Most people are familiar with the two ‘roleplay preferred’ servers on EverQuestII, it’s Antonia Bayle, and Lucan D’Lere. AB is one of the largest servers in the game (ie: most populated), and in fact houses both rp’ers and non-rp’ers alike. We ALL play on rp servers though, when it comes right down to it. These two specialty servers have a much stronger community, and utilities at their disposal – but we are all playing a roleplay game, and we all have the ability to roleplay (if we so choose).
One thing that really ticks me off, is if attempting to roleplay on a server other then the two preferred, you get mocked. Now, don’t get me wrong here – this degradation by other players also occurs on the other two servers but at least you can back it up with “this is an rp preferred server!” and some dirt throwing or what have you. On other servers, it’s a little harder to justify your characters quirks.
Some folks are brave enough to do it none the less, and I like them all the more for it. It takes guts to throw caution to the wind even in an online setting and to be able to ignore the /ooc (out of character) jeers and calls from fellow players.
My characters all have a background story, and from time to time I get the urge to roleplay with them. It’s mostly just me wandering around talking to npc within earshot of players in case they want to contribute (which has happened on a few occasions). I love roleplaying, and I love encouraging it, and I think it’s a wonderful addition to any mmo – even if you’re not the best at it. Give it a try some time, you may be surprised.
Oops, missed a hypen in that URL! :) …x-m…
Couldn’t agree more, Surely the very definition of irony is being called names for role-playing in-game by someone who is hiding behind a High Elf avatar in a magical fantasy game called Legalass or suchlike. :)
I’m loathe to link this under risk of being called a shill (that’s really not why I’m doing it), but over at http://www.equinoxmagazine.com we put up a link to a downloadable PDF of a ‘role-playing character sheet’ as penned by Whysprr Wyrdwynd of the Dirge boards. The idea is to help to give your character a little background structure, even if just a few battle cry emotes and so on. Just to help add some life to your game. It’s a cool little device.