Ability to change race/gender?

[eVenom]

Originally Posted by Endrance

Excuse me?

Sorry, must have been in a hurry; usually people understand me even if I make a typo. I meant RPer's do not want to feel boxed into moving or starting over on RP servers simply because people say so. RP servers shouldn't have to be made for a game that is CALLED an mmoRPg. Which also means you don't need to RP at all, which I don't think I have, but the option is there for the freedom.

[Cynthe]

Uh oh derailed teh topic, I apologise :X

But just one more thing, to eVenom there, AoC just went through a slight debacle because Funcom gave EU RP PvE servers and not to the US servers... Thus the US RPers all gathered on one they picked and named it the unofficial RP-PvE server.... So to say RPers don't want their servers... Doesn't add here.

[eVenom]

I didn't exactly say they don't want them, though possibly in AoC that could have been the case. The main problem with that is that there was a cataylst that set it off; I'm wondering if this would happen if there were no RP servers to start with... would complain about having them or not? I can't speak on behalf of them since I know nothing on the subject.

Now that I think of it, Aion would seem more of an RP game then AoC (just looks that way, I could be totally wrong). Anyway, somewhat off topic I guess. My bad for that.

[BahamutKaiser]

I don't think race change is an option, your not allowed to play both Elyos and Asmodian on a single server, your not even allowed to talk to the other side, being able to switch races and naturally factions isn't really feasible. Sex change is really inappropriate IMO, even if there are scientific or magical ways to change gender, I feel like it would take more away from your character in identity rather than adding more in customization.

All hair, size and feature customization is rather invited, as it is easy to change ones taste at some point in the game, and it is very painful to redo an MMO just to recover your status on a different look. If this was a game with allied factions, I wouldn't see a problem with changing races either, but I don't think this is going to involve several races per faction.

Lastly, as an alternative, I suggested a reincarnation type idea for another game which may apply. Instead of trying to change the gender and race of a character, rather to be able to permenantly sacrifice your character and remake another with most of their accomplishments is an option. Without any need to justify race or gender change, your growth and accomplishments can just be passed onto a new character, even with a new name. This is probably the ultimate way to reroll everything wile including a few setbacks and requirements to make it infrequent. But that's...... a really old idea.

[Endrance]

Originally Posted by eVenom

Sorry, must have been in a hurry; usually people understand me even if I make a typo. I meant RPer's do not want to feel boxed into moving or starting over on RP servers simply because people say so. RP servers shouldn't have to be made for a game that is CALLED an mmoRPg. Which also means you don't need to RP at all, which I don't think I have, but the option is there for the freedom.

Then, those people are wrong. It's not mmoRPg, it's mmoRPG - RPG rather like, offline videogame Role Playing Games. There's no serious RPing in most of marketing concepts of current MMORPGs. You can RP whenever, wherever, but that doesn't mean that current MMORPGs follow the path of RPing. Pure RP failed economically, that's why it nearly died out regarding the games developers and publishers (most people rather do it irl). That it's possible to almost always RP in MMORPGs is just a positive side effect for those who like it. But there's way more people looking for "I just wanna play a videogame" than those who want to do real RP and what it's meant to be.

[eVenom]

So this is exactly why Cythne said AoC had a dispute about RP servers, correct? I'm not talking about pure RPing. I agree with you that most just want to play a video game, like myself, but we can't underestimate the people who don't simply look at it that way.

K off topic. I'm still going with the change for everything but race/faction and gender. Staying a certain gender allows you to keep at least a sliver of your former character, so u just need to choose wisely which gender you want at the beginning.

[Endrance]

Originally Posted by eVenom

So this is exactly why Cythne said AoC had a dispute about RP servers, correct? I'm not talking about pure RPing. I agree with you that most just want to play a video game, like myself, but we can't underestimate the people who don't simply look at it that way.

Just call it halfhearted, partly RPing. People do get some of that still though, even events sometimes, even in games without RP servers. But meh, just look at it. There's a reason why there are 50 usual servers and about 1-3 RP servers.

K off topic. I'm still going with the change for everything but race/faction and gender. Staying a certain gender allows you to keep at least a sliver of your former character, so u just need to choose wisely which gender you want at the beginning.

I still want to be able to change my gender, without having to remake my whole character, having to redo everything just because I want my char to look different. With the reincarnation thing the BahamutKaiser guy mentioned, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to. I don't want to be forced to feel unhappy about my characters apperance forever, just because some people would have their illusions about an illusionary social pseudo-world broken up (while this isn't as bad as they're stating anyway). And if people can just change it once in a year, or very rarely in general, they will think twice if they just change cause they're bored, being unable to change back for a long time. Trust me, not many people would actually use that feature in that case.

[eVenom]

Firefox crashed while I was typing >.< /rage

I've never seen a serious hardcore RPer before, so I go with you when it comes to the half hearted RPing stuff.

About character customization: I'm still unsure about gender, but I wouldn't want to be unhappy with my character after a while. I just think there are limits, no real big explanation, lol.

[Endrance]

Many people change their gender irl also and only the stupid people ignore them for that (and yes, I do know that they have more important reasons than I do in a MMORPG >.>). So I meh at people who find appearance and stupid social rules more important than happiness, especially in a game.

[eVenom]

In irl, if you are wealthy and/or control a country, you can bomb people elsewhere if you want, right? You shouldn't, and that's called a limit. But ignore those social rules and limits, like you said. Now, in an mmo, how would the same situation look? It's not 100 accurate, just a quick example, but do you see what I mean? There are limits for a reason, but I also meh at people for alot of cases when it comes to happiness conflicting with rules and limits. But there isn't much we can do.

This case is FAR less tame than that, so lets take a breather. I love blowing things out of proportion. XD
Many games, or in fact, all mmo's I've played do this. So we can't exactly say they are ignoring people who - k I'm done. If you look up, it's just been a tangle of posts. No more posting for me.

[Endrance]

Yea, but about the social rules and limits stuff, this is just the same. People and their subjective feelings are like as if it would be RIDICULOUSLY wrong if someone would change their gender in a game.
"WHAT THE CRAP!? She changed into a man! Now should I stop flirting with this "girl"!? IS IT EVEN A GIRL!? OMGZ0R!"
Yea... whatever.

[Cynthe]

In RL it's quite costly to change one's gender if we are going in that direction then it should be costly in game, and maybe make you do some lengthy 'finding your true self' quest line. Kinda like changing faction in EQ2 is a horrid grind. (well not so much anymore, it used to be)

[Heinel]

Originally Posted by Cynthe

In RL it's quite costly to change one's gender if we are going in that direction then it should be costly in game, and maybe make you do some lengthy 'finding your true self' quest line. Kinda like changing faction in EQ2 is a horrid grind. (well not so much anymore, it used to be)

I do believe that's what Endrance is suggesting.

He merely wanted the possibility, never said anything about getting it handed on a silver platter.

[knite16]

I think that everything (minus sex and race) that you can modify in the initial creation should be changeable. That way you can really have fun with roleplaying:

Change your hair, add a scar after a big battle, add a tattoo..

Heck you could even start your character 3' tall with child-like features and have them "grow up" as you get closer to max level. That would be hardcore roleplaying there.