Role-playing: The Sad Truth
Hello readers.
Today, I bring forth to you, a special guest, and friend, to speak on the state of role-playing on BZPower today. Without further ado, Nihi:
The sad state of RPing Today.
Before I go off on my ego-trip/rant/ego-trip, lemme ask you: what is RPing? And no, don’t throw your dictionary stuff at me; I know it’s like a joint written book or something to that extent. I’m asking you what you feel RPing is.
Something like a hobby?
Something of a chore?
Something to do when bored?
If you answered anything besides the first choice, then YOU ARE WRONG. You are wrong to the extent with which I have to slap a FAILsticker on your face.
WRONGWRONGWRONG
Anyways. Now that I’m done rubbing your face in the dirt…
RPing is, at its heart, a hobby, likely invented by a group of pale nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons in their moms’ basements. I wouldn’t know; I’m not one of them. However, as time advanced, as society progressed, more people turned to writing as a hobby, and found that the best way to learn was to bounce their wordplay, ideas, and whatnots off each other.
Thus, the age of nerds and Dungeons and Dragons ended.
And people started RPing as a way to learn from one another.
Unfortunately, Rping, just like today’s TV, theater, maybe music, or definitely literature, is declining.
Really, we should’ve seen this when sheer turd like Eragon or Twilight became stellar ZOMGAWESOME hits or when Beverly Hills Chihuahua topped box offices.
Now, there’s not as much care for RPing. Sure, if you look at the forums, then you notice that lots of people are posting like [insert decent simile here], then wonder what I’m on.
Well, allow me to clarify: I’m on truth here.
Like stated previously, Rping is a way for people to communicate/learn from each other. Kind of like school. Except this is fun. Or ungraded, which actually adds to the fun. But, much like a school, is the idea to not excel?
Knowing this, I ask: why is it that Rping is going down the drain? Since when did one-liners become the norm? Why do people now prefer to tell, not show? Since when did people start caring about the franchise/premise than the actual RPG itself?
Honestly, I notice that, in any usual RPG in a ‘certain’ forum, the norm is usual ten words a post. Or one line. Or something that would be construed as a way to jack post count, were it not for the fact that you don’t get counted in that forum.
Then they run around demanding their own sub forum, to be rebuffed. And then they wonder why. Well, let me tell you why.
You need to smarten up. Should a CoT RPG (yeah, I’m not actually pulling the punches any more. Deal with it) sub forum be created, it would get flooded with dozens of subpar RPGs in no time at all. At which point, you might as well be advertising your RPGs that do not grab the readers attention, nor contain praise-worthy posts, for the most part.
Granted, yes, I do acknowledge that there are several uber-excellent Rpers in CoT, Emperor Kraagh being the prime example, but seriously, the majority… not as much.
Heck, I remember one argument regarding CoT RPGs that I had this one time, and to spare feelings, the person shall henceforth be known as Jim.
I suggested a CoT RPG contest, akin to the Bionicle ones. Jim rebutted, declaring that three CoT RPGs would be too small, that people would riot, etc, etc. But essentially, the gist of his argument was this: QUANTITY OVER QUALITY.
And then, CoT RPers wonder why they don’t get their own forum, while Bionicle RPers do?
The answer is simple. In Bionicle, people, lacking the ability to franchise-war (eg, attract a swarm of Rpers because they have the one [insert well-publicized franchise, like Halo, Pokemon, etc] RPG), have to rely only on their Rping skills; whether you jump the gun on Pokemon or TTGL or Halo doesn’t matter since, well, there’s only going to be the same franchise, no matter how you twist it.
This sentiment is not shared by those in CoT; rather, posting seems to reign king. The best reason that I can think of is simple: nobody competes with each other, causing the RPGs are decided by a sole, likely apathetic (unless Kex or Toaraga RPs) person. Thus, anything can get through, which means that people won’t have to change, revise, and whatnot to the ever fickle crowd.
Hence, RPing degrades from a hobby or an art into a massive post-fest.
THIS IS NIHI AND THIS IS MY TRUTH.
Until next time, BZPower
CJ.
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