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| Rynard Benedict |
 Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:07 pm Post subject: SL RP in general and specificly in Midian City |
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Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 17
Location: Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia
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Hi,
I'll make a quick introduction of myself first:
The Avi's name is indeed Rynard Benedict, the man behind it is a german 32 years old man who has already some experience in roleplaying (around 2,5 years in Star Wars Galaxies, left it 2006). Though my SL Avi rezzed in the same year (mid-2006), I didn't really tried to find cool rp places at this time, instead I did a lot of other (insane/stupid/frightening/fun) stuff and left SL sometime in 2007 again. However, back again in 2008, I was missing the roleplay and all the fun and began to look around for cool rp places especially around the sf/cyberpunk genre. (Besides Star Wars I'm a big fan of W.Gibson's Sprawl Triology, N.Stephenson in general, the movie "Blade Runner" a.s.o).
Alas, I got all my rp experience while rping with other germans so far ... - I had to decide to bite the bullet in SL and to learn it the "hard way" in a different language. Unfortunately my english is somewhat limited if it comes to rp and describing (subtle) emotions, actions of my character, or also to fully understand what others are emoting. It's a pain in the ass, I can tell you, heh, but I want through it nevertheless.
So far so good. After checking a few different rp based sim's I've noticed a major 'problem' about them which worries me. It seems that the background story of every sim is quite restricted to itself and that there's often if not always absolut no connection to other sims with similiar themes nor to the (fictitious) "rest of the world". Every one is a "closed world", underscoring that there is no way out.
Of course I do understand that not every rp background is in any way compatible with other ones, I do understand that the sim owners had a clear vision in their mind and heart when they created these amazing places. But nevertheless it makes me a bit sad because I'm having trouble to limit my own character on "just one" sim even it's a really, really great one like Midian City. (I love this sim even if the client tends to crash almost every half an hour.)
Is there really no way to have at least a slight connection, or perhaps a meta-group who tries to find a "common denominator" for themself without (heavily) violating the background story of the places? I know this could lead to several problems but if you use the force, luke, and respect the good old basic rules of rp in general ...
I guess this question isn't new - I'm new to SL RP and I would like to have a few similiar places to roleplay. I also created a little place myself where actually I can be found IC too, depending on the approach. It's on a (quiet) sim which strongly encourages a dark urban theme at least.
Or let me ask the other way around: Would it be a big matter if I would rp someone who's not completly tied to Midian City? I really respect this city and it's rules - I'm not about trying to override them. For example if my character should get in trouble in Midian with one of the factions I won't try to cheat by tping out and IMing "I'm not in Midian now, tralalala! You can't catch me!" That's kiddy shit. Actually if they want they could just follow me right in to my own place and catch me their IC but if they don't want I'll give them a fair chance to catch me in Midian of course. If the police puts me in prison I won't leave Midian IC. And so on ...
In SWG I was used to have a whole, little universe with serveral planets and player cities on it. Actually all the rp places and cities were managed by different people and even though the background story was precisly defined it lead to several problems from time to time to be honest, but I got used to this too. I you relax and generally respect the rp of others it does work. And if you absolutly don't like a specific place or player, just put it on the ignore list.
No offense, I know SL is different. I'm just asking and would be happy about a few helping words regarding RP in SL and how strict the rules are really meant.
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| J8 Skall |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 788
Location: God knows.....Follow the trail of blood
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You mean, I guess, a 'world' of sims, in much the same way Gor and Star wars and Roissy sims operate?
I have often wondered about this myself, and theres a few issues with it (though dont get me wrong - I'm not against the concept hypothetically).
Midian's contemporaries are the following sims.
Toxia: The roleplay here is poor, and they allow furry races, angels, demons and unrestricted full form lycans. They don't observe any masqurade and have a specific combat system which everything is based around.
City of Lost Angels: Again, allows angels, demons and furries and has no masquerade, roleplay here is alittle better, less CS based and with an appriciation of OOC and IC... However it is still a long way from being Midian quality.
Dark City: Roleplay here is atrocious, and although they dont allow furries, no Dark City player could cut it trying to roleplay in Midian.
Achlys: A cyberpunk sim just starting out, and set up by a Midianer, the backstory could possibly fit in with Midian, and it would be a more wealthy setting... They allow all the races Midian does, and restrict the relevant ones. However their explaination for lycans and vampires differs majorly, and the combat system they use is DCS.
Naraka: Seemingly flavour of the month and popular with Midianers, the place seems to have good descriptive roleplayers, on a par with Midian, an interesting setting, and a vaguly passable build, however it is a long way into the future, on a different planet, and does not allow vampires or lycans. Also it is a mix of old Midian and Solus players, and it is the latter that puts me off, the Benelli's (nasty back stabbing little group) form a gang there, which will put many off. The Solus connection isn't popular with others either.
Norsim's 12 sims: Shockingly bad roleplay, every race known to man, and an overeliance on combat systems, the build is utter shit too.
Los Diablos/Little Tokyo: This is a modern day sim, so before Midian, although it does allow vampires similar to Midian's, and might allow Lycans at a stretch. It doesn't however allow nekos, and the build is very poor. The roleplayers there are incrediably friendly OOC though, much more welcoming and less cliquish than Midian, and the emoting is alright. also the owner for once isnt an egotistical tosser, more in the Jade bracket than Dimetox etc.
Having gone through those, it quickly becomes evident there is no sim Midian could seamlessly mesh with, the closest being LT and Achlys.
With no similar sim the question hasn't come up, although if it were to in earnest, there are a whole series of issues that would arise, namely.
> Midian's status as a cut off island
> The quality of roleplay from another sim
> How IC easy/hard it should be to jump between them
> The complexities of administering two sims in tandem, inclusing haveing different admins per sim, differnt ban lists and standards, competion for traffic etc
So yeah, noone to mesh with, and a huge number of obstacles to it happening... That's why I see nothing likely to happen.
Even if I wanted to put the small cyberpunk RP area I'm making with a friend in the same universe, there would be untold problems, despite the fact the build and roleplay standards should be on a par, and as the whole build is a subway, it could IC, be explained how it connects. There would be a slight difference in the races allowed, there would be different sets of admins, and there are some people allowed in Midian I would ban ... It's just a minefield, to be quite frank.
_________________
Jay Skall
(All arguements [or discussion points] stated above are the player's opinion only, they are not truth from on high, the subversive whisperings of satan or the grunted rumblings of a troll... Incase you were struggling with the concept...) |
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| Mordag McCallen |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 392
Location: Bunker
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As far as my knowledge reaches Midian is sealed off area, with few exceptions. Finding connections out of Midian might be interesting start for you, but there are groups that have connections out and are willing to smuggle people or gear.
Hey Jay, do I get banned in your sim? Can I argue with you about it?
_________________
 Cpt. Mordag McCallen, BEng(1), SrTech 1st class |
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| MarkkoOndricek |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 716
Location: you will see me if I let you
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| Shilandar Deledda |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Posts: 300
Location: Wherever the trail leads
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You can roleplay with someone who is 'not quite from MIdian' if they're roleplaying IN Midian, that is if their character is in the city. But as far as their roleplay, I tend to give anyone who makes frequent trips on and off island a 'look', as it were. Midian is a cut off island, that's part of what it is. People get in easy. Getting out isn't so much so. No airport, most helicopter pads are controlled by individual organizations, and the harbor is controlled by the mercenaries.
Can ya roleplay with 'em? If you're in the sim, you can pretty much Roleplay with anyone else in the sim. Their backstory is their business.... unless it's just plain stupid.
_________________
"In this world everyone is either played, or playing with someone else. Be it their body, mind, heart, or soul. Live your life the way that makes you happy, because you never know when it will be snuffed out."
- Chi Sutekh, twin brother of Pera Sutekh |
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| Aegyptia Elvehjem |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Posts: 1114
Location: incognito or Bangkok Records
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| Shilandar Deledda wrote: |
| Their backstory is their business.... unless it's just plain stupid. |
*dies laughing*
Thanks for that rundown Jay, now I know what Naraka reminds me of, it was Solus, you pegged it.
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(Pera Sutekh, twin sis of Chigaru) BIO!>Pera
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| Shilandar Deledda |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Posts: 300
Location: Wherever the trail leads
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Solus?? Egg... ew.... gah... an' ... blah. I remember there. Tried it for about half a second, and it killed me. Cute concept... but the RPers.. yeah.
Shockingly with all the poorly RPing newbs, god moders, an' 'super hybrids' running around, Midian still has the highest ratio of "Good Rpers" that I've run into anywhere in SL. Like Jay said Toxia and Dark City's Rp is laughable. There -are- good ones, but they are far in the minority. Toxia is good when you want to harass some vamps as a demon/dragon/angel whatever though. ;P
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"In this world everyone is either played, or playing with someone else. Be it their body, mind, heart, or soul. Live your life the way that makes you happy, because you never know when it will be snuffed out."
- Chi Sutekh, twin brother of Pera Sutekh |
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| Rynard Benedict |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 17
Location: Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia
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@J8 Skall & others
Thank you for clearing this up for me, it's quite sobering  I know Naraka myself, accidentally it was the first rp sim I tped to just at the time it opened and of course a connection to Midian is simple impossible.
I thought the general roleplay in SL had somewhat grown and merged over the time (since 2003 if you want), I mean, SL is like a sweet dream if you have ever played MMO's like SWG where every tiny bit depends on the publisher (regarding the "world", tools, stuff). But okay, if you really want to create your own rp universe in SL, it gets expensive and time consuming. At this time we can only imagine what would happen if the sim prices and fees would significant fall.
Well, I need to think about my character again. I'll try to get in contact with smugglers - perhaps just to get INTO the city first, heh. I see it was really a good idea to join the academy group. |
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| Shilandar Deledda |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Posts: 300
Location: Wherever the trail leads
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Best of luck to you with it.
_________________
"In this world everyone is either played, or playing with someone else. Be it their body, mind, heart, or soul. Live your life the way that makes you happy, because you never know when it will be snuffed out."
- Chi Sutekh, twin brother of Pera Sutekh |
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| Atmlady Alcott |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 694
Location: Not in Pleasentville. It's just not nice there anymore.
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| Rynard Benedict wrote: |
@J8 Skall & others
Thank you for clearing this up for me, it's quite sobering I know Naraka myself, accidentally it was the first rp sim I tped to just at the time it opened and of course a connection to Midian is simple impossible.
I thought the general roleplay in SL had somewhat grown and merged over the time (since 2003 if you want), I mean, SL is like a sweet dream if you have ever played MMO's like SWG where every tiny bit depends on the publisher (regarding the "world", tools, stuff). But okay, if you really want to create your own rp universe in SL, it gets expensive and time consuming. At this time we can only imagine what would happen if the sim prices and fees would significant fall.
Well, I need to think about my character again. I'll try to get in contact with smugglers - perhaps just to get INTO the city first, heh. I see it was really a good idea to join the academy group. |
Welcome to our city!! You will certainly find a vast array of RPers here and pretty much will find any activity that you are interested in.
Please don't think that many people are aloof, but it's just that Midian has so many people come in and are "RP Drive-By's" that most people will not really start interacting with you until they have had ena chance to see your character around a bit.
Jump in and enjoy yourself. You will see that the people here are very welcoming. |
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| Charles Noble |
| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 18 Feb 2007
Posts: 761
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I would simply say if you are respecting the rules of a city then then theres no worry about not "meshing" with another city
for example if you came -from- toxia where its laughable with werewolves running around in the open, yet there are strict rules in midian about werewolves you respect the midian rule and don't mention stuff from othersims that "breaks" the veil or masquarade as you will undoubtedly find your self oocly on the "shit" list of the nightbreed and skinwalkers who would undoubtedly write you off as undermining their roleplay efforts.
So respect the "theme, atmosphere and politics" of the sim you are in before trying to connect the dots to other sims.
bassically your background is yours to decide, if you want to bring roleplay experiences from other sims into midian and bring them up make sure that those same experiences could happen in midian...
for example arriving from cola or toxia or and saying
"I once rode a dragon in toxia " or saying how "On gor I was a slave girl"
Is likely to make some players turn their nose up at you oocly and ICLY write you off as insane. Thus meaning future rp is likely to be hampered as they will just "nod and smile" at you at lot.
So yeah, respect the storyline ((geography, politics, species restrictions)) of midian, and don't rp that theres any alternatives less you seriously want to find yourself refered to as the "Mad guy who is best humoured and left alone" |
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| J8 Skall |
| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:12 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 788
Location: God knows.....Follow the trail of blood
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Yeah - I tend to just treat people who RP stuff strange as IC alittle bit weird, maybe on drugs, and I IM them incase they need some pointers.
Connecting with other sims, if it means alot to you, can be done in terms of your back story, but it's not an institutuional or common place thing.
And as for Mordag, it aitn a full sim, its a little play area for rough sex, chase and capture, torture and the like in an urban horror setting... As for getting banned, try being a bitch and playing a millienia old godmoding vamp OR do the same but play a ginger superhero...
And as for what I said about Naraka, dont get me wrong, I'm not writing it off entirely because of the Solus connection. It's a cool idea, but for me personally that connection puts me off majorly, and the build is far from impressive aswell.
And yeah, Solus sucked in its execution and build, but the intial designs, models and idea for a strata and class based cyberpunk city on different levels with a totalitarian government was mine, I was proud of it till the other admins showed their true colours, booted all the other admisn they didnt agree with, and chucked us out the sim after we help set it out.... Ranting I guess, but it was a harsh lesson about trusting people, and I dont want to be associated with those kind of people again.
***Edited cause I replied to different people, siad the wrong things to each and confused msyelf, so I just removed mosta the names and made replies less specific... Cause I'm tired, and my brain hurts ***
_________________
Jay Skall
(All arguements [or discussion points] stated above are the player's opinion only, they are not truth from on high, the subversive whisperings of satan or the grunted rumblings of a troll... Incase you were struggling with the concept...) |
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| Marina Storaro |
| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 193
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| Rynard Benedict wrote: |
| Well, I need to think about my character again. I'll try to get in contact with smugglers - perhaps just to get INTO the city first, heh. I see it was really a good idea to join the academy group. |
Hello & Welcome!
I will send you some roleplay academy notecards - basically a couple of 'welcome to RP' cards that will likely not be surprises to you since you are experienced, but will help you get a feel for 'how' it's played out and expectations. I also have a character sheet that is part of the academy as well - will send that to you also!
If you'd like we can set something up within a storyline to bring your character into the city more seamlessly, as part of a plot, etc., if you like. Once you have your character sheet done (or before) feel free to send that to me in world and we can look at how to 'bring' you in if you'd like to do it that way.
- Marina |
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| Rynard Benedict |
| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 17
Location: Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia
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@Marina
Thanks for your great support, I'll check the notecards asap and will make clear, which kind of character I've in mind.
@Charles and Jay
Speaking of my own character I can ensure you that I'm a pretty much far from playing a fantasy-like character. Actually I know exactly what you mean, I had a long "shit list" myself in SWG since a lot of terrible Jedis (besides other super heros and unconvincible idiots) flooded the universe. I never played one myself, believe it or not, just because of it. My only serious concern is that I'll show up on your personal shit lists because of linguistical mistakes / missunderstandings that may happen.
And my intention wasn't to mix up everything, really. Jay made it pretty clear how big the differences are between those sims / universes. I just had hope that there are more sims especially like Midian City I didn't got to know yet. |
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| J8 Skall |
| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 788
Location: God knows.....Follow the trail of blood
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On the contary Rynard, you brought up an interesting point, and I enjoyed thining about the reply. The allusion I made to the people in the city I have fallen out with are pretty much the only ones I really dislike, and they didn't piss me off by mistake. It would take an act of total ooc scummyiness to get on my shit list, so dont feel you have to tip toe.
Also, feel free to question the order of things, its heallthy if thequestions are respectful and give interesting insights and solutions to problems you see.
And I won't judge you on having played in Star Wars, I have nothing at all against it, nor, till we roleplay, will I make any other judgements. And as for linguistic mistakes, you should see whats happenes when I try and type fast for roleplay, sometimes it is unrecognisable, and language issues can be worked around, I know of a fair few fellow germans about, if you need the odd bit of support.
You likely wont see me for a month or so in world, so I will look forward to maybe roleplaying then, till then, have fun!
_________________
Jay Skall
(All arguements [or discussion points] stated above are the player's opinion only, they are not truth from on high, the subversive whisperings of satan or the grunted rumblings of a troll... Incase you were struggling with the concept...)
Last edited by J8 Skall on Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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