On LRP and the impact of PING

[annwfyn]

 So, ages and ages ago I wrote the following:

I need to write a proper blog post on the important of PING in LRP.

 

This is mostly because I’ve realized that about 80% of my ‘I’m having an issue with X LRP’ comes down to me really saying ‘I don’t have any PINGs and don’t know how to get them’, just in longer sentences and pretending that I’m all about the art or something. When really I mean “I don’t fucking care if I just picked 100 fucking flowers. Why will no one give me validation for that? GIVE ME PING!”

 

(World of Warcraft has a lot to either be thanked for or answer for. I’m not really sure)

 

And I never did write the blog post, but I did explain at length what I meant in the comments. Which I’ve since had to hunt down repeatedly when people asked me to explain my theory of PING. And now I’m basically compiling all my notes into one single piece for reference. The Sally Theory of PING.

First of all, what is a PING? I define it as the following:

 

A PING is the sound you get in a game like WoW when you achieve something – whether it’s going up a level, or getting an achievement like ‘kill 100 people in a battleground’ etc. It is one of WoW’s most effective tricks – it keeps players feeling accomplished, and if you play consistently, you’ll regularly get that little lift from it, which them propels you into playing that bit more.

 

In LRP terms, what I mean by “PING” is  ‘some form of external validation which tells you you’ve achieved something in game’ although I know some people are quite good at setting up their own internal PING. So, in Stargate, PING would be getting a promotion, or a medal, or a mention in dispatches, or some form of responsibility. In Empire, it is often a hat of some kind, although I know there’s other stuff too. In Vampire it might be getting status, or a position. In Garou, you get rank, which is a fairly brilliant source of PING as it rolls on fairly consistently.

PING isn’t necessarily something that comes with moral value. It’s just a term I use to describe a specific sensation of moderate achievement reinforced by an external observer. It’s also not the only thing that makes LRP fun by any stretch of the imagination.

 

For me (because I am not fluid or creative and suck at making my own fun) one of the things that really affects my LRP game tends to be whether I can achieve PING on a semi-regular basis, and if the structure has clarity on where PING can be found. Semi-regular can be as irregular as ‘once per year’ and I’ll be happy, although much less than that and the worry beings to creep in that I’m getting it wrong.  It’s a bit like annual appraisals at work in that way.

 

I want to also emphasize – ‘PING’ is quite distinct from ‘goals’

 

Goals are internal, PING is external. A goal can be a way of achieving PING, or can be a route, but isn’t automatically so. For example, I can have a goal in Stargate to gain all the engineerings. Which, in fact, I did. That’s cool and I liked it, but I didn’t get the little PING which says “the world knows you’ve done well”. 

On the other hand, getting my Queen’s Gallantry medal after the 10th anniversary game, was mechanically meaningless, totally unplanned, but a massive source of PING. I felt like the game world was saying ‘well done’. 

This isn’t to say goals aren’t important. In fact, goals are something I ALSO want to have and achieve all the time. I just want them TOO. I’ve got a separate blog post coming on ‘Stuff Sally likes to have in game in order to be happy’. But they are different to PING.

 

For a long time I felt deeply awkward about talking about PING in LRP. Mostly because I came into LRP in the emo 90s, when a ‘good role player’ was someone who wasn’t in this game to win, because that was terribly gauche and smacked of D&D. A good RPer says things like ‘I love to lose’ or ‘I just do this for the joy of the RP’. These days, of course, the line the Cool Kids take (which shows you’re a good RPer) is ‘I set my own goals’ and ‘you just need to be independent and proactive’. And those things are totally true, but I’m not convinced that it’s enough for everyone.

Having said that, I’m sure that is true for some people. Everyone works differently and as far as I can tell, LRP is awesome for being the hobby that gives different people different payoffs. But I do think that for a significant proportion of the hobby, it remains true that Blizzard were onto a good thing. We feel better when we’re reassured we’re getting it right. We feel better when we hear that PING.