Cautious Investment in Defiance

Hi guys, I'm new here and I appreciate what you guys are trying to do with a RP community so *high five*. My concern here is not about RP which I happen to love but from what I've experienced. People I know that are also huge fans of RP I've found are especially cautious about both the game and TV side of Defiance, and I can see why.

Firstly we have the MMO problem. Game developers in general don't give a rats a**e about RP'ers, that much is certain. With a couple of exceptions (LotRO springs to mind), most tend to leave us on the sidelines whilst the PvPers get their due before buggering off to another title where they can "pwn" people. The amount of MMO's I've played where they don't even have a /sit function is nothing short of extraordinary, but that's another story.

So where does this leave Defiance the game in terms of RP? Its an Action MMORPG (sorry I don't agree with the term MMOTPS) with no dedicated servers for "our kind" and we're about to be thrown into the mix with the kind of players some of us avoid like the plague. So far I'm convinced the game's going to be amazing but in terms of an RP community I honestly believe its going to take time.

Which brings me to my next point. Now if someone were to say to you "Hey there's this great new Sci-Fi show coming out and you guys are going to love it." would you not even be in the slightest bit cautious? I'll give you some examples of ones that have worked: Firefly, Eureka, Supernatural, Warehouse 13, but basing a game on it is risky at best. If a show flops and doesn't even grab the nerdy RP crowd (myself included) then surely its doomed from the start?

Its about emotional investment at the end of the day and right now I get the impression that a lot of people have been let down by both games and TV shows and aren't willing to make that jump again, and its fully understandable. Aside from sounding like a negative Nancy I'm like many of you putting all my hope into the TV show, the game, and the RP community that makes Defiance what it is.

Does anyone else share these concerns?

You're not alone, my friend.

This being the first time that a TV show and a video game were developed side-by-side in the same universe, I absolutely have my doubts. But, in all honesty, it's a gamble that I'm willing to make right now. Trion Worlds know how to make a good video game, that's for damn sure. Rift is an amazing game. Not only that, but they are excellent at adding plenty of new content at a very rapid pace. As far as the game goes, I'm fairly confident that it will be a blast. Now, the TV show is a different matter.

Much of the cast are relatively unknowns, for the most part. Though I do recognize a few of the actor's faces, the vast majority are currently unknowns to me. And those that I do recognize, I didn't even know their names until I looked them up 5 minutes ago. That being said, I could say the same thing about BSG before I saw it, and look at what an amazing TV show that turned out to be. Defiance is also being produced on the same network as BSG and it seemingly has a pretty decent sized budget behind it as well (judging by the amount of CGI in the trailers). Not only that, but one of the main directors of the series (Michael Nankin) worked on BSG, as well as Terminator (the TV series) and Eureka. Also, a writer from BSG (if not more than one) helped pen the series. Here's to hoping that they can work their magic again on Defiance.

Now, as far as roleplaying in Defiance goes, I'm fairly certain it won't be very smooth sailing from the get go. After all, in Rift (same developers as Defiance) there were a ton of items missing at launch to make it a good game to RP in. There was no walk button for your mount, you could sit but not in chairs and several other things that slip my mind. Add that on top of the fact that Defiance is meant to be a shooter, and you can bet that adding RP friendly emotes/actions to the game is probably not at the top of their list.

But who knows, we could both be wrong and be pleasantly surprised. If not, then we'll just need to be a little vocal and let Trion Worlds know politely that there is an RP community and that we would like a small amount of their attention.

As far MMO's not being made for Rp'ers... well yeah that is not news and never will be but in this case it is a MMOTPS which means you get the shooter crowd. Rp'ers will need to have a thick hide and stick together, there will not be a whole lot of RP guilds around and most of the RP will likely be amongst groups and individuals and not just randomly everywhere you go.

But that is alright honestly I have not found a game yet I could not have meaningful and fun RP in one way or another it just takes a little bit of work and a group of people willing to give it their best regardless of what they will be facing when it comes to the general community.

In the 1 hour IGN video the dev did say that they are fully prepared to run the game even without the TV show and have plans for that in place should it come to that, the good news SyFy just ordered the second season of Defiance.

Aliyah wrote:...the good news SyFy just ordered the second season of Defiance.

Did it really? That's excellent news. Means we'll at least have 2 yearsish of cross-content.

Thanks for the replies guys. After playing the game today in beta I can honestly say that its as fun as hell! Loved every minute of it, as did the guys who I generally RP with. Is it "RP friendly"? Hmmm...now that's a different story. There are about 5 emotes from what I saw and the chat is a bit limited with no speech bubbles, but I think as its still a new game a form an RP community could possibly work. The fact that you ALWAYS have your gun equipped can be a bit daunting for RP'ers but that's why the Good Lord himself blessed us with imaginations, no?

Defiance is fast paced with very little time to stop to think so as a guild/clan leader in previous games I've decided to make the go ahead and start a clan. This time however I'm going with more of an action-based light RP clan as I honestly believe that a heavy RP guild (like I'm used to) may not get the full benefits that we're used to from MMOs.

Anyway If any of you are on European PC servers like myself, let me know and thank you for the feedback! I'd love to see an RP community form here as I think the setting is perfect. I guess it just comes down to the TV show now. If we have another Firefly on our hands then I give it a few months before they finally give us RP servers. Here's hoping anyway.

p.s. This isn't a recruitment drive so don't worry, its just my honest opinion. Haha!