Arelith

Um not every belongs to every faction, is friends with everyone, and can pull quality rp and action out of their bum whenever they feel like it... if some can then good for them but that's not the case for many and saying its somehow our fault that we don't have such abilities on demand is pretty insulting.

It's really not that rude. For sure, not everyone can do that, but it is something to aspire for. Don't get so stuck in your ways that you're never even looking for ways to improve your RP.

For me personally, I don't belong to every faction (or maybe some characters are in more factions than others, but it depends) and I always change my name on new accounts so people don't know.

If I'm feeling "bored", I try to do something, even if that is run out and gather some supplies; do a shop run, to see if I can run into different people; run a writ (or go bash some things); if I'm sitting around, then I'll try to think of things to "build" with the fixtures system; I often make magical characters, so maybe that's writing some lore; and so on.

And if I don't want to do any of that, then it's time for a new character to mess around with. Sitting around "bored" leads to apathy and really not something to aspire to.

And i do, but nothing ever comes of it 95% of the time. Don't get me wrong, rp is great, player driven plots are great, but they only go so far... events at least for me breath life into the world much more then anything else plus they generate tons of rp, player driven plots, and more.

Boredom is the birth of apathy. All of Xerah’s suggestions for combating boredom are good and I second them. What I do not suggest is just waiting for something to happen. Laboring under the expectation that you are owed entertainment either by the DMs or by other driven players is kryptonite to other people’s fun.

No one has the expectation of you to produce Shakespeare every single time you log on. You do not have to be in every faction to produce quality roleplay. You do not have to be friends with everyone to produce quality roleplay. If you’re feeling bored and uninspired, maybe take a small break until the creative juices start flowing again. You do not have to be consistently stimulated in order to care about your own quality of roleplay.

I was told once that you get out of Arelith what you put into it. And while this does ring true to some degree, sometimes there are people who are more than happy to sit back and enjoy your energy put into it while not really reciprocating it themselves, and when this energy is inevitably spent, they’re more than happy to lament their boredom. I think its important to consider what you’re giving when you feel like what you’re getting is insubstantial.

Exordius wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:34 pm

And i do, but nothing ever comes of it 95% of the time. Don't get me wrong, rp is great, player driven plots are great, but they only go so far... events at least for me breath life into the world much more then anything else plus they generate tons of rp, player driven plots, and more.

In writing we have something called the “passive actor” and “active actor”.

Passive characters are characters who are reacting to the Stuff happening around them, and are never the person to intitate things themselves. They are just kind of there, and quests, adventure, “Plot” just falls into their lap. Ms. Marvel is a good example of this; she does not go out of her way to find out about her mysterious alien heritage or her enigmatic past; she recieves her powers and exposition for her backstory through flashbacks and by stuff just happening around her.

Active characters are characters who are driven. They are ‘doing’ things in pursuit of their desires. Desires can be as small as wanting some peace and quiet to read a book, or wanting to find someone to talk to, or going shopping for the perfect outfit. In any well written piece of media, you can always dissect any scene down to the characters desires and their pursuit of said desires. Conflict arises when desires conflict. Spongebob Squarepants wants to go Jellyfishing, but Squidward wants peace and quiet. Spongebob’s pursuit of his desire, jellyfishing, is now in conflict with Squidward’s desire for peace and quiet. Now we have drama.

The “life” breathed into RP is created when you have characters out there pursuing their desires, with spice added when opposing desires meet. Yes, all stories eventually end, and that’s okay and natural. As long as you can decide on a ‘desire’ or an objective for your character to do when you log in, you can always find something new to engage with. The boredom will not be relieved until you take an active role in engaging with the world around you in some capacity. It doesn’t have to be the most amazing stellar RP out there. Maybe your character’s desire is short term; find a friend to drink a beer with. Or, ‘ask somebody about their day’, or ‘get to know someone new’ or ‘go on a fishing trip’. Small goals are good steps. Maybe some day your character gets an over-arching goal they work towards, like world domination or the world’s best fish and chips recipe. Ask yourself what you need to do to accomplish your characters goals, and then set off on your pursuit of happiness.

I hope this helps.

Exordius wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:34 pm

And i do, but nothing ever comes of it 95% of the time. Don't get me wrong, rp is great, player driven plots are great, but they only go so far... events at least for me breath life into the world much more then anything else plus they generate tons of rp, player driven plots, and more.

Arelith is really 99.9% player driven. DM events are rare. I've gone over 6 years before without even seeing a DM event personally, not just not being involved in one but not even SEEING one. I actually for a long while thought we just decided to stop doing those unless requested by players and I was totally fine with that. There's no reason to wait for DMs. You can generate your own RP, and things always come of it. It happens every day I did it yesterday I'm going to do it today, and I'm going to do it tomorrow. Arelith has always seemed like the place for that, compared to other servers. More than other servers we're left to our own devices here, to find and create our own RP, with the occasional rare DM even popping up (which is a nice bonus).

I always found myself, coming into the city or an area, at the very end of events. Not that big of a deal for me. I love Arelith for the diverse player base, if people aren't interacting with you, I wouldn't call it bad RP... quite the opposite, either they come off snooty or whatnot, use that.

You're characters reaction to their actions or inaction is what RP is all about.

Staying IC at all times.

I have walked into the square in Cordor, and was basically ignored, but, I still responded to what was going on around me, even made a few friends, that I otherwise might not have talked to.

You never really know.

As for events. I do agree that they make the world a little more alive, but if you miss it, you would never know it happened, outside of hearsay IC.

I would love to be in an event, and would hope that I could be on the whole time.

Not everyone has all the time in the world to wait around and see, but, that is the beauty of what makes the events special. You don't know before hand... if you did, it would, in my opinion take away from the excitement.