Treshure 5581 Share Posted August 2, 2018 (edited) Spoiler This is part of my Understanding Roleplay mini-series. These posts delve past a beginner understanding of the concepts, exploring the topics on a more practical and fundamental level. More posts below.https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/173811-understanding-roleplay-order-chaos/https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/174109-understanding-roleplay-specialized-rp/https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/174254-understanding-roleplay-metagaming-its-importance/ I met a traveler from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” Ozymandias - Percy Shelley In my previous post, I explored powergaming’s twin brother, metagaming. We often understand metagaming as applying information acquired out of character into the roleplay world. On another level of understanding, however, we abide by this so that our real selves do not poison the fictional creation we strive to uphold. As metagaming has a more intrinsic connection to the roleplay world, so does powergaming. Powergaming is understood as going beyond the logical reach of your character. Being inexhaustible, all powerful, and controlling of other players’ actions are all examples of this. The explanation to why this rule exists is simple: we want things to be fair! But why do they have to be fair? Why can’t you go around being the indomitable glorious bastard you envision yourself to be? Powergaming players may be dissuaded to powergame because of the repercussions rule breaking brings, but they will never be dissuaded unless they know why this rule is in place. The Duality of Metagaming and Powergaming The duality of metagaming and powergaming form the basis of immersion and roleplay. First, metagaming establishes the separation of real life from your character. It creates and solidifies a fictional world which can exist independently. Secondly, powergaming ensures that the world you’ve created doesn’t go to hell. How? I’m going to use another Jordan Peterson analogy for this one. In his book, he talks about teaching children the proper way to “win games”. He describes a soccer game of which his child has just lost. He tells his kid, “It doesn’t matter who won, it just matters that you tried your hardest and had fun”. Well, how do you reason that to a kid? The scoreboard is clear! He is a loser! Of course it matters! And yet, soccer is not the only game you want to win. It isn’t the only thing that matters. Who wants to be friends with the kid who throws a tantrum over a lost game; whose dad is screaming at the referees and throwing profanities at trivial games? Nobody does. But if you can teach a kid to roll with the punches, to be likable despite the ups and downs? Well, sometimes we call that guy ‘chill’. And nobody dislikes a chill guy. The goal is to be invited, and to play, as many ‘games’ as possible. The aim is to be well enough tempered and liked to cooperatively enjoy the story of life altogether - not to get hung up on the trivial points here and there along the way. We’re social animals by nature. We cannot afford to sacrifice the cooperation of others around us just to chase an arbitrary goal we’ve set for ourselves. Yet, many do this. And that road only leads to unhappiness. Soccer, Games, & Roleplay The roleplay world is fictional, but it still is bound to the social laws by the people who play it. As this law of ‘games’ applies in real life, so does it apply digitally. The reason powergaming exists is to enforce an atmosphere of cooperation. Powergamers are not enjoyable to be around. They willfully disregard the cooperative story around them in order to pursue their own conceited desires. Typically this is power and the refusal for defeat. Nevermind the fact that defeat might create a more meaningful story. Forget that an unbeatable opponent creates misery for everyone that isn’t the opponent. When you’re tunnel visioned on your own character’s ambitions, you forget about the community around you. And that matters. Powergaming not only makes others dislike you - it disconnects you from the larger story at hand. There is more to the RP world than one singular character - there is a larger narrative at hand that is taking place. Fictions of Triumph and Tragedy The human soul is conditioned to deal with highs and lows. The traditional story has this element built into it: catalyst, climax, and resolution. Highs and lows of engagement and movement are naturally ingrained within us - triumphs and tragedies are the story of us all. That is why powergaming is such a grievous offense to the community. It violates human nature entirely. We’re able to dream of being strong and successful people, but sometimes these dreams are far from reality. In order to be this, real and hard work must be put in. But suddenly, in this digital world, we can simply create our dominance? Its why you often see 6’4 chiseled jawline ripped humans walking around. They’re living their wildest fantasies. But sometimes this fantasy is taken too far. Your highs endure more than your lows - you reach beyond the logical ability of your character and end up powergaming. You fail to participate in the larger story at hand. In Vailor, I had the opportunity to play a Romstun bannerman. As an initiate test, he was given the knife and told to flay a king alive. Soon thereafter, the character had flayed numerous kings - participating in battles and gaining infamy along with his bandit brethren. In the end, however, my character too was put to the knife; only by the emperor of Oren himself, in vengeance of his nephew’s death. I’m sure that if I stowed my character away in the hills somewhere, his record streak of murders and victories would remain unbroken. However, the story would not be complete. The delicious tragedy of a bannerman would not be told. Even though I lost in the fact that my character died, I won by seeing a fulfilled narrative carried out. In this, I encourage you to see a story completed rather than power endlessly accumulated. Conclusion A proper narrative and cooperation with the players around you is what is going to deliver the full satisfaction that LotC can provide. In the end of the day, we’re not here to win for ourselves. We’re here to have fun. Hopefully you’ve taken a little something from this guide. Edited August 4, 2018 by Treshure 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icarnus 1669 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Treshure with yet another quality post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacho 1737 Share Posted August 2, 2018 A good post! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotoke 25 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Pretty spot on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blago 1601 Share Posted August 2, 2018 ah yes.. thank you Treshure for I can now be a good roleplayer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThumperJack 923 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Wonderful stuff! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt_Noobman 1376 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Considering the raid on Holm today I don't think I can consider this post as it seems to be intended Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unwillingly 11139 Share Posted August 3, 2018 that's how it b tho Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treshure 5581 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 33 minutes ago, Cpt_Noobman said: Considering the raid on Holm today I don't think I can consider this post as it seems to be intended If winning PvP was considered power gaming I’d be very banned. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt_Noobman 1376 Share Posted August 3, 2018 15 hours ago, Treshure said: If winning PvP was considered power gaming I’d be very banned. Winning PvP isn't the issue, the issue is that the attack in the room served no narrative and completely derailed an important moment for around 30 people in attendance, essentially spitting in the face of your posted essay and everything it promotes for no other reason than a handful of people's ooc need to pvp. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaotikal 2236 Share Posted August 3, 2018 25 minutes ago, Cpt_Noobman said: Winning PvP isn't the issue, the issue is that the attack in the room served no narrative and completely derailed an important moment for around 30 people in attendance, essentially spitting in the face of your posted essay and everything it promotes for no other reason than a handful of people's ooc need to pvp. The post is still top quality, though, and there's lot to be taken out of it. @Treshure great post, cant wait to see your GM app. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky 0 Share Posted August 3, 2018 2 hours ago, Cpt_Noobman said: Winning PvP isn't the issue, the issue is that the attack in the room served no narrative and completely derailed an important moment for around 30 people in attendance, essentially spitting in the face of your posted essay and everything it promotes for no other reason than a handful of people's ooc need to pvp. Because absolutely nobodies role-play becomes richer when something that was supposed to go incredibly right, goes horribly wrong. Completely all movies, books, and tv shows are void of this sort of play. ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treepuncher2014 1 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Great job and effort on this post! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolcod77 586 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Very helpful post. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt_Noobman 1376 Share Posted August 4, 2018 20 hours ago, Sky said: Because absolutely nobodies role-play becomes richer when something that was supposed to go incredibly right, goes horribly wrong. Completely all movies, books, and tv shows are void of this sort of play. ? That might have been the case except for the fact that that NOTHING has come out of that raid. It's not conflict to promote a narrative or advance the plot, it had nothing to do with rp. The only reason it happened was for pvp's sake, no other reason than that. It would have been different if there were building tensions coming to a head between two disputing factions, but that was not the case. It was literally pvp for no other reason than pvp, and it went nowhere, and in fact, several of the members that perpetrated the raid have been banned recently for reasons that prove they had no intention of actually creating rp or advancing any narrative. Pvp is meant to be a means of resolving conflict between large groups of players, conflict however, is not supposed to be generated on a whim simply to scratch someones itch to left-click. People frequently and disrespectfully abuse the system on our server that allows for pvp simply to fight other players with pvp mechanics, not to serve any rp purpose and it is destroying our server. At least during wars you can actually identify the people who are coming to pvp you and see it as a form of escalating the conflict between two nations, but in the case of the raid on Holm, and almost every other pvp interaction that has ocurred this Summer, pvp has happened meaninglessly and has been perpetrated for no reason by groups of ragtag players that can't even be indentified as belonging to a faction or organization. In my opinion, there will need to be changes to the raid rules that only permit them when they're justified. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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