All on our lonesome

[Adhira]

I thought I'd take the opportunity to give praise to all those people playing late in the off peak hours.  As it's a habit of mine to prowl around when only ten, eight, sometimes four people are around, I often end up watching everyone.

Recently I've noticed a greater effort from most people to immerse themselves in roleplay. My monitor has been scrolling with emotes, thinks and conversations, whether done solo, to npcs or to other pcs.  It's great to see people getting out there and interacting with the world instead of idling their time away in a corner somewhere, or hidden in a room.

For all those folk who log on, do a 'who' then log off, if you've got the time stick around a little, perhaps you'll find that interaction you were hoping for is just a few more minutes wait away.

- Kudos to all of you.  

Adhira

[wizturbo]

I hope you don't watch too closely!  Eek!  *runs off covering his private parts*

:-p

[Adhira]

Addendum:   Except for Wizturbo - I never watch him.   :twisted:

[wizturbo]

Addendum:   Except for Wizturbo - I never watch him.   :twisted:

Somehow I don't believe you.... *squints*

[Praetorian]

Least it wasn't me, I'm just a bump on a log.

I have an auto-trigger set up to just log in, type who, and log out.  WHAM! Blink of an eye, I'm there and gone...who was that!  Nobody knows!  Just a figment of your imagination...

[Revanael the Kank]

Hasn't seemed at all busy at any time I logged in yesterday - but then, I suppose UK times aren't the best times to be on...

Someone tell a poor newbie when things get busy?

[Akaramu]

I must be pretty boring to watch, I dont enioy solo RP and I doubt I ever will.

Revanael, things start getting busy from about 7 PM GMT onwards, and on weekends, GMT mornings are often bustling with activity as well.  

[Anael]

Yea, I guess I've been pretty boring too... Thanks for reminding me I should dust my crappy soloing skills, Adhira.

[Anonymous]

There's a lot of you "A"'s...

Mornings would work, if I wasn't such a lazy student... Ah well, evenings it is.

[pot_of_stew]

You know I used to hate solo rping. It kills my brainjuice cuz I need to think of so much wonderous emotes. But recently I seem to be getting more and more addicted to it....I"M A FREAK! *cries*

[Ghost]

I don't play off peak anymore.  I stay late (like from my 00:00 to 5:30 Am in the morning) to catch the peak hours.  I would be boring and confusing to watch anyway.

[amoeba]

I've had some of my best moments on arm when there were very few people on.  All you need is one or two good roleplayers at the right time, and the right situation and it can be a  blast. One shouldn't let the user count determine if you are going to play.  You may miss that great arm moment.  As for solo roleplay, there I times I love doing it, other times I hate it with a passion, depends on my mood, and how tired I am.

[Adhira]

As an aside - I totally understand that solo RP isn't everyone's cup of tea. There are times when I just can't bear to do it myself.

What I've noticed is that those few folk that are on are out there doing things, meeting other people, getting involved. Great to see, I just wanted to give you all props as, from experience, I know what playing with an empty 'who' count can be like.

When I do see people sipping mint tea in the Ghaati, or cursing about the long wait at the Salarri tailors, those are the times I like to jump right in and play along.

[Swordsman]

You know, there are always those who complain about solo role-playing being dead boring and those who complain about clans being too restrictive ... I was just thinking that maybe the mark of a 'true' role-player is that he/she can have fun role-playing regardless of the circumstances (number of other players logged in, number of other PCs in immediate vicinity, presence or absence of imm attention, etc.). I use 'true' hesitantly because it usually suggests that everything else is false or inferior in some way, which is not what I'm meaning here.

Let me put it another way: I enjoy RP much more when other people are around, but over the years I've learned to have fun with solo RP, too. In fact, nowadays, sometimes I prefer it because it gives you a lot more freedom to role-play (still realistically within the game context) but without having that worry of wanting to help entertain others, too. Hmmm, maybe a better analogy is this: you can play a musical instrument to entertain other people, but sometimes it's more enjoyable to just play it with only yourself listening ... you don't have to worry about making mistakes because you're caught up more in the emotion of the music than in technical issues like not making a mistake.

What I'm trying to say is that, for anyone out there who automatically scoffs at the idea of solo RP ever being fun, please don't ... you might find, later on, that you were missing out on some great moments of immersive imagination on our beloved desert world.

Swordsman

[lazycritic]

I was just thinking that maybe the mark of a 'true' role-player is that he/she can have fun role-playing regardless of the circumstances (number of other players logged in, number of other PCs in immediate vicinity, presence or absence of imm attention, etc.)

Hi, I'm True Roleplayer. I always have fun playing with myself. :wink:

[Zharal]

Sands, thats when I do all my dirty work..

[The Dude]

Hmmm, maybe a better analogy is this: you can play a musical instrument to entertain other people, but sometimes it's more enjoyable to just play it with only yourself listening ... you don't have to worry about making mistakes because you're caught up more in the emotion of the music than in technical issues like not making a mistake.

I like the idea behind this thought, Swordsman. But I can't entirely agree with it.

Wouldn't it really be something for you to be playing your instrument alone only to realize that you have a record executive or the frontman from your favorite band standing right outside your window? How about if they're always - or could always be - walking right by it?

The presence or the possibility of the all-knowing, all-seeing Immortal staff being present kinda removes this element for me. Truth be told, I'm insecure by nature (something I rarely admit), and Arm can be stressful some days because I'm trying so hard to play my characters well. When I -know- an Immortal is there I even feel a bit jarred sometimes. It kinda bothers me just thinking about it - that I could always be being watched and caught in a bad moment.

But I, like others I'm sure, reach certain levels of comfortability with our given characters. The further I manage to sink into place with my character, the more these feelings of insecurity disappear and the more they're replaced with the feeling behind whatever my fingers are busily hammering out - no matter who's there to see it or not.

[Faded_Grace]

Personally I find solo roleplaying to be a valuable tool in forming your character's conclusions about the world. It is often in those "non-peak hours" that I can really jump into the mind of my character and form their perceptions about life. In this way, without interference from other roleplayers, it gives me the chance to really flesh out a character concept that enables me to more aptly adapt to the world when there -are- other people on. Making sense?

Eh, I've always loved solo rp. Call me a xenophobe if you will, but it can be just as fun and entertaining as a mad powergaming session during peak hours.

That might just be me too.

[Larrath]

"Solo rp" doesn't make anyone any better or worse a roleplayer.
That's it.  You can emote and describe how your dull, one-dimensional character is picking his nose as much as you like, that still won't make you better than the involving three-dimensional character that's currently idling only to spring to life as soon as anyone was to contact or enter the room he's in.

Roleplaying is about playing a role.  A good roleplayer plays a role well, regardless of whether they seem to freeze as soon as they're left alone.

Solo roleplay is an excellent thing to do, but don't get elitist about it.  It's more important to me that you roleplay well when I can see you.

[Revelations]

Well, would the immortal who might be watching really care if you're sitting there idling?  :wink:  
(Not a retorical question.   )

And if you don't care what the immortals think, what do you think about doing nothing? Is it fun for you to idle in a tavern?

Personally, I don't think there's a reason why people shouldn't solo rp unless it's not fun for them, and I also believe that idling isn't taking advantage of the fact that Armageddon is a game, and should be spent having fun doing things that you would like to do. If you're bored, or like twinking (not playing IC), then Armageddon isn't the right game for you at the moment.  

Shouldn't you solo rp because your having fun, and not because of karma or what an immortal might think of you? (although it's a good motivator)

(I forget the reason for posting this.   )

[Larrath]

If solo rp isn't fun for someone, then there is no need for them to solo rp.  It doesn't make anyone any more or less fit for playing Armageddon.
The staff forms its own opinions.  They might care about you solo rping, or they might not.  If you really want to see what the staff thinks, you can send an email and ask to see your account notes.

Finally, solo rping or doing anything at all for karma is very silly.  Having mul karma doesn't mean that you are going to play any role better than that guy without any karma at all.  Having sorcerer karma doesn't mean you've beat the game, either.


Down with the stupid elitism.  You can fill screens over screens of scroll with your thinks or emotes if that's what makes you happy.  Others can sit and wait for people to come in.  As long as both characters are equally fleshed out and interesting and realistic, I don't think that the difference is all that big.

[Angela Christine]

Eh, I've always loved solo rp. Call me a xenophobe if you will,

Solo players aren't called xenophobes, they're called masturbators.    Personally I was disapointed to hear that "mastubary roleplay" doesn't actually mean roleplaying masturbation.


Anyway, I'm glad to see non-peak players are having fun.


AC

[The Anonymousness]

I am. ^_^ I've become completely infatuated with Arm (even though I've pnly been playing tow days), and have spent those two nights running around the off-peak hours like I owns them bitches.

Which, if I don't know, I'll make sure to stop off at the pens later and finalise the purchase.  :twisted:

[Maybe42or54]

I like to people watch.

[Anonymous]

When did anyone say that solo rp in and of itself made you a better roleplayer, or an elitist? I certainly don't think so, but I have been wrong before. You can be an elitist and a roleplayer and still not make use of sole rp at all. It's just a preference for most people.

I still stand by my opinion, though. Solo rp -does- help flesh your characters out, just as rp at peak hours helps flesh your characters out. Let me explain. From an OOC standpoint, players have more of a chance to interact with the world and play to the beat of the their own drum, so to speak, because other people aren't around to fuss about the beat. I don't mean this is a viable alternative to roleplaying with others - it certainly isn't - but it gives you more opportunity to show your character's colors when you really know how they'll react to any given situation. Solo rp helps hone that sense of knowing how your character will react because you've been spending hours doing nothing but solo rping their thoughts out in their head, and emoting as an extension of that. (As a sidenote, I don't consider spam emoting 'em picks his nose' to be anything remotely bordering solo rp except in the very loosest sense of the word.) That said, I don't believe in going idle at the helm except for very good reasons. To me it's like just suddenly phasing out of existence in the middle of a crowded bar - now wouldn't it be freaky if someone sitting next to you just suddenly went still and quiet and didn't move again for two-and-a-half hours? Yeah, thought so.

This is not to say that people -have- to solo rp in order to have a firm grasp on their their characters. I'm sure there are people out there who hardly solo rp if ever and have a much firmer grasp on their character concept than I do on mine. But it works for me, so I do it in conjunction with "regular rp", and that's that. My point (yes, I have one... sorta) is that solo rp, when it presents itself, should be a valuable tool in learning how your character copes with the world, just as "regular rp" is a valuable tool in doing much the same.

(And don't you dare bash on mastubatory roleplaying - it's all the fire!)