RP & Population

Isn't Stormwind in Elwynn Forest?

Or is that the joke?

No, Stormwind is northwest of Elwynn forest not really being -in- it.

Westfall, Redridge, Duskwood, Elwyn, that's all pretty much still Stormwind.

Depends if you say "Kingdom of Stormwind" or Stormwind City, the latter being the place in question as people RP mainly in the city, the rest of the kingdom not so much.

Go to argent dawn if you want casual random RP.

If you're on DB, you join/create an RP guild.

Population is fine. The fact that more than half of the SW hub population's guards however is not. We could really do with less guards and more of everything else.

It's not exciting to be the civilian. People want to be the heroes or the villains, not the bland guy in the background.

Could do with less /Y GUNSHOT too.

The world needs more /y gunshot

I centered a year of RP around /y gunshot.

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:It's not exciting to be the civilian. People want to be the heroes or the villains, not the bland guy in the background.

It can be extremly exciting to be the civilian.
The issue is that WoW as a system for roleplaying lacks good tools and setups for i.
(And that the most common issue with WoW roleplayers is "SSS". Special Snowflake Syndrome.

Muzjhath wrote:

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:It's not exciting to be the civilian. People want to be the heroes or the villains, not the bland guy in the background.

It can be extremly exciting to be the civilian.
The issue is that WoW as a system for roleplaying lacks good tools and setups for i.
(And that the most common issue with WoW roleplayers is "SSS". Special Snowflake Syndrome.

While that's a fair opinion, you gotta realise that people who want to RP a standard citizen of Stormwind are a minority and most people want to be something that allows them to take part in the "war" part of "warcraft".

Second line. Boom, answears why it's rare.
It also takes faaaaar more effort to create an intresting civilan than a guard/soldier. (Even if a standard cookie cutter guard "DEM ORCS KILLED MY PARENTS!" is so boring and done it's not even true).

Personally, I think the major issue with civilian RP right now is that you've pretty much got to work on your own, as there are no organizations suited to what you do. Which is fine. But when you get only random RP, night after night, and no sense of continuity whatsoever, it's just not fun.

The guard guilds are big right now. Big guilds are more fun to be in, as you've got more people to take initiative, get more RP overall, more plotlines developing within the guild and more of a sense of a community. While I see where Brad's coming from, I really get why they're popular atm.

Edit:
Activity spawns more activity. When an RP guild is active, more members will go its way, and it will become even more active. Recruitment doesn't end when a member joins a guild, recruitment is keeping that member happy and busy with plotlines and things to do so he/she'll feel allright about making a guild his/her RP home.

It's always been like this. Back when I joined the server, The Dieudonne Seal and Blades for Hire sucked up all the members. After that? Blades grew further, the Worgen guilds grew. Freelancers had a rather long period like that as well when I was there. Then Blooming Lotus grew out of nowhere. The Chapter had some high-member periods. For a while, I can't remember seeing more than 3 regiment members logged in at any time (Iriel + 2, I think). A while ago? Band of the Brave exploded into being, quickly gaining 100+ members.

There will never be a "correct" or "realistic" guildmember-balance. That's not how it works. There is competion, then someone wins a round, then there's more competition. Be more fun to be with than the others. Make your members feel welcome and wanted. Spend time with them in game RPing. If that works? Great! You might have started the next big thing, and tipped the scales again.

Muzjhath wrote:

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:It's not exciting to be the civilian. People want to be the heroes or the villains, not the bland guy in the background.

It can be extremly exciting to be the civilian.
The issue is that WoW as a system for roleplaying lacks good tools and setups for i.
(And that the most common issue with WoW roleplayers is "SSS". Special Snowflake Syndrome.

(Separate post so that my reply to you doesn't get mixed up with the message of the previous one)
Noone likes a Mary Sue, sure, and taken to extremes, Special Snowflakes aren't good. Yet, there's nothing more boring than an Anti-Sue, either. RPing more bland and useless than a peon in a high magic setting is ok, sure, but the setting does not dictate that everyone else should join you in doing so. Heck, if we go by the profession system, we see that a lot of the cooks, tailors, blacksmiths, engineers etc of the world we RP in also draw their blades and contribute to the fight when their Factions call on them.

By irl-logic (which is nothing to go by, I know), it'd be pretty alien for ablebodied citizens to be "just a civilian" in a country that's been at War (either against opposite factions, undead, the Legion, the Old Gods, the Troll Empires etc) continuously for as many years as seen in WoW. Big portions of the civilians should be veterans. Big portions should have basic recruit training behind them in case of escalation and conscription.

... Being a soldier in a Warcraft setting does not equal wishing to be special. Far from it.

The city bores me. Adventure is where it's at! As long as I am active on this server, I will make an effort to attract more people to the adventurous side of role-playing. Out of the city, into high-end contested territories.

Personally, I like special snowflakes. My ideal role-playing enviroment would be an entire [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. There's nothing worse than a dull and uninteresting character. Whether a character is dull and uninteresting however has precious little to do with whether he is a civilian, a guard, a soldier, a cultist or a criminal; any character can be fun and engaging or dull and uninteresting, regardless of their position. Some of the most interesting characters I have played with have been civilians and there have been real dullards amongst the adventuring crowd, too. And vice versa. I don't think it's harder to create an interesting civilian than it is creating an interesting soldier; creating interesting characters will always be hard, regardless of their percieved function or status.

Above me a few posts that miss what I mean with special snowflake.
With special snowflake I don't care about the character. A character needs something to make it a character and pretty much the boring person imaginable isn't as boring as you think.

I mean the PLAYERS who can't handle not being the center piece in the story.

Civilian RP is Always apreciated, but it isn't the most important of the bunch. I personally would like to see more Guilds centered around those of maybe a noble household, with a manor or a house in the city, where both civilian RP in the form of staff and "snowflakes" are featured, some even coming to represent the family of the Patriarch or the Matron of the house, involving pretty much management and intrigue.

Having several such Guilds would in my mind create a varied enviroment, in addition to what already is, since there are pretty many roles involved. However, having only one sort of removes the ideas of rivalry amidst the nobility, which comprises a large part of it. Either these Guilds are around but I have never seen them, or they just dont exist. Anyways, thats mostly the only lacking thing I have yet to see in the RP. Its an idea that can afford to be made in several Guilds, with larger differences between the houses.

*puts the kettle on*

Tea anyone?

Ah, I think I know what you mean, now. You are saying that the server needs less people who think that they ought to be the centre piece of the story, that players who play civilians tend not to and that therefore the server needs more people playing civilians?

I do not think I necessarily agree with that line of reasoning though (if it is an accurate representation what you are trying to say). I have encountered some players playing civilians that seemed thoroughly convinced that they were the center piece of the server's story and likewise I've seen players play supersoldiers who are perfectly content playing a supportive role.

I do honestly think though that you have to ask yourself whether it's such a bad thing for players to think that they're the center piece 'in the story', or whether there even is a shared 'story' of the server to speak of (or guild, depending on the scale you want to take). There's a common expression that says everyone feels like they are the protagonist in their  own life's story; it stands to reason that the same would go for our virtual lives in the realm of role-play. Of course from the perspective of every player, their own character is the most important in the story they are telling, so obviously they are going to feel like their character is the center piece of the story, whether they're conscious of this or not.

I think what frustrates people is not so much that people act like they're the centre piece in the story (which, from their perspective, they most certainly are by default) but rather people not allowing space for other people's input. It's frustrating when some obnoxious guy keeps positioning himself in the centre of a group, demanding attention and trying to force other players into supportive roles without listening to anyone else's stories and ignoring them. But I don't think that's got anything to do with 'Mary Sue-ing' or 'Snowflake-ing' but rather with a lack of empathy and willingness to accomodate one another's needs.

I hate having the feeling of being reduced to just a side-character to somebody else's story. That is why I have never taken a liking to authoriaterian guilds, like for example military guilds or noble houses, where it often feels that the lower ranks are there to act as side-characters in the story of the higher ranks. These guilds also tend to be too dependant on one or two people generating role-play for everybody else with their strong characters and they tend to fall apart when said characters or the players controlling them get taken out of the equation.

In my ideal role-playing enviroment, everybody gets to be the centre of their own stories and trough shared adventures we can all act as mutual sidecharacters for one another. Everybody adds something unique to the mix. So yeah, let everyone act as if they are the centre of the story, because, let's face it: they are; it's fine, as long as they also allow other players to be the centre of their own story and not just a side-character to somebody else's.

Thelos wrote:In my ideal role-playing enviroment, everybody gets to be the centre of their own stories and trough shared adventures we can all act as mutual sidecharacters for one another. Everybody adds something unique to the mix. So yeah, let everyone act as if they are the centre of the story, because, let's face it: they are; it's fine, as long as they also allow other players to be the centre of their own story and not just a side-character to somebody else's.

This is the philosophical foundation of the Band of the Brave, better explained then I could.

@Eldiros:
They've been around. In no particular order from the parts I remember of the server history:

- House Mistmantle: Lasted a good while, mainly had a handful of active members. Was led by Braiden.
- The Dieudonne Seal: Lasted shorter, but still a good while, had all the members. Led by Genevieve and Tarvik.
- (The Vanimedles): Mainly a shared backstory between Eira, Renatha and Celeste. Not a guild.
- House Buckholme: Lexgrad's little side project. Him+1 mostly, I think.
- House Helmsley: A small bunch who started RPing then left very shortly after.
- House Goodwyn: Lasted a short while, moderate size. Led by Ephitos/Vangrel.

erwtenpeller wrote:The city bores me.

Agreed. Yet, after having spent the longest time in the Freelancers, I think it's pretty nice with RP that isn't adventure either. Travelling, casual RP at adventurous locations, campfire RP  , that kind of thing. I guess, to me, sometimes less is more. Sometimes the little trip in the forest can be as wondrous as the epic exploration quest into the ruins of that lost civilzation.

Dwyburn wrote:@Eldiros:
They've been around. In no particular order from the parts I remember of the server history:

- House Mistmantle: Lasted a good while, mainly had a handful of active members. Was led by Braiden.
- The Dieudonne Seal: Lasted shorter, but still a good while, had all the members. Led by Genevieve and Tarvik.
- (The Vanimedles): Mainly a shared backstory between Eira, Renatha and Celeste. Not a guild.
- House Buckholme: Lexgrad's little side project. Him+1 mostly, I think.
- House Helmsley: A small bunch who started RPing then left very shortly after.
- House Goodwyn: Lasted a short while, moderate size. Led by Ephitos/Vangrel.

o/

The Vanimedle's eventually intergrated in with the Dieudonne aswell when Eira married into the family with Tarvik. That was a fun time.

Also the memories. I'm surprised you remembered the Helmsley's, back when Bloodwind actually had a drive to be involved in Roleplay (Back with the old crew)

Clara Dawson wrote:
Also the memories. I'm surprised you remembered the Helmsley's, back when Bloodwind actually had a drive to be involved in Roleplay (Back with the old crew)

I think Braiden was pretty excited about them, hoping to have someone to scheme against. Never interacted much with any myself.

But yeah, those were fun times.

The community changed I agree but despise all is a bit unbalanced in terms of type of population is up to us to bring rp for everyone