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+--- Thread: [Discussion] The State of Balmung's Lockdown (/showthread.php?tid=20964)
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - Parth Makeo - 12-07-2017
(12-06-2017, 01:01 AM)ArmachiA Wrote:It's a few things and honestly I've been in a player mindset as well. One of the complaints i had during my time running the event is that i was 'ignoring' someone while the event was taking place when they made no effort to step up and speak their character's mind or reaction well. Even when I directly addressed them or gave them a moment to shine. I was told this by a friend of mine since apparently they were too scared to tell me directly or something.(12-04-2017, 10:47 PM)Parth Makeo Wrote: Part of the problem too is the mentality of "I have to be there from the start to be engaged/immersed" mentality of storyline RP events...even though i did self contain the events enough to be one offs without much worry and made them more call to arms.This is a huge issue for me, as well. I'm basically a DM in this game, since I've been a DM in tabletop games since I was 16 it just feels more comfortable for me to run things. I like when people join (Even outside of FC but I do tend to keep it contained to FC for obvious reasons) but I get "I had to be there for the beginning so I don't wanna" or "I'm not sure I can see it to the end so I don't wanna" a lot. It's not something I've really been able to solve, but I do what you do, self contained events with an over arching narrative so if they just go to one or two they won't be lost in anyway and if they feel like joining the big picture they can. I don't know, maybe people are scared? It's hard for me to get into the player mindset.
Another issue i had is the 'self-insert' arc where someone literally came into my RP sessions and 'self inserted' their arc into mine as if trying to make his character look more important or foreshadowing an event he may or may not be doing...when he never even ASKED or made me aware he wanted to do this till after. I did confront him after the third time and explained politely that if he wanted to intersect his own character's story or plot with mine, he should take it with me or stop.
Since that event he showed up to one more before never being seen again. Probably because i either scared him off or he felt bad which i didn't yell at him. Just politely told him how rude it was before asking me if he wanted to add things or not. (Which i was open to)
So for many they want a 'reason' to join. Like 'will my character be important?' or 'will they do the final blow?' but it was rare to find those bad apples on Balmung. Other times it's people who even compliment me for the event and encouraged me to keep going.
There are many factors to people not joining but most need to assure their character fits right. You can't have some Edgelord Dark Knight who broods 24/7 while blasting Void Ark music helping a cheery and happy Cait Sith Doll look for a golden popoto with comedy and wacky situations. :3
It was why i do mini-events with close friends to give them slightly more importance or share information their characters can hold or not. So they have some significance or an action that will influence the story...
but i'm rambling about it. Currently i'm comfortable and i'm derailing my own thread.
RE: The State of Balmung's Lockdown - ArmachiA - 12-08-2017
^ haha good insight. Since we do dark RP, I can see how people who like lighter stuff wouldn't want to join. I just wish people who say they like Dark RP wouldn't go "Nvm, bar rp is for me!" then complain to me my stories are too dark (Not saying this is everyone, I'm just venting at this point).
My last derail - I wish there was some kind of universal rules for DMing in MMO's. There's universal rules for RPing in MMO's (Metagaming, powergaming, etc etc) but it's not like that for DMing. I'm top of that, while RP and character development and being a player is constantly talked about on forums like this, being a DM - getting starting, what to be aware of, discussions and rants - doesn't really have the same kind of resource. When you're doing it, you feel like you're figuring this whole thing out of your own, so it's easy to make mistakes or cross a line you didn't even know was there. Makes it hard for people to want to try, cuz there's no real guidance.