Agenda.

[caldera3]

Okay, not that I can complain or anything, and not that I'm complaining. But it seems that each time I log on there's a lot of idling going on. Like, I see people talk about things every now and then. But its really boiled down to people just standing around until a DM hosts a plot. I propose some of us give our characters more depth. Like I might make Lucius a cruel, corrupt bastard that would cut you for insulting him, or would cut your hand off for stealing from him, or behead you for denouncing his faith(Just a rough idea). Maybe a good idea would be to give your character an agenda so you'll have something to do with the character other than blurt out randomness while you wait for a DM to host a plot. Might just be me here, but I dunno. Its just been pretty bland outside of plots.

[Nezgul]

Well, you do indeed make a good point. There IS alot of just standing around, doing nothing. While that could be attributed to characters lacking agendas, some characters are simply made to lack agendas or have theirs currently put off 'till the future.

[l0lwut]

It's been my experience that LV style servers die out without enough DM attention. People get bored. This is an inevitability in our server. DM events are the cure.

[couchninja]

Jul 6, 2010 10:22:55 GMT -5 l0lwut said:

DM events are the cure.

Rather, they are the life support.

[forrmonster]

Still, there isn't enough player drama (ICly that is). Everyone needs to start playing their characters to their full extent. Throw a chair, call some names! We all know and love each other OOCly, but that shouldn't stop a good fight!

[elkhark]

I believe do the fact that ppl don't want to be jailed,perma/killed keeps a lock on most of the drama...

[couchninja]

Jul 20, 2010 0:56:30 GMT -5 elkhark said:

I believe do the fact that ppl don't want to be jailed,perma/killed keeps a lock on most of the drama...

There is a certain truth to this but it is badly discribed.

It is the lack of events that these characters have revolving around their personal aspirations. This simply stops the creation of any in-depth roleplay material.
A good story boasts both the progression of events and the growth of one or more characters.
What we need is a dynamic action / reaction mechanic between PCs and their environment.
Dying is not necessitated for this, as it is but one aspect of a character's growth.

Ultimately most of the Local Vault had stagnated over this issue, as many players did not wield the responsibility of inciting or accepting any kind of changing factors to their character. As there was no growth, there was nothing happening that was deemed significant.
It is a matter of coöperation between 'all' players and the DM's.

However this is harder than it sounds. We must make use of whatever DM creativity there is to create situations and manouver characters through it, but the players themselves must take the initiatives that lead to those situations.
The primary problem is a lacking presence of DMs coupled with a fluent administration that can make the necessitated changes to the server would this be needed. But that may just be the vacation times, I wouldn't know.

[Gypsie]

So, I know I don't often "speak up" on the forums, but here I am.
First, I feel compelled to point out that the pointless OOC "drama" has actually driven off players who had interesting characters that had ambitions and aspirations. Perhaps this is the root of the problem? That's all I have to say about that.

Second, "depth" does not equal "drama". A character my very well have reasons for acting neutral or for not causing trouble. Assuming that it's a lack of depth could be very insulting.

Jul 20, 2010 7:02:54 GMT -5 couchninja said:

It is the lack of events that these characters have revolving around their personal aspirations. This simply stops the creation of any in-depth roleplay material.

I believe this is closer to the truth. Granted I haven't had the chance to be involved in an event in a while, the last few I were on were totally random. Or rather, they had nothing to do with characters on the server and could have been run on any server. It's been a while since I've seen a plot that actively involved a character/faction actually attempting to do something or make something happen. Again, perhaps there have been some since I've last had the chance to be there, but I can only talk about what I know.