Choosing a Home and Home Improvement
( The Ins and Outs of Role-Playing )
by AnomalousSilence

I used to think that everyone knew what role-playing was, even if they didn’t do it themselves. I recently proved myself wrong when I began playing World of Warcraft. I didn’t plan on playing long, only to satiate my MMORPG craving, so I was going to play on my best friend’s server, a PvP server. I didn’t like it, and when I told him I was moving to a role-playing server, he asked what role-playing was.

After the initial shock had worn off, I promptly explained to him what role-play involved. “Well that’s stupid,” was his reply. He asked his large guild about it too, and only a select few knew anything about role-playing. Not knowing how many others out there within the world of MMORPGs knew about role-playing, I decided I needed to try my best to spread the word and educate people on role-playing (though I am rather new at it myself!).
           
So, whether you are interested in role-playing or not, read on!
           
Let’s say you picked up a MMORPG without any knowledge of the lore or races, and only knew about aspects of gameplay. Unlike those who have awaited the game before its release, you don’t have a character history. What’s the first thing to do? Well, other than digging up as much lore as possible from the internet, you select your avatar’s server! Naturally, it’s best to start on the subject of picking your role-playing (RP) server and maintaining it.

Choosing a server can be difficult, especially if you are going by the newbie zones, which are often littered with random out-of-character (henceforth termed OOC) chatter and little role-playing. A handy, though not always 100% accurate, way of judging a server’s quality is to carefully sort through the message boards (assuming the MMORPG has been out long enough for you to judge based on the forums). Message board stickies are great to see how actively the community participates in helpful knowledge and organized information for all, such as guild listings and character listings.

After you sort through the most important part, the stickies, it’s time to dig through the various topics and replies. While there will always be the occasional troll, you need to base the your opinion on the majority of the forum postings.

I highly suggest using this method, along with another, different way of measuring the character of the RP community: experience the server itself. If role-play is null in the newbie zones, it’s time to go elsewhere. While role-playing could be very minimal in these newbie areas, there needs to be at least some measure of it. And, of course, the server is a solid choice if there is a significant amount of role-playing in the newbie zones.

If you like your server for some reason, even in the newbie zones, and wish to try it for a little longer before making a definite decision to stay or to leave, play and progress to the zones following the newbie zones. These often show much better evidence of role-playing, and you should notice an immediate difference. If you don’t, or only find a minimal increase of role-playing, it’s definitely a no-go.

Granted, there are those role-players on the not-so-great servers who actually role-play. While you have to feel sorry for them, and perhaps even want to join the server and try to make it better, it’s best not to take on this challenge. Chances are the role-playing on the server will never, or only minimally, increase in quality. Of course, it is up to you whether you maintain your character on the server or not.

So, you have your server chosen and a character going, right? What’s next? A character history and personality. Now, don’t panic: it’s not as difficult as it might seem.

Well, these things usually take some time to plan out, though in some cases they will occur naturally as you play your character, and your avatar develops itself. Whether you are in the midst of planning the details of your character or they have already developed themselves, there are numerous ways to continue improving and add to the value of your RP server.

To increase the quality of your server, which is your online home, a surefire way is to role-play anywhere and everywhere! Be sure to also actively support role-play, /ignore the 1337 d00dz, and host or participate in events.

Various role-playing events that can be held for your server might include the following:

Weddings: Many people like to have role-playing relationships between their characters. Weddings between these characters are an amazingly fun event!
Dances: This includes everything from formal balls to tribal worshiping dances, and can be a great way to explore in-character (IC) relationships, religious practices, and more.
Pubs/Taverns: Often in RP server communities there is at least one weekly tavern role-playing night. This provides for a common and realistic role-playing experience.
Circles: Circles are often very common, such as story telling circles around a large campfire.
Classes: History, sciences, etc. Classes are a great way to role-play. The lore of the world can be discovered, religiously biased scientific opinions can be taught, and more!
Raids: While raids can be role-played, I am talking about raiding cities and towns for a role-playing reason. This can be a hoot with all the NPCs and devoted players battling.
Hunts: Role-playing a hunt for a certain, elusive animal.
Bazaar Days: Days where players congregate in a certain area and role-play the selling of their goods. It can be quite interesting if you role-play pretending there is no such thing as item stats, etc.
Fishing: Fishing groups can be a great way to relax and have some laid back role-playing.
Picnicking: Of course, who could forget this?! Setting up an in-character picnic can be a great way to get to know one another.
Religious Meetings: The congregation of those who follow your character’s religion can be a fun way to role-play the more debatable and interesting sides of world lore.
Tournaments: PvP tournaments are commonplace and can be great method to role-play the personality of your avatar and to award IC medals and awards.
Trials: Trials for a crime someone committed, or was merely accused of, with a judge, jury, the whole shebang! This can be especially interesting since there is a lack of modern crime-solving technology.

In summary, when choosing a role-playing server, a good way to go about it is by browsing the forums and getting firsthand experience. After you have made your choice, there are numerous ways to improve your server!

           
Tune in next week when PvP-RP servers vs. PvE-RP servers are broken down with the good, the bad, and the indecisive facts!