Suppose, for the sake of argument, that the point of rpgs and mmos was actually to 'play a role'. (Silly assumption, I know.) What role would you want to play? Or what roles have you played that you particularly liked? Whether it was a race a class, a faction, or your role in a particular quest, tell us what it was and why you liked it. For example, in WoW I've tried about half the races so far and I like being a Tauren best. I like the Native American/pacifist flavor and the strong but gentle look of being an anthro cow. I would have also liked being a hunter because of the animalistic aspects except that pets are kinda stupid in WoW, you can't do much strategic with them. The idea of being a hunter also fit nicely with the idea of the professions skinning and leatherworking. Similarly in Dofus I enjoyed playing an Osamodas (summoner) who wore a white sheep hat and cloak for several levels and fought using chickens, sheep, and a boar, although sadly I didn't get high enough level for the dragon. In that game I also pursued the profession of mount breeder, which was a lot of fun until I realized that economically it was was totally screwed and impossible to make a profit at.

In WoW there were quite a few I played and enjoyed but stopped for one reason or another. I started as a Night Elf hunter, I liked the look of the night elves (the look of the race is invariably what I go for and it annoys me when the look i want clashes with the gameplay I want). As a hunter I enjoyed how It played (this was early on before they got pet loving and such) but I found the pets mostly boring, I wanted a cool looking pet and for awhile I had a huge turtle and various other things but what I really really wanted when I first saw it was a black stag. I leveled up a few levels grinding solely to be a high enough level to get them and then found out that they couldnt be taken as pets. that pissed me off. Also the weakness of fist weapons pissed me off as a hunter and as a rogue because that was the sort of character I was going for when I saw those weapons were there. My hunter got to level 36 with a good spear and a giant turtle before I moved on to other race/classes. I played a mage, arcane magic was fun and explosive but they didnt have much unique flavor wise to the mage that I enjoyed. Just a big glass cannon. I tried trolls, kinda liked the look of them but didnt go anywhere with it. Rogues were fun but by the time I started one I felt like there was a set in stone way to play them and to try anything else was just too sub optimal to be acceptable by others. I got made fun of once using fist weapons with it even though they were +9 enchanted by my enchanter and were still good starting weapons. I enjoyed playing a undead shadow priest to level 42. I wiped my friends butt all over and got major kudos, made me feel good about the character cus he was a warrior and very good at it and I took him down without taking much damage. I think most duels finished with em near full HP. Even with that build I was still an excellent healer and my friends always wanted me in the groups with them.


Overall, I go for dark moody characters, and standoffish fighting styles. I think my warrior got to level 5, and rogue to 14, I dont remember the druid if i had one, never did pally, or shaman, and the others i mentioned. Most races didnt appeal to me at all solely because of looks.

I prefer speed and evasion based characters... but they aren't usually feasable in the world of computer RPGS due to usually needing a good amount of damage output to vanquish the enemy.

If I had to put an archetype to that... I'd like to play a Peter Pan type character... so that it matches my IRL complex. You know, be one of those lost boys on the outskirts of society... perhaps one of those little muddy buggers outside of thunderdome in a modern/future environment.

It's been that way since I got caught in awe in watching Lance Belmont(Lancer) crash to earth in the third Robotech war and started picking off Invid invaders using a super mobile Cyclone suit.

If I could find a game that allowed me to crow... that would probably be just as good.

Oddly, I like to be honest and hard-working in games. It bugs me a little when I'm the child of destiny and foes fall before me like grass and gates open at my touch and I'm immune to mind-control when the rest of the world is not. I like to earn my badass reputation through accomplishments and merits, and I like to make tough decisions and sacrifices along the way, and then live with the consequences.

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Original post by Bacon and Eggs If I could find a game that allowed me to crow... that would probably be just as good.

Well Dofus's class Osamodas (summoner) has an attack called crow... It summons a kamikaze crow (equivalent to a fireball, frostbolt, shadowbolt, etc) to hit an enemy. Makes a caw noise. Unique property of the attack being that it is about the only long range attack in the game which doesn't require line of sight (because it can go 'as the crow flies').

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage Oddly, I like to be honest and hard-working in games. It bugs me a little when I'm the child of destiny and foes fall before me like grass and gates open at my touch and I'm immune to mind-control when the rest of the world is not. I like to earn my badass reputation through accomplishments and merits, and I like to make tough decisions and sacrifices along the way, and then live with the consequences.

I'm also like that. I get annoyed when I'm thrown something like your-a-super-hero-that's-why-you-can-do-anything. I like to work my way up. Give me a sword and some shitty armor and I'll work my way upp to captain in the army in no time. Plus it also feels better when I got to a high rank and look back at where I started :)
Tough decisions. A lot of people hate this kind of stuff (mainly because they still think there is only one way to trully win a game - making them belive that the other ways are bad). I'm a little 50-50. I like making hard decisions but not if there is so that they come with completely unforseen consequences.

I do like the feeling of having worked and gotten a good reward for good work, but even more than that I like to feel clever, and I really appreciate a game that gives me opportunities to do creative problem solving and challenges me to come up with a new strategy every hour or so.

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It bugs me a little when I'm the child of destiny and foes fall before me like grass and gates open at my touch and I'm immune to mind-control when the rest of the world is not.

It bugs me too. I (personally) don't considder them to be Role Playing Games. ANd before this degenrates into a: "But all games ahve some role playing in them" discussion. *sigh* Yes I do know that virtually all games have some aspect of role playing in them. But just because they ahve some small aspect of role playing in them does not make them role playing games just as you can say that all games have some strategic element to them does not make all games strategy games. *sigh*

These so called RPGs do not have Ro,e playing as a major aspect to them. Yes ther eis a story, Yes ther is Stat advancement, but these are not Role Play. Role Play is about creating your own Persona (which can be differnet or the same as the players personality). This is the major distinction.

You, as the player, have to create the persona, and the designer needs to give you tools to express that persona and have that expression meaningful within the context of the game.

So back on topic:

Who do I like being?

I like being able to create and express a persona in an RPG. Whether this is a noble Knight or an immoral Thief, an honor obsessed Samurai or a lonely Ronin.

Yes the role will be bound by the context of the game, but there should be scope and tools to express my created persona and have it be menaningful within the game.

Take Neverwinter Nights 1 for example. It doesn't really matter whether you try to be a cut purse trying to survive the plague, or a Hero want-a-be that will do anything to become famous. You still have to follow the same story, you still hobb nobb with the nobility (like a common cut purse would be accepted into those circles). Sure you can choose different conversation paths within a tree, but where it really matters in the game, regardless of how you want to portray a character you can't do it.

Talking to NPCs you seem to ahve more freedoms to create a persona, but really all it comes down to is which conversation path will net me the side quests or the greatest reward. There also are differnet paths you can take to reach the same ending, but that essentially measn that there is no meaning in the persona you wanted to present.

However, I think of games like NWN as "Action Adventures" and I can enjoy them on that level. They just aren't RPGs for me and this makes all the text you seem to need to read through a pointless and frustrating waste of time (If I wanted to read a novel I would).

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Original post by Edtharan These so called RPGs do not have Role playing as a major aspect to them. Yes there is a story, Yes there is Stat advancement, but these are not Role Play. Role Play is about creating your own Persona (which can be different or the same as the players personality).

Stat advancement isn't roleplay in any case, but personally I think that its roleplaying if you identify with the character even if that character is predetermined by the game's script, the same way actors get into characters that a script writer created. From a writer's point of view, if you can't decide anything about the player character you can't write any dialogue for them. Unless the game is about the development of the pc's personality such that you can afford to spend development effort making dialogue for each of several different personalities, or unless you decide that each race or class has a particular personality.

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I think that its roleplaying if you identify with the character even if that character is predetermined by the game's script

I disagree. I can identify with a character in a novel, or a movie, but this is not role playing. Getting the audience to identify with a character is a dramatic/artistic goal, but this has very little to do with role playing as the audience is not creating a persona, but just identifing something inside themselves with that character. It is empathy, not role playing.

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the same way actors get into characters that a script writer created.

Acting is slightly different from role playing. Yes there are many similarities, mainly that as an actor you create a persona (along with the writer and director) and project that to an audience. It helps if the actor can empathise or connect with the character because it can then generate an authenticity to the acting. But it is not necessary for the actor to empathise with the character.

In fact the main difference between role playing and acting is that in acting the character is not the sole creation of a single person. In role playing the persona of the character is compleatly up to the player.

In a movie an actor playing Wolverene could not decide that they wanted the character to be a hopeless romantic, or a loyal underling always doing what their master says. In role playing you can do this. Role playing is more akin to writing than acting.