Title.
Seriously? What happened to RP these days? Why does RP seem so stagnant? Why does everyone seem to just idle/loiter in Stormwind when there’s half a dozen other places people can RP?
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You have to find people. Build stories. Take your little groups outside of SW. There’s also a ton of social / community projects outside of SW. I see them advertised all the time. Just spent all week in ToA (Northrend).
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You write as though this is a recent development, yet what you describe sounds like what I’ve observed, and admittedly to some extent taken part in, for years.
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Dead? We just had a random RP with like 50 people last night in SW engaged in a riot against Stormwind City Guard and Scarlet Renewal. Some other guilds even showed up to protect their interests. I was in Gilneas the other day for a guild interview and started randomly RPing with someone there. SW is where you chill typically when your guild isn’t doing something.
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I’ve spent the last three weeks RPing in Boralus, Booty Bay, Stormsong Valley, and most recently Northrend. I came back to Stormwind for one day and it felt… weird.
The thing is it’s not like I just went to these places and RP was happening. These were RP sessions with folks I had met previously in Stormwind, multiple times, and then all I had to do was let them know I’d be elsewhere IC and they found their way to me. So if you want world RP, it absolutely can and will take place. You just have to be willing to put in a bit of work. It’s incredibly unlikely to just happen out of the blue on it’s own.
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While there are a majority of players that are out and about across the map, there are individuals that usually reside within Stormwind waiting for others to include them in RP or to take notice of them.
Like a commercial recruitment center in Hollywood.
The problem is the standards that some players have set too high for themselves so they waddle around waiting for those standards to be met and not just enjoy themselves.
Like dating on an app and you only want the best guy/girl with the most money or is the most attractive. Rather than settle for sub par players to have fun with.
Its also a situation of the personalities of the player, some are humble so you can walk up easily, some are insane which you think to avoid without bothering to engage, and then there are others think they are a godsend so engaging with expectations that you serve/bow to them. Are you worthy versus someone simply saying “Hi nice day, How are you today?” “Good just out for an afternoon stroll care to join me?”
And lets not forget the lore abiding OCD players. Those that judge you based on your RP and if it doesn’t meet Lore standards they don’t engage you even for a simple conversation.
Sometimes its easy to RP solo, as if you are on an adventure of your own and this was Skyrim or some other game. Use the voices in your head or use a pet as a companion.
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Fulfilling, detailed, long-term, story-rich RP is all about finding your people. While you’re in the “finding your people” phase, either because you’re new to RP, you just came back after a long break or your previous friends have stopped playing, RP can definitely feel shallow, stagnant and frustrating.
Everyone has different preferences in terms of story, character, prose style, interpretations of the lore, etc. Everyone is looking to get something different from RP - some want epic battles and massive campaigns. Some want the daily developments and de-stressing of light social interactions and hanging out. Some want to play out dating, relationships and family life. Some want political or criminal intrigue, some want to participate in big organizations and projects. Some want all of it (ALL OF IT 
).
The first step in all of those things is figuring out who likes the things that you do, and seeing if they want to let you in on what they’re doing, or start new stories with you. Hanging out in the city is great for this step if you’re goal oriented. The more people there are, the more chances there are that you’ll run into people doing your thing!
A lot of people just kind of perch and tab out until someone approaches them, this is great if you’re already pretty much set for story and just want to people watch and be open to random new developments in your free time, but it’s the wrong tactic if what you’re wanting to do is find your people. Even if your character is just sitting there doing nothing, you should be actively looking. Watching the people who go by, reading TRPs. Sitting near where public RP is happening and taking it in. Your primary goals are:
- ACTIVELY identifying people and groups that seem super interesting and like they might enjoy the same kinds of RP that you do
- ACTIVELY thinking of a way to get your character in on that
- TAKE ACTION to start a conversation, somehow. Pulling some kind of attention-getting shenanigan that has to do with what you’ve read in their TRP and observed about them is often vastly better for this than just walking up and saying, “Wow it sure is raining a lot, am I right?”
It takes some time and at times, kind of a lot of vetting depending on what you’re looking for. And? Probably most of the time when you do approach it’ll go nowhere. You’ll never see the person you talked to again, they just won’t click or be compatible, they’ll get busy with other stuff or you will. It’s no big deal, you’ll have established contact for potential future alliances or rivalries or looking for a specific specialty of theirs or yours, it’s all good.
But sometimes, rarely, you’ll find the people that you just super get along with who are excited about what you want to do, and you’re excited about what they want to do, and that’s when you start to gradually introduce plot hooks through conversation and branch out into the world. If it’s a group or guild or project, you participate and start to get to know the wider group and find places to get your character in on the stories they have going on, and once you’re established you can start to introduce your own. If it’s just a person or two you can start to put the structure of plots you want to have out there and see if they take the hook and run with it.
But all of that starts with just having the opportunity to see and meet people, and that’s what city RP is great for as a sheer numbers game. Meet in the city, start something, and then move it out into the world. The odds are much better of that happening than people just spontaneously wanting to set up new non-event RP hubs out in the world where they hope that people will eventually show up and magically be into the same stuff that they are.
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I wouldn’t say it’s ‘Dead’…I actively have my character get into brawls and fights whenever applicable, that always seems to draw people out of the woodwork, for good or bad.
Like most things, the wow-rp community changes. What you’ve described isn’t even a particularly new change.
You just have to get out there and find your people, as others have said! I got really bored of the everyday RP in Stormwind myself and found a whole giant community of Gilneans in Kingdom of Gilneas, and this is the happiest I’ve been in a guild/community since joining MG. We’re actively trying to make Gilneas an RP hub, so I definitely recommend coming out there on any given night and just seeing who’s out and about. Though we are having a series of events until the expansion, so if you see a large concentration of us with other guilds just randomly standing around or with weapons out… It’s probably an event.
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It’s the end of expansion, prime summer-time vibes, and the pre-release event is laughably bad.
All of this combines into a slow time on RP realms, things won’t pick up until after TWW releases ar least. Prople online are just chilling and burning time, nobody wants to start an RP story arc that may get derailed by the expac so close to release.
That said, enjoy the lull for what it is and maybe just focus on meeting people, learning faces and names. Those that stick around in TWW may be people you want to develop longer stories with!
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I’ve been having a blast just in Stormwind. You have to put yourself out there, whisper people with perception checks, and kind of make it happen. I like intrigue/spycraft RP, so i read people’s TRPs, use a hook to get in, and wrap them into my network and schemes if its something theyre into. I will say there is a lot of the uWu/slice of life RP there which i find boring, but you can make things happen. For instance, there was an argument between some Scarlets and another dude the other night and I stirred the pot a bit by riling up the people against the guards who showed up. Ended up in a riot with like 50 people. You have to make exciting RP happen.
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This right here.
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I bop around the various parts of the worlds a lot doing various things and believe me when I say I run into RP groups in the most out of the way places way more frequently than you would expect.
The cool thing is the RP community wants people. So keep looking! You will find if you seek. They are out there!
i see you scrapping. It really takes me back to the days of early WrA tbh. o7
Spoiler alert:
I started rping seriously on WrA before the whole server died during my leave during SL, and I did the same thing there. LOL
Because people are afraid of going outside of their comfort zone. Prior to Shadowlands proper there were people willing to go to Dalaran during the pre-patch to avoid the sharding. There were storylines that were adapted by server projects that had people evacuate to Dalaran to escape the Scourge attacking Stormwind.
During Dragonflight’s prepatch and the Diablo it was a different story to where people despite the sharding just stuck to Stormwind and actively complained about it. Not realizing that when you have a massive group of people it starts to cause lag for everyone. Not everyone in Stormwind is actively rping, some are waiting for queues, some are trying to get stuff from the auction house through their mail. But everyone agrees that the lag is bad.
Now before things went downhill with the whole lawsuit, there were people actively trying to make server projects for Boralus and Dalaran. And then the lawsuit happened with people threatening to quit or having quit, they went downhill. I saw the same issues happen on WRA before it’s collapse and I left prior to the collapse.
Now luck of the draw is that I had a friend that was good and making events for me and a few people so we would leave the city every other week and go on an adventure. Usually to save his character from doing something stupid. Then I joined a guild that was open to outsiders taking part of their campaigns and that was fun. Come to MG and neither really happen. Guilds are more insular. Now recently there’s been campaigns between the bigger named guilds for important campaigns. Like the Radiant Echoes. But have they ever run a campaign that started out as beach vacation in Boralus after falling into Nzoth’s clutches and running into a mystery where a plant mind controlled everyone with spores? No? Well. There needs to be more of them. And not just major guilds. Smaller guilds too. Because that is what community is about. Everyone comes together no matter how big or how small and has fun. It doesn’t have to be serious campaigns leading up to the expansion. It can be a silly whimsical party on a beach that leads to a murder mystery.
To the person that said that oh there was a riot against Scarlets rp was fun? That’s kind of a) lore breaking and b) immersion breaking. Lore breaking because I think everyone agreed at least informally that there were no Scarlets and that people especially guard guilds wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. We also again informally agreed that riotting wouldn’t happen after the last time. Anytime someone says riot I cringe severely and try to retcon it. And even the daily attacks of Scourge against the Cathedral every month are a bit lorebreaking. In Stormwind? The capital of the Alliance? Where Turalyon is? Yeah. No. Hard pass.
For everyone saying “oh but you have to just find the right people.” You’re no better than the Horde for saying things in similiar way. People shouldn’t have to try to find anything especially when there is nothing to be found. When I first came to Moon Guard, my understand of server projects was that they were there to help facilitate rp by hosting different things. Now Conquest and Grand Alliance do that. But again they’re very big campaigns with a super serious motive behind it. Is there an aftermath party leading up to a big mystery of brain sucking plants? No? Then what’s the point in it? (If this sounds very specific, this was the first guild campaign I took part in on WRA and by far was the BEST campaign I ever did. Nothing and I mean NOTHING compares to it.)
Now this seems all like criticism and all of it is wanted criticism so here’s somethings that could make it better. Starting with on my dark iron, I joined the Assembly of Three Hammers and have the position of Royal Victualler, basically for the Dwarves part of my job is doing cultural things. Part of that I want to start doing brawl nights either every other week or month after Brewfest and the Three Hammers Tournament in Ironforge. Which could help revitalize rp in Ironforge. I also want to do a Museaum Gala and show artifacts too. Maybe do that every couple of months after Brewfest and the Three Hammers Tournament. (Depends on how things go with college starting in two weeks). And maybe restart the Ironforge Market again. This isn’t “uwu find the right people” no this is “I’m going to use the position I have and try to revive the rp of Ironforge and bring more people in as a whole. I’m going to make that change.” And maybe I can inspire people to do the same.
Other server projects and guilds need to make that change. Nation building and military action and fighting the undead or the void or whatever can go so far. There are rpers whose characters aren’t meant for fighting and you have to ensure that they’re not being left in the dust and being left out. Have some tavern nights. Do a trivia night. Go on a vacation somewhere and have it turn into a murder mystery. Do whacky campaigns. Have a murloc necromancer.
The other side of the coin is for server projects is to have other events be shown to the public. If you’re a prosectutor of something then have the trial be viewable to the public. Oh you’re going to rebuild a section of land destroyed by war? Have people take part in gathering materials or gold for that effort or have people take part in the rebuilding. Don’t just talk about it. Show it.
And for the people thinking public rp in Stormwind against things that probably wouldn’t be attacking Stormwind in lore because they’re easily get squashed, take it outside of Stormwind. Go to Redridge, Elywyn, Burning Lands. Or idk Suramar as a proxy. Or just don’t have the events in Stormwind so that way you’re not ruining the experience for everyone around you. You know it’s bad when guard guilds don’t want to be apart of it. Also makes them seem less incompetent if you just mosey elsewhere. Be respectful to the people around you. Oh there’s Scarlets in the city? They’d get kneecapped before they can say “Morgraine.”
This is a community after all and it takes a community to make an effort for it to grow or flourish. It should not be up to the individual to grow that but to everyone as a whole. Because without it, MG is going to die like WRA did. And then where will anyone go? Emerald Dream? WRA? They’re both dead.
What a long way of saying that you are the RP Content Cop and this instance does not pass your judgement. I mean you cited annecdotes from your memory for Popo’s sake. Not every story has to be about, or approved, by you. Scarlets are still present in game, as recently as the Reclamation of Gilneas. And Turalyon cannot personally attend to every issue, thus RP opportunity for people to aid their kingdom!
You don’t pay their subscription, you don’t get to dictate their RP. Simple as.
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I apologize for the miscommunication. Let me rephrase it with some clarification. I say things directly. There is no hidden message nor any implication.
Raina used to be a Scarlet and for many years there has been arguments both icly and oocly where people have chimed in that Scarlets would never be in the city and that they are KOS or kill on sight. Part of the reason why she isnt anymore. The arguements get old and stale after a while. Its been accepted by people and when there are there are complications where things get out of hand. Same thing for Scourge attacks.
You may not agree with that concensus and thats fine. But move the rp elsewhere. It doesnt need to be in Stormwind proper where the lag gets worse by the hour. Im not saying don’t do it. But move the location. So you’re not interfering with anyone else that didnt consent to being in the middle of your storyline.
Because if it were me, I’d be throwing everyone wanting to be involved in a raid group and coordinating other raid groups and moving them outside of the city.
I hope this clarification helps. If not I can try to clarify it in easier terms for you to understand. Theres really no need to get angry over roleplay. All I did was give my two cents and offer some helpful suggestions. You can take them and maybe help grow the community or just leave them. Have a nice day.
Why should they move the RP when they all agree that is the place to do it at? You keep using words like Everyone and People as if addressing a group but yet there is this group that has not agreed to your nebulous contract?
Use the easy terms for me. I’m just a little guy who tells people to RP what they want and enjoy what they do. Hope that meets your definition of “grow the community” o’ mighty Arbiter of RP 
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