I agree with TSMDude, for the most part.
Categorisation as roleplay, action, high or low magic, etc ideally isn't just a preference or general theme, but something fundamental to the way a module is designed. So in a true low magic environment mages wouldn't be godly; rather, NWN's spells would be edited to reflect low-magic, perhaps in addition to spellcasting classes being somehow restricted. Low magic to me would represent a universal limitation on the level of magic in a world, not simply who has the magic and who doesn't.
Of course, there are endless variations, so you'd need multiple sub-categories for any one of the categories mentioned so far.
No-magic, at least, should be easy to define.
I can't agree enough that roleplaying in no way precludes combat, adventure, exploration, and so on. The distinction between roleplaying and, well, not roleplaying, is whether or not these things happen
in character. If I'm roleplaying, and my character is in combat, I'm roleplaying the combat. There is absolutely no inherent connection between roleplaying, and not adventuring. The reasons talking in taverns all day is (unjustly) connected to roleplaying are, in my experience, as follows:
1) Pressure (implied, subtle, or otherwise) in roleplaying server communities for character power to be limited, and progression to be slow; even when module design does not sufficiently support the server's philosophy on these things (eg, levels are easily attained by grinding enemies, but players are expected to fully justify and roleplay their characters' progression);
2) The more "serious" sort of roleplayer realises that a relatively mortal character cannot fight and slay all night and day, and since PWs allow for more or less constant portrayal of a character's time in the world, less-adventurous activities are also roleplayed (secondary/alt characters may prevent this); socialising, romance, trading, and so on. In an environment composed of skilled roleplayers, these activities can be highly engrossing, and so there's a tendency, particularly for high level characters, to spend more time on them than heroics;
3) Dungeon Master activity (and progressive, storytelling activity in general) may be low as a result of time constraints, low numbers of competent DMs, etc. This pushes the focus of ongoing roleplay onto things which can be player-driven; two players can spend months roleplaying a romance, alone, while they'd be unable to defeat the evil dragon king because the evil dragon king's minions are controlled by a DM who's seldom online;
4) Most PWs, by accident or design, make PCs -- and not the setting itself -- the prime cause of heroic or adventurous activities. Characters are placed in an essentially insignificant and stable role, and if they want to get into combat, escape danger, or face the evil dragon king's minions they've got to leave behind their easy life wandering around Big Wealthy Fantasy City and find it for themselves; in the case of new players in particular, often without allies, purpose, or direction;
5) Very few players are proficient enough roleplayers/writers (or experienced enough in many of the things roleplayed) to portray anything other than modern-style conversations convincingly.
I think it's relevant to categorising modules, since a distinction between
socialising and
roleplaying can obviously be made, and probably should be.
If I were to categorise a roleplaying server briefly, it would be that player preference, and world design support the role playing of all activities likely to be represented in a fantasy game. Hostile creatures dwell in dungeons; we roleplay combat in a dungeon; characters experience exhaustion and hunger; we roleplay hunting, foraging and rest; and so on. It should be noted though that there is a vast difference between scripting a system that requires players to click on food items, and a community of roleplayers who are not pressured to, but actually enjoy roleplaying such elements as hunting, recovering from injuries, and so on.
As well, a "true" roleplaying server of this sort does not preclude any fantastical elements, nor any lack of realism; that's a matter of how high or low magic a setting is, and perhaps how "dark" it is, which is yet another sub-category that we may or may not want to get into here.
Of course, a lot of these design considerations apply only to roleplaying worlds; by definition, a non-roleplaying world doesn't require the in-character aspects of a module to be developed, explained, or even to exist, in which case the low/high-magic, dark/light-fantasy categories are much easier -- but not necessarily easy -- to define.
Eh, apologies for the huge and rambling post. Interesting thread!
Modifié par B_Harrison, 06 septembre 2010 - 02:20 .
