Kitin Events Part I : Kizarak and Kitin Patrols

Since Winchgate has aquired Ryzom, it seems that events have happened more frequently than ever since I first started playing. And by events, I mean the devs or the CSRs taking control of NPCs and creatures, to make them act in a way that wouldn’t be seen during normal, regular gameplay. I will try to trace and summarize the events that have occured on Atys since it rose from its ashes to live again.

It started with a letter from the brand new event team : Animation4. They announced a very ambitious project, which was to bring roleplay back to Atys, in order to make the four civilisations grow in importance, in order to make Atys feel even more alive and immersive. Roleplay would then be as much of a part of the environment as the yubos peeing on your shoes or the ever changing weather cycle. And then, the devs got busy, and brought us our first invasion event since ages.

My First LARP Event.

It is my childhood friends that made me discover Live Action Role Play, also known as LARP. For the longest time, they insisted that I should come to an event called “Terres Impériales” and that I would most probably like it because I already enjoyed roleplaying on forums.

I remember my first event really well. I was playing a forest elf ranger and my foam-headed arrows really weren't the best out there. I could barely shoot them five meters away. In other words, I was pretty useless in a fight. The other elves and myself had to prepare a forestine ceremony to thank the ancient forest spirits. We had to prepare beautiful gifts for them. I remember that the NPC priest that was leading us back then was particularly arrogant. But it was fun.

Because Real Life Sucks…

Often, people who look down on gamers like us will say stupid things such as : “Get a life !” or “Why don’t you live in the Real World ?” What they don’t realize is that most geeks do have a real life, some have a career, a wife/husband and children on top of that. They’re not necessarly no-life losers, unlike what the mass media want you to believe. Roleplaying is just the bit of evasion they need to relax and remain sane enough to not go on a rampage at work or at home.

If people roleplay, it’s to get away from the stress or boredom of so called “Real Life”. Some people do work stricly for money, at a job they don't necessarly like. Often, the sheer amount of stupidity they have to deal with during a single work day would be enough to drive one completely nuts. Then the temptation of going berserk on a bitchy customer/boss/colleague increases by the minute. It's during these time that roleplaying becomes a bless. Escaping the harsh reality of daily grind just for a few hours is what allows them to get just enough relief to be able to retain the little bit of sanity they still have.

Believe me or not, roleplaying has therapeuthic effect. Because you can spend a few hours/days out of your usual self, letting off your steam on some eeeevil giant bugs, for example, you won't feel the urge to hit people across the head with a two-handed axe when they act rude or just plain stupid as much as you would if you had no way to escape it when work is over.

Doing it online is good enough, but doing it live feels even better; as you grab a foam sword and rush towards the "enemy" to make him regret being alive. Of course, you're not meant to hurt him for real, but using up energy in a pretend battle is just as thrilling and satisfying, I can assure you. In fact, if you really need to hurt people, then it's no longer a game and you might be one of those sickos who give roleplaying a bad name.

When I was young...

My roleplay experience really started on forums, as I was making my characters progress through written words. I was only twelve or fifteen years old, yet I could already write long paragraphs of descriptions and make my characters live through my words. The first roleplay forum I took part in was named "Magical Poudlard" (the French translation of Hogwarts). It was based off the famous sorcery school in Harry Potter. My character was named Cyberiana and she was a fairy. There were dozens of virtual sorcery schools inspired by Harry Potter back then. I was the Director of Hufflepuff and my house won the cup two years in a row. It was great fun but I ran out of time.