Player Motivations - why do you play?

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Kuma
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Kuma » Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:17 pm

gilescorey wrote:cold placebo for actual writing and social interaction
same

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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by MoreThanThree » Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:29 pm

can't get a real girlfriend so I play her
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Gods_Kill_People
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Gods_Kill_People » Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:31 pm

Its socializing without actually having to deal with people!

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Tarkus the dog
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Tarkus the dog » Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:36 pm

MoreThanThree wrote:can't get a real girlfriend so I play her
hehe.



...same

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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Bashagain » Wed Nov 08, 2017 7:25 pm

Iceborn wrote: To my eyes, roleplaying is the ultimate gaming experience. The one kind of game that evolves continually, that adapts, that is different every time, that you can take any stance and play it with any level of complexity and time. I've written essays on human behavior based solely on my OOC and IC observations of Arelith, and it's an incredible source of material (not to mention, entertainment).

My first characters, I've made for myself. For the same selfish need that most people may start playing: Evasion. I made an avatar-like character and escaped reality. It's been a good while since then, and even if the nature of the game is still one of evasion, it's taught me an incredible amount of things, and even now I'm not remotely as good at it as my time investment should display.

In part, Arelith is also my own little lab abomination project festering in the corner of my metaphoric virtual lab. It's something that I've been a part so long that its direction, the people in it matter to me.
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Black Wendigo wrote:I play for fun. Every other reasons why I play Arelith lead back to that.
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And also, it’s the only PnP-like experience I can have on-demand as a full time working dad with four kids. ;)
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by DSM-IV » Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:43 pm

Before I got old and had kids and boring stuff, I had a deep interest in social interactions and how those interactions shape who we are. This and just enjoying telling stories is why I believe I got into RP'ing in the first place. I enjoyed seeing how my PC's story interacted with other's stories and how their stories altered mine in return. When the server is at its best this is a living breathing world. A petri dish of human behavior to experiment with like really nothing else I can think of.
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Frostaspella » Wed Nov 08, 2017 9:40 pm

Real life sometimes can be sucky and you need an escape. This is what Arelith does for me that no other MMORPG. Sure WoW is a good , but grinding and raiding get pretty boring.... Every time I log on to Arelith is different experience then the previous day! Making it more enjoyable! That is the joy I find in playing Arelith. Some how I always tend to find some plot or trouble I can get my char into....
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Pavor Nocturnus
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Pavor Nocturnus » Thu Nov 09, 2017 10:16 am

good question
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Queen Titania » Thu Nov 09, 2017 3:44 pm

I just like causing chaos, really.
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Griefmaker » Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:05 pm

I like playing "dwarfy" dwarves who reproduce like rabbits for the sole purpose of causing angst to If Valor Were Inches. Each time she screams, an angel gets its wings. :)

Otherwise, I play because I still remember back in the early 2000s when I was playing Baldur's Gate 2 and thought to myself "this is totally a lot of fun. It would be awesome to do something like this with others".

And then I found Arelith a few years later, learned what RP was all about, became enchanted by it and the ability to not only play a computerized version of DnD (as much as NWN is), but also to create my own stories in that realm and participate in other's stories as well.

I have not looked back since.

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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Xerah » Thu Nov 09, 2017 6:59 pm

I've been playing this since 2004 and for me, the biggest reason to play is that NWN is a unique game that allows real-time cooperative storytelling that no other medium/game can really support.

Also, I love the worlds created in Dungeons and Dragons in the Forgotten Realms background which gives a lot of options/ideas to play off of and expand the lore.
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Beernerd81 » Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:11 pm

For me it is and always will be about being the Roleplayer, however I would be remiss if I did not admit to having some heavy Special Snowflake influence in there as well. I've been playing this game exclusively on heavy roleplay servers off and on since before HotU came out and my first and foremost thought has been, "How can I make this character fun for everyone?" Maybe it's because I have the attention span of a hyperactive 8 year old on a Cornholio-esque sugar and caffeine binge, but I tend to get bored with characters easily. I've taken breaks here and there, but I can say with confidence that I've put in a solid 5-6 years on this server, and I've never made it past level 23. I have always been too busy writing storylines, delving into in-game lore and culture, and sitting around talking to other characters to actually go out and get levels. I find that strange and unique characters have a much better chance of capturing my attention for longer, mostly because I see it as an opportunity to create roleplay that is a deviation from the norm. I know damn well that it doesn't take a Water-Genasi/Aquatic Elf druid or a Pixie who accidentally falls in and out of the Prime Material Plane to create good RP, but it helps!
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Aelryn Bloodmoon » Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:26 pm

Because magic isn't real and the only place I can wield such awesome is IC.
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Re: Player Motivations - why do you play?

Post by Rivace_Silver » Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:18 am

Ever since I was a kid I was always fascinated with the idea that we all are more then we seem.

Sitting in the car with mom and dad in the front seat I would look out the window and imagine myself, not in the car, but running along side of it on the sidewalk... Imagine different realities in which one included gravity boots allowing the user to lift off the ground in a sprint and increase speed and jump height. Another reoccurring theme would be wings in which I was propelled and accelerated by sheer force of will and guided by wings of both biological or mechanical.

Ever since I was a kid I always subscribed to the idea that we could be anything we want to be, I would see glimpses of comic book heroes, never fully understanding their story because my mom would never buy comics for me (or we flat out couldn't afford the hobby). When the wind would blow and I was out playing with the dog in the yard and I would anticipate the wind blowing a particular grouping or pile of leave and wave my hand as if I caused the force of wind to blow them away...

Through video games, I subconsciously gravitated towards RPG's, escaping the drama and trauma of being a child in the middle of a divorce, the bore of having no ability to relate to kids my own age, I wasn't athletic and it wasn't cool to be a know-it-all. *still isn't .. but at least it pays well...*

Games like Final Fantasy 7-8-9*-10-15* (my favorites, brought tears to my eyes and there are lessons learned from FF9 that I carry with me today), Elder Scrolls series from Daggerfall to Skyrim, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Vampire: the masquerade...
Books like Dragonlance : Autumn twilight/winter night/spring dawning..etc(13 book series)
Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher books and video games, Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt and that series.
Anime such as DBZ, SAO, Lelouche:of the rebellion, Bleach, Sacred Blacksmith, Kaze no Stigma...etc

I learned pretty much all my important life lessons from the content I listed above. Devotion to something you believe in, complacency is the enemy of productivity.. love and what hatred can do to a heart, importance of laughter, sacrifice, making a difference in the face of adversity... etc

Why do I play Arelith?
Because even though I am now turning 30... (next month), I'm married with a 4 year old daughter who looks up to me as I once did my dad, a hero. I still yearn to be something more then I am. to have a secret like Clark Kent in the 10 seasons of Smallville. I revisit my childhood favorites often, I was on GoG and searched the EE editions of BG and IWD .. NWN was suggested and was a game I've never heard of.

Since then, I've played Arelith primarily.

I'm an alt-aholic.. I don't know what I am searching for but I assume ill stick with it once I find it ... and so I make dozens of characters that have a short life on Arelith, I've gotten close to finding characters with the combination of build, backstory, and the variable of finding the right RP for me to stick with them for longer then others. (and recently I've had two of my characters effectively imploded due to DM/Dev mechanical changes on an aspect that I essentially made the character around... (Thanks for that btw, I was actually having fun on my barbarian with 14 ac near epics.)

Existentially: im pretty sure my gaming interest is a pure pursuit of my childhood dreams.

as far as motivation.. Im a bit of all of those gamer archtypes. I cannot pinpoint one or two of them id say describes me the most. I appreciate a good power build but that alone is not enough to get me to stick with it past lv 10.. (on Arelith)

that's a bit about me. I feel like im a part of this community whether im recognized as being a positive contributor or not.. In the event of the latter, know that I am certainly trying to contribute more <3
-That one time that Stath did that one thing and it was funny...

-We cannot all be the hero, some have to be the normal folk who make others heros..

- we are all the protagonist of our own stories.

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