A Land Far Away

Discussion:

Pillar # 6 states that ALFA is:

Hardcore Role Play. Players in ALFA are required to role-play their characters; meta-gaming and power-gaming shall be prohibited.

What does Hardcore Role Play mean to you?

How does this affect the view that ALFA is an elitist community?

FanaticusIncendi wrote:Discussion:

Pillar # 6 states that ALFA is:

Hardcore Role Play. Players in ALFA are required to role-play their characters; meta-gaming and power-gaming shall be prohibited.

What does Hardcore Role Play mean to you?

How does this affect the view that ALFA is an elitist community?

In means we play in character, and if our character dies, then we start a new one. No OOC shouting about stuff or OOC rules like hit points or levels.

ALFA is perceived as an elitist community because we over-policed in some cases or our 'ex-members' who were legitimately thrown out were very vocal about distorting the facts. I think we need to give members more options for correction other than being thrown out, such as corrective RP'ing classes when they power game or loot corpses. Of course, power-gamers may not like it here, but I know that DM's including myself have over-reacted at times.

I've weighed in on the discussion forums on this, and since Rick brought it up here as well, I'll form a poll as well about the issue of punishment/corrective responses to players.

Hard core roleplay is demonstrated by remaining in character at all times regardless of whether a DM is known to be on the server or not. The motivations of the character are based on the imaginary life events related to the character, from background through current events, and these are the primary factors that guide their actions versus trying to improve stats, etc.

We end up being branded elitist by those who play the game to have a more arcade-like experience (just dated myself there), or who are not familiar with pnp gaming.

[quote="darrenhfx"]Hard core roleplay is demonstrated by remaining in character at all times regardless of whether a DM is known to be on the server or not. The motivations of the character are based on the imaginary life events related to the character, from background through current events, and these are the primary factors that guide their actions versus trying to improve stats, etc.
[quote]

+1 Dunno who is labeling us elitist though. The only people i have heard it from is dissafected members.

Hardcore means PnP rules, a high standard of roleplay and personal conduct. In addition, I also believe it has something to do with maintaining a level of maturity and respect.

A high standard of roleplay entails 100% in character at all times, not just when a DM is on.

I would also contraversially add to this a PnP pillar which says, the DM is the ultimate authority on everything. If you wish to challenge a ruling, do it before, after a session, on a break or when a DM invites it but the DMs ruling is immutable while in play.

Hardcore also means -:
* if you find an exploit report it, don't take advantage of it.
* just because the environment doesn't react to your every whim does not mean you should go around as if NPCs were inanimate objects, thats bad roleplay. (eg. Drow and Outlawed blackguards wandering into taverns or past city gates because no DMs are on..)
* Respect for other's roleplay.
* Respectful conduct in regard to DMs.

Hardcore RP means that you have a responsibilty to breathe life into a server through your detailed, subtle and intelligent characterisations, regardless of the type of PC you play.

It means you help bring the server to life, and that you do everything you can to enrich it for others. It finally means that you adibe slavishly by the spirit of the community in which we are all part, abide strictly by all rules, and abide above all else by the word of the DM.

I agree with everything said so far. So many other games out there touted as MMORPGs and multiplayer RPGs do so in only the loosest sense of the term, but since that is all the mass consumer hears about, they take that as the standard for all RP, and anyone with a more strict standard is then labeled a fanatic or freak. I liken it to anyone who drives slower than you is an idiot and anyone who drives faster than you is a maniac.

I'd like to see where the phrase "Hardcore RP" originated, and who coined it. So, any non hardcore-rp games, do we refer to them as Special Education RP (SERP) or perhaps Remedial RP (RRP)? MMORRPG/MMOSERP.

Doesn't have the same ring.

Dunno who is labeling us elitist though. The only people i have heard it from is dissafected members.

There have been, in the past, forums discussing ALFA where folks (usually ALFAns who made it in and started playing) talked about how great it was while others (usually people who's apps weren't accepted) cried about how they didn't understand why they were qualified to get in, becuase of course they were GREAT RPers and something must be wrong if they weren't good enough for ALFA.

That is one place the elitist moniker often came into play.

Certainly, disaffected (<- see how I spelled that, Penguinboy?) members have contributed to that.

The fact finding here is less about the actual labels and more about what it is we are looking for. Labels can be a good gauge, even if it is suspect as to whether they ever applied in the first place.

If all of ALFA goes "F, yeah! Elitist till we die!", then it says something about how we should be accepting apps.

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For me, Hardcore RP means that you are 100% trying to RP in character all the time, that you are mostly successful, and that you very rarely break someone else's immersion within the sphere of IC knowledge or activities.

Hardcore RP is NOT synonymous with 'appropriate for ALFA', as you can be a hardcore RPer but still a big cheater.

However, it should definitely be high on our list of criteria for which to allow potential members entrance to our community.