Ok some basic rules on this post and how you will hopefully respond.RULES for Reply1) I will lay out the discussion point below and that is the only subject of this topic.2) ALL comments will be relevant to the topic.3) ALL comments will be polite and well thought out. No Flaming or other offensive comments or posts - - - Else Cavella no heals you
Setting the scene.You the player have joined SWTOR on an RP server. (This was your choice of server)
As such you are free to interact with others as you see fit as long as you do not break the Offical Terms of Agrreement you all agreed to when you bought the game.
Through the course of playing you decide your character needs to have a story because you want to get involved with the Server RP as your character.
You come up with a storyline , a backstory and a set of objectives that says who you are, what you do, and how you behave in character and want others to see you.
There are no rules controlling this you have free rein to create what you want; so are restricted only by imagination.
You are invited to join; or with a group of fellow players become part of a Guild.
There are now lots of individuals all creating parts of their own little storylines to enjoy the game. the Guild continues to grow
At some point you will get to multiple Guild wide plots involving lots of characters; and still be running indivudual or small group plots as part of and along side each other.
-The Topic comes into play at this point.-Somebody creates or develops a storyline that they want to run with to help develop their story and character, have fun with, or even just help to spread to the guild as a whole. (All of which are what we've joined the game to do.
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The Question that needs to be asked and quite openly is:-
Does, or should that individual story become part of the wider storylines being told or not? How is this to be decided, and who should be involved in deciding what is a "global plot" or an individual "story arc" impacting everybody within the Guild?
To clarify :-
A "Global plot" is similar to the game setting - Years after the sacking of Coruscant etc where the story is open ended. It doesnt expect you to PvP every day or sit RPing on Tython, or questing in FP's etc it is open world sandbox, make it what you will within the setting provided. It defines what we do as a group merely by saying this is SWTOR heres a little bit of history to frame things around. Game On.
A "Story Arc" is what each class completes - a set storyline that does not necessarily impact on how you act within the global plot as a whole, but helps to develop the characters passing through it. You can ask people to get involved on Storyline plot , but you cannot force them to join you.
Which brings us to the crux of this discussion thread.
How going forwards do we decide what RP is accepted as "Global Plot" that we all agree as Lightbearers agreed plot? Should it be decided by a few, with a Master storyteller and team style set up ?, or do we all post ideas and help to develop them all?
How does indivdual "story arc" plot interact with this? More importantly how does "Story-arc" plot get carried out into the big bad world by those involved.
Most importantly of all! How do we develop the system whereby people can interact as a group without stepping on each others gaming experience and enjoy the game we all want to play.
Classic example of this is our RP server itself; where people comment on the naming choice of others when they do not feel it is appropriate. (Thinks L33T speak names that have appeared and soon after vanished)
My purpose here is merely to ask how do we decide overall Guild Plot that we all can call our own and interweave our individual stories into to make them bigger and better; whilst not losing the individual stories we want to tell ourselves.
Its not about setting rules or standards; as that is more like the Real Life that i come here to get away from.
Its about making sure we all get the most from a game that i am certain most of us have been wanting to be in the universe of for many years (I believe i started my <3 of Star Wars back in the 1970's .. yes i am that old
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So then over to you people to discuss.
Cav The Diplomat (And hopefully receiver of cake)