So You've Reached the Level Cap, Now What?
I have often wondered this. I stay away from most major online RPGs simply because I refuse to pay a monthly fee for one of those games, but that doesn't stop me from wondering.
Though it's nowhere in the name of the genre (roleplaying games), an accepted part of most RPGs is character building/improvement. Your character overcomes tries and is rewarded by becoming increasingly adept in some fashion. So what happens when you've reached level 20 (or 60, 99, whatever)? Do you still play like you did before? Do you play differently? Or do you just start a new character and keep the old one as some sort of trophy?
To a few of my friends, I pose a similar question:
"Your character can now destabilize reality, generate more funds than nations, annihilate armies, and/or mold the minds of the average person like putty. Congratulations. Spiffy. Is it enjoyable?"
Because to me, it really isn't. Whether I'm doing it, or just dealing with other people who are, there's a power level at which I don't really care to involve myself in things anymore. I hit it with Mika before, and basically stopped using anything sheet-related, using her exclusively for social RP or as deux ex machina plot device. I'm on the border with a couple characters now, and I've thusfar managed to avoid it.
You've already got the most powerful characters around. Is there really any point or pleasure in trying to eke out a few more points for some trait that's already ridiculous high? You can already buy anything on the equipment list with a halfway decent roll, why do you need a quality, magical, special-material tool to give a couple more points on a check to make something? The only 'competition' for your characters at this point is each other, why not just duke it out and get it over with or something.
I can only hope it makes the experience wonderful for you all, because everytime I hear another ploy to milk the rules like that, a little piece of my love for the MUCK dies. Rules-bending is bad enough, but now I also have people trying to break them (perhaps unintentionally) just because something isn't explicitly forbidden.
*sigh* This week I had a moment when I seriously considered giving up MUCKing entirely. Not just taking a week off, not just leaving one MUCK and going to another, but quitting completely. Old habits are hard to break, yet there are plenty of other things I could do with my time. If things continue as they have been, I might just start finding what those things are.
Though it's nowhere in the name of the genre (roleplaying games), an accepted part of most RPGs is character building/improvement. Your character overcomes tries and is rewarded by becoming increasingly adept in some fashion. So what happens when you've reached level 20 (or 60, 99, whatever)? Do you still play like you did before? Do you play differently? Or do you just start a new character and keep the old one as some sort of trophy?
To a few of my friends, I pose a similar question:
"Your character can now destabilize reality, generate more funds than nations, annihilate armies, and/or mold the minds of the average person like putty. Congratulations. Spiffy. Is it enjoyable?"
Because to me, it really isn't. Whether I'm doing it, or just dealing with other people who are, there's a power level at which I don't really care to involve myself in things anymore. I hit it with Mika before, and basically stopped using anything sheet-related, using her exclusively for social RP or as deux ex machina plot device. I'm on the border with a couple characters now, and I've thusfar managed to avoid it.
You've already got the most powerful characters around. Is there really any point or pleasure in trying to eke out a few more points for some trait that's already ridiculous high? You can already buy anything on the equipment list with a halfway decent roll, why do you need a quality, magical, special-material tool to give a couple more points on a check to make something? The only 'competition' for your characters at this point is each other, why not just duke it out and get it over with or something.
I can only hope it makes the experience wonderful for you all, because everytime I hear another ploy to milk the rules like that, a little piece of my love for the MUCK dies. Rules-bending is bad enough, but now I also have people trying to break them (perhaps unintentionally) just because something isn't explicitly forbidden.
*sigh* This week I had a moment when I seriously considered giving up MUCKing entirely. Not just taking a week off, not just leaving one MUCK and going to another, but quitting completely. Old habits are hard to break, yet there are plenty of other things I could do with my time. If things continue as they have been, I might just start finding what those things are.
hmmm... well, I've not MUCKed in a great while now, but have gotten sucked into EQ. I've already got 3 characters going, so I don't get bored with them, and because I really don't have an interest in being the highest-level character around. Despite the fact that I am fairly competetive in some ways, I really don't have an urge to hit the top level and dominate things. So I guess MY answer is that I would develop a character until it loses interest, and then start something new. I find that I do this so that _I_ learn something, too - even if it's something trivial and only useful in the game arena. Ah, well - it's late and I'm rambling. I don't know if that's an answer for you, but it's my two cents'. All I hope for you is that you find something you enjoy, and I suppose the correlary to that is that I hope you feel free to move on to new things when the old no longer suit you. Life is short, and we should enjoy it. ;) Take care, m'dear.
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks. I guess I didn't picture you as an EQ player. ;) I do appreciate your perspective, it's helpful. The real drawback should I decide to quit playing the games I play is losing touch with several internet-based, but good, friends. If it were just 'some people I join a party with regularly,' I'd probably have left long ago.
ReplyDelete.. is in my LJ. There's a lot to say there. Say what you will.
ReplyDeleteAs one of the problem players: I get points? I'll spend 'em. I get hauled into a plot to use my powers? I use 'em. I'm trying to assess what do people -want- out of games. Some, it's wish fufillment, they're playing something they're not in reality. And that leads into a desire to 'win' that their precious character has to survive against all odds, because if it doesn't.. then.. their wish is broken. I'm on the edge of just trying to lay low and be a presence more than a stat monster. I like that more, really, to play the potent figure that doesn't have to use his power because it's silly to. Granny Weathervax from Diskworld.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. I see folks that are super ubers, having one or two of my own, and feel that it's the journey that is the more interesting part rather than the destination. I'll be fine with retiring a character and work on developing another and take a new journey, see where that path leads. But having a character that can flatten armies, realities or something, can be hard to give up, since on the journey, they've become more... 'real' and have more depth then before. And also I have thought of just giving up MUCKing several times. I don't have as many close ties to people as you do online, but there are a couple I don't want to lose touch with. But as usual, I procrastinate even in that.
ReplyDeletewell, there are probably other ways to maintain those friendships, too. But I can understand what you're saying about staying around because of certain people. Oddly enough, that's something I could say about the SCA, or even staying in Alaska. *shrug* I picked up EQ2 in December, and it's been good and bad - good stress relief, bad because it sucks up my time and (I realized last night) my ambition to do other things. But I picked up the game to play a game, not to role-play. (I've actually avoided doing role-play type stuff up here, because I am far too fond of the times we gamed in Dgo, and I don't think anything can live up to that. Funny, huh?) And I like to play games to learn and develop skills of whatever type, not to become the supreme being. :) And I'm rambling again, so I'll shush now. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteWhat and said. I would rather play than be powerful. When it's not fun to play anymore, I either quit or create a new character that will be fun. And sometimes I just don't mu* at all. For months. It's why I'm on IM. So I can keep in touch with a bunch of friends without mu*-ing, and without long distance charges. ;) What I've seen of people who won't abandon a character is that they're in love with the character. Including being in love with somebody else's character. Not that this is bad, necessarily. But when I have people who only want to see one of my characters, that's usually a dead give-away for me that there's something unhealthy about our interaction. I want my friends to be friends with me, not my characters
ReplyDelete