Roleplaying in the Aisles

It's no secret to this blog that I love me some RPGs: I love inventing a character and guiding them through the game world set out before us. I see the character grow stronger with each step, I assist them with making key decisions and we become traveling companions on a glorious adventure. Sure there lies the appeal of killing dudes and looting gold (it'll never get old) but an RPG is, to me, taking a character on a journey and doing the things you want to happen.

But as I've found out, the wonderful world of the MMORPGer doesn't seem to offer this - I've been playing a lot of World of Warcraft so far this year and I have yet to come across the same sense I picked up from playing regular RPGs. Yes I'm taking a character I created, yes I'm seeing them grow and become stronger along the way and yes I have had some kind of kinship develop. But I honestly do not feel like I'm making a difference in the world around me nor the quests I'm making are actually going anywhere. More like any other RPG I've played, WoW has proven itself to be less about roleplaying and more about killing dudes for the gold - which ironically is how I play non-video game RPGs.

But I digress - WoW just doesn't strike me as an actual role playing game. Maybe it's the sense that because there are many people playing this game at the same time nothing in Azeroth will ever change but nothing I do makes a difference. By way of example, my mage Nasesandra recently helped some Orcs to claim a hill from the Alliance. After a hard fought battle, the hill was won - but when Naesandra comes passing by some time later nothing had changed. One would think the Orcs might build a tower or some kind of stronghold but nope - The hill still looks the same. What, did the Orcs give up the hill in order to get someone else to help them? Sounds like a scam to me...

But again I digress: As stated before WoW doesn't seem to offer much in the way of actual role-playing - thus to actually take on the persona of a character seems somewhat weird and jarring - no one seems to be doing it and to be talking with someone on chat and suddenly jump into character seems kinda strange.
I recall one time when I was using my paladin Beldrath: I talking to my friend Aef and he offered to pass on some ore he picked up with his Level 80 Hunter, Aefion. We arranged to meet a Razor Hill and once there I immediately started doing rp speak: As Aefion was the oldest and most experienced character in our guild, I, through Beldrath, started speaking in a manner both awestruck and reverent - as well as asking why he and Arendar (Aef's other character) are never seen in the same room at the same time. That, and the conversation that followed, as a fun bit of rp but it does seem a bit odd to rp in a game when actual rp isn't compulsory.

I guess in the way that maybe it is up to players to develop their WoW characters - largely though their actions and with a little imagination (provided exposure to WoW hasn't wrecked it completely). Therefore, largely based on what I've done I have seen some personalities develop with my three Blood Elves. I see Rithendal being a moody git - That type that prefers the company of animals to other characters. Whilst not a team player (he tends to disappear during shared quests), he still has the best interests of his fellow guild members at heart.
Beldrath meanwhile works as the sole blacksmith for the (same) guild thus making him, in my mind, one of it's strongest members. And being a paladin, I like to think of him as the noblest character in the..... golfing caddy that is my character roster.
And Naesandra, despite dying too easily, makes glyphs for her guild thus establishing her as a hard worker. And being a mage I like to think of her as studious and serious - kinda like a WoW Twilight Sparkle - only more violent.

Seriously, they even have the same fringe: