What's the point of a multiplayer game if everyone's going to solo or multibox? I tried out platinum, but I couldn't stand it because there simply wasn't ever anybody around... Now prime is starting to feel that way. Is the end game of prime to find some inventive script that detects/logs you off during script checks, and AFK all the way to 150?



Where do people go for interaction in the world? I regularly offer/look for a class to teach or listen in on, fun gambling games involving dice, and even end it all with 'or is anything else going on someone could use another person for?' and am met with either silence, occasional disdain, or heehaw persons poking fun at it.


I've been everywhere in the world recently looking for something, ANYTHING to break the monotony of existence here (Besides way north theren, the frozen dwarf province which I never explored because I have nobody to explore it with/show me around, or the outer Qi islands), and I just can't seem to discover anything to do. If I find a gathering of people be it the Ratha Green, Riverhaven outside the dry goods store, Crossing at the war/moon mage tower, or outside the empath guild and hospital, and introduce myself, they just keep on braiding their grass, collecting and kicking their rock piles, or folding their origami, and act as though I don't even exist.


Is there NOTHING to do out here unless you're a raising cleric, healing empath, or moon gating moon mage? Never see people asking for anything else... I mean, even in gemstone, I can find SOMETHING to do, even if it's as simple as 'do task/gain exp/wait for timer to expire/do another quest' or 'See person die/locate dead person/teleport to dead person/bring them to safety', but over here (And it's sad I like THIS side of elanthia a bit more than the other) I feel unneeded, useless, and doubt if the world pays any attention to my comings or goings.



Has it truly morphed into Solorealms? Is it just a sunk loss fallacy at this point? After 15 or 16 or 17 or however many years, am I just wanting to be entertained here because I've put so much time into it, or used to ACTUALLY have fun and interaction back when 1500 played during the evenings?


What am I missing?

I'd check the events calendar and poke your head into some gatherings. The one I like is the Northern Watch spar night on Thursday nights in Therengia, which is generally pretty fun whether you're sparring or just watching via mirror. Zoluren, Therengia, and Ilithi all have a fairly regular schedule of player run events, and I've found it pretty easy to get involved in each of those scenes when I feel like it.

There are several groups that are active, also. Many are attached to events, so if you go to an event and enjoy it, you may want to see what the group is like, too.

---

Player of: Lyathe and Saslisena

I don't know which guild your in.

I know a group of people are putting up a decent push to have interaction in the Guild, social, and some activities outside of script central (its not prefect, off hours are still terrible, but its better then it was, and still seems to be getting better).

As was mentioned elsewhere Empaths guild (Crossing escpecially, do some people script, do some people not care to interact, certainly but I know they are there).

Not necessarily a place, but there are a bit of Bards that want nothing more than interaction and doing something, do not want to be part of script central.

Calendar was mentioned and an excellent suggestion.

Finally there are these folders in the various forums called something like [adjective] [Events] [and some other words throughout]; I know I recently posted in just about every single folder about an Event and to tell you the truth despite that, and a bit of in-game gwething and having open interviews for a few hours, only got people through the gwething and than days later a person responding to the post with a 'yes, I'd like to be part of the program'.

Finally, if your looking for something specific ask around for how others started their stuff, get pointers, and start it yourself, and be prepared to roll with it (there will probably be curve balls in there).

---
"I think anything that forces you to do something no sane adventurer would do just in order to train is ridiculous."
DR-SOCHARIS

---
Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

First off, in places like the islands or places like Muspari, yeah those places tend to have not so many people. Forfedhar also doesnt have alot of people there, those that are usually are hunting and keep to themselves.

As for finding people to interact with, in crossing, if you see a bunch of people at the empath guild try striking up a conversation. There are alot of people who like adventures and stuff like that. Or ask on the gweth, say "Hey, I wanna go explore somewhere" or something like that and ask if anyone wants to join you. Yes, 14 years ago (holy %&^@ I cant believe its been that long) there were more people in fewer areas so you had more people to talk to. But remember, the islands werent there, Forfedhar wasnt there, you had a smaller area to hang out in. The dr world is bigger, which is good, but it means people are more spaced out. Just keep trying. And like other people said, check the calenders or join one of the organizations. And if you go to a room and it seems that no one is paying attention, just shout out "hey anyone awake?" and you might find out they are and are interested in doing something with you. Cant hurt to try.

>>Male Persona Non grata seeking Dead Female Pokemon

And to take the offensive on the problem, I tend to report for AFK scripting all those that appear to be scripting AND unresponsive. AFK scripting must be denounced by the players. Then it is up to DR's GMs to take action.

Happy hunting.

Carlos

I'll never win a 'Ronald Reagan Great Communicator Award'.

I would agree that checking the events calendar is a good way to go. Attending events is good in that you will meet folks but it also shows you who is interested in interacting outside their social circle. One of the issues with DR is that people can be very into socializing with their circle of friends but not particularly useful outside of that.

Speaking specifically on the Ilithian front we get pretty good participation with our events and make sure to have different style ones on a regular basis. The west gate in Shard is the most popular spot for folks to gather and people seem to be fairly responsive. Some more than other obviously. People I'd recommend there would be Osus, Starlear and Marssi for instance. Each tends to be responsive and have a different style of interaction. (Read interesting). Ask Osus about killing things, Starlear about shopping and Marssi about Empath stuffs and you are likely good to go. Obviously there's more people than just that, those are just examples.

Leucius

Never argue with an idiot, they bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

>>I always found Theren a really fun place to find a group or find RP.<<

^This.

________________________________________________________________


"Nope, I decided parry will remain completely and utterly useless. Try something else."

Awwww. Thank you Diggan! In fact, next Ranga Flower Hunt is in Shard at the
Ranga's Guild next Tuesday, (Feb. 26th at 8:00 pm EST). Come out and play,
we have a great time. Plus grand prize for fourth flower is 200 plat kron.
How's that for a bribe?

Also, I'll be at the Islands soon to bring the game there.

Player Behind Lorwryn
Flower Pickin' Ranga.

>If you can't find anyone to like you, find a bunch to loathe you.

Or do both. My thief was pretty universally adored and I threw him in the middle of a plot with some shifty necros. Building it all up and tackling it is too much like playing with blocks to not be fun.

I would steer away from settling in one place. It sounds like your toon is large enough to roam and people have already listed the good spots. If you're wanting only RP it can get stale fast with the same people for them/you and if you're wanting just the occasional pop-in you're not depending on the same 5 people to get your fix. DR is entirely to cliquey as it is (in the not-fun non-RP way).

Depending on what sort of interaction you want you can develop your character accordingly and really interact with anyone that's paying attention. People really underestimate the IG compliment. I'm not saying you have to faun over people's three pages of inventory but lying works great.

"Hey, I had a question about mantle of flame and someone mentioned you'd be the person to ask." Even if it takes them a minute to answer everyone likes to show off a bit and if they DON'T answer, more than likely they'll kick themselves later and try to pay more attention.

They also really underestimate the 'short temper.' "YOU DIDNT KICK YOUR PILE!" /death monkey

Lose a fight on occasion to someone that has the rocks to stand up to you and every time you see them afterward and they give you a look, pretend like you're being 'good' this time and you wont bother them. This has been one of the least-mined RP areas in game. Everyone's worried about looking really cool and being a god.

Losing to someone that fights gryphons and then them seeing you in an invasion of (insert supermob) where you're stomping face is a really neat and weird dynamic. Especially when you keep up pretenses afterwards.

I know I got into suggestions not places but I get excited. My main guy is off the grid right now being 'bad' so I haven't gotten my fix in a while.

---

Avrii says, "I'll train while youre not on and other than that you'll never see me."
You say, "Maybe y'should start wif that."

>It is VERY hard to be evil. The payoff is enormous but being a bad guy requires constant vigilance where being good just requires your attention for the moment. People remember evil. You can't count all the good guys.

I don't know if I agree with that. For my text right now, it's difficult to play "good", even though her version of good is definitely not white hat good by any stretch of the imagination. There's an awful lot of people who side with necromancers, for example, or just involve themselves with "evil families", and it gets harder every day to socialize without being cozy with one of them. Playing hardline Inquisition when most of your friends side with the enemy (or at least turn a blind eye to it, which is just as bad ICly) is not an easy task. Pretty fun though.

>> I don't know if I agree with that. For my text right now, it's difficult to play "good", even though her version of good is definitely not white hat good by any stretch of the imagination. There's an awful lot of people who side with necromancers, for example, or just involve themselves with "evil families", and it gets harder every day to socialize without being cozy with one of them. Playing hardline Inquisition when most of your friends side with the enemy (or at least turn a blind eye to it, which is just as bad ICly) is not an easy task. Pretty fun though.

I think hes suggesting that there are far more strings attached to playing a bad guy. Some providences have a pretty absolute no tolerence policy and deviating from those makes you an enemy of the state. Once you've went that route, there's really no turning back.

I see 'good' as how its played out in those cases as being closer to Lawful Evil, where 'bad' is more indicative of who than what.

---

IM: Dannyboy00001111

"Fool proof system do not take into account the ingenuity of fools, nor the power of numbers."

<<Something else to consider. It is VERY hard to be evil. The payoff is enormous but being a bad guy requires constant vigilance where being good just requires your attention for the moment. People remember evil. You can't count all the good guys.

The people I respect the most for RP tend to play evil or questionable characters. It is really, really hard to be a good bad guy/gal. Think about how hard it is for Zerreck to just run around and try to have a "normal" day. Not a chance. Nystarn was one of my favorite old bad guys as well.

Good guys are pretty much a dime a dozen. I wish that the people that play really good bad guys got more support. For example, it would not bother me one bit if someone gave Zerreck an method to start an undead invasion.

TL;DR - Good Bad Guys/Gals are Good. Got it? Great.

Madigan

While his posting was a bit out of left field at times - the toon Ragran was always one of my favorite evil guys.

I've wanted to find a reason to go evil so many times, but I just don't think I could pull it off, for all the reasons already stated.

I try to hate on necros, but man that gets tough on the islands, and you see the same 2 or 3 of them every single day hunting the same exact thing and hanging with the same crowd.

Also, staying creative enough to not just treat "ganking people" as RP might not be something I've got in my bag either.

I, too, give kudos to the evil folks out there.

---

Player of Diggan, Ranger & Halfing of Aesry

Interesting discussion.

I think it all depends on how you look at it. While I agree that there is nothing more difficult than playing the best RP'ed baddie out there, I do think in certain ways it's more difficult playing a good guy than a bad one.

---

Individuals, families, countries, continents are destroyed at the heavy hand of Vinjince.

-GM Abasha

Love this discussion by the way.

I think mostly what we all respect is a level of consistency either good or bad. Most people try to play their characters in the grey middle, or simply do what they find convenient at any given moment in time. Very few people are willing to define their characters in a particular way and accept the consequences good or bad.

Madigan

>>The people I respect the most for RP tend to play evil or questionable characters.

Yes. Our world needs bad guys, but it's a hard task. To do it really well it must mean not a whole lot of social interaction, and it's easy to get bored. Personally, I don't think I could do it.

One reason I like being Open is I like to feel it gives that little nod to the evil guys out there to come have fun.


-- Player of Eyuve

I don't believe it's possible that one can be consistently evil, Dragonrealms is a community. Anybody could influence the game to the point of a shifting uproar.

There's one underlying fact here though, Evil people kill Evil people.

The good guy -always wins-


~Nefidyne

>
Kssarh gestures at you.
Two Ranger journeymen materialize out of the surrounding trees and begin to whisper to Kssarh as they escort him out of the area.

>>I'm not saying it's strictly a bad thing to have plots where the bad guys win to dramatic effect, as if it was some cosmological rule, but you'd have to convince me the DR roleplaying community has undergone a complete transformation since the Outcast War.

As a Kaldar player, I am perfectly fine with the idea that the DR population will win all future wars. Just makes the one butt-kicking that much more special.

<<The good guy -always wins->>

Good point, Nef, and a good assumption to operate under no matter what shade your character is playing.

<<"Good guys always win in the end" is a mixture of acknowledging the heroic fantasy roots of the game's fictional influences and a self-defense mechanism to prevent more GMs from getting burnt out trying to do stuff the community historically had an aneurism over.>>

The Outcast War really, really caused drama, didn't it? I loved that war. It was one of my favorite times in DR, and I got killed a lot. Speaking from my own personal perspective as a player involved in Ilithi these days, I don't think that community would have a hard time facing "losing" the same way now. Obviously I'm sure there's a lot of folks there that think otherwise, but I know a sizeable number that would have a ball playing "the resistance 2.0."

I think the primary complaint from a war of that type again would be the day-to-day inconveniences for people who are totally uninterested in events (like barricades, unpredictable invasions, etc). I would argue that that's the game they signed up for, but that's probably not a fair imposition of my play preference.

More sustained wars plz, we can take it.