Sound off, part deux
#1
Hey folks,

I've been giving some real consideration to returning Guildchat to a primarily in-character channel.

In all honesty, it's been fun and laid-back having guildchat be an open forum, but I'm not sure that it's serving the tribe the way it should. I feel like our perspective is shifting from character-based to player-based, or at least more so than it already was.

I think that roleplay needs to be cultivated, and putting it back in the primary communication vector that we all share is the best way to do that.

If it seems like I'm backpedaling here, it's because I am. I was hoping that things might turn out differently with our experiment, but it didn't, and we all gained some perspective. It seems to me that the Ironsong roleplay channel doesn't see the kind of enthusiastic use that guildchat RP did.

What say you?
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#2
Sreng Wrote:It seems to me that the Ironsong roleplay channel doesn't see the kind of enthusiastic use that guildchat RP did.
Note: The RP channel might get more use if it were opened up. I know several people who were interested in joining but were waiting until the channel was opened up to non-guildies.
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#3
Yes, Zlinka is right...I forgot that you said something along those lines here:

Quote:The global channel Ironsong will be our RP channel. This channel will be strictly in-character. For now it is not password protected. Let's keep its use limited to in-guild individuals for now (including avoiding unguilded alts, just so we can keep better track of things for now). I encourage everyone to actively use and enjoy this channel.

Perhaps we should unlock the RP channel to others and see what happens before we backpedal too much?
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#4
To me, the change in guild chat has resulted in a greater and wider interaction among the members, though admittedly not in-character. I think this has brought us together as a group. I would hate to see it go. I agree that it has shifted our base from characters to players, but if I am honest, I admit to liking the change.

The problem before with the RP in guild chat was that a few people dominated it with their own personal storylines and personalities. From my perspective, a relatively small percentage of the membership actually participated, and many of those have left the guild. If it goes back, would we do anything to promote greater participation? Another factor is that actually, our membership has changed quite a bit with the expansion, with many of the RP'ers leaving and a new crop of PVE'rs joining.

I don't have the solution to promoting both RP and player interaction in effective ways. WoW is a social game, and the interaction among players is an important component. IST has been an RP guild, and we don't want to lose that. The game has changed to emphasize the PVE components to a greater degree. I think many players derive a lot of pleasure by discussing those aspects of the game as a community, which is something difficult to do in an RP context. Whatever component, character or player, that we consign to another channel will probably suffer. I guess it comes down to which we think is more important for the Tribe.

On a personal note, I have only so much time and energy to devote to this game. For awhile, that has been focused on the PVE components, and I admit that RP, for me, has become secondary to my enjoyment of the game. I still enjoy the story lines and RP that I see within the tribe, especially the more formal events. Guild chat, however, toward the end of Wrath was just background noise, and I hardly ever looked at it or participated. For me, I stay in IST because of the players (ie friends) that I have developed over the years, and the new ones that I am making. In any case, I will support whatever decision is made.

-Jaba
Have Mana Tide, Will Travel
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#5
jabadue Wrote:The problem before with the RP in guild chat was that a few people dominated it with their own personal storylines and personalities. From my perspective, a relatively small percentage of the membership actually participated, and many of those have left the guild.

I sent a PM to Sreng already with an almost identical thought. (Being that I have not been active in IST for a while, I didn't want to be the first with this reaction.)

Also, please let me know when non-IST members / out of guild alts can get involved in the roleplay channel. Last time I did, I had fun, but got told via /whisper that it was IST in-guild toons only. I would even be happy to help coordinate some realm-wide advertising, if wanted. (Only if wanted)
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#6
Actually, I thought of a suggestion. It seems all the guild events are PVE based. Perhaps, we could organize an RP event. For example, we need the lower level raid and dungeon instances for guild achievements. I remember the "find Sreng in Naxx" was great fun. We could do something like that in-character. It would tell us how much interest there is in RP, it would promote RP, and it would allow people to participate in RP. For those new to it, or out of practice, this might be a way for us to work our way back to more RP day-to-day.
Have Mana Tide, Will Travel
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#7
I'm not sure if this is the thread for it, but I wanted to say that if we move the main RP back to being in guildchat, I *personally* don't mind if there is OOC talk in there as well, as long as something is done to note that a posting is OOC, such as putting double parentheses around the post. That way, the IC/OOCness of the chat would be able to ebb and flow organically. If people feel like RPing at the time, the RP would happen. If the people feel like just chatting about game stuff, that would happen.

I guess my thought is that I like the RP being back in guildchat, but don't think it has to be exclusively IC.
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#8
I think it is a shame there can't be two main guild chat channels, in different colors, to emphasize both RP and PVE aspects of the game.

My last incredible experience in a guild was last year while in an Alliance RP guild. While they did have a great deal of PVE content (raiding 3-4 nights a week with at least 3 different groups), they also had a specific officer for promoting and maintaining an RP presence within the guild and on the realm as a whole. There was always at least one RP event a week, sometimes two, on top of a similar global RP channel.

Despite this being an RP server, I still find the majority of players to be more interested in PVE content than RP, including myself. I joined because I had friends who were encouraging me to play, and I don't mind RP (though my current RP character is really not particularly suited to interaction with others). And I also believe if you force the issue for RP, it will hurt the PVE aspects of the guild that have been going pretty well (two raid kills in one night, huzzah!).

The solution I see is promoting outside and internal use of the global RP channel, as well as creating RP events and encouraging more people to go to moots.

And while I'm blabbing on the subject of moots, the first one I went to was very good. There were at least 10 people, and there was a very healthy amount of interaction. It has declined since then unfortunately. But what I noticed was individual stories played out amongst a select few who knew the characters and a majority who weren't aware of a particular storyline. Having been a DM/GM for more than ten years at this point, I find it essential that when roleplaying, everyone participating must be on the same page as far as story and information goes. If we don't know your character's motives or background, we can't properly interact.

So yeah, do good stuff and things. And I'd be happy to discuss/plan an event of some kind involving one of my characters, or anyone else's for that matter. But I will never put RP above my friends or my desire to see the guild progress through PVE content. To that end, I would not vote for a guild chat being RP only, though I will go along with whatever decision is made.
Trozzesh

The shadows of my past weigh heavier than the hopes for my future.
So I can be an anchor for you, but only if you know when to let go.
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#9
Ok. Here's the thing about personal storylines and why it shouldn't be used as an excuse NOT to roleplay. If you've got a storyline going - put it on the totem. That way people can see what's going on with your character. If you want to open it up for tribe-members to join in on your story - just say it's an interactive post. We are a roleplay guild first - and it is in my opinion that if you were interested in roleplaying, you'd keep up on posts on the totem.

The thing is, how many people have really TRIED to progress their own personal storyline (apart from myself)?

I don't think the problem is with where the RP channel is and where the OOC channel is. I think the problem is that the PVE stuff is overshadowing the RP stuff. I know first off that it is darn near impossible to join in on a RP discussion while trying to dodge worm clouds, break chains, and not be an over-all fail dungeon mate.

On a more personal note (because the mention of "personal storylines" makes me think that you are referring to the stories that I've put up), is it really that bad that I am actually trying to keep RP alive by progessing the story of my characters? In my opinion that's what roleplaying is essentially about. The whole guild hall attack would have never happened if Squigvicious hadn't sought refuge with IST, and had (dare I say it) a personal background with enemies. But that personal storyline became less personal because I was trying to involve other guild members.

My point is this (as a metaphor): You can either sit on the sidelines or you can play ball. I see most people sitting on the sidelines. It's hard to play ball by yourself. I keep pitching to y'all, but I don't see too many of ya stepping up to bat. If ya don't want me pitching, then come up to the mound. You can't develope your skills (character) if you don't play the game.
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#10
Anca Wrote:I'm not sure if this is the thread for it, but I wanted to say that if we move the main RP back to being in guildchat, I *personally* don't mind if there is OOC talk in there as well, as long as something is done to note that a posting is OOC, such as putting double parentheses around the post. That way, the IC/OOCness of the chat would be able to ebb and flow organically. If people feel like RPing at the time, the RP would happen. If the people feel like just chatting about game stuff, that would happen.

I guess my thought is that I like the RP being back in guildchat, but don't think it has to be exclusively IC.

I know that I'm just a peon in this tribe, but I tend to agree with Anca. I'd love to see more RP happen, there hasn't been much since I joined due to new content and concentration being shifted a bit, but on the same token, I'd hate to see people feel like they can't share the real life and ooc things either.

Getting to know your guildies as people helps learn the nuances of their character and personality choices. For me at least, it gives another level of clarity to in-character interactions. The (()) works great to distinguish between the two. If we find that there are more double parentheses than in-character interaction, then maybe it would be time to reevaluate. Just my two cents.
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#11
Mula, I don't think the comment regarding storylines was in any way directed at you. Personally, I find your stories to be engaging and open to all player involvement. However, I have seen other storylines that seem very insular. This may have not been on purpose, but it was how the story(ies) evolved. After two years (or more) of a specific story involving a handful of main characters, it appeared from the outside that the particular story was progressing on a stage with us as an audience, not as participants. This had the effect of pushing many folks away. It's unfortunate, but thats the way I saw it. I don't think your stories are like that at all.

As always, this is simply from my perspective.
Shantow the Bear
The Ironsong Tribe


"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." King
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#12
Oh thank goodness! (*Mula breathes a sigh of relief as she finds out that it wasn't her storyline that was boring everyone to tears* Wink Just kidding!)

I guess the only reason why I assumed (not a good thing to do) that it was my storylines was because I have not encountered any other story-lines going on lately, apart from Anca's waterfall storyline. (Which is much fun!)

Oh! And I think it would be a good idea (I hope I don't regret saying that - heh) to try keeping things the way they are now, and opening up /ironsong to the 'visitors'.
I like /guild the way it is. (I personally changed the color of /ironsong to a dark green so that it's very noticable when someone's RPing )
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#13
I don't recall anyone casting any kind of negative comment on the content of anyone's stories. My personal comments reflect not the content of the roleplaying, which has consistently been excellent, but on the preparation for in-game roleplay.

Example: Blood Moot
After the blood moot, I received several queries from officers about what transpired. Apparently people were shocked/alarmed/annoyed/negatively affected by being attacked by guildies, which is understandable. This is because no one was told what was going to happen - no background as to what a blood moot was, no OOC warning "hey guys, yall are gonna be jumped by your friends in good fun". For those of us who stayed, we just ran with it because...what else are ya gonna do? You roleplay as best you can with what information you're given. However, with more of a heads up, more people could have been happily involved.

Nothing I say is directed at a person or persons; it's a comment on the situation as I see it. I would gladly take part in a story, but I'm uncomfortable doing so when I don't know the context. I would imagine most people are similar. We'll muddle through, but it's more fun to have an OOC direction to take your IC roleplay.

Maybe I'm just blind, lazy, and ignorant (actually I know for sure I'm 2 of these), but I generally have a hard time finding stuff on the site that helps me prepare for dealing with people's characters as far as RP goes. But maybe there is and someone can point me in the right direction? Or perhaps that would be a good way to create a resurgence of roleplay within the guild? I don't know.
Trozzesh

The shadows of my past weigh heavier than the hopes for my future.
So I can be an anchor for you, but only if you know when to let go.
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#14
First - I apologize for the siderail I seem to have caused.

Backstories - just a quick note- It's ok if you don't know it. I wouldn't expect everyone to know it when I'm creating an 'event'.

Ask questions! Get involved! Do what you think your character would do. You could even do something like:

(insert character's name): /shifts uncomfortably and backs away from the crazy drunken half-naked troll that calls himself 'Sreng'

Ok folks! Time to get back on track!

[Mula]:*attempts to push people back onto the main track* So, /guild vs /ironsong - carry on!
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#15
Who you callin' half-naked?
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