What happened to the term “Roleplay”?

It seems that too often now a days, “roleplay” as a term has come to mean “tea and biscuits at the inn” style of doing a social chat network on an NWN server. I mean, some RP servers I’ve visited give literally 10 XP per kill on a creature – grudgingly at that, with all sorts of counter-measures to ensure that “no one levels too fast”.

And it’s not just my old server.

It’s a plague.

Yes, you heard me, a plague.

Dungeons and Dragons (at least the NWN version) has come to mean those things you avoid because of XP and gold loss when you get your ass pasted by level 3 goblins with Great Cleave and +3 vorpal swords in starter areas.

I mean, really, come on. We’re supposed to be adventurers.

And we’re not. Oh, sure, every once in a while those blokes hanging out like barflies at the town center might roam into the wilderness, but for the most part, they play political intrigue games and attempt to garner power which, factually, they never really earned through deeds.

Reminds me of some presidential candidates.

Like, all of them.

I mean really, let’s take a historical look at things, especially from a Forgotten Realms aspect. Mourngrym would never have become the lord of Shadowdale had he been a greengrocer. Not a good one, anyways.

In fact, all of the classic NPCs of yesteryear had adventuring down pat before they embarked upon their political or other journeys. Azoun. Mourngrym. Fzoul. Take your pick, all of the “good” leaders had at least five years of spell slinging under their belts before becoming political intriguers.

Now, let’s snap forward to present: If you’re on a roleplay server, what makes you think that you’re any better than the guys on the action server because your character sits and discusses events that others have done? Why is your “sewing circle” somehow better?

I’ve got news for you:

It ain’t.

Your drow character seeking nirvana-like bliss through tantric gyrations of verbiage is not any better than the guy using the shout channel to “LFG”.

Your half-demon winged emo-child with parental issues and a raging oepedial complex is not special. He’s not a unique snowflake.

I’ve seen it all folks.

From the moody female sorceress with a tainted past to the likeable rogue who is secretly working for [insert evil faction here]. It’s been seen, it’s been done, and most of the DMs working with you have the t-shirt. And let’s not do the tragic elven character who sings of the loss of his homeland or rebels against The Retreat.

You are just as common as any other WOW player yapping doglike for “LF1M 4 HFC”. No difference, yours just has a veneer of some sort of brain having to think of all this convoluted shit.

Now, I don’t mind that a character gets developed, has their own personality. The problem comes in when you feel a need to prove in some way that “Izza good roleplayah!”

It’s not funny. It’s not cool. And it certainly doesn’t make your character powerful. I’ve read posts where people have stated “I’m a low-level character, but I roleplay so well that I’m a mover and shaker!”

Poppycock.

You’re never a mover and shaker if a level 10 wizard can take you out with an Ice Storm spell.

Hate to burst your bubble, but might does make right.

Really what my ire boils down to is the dumbing down of adventure, and the loss of the old “dungeon crawl” style of adventuring. You know, the ones that Gary Gygax supported. The ones that Dave Arneson usually DMed. The ones that Ed Greenwood (the founder of your “oh-so-illustrious character) lives in, writes about in every single book he’s done.

Adventuring is what drives characters.

Not trite dialog, not how many people you’ve managed to talk about and certainly not how many people you’ve persuaded to vote for you on a forum.

Deeds speak louder than words.

Then why, of all things, has roleplay as a term become so sullied? Where people who “hunt” become so frowned upon as “powerlevelers”? How come action servers are so looked down upon? Why are “hack n slash” mods noted as a negative?

The inn is a way stop on the road to your character’s development. It’s not where most of the development occurs. If you spend more than 20 minutes of a two-hour NWN session in the inn, seriously – get a life. Play Dungeon Siege or Diablo for a bit, and learn to love finding new places, killing new things, and finding new treasures.

I’m not sure when the term changed. Personally, I think it’s time that the real adventurers took it back.