I suppose I should preface this by saying I am the current leader of an MRP themed LS/FC so my opinion on the subject is quite biased. I will also state this is my opinion and I have not read through the thread and apologize if I restate something someone else has stated more eloquently.Â
However, disclaimer's out of the way, and this will likely be long because I am terrible at keeping things short : It's the subject that's often debated in every MMO that I have currently encountered.
"ERP" to me is generally divided in two basic categories. There are those who wish to log in and simply ERP with each other for no purpose other than the scene in question or in layman's terms "Short term RP". To me I generally consider this "cybering" as the sole purpose of it is short non-lasting and often only for the benefit of the people behind the computers for sexual stimulation. It's not -always- the case, but in my experience 9/10 people who practice this are only doing it in place of generic porn.
Then there's the second category: those like myself who see life as not being G-rated and figure that their characters lives should also not be g-rated. Regardless whether people will admit it or not, sex has a huge impact on one's mood due to the endorphins released and the events leading up to the act. There's a huge difference between going out to a bar and getting plastered only to wake up next to someone you thought you'd never talk to much less wake up with the next morning and being secretly madly in love with someone only to finally have them notice you and take you out to dinner and things escalate from there. Â
The latter is mostly what I'm going to discuss as the former I prefer to ignore it's existence due to bad past experiences with this particular group.Â
From a character perspective the two above scenarios can play out and affect the character in different ways. It leads to questions, drama, and more importantly -character-. The choices we make in real life tend to shape who we are as people and as such in my opinion it is the only way to shape a character's life. I, like many people, start with a simplistic idea only to build on it through people I meet in RP. Occasionally, like anyone else, I'll have an idea for a story or scene that shaped was significant to the character's history/personality but before they encountered anyone in the game world, however the bulk of my quirks are shaped by the people I associate with. If my character were to be intimate with someone else's character there's always context just like the real world.Â
I think the stigma comes down to the videos or the idea of people playing MMO's for porn instead of the MMO. I think it's fair to say there is more than enough fan art and other forum communities to support this idea. I've learned to look at gaming communities much like high school. Regardless of the actual age of the players, maturity will always vary. Through maturity one broadens their perspective on matters such as sex and context of it all. The immature typically follow the crowd and speak on ignorance because it's considered the "cool" thing to do. I have been on PVE based servers where I have "confessed" to being one of those "faggity role-players" they made fun of all day. I have been teased for it yet on the flip side with full focused RP servers the raider in me has been teased by RPers as being elitist. Players who engage in both aspects of a game or more so in both aspects of RP (Mature and Vanilla) run the risk of being tortured by others who also play said game.Â
The bottom line is generally it's ignorance and a lack of respect for people's play styles both in game and in RP. Life is too short to be held back by people who aren't open-minded enough to in the least respect your choice of entertainment.Â
As an additive on the subject of minors as it does pop up every time there is an ERP discussion, The game is rated T for teen. There is an ESRB content warning essentially absolving SE from responsibility for what players say and do. While I am a full supporter of parents actually parenting their kids instead of letting videogames and TV parent for them, I think it's unfair to think that one who engages in activities such as ERP will not come across a minor at least once in their role-play "career".
The truth of the matter is that forum communities dedicated to such discussion are often based on the honor system. Human beings as a whole unfortunately have mastered the art of lying. Many of these websites have a simple question asking if they are over the age of 18 or 21 in some countries. By simply pressing "Yes" you gain access to their registration. There is no sign up fee, nor is there a drivers license check. Even with said information a minor could easily have borrowed mommy or daddy's credit card and license and pretend they are older. Gaming communities simply do not and will never have the resources to keep minors out of the mature circle and to hold them responsible for a parents lack of judgement (ie parenting) is simply unrealistic and unfair to everyone who uses the internet.Â
/2c
However, disclaimer's out of the way, and this will likely be long because I am terrible at keeping things short : It's the subject that's often debated in every MMO that I have currently encountered.
"ERP" to me is generally divided in two basic categories. There are those who wish to log in and simply ERP with each other for no purpose other than the scene in question or in layman's terms "Short term RP". To me I generally consider this "cybering" as the sole purpose of it is short non-lasting and often only for the benefit of the people behind the computers for sexual stimulation. It's not -always- the case, but in my experience 9/10 people who practice this are only doing it in place of generic porn.
Then there's the second category: those like myself who see life as not being G-rated and figure that their characters lives should also not be g-rated. Regardless whether people will admit it or not, sex has a huge impact on one's mood due to the endorphins released and the events leading up to the act. There's a huge difference between going out to a bar and getting plastered only to wake up next to someone you thought you'd never talk to much less wake up with the next morning and being secretly madly in love with someone only to finally have them notice you and take you out to dinner and things escalate from there. Â
The latter is mostly what I'm going to discuss as the former I prefer to ignore it's existence due to bad past experiences with this particular group.Â
From a character perspective the two above scenarios can play out and affect the character in different ways. It leads to questions, drama, and more importantly -character-. The choices we make in real life tend to shape who we are as people and as such in my opinion it is the only way to shape a character's life. I, like many people, start with a simplistic idea only to build on it through people I meet in RP. Occasionally, like anyone else, I'll have an idea for a story or scene that shaped was significant to the character's history/personality but before they encountered anyone in the game world, however the bulk of my quirks are shaped by the people I associate with. If my character were to be intimate with someone else's character there's always context just like the real world.Â
I think the stigma comes down to the videos or the idea of people playing MMO's for porn instead of the MMO. I think it's fair to say there is more than enough fan art and other forum communities to support this idea. I've learned to look at gaming communities much like high school. Regardless of the actual age of the players, maturity will always vary. Through maturity one broadens their perspective on matters such as sex and context of it all. The immature typically follow the crowd and speak on ignorance because it's considered the "cool" thing to do. I have been on PVE based servers where I have "confessed" to being one of those "faggity role-players" they made fun of all day. I have been teased for it yet on the flip side with full focused RP servers the raider in me has been teased by RPers as being elitist. Players who engage in both aspects of a game or more so in both aspects of RP (Mature and Vanilla) run the risk of being tortured by others who also play said game.Â
The bottom line is generally it's ignorance and a lack of respect for people's play styles both in game and in RP. Life is too short to be held back by people who aren't open-minded enough to in the least respect your choice of entertainment.Â
As an additive on the subject of minors as it does pop up every time there is an ERP discussion, The game is rated T for teen. There is an ESRB content warning essentially absolving SE from responsibility for what players say and do. While I am a full supporter of parents actually parenting their kids instead of letting videogames and TV parent for them, I think it's unfair to think that one who engages in activities such as ERP will not come across a minor at least once in their role-play "career".
The truth of the matter is that forum communities dedicated to such discussion are often based on the honor system. Human beings as a whole unfortunately have mastered the art of lying. Many of these websites have a simple question asking if they are over the age of 18 or 21 in some countries. By simply pressing "Yes" you gain access to their registration. There is no sign up fee, nor is there a drivers license check. Even with said information a minor could easily have borrowed mommy or daddy's credit card and license and pretend they are older. Gaming communities simply do not and will never have the resources to keep minors out of the mature circle and to hold them responsible for a parents lack of judgement (ie parenting) is simply unrealistic and unfair to everyone who uses the internet.Â
/2c