[RP] Conflict roleplay and duels

[Deleted member 32699]

When I wanted to create this thread, I realised that this forum doesn't have a roleplay section - which is a shame.
It would be nice if we could get such a subforum.

But now to the actual topic:

Sometimes you meet other roleplayers who are focussed on conflict RP.
That's not a bad thing in itself - it can even be engaging if the other person knows what they're doing.

Unfortunately, conflict RP is often done by inexperienced roleplayers or roleplay beginners (I remember my own first attempts as a scarlet fanatic with a shudder).
It becomes problematic when the person is no longer interested in RP (which should always be consensual), but instead focusses on "winning" - at any cost.

Not so long ago, when I was still playing WoW (SoD), me and an acquaintance of mine were provoked into conflict RP while walking in Stormwind.
At first we joined in, but then quickly realised that the other side was only interested in getting their way.
Of course, the inevitable happened and I was challenged to a duel outside the city gates.
It's obvious how this duel would have ended (the other character was higher level).
I tried to salvage the situation by initiating an RP fight instead (a fight performed with emotes), which the other side persistently ignored.
We then cancelled the RP.

Last night during the community fair, I ran into a roleplaying couple which was also up for a ruckus.

Unfortunately, I then rashly got involved in a duel.
I'm still new to Embers Adrift and in this situation I kinda felt socially pressurised, but then I also thought, "Hey, at least neither of us has an advantage".

In hindsight, I'm annoyed that I got involved at all because I realised that, once again, it wasn't so much about roleplay itself, but primarily about "winning".
Again, it would have been better to simply ignore the duel request and initiate an RP fight instead.

What I personally still don't understand is what duels in Embers Adrift actually represent.

In WoW, a duel is clearly a fight that is fought as such.

In Embers Adrift, a duel is a dice duel - but how is that to be understood in RP?
Is it actually a real fight (and the dice are just an ooc mechanic) - or is it a fun game of (ic) dice?

I'd be interested to hear how others see it.

 

[Elloa]

I would roleplay the dice dual as a dice duel. Not as a "real duel"

I think it's important to not take things too seriously related to Roleplay in Embers Adrift. The population is 95% not roleplayers. Some may play along, but you can not expect those players to follow the rules of RP, as it is really not obvious for most. So I think going with a "light roleplay attitude" is probably going to be more fun and more succesful for everyone.

Regarding the Roleplay forums, we have recently simplified our forums and got rid of a lot of unused forums. For Roleplay posts (like Lore or background), I think the appropriate forums would be the Community Forum, and you could add a [RP] Tag before the title for example, like you just did with this post.

 

[Deleted member 32699]

Yes, it makes sense that duels in Embers Adrift are actually dice duels - which gives them a different (less serious) quality.

And I agree that the RP in Embers Adrift is rather lighthearted, which also fits with greetings like "Hail, Elloa, slayer of forum trolls", which would be rather frowned upon in serious RP (because you don't know other people's names and titles).

I wouldn't call myself a hardcore roleplayer either, more of a casual roleplayer - but I still try to stick to the rules of RP (so no ooc in /s or /y, etc.).

It's too bad there's no RP subforum.
I had originally considered posting this in the "Lore" subforum, since it sounds most like RP, but then this thread doesn't really have anything to do with lore, so...
Feel free to move it to wherever it fits best.