The Daedalus Project: Introduction to the Role-Playing Series


	« Welcome to The Daedalus Project \| Main \| The Demographics of Role-Playing » Introduction to the Role-Playing Series I had always assumed that the “RP” in MMORPG was ironic. After all, most MMORPGs have had to deliberately set aside designated role-playing servers, and these have always been in the minority. This suggested that role-playing wasn’t something most players wanted to do in an MMORPG. At the same time, it was clear that a role-playing subculture existed that operated with its own rules and etiquette. In the most recent survey phase, I decided to explore this player subculture. I knew from the start that defining what “role-playing” is would be difficult, and yet without a working definition, it would be even harder to figure out what the results meant. So I approached this in two ways. I used an open-ended survey to explore the role-playing space, and in the multiple-choice portion, I presented a loose, working definition of role-playing. Respondents were told that role-playing referred to “creating a novel persona for your character that fits in the context of the game world and interacting with others through that persona”. As we’ll see, even among self-described role-players, what counts as role-playing can be contentious subject, but overall, a coherent set of guidelines and etiquette do emerge from the open-ended responses. For some, role-playing is a spontaneous act between two or more players who play out a short scenario on the spot. These players typically do not have background stories and have a low likelihood of interacting again in a role-playing context. I was standing in my house when a ghost ran in. I tried to resurrect it, but it refused the resurrection. I thought perhaps the player had pushed the wrong button, so I attempted to resurrect again - again it refused. At this point, it occured to me 'aha! a role player?' The ghost's job was much harder than mine as a savage, because a ghost can't even emote... all a ghost can do is OoooOOoo. But I allowed it to lead me around - it was many years ago now so I can't remember - it lead me to a monster which I worked out it wanted me to kill in revenge, then led me to a nearby 'treasure' and disappeared (as a satisfied ghost would). [Irth Online, F, 39] A murder-mystery that spontaneously occurred, the main catalyst for it, was that some player, had been killed in front of the cantina, then decided to go AFK, leaving his corpse there. only two people started it, but a lot of other players really stepped up well during questioning, it ended with about 8 players staying there, until the issue resolved itself. (Not an 'RP Server, Bria in SWG. SWG doesn't designate servers) [SWG, M, 32] On the other side of the spectrum are elaborate, sustained interactions between a network of players, each of whom has a background story, some personality quirks, and a set of psychological motivations. The stories amongst these players typically develop over time in a combination of planned and spontaneous scenarios. What followed was about 3 months of slow, careful build up where my character came more and more to depend on them as her emotional support while they tried very hard to wean her away from her own unhealthy tendencies, while the designated future beau tried to hide her enormous crush (which, of course, my character was wholly oblivious to, as she'd never even consider that someone else might love her again). The day when everything finally came together was one of the greatest moments in RP I've ever had. It was so great to watch something that had been building up for so long finally bear fruit, and it's had more of an impact on that character than anything else to date. I feel truly blessed to have had a chance to participate and help design in such a great story. [WoW, M, 24] I was at a Guild Wedding for our Guild leader. It was a roleplaying Guild and we had many members. We also had a 'rival' Guild and a whole situation was played out including the kidnapping of the bride and her resue. It was memorable for the great roleplaying efforts of everyone. The Guild leader had invited many players who were not apart of the Guild nor roleplayers so they could see how we operated. It was an enjoyable night for all. [CoH, F, 35] And of course, there are players at different points on that spectrum. Because I was interested in the specific player subculture amongst the group of players who self-identify as role-players, I emphasize the guidelines and etiquette of the more elaborated role-playing rather than that of the spontaneous role-playing. The data from the surveys is presented in 3 articles: 1) The Demographics of Role-Playing: Quantitative data on how many MMO players role-play, how often they role-play, and whether there are gender or age differences. 2) Faces of Role-Playing: Qualitative data on the personas that role-players create. 3) The Protocols of Role-Playing: Qualitative data on the guidelines and etiquette of role-playing and player’s responses on what constitutes good role-playing. Note: It is also worth noting that role-playing also technically does include sexual role-playing such as in the case of Furry Sex or the sub/dom culture in worlds like Second Life. I think these forms of role-playing are equally interesting and valid, but they are not reported here because, with the exception of one respondent (among 215 respondents in the open-ended responses), no one described participating in role-playing in a sexual context. This may be because role-playing in a fantasy MMO has a particular meaning, and role-playing in a sexual context becomes bracketed off instead as “cybering”. Tags: role-playing (5) Posted on June 7, 2006 \| Comments (7) \| TrackBack (0) Comments I think the sex-in-roleplaying issue is more about shame or denial. There is a veeeery large S/D culture, for example, in Everquest 2. There are tons of people that go out of their way to sexualize their character whenever possible (maybe even a majority). But perhaps few of these people would want to admit that the vast majority of their RP centers around these hypersexualized characters. Posted by: SageGaspar on June 12, 2006 10:52 PM This is true. My Froglok is very sexy and gets propositioned all the time. Posted by: on June 14, 2006 7:13 PM My gnome assassin is a sexy beast. All the wood elf females throw themselves as his feet begging him to make wild and passionate love to them before he debuffs>stealths>backstabs them. "wtfpwnz0red qeynos b*chez" /taunt /moon Posted by: Wizzel Cogcarrier Wizzleton IV on June 19, 2006 3:53 PM Sex comes in roleplaying when the game itself has many hooks to it (gorgeous female characters) and lack of deep content. New generation MMORPGs like EQ2 pushed graphics nearer to reality while designing characters as sexual fantasies. So of course lots of people are tempted to cyber with them. However it's not what RP is about. There are people that cyber and goes "waw I'm a roleplayer!" and places an awkward label on RPers. In majority, RP is like building a play with improvisation and an open-ending. There are technicians in the background that set up the stage before, like an event between players, and then the players bring a character and make him act. That is of course a theory and of course as humans we're not perfect so in practical there may be a lot of problems that may spoil the fun of others. Globally, if the only interrest of roleplay in a game is sex, then maybe either you or the game is not designed for roleplay. Cyber doesn't make you a roleplayer and roleplay is not about sex. There are a lot of ways to roleplay love between two characters without making them have sex. And remember it's only between characters. If you have the player in mind, then this is not roleplaying. It's interessant to notice that the fact that the players are hidden behind their monitor and can't see the man roleplaying a female character (the population being majoritary male) may be a reason why the situation may go further than when roleplaying with pen&paper at a table with other players in front of you. NB: Sexual reference in MMORPG can be used by players who aren't into RP at all but rather plain PvP. For example, lots of players use homophobic slurs and trashtalk as a normal weapon to PvP. But that's a different topic. It was just to answer previous comments ;) Posted by: Max on July 2, 2006 3:16 AM It's actually funny, but the majority of players I ran into that went out of the way to sexualize their characters were not men, they were middle-aged housewives, generally dissatisfied with their relationships. Sure, you never know on the internet, but I doubt there are many guys that like to claim they are homely middle-aged women. MMOs attract a much, much broader and more diverse audience than traditional RP, and it's not just guys pretending they're girls. On the point of cyber-as-RP, I actually disagree to an extent. Sex can be perfectly valid as RP, it's just rather boring RP. It also runs a high drama risk and can have very bad consequences when taken OOC. EQ2 is an interesting example because it's not really that far sexualized in terms of game content compared to various other MMOs. Characters are certainly in shape and the women have very large boobs (almost comically so, in some cases), but the clothing is pretty conservative. Posted by: SageGaspar on July 3, 2006 7:55 AM i think its really dodgy cybering thru an mmo as that person cud be playing say a female night elf and actually be a guy which is really creepy when you think about hey sure i dont think theres anything wrong with cybering for lewt thats funny as anything conning ppl out of thier hard earned cash they shudnt be so stupid but all the same if you are having a romantic relation ship with them there is no way to tell what they are really like Posted by: louie on August 6, 2006 8:19 AM I've played all the major MMORPGs since EQ. I had a wood elf ranger on EQ, and I role-played. I had a character that in essence I became* on SWG, with an elaborate back story which actually evolved over the years. That character, her relationships, her career as a Chef, her involvement with the Rebellion and PvP -- sheesh, it became my life. I don't think I'll ever forgive Sony for ruining SWG! But I digress. The role-playing I did, both as an Elf and as a Twi'lek, was really pretty natural. I spoke/typed in the same manner as I do IRL, I just did it in the context of the worlds I was in. I reminsced with other players about game events, cursed using game deities' names in vain, attempted to proselytize using game deities' names and back stories, etc. I think most people feel sheepish about RP because they don't understand what it is and how it makes the game so much richer. They think they'll have to use Olde English and/or try to talk Dwarf in fantasy games. You don't have to, and probably shouldn't try, to do this to RP. Posted by: Cmyst on August 20, 2006 7:09 PM Post a comment Name: Email: (optional, and not shown) Comments: Remember info? Note: To decrease potential comment spam, comments with a link element will be moderated and will not appear immediately. Comments with more than one link are junked automatically. 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