Thread: Turbine Official Roleplaying Rules and Policy

Originally Posted by Harla

I have a brief question regarding naming and name changes:

Is the policy regarding names more directed inthe sense of "That's strictly not in the Lore" or "That's not stricly outside of the Lore"

I ask because there are plenty of character names, especially in the case of, for example, monickers that a character might go by (ie. he might have been named James Cartwight by his parents, but now as an adult gets called Haystack amongst his friends, becasue of a somewhat amusing incident a few years back, and introduces himself as such), which by virtue of being callings rather than names specifically, aren't truly "lore appropriate names" ... but at the same time, when taken with the character's biography, are completely believable and acceptable.

Would Turbine enforce a name change over something like this, if it were reported by a player that didn't consider the character's story along with the name, and/or would turbine view the character's story and other information when making a decision regarding a name?

Or is it more the case where only names that are very flagrantly out of line will be modified?

Also, if a name change occurs and you don't believe that the change was justified, are there any channels to make your case or appeal the decision?

Still no answer given by any offical channel to these quite valid questions, and no formal information regarding this specificity is forthcomming. Can we PLEASE get an answer, since recently I have seen nothing but discontent from virtually every direction regarding names, namee changes, and policy.

Ok i hawe been read of this roleplay,but i dont get what is the diference when u get a roleplay,what are the benefits,why shoud i play a roleplay,can Admin explain ths,not the rules of violations cos i get the picture,that is what i dont understand,why is roleplay exist if that doesnt make any difference like a regular play????

To answer that question, Bok, you'd need to understand what roleplaying is and why people do it. It's not uique to LotRO, and it's not even unique to -GAMES-.

It's a form of entertainment and enjoyment that you can pursue if you enjoy it, in many different forms, on a wide variety of media. People RP for many reasons, but at the heart of it, it comes back to a simple: becuase they enjoy it.

Take me as an example, if you like: My preferred style of Roleplay is free-form and creative. I tend to gravitate towards written form in forum-based plays, rather than in games. In my mind, ech of my characters exist as fully formed indiiduals with highly detialed lives adn stories, histories, personalities, likes, dislikes, and individual peculiarities, as you might find in any other person you meet or talk to. I enjoy giving htese characters the freedom to live and act and play as they would, and to interract with others who are also so inclined, for the simple enjoyment of telling a story with others... for someone like me, the game is simply a tool that facilitates this form of entertainment I enjoy.

Other RPers prefer more discipline and rule-structure intheir play; characters decisions and choices that must be weighted against a rule system and numbers. People who play DnD, and similar games are a good example of this. They also like to take on and play the character and personalities of their crated characters, but tend to prefer that the elements of gameplay are still in place in some fashion, to keep all players on a certain amount of shared ground.

Most of the RPers who play LotRO tend to fall closer to my end of the spectrum: they want to see the game simply as a platform to interract and enjoy playing the role and personality of their character, with other people who also enjoy this. To be strictly mechanical about it, no, there is no in-game benefit to roel-playing, no game-mechanical advantage, and indeed, many if not most people who play this game for the RP element aren't too concerned about the hard mechanics of the game itself.


This isn't the place for a full dissetation on what Roleplaying is and why people enjoy it, so I won't derail that far, but, if you're genuinely interested in finding out what it's all about, have a look about some of the other threads here, to being with, and then maybe back it up with some more research of your own. I'm not willing to pass judgement on your behalf, but I'd hazard a guess from the tone of your enquiry that you propbably won't find it to be a thing to your taste... even so, I try not to judge people on face value, so, please, I encouage you to look into it further.

-Harla