Do you think it is a ‘jerk move’ to call out bad roleplaying?
I’ve seen people (these are all true BTW) RP as Spyro The Dragon.
1940s Germans who discovered ‘portal technology’ and are trying to weaponize Azeroth.
A Night Elf DK who claimed to know how to defeat Pandaren (when MoP was new) because he was on the island before his undeath.
I’ve always been in the wheelhouse that while yes, I should encourage open-ended roleplaying, but am I the jerk for calling out those who RP as Scarlet Crusaders or Naga? I feel like they should at least stay within the lore, right?
I like to pick brains again from my first Question.
A big part of what makes RP great is observing the interesting ideas people come up with. Discouraging others from being creative kills walk-up rp.
You can still have “non-canon” interactions with people, like Spyro or the scientists. (Or ignore them.)
He could, of course be wrong, his false confidence and fabricated memories stemming from undead brain degradation.
(which would be great rp.)
Those things exist in the lore, and honestly, playing villains should be encouraged, otherwise you just have 4 million paladins all competing for the “most dour” trophy.
Lighten up. My personal strategy is to accept as much rp as i can and do my best to make it fit. Its quite fun when just about anything can happen, and youll still have a guild for your deep lore dives.
Much of lore is open ended, so the idea of strict adherence to lore is often just limited to a select guilds headcanon. Suspend your disbelief, you’re already playing a fantasy game and it just makes you miserable.
My favs are the guys who “impersonate” major lore characters. The last Anduin i met was clearly delusional nobleman with more sense than money.
You arent forced to rp with anyone. You can refuse to rp with characters that are 100% straight up and down with the lore just because you dont like them. Thats acceptable.
You can offer them advice, but you cant control other people. The lore doesnt exist to be a set of rules.
Also, keep in mind that Silvermoon Larry is an npc in this game. So cosplaying is probably a thing.
Also, people are going to get things wrong. And i dont know a single person that is going to respond well to a negative confrontation about Lore.
Most of this might feel a bit ramble-y. My general disposition goes like this; you aren’t inherently a jerk to pointing out objective inconsistencies, but it is often difficult to do so.
One problem I see with such things is that there’s a lot of subjectiveness to take into account. When one does something such as, say, inform the ancient Night Elf born in Darnassus that Teldrassil didn’t exist for nearly long enough for that to be possible, that is an objective fact of the canon that can be supported with evidence. In such a case I wouldn’t call the person who points that out a jerk, unless they did so in an abrasive or condescending way.
A lot of cases are more subjective, however. A lot of people have different thresholds for what actions qualify as ‘bad roleplaying’. As an example, my Pandaren Death Knight has fel markings on her face. They’re mentioned in her physical description, however the reason for them is omitted from her profile. Any onlooker could assume me to be bad for this feature alone, given a variety of reasons. They’d likely be wrong as that feature factors into her backstory and is derived from related canon things, but I digress. There are a lot of cases where something someone might initially considered wrong isn’t provably so. Speculative lore, personal character lore and the like in general are rather nebulous in regard to how worthy of criticism they truly are.
There’s also the matter of intent. While ideally, I’d prefer people rping in WoW portray things within the setting of the game, some folks prefer to merely use the game as a platform for something else. Arguably they aren’t necessarily wrong for doing so, and their choices would likely be correct in context of what they’re aiming for. Granted, I assume most people who do that stuff are either relatively private about it or otherwise acknowledge that they’re going against the grain and will most likely have niche appeal.
I just figure that why can’t they RP a Jedi in a Star Wars game, which can easily be done (SWTOR is free or they can do it in a Discord) but have to use WoW? Not trying to be pedantic.
Just that I figure for RP, I want people to take their characters seriously and not end up ostracized by the community, hence why I try to let them know of any inconsistencies in their RPing or lore.
I just put those players on /ignore and effectively delete them from my world.
The last example however touches on the stickiest issues… roleplay combat. I’ve always defaulted to a duel approach to settle such issues. Built into the game and fair.
These people want an audience and the worst thing you can do to them is deprive t hem of one.
Given the sheer volume of retcons the lore has undergone over the years, this statement in itself can drive issues. TBC lore is not the same as Legion lore, and neither of those is the same as SL or even current DF lore. That said, I think we can universally agree on that relevance to the game should be high-priority (as in, your first two examples would be a hard no-go for me, particularly the second one).
Therefore, imo, it boils down to personal judgement. Remember, people are not entitled to your time and neither are you obligated to interact with someone whose RP you don’t like.
I simply don’t bother to engage. If someone comes up to me insisting they are a Jedi, I put them on /ignore. Not only are they taking on a persona that’s not congruent with the setting they’re also doing the persona badly.
And they aren’t going to take it well when you correct them so I simply edit them out of my universe. My immersion is restored and no one’s feelings are hurt.
Yes the lore has gone through a good deal of retcons, but those retcons have occurred with limits on them. The Devs haven’t haven’t really gone outside the venue in making it’s changes it’s never been a pure franchise but there have been limits.
If there is anything I’ve learned is that the urge to intervene should be rigorously suppressed unless it’s absolutely imperative. If a person is going to disrespect the setting so much that they’ll bring their other franchise fanwank into it, all that you’ll accomplish by challenging them is to stir up anger.
So I leave them be. It’s their 15 per month, and Blizzard is long past caring even about it’s so-called “rp servers”.
Part of developing your social skills is learning when to keep your peace.
Sounds like a frustrating way to live if you cant express yourself when you feel that way.
So youre saying that discussion is a challenge? I disagree. I feel that A discussion should promote mutual respect, a willingness to learn and comradery.
Its not me versus you. Its us versus immaturity and ignorance.
I feel like youd have a better time with a side-by-side approach rather than looking at things like a confrontation. Ive noticed that when i do that it colors my perception to negatively.
And theres some truth to that, But one thing ive seen is that people who get too comfortable keeping their peace and cutting others out end up alienating themselves in this fashion.
Ive had a really good time talking through disagreements.
I always try to nudge gently on RP that doesn’t fit within the lore with people. I don’t start off harsh. I just ask a few questions and ask them politely.
If they screech at me and ‘call me out’, then yeah, they’re being a jerk in RP.
I just never got why people would want to RP something outside of WoW when the lore lends itself well to being slightly open-ended to the point where you could make a plethora of things.
And I’m tired of beating my head against that combination. Trying to correct people like that only leads to them doubling down. And who the hell am I to say how they should play? They aren’t violating any rules as long as they aren’t abusing people. it’s their 15 a month not mine. I merely exercise my right to remove myself from being part of their audience.
My play time is limited, Tilting at windmills is not how I choose to spend it.
