O RP Guilds, Where Art Thou?

[CimmerianHoX]

Just wondering who is still alive. I still see a little of the Amazons and Serpents Ascendant. Once in a while I'll catch a glimpse of Clan Dorak even though they seem to keep their distance. I just want to see who's still kicking on the RP scene and may be open to meet up for guild events and gatherings. I know things have been a bit on the quiet side, and I thought a little perspective might be lent by getting a glimpse of each other.

[Artemisia]

I see lots of Brethern of Arms ppl around questing, and Clan Dorak



and loads of french and german RP guilds



but perhaps some other RP guilds are out there and just think its boring to sit in the SHI or other various RP tavern all day and are doing things in guild?

[Unutterable]

I see lots of Brethern of Arms ppl around questing, and Clan Dorak



and loads of french and german RP guilds



but perhaps some other RP guilds are out there and just think its boring to sit in the SHI or other various RP tavern all day and are doing things in guild?

Think Cimhox's point is no one does events, really advertises or otherwise makes themselves visible. The community is so small it's not like you can wander down a random zone and encounter anything, it's extremely niche.

[CimmerianHoX]

Of course SHI gets dull and boring, but for some of us, it's practically the only place one can find RP. Now, if I could contact the leaders of Brethren of Arms and Clan Dorak, along with the other major RP guilds, see if we'd be all interested in meeting for a get-together just to see who's who, and do something - outside of the SHI - it might be interesting for all involved. Naturally, some RP guilds were made to be secluded and cut off from the rest of the RP world. But it would be nice to see more of those that weren't that way.

I am Jiahuo ingame. Since I suspect that bawling out to meet the leaders of other RP guilds in NPH is asking to be trolled, I would prefer a better way of getting into contact with these other guilds.

[Artemisia]

I'll throw my two cents in on why there are few events these days in the RP community, and why the community keeps shrinking.


For starters, the RP community is so small, and consist of the same people making and joining RP guilds only to leave them after a month or two, and then the guilds slowly fade into oblivion, and then a few months later, they make yet another RP guild only to repeat the cycle over and over again. The community is also stale and quite dramatic at times, which gets old, so some RP guilds stick to mainly RPing with other guild members.


Most RP guilds offer nothing to people to stay in the long run, other than a nice story, and eventually most people grow bored with it and want to do something else like group, pvp, or craft and when your in a renown 2 guild with no one actively questing, gathering, and grouping, staying in said guild is a dead end when one eventually tires of nothing but the RP. So when these people grow bored (and eventually they do), they have no choice but to leave guild or depart from the game.


Then you have someone who wants to join an RP guild in nph or global, and they get called an ERPer or just get laughed at by the general community, and on the small chance that doesnt happen to them, they have to log in at various times throughout the day to try to find someone on because the RP guilds aren't active, and then they give up because after three or four days with no one responding, they just assume RP is dead on the game. (I actually try my best to point them at guilds that I know are still semi-active, and my list is The Amazons, Serpent's Ascendant, Clan Dorak, Brethern of Arms, Syndicate of Blades, EoS, and Cabal of Shadows.. if any of them aren't active anymore please let me know so I can update my list and contact names so I can point them in the right direction)


On the vice versa side of this, I have seen that the community also laughs and makes fun of RP guilds when they throw out a banner in NPH or Global, and in the few instances open world RP that I have taken part of, I have been made to feel very unwelcome by non-RPers questing in the area, to the point that I would rather just RP with myself by dualboxing on my laptop and desktop.


Why are there no events? Numerous reasons. First of all, communication for RP guilds and RPers is strained and at times, nonexistant. Second, getting an event of any scale for open world RP is a large undertaking, and the lack of communication generally means its one or two people doing all the planning and carrying out of the event, and there's always that huge chance of hardly anyone showing up, or it being a flop. Thirdly, some people are just simply content to sit in the SHI all day every day, where they know RPers who crave RP will flock to.


The last RP event on a massive scale was done by The Nordheim Saga, there's been nothing since that... and I don't think they're even active anymore.



Back to the SHI, I avoid it as much as I can unless I am extremely desperate for RP. My reasonings are simple, whenever I venture in there to find RP I run into open ERP, or the same 3-4 people in there who were there 9 hours earlier when I checked my AAs before work. I know a few other people who also avoid the SHI for similiar reasons.. And granted most of my friends are like me, light-core RPers, we crave a chance at digging our nails into some open world and dungeon RP. But it's just unlikely to happen on the game anymore.



As for contacts, Jiahuo, I can tell you that Dadnar is Clan Dorak's guild leader (they tried to recruit me a couple months ago when I was RPing with a friend in tortage), Mingsiu is Cabal of Shadows acting guild leader, and as for the others I am not sure.

[CimmerianHoX]

Distasteful as some of its daily activities my appear, SHI is still in my mind the one reliable place to find the most RPers. At times there can be quite a number of new faces I've never seen before who are NOT there for ERP and just want to meet other friendly faces. Getting people out of the SHI and into the many great locations there are in the world takes some initiative. I've done it on several occasions, grabbing people and saying "Hey, let's explore here or there", and it usually works out great.

What's much harder is getting people to meet at an RP location without having to meet them in the SHI first. You have to know them before-hand. And this requires having a guild usually. When guilds are small, then you want an alliance of guilds that talk to one another. Invicta held its Thursday Tesso events and they went great for the longest time, until random rhinos started showing up in the tavern and by then, lots of things had started to sort of fall apart.

I think weekly events would be nice, but they've been attempted since Invicta and no one has been able to command the same level of draw. It takes a lot of advertising in many places so that everyone knows its happening, RP guilds and solo RPers alike. And it has to be in a conveniently reachable spot, set at a time where many people can be there, and rigorously hosted by the ones hosting the event to ensure it remains a fixture. All while being appealing to those who come.

What I want to try and pull off is a one-time event where a good gathering of RPers, guilded mostly but non-guilded if I can find them, can get together and just see how many of us there are. This mostly applies to english-speaking RPers, since I can't guarantee there'll be anything for those of other native languages to particularly enjoy. RP is going to keep dying if guilds keep pulling off members onto their own with no bridge between guilds to see what else is out there. SHI used to be a good bridge for that. But these days, it can be hard to get people you've never met before to interact with you. Strangers are increasingly remaining strangers even in the good Inn.

I'll try throwing a few messages around in-game and see who responds.

[Lleilwin]

Let me know if I can be of any help.
Though I have given up on RP as my main activity I still dabble now and again

[Illwariel]

Distasteful as some of its daily activities my appear, SHI is still in my mind the one reliable place to find the most RPers. At times there can be quite a number of new faces I've never seen before who are NOT there for ERP and just want to meet other friendly faces. Getting people out of the SHI and into the many great locations there are in the world takes some initiative. I've done it on several occasions, grabbing people and saying "Hey, let's explore here or there", and it usually works out great.

I would like to see some other meeting place than the SHI. Last time I gave it try it took me 15 minutes until I prefered to leave in a hurry ...

[CimmerianHoX]

Let me know if I can be of any help.
Though I have given up on RP as my main activity I still dabble now and again

Your help would be greatly appreciated I'll keep in touch as I figure out where I'm going with this.

I would like to see some other meeting place than the SHI. Last time I gave it try it took me 15 minutes until I prefered to leave in a hurry ...

What did you see in the SHI that wouldn't take place elsewhere? I can throw out a number of spots that I love the atmosphere of that haven't seen much usage recently, for various reasons -

- The Sailor's Den (Too many NPCs talking)
- The Garden in the Tarantia Noble District (No one remembers this place )
- The Armsman's Tavern (some enemies in the way)
- The Temple of Ymir in Ymir's Pass (hard to get to)
- The Level 80 Demon Temple in Purple Lotus Swamp (surrounded by enemies)
- The Great Wall of Khitai (Idk...laggy? Also not that easy to get to)

But RP is still RP, and it's not going to vary too much just by location change I think, for everyday purposes. However, I believe behaviors will be different in group gatherings specifically meant for people to come together.

The question I want to ask is, if I were to ask everyone I knew who RP'd to come to say, the Armsman's Tavern this Saturday, and name the best time for them to come and bring all their friends who can attend, how many would actually say they'd come?

[Illwariel]

What did you see in the SHI that wouldn't take place elsewhere?

I definitely didn't see any sort of roleplaying I prefer. Last time there I had a minimal conversion ("Hi, my name is ..."), a naked dancer at my table and another toon trying to sit VERY close to mine. After this 5 minutes I decided to leave and to forgo RP for that evening. If I want RP in a brothel I might come back sometimes.

So the only place I've seen some random RP on a regular base is not acceptable for me ... seems I have to find a guild or give it up.

I can throw out a number of spots that I love the atmosphere of that haven't seen much usage recently, for various reasons -

Since I am rather new in the game I don't know most this places nor would I be able to reach them. Not the best advice

The question I want to ask is, if I were to ask everyone I knew who RP'd to come to say, the Armsman's Tavern this Saturday, and name the best time for them to come and bring all their friends who can attend, how many would actually say they'd come?

I would try to come ... but time is a great factor here. As an EU based player, limited to evening hours on working days only, one great event on weekend at US times would not be very helpful ...