Hydaelyn Role-Players

Just a few thoughts I'd like your opinion on regarding the RPC.

1) Send SE mass emails about having an RP server. If they do, we wont have to pick one and it'll be easier for newbies to find us even if they don't look for any kind of a coalition or guild ahead of time (I know I didn't in FFXI). Also it gives power to the RP'ers to call a place theirs, meaning if someone decides to grief or call us out they will obviously be in the wrong place, wrong server, and we can tell them that. There are many obvious reasons to have an official RP server. What do you all think about drafting a letter to SE? First we can send just one from Castiel and see if they respond, and what they say if they do. Next of course if they don't we mass email them, 'cause we all know sometimes SE doesn't respond unless they are hit over the head with it.

2) Writing contest on how to implement RPC as an IC concept. This is mainly for the future when we get more lore and such. Before the game goes live, we can try to implement the RPC In-Character. Do you want RPC as an in-character entity? I prefer to have OOC things somehow transfer over to IC, even in a loose way. Let me know what you guys think.

Mason Wrote:1) Send SE mass emails about having an RP server. If they do, we wont have to pick one and it'll be easier for newbies to find us even if they don't look for any kind of a coalition or guild ahead of time (I know I didn't in FFXI). Also it gives power to the RP'ers to call a place theirs, meaning if someone decides to grief or call us out they will obviously be in the wrong place, wrong server, and we can tell them that. There are many obvious reasons to have an official RP server. What do you all think about drafting a letter to SE? First we can send just one from Castiel and see if they respond, and what they say if they do. Next of course if they don't we mass email them, 'cause we all know sometimes SE doesn't respond unless they are hit over the head with it.

This is something to definately discuss. While it seems like it would be great to have an "official" RP server created by SE, there are some who are opposed to it. Originally, I myself thought it would benefit us to have SE designate one for us. But a few people have brought up some interesting points that could make it actually a bad thing. For starters, FF14 won't have any other "special" labeled servers like other games do (such as PVP servers and so on). That means it could look something like this on the server selection screen:

Atomos
Chocobo
Cid (Roleplaying)
Ifrit
Shiva

Since the Cid server would be the only "special" server, it may cause everyone to flock to it expecting it to offer something that may not be what they expect. Thus, we could end up becoming an overpopulated server much like Odin was/is on FFXI. That would suck for us considering so many of us like to create alts for RP purposes. Being locked out of your own server would really be detrimental to the RP community and the last thing we would want is for SE to create a -second- RP server to offset that problem. That would just divide an already relatively small population. This is exactly what happened in Everquest II. They had a single RP server, Antonia Bayle. It became the largest server in the game and forced Sony to create a second RP server, Lucan De'Lere (sp?). This thus divided the overall RP community, sending those tired of the flood of non-RPers and server instability to the new server while keeping others behind.

There's also the fact that the extremely casual RPer could get put off, expecting such a server to not delve into endgame as deeply as other servers. While definately a misconception, it could still hinder the community when people think that kind of thing.

Obviously there are pros and cons to both sides of the debate and I'd love to hear other points of view.

Mason Wrote:2) Writing contest on how to implement RPC as an IC concept. This is mainly for the future when we get more lore and such. Before the game goes live, we can try to implement the RPC In-Character. Do you want RPC as an in-character entity? I prefer to have OOC things somehow transfer over to IC, even in a loose way. Let me know what you guys think.

I would personally love creating some sort of IC organization out of the RPC where maybe the initials stood for something else or something. Obviously, it may not be a good idea to give the group any IC "powers" but it would be cool to be able to refer to it somehow in an IC fashion. I've already set up the forums in a way that resembles some kind of headquarters to help possibly facilitate that. The question is, how do we create an IC concept out of it without putting off certain groups (thieves, knights, necromancers, etc)?

1- Another con is of course the attraction of l33t players to the RP server who'd be trying to dominate end-game, thinking that most of the server will not be as aggressive towards obtaining aw3s0me wpns! That could be annoying. I suppose a RP friendly atmosphere can be created naturally, but with a lot of publicity. If we really make our presence known and be a vocal, significant minority of the server I'm sure that over time most people wouldn't mind hearing random RP even if they don't partake in it themselves. I'd really like to see others chime in on this, we should make a seperate thread discussing it once we go live, since the next major goal of the RPC would be to get a server.

2- Yeah, I'm the same way. Perhaps we can go with some kind of an adventurer's organization? Bah, I'm really brain dead at the moment, need a nap xD

I have an idea for number 2, once I flesh it out a bit ill post it up

Petitioning SE certainly can't hurt, but it would probably be best to wait until we have a bit more of the overall community's support before doing anything. As far as possible cons to having an official RP server, I played on a RP server on EQ2 for a little while, Antonia Bale I think, and the endgame situation was pretty normal overall from what I could gather. But then again, by the time I played EQ2 AB had become the most populated server, thus the majority of people weren't actually RPers. But, even outnumbered on their own server, those who did RP did so rather freely. I got approached IC at least a couple of times by complete strangers, and I remember hearing of at least one annual even that was entirely player-run.
Someone who has played longer in a game with an official RP server would be better to ask though. I think Traydon said he played on an official RP server on WoW? He would probably know more about what it's like than I do.

As for no.2, maybe some kind of Adventurer's Union? That's essentially what the guilds were in XI, trade unions, just without the politics. Maybe something like that, which IC would negotiate with whomever ends up employing adventurers for things like standards of working and payment, safety regulations, sick leave, etc. Since we almost certainly won't be able to RP with the actual leaders of the in-game political powers, maybe some sort of player-run organization could take their place? Something like a corporation or trust, which could represent those who would be against the goals of an adventurer's union. The characters who make their primary living through adventuring could play one side, while those who would have an interest in fixing the price of employing adventurers low could play the other.

While I admire the spirit in which it was proposed, it's going to be extremely difficult to actually RP the RPC in such a way as to remain objective to its members. I can offer a plethora of examples, but suffice it to say that someone in the RPC in a 'council' type position may be a known brigand, thief, felon, or murderer in RP. I don't think we should limit the RPC to hero-types, and I don't think everyone should be expected to turn a blind eye to villainous types operating within such an in-character type of structure.

Prime example of this for those during Crystalline's earlier era would be Darkcat on council. While good in the capacity of the administrative side of things, helping with recruitment, organizing events, and helping handle disputes in an OOC manner, Darkcat was certainly a villainous character and would never have been able to uphold such a position in-character, which was why our elected council (and later appointed officers) were never given these positions in more than an OOC capacity.

That's very true. Perhaps IC membership could be separate from OOC membership? As in, someone who had a position in the OOC RPC, but played a horrible villain IC who would never join such a group, wouldn't have to actually RP as if he were a part of the IC RPC. I guess that kind of defeats the purpose of having an IC element to the RPC though D:

There are many things that can go wrong in an election... :twisted:

But seriously though, I see what you are saying there Kes. Depending on the story people come up with the actual members who are "council" may only be regular members IC. Or perhaps the RPC IC would ban someone who is clearly a villain like Darkcat was, and the rest of the people would have a reason to catch them. There'd be a bounty, etc... which can result in some good RP. It depends on what the story behind this organization would be.

they don't have to be necessarily good or bad guys in the council. Bad guys can be ICly integrated by some plot of conspiracy or such in which he or she works as a council member and does not have any preference with any bad or good organization except it own private/madeUp one. For example, he or she when on the council, is undercover for a personal purpose in which he separate any links between whatever other group he or she is involved with. . . only during council time.

Can be just a twist to keep him or her in character and the RPC in character if is what its planned. . .

That's what I was thinking. It's even easier to integrate characters from all sides of the spectrum if the RPC is kept relatively neutral. Using my own example, the adventurer's union wouldn't care about its members alignments; its only concern would be working for the advancement of adventurers of all sorts. Anyone could serve on its council as long as they can work towards the goals of the union, it doesn't matter whether they're a hero or a villain.

That still leaves the problem of what to do if a council members personality, not just alignment, wouldn't fit as a councilor. For example, a clergyman type who shuns all political activity, but is otherwise perfectly virtuous. I think it can be done, we just have to give it a lot of thought.

I'd sort of prefer to avoid #2. IC and OOC goals/ideas/personalities do not always align. What if someone is an extremely active member of the RPC community, but RPs a half-crazed hermit with a deep-seated mistrust for civilization in general? To maintain the integrity of their character, they'd be forced to ICly 'opt out' of the RPC, even though OOCly they are one of the major players. Alternatively, what if their character is simply of the type of personality that they have no interest whatsoever in the IC incarnation of the RPC? How accepting or open the membership to the IC RPC is would be irrelevant in those situations. To me, there isn't really any good way to make the IC and OOC match up without forcing the IC incarnation of the RPC to be such an all-pervading fundamental of the setting that "membership" is not an option. And that's sure to make people chafe.

While I really do like the idea of large-scale player-run organizations, I think the ideas in the Cross-Guild Organizations thread are a better model for things than trying to force an IC fit to an OOC reality that may prove akward. A large-scale open-membership multipurpose loose adventurer's coalition would be pretty cool, honestly. Someone could toss up a framework, model it after the RPC, accept input, and make sure as many people as possible are cool with it so it actually WILL be large in-game, maybe even having most of the RPC's characters as members. But trying to make the RPC itself as-is into an IC organization is sort of like saying "Who here plays guitar? Alright, cool, let's make an IC band!" Well... what if your character doesn't?

(03-18-2010, 01:42 PM)Oskar Helvig Wrote: [ -> ]1) Send SE mass emails about having an RP server. If they do, we wont have to pick one and it'll be easier for newbies to find us even if they don't look for any kind of a coalition or guild ahead of time (I know I didn't in FFXI). Also it gives power to the RP'ers to call a place theirs, meaning if someone decides to grief or call us out they will obviously be in the wrong place, wrong server, and we can tell them that. There are many obvious reasons to have an official RP server. What do you all think about drafting a letter to SE? First we can send just one from Castiel and see if they respond, and what they say if they do. Next of course if they don't we mass email them, 'cause we all know sometimes SE doesn't respond unless they are hit over the head with it.

Hey, so like, did this happen?

(03-18-2010, 01:42 PM)Oskar Helvig Wrote: [ -> ]Also it gives power to the RP'ers to call a place theirs, meaning if someone decides to grief or call us out they will obviously be in the wrong place, wrong server, and we can tell them that.

I wish that worked...

Necro thread aleerrrtttt!

Yoshi said there probably will be a RP server.

And as far as the RPC as an organization, it seems too much of a stretch for me to imagine the entire RPC as an IC identity. Especially with all of the diversity going on here. I'm happy with it being just OOC. (And perhaps spoken of in IC as a parody or a running gag or something.)