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Gaia Online features a robust avatar customization tool, complete with a myriad of options for users to fathom any unique look for their own purpose. Many of these options come from a variety of styles, from fantasy to sci-fit, to themes set in real-world traditions. With this tool, the avatars have been given a life of their own and are used to create characters with personality and histories of their own. One usage of avatars that deserves a little attention is the section of roleplay scenarios of real-time, multi-participant fan-fiction written by the users of Gaia Online to participate in group adventures.
This type of activity stems from what is known as LARPing, or Live-Action Role Playing. When one takes part in a LARPing session, the player will take on the role of a character, with a set of attributes and abilities, and set off with the other players in an adventure usually planted in the realm of fantasy. Along the adventure, the individual players will come up with hazardous scenarios for everyone to overcome by utilizing their vharacters' abilities and working together as a team. Sometimes, the players will do battle with each other for fun, in a show of character strength, skill, and strategy. The only flaw was that the players had to use an honor system and required a deep imagination and a sense of fairness in order to play out their characters without being too powerful or unfun.
Further down the history of LARPing, a set of rules was applied and published as a game known as Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D. In this game, the rulesets are pre-defined outside of the player circle and each player works in these confines. The Honor System was no longer necessary, the rulebook was the judge, jury, and executioner of what you could and could not do. A character is created using this ruleset, and character growth and progress is tracked using a character sheet. The characters would earn Experience Points and level up, gaining new abilities as they grew. They would also earn Gold and Items to help them on their quests. D&D, and many other games like it, continue to this day!
In my eyes, Gaia Online's user roleplaying sessions are more akin to LARPing where honor systems must be used so no one player is too powerful. However, many Roleplaying sessions end up being nothing more than casual slice-of-life stories due to the lack of an organized ruleset system, thus hazardous situations and player-versus-player scenarios are almost too pointless to attempt. One player, who wishes to be all powerful, can ruin the fun for others by saying his character is God and kills everyone in sight. With a ruleset, this player cannot do this, as his character won't have the items or skills necessary to be that powerful.
And this is where the avatar cutomization comes into play. You can proudly become the character you create, use your "original character" in the game. Your avatar items become your weapons, and those weapons begin to feel more useful than just a decoration. Your Bronze Rapier is no longer just a tool to match that dark pale yellow, but rather a +2 to your Atk stat with a +1 bonus to Orcs! It is my wish to create a ruleset for Gaia's roleplaying communitiy, to offer that kind of structured gameplay and bring it to those that enjoy typing out fan-fiction adventure stories with their friends. Engage them in critical thinking, strategy, and teamwork, and to integrate Gaia's avatar customization tool into the mix. It is my goal to design, create, and execute that wish.
 Madalyn Plith · Thu Jun 17, 2010 @ 01:07pm · 2 Comments |
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