World of Warcraft®

Warning: this thread has been reported for srs bsns. <bubblepipe>

For those of you who have seen my posts around the forums, you may know that I'm not a RPer, at least not as far as WoW is concerned. For years, I have dabbled in forum RPs, which I can reply to at my own leisure, but in-game RPing is just not for me. Still, I moved here, to a RP server. Why? Here's why:
1. There's a large population.
2. The community is FAR more friendly than that of other servers I've seen, even compared to other RP servers.
3. I enjoy literate, intelligent, like-minded people.
4. A friend was over here.

I respect my literate brethren greatly. Even though I'm never IC on Belevow, I tend to talk in OOC brackets when I /s. I have TRP so that more of you know I'm OOC and can easily disregard me. I try not to run between or through RPers.

Luckily, when I initially investigated this server everyone was very friendly and welcoming, and for the most part that's remained, but there's a certain post that's been haunting the forums lately, and shows no sign of leaving:

There are other 'mature' servers that can provide what you're looking for - for example - Feathermoon.

I transferred here from Feathermoon because there is really little RP left there.
If you want a server that is mature, still knows how to have fun, is mostly RP tolerant and you DON'T RP - you should check them out.

Yes, I am very protective of the WrA community - I'm not a non-RP hater, but for every non-RPer than comes here, the RP community is diluted just that little bit more.

As an RPer I would love a server where 100% of the players RP.
WrA might be 70%
I don't want that to get to 50%, 20% with every new non-RPer that rolls here.

So if you have no other reason (ie friends here, wanting to try RP etc) please have a look at other servers.

/cast shield block against incoming haters

This is rude and insulting, not only to potential transfers but also to members of this server. Not only does this imply RP or go the hell away but I personally feel like, as a non-RPer, you think my existence on this server is hindering you in some way. Because, you know, you can't just ignore us.

Yes, WRA is a RPing server, but it's part of a game that focuses on more that just RP. I would like to believe that making RP servers isn't Blizzard's way of saying that everyone on said server has to RP; rather, it's a way to attract like-minded individuals. And even if this is an RP server, people do more than just RP. Your RPers PVE and PVP, and they don't often do it ICly, do they(I personally haven't seen such)? Why can't non-RPers join in on that? How would that affect you?

I can understand wanting to have a lot of people to RP with, but WRA has TONS already. I can't go anywhere without seeing RP -- on both factions. I can also understand wanting to dissuade trolls and grievers, but if they want to roll here they're really not going to give a damn what you think about the server to begin with, and to assume that everyone who politely asks about the server disrespects RP is just flat out rude and immature.

The RP community(and non-RP community) on this server is amazing. The people are literate, friendly, and plentiful. Sure, we have a handful of trolls, both that RP and that don't, but that number seems much smaller than on other servers. Could it improve? Sure, there's always room to improve, but encouraging people not to join this server because they don't play the way you want them to isn't going to help, especially when you group new RPers in the the non-RPers. Personally, I would never want to RP with someone who's so elitist, and similar people have warded me from other RP servers when I was actually looking to RP. Elitist RP on TN was what made me finally stop RPing altogether. It doesn't make the server better-- trust me.

[Second post inc]

[Continued]

WrA might be 70%

Sounds about right. Isn't that amazing? It's really about the best you're going to get. WRA isn't a small server by any means, and ~70% of this huge population RPs. I can imagine that there are already a ton of people you haven't interacted with. If they've already bored you, chasing away non-RPers isn't going to help.

Thunder put it nicely:

As mentioned, the RP community should take it upon themselves as a collective, not as individuals, to make sure RP presence remains strong. People harass you and start ridiculing you all? Report them. Submit tickets. Show you don't take %^-* from anyone. People are like "But GMs won't do anything!" and blah blah blah, but just as it takes time for the RP population to "dilute" as you say, it takes time for Blizzard to actually take more decisive action on said harassers. If they become repeat offenders, yeah, Blizzard will do something, but persistence is they key action here.

If you don't want us, Wyrmrest Accord, to become the same as other RP realms, take action. Don't shun non-RPers, but for said people who only want to ridicule RPers and such, become the exception. I'm sure a lot of people talked about trying to help their server not go down the drain, but only few took action. As mentioned, if you're going to do this, do this as a large collective of RPers. If you have any differences between other RPers, set them aside for the greater good of this server.

Again, I respect your desire to keep "non-RPers" from the server, but you have to look beyond that. There's always going to be non-RPers who'll transfer here, whether they ask on the forums if this is a good server or not, but you should make sure about letting them know about RP policies and how you handle harassers.

This rant isn't pointless. That negative post quoted up top could really harmfully affect what people think about this server, and I personally want non-RPers to feel welcome here. I want the current non-RPers of this server to get the respect they deserve. I have every intention of making my own copy-and-paste reply to all of these "How's this server?" topics, welcoming the non-RPers who wish to join. If any of you agree with me, I encourage you to do the same. Welcome RPers and Non-RPers alike. After all, we all just want to have fun.

I don't RP, and WRA is the place I call home.

Dig it.

Of the servers i've dealt with (PvE, PVP, RPPVP, RP. probably all with this character alone), this one's really been the best. Alliance and Horde.

Sure, some of the people are trolls. Most servers have trolls. Not the race, either.

But these guys are cool. Trade is kinda funny to kill time with. Most of the time, Trade laughs at itself. I laugh at myself WHILE laughing at Trade.

If I choose to RP, it's my choice. I'll dabble in it, I have an RP addon SOMEWHERE in my list of pve addons. I don't RP regularly, I don't have a long, eloquent backstory or any of my characters. I forget small tidbits of Lore sometimes, and i'm not a very "wordy" person. I PARTICIPATE in RP events like The Lucky Imp Lounge in my own way, but I don't RP on a regular basis.

I support the people who want to RP and support the idea of a healthy RP community.I DO NOT support the idea of turning away those who want to simply play the game and not RP, and those who would alienate and shun those who do not wish to RP.

Mind.Blowing. This is really thought out, and I like the way you wrote it. Go go essay post!

Belevow, take it from someone that walked down the road you are currently many times, this won't end well. Some people are all or nothing and unless you don't play the game exactly like they do, you aren't worth the bandwidth. It doesn't matter how nice you are or how respectful you act, you're a second class citizen to a lot of people.

@Quintus:
I don't care if people choose to hate me. I mean, yeah, it's a bummer, but I'll get over it. I respect their opinions, even if I don't agree with them, but if they choose to hate me I have every intention to just not let it bother me. I'm more concerned with the people transferring over here. I love making friends. I love hanging out with fun-loving people, and some of the best people I've found are non-RPers from other servers(not saying that the RPers from here aren't any good. There are tons of awesome people on this server-- it's why I'm here.) I don't want to miss out on potential friends because of someone else, is all.

I appreciate your concern, but if people don't like me for me, there's no reason I should worry about it. Don't misunderstand. I'm not one of those people who say, "Lol, what do I care? I'll troll anyway, lololol." I try to be nice, silly, and respectful, even if I do lose my patience at times.

Belevow,

I come from another RP server. Do you know why it died? It had absolutely nothing to do with non-RPers. The RP community killed itself, thanks to roleplayers who took drama to an out of character level, including GMs bragging that their thugs could gang up on roleplayers and guilds they didn't approve of and drive them off the server.

One of the best compliments I received on my old server came from a raider. He enjoyed the fact that he could walk into places like Trade and find people like me openly roleplaying in a way that made World of Warcraft come alive. While roleplay wasn't his thing, he had a lot of respect for us. It was far more enjoyable to him than being stuck on a server where players just stood around and insulted each other 24/7.

When non-RPers like yourself tell me that you're here because the community is so awesome, that roleplayers are far more mature and intelligent ... I view it as a compliment. THANK YOU. Why in the hell would I tell someone who is appreciative and respectful of the community to go away?

Thank you for making such an eloquent post.

I...killed...MUFASA!

@Kerielle:
Where are all of your RPers going? Are they leaving? Why? Are the quitting WoW? Why?

^That may help to solve your problems more than shunning non-RPers.

You know what I see? I see RPers from various servers migrating TO WRA, not away. Especially Ally side. I ran into a few people that "just transferred." I asked what aspects of the game they enjoyed, and all of the ones I talked to included RP in that list.

I don't see the problem.

@Bessel:
Your post made my <3 for this server increase. I was expecting to get a lot of crap for this. It's really nice to know people support this. :)

@Sagramore:
OH SNAP, SON.

They don't have to be leaving Belevow for the percentage to drop.

I would LOVE for you to prove me wrong, but TB, Scryers, FM etc servers have all gone down this route. And once again, RPers are left without an RP home.

Hey, all the ERP-ers found homes in Moon Guard. Why not regular RP have a home here?

Just sayin'.

What does percentage matter? You still have the same number of RPers, give or take. Are there really not enough RPers on this huge server to quench your thirst?

I would really like to see proof, rather than speculation. "The server RP died," isn't quite proof.

11/27/2011 03:42 PMPosted by Bessel

including GMs bragging that their thugs could gang up on roleplayers and guilds they didn't approve of and drive them off the server.

Twisting Nether. This right here. If an RP guild didn't like someone, they would deem them a "baddie" and chase them off of the server. This drove RPers away, not Non-RPers. You think I'm kidding? Here's a lovely example:
"Baddie" has an IC marriage in Gilnaes.
"Guildie" says in vent, "Trollololol. Baddie is having a wedding I'm going to go crash it!"
Belevow: "Why?"
"Guildie": "She's a baddie!"
Belevow: <discusses this with GM>
GM: "Do you know who Baddie is!? I mean, she's such a baddie!"
It wasn't just some small guild. It was pretty big in the RP community. (This guild was pretty much SWC's anti-baddie/new RPer Police Force.)
Roleplayers left the server.

Want to know what else? RP drama. The RPers themselves created so much drama, mixing IC and OOC and spreading rumors about people, that a lot of the community left.
Want an example?:
Skank: "[character's lover's player] is such an ERPer! He gave my character a sleep apnea!" She spread nasty rumors and defamed a sweet guy.
Sweet kid(victim): ICly breaks up with her and removes her to get away from drama
Skank: is caught ERPing two days later.
Roleplayers RAN FAR AWAY.

Guess where a lot of the good RPers went. That's right, WRA. Non-RPers had nothing to do with it. It was bad people. I think THAT'S a percentage you should look at. The percentage of drama, trolling, and grieving, in which WRA is kicking !@#.

@Kerielle:
Telling people not to come here isn't going to make the server have a 100% roleplaying population. The non-RPers aren't the only ones reading your post, and whether you mean for it to sound elitist or not, people are going to see it that way, including possible RPing transfers. It's not a good first impression to leave.

I want to point out the doomsayer's analogy, and point out how little sense it makes.

It's fairly self-evident, so that's really all the more I NEED to do. However, I don't like translating this boring german interpretating/retelling of the tale of Tristan & Isolde, so I'll point out just a few of the problems with the argument in side-splittingly mundane words.

When I joined Argent Dawn on my age-old paladin, I did so as a guy sitting in Goldshire and complaining that his pants had been stolen. I befriended the legendary Watson, and together with him and some hoe, basically sat around in an inn and mocked all of the ultra-powerful god-incarnates walking around. Let me tell you; I don't recall a time in my DAY (unless you want to hit me before 2.0, as I admittedly was mostly on Bloodhoof / Arthas back then) when these purported "guidelines" led to a mass deportation of the NRPs from RPS (non-roleplayers; roleplaying servers). The reality of the situation is simply that vanilla (and TBC to a lesser extent) had dramatically smaller playerbases. As such, there wasn't much need (or incentive) for overlap. But now there is, especially with the meta-community of many normal servers quickening itself to a horrible, terrible demise. You find yourself refugees--though the unfortunate thing is that these refugees (intelligent folk in search of a server to call home) have existed throughout all existence, and done what they do now in the past.

Why, on ol' Argent Dawn, I raided with <Springtime For Staghelm> during most of the early TBC days! Oh, it was such a good time. Such a good time! And none of them--maybe one, a druid--were roleplayers. But they were just the nicest damn folks, the most competent people, and interested and active in the roleplaying community--without roleplaying.

Now the counter-argument that I suppose should be anticipated would be that ARGENT DAWN IS DEAD. And the counter there would be that SISTERS OF ELUNE OPENED, WHICH IS NOW DEAD. TBC and Wrath both saw the opening of new RP servers, which drained and split communities on the old ones. That's why you have dead servers lying around; the fragmentation that new openings cause is exponential. The dead servers were not caused by non-roleplayers; roleplayers themselves abandoned their lands for greener pastures, and have settled increasingly on Moon Guard and Wyrmrest.

But why did non-roleplayers come to fill in the gaps on those servers? For the same reason that they did on any, really. Friends were there; maybe they saw an attractive raiding scene. Maybe they just happened to roll on the server and liked it? Dictating how others play their game is beyond us, and they had simply moved in long after the servers had crested.

To suggest that Wyrmrest would suffer the same fate is as logical as the conclusion that everyone that wants to cut down a tree wants to cut down ALL the trees. The reality of the situation is that roleplaying communities are to blame for dying servers, but they are a necessary sacrifice: without them, meta-servers like the two that exist now would be impossible. Without lopping down that one tree, the entire neighborhood might go without electricity. That's my attempt at salvaging that metaphor, anyway.

As more non-roleplayers enter the community, there exist certain individuals that see a minority forming and decide to try to oppress it. It's an extreme minority of roleplaying folk that do this, though often a vocal (and stubborn) sect. And though none will admit it, my theory is that they simply are redirecting negative attention. By and large, roleplay is not the most popular pasttime. Often oppressed by the masses at large, some will take whatever opportunity they can to exercise that sort of power over someone else, for once. A minority within a majority using its status as a member to oppress a non-member minority--that's how I'd phrase it if I didn't care about clarity, and I don't!

...where was I going, again? Oh, right. It's childish paranoid and swatting at ghosts, really; the majority of the server, roleplay or not, groans each and every time that it gets another self-titled defender of all that is holy.

GASP I PVP MORE THEN I RP. Smite me for it.

Being angry isn't going to make a place any the less home. You want RP? Ask for it. I've had some PvPers with MRP (they just used it to rename) ask me how to RP. Those people have tried to RP a couple times, this and that, just some regular bar RP to get into it...OH GOD, THEY ROLEPLAY NOW. Being angry and not being supportive IG or on the forums isn't going to make anyone any more friends, nor is it going to make any non-RPers RP, maybe, just maybe, if we were more welcoming they'd try it out, just to see what the hype is a about! Maybe they'll enjoy it, maybe they won't.

I totally support this post. Ive heard alot of people say they choose a RP server based on the welcoming community, interlligent conversation, etc.
I think that if we want to keep RP alive its up to the roleplayers to stay active, makes no difference how many non roleplayers we have. I was on Sisters of Elune for 3 years. That server USED to be all about the RP, very active, more so that WRA now. Then the roleplayers stopped roleplaying, many transfered off to other servers based on drama not griefers or non roleplayers.
Nobody should see a non RP'er as a bad thing, or shun them because in the end we are supposed to be the most welcoming communities on WoW yet here we are saying RP or get lost.