Breakfast Topic: As a WoW player, do you consider yourself a roleplayer?
by Gregory Steven Padilla 
Mar 19th 2011 at 8:00AM
Adventuring in Azeroth, I never considered myself to be a roleplayer -- a point upon which I prided myself until recently. I was winning a debate among friends about my non-roleplaying status until one pointed out that WoW is an MMO RPG. My face reddened as I admitted yes, WoW was a roleplaying game, and therefore I must be roleplaying.
Crestfallen, I considered the implications for the rest of the day. Did this mean I had to transfer my character to a roleplaying server? Would I starve if I did not maintain the Well Fed buff? Am I going to have to change my name to something more Azeroth-appropriate? Thankfully, the answer was no to all my questions, though the revelation was not completely wasted.
Our friendly debate gave me a fresh perspective on roleplaying. Azeroth suddenly became host to a wide spectrum of roleplayers, from the lowbie who bought his girlfriend a white kitten on their anniversary to the fellow who wrote a novel of fiction about his character and chastised me for not removing my plate armor before jumping into the water lest I sink to the bottom and drown. The very nature of playing WoW is to roleplay.
Where on the spectrum of roleplaying do you see yourself? How do you think it compares to the way others view your degree of roleplay?
| Yes | |
|---|---|
| No |
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Jorn86 Mar 19th 2011 8:25AM
I play WoW, and I do roleplaying. But I never roleplay in WoW...
Keveline Mar 19th 2011 9:08AM
This basically. I came to WoW from a D&D and single player RPG background and was expecting to carry my rp experiences into WoW. Didn't happen. Even on RP servers there just isn't much rp going on. The nature of the mmorpg I think makes it hard. Just think about the repeatable quests, raids for example. In a D&D game after you've breached the bad guy's fortress and taken him out, you're game world changed. He was gone for good, the world was safe for humanity again. You'd REALLY accomplished something.
Not in WoW. Here when you kill Arthas or whoever the bad guy of the weenk is you've accomplished nothing (in terms of changing the world). At best a few players will get some gear upgrades and maybe an achievement. Then you do it again next week. The unchanging world makes role-play very difficult and I gave up on it in WoW long ago.
And that's ok,it's just the nature of the game. I just have to get my rp fix elsewhere.
Sleutel Mar 19th 2011 10:38AM
Keveline, your capitalization just made me realize something.
When I read "MMORPG," I say all of the letters in my head, as an initialism. "Em em oh arr pee gee."
But when I read "mmorpg," I say it as a word, an acronym, with the tongue-in-cheek pronunciation used by Yahtzee (Ben Croshaw) of Zero Punctuation fame. "Muh MORE pug."
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2634-World-of-Warcraft-Cataclysm
Sleutel Mar 19th 2011 10:42AM
Er, that is to say, "muh MORE pih guh."
Noyou Mar 19th 2011 11:06AM
Tricksy question. Yes I do. Although I don't "roleplay" a whole lot per say. Simply logging onto your toon is technically RP. Unless you can wield magics and fly around on you know summoned creatures etc. Like it or not as the OP stated WoW is an RPG. So many people see it as a game. RP is a lot like anything else. You get out of it what you put in and nothing more. Nothing less. So yeah. We play in "Character" and we slay mythical beasties. Looks like by the poll results there are a lot of people in denial. We are all role-players. Admittedly or not. :) Best thing to do is embrace it
William Mar 19th 2011 11:48AM
@Noyou
if you live by that standard then counterstrike is a RP game or Left for dead.. unless i can weild a gun and shoot zombies.
Kethatril Mar 19th 2011 8:34AM
I never really roleplayed in wow, though I do a lot of tabletop roleplaying. However I did make up backstories and personalities for most of my characters, I just didn't express them often in game.
MusedMoose Mar 19th 2011 9:18AM
Seconded on all counts. RPing is, I've found, a great deal more fun with friends around a table. But of my squadron of alts on WoW, I tend to play them differently based on what I think they would be like, whether it's killing every critter I see on my freckle-faced gnome warlock or taking any quest from a "Wanted" board with my hunter.
Truth is, I have to be able to get into the character's head like that to really enjoy playing them. If nothing else, it makes reputation grinds much easier when I know getting whatever it is that comes with being exalted will mean something to the character. ^_^
trefpoid Mar 19th 2011 11:29AM
I've never RPed in a RP server, but me and my GF we have this crazy RP thing going with all our toons. They all have different personalities and we constantly RP wherever we are and people just look at us, totally confused. We never planned for it to happen, it just suddenly did, it's like each toon with his class and race has some distinct personality features (my undead is happy to eat a moth sandwich with spider sauce and our blood elves are totally disgusted by something like that) so it just kinda happened, though we don't RP with anyone else, just between the two of us. I guess it started 'cause we live together and we don't need wow to communicate, so we use it to have fun. It's great! Though I could never go on an RP server, it's way too serious.
Dragonrose Mar 19th 2011 6:43PM
I play WoW and I roleplay at times, even in wow....even on non-roleplay servers. This is mostly when there are no people around or there are and it would be funny to break the player/NPC wall. That said... my character has a name that could be a Night Elf's name, her pets are named things like Nighthunter and Shadowstripe (spotted saber... O.o) to give a bit of in-game flair to her. Immersion is good.
Garneth Mar 19th 2011 8:35AM
I wish I could roleplay again. I xfered off a RP server a few months back b/c the RP aspect of it died. Can anyone point me to a server with true RP still existing (PLEASE for Christ's sake don't say Moon Guard -_-)?
lycan_no_chaos Mar 19th 2011 10:33AM
Moon Guard is where I started rping in WoW, and it's not all that bad if you stay far away from Goldshire. Alliance side I've found random roleplaying a lot more (especially in Stormwind and oddly enough Darnassus), but Horde has seen a recent push for rp as well that I find myself delightfully caught up in. So despite the jokes and rumors, it's not actually that bad a place.
I would, however, recommend Emerald Dream over Moon Guard. Both the rp and the pvp aspects are alive and well for Horde and Alliance. I recently went to a giant rp event that literally lagged my computer because there were so many people gathered at once. There are lots of guilds of various size and skill, and though you still get some trolls and non-rp names, overall I've had a great experience. If you do sign up Horde side as a Troll, Tauren, Orc, or Goblin, I highly recommend the guild I found there called the Gor'Watha Warband. Fun people, relaxed, and interested in rp, pvp, and pve.
Those are the only two places I've found any luck with rp in. I've also been on Shadow Council (may give it another try) and Steamwheedle Cartel (which had no rp whatsoever).
Despite the WoW forum's constant qq'ing, I think that there's actually been a surge in rping, and with enough luck and knowing where to search, you could find exactly the kind of rp you want.
As for the Breakfast Topic, I've been roleplaying for years, it's my pride and passion. Some characters come to me easier than other (see the vast amounts of troll characters I have), but I'm always willing to explore and find new ways to rp in WoW. And yes, I hate the erpers of Goldshire as much as anyone. I went there ONCE. *shudders* Never again.
Joakim Mar 19th 2011 8:40AM
The last few months since cata's release, I've found myself repeating certain ... quirks. For instance, I always undress before crossing a river or lake (if, to myknowledge, there isn't a ford or bridge nearby). If I have of submerge fully clothed, I undress, light a campfire (and do some AFK stuff for a couple of minutes). I log out with my toon /sleep in a handy inn. I kneel before certain NPC's (it takes a lot of effort to kneel in front of Wrynn, let me tell you). The wel fed buff hadn't crossed my mind, but it sounds like a smal and fun way of bringing more "life" to WoW :)
Small things that makes the game a bit more enjoyable for me :) I'm not on an RPG-server. Yet, he he.
I do this because I am a roleplayer, have been for the last 17 years, though I mainly played pen & paper RPG:s.
Cetha Mar 19th 2011 8:47AM
That poll needs a "sometimes" option.
Aruhgulah Mar 19th 2011 8:48AM
The moment you log into WoW, you're a roleplayer. You're not the "you" you are to offline folks. Whether you're the l33t arrogant PVPer who pwn's n00bs or the number-crunching min/maxer or the jerk spamming trade with racist chatter or a death knight wanting revenge on Arthas, you play a role the moment you get onto WoW.
Succulent Mar 19th 2011 8:58AM
And if I'm myself represented through an Avatar, playing a game? :p
It's defining roleplay I guess. I wouldn't consider myself a roleplayer, even though occasionally I might perform a roleplaying act. It's not my intent with how I play or see the game.
It's my friends and I, playing a game. Not like Grandel, fighting for the cause or so on.
MusedMoose Mar 19th 2011 9:19AM
In a way, you're both right. It's not like there's one single definition of what it means to roleplay.
freebeatfly Mar 19th 2011 9:42AM
I'm not a roleplayer... but all those hours I spent in Dalaran/Stormwind/wherever doing random things with my friends (vanity items, anyone?), were technically roleplaying.
I wasn't acting as my character would (if it had story/personality) I was just my avatar drinking Noggenfogger Elixir and doing the mammoth conga line.
It is roleplaying to a certain extent. Not just "go to Y and kill X".
gewalt Mar 19th 2011 10:45AM
and the second you move a pawn on a chess board, you are role playing.
oh wait. youre analogy is completely flawed and useless.
I'm playing a game. I am NOT pretending to be my character.
Kilznah Mar 19th 2011 11:57AM
@ gewalt
Well you are technically taking on the role of being the master of the pawn =P