I've had a lot of fun, so far, combing the forums and seeing how much you guys love the game, and where you see it heading in the future. The immersion forum posted in september seemed to bring up a lot of debate about the purpose and practical application of role playing in vendetta. Role playing is the chocalate syrup on the ice cream that are MMO's. It certainly isn't needed to enjoy the game, but brings out many new flavors by adding that extra sense of immersion that really brings players coming back for more. Even players who never roleplay feel a thrill when they overhear a conversation that makes them feel like they are actually exploring the galaxy.

I am a student of Anthropology and Theatre at Kansas State University. In both of these fields I've done a lot of study on how people create identities and build relationships. Since I've been a gamer most of my life, much of my research so far has been on gaming and how it brings people together. I had some ideas to offer the community that could make "role playing" accessible and fun for everyone and help build a strong sense of community as more and more new players join Vendetta.

I'll start off with this point because I feel it is the most important. Global Chat is an ally, not a foe, to Role Playing! Yes, you definately get a lot of people who aren't role playing at all on Global Chat, but that's okay. The point is not to stop people from talking about things that aren't in the context of the game. Its to get them talking about things that are. Most people feel most comfortable role playing when their free to do both.

For example, I've played a fair ammount of pen and paper Role Playing Games in the past few years with friends of mine from High School. We tried for a long time to set up a game where we only spoke in character and it always seemed that those game would fizzle out. No matter how dedicated we were, we couldn't always think of what to say in character, and there was always something really interesting or really funny to talk about that was outside the story of the game. Eventually we decided to play games where this kind of conversation was allowed and found that not only were we enjoying ourselves more but we were role playing better and coming up with better stories for our characters. There wasn't the constant pressure to be in character all the time, and we didn't feel like we were following the DMs rules, we were just being creative and having fun.

So "silly" Role Playing isn't about what people aren't doing, it's about what they are. So that leaves the question, what can we do to increase role playing in the Universe. From my experience and talks with folks that run my local rennasiance festival I've learned that most memorable role play interactions are about 30 seconds. In that thirty seconds you are letting that person know something about your character and creating a relationship.

Here is a good example,
Regnor the Trader- This is a beautiful sector, but I've gotta get these crates of plasteel back to my home station before the ion storms hit.

Valik the Fighter Pilot - Hopefully we'll bump into eachother again, let me know if you run into pirates, I'll hunt the fiends down.

Or a global chat example
Regnor - I've just reached Omata Meditation, then bathrooms here are not reccomendable!

Notice how in these examples Regnor and Valik put things in their environment that aren't necessarily in the game. Comments like these are silly and fun to come up with off the cuff, and they do a ton to help out the immersion of the game.

When role playing our characters, it helps to have two or three qualities that pop out and use them all the time. For example, a catch phrase,

Grogg the Pirate - "Cargo Liners can live poor or die rich, that's what I always say!"

or a ship color

Valik - "I only fly'em if their pink."

Something that makes you you in the world of Vendetta.

Eventually these silly and small things will add up to create complex stories and relationships between players. In my role playing experiences, I've found it always helps if everyone veiws themselves as co-authors of the same world. People can talk in or out of character as long as they do something to add to the details of the universe. With a small community and developers that listen to our ideas, we have the opportunity to create something really immersive and special that we can later pass down to more and more players who enjoy Vendetta Online.

Thanks for reading.

La Vespa

I've never really tried serious RP. I always thought it was "silly", but what you wrote makes a lot of sense and seems fun.

I guess everyone RP's a little. Being a member of most guilds really means you are acting as a character, even if you don't really speak in character.

Good post. Puts it in written word what some of us have been doing for a while. Of course, you have experience, so I can imagine you run into the assholes who have nothing better to do but troll and bash RP before they log. But that's life, you win some, you lose some. Watch out for the trollers below.

LeberMac = Silly
<edit>
Silly = LeberMac
</edit>

rp is for dorks

Och, academics. Putting the glaringly obvious into purple prose and expecting a pat on the head for having done so.

See, e.g., (1) most characters herein use a single distinctive main hail phrase--such as the Void I look forward to helping you meet; (2) most characters herein, either by virtue of guild regulations or settled aesthetics, use the same ship colour.

Now, did you have an actual point you'd like to [EDIT] into that post? All we have up there now are premises with no conclusion.

Don't be such a meany-face. Smile!

I would like to do some editing because there aren't really any clear conclusions to what I wrote. I was anxious to get the ideas out and see what people thought.
As for academics, sometimes we need to put blaringly obvious things into prose so that we can take a look at the ideas and figure out how to use them. That and I'm an anthropology nerd.

The main point I'm trying to make is that RPers don't need to be strict about RPing or get ticked when people don't join in. And Quake people can enjoy some light RPing without feeling overwhelmed or a lot of pressure to stay in character, and its fun for everyone.

Dr. Lecter doesn't do "fun".

dr lecter hey didnt you read that thing it says BE NICE when you log on to msgboard. you should be more like me. always nice, polite, considerate, do not swear or insult ppls mother.

Come on people. Give Lecter a break. I mean, if you were an anal retentive needy psuedo-intellectual, you would lash out every time someone offered a suggestion that didn't conform to your perfect world of properly constructed communication. If you had no imagination, you too would probably attempt to tear apart anyone who dared offer their own in anticipation of constructive criticism.

So c'mon, give the good doctor a well deserved break, and let him do what he needs to do to ensure his ego stays inflated. Its the least we can do as a supportive community of role playing geeks.

Guns don't kill people. Lecter kills People.
Lecter has two speeds. Walk, and Kill.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Lecter has allowed to live.
...

:p

Two words : RP FORUMS

btw, I find Lecter amusing.

Carry on.

(EDIT : I think it is

Silly = LeberMac)

Right. Fixed.

First off, Apologies to LeberMac, I mistook you for someone else online, today.
Secondly, after spending a little more time in the universe, I see that many of you guys are RP pros. Much thanks, I had a great time!

Actually, I thought you had a good point. I was against global chat until I read your post. I wanted realistic communications in-game, where radios have a limited range, and maybe even take time for the signals to cross the universe. It's impractical, I know. I still think it would be cool, but I see your point about how it would damage the game.

Professor Chaos, we had such limited communications. It literally nearly killed VO, at least player-wise, since the community 'lives off' the long-range communication.

I still think channel aliases should be implemented though, so /join TGFT automatically joins the right channel, or /join trading, and the client ships with a sensible alias file. This is not too important now because player number is low, and so most things fit into 100, with a few things spilling out to 2-3 special-purpose channels, but as it gets crowded over time people might chose to leave 100 for more suitable channels for what they do.

i rp i got a gun
i rp i am a gun'n fer you
if you think rp is fun
you can rp too
i suggest you rp you're a run'n
and don't forget to tie your shoe

lol