When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. Michael Gray fills in this week for David Bowers to talk about how you can flesh our your character, and help it leap from the screen into everyone's imagination.
Your background sets up your character's story. It's where your character comes from, and often describes what motives your character's actions. But it's infinitely helpful to define more about your character than just the time the Horde ravaged your family and wrecked the estate, and maybe talk about...how he feels about children, or the summer holidays.
Let's talk about how to flesh out a character, behind the cut...
I've heard this idea many times before, but I don't know that we've ever officially covered it here on the site: there is a fairly large movement in the player base, especially among the shorter folks, to have Blizzard continue the Gnomeregan story line -- and give Gnomer back to the Gnomes. Gnomer is pretty much the most hated of all the instances (well, Uldaman might barely overtake it in some circles), and as happy as the Gnomes are in Ironforge, a lot of the pint-sized ankle-pokers would like to have their city back.
Unfortunately, Blizzard has given the idea short shrift (ha!) to say the least -- while there are lots of rumored expansion plans, even beyond Wrath of the Lich King, it's mostly the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream; nothing about the Leper Gnomes in Gnomer. You'd think they wouldn't be that hard to clear out (lower level groups regularly make short work of them -- ha!), although radiation is tough to fight off. Even the best Gnomish scientists seem to hold the belief they'll be able return to Gnomer, so it must be possible, right?
But to make a long story short (ha! OK I'll stop), retaking Gnomeregan just isn't on Blizzard's priority list. The city might work great as a portal hub, or even a new setting for a BG or Arena, but as it is right now, Gnomeregan is staying in the hands of the Lepers and the Troggs.
theflamecrow on LJ had an interesting little occurrence: he was in Darkshore when he saw a flash in the World Defense channel that Darkshore was being attacked. The only problem? He's Horde.
Now, most people may think that Horde doesn't have a base in Darkshore that can do under attack, but in fact, they do-- it's the Dancing Troll Village. So apparently some enterprising Alliance had found it and started killing. But here's the bigger question I got from crow's story: does anyone really pay attention to World Defense?
I know I don't. But then again, I play on a PvE server, so odds are that anyone attacking a lowbie level like that is just a level 70 on a rampage. But even on PvP servers, do blaring Defense channels really mean that anyone cares? People will protect their guildies, and of course they'll join the fight if they smell blood (or at least someone they can beat in a fight). But do the Local and World Defense channels really point the way to a good PvP clash the way the developers surely intended? Or do they just mean chat spam, and that there'll be trouble if you try to speak to NPCs in that area?
The WoW community is growing ever larger, and for lots of people the entire Warcraft story is a puzzling maze of overlapping tales. I know if I were a new player and someone told me, "Oh yeah, you can go play this other stategy game to get some of the story... or you could read some books!" I might balk at the time commitment required just to understand the background story for this new game.
Dawnbow has a solution though. This is the cliffs-notes version of WoW Lore. It won't keep you on the edge of your seat with spine-tingling suspense, but it'll give you a rough idea of what's going on behind the scenes of the game, without you having to spend extra time and money on other things.
A few responders to her original post on the forums say that there may be a few errors here or there in her summary, but don't worry too much about that. Lore fans often disagree on details -- sometimes they're both right, sometimes both wrong, and sometimes Blizzard just hasn't been consistent. Either way, if you're looking for a quick catch up on the essentials of the WoW story, spend a few minutes with some simplified WoW lore, and then check out WoW Insider's own Know Your Lore column for some the juiciest character portraits you'll ever read about a game story.
All the World's a Stage is brought to you by David Bowers every Sunday evening, investigating the mysterious art of roleplaying in the World of Warcraft.
All those people who say "Roleplaying is dead" simply misunderstand what RP in WoW is all about. It's not at all about stepping into your favorite fantasy novel and acting out an epic story in which you are the great hero, sacrificing everything to save Azeroth from the legions of evil. For that sort of storytelling, there are pen-and-paper role playing games, which allow for a great deal more flexibility than any computer system can. While the majority of fantasy literature uses this "save the world" motif, it doesn't work at all for roleplaying in WoW because things happen in the game that couldn't possibly happen in a story.
But that's okay, because when we roleplay in WoW, our focus should not be so grand and epic in scope. Instead it should be more personal and down-to-earth, about our own characters, their hopes and failings, and their relationships with others. For all the game's outward appearances of epic battles and the fight against evil, WoW roleplaying is really all about character development, relationships, and the expression of who you are. Think less of the latest Oscar-award-winning fantasy epic, and more of your favorite sitcoms or drama series.
Your character is a savior of the world and a regular nobody -- both at the same time. All of us do exciting, heroic things in the game, but, while Blizzard has put a lot of story elements in there, none of it is actual storytelling. For a roleplayer, most PvE is just background to the storytelling, something your characters do offstage -- kind of like food, paperwork, bathroom breaks, and sleep in the movies or novels you enjoy. Of course any event in life can be an important moment for your character, but in roleplaying, you have to let all the repetitive hero stuff fade into the background while your characters interact with one another.
Here's a cute little story without any of the special effects you see in lots of the machinima people make nowadays. It's an amateur production, but it's somehow all the more lovable for it. Especially having read everyone's comments about why playing through the Horde's side of the WoW story can feel so good, this story reminds me of some of the noble themes people love most about the Horde's story -- unity in diversity, letting go of the past, and moving on with the future.
For those who don't know, the "vrriish!" sound at the end is the sound of a rogue's "sprint" ability being used, enabling him to run at high speeds.
Hot on the heels of the great Hammer of Grammar, here's another up-and-coming WoW comic, called Dragontouched. Normally, I'm not much for story-based comics like this (I tend to like the humorous ones much better), but I have to say-- I checked out the first page, and didn't look up until I got all the way to the latest one. It pulled me right in.
The style is a little simpler than some of the other "screenshot comics" ("machigraphica"?), as there's really no editing on the shots at all. But you can tell that Autumnflare, the creator, is getting better and better at this as they go along-- both the storytelling and the layout are improving with almost every new comic. And it is super cool to see all the lore integrated so well. The story feels like both a part of the WoW universe and an interesting new take on it. I especially like the Consortium dude-- he seems more shifty here than I've ever seen them ingame.
So good stuff so far, and I'll bet there's even better things to come. Are we entering into a whole second generation of WoW comics?
Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi discussed with players at BlizzCon their desire for the World of Warcraft to be more immersive, for the characters to be more believable and relevant, and for the story to be more at the forefront, right alongside gameplay.
So now a professional screenwriter named Cocles submitted a suggestion on the forums as to how that feeling could be created, by letting the world's characters react to you in a more believable way. Here's one of his examples:
Think of how immersive it would be if you were to step into Outland and have Nazgrel look at you and say, "When I sent word to Orgrimmar that we needed more troops, I never dreamed they would send the slayer of C'thun himself to aid us. You will be a great asset to us Cocles, and I am glad to see you here!"
Had I not killed C'thun, or done anything else of note, Nazgrel could instead look me up and down and say, "Well grunt, let's see what you're made of."
That's our buddy Arthas, wielding Frostmourne and meeting up with (and becoming, most likely) the Lich King during the very last cutscene of Warcraft III. That building he's hanging out in is Icecrown Citadel, which will very likely be a raid dungeon at some point in WoW. The voice saying, "Forget this business" is Muradin Bronzebeard, and the voice questioning Arthas' sanity is Uther the Lightbringer himself, whom Arthas murdered (and whose tomb is found right now in the Western Plaguelands). And of course as far as we know, Arthas is still sitting on that throne, ready to appear.. in a brand new cinematic on Friday at BlizzCon?
Excited yet?
Update: My fault, I thought both voices were Uther. Should have realized no Human would ever have an accent like that.
It's a question that comes up more and more as I talk to my friends in the game. Why do we raid? The topic comes fairly close to home because I am in a situation where raiding is not quite on the horizon. Sure we have our Kara keys, but the coordination of an actual run has been far from successful. In addition to whatever challenges we have in my guild, there is the fact of my class. I am a mage, and currently the best gear I can reasonably attain is crafted, not found in an instance. So why am I pushing to raid Karazhan when I can get gear made that is better than what I'll find? Quite simply put, I want to know.
I want to know what it is like to experience the instance. The more I see of the Warcraft universe, the more I come to appreciate the complex beauty of it as a whole, with rich and deeply laid foundations of story and lore that intrigue me. If the game were a novel (and I've read the novels too, this is just a metaphor) I would sit down at the beginning and read until the end. Raiding is the climax to the story as it has been told, since the pivotal plot points are told in the raid instances. It is in Mount Hyjal that players finally face Archimonde, and in the Black Temple where they can best Illidan, providing they are uber uber leet. In order to read to the end of the story, you must raid.
I guess what I'm saying is that I want to raid not only for the chance for sweet gear, and I'm sure there is some still out there for me, if only in the form of weapons. I want to raid because of experience itself. But many are disillusionedwith the game since TBC, and some say raiding is broken. Why still do players charge out into the 25-man instances, if they feel that the accomplishment has lost its grandeur despite the game elements becomin more difficult to overcome? Why do we raid?
We may have had plenty of brushes with death ingame, but this real-world story is something else. Livejournal user antiotter was calmly playing WoW one evening when:
My neighbor accidentally put a .44 Magnum round though my wall. It missed my head by three inches. It started in his bathroom, went through the mirror, went through the closet on the other side, blew through that closet door, traveled across his hallway, blew through our common wall, richocheted upward off my computer desk, and lodged in the doorframe.
Sometimes encounters in WoW leave me with a deep loathing for the entire human race, but other times I'm left with a
warm fuzzy feeling towards fellow homines sapientes. Fly-by buffs are still fun to give out and to receive --
I would be lying if I said I didn't buff fellow players in the hope that I will receive similar services back, but I
tend to rely on global karma, buffing anyone and everyone who crosses my path.
After being beaten up by a
nasty elite roamer (Son of Arugal, I'm looking at you, though Borelgore gets honourable mention) there's nothing nicer
than a random resurrection. Standing at the graveyard facing a long and depressing corpse run -- or even a short one --
the magic words "<Player> wants to resurrect you" can do a lot to lift my tortured spirits. The last
time it happened, a passing priest dismounted, resurrected me, then rode away before I could thank them properly. Back
at the mailbox I sent a present, thinking all that karma -- the similar resurrections I'd done on my alts -- had
finally paid off.
Ever had a little act of kindness make your day? Do you like or loathe fly-by buffs and
resurrections?
I've 
theflamecrow on LJ
Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi 
Sometimes encounters in WoW leave me with a deep loathing for the entire human race, but other times I'm left with a
warm fuzzy feeling towards fellow homines sapientes. Fly-by buffs are still fun to give out and to receive --
I would be lying if I said I didn't buff fellow players in the hope that I will receive similar services back, but I
tend to rely on global karma, buffing anyone and everyone who crosses my path.
Subscribe
