Discussion: Why the lack of "open-world roleplay" in ESO?

Lyserus

I don't have a lot of RP experience outside of ESO, so I may miss something

But from all the rp experience in ESO I had, I see 99% of RP are done within RP guilds, that is, done only within an organization, it is VERY rare to see someone just roleplaying during playtime and actually interact with ppl that are interested in joining the action (the ones in good spirit, that is, not the troll ones) (Well, at least I failed most of the time, and it's already a rare occasion to see anyone RP at all, most are busy farming some stuff or getting somewhere, don't bother to talk unless trading or LFM)

What do you think the reason behind this?

Turelus

I would imagine it's because a majority of the player base are not roleplayers.

People not interested in RP wouldn't be interested or react correctly if someone walked up and started talking to them in character. This is why most games have roleplay servers, that way everyone know the majority of the population there are interested in RP and would react accordingly.

RP is still a niche in MMO games, so its easier for like minded players to gather together and form guilds or run events at set times to get people to join them. I believe there is still an entire forum dedicated to RP in ESO, those interested in it should check that out.

Knightpanther

Open World role play would never work in ESO, my immersion is always ruined by the constant Russian spam, no disrespect intended.

Be safe

Turelus

Knightpanther wrote: »

Open World role play would never work in ESO, my immersion is always ruined by the constant Russian spam, no disrespect intended.

Be safe

Create a new chat tab which only shows /say /emote and you should be fine.

Lyserus

Knightpanther wrote: »

Open World role play would never work in ESO, my immersion is always ruined by the constant Russian spam, no disrespect intended.

Be safe

hmm

You can disable receving other language message in "options" of the chat box?

AngelFires333

Does throwing mudballs with my Bosmer count?

Knightpanther

Turelus wrote: »

Knightpanther wrote: »

Open World role play would never work in ESO, my immersion is always ruined by the constant Russian spam, no disrespect intended.

Be safe

Create a new chat tab which only shows /say /emote and you should be fine.

Trouble is I like to know what's going on in a zone, especially Cyrodiil, atm all I do is just put Russian guild advert spammers on ignore, not ideal or fair to that player but its just one of those little things that winds me up a tad.

Be safe

max_only

Hm, I’ve seen it a few times since I started. Riften, Vulkwasten (Malabal Tor), and a Outlaw Refuge were the last three places I saw it. Mostly it’s done in group, guild like you said, whisper etc. I saw a married couple (two characters running together with the same last name) in the Gold Coast just last night.

It is very rare. One reason is because trolls.

These trolls can’t stand to see someone else enjoy themselves. There’s a weird “hatred” for rpers that come from troll anecdotes that rpers will get you banned “for nothing”. I think we all know how untrue that is.

When I pass by rpers I just act normal. As in I don’t do the following: Jumping up and down on them, swinging weapons on them, spamming attacks on them, flooding the chat window, doing emotes and mementos on their characters, etc. Turns out if you go about your business rpers don’t report you.

The second reason is housing. One can have complete control of the story in a custom built setting.

ZonasArch

Lyserus wrote: »

I don't have a lot of RP experience outside of ESO, so I may miss something

But from all the rp experience in ESO I had, I see 99% of RP are done within RP guilds, that is, done only within an organization, it is VERY rare to see someone just roleplaying during playtime and actually interact with ppl that are interested in joining the action (the ones in good spirit, that is, not the troll ones) (Well, at least I failed most of the time, and it's already a rare occasion to see anyone RP at all, most are busy farming some stuff or getting somewhere, don't bother to talk unless trading or LFM)

What do you think the reason behind this?

The RP from RPG is a constant. By playing the game, you're by definition RPing. You choose looks, gear, race, where you go, what you do. That's RPing, just not on fanfiction way.

Darkstorne

Sadly this is the downside of a megaserver. No dedicated RP servers.

When I played WoW I adored an RP server called Argent Dawn. I have no interest in RPing myself, but because the server itself was labelled RP that just validated it happening everywhere, and I loved seeing how much dynamic life that brought to all the zones. NPCs can't compete with player created events. I frequently slowed down to a /walk as I passed just to catch a glimpse of what was going on. If it was really interesting I'd often shift into my Druid's flight form and perch in a nearby tree to watch and admire

Sadly, without RP servers it would be like trying to RP on one of WoW's normal servers. The hassle of dealing with trolls puts too many people off. Which is a shame, and not just for RPers themselves, but also because there are a lot of people like me who love what an RP community brings to an MMO, even though we don't enjoy actively participating.

It's one of the main reasons megaservers are a flawed idea imo. Along with the limitations they impose on open world PVP. Ideally you'd use megaserver tech for locations designed specifically for groups (world bosses, public dungeons, dolmens etc), and phase all servers into a megaserver there, but stick to standard servers everywhere else so that RP and PVP communities can flourish, as well as host servers with various primary languages (great for the EU).

mocap

some dude invited me to trade and gave me suicide potion, it drains your own 8k health and then 500 every second for 45 seconds. ESO role-play

AbysmalGhul

AngelFires333 wrote: »

Does throwing mudballs with my Bosmer count?

One of those types, eh? Do you enjoy cutting people off in traffic? I bet you throw recyclables away in a regular trashcan too!

IndorilArwynLlethran

Knightpanther wrote: »

Open World role play would never work in ESO, my immersion is always ruined by the constant Russian spam, no disrespect intended.

Be safe

What platform? For PC there's this : https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1538-CyrillicChatFilter.html

ZonasArch

AbysmalGhul wrote: »

AngelFires333 wrote: »

Does throwing mudballs with my Bosmer count?

One of those types, eh? Do you enjoy cutting people off in traffic? I bet you throw recyclables away in a regular trashcan too!

I do all that and I still don't mudaball RPers. I do mudaball friends tho.

Androconium

Turelus wrote: »

Knightpanther wrote: »

Open World role play would never work in ESO, my immersion is always ruined by the constant Russian spam, no disrespect intended.

Be safe

Create a new chat tab which only shows /say /emote and you should be fine.

Open the options tab and just deselect whatever languages upset you. Or the guild spam that upsets you.

Michae

It's easier to rp in guilds since most of players you meet aren't interested in rp. Also rp most of time requires a fixed location for characters to stand around in since it's hard to type and move at the same time. I'm in a few rp guilds and beside the fixed events we just have casual talks IC in taverns. If you want to check it out on EU server come to Pilgrim's Rest Inn in Ivarstead or to The Randy Netch Inn in Balmora. There's always someone hanging around there for some rp.

Vicarra

As a roleplayer in PC EU almost from launch, I can share my views on how RP has evolved over the last few years.

• The first and most major hindrance to RP is the lack of a dedicated RP server, or at least, the ability to select an RP-specific shard. Several shards exist for each server, and when you port to a zone/town you may end up in a different shard than someone else you want to RP with. This essentially forced RPers to band together in an RP hub guild just so that we could port to a single character in the RP town and make sure we were all in the same shard (this guild still exists btw, Stormhaven RP for PC EU on the covenant side). Often, RPers would be wondering around thinking no one RPed there, when actually, there was a lot going on in the same place but on a different shard. This made it extremely hard to even find other RPs. This lack of foresight on the part of ZoS has been a source of endless frustration for RPers since the beginning.
• Ok, so we made hub guilds - so all is fine, right? Well not quite. One of the biggest secondary frustrations to the lack of RP servers or RP shards is the fact that a) we often annoy non-RPers who are trying to go about their business and see a bunch of weirdos doing weird stuff, and b) that we get annoyed by trolls who jump around and deliberately try to break our emotes and immersion by spamming aoe skills etc. Since we had no way to escape from them, this often made RP frustrating and led to us trying to find smaller locations, such as NPC houses, to RP in. The only trouble then is that the more you "hide away", the less visible you are to other people RPing in public, because you're not RPing in public anymore.
• Then, ZOS introduced thieving, and suddenly, we couldn't easily access NPC houses anymore, and many of them now had annoying NPCs walking around, which essentially drove us batty and forced us to find other locations in the wilds, or try to ignore the NPCs. Once the DB DLC came out, RPing in public in towns meant seeing dead NPCs all over the floor and having to pretend it wasn't happening.
• We got player housing! Finally, we were able to custom create houses and RP locations like inns and taverns and so on. No more trolls. No more phasing issues due to being on the wrong shard, no more having to scout the world to find locations you could RP in with no mobs, no annoying NPCs and no post-quest phasing. The only problem is that now we are REALLY hidden away. There is almost no public RP anymore, and the more you are hidden, the less other RPers can find you, and you are basically forced to join one of the hub guilds just to find other RPers.

Sadly, none of these issues is going to be fixed until ZoS designates an RP shard for each server and lets us self-select to go there. RPing in public is a nightmare because of trolls, and RPing in player housing means we are invisible to other RPers.

ZunaRoath

@max_only and @Vicarra pretty much say it all.

I'm also an RPer for years in ESO, PC EU. Lately it is being extremely hard to find public RP. Although I do see people going to Wind Keep tavern. Or other times to certain houses. This lasts one or two months, then people move somewhere else. Mostly housing. Which means- people outside our Stormhaven RP guild will not know that is happening, and will never be able to join, unless it is announced somewhere else.

Public RP means the chance for trolls coming and ruining things. Sometimes they're told they'll be reported, and it might be turn worse, or they might leave. Other times they are answered ICly, and surprisingly it sometimes works and they just run away. In my opinion, best thing to do is silently report them, and continue our RP, ignoring them.

Housing is great, but it means private. Along with the player restriction, and furnishing cap.

Now lets talk about out of cities RP. Because in cities it is where you most get trolls trying to ruin your RP because "ha ha ha how funny I am, how special I am trying to ruin other people's fun!!!". Out in the wild, or in smaller towns, it is easier to RP. We have certain events made in a little village in Stormhaven which are story telling nights, and they're -amazing-. Aswell, as it is made in a small village, we don't get many trolls. Of course, this also means not many come and find the RP and want to join.

Out in the wilds, awesome, no trolls, also of course no new RPers wanting to join, but we have yet another problem. There's amazing -really amazing- places to RP at, to make events at, FILLED with mobs. It is crazy. Sure this is no problem overland (except it is annoying as f*ck). And please don't think it is because we RPers are "noobs at the game", this is really wrong, many of us are PvErs and PvPers too, we know how to handle combat in all environments, we know the game as if it was our house. I say it is no problem overland, because in delves it REALLY IS A PROBLEM. Let me explain:

If you stay in the same place of a delve, RPing, emoting, and there is mobs that constantly respawn that you've to kill to be able to RP nicely, you'll end up DCing. Because ZOS has put some kind of anti bot system to make this happen. You DC, and you can't log into the game for 10-15 minutes, which is extremely annoying mid RP.

ZOS could pretty much be helping RPers go out in the world in public to RP, but the things they are introducing, and how they handle phasing, does not help at all. In fact, it makes it harder.

WatchYourSixx

Pretty much what Vicarra said. Really housing is what basically removed the majority of open world RP. Then the shards before that was the biggest issue

Chronocidal

I RP all the time ...

as a human whos been sucked into his computer game as is surrounded by idiots and weirdos on par with the cast members of "red vs blue"

starkerealm

WatchYourSixx wrote: »

Pretty much what Vicarra said. Really housing is what basically removed the majority of open world RP. Then the shards before that was the biggest issue

There were also a few, prominent trolls masquerading as RPers that didn't help the situation back then. I still remember the guy running around as an overly misogynistic Orc in Wayrest, and the sharp dropoff in RP there afterwards.

I mean, yes, people will always mess with RPers some. I'm even guilty of standing close to a vampire RPer and using the /juggleflame emote, on one occasion.

There were also problems with PvPers deliberately hunting down RPers and spamming visual effects to crash people out. I knew a guy from one of the Pact PvP guilds that did that, and thought it was hilarious. To be fair, he also tended to brag about how his team would teabag the bosses in dungeons. He's since moved on to EVE, which is not entirely surprising, but kinda disappointing because, damn he was unique.

Stick that together and there are reasons why, the instant housing became available, a lot of RP moved there, and there's now remarkably little in the open world.

Still, there are some places, usually bars, where you can find RPers out there. They do still exist. They just have a lot of **** to deal with, and find it safer to congregate in secluded spaces.

Danikat

I don't RP in the sense of acting out storylines with a regular group, but I will sometimes talk in character in say chat, but it's very rare for it to get an in-character response. Not so much because of trolls but because a lot of the time it's hard to make it clear you're in-character (unless you're a khajiit) and I even some people who realise that don't want to join in, so people are unlikely to respond in kind.

Say something like "On my way into town this morning I was charged by a HUGE troll, I barely escaped with my life!" and you're more likely to get advice on build sites or reminders to make sure you're using your CP (or people laughing at you because 'OMG PvE is sooo like, lol face-roll easy!") than an in-character response. Which is fine, but it does mean I tend to give up on doing it for a while.

Varana

On EU, there's also the language issue. I've seen some German-language RP chat in Anvil, for instance (not now during the event, of course), or French in Wrothgar, iirc. I'm sure most people are capable of a basic conversation in English but I can imagine that many are more comfortable with writing in their native language.

For casual RP while running around, the game tends to be too hectic, I think. There's stuff to do, man!

[Edit to remove quoted content]

ZeroXFF

The real reason is probably because overland is too easy. I had a lot more interaction with players in open world when I was a noob trying to solo overland or delve bosses without any CPs at lvl30 on a "magplar tank" and without any set gear. Also it was update 8 (Orsinium) and I was underleveled for the zone I was in most of the time, because there weren't enough quests in each zone to get me high enough to be in the "comfortable" range for the zone I was going to next.

But now? Why would I talk to anyone, I only need like 2 seconds for a delve boss.

BlueViolet

I miss seeing people roleplaying. I haven't participated for ages, since a couple of my friends stopped playing. The last time I saw any RP on EU were two adorable Khajiit roleplaying in a tavern one night, but they were RPing in French and I could only recognise a few words.

Coming from games and groups where random RP, rather than structured "scripted" roleplay was encouraged, I've often been intimidated and tbh somewhat put off by the "rules" that seem to accompany roleplayers I've come into contact within games like ESO.
In my own RP past, groups / games, anything goes with characters with the one rule being that you never kill anyone's character because it isn't your life to take on a whim. But others I've encountered have all these regulations about asking for permission before you do anything to their characters. No slapping or shoving, and at times I've seen in people's bio's that to even SPEAK to their characters you have to PM the person and ask for permission.

I think that kind of thing is utterly ridiculous, and completely puts me off RPing.

It's even sadder now that roleplayers feel they have to hide because some tosspot harasses them for being "weirdos" for acting in a game, because said tosspot is too dumb or unimaginative to realise that roleplaying equates to acting, just like actors in a movie, only its a different vehicle and RPers dont get paid. No one thinks actors are "weird".

I just miss a good old spontaneous RP event, which often even encourages people who don't really roleplay to try and give it a go.

idk

In the months leading up to the game launching Zos expressed how they planned to support the RP community by permitting players to tag themselves for RP and the idea is they would likely end up in the same instance.

However, Zos abandoned this just before the game launched because they could not figure out how to make it work. They stated they would find some means to help, but never did. Another empty promise.

So in the end, Zos chose to not support the RP community and much of the RP community that was interested in ESO abandoned it since Zos chose to make it difficult for them to RP together as they could in other games.

ESO is probably one of the least RP friendly MMORPGs in the game as a result.

starkerealm

idk wrote: »

ESO is probably one of the least RP friendly MMORPGs in the game as a result.

*Looks at the other MMOs installed on his system.*

I don't know, man, that competition is fierce.

FierceSam

Does no one RP using Discord?

It would seem to be way easier than chatting and would be almost impossible for other players to notice.

Maybe RP has moved on

josiahva

Lyserus wrote: »

I don't have a lot of RP experience outside of ESO, so I may miss something

But from all the rp experience in ESO I had, I see 99% of RP are done within RP guilds, that is, done only within an organization, it is VERY rare to see someone just roleplaying during playtime and actually interact with ppl that are interested in joining the action (the ones in good spirit, that is, not the troll ones) (Well, at least I failed most of the time, and it's already a rare occasion to see anyone RP at all, most are busy farming some stuff or getting somewhere, don't bother to talk unless trading or LFM)

What do you think the reason behind this?

Because 99.9% of people dont roleplay.

Sheezabeast

PC NA you can find RP in Riften at the Withered Tree inn. You may want to get tested for VDs after but it’s there none the less

RANKK7

Look, I entered in an tree inn in Grathwood or Greenshade one day and seen a lot of chat with purple color going on, I've read it and it seemed to me a lot weird and someone said something about a Dunmer and it was like the description of my character that just walked in, so I typed in say: What the hell are you talking about guys?

I don't know if they thought I was trolling or what, one of them even replayed I was going to get reported, I tried to genuinely ask what the f they were about, later on I've learned about roleplayers and I still don't have the faintest idea how that works exactly, I just know to stay the hell away because they are salty af.

If one of them had explained to me how to play instead of jumping at my neck, I would have even gave a damn to play for them for a bit if they needed a Dunmer, they were hella toxic.