PVP VS CVC: Roleplaying Game Animosity

Edhain

-------------------------- Important Distinction
PVP: player versus player
CVC: character versus character

I've had a lot of fun in Aetolia recently, and I think it's great, but there are some things I've learned in other roleplaying formats that I believe it's worthwhile to share here. This may not be enforced by staff policies, but if people behaved by these standards then Aetolia would be a better game.

First, some guiding principles.

• 1. When it comes to roleplaying an enmity between your character and another character, the enmity is purely in-character, and not a problem between two players that is being projected into the roleplay.
  
• 2. The players of a roleplaying game have a vested interest in maintaining the culture of the game: they want the game to stay healthy and happy.
  
• 3. While nobody is entitled to another person's roleplay being bent over backward to make them as a player happy, it's useful for players to keep in mind some techniques for roleplaying in-game conflict that keep other players happy (no matter how miserable the characters might be!)...
  
• 4. The essential rule of these techniques is to ask the question: does this stifle others' stories, or does it enhance them with further hooks?
  

Now, some techniques. I'll start by mentioning a couple of the elements of CVC conflict that usually do get on the nerves of players.

Ignoring:

Let's say your character wants to ignore another character. You might think it's a good idea to just not respond to them at all. But actually, it's a lot better to express that you're ignoring them, in a roleplay fashion.

An example -- someone sends your character a tell that they don't want to respond to. You can respond with something like:

You tell Annoying, "..." The only thing that comes through the connection is a frosty aloofness, and then it cuts off with a pointed snap. "..."

Another example -- someone is in a room and you pass by, purposefully having the intention of your character ignoring theirs when maybe they had sent you a letter or a message. You can actually emote stomping past without looking at them. This makes it in-character, and shows that you as a player are engaging with them as a player, even when your characters are at odds.

Killing:

Your character wants to murder another character. How can you make it at least sort of fun for the player behind that character? If the player likes IRE combat, then going for a big dramatic duel at NoT could be one option. If the player hates IRE combat, then another option could be doing emotes of roleplay-fighting, with the stipulation that it could turn into coded combat by the end, or that it has to respect realistic power dynamics in some way.

Even if you just walk in and gank someone, it could help to send tells afterward or throw a few emotes their way before it starts. If you have a reason to attack and kill someone but you as a player don't want to be a bully, you can demand that they send a champion in their stead if they don't want to fight you themselves, and so on.

In the end, conflict is going to probably have some violence and killing in it at some point, and roleplaying about that can make it feel more like CVC and less like PVP.

Here are some further CVC conflict tips that can augment an in-character enmity.

1. Insults That Show Recognition

If you have a problem with a character, it's useful to pick up on things that they have purposefully made to be a part of their concept, and insult them with it. For example, a hoity-toity knight could insult a particularly crimson-lipped vampire by calling her a sinful temptress, and she could insult him by some snide inference that he only takes his armor off to shove a stick further up his butt. These insults show that you as a player have considered someone else's character, and that you are recognizing their concept in a way that is validating for the player behind the screen.

Example -- A very rich Spirean deals with an up-jumped orphan of a fellow city minister as they are both vying for a council position, and insults the orphan as a mannerless urchin who barely knows which silverware to use at a party and might even eat with his hands instead!

Example 2 that actually happened -- A fierce shaman Ogre could insult a butthurt ex-knight by calling him a brittle weakling for not wanting to kill kids and related drama! Kudos @Khorrask.

2. Direct Interaction

There are many ways that you can engage with an enemy character that are fun for other players. You can go for creative insults, challenge them to duels, and essentially foster an enmity that is just as vibrant as a friendship. Yesterday when the Spireans decided to go hunt Soliads, they went to an effort to start shouting about it and that was very cool. Kudos @Sheryni and @Noube and others.

3. Indirect Interaction

You can interact with people or places around your character's enemy in order to have an impact on them. You can talk to their guildleader about their recent crazy-RP shenanigans -- maybe your character wants to get them punished! (And OOCly, this draws attention to the fact that their crazy-RP shenanigans happened: validation and recognition for shenanigans is a nice thing to do to another player.)

4. OOC Communication

Sometimes you might not be sure if another player is enjoying what is going on. If you're not sure, it's totally a nice thing to do to check in, and maybe offer ideas or solutions of other ways that the current conflict could go. This might be a completely alien concept to some, but it's a very useful way to show that CVC is not PVP. There are many times when just a quick 'hey, are you cool?' would go miles towards salving any budding PVP feelings, and just a quick OOC message like 'lol that was so funny' shows that you're not harboring any toxicity.

While not everyone might feel comfortable with OOC communication, there are ways to telegraph self-awareness in your writing as well: if your character is acting sleazy, then use '*sleazily' as an adjective in your say or tell, for instance. The same goes for: overly-angrily, cruelly, stupidly, unreasonably, self-righteously, moodily, mockingly, etc. This is an out-of-character acknowledgment that your character is behaving in a way that you as a player understand is antagonistic in some way.

Expressing esteem is also a great way that Aetolia has to lessen the bite of IC antagonism that might come off as particular bitter and painful.

5. Creative Twists to Develop Dynamics

Let's say that someone has committed a crime against your organization (such as harming Soliads) but really wants to roleplay about it for some reason. You could have a trial for them, or do some sort of ritual where they atone. You're not obligated to provide them a route for redemption, but you could do other things as well, like planning to hunt them down and teach them how harmed Soliads feel by doing it to them! You could put up wanted posters with their face on it. You could regularly send them mysteriously threatening messages, and random growly tells. You could investigate their background and craft a meticulous trap full of their characters' triggers and send them into it.

If there's some lowkey conflict stewing between characters, it's always best to yank it out with a bunch of fun and interesting drama rather than letting it fester in a way that isn't expressed outwardly in roleplay. For example, Shamonda Jackalqueen the forestal took over Bluster the vampire's shop in Esterport after he forgot to pay taxes! And she took all his stuff in the storeroom. He sidles around secretly thinking sad things about his lost stuff but never tells anybody and it never gets back to Shamonda that Bluster is frustrated with her. That's much less fun, and has more capacity to turn into PVP bad feelings, than if Bluster were to make a market ad calling out Shamonda Jackalqueen as an opportunistic thief whose shop nobody should patronize... in a way that probably makes her player giddy with delight at the recognition of character concept.

6. 'Yes, and' or 'No, but'...

At its core, immersive roleplaying is an improv acting experience -- comedy, drama, tragedy, whatever you want it to be! Here's some information on techniques that improv artists use when building off each other. These two options are far better than a plain 'no' and even better than a plain 'yes'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and...



Remember, CVC doesn't have to be PVP. Try to have fun and spread positivity, not negativity! Animosity can be lots of fun. And when it's not fun, it's not really fun for anybody, including the 'winner'.