Warp_Factor

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The number one way I meet RPers is I recruit for teams (or ask for a team) in broadcast while In Character. Then, once on a team, I roleplay my character in the mission amongst my teammates.

When you broadcast for a team in character, all the other RPers in the zone perk up. When you RP on the team, the RPers on your team will join in.

Then once you've found those people, Friend them.

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It also helps to put something indicating that you RP in your comments for the team search function (open your team tab when you're not teamed, and type your comments into the field there). I use it to look for people to fill out TFs fairly regularly and I always go for RPers first if I can find them.

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I also noticed that when some people talk to each other they use their characters "real" name versus their hero name. Is it considered improper to try and use the hero name?

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Not really, it's just like in some modern comic books where some characters call each other by their real names sometimes. In private sometimes JLA members will call Green Lantern Hal (or Kyle, or Jon, or whoever), Batman Bruce, Superman Clark, etc. Some characters have that kind of relationship, some don't. It really depends on the characters.

Ccleaner really is awesome. I also use Malwarebytes, Spybot - Seek and Destroy, and Spyware Blaster, and of course Windows Defender. Keeps my system squeaky clean.

I'd join a quality RP SG. Take your time and make sure you find one you really dig; there are a lot of SGs on Virtue even these days, and there's really no good reason to settle for one that isn't really what you're after. Take your time, check some different groups out, maybe see if you can get in on some teaming and/or RP with the ones that catch your interest in order to see how well you click with them. It's a buyer's market, so to speak, take advantage of that.

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My frustration comes from the RP snobs who think that their way of RP is the ONLY way. I've actually had a person * add emo / goth / vampire sulking freak in a black duster here * ask me "Are you trying to RP me ? If so you must address me by my correct title blah blah blah" ( ok genius, if we're RPing how would I know what your "title" IS if we've never met .. Hmmm??? ) . . . RP is a completely individual thing, like conversation, sure we all do it, but we all have our little twist on it.

Forget for a moment that I've played pen and paper RPGs since the late 70s. Forget that I've played nearly all the major MMOs @ one point or another, the real issue is with CoH in particular.

The types of people that RP in this game are pretty much social deviants as near as I can tell. Virtue in particular is a breeding ground for this type of behavior. I've been playing CoH since closed Beta. The first year was a great time on Virtue. We had HEROES * GASP ! * not vamps and devils and "DETHGAWD" the hero ?!? C'mon.

Half the battle of RP is immersion. It's tough when this game has gone so far from "heroes" that we, who actually play a character that resembles a hero and acts as a hero are the exception, not the rule.

The population is small enough on all the servers that they should just create a Goth server, and allow a free transfer to it for all the folks that think that is what CoH is. I'd love to have my game back.

/rant off

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Sweet irony.

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"Don't be an #@$hole" is a wonderful rule of thumb to go by in all roleplaying interactions. However, what one person deems un-#@$holish may not be the same as another's interpretation. That's where all these strange, almost draconic social sub-rules come into play. A vague guideline of what is, and what is not, #@$holery.

Personally, I think it all boils down to communication. If you're in even the slightest doubt about what your character is doing in terms to the reactions it may elicit in others, then talk to the player or players. Even if you need to call a brief OOC time-out to set boundaries and rules. Though, frankly, if the situation you're creating is going to be that involved, I'd suggest getting a hold of the players you're going to run it with beforehand and laying out the OOC guidelines for IC interaction as a scheduled event for whatever plot you're running.

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I suppose. I definitely agree with you about communication, though it seems kind of strange to me that anyone would even need that explained to them. I think my experience with "the rules" has been very different from most Virtueites, though; I RPed for quite a long time in Everquest and Anarchy Online and a bit in DAoC without even knowing about godmoding and canon breaking and all this other stuff that people seem to worry about a lot here, and that worked out fine, whereas here I've had about as many experiences with jack@#$es abusing "the rules" as I have people I gave half a fig about causing serious problems by refusing to follow them. I have to assume that hasn't been the experience of most folks on this board, given how often this stuff comes up.

I dunno, I can see the points made here but so many of these very complex explanations for how to RP seem to me to boil down to "Don't be an #@$hole".

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There was no doubt that it was going to be abused, but farming is just something that comes with any MMO. People are always gonna find a way to do it. Mark my words, folks will always find a way to farm.

Accept that and just LEAVE ATLAS PARK. Damn ya'll, it's that easy.

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One has to wonder how many people who needed to hear that are going to actually listen.

AE brought me back to the game, actually. I have awesome friends, so I don't really worry about finding pickup teams. I'd recommend doing what I did and making awesome friends. Virtue has it's share of chumps, but it has a ton of great folks playing here. If you aren't meeting people, making friends and getting to know folks you might like to play with in the future, you're really passing on the main strength that Virtue has as a server community.

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It becomes unsimplified, Grae, when you RP with someone on a regular basis and this sort of thing happens.

Now before I go any further, I do NOT RP with these people.

It's one of the major reasons I don't RP with them.

However. Let's say I'm in a deep RP plot with someone and that comes up as part of the plot?

How do I go about ignoring it? Do I forget the entire plot? Do I stop RPing with them?

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Yeah, you forget the entire plot and stop RPing with them. And kick yourself in the [censored] for having such crap judgement when it comes to RP partners. That said, it hasn't happened to you yet. Maybe you shouldn't worry so much about what some random goons want to RP. This isn't a community-wide crisis, this is a couple wankers who may or may not just be trying to stir something up. It's not something to get upset about.

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He was playing the game within the confines of the rules. That was a large part of his experiment.

If players in PvP weren't supposed to be droned or TP'd into NPC's for insta-gib, then TP Foe wouldn't work on them. It does. Therefore he was just "playing the game". The same defense that so very many AE 1-50 in an hour farm exploiters used.

I'm just saying.

Socially, what he did is objectionable. However, it was well within the bounds of game rules. You don't like it is all.

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Incorrect. TP Foe works on players because it has legitimate uses, but porting people into drones isn't one of them. It's just something you can't flatly ban because it's too difficult to police. The devs have said many times that repeatedly teleporting someone into guards is considered harrassment and can get you banned if you're stupid enough to get caught doing it, and it's very clear from the lack of credit for those kills that it isn't considered normal PvP behavior. I'm pretty sure I remember a dev flat-out saying back in the day that the only reason it's not flat-out forbidden is that there's no reasonably workable way to police it, but my memory's not clear enough to be 100% sure. In any case, his flat-out unqualified claim to be playing completely within the rules, according to the devs' intent, is obviously false and misleading to non-CoHers who don't actually know anything about the game. The guy's a dishonest [censored].

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Yellow Ice Tanker. No jokes about yellow snow here. Anybody ever see the old 1980s version of Dune with David Lynch as the director? You know when Paul is training with Gurney and they're using that weird force field? That's my plans for ice armor. It's going to be an awesome issue...

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Now we just need a version of poison for tankers. Then I can roll The Yellow Snowman and be at peace with the world. Small children will sing of his heroic glory. You'll see. You'll all see. I'll show you.

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Regular humans are boring

Also, Guardian Angels has a catgirl now, I think.

And a Raccoon Girl...

And a Bat Girl (me)

So yeah..

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We've got three catgirls at this point, actually. Though I'm pretty sure none of them are "kawaii" or whatever. Though I guess if they were... tough.

And a QR to those who seem very worried about the big, bad "realistic" RPers raining on their parade for whatever reason. I won't presume to speak for anyone else on this thread, as I forget who was saying what. But I don't think I've ever witnessed anyone who wasn't an obvious griefer or moron give anyone a hard time about not being "realistic" enough. Almost no one on this server really gives a damn what kind of character you want to play so long as you treat other RPers with respect and don't try to shove your personal tastes down their throats or otherwise be a disruptive pain in the neck. There will always be a small handful of big mouths who'd like to convince you otherwise. It's reactionary hype, don't buy it.

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Those of us who enjoy some aspect of realism in our superhero stories haven't been convinced by now, and you probably aren't going to be the extra-special person to do it.

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Similarly, not everyone is convinced that "realism" equates to pessimism, grittiness, emo & angst, and lack of hope. Calling the other styles of play silly and childish doesn't do much work, either.

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Please quote for me where someone said anything along those lines on this thread, prior to your bringing it up.

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I also get annoyed when people think we haven't all heard the "It's a superhero game, there's laser eyes, it can't be realistic!" argument before. News flash, kids: you aren't saying anything a hundred plus people haven't already said, and they probably said it better than you did. Those of us who enjoy some aspect of realism in our superhero stories haven't been convinced by now, and you probably aren't going to be the extra-special person to do it.

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Hence:

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I have heard this argument so many times... It never holds water, one way or another.

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P.S.: To the OP. There are, indeed, such supergroups. I have one, for instance.

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Just to clarify, I wasn't disagreeing with you. We're on the same page, here.

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I actually want to see if a power like repulsion bubble or TK will prevent the repairmen from healing, so I'd like to do a run (not necessarily master) tonight if enough people are free =)

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It will keep them from healing the tower you're currently working on. However, they'll tend to run to other towers you've already destroyed and rebuild them. Singularity seems to work better than other similar powers, as it gives them a mob to aggro on and run back to rather than running off to rebuild other towers.

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I get annoyed when people dismiss realism in comics out of hand just because people in comics do unrealistic things. One always has to look at realism with the rules of that "reality" in mind.

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I also get annoyed when people think we haven't all heard the "It's a superhero game, there's laser eyes, it can't be realistic!" argument before. News flash, kids: you aren't saying anything a hundred plus people haven't already said, and they probably said it better than you did. Those of us who enjoy some aspect of realism in our superhero stories haven't been convinced by now, and you probably aren't going to be the extra-special person to do it.

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I join a Supergroup; nice people, I enjoy them, but they are all running around in 50s I cannot play with.

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You may need to find a new supergroup. I'm sure the people you're rolling with are lovely people, but this is your game time and your $15/month that you're spending. It sounds like you like your SGmates a lot, so maybe it's worth bringing the subject up, tactfully, let them know you'd like to team with the SG more and that maybe some lower level TF activities would be pretty awesome. In the end, if they are simply unable to provide what you are looking for in an SG, it may be time for a friendly departure. Shoot your SG leader or an officer a tell and ask to talk about it, without getting overly aggressive or throwing down any ultimatums, and see what you can work out with them. If they're worth their salt they'll at least listen.

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Ok, Im suprised no one mentioned this one..How about Killer Whale!! Come on, that guy is a classic! Anytime you interacted with him it was so memorable.

And where has he been?

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ohh yes, what ever happened to him

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He was really upset about the in-game advertising and left the game. Too bad, he was pretty much awesome on a stick.

If SCORPIO doesn't pan out for you, give the Guardian Angels a look if you like. Though it does sound like they might be closer to what you're looking for, so good luck with 'em. I don't know any of them but their concept is very cool.

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I'm guessing he would mean more realistic in the sense of X-Men, Watchmen, etc... Groups where the heroes aren't all perfect, shiny, happy, friendly and instead have drama, problems, bothersome ticks and shades of grey...


Just a guess.

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Seems to me to be a pretty safe assumption, given the types of SG he ruled out.

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Interestingly, I'm a big fan of the correct use of words.

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Even more interestingly, the irony of this statement is about to become abundantly clear.

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Smurch is one of the few people I've seen use the word "pedorasty" instead of the trendy, catch-all, oft-incorrectly used term "pedophilia."

Unfortunately, he used it in entirely the wrong context.

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First off, the word is "pederasty' not "pedorasty". The correct use of words does in fact include spelling them correctly.

Actually I didn't use the term "pederasty". I used the term "pseudo-pederasty". Since we're playing the Mister Pedantic Dictionary game, the term "pseudo" means "approaching, almost, but not exactly" or "pretended" or "unreal".

In other words, pseudo-pederasty is pretended sex with a minor. Which means I used the term "pseudo-pederasty" exactly in the correct context, thank you very much.

Next time you want to lecture someone on the proper use of a word you might want to read more carefully and check your spelling. It's very hard to play the know-it-all when you manage to get it wrong on both counts.

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Two things.

1) By your own definition, the sort of accidental ERP with a minor is not "pseudo-pederasty", as it does not involve pretend sex with a minor. It involves pretend sex with an individual who probably isn't a minor (yes, I know people on this server have made up very young characters and tried to use them for ERP, but I strongly doubt that's the norm) , but who in the vast majority of cases probably is not, but where the other player involved may be a minor without one's knowledge. If you're pretending to be an adult having sex with another adult, the age of the person playing that other adult has nothing to do with what you are imagining. Therefore, by your own definition, not pseudo-pederasty, no matter how you spell it.

2) Given the benefit of the doubt some of us have given you with regards to how you characterize people who don't agree with you (Fernandes, specifically), you might consider extending similar courtesy to those who make such petty errors are misspelling a word.

Incedentally, my question about what people expect to have happen in a public RP space wasn't directed specifically at Smurch, I'm curious as to what other proponents of a designated public RP area think.

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Hence the out I left myself, "or people think they aren't there". I haven't spent a lot of time there since coming back to the game, but the complaints about it are the same old stuff. Some things never change, I guess.

Your point about being bored with the RP that goes on there, though, interests me. I wonder, what exactly do people who want a public RP space think that they want to do there? What exactly is supposed to go on? My character going out for a couple drinks or just to hang out at a club is something I can relate to, it's something a real person would do.

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It is, in fact, something I do regularly in real life. I don't generally get to be a supervillain in real life (as much as I try). I don't understand why I'd want to spend time roleplaying perfectly normal every day activities I already do with actual real live people.

I expect RP to revolve around stories of some kind. Meet and greet is fine... if it's used to develop or further plots, make allies and enemies, to recap the development of existing plots and stories, and to further the dramatic development of characters involved. RP about small talk subjects is about one hundred times LESS interesting in a game than it is in real life.

They RP about Nothing in Particular. It's frightfully dull.

People talk about the dark corners. If people were using those dark corners to plot to overthrow the world instead of learning to type one-handed, it'd be a much more interesting place to visit.

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Bars and clubs are natural social gathering points.

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Sure. That's not the problem. It's not the venue that's the issue. It's what they do when they get there. Which is, basically, nothing.

You know what's more interesting than nothing? ANYTHING!

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Well, if you can manage to get that kind of RP going in a public forum then more power to you, I'm not one to tell people how they may or may not RP. But obviously a lot of people disagree with you about the banality of casual social RP, and I think you'll find that RPing out world domination plots and so forth in a public forum is going to bring pretty significant problems with it. There's a reason that even guys like Lex Luthor or Doctor Doom tend to talk about these things in private, where random walk-ons can't screw things up for them. The same generally goes for RPers who've put a certain amount of work and creativity and time into their storylines and would like to enjoy them with their friends rather than having some random godmoder or RP cop or other disruptive individual ruin it for them.

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With respec to actual sex? No. With respect to cybersex? Yes, absolutely. And the law which you seem to be so fond of agrees with me.

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Again you fail to grasp my point.

This isn't about the law. I honestly don't know (nor really care) what the law says about that sort of activity.

It's about if it's ethically appropriate or not. Apparently this is an area we disagree. I feel it's irresponsible and unethical for an adult to engage a young teenager in sexual behavior of any kind, including phone sex or cybersex. You apparently do not.

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I'm a bit reluctant to put words in Fernandes' mouth, but keep in mind you guys are talking about a situation in which a) one would presumably be unknowingly cybering an underage person, b) where it's statistically unlikely that you'd wind up in that situation with someone that young (check out any demographic information available about consumers of either comic books or MMOs), and c) not only is it not sex, it's not a sexual fantasy about the actual human beings involved. I would say that it's less like phone sex or actual non-RP cybersex (which involves fantasies that are presumably about the actual human beings) and more like collaborating on slashfic with someone you only know online. Not something I'd call morally praiseworthy, but it's a very, very far cry from an adult and child knowingly and willfully engaging in sexual fantasy about each other.