Roleplay and Conflict - Advice

Benedicto

Established as a breakaway discussion from the Tone of Aetolia thread at @Antehe's prompting.

This thread is to share ideas and thoughts on how to initiate or conduct RP with members of rival factions.

It can be rather challenging to maintain a dialogue with a supposed enemy without reverting to "I KEEL JUU" or "Ew, stay away."

It is my firm belief that if you limit yourself to only interacting with players of your own guild/city/tether, you'll never fully experience the delights that this game has to offer in terms of RP. Also, you never know quite what will come about as a result of it!

Therefore, if you have any positive insight, ideas or tricks to keep things fresh or expand opportunities, then discuss them here!

NOTE: This thread is not to complain or discourse on previous bad experiences or to further discuss the merits of cross-tether RP. It is purely for the sharing of ideas.

Dzekk

It's no secret that I primarily play Aetolia for PK, and being a member of the spirit faction that supposedly shuns cross-tether interactions that aren't kill or keep away has honestly had -zero- impact on my ability to roleplay with shadow members.

Basically, it comes down to two things: 1) Do I want to RP? 2) Do they want to RP?

When it comes to conflict and roleplay converging, most of the time, yeah - it's going to end in PK. But due to recent player-driven events that have been handled this way, I found myself just entirely too stressed out to continue to do that every single time.

So what I've been doing is just making a more conscious effort to talk first, and that has resulted in positive negative interactions with a number of shadow folk. I think the whole "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality is the biggest barrier to pass, and once it's been broken down, there's really nothing stopping you from interacting.

Of course, maybe because Dzekk is a Templar, someone might notice. "I saw you talking with that Indorani the other day, what are you up to?" - My response is usually the same. Nothing, I was simply catching up, or gathering intel, or trying to talk some sense into them. So it's not always a bad thing - which leads me to my second bit of advice, I guess.

Don't let other players rule who you can or cannot interact with. It's your character and at the same time it's ridiculously easy to wing up some sort of justification for why you're doing something while also staying within your character's role simply because, it's YOUR character. Literally nobody can tell you you're playing your own character wrong, that's not how it works.

There's my two cents on the concept. And while I'm here, any shadow-sided folks should take note! Dzekk is not a kill first, ask questions later kind of guy. If there's a conflict, and you want to settle it with conversation with me, by all means!

Jasline

The way I see it, both characters just need to be willing to have a simple conversation with each other. From my experiences with cross faction RP, that's all it takes to get going. The willingness is the important part that needs to be there. It doesn't always have to be about conflict either. Ask the person a question. That has worked well for Jas before. Also, going into a room with someone already in it and smile at them. Acknowledge their existence in some way and if they're paying attention they usually will respond. That one worked quite well when wandering around in Enorian.

Lin

I mentioned on the previous thread that the Shadow side was a lot more accommodating to cross-tether RP, and while I still think that's true, I should explain myself a bit better.

I have always perceived a sort of one-sided flow of "corruption" in the game world. Namely, while the Spirit side has always worried about the Shadow side influencing their own, seducing them to cross over or otherwise lose their way, the Shadow side never seems to worry. They're not quite as concerned that Bob McLuminary might make Frank the Syssin see the way of Light, even though it happens all the time!

Although I still believe the relationship between the two tethers is heavily lopsided, I'm seeing vast improvements in how things are handled. No one in Duiran seems to give a damn who you're keeping company with, as long as it isn't excessive and you're not bedding your enemies. Enorian's a little tighter on the reins, but the city's very leader runs a neutral bar that caters to both sides, and there is a lot more mingling than there used to be.

I think this is very healthy for the game as a whole!

Rasani

Honestly what's been said has been very good and it really does just boil down to who wants to rp! I'm always down for it, even if our characters dislike each other. I remember even @Fezzix and I had a really good, tense rp session once. it wasn't long, but those sorts of things are fun as long as everyone is on board!
I think people forget they can often bring craft into it! I think it's super cool what @Kalak is doing, running a periodical and doing research, and I've had a brew trade going with @Akaryuterra for quite some time. While I have fun with tense rp sometimes, some people may not, so just remember it can be light and friendly too!