RGP/RP

There are now multiple projects based on our community in which our characters inhabit RGP. However, asides from the basic layout of the forum, there are a lot of things which seem undefined. I thought that it'd be a good idea if we actually had some discussion about the universe which our characters exist in. I'll start things off with a few questions of my own.

1. The forums exist on the internet right? Well, is it the same internet as RPGM2KBLAH? If not, is it at least a similar kind of internet?(Meaning a physical representation.)

2. Just what IS the world outside the forum like? In a recent movie, "Aion vs. Botlar", it appears outside of the forum, it kind of looks like the landscape of the real world. Grassy earth, blue skies, and a hill nearby. Well, it is possible to also think of this as the immediate surroundings of the forum, and the forum itself being a building.

2b. However, judging from scenes depicting the "entrance" of RGP, it seems the internet itself is more like a giant void which we travel through, and you sort of just teleport into your desired destination, which is kind of like an island on the void.

3. Computers. Okay, if RGP IS a part of the internet, then what is the explanation for the computers a few characters have used?(Mainly Rodpop, so far.) It'd probably make sense of internet computers were a bit different than RL computers, but the way they have been depicted so far makes them seem like they are in fact exactly the same.

4. Real life. There have been very inconsistent occurrences involving this. Nearly all depictions of the various characters show them constantly in the forum. Do they ever leave? Seeing how the characters have their own rooms which contain a bed, it seems as if the forum is a permanent residence, yet some characters appear inhabit RL and come to the forum to visit.(Rodpop, latest Christmas special.)

5. The Goggles. Wait, nevermind, I don't want to think about this. >_<

6. Are there any other places in the internet? It seems awfully confined if characters spend all their time in a single part of the internet, is it possible to travel to other areas? What would these areas be?

7. How does one gain residence to RGP? How does one come across the forum to begin with?

8. The chat room. This has yet to be depicted in any game, movie, or story, yet it is a very important part of our community. Should it exist in the RGP universe? If so, what appearance would it take and how would it function?

Hmm, these are enough questions for now.

This is a really interesting topic. And yeah, I always thought that the internet was the same idea as the RPGM2KBRPG! one - though that Aion vs Botlar thing really contradicts that. One thing I thought was weird - how come in TCGM2, when we all went to different time periods, we somehow went out of the internet and into the real world - and people knew about what was going on in the real world despite being internet residents? I mean, internet residents shouldn't know anything about Earth's history, so stuff like Rodpop commenting on how it must be the Prohibition era, or KoE saying the Wild West is messed up...is a little strange. Mine and DC's chapters were still on the internet, though, creating even MORE confusion. x_x

very interesting questions, these are. and yeah, we probably should get these answered before there's too much confusion with the many stories and movies we have... in case someone cares, you know.

as far as having beds and rooms and all, i'm pretty sure we're ignoring that the internet is the internet. in other words, for movies, we're just assuming that that's our habitat. of course, if you want to be realistic, i suppose you could say that when people are "sleeping" in their rooms, they're actually logged off.

as for outside the forums... that is pretty confusing, in RPGMBLAH, yeah, you teleport around. but more recently, like in Post, the entrance isn't really defined. seeing as there's something wrong with it, we could assume it's not an entrance to a building. it's probably up for each person's interpretation, but maybe there's an area outside a building, and all of it makes up RGP, then there's an entrance/exit inside the building to other parts of the internet. again, up to interpretation.

as for computers, my guess is that they're peoples' (especially Rodpop's) to more easily monitor and control what's going on inside of the forum. but that would be hard to illustrate in the case of making changes to the forums, so it's probably something we're better off not worrying about.

those are all the possible answers i can think of

IMO, there are mutliple universes of RGP and the Internet, each with different rules and structures.

The RPGM2LONGNAMEverse, where it follows the plot and rules of the internet from the game.

The Movieverse, where the holiday movies and the RPGM2whatever bloopers and the like take place.

The Chaingameverse, where it takes place.

And so on.

More information on this will be revealed as the story goes on.

I unfortunately don't have any answers for this as it would only reveal more questions and plotholes that would make my brain explode. I'll try and unravel 'em later.

EDIT: Also, DC, I swear you read my mind. I was having an idea about making this topic too.

Before I go down DC's list, I'd just like to point out that Rodpop and I (mostly Rodpop) established that there are a number of different universes;

RPGM2kBRPG!'s Internet is completely unique, and in most of the other universes is recognized for what it is in real life; a game. Considering the recent cutbacks to the sequel, it's entirely likely that it's going to be its own, self contained stand alone game with that universe not being revisited besides the games that we all refer to as its side games.

The Chain Game has its own universe. We haven't really had a whole lot of discussion with regards to this.

The Chain Game: Mini is so... canonically volatile... that it exists in its own non-canon universe.

I think TCG and the Movieverse were once considered one and the same, but it really just occurred to me that the forums are depicted as an island in the former.

Anyway, that mostly answers #1. It is a physical representation similar to RM2kBRPG!s, but as a later question asks, unlike both REDDAP's depiction and my own depiction (IS), it still has direct connections to the real world. This probably goes across all three universes I mentioned above that aren't RM2kblahblah.

2) I believe all three share similar rules, so it's somewhat similar to how the outside Internet is depicted in TCG.

2b) The fresh-out-of-my-ass answer to this is that it's part of the forum's security. There's an impassable area of... raw Internet (this is actually roughly taken from IS too)... to prevent interference. The forum is still, however, visible from beyond this; ie from the hill beyond RGP.

3) Why shouldn't computers function roughly similarly on the Internet? They provide remote control for all of the forum's functions, and also operate as a remote way to access the Internet as you would from the real world. I don't see why the computers should operate in a profoundly different manner.

4) Rodpop gets to field that one. I've tried to keep the shenanigans on the Internet.

5) Agreed.

6) There are other areas of the Internet. But the movies thus far have been about the forums. Really nothing big to remark on here.

7) Presumably in a manner similar to how one would otherwise. The very entrance serves as an original buffer against banned IPs and such. The inner control room (as seen in AvB and that just-maps skeleton of RGP I released a while back) controls log-in, log-out, and other scanning stuff.

8.) Given a physical depiction of the Internet, are chats even necessary any longer? I really don't know how that could be integrated into that stuff.

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Anyway, in closing, I got tired of thinking about halfway through this and I'm not going to proofread it. Zeph or REDDAP or Rodpop can try their hand later.

I think KoE's explanation is good enough for me.

But one thing: If we were to make our own community games/movies starting right now, what universe should we use?

I think the chat is somewhat like a com device that members can turn on or off for communication between members anywhere in the forum. Then there's a regular com system that everyone hears, no matter what.

I said this once a while ago as to how I view the connection between all the RGP games, but I'm not sure if anyone remembers it.

Essentially, the "canon" universe is the one seen in the movies. AKA: The series that shares the closest connection to how most of us act on the boards. All the other games, including RPGM2KBRPG! and The Chain Game, are simply productions where the characters in the movies act as actors. This is why you generally see characters who are more out of character in the specials for RPGM2KBRPG! but actually act like they do in the movies. So really, they're all connected in a sense, it's just in a somewhat abstract way.

Also, in response to

You know how colleges have dorm rooms? It's generally the same principle here. The characters (at least some of them) have IRL homes, but they also have rooms in the site where they all sleep if they're sticking around. Also, the computers are there so people in the movies can be working on RPG Maker lolololol.

I always thought of the world outside a forum/site was just like, a wasteland of sorts. As will be depicted in the UICG.

Generally, one would use their browser, which is located on their person, to activate a site teleporty thing, which allows them to travel to another part of the internet. If you dont have one, then your staying put.

The RPGM2w/e is located on GameFaqs is it not? It's a rediculously big site, and has multiple boards, just like Invisionfree. You could assume, that it's a planet, that's more open than invisionfree, by allowing the users to move more freely within it's space.

Also; Gaining residence would require a registration. duh. lololol.

As for the chatroom, I intreperet as how everyone talks in real-time to eachother, using their computers to post on the forums normally.

As Rodpop explained, the RPGM2KBRPG! unvisive (lol alienmon) is intended to represent characters from the forum as well as other actors basically in a big epic budget movie type thing, hence the differences between characters in the actual gameplay and in the special features and on the in-game message boards (lol epic fourth wall killer).

I think TCG was intended to be similar, only more like a "reality show" as the characters retain their personalities and the locations are "real" in forum cannon (for the most part.)

Stuff like TCGM2 and the holiday movies that take place on the forums are considered the actual cannon, mainly since they generally have no long term effect on the characters unlike RPGM2KBRPG! and TCG where the characters *gaps* learn things!

As for the bedrooms, Rodpop explained that, they're like dorms. And about real life and The Goggles and all that, I like to see the RPG Cannon internet as sort of like dimension that the characters can enter and leave to switch for the real world at any time, although they have different alter egos in the internet, but can access their real world personell if need (like The Goggles).

That's all for now, I'd elaborate more but i'm in a rush.

Just make sure that some where down the road all these alternate internets don't lead to some huge Infinitive crisis on infinitive RGP.

Really, I still consider there to be four major levels, as I said. TCGM doesn't go in to the other three because the basic ideas are just crazy and really don't fit a (decent) flow, if you ask me. At most, they'd probably be referenced like RM2kBRPG!

Then there's the movies. It's more of a depiction of ourselves in a somewhat cartoonish fashion (off-the-wall plots that don't string together very well at all) than any actual continuum. Considering that 95% of the action takes place in RGP (the exceptions being the end of AvB and the Easter Special), I guess the outside Internet isn't well established. At the end of the day, it's probably somewhat closer to what REDDAP and Rodpop mentioned.

TCG is middle ground. The characters refer to IRL and such, but have an overarching plot and it's generally more serious. The Internet depicted here seems to be either RM2kBRPG! style (considering Rodpop is the only one to work on the actual Internet there, that's probably true) or IS style (as mentioned later).

Everybody's covered RM2kBRPG! pretty much spot on.

As for my comments on Internet Saga style Internet (as depicted only in TLK), the original idea is that it's Earth (which, in RM2blahblah it isn't) in the distant future. Overpopulation, etc. lead to the Internet becoming a sort of Matrix-esque (minus the sucking their bodies for energy) virtual reality. There was some reasoning that I forget what it was that people could freely travel back and forth to it, but it got severed to be one-way because the Internet became a literal separate universe that was basically the dumping ground for the entire multiverse.

In the series, there was supposed to be a separate 'residential' Internet, much like a real world, and then a VR style regular Internet that both Earth people and Internet people could interact on.

Yeah, that's an idea that never got pulled off well. >_>