Topic: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Let's describe the perfect MMORGP from the roleplaying point of view. What kind of characteristics should a game have to optimally support roleplaying? What kind of setting? What sort of gameplay? What sort of people? Why?

Feel free to list your favorite games, but if you do, please analyze why that particular game is so great for roleplaying.

I have a few things in my mind, but let's hear from someone else first.

Last edited by Kryigerof (2006-11-29 08:54:50)

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't really an MMORPG out right now that's really suitable for roleplaying, but if there was one, a great chat/emote interface would be part of it.

I've noticed that a lot of RP in games tends to not involve any movement (making /sit emotes a must big_smile ), because we all have to type away at the keyboard or keep clicking back and forth between the screen and chat window. Voice chat works really well for the action oriented MMOGs, but by nature a lot of RPers seem to have social issues (which is weird considering how much talking/typing is involved in RP), and there's very little or no chance that your voice would match up with the character you were trying to play. So for the Perfect MMORPG I'd like to see a voice-to-text option so you can RP on the go, making adventures that much more interesting because not everyone shuts up as soon as you start to move to a different area. And a dedicated RP channel which everyone respects would be amazing.

Tons and tons of emotes would also be great. Seed's really one of the few games I can remember having played which had facial emotes, which work great for expressing mood.

And just before I post this, we need chairs people! Like I said earlier, /sit emotes are a must for RP a lot of the time, but wouldn't it be great if we could at least get some proper seating?

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q125/coarsesand/graffisigtransparent.png

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

"but by nature a lot of RPers seem to have social issues" ...well...i disagree with this statement smile

Anyway. What is needed is not only emotes ect imo. What is needed is also an ongoing storyline that the players are able to alter and change depending on what each person does. There should be no static quests at all, all the storylines should come from GMs/a story department. Of couse that is utopi... smile In "rl" (funny term to use when speaking of MMOs hehe) semi-static quests could work I think...as long as it still feels like the players got an impact on the world and story.
The game would also have to support more background stories then seed did...we were all speedgrown and bam! Out in the world. Of couse there you had to focus your char on his/hers current goals which help moved the story onwards instead of everyone standing around talking about their childhood.

As for the setting itself. That is not an easy question. Most settings would work but i would personally perfere either : sci-fi or semi future (ie in 50-80 years).... Mostly becuase these settings have not been explored so much in computer games yet i guess.

I have yet to try the perfect roleplaying mmo...but seed was pretty darn close! smile

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Well emotes are ok but in my opinion not that essential. It is possible to use the * * thing instead although of course it doesn't work quite as well.

I believe one thing that Seed did was that it made everything blend in so well.
For example the facts that you die and come back in some way in most MMOs quite break the mood for me. Or the fact that people can talk over endless distances without any explanation (in Seed we all had necklinks to cover that). Seed had IG explanations for pretty much everything which in my opinion makes it much easier to RP in.

OF course an evolving world is part of that as well. If the world doesn't evolve it's harder for RP to evolve.

But all these things of course only work with players dedicated to RP. People who refuse to RP or even try to annoy you on purpose when you RP can really ruin it for me.
Most MMOs mostly seem to be different versions of Diablo with some additional background thrown in..these kinds of games attract people who play them like Diablo (i.e. kill,kill,kill).
Other than Seed I don't know of any game that has fullfilled all of this.....

URU does sound like it has some promise though perhaps I will try it out sometime smile

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Everyone's already made very good points.
Emotes may not be essential, but they sure make the world seem more alive for me:
When your char actually moves around according to the stated text action. You don't have that, for one, with * * emotes.

Something I'd still really like to see in an MMO: interactive emotes. Might be a little difficult, but I don't think it's impossible.
For example, you give something to someone, and they actually take it from your hand. Or: an interactive hug or kiss emote, that actually involves two people, instead of two chars standing still, or one of the chars making a blowing kiss hand, or something.
URU's share Relto (and other) books, is actually a kind of interactive emote. You hold out a book for someone, and then they reach out and put their hand on it, and something happens.
Now, it -is- a little slow, because it involves two people needing to do something (1. you click share book, stand near your target, and click them. 2. You wait, sometimes long, because: the target needs to click the book that will, by your action, appear on his screen.
When both parties have fulfilled what's needed, you see your chars enacting the emote-thing), but, it's incredibly neat, to be able to do something like that with two people, and actually see both your chars interacting like that.
It makes the world seem more real and alive.

Last edited by Norah (2006-11-29 20:33:56)

-Norah/Liath-
"Do not follow! The milk is not ready, and you are not ready for the milk!"
-Psychonauts: Milkman Conspiracy area

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Oluf wrote:

"but by nature a lot of RPers seem to have social issues" ...well...i disagree with this statement smile

Sort of an overwhelming generalization I made as to why voice-chat wouldn't work so well in an RP game, that's all. I don't have any social issues either, but some would be uncomfortable with the idea. A written system works better for RP anyways because it allows for the player to think out his character's actions in a conversation instead of feeling pressure to respond instantly.

Anyways, I just writing that because my mind drifted onto a decent chat system as being part of a Perfect MMORPG. A good chat system doesn't make a good game in and of itself.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q125/coarsesand/graffisigtransparent.png

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I've been pretty interested in MMORPGs (As opposed to other kinds of MMOGs) for quite a while, and can make out several things:

1. Whatever there is in the game, it must be explained by the gameworld. Private/guild channels? Resurrection? Explain why it's possible and how it works, doh. And if you can't find an explanation for something, well, ditch it!
2. Character customizability. And I'm not talking just faces, hats and suits (Which are fine, too), but also their game-mechanic stuff. Like not being a level 20 scientist, but having vast experiences in biochemistry, but being nearly unable to operate a simple computer. Think creative!
3. A plot with some problems characters are supposed to solve. Even if it's not a player-driven plot, it does create opportunities for roleplaying.
4. No pre-dominant feature. I. e. fighting in most modern MMO's, where whatever you do, you do to enchance your or someone else's fighting ability.
5. Political gameplay, where not every problem is solved by die-rolls. The simplest way, even in fight-based games is to make some resources only available to certain people. If the people don't like you - no good stuff for you!
6. Emotes that multiple characters share. It isn't much, but it's a great cosmetic feature.
7. A /me feature, G-ddamnit! And emote parser. I.e. if I use a ":)" smile, I want to see a "Wheri smiles" text line instead of just ":)".

That's pretty much it. If the game has all of the above, it's up to the GM's and the community to make it a roleplaying one and keep it that way.

As for the "issues", well... you can say I have some issues. But they don't prohibit me from using voice-chat. It's more like I prefer to think on my character's words or actions.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

voice chat would ruin imission imo... People would easily be able to hear my rather weird sounding english... what if i wanted to play a person with no language problems at all? wink

Anyway, the point with having explanations for everything in-game is actually pretty good (and something i havent thought of myself) and I agree that it should be there. Will help a lot if people know how to roleplay different things
Just look at what happende when a mis-tell was sent over seed with the necklink...confussion all over becuase we werent quite aware if a mistell could actually happen! wink

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

>>voice chat would ruin imission imo... People would easily be able to hear my rather weird sounding english... what if i wanted to play a person with no language problems at all?
If it doesn't go international, it's alright. The bad part is background noise that tends to be involved in voice-chatting, and huge amounts of traffic it generates. I doubt my channel can handle it now.

>>Anyway, the point with having explanations for everything in-game is actually pretty good
Seed's the best game in that aspect so far. Even if not explained by the developers at the start, we players figured it out and agreed on a single way of working for things. And everyone coming to the game would see that way and roleplay accordingly. But that's really a common effort by the game's authors and players.
Thinking of this all makes me want to add another point that I thought is really obvious, but oh well. The game/server should have an open relationship between players and authors, so no things contradicting the players' decisions are made by the authors.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

On gameplay speed:

In a perfect MMORPG for roleplaying, roleplaying isn't something you do between gameplay related actions, but during them. In most MMORPGs today you can't for example talk or describe your fighting actions during combat, simply because the fighting is too damn fast and hectic to allow you to type while doing it. Thus, you end up roleplaying and playing the game in turns - and all roleplaying is away from accomplishing things game-mechanics-wise.

All the gameplay actions should be slow enough to allow you to roleplay during them, without compromising your efficiency. This is why I liked Seed's pre-injury repair gameplay, at which you just ordered your character to fix the hatch, and then were free to talk and describe your actions however you wished. The injury gameplay took this element away, and thus was a step to the worse.

This doesn't mean gameplay should be plain and monotonic (like the repair gameplay). There can be whatever interesting choices to be made, as long as you have time to roleplay making them. A good example of a slow yet interesting gameplay was the science gameplay introduced by the GMs towards the end of Seed. Not only did it allow roleplaying the work, but it also rewarded those who discussed the puzzle with their collagues.

On level gaps:

Leveling (or any system of character skill growth) is usually a good thing. However, difference in levels should not make it impossible to work together. For instance, in SoR (as far as I understand) a high-level fighter will use only items created by high-level crafters who only use high-level materials produced by high-level harvesters. It's most annoying to be the low-level character in the group who can't do anything useful at all (speaking of experience smile).

I'd like to see, say, a crafting system where a master can really benefit from a lower-skilled apprentice. In any crafting job there would be easy tasks, as well as more difficult ones, and those tasks could be delegated to the apprentice, and still produce just as good an item. The tasks should take enough time so delegating is quicker than just doing it all yourself (so the craft should not be insta-ready). I didn't produce at all in Seed, but I suspect this was how they did it.

What does this have to do with roleplaying? Answer: Level gaps make interaction between players less useful. And interraction is crucial to roleplay.

Last edited by Kryigerof (2006-11-29 23:15:28)

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I'd add, more wits-checks versus skill checks. I.e, to "win" something, you must, for example, convince more people or find a way to, not just repeatedly succeed on die rolls. Plain and obvious.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Hah yes Oluf, I remember my giant misstell of the century to your char wink And I thought such things would be impossible, but I don't think we found out if it was. Of course, since misstells make for 'fun' RP, we just accepted them after that.

Oh well, and about voicechat. It's true that the flirty elven princess might suddenly sound very non-princess like via voicechat, and that there's less time to think on what you do. However, in PnP and Live RP, we also use our voices, it could be said. I'd say that it does heighten the atmosphere not being able to hear each other though, it gets more immersive, and you are less distracted (since the voices can never sound like the char anyway, unless you play yourself). Less suspension of disbelief. Also RP situations take around 5-10 times as long without voicechat of course. And you couldn't talk to both people in front of you, and via telepathy to your guild at the same time. Which I would actually prefer (unless there was a good ingame reason).

Ah well, advantages and disadvantages. But since PnP and MMO are different mediums, it's fine with different ways of communication that fits each of those. Hence, I'd say no to voicechat.

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I dislike voicechat. for a lot of reasons, but today in URU proved it to me again: it just doesn't sound good. It really just doesn't sound like a person talking. For one, the sound doesn't sound like it's coming from their avatar. In a big group like today, I couldn't make out who was speaking. There's interference. I hear mic noises, background noises, whatnot.
I wouldn't want to speak, even if I used voicechat, I'd only listen.
The whole thing just sounds... wrong. If it really did sound anything like people talking to eachother, that might not be so bad, but it doesn't. Bunch of disembodied voices coming from no particular direction, background noises, interference, some people's voices being overly loud, others being almost too soft to make out....
It didn't feel more immersive at all.
And if you missed something someone said, which was all too easy, you couldn't scroll back up and reread it.
Also: if enough people are speaking at the same time, I cannot hear them at all. I can't filter out sounds properly.

-Norah/Liath-
"Do not follow! The milk is not ready, and you are not ready for the milk!"
-Psychonauts: Milkman Conspiracy area

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Another semi-obvious thing: naming code. Nothing wrecks immersion like a character named 1337/\/\@57@|-|5YK05\/\/0|2|)Y, even if it doesn't talk and just hang around. And lots of Legolases and Elendils are nothing good, too.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I'll add another thing I think is missing in most MMO's of now: a room/scene camera! Now you're mostly limited to looking from behind your character's back, from a point more-or-less in his head (The character himself is invisible in this case) or from his front (The only way to see his face, actually).
What I'd seriously like to see is a free camera to take a spot from where I can get a comfortable view of all the characters' faces. Also a decent first-person view where I can control the look direction without turning (Only turning the head) and actually see my character's legs. And if he's wearing a helmet, understand why it's pretty hard for fighters.

It seems somewhat strange to me, actually, that this feature is still missing in MMO's. You can see the cockpit of whatever you're piloting in simulators, after all!

Last edited by Wheri (2006-12-11 02:22:38)

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

ok, I'm also for certain type of emotes. I would like an extension of what was being done in seed. Sometimes if you used a certain word, you would get a set graphics response. So while I like using ** for emoting of /me or /em or something, I would also like graphics to respond as well. So if I did 'Esme sits on the edge of the pond and looks at the water', she would actually sit.

I also would like to see many more graphics of interactions, such as giving things to another character etc.

But yes the main thing I think would be to have event story lines that don't have to be fast, so you dont have to be logged in 24 hours a day to take part wink

oh and chat logs!

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

Lots of good thoughts here.

But how about going a little deeper than storylines and emotes? Do you believe the contemporary basic concept of an MMORPG is the perfect one for roleplaying? I'm talking about such basic things as walking around in a 3D world that represents a continuous part of the game world, performing predefined actions such as fighting and crafting. How about NPCs and quest structures? Social structures? Are character skill development or random die rolls necessary? Cosmetic features such as face morphs?

And how to keep the player base to roleplayers only, or even better, to make non-RPers pass as RPers in most situations? Two ways proved effective to achieve the first seem to be boredom (Seed's repair gameplay, quite boring if you don't fill the time gaps roleplaying, as well as lack of graphics in MUSHes etc) and frustration (Narfell's permadeath on low levels). Any more, hm, positive ways?

Keep the thoughts coming.

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I don't think any NPC's who don't have a living person (GM) behind them are useless and pointless. Same goes for quests: tasks for the PC's should be rewarding by themselves, and the closest thing to a quest would be mastered and not recurring (Think of the tree in Seed).
Skill systems and character development are IMHO needed - I like to know there are people who can do things better than my character as well as worse. But (I think it was mentioned here earlier) lower skill levels should be playable and useful by themselves and actually more needed than higher level (Example: a Master Smith can forge a Great Sword for the Mighty Warrior to defeat the Fearsome Beast with. But who's gonna make pots for him to eat from and shoes for his horse?).

The best way is to either keep non-roleplayers out or make them roleplay. Hidden skill levels, reducing the grind factor and the amount of numbers involved in the game will all further this cause.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I also quite like little useless RP props that your character can wear/carry or sit on, for instance.

There are benches in Eder Kemo in URU, that are interactive so that you can sit on them if you click them.
Same in WoW: tables and chairs in inns that you could go and sit at. WoW, though not exactly RP heaven, got a lot of things right in the props and clothing department.

As for a quest structure for fighting or crafting? I don't think you really need any of that stuff. Not as we usually see it, anyway.
In URU, an NPC would just request you to do something. There was no quest log, no nothing. You could just... go do it. Or not. Much more like RL. Someone asks you to do something, you don't have any kind of log, it's not like 'bring me x amount of this' or 'kill  and y for me' and then you get 'this set reward.'
Even if the quests are not repeatable, in that form they feel a bit silly.

You really don't need skill structures and economy either. That depends a bit on the game though. If there's no combat you don't need a combat system. These kinds of things, fighting, death, economy, skills, cosmetic feaures, they vary too much from game to game. I don't feel that they inherently have something to do with RP.
In Seed we had no combat system.
In URU we don't have any system, really. And no one misses them either, they're just not needed.

I like NPCs that have actors behind them, but you can do a lot with artificial NPCs too.

In my ideal MMO for RP, I'd want as many people to come check out the game as possible. But of course, I wouldn't want to be swarmed by OOCers. And I don't think perma-death or lack of graphics are the answer. You punish everyone with that, not just the targets.
I think GMs might do a good job. Not having many features in the game that are much fun to do when you're not RPing would help too.
Seed's gameplay frankly wasn't much fun if you didn't RP with people at the same time.
In URU, all that is left for you to do, if you don't follow the storyline and get involved, is solve all the puzzles and look at the ages once or twice. Not too exciting either, you can only do that once, really. Though of course, you could just use it as a chatbpx with graphics. But I doubt many would do that once they have to start paying for it.

-Norah/Liath-
"Do not follow! The milk is not ready, and you are not ready for the milk!"
-Psychonauts: Milkman Conspiracy area

Re: The Perfect MMORPG for Roleplaying

I like to have some dynamic skilling when there are quiet RP moments. Those even happened in the MUSH I used to play, and I used to occupy myself coding objects. Actually, that makes it sound bad. I used to love coding objects!

So I would like a skill system, but a much more flexible one. Say you have two items and you try to make them work together. Some things will and some things wont, but you don't know until you try. And I liked the idea of submitting a plan for something. You could have an ingame Guild who approves designs if they are deemed worthy. On the other hand you could make a slightly different item, say a weapon, by combining different parts you found. So I'd like to see somethign more innovative that you could discuss in RP, exchange ideas, brainstorm etc.

I think NPCs can have a role, but they can again be more dynamic. They could respond to particular characteristics so the options change according to our behaviour ingame. For example, if people like your character, they could vote and give that character a thumbs up in terms of characteristics such as respectability, reliability, reputation...hmmm I seem to be working my way through the 'r' section of the dictionary. wink So you  make a deal with someone and you feel they ripped you off, you could vote accordingly. Then 'respectable' NPCs might give you the hard shoulder, while 'non-respectable' NPCs welcome you as friends.