You know, I have no beef with World Of Warcraft, Guild Wars, or any of these MMOs, but I swear if I have to deal with one more player bringing MMO-style play to my game table, I’ll kick them out faster than they can say “D20″.
The roleplaying facet of games is declining at a rapid rate. All players want to do anymore is kill and loot. What happened to character interaction, creative combat, and pairing a Diplomacy roll with a legitimate response? You know I love to hear about how your fighter deals 20-some damage a round…but last game my character bull-rushed the baddie of the encounter into a furnace and shut the door. (Oh yeah, and did I mention it took me only two rounds?)
Please, I beg you, if you’re new to roleplaying, observe your veteran players. You’ll notice that their actions oftentimes don’t revolve around experience points and gold. In fact, a lot of veteran players would love to see their character killed if it meant going down in the most cinematic, epic blaze of glory possible.
Roleplaying. R-O-L-E-P-L-A-Y-I-N-G. You are someone else. You’re not a person punching keys, moving a joystick, or what have you. You take on the mantle of the character you create, and you interact in the strange world known as imagination. Anything is possible, literally anything. The only things that are possible in video games are the things that the programmers WANT to be possible.
There is so much more to roleplaying than just swinging your sword. Please folks, take a step outside the box your video game came in and open your eyes to the boundless world of roleplaying.
Consider the soap box destroyed. Thank you.
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December 3, 2008 at 11:35 am
Alex Schröder
When I first read about old school gaming, I was struck by the emphasis placed on the lack of skills. The argument being that your character is not just a bunch of stats, and problems shouldn’t challenge the character — they should challenge the player. The player says where he goes, what he does, what he examines, how he does it, and the DM says what happens. No dice are rolled.
Anyway, I bought it and now I want to play a game without a skill system to verify that it works.
December 3, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Harbinger
Your rant sounds like one true wayism. You are telling people they are having badwrongfun
There is no wrong way to play these games so long as everyone is having fun. If swing-hit works for those players and thier groups who are you to tell them they are doing it wrong.
The only wrong way to play is if you are ruining the fun of someone else.
December 3, 2008 at 2:42 pm
davethegame
Have to agree with Harbinger here… it’s not wrong to play that way. If you don’t want them at your table because you have different styles, fine, but I’d recommend talking to them and explaining the kind of game you want to play (and make your suggestion about observing veteran players directly to them.)
December 3, 2008 at 8:17 pm
ChiPsiUp
I don’t think MMO players are the only ones who enjoy roll-playing more than roleplaying. Some people just enjoy killing things, gaining xp, gold, and magic items. Otherwise there wouldn’t be min-maxers and munchkins who play the RPGs. These players were around long before the interweb became popular.
You don’t have to play with them, but they’re not going to disappear.
December 6, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Jonathan Drain | D20 Source
No way. I love roll-playing! Kicking ass is awesome. If I’m going to pretend to be someone else, I want to be someone who can beat people up, and I want rules that prove it.
December 7, 2008 at 10:09 am
emptythreat15
Maybe I should make point a little more clear. I like kicking ass and taking names as much as any MMO-player. But is it too much to ask to get involved in the game itself a little bit? The guy that kinda just meanders along with the group and contributes nothing to the RPing side of the game, and then combat comes along, they roll a few dice, take out a few monsters, and they’re done until next combat. I know it really brings down my morale as a player when someone in the group is not involved.
December 13, 2008 at 12:21 am
Maestro
I understand what you’re trying to say. I’ve used to have a player who existed purely to roll-play and min-max and all those other bad bad things.
At the end of the day, you can talk to these players, ask them to roleplay a bit more, play a system that intrinsically rewards roleplaying, set up situations where the characters can’t solve problems by hitting people in the face, and so on, but if the players don’t want to roleplay, then you shouldn’t make them. Playing games is about having fun, and some people get off on beating the crap out of poor orcs and goblins and so on, then taking their stuff (there’s probably some hardcore psychology behind that, but that’s a whole post or thesis right there).
Basically, what my rambling is probably leading to is that if you don’t like how they play, talk to them and see if you can figure it out, or get a new gaming group. In the mean time, enjoy the company of those players that DO play the way you like.