How do you define RP/Action/Social tags?
voidofopinion
Member, Moderator Posts: 1,248
Simply put.
What defines a server or module as RP, or Action, Social or PVP?
What defines a server or module as RP, or Action, Social or PVP?
- I have seen people talk as if any focus on quality combat encounters means a server cant be RP.
- I have seen people in social servers have amazing RP.
- I have seen people in PvP servers do nothing but stand around and chat.
- I have seen action servers where people were far less concerned with killing mobs and more concerned with killing each other.
1
Comments
Who has made it their mission to log into social servers and tell everyone to stop doing so much pvp and rp?
PvP
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=fGsPhhY0&id=7795BD4FAC3CBE030664FE9F370FDA13DE04F6C3&thid=OIP.fGsPhhY0MyrQjQym6IvXLAHaEK&q=wrestlers+angry+off+gif&simid=608031319567044150&selectedIndex=38
Action
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=LI/Ee8pb&id=11BE631E70752382AD9316E162DEA332472194B9&thid=OIP.LI_Ee8pb17L20l9gE7niLwHaEC&q=chuck+norris+gif&simid=608040884480968689&selectedIndex=5&PC=APPL
RP
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=JAsGV2tR&id=19FAE6B3A3A111A16ED31C522D147E9BC015687C&thid=OIP.JAsGV2tRijU5B9U232DgEwHaEK&q=Big+Group+Hug+gif&simid=608052394959241411&selectedIndex=0&PC=APPL
I don't think I have ever heard what "social" servers were intended to be but as Sherincall says it has become shorthand for sexual content.
In my head they are earmarked as:
RP servers are where people are in character.
Action servers are not in character.
PVP is where people are trying to kill each other often in an arena while hurling insults.
Social is for teh cyberz.
However,
Lets say I make a Conan style PW of violence and sorcery that has a large world filled with story and combat, adult themes (Conan), faction based PVP and IC in local... Then where does that PW get set as its tag?
Lots of combat and dungeons - Action
In Character local chat - Roleplay
Player vs Player - PVP
Adult content (nudity/gore) - Social
What overwrites what?
Does an action mod become an RP mod if everyone is in character?
Does full PVP turn a RP server into a PVP server?
Does "social" include all adult themes or is it really just shorthand for ERP?
Ultimately it doesn't matter as hosts and players seem to find a natural equilibrium but how I define a PVP server probably isnt how someone who has spent hundreds of hours on a PVP server would. Likewise for the rest.
I thought it would be interesting to share those different perceptions with the chance of challanging preconceived notions.
Funnily enough, your ‘Conan’ example sounds a lot like the old Mystaria black horizon server I used to play ALOT on. It had opposing factions for pvp and also rich story driven content. Power levels weren’t choked off either some gear was pretty powerfull but it was labelled an RP server by the developer. What I guess made it such despite the mechanics were the rules.
Immersion was king.
No shouts. Always stay IC. Your character needed a decent story and couldn’t have a stupid name and stuff. Whatever you did had to be justified with RP. It was lots of fun!
So I would say action server becomes your Conan server but no rules as above. Shout, do stupid stuff for kicks and all that without getting nailed by a DM.
PvP is one more up again. No rules, no content lol. Just a chess board.
Social is... well social.
An RP server with a different kind of xp grind lol
Of course, these are just my personal views and perceptions on the conatations and extrapulations of virtual labels and stuff.
Might add there was also
Rp story and action story if I remember right!
An RP server can certainly be 18+ and the rp is usually very light. Usually there is sex going on in private but without the strict consent rules of social servers, even if the server is not listed as 18+ only. DM favoritism for ingame sex partners is another common stereotype, often the source of a lot of drama and gossip.
From what I remember of action servers many of them were also IC, it was just a different degree of continuity to the rp, similarly pw story seemed to attract more low level low magic servers.
Social servers also have a rich history in pvp and faction systems that heavily influenced the political faction rp, then you have a contingent of players that live by roleplaying with lengthy paragraphs, and of course don't forget the extensive fashion options. Some players are more interested in playing a lich, or maybe a Japanese oni, or how about a giant Buddhist demon because on a social server the rules of what you can play are often more lax and open to creativity.
So it's pretty odd to think well the RP tag is where the real RP is because you can find a server where everyone posts one liners, and a social server is not really RP because folks spend hours in lengthy paragraph conversation about the nature and philosophies of magic. Rather than being fixated with sexual content they're just less squeamish about it overall with less stigmatization, sure it happens just like it does in real life and just like real life it's not a subject that dominates most ppl's day. There are also plenty of social server players who never engage in sexual content, I guess just like how in real life there are asexual ppl.
I just did some research on Mystra - Black Horizon and it sounds fantastic! Really great write up and all the reviews I could find for it were very positive and the neverwintervault.org page is flush with detail on their rules, systems and guidelines.
It seems like a really neat server and as you say, it could have been described by many tags but ultimately it's an RP server.
I think the RP tag comes down to DM enforcement.
...But that is my gut speaking as I know an RP Lite server where people are in character for most of the time but it's not really enforced could be and is still a RP server.
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@FreshLemonBun
I can't beleive I forgot all the other tags.
Let me pull up the server client real quick:
- Action
- Story
- Story Lite
- Role Play
- Team
- Melee
- Arena
- Social
- Alternative
- PW Action
- PW Story
- Solo
- Tech Support
I honestly only remembered Action, Role Play, Social and PVP. However, PVP isn't even in the list, it's separated into Melee & Arena.It has been a crazy long time and my memory is not what it used to be but I can't seem to remember many high pop servers outside of RP/Social/Action/Arena but that could very well be because I wasn't looking for them.
Also, I had no idea social servers were so big into PVP. We had a DM on our admin team who would vanish every now and then and would simply disappear to this social server (cant remember the name for the life of me, it is apparently the common theme for today) and we would playfully pick on him for it. Ended up that he was going there because no one knew him, no one would send him tells and he could just wonder around doing all the PVE content and level up in peace.
So all around him was this hard core BDSM ERP and he is off in the corner of the server trying to level up a Ranger. After that the joke became he was going there to get his grind on.