Vacation! All I Ever Wanted…
By Bricu | July 2, 2009
Illi, on her way to a “vacation” encounters road construction….
Anna brings up the idea of Rest and Relax in her post, “Five R’s of Character Revitalization.” Of note is one key line:
Take a break, let the character rest, and go back to it after a break and see how you feel.
When players want a break, they can take a vacation. But where do your characters go when they take a vacation? Soldiers can go on leave, researchers have sabbaticals, priests go on pilgrimages. When none of these events are vacations in a traditional sense, they are possible breaks for a character whose RP has, for whatever reason, stalled. But stalled RP is not the only reason why a character may take a “vacation” from their WoW duties. Letting a character take a break is not just good for the player, but it is a part of the natural evolution of the character. In short, breaks, vacations or any other kind of downtime is essential to maintaining long term RP.
For example, Bricu and Threnn have taken a number of “getaways.” They left town to get away from: alcohol, overbearing mothers, to heal after kidnappings or after Crowning Moments of Awesome (that one is Threnn’s story to tell). Some of these getaways were used to explain extended absences by the players–a player break. But the overwhelming majority of these getaways were character based methods of dealing with the fantastic stresses–Thenia Al’Cair, Threnn’s mother, being a prime example of these stressors–of existing within Azeroth.
The game world itself has areas where characters are relatively safe from harm. For Alliance folks, the coastlines of Azuremyst are relatively mob free. Feathermoon Stronghold is another key vacation spot: Beach front, a boat to exciting activities and patrols of sentinels to keep one safe from harm.
Stranglethorn, with the bustling Boot Bay, is an ideal vacation spot for individuals from both factions to relax. Pirates and scheming goblins not withstanding, the scenery is breathtaking.
For the Hordie who needs a break, the remote Shadowprey Village could provide some degree of rest. Eversong is another viable alternative: Given the debauchery of some of the Sin’doeri, one could treat Eversong like a woodland Ibiza.
While some proponents of vacations espouse the virtues of leaving the familiar behind, even staying in a Capital city can provide enough of the break from the standard routine that all downtime requires. What matters is the break in the routine. Players, and characters, can burn out if they are not given the opportunity to simply relax and get away from it all.
What is your characters ideal vacation or vacation spot? What does your character do during their downtime?
3 Comments
Itanya Blade on July 2, 2009 at 3:16 pm.
Before the depths of Dorri’s fall under Elerlissa’s influence was revealed, she and Keltyr spent a lot of time on Quel’Danas. It’s easy enough to say that a character needs a break, but frankly Dorri and Kel being idle is not ideal. It makes Dorri antsy, which tends to be bad for everyone.
Having down time tends to be when we see just how truly screwed up in the head those two are. Almost every evil little prank they have pulled has come about when things were quiet.
Illi on July 2, 2009 at 6:55 pm.
Illi doesn’t take breaks or vacations. There is no such thing as “time off” when there are *wars* on!
… Well, that’s not entirely true. Illi sometimes runs “errands” or “tasks” that are not directly related to the main theatres of combat around the worlds. Like taking a week off to burn down previous homes in “Homecoming”, or spending an entire day waiting for someone in “Investigating the Erstwhile”. Or swinging by the Pig while in Stormwind. I don’t even think Illi would know what to do with herself if she was to take a “vacation” or there was no more fighting left to do.
(PS: That’s Naliendiel up there in the SS – not Illi)
Riten on July 2, 2009 at 9:43 pm.
When Riten wants to relax and put his boots up, he likes to head to his home away from home. Nagrand is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the wasteland known as The Outland. It’s wildlife is mostly friendly and happy to see you if you are not going to bother it. The place has its dangers but to a trained Blood Knight like he is, Riten knows how to avoid them.
Most of the time Riten will stay in the lodgings at Garadar. The people there are always happy to see one of their champions and are willing to help him relax by not troubling him much. Riten has always enjoyed fishing, ever since he was a boy with his brother teaching how to cast. He’s become a rather skilled fisherman and nothing pleases him more then just laying back on one of the banks of the grand lakes of Nagrand while his line softly plays in the water, waiting for a fish to latch on.
With all he hussle and bussle of the war front, it might just be time for Riten to take some time away from it all and relax away his stress. Who knows, maybe this time he’ll finally get that Mudfish that keeps playing with him despite his best efforts to catch the wiry creature.