A Thought On Neutral RP Events

Wyrmrest Accord
41

It’s happened and my character’s name was apparently put on some “list”.

I never heard back from these people again. All the better anyway.

42

As long as everything is opt-in, and both parties consent, nobody should be shaming, calling out, or threatening “blacklisting”.

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43

I write my character as having never been a part of either of the factions, and I make a point to avoid locations actively claimed or fought over by the two factions. As such, I see the neutral events as the only events my character can really ever attend, which is fine as I have other characters to follow closer to the faction war.

I can see certain loyalists and enlisted army characters actively avoid such events so to keep their faction leaders at bay and to prove they are not conspiring or being traitors, but that’s on those players and how they want to write their character, not the event runners.

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44

…may I ride one?

OT: most has been said already, and well at that. But I wonder - who would do the spying on those neutral events? Who would do the writing up, and everything from there?

Was this question just meant, that characters attending neutral events would be covering in fear of being watched/found out mingling?
I mean…that’s a possibility - for a time. Because let’s face it, that preset would become boring pretty quick. And behind closed doors, where everyone is comfortable, fear won’t stay for long.

Another good point that was raised further up is, someone attending an event has no influence on who/what they do.

What if something unexpected happens? Something not even the event runners knew of? Just a person intercepting a speech or whatever.

In short:
Neutral events are :100:
Leave it to the individual how to react.

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45

A neutral gathering being actively interfered with by Horde or Alliance is interesting, but has to stay in the confines of a meta plot / collaborative story. That kind of roleplay sounds very cool, but only when people actively wish to participate.

Over the years I’ve learned you have to take a lot of care with who you do these more dramatic / “politically charged” (in terms of intrigue) things with. Even when you try to do something big and optional, people still react the second they think they’re being forced into something. Roleplayers have all dealt with a RP-related annoyance before you, random player, ever walk into the picture. We all carry suspicions that unfortunately color our experiences going forward.

So, OP: I’m sure if you ran that plot you could find a lot of people for it, but people aren’t into adjusting their fun to accommodate for something they dislike in the first place.

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46

As some have mentioned, lore-wise, there are still neutral factions out there. The Kirin Tor of Dalaran have not been seen since the end of Legion. They have clearly opted, as they have for centuries, to stay out of the conflicts of other nations. Dalaran is therefore a neutral hub.

The Cenarion Circle still appears to be neutral as well, with a goal of trying to heal the wound of Azeroth.

I Highly doubt Sylvanas could or would send spies or assassins to try and take on the entire Kirin Tor.

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47

Murder the Kirin Tor?

No.

Plant evidence that amongst the ‘refugees’ hiding out in the city under the protection of it’s neutrality and powerful mages are a number saboteurs and spies like Aethas, as people are torn between racial, national and personal ties and Sylvanas herself has just burned nearly the entire civilian population of Darnassus to death?

Oh … yes.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Sylvanas is a treacherous little crotch-weasel and doesn’t flaunt her superiority with garish shows of strength and intimidation like Garrosh did.

Garish. Garrosh. mindblown

Back on topic, but Sylvanas is, unlike her predecessors, known to be treacherous, underhanded, subtle and willing to work through proxies to avoid being linked to dark deeds. This is public knowledge, as is the knowledge that the Banshee Queen is an (in)famous tactician, general and ranger and has entire legions of Forsaken that remain fanatically loyal and will pursue any of the Dark Lady’s enemies to the end of Azeroth and beyond.

This is not some bumbling oaf trying to be subtle, this is the person who has written entire series on being an underhanded, backstabbing, hypocritical leader and getting away with it with a slap on the wrist and an order to cover up her midriff.

You’re not going to march in the city streets about this.

You’re not going to head to someplace public, even out of Horde territory, to lead protests about this.

You’re going to meet in small, secretive groups in out-of-the-way locations, never for long and rarely in the same place twice, because this is Sylvanas ‘Treachery’ Windrunner, and if you love the people dear to you, even if you do not fear death yourself, you’re going to go to extraordinary lengths to keep your involvement in any anti-War or anti-Banshee Queen shenanigans so far under the radar people are going to have to dig deeper then the Dwarves ever have to find out about your part in it all.

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48

I agree with all of this.

Neutral events in a time of war doesn’t phase me, heck, I helped organize one that ended up having 70 people from 26 guilds participate.

What gets to me is events celebrating holidays in a time of war. It feels odd to be that, for instance, Night Elves are celebrating anything, right now, after a large portion of their population died in a genocide. The Night Elves should be in mourning, for most have just lost not one, but probably several people they loved.

But, I would never suggest they not happen. In fact, I applaud those who work current events into them. A holiday with a somber note, a gathering to try and rebuild hope. I enjoy those.

But I dont see anyone attending a beach party when their parents and siblings just burned alive in a tree.

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49

Beyond the question of how much people acknowledge the game’s story, I just don’t think lore dictates how a whole playable race should feel or process grief. I have personally found planned frolic to be vital for getting over crisis and tragedy.

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50

There’s also the cities of Ratchet, Everlook, Gadgetzan, and Booty Bay, All of Pandaria, much of Shattrath, the Darkmoon Faire, on and on. All of them deal openly with the Horde and Alliance and if you go these places, you’ll see members of the Horde and Alliance (and other neutral parties) interacting with one another.

You can absolutely be at war with the other super power in the world and NOT be at war with the entire world. People from factions that are at war with one another can (and do) encounter one another off the battlefield, and don’t immediately start trying to kill one another.

Do countries have spies everywhere looking for people with knowledge/influence that they can use to their advantage? Well sure. But countries do that to their ALLIES as well.

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51

The wake/face of a significant tragedy is actually the perfect time to celebrate an important national/cultural holiday.

Well maybe “perfect” isn’t the best word. Most impactful, meaningful, or significant might be a better way of putting it.

Yes, you are mourning, but by celebrating the holiday, you can help reestablish ties to those who are still there. You can help reinforce a feeling of solidarity. You can also use it as an occasion to remember those who died. It’s also a big spit in the eye of the tragedy, saying in essence, “We remain who we are, and you cannot break us.” Most importantly, it gives you an excuse to be a little happier in the face of so much would-be sadness.

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52

One of the people I RP’d with very early on the server had a price on her head and couldn’t venture into SMC for fear of being recognized. We had to meet outside the city for most RP. The one time we had to head into SMC for something, she had to disguise herself and keep her head down. It added to the RP to have the feeling that we could get caught.

Also during WOD, my “courier” toon (who was spying for the resistance) had to find places to pass off intel to others outside the prying eyes of Garrosh’s horde. We met out in the woods and in unpopulated areas, but always checked to make sure we weren’t followed or weren’t drawing attention before revealing ourselves.

If you’re playing anti-Sylvanas meeting to see “what can be done” about her, adding something like this gives the RP a better feeling of realism than just deciding your character is too good to get caught.

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53

Following William James’ one white crow principle …

One exception amongst many was The Christmas Truces of 1914 & 1915 during which soldiers crossed lines or met in uncontrolled territory in contravention of orders to celebrate holidays,

This was about finding common ground - soldiers in the trenches have more in common with each other than they do with the generals & politicians who dictate the policies which lead to war.

Not odd at all. Jews continued to celebrate their religious holidays throughout the Holocaust.

In anthropology this is referred to as a strategy for “survivance” - the word means finding ways to carry on as a people despite outside pressures designed to eradicate your culture.

If you haven’t experienced this yet in your life sooner or later you will be around a situation where friends encourage those undergoing bereavement to participate in social activities they would otherwise isolate themselves from.

All the sentient species of Azeroth are anthropomorphized to the extent that such behaviors could reasonably be expected. While a character might find such behaviors odd we as players shouldn’t be surprised at all.

As to geographical areas there are always places where things such as grey market economies, unofficial negotiations, etc. are allowed to exist. Places such as Switzerland where activities like international banking can continue. Or the privately financed republic in southern Madagascar where the pirates were just too powerful to confront directly or be too much of a diversion from the main battle zones. Places such as Casablanca where back room deals can happen. Then there are the temporary autonomous zones such as anarchist Barcelona. Historical examples abound.

Why assume that Azeroth would be any different?

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54

I could call this one of the major themes of the RP I carry on with a friend–our characters’ tribe working to maintain is identity and its will to carry on despite repeated deadly threats to its survival.

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55

So when are we all getting together to talk about how we could defeat Sylvanas?

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56

Well if we’re going by lore, Horde players cannot dislike Sylvanas, and have to canonically be a bunch of silly dumdums with no concept or morality or sense of self-preservation.

That sounds like pretty fun RP.

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57

treacherous little crotch-weasel

This is the best thing to come from this thread. Thank you.

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58

I don’t remember the lore ever saying my name specifically so obviously it doesn’t apply to me

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But it didn’t specify you’re not! Aha!

60

It does not make sense for the Alliance and the Horde to rub shoulders while Horde jackboots are running literal death camps, and no amount of mental gymnastics or “well, actually” is going to convince me otherwise. Attending a fancy soirée with people who have aligned themselves with a regime bent on the wholesale destruction of your people is more ridiculous than traveling back in time to an alternate reality to punch demon-gods in the face.

That said, not everyone is down with the current narrative. No surprise, given that it is gross and awful and suffers from a terminal case of Not Fun. Roleplayers are free to pick and choose what they want to acknowledge and what they want to ignore. This has always been the case.

Further, roleplayers are not bound to the faction system. Neutral characters with no ties to either the Horde or the Alliance do in fact exist and I can only imagine we’ll be seeing more in the coming days.

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