Hydaelyn Role-Players
General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Printable Version

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General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Oli! - 01-12-2014

Hi there!

I tend to ask this question in most RP communities that I end up in, because let's face it, I love GMing. I GM more than I RP. I toss my own characters to the side in favor of bending and twisting your fates to my EVERY WHIM--

Excuse me.

But seriously. I know that there is a wide variety of RP styles, and as a result, there is a wide variety of what people look for in events. Unfortunately, we don't have something along the lines of Neverwinter's Foundry mechanic, nor are there entirely controllable locations for every setting that you can think of, nor is there an easy way to get people to drop what they're doing to fill in for Nameless Goon Squad That's About To Get Their Faces Punched In #21. The answer, then, though it may lack visual awesomeness or actual gameplay, and look like little more than standing around and typing things that no one can see, is events that are done through text.

Some people love this kind of thing, either because they love to write, or because it's the only way to get a plot done despite game limitations and boy do they love plot. Some people hate it, because it doesn't involve actually playing the game which is fun and probably what most people are there for, or because just standing around looks so super lame even if what's going on might be totally amazeballs.

As a result, time for a short community census. Although you can simply check off what you think on the poll and be done with it, I would personally seriously appreciate it if you commented anyway so that I can get a proper handle on the various ideas and opinions that people have. Having a general spread is great, but having individual opinions is even better.

Toodles! Cactuar

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Rinh Hallani - 01-12-2014

The first time I did a DMed event in an MMO was in GW2 and it was incredibly boring. I think it had something to do with the DM, however, because I've since done them in this game and really enjoyed them. I suppose it's a bit of a shame you can't actually see the amazing stuff going on around you but that's what our imaginations are for, right? It lets you be so much more creative and add a lot more depth to an event. Of course it's not everyone's cup of tea but yeah, I think with a good DM who keeps things flowing, text events can be loads of fun.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Aysun - 01-12-2014

I can't DM for anything myself but I appreciate those who can and really enjoy DM'd events, when they are done right! Smile
"Right" to me means while the DM may have an idea of the outcome, he or she is able to react and adapt to what characters do along the way and adjust course as needed! No scripted RP for me! 

Keep doing what you're doing. Lots of people enjoy giving to the DM's whims. XD

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - TheLastCandle - 01-12-2014

My roleplaying roots in the online space hail back to text-based MUDs and the old AOL Neverwinter Nights. I STILL play MUDs, so text events are kind of right up my alley. I don't particularly need shiny graphics, as nice as it is to have a visual reference sometimes.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Maril - 01-12-2014

I can enjoy events where there is a DM, but more often than not I end up not really enjoying the events. There are certain things I consider pet-peeves of mine when it comes to RP, and one of them I have seen a lot of in DM'ed events is that everything is railroaded - meaning that the people who are there for the events have no real influence, they're just there to do a set role. Ie, there is a set goal with the event, as an example it could be to find a weapon of a sort, and your role is to help finding set weapon - or clues as to where it could be, but what you find is that you're not allowed to actually come up with your own clues, and that the person who ends up finding the sword has been pre-determined already, reducing you to a person who just fills up some space and maybe some logic because sometimes it doesn't make sense for only two people to go on an adventure. 

In some events, I have even stood about for a full hour without even emoting because there wasn't an actual need for my character to do anything but follow the group (and that becomes real boring to emote after a little while) - this usually happens in DM events with more than five people involved. 

The type of DM'ing I most enjoy is when it's something environmental. So you have a person emoting for the environment or maybe the big bad person, so if you for example go through a canyon there could be a rock-slide locking the group in on both sides and you can have a survival scenario unfold. Or maybe the big bad guy had laid a trap for you, like a good ol' team rocket hole. 

Otherwise I much prefer using PC's as NPC's - if people can do a text based event in an out-of-map location they should also be able to understand that if someone is disguised as a big bad guy, they're taking the NPC role upon them and not being their actual character - or better yet people use alts with no rp profile to play out these roles. That's probably one area where I wish XIV was a bit more alt-friendly, so that this would be more of a thing. In other games such as Rift, it was pretty standard that people had alts they could use and reuse as npcs for various events - also giving them some experiences they might not otherwise have had on their mains.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Clover - 01-12-2014

Isn't it like RPing over the forum or at Skype?
If it is, I'm all for it. I've discovered that I don't enjoy RPing ingame as much as I enjoy RPing out of it. I'd rather use my imagination, for the game itself is very limited and the game chat is quite confusing.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Oli! - 01-12-2014

Railroading is something that I don't like either, so don't worry on that front. The plan almost never gets past the players, and it's just too much work to force it onto them, not to mention it's much less fun.

(01-12-2014, 11:27 AM)Clover Wrote: Isn't it like RPing over the forum or at Skype?
If it is, I'm all for it. I've discovered that I don't enjoy RPing ingame as much as I enjoy RPing out of it. I'd rather use my imagination, for the game itself is very limited and the game chat is quite confusing.

Sort-of. Although things like environmental changes and bad-guys would be treated as they would be in a text-event, people would probably still be in-game for the sake of accessibility, privacy (not everyone is comfortable with handing out their Skype names), and for the purpose of having character models and a location to reference from.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - ArmachiA - 01-13-2014

Most of my rp experience is actually GMing and I have done few test based adventure's for this game already. It's the only way to do things sometimes.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - LandStander - 01-13-2014

My first time DMing an event has been in FFXIV and I have done about 7 events so far and I really enjoy it. I'm not sure how good I am at it, but I think its important to make sure to get everyone involved and to not have an exact outcome, but more like an outline.

I had one where Denn was suppose to almost die, but then be rescued. That went perfectly fine, but as she was rescued things went bad. It turned out that one person had to stay behind, leading the Garlean army away from the others while the other party escaped. Which then lead to a unscheduled showdown on a bridge between one of the Garlean generals and the person leading them away. It was a lot of fun ^^. 

My most recent one was a simple "go into cave and kill a few wolves". After a bunch of bad rolls (and a new HP system I was trying out) it almost accidentally ended up with being mauled alive by a pack of wolves lol. Of course I couldn't let the people participating die, so I had to throw in some mechanics to help them win. In the long run we won, but were very wounded and it turned into a nice thing as it helped with character development for the parties involved as wounds were tended to. 

Really thinking about it...I just realized that almost all of my events end up with people almost dying..Perhaps I should ease up the amount and power of the npcs xD. Anyway, what I'm simply try to say is be flexible, try not to leave anyone out, and don't worry if things don't go as planned. Just roll with it!

Also Sastra, I'm sorry to hear about that. It just seems like it was a bad on the DM's fault. I did one event where I was called to participate and play a part and kind of just sat around for about 40mins doing absolutely nothing and ended up just logging out >.>

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - ArmachiA - 01-13-2014

(01-13-2014, 04:03 AM)LandStander Wrote:  Really thinking about it...I just realized that almost all of my events end up with people almost dying..Perhaps I should ease up the amount and power of the npcs xD. Anyway, what I'm simply try to say is be flexible, try not to leave anyone out, and don't worry if things don't go as planned. Just roll with it!

YEAH DENN (Cries forever about bad rolls getting her shot twice in one session)

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Ilwe'ran - 01-13-2014

There is always a limit in the game, especially when you tend to have a lot of NPC around your story (which is the case of Ilwe'ran and his Family) or if you want to go in some place that doesn't exist.
So from time to time, we end to RP on Google Drive with Nebbs (seriously, this thing is amazing) to be able to use those NPCs and do some stuff which would be impossible otherwise.
RP on Google Drive is really something special since you can see your partner writing at the same time and I recommand it to people that want to build a story together without any limit (sometimes DM is not needed at all ^^).

Other than those actual experience, I'm DMing since maybe 15 years on roleplaying games such as Amber, I ended to created a board (which doesn't exist anymore) where it was only text RP (we had a drawer that was designing our char and sometimes drawing some situation though), it was a really special experience since we were two DM DMing at the same time to deal with the amount of people and the fact they weren't friendly with each others.

So yeah, I'll say that I like Text-Based stuff, yet I haven't really participate in such an event directly IG, I'm curious how it would look like :o !

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Tiergan - 01-13-2014

I am okay with text-based stuff because of the POWER OF IMAGINATION. ::rainbows::

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - C'kayah Polaali - 01-13-2014

(01-13-2014, 05:18 AM)Ilwe Wrote: I'm DMing since maybe 15 years on roleplaying games such as Amber
AmberMush, you mean? Brother! Big Grin

I'm personally also all in favor of text-based events. I got my start doing online RP with mushes, and then Eve Online (which doesn't let you get out of your spaceship to interact with people, so it's all text-based in chat), so RPing with actual avatars standing around together is still a bit of a new experience to me. I figure, then, that since I'm mainly focusing on that chat window, why not go all the way and have events that way.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - M'raj - 01-13-2014

Text Based Adventures / RP: Haven't done a huge amount of it in-game, but it's definitely growing on me as I try it out with various people / groups.

DM's: As for adventures with a DM running the show complete with rolls - haven't tried this out at all. So I suppose what I've done is more of a 'freeform' type RP. I'd be open to this so long as it moves along fairly quickly and doesn't limit people's choices / emotes.

RE: General Opinion on Text-Based Events? - Roen - 01-13-2014

Adding my vote in support of Text Based RP!

My first introduction to online RP was through text based RP, in chat rooms and forums and such.

As for DMs/GMs running the show, it can be magical when you have a great GM. Someone who is controlling the NPCs, the environment and the scenario... WITHOUT controlling the actual scene and the outcome.  That's what your participation is for!  So I would need to trust the player who is GMing the scenario, but I am all for it!

But mostly my interaction in game has been cooperative free form roleplay.  Feeding off of the other player's descriptions and adding your own to the scene, even if it is not in the game environment.  It's great if you can incorporate the environment, I think that's what's great about FFXIV that there are things that helps you with the immersion, but the game only can give you so much.  And sometimes the scene just needs more.  And that's what text and your imagination is for.