Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Welcome Back, Kotter—er, Goldgrit

Without a steady reinforcement of guildmates, friends, or other social interaction, it should come as no surprise I put my RP toons down for a while to focus on my "regular" toons on non-RP servers. I'm quite proud of the progress my warlock and her guild have made. This week she should have the first phase of the legendary staff in her hands.

As a change of pace from progressive raiding, some members of our guild had decided to try roleplaying on the opposite faction. Lo and behold, they chose the same server on which I already had toons, including Sapsorrow, whom I've blogged about before, and Alicera, pictured right (with her oversized fox companion). I'm not sure how long the interest will last; they may grow tired of it after a while. However, I am happy to see these characters again, much like reacquainting with old friends. I also suppose there is no excuse not to continue blogging on the subject for as long as I am again active in RP, especially as my lack of overall experience still makes me "newb." :)

Unlike my approach with Sapsorrow and Wizgear, with whom I tried full-time roleplaying, my Horde characters have been allowed more out-of-character (OOC) time for the sake of practicality.

I have also once again enjoyed playing an opposite sex character in a Goblin warrior named Goldgrit, who is a self-described "womanizing old fart." Unlike the other races, Goblins lend themselves strongly to humor and outrageous expression, so much so as to be stereotypical. Their in-game emotes are accompanied by a Brooklyn accent; they are capitalist profiteers in the extreme.

On my more serious characters, such as my single-minded (paladin-hating) Farstrider ranger and my gullible, vegan druid, I run into the trouble of making them boring by making them too stiff, too serious, or too bored themselves. (In retrospect, this may be in part to a lack of purpose or direction—for the time being, they merely exist.) On the other hand, Goldgrit can easily be the life of the party: he's obnoxious, loud, laughs easily, and carries a cheese-factory's worth of pick-up lines (which he never expects to work and is therefore never disappointed). Using the SpeakinSpell addon, I've integrated a number of insults into his attacks; he's flagrant, and sometimes outright disgusting.

Now, the same and opposite problem is beginning to arise in my perception of my new favorite Goblin, however, as he is all jokes and bad taste. It's easier to interact with others with his humor, but I worry he is equally two-dimentional, incapable of being sensitive or serious.

A large portion of my fear of seriousness is rooted in the cookie-cutter "emo" character histories I read in characters around me. Every other character I run into has lost a spouse and is hideously battle scarred. I'm reminded of so-called past life regression stories. EVERYONE was or is related to a historical figure and has some fabulous insight or powerful, tragic story. No one is a nobody. If I met an "every man," I would have met something truly unique, as these seem extinct. The game is designed to make every player a "hero" of Azeroth, but when everyone is special, no one is. At the very least, no one is original.

I hope to be disappointed.