A walking tour around the Roleplaying realms

The sights range from the disgusting (you get offered to cyber by just being a lowbie and hanging around Elwynn, apparently), to the boring (there is some really, really bad vampire RP), to the fascinating (some of the character descriptions are very well written, and use some commonplace ingame gear to portray a character's backstory very well). There's no judging involved -- it's basically a (pretty) objective survey of what RP players are doing on RP servers lately. Even if you're not an RPer, it's an interesting read (though some of the images and situations are NSFW, depending on where you work).
There's more info in a Q&A on the journal, including a plan to possibly do some group RPing, but just the idea of surveying what's out there is cool. There is so much happening on the realms (in terms of RPing and grouping and PvPing), and even here at WoW insider we can only document so much of it. Definitely cool to get another look inside what players are coming up with (no matter how weird or boring or wild) on the realms.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bigfish Jan 12th 2009 5:03PM
I put on my robe and wizard hat.
Dreadskull Jan 12th 2009 5:13PM
Huh, it'll be interesting to see what's said about Kirin Tor.
Shawn Jan 12th 2009 6:39PM
That's exactly what I was going to post!
Yeah, I'm guessing Kirin Tor will be "Goldshire is a horrible place full of morons. There are some cool gnomes running around the game though."
Dreadskull Jan 12th 2009 6:53PM
Was thinking more about the clique stuff that I noticed a lot of times when I'd run around on alts. That and I remember lots of "crazies" (y'know, things about them/that they do that are most likely impossible/bend lore too much).
Thorie Jan 12th 2009 5:16PM
Roleplaying is nothing but nonstop Blood Elf super rainbow fun party!
If you roleplay on the Horde = nope, don't even try it. NOTHING but Blood Elf. It makes me wonder if Horde RPing even existed Pre-BC
If you roleplay as the Alliance = Forget about it! According to 'lore' Humans are constantly at fued with the Orcs, which is a good base to RP around. But since orcs don't exist in an RP realm...
goliathsdkfz Jan 12th 2009 6:04PM
When ever I hit RP as my lovely dwarf I get a ton of nutface nightelves going EWWW DWARF and then just ganging up to beat me up, which I can give many examples why this behaviour on mass is OOC ( but won't here ) and just makes RP hardly worth my time anymore.
Sean Riley Jan 12th 2009 6:20PM
I recently did a brief analysis of the numbers of characters by race in the RP realms vs. the number of characters by race in the non-RP realms. I found that the only Horde races to have an increase in the numbers by role-play were Blood Elves (in a walk the race with the largest increase) and curiously, trolls. (Though that may just be an aberration.)
Conspicuously 'pretty' races like the Blood Elves, Night Elves, Humans and Draenei had the greatest gains. Theoretically 'ugly' characters like the dwarves, orcs and undead had the largest losses.
None of them were huge. Most of it was in line with the other realms, and the biggest shift (dwarves) was only -3%.
Like it or not, there's a hell of a lot of bad role-players out there who may well be doing the ERPing. It's a serious shame, too.
Keyra Jan 12th 2009 6:23PM
Actually, I used to RP quite a bit with my orc hunter until I got tired of both it and her. It's rare, but it is still out there :-)
Sean Riley Jan 12th 2009 6:40PM
No question (my main is undead, pictured in the icon) but the sheer VOLUME of blood elves is a little depressing. :(
damon Jan 12th 2009 8:40PM
Dear lord the blood elves. THE BLOOD ELVES.
All of my characters are on roleplay realms. I never see actual roleplay. When i do, there are blood elves. Everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Seriously, Lightninghoof has roleplay night in brill every... Wensday i think it was? There where more blood elves than ALL THE OTHER RACES COMBINED. I was usually the only orc, and there where dozens of people there!
Blood elves have the potential to be great characters. But there's so many they all tend to blur into eachother for me. And we're supposed to be the HORDE! Prissy little skinny supermodel ELVES do not fit into that! And they all have the same damn personality! Almost every single orc, troll or tauren i meet is unique and seems to have their own quirks. UnDead are pretty common too, but i've met some undeniably memorable characters over on that side. Blood elves? Pity-me-emos and pretty princesses as far as the eye can see.
Despite all that, i'll say that horde still manages to have fewer mary sues. I spent a day roleplaying a Draenei and had some fun... Until the other draenei said she was half-worgen. And the night elf was a ruler of a lost kingdom.
I'll still take the off-chance of crappy roleplay over the guarantee of no roleplay any day though. If you ask me, there should be fewer RP servers so the roleplayers are tighter knit.
Sakinah Jan 13th 2009 7:58AM
@ Damon:
Not all blood elves play like that. If you ever tried to pity mine, she'd have her cat eat you. And your family. She's proud to be part of the Horde and her wishes fall in line with the Warchief's. No going back, only forward. On the other hand, I've seen the emos you discuss. I wish I could flag to beat on my own faction sometimes.
In general-
Just rolled my first Alliance toon, and whenever I get whispered 'hey sexy', I have a macro that says "Hi, my name is Mike'. Usually works to get folks off my back. Found some excellent folks to RP with. :D
Dekota Jan 13th 2009 10:51AM
Boy isn't THAT the truth!
I'm on Kirin Tor and after playing on several different MMO'RP'Gs I actually Roleplayed on many of them. More then just walking about in a city, sighing to herself to catch someone's attention, But REAL Roleplay
My Female Iksar got many visitors to her home in EverquestII. People seeking out her 'skills for hire'. No No No... She was a Mercenary you silly, naughty minded people xD
My Twi'lek danced and danced in the cantinas in Tatooine like most.. but the rebels were unaware that she was actually an imperial spying on the rebel's next raid of an alliance city! .. and vice versa. She would sell imperial raiding information to the rebels at a slight cost. She had a lot of credits ;3 (this is why i like the aspect of being able to communicate with the enemy faction)
What does my Orc Hunter do in Kirin Tor on WoW? not....much of anything =/ And it's not because I don't want to..not by far. But because I find it difficult to RP on a game that isn't designed for it. We cannot speak with those we are at war with to make an in-depth story, we have no player housing to customize and add to our character's story. We Have Nothing! And this makes me very sad -_- I don't even see the point of having a Roleplay Server when it's almost impossible to get a good RP going! I want to do something more then just walk about in Silvermoon, I want the environment to be more apart of the game then it currently is. Right now the Org bank is for nothing more then bored level 80's to sit on showing off their Naxx gear and epic mounts. **sigh**
And has anyone noticed that there are no houses in Org? where do the orcs sleep?! outside?! what the hell?! Undercity isn't any better!
*sigh* okay. I'm done now 9_9
TheGrouch Jan 12th 2009 5:16PM
Haha BigFish, I saw that one comming.
I've spent a little time on RP servers, but for WoW-- it really doesn't do it for me. Now if I go play some Neverwinter Nights 2, I can find some REALLY good RP servers. But nice article, I was thinking of going over to an RP server for some lulz when bored, so this blog helps.
Sideshow Jan 12th 2009 5:20PM
You get asked for cyber in Elwynn no matter what server you're on. They seem to flock to Goldshire.
Arivia Jan 12th 2009 6:14PM
Can't say I've ever seen that on Shadow Council (US-RP). Then again, people talking in anything but OOC on Shadow Council kind of get laughed at.
Seedcake Jan 12th 2009 8:08PM
It's so true. I normally play (and occasionally roleplay) Hordeside on Moon Guard, but one curious day I decided to roll an Alliance toon to check out the RP over there. Holy jesus god, Elwynn was a hundred times worse than anything I'd ever seen in Silvermoon (and I don't necessarily mean quality, but the _content_, eesh). So trashy and terrible.
Still, I consider WoW roleplay - good or bad - to be a value-added feature. It's bonus entertainment which is always there when I want it (and easily ignorable when I don't). Snarking and laughing via Skype with friends over poorly-written, Mary-Sue-ridden roleplay profiles (of which there is NO END) is quite an enjoyable pasttime, almost as enjoyable as stumbling upon super-rare high-quality RP (it does happen from time to time!).
Honestly, I find normal, non-RP servers to be quite dull now; I'll never go back to them. *hugs Moon Guard*
Zuldim Jan 12th 2009 5:53PM
I RP alliance side on Moon Guard, and I must say, while it is a pit, she caught Goldshire on a bad night.
I've seen many stripper night elves and such, but only caught one couple cybering.
goliathsdkfz Jan 12th 2009 6:05PM
I caught two naked male draeneis cybering in the draenei starting area once, I couldn't help but grief them with my posse... it was just too hard not to.
Seedcake Jan 12th 2009 8:30PM
My first visit to Goldshire inn? Nekkid table-dancing by females of various races.
Second visit a few weeks later? A toon had taken up a pimp role and was assembling all his "hos" upstairs for customers' perusal while downstairs, a Dwarf death knight was convincing people to jump (and die) in the fireplace so he could then corpse-explode them.
I was, well, stunned...but it was like the proverbial train-wreck in slow-motion: I couldn't look away. I suppose it's good for the sake of spectacle!
I eventually left, feeling rather cheered-up. Hordeside may have a metric ton of blood-elf RP, but at least it wasn't...THAT.
Aubrecia Jan 12th 2009 6:12PM
I don't RP regularly, but I do have a lowbie on Moon Guard just so I can walk around and observe the RP, and I have to say I'm a bit surprised. My lowbie is in Silvermoon and I've never seen all the ERP that's mentioned here; I've seen a lot of interesting conversations and real effort put into characters. Of course there's going to be ERP, there is on any RP server (and on many non-RP ones), but I didn't think it was that bad. Honestly surprised.