Not all RP is improvised, most outdoor RP is planned ahead. Improvisation, in this instance, happens at a micro scale during these events. Like guild or community happenings.
Improvised RP usually happens along people already in the know, rarely do they RP outside their social circle or comfort zone; which are usually strangers.
Based on your clarification it sounds like maybe you mean impromptu RP.
I’ll be honest, in order for me to engage in world RP, I’d have to see it as an enjoyable thing, and I just… don’t. I’m really, really tired/bored of walkup RP/improptu RP, and it flares up my anxiety, so I’ll just pass.
You could be right. In which case I suppose should we consider World RP impromptu RP?
Honestly I’ve found the only way it works is with friends. Like, meet people in SW and Orgrimmar, then… ask them to do stuff with you.
I do most of my RP on Sarestha in Silverpine Forest, due to the guild I’m in. But you make friends through that sort of thing. So eventually you can be like “Hey who feels like some crossfac RP at booty bay” or something. And boom you’ve got world RP
It’s really difficult to get a lot of people to go out into the world and RP, because if you are playing far away from a major hub, especially without a group of people (i.e. a guild doing an event) you are going to have a much harder time finding RP than you would in the major hub. People just naturally gravitate toward larger crowds because they want more people to see their character.
For example, I played on a Starbound roleplay server called Galaxy Citizen with around 50 players on at peak times back in the day. On this RP server, there was a player-built hub called Horsebutt Inn (yes, that was the actual name). Almost all players who weren’t privately RPing used this hub.
Eventually, the hub burnt to the ground (either to encourage players to RP in a different hub, or in service of the story, IDK, I wasn’t paying attention at the time), but even though it was literally a pile of ash, players kept roleplaying in the burnt ruins of the inn for a few days afterwards. People were just used to being there, and they were worried they wouldn’t get the chance to RP if they went to a different player built area to RP.
People like familiarity, and people like being with lots of other people. So, the best way to get more people to come with you to RP in the open world, is to schedule a big event where many players will be roleplaying (at least in my opinion.)
I met a guild who became a close ally and great friend through a random encounter out in the world. So World RP is something that certainly does happen, and can create extremely meaningful relationships due to the organic nature of it. Its differnt, its out of the norm, its out in the wild. I’ve been close to them every since and it was all because I just decided to be IC while they were out there.
But much of whats being said here is 100% true All the phasing issues make it hard. Familairty make it hard.
And as much as people play this fantasy game where adventure is exploration is the draw, people actually hardly do adventure and exploration (perhaps outside of a guild. And even then…those people might be using it as a proxy for something else.)
A lot people just hang around in the tavern areas. Do the same thing. Meet the same people. A lot of the times that is a start place for other things, but it can get repetitive. But once people start spreading out, the hub goes away, and then people have no where to go to just “hang out”.
Then of course like the anxiety thing was mentioned. Sometimes people who are out in the world are there because they want privacy. You don’t wanna bother people having an important moment in their story, a picnic or uh…anything else. So no one is walked up to unless its made obvious.
And if you thought World RP was bad, If we get character housing, by how the state of the game is what whats provided (and not) I think that would kill world RP all together. I know there are many who would argue that it won’t, but people want housing because of the lack of space or places to go. Everyone is just going to huddle in their homes as hang outs and I feel hubs will be even more empty. But that is just my personal opinion based on the factors of what we have like the competition for empty houses, space in cities and over all privacy.
But World RP, really, just go out with your friends to hang out instead of the city. Pretend you booked an appointment with a mage to send you and your friends somewhere rather then the popular hub. Go hang out in another tavern!
I would echo both Leafbweeze and Crowley’s thoughts here.
World RP is unfortunately a challenging proposition given the sheer enormity of thr game world. That combined with consistent use of phasing and sharding? (Which, let’s be honest, does serve its intended purpose in keeping the gameplay of WoW healthy and without too much lag or fighting over quest NPCs/items.) – It’s a very difficult task.
Although Crowley touches on what I think is another large aspect in perpetuating World RP, that being the idea of proxies. Most guilds or organized RP in the open world doesn’t use the space they’re occupying literally. It’s often, in my anecdotal experience and from what I have heard from others, simply a proxy for their own storyline’s location, subzone, etc. Which isn’t a bad thing, don’t get me wrong. Blizzard does not give we RPers many tools to ensure an immersed experience in the open world. The gobbilty-goo of the timeline is already bad enough. (No, I do not consider Chromie Time to be any help for RPing the inconsistent in-game material, although it is a fantastic gameplay addition).
But it can be disheartening when I, random RPer #11, find a group of other RPers out in the open world and stroll up with a hook, or a sentence, or what have you – only to get it in the pink that “Oh, sorry we’re ~Wayne’s World Sound~ not actually here, we’re in .” – Although obviously that’s their business and it’s no one’s responsibility to suddenly twist their RP on a dime to facilitate a newcomer wholly unrelated.
As with anything involving the hobby of RP, I think good interpersonal skills and OOC communication goes a mile past the horizon. (I also think it would be beneficial if people used some of the in-game communication tools more readily and with polite manner to encourage RP. Not everyone is attached to multiple Discord groups to facilitate their RP or memes to build relationships, nor does everyone immerse in social media platforms like Tumblr for these things. I think it would be quite neat if /general was used more, for lack of a better word, aggressively in giving invitations/hooks for other people to come RP. I always thought this could even help move people around more in the social hubs, like Orgrimmar in particular).
I think most people do, that’s why I mentioned it haha.
Kind of relevant, but how does this work with Chromies timewalking? I guess with low levels it will become a bit more of a challenge?
Yes hello someone said World RP? Come to Duskwood, we have dusk, and wood.
Real talk, Thomas has been nothing but world RP and word of mouth over the last seven months I’ve rp’d him, and I’ve met over a hundred unique characters if my TRP directory is to be trusted. World RP definitely is a thing, not a huge thing, but a thing.
But this is very true, I’ve dedicated myself to being the Duskwood random encounter. It’s an rp style that I seriously enjoy, but it’s not for everyone. It requires patience and the ability to, as Vannadrel put it, play with yourself. But I can attest, if you put your heart and mind to the challenge, you’ll have fun.
This really depends on how it’s implemented. FFXIV player housing is a massive boost to roleplay. People build homes specifically as public venues and advertise them in the party finder every night. You’ll always be able to find some random home to go to that’s open to the public and probably full of new people. Taverns, dance clubs, brawl houses, etc. are all common and welcome. I own a botany-themed bar that is always open at any time for people who want a venue, and it feels great to have that hard work of decorating it be useful.
However, that’s with the addendum that FFXIV does not use instanced housing. It’s open wards with many homes in each (and sometimes the wards themselves are used for events). This is great for RP! But it does create the issue of limited housing space, and getting a spot on one of the RP servers is downright dire. Instanced housing would solve this and allow anyone a home, but would absolutely kill RP. So, you end up with two factions, one who really wants instanced homes and others that really want to keep wards.
I tend to be in the latter. Wards own, and as frustrating as it was getting a spot, I think there are better ways to ensure parity in getting a spot than just straight instancing everything. Garrisons really shot down random and walk-up RP for a time if you weren’t in a dedicated group, and you couldn’t advertise an open space without having to form several parties for large events.
So, it can be really good for encouraging places outside of Org/SW, but, man, I really wouldn’t want instanced player housing as someone with little interest in a guild and preferring random events out in the world.
I don’t think the major problem is with getting people out there, it’s with some of the people. They don’t really want to do open world RP, they’d like to hang out in the cities, ironically enough, the roleplayers who want to do lewd things to one another are probably engaging in the most open world RP, LMAO.
How would I encourage World RP?
Why, at gun point, of course.
Otherwise, just prepping events month(s) in advance help a lot. Despite only running it once, the pirate event I ran was more successful than I expected. People love a reason to introduce their characters, one way or the other.
The difficulty in Open World RP is that of your usual concern. Mob aggro, phasing, and the general consensus of migrating scenes.
I’d kill for more people to hang out in Booty Bay or Ratchet. Or even just out in Razor Hill.
I find that large events held out in the world go a long way to encourage player characters to meet in places outside cities like Orgrimmar and Stormwind.
But not everyone has the time or energy to put into organizing and hosting large events. For those who prefer low-key roleplay, with few people, I think that roleplaying while questing or leveling up is a good way to encourage yourself and others to participate in a bit of world roleplay.
This method is particularly good for shy folks. You only need yourself and a close friend. Use your main characters, or make alternatives together and plan to quest through a zone. Use as much or as little lore as the quest text provides, or make it up as you both go. When you do this, you’ll be surprised by how many other players you run into and who might ask to tag along.
While collecting candy in Pandaria I saw quite a few people out and about role playing. Pandaria is where it’s at y’all!!
I’ve read this thread and went ahead and posted this one: Looking for RP - In Game Community?
After seeing a few folks in here suggest it. I was thinking about this back in the summer, but figured Discords kinda did the job.
Would people be interested and use an in game community when looking for RP? I would be happy to help set up and maintain it. The thread above has more of my thoughts on the matter.
Absoutely sound, valid and agreeable , my friend! I usually get people who are very upset when I’m not really in the popular mindset for housing. I honestly feel there would not be such a demand for housing if more areas were made true rp in mind and not just “Oh, they might like this…” and then its fought over by everyone every week for events and hang out.
But like, more empty houses and functional spaces.
I don’t know much about Final Fantasy, simply ebcause I’ve never felt interest in the anime style/final fantasy lore ect (Nor do I truly care too…no matter how many times people try to bait me with the cat guys or w/e they are called. Did not work with Guild Wars 2, won’t work with Final Fantasy). But I may read up on how their housing works, it’s very interesting how its done.
But totally agree, yes! I always forget I reply to stuff on the forums and Im always shocked when I get a notif someone replied…