Entertainer Archive
Thread: [Please Respond, Entertainers] Immersion/Roleplaying Guide. I need some advice with this....
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BioEngine
Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:05 am
#1
Hello, all.
After the sale of an armor attachment which I have recently looted, I have decided to act on a discussion that I had with L'enna, a dedicated entertainer who frequents the Coronet Cantina.
Starting now, I shall use all of my inventiveness and resources to put into effect an Immersion project for the entertainers and varying professions of Bloodfin. The project will focus upon Musicians and Dancers, but have secondaries of Image Designer, Chef, Artisan, Tailor, and Merchant. I intend for this to be an effort to create immersion into the Star Wars "Universe" that they cannot currently enjoy. This will have primary goals for role-playing, and as such it will be completely voluntary on the parts of its participants.
I will update this thread as I finish the proposal, and I am willing to listen to feedback. Please, keep an open mind on this. I am not looking for attention, and this is not "just talk." I will be putting as much effort as I can into this, in the hopes that it will bring enjoyment to those who dedicate themselves to these professions.
I thank you all for your participation in this effort, in advance before you respond to this. And, to re-iterate, I am not doing this for attention. I started as a Musician, but unfortunately I also drifted through all but 4 other Elite Professions before arriving at my Ranger/Teras Kasi template that I am at now. I am hoping that this saves these professions from a somewhat mediocre gaming experience, but that is in no way a presumption that these players are not enjoying their professions as they are now. There will always be room for improvement in anything, and I am simply trying to improve upon them to balancefor the attention given to the Combat Professions during this time of constant upgrades and updates.
Thank you for reading this, and I am looking forward to meeting the needs of this community.
*Update: I have moved the first part of this document to the original post, to benefit the casual reader.
Keep in mind, this isn't completed yet, and it is by no means a request to any Dev's to implement themselves into the game for us. It is a list of ways that we can create our own immersion within the game as it is now. I expect that not everyone will enjoy these activities, but if they are not a flamer then they will post their own suggestions on what they would enjoy, and describe it similarly to the depth that I have considered the following issues. I will take those projects displayed here and elaborate on them if they are receiving a good amount of feedback or praise. I thank you for reading this, since that would indicate that you have some interest in the potential that the game has without requiring the Dev's to create what we want themselves. Life is a challenge, and I am not one to turn away from such an opportunity to obtain more ways to reach an obstructed goal.
This is a proposal, made with many considerations for professions who do not wish to take part in combat, and for any player wanting to participate in a more roleplaying friendly environment. This is by no means complete, since everything can be improved upon in ways we may not yet understand. Feel free to give positive criticism, suggestions on improving these proposed methods of roleplaying, and any additions that you feel should be addressed. I thank you for your time in reading this, as it is quite extensive.
* On a side note, special thanks go to HiroTanaka for an excellent post, which game me ideas for the Bartender, Comedian, and Poetry sections.
Concerts:
It seems that there are not very many bands on Bloodfin, and I am afraid that it is not a very friendly server to roleplay on. I do not roleplay all of the time, but I do not act like everyone else either. This would be an opportunity to have individual performers get to know each other, possibly forming bands or becoming additions to ones already in existence. People would contact the organizers of such an event, ask for a performance slot, and be admitted for the show. There could be dancers along with the Bands, but a) I do not set the rules, I am only making suggestions that people can model their actions on and b) there can also be ballets and plays which would require dancers primarily and musicians secondarily. Chefs would be able to supply drinks if necessary for roleplaying or making such services available to the attendees, and a more preferred support would be from Tailors who could make clothing more customers to match those of their favorite band (either in game or in real life.) People could make requests if the organizers of the event allowed, and informed the musicians and dancers that requests would be made. “Sheet Music” could also be made available in the forms of Macro’s, perhaps labeled on the names of Items in a condensed form such as a fiberplast panel, and maybe in more than one piece for long macro’s or orders of macro’s. Although it would be “Easier” to email them, this would be better for roleplaying value.
Bartenders:
Let’s face it. HiroTanaka is right, and we all feel the same way. There isn’t even a quest that involves “buying someone a drink.” So, why not let an artisan soon-to-be chef get behind there and make it more interesting? It would be best that the “Bartender” do more than sell, as the current one does. They could coax newcomers over to the bar, ask them about their day, tell them about some interesting characters that entered that day, admire the entertainers, etc. This is an excellent opportunity for roleplaying, and would certainly help a less-than-novice Chef obtain many customers and friends before they “made it big” and opened their own catering service, which will be discussed next.
Street Merchants:
I do not mean to offend the people who want deedable street carts for the NPC cities, but there are already carts out there although they do not look very appealing. If you see a spot that would look decent, and if you are looking to make some credits at an early level of artisan, scout or medic, then “set up shop” by standing in a noticeable area with a set of small macros that coax potential customers that also cannot afford the better items, and would settle for less if it were less costly. Make fiberplast panels with your name and waypoint to a vendor if you already own one but wanted to roleplay for a change. It is a good way to make a business card instead of emailing the hard to sift through datapad waypoints. It is also more personal to do business this way, since you hand-crafted the item on the spot for your potential returning customer.
Gambling:
I am not sure about this, but it is a form of roleplaying where new characters, regardless of skills, can obtain credits. A neutral party could ensure that the credits to be wagered were put into the possession of, say, an MSE droid, for safekeeping until the game was finished. This would include dice, and I am not sure if there could be much else. I cannot think of a way to do card-playing, since it would require shuffling and would have too much risk of accusing the ‘dealer’ of cheating. I believe that it could be shuffled, and each person to be dealt a card would roll, for example’s sake, a 10-sided dice, and the closest to the number 10 would be dealt a card, then this would repeat for each time a card would be dealt to determine a random card was given to a random person. Please, feel free to comment and improve upon this method. It could become a form of Pazaak if that would be better for roleplaying value.
Raffles:
This would be more of a support for charitable causes, although it can also be the same as an auction or an addition to another event, as a bonus or however you wish to take it. This could be for a piece of rare art, an exceptional weapon, a rare looted item of some kind, or even contracts for willing participating players. Someone could, say, be invited to an event with the promise of a raffle for the services of a Band, which operates with the guild hosting said event. This band could, therefore, play at the event of the lucky winner’s choice, which would allow the band an additional opportunity to roleplay, and serve the needs of their guild and their fans (if the band’s name were already well known and respected.) This is merely an example, and could extend to any class for any purpose, but it would be best if the attendees knew of the prize ahead of time.
Auctions (much safer in game):
I think that forum auctions are considered less valuable to characters wishing for more interaction than the “We shall start the bid at x credits. I see we have one offer, at x credits. Do I have any more? Ah, now at x+y credits.” Type of auctions. You know, in game with everyone willing to obtain the item having the credits on them or in their bank. This would be, most likely, for the same items that are on the forums now, but this would be better even for those who prefer the simplicity of forums because they could inspect the merchandise, and have a much lower chance of being ripped off without a form of recourse since there would be very many witnesses, and they would only be able to do it once (hehe.) There could be some festivities afterwards, including one of the other events listed here, but that would be up to the host.
Catering Services:
This would be a collection of artisans and Chefs, with the potential to have a master/apprentice type of relationship between characters. There would be the Cooks, Wait Staff, Organizers, and Cleaning Crew (perhaps, but doubtful hehe. It isn’t that hard with a macro to /pickup after the party.) The events which would benefit from these companies would include: Auctions/Raffles, Congratulatory Parties (if there are any, and there should be for certain events especially within guilds who support their members as individuals,) Weddings (what little of them there are, anyways. Not as frequent as the others, but still a valid role playing event,) Concerts, and several other events that a group may wish to put on.
Wildlife Expo:
This event would be run by Creature Handlers, Bio Engineers, and various players who like to roleplay but do not possess the skills to tame a creature. They could still display low level creatures obtained by the Creature Handlers and Bio Engineers, while the CH’s would be able to show the metaphorical “Rancor’s and Kimo’s” of SWG’s creatures. This would be a roleplaying event, but it would also provide a business opportunity for BE’s to sell Pet Food, Pet Stims, and BE’d pets or creatures for Creature Handlers. It would also allow the Creature Handlers to train the pets that people can obtain at the event or already have. One way that CH’s have made money is to train creatures to serve as mounts, and this would be an occasion that would appeal to the needs of relatively new players who do not know how to find players willing or able to provide such services.
Stand-up Comedy:
This would not be as much of an event as it would an addition to someone else’s, say a guild party or something else. It would be on par with singing, since it has the potential to be macro’d after someone else’s work instead of their own. It would be best to have these jokes told with star wars topics instead of an already know/successful routine. If they were necessary, then you could remodel the original joke to reflect star wars “nouns and verbs,” so to speak.
Poetry Sessions:
A bit extreme for some people as a way to roleplay, but an acceptable form of roleplaying none the less. This could allow people to share creative perceptions of the behaviors of people on their server. I doubt that many Servers would have enough people to have significant groups for such specialized interests as this, but nothing in this world is set in stone. It would be best to do this along with musicians, since it is a somewhat limited form of entertainment on its own.
Knife and Gun shows:
This would allow the beginning artisans and masters to get together, without competition on the scales we have seen it, and sell goods that people may be looking for but would like the role playing atmosphere of it. It would involve representatives of the major companies of a server bringing a few of their weapons to display, and hand out business cards, at their own stations. I am not sure as of yet what deedable building would be the largest, or most likely, candidate for hosting large events, but I would think that guild halls or city halls would be more beneficial. This event would not exclude any groups based upon skill; the only restriction to who can bring goods to sell would be dependent upon the amount of people who can attend and who are requesting to attend (by attend I mean to set up display booths.) There could be displays where fighters would test the skills of these weapons, or observers can judge their value (for roleplaying purposes, though.)
Radio Stations for Servers:
This would be an informative thread, where activities of different noteworth events would be posted. It would be an opportunity for guilds to advertise by sending their information to the Radio Station owners and tip them upon confirmation however much would be agreed upon, and then advertise the event between certain interviews/comedy routines/etc. These would have to be player run, at least until the Dev’s find a way or a need to make them. It would need to be free of any chat but the station operators and their participants, and there would be times for a question and answer session if needed. I am unsure how to force it to be observation only, but the temporary fix would be a simple request to people to keep it open until the appropriate time.
I hope that you all can benefit from these suggestions, and I must repeat myself once again by asking for some opinions on these suggestions. Thank you again for reading all of this, or at least what you could relate to.
Message Edited by BioEngine on 03-30-2005 08:32 PM
BioEngine
Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:44 pm
#2
posted in the original thread.
Please, I need to know that someone cares about this stuff 
Message Edited by BioEngine on 03-30-2005 08:32 PM
BioEngine
Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:22 pm
#3
Does anyone think that this is an unimportant set of information?
I think I would rather be burnt with flames than ostricized with silence.
/sigh
Rabideko
BioEngine
Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:07 am
#4
I am trying to get some feedback by putting this on several forums. I want to pursue at least 3 of these programs as my personal projects. The rest would be for others to use as they will, if they need suggestions for a guild/player city event, or simply wanted another way to enjoy the game without waiting on Dev's to make it what they want. It takes less time for us to solve those kinds of problems than it would for them to.
So far, I am going to implement the following programs as my personal programs:
Bartender hiring programs
- I will supply struggling artisans trying to grind their way to Novice Chef and beyond
with the Light FoodAdditives that I can ask a guildie to make schematics for. I
will provide these additives in exchange forthe "bartender's" services at a \
particular npc city cantina, who would work at the bar for as long as they wish. I
would provide them with the additives on a weekly or monthly basis, depending
upon how much theyproducts were in demand for at the time. I would only
request 15 to 20% of their sales, which wouldeither be upon the "honors system"
unfortunately enough or request that they send me an email withtheir individual
sales in the form of a forwarded bank tip (which is doubtfullly a good alternative,
since abank tip during a trade leaves an opportunity for stealing on either end.)
Concerts for financially aiding Chefs, Tailors, and all elite professions of the Entertainer skills
- I want to help bring attention to the entertainers and crafters that may not enjoy their
current experiencewith only setting up a vendor at their house, and hoping for
sales once in a while. This event wouldinvolve Chef's making drinks or food, as
either an immersion tool or simply to provide people withsomething that they have
been looking for and would like to purchase while they are there to enjoy themusic.
The Tailors would be able to craft clothing sets or individual items to provide players
with thegarment of their choice to reflect their preference for a certain Real Life
musician or group, or thoseBands performing at the concert themselves. The Image
Designers would be in demand, because ofthe preference for some people to both
dress and appear as their idolized musician. An example wouldbe Kiss fans and their
preparations for said group's concerts and performances. Musician and Dancer
groups would prepare their acts in advance with the varying instruments, songs,
dancesand flourishesto have it timed correctly for their performance at the concert.
They could portray a real life band forpopularity, or they could create their own
personal look and style. This would be an opportunity to create music that can be
found within the Star Wars soundtrack, like the Cantina Band song fromEpisode 4.
Casinos
- Not the best premise for a business, I realize, but some people find it a refreshing
alternative to theendless grind that they may find tedious at times. I am developing
a way to play Pazaak as analternative to dice gambling and prehaps even pvp duel
betting. I know that this game is not KOTOR,but I would think that it would still
appeal to some people as a challenge of skill, timing and luck. I willrelease the
Pazaak "rules" as soon as they are finished. There would be an atk bartender at such
aplace, and it may or may not have set operating times. I would assume that it
would be easier to keepopen and active in the afternoon of weekdays and weekends
instead of macroing everything up whichmay not even be possible.
"Open Mic Night"
- This is a combination of the Poetry, Standup Comedy and entertainer performance
ideas. The musiciansand dancers would most likely be solo acts, and the poetry
and standup would be as described above.This would benefit more from being
held within a single player city's cantina, or alternate betweenseveral cities after
each "night" had ended.
"Server Radio Stations"
- I have only recently discovered the non-standard chat channels since I attended the
latest Great RangerMeet on Wanderhome. This would most likely be a macro'd
station while the attendees ormyselfwereat school / work and when we could
afford the time hold a question/answer session with playerswho seems to know a
lot about certain aspects of the game which others do not, have guild leaderscome
on for membership drives where they would be asked by other players via the chat
channelabout their guild's mission, their services, requirements, etc. This would be
a prime opportunity forplayers to advertise their events or services, with the proper
commission to the station's operators forthe advertising space. It would probably be
charged on time taken, maybe at 500 credits per minute (possibly more, I will need
to ask some people about their opinions,)but there would need to be extensive
testingfor control to prevent "everyone" from using the chatchannel during the
station'sperformances. It would be acceptable for people to ask questions duringthe
livesessions mentioned above, but otherwise it would leave a lot of room for flaming.
These are what I have been looked at for my personal goals, and I would enjoy hearing
feedback from the community with which I will soon be extensively involved in.
Thank you for taking the time to read all of this, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Rabideko
Message Edited by BioEngine on 03-31-2005 10:08 AM
LeBob
Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:10 am
#5
These are really cool ideas, and I would really enjoy being in an environment conducive to this!
BioEngine
Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:33 am
#6
LeBob wrote:
These are really cool ideas, and I would really enjoy being in an environment conducive to this!
I am considering leaving Bloodfin, as there are too many powergaming whiners there hehe. Although, that's only because I count more than 50% of a bad thing as too much for my taste hehe.
Maybe I will be able to enact these programs on other servers if I can obtain the credits quickly. With JTL, it shouldn't be impossible. Only time consuming.
I know that there could be people who would like to do these things, and have the creds, but don't know how to organize it all to make it a fair and enjoyable experience, which is why I am posting this information with as much detail as I can. I would be happy to give advice to those of this post's audience on how to ensure these events would go off as planned, since I would like to help people cool down from all of the Combat Revamp/Downgrade/Non-Upgrade nonsense and anger that has been occuring over the past few days.
Thank you for the respons. Was there anything in particular that appealed to you?
Rabideko
LeBob
Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:01 am
#7
BioEngine wrote:
[snip]
Thank you for the respons. Was there anything in particular that appealed to you?
Rabideko
I really like the idea of casinos and bar tenders. TBCH, though, I am not the best in the world at RP; I do very much enjoy RPing and being in an environment where many other people RP (that also makes it much easier to join in), but sometimes it can be challenging to come up with in-character actions on the spot, so sometimes it feels more like work than play, but I really do enjoy being around dedicated RPers!
If there were more tools and friendly mechanics in the game for these purposes, I think it would be much more fun and easy for casual RPers to join in with the more dedicated RPers...
BioEngine
Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:12 am
#8
Hehe, sorry if you, or anyone else, thought that it was mostly for roleplaying. I think that since I have published this I am leaning away from RPing foci and instead trying to help people create their own fun without having to depend upon "content" and "more quests" from the Dev's. This will be much faster to implement, since it doesn't require the "suggest and hope for the best" waiting experience that people tend to get upset about.
I also find it hard to roleplay. It's not one of my priorities in this game. I am trying to help other people enjoy it for what it is and can be made into with a considerable amount of individual or group initiative.
LeBob wrote:
I really like the idea of casinos and bar tenders. TBCH, though, I am not the best in the world at RP; I do very much enjoy RPing and being in an environment where many other people RP (that also makes it much easier to join in), but sometimes it can be challenging to come up with in-character actions on the spot, so sometimes it feels more like work than play, but I really do enjoy being around dedicated RPers!
If there were more tools and friendly mechanics in the game for these purposes, I think it would be much more fun and easy for casual RPers to join in with the more dedicated RPers...
Drygo
Sun Apr 10, 2005 8:15 pm
#10
I know...everybody tries to get people to join their server, lol. But, I think Kettemoor has an atmosphere that is really conducive to some of things that you would like to do. I think that part of the problem, and the reason you may not getting as many responses as you'd like, even though I think your ideas are brilliant, is that these are difficult things to accomplish. A lot of people or busy or whatnot, and don't have the time to devote to something like this wholeheartedly, even though they, themselves, would love to participate in them. Organizing? Yeah, that's a lot of work. I've been busy in RL and haven't even started to do any of the cool things that I think of in my head, because I can't devote the time to it. But, when I used to play Sims Online, I used to run events all the time, and I was good at it, and everybody raved how fun they were, and I even had people telling me things like my event was the most fun they'd ever had in the game. But, as you probably know, there is a LOT of work involved in these things. I really wish my real life job would settle down because I would absolutely love to run some events that I've been thinking of.
Having said that, and going back to the whole "come to Kettemoor" thing, I think you'll find that some of your ideas are, in fact, being done by some really committed, wonderful people on that server. For example, there is a Cantina night every night of the week. Some of them have house bands, some of them have open mic nights, some are a combination of the two. There is one that actually has waitstaff and bartenders. The Green Room, I believe, and they send you a menu in email when you walk in the door. One of my former guildmembers, Malinborn, has a Casino Night once a month or so, and I have had so much fun at those things. People love it. I won almost one million credits one night. And, not only that, but even though there are some big winners, the house actually makes money from this. They are actually running a real casino business and are very successful at it.
While not the kind of auctions you describe, we have had auctions for dates and things like that. Though a real auction set up for ingame items would probably be quite fun. There are always caterers at weddings on Kettemoor. Some are just vendors that get set up. But, I've been to a number of weddings that actually had all the food laid out on the table, such as wedding cake and champagne, that the chef would personally /trade to you, hired and paid for by the wedding party or as a gift.
I used to be in a band called the Rift Runners, and towards the end of our run, we had a stand up comic who would tell jokes in between our sets, and people loved him. He was actually funny. 
Basically what I'm trying to say, is that there is definitely a market for this kind of thing, especially on Kettemoor, and I think you'd have a great time there. But, there is always a lack of committed organizers due to real life constraints or even game constraints (even some of our best roleplayers are doing the Jedi grind, for example.) We definitely have some great people on Kettemoor who run these things, and we could always use another like minded individual.
It almost seems like even with what we have now on Kettemoor, there aren't as many grand events (like Temenos Island day...I remember that as being a wonderful experience...an all day event with bands, plays, contests, etc.) It's too bad too. Maybe with the right people (and if I ever get some freaking time away from my job), some of these things could happen again.
Message Edited by Drygo on 04-10-2005 08:15 PM
NomAnor1987
Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:50 am
#11
I would move to kettemoor if I didn't have that much on tempest!
Bronski113
Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:44 pm
#12
If you ever still want to try some of this on Bloodfin let me know. I'm co-leader of the ENTS on there. We're trying to get more events going. Also You can contact Voce.
We're also working on a town that would have facilities that would be good for hosting events.
One idea I want to do involves bartending. I run the cantina (working on getting it decorated) for our town (Gardens of Heaven on Lok, 1000 meters to the east of Outer Heaven) and I am hoping to get regular bartenders that would be at the cantina certain nights of the week.
Basically it would mean there for an hour or two a night, a few times a week there would be activity going on in the city.
We're also currently setting up a performance in the theed theater.
We're also working on a town that would have facilities that would be good for hosting events.
One idea I want to do involves bartending. I run the cantina (working on getting it decorated) for our town (Gardens of Heaven on Lok, 1000 meters to the east of Outer Heaven) and I am hoping to get regular bartenders that would be at the cantina certain nights of the week.
Basically it would mean there for an hour or two a night, a few times a week there would be activity going on in the city.
We're also currently setting up a performance in the theed theater.
Message Edited by Bronski113 on 04-13-2005 01:52 PM
Blizzey
Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:19 am
#13
yeah your ideas sound good, contact me or Lodo in game sometime we can talk
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