RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Gideon Aryeh · **06-06-2013, 11:32 AM**

(06-06-2013, 11:08 AM)Ellie Wrote: I don't want to trivialize concerns that a few here have voiced about joining a server with players who already have a head start, but thinking about it in the long term, the idea of a separate RP server for the express purpose of having a place where new players can go and be on a level playing field with everyone else is utterly unsustainable.

The non-legacy servers for new players will not stay new. The players on that server will catch up to everyone else in the content, and then suddenly the only reason anyone ever had for going to a separate RP server will be gone. Future newcomers will not have the luxury of starting on a brand new server unless SE opens more servers.

And if that happens, what if new players who are just coming on to the scene want to start on yet another new server? Will we try to support a third RP server? What about a fourth server after the third server is no longer new? When will it end?

Not to mention the confusion that will crop up for new players when they're told that there's more than one RP server. Most newcomers looking primarily for RP gravitate to where the most RPers are, and for good reason. More people means more opportunities for roleplay.

It's for that reason that I want to prevent splitting the community as much as possible. It will be better for everyone in the long run.

There has never been confusion in any mmo if players were told there were other rp servers. I would also have to agree with the fellow who mentioned the GW2 community it exists with two unofficial rp servers and it does fine.

But I want to play devils advocate just for a moment. More options are always a good thing when organized properly, most of the time when other servers fail its because they are poorly organized and poorly supported, bottom line. I'm sorry to say this but the majority of the time what ends up happening on these splitoff servers is that the rp communites on them end up being very insular because (and not always) much of that community keeps to themselves and doesn't make their presence known to the community at large. That is why the new startups fail. Unofficial rp servers take work. Its absolutely much easier to go where everyone else is because you have more people working on making sure the rp is great or at least has a big enough presenceÂ to make sure that people know that they are there.

But one thing I have to say is this. A site dedicated to rp in a game is not helping things by not having equal support for any alternative servers that pop up. RP should be supported in the GAME period not just by a particular server, not to mention its been my past experience that having all rpers on one server is not always the best thing, especially if a game has no factions. There should be at least one alternative and I personally don't think it will be difficult to start another sub forum dedicated to another server. I mean why not? Isn't the point of this site to encourage/foster rp in FFXIV? As one of the newer members while I centered my character to exist on Balmung (hell even his story does) I think that those who are thinking about going to a new server should not be discouraged in doing so. Not in the way it has been done so far. In a perfect world all rpers will be in the same place rping together happily. Me personally I always liked the fact that in WoW for example there was a Moonguard if I ever wanted to not rp on Wyrmrest Accord anymore. (Please no MG jokes). I liked the fact that there were options, and I liked the fact that no matter what the rp community everyone was treated as brother and sisters no matter what server you were on. We all supported each other plain and simple. It didn't cause any issues or problems and it allowed people to have another place to go if they felt that they didn't fit on a particular server for whatever reason whether its icly or oocly.

While there are always rp servers that died there are just as many people who leave a game because they have no alternatives on where to go if they wish to just make a change.

I'll just say this, those going to a new rp server should stick together. Right now someone mentioned that on the Lodestone people are choosing Moogle. Whether or not people on this site want that to happen its going to happen since its on the Lodestone already. Not to mention what if Square Enix decides to designate more than one server as an rp server? What then? To try to encourage everyone to stay In the same place is a fight against the inevitable. I have been playing mmos for a very very long time. Multiple rp servers have existed and flourished since the days of Everquest and Ultima Online.Â All that is happening instead of working with people who want to go to another server is that they are being further pushed away.

And this time you guys are going to get a HUGE influx of experienced season rpers. Ones that are right now familiarizing themselves with the lore, etc etc. Ones that I am sure may have a different way of doing things and are even more aggressive when it comes to certain things. Like for example open world rp (like myself, I don't do the hiding thing, I don't do the private chat rpÂ thing unless its a private moment). It will be interesting to see how the different styles of rp matched with new personalities, etc will fit In with the feel of the old community.Â Which I'm sure was idyllic due to the conditions of 1.0Â Trust me, some of you will may not like it and might wish there was another server these new upstarts could go to, lol.Â Your beautiful town will soon be turned into New York City, lol

Join all the rpers together RPC in the game we all will be playing, that is how the rp community gets stronger, right now there are posts here that are making people feel bad and alienated by wanting to start someplace new.

And that is just as oft putting to want to rp.

When people come to this site they see Hydaelin Roleplayers Community

Not Hydaelin Roleplayers Community Balmung Server.

How bout that FFXIV rp community feel eh? I gotta say some of the responses here by the Legacy community come off a bit condescending.

What would an alternative rp server community want the RPC to do? Support them as any mmo rp community would support those that are playing in the same GAME with them. Innovative idea I know.

That is not a question that should even need to be asked.

Listen look at it like this those who want to stay on Balmung and don't want the community to "split up". Rp servers always have different feels to them. When I played WoW the Moonguard server had a feel (to me) of a newer younger rp community and players. Being a veteran I ended up going to Wyrmrest Accord which I loved because you could tell the rp community on that server was more experienced, more seasoned. So I fit right in, but it was nice that newer rpers had Moonguard to go to so they could develop their rp. It was also nice when they felt that they "graduated" and then they proceeded to move on to Wyrmrest Accord. When they did make that move all they received from the WRA community as a whole was open arms, and I am sure that many of them preferred to just stay or go back to Moonguard.

At least two strong options for rp servers imo would be a good thing, and guess what even past that you will have some trying to start rp on other servers, and more power to them, better to let them feel that they can try instead of forcing them to stay with everyone else thus resulting in them avoiding sites like this altogether. That is really what we need to think about here, lets not come off too pushy. There are probably hundreds of lurkers that read this site we want them to feel comfortable no matter where they wish to go. Sure disagreements are going to happen but lets support each other's choices nonetheless.

Magellan · **06-06-2013, 11:48 AM**

Darnit Lanos, you've swayed me :/

The new server should appoint a RPC mod to help assemble and represent them.

Blade · **06-06-2013, 11:57 AM**

(06-06-2013, 11:32 AM)Lanos Blaquesun Wrote: When people come to this site they see Hydaelin Roleplayers Community

Not Hydaelin Roleplayers Community Balmung Server.

How bout that FFXIV rp community feel eh? I gotta say some of the responses here by the Legacy community come off a bit condescending.

The reason it is not called the Balmung roleplaying community is this:

More than two years ago, there was an attempt to collectively gather all the roleplayers onto a single server, to keep all the roleplayers together and not separated across servers as was the situation in XI. The site was meant to serve as a hub.

When the server names were announced, the community there at the time put names of a server to a vote; and Besaid (which would later become Balmung) was picked by the community on a majority rule basis to be the roleplaying server.

At the time, the site was pretty much the central roleplaying community of Final Fantasy XIV and that's where the name came from, and that collective community voted on a server. Read: This was not a group of people who started on Besaid/Balmung and then told everyone else to come to them. It was the community, representing the FFXIV roleplaying community as a whole (or at least, the largest RP community around for FFXIV at the time) that picked Besaid/Balmung.

That is the reason why it is called Hydaelyn Roleplayers and not FFXIV Balmung Roleplaying community. It has also been mentioned several times in previous posts that the community also supported roleplaying communities outside of Besaid/Balmung, though they did not fair well. But there's a reason why on the Linkshell pages a group is allowed to specify what server they are on. By and large, nearly shell you see there will be represented on Balmung, as the roleplayers who come here often want to be where there will be the majority of roleplayers.

But I want to say it again; this was not a community that sprung from Balmung and wanted others to train to them. The community existed before servers were named, and when they were named, a server was picked to centralize our efforts.

Gideon Aryeh · **06-06-2013, 12:06 PM**

(06-06-2013, 11:57 AM)Blade Wrote:
(06-06-2013, 11:32 AM)Lanos Blaquesun Wrote: When people come to this site they see Hydaelin Roleplayers Community

Not Hydaelin Roleplayers Community Balmung Server.

How bout that FFXIV rp community feel eh? I gotta say some of the responses here by the Legacy community come off a bit condescending.

The reason it is not called the Balmung roleplaying community is this:

More than two years ago, there was an attempt to collectively gather all the roleplayers onto a single server, to keep all the roleplayers together and not separated across servers as was the situation in XI. Â The site was meant to serve as a hub. Â

When the server names were announced, the community there at the time put names of a server to a vote; and Besaid (which would later become Balmung) was picked by the community on a majority rule basis to be the roleplaying server.

At the time, the site was pretty much the central roleplaying community of Final Fantasy XIV and that's where the name came from, and that collective community voted on a server. Â Read: This was not a group of people who started on Besaid/Balmung and then told everyone else to come to them. Â It was the community, representing the FFXIV roleplaying community as a whole (or at least, the largest RP community around for FFXIV at the time) that picked Besaid/Balmung. Â

That is the reason why it is called Hydaelyn Roleplayers and not FFXIV Balmung Roleplaying community. Â It has also been mentioned several times in previous posts that the community also supported roleplaying communities outside of Besaid/Balmung, though they did not fair well. Â But there's a reason why on the Linkshell pages a group is allowed to specify what server they are on. Â By and large, nearly shell you see there will be represented on Balmung, as the roleplayers who come here often want to be where there will be the majority of roleplayers.

But I want to say it again; this was not a community that sprung from Balmung and wanted others to train to them. Â The community existed before servers were named, and when they were named, a server was picked to centralize our efforts.

I know what the real answer is, but let me say this, by reading the posts of the legacy players would you say that your response would be apparent in their reactions?

Nel Celestine · **06-06-2013, 12:09 PM**

I'd just like to go on record and say that the term "Legacy members" is starting to come across as a slander or derogatory term.Â Not all members here have legacy status and they have characters being transferred over from 1.x of the game.Â Any and all character data was saved on Nov. 1st 2012 and will be available in Phase 3, Phase 4 and Final release of the game.

I hereby request that the term be discontinued or used properly please.

Ellie · **06-06-2013, 12:13 PM**

(06-06-2013, 12:09 PM)Nel Celestine Wrote: I'd just like to go on record and say that the term "Legacy members" is starting to come across as a slander or derogatory term.Â Not all members here have legacy status and they have characters being transferred over from 1.x of the game.Â Any and all character data was saved on Nov. 1st 2012 and will be available in Phase 3, Phase 4 and Final release of the game.

I hereby request that the term be discontinued or used properly please.

I'd like to second this. We're all players here, and I'm seeing a lot of blind generalizing here. Not all players who were here before 1.0 ended are of the same mind or of the same opinion. Treating them so is unfair to everyone.

***Alothia*** · **06-06-2013, 12:17 PM**

(06-06-2013, 12:13 PM)Ellie Wrote:
(06-06-2013, 12:09 PM)Nel Celestine Wrote: I'd just like to go on record and say that the term "Legacy members" is starting to come across as a slander or derogatory term.Â Not all members here have legacy status and they have characters being transferred over from 1.x of the game.Â Any and all character data was saved on Nov. 1st 2012 and will be available in Phase 3, Phase 4 and Final release of the game.

I hereby request that the term be discontinued or used properly please.

I'd like to second this. We're all players here, and I'm seeing a lot of blind generalizing here. Not all players who were here before 1.0 ended are of the same mind or of the same opinion. Treating them so is unfair to everyone.

I concur. I am more than happy to help anyone who is new and opts to roll on Balmung help become aquainted with the other RPers and the lore and the world and the game as a whole. So is the rest of my linkshell. I think most people I know are the same way. I don't want to be lumped in with people who don't think that a community gets better by adding new people.

Magellan · **06-06-2013, 12:26 PM**

Quite honestly, I think Gerik's post/idea on mentors could go a long way to dissolve this issue. And I fourthed (fifthed?) Avoiding labels and generaluzations. There are misunderstsndings on both sides of any argument, and the way to work through them is through shared respect.

Blade · **06-06-2013, 12:37 PM**

(06-06-2013, 12:06 PM)Lanos Blaquesun Wrote: I know what the real answer is, but let me say this, by reading the posts of the legacy players would you say that your response would be apparent in their reactions?

I think people who have played on Balmung want to stay with Balmung, for the most part. Their reactions have to do with the fact that the RPC initially set out to bring roleplayers together, on one server. It makes several things easier; as I currently lead an FFXI RP Linkshell on Siren, I can attest to the overwhelming difficulty it is in recruiting members. Not because there is a lack of interest, but in many of my postings, most of the interested I have found have been located on other servers. Changing server, at least for XI, requires a fee of $20-$25, and would require people to leave their out-of-character friends behind as well. It's a major hurdle; the best luck I have in getting people in my RP LS from other servers is if they return and find their OOC friends all gone, and they look up my group, and they are willing (cus they have no more existing ties on their server) to change to Siren. But those are few and far in-between.

Those of us who have been at the RPC for a long time do not want to go back to those days where it was a struggle to recruit members. The RPC was put together specifically to combat that hassle.

Will there be other roleplay communities on other servers? Of course there will be. We realize we can't stop that and we don't really try to. But within this community, I believe it would be against the purpose and the mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach. It is not what the RPC was established to do. The defense against the idea of multiple RP servers stems from wanting to avoid having several communities spread out across multiple servers.

In addition, the more spread out the community is, the less well known said community is, and the harder it is to find. How many times have I looked across FFXI boards these days to find someone who posted months ago looking for an RP server, only to be told that no such thing exist? The fact is, they do exist, but they're so small and despite constant advertising, the majority of the game population doesn't know them by heart. The benefit of the RPC is that it has achieved a status within the community, and a reputation of being 'the place you go for RP.' Balmung has a community-wide reputation of being the RP server; we're well known even to people who don't participate in RP.

So once again, are we defensive against the idea of spreading things out across multiple servers? Absolutely. It's not what we built this community for, and we enjoy our reputation as it stands. As such, while we wouldn't prohibit the starting of a new RP server, and as its been stated before--we've allowed other RP groups on other servers to advertise here before--it isn't something that we are here to necessarily cater to.

Gideon Aryeh · **06-06-2013, 12:57 PM**

"we've allowed other RP groups on other servers to advertise here before--it isn't something that we are here to necessarily cater to."

*sighs and shakes head*

I don't think many of you are taking into account the unique circumstances of 2.0 and what it means to the rp community and to the new influx that will be joining the game. This is basically a new launch, please take that into consideration.

Not to mention the PS3 community as well, another factor to take into account.

I gotta say a response like this is pretty depressing. I get the wanting to protect what's been established but I'm telling you, ARR will not suffer from the sparseness of rpers that XI and 1.0 had. The response to deal with the new influx must be different and more open minded. You aren't going to see the same issues as before as the population will be much higher overall. Are we not taking this factor into account? Listen I'm a new guy here didn't play 1.0 and I know for a fact that this game is dropping at the right time and will be flooded with rpers, more rpers than XI and 1.0 combined. I can guarantee this. A lot of rpers are burnt out on GW2 and are floating around looking for something new and refuse to return to older mmos. FFXIV is looking extremely promising and many of the rp communities/players from other games are convincing many to come to FFXIV when it launches as there will be no TESO out, no EQN and no other new game to compete with in August.

Again, I implore all of you to take this into account.

Either way those who are looking for a new server have their answer.

Zenge · **06-06-2013, 01:02 PM**

(06-06-2013, 12:37 PM)Blade Wrote: Will there be other roleplay communities on other servers? Â Of course there will be. Â We realize we can't stop that and we don't really try to. Â But within this community, I believe it would be against the purpose and the mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach. Â It is not what the RPC was established to do. Â The defense against the idea of multiple RP servers stems from wanting to avoid having several communities spread out across multiple servers.

If it's against the purpose and mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach, might as well call this site Roleplayers of Balmung. If this site is truly a hub for Roleplayers of the Final Fantasy XIV, then we have to accept and support other fellow Roleplayers' decisions no matter the size of their communities. I think it's to that point that we need to start adapting to the change we are seeing.

Blade · **06-06-2013, 01:09 PM**

(06-06-2013, 01:02 PM)Zenge Wrote:
(06-06-2013, 12:37 PM)Blade Wrote: Will there be other roleplay communities on other servers? Â Of course there will be. Â We realize we can't stop that and we don't really try to. Â But within this community, I believe it would be against the purpose and the mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach. Â It is not what the RPC was established to do. Â The defense against the idea of multiple RP servers stems from wanting to avoid having several communities spread out across multiple servers.

If it's against the purpose and mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach, might as well call this site Roleplayers of Balmung. If this site is truly a hub for Roleplayers of the Final Fantasy XIV, then we have to accept and support other fellow Roleplayers' decisions no matter the size of their communities. I think it's to that point that we need to start adapting to the change we are seeing.

As I've and many other people have said, there have been groups that have advertised here that were never on Besaid/Balmung. There will be more such groups in the future. As you can see when you submit the request to make a linkshell, you specify what server it is on. It doesn't have to be Balmung, and it has never had to be Balmung.

Kylin and many others have asked pointedly what it is that those who would like to start on a new server would specifically like from the RPC. We're trying to help out, but so far I haven't seen anyone offer suggestions on what they want to see happen. We're pretty much sold on RPers being able to come and have a presence here while being on a server. This has been confirmed several pages ago, and it's been the policy to involve everyone who wants to be involved in the past. But seeing as their still seems to be debate about it, can people who are in favor of a new player RP server please tell us what it is that you would like to see the RPC do for you?

Gideon Aryeh · **06-06-2013, 01:12 PM**

(06-06-2013, 01:09 PM)Blade Wrote:
(06-06-2013, 01:02 PM)Zenge Wrote:
(06-06-2013, 12:37 PM)Blade Wrote: Will there be other roleplay communities on other servers? Â Of course there will be. Â We realize we can't stop that and we don't really try to. Â But within this community, I believe it would be against the purpose and the mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach. Â It is not what the RPC was established to do. Â The defense against the idea of multiple RP servers stems from wanting to avoid having several communities spread out across multiple servers.

If it's against the purpose and mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach, might as well call this site Roleplayers of Balmung. If this site is truly a hub for Roleplayers of the Final Fantasy XIV, then we have to accept and support other fellow Roleplayers' decisions no matter the size of their communities. I think it's to that point that we need to start adapting to the change we are seeing.

As I've and many other people have said, there have been groups that have advertised here that were never on Besaid/Balmung. Â There will be more such groups in the future. Â As you can see when you submit the request to make a linkshell, you specify what server it is on. Â It doesn't have to be Balmung, and it has never had to be Balmung. Â

Kylin and many others have asked pointedly what it is that those who would like to start on a new server would specifically like from the RPC. Â We're trying to help out, but so far I haven't seen anyone offer suggestions on what they want to see happen. Â We're pretty much sold on RPers being able to come and have a presence here while being on a server. Â This has been confirmed several pages ago, and it's been the policy to involve everyone who wants to be involved in the past. Â But seeing as their still seems to be debate about it, can people who are in favor of a new player RP server please tell us what it is that you would like to see the RPC do for you?

I offered the answer of equal support and a subforum dedicated to rp on the new choice of server. I said this right in my first post on this thread.

Now of course all of that is moot if rp servers are designated by Square Enix.

Eva · **06-06-2013, 01:13 PM**

(06-05-2013, 11:34 PM)Zenge Wrote: Look at Guild Wars 2 Roleplayer community: http://www.guildwars2roleplayers.com/

The community is split into two servers, North America server (Tarnished Coast) and Europe server (Piken Square) and they managed to get along each other. I'm sure we can do the same, so everyone can be happy.

I'm personally unfamiliar with GW2 or its community but since this has been used as an example to support the counterargument I thought I would simply point out that these two servers appear to be split based on player demongraphics (specifically time zones, and possibly also server location if they are housed on separate continents).

What we are encountering here is a completely different demographic split.

Ellie and Blade have summed up my views succinctly in their above posts so I will not beat the proverbial dead horse other than to say that I personally would fully support a movement to shift the RPC's nomenclature/branding to reflect that it is dedicated to the large assembly of RPers that have selected Balmung and chosen to remain there. I will probably refrain from contributing any further in this thread because I do not envision anyone being able to change anyone else's decisions, but I am sorry again if anyone is offended by this opinion.

Blade · **06-06-2013, 01:18 PM**

(06-06-2013, 01:12 PM)Lanos Blaquesun Wrote: I offered the answer of equal support and a subforum dedicated to rp on the new choice of server. I said this right in my first post on this thread.

Now of course all of that is moot if rp servers are designated by Square Enix.

I don't really hold any power over how things are run here, but I can't see a subforum being that unreasonable of a thing to request. As far as equal support goes, I'm not quite sure what you specifically mean by that? What difference would you like to see?

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RP Servers: A Discussion (mods please read before locking..)

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