Sophia_Grave

Random RP is relatively easy for a few sessions, but things will become stale unless new topics of discussion present themselves. A relationship needs to develop, or your own character needs to change in some way. You'd have to be extremely gifted at small talk to keep things fun otherwise. When it comes to actually making those things happen, its tough, because mutual interest isn't enough. Someone has to lead the narrative. Most don't feel comfortable otherwise, either because they've been burned in the past, they're afraid / self-conscious, or time just gets away from them as they try to push things along themselves. Either way, most likely it isn't anything you're doing wrong personally. Its just very common in RP that people tend to be a bit flakey, for whatever reason. I don't really have any concrete advice, because its a problem everyone deals with, from novice to long time veteran. -Being in an FC helps, but even then I find that unless the FC's 'plot' forces players together, it can wind up the same way, with a lot of mutual interest but no actual planning. -Outline your characters plot, or think of significant events you, the writer, want to happen to the character, then see how those around you might fit into that. -Also, figure out how your character can fit into other character's plots. -Build a relationship OOC. Being creative, especially with another person, is a vulnerable, intimate thing to do. There has to be some level of trust with the other person so they feel comfortable. the more comfortable they are with you, the more likely they'll open up in RP.

Well, yea. We have the whole consent "rule" because the trust isn't there when it comes to walkups. The trust isn't there because RP has no real rules and people do it in very different ways that don't necessarily mix well. In a perfect world, sure, we'd all trust each other to make RP fun for everyone all the time and there's be an appropriate amount of give and take. But that doesn't happen as much as it should and as a result, characters like ours are simply always going to be more difficult to play in that scenario. And yea, it sucks. Consent is just as abuseable as trust but at least you learn early whether someone is wasting your time rather than finding out halfway through. We all have RP horror stories and have had our time wasted or have been taken advantage of. This is why we can't have nice things.

Well the issue with that is (not that I agree with this response) that not every RP session that happens is considered 'open' and that some people are happy to use locations in the game as private spaces just as a type of 'setting placeholder'. For example, the Pearl Lane is really the only area in the game (among one or two others) that fit the 'shady alley' setting. I personally know people who have used it as such without it actually being the Pearl Lane. I mean, I think that's pretty fair? Some people really like to have a visual setting to stoke their RP creativity. If they didn't, we wouldn't need to RP in the game at all, really. The point is, you never know the circumstances of an RP session unless you ask and talk to the RPers. That's the challenge with playing any sort of subterfugal character. You're always going to need OOC permission, but you also have to keep it interesting. Outside of that, you'll have to rely on OOC trust that the other person wants the same things out of the experience so you can do what you trying to do, and that's in very short supply when it comes to walkups or RPing with strangers.

There's not really a clear answer. I've RP'd a career spy since 2.0 and I've been met with the entire gamut of responses. Everyone's going to have their own opinion on how it should be handled. It worked best when both parties were aware in my experiences.

Sophia could always use skilled hired help in her 'exploits'. There's a link to her bio in my sig.

:love::love::love:

Do what I do and handwave the fuck out of it. I for one will never fault someone for going for RP even if their character is technically tied up in a plotline. RP whatever/whenever you want, and put it on your character's timeline later. Its not the end of the world if a few RP sessions don't line up with someone else's. Think of it like the comic universe. Everything significant happened a vague "few years ago", even comics that came out in the 90s. Hell, the game's timeline places everything that's happened since ARR in, what, a year iirc? You're already condensing 4 years of RP into one year of lore time, so I think its all fine.

Welcome back Tier! As always, I love your material <3 Hope you get past the art block soon!

Immersion's about convincing yourself in some small way that what you're experiencing is real (or at least engaging and demanding your full attention), but isn't necessarily happening to you. Its perfectly reasonable to be immersed and be a passive observer, reader, or viewer as some people have already mentioned. Your character can be representative of you and you can be immersed, but they aren't necessarily related.

RIP Machinist lol

Hey, congratulations on taking the plunge! I have a similar forum-based background as you, and ffxiv is my first go at RPing in game. It's not so different! You just have less time to post shorter things, really. In my experience, people stick to /say or use /em for action. But really, so long as you get the point across, I don't think anyone really minds at the end of the day. You're welcome to look me up in game for questions. I'm usually either playing Sophia Grave or Drunken Dhalmel. The folks here are pretty to quick to answer any questions too and are willing to help you with an idea to get your character up and running. Good luck and welcome!

:love::love::love: Looking back, I might not have actually stuck with Sophia or RPing in this game if we didn't randomly meet in the Carline Canopy that day.

These are just the best. Random meets are nice and all, but goddamn I'm tired of small talk. More pre-established relationships!

Warren runs the most consistent RP event on the server. I daresay he and the rest of the Grindstone folks are responsible for a lot of the newer RP-curious folks taking the plunge.

ICly, making stuff up never fails. But it helps if your character has a healthy social need. They don't need to be a social butterfly, but having relationships is important for most people, even introverts. OOCly, just ask via /tell. RPers love talking about their characters. A lot of the time when I RP, I have a sort of pre-RP huddle where we throw basic ideas back and forth OOCly before we even start. Anything to get away from the cold approach, which wastes time with pleasantries and the basic chatter topics. The organic RP comes later once I'm better able to play off the other player and their character.