Guild Wars 2

So, this is something that has irked me for a long time about the community in this game. I transferred to TC about 2-ish years ago because I really wanted to join the RP community, as I love the races and the lore in this game too much not to RP, but despite that being almost 2 years ago I have barely done any RP at all. Why? Because of the community.

So lately I have been mustering up enough courage to actually attempt RP, despite the fact I am very nervous and have had a very bad experience with RPers in the past, which only reminded me why I never bothered with this community. The elitism amongst RPers is ridiculous! If you make so much as one mistake, even if you were polite and well written, they make no hesitation to insult you and be on their way. Now I am pretty new to RP and can be a little slow writing out my responses sometimes (being anxious doesn’t help) and may not know all the etiquette (although I did google it quite a bit) and there seems to be no tolerance for this.

In one situation today I had been RPing with someone for a few minutes and I was taking a bit to write my response (maybe about a minute and a half), before I could finish they made a rude comment and walked off. I tried to explain I was still typing, but they just greeted me with more rudeness with the added bonus of profanity. People like this are the reason why I am AFRAID to RP. They automatically assume everyone is a veteran, and if you aren’t you’re not welcome.

Another thing to note: these same people also have this idea that only they know the lore of the game, and that things like SAB and legendaries, among other things, do not belong despite them being part of the lore and having explanations behind their existence. A lot of RPers also have the tendency to take things very personally IC (my characters are nice and I still get kitten OOCLY for dumb things like my asura being a racist towards sylvari, despite the fact my asura is very nice to all races). All things combined creates for a very unpleasent experience.

How am I supposed to get any better and create a more enjoyable RP experience for others if I am constantly attacked when trying to do so? It doesn’t make sense that people are making such a big deal over something that is basically just pretend for adults. Am I just unlucky, or have other people had an experience like this when trying to enter the RP community?

Why are you trying so hard to be part of a community that you don’t like?

Ameepa.6793:

Why are you trying so hard to be part of a community that you don’t like?

Because he is looking for a community he might like. He likes RPing, just not the people who do it.
I’dd suggest you to get strong. Make your RP character strong, don’t let them hit you. If they insult you, do not fall out of your role by talking about typing, but instead insult them back!

Elite RP: “You still don’t have an answer to me? We I guess you must be a kitten then”
You:“You could have waited for an answer as I was thinking of, however I do not think it is worth answering to someone who belongs between the mud and the belly of a pig.”

Dunno just saying something, but defend yourself!

RP community is just like any other: it has nice people, elitists|purists, casuals, jerks, friendlies, etc. PUGging RP is like PUGging dungeons: you could get anyone and anything could happen — if that’s too random for you, then look for an RP guild first (try using http://guildwars2roleplayers.com or the guild recruiting subforum here).

I don’t really have much to do with the RP community. One thing i will say it’s nice to see them in game on the odd occasion i have come across them.
I usually just go to walking pace say hello as i walk past and then be on my merry way.
I think best thing you can do Aguri is try find a RP guild ideally one that has time for new players to learn.

I can relate.
English is not my native language so it takes me a bit longer to type in it and wow do most people I’ve tried to RP with not have the patience for that.
And the bit where if you haven’t memorized aaaall of the lore, you’re an idiot.
I once was told, quite rudely, that I should RP only with other n00bs and stop wasting serious RPers time (although with more profanity in the deliverance).
When I answered that I would gladly do so and could I maybe have some directions to these new RPers? Well, more profanity.

Oh well, at least most of the people I meet in the game otherwise are friendly. =)

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

RP community is just like any other: it has nice people, elitists|purists, casuals, jerks, friendlies, etc

to be honest, and i been in a very huge RP guild and been Rping pretty much, 95% of the RPing people i have encountered are totaly elitilists. Yes they people themselves can be nice but they bring out the worst of themselves through RPing and that shows very well in their rude behaviour.
I have met very nice people, but as OP said, one tiny mistake and you are out, dont get spoken to or the kittens fly around.

To OP: RP on your own terms, and stop hanging in rurikton… worst place with dialogs being done over and over and over and over.

Gotta agree with The V. When people are RPing properly, the absolute worst thing you can do is drop character to explain that you’re typing or something similar. You stay in character at all times. The biggest problem with RP in this game is that there’s no in game help to do it. There aren’t any RP servers or anything so people make do with what they have. If we had RP servers or RP areas then people might be more patient since they know that the other people are there to RP rather than just getting in the way of them. But yeh, if someone gets annoyed at you for being slow or getting things wrong RP it off. If your character is nice, stay nice and apologise for misunderstanding them or something. Just stay in character

BeckaPL.2670:

If we had RP servers or RP areas then people might be more patient since they know that the other people are there to RP rather than just getting in the way of them.

This is a really good idea! =)

Yeah I’m afraid I don’t have that much experience with the RP community of this game (though I also really like to see them around), my one experience trying in this game wasn’t particularly welcoming or encouraging, but I can’t take that as representative of the entire community. I agree with the people above saying that finding a guild for it is probably the best bet.

I know from running tabletop rpgs that some people use RP as an excuse to be jerks. If you bring it up with them out of character they’ll hide behind the excuse that they’re only role-playing a jerk, not being a jerk! This is of course a load of bull. I imagine the key to enjoying roleplay in this game is the same as in tabletop rpgs, ie. it’s entirely reliant on the group of people you do it with.

Btw, if anyone says that to your Asura, just have your Asura explain to them that “technically the more accurate lexical entity would be xenophobia, but it is still an equally incorrect assumption”.
Also that “making such a declarative assumption as that simply reveals a propensity for xenophobia on their own part”, preferably using even bigger words if you can =P

Yeah, I don’t like RPers, either.
>.>

To avoid my own toxicity, I will just leave it at that. : P

I have two role play characters, which sadly do not get to role play. I am often sucked into actually playing the game. I run across small groups of role players I like to observe and enjoy.

Are you in TCRP? I am but I don’t run across many of the guild mates when I am online. It might help to join a RP guild and play with them rather then random strangers.

Also if you are typing a long response, break it up in a few sentences with …… at the end to indicate that it is a continuing conversation.

I know it doesn’t work in this game as there are so few emotes, but I think you can edit emotes atleast. But anyway in WoW when I played it a long long time ago in a gala… well… I played on an RP-server and there was one guy that I used to hang out with and he was mute so he only did emotes It was pretty cool and he didn’t require that many words to communicate.

I don’t RP anymore since I can’t realy live in to a role 100% in a game so for me it is enough that I have my biography for my characters. But when I did RP I never had problems like OP and it is so sad to hear that this is a problem and I hope you find people to RP with and can back you up in bad situations.

mcwurth.2081:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

RP community is just like any other: it has nice people, elitists|purists, casuals, jerks, friendlies, etc

to be honest, and i been in a very huge RP guild and been Rping pretty much, 95% of the RPing people i have encountered are totaly elitilists.

I don’t think that’s an accurate reflection of the community as a whole. That’s like saying you join speed clearing PUGs and 95% of the players you meet are dungeon elitists. There’s one spot in DR that I can stand and never see anything other than elitist RP in /say and another where I’ve only seen RPG-PUG-friendly examples. (I don’t RP myself, so maybe it reads differently to the participants.)

Freyah.8912:

BeckaPL.2670:

If we had RP servers or RP areas then people might be more patient since they know that the other people are there to RP rather than just getting in the way of them.

This is a really good idea! =)

That’s a terrible idea (in my opinion):

• There are no “worlds” in this game except for WvW (for PvE, there’s only a minor impact and then only on crowded maps); ANet would have to re-introduce servers.
• ANet officially designating RP areas would limit the flexibility of people who RP.
• It would also stifle evolution of the culture: the guilds that get there “first” would dominate, discouraging others.

Far better if people in the RP community were to name certain spots as newbie-friendly and then take pains to make it easier for newbies to find it (including advertising in these forums, in LFG, etc). This requires no effort on ANet’s part and so wouldn’t require a new game mechanic.

OP why are you afraid to do something in a video game? This is literally the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever heard. You can do/be whatever you want in video games, especially ones when rp is involved. so seriously, what on earth is there to be afraid of, lol.

For those who have been telling me to remain IC and to break it up in fewer sentences, I actually -did- do that. What I am talking about are OOC responses to IC actions, such as someone calling ME racist OOC for playing an asura. I am forming an RP guild with some friends, one which will be free of elitism, though. So hopefully that’ll make RP more enjoyable for me.

Just wanted to express the silliness that is elitism over pretend games. I actually get trash talked worse while RPing than PvP… which is really sad. Not sure whether I should feel better that I am not alone in experiencing this or laugh at the sheer stupidity of the situation.

RPing can be tricky, i did RP in another game and i was lucky that the people i RPed with was patience and so far away from being elitists as possible and only remaining hardcore RPers.

Think it’s just a matter of what kind of people you run into, just like in RL – i can pick a random person out in my town and try to lay out a conversation with him/her and i might just be called jerk there as i could be called in-game for doing the exactly same thing.

I’m a bit interested in RPing now due to the fact that Guild Halls are coming and guild should be able to make their own tavern there. It gives some privacy from non-rp people and then i got something to do after i’m done doing dungones or fractals.

I fully understand OP though, if i was RPing i cant blame anyone for being a bit slower to answer – becoming rude over it is just a matter of poor behavior and lack of respect imo..

Oh I know exactly what you mean. Roleplayers in general come as varied as any other group, there are plenty of nice and welcoming people, at least on EU. I only RP on GW2 occasionally, but I haven’t seen a bad apple myself yet. But the thing is, as far as I’ve seen they often tend to come in extremes. When you meet the proper ones, which thankfully are the majority really, they’re often the nicest and friendliest people you meet in the game. But if you run into a bad apple, run. They can be really really rrrrrreally bad.

In another game, I’m a guild leader of an awesome (dare I say successful) roleplay guild that has been running for 7 years, so I’ve pretty much seen everything. I’ve been threatened, had attempts to ‘blackmail’ me, everything. I can tell you that the nasty stuff I’ve seen roleplayers say or pull off , makes the worst of the PvP trash talk completely pale in comparison. Some take both themselves and this game very very seriously. While of course in-character that’s good, but when it transcends to out-of-character, run. I’ve once had someone find out my email address and write me an essay of about 3 full pages on how I was a monster and didn’t deserve to breathe, haha. All this, because my character refused the romantic advances of another character, lol. I’m pretty immune to bullkitten so I can laugh about stuff like this, but it’s still creepy as hell.

That said, when done in the right spirit, which the majority seems to do really, roleplaying is a fun and cooperative activity especially when you like the GW2 setting and I definitely recommend you keep trying. Just be wary of the obvious red flags and you’ll get there. Good luck!

I’m sorry you have had bad experiences with RP, I’ve had the complete opposite happen to me. I’ve met almost only great people.
like others said, getting some friends or guild to rpn with can help a lot, you can even have more deep plots and story than just random tavern RP where many people don’t really go past their first meetings with eachother.
As for elitists, rude people and similar issues, you’ll just have to learn to shake it off. Keep the kind people around you, and let the rude ones go. Don’t even look back, they’re not worth it.
You can PM me if you have any questions or need any help, I’d be glad to help you out.

No one is required to RP with you, and anyone who is enough of a scrub to insult you is doing you a favor by walking away.

The good people you meet are the ones to remember. Let the bad ones take their baggage with them when they leave.

And never, ever be afraid to do what you enjoy, because that’s exactly what you should be doing.

trolls are going to troll anyway. But most people will just ignore that kind of behaviour.

So I came in here expecting to side with the OP a bit more than I did, so for the sake of helping you out, I’m going to play the devil’s advocate a bit.

(Two big disclaimers first – while I have RP’d before, I haven’t done so in GW2. Secondly, obviously people being rude over this stuff is not justified, and I’m not trying to do so, but I did see a few red flags in your post and would like to point them out.)

First Point of Feedback

A minute and a half to write a response is an extremely long time, and there is no way in hell I would personally hang around for RP moving at that pace. RP is conversational and collaborative by its nature, and it needs a good, steady flow to be enjoyable to both parties. It’s much more analogous to talking with a friend than writing a novel. It’s of course harder while you’re learning, but try to have some respect for your partner’s time by keeping the flow moving.

Second Point of Feedback

One of the first general rules of RP is that you don’t put your character on a power level that’s way above everyone else. Sure, Divinity’s Reach has a monarch in the lore, but that doesn’t mean you should roleplay that it’s your character. Roleplaying that your character has legendary weapons (which, by my understanding, are one of a kind in the lore) is just as bad. If I saw someone with a Sunrise on trying to RP, this would be a huge red flag that I don’t really want to get involved with that character.

Now of course, it’s kind of hard to know any of this when you’re just trying to break into the RP scene. Your best bet is to join up with [TCRP] and see if anyone is willing to show you the ropes while you learn the things that keep the community running. The site linked earlier (guildwars2roleplayers.com) could also be a great resource.

1 minute and a half might be a lot to you (and to me too to be honest) But we have to be tolerant of how others RP too. I tend to have my replies ready in 20 secs or so, but I’ve rped with people that take 4 minutes each time. it just happens and I would never tell them to speed up. it only means that I’ll probably will have to go before we have finished a longer conversation though, considering I don’t rp for more than 1 hour usually.

Eh, if it is that big a bother I just turn emotes off.

I mean I dont need to SEE that someone is dancing, in text when theyre like two feet away from me.

People who call out RPers in say/map chat make me laugh, if it’s that big a bother just block em losers…

One thing I really, REALLY miss from CoH was the AFK message trick. There was an /afk command that turned your name grey to show you were AFK, and you could even enter a small message with it that would also appear. RPers soon found a way to bind a preset afk message to the enter key, so that something like “He prepares to speak” would appear to let people know they were typing and not just standing there.

I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I came to GW2 and found nothing to replace it. Which I guess I can say for most of the RP tools.

Anyway… try to keep your replies shorter, and do what you can to improve your typing speed. I can only give vague advice on that second part, because a lot of my own typing speed came from RPing.

It’s true that some RPers get highly elitist about it. So I don’t RP with them. I RP with people that have fun telling stories, are cool with bad things happening to their characters, and can put up with typos (we rag so much on our guild leader, her typos are legendary at times). In one on one RP I can wait a long time for a reply — I have some RPing friends who have new babies, so they can get yanked from the keyboard now and then — I just cue up some solitaire or forums on my other monitor.

When you get larger groups RPing then the slow typers will get left behind because at some point doing a “turn order” breaks down. That doesn’t mean they can’t contribute, though, as long as they tailor their comments to fit a moving situation.

One thing that really helps is to keep each line short. If you really need a two part line, you can toss in a dash or > or something to indicate more is coming; for me I usually only have two or three more words that just didn’t quite fit. But as chat RP is a give and take, you really do need to break off what you’re saying or doing at reasonable points for others to respond. If you do three lines of emote, odds are the other people around you might have had something to say or do in the meanwhile related to the earlier part of your action. Going on and on hogs the limelight something fierce. Sometimes you’ll get balked from making the point you were leading up to, so be it, that’s how social interactions flow.

Now as to the toxicity, I’m sorry you’ve run into it. There’s plenty of really nice, articulate RPers available, and really you only need to find a few of them to get into regular stories with in order to vastly enrich your game experience. Heck, OP, if you want some shorter RP scenes, just meet and greets, I have a lot of RP alts available for short bits, all races (though my ‘varis and humans are most developed). I tend to reactive RP, I wing it as the situation unfolds. For longer term stories I have my guild. I’m also on Tarnished Coast, by the way, we should be able to meet up on occasion if you wish.

I feel for you, op. My only serious attempt at rping in this game was greeted with a wall of hate in the rp forums.

But, them again, during my casual role play, if the person i am talking to spends 2 minutes to reply, i will most likely fall asleep. I only get to play late and sometimes i fall asleep during loading screens, so it’s nothing against slow typers.

Try breaking your speech in parts, so the other guy has something to do while you type…

Sorry, OP, but I find the idea of elite RPers pretty hilarious.

I can just imagine them getting all shrill and livid and gradually turning purple, behind their screens, as people type too slowly, or get the lore wrong.

Someone should do a show about these people, quite frankly…

Comedy gold.

I honestly don’t think that’s there’s any RP ‘community’ anymore. It feels like it’s changed so that everyone’s either an overblown villain, a pretty human noble or a painfully clueless sylvari. I’d advise you to figure out which people you like and who will be patient with you, and don’t go out of your way to please the rest. It shouldn’t be a chore, and it shouldn’t be a cause of any personal stress.

hey, you forgot mysterious masked assassins dressed in dark colors, that’s not fair!

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

mcwurth.2081:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

RP community is just like any other: it has nice people, elitists|purists, casuals, jerks, friendlies, etc

to be honest, and i been in a very huge RP guild and been Rping pretty much, 95% of the RPing people i have encountered are totaly elitilists.

I don’t think that’s an accurate reflection of the community as a whole. That’s like saying you join speed clearing PUGs and 95% of the players you meet are dungeon elitists. There’s one spot in DR that I can stand and never see anything other than elitist RP in /say and another where I’ve only seen RPG-PUG-friendly examples. (I don’t RP myself, so maybe it reads differently to the participants.)

therefore the words in my sentence: 95% of the RPing people i have encountered. for me this is accurate enough.

So all I am saying is that what i know from personal experience.

Tigaseye.2047:

Sorry, OP, but I find the idea of elite RPers pretty hilarious.

I can just imagine them getting all shrill and livid and gradually turning purple, behind their screens, as people type too slowly, or get the lore wrong.

Someone should do a show about these people, quite frankly…

Comedy gold.

Considering forum based RP’s can be pretty strict on post length and post content and time between posts and what you have to do if you plan on being away for any length of time, I’m not surprised that some RP groups in this game are a bit demanding in how quick and how well you post.

Aguri.2896:

snip

The secret to RPing is to respond in a quick and timely manner. Don’t type long, drawn out sentences to the point where you max out your text input. Just type quick bursts.

Example:

• /me shutters at the sight of Jessica in that outfit.
• /me I do not eat KFC. Begone fowl demon!
• /me Please master, I can’t take any more punishments today. I beg for mercy!
• /me knocks on the door, hoping the charr of his dreams lays within.

that does surprise you? Cliques that believe themselves to be special snowflakes usually act like that. Everywhere.

[/quote]
Considering forum based RP’s can be pretty strict on post length and post content and time between posts and what you have to do if you plan on being away for any length of time, I’m not surprised that some RP groups in this game are a bit demanding in how quick and how well you post.[/quote]

actually you are wrong on that account. Forum base RPs are not really Strict on post length and they give you plenty of time to respond and in fact they encourage that you take your time with your response and not rush it. Trust me I have done forum Roleplaying a lot and Its always been that way. We go from Semi Lit to Advance Lit. Depending on who made the thread and started it. Advance lit requires you to have 4 paragraphs and good grammar. Semi Lit requires less and your grammar can have mistakes in it. The good thing about forum Rp is that you can do a lot more.. Than you can do In game. You can add details and other small things. you can not do that in game.

No the problem with Roleplaying in this game is the fact that Roleplaying is even happening in the game. Until Anet supports the community like blizzard does.. I believe Role playing should not even be allowed in the game util they get their own chat channel Etc.. As most of the time its not really Role playing at all.

the mega servers did not help matters when you get lumped into a Shard that is filled with Role players that spam up your chat etc. Yes i could just turn it off. But that is not fair as sometimes emotes are non Rp and are ways to greet others.. Why did they have to merge TC with the other servers.. why could they not just leave that server separated from the others so Non Rpers do not have to pray they do not get lumped into rp infested area of DR ?

Or better yet..Why not give RPers their own chat channel they only know ?. That way they can use that to RP and stop spamming Emote ?. Sorry this might sound more harsh than it is meant too. its late but this is how i currently feel at the moment.

What OP wrote is exactly how I feel about this. I used to roleplay with tonics so I could play as an animal. You can only do so much as an animal though. But being incredibly introvert and anxious about doing something wrong in other roleplayers’ eyes I didn’t dare going any deeper into roleplaying as an actual, talking character. Past experiences with running into elitists have not helped me get over that roadbump either. Now I’ve just kind of given up completely. It’s not worth the effort.

I was a casualist roleplayer, you might say. I want it to be just for fun. Very few people I’ve come across while roleplaying share this sentiment.

This is just my experience, but it’s a pretty bad experience nonetheless.

Well, I can’t speak for the Tarnished Coast community, but the Piken Square community is second to none. There will be small cliques wherever you go, and not strictly exclusive to RP communities either. There are dungeon cliques, specific themed guild cliques, PvP cliques etc.

But as a whole Piken Square people are the friendliest people I’ve ever come across on online gaming. Come over to our side, you’ll be warmly welcomed.

Drink a bottle of wine.
Get in there dont worry about the lore and just have fun
And if you dont get the lore just tell m ur a simple brain that hasnt been out much IC
Ask like you would ask in real life and dont speak about stuff you dont know stay true to yourself .

I’ve been RPing in MMOs for years, I’ve actually had a lot of luck in finding open friendly RP. Unfortunately this is just a truth. The RP community as a single entity is usually pretty trash. They’re not open enough to the different ways one can RP nor to the differences in what any one person might consider as acceptable lorewise.

I miss CoH. They had the best community hands down, most of all because their ability to leave a little background for anyone to open and read before or during interaction. It let you claim up front that you’re new or how you liked to RP. It let you provide icebreakers for RP in the form of information anyone would immediately know or observe about the character.

From there my experiences have only gone down hill. I’ve consistently limited myself to guilds I know the members of and generally avoid the greater community cause they’re usually kittenholes.

I am probably pretty elitist myself, but I also have the sense to help people new to things including RP, I provide links to the GW 1 and 2 wikis and explain stuff thoroughly and helpfully.

Yet i ran into fellow elitists that were just terrible to people and myself, especially that I play as a noble of Canthan descent. They used to trash talk me that I’m a bad RPer and Canthans don’t exist anymore— yet, the game has many examples of to the contrary.

Also people know me for being a bit too on the realism side, and that may be a bit off putting when it comes to certain moments and stuff concerning my female character and not able to drink like a fish unrealistically as we do in game. she will actually excuse herself to find relief, etc after a few drinks and that seems to be off putting to some, but I RP in a more serious realistic manner how a person in real life would react to alcohol. Not down 500 drinks, and not even get sick or die.

Also I do a lot darker themes. Stuff that would fit a more M rating. My character did wipe out a whole Canthan clan over the period of 20 years that threatened Kryta and her own survival. Some may see that as cruel.

I usually as a result stick to my own small group and people I known since RPing on here in the first year of GW2. Like many here, I do reactive RP in the bars and main RP areas and don’t join guilds. I have my own house guild, but its dead and just me and my family of alts related to my main.

People think Canthans just don’t exist at all anymore? What, because the Canthan district was scrapped that whole continent stopped being a thing? The sister story line for human specifically allows you to choose Canthan as your character’s origin. My Ranger is Luscan, so screw them. They aren’t elitists, they’re RP TryHards.

Lord Azazel.8703:

Considering forum based RP’s can be pretty strict on post length and post content and time between posts and what you have to do if you plan on being away for any length of time, I’m not surprised that some RP groups in this game are a bit demanding in how quick and how well you post.

actually you are wrong on that account. Forum base RPs are not really Strict on post length and they give you plenty of time to respond and in fact they encourage that you take your time with your response and not rush it. Trust me I have done forum Roleplaying a lot and Its always been that way. We go from Semi Lit to Advance Lit. Depending on who made the thread and started it. Advance lit requires you to have 4 paragraphs and good grammar. Semi Lit requires less and your grammar can have mistakes in it. The good thing about forum Rp is that you can do a lot more.. Than you can do In game. You can add details and other small things. you can not do that in game.

No the problem with Roleplaying in this game is the fact that Roleplaying is even happening in the game. Until Anet supports the community like blizzard does.. I believe Role playing should not even be allowed in the game util they get their own chat channel Etc.. As most of the time its not really Role playing at all.

the mega servers did not help matters when you get lumped into a Shard that is filled with Role players that spam up your chat etc. Yes i could just turn it off. But that is not fair as sometimes emotes are non Rp and are ways to greet others.. Why did they have to merge TC with the other servers.. why could they not just leave that server separated from the others so Non Rpers do not have to pray they do not get lumped into rp infested area of DR ?

Or better yet..Why not give RPers their own chat channel they only know ?. That way they can use that to RP and stop spamming Emote ?. Sorry this might sound more harsh than it is meant too. its late but this is how i currently feel at the moment.

Like I said can be strict. I didn’t say all forum based RP’s are strict. But some are. All depends on who’s running the RP.

Kal Spiro.9745:

People think Canthans just don’t exist at all anymore? What, because the Canthan district was scrapped that whole continent stopped being a thing? The sister story line for human specifically allows you to choose Canthan as your character’s origin. My Ranger is LUXON, so screw them. They aren’t elitists, they’re RP TryHards.

Luxons FTFY.

Anyways they also say I’m some sort of weeaboo or some kitten. (Names of Japanese origin existed on npcs in GW 1 Factions go look for yourself.) And that annoys me to no end! Handled it pretty well in Lion’s arch when complaining about people using the wrong names on the wrong races and ethnic groups, but that is a whole another story and shows how far my own brand of elitism goes.

Behellagh.1468:

Look, another identical thread.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-f2p-causing-community-toxicity

Let’s get these kids together.

These aren’t related at all, except for both containing toxicity. These are part of two entirely unrelated communities, with very different questions and answers. Nothing would be served by “getting these kids together.”

May bad, misread RP as F2P and/or vice versa.

I’m an old school RPer from paper and pencil RPGs decades ago. In that environment, while lore and background matter of course, they really don’t define the character that much. It’s about how they act, what they do, and what they say.

This really isn’t very different than what most people seem to enjoy about movies and books. Does James Bond need to know all the historical details of the cold war? No, he certainly acts within that mileau, and yes, it would be rather odd if he worked for MI6 and he was born in Bulgaria but, for instance, how he feels about the Berlin airlift (or even that he knows about it) has never come up to my knowledge, and he doesn’t waste anytime discussing the origins of the cold war or the merits of the two sides.

Too much MMO RP seems to fixate on the lore and not on character. It’s always been off putting for me, as for the OP. Do you have to spend days memorizing lore before you can RP? In paper and pencil RPGs, you’d just jump right in and pick it up as you go along. When you are trying to loot an old temple, you don’t really care too much where the dwarf in your party was born.

I think some of this is because classic RPGs did their RP while doing something (planning a raid, recruiting a party, exploring a haunted woods). In MMOs, the RP seems to be consigned to the sidelines and basically exists only for itself, not as part of the whole experience.

That said, I’d still like to try a good RP guild that did in-world RP. You know, cleared a dungeon in character, explored HoT IC, etc.

qbalrog.8017:

I think some of this is because classic RPGs did their RP while doing something (planning a raid, recruiting a party, exploring a haunted woods). In MMOs, the RP seems to be consigned to the sidelines and basically exists only for itself, not as part of the whole experience.

I think that’s because in a MMO, you can’t really RP and fight at the same time. You can between fights, but during the actual fight if you stop to type in some witty one-liner or something, you’re going to wind up with a centaur hoof someplace unpleasant. In PnP RP, you can mix them both freely.

Palador.2170:

qbalrog.8017:

I think some of this is because classic RPGs did their RP while doing something (planning a raid, recruiting a party, exploring a haunted woods). In MMOs, the RP seems to be consigned to the sidelines and basically exists only for itself, not as part of the whole experience.

I think that’s because in a MMO, you can’t really RP and fight at the same time. You can between fights, but during the actual fight if you stop to type in some witty one-liner or something, you’re going to wind up with a centaur hoof someplace unpleasant. In PnP RP, you can mix them both freely.

well, actually you can RP if both sides are on the same ts3 and then talk whatever through speech but i wonder who will do that :O