It is just a game, and as I stated in my other thread, to some of us its more. to some of us its literally the only remedy out of our cruel life (and by cruel I mean emotionally or physically depressing) and to simply take that away, or tell someone they shouldn't have that is, like what I said. Telling a 6 year old that they're a sack of shit and they can't be anyone.
Hiding from the real world is neither a permanent or effective solution to shitty real life circumstances
I spent 6-7 years, between 4-12 hours per day based on availability, roleplaying a single character each day and developing them over their lifetime. They were young, they grew old, they had a life. Was it more than just a game to me back then? I'dunno, probably. Looking back, I don't regret any of the time I spent. Just like in reality, I'd made friends I've kept even up to today. I'm getting this vibe that the issues regarding "It's just a game" primarily stems from that it's Starbound. I never ran into such an issue in, say, Neverwinter Nights, because the platform/game was much more immersive and taken seriously by the community. That's the thing about welcoming both serious and lite RPers alike - there's going to be a conflict of interest, ideals, and caring. Truth is, Starbound just isn't a hardcore roleplaying platform. There are other games that cater to this much more effectively. While I can respect both opinions, I don't see this community issue ever resolving itself. So let's just learn to live with one another, or learn to take an insult or two and not get upset about it.
Correct, this is an outlet for a lot of people, Gramps. Hell, I play when i'm stressed, upset, and depressed. I play it so that I can live the life of another for a short time, be someone I can't be outside of the game. However, we have to realize that there /is/ a limit to how much we can depend on the role playing community before we can no longer rely on it to be there for us. I remember when I was a lot younger I used to go on the roosterteeth forums. It was a brutal, unforgiving experience of people making jokes, poking fun, antagonizing me, and just generally trying to upset me. Now this was back when their series, Red Vs. Blue was probably the end all and be all for me. It was what I woke up on Mondays, looking forward to see. When people where mean to me I was so quick to blame the community as a whole, or hell, the person making fun of me at the time. I left eventually as my interest in Halo and Halo based shows dropped off and didn't have to deal with it anymore. I eventually came back after a few years to see how the community had been and looked at my posts. I was mortified yet proud. I had grown up so much in those years, and my life had improved from being a kind of shitty thing into something more acceptable. I know the previous paragraph seems a bit random, but the moral is, I can relate. I've /been/ in this situation of "It's just a game". I know what it's like to come on to some forum you don't even like, hoping that today will be better. /Today/ will be the day I don't get made fun of and I finally get the respect I deserve. I know it isn't easy, but look at me now, I make mistakes just like the rest of the people on the forum and I am forgiven for them by virtue of the fact that I learn from them. So, I promise, eventually it /does/ get better. For all of us. It's just a game in the end.
It is just a game. But within that is a temporary world of your own making-- with others' help of course, because if it was all puppetry it'd be a simple book you're writing-- and what happens there is real. Maybe not to you, maybe not to the others there, but to your character it's all real. I treat my characters with respect; I make sure I understand who they are, what they want, and where they came from before I start playing them. Even if I'm cruel and never give them what they want, or if I'm nice and make sure they get it after a while, I still respect them as a person-- fictional as they may be. I'm basically explaining in a really dumb way that to me, despite it being 'just a game', the interactions and lives I create are worth so much more than that to me. It's an outlet, I admit, and to me the characters I make are real people-- and those that are played well by others become real too. After Starbound ends, after they die, whatever happens, I'll be sad-- but I'll carry the memory with me and learn from what happened in whatever way is applicable to my own life.
Finding the games that cater to da serious over the lite is hard Sadly, Starbound has been the closest I've found to NWNesque RP. On another note, it is just a game. You can be Mr. SrsRP, and still have a healthy distance between your emotions and your GameRP whatever. At the end of the day it's just a wierd hobby we all share.
Gamespy was taken down aaaaages ago. Just means you have to use third party sites to keep track of the server lists. But no. Ravenloft isn't a social server. It's an RP server that takes place in the Ravenloft campaign setting. My own personal experience with the server was very poor, however. Favouritist DMs, elitist cliques out the ass, and it was near impossible for low levels to actually gain levels due to how frequently the high levels would clear out the low level dungeons.
Ahh.. I am beginning to think that when I saw the term 'Social', it was meant to mean 'ERP HERE', because... Well, that happened a lot.... So, now that Gamespy is down, does that mean... CD KEY checks are no longer in order? I lost mine, but still have the Diamond DVD.
Most servers use their own CD key authenticator that logs CD keys to certain accounts. That way people can't simply log in on someone else's account and mess up their character. As for using official keys, though, that doesn't matter anymore. Can use a CD key generator and it should still be fine.
Yeah, CDKeys don't matter anymore, and Social DOES stand for "ERP HERE", so, yeah, all social servers are typically ERP servers. I tend to stick to Roleplay servers.
I've never seen the problem with ERP as long as it's kept on the ship on planet chat. Of course, you wouldn't want to beam anyone in while doing the nasty. But yes, RP is more fun than ERP.
Mods get the logs too. General rule is keep it out of the server. That's as far as anyone's authority really goes. They're not going to hunt you down for ERPing on Steamchat or something. (But the NSA is always watching.) That said, if an entire community is ERP heavy, that means it's likely just a bunch of gratuitous sex all the time. Not a very good environment for serious RP at all.
I never said it had to be ERP heavy, but I see your point. However, I see a lot of crazy shit happening in OOC that borders on weird.
I always find it is an extremely bad idea to play a multiplayer game with strangers while under mental and emotional duress. It often leads to massive arguments, lots of fallout, and everyone feeling worse than when they first came. I have absolutely no problem with being told I'm playing a game. Because that's what I'm doing. I find people who use "It's just a game!" as an excuse to downplay the time and effort spent in it to be tasteless. Ultimately it's all a hobby and people will follow what they want to do.
ERP itself does nothing to promote stories or characters. Unless the details of how [redacted] [redacted] the [redacted] in the [redacted] posture is a defining character moment. In which case that character is sad and I do not wish to speak with it further.
