Thread: Possibility of Other Servers Petitioning for [RE] Designation?

As per the announcement today, Turbine is going to honor the [RP] designations of the three EU servers that had those tags under Codemasters. In addition, Landroval will also be receiving the tag [RE] which means roleplay encouraged.

On Windfola, we have worked hard to build up an RP community essentially from scratch in the past few months. Crickhollow, too, has a smaller but active RP community.

I would like to see the ability for other servers to petition for the [RE] tag. Perhaps set up some qualifications the servers would have to meet in order to get such a tag.

I know it is doubtful, but I would rather not see what I've helped to build deteriorate as people move to the [RP] and [RE] servers and as new RPers go to those servers instead.

Who else is with me on this?
/signed

Lossenelenwen representing the RP kinship Daro a Maetho of Crickhollow. We've got great people on server, people who've been roleplaying forever and people that just started roleplaying after joining our community.

"On Windfola, we have worked hard to build up an RP community essentially from scratch in the past few months. Crickhollow, too, has a smaller but active RP community. "
Amen to that.

/signed

I don't mean to dash hopes, but there are no plans to add additional RE designated servers.

Originally Posted by Sapience

I don't mean to dash hopes, but there are no plans to add additional RE designated servers.

And can you tell us why not? Especially since as you put it in the other thread it is essentially 'changing nothing' with the server itself, so it's not a matter of needing more GMs.

Originally Posted by Cithryth

And can you tell us why not? Especially since as you put it in the other thread it is essentially 'changing nothing' with the server itself, so it's not a matter of needing more GMs.

IMHO - It is because there is a small Role Playing population on all the remaining servers. If Turbine marked your server as [RE], they would need to mark the remaining 13 as [RE]. Marking them all [RE] is the same as having no marks at all.

The only North American server with a large Role Playing population is Landroval.

Originally Posted by Yula_the_Mighty

Marking them all [RE] is the same as having no marks at all.

Which was how it was before they decided to absorb the EU servers, all the servers were RP servers for all intents and purposes. This is what made it possible for there to be strong RP communities on many servers.

Now they have changed their policy and the smaller RP communities will suffer because of it.

I don't see why Turbine can't set up certain parameters that a server could meet in order to gain the [RE] designation. If a server meets the parameters then it proves that they are a large/active enough community to warrant such a tag.

While I understand the concerns here that people on various servers may have, I am curious what sorts of parameters people would suggest for determining RP/RE servers? I know, for the servers not flagged RE this may seem like you took an unfair hit, and even on Landroval, I'm sure people will argue that RE isn't really RP. But I suppose the real question is, how do you quantify that? When you hear people refer to "small but thriving" or "very active", what do those terms mean in hard, quantifiable data? I'm on Landroval and I frequently see the debates of what one person views as RP versus what another does. This person says that the others isn't truly RPing, and so forth. So even the simple question of what is RP can be hard to quantify.

Now, understand, I'm not meaning to offend anyone or downplay anyone's concerns here. I happily acknowledge that every person has their own view on what makes good RP, and I applaud and salute all those of you, on any server, who are trying to bring RP of all styles and quality to the game. But when asking that a server be designated RP/RE, I'd like to know people's thoughts on how Turbine would even determine that. Sure, Turbine could probably track how many people percentage wise on a server have their RP flag on, or fill out a bio tab, but many RPers don't use the bio tab (many threads on that elsewhere) and many people with their RP flag on aren't RPers or playing IC. Would you suggest that they go off of the big events held on the server? Then you have to ask, what is a more in depth RP server, the one where 10% of the player base RP, but rarely if ever do you see large server wide RP events, or a server where these large events are held every month/week/whatever, but only 1% of the players actually RP? You see, its not that easy of a thing to quantify.

I suppose this is all simply an exercise in futility, mind you, since Turbine has already made their position clear. And Sapience, thank you kindly for your fast response on that. You did help clear up Turbine's position and I think I understand that position now. I won't suggest to speak for Turbine or imply that I know why they did make the decission, but it seems it was more a matter of maintaining the existing status quo than anything else. If I'm worng or misleading here, Sapience, please do correct me. But perhaps as food for thought, folks could add a suggestion or two here, and maybe things will change in the future. So, I put it out to all you RPers on every server: How would you suggest Turbine quantify the distinction between non-RP, RE, and RP servers?

Crickhollow is widely known as the RP server of the new servers established with the move to F2P., and I think I speak for the entire roleplaying community on Crickhollow when I say that we deserve a [RE] designation. Crickhollow is the home to North American roleplayers who do not want to be stuck in Landroval, which over the years has developed a very strong hierarchical roleplay society. From what I have read and heard from other players, it is difficult for new players and RPers to roleplay on Landroval as most RP is heavy and occurs among higher-level players that have been here for a long time. Crickhollow caters to the new RP player base that has arrived since the start of Free-to-Play, and accommodates casual- to heavy- roleplayers of all ranges of level and experience. We have a strong roleplaying community and many roleplayers new to LotRO, or players who wish to try roleplaying for the first time, come to Crickhollow and call Crickhollow home. For these reasons, Crickhollow deserves a [RE] designation as much as Landroval does.

Landroval is getting an RE designation? This is the best news I've heard since the game released. I may just throw away all those TPs spent on quest packs and reup my sub. ESPECIALLY if they actually allow us to transfer our characters to one of the official RP servers.

Although I share your concerns Cithryth - having read Turbines policies of their Roleplay Policies they are about to enforce, it seems to me that as long as people are made aware that there are Roleplaying kinships on all servers, it would not be detriment to RP Communities in those servers.

Within my Kinship there is a semi casual approach to Roleplaying, allowing players to be OOC and RPing when they choose, without having to look over their shoulders to see if what they say is within the RP Code of Conduct publically.

The unfortunate situation is for those kinships that have encourage RP from the moment of login, in that case - they would be the real losers from these changes.

I would actually suggest that removing RE entirely would be beneficial, rather than having a middle ground whereby its percieved Landroval has stronger RP communities than other RP communities in other servers. Size in this case shouldnt matter, since the strength of an RP Community is dependant on its RPrs, and not how many thousands or hundreds of RPrs there are.

With the RP designation, I can appreciate Turbine being one of the few MMOs to provide an in character world whereby everyone adheres to this utopia. Good luck trying to police it though.