Views On Combat-Oriented Role Playing

I've noticed in the past a few RPs that have been made that feature a tournament as the sort of driving mechanism behind the plot line. Overall, from what I've seen, the few that have been made have been mostly successful both in garnering members and in keeping steady activity. At the very least, it seems like they've been popular enough in the past to bring them to viable conclusions.

In thinking about these such role plays, but also thinking of their rarity and the lack of anything of the sort in more recent days, I'd like to know what peoples' thoughts on "combat-oriented" role playing are. That is to say, what is the general opinion of having RPs that are strictly a battle with little/no overarching plot to follow?

 

If there is no major plot, I'd lose interest pretty quickly, unless some other kind of incentive is present. Without a plot, RPs tend to devolve into a godmodding contest pretty quickly in my experience, and then it's just... not really fun anymore. People just try to outdo one another, without thinking of potential damage they could cause to the game-world.

 

I agree with DarkTraitor. I've bore witness to such things, and, admittedly (and with much shame), I have partook in many chaotic affairs involving shameful godmodding to the point it got the Sodom & Gomorrah treatment... but, in my defense, I was a victim of my own ego during such events. Combat-oriented RPs are only good so long as the combat has a plot-driven purpose; otherwise, it's a pain in the arse and it could break out into immature squabbling over whose is bigger...

Personally, I would like to partake in more PvP oriented RPs (that is carefully monitored) than just normal "character interaction" RPs (meaning, no actual fights ever break out between two players, just arguing, complying, and fighting together...)). Back when I first RPed, combat-oriented RPs were far more normal than what I do today. However, it was a constant game of cat-and-mouse, where no one could hit the other and the other would retaliate with a stronger attack... and this continued for days and then months and nearly into a year. It was chaos. However, I enjoyed it, because it was fun and, once every blue moon, you managed to score a hit. Now, I'm far more tamed, but I miss the old days. In fact, I hosted more RPs than I participated in... so, yeah. I miss being the player, and I really do miss battle-oriented RPs with a passion. Hopefully, when the day comes, I'll jump into one and I pray the host would monitor it... perhaps with a judge or two, just to be safe.

However, I do not see that happening any time soon. Mostly because I'm too cynical for my own good.

 

I'll allot that you have a strong point with that Sess. It is a drawback of RP Battling that people will, very often, go off on arguing about who's move is right and who's move is wrong. But that usually only comes from A) Huge egos, B) unbearably powerful or obscurely powered characters, and/or C) inexperienced RPing. It would be a long shot, but the idea of a RP battles wouldn't be too wild and crazy so long as there were enough neutrals available to deal with disputes. And the hitch to it is that it's supposed to be a way of creating a story without having to fallback on a plot to determine what your character does. In a way, it's a great practice of matching with other RPers, as well as gaining a better understanding of the ins and outs of RPing as whole.

From what I've seen, a lot of RPs around here wind up seeing a large share of combat between characters anyways.

 

Hey, so actually, I had an amazing idea this morning that's a lot like this. I wrote it out, and it's become a lot more complicated than I had originally planned. It has plot, but not an overarching plot, but it's very involved. I thought at first that it would be too involved, but it sounds to me like you guys would rather have it that way. What do you guys think?

 

Alright, I'll get it up tonight, see who all shows some interest.

 

Your idea is actually more involved than what I had in mind when I posted this thread. Like, by a few good leaps and bounds. I was thinking something more direct and to the point.

 

I was thinking about this the other day and as much as I love fighting in RPs, it's evident that PvP combat in RPs leads nowhere. Unless the two have agreed upon a scenario, the fights will lead nowhere because no one wants his/her character to lose. Some forums I've been on have used rules like a Three Dodge limit, but that just seems a little opressive to me. I just feel like you should take hits when they're fair.

When Players are fighting uncontrolled enemies though, combat can be really fun. But mostly I think the majority of fun in a RP relies on the plot and the effort of other players. Like, when players are eager to interact with each other and don't just post static actions to advance to the next fight/plot point.

Sorry I rambled lol.

 

I personally do not mind combat-oriented rps, even if there isn't a real plot. I like to see how people RP in fight scenarios that have very little dialogue, it's even better when no godmodding is involved. I honestly do not mind a little bit of godmodding when it comes to combat-oriented, but only is it is very small and not often.

Ex: You want this one punch to actually hit the other's character(whether they were also godmodding or not), so you say one punch hit, but you make it so the other punches miss, and try to make up for it by allowing the other person's punches to hit.

Now I'm not promoting godmodding because I've seen some fights go ridiculous(I myself wrote such a horrible godmodded post once that the other RPer ignored it, it was so bad..., it was understandable.) and I'm not saying that combat RPs SHOULDN'T have a plot. But they should at least have a basic drive.

 

I think they work out well to blow of steam without much thought given since there's no real plot beside to fight, just my theory though. And while I don't mind them I cannot be in something that really leads nowhere, there needs to be some sort of story. Which is why if I ever make one there has to be something behind the scenes otherwise it's just too boring.

 

I agree. While it would be fun atm to write some big fight scene, without an actual story there to back up the rp, I wouldn't feel driven to keep coming back. I would maybe pop in on the occasion that I needed to let off said steam, but that would be it. There would be no way I could continuously post in it. But perhaps if there was a reason for the fighting, like all the characters were members of a boxing club or something, then I might be more interested in sticking around. You could develop a story to go there.