Another ‘not my typical’ blog post, post. I’m not trying to start a huge debate here, but it was something that occurred last night that has had me thinking about it every since. Since my main is ‘complete’ for me, I decided that perhaps I’d look into getting involved with the roleplay community on Antonia Bayle. This community is HUGE. There are events pretty much every single day of the week not to mention numerous channels you can join, and random encounters on the streets of Norrath.
Since the destruction in Freeport on Wednesday it has been exceptionally interesting to me to watch how each one of these roleplay guilds reacts to the situation. Especially those who follow Lucan D’Lere. In channels guilds are bonding together to heal the wounded, they’re taking in those who have been hurt by the debris. Some very prominent rp people have been killed (presumably) crushed beneath the buildings. Some were there at the time of the wreck, and give their description to others. It’s great.
Anyhow, that’s besides the point. Typically I really enjoy rp. I always have. I love the story telling, I love how involved people get. I’ve found over time that there’s nothing roleplayers like better then to talk about themselves and get themselves lost in their own stories – which is good and bad. Good because it can be very interesting especially if you’re a part of those stories – but also bad because you can easily leave out every onlooker (like myself) who is not a physical part of that story from the beginning. I don’t have a history with these people, and so I typically act as an observer, and then write about their stories later, keeping mine to myself.
Last night myself and a guild mate decided to head to one such event. I was really excited, it had been some time since I had done any serious roleplaying. Not since the Festival of Discord in early November. I (wrongly) assumed that this event was going to be a tavern setting, with perhaps songs and poems and what not. As the event started, that’s exactly what it was. It was great. There were over thirty people around, and there were stories from every which way. Having heard none of them before, I observed. I mingled a little, met some new people. I loved watching their stories unfold.
Then the actual ‘event’ started – and I am sad to say but for the first time ever I actually had to LEAVE. What I had assumed was a casual tavern setting, was actually a strip show. Graphic, dancing on stage, some times with candy canes show. With over thirty people around, I was actually embarrassed to be there. Now. I am not above sexuality in a video game. I’m not easily embarrassed, and I can be quite crude, especially in game. This was too much for me. Blatant sex sells, I realize. But when the ‘dancers’ on stage started advertising that they could be ‘hired for private parties’ afterward, I just couldn’t stick around any more. When women started talking about their ‘secret treasures’ and doing full frontal (pixel at that) I just wanted to stare at the floor and go away. This had nothing to do with the fact that they were female characters (a few men got up there too) or anything like that, in real life none of that bothers me in the least bit. In fact strip clubs in general don’t even bother me. At least there I know what I’m getting. For some reason having it in a video game did bother me. Especially when I was expecting some amazing poetry or some other artistic showing. Maybe there was some afterward, but I didn’t stick around to find out.
I guess my main issue is that while sex DOES sell, I don’t want to be in a room with 30 other characters ‘listening’ to someone emote sexual dance moves on a stage. It doesn’t do anything at all for me. Give me a good story, an interesting conversation, and something that requires some thought instead of just mind numbing sexual gratuity. I find that a LOT of people resort to turning rp into nothing but sex, and that’s just not what I’m looking for. Sex is simple. Anyone can do it. If there’s nothing more to it, it’s just plain boring. Watching everyone vie for someone else’ attention by means of sexual innuendos just gets dull after a while. Try something else!
The hour before the performances was great. There were stories everywhere, and I loved listening. As soon as it turned into the strip show the evening just went downhill. Thankfully Frostfell is in game, and I spent the majority of my evening doing that afterward. Sorry for ranting in this post, but I’ll get back to my regular scheduled program next!
