Dancer Archive

*waves* I'm Shaki'ra Tyldak, slave to the Dread Lord Sanguinous Rex of the Pax Imperius, Scylla. And I don't like grouping.

Crowd: Hi Shaki'ra!

I thought I'd share some thoughts from a solo dancer. And yes, I'm a 100% solo dancer. I never group. I have my options set for "Automatically reject group invitations", but for some reason people seem to think I must have hit a wrong button or something and will send me 5, 6 invites in a row. Oftimes they'll get plain surly when I tell them that I don't like to group, thank you.

I'm not a rude dancer by any means. When I walk into a cantina, the first thing I do is look for the band and place myself in an appropriate spot set away from them. I never block the band, (unless I drift *grumbles*) never plop myself in the middle of the floor, or anything that would make my performance detract from their own. It's not to say I hide in a corner, since I'm trying to market myself as well, but I'm not obnoxious about where I dance.

I never tip spam, harrass customers, or try to pull them away from other people. Sure, I play the "first to smile game" with the best of them, but I never start talking until it's clear who they have chosen to watch. If it's me, I'll yak them up. If it's someone else, I'll only converse if it plainly is an open conversation that others are joining in with. I don't offer any extra services, either.

I'm not a macroer, AFK'er, or two-boxer. When I'm not at my system I sit and put AFK over my head, so my dancing won't leach XP from others while I'm not there.

I'm fully aware that I am not gaining XP as quickly as I can. That's my choice, and I'm very happy to live with it. I solo for RP reasons, mostly. I RP a slave, and slaves are not fit to associate with common folks. But I'm also a common sense player, as well. In order to gain XP, and actually be a Dancer, I have to dance in public. It's a ballancing act to stay in character, not be rude to my fellow entertainers, and keep the patrons happy, but I think I pull it off pretty well. The other little bit of it is after over four years of MMO'ing, I'm pretty happy not worrying about what my group is doing, and just playing for my own pleasure.

But unfortunately, this is an all too common occurance:

"Invite to Group".

"Auto-Decline".

"Invite to Group".

"Auto-Decline".

Me: Thanks, but I prefer to dance solo.

"Invite to Group" (generally another member of the same group who for some reason thinks my other ones aren't getting through).

"Auto-Decline".

Grouper1: Join up.

Me: Again, thanks, but I'm a solo dancer for RP reasons.

Grouper1: You get better XP if you group.

Me: Yes, I know. I did this in Beta and trust me, it works just fine playing this way.

Grouper2: Then pick another cantina. We're playing here.

Me: Sorry, but until you show that you have admin rights on the building, I have as much a right to dance here as you do.

*group generally goes silent for a while, probably complaining in /tells*

*Customer walks in. All dancers wink/smile/grin/glow/imput emote. Within 3 customers, someone usually sits in front of me and I start chatting with them.*

Grouper1: You're taking XP from us.

Me: I'm doing no such thing. The customer chose who he wanted to watch, and I did nothing to influence him that you aren't doing.

Grouper2: **edit**, group up so we all benefit.

Me: I already told you, I don't group for RP reasons. I'm afraid you'll just have to deal with me dancing here.

Thankfully, no one's pushed it too far past that where I've had to report them, although I have ignored a few. There was one group who tried /telling everyone who walked in not to watch me, but so many customers blasted them for it and then watched me anyway they ended up draining their own gains and left for richer grounds, leaving me the place to myself, LOL. Needless to say I did very well that night.

So I'd like to hear your thoughts. Are you the type of player who goes nuts if someone doesn't group? Does it matter to you if there's solo dancers? Do you think that people should HAVE to be grouped to gain XP at all? Or are you a soloer with your own tales to tell? I'd love to hear them.

You know, thanks for posting this. I used to get upset with solo dancers because if someone watched them, it took xp away from the rest of us. But I have since changed my stance on this.

I get more ent healing xp than I need for the most part and can't afford to train it anyway. So, really, its no skin off my back if someone watches the solo dancer.

And second, I have had some bad experiences with groups in the past week. And I don't mean the great bands in Bestine or in Theed, but a few other ones. So honestly, I have a tough time criticizing someone for choosing not to join groups.

Also, roleplaying is a good reason for solo dancing. That alone is enough to convince me.

I do prefer to dance in a group but that may change someday or in certain venues.

Thanks again!

Kudo's to you!

I wish you the best of luck with your role playing, and I hope you great success with your character.

I'm even sorrier so many people are playing that can't understand "I am role playing and for that I am going solo".

One of my favorite things to do is to go to Deeja Peak and do my formal dance in the theatre there. No one ever sees it, I have the theatre all to myself. No, I'm not getting ent healing exp but that goes up very fast if I just head to the nearest cantina. I just like the solitude and the spaciosness and the beauty of it all. However, if I go to the cantina I do group just because it does help the musicians, they don't get as many people looking at them as the dancers do.

People really shouldn't get mad at you if you want to solo. That's your own business.

I am curious though how do you roleplay as a dancer slave? I mean shouldn't it be your slave masters that you dance for? And what about your tips, do you keep those for yourself?

I sympathize. While don't exactly solo when I'm dancing like you do, I'm not a big joiner. And I've had a couple people get upset at me beacuse I didn't want to join their group or PA.

I tend to avoid organizations because they inevitably have power struggles and then factions form and what started out as a nice pleasant group of friends turns in .... politics. And there's not a much uglier word than that is there?

Or even worse they start getting so big that they start creating RULES. And like ANY organization once that starts, the rules proliferate like Kudzu in the spring rain.

I'm not real big on authority and I seldom encounter a rule that does not create a desire to break it. I can proudly say that I have probably been thrown out of more guilds in UO than anyone I know.

So in ONE sense BlindTyldak I can appreciate your problem.

While I don't agree with your methods even as an RP'r its your decision to make an no one elses. You want to solo dance then its no ones buisness but your own. Best thing to do is just not answer when they start pressing you to join or give you guff and say your stealing customers. There is no such thing as stealing customers they watch who they want to and thats the way it should be.

Play how you want to play and don't worry about what others think, you have to make the game enjoyable for you not joe/jane dancer across the floor. Its not a competition like some have tried to tell me. Its for fun... enjoy yoursel.

Marea, good questions. That's where common sense for the sake of the game kicks in, and we've had to come up with RP reasons for me to dance in public until our City becomes a reality. We're going with him wanting to show off his property, and he likes being able to come and boss me around in public. (Don't worry, folks, it really is all RP. The Master in question is an online friend of mine for several years and does not take his role any more seriously than I take mine). Unless we had come up with a way to allow me to dance in public without breaking immersion, it would be probably several years before I got Exotic. And of course that's the one that I'd dance for him the most. I do give him all my tips; he gives me any credits I need for training, buys myclothes and jewelry, plus we share a small house on Corellia, we'll share a large summer home on Tatooine, and we also have apartments in the PA Hall. For a slave, I'm making out pretty well.

I don't see any problem with a solo dancer. I wouldn't mind it myself at all. If someone wants to put that much extra work into getting their dance skills then more power to them. My character is very social so I don't have to worry about RP conflicts. Which is a good thing too, was getting 109 exp per flourish last night and I'd hate to give that up before I make master.

I have a problem with the "I don't group for RP reasons".

If you're in the cantina and in sight of others, then like it or not, you are grouping. If you really want to Role-Play being a solo dancer, then you need to dance out of sight of any other dancers.

And yes, I realize that you won't get many watchers...Roleplaying is tough.

I realy dont have a problem with the solo dancer eather. Like others have said I get so much healing exp as it is. I dont know what to do with it.

My only problem is that you get one tell and you instantly fall OOC. Are you a mute slave, that can only speek in OOC? Most non roleplayers have enought respect for roleplayers that if you roleplay the reason you cant group they eather respect it, or it flys soo far over there head that they just zone out anyway.

Now before I make this next statement please understand, that this realy doesnt pertain to you persay. Im just makeing a generalation, for someone that sometimes is in you position.

I find sometimes that people will hide the stigma of griefer behind the make of roleplayer. Someone that wants to create a persona only for the reason of causeing others grief. Also sometimes they will come to the boards and telling there story looking for justification for being a jerk.

Rember that a role player does his best to not offend non roleplayer. Sometimes it is going to happen anyway. Those are the ropes.

The solo dancer, would dance alone. Like in a backroom, or a hotel, or his/her own house. They would not be right next to the other dancers. Because people coming in would associate you with the others. And "grouped" or "not grouped", what you want to roleplay is not being associated with others.

I agree that you have the right not to group if you want to, you really couldn't be taking a noticeable amount of xp away from anyone (healing xp goes up faster than you can even pay for the skills usually).

Also, the logic you use for RP purposes is your own, but I think it is quite flawed. What is a slave doing out alone in a public cantina playing the "first to smile game" with the "common folks" she is "unfit to associate" with? And "yak"ing it up with them? A slave? I guess my point is that joining a group just for the xp bonus, and continuing to play the way you are (turn off /gc if you want) would seem to be a pretty minor thing compared to everything else you mention that you do.

Anyway, I wouldn't be mad at you to answer your question, as long as you weren't one of the idiots that stands directly in front of your group, afk, with a macro that goes off literally every 30 seconds begging for tips while you play Star Wars I.