Roleplaying Anger

Verant has presented us with an interesting quandary. They have proclaimed role playing to be this undefineable, nebulous thing. Yet they are perfectly willing to label their game an RPG and provide switches. Just what is going on here? To kick start things, I'm going to paraphrase the definition of 'role play' from a psychological journal. To wit: Role play is the act of defining an imaginary persona, replete with desires and motivations for the express purpose of acting out an imagined situation. Now while this is obviously intended to be very general, it certainly is applicable. To paraphrase, you create a persona with motivations, and then stick with it. Contrary to Verants objections, they have done just that.

Not to long ago I noticed a debate on one of the popular forums discussing the relative and inherent evilness of a necromancer. Basically it was postulated that a necromancer isn't necessarily evil. Well, this opinions piqued my interest, and I started looking into necromancers, and all the other race/class/deity combinations. The conclusion I came to? Either no one ever noticed or chose to ignore the blurb Verant provides you when you create a new character. Here is an example from the process for a Gnome necromancer:


"As one of the few Gnomes to hear the call of the Plaguebringer you must worship in secret and keep your true dark desires from your fellow Gnomes, especially the Eldrich Collective, or else they will banish you from the workshops from Ak'Annon. There are several Gnomes who also believe in the power of Bertoxxulous and form a group known as the Dark Reflection. You are feared even within your enclave for you seek to master the dark art of death, necromancy."
Whammo! Motive! Political conflict! Better yet, the players could actually create the Eldrich Collective and the Dark Reflection and role play Gnomeish political intrigue (what I thought Verant was talking about when they said guilds were going to be tightly regulated, but that is a different tangent)! Further, this paragraph leaves plenty of room for player modification. Nowhere does it say all Gnomeish necromancers must be diabolical megalomaniacs. There is plenty of space for this general role archetype to fit your personal role playing desires. But it is a solid boundary within which to place your character. What is even more outstanding is that there is a different passage along these lines for each character/race/deity combination. Guess what everyone, Verant HAS defined role playing in Norrath. We are simply ignoring them. What Verant had failed to do is encourage role play in any meaningful way.

One of the maxims of the pen and paper realm of RPG's is that the game master set's the tone of the adventure. While the GM needs to keep their players wants, desires and attitudes in mind, it is up to the GM to set the tone. Only the GM can make the game either a role playing experience or a munchkin fest. This truism is just as valid in MMORPG's as it is in pen and paper games. Verant or any other online RPG company for that matter, MUST set the tone. So how in the world to you encourage role play without forcing it?

Many ideas have been tossed about as to how to make an RPG an RPG. I think that EverQuest is uniquely positioned to take advantage of several of these ideas. First and foremost, the faction system can and should be implemented to its fullest extent. There was a time when you would take faction penalties when grouping with those of opposite faction. In short, if you group a Paladin with a Shadow Knight, both parties should take it in the shorts. Next, you can expand on this. Each God of Norrath espouses a code of ethics. Many of these ethical stances are compatible, many are not. Would it not make sense if the followers of these gods actually gained tangible benefits or penalties based on their 'god faction'? If the above mentioned Paladin continued to associate with their Shadow Knight friend would they not eventually become a 'fallen Paladin' loosing many of the powers that makes them unique? In short, give the faction system real teeth. People need to realize that there is a reason for the conflicts that the history speaks of.

To compliment the faction system is would be nice if the guides had the ability to give experience bonuses to those they 'catch' behaving in character. Other ORPG's have successfully implemented such a system. It can be a very powerful tool in making sure the player base understands that acting in character is much more desirable than talking about the San Antonio Spurs. One of the things I try to incorporate into my pen and paper campaigns is the concept that the best way to get a 'powergamer' to role play is to convince them that role playing is the best way to power game. A temporary experience bonus is the best way to go about this.

These of course, are just a couple of potential ideas. There are as many thoughts on how to encourage role playing as there are people. Personally, I'm waiting for the game that allows the players to actually alter the geo-political landscape of the world and had truly world altering dynamic quests. But that is just my personal taste. One thing the Companies need to be aware of is that while right now there isn't much competition in this arena, there are more games on the way. Ultima Online is still going strong with its appeal to the more violent minded and those that like crafts. EverQuest has the 1st person 3D thing going for it. But let's not forget Asheron's Call with there everyone on one world and player devoted factions. Nor should we forget Middle Earth Online, Dark Ages or some of the other smaller scale MMORPG's that are either out or in development. We are rapidly approaching a highly competitive market, and the approach of catering to everyone will no longer work.

I can't remember who, but a famous statesman once said that you can please some of the people some of the time or none of the people all of the time. I hope Verant chooses to please the Roleplayers (yes, a personal bias) especially since they are very close to having an outstanding RPG on their hands. All I can do is hope, continue to comment, and if all else fails vote with my dollar. I like EverQuest. It is the best Online RPG I've experienced to date. But I could really love it. Perhaps one day Verant will decide to encourage role playing. Until such a time they choose to do so (as Maxwell Smart has been known to say), they missed it by that much....

Tale by Ahtenret

The RP Switch is added


Let's talk switch shall we. No, not the once widely discussed PK switch, devised to protect players from the marauding Ultima Online huns. I'm referring to the newly implemented RP (Role-play) switch.

The greatest criticism of the switch seems to be that now that it exists those who do not wish to role-play in this game (which is by definition a "role-playing game") do not have to. Now they just don't turn on the switch and they can talk about any idiotic thing they want. Score of the Pacers-Nicks game; What level you should be to take on a griffin; ANY SPOILER THEY FEEL LIKE SHOUTING OUT TO THE PUBLIC.

First off, it's ridiculous to blame the RP switch for the bad behavior and lack of common sense of some people. We were doomed to be inundated with inconsiderate jack-asses. People who don't realize that if somebody shouts something like "HOW DO I DO THE BANDIT QUEST" that you can reply to the guy with a /TELL, not by shouting it out. Personally, I don't think you should be giving such information out at all, but that's another article entirely.

So the criticism is that with the RP switch around, you can just say whatever you want as long as you don't have it on. Well, it does create a scapegoat, but it doesn't inspire more stupidity than there already was.

I'm no saint. I've been known to comment out of character, carry conversations that have nothing to do with the game, but I typically do those in /tell form. Only me and the guy I'm talking with know.

So if there's a problem with having the switch, let's see if we can find any benefit to it, because if there is none, then perhaps it should go.

Let's start with a VERY common situation. I come up to a crowd of individuals waiting for a boat on the dock. Five individuals. One is "red" (A PK player), three are "blue" (non-pk players) and the last is "purple" (an RP character).

How does one talk to such a mixed group? I suggest role-playing it, but then I always suggest that. Remember, this is a role-playing game, so I suggest that the "purple" RP switch be used as an indicator as to your demeanor. Since this is an RP game, if you see a purple (RP) player in the area, /TELL your "out-of-character" question to one of the others. The only real benefit I see to the switch is to indicate to YOU that you should be sympathetic to somebody who doesn't want to hear your OOC nonsense.

Is this the only benefit? Again, only if people actually follow through on the benefit of having such a switch will this really be of any use. It may not seem like it in my articles, but I have the utmost respect for the people I've met in EverQuest and find them to be a cut above those of other games. That having been said, no community is perfect. Just as you have the bully up the street or the house around the corner that turned out to be a crack-dealer's place, you have people in EverQuest who seem to feel nothing for other players.

So my hopes are not high for the RP Switch. It's a tool that will go unrecognized. What's more, it lends credence to the notion that Verant had no intent of policing the environment to make it "moron free". They're a corporation, and as such will always lean toward the way that gives them the widest audience and the most cash. It's not in their interest to eliminate players, and thus is born the RP switch. The game is made by players and for players, as Verant is fond of pointing out, but they are funded by the corporation for it's own good.

Face it, it's their ball, and if they want to they can pick it up and go home. And all we can do is call them names.

It's an unenviable task that folks like Brad McQuaid and his crew are faced with. They must try and make all of us happy; even those malcontents at EverQuest Express. And they know already that if you don't like what they're doing you'll most likely still stay in the game, because they have the only ball in town. (Well, there's UO, but who wants to play touch football when they can play tackle!)

So it comes down again to the environment being what we make of it. The kind of folks who read Fan sites are generally those who want to have fun with the game. The kind of folks who read "spoiler" sites are just in it for the false "prestige" they associate with dozens and dozens of levels. So it is with a heavy heart that I relinquish my hope that the RP switch will make any difference. Because my plea as to how the switch should be approached will go unheard by the teeming masses yearning to camp, yammer, and "train".

My only hope is that this comes up on the search engines when they search for Spoilers. So let's add a few words they'll understand and maybe they'll hit this page. My Search engine inserts follow…

[ Spoiler. dOOd. Free Spoilers. EverQuest Spoilers. Most Excellent Spoilers. Get to 30th level with no effort. Cheat. Cheat your ass off. Spoil others good time. EverQuest sword of total annihilation. Slay dragons with ease.]

Article by Archanalia.

The First EQEmulator is heard of

This is another one of those weeks when I've gotten myself embroiled in a controversial EverQuest topic. I heard rumors of a team of people working on an EverQuest server emulator. And so I went looking. I gathered up all of my righteous anger and jumped onto a web board in the heart of evil, and began to lay waste to the corruption that I found.

I really did. My first post on their site was full of self-righteous anger. As a writer whose work exists mostly on the web, I feel strongly about intellectual property. I get angry when I see someone stealing the hard work of others. I'm not particularly creative. My mind tends toward the logical (or at least that's what I call it, logic...). And so I am jealous of those with creative minds. But I also respect them. So much so that I feel the desire to support them and defend them. And to me, an EverQuest emulator is blatant theft of the work of the Verant team. It's the sum of their careers over the last three or more years (though I've not forgotten their better work - Tanarus). I can only imagine how annoyed I would be if someone decided how my work of three years would be used. I would be angry if someone were to change the intent of that work.

So I laid into them. I raved, using terms like "...if you or your crew have a decent bone in your bodies you'll walk away from this project right now." and "The fact that you are in your home somewhere across the globe from the real people that worked 60-80 hour weeks building EverQuest over the last three years seems to make it a lot easier for you to ignore their efforts and their wishes." And I felt really good about it. And I don't feel bad about it now.

But I did learn a few things that I didn't know before. Unfortunately, the first thing I learned was something I already knew. The loudest and most talkative people on the net, especially when it comes to hot topics, are usually the least... intelligent. Many of the people on that board were more interested in calling each other, and me, names than they were discussing the topic at hand. It was a very polarized group. And, as is obvious from what I wrote, I was prepared to be ballistic back. I went in expecting a yelling match, and I got it. There were, however, a few that could discuss the topic with me, and they taught me a few things.

I learned some things about the idea of a server emulator. I'll admit to being almost completely ignorant about it when I went in. But through all the static and name-calling, I was able to come to some understanding. I also learned a bit about the vagueness of the laws that govern such things. Through it all, I've not been convinced that creating a server emulator is legal. I am still convinced that if it isn't illegal, it should be. The creator of something original should have complete control over its use.

Recently Sony lost it's bid in court to keep a Playstation emulator for the Mac off the market. This is not something that I like. And it doesn't bode well for those of us that don't want to see an emulator for EverQuest. But this one case is not a good precedent for something like EverQuest...

Nobody really understands that entirety of the legal issues here. And for me, a complete legal nincompoop, to make any judgements on the legality of such a thing would be a waste of my time and yours. But there are more than enough moral issues to discuss. And any idiot can talk about morality and be within his expertise.

We're not talking about a single product in the arsenal of a huge company like Sony. We're talking about the work of real people. Work that they've lost sleep over. Brad, in case you didn't know, is a father. His child was born while he was working on EverQuest. I have several friends that have new children, both men and women. I can't even imagine how hard it was for him to spend such a tremendous amount of time in the office working on this game when a new baby was waiting for him at home. All of these people worked long hours on this project. Real people, the cogs in the big machine. These are the people that an emulator would affect. No, it's not going make them lose their jobs. It's not going to cost them a penny financially. But it will affect them, emotionally. This is their hard work that you're distorting.

Don't get me wrong. I would be just as thrilled to play a game like EverQuest on my own server with a group of people that I get to choose, under the rules that I set forth, and with the world built the way I want it. Who wouldn't? But I would never steal something from someone just for my own happiness. That would make me... unhappy. Argue all the law you want, that decision can't be made on our level. But the right and wrong of the matter IS up to us. Take the time to make certain that you're on the right side before you act. A good rule for life, not just for people in the gray area of the Internet...

Editorial by Absor

Please enjoy this issue of EQX!

First entire guild gets banned and plane of fear is patched in

What a week!

First, we begin with the banning of an entire guild, followed by a patch update which allowed players to mint their own platinum. The excellence of the patches, which opened up the Plane of Fear and made many changes, particularly to the much-maligned warrior and rogue classes, were completely overshadowed by these events. The Plane of Fear was temporarily shutdown because a data error made the monsters weaker than they should have been. We finish with the opening and subsequent shutting down of Tallon Zek. All these events made for a pretty eventful week, and I'd like to share some of my thoughts.

Not everyone in that guild was banned, despite what the message boards said. Those individual members who were caught doing the exploit were banned. Verant had confessions from several of these individuals. Those in the guild who were aware of the exploit and did or said nothing had their accounts suspended for 3 days (a slap on the wrist, really).

From the accounts from the guild, however, the GM's were rude and abusive to those guild members. The guild pages state that they were harassed and then had their characters reduced to level one (Some of these characters were in their 40's.) before having the accounts removed.

I am not going to indulge in speculating which side is in the right, since I want to talk less about right and wrong and more about how player bans should be accomplished.

I tend to think that banning players is a GOOD THING. I have adminned a few MUDs, and I know how difficult it is to make sure that you are fair and aboveboard to the player population, while at the same time catching those that have discovered a way to exploit the game and are abusing the system and hurting the game as a whole. I was very leery of using invisibility and snooping powers, and would only use it when I deemed it absolutely necessary for the good of the game. We ran logs of players wealth at login and logout, and when they broke link. We had other ways of logging certain things what were checked only on occasion where we heard rumors of exploits. Banning players is a very sensitive issue, and must be done swiftly and with incontrovertible proof. Another important aspect, besides the detective work in discovering and removing the abuse, is the notification of the individual and the rest of the gaming population.

When the individual is notified, of course, all your ducks must be in a row, and you must have logs, eyewitness accounts, or useful proof of some sort to back you up.

Letting the game's population know about bans serves two purposes. It first shows that you are serious about making sure that players do not exploit the game. It tells the gamers that you are watching and do not want the system to be abused, and if it is abused, you will catch and punish those individuals. It also gets the facts out about the ban before the punished individuals get a chance to cloud the issue.

I am appalled that the EverQuest population were not told about this until more than a day after the banning. We, the gaming population, were inundated by posts, rants, and speculation about Verant and how unfair and abusive the GM's who handled it were. We got no chance to see the official side of it. In this day of instant dissemination of information, there is not one reason I can think of that there wasn't an instant patching of the ban and a scrolling marquee about it. Well, ok, maybe not a scrolling marquee. During the beta test the public notification of the banning was extensively discussed, with some folks wanting it to not be done to avoid embarrassing the banned players, to which most people said, essentially, that avoiding the embarrassment is easy - don't cheat.

As for the GM's being abusive to the players, I once again am astonished. Bans should be handled in a professional and business-like manner. Anything else gives legitimacy to an otherwise not credible individual or group of individuals. The conversation should go something like: "You duped items, we have proof, sorry you do not want to be part of the player base, we are deleting your account." If you have proof, no discussion about the facts of the incident is necessary, it's was either done or not done. Extensive abuse and accusations of lying aren't necessary. If you say anything, it's more like "Your account of the events do not explain that we saw you dupe a Rubicite Breastplate 20 times." and stop there. Abusing the cheater may give you a nice little rush of self righteousness, but in the end, it just plain looks bad.

By publicizing a price change in pottery, Verant allowed speculative players to abuse a patch by buying pottery sketches for 12 cp and sell them back for around 5 gp after the patch. This allowed the typical player with 8 slots and enough platinum to fill 16 backpacks on mule characters with sketches to cash in to the tune of over 10,000pp. You know, I take that back - it's not a typical player that would do this, only a greedy, selfish, and short-sighted player - I hope. Now the game economy will have to suffer a bubble of inflation, where players who earned their wealth legitimately will not be able to purchase saleable items from other players because players are running around with way more platinum than they should. It's not the end of the world, but ouch! it's a big oversight that never should have happened. Verant should know by now that any abuse players can find, they will, and act accordingly. Just... ouch.

On Friday night, Tallon Zek was opened after much speculation and anticipation. Over 5000 players logged in and forced a subsequent server shutdown and put Verant in the hot seat by forcing them to not open the Race War server until they had two, or even more servers. Once again players went on a rampage on the boards and in chat, expressing their frustration in rants of varying quality. I was one of those anticipating individuals, and sat in chat for a good while, but I had to leave chat be for it opened and got back after it had shut down, and so didn't get a chance to see the population explosion.

After the shutdown, the chat rooms were, in a nutshell, insane. GMs and guides tried to explain what had happen and calm the crowds, but with four chat rooms packed with unhappy players, it was about impossible to do. Rants played upon rants and though guides and GMs tried moderating the channels and calming people down, spamfests resulted when the unhappy players decided to "show" Verant what they thought. Bravo, players :P.

What can you do if you are a Verant person? Hell, I think I would, at this point, probably cry in frustration. Even though 5,000 players logged in, you just know that only about a third of them will really stick with it. The other two-thirds have main characters somewhere else and will never stress the servers like that again. Shutting the server down was the only option, but after weeks of work and tuning on the test server, I'd be nuts having to shut it down. Friday night was an unfortunate choice of times to open the server up, I think, because just about everyone is free at that time. It was the MMORPG version of an Internet IPO - massive initial speculation fed by a public frenzy, followed by a massive loss of value. Now, to address initial player interest, you have to spend the time and effort to create another server that may very well not be needed.

By now many of you may be thinking "Wow, Oghma is generally so positive about Verant, this seems almost a rant against them." Well, it's not, really. It's an expression of frustration. I apologize to the Verant employees who have worked hard and do work hard every day to continue making the game that has held my attention for almost two years now. Please, please, please take better care of those of us who aren't your constant detractors, using whatever gift for eloquence they have to abuse and slam your company and product. I feel like a staff apologist, even though I am pretty careful to look at both sides of an issue.

I know, too, that your company is not a faceless mask. I know a few of you and have consistently been VERY impressed with your dedication and ability. I guess that's why I'm astonished and disappointed when weeks like this happen. You must feel crazy at how this last, and excellent, patch was absolutely uncelebrated. Warriors and rogues got tweaks, many spell adjustments were made, the Plane of Fear was opened. It seemed that everything you touched went bad.

At the same time, I am getting increasingly irritated with my fellow players. The irony is that probably those players I am most irritated with do not read EverQuest Express, and so I'm preaching to players who in general have a positive attitude about the game. After reading the boards for a week, I now remember why I stopped reading the boards. The occasional thoughtful, insightful post is obscured by thirty mindless, misspelled rants and anti-Verant screeds. Here's a tip: if you give one company such power over your life and happiness that you feel justified in spewing your self righteous drivel on the 'net like hate, you probably need to adjust your priorities. If you find yourself threatening others to cancel your account on a weekly basis, please do. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to enter the game because of the potential to run across your twinking, money and item-grubbing, abuse spamming selves. Those of you who do not fit this category are welcome to ignore these suggestions.

I am stuck, now, on how to conclude this editorial. I want to say something, do something, that will encourage those players and Verant employees who love this game for what it can be and see Verant's efforts, though occasionally mis-steps, as a striving for a better game. I want those players and employees who put themselves in the way of this goal to feel shame at their actions and renew their commitment to a better game or get away from it.

Norrath is a state of mind and a refuge for many of us. We allow it's wide, open plains and towering mountains power over our personal happiness because we enter it knowing that we will, if careful, succeed, advance and even excel in ways that the real world does not offer us. We know that we will meet people, friends, who we can share this with and have a good time doing it. We know that in Norrath there are moments of extreme exultation, when a group finishes a melee with everyone's health bar less than a bubble, with no one dead. Seeing your first sand giant fall, soloing Ambassador D'Vinn, casting your first teleport spell that takes you across the ocean in a blink, completing a quest which took you weeks to uncover - all these are moments where pride, joy, and accomplishment mingle with wonder.

Because it is a world of wonders, we are frequently disappointed when that sense of wonder is brought into the harsh, glaring light of reality. An abusive player, an unfair bug or glitch, the loss of a corpse through the idiocy of players and trains, so distress us that we feel the need to lash out at something that caused our unhappiness. Frustrated players abuse each other and Verant. Frustrated GM's and guides, knowing that really, any action is a potential torrent of abuse, get gun-shy, stressed and even despondent. We lose sight, all of us, of what we are doing, and why we are doing it.

Keep the sense of wonder. If you are frustrated by camping and twinking, get away from it! Do something new, go somewhere new, do something that is not focused on any goal but the search for wonder. Verant employees, keep striving for new ways to show us wonder. Don't let us, in our short-sightedness, discourage you from your vision. Allow us to contribute to it, to expand the world of Norrath in ways you aren't able to do. Let us know what things are happening that affect our world. Keep us informed of the good and the bad, and know that our rants and complaints are merely indicators of our passion for the sense of wonder Norrath has allowed us to experience.

Editorial by Oghma

Just throwing it out, I always have RP flag on when I'm training EC tunnels because it is my duty as a sworn reserve militia man to deter any threat to Freeport

and as for the locking of people in the banks and my other hijinx, my friend it is but the will of bristlebane that I steal your loot, grief your camp, and prank your character in the name of the holy L-O-L

The Original Lanys T'Vil
This is in regards to the Straylight Saga happening on the realm known as Rallos Zek. My name is Kallystra and many of you may know me from my weekly articles in this very site. I am also a participant of the Straylight Saga on Rallos Zek and I am the child in question who was (and still is) the Daughter of Innoruuk (although the storyline in this has yet to show that). Let me basically tell what happened before, during, and after this issue. I have been roleplaying Kallystra, child of Mahlyce and Daughter of Innoruuk for some time. As far as any of us knew on RZ.com (ralloszek.com), I was the only "Daughter" of Innoruuk, GM or playerrun (although you will find quite a few sons) on any server. The storyline has been running a long time and is part of the plot of the Straylight Sage. One night, I entered Neriak to come face to face with Lanys T'Vyl (a GM) who called herself the Avatar of Hate and the Daughter of Innoruuk and called me a falsechild. I roleplayed my part against her, trying to make her prove that she is who she claims to be by asking her to recite the Litany of Birth, the Litany of Purpose, or atleast the Commandments of Innoruuk. We were having a pretty good time even though I was killed a few times by "The Power of the Gods" even though I had never laid a hand on her. Finally, she attacked one of the Blood Coven members (a guild of Teir'Dal sisters dedicated to the Father and our Queen). I could not take such blasphemy and stood between them. I was attacked and then when I called her a falsehood because she couldn't even state the Commandments, I was squelched (made so I could not talk in /say, /shout, /guildsay, /g) which I felt an abuse of power for I had roleplayed the entire time. I emailed Brad and crew and never received a response. Anyhow, the next time I faced Lanys T'Vyl, we mended our differences for the betterment of those that really mattered, the players. We now try and work together to bring the Teir'Dal community closer. When I see her, I acknowledge her as the Avatar of Hate and my sister and she acknowledges me as her sister and a Daughter of Innoruuk. There have been a few GM-driven quests and I have stood beside her and the others to help accomplish these things. I am very pleased with the way Verant is FINALLY trying to do more than just simple quests and trying to get an ongoing storyline. I also foresee Verant trying to assist more PlayerRun Quests (and I don't just mean those that are running to kill Lady Vox) and Storylines. It took them awhile to see things were not as they promised but are working hard to fix that. I have a few suggestions to help bring Verant and the Roleplaying Community closer together and have emailed them to Mr. Butler and Brad but never received a response. So, all in all, I believe the "Daughter of Innoruuk" plot that was "borrowed" from the Straylight Saga storyline was a low blow (they could of atleast asked) but then again, I am flattered they liked the idea. I am even happier that the GMs and Guides on Rallos Zek are working to better the relations between Roleplayers and them and not just "squelch" us anymore =)

Kallystra,
Mouth of Innoruuk

This was about the point that the notion "Super neat city where all races and classes coexist peacefully and magical book statues teleport you to any city in the world!" popped into my head

I like how all of the praise for the AI was basically just pathing bugs.

This thread deserves a sticky or a library move. Ozymandius, I haven't heard that name in ages.

Wow he really embellished his comments about AI. Gave it too much credit.

I can tell he just wanted to impress people :)