Ok, first we'll post what is readily avaible and posted to the main website in reguards to roleplaying you will fine it on the left hand side under game; roleplaying.

Roleplaying is an important part of Achaea, and while it is not required, it is encouraged. Those who roleplay consistently are bound to come to the notice of the Gods, who greatly favour good roleplayers over those who don't make an effort.
While roleplaying is largely a personal art that is most fun when performed on a day to day basis, Achaea occasionally runs big plots (stories) that even those who don't normally enjoy roleplaying tend to enjoy participating in. These might run from roleplaying out the trial of a player accused of crimes by a city-state to massive world-spanning plots, supported by custom-written game mechanics, that pit the different political organisations against each other.

Note the underlined bold portion it says NOT required, this is on the main page of the website which is the easiest and quickest to find. Now from the help scrolls of HELP ROLEPLAY

15.6 ROLEPLAYING and OOC
(See also: HELP ROLEPOINTS, HELP INSANITY, HELP LANGUAGERULES)

To roleplay means to play a role. In the context of Achaea, roleplaying means
that you play as if you were your character. Achaea is a roleplaying game: some
level of roleplaying is required.


This is conflicting and frankly just wrong I shouldn't have to roleplay at all as it is NOT required which is from the main website. Though to be honest I shouldn't expect more from a game who doesn't really know its own rules. But can someone please explain (prefer Neroaes) why we have to roleplay at all when its clearly spelled out (no gray area in NOT REQUIRED) that we don't have have to roleplay?

Fixed.
Also - it is a roleplaying game. You need to roleplay in order to... play it. I am betting that is quite old, and just needs to be deleted.
If you really don't want to RP, find another game.

Simple. You're not required to roleplay, but you're required to stay IC so you won't interfere with others attempting to do so. The basic adage "You are free to do as you will, as long as you don't interfere with the ability of others to do the same."

That makes sense and yea that earlier was written in e-rage but I would still like some offical response on this because even if written in e-rage its still correct and dual standard

"Those who roleplay consistently are bound to come to the notice of the Gods, who greatly favour good roleplayers over those who don't make an effort."

Lol?

Staying IC = roleplaying. That's all. All you have to do is save OOC stuff for OOC clans... and even that's not necessary.

I think that dictum would be better read as one need not be in character at all times in all mediums (media?). For instance - tells, in groups where all are comfortable discussing things out of character, in parties, or in particular clans. Though, I must say that Trevize's adage is also spot on.

Agreed.

Listen to Trevize and Imyrr in this matter. Their words reflect my own thoughts.

I'd have to agree with them, though you are not required to roleplay...this is a role playing game. And if you think about it...doesn't it make it more fun? I mean most people (myself included) play this game as an escape from reality. I have a bad day for whatever reason, I come onto Achaea where Varrock is an entirely different person than I am. And when Trevize says that it's just to not interfere with other players and their abilities and wants to roleplay, it's correct.

And how do you react when you find your character with 2 people who just came and started rofling and talking completely OOC at NoT etc., and someone else comes and joins the session?

Leave the room?

I never really understood why anyone would bother interacting with NPC's (Non Player Console's) for.. I mean cmon, their not even alive

Because sometimes they can be a catalyst or gateway to more opportunities. Take, for example, Gack. I just started talking to him out of nowhere and left an opening for an immortal/administrator to pick up where I left it if they thought it was relevant. That is how our roads got fixed in the end. There were many ways to have approached that particular IC problem, but that's the path I chose.

Have you been to the Bathory Chalet?

(That's the name of it, isn't it?)

Inform them that they are insane and then shinkick them.

Never works.

A similar question was recently asked to the administrators. This is the reply that our rules-experts gave:



In your specific case, Horuce, you should be fine. The bulk of your actions seem to be concerned with fishing in a semi-aware fashion, which is also fine. You do not need to create an elaborate persona. You do not even need to be part of a house or a city to do this. You also are bothering nobody. You are not specifically roleplaying, but since you are by yourself, or speaking with people that themselves are not in-character, you should be okay. The moment that somebody else walks in and you talk about how great your Big Mac was, however, you would be impinging on the roleplay environment that we strive to foster. That person or you will likely just walk away, but if pressed you may lose rolepoints or otherwise get slapped. Should you join a house or a city, or decide to start talking on market or in shouts, you must act in-character. You do not have to join these organizations, and you do not have to interact with other characters - that is where roleplaying becomes optional, and the accuracy of the website is shown. It is your choice to interact with other characters.

Now, I have also noticed that you like to complain about the gods, and our supposed lack of roleplaying. As you are a fellow who does not belong to any organizations, and does not seem to venture out beyond his fishing hole terribly often, I am curious as to what you expect of us, particularly as you also seem to wish for the right of being able to not roleplay. Since there is usually a god to player ratio of 1:50 at best, I would generally not be going to specific individuals, which is what would be required for every single player not in an organization to get "face-time", so to speak. That is also why organizations such as houses and cities are highly recommended for those who desire any modicum of roleplay - it is up to you as a player to do this. The best interactions are between players in any case. The gods tend to be best as facilitators in this respect.

Also note that I spoke to you in person at said fishing hole, likely a few real months ago now. You had earlier said on these forums that you found the entrance process of the Nerai considerably difficult, when it is in fact ridiculously simple. I explained this process to you in person, making it very clear that this is the proper way to go about finding interactions with gods - join their Order, or otherwise interact with said Order. I then proceeded to keep an eye on what you were doing from then on, as you have a great tendency to make complaining posts, and wanted to see if you were having legitimate problems. To my sincere surprise, you took none of my advice, stayed in your fishing hole, and decided instead to make intermittent posts as to how the game is terrible and the gods (promotees?) are also terrible. As a god that gets most of his enjoyment from working on political processes and roleplaying at a large scale, and also as a god that has a particular sort of real-life job which makes Achaea-time extremely precious and increasingly rare for me, I am not going to waste time on folks that will simply moan and complain, I am going to spend time working in areas that make the game fun for me and for players with the same tastes, and which will benefit the most people with the least effort. Unless you, yourself, step up and make some efforts, I will not be bothering with you. Other gods may have differing views; I do not pretend to speak for them - I am not staff, I am a volunteer roleplaying god.

Also, in another thread you mentioned how folks with no fighting skills and with no credits can go nowhere. I strongly dispute that, as when I had a mortal character, I was in university and could afford no credits. I also had a 1-2 second network lag for the character's entire mortal existence, a situation which changed only several months after I joined the immortal team. My character was not able to fight effectively due to this lag, but was still able to be highly successful as a strategist and a general, and then as an intelligence agent and a politician. Fighting ability helps you if you feel that your goals are about fighting, but otherwise, lack of fighting ability should not harm you. Such abilities are just one aspect of your character; learn to minimize your weaknesses, and maximize your strengths, and you will go very far in Achaea. Do not moan and complain, simply think and work. I look forward to seeing you flower as a bastion of roleplaying integrity.

Here, you are claiming that what he said (it applies to your interactions with people vs. interactions with friends) and what you said (it's conflicting information) are both accurate. As the first disarms the claims of the second, both cannot be true.

Granted, you're also the Tyrannus. It is far rarer that your average Achaean will ever interact with the gods or with NPCs (controlled by the gods, obviously). I've exchanged a pair of sentence fragments with Apollyon and had a five minute conversation once with Pandemonium when I was interviewing for his order. For the most part, unless you are an extremely established character with a long history as a leader or high-ranking member of certain organizations, there are sparse opportunities for roleplay that has a dynamic effect on the world or anyone else around you.

Looking for some assistance in setting up a role for my character I do have a back story, that's never changed and to be honest I don't know how to interact with it. I do remember the converstaion had that day, even saved it and I have attempted to follow that advice given me that day but there are just things that mean alot to horuce that I can't figure out how to move it in game. I need some help with that. I'll continue in PM's and describe what I mean as to find a way to move foward with it.


P.S. I haven't fished in 2 rl weeks

P.P.S. Thanks for the offical reply.


P.P.P.S Neraeos=Not Promotee. My Sincre apologies as I stated I wrote that in e-rage and I do apologize for the words as I directed them at all gods which included you, when I should have narrowed that down as to exclude you.

This is very true. I haven't had any divine or npc interatcion in a long time, other than the person controlling Tharos talking to me. I think the last time something happened to me was a bit after the Neraeos-Vastar war and I noticed a Triton wandering around Eleusis.

My character has never been a leader in any org beyond secretary or minister level (not counting a very brief period as Regent), and I've had plenty of Divine interaction. While this isn't the sort of thing a player can go looking for, it's a matter of making the best of the opportunity when it arises.

Really? Can't think of a single reason why? How about, to enhance your gameplay, to further your own personal roleplay, to just take a break from the droll routine of bashing and hitting F1 over and over again, to do a quest, to serve as a catalyst for the 'possibility' of a divine controlling the NPC, etc...



This. I thought this was obvious. This is the beauty of a roleplaying game, there are numerous paths and possibilities to produce a desired result. Really, this is just limited by the imagination, and a bit of divine notice.



I believe Naeros stated the ratio of divine to mortal is 50:1 or something like that. That said, Vasool is an average Achaean. I have a few positions of honour, but I'm far from being a mover and shaker in the world. Yet, just by simply attempting to spark some minor roleplay, I've had several opportunities arise for divine interaction, and I have to believe this is because I actually made the effort. Though I suppose there might be people out there who actually attempt to recieve some interaction, and they slip through the cracks unnoticed, but such is the way of a 50:1 ratio too. Just keep trying is all I can say, eventually something -will- happen



Have you tried?! Seriously? Did you try more than once, or just give up long ago? My Vasool isn't that special of a character, yet even I have had lengthy, meaningful NPC and divine interactions dozens of times in my gaming history, and in the past month and a half alone, have had 3 different occasions where NPC's (controlled by divine) have interacted with me.

Just last night I was with Kelandra, in the Isle of Harae, and we had a mini-event happen with us over a nothing issue where we began talking with the Chieftain there about his pipe, and gave him cloves to smoke. This leads to us discussing with him opportunities to grow and sell his cloves to the tabacco merchant in Tasur'Ke, so we travelled there, met with -that- NPC, discussed this with him for a while, then arranged for an 'imaginary' meeting to take place in the future between those two NPCs. I know this was over something as ridiculous as setting up a merchant arrangement for the sale of clove herbs for a tabacco merchant, but still, it lasted for well over an hour or more, and was a lot of fun to participate in!

There have been several other occasions where something like this has happened. And on one occasion, I had Herenicus perform a ritual upon Vasool 150 in game years ago, and Sartan actually took notice, showed up, and even participated in it, and had me change my description to show a mark upon me, and told me to leave it there. That was an interaction that has had a permanent effect upon my character since that day.

I'm just saying, don't think that you have to be someone special to have 'face time' so to speak. It's available and out there for anybody if you just make active attempts to receive it. If you don't at least attempt to interact with NPC's, you don't provide much opportunity for a divine to interact with you, and thus it's a self fulfilling prophecy to say you can't seem to get any divine interaction.

This thread has taught me that the (G/M)ods are capable of controlling NPCs. I did not know this was possible, or that they would have any way of knowing. Now I have a reason to talk to myself! =]

That NPC thief talked to one of my alts, I tried to hire her for a hit on a Housemate because my character was mad at said Housemate. We had a delightful little chat, was lots of fun so props to whoever that was!

Dinathe was awesome. Whoever was behind her managed to make theft fun even for the victim (though some of that was probably novelty value).

Careful if you talk to Vellis though. He doesent like being bothered.. Or just I made whoever was controlling him really, really annoyed. I feel kind of bad about it though. Just look out.

Vellis is always grumpy.

Also, I think being insane in public forums (says, shouts, etc) should grant cause. It breaks immersion, and is just generally detrimental to the game. If someone says lol to me, I want to be able to smack them or something...more RP would be lovely.

I never hesitated to attack someone for being insane especially if I warned them already not to be.

I never do, but I always want to

Tells are fine, but not in says or public channels, that just irks me. Also using "your" instead of "you're" and vice-versa.

There should be a way to report public insanity (other than issues resulting in docking credibility - no one uses that anyhow) and if enough different people report a person, doctors in white coats appear and haul them away to a secret unescapable padded room in Creville until they're judged to be cured.

Creville is only so big, y'know?

Roleplay or the stream of crackling blue fire sizzling across the sky will get you!

everyone should start with no credibility then you can either gain it or lose it. I think this would be a better system. But that is just me.

Who would monitor that sort of the thing, though? If it was left up to the players, everyone would be subject to being messed around with by the people that just don't care. It'd become a reason for cause and that would just be nonsense....I could just imagine Joe Shmoe the Conqueror knocking down someone's credibility just because they didn't like a certain awnser or the fact that they lost a fight.

Also, I'm pretty sure the mods and admins wouldn't really have the time to watch every character to see if they're RPing up to game standards, as well. Besides, I'm not sure I want them to follow me around to make sure I'm credible or not, hehe. I like having the benefit of the doubt without them barging in on any secretive or private conversations.

You have discovered the hidden flaw in my otherwise flawless plan.

In response to Selerin...I played a MUD before where players got a small, slowly regenerating pool of RP points that they could award to others to increase their roleplay rank. They had to post logs or otherwise back up their reasons, and be able to show that the roleplay was good as an expression of that character and not just because it used fancy emotes, and if the post was questionable the admins would make it not count.

There did end up being cliquey circles where everyone gave points to everyone else, to a certain extent, but not nearly as bad as you'd expect because the points were just for status and since the posts involved were public, participating in such a circle would result in public mockery rather than status.

If nothing else, it was a way of acknowledging the worth of good roleplaying and gave people who wanted to roleplay good examples to learn from and a guide as to what people they should seek to get to know IC. I don't know if it'd work here, but there it had overall good effects I think.

Mm, I have no doubt that it could work if the playerbase was able to do that...back it up with logs and proof of increase/decrease. I just don't think that a majority of Achaeans would do that nor do I think the admins would really have the time to go through the logs, approve/disapprove the change...and then deal with Joe Shmoe the Conqueror ranting back about how the change was unfairly added/decreased.

I'm just thinking of how much extra work would have to be added to make sure that it wasn't abused, is all. It -could- work....but I'm pessimistic about the time period where it'd be implimented and everyone's getting used to it.