So, why are Roleplayers ignored?

Q u o t e:
Roleplayers honestly need some attention from the developers. It isn't as obscure as most people might think, nor is it some escape from reality for basement dwellers. It's just another form of writing, or even -acting-. Roleplaying requires a lot more thought than PvE or even PvP, and we get ridiculed for it. Why? Because of stupid stereotypes.

And now it seems even Blizzard feels like perpetuating those stereotypes with their latest April Fools joke on the forums, and have even completely ignored the little bit of support they promised for roleplayers. In our realm description, we were promised naming restrictions and protection from grievers. Over 70% of the players on the most active RP realms actively ridicule the people there to RP and name themselves things like "Hasselhoof" and "Loldrood" (Names may or may not exist, they are examples).

There are only two or three servers left with actual active random roleplaying. The rest of these "RP" servers are basically PvE/PvP with some secretive guilds trying to sneak some roleplaying without being griefed. Why aren't these servers policed and regulated like we were promised in the very description of our Realm?

Now, feel free to ridicule me, I'll just ignore your post. The stereotypes you'll use don't exist. RP isn't cybering. Most characters do not own a wizard hat, though some might. And most of us have the average social life that most WoW players share. We are normal people that just like to play the game a different way.

And why do we get so little content support? PvP and PvE seem to get something in every patch. Lately, we've been getting even less, as there are much fewer usable seats in the latest expansion, which is basically the only nod we've gotten from Blizzard. Why can't we have an ingame FlagRSP(A very draining addon that allows you to give a name, title, and description to your character)? Or ingame language learning? Or even more cosmetic options, like purely aesthetic gear and such?

It feels like we're being forced to limit our creativity.

Role-players are not ignored contrary to what you may believe. I posted something about this a bit earlier on toward the end of the Wrath of the Lich King development cycle in which I pointed out that we have continued to add in some additional items in the game for role-playing as well as even made sure to add some additional room in the inns so that there would be additional space for gatherings (as many players had requested.)

We are always open to additional suggestions and feedback (though the Suggestion forum is the best place for this.)

Keep in mind this is a more complex issue than just simply adding in "x" items. Cosmetic items are great, and they're fun, there is no doubt, but they also take away from development of other gameplay items. We do try to implement items in though whenever we can. It always comes down to trying to make the best of development time and get in all the things we want to get in. There are many facets of the game and as we see on the forums here, there are many different discussions on who gets the most attention, who is developed for most, etc.

Some new things that you'll get to see as a part of the Argent Tournament are things like: Banners for the city you represent, a Squire to hold the banner for you, new shirts (Doublets) for each of the city factions.

Our world events also try to include new things when possible as well, such as new pets, new clothing items, or fun trinket items.

In the end though, and as much as we might try to add into the game, the RP part has to come from you and is what you make of it. If your portion of the community isn't taking part in RP like you'd like, then work on inspiring them and creating your own events. Keep in mind too that even among RPers there are different things that are considered acceptable or not acceptable. What one person may find humorous another might not. For instance, you felt the April Fools was meant in disrespect, as someone myself that enjoys RP, I found it delightful and so did many others. If it wasn't your taste, that's understandable, but with all of our April Fool's jokes, they are meant simply in fun and not as any insult to any particular group.

Q u o t e:


You made a lot of good points, but this I have to refute. You claim we have to inspire them, but how should we inspire someone who actively tries to ruin our inspiration? You dodged the real issue in that post, and that is that we have a massive ratio against us of Griefers to RPers, even to the point of ruining most of the RP servers. Why do you let your servers fester like that, and not help us fix them? Why do we have to police griefers ourselves?

You inspire those that want to take part. As others said, ignore the ones that try to cause trouble. I tend to either ignore them or pretend they are insane. More often than not though, many non-rpers just don't understand what it is, they need shown and allowed to make mistakes and learn what it's all about. Most often, people mock what they don't understand. I've had many non-rpers admit they are afraid to try for fear of being mocked themselves.

Events can be big or small depending on what you want to get out of it. I've taken part in events on realms where RP isn't very prevalent and had it work out to be a tremendous success once everyone got into the premise of the event.

Should someone really become disruptive to your gameplay, like anytime another player becomes abusive or disruptive, you can get in touch with a GM to find out more about what they might be able to do to help. We can't be everywhere at all times, but we do work to make sure that everyone is given a chance to take part in the world and have fun.

Live employee run events always sound great on paper. They look like a lot of fun and when actually acted on ARE a lot of fun, but they are only a lot of fun for a very select group of people; those that were able to take part in the event.

There are many other problems with live events such as having the people power to run them, the timing, the ability to make the event accessible to as many people as possible and more.

We come at the idea of events a little bit differently so that we can maximize the amount of people that get to take part, and that's by adding in game holidays and events that everyone can get a little time in on.

That said though, this is not a new phenomena to MMOs. This is a very old conversation, and in the end, no one can force anyone to take part in RP. The most anyone can do is encourage. We will continue to add in fun elements wherever we can and continue to be as supportive as we can, but we can't be everything to everyone. It's impossible. We do our best to focus on what we can do, and how we can support the various aspects of gameplay within the game.

We also try to be careful in how we allow for realm transfers, but we also have to take into account the health of a realm in regard to population as well. There are no guarantees though that keep anyone from rolling on a particular realm, or transferring there in regard to whether they are or are not an RPer. For many players, they're simply looking for a fresh new place to play, and maybe even quench their curiosity on what an RP realm is all about.

You could say we could hire more people (as some have said for other things they've wanted), you could say we should focus more on 'x' or 'y' aspect of the game, but in the end, there are only so many resources and so much time to do it in.

Player run events are also a bit more special in that they can be custom-tailored to you, your realm, and the people within it. We're not going to know all of the storylines you have going on in your realm. We're not going to know who the villain is or who the good guys are from all those viewpoints. Even if we ran a live event, they would be far more generic than what a specific community can tailor for their own realm. So, we'll do what we do, and continue to try to give you some of the tools you need to keep on doing what you do.

Q u o t e:


You can. It's in the rules. Why is it not enforced, if it's a rule?

I don't even -want- it to be enforced, but what's the point of RP realms if the rules, as written, are meaningless?

Explain to me whose RP gets enforced? This is where we get into some pretty dicey bits and slippery slopes. Some people may RP things a bit more silly and some may want the strict letter of the lore enforced, but in the end, there is no one way to RP.

I'm sure you'll find some more information on what we can enforce or how we can enforce it on the Customer Service Forum though more than here. They have explained the aspect of enforcement many times before. You can also provide feedback to them on just this issue as well.

*Edited in- Here is the link to the Policy for those interested: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20458&categoryId=2415&parentCategoryId=&pageNumber=1

It does require action on the part of players on those realms to report violations. Again, this is a Customer Service discussion though at this point versus a discussion on Game Development and may be better served by getting in touch with the GM department.

Q u o t e:


Other 'play styles' have people on the DEV team that understand that aspect of gameplay, that are ok with looking like every other character of their race/class in the game, and are ok having nothing to do between raid content but stare at a wall in Dalaran or do daily quests.

Unfortunatly it seems that there is no one on the dev team that enjoys character depth, character customization, player housing, guild housing, or actual depth of gameplay.

WoW has simply evolved the MMORPG genre from what it once was, to a thin treadmill to get as much money out of the money sponge as possible.

These sorts of inferences don't help the conversation at all. There are many people on the development team that have an interest in role-play and take an active part in adding in the elements of which I spoke about earlier. That said, however, we also need to all understand that we have to gauge development on what is most possible and feasible with what we will have to get back to at a later point in time.

I can't assist with in game violations or policing them. You would need to get in touch with the GM department on that. The most I can do is funnel feedback on these issues and concerns.

Q u o t e:


Your reading comprehension is about the same as nephs... selective.

Please read the thread before you respond to it... thanks.

The name is Nethaera, not Neph. :) My reading comprehension is fine (please refrain from posting insults toward others). You're upset that I can't answer a question that I can't. Customer Service policies are something you would need to discuss with the Customer Service department. That said though, and as I have said before, I can however, forward your feedback on to the appropriate parties who help define these policies.

Q u o t e:


That explains how I defeated you in Blackwing Lair yet you still post here!

That was merely a setback! Oh.. darn! You figured out my true identity. :(

Q u o t e:

because i thought it would just be like an Rp server but contested zones pvp flag.

As someone that has loved the combination of RP and PvP together, many people think of it much like the commercial where the people complain, "You got chocolate in my peanut butter!" "You got peanut butter on my chocolate!" Sometimes people don't really see how beneficial the two can be for each other. For me, it's better to have them both when possible.

We can probably argue about RPG for a long while. It means Role-play game but for some playing the character is all the RP they want or need. For others, they like to get in the skin of their character and be them. Neither is more right than the other. It's still at the core about having fun.