R.I.G.'s directions and goals: How much commitment do we expect?

The only thing one must follow are the RP rules: no out-of-character talk in /say or /yell < --- Define this better? Specificaly the no out of character portion.

*the only character I know how to be? Is Me (wise-cracking smart-ass, in fact imagine my Inquisitor as a Han Solo's Smuggler & you're pretty much on target)

What do I think The RiG's commitment and goals should be?

Background & Premise
I think The RiG has to be as committed to its players as its players are to The RiG. A guild that preaches "doing things for the sake of the guild" because "what's good for the guild will (in some esoteric and unspecified manner) be good for the membership" doesn't work out for most of the membership. So my questions must necessarily revolve around what The RiG does for its community.

Out of this discussion and planning I've seen one significant divide in the community, PvE vs. PvP. There is a smaller divide between RP vs. nonRP, but that one seems at this stage to be negotiable.

Hypothesis
There are 2 primary questions. What does The RiG offer its people now? What does The RiG offer its people after game launch?

What does The RiG offer its people now? Primarily a place to pre-plan and pre-discuss SW:TOR gaming in a community segregated from forum trolls and other gamers who lack even mediocre comprehension of respect.

What does The RiG offer its people after game launch? There are 2 things here. First, The RiG continues to offer a place for game discussion segregated from forum trolls and other gamers who lack even mediocre comprehension of respect. Secondly it hopes to offer a server with a higher than average degree of respect. The risk to creating a community of only one type is that we will exclude so many from that one group that we wouldn't have enough to build a server-scale community. This should lead to reasonably obvious conclusions regarding The RiG's goals and commitments.

Conclusion
I believe that The RiG should definitely strive to provide one or more servers an environment that supports respectful game-play in SW:TOR. (Hey, that's already in our charter!) I believe that The RiG should also strive to support and generate universal respect between players. (Hey, that's already in our charter too!) The other layer of this is that we want enough people to have an impact on the scale of an entire server population.

These two goals are not mutually exclusive, but neither are they identical. The second one does require a large number of people, however. I therefore believe that we should continue to support both. For those that we can include on an official server, The RiG should be committed to providing acceptable options as far as possible. (This will likely mean including many types of guilds to accommodate the different player types.) For those outside the primary RiG server(s) (whatever their reasons may be) we should be ready and willing to support their desires to talk about SW:TOR and SW:TOR related activities in a respectful manner.

I further believe that we need to accomodate as many player types as possible, up to and including creating at least two server "bases", a PvE (of some flavor) and a PvP (of some flavor).

Calvillanous wrote:

The only thing one must follow are the RP rules: no out-of-character talk in /say or /yell < --- Define this better? Specificaly the no out of character portion.

Considering you can role-play any kind of character, OOC (out-of-character) usually mean comments that don't have anything to do with the game content or your character's life: real life stuff, questions about the game mechanics (i.e. how do I attack?). Stuff like that.

It's not that you can't talk about your real life or ask questions, they just need to be labeled as OOC.

azarhal wrote:

Calvillanous wrote:

The only thing one must follow are the RP rules: no out-of-character talk in /say or /yell < --- Define this better? Specificaly the no out of character portion.

Considering you can role-play any kind of character, OOC (out-of-character) usually mean comments that don't have anything to do with the game content or your character's life: real life stuff, questions about the game mechanics (i.e. how do I attack?). Stuff like that.

It's not that you can't talk about your real life or ask questions, they just need to be labeled as OOC.

Ty Vm for the clarification! ... Incoming noob/ dumb blond comment ...

Wow now I know what OOC means, I just thought it was some kind of main chat channel, duh

Actually the need for ooc chat to be kept out of chat channels is not enforced in all games either, some simply label themselves RP servers simply to attract those crowds.

That's the problem with this though, we just don't know haha

Think perhaps a new thread on the boards is required pushing for server info maybe?? I can't atm due to not being able to log on to the main boards on my iPhone /sigh

A new Topic Thread on the TOR boards?

Yes. I don't know why they're keeping it so sealed up. Maybe they're not really decided yet...? Either way I guess we could maybe pull something out of them if we made a thread asking them about more details or at least the reason why they can't tell us more.

Aldemarran wrote:

Coldhart wrote:

...Example: I always play on a PvE server and I do not RP. I'll be willing to join a PvP server if that is where the main group wants to go. However, I do not wish to join an RP server. See I didn't just give in to any server but rather I compromised and will switch to a PvP server for the greater good. (Actually they said there will be PvP and PvE servers. They haven't said anything about RP servers yet that I know of)...

I would like to hear more of your opinion on why NOT an RP server? I seem to understand that you think you have to RP on an RP server, but I know from experience that that will likely not be true. Please enlighten me.

My big reason why I said no RP for me in the other thread is actually pretty simple. First off, I don't RP except just goofing off which is purely meant as a joke with my friends. This doesn't mean that I make jokes at RP'ers expenses...I don't. But one time I interupted an RP session with a group in SWG and they totally went off on me. I had no idea what they were even doing at the time. I was just watching and thought they were having fun messing around so I started talking with them. Yeah, big no no I guess. Just as some think being elitist is a bad thing, some may think RP'ers can be pretty bad too if you interupt them.

So from there on out I thought to myself if that's what's going to happen every time I stumble across people RP'ing, then to resolve the problem, no RP servers.

I have nothing against RP'ing at all. In fact some of our friends from SWG still play due to their RP'ing that still allows them to have fun with SWG. But I feel why bother putting myself on an RP server especially when I don't RP and probably just piss people off in the process.

And I don't feel that RP'ers HAVE to be on an RP server. IMO people can RP on any server. It's just that if they actually have dedicated RP servers then that's mostly what you're going to find there. Actually my choice of not playing on an RP server is for the concerns of the RP'ers not my own personal feelings. I didn't mean to make the RP group I talked about mad or interupt them. And if some group is out RP'ing and having fun I wouldn't want to interupt them again (If that makes any sense lol).

I could see it now...30 or 40 Crazies come blasting through town and right through the middle of their RP session and causing them to loose focus and get all angry and stuffs. See, didn't mean for that to happen but it did.

_________________

Grome wrote:

Yes. I don't know why they're keeping it so sealed up. Maybe they're not really decided yet...? Either way I guess we could maybe pull something out of them if we made a thread asking them about more details or at least the reason why they can't tell us more.

Well one thing, if they don't start releasing more info soon, it's a sure sign that the game may in fact be pushed back. I hope not but eh, have to go with what they do I guess.

Ald,

Cold has a valid point. We Crazies can be a bit "intense". Not that we're whiny/griefing/hating/dicks....quite the contrary. We tend to live the "game life" from the tip of the spear. That being, making the most of each and every moment. Mostly for the enjoyment of the mass group. Sometimes, we may overlap another group in progress...(be it RP/PvP/local passersby/etc)...

Sry for that, but, when "fun" is paramount.....its just that...FUN .

And for the record, we're not baggin on any playstyle...just letting you know...um ..we're VERY outgoing IG...thats pretty much it...

I think worrying about direction is a bit early, it implys that RIG needs guidance which i dont beleive is true. i think it needs to be allowed to take its coarse unless it starts straying from the ideals it was formed with
edit :typo fixed =p

I think colds concerns about RP are quite interesting I myself RP, not to an intense level, I merely RP when it takes my interest, and that can differ greatly depending on what else is going on in game

I have met the more intense RP groups as well, and got told to leave an RP server for not being in char on one of my alts once when in PVP lol, I just told the group to politely sod off, and find out who they were talking too before bein so over the top.......they then found out who my main was and they realised I was a pretty decent rp'er I had just stepped out of character for a break.

It only happened the once, and I even got an apology from them for being a little over the top! You will get those groups on all servers, any designated server will amongst it's numbers attract those elitists to them.

It is why in some regards an unspecified server can often be the best option. You can do everything, but they tend to be more medium ground for everything as well, no one can grief you for one playstyle or other that server does not belong to one group over another either and as such the often seem to have more....moderate minded people on them too.

I don't know if there is a good choice for a server for us all? We really need some server info really, but I am sure as we go on, and as more info is released we will be able to make that choice with better informed minds

But at the end of the day, I will do what everyone else wants. It's you guys who will make this game great

My first post on this thread.

After reading it, I agree with most of the posts. We don't need a server type to have fun, but there's some things that can spoil the fun to some people. :\
For me a US server would spoil my fun because of the timezones, I like to be playing when the server population is on it's highest, on a US server I wouldn't be able to do that. :\ And like I said on schwen's thread, a RP server wouldn't be fun to me either because of my experiences with those servers.

Now I love PvP servers, I love it's never ending rush, I love to kill players with awful names... but I think I'm willing to drop that to go with the RiG comunity to a PvE server.

Like Ty says, a Normal (PvE) server would be the best because you can do everything without beeing forced to do anything.

Coldhart wrote:

Well one thing, if they don't start releasing more info soon, it's a sure sign that the game may in fact be pushed back. I hope not but eh, have to go with what they do I guess.

MMO makers don't bother announcing their release date well in advance anymore. I know MMOs going into Open Beta next week that don't have a fixed release date yet.

Also, we know almost everything about the game, what you don't know is the "wowwiki" type of information and BioWare isn't going to release that info. Leakers will try and get punished for it.

As far as the release info, Xavier had a very interesting take on it on his topic/thread. It mentioned EA-BW and their "Quarterly Financial Statement". I will be following his revelations VERY closely (/hi5 Xavier)...

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.

Coldhart wrote:

...I could see it now...30 or 40 Crazies come blasting through town and right through the middle of their RP session and causing them to loose focus and get all angry and stuffs. See, didn't mean for that to happen but it did....

@Coldhart & Schwen,
I couldn't pretend to really understand what its like to be in your guild, but I have to trust that you know yourselves well enough From what I do understand it sounds like you do want a server that is "undesignated". Thanks for trying to explain it to me!

@Lanius
Well to be honest I would freely admit that there are plenty of RPers who are also >Selven Profanity Filtered<. I've experienced plenty of them myself. So I do understand that you could have had some bad experiences and that that could influence your choice of server. Thanks for sharing.

Overall,
I would say that based on the currently available evidence we would want a PvE server as primary, with a secondary PvP server for those who particular desire that environment. A PvE server seems to have the most allowances for people to do their own thing without necessarily taking offense to whatever some other player is doing. I'm sure plenty would get their PvP fix on the secondary server in addition to playing on the main server.

As an aside I think that the only benefit of taking an RP server for The RiG primary server would be that people often look to RP servers when they want a more "mature" server population. This would possibly make it easier for the right kind of people to stumble into The RiG by accident. Conversely, I have yet to be on an RP server in WoW where people who RPed in public weren't jumped on and denigrated immediately. Neither staying in-character in /say and /yell nor character naming conventions are really enforcible.

Aldemarran wrote:

I would say that based on the currently available evidence we would want a PvE server as primary, with a secondary PvP server for those who particular desire that environment. A PvE server seems to have the most allowances for people to do their own thing without necessarily taking offense to whatever some other player is doing. I'm sure plenty would get their PvP fix on the secondary server in addition to playing on the main server.

As an aside I think that the only benefit of taking an RP server for The RiG primary server would be that people often look to RP servers when they want a more "mature" server population. This would possibly make it easier for the right kind of people to stumble into The RiG by accident. Conversely, I have yet to be on an RP server in WoW where people who RPed in public weren't jumped on and denigrated immediately. Neither staying in-character in /say and /yell nor character naming conventions are really enforcible.

I've never had anyone give me problems RPing on an RP server or a nonRP server.

Really I don't think being on multiple servers as a horrible thing. For one thing I will probably have more alts than will be allowed on one server since I want to try all the advanced classes and see how the stories vary based on gender and morality alignment.

Aldemarran wrote:

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.

Coldhart wrote:

...I could see it now...30 or 40 Crazies come blasting through town and right through the middle of their RP session and causing them to loose focus and get all angry and stuffs. See, didn't mean for that to happen but it did....

@Coldhart & Schwen,
I couldn't pretend to really understand what its like to be in your guild, but I have to trust that you know yourselves well enough From what I do understand it sounds like you do want a server that is "undesignated". Thanks for trying to explain it to me!

@Lanius
Well to be honest I would freely admit that there are plenty of RPers who are also >Selven Profanity Filtered<. I've experienced plenty of them myself. So I do understand that you could have had some bad experiences and that that could influence your choice of server. Thanks for sharing.

Overall,
I would say that based on the currently available evidence we would want a PvE server as primary, with a secondary PvP server for those who particular desire that environment. A PvE server seems to have the most allowances for people to do their own thing without necessarily taking offense to whatever some other player is doing. I'm sure plenty would get their PvP fix on the secondary server in addition to playing on the main server.

As an aside I think that the only benefit of taking an RP server for The RiG primary server would be that people often look to RP servers when they want a more "mature" server population. This would possibly make it easier for the right kind of people to stumble into The RiG by accident. Conversely, I have yet to be on an RP server in WoW where people who RPed in public weren't jumped on and denigrated immediately. Neither staying in-character in /say and /yell nor character naming conventions are really enforcible.

Hehe, we are a bit different than most(if not all) guilds you will come across. Lots of "fun oriented" gameplay. We poke fun at each other, but not in a "hacking/personal" way. The experience is paramount to us. Also, we do actually have a few RPers in our guild (Safia/Danwe for example). Our philosophy is, "Play the game to have fun...in any way you can to accomplish that goal (of having fun)".

You are also right on the trends...PvE is looking like the "safest bet" server so far, but, not everyones added themselves to the list yet...we have ample time still.

I think it'll all work out fine, and we'll have "unicorns & rainbows" flying about by the time TOR launches.

Follow the rainbow....Oh noes, everyone wants me lucky charms!

Personally, I'm hoping we get international servers. There's nothing quite like being able to get a group of people together at any time of day! Granted, it was also pretty annoying where camping world spawns was concerned. XD

Eh. I have other guild concerns to think about -- and I can keep Ty updated on some of them as we get closer to release. Even if we can't make too many decisions at the moment, this is still a worthwhile discussion.

My first MMO was primarily PvE only. But that doesn't mean we didn't have griefing. People were champs at all forms of PvE griefing that were possible in the game. My thing with the RiG is I'd like to feel like I can try out other playstyles with people who will more than likely TEACH me and make it fun rather than flying off the handle while I'm still learning.

I'm not entirely sure that my desire is compatible with my real hunger for endgame raiding, though. ._.;

A little off-topic, but my favorite type of raiding group is supportive toward both new and established players. There are expectations in progression guilds (i.e. class knowledge, mechanics knowledge) that can make it difficult for first-time players to find a berth. There's always a sort of growth phase where new members are concerned: i.e. trying to integrate themselves into the guild, find a niche, and learn how to perform well with their teammates.

(Meh this topic needs its own thread on the RiG....)

Quote :

For some people the wish to play on a specific server is just greater than the wish to play with as many cool people as possible, even if they are very committed to the matter.

If I was here as an unguilded member I'd deffinately be willing to sacrifice server location but as my views are bound by the fact that I am leading a very democratic guild so unfortunately I cannot really sign that.

In my opinion it'd be awsome to play with as many RIGs as possible but I'll have to go with being able to play with the RIGs who decide to go with an EU based RP or PvP-RP server. On such a server we'll commit to the community as a whole guild.

I suppose we haven't really been able to decide on anything, given there has been no news regarding servers at all, right?

lol eh, play Rift. Tor will be all sorted out sooner or later.

Saw the commercial Cold, lok's schweet!

Hey, once we start figuring out the TOR side of the details, we can fine tune the RiG details to be concurrent. No rush still .