CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

Roleplaying ... a major part of Tibia, yet still a part which is overlooked by much more than half of the Tibian population. If you dared to step into Frodo’s pub, looking for a nice drink and maybe a chat with fellow adventurers, wondering about the recent monster sightings or the unusual weather, would you expect them to greet you with open arms - engaging thoroughly in a long lasting conversation, or would you expect them to call you a ‘noob’, or something of the sort?

Most players would say the latter, which is unfortunately true. Not many people are left in Tibia who love to roleplay, and even less who actually carry on with the art in-game all the time.

Many claim that roleplaying is a dying art, only for the ‘wannabes’ and the ‘oldies’. Others say that there is simply no point in doing it when you could be gaining levels instead. And others even dare to say that all roleplayers are people without ‘real lives’, and that they deserve to be shunned from society.

What many people don’t seem to understand is that once you begin to roleplay, and once you began to enter your character, you can play the game in ways which you never knew were possible, because once you begin to roleplay the possibilities are simply endless.

When you are roleplaying you enter a land of adventures, wonders and monsters. Not just monsters which are good to train on and provide great EXP, but monsters which may guard secret treasures of a long lost kingdom, or monsters which have crawled down from the terrible abyss whom seek to cause terror upon all who dare defy them.

Once you begin roleplaying, instead of seeing a journey from Venore to Thais to sell some loot - simple and quick, it will become a whole much more. You will have to pay for the supplies, though it will all be worth it because you have plans to haggle with the shop keepers and return home with a hefty sum.

When you roleplay, there is more than the simple game features. There are more than skills, equipment and stamina. There are adventures, your reputation, dangers, thrills and much more.

CHAPTER II: SIMPLE STEPS TO ROLEPLAYING
(Note: The below steps are not musts for roleplaying. They are only simple guidelines which you can choose to either follow or ignore. Some of them will also be explained in greater detail throughout the article.)

First Step: What’s your story?
It is important to give your character a story and a background. Is it a he or a she? A human or an elf? Make sure you know what your character is in all aspects; how your character behaves, its likes and dislikes…. everything!

For example, if one day you are in the streets of Carlin shouting “Giving things for the poor! Come and get them!” and then the next day you are in Carlin shouting “Give me all your items! I shall rule you all!” This doesn’t really make much sense, because you are behaving completely different in the time span of two days.

When you roleplay, you want to make sure your character is consistent. Of course, over time he or she may change. But generally it should act the same way, and at least not change completely over a single day… though there are exceptions.

It is also good to have a small background story for your character, if not a huge one. Things like where your character is from, its history, appearance, etc. are usually included.

Second Step: What is this ‘lol’ you speak of?
When you roleplay, you are your character, not someone at the computer, but your character. When roleplaying, instead of saying something along the lines of “LOL!!1!!11! come here qik gonna pk sum low lvl noob come help :D” you would say something like “To me, to me my dearest brother! I see an inexperienced adventurer just over the horizon and I know thy soul hungers for blood.”

Of course you do not always have to speak in words such as thy, thee or other old English words which are not even used in real conversation in the real world. You can choose how your character speaks, whether it is like this: “Thy golden armor shines in brilliance as the morning dew drips from the leaves.” Or whether it is like this: “Wow, your golden armor is shiny!” Both can be considered as roleplaying as long as you remain in character.

Third Step: Guilds
Guilds can play a humongous role in the world of roleplaying. Not only do guilds offer you chances to go on big hunts, quests or even wars (which can all fall under the category of roleplaying,) but you can also create a tight group of Tibia players who you can have fun with.

Through the Tibian worlds there are a small handful of guilds who are entirely, or partly, dedicated to the art of roleplaying. It is in these guilds where roleplayers can come together. Roleplaying guilds go on hunts and quests together, they hold or participate in a lot of events, and everything else that you would do in a normal guild.

Though a guild does not have to be dedicated to roleplaying to have a sense of roleplaying about it, though roleplaying guilds may function a bit differently from non-roleplaying guilds. For example, guilds dedicated to roleplaying generally hold more events, competitions, or anything community-based than guilds which aren’t dedicated to roleplaying. Of course, this is only a generalization and is not always the case.

When you are in a guild, there is a whole new world (not in a literal sense) involved. Maybe someone has insulted or attacked a guild member? Your entire guild may be angry, and may decide to hunt down the Tibian to teach him a lesson!

Different guilds also other different opportunities; you may join an assassins guild where you make a living by hunting down other people for gold. Or maybe you would like to join a guild which loves Port Hope and is permanently based there.

Your guild may also have a reputation, whether it is good or bad. Usually guilds gain these by their acts. Your guild could be dedicated to helping others, so people throughout the world will know them as a kind guild. On the other hand your guild may kill others for fun which will greatly decrease your reputation.

Fourth Step: Would I do this?
You always have to remember what your character stands for, what his or her principles are. What are your characters beliefs, thoughts, likes and dislikes? If your character is a noble knight who stands up for the free people, then your character will generally always be like that. If this is your type of character, instead of helping another character help kill an innocent citizen, you would turn on the attacker and make sure he or she is punished accordingly!

But! If your character is a dark sorcerer who follows Zathroth and practices in the dark arts of magic, you would kill the victim being attacked… and then turn on the original attack! You would pillage villages, murder others in the dead of night and steal whenever something shiny caught your attention.

Whichever type of character you are, it is always important that you stick with it as much as possible. This can create a whole new important dimension to roleplaying. Otherwise, there is no point in saying you have a character… since it will be changing constantly!

Fifth Step: Religious Standpoint
In the lands of Tibia the religions from real life do not exist, though there are the gods of Tibia (Zathroth, Uman, Fardos, Tibiasula, Durin, etc.) It is a good idea to know what religion view your character has. They may believe in multiple gods or none at all!

Generally Elves do not believe in the Dwarven gods, humans do not believe in the Elven gods, etc. But that’s only in general; your character may be human but believes in the Dwarf gods! Maybe because he or she was brought up in a Dwarven household… or they just simply believed!

Sixth Step: Collecting
Does your character have any specific item, type of item, etc. that he or she loves to collect? Maybe they collect all sorts of herbs, mushrooms, weapons, armors or special parts of creatures which they have preserved.

If your character has a particular fascination for mushrooms, they may wake up very early in the morning and scavenge around for them, hoping to find a new and exciting specimen. They may even travel across the entire continent looking for them, or buy extremely rare ones for extremely large amounts of gold.

Not only does this build your character’s… well, character, but it can also add many more opportunities for in-game roleplaying which you may not have had (or noticed) before.

Seventh Step: Exploration
A big part of Tibia is exploring, finding out what lies behind the next corner. There is no point in ruining the game for yourself by going to sites and finding out where everything is with a click of your mouse. Explore for yourself! Find what hidden dungeons have to hold and which way is the quickest to Kazordoon.

Some argue that the mini-map helps to diminish the sense of roleplaying when exploring. Though try to see it as a map inside your head or a parchment which you draw on whenever you travel to new areas.

Eight Step: Events, lotteries, parties, etc.
Events, lotteries, parties and things of the sort all play BIG parts in the world of Tibia roleplaying. If your birthday is coming around, why not have a birthday part with food and games. Invite your friends… invite anybody! Make it a big event or make it a small one. It’s entirely your choice.

If you have a large pile of equipment, weapons, magical items or other things rotting inside your depot, why not hold a lottery and make them the prizes? You can build your reputation while also making a little bit of profit on the side.

The list of events which you can hold is practically endless. You could hold a sporting tournament of some sort, a drunken race, a treasure hunt, a riddle competition, a poetry contest, a humour show, a play… anything!



Ninth Step: Speaking with NPC’s
When speaking with NPC’s, do not say the usual words such as “Hi, shovel, yes”, but actually speak as you would expect your character to speak, like this: “Greetings! I would like to know what my balance is. Thank you, goodbye!”

This adds a whole new dimension to roleplaying because it is like the NPC’s are actually real people! Of course, this is not always possible, especially if you are in a rush. Though it doesn’t hurt to do it every now and then.

Tenth Step: Quests
When venturing on quests, you may find it more enjoyable to not always look them up on sites like TibiaWiki where you can learn how to complete them from start to finish. It can often be fun to find them yourself and try completing them without any aid from sites. Even if this means asking other players, because that can also fit under roleplaying. They may have been in the area before, and so they could lend you some advice.

Eleventh Step: Shaping a Legacy
Only you and you alone can shape your legacy, your story, your legend. When people see you they will run away in fear because you are a famed followed of Zathroth who seeks to crush all who oppose him. Or they may come running to you, begging for help because there is a dragon roaming wildly just outside Thais.

It is, in a sense, your choice of how people to react to you. It all depends on how you treat others in the game and how you, your character, acts.

CHAPTER III: ROLEPLAYING BOARD

Not everybody finds roleplaying within the game as their thing, though they do love to write and meet up with other roleplayers. If that is you then the Roleplaying Board is most definitely the place to be.

On the roleplaying boards there are many different story threads, some for you to read and some for you to write in with other players. You can also organize in-game events, chat… really anything!

Below is a list of the types of ‘Writing’ threads which you may find.

Read Only:
Read Only stories are stories which people write for others to read. You are generally allowed to comment on them, though sometimes the author may not want any comments until a certain date, amount of posts, etc.

Join-Ins:
A Join-In is an interactive story where several people interact with each other from their characters point of view. This happens by writing and posting story-like texts.

Limited Join-Ins:
Limited Join-Ins are Join-Ins which only allow certain people, a certain number of people, or a completely different criteria, to join.

OoC:
OoC threads are where you can discuss the story, plan future events in the story, etc. without interrupting the actual story. Generally one Join-In or Limited Join-In will also have an OoC thread to go along with it.

Free Roam:
Free Roam stories are Join-Ins where anyone can do practically anything they want. They can kill kings, take over empires, whatever!

Recruitment:
Recruitment threads are where you can sign up for a Join-In or a Limited Join-In which has not been opened yet. You usually give some information on the character you are going to be using in these as well. After the story is up, they are generally turned into OoC threads.

Of course, there are many different types of threads as well. These are just the types of threads used when writing, and there may also be other variations.

CHAPTER IV: Polls

Two polls were sent out to all corners of the Tibia community asking two questions. The first poll asked whether you thought roleplaying was dead. The second poll asked players if they themselves were roleplayers. Here are the results.

Poll 1:
Do you think Roleplaying is 'dead' in Tibia?

a) Yes, nobody roleplays.
2

b) Nearly, its hard to find roleplayers.
50

c) I still see a few roleplayers around.
18

d) No, I always see roleplayers in Tibia.
0

By looking at this poll it is easy to see that the greater majority of people think that roleplaying is quite hard to find in Tibia; though eighteen people voted that they still saw some roleplayers around occasionally.

Poll 2:
Are you a roleplayer?

a) Yes, I always roleplay!
11

b) A bit, I roleplay every now and then.
40

c) Not really, maybe if I have nothing else to do.
12

d) No, I haven't ever roleplayed.
7

By looking at this poll, we can see some people roleplay full time and a large amount of people like to roleplay every now and then. Twelve people said they don’t really roleplay unless they have nothing else to do, and seven people had never even roleplayed before.

CHAPTER V: Interviews

Five interview questions were sent out to the Tibian roleplaying community, available for anyone to answer them. Below are the answers.
(WARNING: This next part is quite long… though it is recommended reading!)


Xellos the Slayer – Rubera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
Roleplaying in Tibia? It's nearly unheard of! Whenever I happen to mention a roleplaying board in game-chat, I more than often recieve odd responses from confused players asking what amounts to "There's a roleplaying board?"

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
Occasionally. I recall Rubera's attitudes to be strongly against roleplaying. Non-pvp worlds like Calmera, on the other hand, have greeted me with a lighter touch in said field, as most people accepted roleplaying as a part of Tibia. That's not to say I didn't end up on a dozen or so ignore lists in both worlds though. A Gamemaster, at one point, actually asked why I was wasting time speaking in quotes and whatnot. Forced to break character for a private message, I asked why he was wasting time instead of looking for cheaters. ((Wink))

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
Roleplaying in Tibia is actually quite easy. It's a bit hard to convey emotions because of our still sprites, but because of the game's simplicity, many more ideas can be gone about.

Heck, I remember inventing Tibian baseball and forming teams on Rubera. Hint: A good tactic is to tell a member of the opposing team to "Drink the manafluid and haste, quick!" only to give them a vial of wine; they'll often find themselves too drunk to make it to first base, heh. Because of the simplicity of Tibia, it's not difficult to find ways to entertain oneself.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
Stories, stories, stories. I always had an interest in well written stories of certain books, games, and movies, and wanted to write them someday. If I've lived up to that or not is a judgement call, but I hope to get even better as time goes by.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Though roleplaying is generally easy, one thing always always gets in the way and refuses to budge: levels!
How is a person supposed to roleplay when something like "Experience" exists? How am I to roleplay if eighty percent of my time is spent off in a mountain killing cyclopses for some unknown reason?

I've heard many people suggest a "Half-EXP" server for roleplayers, which, I suppose, goes by the logic that no greedy, murderous, powergaming, hunting-for-no-reason players would find little point in going to. I say this logic is flawed; no matter how little exp a person gets, there will always be someone else out there wanting more of it, and roleplaying is the last thing on that person's mind.

I've always wanted a server completely devoid of levels. If people want skills, let them train. If they want more mana or health, let them go on specialized vocation quests that will increase their maximum stats.

Let us become carpenters, smiths, bards and jesters if we so see fit. Only when levels are eliminated entirely will a truly roleplaying server be made.

With little reason to hunt, more people would spend time inside the city commuting with others, learning of quests, writing books, and perfecting their trade. In such a server without levels, reputation would matter more than anything. That is the kind of world I would enjoy.


Kent the Sorcerer – Nova
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
What is my opinion on roleplaying in the present day Tibia? That is difficult to explain. Those that are extremely dedicated like I am, they are great to a fault, except that I am not great, and I hardly log into the game. But like all things. they tend to become less popular over time.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
Only from the voices. I tend to ignore them now.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
It can be troublesome, when trying to answer someone why you will not give them things or buy their items while trying to roleplay at the same time.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
My first inspiration to roleplay, that came from my brother, when he was roleplaying on here. He quit the forums soon after I started. But Xellos was my real inspiration.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Tibia is no longer a game that makes it easy to roleplay. There are those that annoy you, those that do things to stop you, and all the other troubles. It may have been easy at the start, but it no longer is.


Sarius Vanor - Luminera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
ZOMG MENS WAT ISH DAT?!?!11!!?!?!one!!'?!

I think the above sentence pretty much says it all. I've met a few people that will "role play along", so to speak. but only a few. As the tomb in a certain cave says; "Here lies the Role Play part of this game. We will miss you!"

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
Well, sometimes. Once I was "interviewing" (a.k.a., teasing and insulting) Sam, the Thais smith. Somebody started calling me an idiot for arguing with an NPC, and "explaining" (very rudely, mind you) that that guy wasn't a player...

Once, on Luminera, some people were bragging about their 250, 300 posts... So, just for fun, I posted my 1000+ post count. First I got called a freak. Then I said it was thanks to writing here in the "RP board". And someone asked: "Do they still have that?" According to this man, he once wrote, I don't remember about what, but he wrote something, and says he got flamed here on the forum. I think it's backwards, really. We flame more people than we get flamed from, at times.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
To roleplay in itself, no. But I do encounter a few troublesome things. First, I started off as a regular player, speaking with abbreviations, terms, and whatnot. I discovered this board until 6 months after I started playing, so that habit pretty much stuck with me.

Another is writing speed. One can't deny it's a lot easier and faster to say "aff, a gs almost owned me" than saying "<pants> A giant spider! I thought I was dead!", and both convey the same idea. Pragmatically, the former is best, but as for role play, the latter. Also, you're surrounded by dozens of people that don't role play, and that can make it a tad hard at times. I admit I slip at times.

Besides, as Xellos said, hunting. Maybe I can justify going on a Cyclops genocide sprint, I don't know with what, but I might. But tell me, how do we justify going to the outlaw camp explicitly intent on manslaughter? Or hunting amazons and Valkyries? I find it hard to explain.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
I read the TibiaNews article on how to role play in Tibia, and liked it.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Well, I kind of explained it in that other question, but I'll elaborate a bit more. Basically, it's the lack of realism. We eat raw food, for example. You don't do that in other games such as Ar-Ess. Another nice example, from Julien Brightside's "The Search for a Cure", is when he said: "if you're a 9 foot long worm with huge teeth, a little parcel isn't going to stop you". They don't even have to chew them apart (though those worms will eat anything - just look as what they drop!); many people aren't aware that we only see their upper body. All they have to do is duck down and dig below whatever obstacle is in their path.

Those kinds of little details (such as another I said about fruit juices in my proposal "Add more Flavor to the Game", in which a blueberry -a single blueberry- gives you the same amount and color of juice as an apple or an orange), which for some may be trivial, really make a game a better experience. Sadly, CIPsoft seems to care more for their Powergaming players than we few that actually want to keep the RP part of MMORPG alive.


Kyrt Malthorn - Solera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
Deteriorating. Sick and dying. There aren't enough roel players who live it out even in their Tibia playing. I know some good role players that go back to play the game and you'd never know they role played. I at least try using real English, and if I'm having a good day I'll act my character and talk in a fantasy style. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against smilies and acronyms, I use them myself sometimes.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
Well the last serious in game role playing I did scared off some people from the underground bar in Carlin, all my friends were high level.

In general, I get a lot of people misunderstanding me, not realizing why I just like to do seemingly useless things... Like stand around and do nothing. My favorite activity when posting on the forums.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
Troublesome? Rather. I never level, my characters don't fight a whole lot unless they are on an adventure. And I don't like Tibia's quests. They're too systematic, there's no creativity involved.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
Let's see... I think it was me being bored and making up a story about where my Tibia character came from. That became my background, also, for most of the rest of my Tibia characters, and my friend informed me what I was doing was called "Role playing" and I should try the forums.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Goes both ways.
Ease of Role Play:
1) There are lots of real people out there, not just computers spouting preprogrammed stuff. Makes a real-world-like dynamic.
2) There are stories, histories, and the like that inspire one to dream...

Difficulties:
1) Quests aren't very situational and never change, and don't require much creativity to solve.
2) Too many people just don't act at all like they are in a fantasy setting, which destroys the fantasy mood and makes it all seem so cheesy.
3) Vocation restrictions limit character possibilities. I can't always cram my characters into one of the four. But thats a minor worry. The four cover most of the basic bases: melee, distance, and two varieties of mage.


Sakura Taisen Sayomi - Luminera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
Roleplaying in present day Tibia is a dying art, from what I can. Not many seem to like Roleplaying or just enjoying a good chat or two, though I'm one to talk.

Honestly, I do see roleplaying in Tibia going downhill really fast toward no longer existing. I've actually recently started my roleplaying here in the Tibia Community Roleplaying Boards just this past summer.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
Lots of it, some even go off and start speaking non-sense. Though it is usually those who rather follow a herd of the popular, rather than being an individual.

I took up Roleplaying for enjoyment of reading stories and letting my wild ideals loose for a change.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
I certainly do see it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia. Too many Roleplaying haters and spammers, who take some weird twisted joy into going into a Roleplay and then thrashing it with their junk posts.

It is sad seeing this, since they really don't understand the pains or how much thought the authors of the roleplay put into their work. The Spammers just waltz in and amuse themselves by causing trouble for others. Regardless of their real ages, such acts only show how little they are mature socially.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
Lol tough question. -thinks about it- Well if I had to make a wild guess. It was reading fantasy books and playing video games with my friends and those close to me. I was actually a bit scared to post in the join in of the Roleplaying Forums when I first started Tibia.

As I was playing Tibia as a free accountant, my premium friends would tell me the sights and things they saw in the premium only areas, and funny enough I would imagine how they would look like and what fun I would have simply roaming those areas.

I later on tried my hand into the Roleplaying Forums, and before I knew it, I was into it hehehe. I dare say this could help me with my typing and English skills. To sum this sum this whole thing up, my friends unintentionally inspired me to roleplay since I like day dreaming and having the kind of fun, I won't be able to experience in real life.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Ehhh that is a double way answer question. I think Tibia works both ways, but it mostly depends on the players' intentions to play the game.

There are too many varieties of players that Roleplaying is just one factor to the game. Some merely play to amuse themselves or their peers. Others play to show off or kill time for some reason.

Then there are those who like to experience new things, I started to play this game because it some what caught my attention. Then before I knew it, I got into it. I made valuable friends both in game and in the roleplaying side of it.

What makes roleplaying harder though, is that there are players who play for the competition of the game and see roleplaying as what they would call, "a thread for people with no lives." Those players are simply put nothing more than narrow minded individuals who have nothing more than simply comment on others and not look in the mirror.


Sunshot - Honera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?

It's dwindled over the years. I'm not sure exactly what characters hope to achieve from extreme leveling. I've seen it too often, those who want power loose sight of the fun part of the game. After they've decided that "all" quests have been done and they are in the top 10, they quit! Players everywhere just need to slow down and smell the dew kisser flowers.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
It's not that they flame or act odd towards it. The thing is Tibia is aimed at ALL ages. Many of the younger players don't understand what roleplaying is exactly. The title "RPG" doesn't mean anything to the younger crowd because they don't know what it is or how to go about doing it. Many people are in it for the powergaming, as I previously stated. And there are those who don't enjoy interracting with others.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
At first it may be a difficult thing to go about doing, but being a fast typer and keeping on your toes is a big one. Simply opening a door for a lady saying, "Good day, isn't it?" could cause you to have wonderful roleplaying sessions for years to come. Many of the "good ones" are hidden away. Don't let level influence you, anyone could surprise you. I personally have found a few that I can play with, but as far as an on-going story goes, the forums are best for that. I tried to open up ideas for roleplaying as a whole new channel, but sadly, no one would help me keep it up.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
It had to have been my older guild on Saphira, The Ataraxis. We would meet on Greenshore's boat and rehearse for a play or we would make up "newspapers" for the Tibians. Quite fun times.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
It's all in the hands of the players. You can change your outfit to match your characters profile or even use the grid system for D&D (It works extremely well!). I have personally called friends to play in dolera and we roleplay in tibia using D&D rules. AIM has a way to roll dice for everyone to see, so there need not be arguments there. But overall, I must say the grid system is what keeps me hooked.


Julien Brightside - Dolera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
Lets see, ah yes, I think its still as much as before, its just that the amount of non-roleplayers has increased very much.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
I usually get a smiley from the bystanders, then again, I don`t roleplay as much as some others.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
It`s kinda hard to explain, if I meet a fellow roleplayer, roleplaying it`s just easy, but those are rare, so I don`t roleplay as much as I should. Except for that, Tibia has many fine oppurtunities and chances for roleplaying. (the many fine taverns for example.)

What first inspired you to roleplay?
I don`t remember really, but I read a good portion of the stories on this board before I started to roleplay. (I think also read a good deal of the library and manual on the tibia home.)

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
It`s all about personal preferences. If you want to roleplay, you can do it. After all, the world of Tibia has many things to discover besides the new level of experience.


Shade Sparrow - Amera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
It's ignored for the most part on my server (Amera). However, we do have a nice roleplaying community and I think it's more popular on Amera than the average server. I helped put on an event a couple weeks ago where we gave regular players who had never roleplayed much before a chance to try it out and I think all of them except one loved it and said they'd want to do it again sometime. I think it's an exposure thing. Most people haven't tried it out before or think others will think they're weird or nerdy if they do, but if you put them in the right environment where the majority are roleplaying, they'll start to appreciate it more.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
For the most part, no. I have had a few off comments directed at me, but for the most part people will atleast play along or ignore you.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
No, not really. I guess you just have to tune out the OOC people and try to keep away from highly populated areas if you want a real roleplaying experience. Most of the time when I'm roleplaying it's with my guild on one of our private events where we have a set storyline and we have to explore a dungeon and fight various "bosses" and such. It's pretty fun and we don't run into others most of the time.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
I think there was an article or forum post or something about a Dwarven guild on Galana that I took a lot of interest in. I really wanted to apply, but I guess I just never got around to making a character for it. I left Tibia soon after and when I returned around November I wanted to do some work for the community and came to Amera to apply to the Rising Dragons, but while on my adventures I met a player named Haseox. He was always OOC and made a restaurant for profit in the Thais game room. It sparked my interest in roleplaying again and I got a job there roleplaying with the customers who came in. After that I began to seek out the roleplaying community in Amera and now I'm here.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Nothing really prevents someone from roleplaying. CIP does all they can to make Tibia an environment appealing to the majority of MMO players. If they didn't they wouldn't have enough money to run it. You're not going to magically make everyone in the game a roleplayer, but I guess if I were to ask CIP to do a list of things, promote roleplaying would be up there.


Islar - Eternia
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
Lost it's way. Mhm. What most people today see as roleplaying is this small and in my opinion poor aspect of roleplaying. An aspect that involves large amounts of sitting around making runes, non pvp, cookies, ~hugz~ and other such nonsense. This is not what roleplaying is about.

Roleplaying is all about grabbing your sword and protecting the town from the vile dragon by dueling it in its lair at the top of the mountain. Roleplaying is epic tales sung by bards at the local tavern of the heroes of old who struggled against the oppresive guilds who murdered so many innocent Tibians just for the fun of it. Roleplaying is so much, so much. And not cookies.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
No not really. It's all about the style of roleplaying. Most people (the swe kiddies at least) actually admire roleplayers. The only problems when roleplaying are yes from the lvl 8 flame characters (who would flame you anyway) or from people who can't speak English. People who can't speak a decent standard of English are a big problem when roleplaying, but then they are for everyone.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not?
Yes. Roleplaying does require energy and all too often myself and other roleplayers find it a bit too much hassle to roleplay. Another problem is you don't want to roleplay with everyone/ often want to talk about things with people which are not about roleplaying. Roleplaying and OOCing at the same time is a very hard thing to do.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
Change that to what first inspired me to play Tibia - Roleplaying.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Mhm. In principle Tibia is perfect for roleplaying. The ability to kill anyone when you want to makes for a great community. The world map is an interesting and diverse place to explore. The graphics allow for a lot of imagination.

Now.. what makes it hard. Well, the whole leveling process, although an integral part of Tibia does a lot to kill roleplaying. Naturally most people want to play a hero (or a villan) rather than some feeble peasant (though some people do play feeble peasants and have a great time). In order to do this a little bit of leveling is required. Ok I lied. A lot of leveling is required. ~

After possibly the 1000th rotworm your goal (to become strong enough to kill the vile dragon that killed your family, to protect Thais etc) becomes a bit lost. Then you realise hunting dwarves is much better exp and gp and faster. So the noble cleric, slayer of the cursed undead turns mass dwarf murderering maniac. And then the same cleric realises orcs are really where it is at so goes off there.

Then finally after all this you realise not only can you kill that vile dragon who slew your family, you can kill him in about 20 seconds. And not only that it is highly profitable to kill them. So you kill 1000s of dragons. And the whole avenging your family thing becomes a bit of a minor deed and slowly fades in your memory.

Nothing to do with the questions or interviews but I thought it might be interesting and topical

Now, how can this be fixed. Well naturally the problems I just pointed out are part and parcel of what Tibia is. So here goes, feel free to ingore this bit since it came to me just now at about 12:30.

Roleplaying servers. Level cap at level 50. Woah. That was radical. But seriously, I think it could work. Most
players would not want to play the server as the level cap would put them off. But for roleplayers (who accept that growing stronger and stonger till you are godlike is ridiculous) this would be great. The harder monsters would still be a challange. Those who block demons would be heroes! And someone who owned a magic plate armour? Their name would be the stuff of legends. Murderers would have an advantage under these conditions but in order for heroes to do good there must be an evil for them to fight against! If PKing got out of hand well, the warriors of light must band together and bring an end to this evil! (Yes, you may have noticed this server would have to be pvp. On non pvp people tend to end up being just a bland form of "nice" or "a bit rude" or the extreme "idiot who just pisses about because we can't do anything ;)


Venomous Lizard – Balera
What is your opinion on roleplaying in present day Tibia?
It's scarce. People prefer hunting than sitting (standing) at Frodo's.

Do you get any strange reactions or flames when other people see you roleplaying?
Sometimes. But I've given up already.

Do you find it troublesome to roleplay in Tibia? Why/Why not
Roleplaying in Tibia gives one awkward looks, if that's even possible on Tibia. People are not used to it, they see Tibia as a place to score levels fast.

What first inspired you to roleplay?
After reading Dracula and Frankenstein, my English turned somewhat more antique, and slowly I got interested in playing roles.

Do you think Tibia is a game which enables easy roleplaying, or are there things in Tibia which you think make it harder for players to roleplay?
Of course the sitting issue, but with a little imagination, this can be helped. No, the biggest problem would be the community and their cheat-tools.

Chapter VI: Flamers

Although flamers may not seem to be a big problem, they are. Not only can they ruin the atmosphere of a roleplaying story on the roleplaying board, they can also spoil it for people who are roleplaying in-game.

On the forum there are two main ways of which a flamer can target roleplaying. One is by making a useless thread which is full of negative comments about roleplayers, though at the end of the day the most which they accomplish is using up forum space and bumping the actual roleplaying threads to the next page, which is annoying in its own right. The other main way in which flamers attack roleplayers is by making posts in the actual roleplaying stories, but instead of making a proper one they usually try and bring the story to an end.

Though flamers do not only target roleplayers on the forum, a lot of the time flamers try to target roleplayers in-game and this is usually where the most damage can be dealt. It may be someone random who sees you roleplaying or someone who thinks the characters of roleplayers are a waste of database data.

Some good ways to deal with flamers are usually just to ignore them, which most roleplayers do anyway. If they have broken a rule you can also try reporting them which may make them have second thoughts before flaming again. If you react to flamers they usually continue to flame so they can bring out harsher and harasher reactions. Usually this is because they only flame for the reactions, and the more reactions they get the more they will flame.

Chapter VII: Roleplaying through the ages

Many people say that roleplaying has been diminishing over the years until we come to the present day Tibia, where roleplaying can be scarcely found. TibiaNews asked some people what they thought about roleplaying through the ages. Below are what they had to say.

Friar Fatty: I think the concept of roleplaying is unknown to most people; although socialisation is probably the largest part of Tibia, personal gains in levels and money definitely appear predominant over roleplaying.

Seif Lareaw: It has decreased a lot since I started playing, tibia even used to have more and better events. No one cares about roleplaying anymore, some new players don't even know what that is, now it's all about levels and skills. It makes me sad when I hear about something like double exp week or double loot week, even CIP changed. =/ With CIP encouraging power gaming, roleplaying might never come back to our Tibian life.

Elemenophee: It's increased alot, but not really becoming much more well known, except when theres events and such related to RPing.

Friar Chubby: Roleplaying has played an important role in RPG games and it is still a driving force in the medieval fantasy gaming community. This is evident when you look at the Official Tibia forums where Roleplaying Stories are made, and also in Game-Chat where people share their Roleplaying stories. Roleplaying is definately not a foreign aspect and it is just as relevant to RPG games as it was 10 years ago…

Kaysorc: It seems more and more people are looking to create the most effective and efficient killing machine, rather then taking the time to create a well developed character, with story and depth.

Seredoo: Role-playing is something that has diminished rapidly in just a few years. It gets diminished every time CIP updates the game in hope of making it totally level-based. Role-playing was very easy and popular back in the days, but now, you got to look hard for people to RP with. It has definitely become foreign. Although, I think, the true RPs finds their own ways to RP quite easy. Everyone with some imagination is a RPer.

Fox Mc Cloud: I think roleplaying is kind of dying especially in Tibia. Players focus on their level and skills instead of on roleplaying. Maybe war can be seen as some kind of roleplaying as it's actually roleplaying.

Silent Defender: I think there is a lot more roleplaying in tibia compared to other MMORG games I have played in the past. True the most important thing in tibia seems to begetting rich and gaining levels. I think most people in tibia do roleplay a little but very few do it all the time

Starlight Betty: I think the rpg side has died down, its not about how many muffins you can bake, its not how high level or best items… this is also shown with Cips recent events… double exp… double loot for addons. Addons were once a great and super hard thing to get and it took hard work and determination to get the addons.

Green Dragon: I think that roleplaying is being pushed more and more into the background, both by us players and by the creators of this game. You really have to know where to look to find real roleplaying (and I don't mean 'under mount sternum'). On the other hand - once you find the roleplaying part of the community, it will never let you go. Roleplaying might be a 'dying' art, but for me as well as for many others it still is an important part of the game. As long as there are roleplayers, there will be roleplaying.

Wojarade Ziro: Of course it has become less popular. Numbers nowadays count for everything. Do it like this; go to Thais and ask random people "do you know what roleplaying is. And ask for examples. I assure you 9/10 wont have any idea.

Dark Archfiend: Foreign concept. Every year roleplaying its known by less players. They don't care about the roleplay in mmorpgs. They think they are powergaming based.

Venomous Lizard: I think Roleplaying is still dying. Even though I managed to recruit some, and I bet others have too, it's still rare. More Roleplayers give up than there come.

Saint Lulight: In my opinion many ppl has started playing role games like tibia through these years. When I started playing Tibia, at least, wasn't as much popular as nowadays, being able to log in without any waiting list, wait for hunting places, etc.
I must say though, that the game itself did not have as many things as today, like all this variety of creatures, spells, maps and so. But yes, I think that roleplaying in online games are becoming more and more popular.

Baron von Redd: Well, I think Tibia was designed with the whole aspect of being a roleplaying game with character development and the actual roleplay that is built around Tibia history. But most new players seem to approach the game the same way they approach C&C or Subspace; they are only in the game to "pwn n00bs" and to "win" by having the highest level or the best skills or make the most money. I think actual roleplay is losing prominence in Tibia, judging from the responses of other people when trying to roleplay with them. On the other hand, some new players are drawn simply to the aspect of roleplaying, so it is still alive and thriving in Tibia.

CHAPTER VIII: Developing your story

It is very easy to create a story about your character, and then use it for your character in stories and in-game. But what about things which happen while you are playing, or while you are writing in join-ins? Surely, they also become part of your character’s story?

For example, say you completed a quest; it would become part of your character’s story. If you finished the Explorer Society’s quest, your character would officially be an explorer. In your character’s history (if you have one lying about) you could add something about your character being a full fledged explorer who new the lands of Tibia like the back of his or her hand.

Or if you participate in a story which involves your character receiving a permanent injury, your character would bear that injury for the rest of their life! Or maybe your character found a mage to heal it or something of the sorts. That would also become part of your character’s story.

Everything which happens to your character is part of your character’s story, whether it is big, small, or somewhere in between. Of course, including everything which happens in your character’s history would be incredibly hard, which is why you should only include the big things, rather than the smaller ones.

CHAPTER IX: Living your role

It’s all fine and dandy to say your character stands for justice, that he or she is respectable to all citizens and that they uphold the banner of Thais… but then you actually have to live the role which you have set for your character!

If your character is a lizard and has a particular disliking for the treacherous monkeys, he or she may hunt monkeys more often than other creatures. If your character has a great disliking for elves, they may refuse to travel to Ab’dendriel and never converse with the Elven NPCs.

The most important part is that you say completely consistent with your character. It would not make sense if your character loved using magic one day, was anti-magic the next day and then was back to using magic the day after that. Though, of course… sometimes your character may be like that. Though it is better to stay consistent with what you do.

Choosing your character’s outfit is also an important thing to keep in mind. If your character is a jester it would be good to choose an outfit and colours which resemble you. The same theory applies if you are a noble knight, evil wizard… or whatever other persona your character has adopted.

Sometimes your name is also an important thing to pick, although it is not as important as other things. For example, if your character is called “Baron von Redd”, it would be name which fits a knight. Though words are not always the bits of a name which may resemble your character; sometimes it can just be how the name sounds. A name like Yogshorf Jakara may fit a barbarian warrior while a name like Gandalf may fit a wise old wizard.

CHAPTER X: Conclusion

Although roleplaying is often called a dying art, there is no doubt that there are still a sufficient number of players who enjoy it, though they may not be as prominent in numbers compared to the other types of players.

It may seem like a boring hobby to some, but when you really get into it you can see just how much fun it is.