Private Roleplay Instances - Proposal From Faeblight "THE" Roleplay Server

[Akyss]

This is a great idea and I'm behind it 100%!!

[Annalea]

Ok from what it seems in this post, there are plenty that love the idea but it should be made into a 2 fold system.

1. Public Roleplay Instances - By adding little portals at various location or as I would suggest have a town bulletin board listing various events going on now which you can port directly into. Each Public Instance would have an owner who has /kickban privileges. This way any wanderer could stumble into the area at any time and join in the fun. But the RP-Curious wouldn't have to do it in front of the whole server. This would make the more timid roleplayer feel a little more comfortable taking that first step.

2. Private Roleplay Instances - For those who wish to roleplay behind closed doors. Also useful for guild meetings, meetings of the warlords to discuss battles to come, or server wide meetings guild meetings. The uses are endless. Just as you would want a quiet room to discuss business Private Roleplay Instances could be used to have a quiet place to sit down and discuss things with others.

In my mind, these two are quite similar and almost the same thing. The only variations are in the 'permission settings'. It would be quite an interesting take on private instancing to allow drop-in players and I think that would actually be quite a nice way to implement the private method. However, I would also argue that the simple ability of /kick'ing someone from an RP instance would do more to deter someone who is self-concious about their roleplay, but that's really more of a tangent on the topic.

What I'm really more envisioning is a cross between the private instance idea and the open-world landscape idea. Specifically, an instance that anyone can pop in and join at any time without any specific owner and that could even give the illusion of being part of the open world. Outdoor areas that just happen to be fenced off to too deeply wooded to traverse, for example. This would allow for the developers to concentrate on a bite-sized piece without worry about how it might flow with the rest of the game (Non-RPers, for example, likely won't be care much about an expanse of land that has no quests, no mobs, etc.).

A public instance gives roleplayers a new place to do their thing. It could have a few new technologies thrown in - clickable chairs, respawning drinks, a 'jukebox' bard to enhance atmosphere... but it would ultimately be about providing a new scene for people to meet up, roleplay and still be able to enjoy the dynamic action of spur-of-the-moment events and of freeform roleplay in general.

I strongly believe there are many private places in the world that you can go. It won't be 100% secure, but the traffic is usually negligible and if you really want privacy, there will always be party chat. While I think that private instances are better than nothing, I think they are not the best solution for the community. As has been pointed out, the Wedding Instance is great! It serves a very specific function and one that makes sense for it to be private! But that said...

I feel just as strongly that pure, public instancing is the most productive area to focus on for our community - something that takes the ingenuity of the Wedding Instances and the like and focuses it into something that can benefit the roleplay scene as a whole, while minimising the risk of dividing it into small cliques. That is one of the founding principles behind the Petals of Mariel-Taun - the all-inclusive approach to roleplay. That almost all of our events and storylines are in the public's eye, regardless of their guild or prior experience with roleplay.

[Razoreddie]

I like the idea, just not really sold on any Private type instances unless it's in a Guildhall type setting. Then there is an actual in game reason for it to be "private". I'm just coming back from a weekend out of town and was BLOWN AWAY by all the posts, etc regarding the server queues and lag. Trion seriously needs to get a handle on the population, lag, etc before they implement anything new

I go away for one lousy weekend, and look what happens

[Foghladha]

The thing is that Roleplayers will do what they want to do. Even if there were private instances for roleplayers to jump into a lot of them would still brave the open field. Just like a lot of PvPers prefer open world PvP to Warfront PvP, and end game PvE's choose Dungeons vs Open World Content. People will do what they like to do with or without Instanced Roleplay scenario's. However why limit the roleplay scene to just open roleplay. Why not also add the versatility of being able to have closed door sessions too, or special instance based sessions which would remove the crowd noise and chuck norris comments? I don't see the harm in providing more options and feel this would give a lot of people an escape when things get trolly.

[arus2001]

In terms of enforcement, I wouldn't mind Trion maybe 'hiring' 30 people from each side to collecitively roundtable on what to do with the griefers. I don't mean these people actually get paid to police the RP server(s), but rather they don't have to pay to play in gesture of their well-meaning efforts. These people would go on to hammer out better play policies to give people an idea on what's good an what isn't. Realistically, rule enforcement wouldn't go beyond the ability to get (repeat) offenders moved off the shard and prevented from making new characters unless a given offense warrants a harsher response from Trion themselves.

Now, the number of people would hopefully keep one individual from get powerhungry, and if it seems like someone hasn't done much to help out, either they can be replaced or the number cut down. Considering time zone availability can also be a factor. But with a sub-forum for these people, they can discuss/vote on a given report and pass the eventual judgment on to a higher up in the Trion food chain.



Anyway, that's just trying to keep the RP environment pristine. I have my own gripes with why RPing in MMOs tends not to work, as often there is no statistical progression associated with the act. Thus, it's quite easily viewed as a waste of time for those who might not get it. Additionally, those who focus more on the numerical aspect of the game will have an easier time outperforming those who don't if combat is involved in a given scene (And in all my years of play, nobody really likes being 'held back' if they've put time into building strength). Shakespeare can basically be pwned by Mr. 13375p34k every time.

I am not really for instancing, either. I can understand some locales not being RP friendly due to perpetual aggro, but in this case, I'd almost suggest an RP Mode flag that can only be set in a main city. When this is up, you can not interact with mobs, PvP, or utilize interactive objects like gatherables, artifacts, and quest objectives. To remove it, you'd have to go back to town. In the off chance you're out in the field and someone happens by who wants to join in, you could bestow them the status if they're out of combat, but they'd have to go back to town to remove it.

Something I'd like to see, and perhaps run by the people noted earlier, would be the ability for players to take on the roles of monsters or other ill-meaning baddies. These would be more specialized invasions that don't really hinge on the timers and objectives of zone events. Normal players can even be recruited to play peons with some rough instructions on their purpose. You wouldn't be your current soul, gear, or whatever, but instead some generically statted mobs with their own abilities. And as a reward for their time, they can get PA crystals and whatnot. It's probably the most realistic way to see a big invasion against the main cities, too.

Stuff like weddings or interacting with furniture strikes me more as fluff. While you might get some RPers who just play for the sake of playing, the real goal should be trying to get everyone to want to play if their schedule permits. This is an MMO. Some things I see people chasing can easily be achieved for free in text-based equivalents out there on the internet. These, of course, carry their own rules and settings, some even so fearful of combat/twinking that its prohibited. We potentially have far more tools at our disposal and taking advantage of them can help change the overall MMO perception toward RP, but it will take some help from Trion to be more than just glorified RP chatrooms.

[Annalea]

The thing is that Roleplayers will do what they want to do. Even if there were private instances for roleplayers to jump into a lot of them would still brave the open field. Just like a lot of PvPers prefer open world PvP to Warfront PvP, and end game PvE's choose Dungeons vs Open World Content. People will do what they like to do with or without Instanced Roleplay scenario's. However why limit the roleplay scene to just open roleplay. Why not also add the versatility of being able to have closed door sessions too, or special instance based sessions which would remove the crowd noise and chuck norris comments? I don't see the harm in providing more options and feel this would give a lot of people an escape when things get trolly.

Exactly right. And if they want a closed session that's private, they'll be doing that as it is. On Monday, for example, myself and four others roleplayed in River of Souls as part of a storyline. There's really not much stopping people from either making use of instances available or making use of party/raid/guild to achieve a closed RP session.

However, roleplayers are also people and people (myself included) tend to take the path of least resistance. It is easiest for me, currently, to just meet people in Argent Glade. But, if you put in private instances, it becomes very easy to just accept an invitation and sit with your friend(s) on a cozy couch and chat... meanwhile, random oppurtunities are going wasted in an open area.

It is a point that I am torn on, make no mistake! Who doesn't want player housing or a customisable hideout of your own? I really would like to see both eventually. But as I said before, I think that as RP is just starting to really pick up, it'd be more the time to see something really neat on the public side of things. I think that should be the priority - to establish a really nice public instance that draws people together. And then, from there, look at options into private instances and the like.

What I think I would really like to see is some form of cross-faction RP hub. A public instance accessible by both Guardians and Defiants. Naturally, there'd need to be a reason for this kind of gathering - one idea a friend had was a neutral place/dimension/something created by a powerful sorcerer. Not partaking in the war, he wouldn't allow fighting in most areas - except, perhaps, special 'arena' areas, in which people can flag up and knock eachother senseless. It's something that Rift lacks in terms of cross-faction RP... an 'official' neutral hub where people can meet and have reason to meet! Lantern Hook is a nice spot, but it's just not as well-used as I would like.

Overall, I think Trion should give people a reason to stay public with their roleplay.

[Cyrenne]

Ok from what it seems in this post, there are plenty that love the idea but it should be made into a 2 fold system.

Let's be fair, there are plenty of people who think the idea is terrible, also... I empathize with wanting somewhere to go free of griefers for role-playing, but there are plenty of quiet places in the world to go and you can party up to keep your RP hidden, as well. So, let's look at this more from a slightly different angle... Of all the places in the world we can go, there are some locales that are obviously missing, many of which were listed in earlier posts by OP and others (not going to waste time rehashing). Trion already has made public instances (both of the starting zones), how easy would it be for Trion to create these as public instances with portals in different instance-specific locales to take you there, much as has been stated before? I think this is a great idea to encourage RP, but I, personally, think that making them private is a mistake. In the end, it's Trion's decision. I have to say that I also disagree with giving anyone kick/ban priveleges, as this would sort of negate the whole point of making the areas public.

While I think it would be awesome to have entire areas cutout for roleplay use, I just don't see Trion making that happen. Perhaps in their new zones they can keep this in mind when they build it but I doubt they will go through the old content, rework quest lines, change the landscape, and remove mobs / invasions / rift spawns from areas so that roleplayers Might use the area. I just don't see that happening no matter how much we ask for it. Lets focus on what we CAN have and move forward with it.

See above for a relatively simple way for Trion to add more space to areas without having to rearrange and rework entire areas or quests.