How To Fix The Pvp Problem

[Aislin 4354]

There have been a myriad of threads and complaints popping up since the controversial change from RP default to PvP default, specifically over the increase in PvP (who would've thunk it?). As many of you know, I was one of the more vocal advocates of the transition to PvP default, so take this into account.

 

I would agree with the qualms related to the increase in PvP and lack of RP. When I visit most places, I see a city full of armored men running around in circles, one or two people doing casual chit-chat roleplay, and a couple of nobles in the keep chatting. No need to throw out names or anything of the sort, but it seems that roleplay has largely devolved to either conflict or small talk. Why is this?

 

Entertaining roleplay hinges upon goals. Players need things to do, and that is manifested in individual, faction-specific, or server-wide goals. In Aegis, there was the Undead to occupy players as well as working one's personal job. Jobs were common due to the skills plugin, essentially making every player that dedicates time to leveling up their skills valuable in terms of the economy and within a faction. Merchant guilds, farming guilds, mining guilds, and other non-combat guilds thrived because there was a semblance of a functional economy -- contrast that to the almost non-existent economy in the Fringe. The current economy is driven by combat-related iron and diamond, as well as stuff for enchanting. As a result, nations and factions have no need for hiring farmers, lumberjacks and things of the sort (because it's all super cheap and can be efficiently done by 3-5 people total). This means people have no jobs, and therefore removing the simplest and easily adopted goal-oriented roleplay possible.

 

What goals do exist at this moment? Gaining power. This is seen through the internal struggles for the crown in Oren, Dwarfs, Orcs at the moment. Currently, with next to no infrastructure or employment structure being present in any nation, being a nation leader holds little responsibility or delegation (since one simply has to manage a small group of people i.e. the higher government tiers like a privy council). As a result, a lot of people dedicate themselves to striving for power and then sitting relatively idle with aforementioned power (generally speaking, of course).

 

The other manifestation of this desire for power or superiority is found through the endless PvP wars. From a gameplay mechanics standpoint, PvP is the only thing to do on the server. We have had magic, enchanting, brewing, statuses, and even Nexus PvP -- all of which pertain very closely to PvP. Few plugins influence things outside combat. What is the result? Players have been given toys for PvP, and have been playing with said toys. Raid rules also play a factor in this, just as VAs gave people incentive to be a villain and MAs gave people incentive to be a mage.

 

What is the bottom line? Currently, there is no tangible incentive to RP and a lot of tangible incentive to PvP. Many people blame individual groups of players for the abundance of PvP and lack of roleplay, but it is unfair to blame the players for this issue. Human psychology dictates that people will take the path of least resistance for the greatest reward. Right now, players don't need to roleplay so a lot of them don't. The staff needs to create incentive to roleplay. How can this be done?

 

1. Add plugins related to non-combat. The professions plugin should, in my opinion, be the highest priority for the tech team (and arguably should've taken priority over a lot of the plugins that have been released since last summer). Perhaps even forgo combat skills for the professions plugin? Just a thought.
2. Ease off the plugins related to PvP. We have a pretty cool RPG-influenced PvP system right now, and it's probably not necessary to release a lot of new plugins related to PvP for the time being.
3. Remove raid/war rules. They only cause bickering and drive the players to desire war more. No forced conquest or removal of opposing cities/leadership through war, but instead through consensual RP facilitated by war.
4. Ban trolly trolls. Self-explanatory, but right now there is virtually no fear of consequence when players don't stick to roleplay rules. This is coming from personal experience.
5. Nation leaders: start making jobs and giving players things to do. Even if all the staff ignores this issue, you still have the power to give players a lot of roleplay, stories and things to do.
6. The staff needs to focus on creating story and roleplay. The scourge is cool, but doesn't affect a lot of day-to-day roleplay. Giving the players the freedom to create their own story is great, but the players often need help to create an interesting, fun RP experience.

Obviously there are more aspects to this (since it's a complicated issue), but it's not my job to come up with the solutions -- that's the staff's. These are just some of my thoughts to help provide some guidelines, I guess.

 

TL;DR Give players reason to roleplay and not fight all the time.

[mmat 7460]

Make RPing funner than PvPing and people will RP, simple.

[Hanrahan 2983]

Damn straight.

[Destinator 137]

Agreed.

[seannie 7443]

aislinn is rep farming again.................

[_pok_ 1768]

 

1. Nation leaders: start making jobs and giving players things to do. Even if all the staff ignores this issue, you still have the power to give players a lot of roleplay, stories and things to do.

 

 

Literally my goal with my Priest, give people events like the Godfrey one. This isn't even just nation leaders, players can think of their own events too that take people away from the PvP aspect of our server and create fun and exciting story lines for themselves.

 

In Aegis, every character had a unique background story starting from where he began (maybe as a lowly miner or farmer) and their slow rise or fall. Every character had a story to tell or something that made them unique, right now I see a lot of the same characters running around and it's kind of sad to watch that go.

[Parading 302]

So much yes.

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

While reading this I realized there's no incentive for magic RP either, considering it's unregulated and anyone can become a master whenever. Just like farming or blacksmithing RP, it's an option, but not necessary so it's not done. Unless it's one of the guild-locked magics. I suppose you can use the same argument as you did for skills, we need a plugin to regulate it. That would be one solution, yet I don't have much faith in plugins that are supposed to make people RP.

[Space 2335]

While reading this I realized there's no incentive for magic RP either, considering it's unregulated and anyone can become a master whenever. Just like farming or blacksmithing RP, it's an option, but not necessary so it's not done. Unless it's one of the guild-locked magics. I suppose you can use the same argument as you did for skills, we need a plugin to regulate it. That would be one solution, yet I don't have much faith in plugins that are supposed to make people RP.

 

That's a really good point.

 

This whole thread is really good.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

[shiftnative 3103]

Very right on many points, I look forward to seeing them through - I'm not sure how many of these changes can be made now but many of these suggestions coincide with 4.0 and it's preparation. So good on you bru, hopefully we can all get back to making this place more cohesive.

 

[Haribo 385]

Aislin, you have my blade.

[Aislin 4354]

Aislin, you have my blade.

 

[Jistuma 1996]

Alras is pretty full of everything you said in your post thought... Jobs, and non violent roleplay.

[Neri 3590]

My profile picture summarises my entire reaction to this thread.