Hydaelyn Role-Players

Note: I'm aware this may be more appropriate for the Connections area after reading through the forums further. Moderators feel to relocate as desired if necessary!

I've been away from FF14 for some time now, so I'm trying to make myself familiar with some of the groups that are around. Sorry if dead horses are being beaten.
Are there currently any active LGBT organizations on Balmung? Events, Linkshells, Free Companies, and the like? Any OOC or IC social circles?

In my early MMO years, I felt groups like this to be important. I've noticed lately that RP communities in games are a lot more open, boasting several LGBT players and characters, and even now I'm seeing more inclusivity for all sorts of relationship types.

Do you think there's less of a demand for these sort of things now? Some ideas of why these could be useful:

• OOC conversation and support. It's good to have some other people going through similar experiences, either to share some camaraderie or offer any advice to others.
  
• RP connections. I honestly don't feel unwelcome anymore, but it's nice to be able to make connections between players who play LGBT characters, since you can't really single them out unless they're advertising it regularly. Romance and attraction are pretty common parts of RP, so it helps to be introduced to others without having to post a craigslist ad.
  

I feel like this could be Linkshell or event worthy, or even a loose social network of roleplayers. If there are any resources or existing groups already, please let me know!

Edit: The Prismatic Pearl linkshell has been created, and it can be found here.

Though im not one of them, there's plenty LBGT people on Balmung,  there's even a FC called Yuri dedicated only to lesbian (If that's what you are).

But ask around,  everyone is friendly about it lol

You will find that people advertise groups more or less without it being LGBT friendly because it's generally the case that people are just LGBT friendly. It's a non-issue. Most tend to stray from creating relationships formed solely around a romantic one as they'd prefer those to be organic but balmung is big and the RPC only represents a fraction of the roleplaying community.

Kage has met many a gay miqo'te male. Afew lesbian highlander women who don't outright say it. I've also heard OOCly of female lesbian miqo'te (or bisexual). It just comes out through RP.

I am going to talk from a pretty neutral standpoint here (I RP both etherosexual and homosexual characters, and am borderline asexual IRL, not like all this should matter anyway), but I think that one of the best ways to prevent discrimination is to avoid lobbying into categories. Communities that try to cater to only certain people always end up causing negative feelings from those that are not "allowed". It has been like this since the age of times, between rich and poor, X race and Y race, religion A and religion B. People don't like to feel excluded or marked as different, and groups like this do cause those feelings. This is why while I fully support people of different sexual orientation, I do not quite agree with LGBT communities or LGBT centered events (cause I mean, it's not like there are straight-centered events).

I do understand the desire to be with people with similar interests as yours, but forming barriers is something lobbies/specific communities do very easily. I prefer to RP my homosexual character in a mixed community, without trying put myself in a special circle or to keep others out. It's the key to become included in the world, both IC and OOC.

With that being said, I'm pretty sure there are several LGBT-only free companies or linkshells, so I'll go back to my corner. I just felt I had to share my opinion as a roleplayer of all orientations (I like to RP characters of all types, long as they're different from my real self to avoid OOC bleeding. It's like an unpaid actor job, in a way!).

ICly and OOCly Eorzea is a tolerant place.

If your character fancies someone just give it a shot! Same sex couples are supported by the lore, so no worries!

(06-23-2015, 03:10 PM)Blue Wrote: [ -> ]Communities that try to cater to only certain people always end up causing negative feelings from those that are not "allowed". It has been like this since the age of times, between rich and poor, X race and Y race, religion A and religion B. People don't like to feel excluded or marked as different, and groups like this do cause those feelings. This is why while I fully support people of different sexual orientation, I do not quite agree with LGBT communities or LGBT centered events (cause I mean, it's not like there are straight-centered events).

I'm sorry you've had negative experiences concerning this. However, I've only felt that I've had positive experiences with this. The roe-only linkshell, for example, I've always found to be pretty positive. I also enjoy frequenting the Girl Gamers sub-reddit on reddit.com and it is my favorite gaming-related subreddit to date.

However, a very easy solution is to not exclude LGBT allies. Girl Gamers has male subscribers as well.

I understand your viewpoint but at the same time such communities are often formed to share experiences. It's the exact same reason why we have to organize to form a RP community--otherwise we'd never be able to find each other and share in our interests.

LGBT here as well, and yes, there are indeed a good portion of us on Balmung, and there are indeed linkshells that are LGBT themed. I have been part of a few, but not at the moment. The ones I've been part of always started off great, but then ended in unnecessary drama.

Too many bitches in the same kennel, as it were. ;P

(06-23-2015, 03:10 PM)Blue Wrote: [ -> ]I am going to talk from a pretty neutral standpoint here (I RP both etherosexual and homosexual characters, and am borderline asexual IRL, not like all this should matter anyway), but I think that one of the best ways to prevent discrimination is to avoid lobbying into categories. Communities that try to cater to only certain people always end up causing negative feelings from those that are not "allowed". It has been like this since the age of times, between rich and poor, X race and Y race, religion A and religion B. People don't like to feel excluded or marked as different, and groups like this do cause those feelings. This is why while I fully support people of different sexual orientation, I do not quite agree with LGBT communities or LGBT centered events (cause I mean, it's not like there are straight-centered events).

I do understand the desire to be with people with similar interests as yours, but forming barriers is something lobbies/specific communities do very easily. I prefer to RP my homosexual character in a mixed community, without trying put myself in a special circle or to keep others out. It's the key to become included in the world, both IC and OOC.

With that being said, I'm pretty sure there are several LGBT-only free companies or linkshells, so I'll go back to my corner. I just felt I had to share my opinion as a roleplayer of all orientations (I like to RP characters of all types, long as they're different from my real self to avoid OOC bleeding. It's like an unpaid actor job, in a way!).

All good points. I personally wouldn't want to limit myself to an exclusive Free Company, since it's not really a category worth confining yourself to. I'm happy to hear what people experienced with RP in this community have to say.

I also realize that this may be more appropriate for the "Finding Connections" area, as I initially thought that section was more about looking for a specific thing for a specific character.

Most people/groups are LGBT friendly, so they don't usually bother advertising it since it's pretty much a given these days. If you want something fully centered around an LGBT theme, though, there are several FC's/LS's such as Unity, Yuri, etc. I kind of get where Blue is coming from, though, and I think those are more reasons why you won't find a ton of FC's/LS's specifically advertising they're LGBT friendly everywhere. As I said, it's usually assumed here, so going out of your way to state that makes it feel like an LGBT only environment can come across as exclusive.

(06-23-2015, 03:20 PM)Flickering Ember Wrote: [ -> ]However, a very easy solution is to not exclude LGBT allies. Girl Gamers has male subscribers as well.

This is important! I would never want to exclude anyone, but instead have a place where you're kind of on a level playing field and feel a little comfortable. Even though it's a game and its roleplay, I tend to feel anxiety around this subject, and I'm sure a lot of that carries over from my IRL experiences.

(06-23-2015, 03:10 PM)Blue Wrote: [ -> ]I am going to talk from a pretty neutral standpoint here (I RP both etherosexual and homosexual characters, and am borderline asexual IRL, not like all this should matter anyway), but I think that one of the best ways to prevent discrimination is to avoid lobbying into categories. Communities that try to cater to only certain people always end up causing negative feelings from those that are not "allowed". It has been like this since the age of times, between rich and poor, X race and Y race, religion A and religion B. People don't like to feel excluded or marked as different, and groups like this do cause those feelings. This is why while I fully support people of different sexual orientation, I do not quite agree with LGBT communities or LGBT centered events (cause I mean, it's not like there are straight-centered events).

I do understand the desire to be with people with similar interests as yours, but forming barriers is something lobbies/specific communities do very easily. I prefer to RP my homosexual character in a mixed community, without trying put myself in a special circle or to keep others out. It's the key to become included in the world, both IC and OOC.

With that being said, I'm pretty sure there are several LGBT-only free companies or linkshells, so I'll go back to my corner. I just felt I had to share my opinion as a roleplayer of all orientations (I like to RP characters of all types, long as they're different from my real self to avoid OOC bleeding. It's like an unpaid actor job, in a way!).

This is a pretty flawed and dangerous argument.

Unfortunately for any community that isn't cis, het, and often male, it's expected and normally enforced, often in subtle ways like this, that if they don't let "Normal Joe" in, they're the racist/bigot/bad guy.  And this is wrong, VERY WRONG.

There is nothing wrong with spaces intended for specific groups of people who are not in the majority.  Anyone who insists this is discriminatory, closed minded, or otherwise because they're not letting in a "majority" doesn't seem to understand that the majority already owns, operates, and gets into, everything, everywhere.  Everywhere is a majority holder's safe space.  It leaves very few platforms where non-majority people can dwell and talk without having to instantly cater to the majority's views, cultural or otherwise.

It's not just a "I want to be with my own people" white room thing.  It's a "The entirety of the world is not geared towards me and I need a space that I can turn to that is, when I get tired of that" thing.  It's "There are very few places in this culture that are made and understand me without baggage, judgement, or instant categorization according to a discriminatory cultural standard so having a safe space is good" thing.

But you're one of the Allies? Fine. This isn't your space. You don't need to get butt-pats for being a good person. You should be doing that because it's right, not because you want to buy access to something that you're not part of. You don't need to take something from people who have very little as a payment for your kindness. You're an ally because you already have everything. You already have the power and should be applying that without any "but"s and strings attached.

It's a mental health thing to have these kinds of safe spaces, something that's dramatically demonstrated in the kinds of mental health hardships the LGBT community suffers under.

Obviously people being people will be dramatic, but that's an RPer community thing that us nerds can afford to work on, not a any specific line OTHER than RPer community thing.


TLDR; Community specific and "walled" groups for LGBT communities are not discriminatory.

One good thing about Final Fantasy XIV is the linkshell system, allowing you to join a number of niche groups without having to, say, drop your favorite FC.

Honestly, I'd like to say that roleplayers these days tend to be LGBT-inclusive, but unfortunately, it is not always the case. Most of the time, sure, but it never hurts to do a bit of research first before you end up with the wrong sorts of people.

There used to be a Menphina's Ward linkshell specifically for LGBTA(alphabet soup) folks. It has shuttered. I've been thinking of making a new one after work tonight. If there's interest for it I will gladly do so! IC one even if people would prefer that flavor. 

I work until 6:00 pm central time today. (Tuesday the 23rd)

(06-23-2015, 03:36 PM)AquiziTC Wrote: [ -> ]There used to be a Menphina's Ward linkshell specifically for LGBTA(alphabet soup) folks. It has shuttered. I've been thinking of making a new one after work tonight. If there's interest for it I will gladly do so! IC one even if people would prefer that flavor. 

I work until 6:00 pm central time today. (Tuesday the 23rd)

I noticed Menphina's Ward wasn't active, and hadn't seen anything else. It could be nice to have a little something like this, if people are into it.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone, and am happy to hear about existing Linkshells and people that are known for being queer friendly, even if it isn't their focal point. I have a tendency to struggle a bit trying to get myself involved, so any little bit helps.

I'm just curious, what sort of issues would a LGBT person encounter that would make you worry?

I'm transgender and I've never felt like there have been any issues from the community.