User blog comment:Elestan Larcalaite/About "roleplaying"/@comment-26172435-20160224141944

Aye. I recognize this a lot. I prefer the totally immersive and strict type of roleplay, where a player assumes the role of a fictional, non-lore-existing character. Given the gameplay and server environment and restrictions, the player develops his character and the character's relationships and shapes his own destiny. I detest preset roles and players just claiming some title or lore-based character position and/or role without working for it / earning it. Same for any fourth-wall-breaking by staff: no gifts or 'lore items' for me, just strict survival.

On our servers @ DawnFire Realms we adopted this view on strict roleplay and also ensured all server features were supporting, and not contradicting, these roleplay objectives. The only LOTR server I found that approaches the environment I prefer is hARDA, with Dawn of the Ring as a good runner up.

What I'm still missing are three main elements:


 * Character development: meaningful choices of strategy, tactics, weapons and armour, and character driven specialization by conbversion of acquired experience. I believe that should be incorporated in the mod, as it involves the conversion of experience orbs and the announced revamp of the enchantment system. I already posted a number of suggestions on that (which got all bluntly removed in some pointless forum cleanout, despite sufficient kudo's ... yeah ... my personal frustration here), which I comprised in one overview section on my profile page. So, again, here's the link to the entire system: Advanced RPG System.


 * Roleplay, in- and out-of-character, chat. I haven't seen any server providing a chat system that separates IC from OOC chat. Ideally, this also ensures that IGN is visible in OOC chat channels and a character or nick name is visible in any IC channel. At DFR we use TownyChat for this purpose and this works very well, apart from the fact that we consider private long-distance calls (/msg) as OOC communication, while the plugin automatically uses the nickname for that channel. We also adopted a postal service for in-character letters, which also contributes to the immersive roleplay communication.
 * Meaningful knockouts. When a players health reaches zero, he 'minecraft dies', which simply means he is recovered in a split second and can live on, either with or without loss of items and/or acquired experience. This is silly and therefore I figured out alternatives to ensure 'knockouts' are meaningful and immersive ... and the pain of defeat makes players think twice before they engage in any combat. I already posted a few remarks on this in some threads. If anyone feels like discussing this ... shoot.