In the course of Remaining Fantasy XIV’s post-Stormblood patches, there’s a scene the place the characters must buy a particular katana. An actual value for the katana isn’t given in-game, however Alisaie at one level states that it’s the value of shopping for and furnishing a small home, which ballparks it at someplace between 5 to 10 million gil. That is handled as a ruinously giant amount of cash that ought to not have been paid and could have a critical downstream impression on the funds of the Scions of the Seventh Daybreak, which leads instantly into the plot that requires taking up additional work.
On the time, in fact, my character might simply have purchased greater than a dozen of the katanas if she wished.
The purpose right here isn’t that this in a roundabout way was poor writing; it wasn’t, it provides a good suggestion that in-universe, and that a lot cash is a considerable quantity and never one thing you possibly can simply shrug off. Nevertheless it does function a helpful segue to think about the numerous issues in any MMORPG that your characters could be able to doing that don’t, the truth is, map properly onto the issues that your character is supposed to have the ability to do.
To some extent, that is a part of the issue of diegesis in roleplaying butting up towards the truth. that in-universe, your character can’t simply rise up and get again to issues within the occasion of dying. Grignr the orc doesn’t drop to zero hit factors, respawn, after which say, “Oof, that was a doozy, huh?” Lifeless is lifeless, besides it isn’t as a result of it is a online game and needs to be handled as such.
However there are different issues to think about in that regard. In Metropolis of Heroes, odds are good that your max-level character is, the truth is, an Incarnate. The straightforward mechanics of the sport make that simply the trail you must go. However on the similar time, in-universe, Incarnates are vanishingly uncommon. Not each degree 50 superhero needs to be Incarnate. Many of the main heroes within the sport aren’t Incarnate. That is one thing uncommon and particular. And that signifies that technically, your Incarnate powers aren’t one thing your character can do.
Besides that, like… you can do this stuff. You are able to do this stuff simply.
The extent of this could range, however odds are fairly good you’re going to run into it. In World of Warcraft, inscription is the career that makes books and scrolls and work, which you will acknowledge as two very various things. Is your character a scribe who writes intricate books? That’s high-quality, however does that imply you’re equally achieved at portray? The sport says you are able to do each! When you’re taking part in a Shaman however your character isn’t a lot of a spellcaster, how do you deal with that when you may change your spec at a second’s discover?
In FFXIV, you might be well-served to degree all of your crafting and gathering professions collectively. However what in case your character isn’t a crafter in-character? How do you deal with the truth that in-game you may make the perfect dishes obtainable, however in-character your character might determine the best way to burn a bowl of cereal?
The reply is that it’s difficult. However there are answers to the issue, and the 2 large ones which can be price contemplating listed here are discovering various explanations and leveling the scope. And only for ease of rationalization, we’ll be masking these in reverse order.
Leveling the scope is mainly an understanding that in any form of story, the characters are going to have strengths and weaknesses. Even in case you have two characters who can theoretically do the entire similar issues, in actuality one in all them goes to be higher at some stuff and worse at different stuff. The Avenue Fighter collection began with a Ryu and Ken that each had similar movesets, however over time they’ve each diversified in order that regardless that each characters can use the identical fundamental strikes, Ryu is significantly better at fireballs and ranged management whereas Ken is a significantly better close-in character.
Let’s return to FFXIV: It’s fairly doable that you simply and your buddy have each leveled each fight job, and so, mechanically, each of you are able to do the identical issues. However that doesn’t imply that your characters are the identical. Your character could be higher with magic and simply discover it extra pure, particularly therapeutic spells; her character is loads higher with ranged weapons and something involving dexterity. The truth that you’ve gotten a fundamental degree of familiarity doesn’t change that you’ve got specialties in observe, one thing that gearing normally bears out as properly.
However various explanations assist present one thing past “pretending you possibly can’t do what you are able to do” as a result of that’s centered round explaining the issues your character can do… however not the way in which the sport says it’s achieved.
Working example: Suppose your character in Guild Wars 2 is a leatherworker in mechanical phrases, however in-character you don’t need her to be able to crafting issues. As an alternative, you may simply clarify it as she is a very good service provider who has a knack for calling on the proper individuals and getting simply the proper leather-based items delivered into her ready fingers. Or perhaps she’s a hunter and has a contact who’s very good at turning every particular disguise right into a bespoke piece. Mechanically, the online impact is identical (she turns leather-based into helpful stuff), nevertheless it has a special taste alongside the way in which.
Clearly, this isn’t at all times a one-size-fits-all problem, however it’s one thing you possibly can work with. How do you sq. leveling cooking in a sport the place your character shouldn’t be capable of cook dinner? Nicely, there’s a distinction between cooking functionally (a talent everybody ought to have) and cooking properly (a talent some individuals have and a few don’t; I feel I’m fairly good, however Chris places me to disgrace). Your character could be a max-level chef as a result of he could make the substances edible and nutritious, however that doesn’t imply it doesn’t style like moist cardboard.
Finally, there isn’t a single answer, however I additionally suppose it’s necessary to acknowledge that typically you must be prepared to droop your mechanical disbelief with a view to hold issues grounded. As was the case when I wrote about how FFXIV’s story doesn’t know you’re taking part in a online game, you must keep in mind that so far as your character is worried, that is actual life. Sure, you possibly can simply peace out of an issue and don’t have to fret about consuming in-game in loads of video games. Your character doesn’t have that luxurious!
There are going to be some issues that your character can try this aren’t doable in a strict diegetic studying of the sport. And that’s OK. You may internalize that truth and mess around it. That doesn’t imply that you simply’re ignoring the mechanics from high to backside, nevertheless it does imply recognizing that typically actuality doesn’t line up with the constraints of a fake sport, and that’s the place you must sand off the sides a little bit.
When you’re an previous hand at roleplaying in MMOs, you possibly can look to Eliot Lefebvre’s Storyboard as an irregular column addressing the frequent peaks and pitfalls doable on this specialised artwork of interplay. When you’ve by no means tried it earlier than, you possibly can have a look at it as a peek into how the opposite half lives. That’s one thing everybody can take pleasure in, identical to roleplaying itself.
