This post brought to you by the numbers 7 and 15

Absence is a bloody liar. A heart will grow fonder even in close proximity. But apparently while I wasn't looking, I got tagged for a blogger award, in the same post by Cap'n Kyrie that tagged Hyperbole and a Half. Allie is freaking awesome, and I love her humor and insight, and I feel terribly out-of-place getting any award she received.

Now, I'm flattered Cap'n, but I'm sorry. I just can't accept this award. Not because I feel I'm outclassed by the company it keeps, but because I just simply don't know fifteen other bloggers. That means I can't follow the rules of the award, and so I must refuse. That, and I'm pretty sure the ones I do know have already been tapped for it, so I'm actually preventing an infinite loop that could crash the internet... or not, since Demotivational Posters have already divided by zero.

But, I will go ahead and tell seven things about myself:
1) I do not have a PhD in Horribleness. I am working on a BA in Sociology, though. Working on semester two of my first year, through online courses, and I made the Dean's List last semester, so go me.

I do have a pretty good evil laugh, though.

2) I get really, really focused. If I'm working on something, I will try to hammer out each and every bit of minutiae I can long past the point at which it really matters, and react poorly when interrupted, even by the call of nature.
2a) I absolutely love and adore and cherish my wife, and am grateful for her patience with me.

3) My favorite X-Man is Nightcrawler, and has been since I was a little kid. I may not have a lot in common with him from a religious standpoint, but I've never been one to let religious differences stand in the way of a good friendship.

Blue or not, the man has skills and looks great in tights.

4) I used to be a Final Fantasy Fanatic. I own every Final Fantasy game released in the US, up to X-2, but I only ever finished one of them (X, so that I'd know where X-2 was picking up from). I'm convinced that this is because I didn't want the game to end, because that meant the fantasy was over. I didn't get into Final Fantasy XI Online because I didn't really have a disposable income and was, at least at that point, very against the idea of paying subscription fees for games, especially since I was already heavily involved in a free-to-play MUD. By the time FFXII came out, October 11 of 2006, I was busy starting a fantasy of my own, making arrangements for my wedding at the end of the month. I don't even know how many they've made since then. Take that, LegendaryFrog.

5) I am better at carpentry than the previous owners of my house, who apparently (according to a sign left in the shed when we moved in) ran a contracting business. I've learned more about power tools, floor supports, and fitting square boards into not-square rooms in the past few years than I ever did in high school. Guess I should have taken shop class after all. Maybe the vocational aptitude test I took back in elementary school was right when it said I was most suited to become an interior decorator.

6) I know more about computer troubleshooting than my best friend, who was trained as a CAD Technician by ITT. Seriously. I've debugged his computers multiple times, and even installed a new power supply for him because, while he may know how to use CAD programs, he has no clue when it comes to opening up the case of his tower. And here I thought I only really knew enough to get myself into trouble.

7) I play guitar. Acoustic, not electric, and not what I would consider well, but better than I can play the piano (which isn't that hard, since I know about 3 tunes on the piano and they're all from video games). I picked it up in high school, and have mostly used it as a means of enhancing my vocal performances with a few chords thrown in. Somewhat recently, though, my limited guitar skills landed me a position in an established group that travels the Renaissance Faire circuit (and other venues). Again, go me.

And that's my seven factoids. We now return you to your regularly scheduled, non-updating blog.

The problem(s) with unofficial RP servers

A lot of MMO games these days have at least one server which is touted as the RP server. Sometimes, it's listed as such by the game itself, but more often than not it is an unofficial, sometimes unwritten designation. These unofficial RP servers, then, are what I tend to seek out, hoping for in-character interaction in the (sometimes) richly detailed, existing game environment. I don't go into a fantasy realm to hear about real-world sports, politics, religion, which current big-name movie star is hot, etc. I kinda figured the whole idea was to escape reality.

The difficulty is, unless roleplay is actually enforced, or at the very least highly encouraged, it becomes very difficult to find as an outsider. Part of that is because non-roleplayers aren't discouraged from using those servers, so it fills up with the same powergamers, botters, farmers, number crunchers, and min-maxers the other servers have, in addition to being populated by those who actually are trying to RP. These are the same powergamers, etc., who are likely to look at you oddly, at the least, or even go out of their way to give you grief, at worst, if you start roleplaying. So all the RP'ers end up being fairly quiet about their roleplay, which makes it even more difficult to find.

And let us not even get into what having a normal dose of "typical" players in addition to the RP crowd does for server lag.

Then there's the fact that no matter where you are, there's going to be varying levels of skill as it regards roleplay. Some people really understand their character, and do their best to understand the game world as it applies to that character. Some people think that going around saying "my lord/lady" and using outdated informals (thee, thou, thine) is the height of RP.

Side rant: Using those archaic pronouns is not only overdone, but wrongly done. They are informals, not formal addresses. Using them with someone meant you knew them very well, and were at least friends if not lovers, or else it was considered an insult. Think about it: if you address royalty, it's always "your Majesty" not "thy Majesty". It's like using the Japanese -kun in reference to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan.

Even if you take the opinion that these are poetic forms, used to create prose and poetry with an ancient feel, or for religious scripture, that does not apply to common speech. Even though you are typing, from the perspective of your character, you are speaking.

If you use any of the old informals when speaking to me, and I don't know you, don't be surprised if I avoid any more interaction with you, IC or otherwise. Chances are, you've either insulted me, or I've written you off as another idiot pretending to be intelligent.

[/rant]

As I was saying, some people really get it, as far as RP goes, and some do not. Even so, the ones that do not are still trying, usually. And quite frankly, it gets to the point where I'm RP-starved enough not to care, half the time. But I'm lucky to overhear even one example of any roleplay in any given week, and because I'm new or unknown, it doesn't include me.

Another problem with persistent RP is one that I discovered in Neverwinter's persistent worlds, but applies to most MMO games with quest-based story progressions, including City of Heroes/Villains and Mabinogi. What do you do when you've already completed a quest, but are helping someone else with the same one? Do you feign IC ignorance of the scenario? Do you say, "Gee, I thought I took care of that problem? Well, I've been through here about two-dozen times already, so it should be a piece of cake. I know where all the traps and ambushes are, just follow my lead!"

So much potential exists for great roleplay experiences, but unofficial RP servers just don't tend to deliver the satisfaction I hope for. More often than not, my time there turns into just more hack & slash XP-grinding.

I will admit, though, that after seeing Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, I've got a terrible urge to get back into City of Villains. It's a shame my satellite connection can't reliably allow the loader to connect.