New Celest

Maligorn

So here's the scoop. I've been alting in New Celest on a little Tahtetso alt, surprise, I'm Naraj. Most people I care about knew by this point, anyway.

I remember @Zouviqil mentioning something about being starved for roleplay in these places, and holy god do I feel like Spongebob without water. Fuckin' thirsty despite all these flooded rooms. So I'm here to outline what I think are the problems here, and I totally understand that they're going to sound inflammatory as hell. But what's a little healing without some stinging right.

1). That little group of sex alts that circulate between Gaudiguch and Hallifax have been burrowing into Celest and Serenwilde, and people are tolerating them. These are people that generally walk around being snooty little shits, deliberately stirring up drama and fornicating in manses. They also can't be bothered to use good grammar, and they tend to just drop off into AFK-itude while people are trying to converse with them. It's infuriating that these people get the spotlight just by virtue of the drama they cause,.

2). There is way too much blurring of lines between IC and OOC. I literally heard Daebach call the enemy group a "zerg" today, and Caerlyr calling an enemy caught out a "silly bitch". What the fuck? I don't want to hear that, that's shit I hear while playing League of Legends, not the classy Lusternia experience I desire.

NO ONE ROLEPLAYS. All I see is gigglemonsters Saoirse and Ayi (grandmistress of Discipline what) (thankfully, Saoirse and Ayi can both have their serious sides and are both fair GAs) bouncing up and down everywhere, and people just kinda look at them. Everyone else basically roleplays as themselves, except for the most superficial emotes and thoughts. @Preston appeared and started PRAISING THE SUN LIGHT aggressively, and despite him hamming it up deliberately, it's better than the generic "walk in the Light" or "be well" on the city aether I hear. By the way, the city aether is basically an enter/leave log, since no one strikes up interesting conversations. Jaamil namedrops Methrenton and Japhiel a few times. Ryboi's running around with his D'Varden family tahto (what is Humility) and Xena doesn't even attempt to roleplay (which is sad, because I knew her before she started playing Xena and she had a killer RP before that). Kelly tends to be oddly detached from everyone else, at least IC. Aquamancers are basically in the periphery, I never hear any cool scholarly talk or philosophy about Water basically ever. There're no sermons. Absolutely nothing but quasi-OOC commentary. The only droplet of RP I've gotten since rolling Naraj is attending a Paladin knighting ceremony that Snaithy presided over, and Snaithy doesn't log in much. Any RP I try to inject into the atmosphere is seemingly apathy'd away.

3). It's painfully obvious that all social interaction takes place in OOC clans. Painfully. Obvious.

4). I think classflex has run a little rampant in New Celest. It's blurring the lines of the guilds, just everyone doing their own little thing without really interacting with other people. I think if anyone stopped and actually read the guild scroll for Tahtetso, they'd realise that the guild should be rather selective if not completely refusing of allowing classflex students, since people that aren't in the Tahtetso are not following the Luminous Counsels or working towards Lumosis as they should be to temper their mind for monking.

---

Feel free to add more or dispute my findings. My discontent has run its course for now. I know it sounds like I'm just badmouthing all of you, but all I really want is for you guys to evaluate your RP and try a little harder. Your newbie retention isn't that great for a reason. Because today I was provoked and pushed enough to break my own Naraj's RP by making him confrontational and a little underhanded, and that has just soured my experience so much. Of course, that's mostly my fault and a discussion for another day.

Zouviqil

I am not going to dispute your findings, but rather, support them.

My alt was a Celestine Merian (I think she still exists!?) that did not look like your typical merian. Deep sea merian. Angler-fish inspired. I thought that this might be an interesting point to RP from. Awesome, time to look for RP!

... the only person I got RP from was @Aesic, briefly, for a test, and then, poof. Wait, no, I was flirted with at the Pool for 5 minutes until one of these lovely alts from that group you speak (who had been the one talking to me!) goes, "Oh, I didn't look at you, sorry, didn't notice you were a girl, haha!"

Also, ye Gods, the influencers. If they aren't influencing, they're AFKing at the Pool. That's all anyone seems to do, influence and... be... non-existent...

If my alt still exists, @Maligorn, let's find each other and do some attempt at Celest RP, okay?

Also, if any Celestians would like to say, "You guys aren't looking in the right places for RP", well then, where? At least from my experiences in the different orgs, with Glomdoring and Hallifax (and even Magnagora and Gaudiguch, to lesser degrees in my experience), you are RPing constantly. Even empowering the guards is somewhat RPed, you're not empowering them, you're encouraging them to be stronger, reminding them of their worth to the commune/city, etc. Something I'm not seeing the orgs I've alted in elsewise.

Edit: I would like to note however that Celest is actually bordering on excessive with asking how novices are doing. I and another who made an alt there at the time found that we did not go 5 minutes without someone asking us if we were okay. Not "how goes your learning" or "do you need help with anything" but "are you okay?" and I needed to say over CGT that if I need help I'll request it, and said person I was alting with suiciding their alt instead of continuing through with it.

Belibi

This "silly bitch" has snubbed Caerlyr for exactly that reason. If I wanted to get abused IC for being a dumb n00b, I'd go back to MKO.

Probably off topic, sorry. Guess I just wanted to say that from my extremely limited perspective I agree.

Kagato

Hmmm, a little saddening to hear you have been having such a poor experience.  Unfortunately some of the things you have mentioned are indeed true to some extent. Sometimes I will log in and find myself being the only one on prime, with a good 10 people sitting off prime, yet if I address people on the aether, there is not so much as a single 'hello' in response.  If you are having trouble finding RP scenes, perhaps get one going yourself and set the ball rolling.

While it will not be happening for a while, I'm planning out a big RP 'seminar' on some of the quests vital to Celests survival, explaining the quests, giving people a chance to ask questions, offer their own advice and so on, but it probably won't be for another week or so, I'm gathering all the info I can, plus I need to give people a little warning so they can make plans if they want to attend.

Other than that, I'm always up for a good solid RP if I'm not already preoccupied (which isn't a heck of a lot lately unless I'm hunting), if you ever see Kagato, don't be afraid to approach him and start chatting with him or asking him questions.

Maligorn

Belibi said:

This "silly bitch" has snubbed Caerlyr for exactly that reason. If I wanted to get abused IC for being a dumb n00b, I'd go back to MKO.

Probably off topic, sorry. Guess I just wanted to say that from my extremely limited perspective I agree.

Man, I wasn't even referring to you, but she did slander you too didn't she. I was talking about Etra. But this just highlights how ugly things are here.

Lavinya

Look for Lorina and Regnaso. They were the only two I could get rp out of on my Celest alt. Everything else was silence. It's not as much fun to rp by yourself. These sort of complaints I also had with Magnagora for a while, it has improved drastically. I don't enjoy rp that is just a chatroom. I'm hoping it's just a slump. You have a new god Celest, avenues for much new rp! Take it and run with it and keep the city enjoyable for everyone!

Kagato

Lavinya said:

Look for Lorina and Regnaso. They were the only two I could get rp out of on my Celest alt. Everything else was silence. It's not as much fun to rp by yourself. These sort of complaints I also had with Magnagora for a while, it has improved drastically. I don't enjoy rp that is just a chatroom. I'm hoping it's just a slump. You have a new god Celest, avenues for much new rp! Take it and run with it and keep the city enjoyable for everyone!

I try to respond to people that approach me to start an RP, just lately I have been incredibly busy with work and university, as a result my time online suffered drastically and I was rarely around.  I'm pretty much making up for lost time and have been around a HECK of a lot more the past few days =p

Maligorn

I'm hoping the return of @Meliana and a possible FESTIVAL OF LIGHT might perk things up.

Siam

Give us Carakhan Celest! We'll rp with her! I won't make her cry!

Neos

Siam said:

I won't make her cry!

Too late.

Siam

>:D<

Shaddus

This may come as a shock to all of you, so I'll put it in a spoiler. Don't laugh at me if this doesn't work, I'm on my phone.

I have an alt in Celest. Two, technically.

And what Maligorn's said is the reason I rarely play them. Tbh, Valtreth is the only reason Regnaso hasn't went to the Shofangi, and we see how that's going.

RP is getting bad in Celest. Classflex is waaaay out of hand. I don't think guild champions should be able to classflex. They're supposed to be the epitome of their guild's warriors.

For instance, tahtetso leadership until Ayi showed up was the same 3-5 people passing positions around. I have heard a tahtetso leader ask why we revere Keph, and we had to explain it. I've seen guild leaders stand around afk while novices ask for help, and I've seen guild leaders with the guild aethers off.

As for raids, I've literally seen raid EthGlom, run when a group comes to run them off, yell taunts about it taking so many, and then trying to summon midbies to kill them. I've seen him raid EthGlom to kill daughters, and when someone retaliates, he acts surprised and say that he should get revenge. There's a lack of RP and common sense on both sides from certain people, but some people are really making it worse lately.

Meliana

I think you see Saoirse and Kelly a bit too critically. Saoirse is a bundle of energy. Her rp IS to be chaotically hyper and all over the place (her enter exit messages are bubbles for a reason!), but things such as guild matters and assisting Kelly with domoths, and other instances where she needs to fight allows her to focus it in. Kelly is warm to the people she knows well, she is very much the aloof soldier to everyone else (Yes I am a little biased about both of these ladies but the above statements are still true!). There -is- rp in Celest but it can be hard to find, the mudsex alts you mentioned are not actually taken seriously by anyone I interact with aside from answering questions to them on CT. The thing at the Pool today, I had just arrived back from rping with Lady Carakhan when it transpired and I sent for Ryboi. I do think however, that some of it is the simple fact that you haven't gotten to know everyone yet. If you're wanting scholarly Aqua talk you really should seek out Telperion or Tridemon (he knows a fair bit about things as well).  To be fair I think many of us do get apathetic to the same old same old of people not wanting to rp but when you throw us a bone a lot of times we will snap at it.  

I do rp but we haven't really met and talked with any depth yet! I tend to be doing a million different things so unless someone engages me I am oblivious (I really need to work on that). As for the future I have applied for the Culture Minister and should I get it I'll be holding another Festival of Light (I may strongarm my way into holding one even if I don't as I launched the very first one and with it being my baby/pet project I'm a bit...greedy with wanting to lead it). What that means for Celest is tournaments, arena stuff, sermons (by the Celestines) as well as lectures (the Celestines and Telperion of the Aquas thus far), we will also have an essence contest, performances by the Cantors (if I can browbeat anyone), design contests, just all manner of things that will last for a rl week. 

It's something Saoirse and I have been working on to bring in a new era I suppose both for the city and for the rp of the Celestines as a religious order that offers spirituality to Celest. After the Festival, we plan for sermons and discussion to be a more regular thing. Also have you spoken to any Celestines about services we offer the city? It seems everyone forgot we have a baptistery room to perform baptisms for Celestians. Have you caught an ordainment yet? Saoirse has also taken the Principia Celestia workbook of our ordained and she's working on implementing the plans that fell through in the past. It will become the end all be all of Celestine information (basically a Bible) with sermons, prayers, blessings, information, etc. in it that will continually be added to. We'll also be giving tours of the guildhall and most importantly giving a history of Saint Tresalyne (this was actually Kelly's idea) and allowing everyone to see his resting place. 

Maligorn

You have a what room for what? Who's this saint fellow? You're going to do what? :x

Thanks for posting here, I was fairly counting on it since I know you have plans for Celest & culturey stuff.

Sorry for the criticism. I did take into account that Saoirse deliberately roleplays like that. Very Raziela-ey.

Meliana

And actually I just want to throw this out there but I suppose I really should put it in the raves..Lady Carakhan...I'm enamored! I love love love that she rps and I'm having so much fun with her! I just hope I'm not coming off as a brown noser! ALSO everyone else that has been visitng her has been stepping up the rp game which is great to see (some of you saw the log of Kelly explaining our history to her). 

Shaddus

The problem with celest is that the cool kids aren't as noticeable as others

Lerad

One thing to note, the spilling out of OOC in combat situations is one that happens everywhere. I usually try to keep all of my communication during PK in combat clans for that reason - OOC spilling out is inevitable when your brain is running hard trying to deal with the stress and adrenaline of combat. By avoiding all other mediums of communication, I eliminate the possibility of it spilling out where it doesn't belong. And also because thoughtstealers. Sometimes it is impossible when trying to coordinate with groups that are not all in the same combat clan, but well, most combatants that matter, on either Celest or our side, are in the appropriate clans mostly.

Instead of berating the existence of this OOC (it will always exist in combat situations) you may instead want to berate it only when it spills into says or citytells. I usually turn two blind eyes when I see it in says because I understand why it appears but many combatants in Glom, like Tacita and Xenthos, do not tolerate it. They speak out without hesitation and ask for OOC spillage to be kept in the appropriate clans. The policing of each other by simply asking it to be taken out of certain mediums does a lot to keep the visible and RP environment less toxic. I also know that there are combatants in Celest/Serenwilde/Hallifax who do this kind of policing as well, like Rivius. Take some cues from them, work with them. Enough people saying to keep OOC out of IC mediums will eventually get the message across.

Note that this is the same for trashtalking - it definitely happens as it is a part of human nature. It also happens that there's a lot less tolerance for trashtalking, even on combat clans. I've only seen it in private clans on my side. Well, okay, that's not strictly true. I've been witness to many a trashtalk shout. One reason why I feel it should be deleted. IRE MUDs do not need a global channel like most other MUDs. But that's another topic altogether. Even for shouting e-peen matches, though, there are unspoken protocols of ettiquette. And when someone whose head is too high in the clouds starts getting out of line, orders to stop will start popping up in the commune channel. Even if the shouting person is one of the prominent members. Whether or not the person listens is dependant on how the stars line up (just ask Celina, she does what she wants) but as long as the org maintains an atmosphere that makes it clear such OOC and trashtalk is not welcome in public medium, then all the negative energy and feeling created by such instances become trained on the person doing the OOC, and not the people around them.

tl;dr - You don't want to let those who are blatantly running their mouth OOCly to continue to feel good. Give them constant nudges to move it to somewhere private. No one cares if they gloat as long as it is not visible. That is far more constructive than trying to stamp out gloating. If you succeed in doing the latter, you're a shoe in for a Nobel prize. I'll personally nominate you.

Lorina

I am pretty much in character all the time, but sadly... No one ever really approaches me for intense dialogue. Younger folks I do talk to have the alt thing going on, and don't give me the time of day... So I end up just RPing with the same old folks! I rarely find a young person willing to RP, and experience my Holy Mother roleplay stance I take. Heck, even right now, I am with Meliana and Saoirse as they plan ordainments and city rituals. >_>

I think if you really want to RP, you need to engage folks. Hate to say it, but I never heard Naraj speak...

Tacita

I wasn't aware I had a reputation as the RP police :S

Anyway, more relevantly, I think it's important to highlight the difference between never fishing for RP and not being in a RP-positive environment. Lorina is 100% right that if you want RP you have to go looking for it and cannot expect it to come to you. I can't say whether or not this is part of the reason for Maligorn's bad experience, being neither him nor a player from Celest - but I doubt it is entirely down to that, even if he didn't speak up much.

As much as we can say that it is possible to ignore people who are anything between flagrantly and borderline OOC, the fact is that it leaves a lasting impression. Too often, the voices of other people - like those who have spoken out on this thread - who are diligently and wonderfully working to foster an RP environment get drowned out by other factors. This is especially true for new players, be they new to the game entirely or simply new to an org - all roleplayers are nervous to varying degrees about 'putting themselves out there' and when you are new it's many times more acute.

I guess my point is that whilst you will only get as much out of RP as you put into it, there are still other factors that can serve as sometimes insurmountable barriers. That said, it sounds from the posts here - I am especially excited by the sound of what Meliana is working on - like there are many people working to break down those barriers.

All it takes is for enough people to jump on that bandwagon that it gets the momentum needed to become common to the whole org. Not everyone has to lead movements like that; the most invaluable people are those who support and throw themselves behind the banner-wielding of others, when it comes to changing the mentality of a roleplaying group. And that's tough, I don't mean to downplay it. It's really hard. But it's absolutely, totally, 100% possible.

Siam

For what it's worth, I have alted in Celest and was able to rp with a few select individuals just fine. Then...I got approached by a certain individual known for mudsexing, but I just ignored them and continued rping my little Celestian.

Xenthos

I do wish that the "zerg" references and various other blatantly OOC things would stay away from the IC; I know that, for me at least, such things tend to push me away from wanting to deal with the people wherever they are (and if they are hanging around in the Prime org, that is disincentive for me to be there).  It's just kind of a wet blanket all over game-enjoyment.

While it may not be possible to keep it all from drifting over, at least making a conscious effort to keep OOC from drifting IC can help considerably.  At the very least it does open up room for others to roleplay in without being made to feel uncomfortable.

Cyndarin

I really don't think public humilation is the best way to go about rebuilding a struggling org. Naming and shaming people like Kelly or Saorise really isn't going to accomplish much but foster negative feelings. People don't listen to constructive criticism if you start it with "This is why I think you suck..." 

 

My moral compass doesn't exactly point due North, so if I'm questioning it, you know something might be wrong here.

 

As for PKers and their occasional OOCness, I think it's just something you have to learn to deal with. I try really, really hard to not let random OOC phrases seep into my characters interactions. However, you have to remember that PKers are generally here to PK, not be paragons of RP. They just want to melt your face. They stare at and write code all day and their screens are often full of highlights and system side echoes that aren't exactly IC (namely because it's code for their system.) I mean, if the worst thing you're hearing from PKers is "zerg" and "silly bitch," count your blessings and move on.

 

RP isn't as easy as some people make it seem (i.e. Tacita), which is something I have to keep in mind when interacting with others and something I hope people keep in mind when they interact with me. Sometimes it can take ages to flush out your character's sustainable RP that you can enjoy all the time. I played Celina for years and years before I found the SD/Princess of Darkness RP that I enjoy playing up. Once I found the niche, things just fell in to place and RP become SO MUCH EASIER. So give people a little leeway. You don't know where they are in their character development. Instead of naming and shaming them, interact with them to help them flush out their story.

 

 

Except for the frolicking mudsexers. Burn them at the stake.  

Enyalida

While I can't speak to Celest-specific problems, having not played in Celest in a long time and not played seriously in Celest ever... I know that Naraj has a reputation in Serenwilde for displaying all of the problems you outline here: RE being a snooty little shit and stirring up drama.

Virlius

For what it is worth, I have made numerous alts in almost every one of the cities/communes in the last few days just to see if I was missing out on anything that I wasn't getting in Glomdoring. The short and most a appropriate answer is certainly not. This has resulted in immediate suicide within the first hour of play.

I am not sure if people in Celest and to a lesser extent Serenwilde think that because you play in an all round "good" org you should make an effort to act like a snuggly, but that certainly shouldn't be the case. In fact, with some organisations such as those members of the Celestines I would be expecting far more appropriate behavior than bouncing up and down on the spot and other such cringe worthy emotes. It makes me think that these type of people are dragging down Lusternia, demoting it from a RP-orientated game to a social chat room for teenagers.

I am by no means anywhere near as experienced as some of you and indeed I have only dabbled in roleplay within the Harbingers and Glomdoring but if it arises I'll certainly jump at the opportunity to engage in it. Even if I am not actively in the mindframe to roleplay, I'll still go as far as tagging emotes onto my says and dish out some atmospheric emotes.

Some people might think all I have done is influence/bash since I stepped through the portal, and yes you are correct, I have. That is mostly down to my own ambitions to get involved in the endgame more than anything else and lord knows to do that you have to spend a -lot- of time doing it! Although if I was ever approached to roleplay directly or inadvertently you could count on me. I personally try my best not to AFK in places that are busy such as the nexus or aetherplex or any some such because I feel that is just being rude and is also quite frankly immersion breaking if you ask someone something and they don't reply in a timely manner.

I'd like to give a shout out to anyone in Glomdoring or Magnagora looking for some good roleplay, you'll certainly find some there if you look for it. Even if you aren't looking for it specifically, you'll find that there is always a constant aura or atmosphere that is brimming with potential for it.

I hope this post made sense, I am tired sadly  

Vivet

Maligorn said:

3). It's painfully obvious that all social interaction takes place in OOC clans. Painfully. Obvious.

To be fair, I think this is something the game as a whole has been developing issues with, and needs more focus. Some orgs have been more successful than others, and it may not be as noticed/addressed, and may be way more poignant when various people are offline.

I do wish CTELLS, GTELLS, etc came with time stamps, so you can see how long it's been since whatever might have been said besides, "Hi" and "Bye", and it might give more incentive and initiative to people to reach out and interact.

Kaimanahi

I started on writing a longer post, but I shouldn't feel like I have to defend myself or explain on behalf of Celest. So I'll just say, sorry that the current Celest atmosphere, a rebuilding org, is not to your liking. We have not had any God direction for a long time, who are really the RP leaders of this game, and the Celest players have not prioritized RP in some time. I don't log in to RP, I log in to have fun, and that means something unique to every person. Sometimes I enjoy RP, but I don't like the insinuation that it should be our job to do so.

I did contest for city leader with intent of stimulating RP, and I echo the excitement over a prospective new God, but building RP takes time and investment and if you can't get behind that and be a part of it then you'll have to look elsewhere for something more mature.

Maligorn

Lerad said:

tl;dr - You don't want to let those who are blatantly running their mouth OOCly to continue to feel good. Give them constant nudges to move it to somewhere private. No one cares if they gloat as long as it is not visible. That is far more constructive than trying to stamp out gloating. If you succeed in doing the latter, you're a shoe in for a Nobel prize. I'll personally nominate you.

I'd love to do this, but I really don't have the authority. I think this happens anyway though, when it gets out of line. I understand that OOC things happen in the middle of combat -- I'm guilty of it too -- but it still stands that it needs to be worked on to continue immersion.

Lorina said:

I think if you really want to RP, you need to engage folks. Hate to say it, but I never heard Naraj speak...

I poke CT everytime I log in, and ask if all is well. Usually don't get an answer, figure everyone's doing their own thing, start gathering offering fodder for Carakhan.

Tacita said:

I wasn't aware I had a reputation as the RP police :S

Anyway, more relevantly, I think it's important to highlight the difference between never fishing for RP and not being in a RP-positive environment. Lorina is 100% right that if you want RP you have to go looking for it and cannot expect it to come to you. I can't say whether or not this is part of the reason for Maligorn's bad experience, being neither him nor a player from Celest - but I doubt it is entirely down to that, even if he didn't speak up much.

You're absolutely right. I am pretty bad about seeking roleplay on my own, or even creating my own, because I'm very bad at just starting things. It's like a trust fall into a playerbase that I'm not fully comfortable with yet (like I am with Hallifax). Also, I tend to be a reactive roleplayer. And I think most people are as such. That being said, if most people are reactive roleplayers, that means newbies coming in are likely to be reactive as well. When these newbies see little going on...they hop over to Glomdoring where it's hopping. And then the overarching problem of numbers in conflicts comes into play.

Celina said:

I really don't think public humilation is the best way to go about rebuilding a struggling org. Naming and shaming people like Kelly or Saorise really isn't going to accomplish much but foster negative feelings. People don't listen to constructive criticism if you start it with "This is why I think you suck..." 

I think you're right, and I'm sorry. I wrote this in the wee hours of the morning, when I didn't really have my head on straight. My first post is really full of emotion, and I understand if that makes what I have to say less credible. I'm sorry for criticising y'all.

Enyalida said:

While I can't speak to Celest-specific problems, having not played in Celest in a long time and not played seriously in Celest ever... I know that Naraj has a reputation in Serenwilde for displaying all of the problems you outline here: RE being a snooty little shit and stirring up drama.

This is probably true, and I'm sorry.

Kelly said:

I started on writing a longer post, but I shouldn't feel like I have to defend myself or explain on behalf of Celest. So I'll just say, sorry that the current Celest atmosphere, a rebuilding org, is not to your liking. We have not had any God direction for a long time, who are really the RP leaders of this game, and the Celest players have not prioritized RP in some time. I don't log in to RP, I log in to have fun, and that means something unique to every person. Sometimes I enjoy RP, but I don't like the insinuation that it should be our job to do so.

I did contest for city leader with intent of stimulating RP, and I echo the excitement over a prospective new God, but building RP takes time and investment and if you can't get behind that and be a part of it then you'll have to look elsewhere for something more mature.

I'm glad you log on to have fun. That's the point of a game. I wish you'd written your larger post, and called me out on things, but if you don't feel that's your prerogative, then that's fine too.

At the same time, if everyone has the same mentality you do, nothing is going to get done about the RP problem. You don't like the insinuation that it's your job to roleplay? That sort of confuses me, since you did indeed contest for CL.

In the end, I -do- have a nice, awesome even, roleplaying atmosphere to fall back on. I have a well-established character in that floaty city in the sky. Hallifax is doing really well for itself, and I'm so proud. But I want to help Celest in any way I can at this point. I want to make time and investment into it, and then hopefully move on to Serenwilde. I'm not a god tier roleplayer like Tacita, Zouviqil, Meliana or Nariah, but I do try.

I hope that my (truly idiotic) actions involving Serenwilde haven't spoiled poor Naraj in the eyes of everyone else. All I want to do is help y'all out.

Belibi

Vivet said:

Maligorn said:

3). It's painfully obvious that all social interaction takes place in OOC clans. Painfully. Obvious.

To be fair, I think this is something the game as a whole has been developing issues with, and needs more focus. Some orgs have been more successful than others, and it may not be as noticed/addressed, and may be way more poignant when various people are offline.

This. I'm not the best at seeking out social interactions with people. Until I got inducted into one of the OOC family-centric clans in Glom I didn't really know anybody except my IG father. Granted, part of this was the general lack of people in Blacktalon but there are definitely alot of people who I'd love to get to know better that I haven't really had any reason to interact much.

Kiradawea

Vivet said:

Maligorn said:

3). It's painfully obvious that all social interaction takes place in OOC clans. Painfully. Obvious.

To be fair, I think this is something the game as a whole has been developing issues with, and needs more focus. Some orgs have been more successful than others, and it may not be as noticed/addressed, and may be way more poignant when various people are offline.

I do wish CTELLS, GTELLS, etc came with time stamps, so you can see how long it's been since whatever might have been said besides, "Hi" and "Bye", and it might give more incentive and initiative to people to reach out and interact.

But what if I don't waaant to interact with people.  :P

More seriously though. The best way to get a good roleplay going is to have a good idea what to roleplay about, and then act upon it. I was originally gonna say that you need a good whole to be part of in most instances, but in the end that isn't true. I didn't need Hallifax to be a field researcher in Celest, and if Hallifax hadn't come out, I would still be proposing my mad science stuff. Just maybe with a slightly different angle to properly sell it.

Anyway, my main point is. Be the change you want to see. You'll have a lot more fun in the long run that way. Even if no one agrees, do it anyway. It'll be a terrific story later on.

Kaimanahi

Maligorn said:

I'm glad you log on to have fun. That's the point of a game. I wish you'd written your larger post, and called me out on things, but if you don't feel that's your prerogative, then that's fine too.

At the same time, if everyone has the same mentality you do, nothing is going to get done about the RP problem. You don't like the insinuation that it's your job to roleplay? That sort of confuses me, since you did indeed contest for CL.

I meant that, while fun at times, roleplaying is not something I am usually looking for when I log in, nor should I feel that I have to. The minimum criteria to the RP-enforced aspect of the game is to have a character with a role that fits within the bounds of the world and acts accordingly, and anything more should be at the discretion of the player. There are people who play because they really like to roleplay, but that mentality should not be expected of everyone. So essentially demanding that others invest into an aspect of the game that doesn't appeal to them isn't very reasonable, is the point I was trying to make.

Referring to the second quoted paragraph, I meant that it is not any player's job to have to roleplay, along the lines of what I just said. I'm not saying that I personally am not going to roleplay; rather I have been embracing the role of helping to stimulate Celest's RP. Again, it's not something that's going to happen immediately, and hopefully you stick around to be a part of it. In my opinion, this (cases like now-Celest) is where the excitement is - building up something from nothing, and having ownership in it. I would rather put my mark on a project than to play by someone else's rules or preconceived notions. 

There's always opportunities, it's just a matter of having the patience and drive to see it through.

Maligorn

Understood.

I'm curious to know what you think shattered Celest in the first place, since you keep using the word "rebuilding". I mean, it's not like it was Shallam'd. Is a bit off topic though, maybe we could take it to PMs.