What’s your story? Role Play In Guild Wars 2.
One of the tag lines in Guild Wars 2 is ‘What’s your story?’ and normally this refers to the personal storyline so lovingly crafted by ArenaNet into the Game. However, there is an even more personal story available for those with the imagination, patience and sense of community to develop it. What am I talking about? Is it some new dynamic event system? Is it a new form of player made content like Skyrim, Portal 2 or Gary’s mod? No. It’s something called Role Play and it’s a third of GW2’s genre , MMORPG. So it has to be important right?
Why should we care?
Now I am a complete role play noob, I don’t know my IC from my OOC or when I should /emote or when I should '(('. But what I do know is that this part of the GW2 community hasn’t had a lot of focus in articles so I’ve decide to take a brief, outsiders look at it.
One of the first questions I asked the growing GW2 RP community is why should ArenaNet and us Non-RP players bother with RP at all. I mean they are just a minority who lurk in taverns playing mighty wizards or even pursuing more.. Adult forms of entertainment right?
To the pure PvP’er or hard core raider this may seem a stereotype that is unbreakable, no matter what is said and that’s fine. If you see people in role-play, just run on by, live and let live.
However, to the player who wants more than just levels and loot from their game, who wants to delve deeper into the world of Tyria, who feels that their personal story isn’t personal enough or wants something fun to do in game in between levelling and WvW then there is much to commend giving role play a try.
To answer my first question of ‘Why care?’ we should look at what a healthy RP community brings to the table. From my digging around in various forums both from GW2 and other games I’ve found that very often the RP community tends to be the most loyal and community focussed which is something even the most hard core PvP or PvE’er notices if it’s not there.
Even if you don’t wish to join in they add a depth of experience, atmosphere and color to the environment and game that no matter how hard Arenanet try they couldn’t hope to match.
Giving it a go?
So, why even try to RP? I mean what does it do to enhance your gameplay or experience in GW2? Does it give you phat loot, or ‘Lulz’? Well, I asked people to give me three reasons why a player should give RP in GW2 a try. Their answers are summarised below
Making it easy?
How does Guild Wars 2 help Role play?
Well for a start there is the wonderful game world, where every nook and cranny has a story to tell, Where the background story of every area is just begging to be unearthed and discovered, it has a comprehensive town clothes and dye system to give your character a unique look and even the multi-guild system helps people who wish to flip from say hard core PvP to a more relaxed RP guild in just a few clicks. Finally it offers the chance to join in a like-minded group of people, who will enhance your gaming experience just as much, if not more so that that’ leet’ PvP or dungeon team you play with.
But what if you are not the slightest bit interested in role play? Pretty much every Role player will say ‘that’s fine’. All they would ask is to be shown the same respect every other player would ask for. Don’t grief, don’t spam stupid comments and don’t harass them. Two servers have been chosen by the community (Petrified Forest and Tarnished Coast) as role play focussed servers so if you find yourself on there, then please bear that in mind and respect it.
However if the infinite world of role play appeals to you or at least makes you a little curious there are several ways you can get involved. Before launch you can read up on the world Tyria and in Guru’s own lore and role play forums. You can get to know your fellow players and start to build this fledgling community or perhaps as you play in the next BWE you can be thinking of who person is you are controlling on screen is, what are they like? What are their good and bad points, and even start to answer the vital question…
"This is Guild Wars 2, What’s my story?"
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/631-whats-your-story-role-play-in-guild-wars-2/
Why you should give it a try!
One of the tag lines in Guild Wars 2 is ‘What’s your story?’ and normally this refers to the personal storyline so lovingly crafted by ArenaNet into the Game. However, there is an even more personal story available for those with the imagination, patience and sense of community to develop it. What am I talking about? Is it some new dynamic event system? Is it a new form of player made content like Skyrim, Portal 2 or Gary’s mod? No. It’s something called Role Play and it’s a third of GW2’s genre , MMORPG. So it has to be important right?
Why should we care?
Now I am a complete role play noob, I don’t know my IC from my OOC or when I should /emote or when I should '(('. But what I do know is that this part of the GW2 community hasn’t had a lot of focus in articles so I’ve decide to take a brief, outsiders look at it.
One of the first questions I asked the growing GW2 RP community is why should ArenaNet and us Non-RP players bother with RP at all. I mean they are just a minority who lurk in taverns playing mighty wizards or even pursuing more.. Adult forms of entertainment right?
To the pure PvP’er or hard core raider this may seem a stereotype that is unbreakable, no matter what is said and that’s fine. If you see people in role-play, just run on by, live and let live.
However, to the player who wants more than just levels and loot from their game, who wants to delve deeper into the world of Tyria, who feels that their personal story isn’t personal enough or wants something fun to do in game in between levelling and WvW then there is much to commend giving role play a try.
To answer my first question of ‘Why care?’ we should look at what a healthy RP community brings to the table. From my digging around in various forums both from GW2 and other games I’ve found that very often the RP community tends to be the most loyal and community focussed which is something even the most hard core PvP or PvE’er notices if it’s not there.
Even if you don’t wish to join in they add a depth of experience, atmosphere and color to the environment and game that no matter how hard Arenanet try they couldn’t hope to match.
Giving it a go?
So, why even try to RP? I mean what does it do to enhance your gameplay or experience in GW2? Does it give you phat loot, or ‘Lulz’? Well, I asked people to give me three reasons why a player should give RP in GW2 a try. Their answers are summarised below
- Infinite content. You are not limited to the story ArenaNet wants to tell, but get to actually play out yours and others stories in a truly dynamic and varied way. That Grawl encampment becomes more than just a heart to fill in, a tick in the ‘done it box’. It becomes where a friend of yours died or you lost something important. In short it gives you a reason, special to you to explore the world.
- You start to care about the lore and the setting which makes everything more enjoyable. You’ll start to notice the little details ArenaNet have put in the game which will bring the game world even more to life. ArenaNet spent years creating a living game world, why not do something to appreciate it to its fullest?
- It makes you feel more attached to your character you see on screen. It becomes more than a tool for just getting things done which gives you an incentive to create just the right look and feel for them. In short it makes your character matter.
Making it easy?
How does Guild Wars 2 help Role play?
Well for a start there is the wonderful game world, where every nook and cranny has a story to tell, Where the background story of every area is just begging to be unearthed and discovered, it has a comprehensive town clothes and dye system to give your character a unique look and even the multi-guild system helps people who wish to flip from say hard core PvP to a more relaxed RP guild in just a few clicks. Finally it offers the chance to join in a like-minded group of people, who will enhance your gaming experience just as much, if not more so that that’ leet’ PvP or dungeon team you play with.
But what if you are not the slightest bit interested in role play? Pretty much every Role player will say ‘that’s fine’. All they would ask is to be shown the same respect every other player would ask for. Don’t grief, don’t spam stupid comments and don’t harass them. Two servers have been chosen by the community (Petrified Forest and Tarnished Coast) as role play focussed servers so if you find yourself on there, then please bear that in mind and respect it.
However if the infinite world of role play appeals to you or at least makes you a little curious there are several ways you can get involved. Before launch you can read up on the world Tyria and in Guru’s own lore and role play forums. You can get to know your fellow players and start to build this fledgling community or perhaps as you play in the next BWE you can be thinking of who person is you are controlling on screen is, what are they like? What are their good and bad points, and even start to answer the vital question…
"This is Guild Wars 2, What’s my story?"
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/631-whats-your-story-role-play-in-guild-wars-2/
Why you should give it a try!
