Dark Age Of Camelot: The Uber Roleplayer

On my main server, we have a guild. This guild considers itself very "uber," to use the common gaming vernacular. It can powerlevel its members to level fifty in no time flat. It has the fourth most realm points on the entire server, just behind the biggest guilds of the two leading realms. It moves out en masse for realm events, and frequently, you can find the action by seeing where its members are. In our frequently beaten-upon realm, they are the closest to a force to be reckoned with.

You would think that this might make them a well-respected clan. Unfortunately, the respect ends the moment you stop looking at their numbers on the Camelot Herald and you start actually talking to their members. Now, do not misunderstand. A few of them are stellar people, very nice and very helpful. But on the whole, when you speak to a member of this guild, you will be laughed at, condescended to, or outright ignored.

Also on my main server plays a guild full of roleplayers. Their guild has very little in the way of realm points, and few members at the top level. Yet they never fail to amaze me with their kindness, good roleplay, and ability to enjoy themselves. No one respects them for their abilities in combat, but everyone enjoys spending time around them.

I stand somewhere in the middle. I love to roleplay, more than anything else. Yet I want the benefits of a guild with people who understand how to play the game, who will keep active on the Frontier and seek out new challenges to conquer. I want the best of both worlds, in short, and people seem to consider me crazy for hoping to find it.

Can we have both worlds at once? Must we forsake roleplay to enjoy combat and the mechanics of the game? Do I have to leave behind being good at what I do to find the roleplay I want?

The "uber" mindset often does not mesh well with the way of the roleplayer. Why bother with attempting to phrase things in a roleplay manner at all, when it is much more expedient to just type them out? Certainly, in a heated battle, I'd never condemn anyone for taking some typing shortcuts, but what about outside of it? Those of uber standing seem to see no reason to bother, even if they play on a roleplaying server.

(I will not get into "why play on a roleplaying server if you do not roleplay" again. It only upsets me to talk about. Deep breaths, Blackbird, deep breaths.)

I have met very few people, in all the games I have played, who could juggle both the actions of a power player and the mindset of a roleplayer. They do crop up now and again, and I value them. What I find most distressing, however, is that when they are presented with an "uber" activity and a roleplaying one, they almost always abandon the roleplayers.

Before the roleplayers get too smug, let's not neglect the fact that we tend to look askance at those who choose to enjoy the game for itself as well as the people in it. We all know the names of the uberguilds on our servers, and we'll happily snub the people in them. When we find an uber roleplayer, we treat them almost like a newly-recovered plague victim: we are happy to see them, but we are wary of catching the disease.

This is not so much a column as an invitation to discussion. Can you both be "uber" and roleplay? Must the two terms be mutually exclusive? Sound off and let me know!

On a personal note, does anyone know of an active roleplaying guild on Percival/Midgard? Please drop me a line at blackbird@warcry.com and let me know!