In an era where server merges are becoming commonplace I found it interesting to note that the “unofficial” roleplaying servers, selected by the community, in both SWG and Age of Conan are coming out on top.
Starsider is currently the most highly populated server after the voluntary transfer system was put into place in SWG. While SWG hasn’t announced any mergers everyone suspects that will be a next step. But why Starsider? The strongest piloting community is there. The playerbase is seen as generally more mature. And the biggest roleplaying community has always been there - which directly impacted the first two factors as well.
Pilots flocked early on to where the action was and it was roleplaying flight/space sim enthusiasts who instigated and organized the first space PvP events on SWG, on Starsider, and bound themselves up into thematic squadrons with RPed ground events, including mission briefings or commando raids to be inserted, around the space conflicts. Other servers have followed in Starsider’s footsteps but never acquired the same population or reputation.
Mature players tend to like well spoken and better behaved company whether they’re roleplayers or just other people comfortable with behaving like normal human beings. You’ll often see non-roleplayers seek out roleplaying servers simply so they can find a more pleasant environment to game in.
Lastly, the roleplaying community itself on Starsider is very large and creative. They make good use of the unique assets of SWG to make life interesting for themselves and others. Whether using storyteller tools to generate adventures and events or creating uniquely designed installations in buildings, cities and aboard starships - they’re always busy with something.
This is certainly worthy of a footnote on its own but now we see Age of Conan merging servers and we see Wiccana and Set absorbing all the other PvE servers. Both of these, but Wiccana in particular, are known for their roleplaying communities. Wiccana was named, much as Starsider was in SWG, as the unofficial roleplaying server (as Funcom rather naively only officially PvP-RP servers not PvE ones and it went rather as most predicted with a flood of transfers to PvE and Wiccana).
The added value of roleplayers in genre games is that they can become a bedrock to build around when times get tough. They don’t need content as much as other players do, they’re quite capable of inventing their own good time - especially when given tools and systems to help them, but they desire strong settings that can inspire them.
I don’t keep up with Lord of The Rings Online but I’d be surprised, should they too get involved with server merges, if Landroval doesn’t end up on top down the road.
The problem with roleplaying, unofficial, servers is they take time to percolate. People need to get word which server is which and many never look at forums so end up in the wrong place. Likewise players who hate roleplaying can take a while to filter out and move on or adapt. Ultimately, though, unofficial RP servers are far more effective than official ones. They tend to exist because players wanted them to and whatever rules they have are generally flexible and rarely enforced by a whole community so each server can develop its own character and corporate culture naturally.
That nonroleplayers are attracted to roleplaying communities gives unofficial RP servers additional strength and merit where roleplayers wise enough to encourage and help them with gameplay content, or even create events and content for them, rather than resenting them.
