I love building, furnishing, and decorating. I REALLY want Carpentry to be useful in Ashes. I maxed out Furnishing in New World and was one of the top Furnishers on my server at launch, I even set up one of my houses like a showroom, made spreadsheets and order forms. Unfortunately, furnishing in most games is absolutely worthless to gameplay. I remember seeing a stat when I maxed out Furnishing that only 2% of the players had the achievement for purchasing their first house, that's 2% of players who even COULD buy furniture, and most of that 2% had barren houses with only trophies and a storage chest...what a disappointment.
While I love to RP an in-game home with my wife (we sit back to back in the same room and play together, and I do woodworking IRL), it's very difficult to make Furnishing/Carpentry a worthwhile effort.
Please make Carpentry more useful besides just a tool for RP.
I need a customizable action bar (or another smarter solution) for emotes/animations with easy to recognize icons for each emote. I really dislike to have to type in slash commands for doing emotes or trying to remember which one of all different types of "sit" emotes would be best. It really kills it for me.
I also want a lot of emotes and interactive things in the world.
Make dedicated roleplay servers otherwise you'll have a great difficulty creating a large, immersive roleplay environment.
As a long standing 15+ year MMO roleplayer I found the games with dedicated roleplay servers were always the most populated because it was quick and easy to find roleplay.
Mega servers or games without dedicated roleplay servers such as games like Elder Scrolls Online (Even though the game had lots of potential) fell flat in large scale roleplay because it was impossible to find organic roleplay in the world. It was often forced to be cliques and one of the many joys of MMO roleplay is meeting new people with ease.
Beyond that you need to solidify your basics. Cosmetics. Emotes. I would entirely avoid instanced housing for roleplay as this quickly devolves and kills roleplay communities, such as with SWTOR. As you are unable to find players as many of them hide in instances and it makes what is meant to be an alive world feel dead.
Really that's all you need. Ways to connect roleplayers easily without needing to join out of game communities to accommodate for it. Ashes has so much potential that I'd love to see explored and I hope it doesn't make the same mistake that many modern MMOs have with roleplay.
I'm always free to give more opinions and discuss on this if you wish! I run a 2500+ player roleplay community in another game and would love to see it thrive in Ashes.
3
Options
vahroMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
First of all, a few basic things that absolutely have to go into:
- Proximity chat for playing (saying, emotes, shouting,, etc). Please don't repeat the mistake of new world and leave this out. That would be a nogo for me!
- Chat Bubbles. Has already been confirmed by Steven in a livestream, but still again. RP works without, but it makes it hard to follow the chat and the characters at the same time, especially with a huge group. Makes for this but a toggle, because out there are enough players who do not want something like that.
- Custom Emotes: There can't be a predefined emote for everything of yours, which is logical. So please make it possible to write your own with /em or so.
- The possibility to sit down (also on chairs and benches), lie down, kneel down, etc.
In addition, some special requests:
- Possibility to lean against walls (I found that great in Age of Conan).
- Nice emotes, like drinking, eating, yawning, etc.
- Interactions with the pet and the mount (e.g. stroking), it would be cool if the pet then reacts to something like that.
- Possibility to offer an emote to others (handshake, kiss) and they have to accept or decline (and then a collective emote is executed).
- Different dance styles
Firstly, I would like to express how great it is to see these questions being asked by the dev team. Ever since I first played WoW back in 2006, the main draw of the MMORPG genre for me has, and always will be, the space it allows for Roleplay. So to know AoC has some focus on facilitating for the needs of the RP community is awesome.
As many a person seem to have already commented, fashion/clothing/customization are huge in RP. The more we have to play with, the better - and diverse, detailed and well thought out clothing goes a long way in helping our avatar's realise the expression we as players have for them in our heads.
Second thing I'd add is the inclusion of an RP bio/character sheet within the game systems, so we don't have to rely on third party add-ons. I'm thinking of a 'Total-RP3' style system, like all the RPers used in WoW. There, I can add subtle details that the devs don't have to account for - it could be a little about the way my character smells/talks/moves. The way I view a character who I've read walks with a limp, will be completely different to the way I view the guy who's character moves in a snake-like fashion.
Main thing I'd say, is take a look at the Total RP-3 add-on for WoW, as it really gets a lot of things right, and takes out a lot of hard work for RPers.
I can only speak for myself when I say that the reason I am excited for AoC is precisely because it's a new world to roleplay in, and if I don't feel catered for as a player, I will be disapointed. However, as previously stated, it's really assuring to see devs making this a concern at this stage in the development process.
Scope creep is a big concern I have. Even tho I enjoy some RP, and I find those communities awesome, I do not wan't AoC, a game that was initially supposed to launch before 2020 to focus on anything besides delivering the original core promises, with a solid MVP and leave RP and QoL features for post-launch.
I'm going to "Ditto" this but add the caveat that I don't role play at all, so while not adding to the Dev question, I wanted to balance out the responses and add that RP is not the be-all end-all feature for many players.
I' love a good collaborative creative-writing experience! It's why I've bought into ashes and carefully select the cosmetics, it's not as much about flash as it is collecting pieces I can write around and immerse myself with.
On RP Servers: I dont think they should be "soft core" or "PVE" - The game should stay true to itself and we will certainly have dedicated griefers on RP servers BUT if a server or a few are labeled RP - we will flock and be glad that role players will be a majority faction on a realm instead of being forced to scattered to the wind and pray we find a few other people to write / play with. Especially with server caps at 10k, we will need a little help, even just a hint of help from intrepid to ensure we're more likely to end up with more role players than hateful trolls. PVP and the risk/reward is so exciting to me, especially as a role player. People will assassinate eachother mid-RP sometimes BUT this gives rise to bounty hunter clans and lawfully good guilds who will mark these people and do something about it. Variety is the spice of life but it doesn't feel good to be 1 of 20 roleplayers on a server.. Please consider this.
Onto the rest..
The reason I stuck around to play FFXIV was for the RP potential that was immediately clear thanks to /cpose "change pose."
BDO did it really well too... Toggling between a variety of poses while sitting, standing, laying etc. feels so much more immersive than your idle poses being determined purely by race and sex or simply being the same as everyone else. BDO allowing people to sit and hang their legs off of walls and ledges AND toggle a variety of poses is amazing to me.
Another MASSIVE advantage for role players = persistent animation emotes... like sweeping, slowly turning the pages of a book, eating/drinking, mixing potions, crushing herbs, taking notes about their surroundings, standing guard or glancing around while they lean against a wall, sharpening a blade, flipping a coin, anything that can be done to blend in with the npc world goes a long way towards immersive RP and creating unique scenery for anyone looking to be a part of it.
Toggleable overhead chat bubbles and a few options for style would be awesome. Sometimes they're overwhelming and nice to disable but in most cases it's very exceptionally nice to be able to see whos speaking at a glance rather than inspect every character in an area to see who entered into the chat box.
PROPS. Prop toys or emote-accessories like being able to draw a parasol, a crate or barrel to carry, using a staff like a walking stick, shopping bags for market, a pillow or stool to sit on, lanterns, pile o' tomes etc. Even if they're single-use items we have to stock up on, we will. It's really nice to be able to spice things up with visuals to write around. (Thank you for attention to detail in the cosmetic / accessory designs you've shared thus far.)
I DONT want (or would at least like to be able to toggle) auto-emote based on what I write in my chat.. I've seen people suggest your character laughing if you type "haha" but it would ruin it if there were buzz words we have to avoid typing just so that we're not emoting at inappropriate times. A practiced roleplayer is ready to hotkey their emotes when they need to liven things up x)
In LOTRO, we were able to bind an emote to the hotkeys, and customize it to say different things. For example, I enjoyed roleplaying a warg and I used this feature extensively. My favorite was the shake emote. My warg would shake out its fur, and I customized the emote to say something along the lines of "Grizzleduch shakes out his fur, flinging fleas in [target]'s direction."
Also, in Ultima Online, pets had said commands that they would follow. "All follow me" " All Stay" and other such commands. I was able to whisper the command to be visible only within a step or two of the character, and have customized 'commands' for everyone else to see such as *Sic 'em!* problem is that because the command was technically whispered, it didn't work all the time. If we are able to change such commands if incorporated to custom wording for the same pet command, that would be awesome. [Animal attacks target with this string of words or this emote, etc]
Alright! Thank you for this design challenge, it gave me a cool thing to do for an afternoon, so here's the results of my hard work!
The Current Quest Box
Another team member will be along to explain all of the reasons why this is important or needed in specific ways so I'm going to stay focused on the bases and the purpose.
Players need an easily checkable way to see the current aim or disposition of another player by examining them without needing to talk to them. In FFXI there are actually two of these. The first is what is officially(?) referred to as the 'Bazaar Comment'. It is a 3-line block of text that appears when you /check someone to see their gear. It is used for multiple things. A short intro, a general idea of what that person is available for, etc. It is changeable whenever, but only people in physical proximity can generally check it.
The second is the Search Comment or '/seacom'. This is used when you want people who use the game's search functions (which allow you to find people's locations online or such) to see something, so for example you put your 'LFG' flag up, and in the /seacom you explain what you can do, what you're willing to do, how long you have to play, and what types of party you're interested in.
Or, since /seacom doesn't actually require you to put the flag up, you can specifically put the opposite, the equivalent of 'I know I'm the only tank in this level range online but I'm busy raising my chocobo don't blind invite or talk to me'. Anything you want, really.
Contrast with the Bio box
There's a great benefit to having a character background bio to give detail on what type of character your avatar is. There is an equally important benefit to giving detail on what you are into/trying to do right now or in the near future.
Integration With Quest Journal
The idea I have is that instead of having to write up their own (this should still be an option, I'll get back to this), players who have a quest to do XYZ should be able to just select that Quest and set it in this box, and then the game provide a short less-spoilery Quest Description (somewhat customized for this box, probably very similar to whatever the initial concept for the quest/quest stage was).
This way, players can check and see what you are up to immediately and therefore know if they want to engage with you, long before you even set out. Why this and not just talking/sociability? Because having to talk to people to even find out what mental state/goal flow they are in, isn't actually innately immersive RP. It's just shots in the dark, which can lead to unnecessary friction.
The Poor Man's Custom Quest System
The second function of this would be that if Intrepid uses the right 'kind' of Quest Descriptions for the ones that appear in this box, and still give players the option to write them up themselves, everyone who wants a 'custom quest system' can just use it for that. Make up your own quests, write them in your Current Quest Box, and now you've given people Roleplay Context for interacting with you. The more your own Custom Quest matches the general style of Ashes Quest descriptions, the more you will probably be known for writing 'good quests', even though those 'quests' have no real ingame direct support.
The Poor Man's RP Tag Too
Giving people this box also immediately acts somewhat like an RP tag. You can see the RP style, level of interest, or similar things, without ever explicitly talking to them. Most of the time, you should talk to them anyway, but 'mismatched' RP partners can drag out into a miserable experience for all. A person who has in their CQ Box - "Training In Carphin For Exp Gains" is a different type of RolePlayer (might absolutely still be one) than someone who has "On the behest of the Lady Tyrania of Windermere, I aim to delve the Depths of the Tower of Carphin in search of the Amulet of her beloved, who fell in the darkness while seeking the truth of the choice made by the $LoreCharacters of the past..." and definitely different from "Carphin Run. No RPers, no noobs."
As noted, another group member will explain why this helps people who are not innately strong RP-ers. Since I tend to be one of the 'RP Leaders' of my small group, I don't have as many personal 'contrasting/bad' experiences to draw from. Mine tend to work out as long as the game isn't actively crushing my immersion like BDO (she'll explain that too).
So that's my suggestion/feature idea. Games already have some of this, but in case you weren't already considering it.
As promised, I'm the least skilled RPer in our group. This type of "Custom Quest" box helps support RP and immersion in a lot of ways:
If I can't play for a few days, particularly if I'm busy or work is stressful, I can often forget what I was up to, or, more importantly, forget the details of the reason or context context that made it a personal experience rather than just a mechanical goal. This type of "custom quest" box gives me an easy way to remind myself and get back in the flow, rather than losing momentum, or having to waste time and immersion reminding myself.
I also feel that if there is a "current quests" HUD, this should be pinned to the top of it, for several reasons:
It's literally what you chose as your primary current quest.
It serves as an easy subtle nudge as to what you were doing, if you get distracted or diverted for some reason, and eventually get to a point where that's wrapped up but you've lost your flow. (Similar to above.)
It reminds you to update or clear it (at which point it can disappear), if you don't have strong habits for using the feature. This lets it remain accurate, both for you, and for others who "/check" you.
Here's why that last one is important:
This type of tool provides a way to quickly gauge both what other players are up to, and what type of player they are/what type of experience interacting with them will be. Azherae got into that a bit, but I want to expand on it. With this feature, when looking at other players, you can:
Avoid immersion breaking conversation types. You immediately know someone's a hardcore grinder/raider, a light RPer, all in, whatever. You learn both who will have a similar style of experience to you (and therefore who you can likely share a good experience with), and who is likely to be jarring to interact with.
Prime your expectations for when you interact with them. You already know what you're going into and how to approach it. This is good for everyone.
Prime people's expectations for when they interact with you. Same thing. People know how to approach you, and are more likely to have similar interests or compatible play styles if they do so.
Neither side needs that encounter and conversation where all you find out is that your playstyles are incompatible and neither of you were interested in interacting with the other, but now you've been jolted out of your flow, immersion, or RP. Knowing what general type of person someone is before engaging with them improves the experience for both sides.
You can get a lot of information from what someone writes about their current 'quest' or activity and the style they write it in. What's more, now you already have a basis for engaging with each other. This creates opportunities for interacting with someone that didn't exist before. Here's an example from another game (bleh, BDO), which honestly almost deserves its own entire post:
In BDO, if I'm crafting. Woodworking, Alchemy, whatever, I'm probably standing at a Storage Manager, staring into space. Nobody can engage with me about crafting, or as a crafter, because the game never allows me to create any context where I am actually doing that. Even in a poor quality environment like this one, having this type of box would let someone who inspects me see that "what I'm up to right now" is Woodworking, Pottery, whatnot, even if I'm running around town gathering supplies. Now they can engage with me about that, because they know it's a thing. I've just gained an entire facet of identity and presence that I didn't have before.
Obviously this can be done better with better environmental factors. FFXI is a good example of this. Unlike BDO where 'crafting' is handled either by standing in front of a storage manager, or else 'forced to be in your instanced house, hidden from players' (yes really), FFXI has a clear public animation when you're crafting and local message about what you produce. I know if someone's leveling Alchemy, trying to HQ a particular gear piece, making some food, etc right away. I can go "Hey, can you help me make this item?" and hire them. As a high-level Woodworker, can go "Oh, you're making X? Do you need a bunch of Y?". Hell, I can predict what materials from my craft might be in demand on the marketplace just by walking around.
Just having a context for what others are doing opens up entire full interactions and opportunities to engage and interact with each other as part of a community that didn't exist before. Even if our current action isn't the type that's announced by the game. Even if we're setting up to do something rather than actively doing it that very instant. That's a powerful tool for both RP and community engagement.
Even beyond all of this potential for both more and higher quality interpersonal engagement, this gives you the opportunity to be inspired. Whether you interact with someone or not, even if they're not your style, you can see what they were up to, and think about what impacts it has on the world, or even be reminded of something similar you were interested in at some point but hadn't had time for. Whether you involve them or not, that person has created a richer world and experience for you. And in the exact same manner, it provides you an opportunity to inspire like-minded individuals, yourself.
This codification and display of personal identity and current focus is helpful in another way as well. Many groups have one or more "RP leaders". People who integrate their players experiences, generate storyline for the group as a whole, and help guide and support the experience in general. Whether these people are skilled or not, this type of "Current Personal Quest" box can be a useful tool.
For stronger RP leaders, it can show them what their group is up to or interested in, and give them something to integrate into the current narrative or build it out of/around. It can provide a way for other players in their group to catch up, or get small updates on the status of things without having to pester everyone in chat when they logged in late due to the latest work emergency. They just have to find the people in the first place. By looking at the "Current Quests" of their group members, any given player can figure out what everyone's role is, and piece together the status of the storyline, even if they missed some evolutions.
For weaker RP leaders, it can give them something to work with in a different way. By helping the members of their group develop, sustain, (and show) a cohesive personal identity, this tool makes it easier for them to understand "who they're working with", both over time, and in the current moment. It's always better when your party isn't wishy-washy, particularly if you don't have the skill to create the entire structure yourself. Not to mention it helps to be able to see the difference between "SongRune is out relaxing and gathering wood for future projects." and "SongRune has been hired to build NiKr a new bed." when you see me splitting some logs in town.
Overall, this sort of thing can improve group dynamics, smooth personal interactions, inspire new story or pursuits, and create opportunities for new friendships (or rivalries!) that wouldn't have existed on their own.
I like class specific storylines and quest lines with narrative and objectives to reach that are unique to your role. Maplestory did this well with their ninja classes and warrior, bow, mage, etc. To achieve profession advancement.
Players rave about the star wars mmo rpg story lines but I havent tried that game.
Voice acting, cut scenes, multi-choice quest lines that play out differently based on what you choose.
A Transmog system that the only limitation is that it still must be of the equipment type the class can wear. Also, if it doesn't make the meshes too complex, also allow for dyes.
I have a good amount of experience doing text-based roleplay in games like WoW and GW2. Since Ashes won't support addons, Intrepid's support of the community and tools will be very important to the game's longevity for me personally. Even after getting bored with the game's content, there will still be plenty of roleplaying to do, as it is an emergent experience that doesn't stale easily.
Some thoughts:
The barest minimum that roleplayers need is proximity text chat and a /e or /emote command in order to describe the actions of their character to local players.
Roleplaying communities will grow more freely if certain servers are marked as roleplay servers. At minimum, the designation as an RP server is sufficient. Roleplayers won't roleplay if they can't find anyone to roleplay with. If Intrepid doesn't do this (imo) small thing, the community will designate an unofficial RP server anyway, I've seen it happen many times, but it isn't ideal.
Proper tools will help roleplayers better express their characters. Don't just take my word for it, I suggest looking at what roleplay addons are popular in WoW for a good indication of what roleplayers don't have but wish they did. In particular, Total RP 3 or an equivalent addon are almost universally used by WoW's roleplayers. It is invaluable for expressing your character. If Ashes had built-in support for a similar UI, it would be a massive boon. The only game I can think of that had a built-in system like this was Star Wars Galaxies.
Roleplaying communities develop different standards on what they want or consider important. And there can even be argument about what 'roleplaying' is, and these groups overlap a lot too, no one falls neatly in to one category, but each has separate wants.
Some people are very traditional roleplaying requires a dungeon master and dice rolling to do. These types would appreciate if there is some system in the game to support that. Its a lot of work, but giving them something where a dungeon master can create a blank character template sheet, that players assign their stats too, and can use to level up and go on quests together with would be great for them. (this is not my type btw lol)
Some people love to hang out in taverns or social locations, and chat together casually in character using public chat /say. For this group it is very important to have speech bubbles, and a very extensive emote system.
The last major group is storytellers. They like to write novel style adventures together, rarely use dice rolls, but more write what makes sense at the time, and these people record and document their adventures, creating very deep and engaging character and story lore that can span years and even multiple games. (my type). This group requires good systems to be able to capture the experience, screen shots or good tools for it.
Based on the category of RPer that I am, I can tell you, that I very, very much want a powerful system to take screenshots. The ability to go into a 'screenshot mode' and create custom poses, control lighting effects and external shaders like ReShade in this mode goes a long way for someone to create a lot of content for their OC. Look at FF14 #GPOSER community as an good example of tools like this.
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However, the main thing that every RPer wants, is a powerful system for character customization.
All of that said, there is one thing common to every RP group that will ever explore the depth of lore Interpid is giving us, that this discussion needs to capture.
Transmog system.
This system needs to give a lot of tools to recolor and reskin our gear. Look at GW2 as a decent idea, although they really have limited choices the system is in place for a lot of options. Each piece of gear has multiple dye slots, for dying different parts of the gear skin. Dye works differently on different kinds of material (cloth, leather, metal, etc)
Any gear you have unlocked on your account can be used so long as that character can wear that gear type.
This is something we need. Don't make me spend hundreds up to thousands of my inventory slots storing away gear pieces that I might use for transmog. And then I struggle to find that once piece I am looking for when I want it.
Have a gear unlock system, where once you get a piece once, it is available for transmog whenever wherever as many times as I want.
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An optional thing to keep in mind, well its going to happen one way or another, but in RP communities graphical mods are a very common thing. Yes your character models might already be good. . .
but they arent customized to the tastes of the particular RPer about their OC. People want customized hair, eyes, clothes, everything.
Not everyone does it, but it is common enough it will eventually happen, and happen first in RP communities, so consider making it easy on them to implement.
For those who enjoy roleplay, and chatting about all Ashes of Creation has to offer for storytellers, be sure to check out the Ashes of Creation Roleplay Discord!
I think random NPC and event encounters would be awesome. For instance, there might be deer near where I am cutting trees, and one deer happens to have a hunter's arrow in it. You approach the deer to help, but then the hunter arrives wanting his kill. You can either give him the deer and receive a reward, or attempt to save the deer, take a corruption hit for being hostile, and earn a deer reputation point or the arrow which is unique or something fun like that.
I am a HUGE fan of consequential small encounters. They're the best part of Skyrim.
I feel like an important part of roleplaying is immersion. Not just in what the character can do, which is definitely important, but also the world around them. Rockstar games, specifically RDR2, have such amazing detail in the NPC's that it makes the world feel so much more alive. They will sit and eat their food in taverns after cutting it up, and once they're done move on with their day. Little things like this may seem insignificant but they add up to make a more immersive experience in a living world.
To expand on @vahro 's comment "Different dance styles", Swing, Tango, Salsa, Waltz rather than just a generic 'dance' emote.
Perhaps even let everyone start with the generic 'dance' but allow players to spend time/do quests to learn the moves to the other dance styles. Not many would bother, but I would LOVE to find another player who likes to tango!
I would like to see race specific actions, ones that can be used socially and ones in combat (but under powered to not affect race selection). For example... Dwarf Belly Bounce skill used in taverns to knock players about. Orc Vomit to Face skill used in combat for minor blindness debuff, used mainly for RP, fun and generally helps avoid dodge-spam to simulate activities typified by tea bags.
I believe one reason for the decline in roleplaying is the fast-paced nature of the modern world. With the ability to level up solo being almost as effective as grouping, we have lost the need for interaction and have become accustomed to instant gratification. However, building relationships is essential to roleplay. The challenge lies in finding ways to slow down the players in an era of constant stimulation.
To address this, integrating mini-games into the game, such as chess, mancala, word games, or puzzles, can provide a structure for social engagement. Similar to grouping in a dungeon, these mini-games offer a more casual approach to interacting with others. They can be designed as objects that players can invite each other to use while in a tavern, home, or guild hall, adding to the immersive roleplaying experience.
Moreover, by incorporating regionally stylized game sets players can collect rare or exotic variations, enhancing their sense of ownership and customization within the game world. This not only encourages social interaction but also allows for personal expression and a deeper connection to the virtual environment.
The biggest thing I think is important when it comes to roleplaying is options. If I want to be a pretty bard who is a street performer I should have customization options to allow me to do it. Just as someone who has a giant burly character and want to RP as a barbarian should have that option via transmog and character creation. The worst thing to ever happen in RP situations is that I've decided I'm going to be a pirate bard and not have pirate transmog options. This is just something to consider. Also it sucks when we can't have full reign of the dye systems. So please do not limit these things heavily just because someone could break someone else's immersion. I promise you they will find some way to do so weather you restrict it or not. It really only hurts the part of the community that cares about transmog and role play.
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Options
qurionMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
What systems and features make roleplaying fun? What features help remove hurdles and barriers?
1. You should not make it unreasonably hard, expensive or impractical to apply or alter your cosmetics. My "Lord of Doom and Brimstone" look might not be what i want in villages or while farming. I'd like to see a system like SWTOR or LOTRO where you can save appearances to cosmetic tabs and switch freely between them.
2. Class fantasy. Very important. Small things that are purely cometic, social or just plain practical or fun should absolutely be in-game. If you are a fire mage, being able to light campfires and torches should be within your ability to do. A paladin casting a spell should have a different cast animation than a necromancer casting their flavor variant with the otherwise same effects. A bladedancer should have wildly different melee animations than a dreadnought.
3. Naming. Oh my god, NAMING. If you plan to enforce a reasonable RP policy on any server, point me to it and I will play there exclusively. If I for example get approached by a seemingly seasoned roleplayer, I don't care if he has an epic LOTR-like storyline for me to partake in; if his name is xXxLegolazxXx, DarthVâder, Fourtwenty or something I'm gonna nope the heck out and blacklist the guy.
4. Being able to select your in-game music in your tavern, freehold or home. My earlier mentioned Lord of Doom and Brimstone won't take kindly if his den of evil has a happy rainbow unicorn musical vibe to it.
5. This is rather rare in games: Weapon sheaths. Having a 2h sword on your back, magically hovering slightly over your cloak with its edges free? I'd prefer to wrap it a bit, thanks. And keep the sheath there after i unsheath it to whack goblins. Can we have those? Pretty please?
6. Emotes, stances and looping animations. LOTRO did this quite well in some areas, e.g. letting a pipe smoke animation loop till you canceled it. Don't let animations last 10 seconds or less. If I want to wait for someone with my arms crossed, resting my hand on the sword hilt or while playing a guitar non-stop - let me.
7. Being able to alter your character after creating it. A lot of games restrict that in a LOT of ways, just allowing hair changes. If I want a permanent scar after RPing injury after a fight, I should have that option. If I want to remove my tattoo because reasons, it should be possible.
8. Different voice options. Not just pitch, but "presets" like ruffian, noble, sadistic, mad and so on.
9. Being able to wear multiple items in the same "slot" without one being exclusive. For example, I might want a quiver AND a cloak, a plate chest armor AND a cloth layer (tabard for example) over it. Chainmail under regular clothing. Being able to dress for cold weather and NOT remove the armor beneath.
10. Make enemy and NPC looks obtainable within reason. There might be cool looking dreadknights or awesome monk outfits I would like to obtain or emulate. If they also dropped a cosmetic unlock for their respective weapons too I'd be happy
11. Low-fantasy options. Not everyone appreciate a neon fairy look or a fuming, burning visage. Simple, medieval-inspired stuff would be appreciated. And don't be afraid to go grimdark either. My teoretical dark lord craves it. He needs it to brood properly.
12. Blood. Dismemberment. Things that give the game a pretty mature rating. There are horrors in the world, and it just isn't plausible that it should be just fairytales and simple, one-dimensional hollywood evil.
13. Class fantasy. Yes, #2 was class fantasy also, but that's how important it is to me - like how bacon is important to Ron Swanson.
Roleplaying is my jam. So I am glad for this topic.
I'll list a few things that really make the world feel good, and alive.
Conditional emotes. Emotes that change and adapt to conditions. If I type /sit for example if I am in the middle of a square, a regular sitting, or crouch (possibly race specific) But if I type it at the edge of a wall, sitting on the edge with legs dangling down is SO immersive.
Make any bench and chair interactable (allow me to sit in them) SWTOR for example doesn't do this, and it disappoints me to no end.
Things like character notes. Something optional to fill in. Seeing as there are no add-ons, an in-game variant of what could pass for a character sheet. Where I can add little details on my character that perhaps the character creation doesn't account for. With possible image reference links for character art.
RP-tagged servers. Now, I know you've already said you don't want to do that. But I really want this feature. Failing that, of course, there are alternatives. RP tags on players. Like how Final Fantasy 14 does it. A single free server transfer When the game will first launch, there will inevitably be a large number of players, everyone will want to get on and experience the game, there won't be a whole lot of RP the first few weeks. Later on when the dust gets settled people will start to migrate. I for example won't continue playing on my server if nobody else RP's. Whenever RP'ers are presented with something like a lack of server tag, an unofficial ones gets designated, and being unwilling to provide those tags for the community (which I'll be honest doesn't bode too well for the consideration of the RP community as a whole) can off-set some of that.
Clear and concise rules Make a list of easy to digest rules, that aren't hidden in a lengthy terms of service (almost)nobody will read. Especially on what is considered griefing. Because for some reason people love to try and dislodge and disturb RP. Be it by spamming the chat, or stripping naked and dancing in ones face, excessive use of spellcasting, all to try and ruin someone's RP experience.
Minimise the amount of items that can mess with people. Think Piccolo of the Flaming Fire that makes people dance. Or items that create a myriad of effects.
Empty spots Things that serve no real in-game purpose. No quests, just pretty sights. Think of a meandering river on the outskirts of town. Gardens, parks, things like this.
Items And I mean items that you can place, temporarily, perhaps even as part of an emote. That allow you to bring a stool when you go fishing. Or a picnic blanket. Items that make the world feel just a little more real, without any specific gameplay functionality, other then immersion.
Lore Explain things in-game. If I am a magic user, within the quests I get, teach me about the nature of magic, how it works. Why I can use it and someone else might not be able to. Make the lore consistent. Don't retroactively change lore to fit a narrative, plant the seeds of future content, so that those with an inquiring mind can hypothesise year(s) in advance.
Skills Lean into class fantasies. Give me skills/spells that are entirely useless for combat. The ability to look through my familiar's eyes as a Mage. Pickpocketing as a Rogue. Things like Comprehend languages. Create Light, a spell like prestidigitation.
This last one is not something I expect, not anymore.
GameMasters When I first started in MMO's like really started. The Game Master was pretty much the first line of customer service. They took the time, didn't come with standard responses, and treated you human. The last couple of years, the standard has declined, tremendously. Because they are met with arbitrary goals that can not always be quantified ahead of time. Get through x amount of tickets. Thus gamifying the system. It's one of the easiest things to cut corners in profit wise. On that same note. Give them the ability to enter and effect the game, spontaneous events. It's absurd that private servers are able to do this even if they don't make any money. Some of the more memorable moments have been cool GM interactions, even just through stories passed on. Like on my WoW server, a horde guild (I was horde) they got the Alliance loot table, but a GM was watching, because at the time, getting that far was rare. And he sorted them out quick. They, can also "patrol" high traffic areas unseen and nip in the bud any potential griefers. Not by banning, but a simple whisper giving them a friendly heads up.
Empty spots Things that serve no real in-game purpose. No quests, just pretty sights. Think of a meandering river on the outskirts of town. Gardens, parks, things like this.
Areas that are just good terrain are something I take for granted, and very much wanted
I'm not an "RPer." I don't do the thee and thou stuff. Or make up fake skits and scenarios to play out. I just play the game. And to some extent just by playing the game, I'm RPing even though I'm not an "RPer."
I roleplay the guy that needs to buy a certain rare material to craft my sword. Or the guy who's selling that rare ingredient. I roleplay a bandit and a thief, or a defender of those who can't defend themselves. Or a warrior in a guild battling the top warriors of other guilds. Or a guy in a guild who needs help from another guild to kill a powerful boss.
If the game allows all of that that is, which Ashes I think does. So just keep doing what you're doing. Give me a strong economic system where players have to rely on trade with other players. Give me challenging pve where I have to cooperate or compete with other players. Open world pvp with a criminal system where actions and choices matter. Guild and node wars, sieges, where I can be the victor or the defeated, with consequences to the world.
Your game already is an RP paradise just by playing it. Keep doing what you're doing. RP in other games will be a child's play toy compared to the stories that will come from Ashes.
Sure throw in some emotes too. And sitting in chair animations. That's the cherry on top I reckon.
A major hurdle to the RP community is griefing. People looking to ruin the immersion of others.
A few fixes for this are possible of course. For chat griefing, simply an ignore feature is great, or the ability to create separate chat boxes that exclude area-wide chats.
For a world with open world PvP, an in-lore reason for people to be able to revive is huge.
But on the flip side, giving players an in-lore reason to have stakes would be huge too. You already have experience loss as a mechanic, but what happens to an ashes of creation NPC when they’ve died and revived too much and too quickly? How does that affect a person?
When it comes to roleplay, I've always found that the first thing a system/game needs to offer is a known hub or method where role-players can find each other. While we will roleplay just about everywhere, some games will load players into different instances or channels of the same map. Provided everyone is in the same instance, the location, tends to usually be the same The Tavern.
"Can I sit there?"
Being able to interact with our surroundings is a great way to ensure immersion. This is usually limited to some chairs all facing the same direction, and it works. If allowed to move or place down chairs/tools temporarily to sit, maybe set up a picnic, then it would be even better.
Systems
A way to distinguish roleplay chat vs regular/local chat, such as different colored text or chat boxes that can toggle the chat is always appreciated.
Character sheets, where you can toggle a player and read a quick summary of who they are, what they look like and so on. You might be currently missing an arm and the game cannot just lop one off. Please don't lop off my arm.
Search functions for roleplay guilds, roleplay party and player made roleplay events. I can see this implemented in a notice board found in towns or freeholds.
Minigames that keep score in a group. Lets say you have a party of role-players and the sit around a table to drink, each tanker they can finish will bump their score up by 1 by the system and when someone can't keep their drinks down, the score is frozen for them or removed from the minigame. There is also archery/target practice, displays of magic, dice, etc.
Being able to walk and write at the same time. That's it. Please.
What to avoid
Leaving roleplay systems in the back burner. I would not expected this portion of the content to receive all the time and effort, but, it would be really nice to see feedback and tweaks be done to any implemented roleplay systems. I would settle at this point for a game that gives quarterly maintenance to the roleplay content.
" What do you mean a book I cannot have?" - Frufire
What systems and features make roleplaying fun? What features help remove hurdles and barriers?
Roleplay is best when it's seamlessly woven into regular gameplay. Think the salute button from DRG, or the battlecries in games like Mordhau or Chivalry. It's a very basic feature (literally just one button), but it's also incredibly easy to engage with and enjoyable for everyone, not just hardcore roleplayers.
You can't cover everything, but in general if an activity is going to be very common, it should have a robust content set around it:
Taverns and drinking are an obvious example - getting drunk should completely change your locomotion animations and maybe even affect your combat abilities. For extra flavor, certain races like the Dunir could have much higher alcohol tolerance.
Combat is another area that could be made more enjoyable with easy-to-access in-character flourishes. Emotes you can perform while in combat (taunt, salute, battlecry, etc) would make the massive siege battles much livelier. Imagine a gate coming down and all the players nearby pressing their battlecry button to run screaming into the breach, or two guild leaders facing each other down and both hitting the salute button before going in for a duel.
Social interaction is the area most people associate with roleplay mechanics. At the most basic level it should be supported by an actual control scheme, not just chatbox commands. PSO2 had an interesting system in which pressing left alt + any letter would let you do an emote. People who spent some time binding all their favorite emotes could have entire conversations in real time purely through gestures. Add to that the ability to move while emoting, and you could actually have functional body language.
It's been mentioned before in this thread, but immersion is key to RP being enjoyable. It's also very poorly-defined and largely subjective, but going for verisimilitude is usually a step in the right direction. For example, if someone is looking through their inventory, their character should have an animation where they rummage through their bag. Different locomotion states depending on your HP would be another example -- it doesn't have to effect your speed or anything, just an 'injured' blendspace that gives your character a more hunched-over look with labored breathing would do the trick. Weighty and realistic locomotion/animation in general is something people tend to overlook when it comes to immersion, but I think it plays a huge role in facilitating suspension of disbelief.
To answer the question more directly, accessibility and relevance to common gameplay activities make roleplaying fun. It reduces the barrier to entry and lets everyone do a bit of casual roleplaying.
Emotes, clothing, items, dice for every player so that if they dont want to use there actual skill they can have an ingame function. Mechanics that allow players to take on there characters personna. whether that be carrages, clerks, titles, journals, something to leave there mark on the world. Wide varity of places(dungeons, safe zone etc.) that can be used for RP scenarios from the majestic to horrorifying Give mayors or lords the ability to host parties celebrations, wedding events. RPers can imagine anything or find ways to make there RP come alive but the more general a function the better. too specific of a mechanic and it restricts its.
Comments
While I love to RP an in-game home with my wife (we sit back to back in the same room and play together, and I do woodworking IRL), it's very difficult to make Furnishing/Carpentry a worthwhile effort.
Please make Carpentry more useful besides just a tool for RP.
I also want a lot of emotes and interactive things in the world.
As a long standing 15+ year MMO roleplayer I found the games with dedicated roleplay servers were always the most populated because it was quick and easy to find roleplay.
Mega servers or games without dedicated roleplay servers such as games like Elder Scrolls Online (Even though the game had lots of potential) fell flat in large scale roleplay because it was impossible to find organic roleplay in the world. It was often forced to be cliques and one of the many joys of MMO roleplay is meeting new people with ease.
Beyond that you need to solidify your basics. Cosmetics. Emotes. I would entirely avoid instanced housing for roleplay as this quickly devolves and kills roleplay communities, such as with SWTOR. As you are unable to find players as many of them hide in instances and it makes what is meant to be an alive world feel dead.
Really that's all you need. Ways to connect roleplayers easily without needing to join out of game communities to accommodate for it. Ashes has so much potential that I'd love to see explored and I hope it doesn't make the same mistake that many modern MMOs have with roleplay.
I'm always free to give more opinions and discuss on this if you wish! I run a 2500+ player roleplay community in another game and would love to see it thrive in Ashes.
- Proximity chat for playing (saying, emotes, shouting,, etc). Please don't repeat the mistake of new world and leave this out. That would be a nogo for me!
- Chat Bubbles. Has already been confirmed by Steven in a livestream, but still again. RP works without, but it makes it hard to follow the chat and the characters at the same time, especially with a huge group. Makes for this but a toggle, because out there are enough players who do not want something like that.
- Custom Emotes: There can't be a predefined emote for everything of yours, which is logical. So please make it possible to write your own with /em or so.
- The possibility to sit down (also on chairs and benches), lie down, kneel down, etc.
In addition, some special requests:
- Possibility to lean against walls (I found that great in Age of Conan).
- Nice emotes, like drinking, eating, yawning, etc.
- Interactions with the pet and the mount (e.g. stroking), it would be cool if the pet then reacts to something like that.
- Possibility to offer an emote to others (handshake, kiss) and they have to accept or decline (and then a collective emote is executed).
- Different dance styles
As many a person seem to have already commented, fashion/clothing/customization are huge in RP. The more we have to play with, the better - and diverse, detailed and well thought out clothing goes a long way in helping our avatar's realise the expression we as players have for them in our heads.
Second thing I'd add is the inclusion of an RP bio/character sheet within the game systems, so we don't have to rely on third party add-ons. I'm thinking of a 'Total-RP3' style system, like all the RPers used in WoW. There, I can add subtle details that the devs don't have to account for - it could be a little about the way my character smells/talks/moves. The way I view a character who I've read walks with a limp, will be completely different to the way I view the guy who's character moves in a snake-like fashion.
Main thing I'd say, is take a look at the Total RP-3 add-on for WoW, as it really gets a lot of things right, and takes out a lot of hard work for RPers.
I can only speak for myself when I say that the reason I am excited for AoC is precisely because it's a new world to roleplay in, and if I don't feel catered for as a player, I will be disapointed. However, as previously stated, it's really assuring to see devs making this a concern at this stage in the development process.
Thanks, Intrepid!
peace n love
I'm going to "Ditto" this but add the caveat that I don't role play at all, so while not adding to the Dev question, I wanted to balance out the responses and add that RP is not the be-all end-all feature for many players.
On RP Servers: I dont think they should be "soft core" or "PVE" - The game should stay true to itself and we will certainly have dedicated griefers on RP servers BUT if a server or a few are labeled RP - we will flock and be glad that role players will be a majority faction on a realm instead of being forced to scattered to the wind and pray we find a few other people to write / play with. Especially with server caps at 10k, we will need a little help, even just a hint of help from intrepid to ensure we're more likely to end up with more role players than hateful trolls. PVP and the risk/reward is so exciting to me, especially as a role player. People will assassinate eachother mid-RP sometimes BUT this gives rise to bounty hunter clans and lawfully good guilds who will mark these people and do something about it. Variety is the spice of life but it doesn't feel good to be 1 of 20 roleplayers on a server.. Please consider this.
Onto the rest..
The reason I stuck around to play FFXIV was for the RP potential that was immediately clear thanks to /cpose "change pose."
BDO did it really well too... Toggling between a variety of poses while sitting, standing, laying etc. feels so much more immersive than your idle poses being determined purely by race and sex or simply being the same as everyone else. BDO allowing people to sit and hang their legs off of walls and ledges AND toggle a variety of poses is amazing to me.
Another MASSIVE advantage for role players = persistent animation emotes... like sweeping, slowly turning the pages of a book, eating/drinking, mixing potions, crushing herbs, taking notes about their surroundings, standing guard or glancing around while they lean against a wall, sharpening a blade, flipping a coin, anything that can be done to blend in with the npc world goes a long way towards immersive RP and creating unique scenery for anyone looking to be a part of it.
Toggleable overhead chat bubbles and a few options for style would be awesome. Sometimes they're overwhelming and nice to disable but in most cases it's very exceptionally nice to be able to see whos speaking at a glance rather than inspect every character in an area to see who entered into the chat box.
PROPS. Prop toys or emote-accessories like being able to draw a parasol, a crate or barrel to carry, using a staff like a walking stick, shopping bags for market, a pillow or stool to sit on, lanterns, pile o' tomes etc. Even if they're single-use items we have to stock up on, we will. It's really nice to be able to spice things up with visuals to write around. (Thank you for attention to detail in the cosmetic / accessory designs you've shared thus far.)
I DONT want (or would at least like to be able to toggle) auto-emote based on what I write in my chat.. I've seen people suggest your character laughing if you type "haha" but it would ruin it if there were buzz words we have to avoid typing just so that we're not emoting at inappropriate times. A practiced roleplayer is ready to hotkey their emotes when they need to liven things up x)
Also, in Ultima Online, pets had said commands that they would follow. "All follow me" " All Stay" and other such commands. I was able to whisper the command to be visible only within a step or two of the character, and have customized 'commands' for everyone else to see such as *Sic 'em!* problem is that because the command was technically whispered, it didn't work all the time. If we are able to change such commands if incorporated to custom wording for the same pet command, that would be awesome. [Animal attacks target with this string of words or this emote, etc]
As promised, I'm the least skilled RPer in our group. This type of "Custom Quest" box helps support RP and immersion in a lot of ways:
If I can't play for a few days, particularly if I'm busy or work is stressful, I can often forget what I was up to, or, more importantly, forget the details of the reason or context context that made it a personal experience rather than just a mechanical goal. This type of "custom quest" box gives me an easy way to remind myself and get back in the flow, rather than losing momentum, or having to waste time and immersion reminding myself.
I also feel that if there is a "current quests" HUD, this should be pinned to the top of it, for several reasons:
Here's why that last one is important:
This type of tool provides a way to quickly gauge both what other players are up to, and what type of player they are/what type of experience interacting with them will be. Azherae got into that a bit, but I want to expand on it. With this feature, when looking at other players, you can:
Neither side needs that encounter and conversation where all you find out is that your playstyles are incompatible and neither of you were interested in interacting with the other, but now you've been jolted out of your flow, immersion, or RP. Knowing what general type of person someone is before engaging with them improves the experience for both sides.
You can get a lot of information from what someone writes about their current 'quest' or activity and the style they write it in. What's more, now you already have a basis for engaging with each other. This creates opportunities for interacting with someone that didn't exist before. Here's an example from another game (bleh, BDO), which honestly almost deserves its own entire post:
In BDO, if I'm crafting. Woodworking, Alchemy, whatever, I'm probably standing at a Storage Manager, staring into space. Nobody can engage with me about crafting, or as a crafter, because the game never allows me to create any context where I am actually doing that. Even in a poor quality environment like this one, having this type of box would let someone who inspects me see that "what I'm up to right now" is Woodworking, Pottery, whatnot, even if I'm running around town gathering supplies. Now they can engage with me about that, because they know it's a thing. I've just gained an entire facet of identity and presence that I didn't have before.
Obviously this can be done better with better environmental factors. FFXI is a good example of this. Unlike BDO where 'crafting' is handled either by standing in front of a storage manager, or else 'forced to be in your instanced house, hidden from players' (yes really), FFXI has a clear public animation when you're crafting and local message about what you produce. I know if someone's leveling Alchemy, trying to HQ a particular gear piece, making some food, etc right away. I can go "Hey, can you help me make this item?" and hire them. As a high-level Woodworker, can go "Oh, you're making X? Do you need a bunch of Y?". Hell, I can predict what materials from my craft might be in demand on the marketplace just by walking around.
Just having a context for what others are doing opens up entire full interactions and opportunities to engage and interact with each other as part of a community that didn't exist before. Even if our current action isn't the type that's announced by the game. Even if we're setting up to do something rather than actively doing it that very instant. That's a powerful tool for both RP and community engagement.
Even beyond all of this potential for both more and higher quality interpersonal engagement, this gives you the opportunity to be inspired. Whether you interact with someone or not, even if they're not your style, you can see what they were up to, and think about what impacts it has on the world, or even be reminded of something similar you were interested in at some point but hadn't had time for. Whether you involve them or not, that person has created a richer world and experience for you. And in the exact same manner, it provides you an opportunity to inspire like-minded individuals, yourself.
This codification and display of personal identity and current focus is helpful in another way as well. Many groups have one or more "RP leaders". People who integrate their players experiences, generate storyline for the group as a whole, and help guide and support the experience in general. Whether these people are skilled or not, this type of "Current Personal Quest" box can be a useful tool.
For stronger RP leaders, it can show them what their group is up to or interested in, and give them something to integrate into the current narrative or build it out of/around. It can provide a way for other players in their group to catch up, or get small updates on the status of things without having to pester everyone in chat when they logged in late due to the latest work emergency. They just have to find the people in the first place. By looking at the "Current Quests" of their group members, any given player can figure out what everyone's role is, and piece together the status of the storyline, even if they missed some evolutions.
For weaker RP leaders, it can give them something to work with in a different way. By helping the members of their group develop, sustain, (and show) a cohesive personal identity, this tool makes it easier for them to understand "who they're working with", both over time, and in the current moment. It's always better when your party isn't wishy-washy, particularly if you don't have the skill to create the entire structure yourself. Not to mention it helps to be able to see the difference between "SongRune is out relaxing and gathering wood for future projects." and "SongRune has been hired to build NiKr a new bed." when you see me splitting some logs in town.
Overall, this sort of thing can improve group dynamics, smooth personal interactions, inspire new story or pursuits, and create opportunities for new friendships (or rivalries!) that wouldn't have existed on their own.
Players rave about the star wars mmo rpg story lines but I havent tried that game.
Voice acting, cut scenes, multi-choice quest lines that play out differently based on what you choose.
Runescape has great elements as well.
Some thoughts:
Some people are very traditional roleplaying requires a dungeon master and dice rolling to do. These types would appreciate if there is some system in the game to support that. Its a lot of work, but giving them something where a dungeon master can create a blank character template sheet, that players assign their stats too, and can use to level up and go on quests together with would be great for them. (this is not my type btw lol)
Some people love to hang out in taverns or social locations, and chat together casually in character using public chat /say. For this group it is very important to have speech bubbles, and a very extensive emote system.
The last major group is storytellers. They like to write novel style adventures together, rarely use dice rolls, but more write what makes sense at the time, and these people record and document their adventures, creating very deep and engaging character and story lore that can span years and even multiple games. (my type). This group requires good systems to be able to capture the experience, screen shots or good tools for it.
Based on the category of RPer that I am, I can tell you, that I very, very much want a powerful system to take screenshots. The ability to go into a 'screenshot mode' and create custom poses, control lighting effects and external shaders like ReShade in this mode goes a long way for someone to create a lot of content for their OC. Look at FF14 #GPOSER community as an good example of tools like this.
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However, the main thing that every RPer wants, is a powerful system for character customization.
All of that said, there is one thing common to every RP group that will ever explore the depth of lore Interpid is giving us, that this discussion needs to capture.
Transmog system.
This system needs to give a lot of tools to recolor and reskin our gear. Look at GW2 as a decent idea, although they really have limited choices the system is in place for a lot of options. Each piece of gear has multiple dye slots, for dying different parts of the gear skin. Dye works differently on different kinds of material (cloth, leather, metal, etc)
Any gear you have unlocked on your account can be used so long as that character can wear that gear type.
This is something we need. Don't make me spend hundreds up to thousands of my inventory slots storing away gear pieces that I might use for transmog. And then I struggle to find that once piece I am looking for when I want it.
Have a gear unlock system, where once you get a piece once, it is available for transmog whenever wherever as many times as I want.
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An optional thing to keep in mind, well its going to happen one way or another, but in RP communities graphical mods are a very common thing. Yes your character models might already be good. . .
but they arent customized to the tastes of the particular RPer about their OC. People want customized hair, eyes, clothes, everything.
Not everyone does it, but it is common enough it will eventually happen, and happen first in RP communities, so consider making it easy on them to implement.
For those who enjoy roleplay, and chatting about all Ashes of Creation has to offer for storytellers, be sure to check out the Ashes of Creation Roleplay Discord!
Link is here: https://discord.gg/YG8zXAPd4z
It's a great place to hangout, make friends, and get to know other role-players of all different backgrounds!
Come say Hi! Extra points if you say I sent you!
I am a HUGE fan of consequential small encounters. They're the best part of Skyrim.
Perhaps even let everyone start with the generic 'dance' but allow players to spend time/do quests to learn the moves to the other dance styles. Not many would bother, but I would LOVE to find another player who likes to tango!
To address this, integrating mini-games into the game, such as chess, mancala, word games, or puzzles, can provide a structure for social engagement. Similar to grouping in a dungeon, these mini-games offer a more casual approach to interacting with others. They can be designed as objects that players can invite each other to use while in a tavern, home, or guild hall, adding to the immersive roleplaying experience.
Moreover, by incorporating regionally stylized game sets players can collect rare or exotic variations, enhancing their sense of ownership and customization within the game world. This not only encourages social interaction but also allows for personal expression and a deeper connection to the virtual environment.
1. You should not make it unreasonably hard, expensive or impractical to apply or alter your cosmetics. My "Lord of Doom and Brimstone" look might not be what i want in villages or while farming. I'd like to see a system like SWTOR or LOTRO where you can save appearances to cosmetic tabs and switch freely between them.
2. Class fantasy. Very important. Small things that are purely cometic, social or just plain practical or fun should absolutely be in-game. If you are a fire mage, being able to light campfires and torches should be within your ability to do. A paladin casting a spell should have a different cast animation than a necromancer casting their flavor variant with the otherwise same effects. A bladedancer should have wildly different melee animations than a dreadnought.
3. Naming. Oh my god, NAMING. If you plan to enforce a reasonable RP policy on any server, point me to it and I will play there exclusively. If I for example get approached by a seemingly seasoned roleplayer, I don't care if he has an epic LOTR-like storyline for me to partake in; if his name is xXxLegolazxXx, DarthVâder, Fourtwenty or something I'm gonna nope the heck out and blacklist the guy.
4. Being able to select your in-game music in your tavern, freehold or home. My earlier mentioned Lord of Doom and Brimstone won't take kindly if his den of evil has a happy rainbow unicorn musical vibe to it.
5. This is rather rare in games: Weapon sheaths. Having a 2h sword on your back, magically hovering slightly over your cloak with its edges free? I'd prefer to wrap it a bit, thanks. And keep the sheath there after i unsheath it to whack goblins. Can we have those? Pretty please?
6. Emotes, stances and looping animations. LOTRO did this quite well in some areas, e.g. letting a pipe smoke animation loop till you canceled it. Don't let animations last 10 seconds or less. If I want to wait for someone with my arms crossed, resting my hand on the sword hilt or while playing a guitar non-stop - let me.
7. Being able to alter your character after creating it. A lot of games restrict that in a LOT of ways, just allowing hair changes. If I want a permanent scar after RPing injury after a fight, I should have that option. If I want to remove my tattoo because reasons, it should be possible.
8. Different voice options. Not just pitch, but "presets" like ruffian, noble, sadistic, mad and so on.
9. Being able to wear multiple items in the same "slot" without one being exclusive. For example, I might want a quiver AND a cloak, a plate chest armor AND a cloth layer (tabard for example) over it. Chainmail under regular clothing. Being able to dress for cold weather and NOT remove the armor beneath.
10. Make enemy and NPC looks obtainable within reason. There might be cool looking dreadknights or awesome monk outfits I would like to obtain or emulate. If they also dropped a cosmetic unlock for their respective weapons too I'd be happy
11. Low-fantasy options. Not everyone appreciate a neon fairy look or a fuming, burning visage. Simple, medieval-inspired stuff would be appreciated. And don't be afraid to go grimdark either. My teoretical dark lord craves it. He needs it to brood properly.
12. Blood. Dismemberment. Things that give the game a pretty mature rating. There are horrors in the world, and it just isn't plausible that it should be just fairytales and simple, one-dimensional hollywood evil.
13. Class fantasy. Yes, #2 was class fantasy also, but that's how important it is to me - like how bacon is important to Ron Swanson.
I'll list a few things that really make the world feel good, and alive.
Conditional emotes. Emotes that change and adapt to conditions. If I type /sit for example if I am in the middle of a square, a regular sitting, or crouch (possibly race specific) But if I type it at the edge of a wall, sitting on the edge with legs dangling down is SO immersive.
Make any bench and chair interactable (allow me to sit in them) SWTOR for example doesn't do this, and it disappoints me to no end.
Things like character notes. Something optional to fill in. Seeing as there are no add-ons, an in-game variant of what could pass for a character sheet. Where I can add little details on my character that perhaps the character creation doesn't account for. With possible image reference links for character art.
RP-tagged servers. Now, I know you've already said you don't want to do that. But I really want this feature. Failing that, of course, there are alternatives.
RP tags on players. Like how Final Fantasy 14 does it.
A single free server transfer When the game will first launch, there will inevitably be a large number of players, everyone will want to get on and experience the game, there won't be a whole lot of RP the first few weeks. Later on when the dust gets settled people will start to migrate. I for example won't continue playing on my server if nobody else RP's. Whenever RP'ers are presented with something like a lack of server tag, an unofficial ones gets designated, and being unwilling to provide those tags for the community (which I'll be honest doesn't bode too well for the consideration of the RP community as a whole) can off-set some of that.
Clear and concise rules Make a list of easy to digest rules, that aren't hidden in a lengthy terms of service (almost)nobody will read. Especially on what is considered griefing. Because for some reason people love to try and dislodge and disturb RP. Be it by spamming the chat, or stripping naked and dancing in ones face, excessive use of spellcasting, all to try and ruin someone's RP experience.
Minimise the amount of items that can mess with people. Think Piccolo of the Flaming Fire that makes people dance. Or items that create a myriad of effects.
Empty spots Things that serve no real in-game purpose. No quests, just pretty sights. Think of a meandering river on the outskirts of town. Gardens, parks, things like this.
Items And I mean items that you can place, temporarily, perhaps even as part of an emote. That allow you to bring a stool when you go fishing. Or a picnic blanket. Items that make the world feel just a little more real, without any specific gameplay functionality, other then immersion.
Lore Explain things in-game. If I am a magic user, within the quests I get, teach me about the nature of magic, how it works. Why I can use it and someone else might not be able to. Make the lore consistent. Don't retroactively change lore to fit a narrative, plant the seeds of future content, so that those with an inquiring mind can hypothesise year(s) in advance.
Skills Lean into class fantasies. Give me skills/spells that are entirely useless for combat. The ability to look through my familiar's eyes as a Mage. Pickpocketing as a Rogue. Things like Comprehend languages. Create Light, a spell like prestidigitation.
This last one is not something I expect, not anymore.
GameMasters When I first started in MMO's like really started. The Game Master was pretty much the first line of customer service. They took the time, didn't come with standard responses, and treated you human. The last couple of years, the standard has declined, tremendously. Because they are met with arbitrary goals that can not always be quantified ahead of time. Get through x amount of tickets. Thus gamifying the system. It's one of the easiest things to cut corners in profit wise. On that same note. Give them the ability to enter and effect the game, spontaneous events. It's absurd that private servers are able to do this even if they don't make any money. Some of the more memorable moments have been cool GM interactions, even just through stories passed on. Like on my WoW server, a horde guild (I was horde) they got the Alliance loot table, but a GM was watching, because at the time, getting that far was rare. And he sorted them out quick. They, can also "patrol" high traffic areas unseen and nip in the bud any potential griefers. Not by banning, but a simple whisper giving them a friendly heads up.
Areas that are just good terrain are something I take for granted, and very much wanted
I roleplay the guy that needs to buy a certain rare material to craft my sword. Or the guy who's selling that rare ingredient. I roleplay a bandit and a thief, or a defender of those who can't defend themselves. Or a warrior in a guild battling the top warriors of other guilds. Or a guy in a guild who needs help from another guild to kill a powerful boss.
If the game allows all of that that is, which Ashes I think does. So just keep doing what you're doing. Give me a strong economic system where players have to rely on trade with other players. Give me challenging pve where I have to cooperate or compete with other players. Open world pvp with a criminal system where actions and choices matter. Guild and node wars, sieges, where I can be the victor or the defeated, with consequences to the world.
Your game already is an RP paradise just by playing it. Keep doing what you're doing. RP in other games will be a child's play toy compared to the stories that will come from Ashes.
Sure throw in some emotes too. And sitting in chair animations. That's the cherry on top I reckon.
A major hurdle to the RP community is griefing. People looking to ruin the immersion of others.
A few fixes for this are possible of course. For chat griefing, simply an ignore feature is great, or the ability to create separate chat boxes that exclude area-wide chats.
For a world with open world PvP, an in-lore reason for people to be able to revive is huge.
But on the flip side, giving players an in-lore reason to have stakes would be huge too. You already have experience loss as a mechanic, but what happens to an ashes of creation NPC when they’ve died and revived too much and too quickly? How does that affect a person?
"Where is the rp at?"
When it comes to roleplay, I've always found that the first thing a system/game needs to offer is a known hub or method where role-players can find each other. While we will roleplay just about everywhere, some games will load players into different instances or channels of the same map. Provided everyone is in the same instance, the location, tends to usually be the same The Tavern.
"Can I sit there?"
Being able to interact with our surroundings is a great way to ensure immersion. This is usually limited to some chairs all facing the same direction, and it works. If allowed to move or place down chairs/tools temporarily to sit, maybe set up a picnic, then it would be even better.
Systems
What to avoid
Leaving roleplay systems in the back burner. I would not expected this portion of the content to receive all the time and effort, but, it would be really nice to see feedback and tweaks be done to any implemented roleplay systems. I would settle at this point for a game that gives quarterly maintenance to the roleplay content.
- Frufire
You can't cover everything, but in general if an activity is going to be very common, it should have a robust content set around it:
To answer the question more directly, accessibility and relevance to common gameplay activities make roleplaying fun. It reduces the barrier to entry and lets everyone do a bit of casual roleplaying.
Man, walking and writing at the same time is so normal for me I didn't even think to include it in my list.