Shattered Kingdoms

I am in a total quandary over this topic.

It seems like, in the beginning, the OP is saying the people actually tend to get too involved in their own RP and eschew others. But then it somehow evolved into how to reward RP?

If people are getting too immersed and obsessive to include others in their RP (which I haven't seen but, whatever) maybe we don't really need to do anymore rewarding. I tend to agree that the roleplay itself is the reward... I mean, we come here to play a game where roleplay is REQUIRED. Do we need a rewards on top of that?

The idea would be to incentivize -good- RP while discouraging the tunnel vision/refusal to engage others/cicrle jerk thing, which is why it's hard to code a system . . .



Again, according to Dulrik's own write-up of the game, it's roleplay required/roleplay rewarded. So, yes. There are supposed to be rewards.

Part of the issue may be, because of the use of the word incentivise which in some ways seems like you're bribing players to Role Play. The OP was only responding to a request by Dulrik to create a dedicated thread to something which was creeping out of another topic.

They then gave their observations on the state of RP and their opinion on the subject. Which doesn't preclude further discussion on the topic for or against.

Keep in mind a forum isn't necessarily the best venu for discussions like these; it's simply harder to converse about a subject, one post at a time.

Anyway, I presume RP is a core element of the intended purpose of this mud, and so it seems to me that discussions involving the means by which RP is promoted, enforced, rewarded, etc. should be measured against a higher mandate of what RP means to the mud.

That's why I didn't want to get into solutions, but rather try to respond with thoughts about what it is to have a comprehensive RP environment. An environment that gives value to RP. What are some elements that will make an RP environment successful?

Finally, a topic that really gets me passionate. I might love the peekay, but honestly, the only reason I keep coming back is because of the RP. It's a creative outlet that just cannot be rivaled. I also find myself attracted to positions of leadership/center of attention, because it assures I'll be constantly busy and can ensure the people around me are having a good time.

If you're looking to reinforce players like me for the RP, I have a few ideas for you:

An SK "Brain Age": Sure, we all have an actual age on our char worksheet. We all know there are people that are wise beyond their years. I would propose the addition of a "brain age" or "age of reason" tally that is adjusted by the amount of curses and rewards. Allow all players to tally marks for/against a character's "age of reason" but leave IMMs and PARs with the ability to reward experience as well as add those tallies. Use this brain age as the benchmark standard for RP-focused rewards. Also, because RP and PK are intertwined, I'd also advise that (and make this very difficult) it be possible to have a player rewarded with the int/wis/extra spec bonuses of age if their brain age breaks the regular age markers, without the physical limitations.

Center of attention mode: If your age of reason breaks a certain threshold, allow players to have a gimped ability to order ALL NPCs - though only with access to RP commands. Emote, pemote, say, yell, and socials. Consider these commands not under control of the character, but control of the player - much like score and att show the player something, not the character. Characters would, in essence, be able to RP NPCs around them with other people no matter their alignment.

DM mode: If your age of reason breaks the next threshold (an extremely high one), entrust the RP-focused players with some more advanced RP positioning commands. Such as follow, or even a very limited transfer command (like limited to xfering NPCs that are only in rooms that are available for gates and summons), to set up and game their own RP scenarios. Include a "return" command so if they get the wrong NPC they don't need to know anything to send it back to place-of-origin.

**And this is a more radical, I-don't-expect-it-to-ever-happen-scenario: Potentially, potentially give these DM-mode players access to a limited or timed wizi (strictly logged/timestamped so abuse can be reported) so they can navigate their own roleplays scenarios with other people that might not involve their own character directly. Trust them to keep the IC/OOC line, and strictly punish abuse. Open up the spread of people able to write and direct the SK story.

Open a new forum: Paragon Collective, where character profiles of NPCs may be posted by players, for players, on how they played a certain NPC. Let them write much more of the SK story. Also, potentially, a place for abuse to be reported/commented upon.

In short, if you want people to be paragons of the community, get your balls out of your purse and let these players really be the paragons of the community. There is a lot of risk involved, but also an infinite amount of reward. Obviously, all of these ideas are open to discussion and adjustment. The idea here is to make paragons really live up to their name. These are extreme ideas and may be limited in any way - but this is what would really grab my nuts, if you wanted players like me to be much more involved in the game when our characters may be in a bit of a rut (let alone at any other time). The reward of RP is in and of itself, to reinforce RP you should allow people to have more of it, with a broader range of interaction and control.

The real reward is letting people step out of their figurative skin and still enjoy writing/reading the SK story. It's amazing that - no matter how much you love leading and try to avoid drama - the drama and constant general buggery of the people can get in your way, once you're in leadership.

Fair enough, I have seen that somewhere before.

I think one of the problems here is high expectations. Not every faction can have a badass pair of leaders with combined RP/PK kung fu action. A lot of times you're going to be lucky to get one or the other. And nobody wants to step up because [REDACTED] that.

It seems like what we need, if it is somehow possible, is a reward for good leadership or something.

Spooky, are you responding to the correct thread?

[REDACTED] this.

I got an idea on how to incentivize RP, why doesn't the immstaff get off of its [REDACTED] and enforce the rules. Nobody RPs, because they're too busy masturbating to the piles of loot that they trade from one character to the next to keep on top of the game. It's this playstyle that is ruining the game for everyone.

I like some of the ideas, but my thought on this would be (like other RP genres)

Do we let the DM be a player too? Usually No.

I'd argue the game might be better served by introducing (if none of the current IMM staff want to take on the role) a few lower level IMMS whose sole responsibility was driving RP.

Give them the tools to step into NPCs and RP them, to create world / local / room events, have access to any in game skill, etc.

I'd seek those people out of the ranks of the Paragons, for sure, and there is no reason why people couldn't come and go from those roles. BUT some distinction should be made between characters playing the game and players who have their hands in the proverbial cookie jar of DMing.

Call me old fashioned for thinking that way.

That thought doesn't preclude some of yours, but at the same time maybe you wouldn't go so far if you had dedicated imms whose duty was to create RP.

Anyway stepping back from solution discussion, for a second, what would you say the problem you're trying to fix is, if you were to give it words? That's perhaps more interesting.

Is it Rp stagnation, lack of stories, lack of direction, etc.? That's what I'm getting out of it... but I could be interpretting things incorrectly. Anyway it's good to identify what you're trying to fix before we jump in with solutions.

... I dunno?

The reference to leadership makes me think you were responding specifically to the Faction RPK thread.