Dark Age Of Camelot: What is Roleplay, Anyway?

Roleplay. I write that word, and those of you reading it all react differently. Some of you roll your eyes and say, "Ugh, not another one of those stupid RPers." Others nod and say, "Darn right, roleplay!" And, oddly enough, some scratch their heads and have no clue what I'm writing about.

Most of you, however, have one thing in common: you play Dark Age of Camelot. Even within a game supposedly about roleplay, few can agree on what the word means, or frankly, if they should roleplay or not. Sometimes, the most heated battles are not fought on the frontier, but in the chat channels.

I'll admit right up front that I'm a roleplayer. When I first came to DAoC a good half a year ago at least, I found the prospect of roleplay servers and rules exciting. I considered the fact that I enjoyed the game and setting a bonus. Finally, a place where the company encouraged and enforced roleplaying, while also giving non-roleplayers a place to go!

As you can imagine, I felt no small amount of disappointment when I discovered that, by and large, these rules are just on virtual paper. Recently, when playing in Albion on Percival (my alternate realm and server), I decided to look for a guild to join. I started asking around of people who seemed to roleplay in the Broadcast channel in Camelot, to see if their guilds roleplayed as well.

I heard the same answer over and over again. "No, I'm the only one, sorry." "Nope, only a couple of us do." "We've really gotten too big now to be all roleplay." The response that disgusted me most, though, went something like this: "A few of us do, but we've recently started doing [this action] because of [another guild] doing [this other thing]. This server isn't about roleplay, it's about politics, sorry."

Now, I've been able to read since age three or four. I distinctly saw the word "Roleplay" written next to Percival's name. In the vernacular, what gives?

By way of introduction to my new column, where I intend to write about aspects and interesting facets of roleplay, I'd like to start by examining the state of roleplay in the Realms. Where is it at now, and where should it be? What can be done to make it better?

Before we can cover these things, however, we need to agree on what the term means. What is roleplay? Well, simply put, roleplay is taking on the aspect of a personality not your own. Perhaps also, it can be taking your own personality and pretending that you were born in the time period where you are pretending to be.

In either case, roleplaying involves speaking in a manner appropriate for the time. This means that, in the case of Camelot, "elite" is not spelled "l33t" and televisions, computers, and regrettably Pepsi do not exist. Do you have to use "thee" and "thy" and "thou"? Well, you can, but I really can't recommend it unless you understand their use. Roleplay hardly limits you to speaking, too. Emoting actions that your character might take represents a large part of the roleplay experience.

Roleplay also includes choosing a name appropriate to your setting. Darth Vader never said, "King Arthur, I am your father," so likely you shouldn't name yourself after the Dark Lord of the Sith. To be picky about it, someone named Arthur Pendragon should not be running around Midgard, either.

As I have already stated, roleplay means different things to different people. Some consider roleplay something as simple as speaking "in character" and throwing in the occasional appropriate emote for spice. Others create grand storylines and rivalries, participating in epic events created by other roleplayers for enjoyment. In all honesty, nothing is wrong with either of these approaches. It's all about fun, and what you are comfortable with.

So, how do you enforce something so nebulous? Aye, there's the rub. With roleplay meaning so many things, pinning the concept down to enforce it makes for hard work. Mythic has a tough job. No matter what they do, someone will be unhappy. If they allow very loose standards, they'll likely hear about it from the hardcore roleplayers who want more. If they set very strict rules, they will drive away the casual roleplayers who simply want to avoid hearing about yesterday's football game while in the realms.

This, of course, does not account for the business side of the equation. Mythic, as a company looking to make a dollar or two on their hard work, must look at their costs for both equipment and manpower. Roleplaying servers cost money, as do the salaries of the people expected to enforce the rules. What rules can they put down that will keep the roleplaying servers paying for themselves, and still keep the populace happy?

As we can see, it's not as easy as it sounds to keep a rein on roleplay. Sitting on the outside, as we all must, it becomes very easy for us to hurl stones at Mythic and scream at them for not doing a good job. Walk a mile in their plate mail boots first.

Which is not to say that they are perfect. Next week, we'll have a look at the state of roleplay in Dark Age of Camelot. It isn't a pretty picture...but it could be.