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View Full Version : Vaarsuvius is the bored player



Firestar27
2008-09-22, 09:30 PM
Vaarsuvius represents the player who is bored with the sidequest in an RPG. Think about it. All V has been doing since they have been on the boat has to research ways to get the party back together to continue with the main plot. V has shown that he wants combats over as quickly as possible. When V disintegrated Kubota, she asked if they can "PLEASE resume saving the world". V is obviously the player bored with the sidequest. He will even kill the (secondary) villain to finish the sidequest. She just wants to get back to the main plot.
Although I don't agree with V on this one, are there any opinions about this theory?

theinsulabot
2008-09-22, 09:41 PM
the line between player and char is blurred in OOTS. there are no clear players sitting at a table, instead the oots merely struggle to operate in a world bound by DND laws. V is not the bored player, but merely bored. V has exhausted what little patience he had to begin with and is acting to speed things up

Firestar27
2008-09-22, 10:19 PM
That is why V isn't the bored player, but represents the bored player. Maybe I should have been a bit more clear. Although there aren't actually any players, V is certainly acting like a player that is bored. And V isn't just acting like any bored player. V is acting like a player that is bored with the plot.

JaxGaret
2008-09-22, 10:22 PM
V clearly isn't being played by a bored player, due to the whole "suffering arcanist" shtick he's going through right now. The player is definitely roleplaying their part.

Lord_Butters_I
2008-09-22, 10:26 PM
V has no patience at all right now, and he's fed up with how many resources are being poured into combatting this guy when he deserves (in V's eyes) to die. Unwilling to waste another month or more on legal nonsense, V solves the problem presented to her.

Spiky
2008-09-22, 10:40 PM
What's a "player"? Don't think those exist.

JaxGaret
2008-09-22, 10:45 PM
What's a "player"? Don't think those exist.

A "player" is "a male who is skilled at manipulating ("playing") others, and especially at seducing women by pretending to care about them, when in reality they are only interested in sex. Possibly derived from the phrases "play him for a fool", or "play him like a violin". The term was popularized by hip-hop culture, but was commonly recognized among urban American blacks by the 1970s."

-urbandictionary.com

:smallbiggrin:

Devils_Advocate
2008-09-22, 10:50 PM
As I have remarked before: The world of OotS behaves like a Dungeons & Dragons game, and this includes the main characters acting like PCs; i.e., they act in many ways as if they were controlled by players -- fairly archetypal players, even. Thus we may speak fairly meaningfully, I think, of what these players would be like, were they real. (And, heck, it's not like the members of the Order are especially real themselves, being fictional characters and all.)

One could certainly make a case that V's Hypothetical Player is bored with the current sidequest.

Warren Dew
2008-09-22, 10:51 PM
V is not the bored player, but merely bored.

I think "bored player" fits better than "bored character". From the character level, Vaarsuvius' actions may not get the fleet to land any quicker, but from a player level, it will now likely happen in fewer play sessions.

Someone was asking who was going to replace Belkar's role if he died; I now think Vaarsuvius is a candidate. (He's also a candidate for elimination from the strip, though, if he's too powerful.)

Theodoriph
2008-09-22, 11:05 PM
V doesn't suffer from boredom.


V is obsessive about getting in touch with Haley and co. V is frustrated and stressed out that she/he has had no luck in contacting his/her friends. V is angry, aggravated, frustrated and annoyed that while he/she is trying to accomplish this important goal so the party can raise Roy and go and stop Xykon, gnats like Kubota keep biting and time and resources are being wasted on them.

But it's not boredom.

Linkavitch
2008-09-23, 05:55 PM
I kind of agree with you. V is bored, but s/he also really wants to get back with Haley and co., and both are valid reasons for getting the plot over with.

Tessa
2008-09-23, 06:09 PM
A "player" is "a male who is skilled at manipulating ("playing") others, and especially at seducing women by pretending to care about them, when in reality they are only interested in sex. Possibly derived from the phrases "play him for a fool", or "play him like a violin". The term was popularized by hip-hop culture, but was commonly recognized among urban American blacks by the 1970s."

-urbandictionary.com

:smallbiggrin:

Well, I've never seen one of those at a D&D table :p

Spiky
2008-09-23, 06:11 PM
A "player" is "a male who is skilled at manipulating ("playing") others, and especially at seducing women by pretending to care about them, when in reality they are only interested in sex. Possibly derived from the phrases "play him for a fool", or "play him like a violin". The term was popularized by hip-hop culture, but was commonly recognized among urban American blacks by the 1970s."

-urbandictionary.com

:smallbiggrin:

Does urbandictionary allow for updates ala Wikipedia? Because that is the definition of "playa", not "player". :smallcool:

CyberRebirth
2008-09-24, 12:23 PM
I think V was just being straightforward, as he has stated before, she doesn't like laws that get in the way, so of course he would not want to wait around and let the trial take months, when she could just kill Kubota now.

( Plus it's interfering with his research, I would do the same thing if I was in her shoes :smallamused: )

Ron Miel
2008-09-24, 02:31 PM
Does urbandictionary allow for updates ala Wikipedia? Because that is the definition of "playa", not "player". :smallcool:

:belkar: Never say playa again (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0019.html)

Mythlor
2008-09-24, 05:16 PM
I do not concur, and agree with JaxGaret and Theodoriph. V is being played as an obsessed character, not bored. If the player for V was bored, then they would not continue to rant and battle as the game progresses.

A bored player usually is in their own world, not focused on the game at all. I have seen bored players go totally off tangent, try to disrupt the game or sit-out when battles are raging.

David Argall
2008-09-24, 05:22 PM
By the standard definitions of "bored", V does not seem to be so. Nor would that be applied to any player involved. V is highly frustrated, which is rather the opposite of boredom. She cares intensely about the situation, but he is unable to do what she desires about it. We might argue that makes him angry enough to murder people, but it does not make V bored.

Spiky
2008-09-24, 09:40 PM
To be perfectly honest, I've never seen V so happy. He's back doing what he wants to do, it's challenging, his annoying moral compass is not around (Roy) to stop him from simply, uh...clearing a path when necessary, and he has plenty of people to snipe at. Dude's ecstatic.

His increasingly pompous conversational patterns are very enjoyable to myself, I might add.