d20radio.com

That raises an interesting question: It seems as though BioWare isn't going to be enforcing any sort of RP standards in the RP servers -- something which, as a person who isn't going to RP much if at all, I'm a happy about -- but is the Guild going to require members to at least meet some minimum requirments like having a passably RP name, or when a person does RP, they do so as a citizen of the 'Star Wars' universe, and not a dimension hopping 'Dr. Who' character or 'Lord of the Rings' elf magically transported to Tython?

Personally, when given the option to name characters, I usually give them names that would fit the setting they're in -- Dr. Johnny Awesome fits every setting, right? -- but I'm curious as to how the guild is going to handle such situations, and if there is to be any enforcement, who will be the arbiter of what does or does not fit within the guild vision.

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Kyle Reads Alpha Flight - A distinctly Canadian look at comics' premiere team of Canadian superheroes. Also: swearing and dick jokes.

I have my own opinion about this topic; "Appropriate Action for Inappropriately Named Character in the Guild".

It's somewhere between "Boot to the Head" and "Cleanse them with the Righteous Purifying Flames of Napalm".

But I'm kinda an Immersion-loving Name Fascist.

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Current Co-Host of All Wings Report In, the Official Podcast of the Rebel Legion SW costuming club
Order 66 Contributor: Fragments From the Rim - BLOG UPDATED EVERY THURSDAY

No.

Just... absolutely not.

I hate to sound like a dick, but if you RP a character like the above described, I will not RP with you. Which is to say, I will put you on ignore and pretend that your character does not exist. I will still talk to you OOC, as long as you do not continue to try to antagonize me in-character and get me to acknowledge your out-of-universe concept. Because I never will. In-guild and out-of-guild will have identical treatment in that regard.

If the guild takes issue with my doing the above, I will leave the guild. Seriously, that's how much of an immersion stickler I am. I did an RP Cantina segment on this a while back, and I encourage anyone who plans on RPing to listen to it.

EDIT: Alternatively, I may elect to take what your character is saying as anyone from the Star Wars universe would, and treat you (in character) as a completely loony psychopath, with no amount of in-character emoting being able to convince me otherwise. But still, I'd prefer you just not do it in the first place.

*Takes off [Frilly Consular Head Catastrophe of Rage].*

As far as names go, while I would prefer everyone be required to have an in-universe-sounding name, it's not something I am likely to make a big deal over. Even if the words above your head say "DaRealSlimWookiee", I am willing to overlook that if you have a realistic name to tell people when you're in character, and seem to be a good roleplayer in all respects aside from the label you chose for your avatar.

So that's my stance on that.

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Jedi Master Tir-Jin Meteos, The Order of 66
PC GAMER - T.J. Hafer

It easy to RP around people who have "inappropriate" names or who acting outside the realm of what you consider acceptable RP

In short treat them like a crazy person. If somone came up to you in the street and said thier name was DarthJawaPants you probably give them a funny look and then quietly walk away. If they followed you and started ranting you'd either continue to ignore, run, find a cop or punch them in the face.

in-game translation, RP being around a crazy person with other people your RP'ing with /ignore command in-game, move to a different instance, if its bordering on harrasment its Petition time or if your in a PvP zone smash thier face in and feel better.

easy

Back in SWG following the collapse of the game to the NGE, I was in a RP guild on Starsider. My wife and I had come from another group of RPers from Kettmore. One day, about 6 of us from Starsider decided to "crash" and RP event on Kettmore. One person created a Botahn Pimp and the rest of us created the ugliest female entertainers of the non-attractive races (Rodian, Ithorian, Mon Cal, etc). I say crash only because we went to an established, open to the public RP event that was held in a guild cantina.

We RP'ed on a level you would never believe. We stayed completely in character and did not directly attempt to disrupt anyone's RP. We did not use harsh language. Some people in the cantina jumped right in, RP'd on the level of professionals. We were told that he broke up the usual pissing contests of who was the bigger bad ass that occurred on those nights.

But the "admin" did not appreciate it. In fact, the owner of the cantina was my wife, but she was playing on Starsider that night. So what did the admin do? Booted us out. We continued to RP as if bouncers had launched us from the cantina. Some people cheered, others felt that elitism ruled the day.

So what happens in this instances where it is in-game, fully acted out RP? This was many years ago and we did this to shake things up intentionally, but how would this be treated in the guild? Would this warrant /ignore? Would it lead to a sanction of some sort?

And for the record, I'm like DarthGM in the sense that I prefer all names around me to be lore-ish. I hate seeing Han Sololzzz running about. And I hate cross-universe RP. But what kind of precedence are we going to set? Does there need to be an "accepted" RP standard?

I just hope that we don't take our RP so serious that it causes a schism with the light RP crowd.

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Co-host of Geekhead Radio
Follow me on Twitter @GeekheadAaron
Look me up on Google+ -Aaron Burton

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Co-host of Geekhead Radio
Follow me on Twitter @GeekheadAaron
Look me up on Google+ -Aaron Burton

I agree with Asa and DarthGM, as I am also an immersion stickler and like the big floaty names to at least kind of fit with the universe that they're hovering in.

That said, I won't hold it against anyone if they have a random name, or just don't get involved with any RP, it's not for everybody - though I would have a problem if anybody started deliberately breaking up some RP that was going on with inappropriate references or out of universe comments - if you're not interested, don't get involved!

As for your situation preacher - it sounds like it was a good laugh, you stayed in character and so did a lot of other people. Apparently, they didn't want those 6 characters there and kicked you out and you left (protestingly) and it all played out in character - nothing wrong with that.

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Captain J'aan Erron out.

Sorry for the double post, not due how that happened. My ultimate point out of this was just to ask, "Is there a guild policy that will be put into place to regulate what if viewed as appropriate role play?"

My example was only to illustrate how differing opinions on style could cause some strife. It was not intended to bash any one style.

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Co-host of Geekhead Radio
Follow me on Twitter @GeekheadAaron
Look me up on Google+ -Aaron Burton

If it's all in-universe appropriate, and your intent is to be entertaining rather than annoying, I'm all for it. I will admit (and any of you that may have RPed with Trathas on Moon Guard/Emerald Dream will know this) that I have a bit of a history of being short-tempered with really off-the-wall characters. RE: Pretty much every Gnome RPer, ever. But most of the time, I do check myself and chill out in those cases. People that really play up the "goofy factor" but keep it well-acted and in-universe are not even in the same galaxy on the annoyance scale for me as "LOL I IZ A TIEM LORDD!!!"

So no, I will never ignore you for playing a silly character that fits the setting. My character may not be a big fan of yours, but I'll be sure to let you know in a PM that I'm just playing along.

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Jedi Master Tir-Jin Meteos, The Order of 66
PC GAMER - T.J. Hafer

Actually, as a quick addendum, I will say that I reserve the right to have a "Serious Characters Only" policy for some of the story-based guild RP events to preserve the atmosphere of the story. It really kills a weighty revelation or the death of an NPC if a guy in a fuzzy hat pipes in with "That is messsssssssed up!" You don't want to be the Jar Jar of our guild, do you? Okay, don't answer that.

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Jedi Master Tir-Jin Meteos, The Order of 66
PC GAMER - T.J. Hafer

*lurker mode disabled*

Like TJ said, personally, I don't really have an issue with that sort of RP, preacher. RP isn't always all serious business - especially in a friendly cantina setting, where, in my opinion, anything goes, as long as it's universe-appropriate. An OOC removal of your "entertainers" doesn't really seem reasonable to me, but then again, I wasn't there. I think the "bouncer" angle you went with could have made for some interesting RP, so good on you.

My characters, of course, may or may not be quite as tolerant, although my main (a disillusioned Jedi - bio should be going up this weekend) probably won't mind so much. Universe-hoppers (cough Legolas cough) will be straight-up ignored, but only once you start RPing as such. I'm willing to look past obnoxious names (immersion-breaking as they are on nameplates) if the player doesn't use that name in RP.

Also... hello everyone. I'm Zenithan. I look forward to seeing you all in game.

I'm going to step in on this one in an official capacity.

Yes, our guild will be housed on an RP server. But let me re-iterate the original intent of the guild to be a home for all members of the d20 radio community.

Not every member of the guild has the desire to RP. We're still going to be a home for them, and we have every intention of welcoming all playstyles.

If you prefer to play SWTOR in an immersive environment, and other members of the guild or the server at large are detracting from your desired experience, by all means - use the tools at your disposal to correct that (ie, ignore). It's your game, too - and you should be able to play the way you choose.

But please don't knock others for playing the way they choose as well.

I'm going to post a separate thread reminding everyone to go and remind themselves of the guild rules before launch precisely so that it's front of mind during character creation.

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Listen to me play on the Real Gamers podcast
http://realgamerspodcast.blogspot.com/

Absolutely agreed, Kat.

Immersion is all well and good, but OOC is OOC. If someone chooses not to RP, I have no issue with that. Heck, there's no way I can manage the energy to RP all the time. Let me be clear: I have no intention to ignore anyone just because they'd rather not RP. I have several friends who have no intention of RPing, and I'm fine with that. A guild is a family first and foremost, and I intend to respect that.

My issue is when a player decides to RP, but does so in a way that utterly disrespects the setting and the immersion of other players. This shouldn't discourage players who would like to try out RP, though; I'd be happy to work with anyone who wants to give it a shot and ease them into it.

In the end, RPing is only one of the things I'll be doing in TOR, and I certainly don't intend to be elitist about it (I've experienced the reverse, and it's not at all fun.) The more everyone enjoys the game, the better.

As Kat rightly points out, we are an all inclusive guild. We are meant to encourage and embrace all play styles that our members might be interested in as long as those play styles meet the DBAD requirement. With that said:

1) Short of patently offensive, antagonistic or 'canon stretching' names, no one will be kicked out solely because they have a name which breaks immersion. I don't, necessarily, encourage it, but I'm not terribly bothered by it either. We do, after all, have someone named Rinzler in the guild during beta.

2) I wholeheartedly endorse and encourage the creation of RP events for multiple levels of seriousness. We have people in the guild who will be interested in dipping their toes in RP waters as well as going for full body immersion. I expect to see events that do both on a regular basis. Specific event rules I leave up to our RP coordinator, but I do expect to see something for everyone.

3) If you have a problem with someone's name, either in the guild or in an RP event, I expect that guild leadership will act in a courteous and respectful manner. Equally, I expect that guild members will be respectful and courteous and consider whether it might be appropriate to make an adjustment to their name or to have a different character altogether for RP events.

4) As a community, we are largely level headed and friendly with each other. I do not see a reason for this to change once we are in game and in a guild. What will get you kicked from the guild is fairly well laid out in the guild rules. But I will add that anyone not treating everyone else with the respect they deserve by being members of Gamer Nation, fans of Star Wars, fans of the various shows and regular human beings, will find themselves looking for a new guild rapidly. This applies equally to Leadership and regular members without exception. Even to me. (For those that wonder how that will work; Kat is fully capable of making me realize when I am out of line and, if your problem is me, I recommend going to her if you can't talk to me about it.)

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Editor and Writer at The GSA, writing about all sorts of games from YOU, the Gamer Nation.
Purveyor of Skill Monkey Segments for the NEW Order 66.
I write Do Not Pass Go for EN World

Absolutely.

Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

I will never, ever ever get on someone's case for choosing not to RP. That is a 100% valid playstyle choice, even on an RP server.

Provided, that is, that you observe some very simple and non-obtrusive guidelines.

How To Get On AsaTJ's and Other RPers' Bad Sides In A Hurry, A Brief Guide
1. On RP servers, it is generally understood that /say and /yell are reserved for In-Character Communication Only. That said, pretty much everything else is fair game. Planet/City/Area General Chat, Guild Chat (depending on the guild- in our case, yes), Party/Operations Chat (95% of the time), and Whisper/Tell are all fine for out-of-character conversation, all day every day.

2. If you ever engage in any activity that is deliberately intended to annoy, provoke, ridicule, disrupt, or otherwise "troll" people who are trying to RP, you will incur a level of my wrath as yet unseen on these boards. So... don't do that.

For more on this subject, check out my "Problem Roleplayers" segments on The Holocron.

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Jedi Master Tir-Jin Meteos, The Order of 66
PC GAMER - T.J. Hafer