Nice title Varian… Show off!
Given that this is our first and official post, we’d firstly like to introduce just how this blog of ours is going to work: our team will be individually posting articles throughout the year and once a month, the team will get together and produce a group article on a chosen topic. As this is our first post, we hope you enjoy it!
Newbie or veteran, if you’ve been roleplaying on World of Warcraft, then you’ve no doubt been told, advised or chosen to download a plethora of ‘roleplaying addons.’ The most groundbreaking addon that’s shaped and changed the roleplaying scene on World of Warcraft is the ‘Character Customisation Addon’ (or better known as FlagRSP, MyRoleplay and TotalRoleplay). These addons allows players to add extra information about their characters, ranging from last names to titles; appearance descriptions to histories; the weight, height of a character and even the colour of a character’s eyes.
First created in 2006, these addons have allowed players to customise their characters far deeper than World of Wacraft’s physical character customisation. With our super special taskforce of experienced roleplayers, we’re going to tear up the floor and argue, just what is suitable in the ‘title’ section of a character description?
Be warned, my stiff and conservative opinion is about to be forced upon you! The ‘title’ is:
A one to three word slug-line of a character’s outward profession or ‘being.’
I would argue that RSP/MRP titles can be metagamed! How do we know that John Doe is a Soldier… despite it being labelled on his RSP/MRP title? The title section is a field that allows the roleplayer to get an insight into what, or who, your character is at a first glance. Like stereotypes, players can use the titles in a similar way: allowing other players to ‘assume’ who/what your character is simply based on the way one words their character’s title. So, yes, while we may take liberties in breaching IC and OOC knowledge, it seems commonly accepted that a title can be used for IC means. With that in mind, we can see how titles (below) might work:
- Aggressive Soldier
- Bookish Wizard
- Proud Blademaster
Each of these titles (despite being painfully simple) hint to the character’s profession. Stereotypical terms such as ‘soldier, wizard’ and ‘blademaster’ all conjure up our own ideas of what that character is like. We need to be careful with the added adjective (which isn’t essential, but I feel it adds an extra flair) as not all words might depict the desired outward persona. By looking at the title, ‘Aggressive Soldier,’ we might assume that this character is hostile, either through his actions or speech. It allows for other players to visualise the character’s type of actions, or ‘hear’ the tone of the character’s speech. However, act with caution! If ‘titles’ are accepted ICly then there are, understandably, things that do not belong within the field:
1. Behold! My character is a ‘treasure hunter, dragon-slayer, lord, magician and pilferer of exotic goods’. These type of titles either cause confusion or a lack of clarity of who that character is. ‘Okay, so I can get a feel to what a treasure hunter looks lie, oh, and a magician too. But hold on, these two concepts seem pretty different – wait, they are a lord too?’
2. Don’t make the mistake of showing off. If you’re an assassin, or a cold-blooded murderer, don’t let people know that through your title. Intrigue isn’t intrigue… if everyone’s mother, brother and son knows about it. Keep it quiet and, perhaps, just put ‘Shifty Individual.’
3. Ex-Lord, Ex-Banquet Host, Ex-Rebel. These titles may seem relevant but I’d argue that they’re actually the opposite. If you’re an Ex-Something, it means that title is no longer applicable. Keep ‘Ex-titles’ out of your character description, they are of the past and therefore, no longer matter!
Roger got a little too carried away with his titles again…
Ultimately, use ‘titles’ as stereotypical slug-lines so that when a player hovers over you (and is too lazy to read your character description) they get an idea of just who they’re dealing with.
For me, titles represent just another method of adding flavor to your character. A title shouldn’t be too long and complicated, having multiple titles leaves a bad impression to others, giving the character a feeling that they’re just a “jack of all trades”. A good title should be a brief description of the character’s profession, or their background (such as Noble/Baron of <insert name>) or, and in my eyes the best choice, a particular feat or achievement in the character’s life.
Titles. Titles are a fun way to express who your character is, whether they’re a craftsman, dockworker, cobbler or a candle-lighter! It is a bit of fun, if anything it pans out your character well. However! It can be typical of an individual to choose several different titles for one character, for example; Jimmy The Gravedigger/assassin/lord/duke/business owner/crumpet eater, that may be considered too much, but again – many would argue, that’s what the character is, they may choose indeed to play crumpet eaters alongside their gravediggers as an alternate source of income! Fine. Great.
But what is too much? In my opinion I’ve found that; One title is great. Two is iffy. Three is dodgy, and anything above that is downright creepy. It gives the game away if you call yourself an Ex-soldier/assassin, people want to find out such things through playing with your character, not by reading what it says OOC. So! By all means call yourself a Lord or Worker or … anything like that, but don’t give too much away in OOC details.
And do for all that is betentacled and cruel in this world… Do not give yourself stupid titles! Honestly. The amount of times I’ve been questioned by Luke the Dark Lord of all Evil is exhausting… Personal opinion true, but silly titles they are things that make me shy away.
Titles, eh? Well, first of all, titles in MRP tend to give the reader some vague idea of the character they’re going to interact with, it essentially acts as a big label. A label that not only helps people guess at the character’s personality, but also helps guilds find potential recruits, or even individuals looking to mingle with others that like their style of roleplay. For example; Tong-Wong Woo’s MRP title is ‘Wardancer’. Wardancer may start ringing some bells with the reader. Perhaps the character would give all in the defense of his people, or simply enjoys a good ol’ bashing, and the thought it invokes may spur other characters of similar walks of life to more frequently interact with you!
But, of course there are some things better left unmentioned. And there’s a lot of those, trust me! To make it easy on you lot, I’ll compile a small list of things you probably really shouldn’t add into your MRP title, if you want to be taken seriously at all.
- Anything overtly sexual in nature.
- OOC things. (This is really a pet peeve of mine.)
- Long titles, such as: Fifth son of Tong-Wong Woo, Wardancer of Shen-zin Su
Titles pertaining to professions which others would be better off not knowing about, OOC, such as; spy, infiltrator, demonologist, and for that matter most things covering ‘evil’ or ‘unjust’, or something as simple as ‘secretive’. Nobody has to know you’re a grandmaster demon summoner the moment you step out of Stormwind and into your downtrodden cottage.
Now, I’ll be straightforward: Titles are downright unnecessary. We don’t actually need them, in my opinion. Allow me to do the controversial thing and compare WoW to Real-Life: Do people have tags over their heads, saying their name and occupation? You said it – Nope! Then how do we get the idea of who that person is? That’s right. We get the idea of who the person is by the way they look and talk and behave. In short – we get the idea of who they are by roleplay! If I encounter a doddering old man wearing a long purple robe and a pointy hat, I can assume that he is a wizard! But wait, what if he actually isn’t a wizard, and is actually Swagostrasz, the Third Son of the Dragonqueen? That’s the magic – we don’t know. He looks like a wizard, so for us, he is a wizard. Or, if the doddering old man was equipped with armor and a sword, we would think he is a war veteran, even if he isn’t! That’s NATURAL RP. That’s real RP. There is no guiding hand here; Your character sees what he sees. He sees a doddering man / fat lady / crazy goblin the way they are, without any titles over their head. I might get rid of my MRP titles soon too…
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We asked around on our native server and tried to gain an insight into what people believe a character title should be. You can find just a few of those opinions below (we implore you to get in touch and share your own thoughts on what, or what isn’t, appropriate in a character title!)
“My personal opinion on MRP titles is that they should be short and concise, they should be a simple description or what your character is such as their RP class, or perhaps, a rank they use as a title. Pretty much the only thing I am against is long MRP titles listing every minor detail including professions and romantic partners.” – Gaelden Goldforge (Argent Dawn EU)
“To present one’s achievement/stature in Azeroth/Outland, it should not be used for nicknames.” – Ebon Knight Blackendare (Argent Dawn EU)
“Ranks, titles, exploits, sometimes nicknames, self-proclamations. Whichever defines the character in question most loudly.” – Hua Yu Stormgut (Argent Dawn EU)
“I personally believe that a title should give you the briefest explanation to what kind of person you are interacting with.” – Nicole Andrews (Argent Dawn EU)
Do you agree with any of our self-proclaimed experts or fellow players? Yes? No? Regardless of your stance, share your opinion and let the games… uh, discussions begin!
The Hozen Throne 