Excessive amount of non-RP?

Bloodsail Buccaneers
21

I haven’t had anyone be rude to me as an RPer. In fact, I had some pleasant random RP today when I was just looking for a decent spot to fish.

The only thing I can recommend is that we all as RPers be a bit more diligent in reporting things. I have reported any non-RP name I’ve come across, though that can also be up to perspective. Some are blatantly obvious, while others are passable if you consider their character race/class theme.

I do sometimes think about looking into reporting Guild Names, though I don’t think that is as bad as character names. If your guild isn’t RPing as a clan, house, or other type of collective, to me it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s not offensive.

I would also encourage people to report players for harassment. Anyone bullying someone for RPing on an RP server is truly in the wrong part of the Classic world.

On that same note, however, I would say that we shouldn’t expect everyone to be RP_ready all the time. Especially on the global channels. We should probably establish an IC channel for global chat; the RP servers I played on in the past had them, with the universal notion that people were communicating through their hearthstones.

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22

Eh. Deal with it.

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23

I don’t think it is the rp as much as it is those who say the right way to rp. They aren’t pope of this dump.

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It may not necessarily be true, but it’s a solid indicator. Those who have a genuine interest in roleplaying would have given their character a name. There are also rules regarding names on RP servers. Not everyone uses addons for RP, people should not be forced to use addons for RP, and people shouldn’t be allowed to use these addons to circumvent the guidelines.

An interesting statement, especially considering you follow it up with this:

This is a roleplay server. If people want to roleplay in chat on a roleplay server, then they are free to do so. They are encouraged to do so. You’re not the pope of this so-called “dump”. If you find it so trashy, you are encouraged to seek out one of the numerous PvE servers available.

These people sought out an RP server. They either need to be participating in it, or at least be comfortable with it happening. Those who want to RP should not, and will not, hide it just because there are people who don’t like it. It’s their problem, not ours.

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People RP in general chat??

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I’m not saying RPers should have to hide anything. I also know it’s a RP server, that’s why I went to BB myself. But just because it’s a RP server doesn’t mean everyone there is interested in RP, I can’t say why people who don’t like RP went there because I don’t know. However, it’s how it is. Even normal/casual RPers might not want to be bothered by General Chat Roleplay. I personally haven’t seen it and didn’t know it was a thing until seeing this forum but it would be annoying to me if say I ask about something OOCly in general and some Roleplayer just starts RPing in a chat that’s NORMALLY meant for OOC conversation.

Think about it though, it’s not even logical to RP in any chat except say, yell, or emote chat. No one should be able to hear you unless they’re in yelling distance or normal voice distance. So technically these people RPing in other chats like that are just breaking logic at this point.

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To be fair, we know that magic-powered walkie-talkies exist in lore (we saw the Alliance using them after landing in Pandaria). Perhaps Guild Chat could be used as that…say ICly the guild issues such a device to everyone?

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I have yeah, someone will say make fun of RP, then a few posts later ask a question and that is a perfect time to give em a RP answer.

Equally as fun, back in the day of the RP-PVP servers after they allowed folks to make other side toons, when they would come nerd raging again another fun time to give em a RP reply :slight_smile:

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I don’t really get RPing while leveling in the world unless you’re RPing an adventurer. I’m not gonna be going around IC collecting 10 bear asses when I’m IC staying put in Undercity, ferrinstance. Also don’t really understand why anyone would RP in general chat, the only reason to do that would be if you’re not near each other, and then how are you talking exactly?

My suggestion would be to look around for guilds and start going to events, or just going to posted events in general. From there you can make connections and do smaller scale RP with people, and before long leveling will slow down and you’ll have people RPing in taverns and such. There’s also the matter of RP gear: I can’t get my preferred robe till 54, for instance.

Far as people griefing RPers go, report them and move on. There’s not really anything else you can do. I actually don’t think these people are likely to just leave at some point because of the time investment Vanilla takes; they’re not just gonna reroll on another server once the queues slow down.

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I mean, sure, guildchat for that. But I’m sure not everyone thinks of devices, whether magical or mechanical, that their characters will buy or make and hold on them at all times.
If people do end up thinking of it, sometimes (not all the time) it’s probably just the matter of “Oh, i need to talk to everyone… poof Guess I’ll use this randomly appearing device!” or they just… act like everyone can ICly hear them from anywhere without their character actually having a way of communication.

But it just doesn’t make sense for everyone to have these things imo. But I guess that’s just how I see it.

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If the device is in their MRP (say, like, clipped to their belt or something), that mostly takes away the “Poof! Here it is!” factor

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Ookz have 10 bear asses now.
Ookz think bear asses smell like bear. Hmph.
Where you want Ookz put them…?

Yep. I can do this.

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33

If you’re reporting people solely on the basis of ‘not having an RP name’, then quite frankly you’re being ridiculous about the whole thing and an utter jerkhead to boot. RPers will RP and they’ll do it under whatever character names they happen to have in-game alongside their IC names in profiles, and that’s just fine. The griefers who are deliberately griefing (not just based upon their character name) are the ones you should report.

People who get so worked up about such a small insignificant detail as an apparently ‘immersion breaking’ in-game character name make me absolutely sick. You and I both know that you are only reporting them to feed some kind of whacked out ego and community-tyrant complex where everything has to adhere to your tastes.

Any reasonable person can make the distinction between someone truly griefing the RP community and someone who is a part of it who just happens to have a silly name or who doesn’t actively roleplay. If they aren’t hurting anything, then there’s no problem. If they aren’t griefing you then they aren’t breaking your immersion any more than your UI and you know it.

Some people RP, some will not but like the community that an RP server provides; get over it and leave them alone. You’re far worse than them for reporting names entirely off the basis of “I don’t like this.” before ever interacting with them.

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34

I think there’s a big difference between being a 'community tyrant and coming together as a community to say ‘No, we’re not going to allow PigFugger and NickDigger on our server.’ Those are both names I’ve actually seen and reported. Sometimes you have to take the trash out before it starts to stink. The vast majority of the time the names people are complaining about are ones that are lewd, racist, or otherwise offensive, which are completely valid reasons to report them. Almost no one is complaining about ‘Legoless’ or ‘Manbearcow’.

If trying to build a community that doesn’t tolerate hateful or juvenile people makes you sick then… stick with retail?

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35

Maybe read the opening post before implying that I’m defending anything of the sort. OP clearly presented an issue with non-RP guilds existing on the server, mentioning several such names that are absolutely not within the bounds of being ‘lewd, racist, or otherwise offensive’.

That, is what I am taking issue with. I believe I made it quite clear by stating:

The names you mention would obviously fall under that distinction, but the guild names in the OP’s post and names like ‘Legoless’ or ‘Manbearcow’ obviously are not.

Read before you post, and don’t force implications that weren’t there in the first place.

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Do you not see the irony in accusing other people of being tyrants for ‘not liking something’ while stomping your feet and insisting that because YOU don’t have a problem with it, no one else is allowed to?

I did read the post, OP expressed some completely reasonable grievances with non-RPers on the servers that are fostering a toxic ‘anti-RP’ community. Those people are only there to disrupt others. The ‘everyone has fun differently!’ rhetoric stops being valid when their ‘fun’ is infringing on other people, not to mention the rules.

If the GMs won’t (and they won’t) do anything about toxic elements then yes, the community should organize itself and say “No, we’re not tolerating it. This is an RP server.” The only tool we have to get rid of those elements are reporting and ignoring them, and I’m in full favor of that.

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As someone who has roleplayed in World of Warcraft for years, this thread genuinely disgusts me and the idea that an RP server has to be so heavily policed in such a way that interferes with the enjoyment of people who are a part of that community without directly being associated with its roleplaying aspects is absolutely beyond my understanding.

Reasonable action against offensive names and active griefing behavior is entirely understandable and encouraged. Witch-hunting non-RPers and people with silly inoffensive names and guild names is ridiculous and further exemplifies everything that might give this community a bad name.

The OP’s post calls for legitimate GM action against non-RPers, people posting OOC chat in traditionally OOC channels across all RP servers, and people under guild tags not specifically tailored to RP (which, again, are present across all RP servers).

If you are truly in support of such things, then I may do nothing more than to express my desire to never interact with you in any substantial circumstance and to pray that the rest of the server does not follow through on the same McCarthy-esque logic of purifying for ‘immersion’.

Such an outlook is archaic, unrealistic, and above all obscene. Do make a stand against the genuine griefers who are actively there to disrupt others. Don’t make a stand against those that come to this server for whatever other reasons and co-exist peaceably alongside it as they will.

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I’ve also been role playing for a very, very long time, your appeal to seniority doesn’t win you any points here. ‘Witch hunting’. ‘McCarthy-esque’. ‘purifying’. I’m saying we should hold ourselves to a bare minimum standard, as a community, to put our own interests first. You’re rolling over and saying “nothing can be done about this!” when people start hurling homophobic slurrs at RPers on an RP realm.“Oh it’s just the bad ones, just report them, but don’t actually discourage them from making new characters, from inviting their friends and continuing to be abusive”. No, we should absolutely be intolerant of people who want to grief it and the people who enable it. “Well, that’s just something all realms have and we’ve got to live with it!” No we don’t.

I didn’t say anything against ‘co-existing peaceably’ I’ve said that we shouldn’t accommodate toxicity. OP says literally the exact same thing in the second line of the post. OP doesn’t say that general chat channel need to be IC, but they shouldn’t accommodate trolling. You’ve completely misrepresented the argument to make it seem like the trolls are the poor misunderstood ones who just want to frolic and be free, instead of the RP community just asking that, if you’re not an RPer, at least give our designated space some respect.

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39

Not everyone under those names / guild names wants to grief our designated space. And not all of those people are trolls. You can never know until after they’ve said something disparaging, at which point, report away.

And until they do, don’t become second fiddle to some ill-intentioned initiative to grief them by reporting people preemptively. If that is not your intention, then we are in full agreement in taking a stand against legitimate trolls against RP and have been arguing over nothing.

As it stands, the tone of this thread is seemingly much more in favor of precisely the behavior I described. There absolutely should be further consideration than throwing out reports on the first name you think might be someone of that nature. Give the people on this server, even those with such names, some respect.

If they are griefing, report them. If not, leave them alone. Is it that impossible to understand why someone might be concerned about how this sort of thing might grow out of hand in reverse if people just start reporting without prior provocation?

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I don’t disagree that people should primarily be judged on the content of their character, but I also think of it like this; a username (and guild name) are sort of like a t-shirt. It doesn’t necessarily represent anything about you, but it’s still a part of your first impression. Even if it’s not offensive in a typical way (profanity, etc) it can still be inappropriate depending on the context. You wouldn’t wear a cheeto stained Cannibal Corpse t-shirt to church. There’s nothing wrong with it, strictly speaking, it’s not illegal, but it IS inappropriate for the setting and the regular folks who wear nice clothing will see it as disrespectful.

Not all of the silly names are bad, but they’re still not appropriate. A server, like a church, is a community fixture anyone can use, you don’t need to be a member of the church to go to their bingo night, but there’s still expectations you’ll treat the space courteously. If non-RPers who genuinely don’t want to be disruptive want to participate in our community, then they could at least wear an appropriate shirt. It doesn’t need to be a meticulously researched, lore-friendly, ironed three piece suit equivalent of a name, but it shouldn’t be < Political Slogan > either.

It’s not a case of absolutes. I’ve seen lots of discourse about naming the last few days across the RP realm forums, the discords, tumblr, twitter, and even gasp the chat in game. MOST people seem to come to the consensus “Legoless is fine” but “Milkmedaddy” should re-roll, and that’s the camp I’m in. There are some who think everyone needs lineage papers for all their names, but they are, most certainly, a crazy fringe.

Classic is a chance at a fresh start, and I desperately would like for it to not go the way of many RP servers on retail where toxic non-RPers flooded in and were allowed to set the standards rather than be the exception, the RP community withered under the neglect and harassment, and lots of people abandoned it or transferred to Moon Guard/Wyrmrest, which have their own host of problems. Sure, there’s still great guilds on Earthen Ring, Feathermoon, etc but it’s a far cry from what they have been or could be.

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