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A Love Letter to Intrepid/On Roleplayers
Havic1137
Member
Dear Intrepid,
It is probably very unlikely that you'll care much for what a single fan has to say or read this little letter/essay, but I would like to give you guys a thank you for the hard work you are putting into Ashes of Creation. What has been shown of the game so far looks really good, and I'd like to extend encouragement to stay the course and make sure the game is fully cooked before it's released, unlike so many projects before it that have suffered from a lack of polish, too much stress on programmers in a short time, and rushed development.
I do find it both good that people are being incredibly excited for the game and also disappointing that the hype train is building up towards Cyberpunk and No Man's Sky levels in that same, vicious cycle as before. If anything, however, No Man's Sky in its current form gives a very good model on how all of that mainstream buzz and hype is just noise. It will come, it will build up, it will deflate with some misguided vitriol inevitably, but the people who stay will be the ones who appreciate the game for what it is and wants to be, which is an encouraging thought. It is all too easy for us to forget that the developers are human, as well.
There is one thing that I would plea to be remembered in these early stages of development and into the future. As someone who has played a good number of MMORPGs and seeing their current state as-is, I have come to find that the strongest staying power in an MMO is a sense of community. The reason so many people will go back to Warcraft, even if they hate the game itself or Act-Blizzard's behavior, is the people they have come to form friendships, guilds, and plenty of activities with. Even Warcraft is losing that sense of community, however, which has been to its detriment.
There have been many people speculating how one fosters the growth of a good player community, and probably more theories than people speculating. Prominent youtubers like Nixxiom and the late TotalBiscuit have made good observations on the subject of a game's community and social aspect and how it can be such a powerful force for a game. They also warn that trying to force it too harshly can be detrimental, so there is certainly a tension in that respect. Perhaps the best way is to sew the seed and offer a gentle hand of guidance rather than too much or too little. Certainly the LFR and LFD system from Warcraft have a damaging effect and should not be taken as a model.
For my part, I can offer one perspective from personal experience that I hope proves helpful to the game in the future, as I genuinely hope for the game's long term success. Remember the Roleplayers.
Roleplayers are both respected and ridiculed depending on the person you ask, and honestly there is validity to both sides. Roleplayers can be a bit silly, their guilds and communities fraught with drama and some cringy or unsavory individuals. However, what a surprisingly good number of MMOs forget is that the roleplay aspect of the game does not just affect the roleplayers themselves, and that a solid roleplay community can be a stabilizing presence in the game's population.
How do I mean this?
Even if you have a poor opinion of roleplayers, you cannot deny that there is merit to what they desire in the following: They want a rich setting within which they can be immersed. They want to feel like they and their character are part of that setting. They want to explore that world and their character's place or niche within it in a way that will hopefully not be destroyed by griefing or an inability to interact with others (see WoW garrisons and GW2's megaserver shard issues). These are the people that want to read the lore, read the dialogue you might otherwise halfheartedly type in or autogenerate for a quest and to get invested in whatever story or narrative developments you wish to make.
One goes about accommodating those desires through careful development of the lore showing a care for consistency, a care for the quests and characters the populate the world, a variety of emotes and ways to interact with the world outside of combat (it took GW2 5 years to let players sit in chairs), and often a well-integrated housing system and various ways to customize or express oneself through their character's appearance or playstyle. The RPG mechanics are kept with immersion and roleplay in mind - such as in Kingdom Come or classic Baldur's Gate - in order to emphasize teamwork and the role and place of your character in the world as well as their capabilities in the actual setting.
In the process of this, you do positively affect other players who may not otherwise care to roleplay. Anyone can appreciate a good story and setting, even if they don't roleplay in it - take Warhammer or Middle Earth, for example. Some players who might care more for gameplay will still find the experience richer on those occasions that they do delve into the lore and be pleasantly surprised with the attention and care put into the histories and characters - like when watches an old favorite movie and notices more inserted detail or clever dialogue they missed before. People in general like to express themselves with housing and cosmetics even outside of roleplaying - just look at games like Minecraft. City of Heroes also had a spectacular system of player quest creation in the Mission Architect, though I would not expect anything of the sort to be a consideration at this time.
I'm not saying that any of these things should detract from the actual gameplay. That is of equal if not greater importance. However, gameplay is a universal across all video games as a measuring stick. MMORPGs are unique as a genre because of the 'Online' and 'RPG' aspect, and while many games can achieve the 'MMO' part, they can forget the staying power of the 'RPG', which has led to some decline, I feel. While castle sieges and PVP and dungeons are all crucially important, never forget the power in such seemingly little things like the ability to sit in the tavern, chat bubbles and comprehensive chat/emote text, taking a walk through the game world and simply being immersed in a well-crafted setting, or decorating one's home a wizard's tower or a guild hall or an armor shop or a regular old house.
To summarize, thank you for your hard work and do not let the hype or the subsequent deflation of that hype affect you. I and my friends are looking forward to a good if not even great game. We want to enjoy the virtual world that you create, and we encourage you to foster a sense of community - especially among roleplayers despite the ugly drama that can sometimes surface - so that this game can have a longstanding, dedicated community of players and GMs that appreciate the lore and the game in equal measure and can make Ashes of Creation into a place we want to waste hours of our lives away in.
Best wishes!
It is probably very unlikely that you'll care much for what a single fan has to say or read this little letter/essay, but I would like to give you guys a thank you for the hard work you are putting into Ashes of Creation. What has been shown of the game so far looks really good, and I'd like to extend encouragement to stay the course and make sure the game is fully cooked before it's released, unlike so many projects before it that have suffered from a lack of polish, too much stress on programmers in a short time, and rushed development.
I do find it both good that people are being incredibly excited for the game and also disappointing that the hype train is building up towards Cyberpunk and No Man's Sky levels in that same, vicious cycle as before. If anything, however, No Man's Sky in its current form gives a very good model on how all of that mainstream buzz and hype is just noise. It will come, it will build up, it will deflate with some misguided vitriol inevitably, but the people who stay will be the ones who appreciate the game for what it is and wants to be, which is an encouraging thought. It is all too easy for us to forget that the developers are human, as well.
There is one thing that I would plea to be remembered in these early stages of development and into the future. As someone who has played a good number of MMORPGs and seeing their current state as-is, I have come to find that the strongest staying power in an MMO is a sense of community. The reason so many people will go back to Warcraft, even if they hate the game itself or Act-Blizzard's behavior, is the people they have come to form friendships, guilds, and plenty of activities with. Even Warcraft is losing that sense of community, however, which has been to its detriment.
There have been many people speculating how one fosters the growth of a good player community, and probably more theories than people speculating. Prominent youtubers like Nixxiom and the late TotalBiscuit have made good observations on the subject of a game's community and social aspect and how it can be such a powerful force for a game. They also warn that trying to force it too harshly can be detrimental, so there is certainly a tension in that respect. Perhaps the best way is to sew the seed and offer a gentle hand of guidance rather than too much or too little. Certainly the LFR and LFD system from Warcraft have a damaging effect and should not be taken as a model.
For my part, I can offer one perspective from personal experience that I hope proves helpful to the game in the future, as I genuinely hope for the game's long term success. Remember the Roleplayers.
Roleplayers are both respected and ridiculed depending on the person you ask, and honestly there is validity to both sides. Roleplayers can be a bit silly, their guilds and communities fraught with drama and some cringy or unsavory individuals. However, what a surprisingly good number of MMOs forget is that the roleplay aspect of the game does not just affect the roleplayers themselves, and that a solid roleplay community can be a stabilizing presence in the game's population.
How do I mean this?
Even if you have a poor opinion of roleplayers, you cannot deny that there is merit to what they desire in the following: They want a rich setting within which they can be immersed. They want to feel like they and their character are part of that setting. They want to explore that world and their character's place or niche within it in a way that will hopefully not be destroyed by griefing or an inability to interact with others (see WoW garrisons and GW2's megaserver shard issues). These are the people that want to read the lore, read the dialogue you might otherwise halfheartedly type in or autogenerate for a quest and to get invested in whatever story or narrative developments you wish to make.
One goes about accommodating those desires through careful development of the lore showing a care for consistency, a care for the quests and characters the populate the world, a variety of emotes and ways to interact with the world outside of combat (it took GW2 5 years to let players sit in chairs), and often a well-integrated housing system and various ways to customize or express oneself through their character's appearance or playstyle. The RPG mechanics are kept with immersion and roleplay in mind - such as in Kingdom Come or classic Baldur's Gate - in order to emphasize teamwork and the role and place of your character in the world as well as their capabilities in the actual setting.
In the process of this, you do positively affect other players who may not otherwise care to roleplay. Anyone can appreciate a good story and setting, even if they don't roleplay in it - take Warhammer or Middle Earth, for example. Some players who might care more for gameplay will still find the experience richer on those occasions that they do delve into the lore and be pleasantly surprised with the attention and care put into the histories and characters - like when watches an old favorite movie and notices more inserted detail or clever dialogue they missed before. People in general like to express themselves with housing and cosmetics even outside of roleplaying - just look at games like Minecraft. City of Heroes also had a spectacular system of player quest creation in the Mission Architect, though I would not expect anything of the sort to be a consideration at this time.
I'm not saying that any of these things should detract from the actual gameplay. That is of equal if not greater importance. However, gameplay is a universal across all video games as a measuring stick. MMORPGs are unique as a genre because of the 'Online' and 'RPG' aspect, and while many games can achieve the 'MMO' part, they can forget the staying power of the 'RPG', which has led to some decline, I feel. While castle sieges and PVP and dungeons are all crucially important, never forget the power in such seemingly little things like the ability to sit in the tavern, chat bubbles and comprehensive chat/emote text, taking a walk through the game world and simply being immersed in a well-crafted setting, or decorating one's home a wizard's tower or a guild hall or an armor shop or a regular old house.
To summarize, thank you for your hard work and do not let the hype or the subsequent deflation of that hype affect you. I and my friends are looking forward to a good if not even great game. We want to enjoy the virtual world that you create, and we encourage you to foster a sense of community - especially among roleplayers despite the ugly drama that can sometimes surface - so that this game can have a longstanding, dedicated community of players and GMs that appreciate the lore and the game in equal measure and can make Ashes of Creation into a place we want to waste hours of our lives away in.
Best wishes!
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