Private WoW Servers & RP

I figured I'd post up a similar topic as before, from my old blog.

Something that has kept me curious is how Blizzard views servers that don't have their aims to simply give people access to 'free WoW.'  Yes, it is against the ToS.  And while a lawful argument cannot be made against that, to what degree will players go to provide an experience for other players that Blizzard cannot give?  Sure, private servers will generally be plagued (relatively-speaking) with bugs, broken quests, missing scripting for a lot of events, etc.  In my opinion, this essentially acts as free advertising for the real World of Warcraft, and those that are after the experience of perfect scripting and smoother PvE and PvP experiences will probably be inclined to try retail for real.

That said, what about those who are after a moderated roleplay experience?  For retail RP servers, there is no moderation, and players are free to roleplay however they see fit.  Depending on one's preference for RP, however... this may not be a good thing.  People could refer to it as elitism - I'd rather stick to a term like realism.  I really don't want to see half the population roleplaying as lore figures' lovechilds or dragons masquerading as Blood Elves or the like.  However, that's another topic which I won't go into here.  Due to Blizzard not feasibly being able to provide moderation for the various RP servers, they have gone into various states of roleplay - some, like my home server (and notably the release-day or older RP servers) have almost non-existent roleplay, with a fair amount of other players that are actually hostile and belittling to those RPers that dare to do so publicly (on an RP server.  Heh, go figure).  Other servers seem to have an abundance of RP, but it has been given the derogatory (though appropriate) term "retail RP" (there's a site dedicated to scoping out ridiculous RSP profiles on retail servers, on a similar note - Roleplayer's Lament).  Anyhow, I'm sure Blizzard will not see it the way I do, despite not charging any sort of fees or the like.

Regarding private servers in general, it has somewhat surprised me how things have gone the past few years.  Initially, when starting the CotH community, I had thought we were the only RP server.  I only did a brief Google search, and every site I saw was for servers focused on overpowered PvE or PvP, where people could get the highest-tier equipment (or godlike custom equipment) and go at it against NPCs or each other.  Naturally, this wouldn't do for me, so I decided to start my own community.  (I'll elaborate on that in a later post)  Now, there have been other various RP servers popping up, but all together we don't seem to make a dent against the massive amounts of pure PvE/PvP servers.

Still, for those that prefer a more social experience, or those that like to flex their creativity a bit and not just mindlessly mash hotkeys and buttons, a roleplay server would be ideal.  In this regard, the community would be providing a service that Blizzard could never manage as a result of the sheer size and popularity of the game.  The goal for me when creating CotH was not to simply provide a free WoW experience, but to create a community that focuses on actual roleplay.  With the possibilities a bit more open on a private server, it's the perfect venue to put one's vision into a world to provide a visual aid for RP.

Anyway, if you currently play WoW (or have in the past) and may be getting bored of the endless grind for gear (the game has gotten stale while waiting for Cataclysm to come out), or perhaps you're tired of the lack of decent RP on retail, please feel free to visit Conquest of the Horde!  I won't encourage those still paying for retail to cancel their accounts, but it's always good to supplement your RP cravings!