How would you describe EFU and this form of NWN persistent world roleplaying to someone with no experience with such things?
EFU is something slightly similar to a MMORPG in it's basics. The game is a sandbox where your character is free to do as he wishes, or not do anything at all. Unlike a MMORPG however, it is less focused in "spend time here and give us money" and more focused in combat and roleplaying. This means the combat sistem is quite decent, and the combat itself can be very challenging sometimes, so one can have fun on EFU as they would on diablo II: Beating the levels, get the bosses. However, EFU:A is mostly a roleplay server, this means the main goal of the server is for you to create a storyline using a charater of your creation, to make an epic novel with everything that it includes.
One thing in wich all Neverwinter Nights Persistant Worlds are supperior to any MMORPG is the player's interactoin with the gameworld. While in WoW or Runescape all NPCs say the exact same thing when spoken to over and over, and work more as postcards than real characters of a story, on EFU:A DMs constantly "posses" the NPCs to make them act as if they where players. In MMORPGs the world is completly static, and nothing out of the expected can happen to you, however the DMs can cange the gameworld to make any event happen: from a random comoner to start talking to you, to an orc invasion at the gates using catapults and other siege equipment or a dragon decending off the sky to demand tribue or whatever. While this events are uncommon (you can't rely on this for 100% of your entrtainment) they do add diversity to the world, and allow you to sometimes be able to do a small quest where you really have no idea what will happen.
Another thing that i find particulary good abour EFU:A is the ablity a player has to influence the gameworld. If a PC is meritorious enough, he can gain a position of power within the city, command NPCs, have his own castle even (yes, it has happened) influence the NPCs as if they where PCs, etc. Above all there is always the chance you can affect the gameworld as you could if it where real life.
"A world of tense conflict and extreme roleplaying a place where pcs can aspire to and acomplish whatever they want."
it's this mmo'ish video game where people sort of make a story with their characters, it's pretty fun you'll probably get it once you sit in there for awhile, just reinstall nwn fag
I'm also curious if many of you guys ever have explained EFU to people like teachers, parents, non-game-playing-friends, etc.
Efu is like one great play or story where all the players are actors playing roles ever changing and evolving. Basically an interactive story but instead of a few characters everyone has their own story. Most interesting game ever by far.
EFua is an ambitious attempt to offer an environment in which players can pursue adventuring, crafting, politics, magic, treasure, guilds, and intrigues in a more meaningful way. It is difficult to survive and unlike most games, death is a mechanical setback and often permanant.
Many of my friends disapprove, but many friends also approve of EFU because I never stop wanting to play or talk about it. One of my buds, BigX2 also plays EFU. I try to explain it to my friends as:
"Efu is like a never ending story book. The DMs play as the narrators and story tellers. You the player are the character in the story. Other players will go and influence your story as it is being told by the narrators."
Escape from the Underdark: Archipelago is not a game in the traditional sense. It makes no attempt to be fun on its own, and "mechanical balance" is one of the least important aspects of it.
World of Warcraft is a game where any player can accomplish any task, as long as they spend enough time on it. The result is that no accomplishment in World of Warcraft is meaningful. Anything you do, a thousand others have done already, and a million others will do before the year is over.
What EfU:A tries to do is create a sandbox fantasy world, where players with talent, creativity, and dedication are rewarded. EfU:A is genuinely the only place where a player can play a villain whose very name inspires feelings of uneasiness in other people. It is the only place where a hero's victory has meaning. It is the only place where a player's actions become the stuff of legend, as a story grows, and grows, with every retelling.
I could go on, and delve into specifics, but I think explaining EfU as a concept is the best way to describe it in truth.
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I've tried to explain EfU in real life on two or three occasions. Two co-workers didn't understand the concept of roleplaying, and I tried to convey the sense of freedom that came of being a Councillor in Sanctuary. It was clumsy though, and while one of them later gave EFU a shot, he didn't get far past making characters whose names were thinly veiled dick jokes.
The other time was a girlfriend, to whom I tried to explain the Underdark setting to, in a bid to get her interested in playing EfU. Eheh. Didn't work out. Lesson learned.
"I'm also curious if many of you guys ever have explained EFU to people like teachers, parents, non-game-playing-friends, etc."
I tend not to tell anyone that I am a nerd XD.
Let me take a crack at this, since I have had to explain it to some friends and family members (mostly non-gamers).
I basically tell them its like theater, on the computer, with other people online. There's some really tough monster fighting, and some people that oversee the whole "production" (aka DMs), and the world and characters in the world are changing, and dying, all the time, based mostly on improvisation by the people involved.
And that's it. When I actually show them a bit of it, they find the mechanics and customization interesting, but then laugh when there is RP. In fact, one of my brothers thought that it was probably the computer script when another player was talking and emoting (you know, like a cutscene). And when I explain that its actually a person acting as if they were in the character's shoes, they find it ridiculous. "Why do they do that? What's the point?". Then I tell them that its to create a more immersive and realistic gaming world, they just think I should play the more modern games.
Its much easier to explain it to someone who has played and enjoyed paper-and-pen DnD or similar games. I tell those people that EFU is basically that same game, but on computer, and with people you (probably) haven't met before. A DnD world that runs 24/7, with no limit to number of PCs (its not just the people you can gather at a house). Of course, these people find the most interest aspect in PvP, which while usually allowed in pen/paper DnD, its rarely ever done.
That's all I got. So yeah, on most occasions, I opt to just not even mention it to save myself and those around me a headache.
Quote from: Howland;172787I'm also curious if many of you guys ever have explained EFU to people like teachers, parents, non-game-playing-friends, etc.
I have, actually. I explain it most basically as playing Dungeons and Dragons over the internet with other people around the world. Sometimes I get a closed-minded reaction, but most people know me well enough to see through the stigma of D&D and actually start to ask questions. I then usually describe some of my favorite chars to them, along with their exploits. One of these discussions actually led a friend of mine to go out and purchase NWN about 2 years ago and start playing EFU.
Unfortunately he was rudely run off by a DM who is no longer with us.
As for the the more ambitious aspects of EFU, I usually don't get into that with people who have never played such games before.
Quotehe didn't get far past making characters whose names were thinly veiled dick jokes.
His name is Fong?
Better than Sex- or so I am told.
In other news, I have tried, but no one seemed to care much! :)
I've explained it to quite a few people. Some PnP rper who went 'aww, i wish it was in French'.
Other complete noobs that needed to be explained what RPGs were, and what a multiplayer computer game was.
Big times.
RPG:
It's like theater, you play a role. The play setting depends on what a gamemaster has made up: futurist, medieval, etc. Your role is limited by realistic rules, laws, etc. You can't just do anything crazy. You can use cards or dice or whatever rule to determine if something you try succeeds or fails.
The fun part is that you don't have to play 'against' other players, you can cooperate to achieve any plausible goals.
What goals? Save a princess, become famous, build a castle, become a lord, save the world, collect poems, explore weird areas: whatever you want, you can try for.
Multiplayer-computer game:
There's other people out there in front of their computers who are moving the small guys you see on the screen. They make the small guys talk, act, in a vitual world. Me, i'm moving this guy. No, not the one who just said 'fuck you' No, don't touch the screen.
Why can't you stop?
a-Tell the truth: because i'm addicted
b-Lie: because if i quit, the other characters i team up with will die. Other players will lose month of work, and hate me for it, and they'll never want to play with me again. You wouldn't quit on a soccer game just because someone's calling you, would you? See, it's the same here. I've got to play a couple of more minutes. I'm not just playing on a computer. I'm playing with other players.
Isn't it silly?
a-Short answer: Yeah, isn't it cool?
b-Long answer: Not at all, it's a creative game where the player develops many skills. RPGs are now used as educationnal tools in every major university. They develop the sense of anticipation, creativity, tactics, tolerance, the use of English, teamwork, etc... bla bla bla...
I read RPers commit suicide because their character dies.
a-Short answer: yes, of course. Wouldn't you?
b-Long answer: Actually, there suicide rate amongst rpers is twice as low as the national suicide rate. This can be explained because the game acts as a psychotherapy.... bla bla bla.
Aren't RPer satanists?
a-Short answer: actually, i worship Orcus.
b-Long answer: RPG allow the player to rethink the origins and organisation of religions, and thus develop a deep sense of Right and Wrong, of universal values that are shared by all mankind... bla bla bla.
I think people play in virtual worlds because they are afraid of real life...
a-Cynical answer: So they should be. Read the news.
b-Change the topic: Not at all, they prefer to exteriorize virtually emotions and violence that society would frown upon if it was done for real. They can learn by a series of virtual mistakes without paying for it in real life. Bla.. bla.. bla..
c- Long answer: Everyone has experienced the need to test another life, be someone else, live someone else's life. It's a natural feeling, and rpg answer that human need for change in an entertaining and safe way... bla bla bla.
Alright, i'll try, but don't tell anyone: they'll think i'm a nerd.
a- Short answer: Welcome to the club.
b- Long answer: Although RPG were frowned upon in the 80s, there is now millions of players around the world. The first gamer population has grown up and turned out to be normal people, so the initial fears spread in the medias has tuned down. More: these people now have kids, who are playing stupid video games, and old games were much better. ;) As far as knowledge is concerned, you can point out that The Lord of the Rings books are studied as classical litterature. (But yes, the movie sucks). Conan, Labyrinth (lol), Time Bandits, Krull, Excalibur, Willow, Princess Bride, etc, have opened the way to heroic-fantasy being just another cinematographical theme.
c- Probably answer: Don't worry, i've invited Bill and Sue, and they play too, and guess what: they like it.
Geez, it's really nice. But it takes so much time.
a- Yeah, it does.
b- Well, you could do that on top of other things, if you didn't wake up at 12:00
c- All good things need time to be done.
Why is it alway boys playing?
a- Short answer: Because girls are busy playing barbie-doll.
b- Long answer: Because most civlizations have clearly defined gender-roles, and gaming experiences do not escape this social division of genders. Bla bla bla...
That about sums up some very usual discussions about EfU-esque games.
Now if the goal of the OP is to find elegant ways to admit to your girlfriend that you're playing when you promised her you'd stop, then you're in deep shit. ;)
I've explained it to quite a few friends and other people, almost entirely people who have no idea about games. I tend to describe it as an interactive story, where you act as the characters in it and make a fantasy novel together!
I tried to get my previous woman into it, explaining the concept breifly and told her to read the forums to get a bit more info.
Her response "Wow, the people you play with are assholes, how is this fun?"
My quest after that became to explain the subtleties of internet trolling to her. It ended badly, and seven people died.
It is the equivalent of improvisational acting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvisational_theatre) over the internet. To keep things from getting too crazy, there are simple rules governing what can and can't be done. So it is like a large story in which you and others play a role, and see the world from your character's prospective. It is the ultimate combination of imagination and escapism.
Rpgs as others stated are in essence a story. A story you take the place of a character in.
In a single player you are the center of the attention. In a mmo many people are the center of attention.
Example: In Kotor you are a jedi (for sake of argument.) The story focuses around your jedi. In a mmo many of you can be jedis and the story focuses on each of you.
In nwn player worlds. It is a world in which you are the center of attention in essence that you can affect your world, though not as much a center as SRPG, but more then a MMO.
In EFU, there are many players who can affect the world. You log in, and you can affect world. Where as many nwn pws you log in and everyone is already lvl 40 (it is a old game.)
The server is like a book, and there's hundreds of people writing. Anything that you want to do is possible, you can shape your own story while all the other writers interact with your character and fabricate their own.
I just tell people I do drugs in my free time. It's just more socially acceptable.
It's like eating pure cinnamon.
Me too, CE old chap. Me too.
I tried once to explain it....
The person was polite enough, but the -look- in their eyes said it all.
I'll just keep it secret.
I've explained it to both adults and kids. Most know me, so understand my love and passion for these kinds of games. I have found the easiest way to explain these things is to tell them that it is a lot like a play, thou we have no scripts.
Each player takes on the role of a character, each character has a part to play in this world. Each part effects the world in some manner, even if it is a simple conversation with another player.
Thou the 'races and classes' are limited, here you will find limitless personalities and persona's of those simple things. It is the people that play EFU that makes the world so different, we have as many points of view and ideas in this small corner of the web as you can find in any major city in the World.
So kick back, find your groove, and watch the world around you change as you grow and learn from those around you.
I use youtube videos of LARP'ing, but then explain that on EFU we engage our fellow players through the medium of neverwinter nights instead. This goes over well enough.
I tried to explain it to a friend once. But as all my friends are thugs (according to everyone here) I just gave up trying.
Quote from: Pestilence;172794"Efu is like a never ending story book. The DMs play as the narrators and story tellers. You the player are the character in the story. Other players will go and influence your story as it is being told by the narrators."
This is almost word for word how I describe it to others.
I would start by telling them about the setting, like what is Sanctuary, about the factions and memorable characters, then if they are interested answer general questions like why was Sanctuary abandoned, why don't you escape etc. Problematic to this approach, EFU:A's setting didn't grab me as the original EFU did but then I only played 8 hours of EFU:A. I might mention the various character arcs like how it's interesting to see a level two guy with intentions of ruling a piece of the city go on to actually do it. Granted that person had privileged access to the server and it is not as easy as it would look like but it might be a good hook in some people. Oh I'd let them watch me play. A friend to this day associates this server as "that game where you have to walk around everywhere" and extrapolates from there to "LOL SHOOT A FIREBALL AT HIM oh wait that's not good roleplaying." But I digress.
I tell them I do nothing. I wonder how many of my friends think I just sit on the couch staring at the wall.
It's my dirty little secret.
Thread necromancy!
I'm just curious if anyone else has managed more success in explaining this sort of project than the people who posted here.
Well. Anytime you explain something to someone, you need to know who you are talking to. Audience is everything when it comes to these types of games.
A Gamer
I'd summarize this world to a gamer by doing three things. First I would screen out any who were not interested in storytelling, action adventure, or fantasy. In doing so, that would tell me what they are interested in, and I would use that information to approach them about the game world.
EFU is a living breathing story taking place over consistent and free server. It is a fantasy world, an archipelago of islands surrounding by mist and mysteries. You play a single character plucked from their medieval lives whatever that may have been, and deposited on an ancient ruined city by some irreversible magic. Whether by chance, or Fate, your character will now find themselves surrounded by a organizations of fellow players, ancient powers, treasure, ruins and the monsters that dwell within them. The city is more like a fractured pirate based colonial town, with many venues of conflict, public power mongering, backdoor whispers, assassinations, and political aspirations.
It is a dangerous world, with a hard learning curve, but you require no background knowledge to start playing. You speak from the perspective of your character and can ask others about what can be found here, where are the dangers, and the like. Learning the game engine takes some work, but there is a largely established player-base, a forum, and a live-feedback irc channel to which you can ask questions and learn the ropes. The channel is mostly full of opinionated trolls, but you can ignore most of their rambling.
What you do there? That is entirely up to you. You can be a coastal pirate, a barmaid, soldier, mercenary, wizard, librarian, historian, cop, detective, thief, archer, sorcerer, or forsake the city to live in the monster filled rain-forests where sneaky savages and strength run the show. The world is sculpted by players and facilitated by volunteer DMs, but largely it is what ever you make of it. This is one of those games that the more you put in, the more you're likely to get out of it. Its fun for some light-hearted questing and for the serious workaholics. Just be careful, it can take up a lot of your time.
I have told a few people about EFU. The people that didn't glaze over were those that understand it to be a 'community creative writing project.'
Who cares, ether someone will find the magic undereath the dark dank swamp known as the gamers land or they will drown and be stuck on MD or WOW forever, lets not worry too about it to much, we have a server to destroy, an order to topple a duke to slander and bring down, an undead army to stop, giant orc hords of death are coming, a golden alliance made up of Hitler and Skeletor burn towns and teach intolerance to the masses, why should we care for the none players when they care so little for us?
besides that list i just mentioned, so much to do people and so little time.
Once, a couple of friends came over just as I got into some pretty heavy PVP. I tried my best to explain it away, though in hindsight it was pretty much in the manner of a bizarre serial killer caught in the act. They smiled and nodded but the look in their eyes...
Still haven't told your girlfriend what you do on the computer Howland? I don't blame you. My advice? Keep it that way.
are we supposed to be explaining it for what it actually is, or in such a way that they don't think you're a weirdo for playing old dungeons and dragons games super seriously?
In order to explain EFU I must first explain NWN. NWN is an MMO maker in a box, an engine with the D&D 3.0 rules set in it and a creator that allows makers to build, code, and polish their own modules that grow into true persistant worlds, similar to your WoW's and what have you. These persistant worlds are active so long as the server is active, like any MMO, and your progress is also persistant.
EFU is different in that it is a Roleplaying Focused partially automatized server. You'll encounter MMO style quest givers, instanced quest area's, and challenges that require raid style tactics and thinking. Ontop of all this EFU is RP from the get go- you create a character, set in the world, and you proceed to pretend to be that character, acting out their ups and downs, their virtues and flaws, in the same way one might roleplay Pen and Paper game. The primary experiance of EFU comes not from it's MMO trappings but from it's story, a story you creat along with dozens of other players, backdropped against scenarios provided for you by DM's that manage and tweak the world.
I surround myself with only nerds so I don't really get looked down upon for playing an old Dungeons and Dragons game on the computer with worrying fanaticism, but when I describe it I tend to do so in terms of a book; we are the characters in a grim underground city / feudal fantasy novel and act as if we were the characters themselves.
I have introduced 3 of my friends to EfU over the course of my play (more, but 3 have found it their kind of game) and I mostly do it through telling them it is like playing as if you were in a fantasy novel. Although as I said, all my friends are massive nerds.
I don't actually know anyone who uses a computer for any reason other than to play solitaire. All my friends are in the bar shooting pool right now, as it is Saturday Night. I gave up the bar scene a few years back, so here I am.
If I told them what I was doing right now, they would gank me.
P.S. I can still beat them all at pool.
What I would find more interesting is how a person, who has never roleplayed before, would explain EFU after having seen it for a couple of hours or days.
Any experience with that?
Quote from: Semli;233155Still haven't told your girlfriend what you do on the computer Howland? I don't blame you. My advice? Keep it that way.
"Yeah honey, I'm browsing some porn please don't open the door!"
An interesting note: Halfbrood has a lovely, beautiful lass who cradles him in the night as he weeps for his just-FD's characters. She's a beaut! Don't believe the cynics.
QuoteStill haven't told your girlfriend what you do on the computer Howland? I don't blame you. My advice? Keep it that way.
She's well aware of its existence, but it's still a significant challenge for me to explain what this project is and why it's different than most computer games. It's a very difficult thing to explain to someone with no background in computer gaming at all.
If you are trying to explain it to your girl then just dont, call it a hobby and leave it at that. If she has no gaming background then obv she isnt into that kind of thing and will not care and would be a bit wierded out about roleplaying D&D I'm sure. Having said that she'll probably care...but only care because you care.
Quote from: Coldburn;233254"Yeah honey, I'm browsing some porn please don't open the door!"
I honestly think this would go over better in most cases, to be perfectly honest. People really don't want to get this stuff, I've tried a few different approaches. I actually had a group of people doing PnP at one point and it was going great, then one dude who got there late wandered in and was like "lol this is gay." It was like he spammed dispel magic on my fully buffed cleric or something. Everyone pretty much gave up on it and the night devolving into a drunken video game stupor as the evening wore on.
It's like a movie with all improvised acting and everyone is the main character. That is how I explained it to CaptLars and he started playing and I have two other friends interested but they are
Both people who've never role-played haha.
EfU is that awesome moment that you realize you've been playing a game for a decade and there's still a group of people out there that can create a magical enough experience to keep you coming back from more.
EfU, a blank book with a pencil sitting next to it, beckoning you to write it. To tell your story. Every time you turn the page, you see that every other player is writing in it too. The pieces of the page start to turn into pieces of a book, and that- a trilogy of hundreds upon hundreds of peoples' hand written stories. With an endless eraser in the other hand, you work hard on your page, able to build or destroy. Explore, or develope story. The choice is yours, and the possibilities endless, EfU is that game you -won't- forget.