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What Rolling a Character Means (with final edit)

 
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DigitalText



Joined: 29 Jun 2016
Posts: 88

PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:39 pm    Post subject: What Rolling a Character Means (with final edit)

The following is my own opinion. Nothing more, neither intended to be more.

From Ozaru's laments that deleting a char impacts a MUD for the worse, to ottif's remarks that carrying over secrets discovered with one char to subsequent chars after that is a breach of RP; I got a wild hair and wanted to sling text on a thread.


Ideally:


When you roll a character, you're starting a commitment. A commitment to immortals, players, the MUD atmosphere and MUD environment. You've signed a 'contract' that possesses intent to breathe life into not only your own character, but also the deities and characters that interact with it. To breathe life with that character as long as it lasts without you, the player, cutting the cord.

Similar to digging a foundation with a depth architecturally proportional to the tower it's intended to support, so is your character to the MUD you rolled it in. The same could probably be applied to a character itself as you play it. Its lifespan. Its conflicts. Its drama. Its goals, dreams and development.

It's always been my belief that the more selfless a player's RP philosophy, the healthier and more solid a MUD's fictional atmosphere will be. This precursor is never a bad one for a MUD's potential to thrive, either. By 'selfless' I mean the player mindset 'what can I give' vs. 'what can I get.' Contribution is the essence of RP, and yes, even PK. What RP is to PK, what PK is to RP, I won't belabor here. I don't feel like it right now.

The player with a 'what can I give' mindset is critical to a MUD. They're more likely to overlook accidental (intentional, even) breaches of RP and have the forgiving impromptu skill-set to turn it around quickly without regard over their own expense; whether it costs the player or their character. They're more likely to notice a newbie and go out of their way to weave RP (of a caliber demonstrated in front of staff) that won't convolute important know-hows best taught in basic terms.

I and other players on past MUDs have even gone so far as to roll a solid character (beside ones they already have) for the sole purpose of providing newbies a companion from which to learn as they play. The 'what can I give' player is also mindful of the current and potential impacts their every char's action has in both IC and OOC realms. They understand and appreciate how staff pour free time into the MUD they play, and with many times more the work than the player regularly encounters. They understand once a character is rolled, they've just added another thread to a web of fantasy that had been weaving since before their char was ever conceived. They understand cutting the thread artificially has the potential to collapse a part of the web, jade relationships their char established with others, cheat the sequence of conflict(s) out of its(their) cycle, render whatever amount of staff investment in that char obsolete and perhaps even cause the player to miss out on staff-driven plots prepared around their char.

[EDIT]: There are more traits. Bottom line, the 'what can I give' player bases nearly everything they do or think around enriching the MUD environment and other players to a substantial extreme. If I didn't make that clear enough.

The longer your character plays, the more destruction a premature deletion can cause.

The 'what can I get' player knows everything above and is probably able to give & do more. The only difference that begs note is where their concerns are. Me. Myself. I. Resolution integrity? Forget it. Consistent IC/OOC barrier maintained? Until it's not fun anymore or an enticing opportunity to break it for whatever reasons comes around. Commitment? Dude, my char was ballin'. Now his/her lover hunts him/her with a new mate, my char's still got a boot-print on their posterior from their god, the whole realm flagged him/her wanted dead and my super spiffy divine-favor power is revoked. Lost my gear. Can't breathe without being morted every fifteen minutes. Arggggh. Peace out.

Gross generalizations, but I think we see how they can apply.


The Reality:


It's a game. It's not real life. You'll see a mix of both sorts of players. Some MUDs have a disproportionate mix of both for the worse. Others don't. We're human. We have RL issues just like the next Joe and Jane. Said issues can compromise char integrity despite our best efforts, as can normal flaws or weakpoints each player might have. We can't always be guaranteed the time we plan to use for logging in. As well, veering too much into 'what can I give' for too long can cause burn-out inside someone who'd have otherwise been an invaluable asset to a MUD. This is self-induced disillusionment, but can be helped along by thankless 'what-can-I-gets.' Before you know it, the 'what can I give' becomes 'what can I get.' The solution? I didn't write with the intention to give one.

We are all too different for a nauseating one-size-fits-all motivational speech on "The Crusade Against Threats to Fictional World Integrity." Perspective on yourself, on others and on consequences is what's important.

As a 'what can I give' player, you need to expect work without returns, and you need to find a way to be content with it. As a 'what can I get' player, you need to expect your purse or bag to never be full enough; and realize your mindset is what preys on you and undermines the characters you roll. As neither, you're either not playing a MUD or you've struck a balance that will tip eventually.

Spare me the gag reflex, but I think forgiveness is necessary, from player to player. Player to staff. Staff to player (within intelligent reason). If we were all to give account of our infractions as players, we'd all be found wanting. If you aren't found wanting, your hair is probably falling out, your eyes burn like coals and you look fifty years older than you really are. Perfection can be masochistic in my potentially flawed opinion. To err is human, yet that's no excuse to not try and improve, learning from regrets.

No. I'm not Bhuddist, I don't practice Zen and I don't meditate. And I'm certainly no bastion of RP integrity.


Last edited by DigitalText on Sat Dec 15, 2018 12:19 am; edited 1 time in total
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Stephen2Aus



Joined: 02 Jan 2014
Posts: 122

PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:04 am    Post subject:

That was awesome, man, thanks for posting.
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DigitalText



Joined: 29 Jun 2016
Posts: 88

PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:45 am    Post subject:

Yessir, you and everyone else are quite welcome. I feel like it could've been a more organized delivery. S'ppose that's what I get for shooting from the hip as they say.
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tayyah



Joined: 20 May 2011
Posts: 597

PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:33 pm    Post subject:

See this is where we differ drastically in opinions, I think there is more than just me that has my play style. From an RP perspective I can see your standing. I understand what you are laying down. But this is Serin. Its a crazy hostile place, there is no single safe place in the entire world, it is built like this. In such a hostile place characters coming and going doesn't seem out of place, to me it actually fits the roleplay scene perfectly. Just because they disappear before you wanted them too, doesn't change the fact that it still fits the roleplay. Death is commonplace, so how is it a far stretch that characters come and go? I play the game to dominate, I play to pk, there is absolutely no way for me to play the game the way you feel it should be played. I am constantly testing new race/class combinations in search of the perfect storm of killing physique and a winning ratio. If I die to much at the beginning the fight to get the ratio back to a positive is to tedious and a fresh start is the better option. At what point is it okay to delete a character in your opinion than? I am curious to see your side of the coin. How does that work in your head? Should I keep playing a character well after its no longer fun just so that I can appease the playerbase? Should I just toil through the drudgery just because? I really am curious because you have said this a few times now that people shouldn't delete. Same with aussie Stephen he says the same thing. I am curious to hear the adverse of this. Just an FYI we used too and still might even have the option, but Hardcore used to be an option. IE 1 death. I am actually really for that idea to be brought back
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Stephen2Aus



Joined: 02 Jan 2014
Posts: 122

PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 3:26 am    Post subject:

OK, so I'll put my point of view.. I don't want you to think this is a debate that I'm trying to win, it's just a different viewpoint I hope you can understand.

"If I die to much at the beginning the fight to get the ratio back to a positive is to tedious and a fresh start is the better option."

I think the biggest difference is that I like my characters to be... people... with their own thoughts and feelings and desires etc. If they feel right enough to play for a while (e.g., spend more than 10-20 hours on) then I begin to know them more and more.

They take on a life of their own, which I get to breathe life into, but also go with the "flow" of where events take them. It's like being in a novel, and being a character that you get to control! So cool.

To delete them (good characters) because I don't like the PK ratio, or whatever *I* feel (vs. what the character feels) cheapens the character hugely, and degrades the MUD experience into being a computer game where I might like to min/max, or restart etc...

It can really be much more than that, and I know how to work it so that it's more than a computer game.


"At what point is it okay to delete a character in your opinion than?"

When they're tired... when their story is over... When you don't have the energy or creative drive to continue to breathe life into them and they're getting stale.


"Should I keep playing a character well after its no longer fun just so that I can appease the playerbase?"

No, definitely not.. I think that's a major difference though, if you can see past the PK ratio, or whatever else, to the character itself... To it's story, it's part in the Novel, it should be fun whether you die a few times or not.



As I said at the start, I don't want this to be a debate, but an explanation. I'm glad there are players like you that roll a lot of characters and pour energy into things that way... Believe me, that "go, go go!" energy is fantastic for all of us, and helps drive the vibrancy of the game too.

But sometimes, I think you could probably treat your characters with more love and make their story grow a lot more, which helps the game, and your enjoyment of it (hopefully).


Thanks for listening.
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tayyah



Joined: 20 May 2011
Posts: 597

PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:11 am    Post subject:

Ahh, this is a discussion thread I just really wanted to hear your guys explanations that's all, I only know what I see the game as. thank you. I actually also have one of those types of characters, and this is just me trying to get another one as well to spread my time out so that I don't have a character again like yiebaen where I put 300 hours into him into one month and than deleted because I burned him out for myself.
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Ty



Joined: 26 Jan 2017
Posts: 79

PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:34 am    Post subject:

Stephen, that's exactly how I try to play my characters. We really are creating a story, it's awesome, and I'd like to have some memorable characters. Not just a "Man, that character was cool" but to be a part of the fabric of Serin, you know?
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Stephen2Aus



Joined: 02 Jan 2014
Posts: 122

PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:41 am    Post subject:

Glad I have people like you to play with Ty Smile
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DigitalText



Joined: 29 Jun 2016
Posts: 88

PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:28 pm    Post subject:

tayyah wrote:
Death is commonplace, so how is it a far stretch that characters come and go?


It's not a far stretch. Your character and the environment it inhabits is what you prefer to make them; or as you happen to understand them. Perspective is what's important.



tayyah wrote:
I play the game to dominate, I play to pk, there is absolutely no way for me to play the game the way you feel it should be played.


This is perfectly fine. The RP concept is very abstract, broad and flexible. The extent to which it can be stretched and fitted is limited only by how far you can or cannot think out of the box (without being ridiculous), as you apply its defining factors. Factors, I say, as they're defined in your mind; and how your perspective filters them into the MUD you play. Only a pre-established (or grossly unanimous) theme of underlying rules set by staff (or shared by players) can override this. Plainly, RP is by nature completely relative. It's at the mercies of the perspective of the player that executes it, and those who observe it. There will always be the 'PKers' and the 'RPers.' There is no wrong for being either, or even being a mix of the two.



tayyah wrote:
At what point is it okay to delete a character in your opinion than?


When the player so chooses. Everyone has a different reason for playing. If the player's reason has met defeat or obsolescence, the choice is theirs. Character longevity is encouraged, I'm sure. But I believe the staff would rather you have fun (within the confines of rules set forth) than follow a self-applied set of personal ideals for whatever purpose. Whether it's adverse depends on what's important to the player. It's also a call only staff can make. It's their game, and they share it with us.



tayyah wrote:
How does that work in your head? Should I keep playing a character well after its no longer fun just so that I can appease the playerbase? Should I just toil through the drudgery just because?


What I should do is the only thing I'd concern myself with. I could stress it to you, yet this game isn't about me. As well, this comes back to perspective again. It also brings us back to the what-can-I-get and what-can-I-give players. With that, you should make the choice for yourself. What you should do and what you want to do are always two different things, and no one can dictate either for you. Neither should they. In the realm of gaming, want will always win out. Wants, however, can also be driven by methodical ideals, becoming one with 'should-oriented' compulsions. So should and shouldn't really are neither here nor there.



tayyah wrote:
I only know what I see the game as.


What you said here is the answer to all the questions you presented.

It seems to fit what I'm trying to convey, so I'll share something that occurred in another MUD a few years ago:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was once a mage who conversed with his goddess. Mid-conversation, the goddess summoned a vision: a vision freed from the confines of the mind, to be viewed by any who might have been around to see it. In the vision, there were orphans playing across a lush green meadow. These elven boys and girls were happily playing tag. One of them had emerald green eyes. There were a total of ninety-three.
After a while, the vision expired.

"What did you see?," the goddess asled.

"I saw ninety-three elven children playing tag. One had emerald-green eyes," said the mage.

"You saw the elven children playing tag, but I saw the weeping clock tower behind them," the goddess replied.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wait a minute....the vision wasn't echoed by the imm to portray a weeping clock tower," you might say.

Step back and let us suppose the children were, indeed, all that were noticed. Then what matter is it that the echo didn't include a weeping clock tower? I think that's part of the point the goddess was intending to make. I also believe it was a dual lesson. That is, an OOC -and- IC lesson. I bother to share it in hopes that it will provide the same to any that pay attention to the simplicity found in the illustration's complexity.

Where it relates to this: the issue is neither here nor there. Just like the absence of an echoed weeping clock tower. Some will see it, some will not. Both are none-the-worse for it.

Perspective is what's important. Always.



tayyah wrote:
...Hardcore used to be an option. IE 1 death.


I'm not averse to this. It can be a thrilling element, but it's not for everyone.
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