I have always been interested in the idea of RPing in an online game, and, what with how much I love the lore and world, ESO might be the game that gets me started. But, I have no idea how roleplaying in an online game is supposed to work.

1. Everyone is doing the MQ in a weird parallel universe bubble. Are you supposed to ignore that? Does all the RP happen outside of the MQ, and people don't talk about it in-character, and pretend it isn't happening while they play, or that it is only happening for them?

2. Where is the conflict? The over-arching story that ties everybody's characters together? Do people make it up before hand? Ignore it altogether? Is there a DM running it?

Glad you posted this because I've been wondering myself. I tend to enjoy RP servers more so I was a little worried when I heard of this megaserver system.

Stay in character at all times, people who will want to participate will ( and im sure their are loads of them that want to R.P on eso), and if anybody tries to break your immersion, you can simply /ignore them. Read up on lore, read your quests, etc etc. thats really all you can do for the time being.

Cyrodiil, is where the conflict is happening. PvE happens all over the place. Plenty of ways to figure out how to immerse yourself with other roleplaying friends.

There is no set rules on how to RP, so you're going to run into lots of different senarios. A lot of people ignore MQ and in-game story lines to make up their own so everyone can follow along together. A lot of guilds will have on going stories for their members. There is never a DM running it but they may plan things out outside of the game, typically on the guild forums. You'll also find open RP events, where there is no story happening, just people talking to eachother in character. If there is a particular event/story you want to explore, I suggest making a guild of people that will play it regularly. The most important thing for you is to have a well-realized character with a good backstory and personality. Then you can apply that character to whatever situation you find yourself in.

edit- Also, I think the dungeons in the game will really lend itself to RPing. They all have a story line to follow so that makes RPing through the dungeon easy to do with a group.

No chat bubbles rp will feel dead like swtor

You play a character and try to stay in character at all times. Writing a backstory helps you know how your character would react to situations but unless you are in a RP guild with forums or something, probably only you will read it. In Wow there would be RP guilds that would organize different types of events for fun. There's bound to be some RP guilds that pop up for this game and they will usually have guidelines and tips.

Pretty much this, my first character will be a Dunmer in the AD, and while mechanically I'll do the MQ because I have to, when in character she has never been to coldharbor and is nothing more than generic soldier A in terms of importance to the main story.

This is what I am afraid of, though. I played on the RP server for FF14, and while the maturity of the server was unparalleled, the roleplaying I overheard in chat was...hum. I can't find a polite word for it. Just a bunch of characters wandering aimlessly around, pretending to drink ale at the taverns, bemoaning dead wives and angsty pasts. It was character with no plot. To me, that's not roleplaying, that's narcissism, and I don't think I'd find it fun.

I do have experience running tabletop games, so I was hoping for something like that.

anything with this many people playing at the same time will have that, the trick is to find the right group of people and while that may not be the easiest task once you find em it can be really rewarding RPwise.

I'm thinking about making a parallel guild strictly for my RP guildies. I want them to be able to really get into RP, and I am afraid guild chat will stand in their way.

Well as an rp'er one would assume you can use your imagination to blend what you are given in the world into your rp. Lets face it in a real world you need to live based on outside influence and happenings, just because you have a thought of how you want to live doesnt mean you can... or id be rich

Create an rp chat channel if possible, or roll play that the war has driven most people insane and hence all the stupid things people say in regular chat.

But other players are the only non-static things about MMOs. There are quests, which ESO doesn't encourage people to do together, and in which you can't converse with the NPCs anyway.

Oh, and what about flirting? How "OK" are RPers with that in general? Typically, I only flirt with other women in MMOs because I can trust them not to take it seriously. I am never sure with guys. I am afraid I'd have to make my character asixual.

RP flirting and relationships are things that I like to address before hand, it may not feel as natural but it most definitely avoids some awkward situations.

Occasionally I like to come up with my own "Quests" to bring people on, with a lore as rich and complex as TES and with something like the daedric invasion going on I suspect there will be plenty of material to derive an interesting story (be it short or long) from.

That makes sense.

The answer is that it doesn't work. That is one of the main issues of having MMOs with the setup where you play "the hero, chosen one, saviour of world". Either you pretend that the main game doesn't exist or that other people don't exist. Neither one works well.

Ever since games began to be made this "story-driven" way, RPing has gotten dumber and dumber. Mostly you will find highly elitist groups of RPers that have their own little world that works in the way they've set up and mostly revolves around using emotes and ignoring the actual game mechanics.

It's a sad state of affairs, but it's driven at it's core by the fact taht these games do not create interactive worlds, but rather small pre-scripted playgrounds.

I don't understand how ESO has a "chosen one" story line. I felt from the beginning that my character was just one among the masses.

Everyone you meet is *yet another former prisoner without a soul escaping from the clutches of Molag*

They must have put that massive prison break in the beginning of the game in there for no reason...it didn't fullfill it's purpose with you.

okay?

Checkhttp://teso-rp.com/ for more info about RPing in ESO.

Omg you are so right i agree at 100%.

Game developers are not even trying to craft a "living world" anymore.

I did. There wasn't any guide or information I could find specifically about roleplaying in ESO, and the only RP going on in the forums were train wrecks.

I have always heavily RP'd all of my characters in TES. ESo will be no different. I was worried about being to initiate my same RP tactics in ESO and I begged the question if it was possible. After participating in several betas, the answer to that is a profound yes.

My core efforts to RPing is summed up as.. " If it's not fitting for the character's personality, then don't do it."

RPing, to me is not about drinking, eating, sleeping... those are immersion aspects. RP is about the personality of the character and allowing every action and choice be governed by that. This holds true to ESO.

The chat channel is not an issue for me, because I disable that stupid thing. It takes up precious real estate on my HUD. Real Estate that I prefer to be vacant. If someone wants to talk to my character, they have other options. I am not well versed in the application and effectiveness of the different 3rd party audio softwares but I'm wanting to give them a try.

When my character is in the gameworld, they don't see other players. Everyone is just another NPC. The idiots running around and jumping frantically everywhere are written off as a crazed skooma addict and virtually ignored. It is a little bit of getting used to a bunch of others doing the same thing but I basically ignore them as well.

The thing that I am excited about is actually talking for my character. It places me into more of a role where I'm playing as the character. My norm is viewing the character as their own entity and I'm just a spiritual guide following along behind them.

Pretty much this. Mind you quite a lot of solo rpg games and mmorpgs have the clichés of.... "you wash up on a beach after a shipwreck" or "you wake up in a cell with no memory" so ESO is pretty much the norm. I was spoilt by tabletop role-playing games and have never bothered RP'ing in an online RPG and I never will. It lacks the warmth of people who've known each other for years sitting around a table and having a fun time together.

So, you are saying that you roleplay solo?