Do I Roleplay?

June 3, 2008 at 1:22 pm (Warcraft, World of Warcraft) (role playing, roleplay)

In response to Pike’s roleplay post I asked myself ‘Do I roleplay?’

Yes, and no, but mostly yes.

The way I’d actually put it is that I AM the character. When I’m playing WoW, it’s in the first person. If an item drop, I get the item. Not Znodis, not my character, but me, myself. It’s as real to me as most other things. When most people say “WoW is a Virtual World” they put the emphasis on ‘virtual’ whereas I’d put it on ‘world.’ That’s true for me for any game. Whether it’s Zelda, Mario, Halo, or any thing else. Each world just as it’s own goals and rules.

For Warcraft, I find my rules are:

* Accomplish something. This could be working towards reputations for a certain item, or pet levels for my project, or trade skill levels. If I can accomplish more than one thing at a time, I’m a happy guy. Heck, even just helping someone else accomplish something is enough sometimes (like running a lowbie instance with a friend). I’m not someone that can log-in for the chat capabilities or just to farm for the sake of just getting some cash or just to explore (unless the exploring leads to something else). In fact, there have been times when I just don’t log in or even quit, because I didn’t find anything worthwhile to accomplish. Most of my other rules are just extensions or guild lines to this one.

* Look right. I hesitate to say ‘cool’ because that’s not really my goal. Given my own choice, I’d always wear a mask without a cowl, currently its a Sunroc Mask of the Bandit, but it was a White Bandit Mask back when that had Agi and Str. The rest of the gear should just go together so I’m glad I no longer look like a clown. I almost quit before S1 became honor, just because I hated the way my character looked. On the other hand, looking right also means, that I’ll drop the mask for better stats when needed or others are depending on me. However, I’ll always go back.

I’ve actually come to realize that this is really important to me, comparing my before and after pics. I really hate the other BC teir sets. If they just recolor them for 70-80, I may not make it. Further, if the new tier sets look lame, I may not even want to go to 80. So far Bliz has done well making the first one or 2 sets look the best in the endgame IMO (D0/1 and T4/S1). The one set for WotLK I’ve seen doesn’t do it for me. Wait, I mean… I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WOTLK PLEASE LET ME IN THE BETA. I’d really like it if T3 was upgraded (please let the dungeon set be a reskin of that).

* Use a cool bow when possible. I use Don Santos Rifle right now because it just blows my Volanos out of the water stats wise. I’d love a Bow of the Betrayer or either of the Arena bows, but if I was given a choice between Wolfslayer or Phoenix, I got with the Wolfslayer, just because I think the Phoenix is ugly. The bluer torn-heart bow is much nicer (I think I still have it in the bank). It’s actually pretty important to me that there always be a better bow out there. I think if I ever got the ‘best-looking’ bow in the game, I may actually just quit, until a better one comes. I came pretty close to that with Rhok (I instead started a warrior).

* Explore and help. Yes, I actually think I help the NPCs out. Should I be helping someone else with the same quest, it’s only because the enemy returned, since…

* Death is only an annoying illusion. It used to really, really bother me to die. When I started WoW I still had the EQ mindset of having returned weakened. Now, it’s mostly just a hindrance for rule #1 – accomplish something which I like much better. Imagine losing 10% exp because you got ganked… I would have quit the first day that happened. (Also why I never played ultima online).

* Avoid evil. I don’t like grouping with warlocks or shadow priests or rogues. I actually have to take a breath and remind myself it’s just a game when I do. Undead characters make me physically sick to not be able to kill which is why I have issues playing horde. I also hate the smugness of BEs in general, and even the NEs I encounter such as the Arch Druid Staghelm (if I could only kill one member of my own faction it’d be him). Gankers fall into this category as well. Actually, this is even an issue with gear somewhat. A lot of the gear out of Naxx was ‘too evil’ for me to consider wearing at all, even though I liked that hunter tier set. I may have issues in WotLK now that I think of it…

In summary, I don’t go around saying thees and thous, and I’ll talk about whatever show I just saw on television. But at the same time, I might pass on an upgrade because it’s not a bow, or just because it clashes. My character is just an extension of me and what I want to be.

So Pike, if nothing else you’re at least a better roleplayer than me.