User blog:Elestan Larcalaite/About "roleplaying"

Here's another one of my oversight blogs for those of you who are wise enough to interpret it. Also, I warn you, some of this stuff touches pretty heavily on other things that I might discuss, and it probably won't win me any friends, but here it is:

Now, on most unofficial servers I see pretty much the same kind of roleplay. It's the kind where people nickname themselves characters from LotR and go on "quests", which usually involve exploring, killing some NPCs and some named and enchanted loot at the end, the type of roleplay in which staff give anyone with X alignment control over a faction, even if they're absolute idiots. Basically, it's the type of roleplay where a bunch of people put on costumes, do something that seems fake from every point of view and pretend that they're amazing, even when they're actually below-average players at the game. I don't mean to criticize anyone, but that's how I see it. It's a roleplay which lacks depth completely and one that I personally find utterly boring (I thought that I liked it before, but then realised that I actually was having little fun and that it was only an illusion).

Now, I'm not saying that this kind of roleplay can't work well, I'm just saying it can't work well in Minecraft. But there is another kind of roleplay which does work well, it even has a thriving, though somewhat isolated community. I'm talking about the roleplay on The Official Server. While some of you may argue that this is not roleplay, the term roleplay  itself is very vague and indistinct. Now, on the official server, there are no fancy items that  you get from staff-made events while wearing a costume. No, it's a self-regulating, balanced environment. On this server, the staff only enforce rules, but otherwise don't interfere with roleplay as gods, kings, etc. It's a server in which you make your future with your choices and skills. If you're good at politics, you can rise to become the ruler of a nation. If you're good at building, you can make your estate of great worth and control others like this. On this server, you shape your destiny with only your own skill and determination, not with friendship with a staff member or with doing Y and Z. I think that more servers should be like this, where the server is shaped by the players, not the staff team.

PS: Didn't want to name any names, as that would not be wise for multiple reasons.

PPS: I would love to see more types of roleplay on servers so much, so try please something original and not an overwritten copy server owners.

PPPS: I only made this blog to get people thinking about what they're actually doing on a server, this blog post is not a guideline.