Engaging With Other Characters - How Do You Do It?

Akaryuterra

I'm back again, here to discuss the idea of interactions and how to start them.

This comes from having had discussions with people in various chat mediums outside of the game, in which I have read several times that people aren't quite sure where to go, or where to start.

It's no secret that I enjoy some RP, and so I find ways to engage in it with other players, in order to have a chance to explore interaction with them. They can be driven by Akary's pursuits, but sometimes I need to come up with something improvised to create a situation to react to.

So this discussion is all about 'how to start an interaction spontaneously', and I'll start it with a few of the ways I've done that before.

- Mailed a random object to a person Akary never met and blamed it on the pigeon delivering to the wrong recipient.

- Walked into a shop and immediately tripped, prompting a response from the person that was there at the time.

- Approached another shop owner with a business proposal (which is still going on between Rasani and Akary).

- RP'd being blown into a room with a small handful of people by a Numerological 'malfunction'

Sometimes, it's just a matter of being in the right place and waiting for the right time, with an idea of how to spring an interaction. I've done that by hanging out in a forest along a well traveled route with the pretense of collecting plants for study has caught me an interaction with a forestal.

There hasn't been one of these interactions that has turned out in a way that I found unsatisfactory for an improvised attempt at snagging some RP. The real key is throwing out an idea and playing your character. This didn't come out quite as insightful as I thought it would, but I'm hoping some inspiration can drawn from responses and other players expounding upon their own ideas and successful improvised encounters.

In the end, maybe even the old players can draw some inspiration for their own future attempts at hooking someone with RP.

And if this turns out to be the only thing in this discussion, just GET OUT THERE AND RP and roll with whatever comes out of it, because in the end this is a multiplayer game, so get out there and meet the other players.

Vash

Some great tips @Akaryuterra!

Here are a few suggestions that I have found work for me. The best RP comes when you give hooks for the other person to respond to. I find that the best hooks also involve the other player or something you have in common. As a new player you do not have much, or any, shared history with the other players and you are probably not very comfortable with the lore of the world. So how do you kick start interactions?

My favorite way is to work the other players appearance into your interaction. This lets you show off your own character’s personality while giving the other player something they can instantly respond to.

“What the unicorns is up with your forehead Teani?”
Emote (slowly backing away) intently stares at the crystal embeded in $teani’s forehead while stammering “Are you ok? What happened to you?”.
Emote steps right up to $teani as he reaches a hand up towards $teani’s crystal, his voice brimming with excitement “Oh wow! How did you get those in there?”
Emote ‘s eyes constantly drift up to $teani’s forehead as he is speaking with $teani, never lingering long but always returning. “I don’t need any help at the moment, I am just exploring the city.”

Another fun thing to do is to comment on something in the room. It never fails to crack me up how many people get used to the details their characters are exposed to all the time. Comment on the body hanging over the directory board, ask if some fearsome beast that is someone’s mount is safe to stand around, ask if fights really are so common that the bartender has to warn every single person to take them into the next room, chase after the colored ball bouncing down the street, etc.

I also keep a file with notes on my interactions so I remember things to comment on after the first time. Sometimes people are busy so your first interaction with them may be brief. If you follow up and remind them of a specific interaction you might get more. It also signals that you are engaged and are worth investing time in.

And if this turns out to be the only thing in this discussion, just GET OUT THERE AND RP and roll with whatever comes out of it, because in the end this is a multiplayer game, so get out there and meet the other players.

A million times this. You will burn out on bashing and PVP but RP will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Kaya

Those are some great examples, Akary I find that sometimes simple is better. I.E. if my char is outgoing enough, I'll have them pick random people in the guild/city and say "I'm trying to meet other guildmates/citizens." It can end up with some pretty great rps.

Also, I make up excuses to bump into older chars. I love to rp with oldies but goodies because they always turn out to be the best rpers. I especially go for the legends, like our very own Akary here. The only reason my char knows Akary/Ryo is because I deliberately put her in a situation where she would be almost forced to interact with them. I.E. she joined the guild and they were the only char she saw often enuf or something. Now they have a long standing rp and it's still going strong with new ideas all the time!

Another thing I did was when Lexen offered my brand new char to go hunt fresh off the boat, I used that to hook and create an rp that is still going strong as well. There are so many ways to do it, you just have to be creative about it

Mariena

I love my shop and shopkeeping in general, so I stand in my shop pretty much all the time. This has worked wonders by way of rp interaction. You can ask a person what they're looking for, comment on the weather, compliment them on a piece they're wearing, and so on and so forth. If others are hanging with me and you get that 'oops retreat' reaction you can send a tell inviting them back to the party.

Rhyot

I've actually had some pretty great (in my opinion) IC conversations. Usually, it happens because I run into someone in an area I'm bashing (usually Isia or Wylliam) and they have some newbie with them and then we do a little roleplay where Rhyot assesses the new hunter(s) in his area.

This goes on to develop into some of the newer hunters asking Rhyot for help and his opinions on where to hunt and why.

Sometimes I also afk (while I go play Sky Factory 3 or something) at West Gate or the Pylon and just random people will strike up conversations and ask random questions to which I'll answer.

There's many ways to engage a player and conversations, you don't always have to be aggressive about it. Sometimes just being there for someone can do wonders for IC conversations.

Kodaza

The easiest way I've found to engage with people is to literally just say hello.

I mean: SAYTO Hello.

Being coincidentally in a room happens all the time. INCLINE is the bare minimum of politeness that most people do. But add in a SAYTO after your INCLINE? It's a tiny thing, but it's an extra mile: you didn't have to do that. You took the time to do it anyways. And while you don't know what the other person will do, it puts up an instant flag that says: "I am willing to interact with you, even if it's for the brief moment we're here."

Kalak

Spontaneous RP is one of the most fun types over there, though generally I prefer to be the instigator instead of the reactor. Mostly I try to adopt a pro-active approach because, by nature of my character that is almost necessary. Barge into a tavern, create tools to lay groundwork for interaction with various types of people, just say hi or compliment about one thing or another to the other person. Make your presence known. If I am in the game, that means I am ready to RP almost all the time. If I do not wish to RP, I just opt out of the game. Also by experience I have even seen that blasting apart someone with utter prejudice can lead towards a lengthy RP arc (though it is not advised for most, a somewhat fringe case let us say)

The core idea is not to shut people off but to be open-minded about them. In most IRE games people are prone to shut themselves into small circles and be done with it. I adopt a style which intends to break your walls whether in a nice way or harsh way. So far I have yet to be disappointed with that.

Having the willingness to take a step forward, that is where stagnation ends and stories start.

Lycurgus the Wayfarer

This is an interesting thread - Mainly, interaction through my character immediatly begins with LOOK at (character). Being verbal, is always secondary to the environment/room descriptiom, and what anyone else, single or multiples, look like. Sometimes I feel that it's common for characters to cross paths, and not even look at one another, and for a text-based sprawling RPG, it's sort of defeating the purpose of even making a character at all. But I can't point a finger at everyone, and I'm sure this is not the case 100%, though I can be confidant it exists.

General interaction can be hard! Almost any sort of communication and interaction needs a prompt. Random run ins, or simply passing through a room is rarely enough to get more than a nod or even a simple "Hello".

This is actually realistic. Open, unprompted interaction is not just rare in Aetolia, it's also rare in real life. Most of my characters chance interactions have mainly rotated around catching a chance piece of clothing or particular item on someone else, making a comment about it, and going from there.

Being a Rogue has different angles of interaction. Not being bound by organizational, or city-state regulations regarding interactions, basicly allows my character to interact with any and all, and being chaotic neutral only adds another layer of interaction. The downside is a rogue is usually unknown, and does not have those prompting channels of communication open. Rogues must actually hunt for interaction, which is difficuly since very few people actually reside outside havens, houses, or secure locations for extended periods of time, and even fewer stick around in borderless or uninhabited areas, which is where my character prefers to dwell by prefrence.

Confidence is key, in short, for any communication. Period. Much like how verbal confidence is a required trait to have in real life when interacting with others, it's even more so required in a game like this.

Basicly, I would say the following - Dont overthink or overplan speaking to others IG. Just be yourself and open your characters mouth.

Akaryuterra

I'm bumping some characterization and RP specific threads because they are subjects that interest me.

Stathan

After a series of productive RP sessions recently with various people I have to say, for me at least, the best way to engage new people is find -something- about them and ask. Started talking to @Agothaxl because of her market add. Got curious and and asked about the raffle and auction and such. Turned into a very fruitful chat. Made a new friend. (Screw tethers I talk to who I want!) Then there's the people I deal with on regular basis that I've just "manned up" and said something to, or gotten extremely drunk and used that as an excuse to chat.

Vash

TFW you see a cool topic, get excited to open it and comment, only to find out you already did. Good job 2017 Vash

It seems using descriptions as an ice breaker is very common. Does anyone have examples to share of kick starting RP in some other ways? Like Akaryuterra's comment in the first post about mailing something "accidentally".

Zaila

re: other ways I kick start RP

Market tells! Advertise wanting something that isn't really an item. The stranger it is, the most RP this tends to generate.

being POSEd doing something interactive like playing music, painting, writing,
etc.

Looking at CWHO and sending awkward/off the cuff TELL statements to lead into questions that may or may not have to do with the lead-in statement and/or you don't actually care about the answers to (things like "So, you're an X." X=guild/class/city/hobbiest/species/height/gender/married/single work great for this)

Emoting how I walk into a room, even if its just a shop and I am genuinely there to shop often engages conversation.

Asking random characters you don't know well for advice on trivial RP matters.

YELLing a reply to someone who's left the room with you or who's on the other side of a door. People complain it's annoying, but it works so well.

These are the main things that pop in my head right now!

Emir

I yell or shout at anyone who walks out on me. Works every time. 

Kalinaar

This is easy. Send a tell to Mazzion and commence rping. This guy is your one stop RP shop. 

Eliadon

secure quarterstaff;;propose to [player] with [random corpse]

Cailean

I don't. They just flock to me on account of my awesome.

Akaryuterra

@Vash
I have on occasion tagged something using the compass iron coin artifact that tells you who has the marked item. Once the item was marked, I left it in an open place and checked to see if anyone had picked it up, to see if I could then find a way to engage them.

Alas, very little luck in that effort, people don't generally notice/pick up items left in a location, they sort of ignore them. I clearly have to make the item seem more rare, or perhaps more dangerous. Or maybe item pose it so it stands out a little more in the room desc? I'll experiment more with that.

Additionally (and this is kind of elaborate), if you can confirm a potential RP target doesn't speak a certain language, send a tell they clearly will not understand. This is is where it gets kind of silly, you respond back in Aetolian with something that might engage a conversation, such as a claim they might disagree with, or perhaps you can tell them something they might not know, or offer some sort of trade (as though you mistold in the middle of bargaining with someone else).

The response can be anything in a broad and crazy array of options, but the point is a mistell is a hook, and the response might tell you they'll respond if you lay something else out for them to take interest in. I don't know if I have managed to do this with someone I haven't had conversations with in the past, because it's hard to randomly throw out a topic of interest and get a bite without knowing something about whoever you're trying to engage. I am almost certain I've done this with, for example, @Rasani at some point. Don't recall specifically what, but I wanna say it was related to either forging or brewing, and since Akary and Rasani are business partners with importing/exporting booze, I knew either of those to be subjects of interest.

Known philosophically inclined characters might be easier to do this with at a random tell.

Yes, sometimes I spend too much time thinking about ways to make impromptu RP feel more organic.

Aishia

@Akaryuterra that last one would work with me u probably just didn't leave it in the right spot.

Teani

@Aishia sends me random vegetables now and then. Apparently she is concerned about my character's carnivorous diet. All this stems from one random discussion about leaks/leeks way back that sort of got out of hand a bit.