Where has all the roleplaying gone?
November 7, 2011 6:02 PM Subscribe
Are there any MMO's left, released or in development, with a strong roleplaying community?
I'd like to get back into it but it seems like the community has died off. The last MMO I played with a strong community was Age of Conan, and that was before it was released when everyone was writing out their storylines and such on a forum. I've tried Aion and Rift but haven't found much there. Doesn't even have to be the entire community, can be just a specific server. So, guys, where has all the roleplaying gone?
The only game I'm not open to is Eve, didn't enjoy the gameplay style.
I'd like to get back into it but it seems like the community has died off. The last MMO I played with a strong community was Age of Conan, and that was before it was released when everyone was writing out their storylines and such on a forum. I've tried Aion and Rift but haven't found much there. Doesn't even have to be the entire community, can be just a specific server. So, guys, where has all the roleplaying gone?
The only game I'm not open to is Eve, didn't enjoy the gameplay style.
Have you ever considered EverQuest 2?
My sister (who has gotten recognition from picky people for adhering to roleplaying standards) says WoW roleplaying is pretty terrible, mostly due to folks who enjoy griefing anyone who tries to roleplay. Although she also says nearly everyone playing WoW is pretty terrible at being something other than a sex-oriented selfish nitwit, so I'm actually a little unclear as to why she plays it so much.
posted by SMPA at 6:49 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
My sister (who has gotten recognition from picky people for adhering to roleplaying standards) says WoW roleplaying is pretty terrible, mostly due to folks who enjoy griefing anyone who tries to roleplay. Although she also says nearly everyone playing WoW is pretty terrible at being something other than a sex-oriented selfish nitwit, so I'm actually a little unclear as to why she plays it so much.
posted by SMPA at 6:49 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Well, I'm on the Landroval server in Lord of the Rings Online, which is where the RPers decided to hang out back in beta (since the US server group had no RP ruleset at all), and it has a pretty good community and I see RP going on every time I am in one of the popular spots. Also, there seem to be a decent number of community events... concerts and the like. LOTRO is pretty conducive to RP IMO, because it has such a rich and well known backstory to draw on, which has been expanded on quite well (for the most part) by Turbine, and it has a reasonable selection of "fluff" features like cosmetic outfits, housing, and in-game music performance.
There is another English language RP server now, which used to be in the European server group before they combined them and released the multi-language client, but I have no idea what it's like; might want to consider timezone issues before going there though.
If you do try LOTRO, as soon as the game lets you out of the noob area head for the Prancing Pony in Bree; that's probably the biggest hotspot of RP, so you can see if it is to your liking.
posted by robt at 7:15 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
There is another English language RP server now, which used to be in the European server group before they combined them and released the multi-language client, but I have no idea what it's like; might want to consider timezone issues before going there though.
If you do try LOTRO, as soon as the game lets you out of the noob area head for the Prancing Pony in Bree; that's probably the biggest hotspot of RP, so you can see if it is to your liking.
posted by robt at 7:15 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: How do you feel about text games? I played one of IRE's MUDs for several years and can vouch for the fact that the quality of roleplaying among serious players is good, and of a much higher standard than you're going to find in any graphical game. The trick is to stick with the game long enough to get out of newbieland and get integrated with the long-term community.
posted by trunk muffins at 7:15 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by trunk muffins at 7:15 PM on November 7, 2011
You have probably tried WoW but if not, Wow has RP specific servers, while it is hard to just randomly find RP if you spend some time trying out servers and find a guild you like there can be some great RP. I have been in everything from an all dwarfish regiment bravely fighting the horde, mixed race guild that ran some great in character raids and BG's which usually ended up with us loosing, but we lost in character. You will get griefed even on RP servers but that is what the ignore button is for.
My MIL Rps as a vampire in Second Life and has a great time, she even has mods that track amount of blood drank and souls converted and all sorts of in character info. I've also had fun a few years ago RPing there in a Steampunk sort of world. The best part about RPing in SL is you can change clothes etc or design your own skin & clothes which you can't often do in MMOs.
posted by wwax at 7:19 PM on November 7, 2011
My MIL Rps as a vampire in Second Life and has a great time, she even has mods that track amount of blood drank and souls converted and all sorts of in character info. I've also had fun a few years ago RPing there in a Steampunk sort of world. The best part about RPing in SL is you can change clothes etc or design your own skin & clothes which you can't often do in MMOs.
posted by wwax at 7:19 PM on November 7, 2011
LOTRO would be my bet right now, although it's understandably Tolkien-specific. The Old Republic, out next month, is a Bioware game and I expect it will have quite a roleplaying crowd too (although again, IP-specific.)
WoW is all about finding the right RP guild, and it's got rather a looser IP to deal with. It's not very conducive to RP in a lot of ways, though - you can't easily cross-faction chat, there aren't a ton of RP-friendly physical spaces (ie sans crowds and/or monsters,) and the gameplay doesn't really lend itself to not playing the game as designed.
City of Heroes is fabulous for roleplay - strong community, gameplay that may as well have been explicitly designed for it, and the costume creator is legendary. If you dig superheroes, I'd start there.
If you want to get really old-school, there's always Ultima Online, but it's, well, old - rough UI and somewhat fragmented community. Great, great game, and the broadest possible set of tools for roleplay, but it would require a bit more work to get stuck in.
posted by restless_nomad at 7:35 PM on November 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
WoW is all about finding the right RP guild, and it's got rather a looser IP to deal with. It's not very conducive to RP in a lot of ways, though - you can't easily cross-faction chat, there aren't a ton of RP-friendly physical spaces (ie sans crowds and/or monsters,) and the gameplay doesn't really lend itself to not playing the game as designed.
City of Heroes is fabulous for roleplay - strong community, gameplay that may as well have been explicitly designed for it, and the costume creator is legendary. If you dig superheroes, I'd start there.
If you want to get really old-school, there's always Ultima Online, but it's, well, old - rough UI and somewhat fragmented community. Great, great game, and the broadest possible set of tools for roleplay, but it would require a bit more work to get stuck in.
posted by restless_nomad at 7:35 PM on November 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
Of all of the MMOs I've played, LOTRO's RP community was by far the most active even outside of RP servers. Playing the game is entirely free, the emotes are extensive and fun and it is still a low-key enough game to keep the griefers in Azeroth. I found myself really enjoying the game more because of the in-game community, so I can only imagine there's good stuff on the forums & fansites.
posted by june made him a gemini at 8:18 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by june made him a gemini at 8:18 PM on November 7, 2011
Check out the US WoW servers "Cenarion Circle" (few RPers but fairly high quality) and "Wyrmrest Accord" (lots more RPers with the lower average quality you'd expect from that; still many good RPers, but there's a lot more chaff).
WoW accounts are free up to character level 20 with a few restrictions: most importantly you can't 1. join public chat channels and 2. can't whisper to people unless they add you as a friend. These prevent people from using throw-away free accounts to harass, spam, sell gold, etc. But you can go participate in events, hang out at the bar, and so on. If you go with a free account, it does help to get someone to friend you and be your introduction: that person can join the public RP event channel, figure out what's going on, introduce you, etc., so you know where to go.
You can walk to a capital city at level 1, but I recommend taking the 15 to 30 minutes to level up to 5, as you'll get a bit more goodwill. Also, to see if you can actually stand the game. :P I play on both servers mentioned above and they each have their selling points. The CC server will require you to go looking for RP (PM me for channel details or just read the forum stickies). The WA server will just require that you stand in a capital city and look around.
If you decide to RP in WoW, I highly recommend installing a simple plugin that'll make you visible to other RPers. FlagRSP2 is my current simple favorite. The plugin just allows you other players that mouse over you to see flags you set ("hey, I'm a roleplayer and I'm currently in character") and some additional physical description ("you see a very old man whose armor is heavily-mended", etc.).
Feel free to MeMail me if you have questions.
posted by introp at 9:49 PM on November 7, 2011
WoW accounts are free up to character level 20 with a few restrictions: most importantly you can't 1. join public chat channels and 2. can't whisper to people unless they add you as a friend. These prevent people from using throw-away free accounts to harass, spam, sell gold, etc. But you can go participate in events, hang out at the bar, and so on. If you go with a free account, it does help to get someone to friend you and be your introduction: that person can join the public RP event channel, figure out what's going on, introduce you, etc., so you know where to go.
You can walk to a capital city at level 1, but I recommend taking the 15 to 30 minutes to level up to 5, as you'll get a bit more goodwill. Also, to see if you can actually stand the game. :P I play on both servers mentioned above and they each have their selling points. The CC server will require you to go looking for RP (PM me for channel details or just read the forum stickies). The WA server will just require that you stand in a capital city and look around.
If you decide to RP in WoW, I highly recommend installing a simple plugin that'll make you visible to other RPers. FlagRSP2 is my current simple favorite. The plugin just allows you other players that mouse over you to see flags you set ("hey, I'm a roleplayer and I'm currently in character") and some additional physical description ("you see a very old man whose armor is heavily-mended", etc.).
Feel free to MeMail me if you have questions.
posted by introp at 9:49 PM on November 7, 2011
People are correct about WoW: RP is fairly low-key on many servers. Caution: If you join Moon Guard, there is a lot of ERP there. If you start a character there, particularly a female one, expect to be hit on by everything.
posted by Heretical at 10:37 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by Heretical at 10:37 PM on November 7, 2011
I've recently gotten into Ryzom, which is pretty roleplaying-heavy. It's free to play to a pretty high level, and it's got a nice aesthetic. It also runs very nicely on my netbook (!) running Ubuntu (!!).
posted by jiawen at 12:00 AM on November 8, 2011
posted by jiawen at 12:00 AM on November 8, 2011
This is a lot more low-impact, but Glitch is a sort of silly, art-based MMO, with avatars running through an extensive world, building whatever, playing games with folks. I've found the people to be friendly, engaged, and up for roleplaying.
posted by marcin_zissou at 6:39 AM on November 8, 2011
posted by marcin_zissou at 6:39 AM on November 8, 2011
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posted by Xany at 6:45 PM on November 7, 2011