3 posts tagged “roleplaying”

Hahahaha. Either that title can refer to the fact that Brianna is currently confined to a wheelchair or the fact that she keeps saying to people who keep bringing her goodies that they're trying to make her fat... ;)

Anyway, I've got about five scenes under my belt with her at this point and I can say that she's getting a little easier to RP. I still have some difficulties and sometimes I have to fight old habits (which I have identified as not-so-great habits), but I think I'm rolling with the punches a little bit more and that she's got a bit of a storyline now. She has a few things going on and getting dumped in her lap and now she's got to find some way of dealing with it all while in this cast for two months.

She's getting cranky. (Thought she was cranky in the last few scenes? Ain't seen nothing yet. Heh.)

She's been confined to her bed long enough, too. I meant to drag her out a couple of nights ago (as the constant elevation thing is only supposed to be a 2-3 day ordeal), but stuff happened and RL has been stressful so I have really only RP'd Marrow. So, people can expect to see her struggling around the place in a wheelchair with her leg stuck out before her (think: smacking into doorframes and tables periodically). Hopefully things keep going better like they have been. I enjoy the character concept and do like RPing her. I just need to find that 'fun place' for her again.

Meanwhile, yes, I realize that having had her break her leg is going to limit what she can do over the next few months but frankly, I'm fine with it because her leg break has already generated some RP and I think it might take her in other potential directions (maybe taking up new activities since her physical activity will be limited -- so Ninjitsu class will be put on hold, but maybe she'll start focusing more on her technology knowledge and skills, for example).

And the coolest thing about her breaking her leg?

I heard that it spurred some RP between some folks. Gave them something to talk about.

That warms my little RP-geek heart like you wouldn't believe. :) And in turn, that RP opens up more RP for me.

To quote Babylon 5: "And so it begins..."

Someone once asked me: "Why MU* games? What attracted you to text-based games and what has kept you there since all of these graphical games (MMORPGs) have emerged since Ultimate Online, NeverWinter Nights and World of Warcraft?"

The easy answer would be "a love of writing". But the easy answer doesn't a good blog post make. (If you can make sense of that sentence, you have kudos from me.)

While I enjoy graphical RPG games as much as the next veteran (read: dino) gamer, I generally play these games while doing something else. They are a break between house chores or projects. They are not something that I play for hours and hours on end consecutively as I once did when I was in high school or university. I have a husband. I have a full time job/career. And I have responsibilities in my real life which must be juggled with my 'fun time'.

The Short Attention Span Multitasker

Also, graphical games, to me, are just a step or two up from watching tv or reading a book. I get bored with the act of watching tv, believe it or not. The content might be intriguing and holding my attention, but I truly get bored with just sitting there, drooling as the images wing past my eyes with a hand dangling into a bowl of popcorn or some other snack. It's that mindless info-dumping which I can't stand. I need to be doing something. Now, for anyone who knows me in real life, they also know that I'm not exactly the athletic, outdoorsy type, so my definition of 'doing something' is vastly different than others

You see, I am, by nature, a multi-tasker. Where did it begin, ladies and gentlemen?

Shows like Sesame Street, the Electric Company and the Muppet Show all contributed to this interesting ability (read: curse).

At a very young age, I was taught to switch my attentions back and forth between points of interest at a fairly quick rate. Yes, because of shows like this, my friends, I have what is known as the Dreaded Short Attention Span! ONE! ONE SHORT ATTENTION SPAN!! AH AH AH!! Ahem, anyway, you get the point. I am easily amused and distracted by 'teh nEw sh1ney!!!!1!!!' It is just oh, so easy to distract me and get me involved in something when I was already working on something before and so on and so forth and--err, what was I talking about again?

Right. I remember now.

The act of tv bores me. I need something more engaging than that. So reading is a step up, in my opinion, because I have to envision the events within the text myself. It engages my brain a little more than television or movies do. I have to picture the characters, the settings and what they are doing, what is going on. But even this gets boring after some time, not because of what I'm reading but just the act of it gets 'old'.

The next step up for me would be graphical games or a craft or something to this effect -- though it depends to some degree on how complex the craft is. Knitting is something I can do while watching tv, so on its own, I find it boring. If I can couple it with a good chat (like in a 'stitch and bitch' session) or while watching tv, then this actually isn't too bad and satisfies my short attention span needs.

If it's making things like cards, scrapbooking (I'm an amateur, honest!) or sketching, then all I really need while doing this is maybe a bit of music in the background and someone on an IM program to chat with on mini-breaks (eg. glue one thing down, then type a message while I wait for the glue to set a little, then go back to the project). Sketching is something I tend to have to focus upon almost completely, but having the music on in the background and an IM program open in case I need to get up and stretch is alright. But even with these fun things, I find times when the act gets dull and boring and I must find other things to do.

This finally, in a round-about way, brings me back to MU* gaming. It appeals to the short attention span multitasker in me in a very large way. You see, when roleplaying in a text-based environment, a 'turn' or pose for your character may take 4-10 minutes to type, as a general rule, depending on several factors (which I'm not going to go into right now). So if you are in a scene with three other people, you may wait 12-30 minutes (based on that model) to pose again.

This gives you time to be in other computer windows doing other things (such as playing Mahjongg or writing a story or emailing), then walk out of the room to quickly do some dishes or even make food. You can watch tv or read a book between poses.

So, MU* roleplaying satisfies the short attention span multitasker in me, but it's so much more than that. Let me see if I can explain a little bit more about what I love about this hobby.

The Siren's Call -- Interactive Stories

Some people who play World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs tell me that you can get storylines going in the games. Perhaps this is possible and I won't shoot this possibility down just because I don't play the games. However, I guess I have always seen graphical games as something much more task-oriented. While I have no issue playing games like this, it doesn't satisfy this insatiable urge I have to write.

Currently, I have about seven or eight blogs on the go and about four characters on two games, two books in the works (as in being written by me) and a myriad of other writing-based projects, so it's not really likely to be surprising that I enjoy writing. I used to write and write and write. I had reams of paper filled with short stories. Shelves of paper journals littered my room when I lived with my mom.

I got into Dungeons & Dragons around the age of thirteen, though my parents didn't want me playing it, so I usually just sat around listening to my friends' games as they played. Finally, once I hit university, I got into Vampire: the Masquerade and found a telnet address to my very first MUSH (which was a World of Darkness game, at that).

For many years, I was involved in table top gaming, primarily with Vampire: the Masquerade but also others such as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Seven Seas, Deadlands, etc. I loved being a part of the on-going story that we were creating while sitting around, rolling dice and telling the Game Master what our characters were doing in response to scenarios as set by him.

So, when I found text based gaming environments, it was the perfect mesh between gaming and story writing. In a nutshell, they represent interactive storytelling/writing. PERFECT! It's just like those Choose Your Own Adventure books except that you decided what possibilities were coming up next, not the author. (Gods, I used to love those.)

And so there you have it: these are the main reasons why I love text-based gaming and have continued to participate in this hobby since 1993 and haven't given up yet. I love this community. And I think that's the bottom line: I love the community and the people who play on MU*s. I love the social aspects of it. Having been involved in the old BBSes prior to getting onto the internet, I have been immersed in text-based environments for nearly two decades.

One thing that quickly angers or upsets me on a game is being stood up for a pre-scheduled RP scene. This is a pet peeve of mine which started a few years ago on another MUSH. There was an individual who would schedule scenes with me for specific dates and times, then just never show up. I would sit around for hours, waiting for this person to logon, only to end up logging off feeling bored, dejected and annoyed. Eventually, this person would return maybe a few days later acting as though nothing was amiss, much to my frustration.

"It's Just a Game!" - The Real Issue

Now, before anyone starts yelling at me about how real life (RL) comes first, that it's just a game, etc., let me say that I firmly agree with you on these points. But this isn't what I've gotten upset about. Consider the following scenario:

Your friend calls you up and says, "Hey, why don't we meet after work tomorrow at Starbucks for a coffee? I'll be there at 5:30pm. Sound good?" You agree and show up at the appointed time. After waiting till 7:30, you resign yourself to the fact that they aren't showing and now make your way home.

How would you feel about this? Angry? Annoyed? Like you wasted your time?

Now, if they call you later and apologize, say something came up, that they had to way to let you know and such, you'd probably forgive them, understand and move on, right? So would I.

But how would you feel if you went home and they didn't call you for days. Finally, you get another call and they start talking to you like nothing was wrong. How would you feel now? If you would still feel annoyed and upset with them, I wouldn't blame you, because that is exactly how I would feel. You had made yourself available for them at the appointed time and place and they just seemed to simply 'forget' about you. And the fact that they didn't acknowledge that they missed your appointment probably makes you feel like not only did you waste your time, but that they weren't courteous enough to you to point out that they were aware that they missed the meeting.

Just Some Acknowledgement

This is what I get annoyed about when it comes to missed scenes is the lack of any mention when one is missed. RL happens. Stuff comes up. You fall asleep on the couch when you didn't mean to. You just plain forgot. It's all happened to me. I understand. But when there's not even an acknowledgement that said scene was missed, it bothers me. It makes me wonder if the person I was supposed to scene with even sees me as another human being on the other side of that monitor.

I don't need details, reasons or excuses. I'm not other people's keeper. It's honestly none of my business why a person doesn't make it to a scene. All it takes is a little note saying, "Sorry I missed our scene. Maybe we can reschedule," to make me feel like I matter. I don't know; maybe it's just me but a little bit of courtesy goes a long way.

And I don't feel it is my right, job or responsibility to poke at someone when they have missed a scene to get them to acknowledge it. Sure, I've kidded with people about it, but I think I'm just going to stop. I feel like I'm invading someone's privacy when I do that.

Has this happened a lot lately? Not really. A couple of times. Most times, people do get in touch with me in the end and reschedule the scene, acknowledge it was missed, etc.

The other aspect of this occurrence which bothers me is the fact that if I say to someone that I will be online to scene on a certain day at a certain time, I do everything in my power to be there, so I guess I expect others to do the same.

A Possible Solution?

However, I think I am going to adopt a new personal rule to help minimize my feelings of frustration, any wasted time (and RP opportunities), etc.

I will wait 30 minutes to 1 hour, maximum, for a person to show up for a pre-scheduled scene. If they do not show up within the first 30 minutes and I am offered RP, I will accept the offer. If they do not show up by then, I will start looking for other RP. If the person shows up beyond the point when I start a new scene, they can expect to reschedule with me, as it would be rude to the person I am in-scene with to dump them for the person who is late.

Do you think this is fair? Am I being unreasonable?

Honestly, I have no desire to get angry with people. I also don't wish to come off as a jerk, either. I simply want to have a personal policy in place to help minimize my own frustration because I don't want to be pissy and mopey and because if someone is late and someone else is offering me scenage, I don't want to miss out.

Before anyone asks, no, this is not limited to XMR, but other places I play on as well.

If you feel this post is aimed at you, it probably isn't. Nothing has happened over the weekend to spark this topic, but has happened over the course of several years of roleplaying and I just felt it was time to address it, explain why it upsets me and then come up with a personal solution for any future instances (as I know it will happen again).