Listening to: FF VII OST
Drinking: Lots of coffee
Trying to: Wake up.
This is undoubtedly going to dengenerate into a rant, and for that, I'm just going to apologize right up front. But before we get into the fun, I'm in a *good* mood today. (even though I feel like I have a hangover) I'm downloading anime, and just generally *happy*...which is a nice change from how I've been feeling these last few days. Heh.
So, on with the show, 'eh?
It's no secret that I roleplay in my free time. Usually when I play, it ends up being in The City, at SOI. The City is a modern, urban RP- ie, a modern city setting, with no elements of fantasy, magic, or supernatural stuff. Originally, it was an offshoot of The Block. (same idea, only it was "the bad side of town")
Now, let me just wax poetic about The Block, very briefly. I've been involved in loads of RP's over the years. I've been involved in loads of RP's at SOI over the years. The one thing that's been pretty constant? The other players have been snobs. If you haven't played there for as long as the site has been open, and if they haven't known you OOC for almost that long, then they tend to ignore you. Now, for me, it never really mattered all that much, because even in RP, I'm antisocial, and only tend to play with the same core group of people. But at a friend's urging, off I went to The Block, after hearing lots of stories about how violent and dangerous it was. The whole set up was mostly non-consensual, meaning if you had the guts to post on the street, then you had to watch your back. Drive by's happened, frequently. Muggings happened. Robberies happened. And there was always a murder or two going on, in the alleys.
Sure enough, the first night I showed up on the block, not ten seconds after I posted an entrance onto the street, and my character ducked into a nearby chinese restaurant, there was all kinds of gunplay going on behind me, on the street. It was exhilerating, never knowing what to expect. When I'd be waiting for friends to show up and play, I'd frequently spend my time posting from my characters apartment window, just watching the violence down below ;-) And you know what? The people were incredibly cool. Well, most of them, anyway. There was a rather large group of people who worked pretty hard to draw all of us newbies into some pretty cool storylines. And of course, we went willingly, because it was exciting! Yes, we all nearly died numerous times, but that's ok!
The Block grew, and expanded it's areas of play. There was Uptown, for the rich and powerful. There was the docks, which was a higher crime area than One Mean Street, itself...and even more non-con. There was 9th Avenue, which was a little higher class than One Mean Street, but not nearly as posh as Uptown. Basically, there was an arena of play for just about everyone, and life was good.
Fast forward a few months. The core rooms of One Mean Street came under new ownership, and the new owners decided to "divorce" them from all of the expansions, like Uptown and the Docks. Once it was made clear that diversity was not welcome and only one style of play would be tolerated, there was a mass exodus from The Block, and a new RP was formed: The City. All the areas that had originally been there before were put back, with some improvements and expansions. If you liked life on The Block, there was now the redlight district. The Docks were back, along with Uptown. 9th Avenue had expanded into a bigger middle class area. In short, it was what The Block should have stayed- a place for everyone to play, and enjoy themselves.
Of course, my friends and I migrated back to this new area. We wanted our dumpy industrial club back on the docks, where it belonged. We wanted to take part in more outrageous, adrenelin pumping storylines. So it was written, so it was done...and everyone was happy.
Until, that is, two things happened. One being that a few people in the City made themselves too important (the Big Bosses of All Things), and the second being the influx of godmoders from other realms.
Anybody who thinks godmoders only exist in a fantasy setting obviously haven't stepped foot in the City. All of a sudden, we're surrounded by characters who name themselves the most powerful beings in existence- the wealthiest, the most powerful, the most influential...and we're supposed to go along with it, just because they say so. You cannot play with these people, because they ignore any and all play that might challenge them. They ignore people who have been around since day one, and who've made themselves influential and powerful by actually *gasp* playing it out, instead of just saying so.
It's quite convenient, because they make up news stations and reporters to cover all of their stories, and make sure they're noticed at every turn.
I *really* don't like players who take that approach. Most of the other players that I happen to respect feel the same way. So, all of a sudden, as the City tries to encourage everyone to play the way they want to play, what you end up with is an RP full of individuals constantly butting heads and screaming at each other to be noticed.
Luckily, my bunch is really good at ignoring, and doing our own thing. Besides, we're all the coolest, anyway. *snorks* At least, that's the general consensus between *us*, and what else matters?
And yesterday, the issue of "scripting SL's" came up. Someone got bashed by an anon who claimed that scripting was the reason they left RP in the first place.
First of all, I think most of us script, a little bit. We usually have a vague idea of the SL that we want to play out...at the very least, we have a beginning, middle, and end goal. How we get there, however, is up to everyone who plays along. You *cannot* plan out every little detail of a storyline. It's impossible, and if you try, you're just going to be disappointed, because other characters have a way of doing their own thing no matter *what* you want them to do.
This does not make us bad people.
Playing without scripting, in the City, is pointless. If you try to play that way, absolutely nothing would ever happen. On the block, you never knew if your character walked out the front door, if they would be coming home again. But in the City, everyone is too busy being rich and powerful to even consider playing with a character that isn't *known* to them. I've spent too much time wandering into bars and having random, meaningless conversation with the other players who hang out there...it's not my idea of fun.
So, to sum up? Godmoders are teh suck, and there isn't anything wrong with planning out a storyline.
Know what? I think all this babbling woke me up. ;-)