In the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online, our author Larissa Then often encounters little things that feel like roleplay. After further research, she ultimately caught the fever.
What is my stance on roleplay (RP)? To be honest, I have rarely had contact with roleplay in MMORPGs. Except for the last two letters of the abbreviation. Although I have played many different games over the last 15 years, I have never been in an RP guild or on an RP server.
All the more surprised was I when I started with The Elder Scrolls Online. There, roleplay lurks around many corners. This may also be partly due to the system with megaservers. There are no special RP servers, only guilds and projects. But with Guild Wars 2, which also uses megaservers, this has never been so glaring to me.
Real RP fans in MMORPGs might laugh at me now. But through the confrontation with the subject in ESO, I really got hooked on roleplay.
What is meant by roleplay (RP) here? As the name roleplay already suggests, it is about playing a role. You create a character that may have nothing to do with your real self. You immerse yourself in it and behave as it would in the respective situation. You interact spontaneously with other characters or sometimes recreate complete scenarios. Here are a few article recommendations if you want to delve deeper into this:
It’s the little things that caught my attention first
This was my first point of contact: In The Elder Scrolls Online, there is a huge world to explore. Accordingly, there are many area chats. Usually, these are used rather practically. For group searches or to complain about other players.
In ESO, I first noticed a lot of players who are completely immersed in their role. They do not write as real people in the chat, but in the name of their character and treat others accordingly.
Sure, I have encountered this in other games before. Recently, my group members in WoW Classic sat around a campfire telling scary stories. But that was the peak of my RP career – which is basically non-existent.
Here’s an example from the area chat as I was grinding recently, even though I used to think grinding was silly. Two players are talking in the name of their characters. Marbruk is a city in Valenwood. It seems that the aforementioned player frequently hangs around there and drinks.
Such conversations abound in ESO, and I often have to chuckle about them. Even though the fun is constantly interrupted by guild advertisements.
RP also plays a role in my guild
But it doesn’t stop with small quirks in the chat. I am in a regular guild, that is, without an RP focus. And even there, the topic keeps coming up.
This is where housing comes into play: Some of our members have personal backstories for their characters, one has built a house for each of his Wood Elves. They must all live somewhere, he says. In addition, each has outfits that suit their type. I found that so fascinating that I wanted to learn more about it.
Ultimately, I spent almost three hours following my guildies to their houses. I looked at everything closely, peppered the owners with questions, and took about 100 screenshots.
In one of the visited houses, several Wood Elves live together. They all have their own beds in the bedroom and can relax together in different reading nooks or romp around in the woods on the property.
Regarding the race of the Bosmer, who, by the way, ranks 8th in your popularity ranking, there is the so-called “Green Pact.” It is also known as the agreement of fern and leaf.
Those Wood Elves who are followers of this religious code only eat meat because they cannot harm plants. However, there are also other Bosmer who do not strictly adhere to it. That’s why there were also fruits and vegetables in this house, which is not the norm.
Housing alone is, of course, not roleplay, but building houses. To create something great, a lot of time, money, and effort is required, as can be seen with this house here.
However, I am told that it is an excellent means to the end of roleplay. In one of the houses I was shown, there is even a cozy spot for a romantic evening for two to engage in roleplay.
The community enjoys backstories
In the ESO subreddit, I have also encountered the topic of backstories for each character. Once, a player asked who else enjoys something like that. He received surprisingly many responses that went in a similar direction:
Absolutely! All of my 5 characters have backstories, and I’ve intertwined the reasons they came together.
nitasu987 via Reddit
And even those who do not create stories for their characters have responded positively to the post:
I love how much detail you put into it! I listen to the lore on YouTube and read lore books for fun… But you are really into it. That’s great.
PalmtopParadox via Reddit
A few of the users even shared their personal backstories. From simple fishermen with a great success story to outcasts, everything was represented – and I read them all.
I want to dive deeper into roleplay, but how?
Since I don’t want to continue skimming the surface so clumsily in the future, I want to dive deeper into roleplay in ESO. It is essential to familiarize oneself with the lore of ESO. Since I was already a Skyrim fan back then, I am actually excited about this.
Especially now that the new expansion Greymoor with a Skyrim focus is coming up, my hype has picked up steam again.
Additionally, one must make connections for roleplay. The right RP scene is a bit more hidden in ESO. However, there is the forum eso-rollenspiel.de, where you can check out all projects and the hotspots for RP.
This is what the hotspots are about: In The Elder Scrolls Online, there are roleplay hotspots. These are places publicly played by RP projects. A player can simply go there and engage in roleplay. One of these spots is Vvardenfell at the island of Auridon (via forum).
In Himmelswacht, there is the tavern “The Hook”, where a fixed meeting takes place every Monday at 8 PM. You will definitely find me there next week. And perhaps you will soon read about my real experiences with roleplay on MeinMMO.
Thank you to my guild and especially Kazanji for the tours and photo sessions!
