[Perdition]

This is going to be formatted sloppily since I’m also typing from mobile. Anyway...

To say I understand and resonate to this post would be an understatement. I’ve felt this way about the game for a while but I didn’t bother with voicing these concerns because it doesn’t feel like something that can easily change or that many people will agree on how to change it. In addition it didn’t seem like that pressing of an issue to others, but I digress.

I honestly think the majority of RP being behind private housing is one of the biggest causes for this. If that’s where all meaningful RP is and the average player is stuck in the public atmosphere around people that are OOC in dungeons then it’s not surprising why there would be little in the way of motivation.

There are avenues for easily accessible, public RP but it’s all trivial. Someone used the term glorified chat room and that’s honestly what the majority of people that public RP feels like. It’s nothing of substance. Some people are more than content with that. That’s fine if they are, but it doesn’t make for a compelling game state and the concerns expressed in this thread are why.

I come from DBRP mostly, I lightly dabbled in Naruto RP and had a short stint with Eternia. I even played Bleach Last Horizon when that was around, so I’ve been around the block as far as Byond RP goes. In those games, they have their issues but the overall complacency and apathy that SL2 is experiencing was not often one of them. I have my own thoughts on why that is, and they are such:

SL2 has little in the way of stakes. There’s no conflict. There’s no reason for there to be any. A majority of the characters are friendly with or neutral with one another. There’s no real incentive to try and be a meaningful antagonist nor are there particularly any means to. The aforementioned games got around this by having factions more or less. There were always different groups at odds with one another. This inherently creates tension and conflict. It breeds more interesting RP than sitting around the square bullshitting with the same people day in and day out.

Secondly, there weren’t nearly as many alt characters on those games. In fact, alts were usually frowned upon if anything. I actually think this is a huge weakness as far as SL2 goes but it’s so ingrained in the community that it’s not something that will ever go away. One above poster mentioned characters feeling ephemeral and that’s exactly why I feel this is a weakness. You never know if someone you RP with will even show up again. I’ve often found myself managing to engage in a very interesting RP with someone only to never see that character again because it was just a one off alt or something. So, why get invested if you don’t even know who you’re investing in will return?

Perhaps they will return, but it could be so sporadic that the scenario loses meaning quickly because that person may be juggling 10 other characters. Moving on, I also think players had more tools to do things in those games on their own. For example, in many of those games players could apply for ranks or positions that gave them privileges or advantages. In return they were a source of RP. They were a driving force for whatever narrative that game had. A rank might make a character much stronger than other characters on average, but that character usually served as a high ranking member of a faction.

With that power they could make plays, they could antagonize properly or serve as some kind of coveted teacher or master that passes on exclusive skills to others who would then further the narrative. If one was made a high ranking demon on a DBRP game for example, they could take a dull moment into their own hands. They could gather henchmen on the fly and antagonize the good guys. There was no need for an event. These moments also often made windows for other characters to grow, in which they would then apply for perks or something to show for that growth. A way to turn the tables against that high ranking individual perhaps.

Which leads me to another point: the game doesn’t feel very rewarding. In all of those other games you could apply for things that were clear progress for your character. You can apply for things on SL2, yes, but it’s mostly just fluff. Honestly, I’m not one to think every player character needs to be equal. Some could, and even should be better than others if they have the effort to show for it. It feels satisfying to see the work you put in toward creating good RP be returned in the form of not having to feel like everyone else.

That’s part of the stagnation. Characters quickly reach a peak of power. As others have said, you get your gear, grind to 60 and LE if you really want to min max and then you’re done. You’re at the plateau. Nothing you do will make you any stronger. You can now join others in sitting around the square or bar and doing trivial shit. Or if you have a clique you can RP behind closed doors with them with the average player base being none the wiser to anything that you’re accomplishing or doing.

There are other things I feel causes the problems addressed in the OP but these are the main ones. I honestly think changing this in any meaningful way would require a large upheaval of how rewards and exclusivity work in SL2. It would be a large undertaking because it would require a change of a long ingrained culture. That’s my take, anyway. This is not something I see changing any time soon.