinion. I completely respect your opinions and your right to RP as you see fit. I wouldn't ever directly tell you what you're doing is wrong or bad, I would (and do) just "cross the street".
Hindrances to RP:
1) Gweth RT
Gweths were mentioned for RP, so I will add that not being able to gweth during RT makes me not want to do it during combat, as I have to either pause my script, or up arrow spam it to get it through. Small, but annoying.
2) Above mentioned Cutsies
3) Baiting and Rank Disparity
There's a few people in the game that say they're RP'ing, but they are really just baiting people into combat. They can't actually RP, so their goto is to kill the person that they simply disagree with. This hasn't changed in years, it's the same people, and it's not fun. It makes any type of RP scenario they're involved in, which is most, pointless and counterproductive. I personally could kill them with ease, but I don't find it fun or productive, it ruins immersion, and it typically backfires and the RP is usually slowed, stalled, or completed early to avoid it going further.
When I first got back, I would be taking the Segoltha ferry quite often. I would be badgered by some scrub weekly, let's call him nozzle numero uno. Some 800+ rank that would directly reference my "Head Cracka" title ("Bet ya can't crack my head."), or whatever title I had, to bait me into just insulting him enough so he could consent kill me. I never fell for it, and I RP'd it out, but that type of attitude I think drives off new players.
CHUNO
With a loud CRACK! you snap the ice archon's neck and toss it aside.
For my current "how I play DR", there's a few reasons:
1) I play for the numbers game.
Many people just won't get this, but I think internally most RPG players love the numbers game, whether it's hidden or not. They love the feeling of making a character that goes from barely killing rats to the hero of the realm. I'm also a programmer by profession, so I love tweaking things to get the most out of them. I've said it a lot to the people I play with primarily, but this is a second game in a game for me.
2) I play for the friendships.
I've made a lot of friends in DR, especially the last 2 years which I've been back and remained subbed. Many acquaintances, but one person in particular that I talk to all the time, even while not in DR. We've made plans to meet up IRL, as they don't live too far, etc. Actually, a few of us live within 3 hours of each other, so this has been planned for a while. The one I mentioned earlier in particular we first met dueling each other, old school style, at the Graveyard. And now we've gotten to the point of sharing family pictures, etc. LinkedIn relationships with a few others also formed as most of us are in the same basic career field. We've fought/argued, but we've remained friends.
3) I play for the RP.
Now, this might get a bit rude, but I'm going to put it out there. There's been great RP in DR that I've been involved in (I really enjoyed the recent keep invasion), and then there's other "RP" that is just not my cup of tea. Personally, I wouldn't consider it RP. This is the "cutsies, cuddles, spellies, cupcake eating, tea swirling Roleplaying" that I want no part of. I remember an orc chief attacked Hib not too long ago, maybe a year, and people were talking to this GMNPC with phrases like "you're a big meanie head", or something ridiculous like that. I get we're not in a Abercrombie or Erikson novel, but it's to the point now where I mainly don't get involved because it's just too cutsie for me. DR is actually a pretty grim world. The combat messaging alone, but just look at the new Risen system, it's very dark. But the best time I have with this game is when I am actively doing everything, scriptless, engaging with pcs, npcs, combat, or skills. The absolute most fun I've had has been my Necro, Cleric, and Moon Mage. MM's are just an incredibly fun Utility class that has many tools for RP.
Again to reiterate, this is my opinion. I completely respect your opinions and your right to RP as you see fit. I wouldn't ever directly tell you what you're doing is wrong or bad, I would (and do) just "cross the street".
Hindrances to RP:
1) Gweth RT
Gweths were mentioned for RP, so I will add that not being able to gweth during RT makes me not want to do it during combat, as I have to either pause my script, or up arrow spam it to get it through. Small, but annoying.
2) Above mentioned Cutsies
3) Baiting and Rank Disparity
There's a few people in the game that say they're RP'ing, but they are really just baiting people into combat. They can't actually RP, so their goto is to kill the person that they simply disagree with. This hasn't changed in years, it's the same people, and it's not fun. It makes any type of RP scenario they're involved in, which is most, pointless and counterproductive. I personally could kill them with ease, but I don't find it fun or productive, it ruins immersion, and it typically backfires and the RP is usually slowed, stalled, or completed early to avoid it going further.
When I first got back, I would be taking the Segoltha ferry quite often. I would be badgered by some scrub weekly, let's call him nozzle numero uno. Some 800+ rank that would directly reference my "Head Cracka" title ("Bet ya can't crack my head."), or whatever title I had, to bait me into just insulting him enough so he could consent kill me. I never fell for it, and I RP'd it out, but that type of attitude I think drives off new players.
CHUNO
With a loud CRACK! you snap the ice archon's neck and toss it aside.
I've been told by some folks that I'm something of an anomaly. I play with a certain Heavy style of RP that people have remarked doesn't entirely fit DR (Especially due to the lack of RP enforcement). Maybe they're right. I RP my characters pretty consistently but like to drastically reduce OOC considerations when playing or organizing events. I feel like anymore than the most basic OOC considerations can considerably dampen RP or even outright force a character to do something they wouldn't. In certain events I've curtailed this for friends just for the sake of being helpful (See Navesi's Chris Mass' giveaway as an example.), but for the most part I refuse to do this. I think characters need to have backgrounds, personalities, and perhaps most importantly, goals based on those two things and his/her reaction to the world around them. Most of my time in MUDs in general have been spent playing characters stuck in morally gray areas, and they're not entirely inclusive. Meaning those characters may not go out their way to include others, because why would they? For me, things that go on need to make sense and when they don't, I'm most certainly dumbfounded. Perune has been something of an experiment for me on playing a character that is more centered on caring about others and what is going on in the world, but has still managed to at least socialize with those who are definitely borderline corrupt or gray. But at least he's more inviting towards others as a whole.
On previously characters I would strictly play OPEN because I believed anyone who has a conflict with me should be able to come get me when it is convenient for THEM, and probably at bad timing for me, because this is when most people WOULD attack their enemies. However, I've since learned that this is a fool's gambit. The previously mentioned lack of RP enforcement in DR only ensures that for the most part you will be dealing with people who simply wish to be disruptive, and have no interest in a well played out conflict. This gets old, fast. So, Guarded it is.
I don't really understand why anyone would play a MUD without wanting to RP, because frankly there are games (not necessarily MUDs) that do anything else you can in DR, better. But, I imagine some of the desire to play DR without RPing is simply due to the level of automation that can be achieved. And I do a fair amount of scripting myself. "Recently" returning to college means I spend an ungodly amount of hours at a desk calculating things and working on reports. This means I have a ton of time to watch over a script, but not necessarily time to sit and hash out a ton of stuff.
I am one of those people who leans towards RP being its own reward, because it is what makes the game interesting and without it, its BotRealms. That said, I feel like the best "reward" for my RP has been when things I've done have had an effect on the game world, even if that effect is sometimes negative to my character. Actions should have consequences, and the game is far more enjoyable when they do.
On previously characters I would strictly play OPEN because I believed anyone who has a conflict with me should be able to come get me when it is convenient for THEM, and probably at bad timing for me, because this is when most people WOULD attack their enemies. However, I've since learned that this is a fool's gambit. The previously mentioned lack of RP enforcement in DR only ensures that for the most part you will be dealing with people who simply wish to be disruptive, and have no interest in a well played out conflict. This gets old, fast. So, Guarded it is.
I don't really understand why anyone would play a MUD without wanting to RP, because frankly there are games (not necessarily MUDs) that do anything else you can in DR, better. But, I imagine some of the desire to play DR without RPing is simply due to the level of automation that can be achieved. And I do a fair amount of scripting myself. "Recently" returning to college means I spend an ungodly amount of hours at a desk calculating things and working on reports. This means I have a ton of time to watch over a script, but not necessarily time to sit and hash out a ton of stuff.
I am one of those people who leans towards RP being its own reward, because it is what makes the game interesting and without it, its BotRealms. That said, I feel like the best "reward" for my RP has been when things I've done have had an effect on the game world, even if that effect is sometimes negative to my character. Actions should have consequences, and the game is far more enjoyable when they do.
<< So, that's how I play DR. What about you? >>
First, the Role that I am playing for Vykanthiss is this: He's a young, tall, strapping male Elf that has chosen the guild of the Ranger. He likes simple things, a slow pace. So that right there, is the Role he starts from. He is very 'in touch' with the planet of Elanthia and the environment. For example, the Forests and geographical formations of mountains; plants and metals; the sky and constellations, the weather. He's constantly gazing up at the sky, and still curious about everything.
So, how does this translate into how I like to play? The hunting of different creatures, sometimes for their skins or loot. Enjoying the hilarity of the critters, for example the Snow Gobs and Mutant Togballs. I've even interacted with them at times, responding back, to see if they changed actions. Because I get IMMERSED in the environment and what I'm reading about. I've told my son that in it's simplest form, DR is a live book. I'd love to get my grandchildren interested, but they're not into the written word so much as they are into pictures. So our games are different.
Trying out new areas. I like going into 'rooms' and reading and exploring every nook, niche and cranny of them. My thinking is that it's like a treasure hunt. And I find things. Things that other players have left because THEY can relate and feel that too. Sometimes OLD things. For example; On, Under, Behind, In a table or any piece of furniture in places least expected that rarely get visited. I like leaving things there as well. So exploring out of the way or deserted places at times, is one of the ways I like to play.
I am always amazed at the 'creation' of this world. All the different people who created the neighborhoods and hunting areas. Sometimes I wonder WHO sat down at the computer and coded up these places from their own imaginations. Yes, WHO? the players? Some gone, some still around? This is their legacy too. I have recently been thinking on this more, since Raesh has gone. Personally, I wish there was a way to put a signature to things. Who created Aesry? What team of folk wrote up the descriptions, the concepts? Because maybe this game will last another 20 years. Maybe not. I'd like to know about the OOC history more. So with those thoughts in mind at times, is another way I like to play.
Learning new skills and taking up new 'hobbies' means tweaking scripts, editing, streamlining actions; looking at things from a technical point of view instead of RPing is another way I like to play. For example, one day I'm RPing the miner, the next I'll fix my scripts to make that smoother, because I too have numb fingers and wear braces on my wrists due to carpal issues. So this relates to the scripting issues. I script EVERYTHING I can because of key strokes. This also relates to why I don't 'talk' alot everyday. Being old, some things don't rejuvenate as quickly as when I was younger, so I stay away from groups and lots of activities that require more key strokes when the arthritis is worse. I'm glad I have the option to do that in this game. Another reason I love it.
When I am in game, I'm at the keyboard except for times when I have to find a tree. ;) I enjoy being aware of all the comings and goings ingame, who's dying, why's etc. I enjoy gwething on the personal and private channels. I will always respond to inquiries from folks on how to do something IF I know the answer. I will leave what I'm doing to physically go and help others if needed. This doesn't cause me any stress, because MOST folks are appreciative and the interaction is usually enjoyable. I like getting things started sometimes, especially after a long 'gweth silence'. Overall, I am a very happy person. Life is good, and I play this game for enjoyment and doing things that cause laughter is very good. I like initiating silly gweth topics, making comments that illicit funny responses etc. Lots of laughter ensues from gweth banter when folks are on a roll!
When I play, SOMEtimes I read the DRhome page forums and reddit. But here's this; to run DR on the screen and have the forums open above it, breaks whatever 'role' I might have in mind for Vykanthiss. So I don't do those at the same time, as much anymore. I alway check the playnet DRhomepage so I can remember what events, if any, are up. Right now, I'm playing on a very tiny older laptop, and like me, it has memory issues too, so I don't do Discord either. Most things exterior to the game cause things to work slower, but that's really ok with me because then I am IC and IG (in game). I don't have cats and dogs crawling over my keyboard and my kids and grandkids are not around anymore ((to bug me and make me feel guilty for all the time I spent playing DR, like back years ago) (Haha! Finally, I'm FREE! muhahahah.))
I totally get and appreciate, even admire SOME players who play characters like Persida described. Although I will rarely interact with them. If it's a character that's being snarky, or mean, I'll just leave. There are a few characters in game that will send threatening or bullying personal gweth thoughts to me at times, and when they do, I just close out the gweth window and carryon with what I'm doing. I'm glad this game has the option to SQUELCH. I personally don't like PVP in this game. There are other places, like ESO for one, that are very very fine for that. Maybe it's the scrolling and not being able to keep track of what's going on, but I just don't do it. Overall I want my time in DR to be fun and relaxing since we all know Real Life can be stressful.
And when I play, I don't like invasion stuff. (mostly the scrolling issue, can't keep up) I won't interact with non responsive (duh, obvious) scripters who run the easily identified scripts that do the same things over and over. There are like 20 that I watched the other day, accidentally while I was practicing climb at the riverbank. I'd like to be able to say that I won't ignore anyone but that's not true, of course.
The way I like to play is to do my thing and let others do theirs. And find those where we can weave the two (or the many) together for laughs.
Today's the Day!!
First, the Role that I am playing for Vykanthiss is this: He's a young, tall, strapping male Elf that has chosen the guild of the Ranger. He likes simple things, a slow pace. So that right there, is the Role he starts from. He is very 'in touch' with the planet of Elanthia and the environment. For example, the Forests and geographical formations of mountains; plants and metals; the sky and constellations, the weather. He's constantly gazing up at the sky, and still curious about everything.
So, how does this translate into how I like to play? The hunting of different creatures, sometimes for their skins or loot. Enjoying the hilarity of the critters, for example the Snow Gobs and Mutant Togballs. I've even interacted with them at times, responding back, to see if they changed actions. Because I get IMMERSED in the environment and what I'm reading about. I've told my son that in it's simplest form, DR is a live book. I'd love to get my grandchildren interested, but they're not into the written word so much as they are into pictures. So our games are different.
Trying out new areas. I like going into 'rooms' and reading and exploring every nook, niche and cranny of them. My thinking is that it's like a treasure hunt. And I find things. Things that other players have left because THEY can relate and feel that too. Sometimes OLD things. For example; On, Under, Behind, In a table or any piece of furniture in places least expected that rarely get visited. I like leaving things there as well. So exploring out of the way or deserted places at times, is one of the ways I like to play.
I am always amazed at the 'creation' of this world. All the different people who created the neighborhoods and hunting areas. Sometimes I wonder WHO sat down at the computer and coded up these places from their own imaginations. Yes, WHO? the players? Some gone, some still around? This is their legacy too. I have recently been thinking on this more, since Raesh has gone. Personally, I wish there was a way to put a signature to things. Who created Aesry? What team of folk wrote up the descriptions, the concepts? Because maybe this game will last another 20 years. Maybe not. I'd like to know about the OOC history more. So with those thoughts in mind at times, is another way I like to play.
Learning new skills and taking up new 'hobbies' means tweaking scripts, editing, streamlining actions; looking at things from a technical point of view instead of RPing is another way I like to play. For example, one day I'm RPing the miner, the next I'll fix my scripts to make that smoother, because I too have numb fingers and wear braces on my wrists due to carpal issues. So this relates to the scripting issues. I script EVERYTHING I can because of key strokes. This also relates to why I don't 'talk' alot everyday. Being old, some things don't rejuvenate as quickly as when I was younger, so I stay away from groups and lots of activities that require more key strokes when the arthritis is worse. I'm glad I have the option to do that in this game. Another reason I love it.
When I am in game, I'm at the keyboard except for times when I have to find a tree. ;) I enjoy being aware of all the comings and goings ingame, who's dying, why's etc. I enjoy gwething on the personal and private channels. I will always respond to inquiries from folks on how to do something IF I know the answer. I will leave what I'm doing to physically go and help others if needed. This doesn't cause me any stress, because MOST folks are appreciative and the interaction is usually enjoyable. I like getting things started sometimes, especially after a long 'gweth silence'. Overall, I am a very happy person. Life is good, and I play this game for enjoyment and doing things that cause laughter is very good. I like initiating silly gweth topics, making comments that illicit funny responses etc. Lots of laughter ensues from gweth banter when folks are on a roll!
When I play, SOMEtimes I read the DRhome page forums and reddit. But here's this; to run DR on the screen and have the forums open above it, breaks whatever 'role' I might have in mind for Vykanthiss. So I don't do those at the same time, as much anymore. I alway check the playnet DRhomepage so I can remember what events, if any, are up. Right now, I'm playing on a very tiny older laptop, and like me, it has memory issues too, so I don't do Discord either. Most things exterior to the game cause things to work slower, but that's really ok with me because then I am IC and IG (in game). I don't have cats and dogs crawling over my keyboard and my kids and grandkids are not around anymore ((to bug me and make me feel guilty for all the time I spent playing DR, like back years ago) (Haha! Finally, I'm FREE! muhahahah.))
I totally get and appreciate, even admire SOME players who play characters like Persida described. Although I will rarely interact with them. If it's a character that's being snarky, or mean, I'll just leave. There are a few characters in game that will send threatening or bullying personal gweth thoughts to me at times, and when they do, I just close out the gweth window and carryon with what I'm doing. I'm glad this game has the option to SQUELCH. I personally don't like PVP in this game. There are other places, like ESO for one, that are very very fine for that. Maybe it's the scrolling and not being able to keep track of what's going on, but I just don't do it. Overall I want my time in DR to be fun and relaxing since we all know Real Life can be stressful.
And when I play, I don't like invasion stuff. (mostly the scrolling issue, can't keep up) I won't interact with non responsive (duh, obvious) scripters who run the easily identified scripts that do the same things over and over. There are like 20 that I watched the other day, accidentally while I was practicing climb at the riverbank. I'd like to be able to say that I won't ignore anyone but that's not true, of course.
The way I like to play is to do my thing and let others do theirs. And find those where we can weave the two (or the many) together for laughs.
Today's the Day!!
I play DR differently based on the time of day, I'm lucky enough that my 9-5 job allows me to run DR on one monitor scripting while at work. During this time I don't engage other people and only interact enough to not be considered AFK. I do this for two reasons, I like the challenge of writing well built scripts and watching the EXP numbers go up.
If I log in to play DR outside of those times it's usually for a specific reason, often I'm buying/selling goods or engaging in light to moderate RP.
Getting more specific, I'm generally a PvE player but I love the idea of PvP. I rarely seek it out, and I'm not good at it at all, but my character has been PvP Open since the system was released because I think you should be able to attack other players at almost any time. I really wish the PvP stancing included areas where you had to flag Open and reasons to go to those areas, but that's a bit off topic.
The treasure map system has also been amazing and I wish they were more readily available (maybe for LTBs?). I never realized just how much of the game isn't mapped by Genie/E-Pedia until I started hunting down the occasional treasure map. I've always liked exploring but there's something different when I find an area that isn't mapped yet. I slow down, read the room descriptions, and feel like I've found something special.
Finally I play DR and almost all games including board, tabletop, mini, video because of the communities. The people in DR on the whole are helpful, friendly and engaging. The names rotate in and out over the years but I know with a little effort I can find a few people to go on a quest, help search for a treasure map, or raid the Museum.
If I log in to play DR outside of those times it's usually for a specific reason, often I'm buying/selling goods or engaging in light to moderate RP.
Getting more specific, I'm generally a PvE player but I love the idea of PvP. I rarely seek it out, and I'm not good at it at all, but my character has been PvP Open since the system was released because I think you should be able to attack other players at almost any time. I really wish the PvP stancing included areas where you had to flag Open and reasons to go to those areas, but that's a bit off topic.
The treasure map system has also been amazing and I wish they were more readily available (maybe for LTBs?). I never realized just how much of the game isn't mapped by Genie/E-Pedia until I started hunting down the occasional treasure map. I've always liked exploring but there's something different when I find an area that isn't mapped yet. I slow down, read the room descriptions, and feel like I've found something special.
Finally I play DR and almost all games including board, tabletop, mini, video because of the communities. The people in DR on the whole are helpful, friendly and engaging. The names rotate in and out over the years but I know with a little effort I can find a few people to go on a quest, help search for a treasure map, or raid the Museum.
While I enjoy the complexity of the game's mechanical systems, I primarily play for the RP. I appreciate the breadth and depth of the lore material and how it has evolved from generic medieval fantasy.
When the atmosphere becomes less immersive (sometimes it feels more like a Call of Duty lobby), or the RP scene slows to a crawl, I find myself disengaging from the game. (If AFK scripting were allowed, I would unsubscribe, as I have no interest in playing a multiplayer role-playing game that is primarily populated by unresponsive bots.)
I have two main characters, which I try to role-play as independently as possible, with different personalities, goals, and relationships. I seldom play evil characters, although the typical S'Kra is not what most would consider to be a good person. (Hats off to those few who role-play evil well, as most examples of "evil" in DR are either the Saturday morning cartoon or the griefer.)
While I accept that PvP may result from my role-playing decisions, I don't find PvP very engaging in DR, as it is often divorced from RP, and there are huge rank discrepancies that make it difficult to have a fight that is not one-sided.
That being said, there is also a strong rank component to the game. When I am not role-playing, I enjoy writing and tinkering with various scripts and settings. During those times, I am often OOCly chatting about DR with friends.
I also spend a lot of time writing documentation for Elanthipedia and OOCly helping other players.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Paladin new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Paladin_new_player_guide
armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide
When the atmosphere becomes less immersive (sometimes it feels more like a Call of Duty lobby), or the RP scene slows to a crawl, I find myself disengaging from the game. (If AFK scripting were allowed, I would unsubscribe, as I have no interest in playing a multiplayer role-playing game that is primarily populated by unresponsive bots.)
I have two main characters, which I try to role-play as independently as possible, with different personalities, goals, and relationships. I seldom play evil characters, although the typical S'Kra is not what most would consider to be a good person. (Hats off to those few who role-play evil well, as most examples of "evil" in DR are either the Saturday morning cartoon or the griefer.)
While I accept that PvP may result from my role-playing decisions, I don't find PvP very engaging in DR, as it is often divorced from RP, and there are huge rank discrepancies that make it difficult to have a fight that is not one-sided.
That being said, there is also a strong rank component to the game. When I am not role-playing, I enjoy writing and tinkering with various scripts and settings. During those times, I am often OOCly chatting about DR with friends.
I also spend a lot of time writing documentation for Elanthipedia and OOCly helping other players.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Paladin new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Paladin_new_player_guide
armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide
This has been a hard thread to respond to! I won’t try to mince things. First – it’s not hard to suss out who I played. I won’t tell people, but I won’t hide it either. When I first started, I had very little concept of a character in mind, in fact – on AOL my character was a human and I played her as a human who desperately wanted to be a cultured, refined Elf... but, after the web migration and a slight break where I couldn’t play, I came back and remade my character, I forgot and made her an Elf straight off. Oops!
For YEARS, and I mean YEARS I wasn’t involved in any big roleplay. My friends were “BAD PEOPLE” who didn’t roleplay, even though I did – and I did it because I enjoyed it. I found that I loved DR’s lore and setting and began to learn about it. I’m quite sure my brain has pre-empted room for things like algebra, so I can remember things like the rulers of Zoluren.
It’s hard for me to determine HOW my character was seen, though – because everything I did was a little organic with her. Interactions were different with different people; she was taciturn with some, happy with others, and straight out actively disliked others. Some people told me this was “bad roleplay” and inconsistent but who acts the same with everyone, right?
I had people who I got to know outside of the game that I absolutely LOVED as people that my character would NOT give the time of day. Some people were okay with this, some people didn’t understand this and thought I was a horrible person or roleplayer because of it.
Remember that I said for years I was never involved in any big roleplay? I mean with other characters, not GM-sanctioned roleplay. I know even now people say it’s hard to “break in” and get people to to let you into their groups – it was the same 15 years ago. I wish I had a solution for it.
Speaking of GM-sanctioned roleplay, you know what? It’s great, don’t get me wrong – but the absolute BEST times I’ve ever had roleplaying in game are with other players and I doing our own thing, making our own stories. Letting our characters be organic. Sure, it may be something that stemmed from a one-off GM storyline, or GM NPC conversation but we took it and let it grow – it might sound trite for me to say that but its my absolute truth. Like Persida, some of my best and most favorite things were just sitting and having conversations. (I too, talked to myself, creatures and random items) I have so many hilarious and funny anecdotes that I think absolutely MAKE my character that stem from player to player interaction.
>one of my absolute favorite things to do as a GM is to just randomly catch a player doing something and have the game world react to it.
To touch on what Persida said – I LOVE DOING THIS. People may have noticed me doing this has the ‘unbidden brain thought’ sometimes. I don’t expect you to react a certain way, but you know how your brain just can suddenly think something about a situation that’s going on? Sometimes I’m there being that part of your brain. I’ve loved seeing the ways people react (or don’t react) to the wonderings of their brain.
It’s fascinating to see what you as players do to the little breadcrumbs we drop of you in general, too. Some people have gone amazingly far with it as RP – the Drogor-HE is a good example of this. We had some people who were STAUNCH, and I mean STAUNCH non-believers who made complete 360s and are now (or were last time I saw them) Drogor adherents.
I love seeing people having fun in this game. Telling me they had fun, telling their friends they are having fun, etc. It warms this old heart. Like Persida, I believe that fun IS the real reward of any game, although the friendships I’ve made here is also a big reward too but is kind of a bonus. (/sap)
~Evike
Twitter: @EvikeDR
Discord: Evike#2562
For YEARS, and I mean YEARS I wasn’t involved in any big roleplay. My friends were “BAD PEOPLE” who didn’t roleplay, even though I did – and I did it because I enjoyed it. I found that I loved DR’s lore and setting and began to learn about it. I’m quite sure my brain has pre-empted room for things like algebra, so I can remember things like the rulers of Zoluren.
It’s hard for me to determine HOW my character was seen, though – because everything I did was a little organic with her. Interactions were different with different people; she was taciturn with some, happy with others, and straight out actively disliked others. Some people told me this was “bad roleplay” and inconsistent but who acts the same with everyone, right?
I had people who I got to know outside of the game that I absolutely LOVED as people that my character would NOT give the time of day. Some people were okay with this, some people didn’t understand this and thought I was a horrible person or roleplayer because of it.
Remember that I said for years I was never involved in any big roleplay? I mean with other characters, not GM-sanctioned roleplay. I know even now people say it’s hard to “break in” and get people to to let you into their groups – it was the same 15 years ago. I wish I had a solution for it.
Speaking of GM-sanctioned roleplay, you know what? It’s great, don’t get me wrong – but the absolute BEST times I’ve ever had roleplaying in game are with other players and I doing our own thing, making our own stories. Letting our characters be organic. Sure, it may be something that stemmed from a one-off GM storyline, or GM NPC conversation but we took it and let it grow – it might sound trite for me to say that but its my absolute truth. Like Persida, some of my best and most favorite things were just sitting and having conversations. (I too, talked to myself, creatures and random items) I have so many hilarious and funny anecdotes that I think absolutely MAKE my character that stem from player to player interaction.
>one of my absolute favorite things to do as a GM is to just randomly catch a player doing something and have the game world react to it.
To touch on what Persida said – I LOVE DOING THIS. People may have noticed me doing this has the ‘unbidden brain thought’ sometimes. I don’t expect you to react a certain way, but you know how your brain just can suddenly think something about a situation that’s going on? Sometimes I’m there being that part of your brain. I’ve loved seeing the ways people react (or don’t react) to the wonderings of their brain.
It’s fascinating to see what you as players do to the little breadcrumbs we drop of you in general, too. Some people have gone amazingly far with it as RP – the Drogor-HE is a good example of this. We had some people who were STAUNCH, and I mean STAUNCH non-believers who made complete 360s and are now (or were last time I saw them) Drogor adherents.
I love seeing people having fun in this game. Telling me they had fun, telling their friends they are having fun, etc. It warms this old heart. Like Persida, I believe that fun IS the real reward of any game, although the friendships I’ve made here is also a big reward too but is kind of a bonus. (/sap)
~Evike
Twitter: @EvikeDR
Discord: Evike#2562
>It's just so much easier to do the same thing in Genie.
I think I may have communicated my point poorly. I still use SF because it’d be easier to do in Genie. I don’t want easy, I want a challenge.
Javac
That one guy
If you have questions or comments in regard to this post please email me at DR-JAVAC@play.net.
I think I may have communicated my point poorly. I still use SF because it’d be easier to do in Genie. I don’t want easy, I want a challenge.
Javac
That one guy
If you have questions or comments in regard to this post please email me at DR-JAVAC@play.net.
Moving to a new thread to keep the board monitors happy.
> I think I may have communicated my point poorly. I still use SF because it’d be easier to do in Genie. I don’t want easy, I want a challenge.
I understand. I just feel for you. I'd say Genie is enough of a complexity challenge, but you're right that you can do almost all of this in Stormfront if you want to be tedious enough with your match tables. Look at the travel script everyone still uses. That's thousands of lines of tedium when an automapper reduces is to a few dozen, or even less.
This does bring up another interesting question. What kind of challenge do people want. Do people want more complexity in terms of figuring out the best way to play the game, or do people just want more things to type?
I can agree with the fact there are many people who enjoy RP more than anything. I tend to RP when I talk, and i enjoy talking with others. So i tend to stay in certain areas and chat with people, when there are people to chat with.
I will admit that I enjoy the numbers, similar to JAVAC does. I write my own scripts, and enjoy modifying them to meet my needs. However, on the numbers side, i do like feeling helpful to others, so i don't hunt as much. I do like to help new players or returning players get used to the new systems, and have gotten to the point where I can make remedies that are useful to others and myself.
I did enjoy the Hollow Eve event, and was my first event I have attended. I could have participated more than i did, but i mostly focused on the maze. It definitely created an environment where i talked in RP to more people and we would chat about what we did at the event. Besides that, i haven't found any major motivation yet, but i think i am getting there. It's just been tough lately, as my new puppy has been distracting me away from DR more. So i am hoping that once I am less distracted, there will be some fun events I can find to do in the future with others.
I will admit that I enjoy the numbers, similar to JAVAC does. I write my own scripts, and enjoy modifying them to meet my needs. However, on the numbers side, i do like feeling helpful to others, so i don't hunt as much. I do like to help new players or returning players get used to the new systems, and have gotten to the point where I can make remedies that are useful to others and myself.
I did enjoy the Hollow Eve event, and was my first event I have attended. I could have participated more than i did, but i mostly focused on the maze. It definitely created an environment where i talked in RP to more people and we would chat about what we did at the event. Besides that, i haven't found any major motivation yet, but i think i am getting there. It's just been tough lately, as my new puppy has been distracting me away from DR more. So i am hoping that once I am less distracted, there will be some fun events I can find to do in the future with others.
It's an interesting question. During the "golden age" around 2000 I was very RP-heavy... I wasn't concerned about circling much beyond the requirement to be a mentor. I was highly social, traveled a lot, and had the great opportunity to run a lot of community events through the mentors. For the past 10 years or so I've been pretty anti-social and just focused on scripting and circling. I think the combination of the culture shift that AAA graphic MMO's brought and the decline of population in DR made that shift for me.
>I understand. I just feel for you.
There’s no reason to feel for me, which is why I think there’s still a miscommunication. Writing scripts in SF isn’t tedious to me; it’s challenging, and that makes it enjoyable. It’s how I play the game, and I find it fun. You’ll never convince me that Genie making life easier will make the game more enjoyable for me, because I don’t want life to be easier. That would be less fun for me.
This thread is about how different people play the game, and while we have similar play styles, even within the “enjoys writing scripts” play style, there’s room for nuance. I enjoy the challenge of writing complex scripts in SF. You find it tedious. To each their own, which is kind of the point of this thread. Share what you find enjoyable, and learn what others find enjoyable.
Javac
That one guy
If you have questions or comments in regard to this post please email me at DR-JAVAC@play.net.
There’s no reason to feel for me, which is why I think there’s still a miscommunication. Writing scripts in SF isn’t tedious to me; it’s challenging, and that makes it enjoyable. It’s how I play the game, and I find it fun. You’ll never convince me that Genie making life easier will make the game more enjoyable for me, because I don’t want life to be easier. That would be less fun for me.
This thread is about how different people play the game, and while we have similar play styles, even within the “enjoys writing scripts” play style, there’s room for nuance. I enjoy the challenge of writing complex scripts in SF. You find it tedious. To each their own, which is kind of the point of this thread. Share what you find enjoyable, and learn what others find enjoyable.
Javac
That one guy
If you have questions or comments in regard to this post please email me at DR-JAVAC@play.net.
I have played DR since I was 14 years old --- I am now 32. I haven't held a subscription this entire span of time, but ultimately return and settle into the game. As a game, what I always say to people who ask about it is, it utilizes the most advanced graphics engines known to us -- our imaginations. I have a love of reading, but also participating, and DR achieves both these things. The vivid imagery this game has the power to evoke is akin to a 'choose your own adventure' novel set into an extremely elaborate universe that is the product of hundreds, nay, thousands of contributors. From the code to the events to the players themselves, this game can provide a script no one person would ever hope to write.
In all my characters, I yearn to 1. explore the universe, 2. bring an impact upon the universe, and 3. create or participate in a story within the universe. There are endless opportunities, and each character provides a unique and entirely different interface with said universe. I've been cruel, I've been kind, I've been ignorant, informed, at odds with, in harmony to, full of power, completely lacking power, extremely emotional, completely void of emotion, so on and so forth to infinity.
I sit and wonder what the real fulfillment is for one who purely '.hunts', or '.masterscript's. I have written all my scripts, from those I can run almost 24/7 training a maximum # of skills, to simple ones that let me do SOMETHING while I banter and RP. This part of the game is also enjoyable -- the puzzle of efficiency and perfectionism turns cogs that are unrelated to my quest for a story.
One theme is universal throughout my characters, and that is 'mischievous but not malicious'. Fun and trouble give players in addition to me an experience. Maybe it's a few throwing axes at a friend when they're kicking piles, or maybe it's a tickle-poke-prod-hide-out to a stranger being strange. I can get violent, but I generally don't (critters aside), because I don't crave ruining someone's day or the hard work they put into their training... yet, when it's an RP opportunity, best be ready to go cuff to cuff.
From an events perspective, there are always ways to get involved. There is always something happening. More than, even, our 'real world'. It manifests in communities, orders, guilds, cities and their gathering places, invasion events, quests (both guild and paidfor), and the countless little things and easter eggs that are interact-able. Even if another player isn't present, I still see and feel the story that I participate in by yelling at a rock troll or hounding Catrox for being slow. As the Observer, it releases at the right perceptics to experience this wonderful world more deeply.
My cousin, who was 9 months younger than I and every bit one of my closest friends and brethren, was a GM for many years and abruptly passed away with many systems still in progress. I play this game and participate with integrity as an act of honoring him and to see how his legacy carries on in the evolution of our lore and our world.
While not called for in the origin of this post, I want to express gratitude to the staff and staff-of-old for participating in the journey and keeping the world alive. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I look forward to more adventuring together.
In all my characters, I yearn to 1. explore the universe, 2. bring an impact upon the universe, and 3. create or participate in a story within the universe. There are endless opportunities, and each character provides a unique and entirely different interface with said universe. I've been cruel, I've been kind, I've been ignorant, informed, at odds with, in harmony to, full of power, completely lacking power, extremely emotional, completely void of emotion, so on and so forth to infinity.
I sit and wonder what the real fulfillment is for one who purely '.hunts', or '.masterscript's. I have written all my scripts, from those I can run almost 24/7 training a maximum # of skills, to simple ones that let me do SOMETHING while I banter and RP. This part of the game is also enjoyable -- the puzzle of efficiency and perfectionism turns cogs that are unrelated to my quest for a story.
One theme is universal throughout my characters, and that is 'mischievous but not malicious'. Fun and trouble give players in addition to me an experience. Maybe it's a few throwing axes at a friend when they're kicking piles, or maybe it's a tickle-poke-prod-hide-out to a stranger being strange. I can get violent, but I generally don't (critters aside), because I don't crave ruining someone's day or the hard work they put into their training... yet, when it's an RP opportunity, best be ready to go cuff to cuff.
From an events perspective, there are always ways to get involved. There is always something happening. More than, even, our 'real world'. It manifests in communities, orders, guilds, cities and their gathering places, invasion events, quests (both guild and paidfor), and the countless little things and easter eggs that are interact-able. Even if another player isn't present, I still see and feel the story that I participate in by yelling at a rock troll or hounding Catrox for being slow. As the Observer, it releases at the right perceptics to experience this wonderful world more deeply.
My cousin, who was 9 months younger than I and every bit one of my closest friends and brethren, was a GM for many years and abruptly passed away with many systems still in progress. I play this game and participate with integrity as an act of honoring him and to see how his legacy carries on in the evolution of our lore and our world.
While not called for in the origin of this post, I want to express gratitude to the staff and staff-of-old for participating in the journey and keeping the world alive. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I look forward to more adventuring together.
I think this has been my favorite thread ever to read.
As a relatively new player, I joined the game without knowing any active players, but with a good idea of what I wanted my character to be like. I had the pleasure of meeting interesting people right off the bat, who helped me learn the game far more quickly than I ever could have hoped on my own. I truly feel like I am the beneficiary of all the awesome people in the community who put their time toward documenting things on the 'pedia, or developing scripts that they share with the community, which allow people like me to train skills effectively while we are learning to write our own, or the people who have not minded getting a random DM in Discord to ask about this or that system or strategy.
I play primarily to RP, and the RP communities in DR are beyond my wildest hopes. I say communities, because there are certainly different communities that favor different types of narratives and interactions, but I love them all. The epic wars like the Elpalzi conflicts or the Orc wars in Therengia have been amazing. There is nothing like fighting beside people one has come to know in festivals, events, chance meetings or through friends, and work together for the liberation of one's people, where failure means (theoretically, anyway ;) enslavement or death, and where victory is a cause for wild celebrations, a chance to stand before princes and princesses, barons and ladies, to receive high honors, and the fruit of countless glorious poems and songs!
Other types of RP events are really fun too. My character joined an order relatively early on, and those people now feel like family. There are a lot of really fun non-order events that have been run by players too. So many creative people play DR, and, as much as I love the epic, the profound, and the grim, I also love the cute, the funny, and the heartwarming. There are, of course, challenges in setting up events that require a lot of people to come together, but it often feels all the more fulfilling when things come together in game.
Personal narratives and character arcs in the DR community are also some of my favorite things to participate in or hear about. Love stories, revenge plots, redemption stories, quests for knowledge, personal tests and trials, heartbreak and celebrating milestones are all things my character has been lucky enough to be a part of in his time so far. Sometimes, the chance conversation with someone shows a glimpse of a deep and interesting history, and lays the foundation for what's become surprisingly moving friendships (or conflicts). I am perpetually fascinated with the mannerisms and personalities people develop for their characters: whether they add you to a group, or hold your hand, smile or grin, the tension that can be carried in a stare, the warmth of a blush, the secrets of a knowing glance, the well timed grunt or snort of derision, the undulation of a tail, the angling of furry ears.
As much as I love RP, I don't mind the skills grind, and enjoy it as a sort of training montage when I'm doing creative work, reading the forums, or doing stuff IRL that doesn't require full attention. I also enjoy writing scripts, as it takes a different form of creativity, and they're fun to test and tweak. I think I just wish the scripting grind were less rewarding, or RP more so in terms of what one's character can do in game.
I also love accruing awesome equipment. I've been around long enough to hear the (good) arguments for why it doesn't really matter that much, but I still love browsing the ItemStats spreadsheet, getting cool gear and altering the best stuff I have. Alterations are something I feel is unique to MUDs and I really wish there were even more opportunities for customization, as I love to see the weapons, clothing, and containers other people use. I think it adds a lot to a character's RP, and, for my character, a lot of his equipment holds a great deal of meaning, as many have been gifts, or crafted by legends of DR, and is a really fun part of his overall story.
As a relatively new player, I joined the game without knowing any active players, but with a good idea of what I wanted my character to be like. I had the pleasure of meeting interesting people right off the bat, who helped me learn the game far more quickly than I ever could have hoped on my own. I truly feel like I am the beneficiary of all the awesome people in the community who put their time toward documenting things on the 'pedia, or developing scripts that they share with the community, which allow people like me to train skills effectively while we are learning to write our own, or the people who have not minded getting a random DM in Discord to ask about this or that system or strategy.
I play primarily to RP, and the RP communities in DR are beyond my wildest hopes. I say communities, because there are certainly different communities that favor different types of narratives and interactions, but I love them all. The epic wars like the Elpalzi conflicts or the Orc wars in Therengia have been amazing. There is nothing like fighting beside people one has come to know in festivals, events, chance meetings or through friends, and work together for the liberation of one's people, where failure means (theoretically, anyway ;) enslavement or death, and where victory is a cause for wild celebrations, a chance to stand before princes and princesses, barons and ladies, to receive high honors, and the fruit of countless glorious poems and songs!
Other types of RP events are really fun too. My character joined an order relatively early on, and those people now feel like family. There are a lot of really fun non-order events that have been run by players too. So many creative people play DR, and, as much as I love the epic, the profound, and the grim, I also love the cute, the funny, and the heartwarming. There are, of course, challenges in setting up events that require a lot of people to come together, but it often feels all the more fulfilling when things come together in game.
Personal narratives and character arcs in the DR community are also some of my favorite things to participate in or hear about. Love stories, revenge plots, redemption stories, quests for knowledge, personal tests and trials, heartbreak and celebrating milestones are all things my character has been lucky enough to be a part of in his time so far. Sometimes, the chance conversation with someone shows a glimpse of a deep and interesting history, and lays the foundation for what's become surprisingly moving friendships (or conflicts). I am perpetually fascinated with the mannerisms and personalities people develop for their characters: whether they add you to a group, or hold your hand, smile or grin, the tension that can be carried in a stare, the warmth of a blush, the secrets of a knowing glance, the well timed grunt or snort of derision, the undulation of a tail, the angling of furry ears.
As much as I love RP, I don't mind the skills grind, and enjoy it as a sort of training montage when I'm doing creative work, reading the forums, or doing stuff IRL that doesn't require full attention. I also enjoy writing scripts, as it takes a different form of creativity, and they're fun to test and tweak. I think I just wish the scripting grind were less rewarding, or RP more so in terms of what one's character can do in game.
I also love accruing awesome equipment. I've been around long enough to hear the (good) arguments for why it doesn't really matter that much, but I still love browsing the ItemStats spreadsheet, getting cool gear and altering the best stuff I have. Alterations are something I feel is unique to MUDs and I really wish there were even more opportunities for customization, as I love to see the weapons, clothing, and containers other people use. I think it adds a lot to a character's RP, and, for my character, a lot of his equipment holds a great deal of meaning, as many have been gifts, or crafted by legends of DR, and is a really fun part of his overall story.
As with most things, I play middle of the road. I really love to RP. That's what keeps me coming back to DR and I try to surround myself with people are RP nerds. I also train a good bit and I like to think I am a compliant player. I run several characters at once, each of which have their own motivations and personalities. I have played a cleric and a necromancer for instance. The social aspect is the best part. I would not imagine myself playing a home version.
I chat on Discord, talk on the gweth, etc. This conversation kind of started on about scripting so I will touch that subject, though it's been going on since like 1996 and I have yet to see a different argument. I flip from screen to screen to make sure I am responsive. People stop by from time to time wherever I am to talk and I rarely miss a conversation. If I do, that person gets a send within a minute or two via ESP acknowledging them. I want to stress that I do not gain experience or any other kind of advantage while afk. I do not leave scripts running if I get up to make a sandwich or whatever. If I step away from my computer, everyone goes on idle. Yet, because I do play a few characters at once, I gag virtually everything in combat because I am afraid I will miss a check. Most of the time when I train I am just looking at a black screen that has all combat messaging removed. That's kind of unfortunate, even though the messaging is somewhat in loop mode at times. I'm not taking a chance on blowing 12 years worth of effort on an alt-tab that happens to be out of sequence. I know. Rules are rules. I'm good with them, but I think things as they stand are a wee bit draconian. That's just me.
On the flip side, I am having more fun in DR now than I have ever had. I played on AOL and came over when DR went sub. I have taken breaks but always came back and I spend a lot of money on the game. It's worth it to me because of some of the community. As I said, I prefer people who add to the game, rather than spend all their time bragging about the size of their...monitor. I write for a hobby and set a lot of short stories in DR. We have a lot of lore built around us. It's way more than just numbers. As a long time player, I also think there is a lot more communication between the community and staff, which has brought about nothing but good things. I guess all in all the way I play DR has not changed much over the years. I am still having fun.
I chat on Discord, talk on the gweth, etc. This conversation kind of started on about scripting so I will touch that subject, though it's been going on since like 1996 and I have yet to see a different argument. I flip from screen to screen to make sure I am responsive. People stop by from time to time wherever I am to talk and I rarely miss a conversation. If I do, that person gets a send within a minute or two via ESP acknowledging them. I want to stress that I do not gain experience or any other kind of advantage while afk. I do not leave scripts running if I get up to make a sandwich or whatever. If I step away from my computer, everyone goes on idle. Yet, because I do play a few characters at once, I gag virtually everything in combat because I am afraid I will miss a check. Most of the time when I train I am just looking at a black screen that has all combat messaging removed. That's kind of unfortunate, even though the messaging is somewhat in loop mode at times. I'm not taking a chance on blowing 12 years worth of effort on an alt-tab that happens to be out of sequence. I know. Rules are rules. I'm good with them, but I think things as they stand are a wee bit draconian. That's just me.
On the flip side, I am having more fun in DR now than I have ever had. I played on AOL and came over when DR went sub. I have taken breaks but always came back and I spend a lot of money on the game. It's worth it to me because of some of the community. As I said, I prefer people who add to the game, rather than spend all their time bragging about the size of their...monitor. I write for a hobby and set a lot of short stories in DR. We have a lot of lore built around us. It's way more than just numbers. As a long time player, I also think there is a lot more communication between the community and staff, which has brought about nothing but good things. I guess all in all the way I play DR has not changed much over the years. I am still having fun.
I like ranks and I like PvP. I've always loved being the underdog and I love exploring and figuring things out. I like making friends, but only specific types of friends. Stories are ok, but typically, I've noticed that the players get side-barred in how the events play play out, which dissuades me from "event-chasing" -- I can think of 3 big examples of this, which I won't go into here.
I don't mind RP, but I like RP that leads to something concrete. I wouldn't personally enjoy RPing a farmer living in the 1600s just as I wouldn't enjoy RPing visiting the can every day; too mundane. Low to no risk RP == below notice, in my book. Originally a medium RPer, now a light RPer due to mixture of frustration and boredom. Trying to find interesting things do in the game has become difficult for me.
On game systems, I'm also somewhat bored. 3.0 removed too much of the variability in game systems, and has given myself and a number of other people the feeling that these systems feel 'flat' and uninspiring -- we've had long discussions in the DR and Crowdsourced-ideas discord about how to fix this, but I don't know if any GMs read those chats.
Rolling a Thief has been fun, because there are people to fight with again, and stealth leads to enough emergent gameplay that it's been interesting for me to explore.
IM: Dannyboy00001111
"Fool proof system do not take into account the ingenuity of fools, nor the power of numbers."
I don't mind RP, but I like RP that leads to something concrete. I wouldn't personally enjoy RPing a farmer living in the 1600s just as I wouldn't enjoy RPing visiting the can every day; too mundane. Low to no risk RP == below notice, in my book. Originally a medium RPer, now a light RPer due to mixture of frustration and boredom. Trying to find interesting things do in the game has become difficult for me.
On game systems, I'm also somewhat bored. 3.0 removed too much of the variability in game systems, and has given myself and a number of other people the feeling that these systems feel 'flat' and uninspiring -- we've had long discussions in the DR and Crowdsourced-ideas discord about how to fix this, but I don't know if any GMs read those chats.
Rolling a Thief has been fun, because there are people to fight with again, and stealth leads to enough emergent gameplay that it's been interesting for me to explore.
IM: Dannyboy00001111
"Fool proof system do not take into account the ingenuity of fools, nor the power of numbers."
<<So, that's how I play DR. What about you?>>
Interesting question, and difficult to answer. I tend to view the story/roleplay/lore as the primary aspect of playing the game. Trouble is, I'm not very creative so I don't usually have much in the way of "my own story" to tell. I end up being mostly reactive, which I suppose is fine. I mostly just stay in character all the time and take things as they come (I'm another one who will talk to creatures and so forth when I'm by myself). For me, the game is at its best when there's something interesting going on to join in with. Most of the time there doesn't seem to be during the day-to-day though; it's entirely possible that I'm just bad at finding it. All of the organized groups I ever join seem to fizzle out shortly thereafter though :/
I also enjoy the mechanical and skill training aspects of the game, but unlike several other respondents this doesn't involve much scripting for me. I prefer a more active approach where I feel like I'm actually playing the game rather than trying to automate it. I do run some utility scripts, but I don't script combat or most other things (although I do have a background script running while I hunt that counts out the timer on HUNT and just echos a line that I have highlighted when it's up...that's the sort of thing I mean by "utility script"). I only play one character. That character has changed a few times, but I seem to have settled into one I enjoy about 17 or 18 years ago and have been playing him since. Lately there's been a lot of complaint about the enormous range of skill growth available, but I view it as a good thing. Rather than "you have to put in x-thousand hours to reach a high level", I view it more as "I get to keep growing this character for x-thousand hours". It's about the journey; the important thing is being able to log in and have fun for whatever span of time I have available to play at the moment.
I don't really have much of an interest in PvP, but regard it as a valid potential course for a roleplaying situation to take. I much prefer cooperative endeavors with other players working together against the environment. In particular invasions/wars and such are a great deal of fun. I've found that I enjoy taking on a support role with such things, in particular field healing. The best times I've had in the game usually involve rescuing someone from what would otherwise have been certain death. It would be awesome if there were more healing to be done in normal day-to-day play; such opportunities have been extremely scarce for an extremely long time.
Thanks,
-Life Weaver Karthor
Interesting question, and difficult to answer. I tend to view the story/roleplay/lore as the primary aspect of playing the game. Trouble is, I'm not very creative so I don't usually have much in the way of "my own story" to tell. I end up being mostly reactive, which I suppose is fine. I mostly just stay in character all the time and take things as they come (I'm another one who will talk to creatures and so forth when I'm by myself). For me, the game is at its best when there's something interesting going on to join in with. Most of the time there doesn't seem to be during the day-to-day though; it's entirely possible that I'm just bad at finding it. All of the organized groups I ever join seem to fizzle out shortly thereafter though :/
I also enjoy the mechanical and skill training aspects of the game, but unlike several other respondents this doesn't involve much scripting for me. I prefer a more active approach where I feel like I'm actually playing the game rather than trying to automate it. I do run some utility scripts, but I don't script combat or most other things (although I do have a background script running while I hunt that counts out the timer on HUNT and just echos a line that I have highlighted when it's up...that's the sort of thing I mean by "utility script"). I only play one character. That character has changed a few times, but I seem to have settled into one I enjoy about 17 or 18 years ago and have been playing him since. Lately there's been a lot of complaint about the enormous range of skill growth available, but I view it as a good thing. Rather than "you have to put in x-thousand hours to reach a high level", I view it more as "I get to keep growing this character for x-thousand hours". It's about the journey; the important thing is being able to log in and have fun for whatever span of time I have available to play at the moment.
I don't really have much of an interest in PvP, but regard it as a valid potential course for a roleplaying situation to take. I much prefer cooperative endeavors with other players working together against the environment. In particular invasions/wars and such are a great deal of fun. I've found that I enjoy taking on a support role with such things, in particular field healing. The best times I've had in the game usually involve rescuing someone from what would otherwise have been certain death. It would be awesome if there were more healing to be done in normal day-to-day play; such opportunities have been extremely scarce for an extremely long time.
Thanks,
-Life Weaver Karthor
Strictly for friends. I'd be perfectly content to just hang out in a chatroom with them at this point, but DR is sort of shared grief and you're expected to participate on some level.
I don't find DR's lore all that interesting. It's largely derivative and often in painfully obvious and uncreative ways. I wish I could say that's a legacy of its age but honestly it is decades (as in two) past where anyone should considere Terry Goodkind a good writer. Hiring a professional writer with the authority to throw out all of DR's lore and go somewhere new with it would be a huge step forward on the lore front (and probably the RP front).
I haven't found DR's RP interesting since approximately 2003; this is largely an artifact of the Prime instance being a free-for-all of RP participation levels. It absolutely sucks to play a character deep in RP only to watch someone whose RP consists of carrying a dead parrot around get rewarded for theirs while you get largely ignored. Any RP game centered around popularity ceases to be an RP game in anything but name. I wish I could say there's a solution for this but I'm pretty certain there's not. Human nature works against functioning in large groups, particularly within a game engine where they're divorced from effective control and legitimate political power. As long as the levers of power are handled in whole or even in part by GMs the game's RP will enjoy also-ran status. Maybe this is my privilege speaking as someone who gets to play with amazing tabletop gaming groups, but DR just doesn't compare on any axes: emotional involvement, fulfillment, camaraderie. I know that's weird to say when I acknowledge I only play for my friends, but it's true.
The number acquisition game is infinitely tired at this point and I really can't fathom why the current experience system is still in place. 3.0 was an absolute death sentence for the game's mechanical interest, so why bother to keep the experience system?
My biggest gripe about DR is how much potential it has and consistently, invariably squanders. It would make for some radical changes to tighten it up and make it a good game, but in the long run it would probably be worthwhile for the people who kept playing.
I don't find DR's lore all that interesting. It's largely derivative and often in painfully obvious and uncreative ways. I wish I could say that's a legacy of its age but honestly it is decades (as in two) past where anyone should considere Terry Goodkind a good writer. Hiring a professional writer with the authority to throw out all of DR's lore and go somewhere new with it would be a huge step forward on the lore front (and probably the RP front).
I haven't found DR's RP interesting since approximately 2003; this is largely an artifact of the Prime instance being a free-for-all of RP participation levels. It absolutely sucks to play a character deep in RP only to watch someone whose RP consists of carrying a dead parrot around get rewarded for theirs while you get largely ignored. Any RP game centered around popularity ceases to be an RP game in anything but name. I wish I could say there's a solution for this but I'm pretty certain there's not. Human nature works against functioning in large groups, particularly within a game engine where they're divorced from effective control and legitimate political power. As long as the levers of power are handled in whole or even in part by GMs the game's RP will enjoy also-ran status. Maybe this is my privilege speaking as someone who gets to play with amazing tabletop gaming groups, but DR just doesn't compare on any axes: emotional involvement, fulfillment, camaraderie. I know that's weird to say when I acknowledge I only play for my friends, but it's true.
The number acquisition game is infinitely tired at this point and I really can't fathom why the current experience system is still in place. 3.0 was an absolute death sentence for the game's mechanical interest, so why bother to keep the experience system?
My biggest gripe about DR is how much potential it has and consistently, invariably squanders. It would make for some radical changes to tighten it up and make it a good game, but in the long run it would probably be worthwhile for the people who kept playing.
A little bit of background. Whenever I play RPGs that allow custom characters, I never minmax and very rarely build my character on an optimized path. I come up with a character concept and then build strictly based on that concept and what makes sense for the character, for better or worse. I will not make a character in a pen and paper game based on what's good for the group or based on a role that's missing, I ignore the recommended race/class pairings and presets. I like it when bad things happen to my characters and they're put in bad situations. I think it's much more interesting and fun to be forced to consider how a flawed character or mismatched, ragtag group is going to overcome a difficult obstacle they're not easily able to decimate with force.
As a (One Piece-related) example, I think it would be boring to play as Mihawk, who's peerless and unmatched. It's more fun to be Usopp, who has to struggle through adversity. When Usopp is able to get a rare win, it's that much more satisfying because he was able to use his own unique talents to achieve victory and it wasn't because he was raised since birth to be the best at everything.
I also have zero interest in scripting and script-writing, being an abysmal programmer with little patience for debugging. The only scripts I have are ridiculously simple. Most activities, even the boring, sloggy ones, I do by hand.
So, DR then. Integrity to character is the most important concept while playing. It's a driving factor in everything that I do, including what I hunt (or don't hunt), what items I'll use, how I interact with other characters, what I train, what spells I use... everything. I cannot stomach the thought of having Whiteburn react to situations and individuals unrealistically simply to avoid making waves. It's so important to me that I tend to not take her to some types of events where she would be forced to potentially be a disruptive presence. Whiteburn will never be rich, because no profitable, released crafting or gathering discipline meshes with her personality and interests (and she refuses to play death games on principle). Whiteburn will never seriously train every weapon, play zills, or wear a clown suit. I waste an exorbitant amount of EXP grinding favors. Basically, Whiteburn is a poorly-trained mechanical mess who would make any well-trained Cleric cry.
I engage in PVP, even though I personally don't like it, because the character is inclined toward violence. I think Whiteburn was around 30th circle when I started getting her actively involved as an antagonist during HE 414. It was extremely fun, despite getting her sweet tail absolutely handed to her. Even now at post 100th circle she loses 90% of all PVP encounters. But, I think that's fine. I always intended Whiteburn to be a "love to hate" kind of villain. I'm happy to be your character's Spandam, Algus, or Seifer; to ultimately be beaten up and foiled as a stepping stone to hope.
RP is the entire reason that I play DragonRealms. I can play any RPG in the world to grind levels and destroy tons of mobs. I can play Overwatch if I want high-octane PVP, and BlazBlue if I want a purely skill-based, one-on-one fighter. But there's nothing that compares to DR when it comes to the opportunity to interact meaningfully with a living, breathing world just packed with fantastic lore and on-going storylines that continuously alter the world of the game in very real ways. I love interacting with the world of the game, through good experiences and bad, even when nobody else is around. I love making stories and being a part of the stories of other players. Even when I'm feeling miserable and burned out, it's only a matter of time before I start to think of new ideas for events I'd like to run, and it gets me excited for playing all over again.
I am in the camp that RP is its own reward. However, knowing that my RP has made an impact on the world and the people in it makes me really happy. When it comes down to it, it's the reputation (good and bad!) that Whiteburn has been able to cultivate among both PCs and NPCs over the years of playing her that makes me the most proud. When characters approach Whiteburn and refer to her by her title of Inquisitor, or say that they've heard of her, it makes me feel more accomplished than seeing high numbers when I type 'exp all' ever will.
As a (One Piece-related) example, I think it would be boring to play as Mihawk, who's peerless and unmatched. It's more fun to be Usopp, who has to struggle through adversity. When Usopp is able to get a rare win, it's that much more satisfying because he was able to use his own unique talents to achieve victory and it wasn't because he was raised since birth to be the best at everything.
I also have zero interest in scripting and script-writing, being an abysmal programmer with little patience for debugging. The only scripts I have are ridiculously simple. Most activities, even the boring, sloggy ones, I do by hand.
So, DR then. Integrity to character is the most important concept while playing. It's a driving factor in everything that I do, including what I hunt (or don't hunt), what items I'll use, how I interact with other characters, what I train, what spells I use... everything. I cannot stomach the thought of having Whiteburn react to situations and individuals unrealistically simply to avoid making waves. It's so important to me that I tend to not take her to some types of events where she would be forced to potentially be a disruptive presence. Whiteburn will never be rich, because no profitable, released crafting or gathering discipline meshes with her personality and interests (and she refuses to play death games on principle). Whiteburn will never seriously train every weapon, play zills, or wear a clown suit. I waste an exorbitant amount of EXP grinding favors. Basically, Whiteburn is a poorly-trained mechanical mess who would make any well-trained Cleric cry.
I engage in PVP, even though I personally don't like it, because the character is inclined toward violence. I think Whiteburn was around 30th circle when I started getting her actively involved as an antagonist during HE 414. It was extremely fun, despite getting her sweet tail absolutely handed to her. Even now at post 100th circle she loses 90% of all PVP encounters. But, I think that's fine. I always intended Whiteburn to be a "love to hate" kind of villain. I'm happy to be your character's Spandam, Algus, or Seifer; to ultimately be beaten up and foiled as a stepping stone to hope.
RP is the entire reason that I play DragonRealms. I can play any RPG in the world to grind levels and destroy tons of mobs. I can play Overwatch if I want high-octane PVP, and BlazBlue if I want a purely skill-based, one-on-one fighter. But there's nothing that compares to DR when it comes to the opportunity to interact meaningfully with a living, breathing world just packed with fantastic lore and on-going storylines that continuously alter the world of the game in very real ways. I love interacting with the world of the game, through good experiences and bad, even when nobody else is around. I love making stories and being a part of the stories of other players. Even when I'm feeling miserable and burned out, it's only a matter of time before I start to think of new ideas for events I'd like to run, and it gets me excited for playing all over again.
I am in the camp that RP is its own reward. However, knowing that my RP has made an impact on the world and the people in it makes me really happy. When it comes down to it, it's the reputation (good and bad!) that Whiteburn has been able to cultivate among both PCs and NPCs over the years of playing her that makes me the most proud. When characters approach Whiteburn and refer to her by her title of Inquisitor, or say that they've heard of her, it makes me feel more accomplished than seeing high numbers when I type 'exp all' ever will.
I play hit miss throughout the day. Scroll seems to have a strobe-like affect that tires me very easily so I typically only play a character for up to an hour at a time. I like to attend events when I have a character near by, but since most my characters live in Ratha and there never seems to be any events there, I don't attend events as much as I would like. My characters live in Ratha because I like to play seafaring type characters. Most my characters fancy themselves as whalers, fishermen, or fish sellers, so the islands seem to be the natural place for them to be, and since there are crafting societies in Ratha, my trader and empath character can still actually make a decent living there for when business is slow, which it often is in Ratha. My trader makes occasional excursions to the mainland to stock up on supplies since the island of Reshalia has no lumberjacking, to keep contact with the mainland guilds, and to buy wholesale supplies to sell in Ratha. My empath makes excursions to the mainland too in order to catch up on empathy training which there seems to be little opportunity to train on Reshalia. My ranger tries to make the weekly ranger meetings on the mainland since those meetings seem to be very informative and fun, and to check in with a Guild leader since the island of Reshalia has no ranger guild. All my characters are also gnomes who like to tinker with things so most have taken up or will take up an Engineering craft as a profession or hobby. I do wish more would happen on the islands and I feel the GMs have, for the most part, neglected the islands and given too much attention to the mainland. Probably because f2p restrictions have prompted too much of the population to hang around the Crossing area.
Currently the characters I play are, Rabba (ranger), Odoi (trader), Rze (cleric), Poose (bard), Qualyia (empath), and Ften (commoner). They all live in Ratha except Ften who is currently hanging out in Riverhaven until social outrage settles for him in Zoluren and he can go back to try and locate and be a part of the Necromancy Guild, but he may just end up joining the Thieves Guild. I haven't decided yet for him.
Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. Michael Jordan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/game
Currently the characters I play are, Rabba (ranger), Odoi (trader), Rze (cleric), Poose (bard), Qualyia (empath), and Ften (commoner). They all live in Ratha except Ften who is currently hanging out in Riverhaven until social outrage settles for him in Zoluren and he can go back to try and locate and be a part of the Necromancy Guild, but he may just end up joining the Thieves Guild. I haven't decided yet for him.
Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. Michael Jordan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/game
One thing I do find kind of humorous is about 6 years ago or so, I prided myself on being someone who had a lot of cross guild experience, and didn't really have a main, preferring to bounce between characters. Now I only play the one character, and everyone seems to have... more... Personally, I'm glad people are spreading out and trying more of the game, because I think there's a lot to see in the guilds, and it gives better perspective on things to have more experience than with a single guild.
I'm definitely part of the 'get numbers bigger' crowd. I started playing DR again for the nostalgia. I work in IT, specifically cyber security, and I use DR as a way to stay sharp on my scripting/coding skills. I develop for Lich and Genie, and spend most of my time in DR optimizing scripts and learning both the about DR and about coding.
I've always been a gamer, but I have to really limit my playtime, so DR is the perfect option for me to do something "game like" without feeling guilty about sitting in front of the computer. In a way, I'm tricking myself into learning by doing something I really enjoy doing, while also teaching myself syntax, logic, regex, and a small handful of programming languages.
Developing for lich has helped me learn ruby, which I rely on heavily for coding Metasploit modules for my job. I'm still able to scratch my gaming itch while doing something constructive. I don't have to sacrifice my social life or my family to play DR. I can code at my leisure, and I don't feel obligated to play every day because of "dailies" or "guild raids" or what have you. It's just a more casual experience that really appeals to my lifestyle.
I won't say I don't interact with others at all, because I do, but my in game interactions are mostly limited to when I need something. I am, however, active on lnet, discord, the reddit, and the forums (probably less so on the forums.) I like the community, but I guess I don't interact with them in a very "RP" sense on most occasions. Rather, I enjoy talking about the game systems, how to solve problems, and helping people do stuff with code.
I've always been a gamer, but I have to really limit my playtime, so DR is the perfect option for me to do something "game like" without feeling guilty about sitting in front of the computer. In a way, I'm tricking myself into learning by doing something I really enjoy doing, while also teaching myself syntax, logic, regex, and a small handful of programming languages.
Developing for lich has helped me learn ruby, which I rely on heavily for coding Metasploit modules for my job. I'm still able to scratch my gaming itch while doing something constructive. I don't have to sacrifice my social life or my family to play DR. I can code at my leisure, and I don't feel obligated to play every day because of "dailies" or "guild raids" or what have you. It's just a more casual experience that really appeals to my lifestyle.
I won't say I don't interact with others at all, because I do, but my in game interactions are mostly limited to when I need something. I am, however, active on lnet, discord, the reddit, and the forums (probably less so on the forums.) I like the community, but I guess I don't interact with them in a very "RP" sense on most occasions. Rather, I enjoy talking about the game systems, how to solve problems, and helping people do stuff with code.
I like training my character and writing scripts. A lot of games have some kind of "meta game" and for DR it's writing scripts. I used to play Anarchy Online, because it has like a gear puzzle system where you have to figure out what gears you need to equip to have the stats/skills to put in more powerful gear. You had a LOT of slots, not just your standard wearables, but also implants and HUD items. It was cool, but pretty easy to master.
I played a few coding games on steam like screeps and that was pretty fun too. Coding is fun, but I don't always have a project. With DR, I do! I can always come back and tweak things to make them a bit more efficient, or add new skills, different strategies, etc. I like the community, too, and I'm pretty active on the discord. It's fun to dream up ideas for Lyneya's spreadsheets, even if they don't actually get created.
Answering WHY I play is maybe a little different. I've played on and off since the AOL days, so there's definitely nostalgia there. The game isn't what it was then, but that's ok. IMO things have been continually improving. I think DR has probably the most complicated mechanics of any MUD, so it's a fun challenge to figure out how to make everything work as efficiently as possible.
I played a few coding games on steam like screeps and that was pretty fun too. Coding is fun, but I don't always have a project. With DR, I do! I can always come back and tweak things to make them a bit more efficient, or add new skills, different strategies, etc. I like the community, too, and I'm pretty active on the discord. It's fun to dream up ideas for Lyneya's spreadsheets, even if they don't actually get created.
Answering WHY I play is maybe a little different. I've played on and off since the AOL days, so there's definitely nostalgia there. The game isn't what it was then, but that's ok. IMO things have been continually improving. I think DR has probably the most complicated mechanics of any MUD, so it's a fun challenge to figure out how to make everything work as efficiently as possible.
For me.. every DR day is different. The system allows for this, and is one of the main reasons I've been playing since I was oh.. 11? 12? I'm 30 now.
I like seeing my numbers go up, sure.. but have never circle chased, in fact have a kind of pride in doing things other than what my GLs want me to. Definitely train wide not high, no min-maxing whatsoever. I'm probably gonna be happier seeing my first skill hit 1k, hitting 20k total ranks, or seeing survivals start to cross into the 600s than I will be reaching 150th (all four are relatively close at this point).
I've played other characters from time to time, but Seg has been my main for most of my time here.. he's got his own history, a strong relationship to the lore in the game (wars, units, orders, gods, cleric-dom, etc etc.), and many long-standing friendships with folks all over. That's what's most important in my mind.
Technically.. sure I script, and am capable of (and enjoy) writing more efficient scripts and stuff designed to run ad nauseum. If I do run one of my few that's designed to just "go", I've got echos and manual triggers (*GLANCE now or you'll disconnect in 300 seconds*) to make them continue so that falling asleep or zoning isn't an issue.
I also don't ever "set & forget" in combat; rather, I run supplementary scripts -- one designed to let me know when it's time to use HUNT, another to lock sorcery quickly, another a simple timer for devotion. Or sometimes I'll try to run anatomy charts or a quick appraise script when there's lag in the spawn, etc. But I'm forever typing my own combos, targeting, hiding, analyzing, switching out weapons.. And I've continued to like it that way.
Banisher Segmere Etherium-Freat, Consort of Dergati
I like seeing my numbers go up, sure.. but have never circle chased, in fact have a kind of pride in doing things other than what my GLs want me to. Definitely train wide not high, no min-maxing whatsoever. I'm probably gonna be happier seeing my first skill hit 1k, hitting 20k total ranks, or seeing survivals start to cross into the 600s than I will be reaching 150th (all four are relatively close at this point).
I've played other characters from time to time, but Seg has been my main for most of my time here.. he's got his own history, a strong relationship to the lore in the game (wars, units, orders, gods, cleric-dom, etc etc.), and many long-standing friendships with folks all over. That's what's most important in my mind.
Technically.. sure I script, and am capable of (and enjoy) writing more efficient scripts and stuff designed to run ad nauseum. If I do run one of my few that's designed to just "go", I've got echos and manual triggers (*GLANCE now or you'll disconnect in 300 seconds*) to make them continue so that falling asleep or zoning isn't an issue.
I also don't ever "set & forget" in combat; rather, I run supplementary scripts -- one designed to let me know when it's time to use HUNT, another to lock sorcery quickly, another a simple timer for devotion. Or sometimes I'll try to run anatomy charts or a quick appraise script when there's lag in the spawn, etc. But I'm forever typing my own combos, targeting, hiding, analyzing, switching out weapons.. And I've continued to like it that way.
Banisher Segmere Etherium-Freat, Consort of Dergati
My playing style has changed over the years. I tried several guilds before settling on Moon Mages. Early on I did more RPing, but a lot of my friends from back then have left. So I got more focused on becoming a more accomplished Moon Mage since doing things like traveling through moonlight and an unseen, alternative universe were just too amazing to not prioritize. I enjoy the lore and abilities of the guild very much.
What I seek from DR changes. I like setting skill rank and title goals, and some I've achieved and some not. My weapons in particular are not where they should be given the background of my character, but I've not hunted consistently in a while. And I can never get enough mech while waiting for enchanting. That's really my main focus now.
Sometimes I'm in a trophy hunting mood, and I'll go for a rare item just because it's different, like the blossoms from dillos or getting a silver fang from a swamp hound. I killed over 1000 nimbi before I got a huge pure white thealstone, and then I promptly ruined it by turning it into an enchantment that altered the entire noun structure. I didn't realize that would happen. I had to laugh, but one day I'll go back to get another one. I've always wished there were more such rare and highly prized items to collect. Perhaps almost in quest form as well.
In days gone by there were some good classes in front of the Middens guild. I think Caelumia used to hold court there quite often? I try to go there to listen or teach when I can, but usually there's not a crowd. Tonight was somewhat of an exception. There was a big class, and I met several great Moon Mages, including Aaoskar, who was kind enough to tell me of a possible future gathering of Lunar mages.
I do enjoy writing scripts quite a bit. To me it's like writing a novel except instead of writing "Vanxa did this" or "Vanxa went there" in sentence form I write it in code, and the script executes it for me exactly as I wrote it.
I guess I could say sometimes the hidden-away nooks and crannies are what make DR fun for me. It's good to stumble across something unexpected, such as the broken-hearted lover's message in wraiths. Something like that can be quite a story, or the beginning of new ones.
I just don't have the time to play like I used to, which is unfortunate.
~ Vanxa
You see Grazhir cracking open in one sharp movement.
The World Dragon emerges, roaring soundlessly.
It moves to sear Katamba to a lifeless black.
You see the night sky, filled with stars.
What I seek from DR changes. I like setting skill rank and title goals, and some I've achieved and some not. My weapons in particular are not where they should be given the background of my character, but I've not hunted consistently in a while. And I can never get enough mech while waiting for enchanting. That's really my main focus now.
Sometimes I'm in a trophy hunting mood, and I'll go for a rare item just because it's different, like the blossoms from dillos or getting a silver fang from a swamp hound. I killed over 1000 nimbi before I got a huge pure white thealstone, and then I promptly ruined it by turning it into an enchantment that altered the entire noun structure. I didn't realize that would happen. I had to laugh, but one day I'll go back to get another one. I've always wished there were more such rare and highly prized items to collect. Perhaps almost in quest form as well.
In days gone by there were some good classes in front of the Middens guild. I think Caelumia used to hold court there quite often? I try to go there to listen or teach when I can, but usually there's not a crowd. Tonight was somewhat of an exception. There was a big class, and I met several great Moon Mages, including Aaoskar, who was kind enough to tell me of a possible future gathering of Lunar mages.
I do enjoy writing scripts quite a bit. To me it's like writing a novel except instead of writing "Vanxa did this" or "Vanxa went there" in sentence form I write it in code, and the script executes it for me exactly as I wrote it.
I guess I could say sometimes the hidden-away nooks and crannies are what make DR fun for me. It's good to stumble across something unexpected, such as the broken-hearted lover's message in wraiths. Something like that can be quite a story, or the beginning of new ones.
I just don't have the time to play like I used to, which is unfortunate.
~ Vanxa
You see Grazhir cracking open in one sharp movement.
The World Dragon emerges, roaring soundlessly.
It moves to sear Katamba to a lifeless black.
You see the night sky, filled with stars.
I started back in the AOL days on a the macOS. There was almost zero ability to script back then (on the Mac).
Even after the web migration, I still used a Mac and could only write basic scripts.
I spent those first few years circle chasing - and did pretty well considering I was playing by hand.
My main character at the time was involved in opening a void portal just outside Crossing and causing an invasion of void spawn. This was likely pre Moon Gate and was definitely a GM run event. It was one of my favorite moments in DR - even though my character died.
I took a huge break and came back just a few years ago. I rolled up several characters and tried them on and tested their backstory a bit until I decided to go with a completely atypical S'kra - Sa'aqib.
I circle chased for a bit just so he could get around more easily, but he's been at level 50 for years and I haven't had reason to check if he can level up since (I suspect he could).
I've really enjoyed RPing him. And I have loved the questions other players ask - as it forces me to flesh out his story more.
There's a lot of richness in DR, a very open and sandbox feel that I cannot find in other MMOs. And better, there's a wealth of RP opportunities that are almost completely absent in other games.
Right now, Saaqib is pretty chill. I took a break from DR for a bit - I am living abroad in Japan and I often feel that playing DR takes away from opportunity to explore this country. But I recently returned to DR after taking time to learn Python. And now I am using what I have learned about flow control to write scripts for the game.
But beyond that, I am training Saaqib hard so he can eventually take on Black Goblins. His descent into madness will be awesome once he is able to take them on with ease... of course, I'll need a few more visits with alterers to work on a few props for this.
__
"Technically correct" is the worst kind of correct.
Even after the web migration, I still used a Mac and could only write basic scripts.
I spent those first few years circle chasing - and did pretty well considering I was playing by hand.
My main character at the time was involved in opening a void portal just outside Crossing and causing an invasion of void spawn. This was likely pre Moon Gate and was definitely a GM run event. It was one of my favorite moments in DR - even though my character died.
I took a huge break and came back just a few years ago. I rolled up several characters and tried them on and tested their backstory a bit until I decided to go with a completely atypical S'kra - Sa'aqib.
I circle chased for a bit just so he could get around more easily, but he's been at level 50 for years and I haven't had reason to check if he can level up since (I suspect he could).
I've really enjoyed RPing him. And I have loved the questions other players ask - as it forces me to flesh out his story more.
There's a lot of richness in DR, a very open and sandbox feel that I cannot find in other MMOs. And better, there's a wealth of RP opportunities that are almost completely absent in other games.
Right now, Saaqib is pretty chill. I took a break from DR for a bit - I am living abroad in Japan and I often feel that playing DR takes away from opportunity to explore this country. But I recently returned to DR after taking time to learn Python. And now I am using what I have learned about flow control to write scripts for the game.
But beyond that, I am training Saaqib hard so he can eventually take on Black Goblins. His descent into madness will be awesome once he is able to take them on with ease... of course, I'll need a few more visits with alterers to work on a few props for this.
__
"Technically correct" is the worst kind of correct.
So, I play the game to play, but a large chunk of time and effort I am spending to figure out the rules. I have played every guild to at least 10th, and all of them to 30th or better save Barb, Paladin, and WM. I have learned I prefer the Lore guilds by far.
I admittedly don't work at all at portraying a roleplay air outside of what I am because of what I AM as a mechanical character. I will freely mix inventory between all my characters at the drop of a hat.
Basically, I like puzzles once my interest in puzzle has been perked. There are far too many puzzles in life not to try solving them.
I personally am highly analytical, so it might be expected that I eventually gravitated to being a Trader.
I feel that a strong understanding of gameplay mechanics is what gets and keeps a character. Failure to understand them can lead players to stagnate or quit.
For example, my first character back in 2002 or so was a ranger. He didn't even make it past rats before he got surpassed by creating a second ranger who didn't make the same mistakes, but he in turn was surpassed by my first Empath that really drew me in. I was kept super busy as a novice Empath at a relatively pivotal time. Magic 2.0 was on preview at the time, so I could cast (or attempt to) anything. And I did fine, didn't really dive too much into mechanics as an Empath, but I noted things mechanically.
But it wasn't until I started Naniaki that I really got in-depth with it. I was annoyed at how vaguely defined it was. Because no one could say for sure, I got a hair to figure out the formula for the Trader bonus, and I spent YEARS training him up and collecting data. While that was in vain at the time, by the time I ended that long streak, he was my highest circle character, albeit not my most rounded. Being almost 100th, pursuing mechanical advantage let me to train him more for more shop surfaces and hours, and more for climbing the crafting ladder, and more for more circles, and so on.
I don't really care about the numbers going up, since it's me vs. the game, and I have less than zero interest in PvP or even player conflict in general, I just want to know what happens when the numbers roll over the arbitrarily defined points of their functions. Another point of bonus, capping a critter/box/craftable and moving up, what have you.
But now I have solved the puzzle of the Trader bonus formulas (almost, just one minor loose end to tie up within a couple weeks before I publish for good on it), and there's more puzzles behind that, like expanding on my work at figuring out work order pay formulas. And a REAL sorting of box difficulties. And skin values per critter. I used to train against critters to the hardcaps to record them, but 3.0 made all my data obsolete and then 3.1 made it too hard to stick with a critter TO the hardcap.
Naniaki Felyran
"I have faith in the current crop of GMs to not screw people over"
>>Actually an opinion cannot be changed or corrected. Nice try back of line.-VERATHOR
>>But it can be wrong.-Starlear
I admittedly don't work at all at portraying a roleplay air outside of what I am because of what I AM as a mechanical character. I will freely mix inventory between all my characters at the drop of a hat.
Basically, I like puzzles once my interest in puzzle has been perked. There are far too many puzzles in life not to try solving them.
I personally am highly analytical, so it might be expected that I eventually gravitated to being a Trader.
I feel that a strong understanding of gameplay mechanics is what gets and keeps a character. Failure to understand them can lead players to stagnate or quit.
For example, my first character back in 2002 or so was a ranger. He didn't even make it past rats before he got surpassed by creating a second ranger who didn't make the same mistakes, but he in turn was surpassed by my first Empath that really drew me in. I was kept super busy as a novice Empath at a relatively pivotal time. Magic 2.0 was on preview at the time, so I could cast (or attempt to) anything. And I did fine, didn't really dive too much into mechanics as an Empath, but I noted things mechanically.
But it wasn't until I started Naniaki that I really got in-depth with it. I was annoyed at how vaguely defined it was. Because no one could say for sure, I got a hair to figure out the formula for the Trader bonus, and I spent YEARS training him up and collecting data. While that was in vain at the time, by the time I ended that long streak, he was my highest circle character, albeit not my most rounded. Being almost 100th, pursuing mechanical advantage let me to train him more for more shop surfaces and hours, and more for climbing the crafting ladder, and more for more circles, and so on.
I don't really care about the numbers going up, since it's me vs. the game, and I have less than zero interest in PvP or even player conflict in general, I just want to know what happens when the numbers roll over the arbitrarily defined points of their functions. Another point of bonus, capping a critter/box/craftable and moving up, what have you.
But now I have solved the puzzle of the Trader bonus formulas (almost, just one minor loose end to tie up within a couple weeks before I publish for good on it), and there's more puzzles behind that, like expanding on my work at figuring out work order pay formulas. And a REAL sorting of box difficulties. And skin values per critter. I used to train against critters to the hardcaps to record them, but 3.0 made all my data obsolete and then 3.1 made it too hard to stick with a critter TO the hardcap.
Naniaki Felyran
"I have faith in the current crop of GMs to not screw people over"
>>Actually an opinion cannot be changed or corrected. Nice try back of line.-VERATHOR
>>But it can be wrong.-Starlear
I've discovered I'm one of the people who enjoys pretty much every aspect of the game: RP, script writing, exploration, circle chasing, and lore. I will generally play in cycles, focusing heavily on one of these elements while the others progress more slowly on the back burner.
When I first started Navesi, for about 6 months I played her as a Commoner, and during this time I did very little training and mainly focused on extremely immersive RP. It was great fun. I spent a lot of time simply being present and reacting to everything people did around me, developing her goals and plans and grabbing people to try to get them to join in her machinations. Unfortunately, this very active RP presence led some people to mistake me for a GMNPC, which caused a lot of drama, and it ultimately disheartened me. I backed away from that very "high activity" RP path. I've since gone for a path that involves a lot more circling and focuses RP at pre-planned events rather than trying to run around starting events organically -- but who knows, that could change at any time.
I've gone through long periods of script development, mostly working in tandem with my closest friend to create a large shared repository for the two of us. I love the sense of control that comes from succeeding at a complex script that requires a lot of nuance. Working with a friend was also a great way to learn and grow this skillset.
I've also gone through long periods where I do very little other than train heavily and only attend the most pressing calendar events. I'm kind of in that phase right now. But it's nice to be a part of a game where I can step back and do that when I want to.
I love exploring. At times I just wander around in new places reading everything, absorbing, appreciating. Occasionally I go around Arthe Dale just trying to count all the different kinds of berries. Or I visit Aesry and try to figure out what all the street names mean. I love all the secret places, like the glade where you can become a fish. I love trying all the food! Little mechanical puzzles are fun too. I once figured out every answer to the riddles of Spyreweize, and I spent some time learning the secret to fishing.
I love the lore, the history of the game, and the unfolding events sequence. I actually never intended to become a historian or newspaper writer with any character because despite this love, I have a terrible memory for events in general and thought I'd be bad at it. However, pushing myself in that direction has turned out to really help me retain a lot more.
I love being a part of world-changing events. It made my whole year when I got a title for helping Zoluren through the newsletter! Similarly when I dealt some damage to Alret himself and ended up taking his ring as a trophy. You can't buy experiences like that.
I do my best to help others get involved in events and RP. I feel like that's a big part of something I can do to make the community and the game experience better for everyone. If nothing else, I hope that people can read the newsletter and get a sense of all the great events that have unfolded, and see the latest one that they could maybe take part in.
I also love being a part of everyday, little events and RP with people I happen to meet. Navesi is not for everyone, but she is so much fun to play against the many oddballs in game. I always seem to return to this with new characters now and then, because more than anything it just delights me to have such a spontaneous bit of fun.
- Navesi
When I first started Navesi, for about 6 months I played her as a Commoner, and during this time I did very little training and mainly focused on extremely immersive RP. It was great fun. I spent a lot of time simply being present and reacting to everything people did around me, developing her goals and plans and grabbing people to try to get them to join in her machinations. Unfortunately, this very active RP presence led some people to mistake me for a GMNPC, which caused a lot of drama, and it ultimately disheartened me. I backed away from that very "high activity" RP path. I've since gone for a path that involves a lot more circling and focuses RP at pre-planned events rather than trying to run around starting events organically -- but who knows, that could change at any time.
I've gone through long periods of script development, mostly working in tandem with my closest friend to create a large shared repository for the two of us. I love the sense of control that comes from succeeding at a complex script that requires a lot of nuance. Working with a friend was also a great way to learn and grow this skillset.
I've also gone through long periods where I do very little other than train heavily and only attend the most pressing calendar events. I'm kind of in that phase right now. But it's nice to be a part of a game where I can step back and do that when I want to.
I love exploring. At times I just wander around in new places reading everything, absorbing, appreciating. Occasionally I go around Arthe Dale just trying to count all the different kinds of berries. Or I visit Aesry and try to figure out what all the street names mean. I love all the secret places, like the glade where you can become a fish. I love trying all the food! Little mechanical puzzles are fun too. I once figured out every answer to the riddles of Spyreweize, and I spent some time learning the secret to fishing.
I love the lore, the history of the game, and the unfolding events sequence. I actually never intended to become a historian or newspaper writer with any character because despite this love, I have a terrible memory for events in general and thought I'd be bad at it. However, pushing myself in that direction has turned out to really help me retain a lot more.
I love being a part of world-changing events. It made my whole year when I got a title for helping Zoluren through the newsletter! Similarly when I dealt some damage to Alret himself and ended up taking his ring as a trophy. You can't buy experiences like that.
I do my best to help others get involved in events and RP. I feel like that's a big part of something I can do to make the community and the game experience better for everyone. If nothing else, I hope that people can read the newsletter and get a sense of all the great events that have unfolded, and see the latest one that they could maybe take part in.
I also love being a part of everyday, little events and RP with people I happen to meet. Navesi is not for everyone, but she is so much fun to play against the many oddballs in game. I always seem to return to this with new characters now and then, because more than anything it just delights me to have such a spontaneous bit of fun.
- Navesi
I'm talking to a friend about this now and while I made the point earlier, I don't think I was specific.
A lot of this game is understanding what text can be ignored for most activities. I love the work that has gone into making this game not just a series of numbers that flash by, but reading about how that blow must have been like when the grazhir shattered for the bazillionth time a day killing critters is repetitive. Just to focus on a single activity, hunting generates a lot of scroll, even with combat brief set. A LOT. So much so that I think it's no surprise players often squelch all white listed combat text, and only really pay attention to something out of the ordinary happening. Personally, I have my story window cut down to about a third of my screen, so I can focus on Thoughts and convo windows, but this makes me worried that by reducing the size of the story window, during hunts, I'm going to miss a script check or RP hook. As a consideration -
>hunt
You take note of all the tracks in the area, so that you can hunt anything nearby down.
To the northeast:
1) Person
2) Critter
3) Critter
4) Critter
5) Critter
To the east:
6) Critter
To the southwest:
7) Person
8) Person
9) Person
10) Critter
11) Critter
12) Critter
13) Critter
14) Critter
15) Critter
16) Critter
17) Critter
18) Critter
19) Critter
20) Critter
To the northwest:
21) Person
22) Critter
23) Critter
24) Critter
25) Critter
Roundtime: 8 sec.
If I do that, that takes up almost the entirety of my Story window. For training perception, I don't NEED any of that info, so I'll just squelch the whole thing. While that isn't staffs problem, I think giving players tools to better separate out fluff messaging from important messaging is maybe a good undertaking. Or, at the very least, consider changing the above to -
>hunt
You take note of all the tracks in the area, so that you can hunt anything nearby down.
To the northeast:
1) Person1
2) Critter 4x
To the east:
3) Critter
To the southwest:
4) Person2, Person3, Person4 Person
5) Critter 10x
To the northwest:
6) Person
7) Critter 4x
Roundtime: 8 sec.
Ultimately HUNT is just one of the many places scroll could be reduced. Even a setting like 'PVE COMBAT BRIEF', that eliminated all 'zero damage' messages (blocks, dodges, parries, or 'glancing blows'), that summarized outgoing damage (In the last 30s, you did an average of 6/23 damage with 3s RT), or similar, would potentially help. Or at the very least, may be a consideration for how to set up squelches so to better not miss stuff in the scroll.
>>Jhaliascleric: Or, at the very least, consider changing the above to -
I second this suggestion.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Paladin new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Paladin_new_player_guide
armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide
I second this suggestion.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Paladin new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Paladin_new_player_guide
armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide
I used to like to roleplay, but honestly I sort've get annoyed at a lot of the snerty roleplayers. Since then, I've mostly just enjoyed gaining levels. However, I was hit by a random script check. Not sure how I got picked out of the hundreds that afk script every night. But my paid subscription is expiring this period, so I guess I won't be playing DR any more.
That's how I play DR. LOL
That's how I play DR. LOL
I'll try again, since my last post was blocked for making a euphemistic reference to a body part normally found on the backside of pantaloons.
I play to play. I do not play to get involved with other people or other people's drama.
I like learning systems and lore. I don't give a whit what Fahijeck says or does or how much afk scripting Talinsfaer does, until he and his kin do it on my front porch for hours, and I report it and report it and report it and report it, and nothing is done about it...ever, for days.
Then, I keeping playing in hopes that people like that will ultimately suffer some negative consequence, but I am resigned to the fact that it never, ever, ever will happen.
Which is why I play without role-playing, without engaging other characters, without RP-ing in an RPG.
I like the NPCs because they are trustworthy.
And that's how I play DragonRealms...and have, since 1997.
I play to play. I do not play to get involved with other people or other people's drama.
I like learning systems and lore. I don't give a whit what Fahijeck says or does or how much afk scripting Talinsfaer does, until he and his kin do it on my front porch for hours, and I report it and report it and report it and report it, and nothing is done about it...ever, for days.
Then, I keeping playing in hopes that people like that will ultimately suffer some negative consequence, but I am resigned to the fact that it never, ever, ever will happen.
Which is why I play without role-playing, without engaging other characters, without RP-ing in an RPG.
I like the NPCs because they are trustworthy.
And that's how I play DragonRealms...and have, since 1997.
