Hydaelyn Role-Players

This is just a friendly public update to give you browsers something else to read. So far, we're 30/40 toward our first goal of coalition membership (29 if you don't want to count my TestMember >.>). That's pretty good and I'm hoping we get to the 40 (or close to it) by the end of this weekend. According to the head count, we -will- meet the first goal easily. It's just a matter of getting people here. They're either slow at checking emails or just slow in general xD. I've still got quite a few Sylphites waiting in the wings for the link that I'm holding off on for now as to not overwhelm you Leviathan peeps or anything.

I know Keir is really busy so if anyone from Leviathan has the time to help him, could you maybe send out some personal emails to get people here if you can? I'm sure he'd appreciate it a lot xD. I did a couple for you only because I knew the people to an extent (Roelon and Lantrial) but I'd probably be going a little too far sending out more to complete strangers >.>

Sometime next week, I'm going to send out the link to Kujata, Lakshmi, and Alexander RP groups so we'll have another roster explosion then. I'll also try to get Garuda and Siren RPers here assuming I hear back from both before then. The third wave after that will consist of Asura, CaitSith, and Phoenix RPers (or whatever I can find left of Phoenix). The final wave after that will of course be the general public.

Following all of this, we'll likely be ready to open up more sections of the forums for everyone. I'll open the Assembly Room about 1 week before going public so we can at least start some discussions.

As a final note, we will likely have more forum sections added over time. I realize there's not that many right now. I went around to other RP forums and tried to get most of the section types that everyone else has. I'll also be very open to suggestions about what sections you think we should have added/modified, so long as we don't have -too- many sections that make people feel overwhelmed.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, don't hesitate to ask ^^

~Cas

Err...I just realized we had a few people with inactive accounts. I apologize in advance for not noticing it. Chances are the activation email went to your spam box and thus got overlooked. I'll try to keep a closer eye on inactive accounts. I highly suggest that you send yourself a private message and then go mark that email notification as "not spam." That may prevent further email messages from this board from being marked spam for you in the future.

Anyway, we're now 38/40. That's excellent for about a week's worth of mobilization. I'm going to just assume we'll meet the goal easily now since I'm sure more from Sylph and Leviathan will continue to trickle in. So I'll be moving on to the next wave of RPers probably as early as tomorrow. Great work everyone! You all rock!

Yeah...wave #2 seems to be coming at a snail's pace >.>. I know I'm coming off as a bit aggressive here and please tell me if I'm overstepping my bounds. But it seems like every group but Sylph is having serious trouble meeting their quota for mobilizing a certain number of Rpers to the cause. The goal by the end of wave 2 of recruitment was set at 55-60 coalition members. We've remained pretty stagnant save for a very tiny handful of new recruits.

According to preliminary head counts, everyone -should- be able to meet each quota. If not, you should be letting me know so I can maybe help somehow. Just keep in mind that I can't do everything. Finding these groups and trying to bring each one here is tough enough as it is.

Here's the current counts. And I'm not posting these to make any group feel bad. I'm doing it because I really think you all can do a lot better and have much more potential.

[[Edit: Quotas removed. New tactics of mobilization underway!]]

Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon. If so, please say so. I really don't want to see Sylph being the dominant group and calling all the shots when it comes to laying the foundation for the future RP community. I say that AS a Sylphite and I'm sure many others from Sylph agree. The fact is, I've already told everyone via public forums (Zam, Core, etc) that we're looking at having at -least- 70 roleplayers gathered -before- going public. We're gonna look pretty darn weak if you go public and are nowhere near that now. Granted, we still have a few weeks. But I was anticipating bringing in the third and final wave of recruits by next week and opening up more of the forums as well.

I think part of the problem is that everyone is expecting someone else to mobilize old RPers and thus, nobody is doing it. You guys should be sending out emails, poking people on AIM from your past RP groups, and so on. The only thing we're not doing now is posting on big sites like Alla and others. Heck, I personally sent out over 15 emails to Rpers from Garuda who I never made any contact with.

Please post if you have any thoughts. If I'm pushing everyone too hard too fast, I'd like to know and I'll ease off. I just know that you're all capable of contributing so much more. I realize that we don't have a release date and some may not be too eager yet, but we're not that far off now. If you're expecting the game to not come out until as late as November or December, I think you're in for a big awakening pretty soon. And we've got at least 2-3 months of debates and whatnot to still get through before the big release. Even if everyone doesn't contribute to these discussions, simply registering is a good enough show of support to this cause.

Hope to get some responses. I hope you know that I'm only pushing you guys like this because I care . And if anyone is doing something to help, feel free to post here so I know and don't think I'm doing it all by myself >.>;

I help by posting a picture of this adorable snail.

Here's my advice. Chillax. If things happen, they happen. The thing is, you can't force people to do what you'd like them to do because you have plans. You gotta be flexible. If people come around, they come around. You can only send reminders and input to those of other servers. It's up to them to show up or not.

So it's best to go about your day and not stress too much about it. :]

I agree pretty much with Solana. Don't put to much on yourself at this moment. If the game is going to come out till late 2010, we have time. I predict the major increase in members won't happen till about a month or two before the games release. I am betting there are a few people out there still shakey about coming aboard because of the changes between the two games. Just be patient and lets see what happens. Either way, dominance isn't a factor in my opinion... even on sylph we had our differences in what should and not be done in the world of rp. So... meh. All will come in time. Just my 2 cents.

We could always sign up with fake names! j/k

You're right though we need 70 before going live, and to do that I think we should give people a little more time to sign up and the word to spread. As for who should be doing this... well everyone who still has friends from FFXI that RP. Ideally the leaders should be able to contact almost everyone that joined their LS, but failing that just get as many people as possible through word of mouth. For example leader sends email to 5 people, telling them to send an email to at least 1 other person they know would be interested. That's 10 right there! (just an example of snowball sample =P )

While I think the deadlines should be extended, the anxiety shouldn't be dialed down too low 'cause the quota is still to be met. Although Castiel, you personally shouldn't be worrying past a certain point because other people should be taking some responsibility. Don't mean to sound harsh, just sayin'.

I think what I'll do is just start bringing in wave 3 (Asura, CaitSith, Titan, Phoenix, and Siren) next week as scheduled. Then I'll just extend the overall deadline for all groups. We can avoid going public for upwards of 4-6 weeks still if necessary. Perhaps more excitement will be aroused after the next big site update (which I was hoping to see this or next week). I know a lot of you will say numbers aren't important and quality > quantity. While I agree with that to an extent, everyone also needs to realize that we're trying to reinvent our community this time around. We -want- to be noticed by the non-Rpers and be taken seriously. We want others to know we exist and that we're strong and healthy in order to attract more potential RPers later down the line. And unfortunately, a lot of people will look at the numbers as a means of measuring our health. And being a -coalition- instead of a single guild/linkshell means they expect to see high numbers of supporters. So we really will -need- the 70+ registered supporters before going public, even if they never log in or post here after registering.

I think maybe Sylph might have a different RP culture than other groups and that could be why they're flooding in so easily too. We've always held to the thought than an active forum also reflected an active community and we viewed the RP forums as more than just a tool. Coming from this culture, perhaps I'm simply expecting too much too soon.

For any and all non-Sylphites, don't feel overwhelmed by the fact that we'll probably end up with 25-30+ people coming in from Sylph. Once we all get into the game, we're not all going to create one massive linkshell/guild of former Sylphites. Some may end up in the new LostBoys, others may find their way into KnightLife, and others may end up scattering to other yet-to-be created RP groups. We may be large in numbers but not all Sylphites are best of buddies if you know what I mean . Not only that, some also may want to simply branch out and try something totally new by joining a totally new group. So please don't worry or feel remotely threatened about our insanely high numbers xD.

I'll just ease off a bit though and give you guys more time to get to the quota. I -know- each group can meet (and almost definately exceed) each quota. Probably just need a bit more time. We're almost at that 50 mark (although 2 registered users on the list technically don't count). Remember that there are two forum sections that get unlocked after we reach a certain number!

Unless my sister goes into labor this weekend, I should finally have some free moments to start a headcount of Leviathan and send out some emails for the Lost Boys. There are still quite a few I haven't seen poke their heads in here.

Should be 6 Lakshmites about now, probably will be another soon. Talked to several more ex RPers but the predominant attitude I heard was "Not interested in being part of the launch crew but I might join later, I'll look you guys up when and if I do."

You may be right about the forum thing though, CPM's forum was never terribly active. We use it for rules and guidelines, character profiles, stories written about our characters, in-character news posts, plot discussion and planning... But never actually RPing. All RP is in linkshell or in person. As such, if we aren't in the middle of a plot arc or our writers aren't feeling the muse, our forums lay dormant for weeks at a time. Some of our members never even bothered to check them.

That being said, pushing is good. People won't move if you don't give them a nudge much of the time. Just don't stress if they won't move, or the entire thing stops being the fun it was intended to be and the self-imposed pressure can ruin your day. I've experienced firsthand the self-imposed pressures of leadership making me irritable as all hell and it's no good for anyone involved. Prod but don't shove, keep at it, and we'll see where we are when things get rolling.

Quote:the predominant attitude I heard was "Not interested in being part of the launch crew but I might join later, I'll look you guys up when and if I do."

My side is the same. Most remain in FFXI and don't want to risk investing time unless they have more information on FFXIV (Which make some sense). Moreover, we can do little when trying to persuade when we have to say we don't know every class available nor even what server we are in. I believe some of those detail information can gather more people, the less risk taker. So far all we can do is remind them and wait unfortunately.

I agree with Solana. Things will happen in their own time, and beyond opening some form of initial contact, there is really nothing more that can be done. It is possible that for every two or three people who registered on this forum as soon as they received word of it, another has made note of it and bookmarked it to be revisited upon the game's official release. While I think goal-setting is a good thing, perhaps these quotas we are trying to meet may be a bit over the top.

From the look of things we have a pretty enormous snowball here already, and we've not even yet begun rolling it downhill. I think it's safe to anticipate that this endeavor will be a successful one.

Also, to echo a sentiment about us Sylphites:

Castiel Wrote:Not only that, some also may want to simply branch out and try something totally new by joining a totally new group.

I really can't speak for others, but I will be looking to branch out and probably join with RPers from other groups from other servers. I'm excited about this prospect! I know that, especially towards the end in Crystalline, there were numerous cliques and divides and differences of opinion within the shell structure, and while I generally tried to remain neutral but sympathetic, I can also see how it will be futile to try to unite certain groups of people together for such a thing (which is why I think we can be grateful that we at least have this coalition to fall back on).

I have not heard of any efforts to begin this process yet, and while it is probably premature, I was wondering if there were any plans on setting up a thread or a forum whereby intended leaders can begin establishing their groups. You had mentioned two specific groups in your post and I was wondering if there would be some sort of forum where we could get acquainted with the style of RP and intended guild policies for these groups, and any others that may be set up - a sort of recruitment grounds, perhaps? I would kind of like to see what will be available, but without additional lore and information about the game itself I can see how this might be difficult to do so early in the process.

Aside from Sylph and Lakshmi, Alexander/KnightLife and Leviathan are -very- close to meeting their goals. Kutata's representative has the site link and has responded to me a couple days ago, but still hasn't started getting Kujata RPers signed up. I'm sure they'll eventually trickle in though. It's not looking good for Garuda because I've failed to get in contact with anyone from there save for one person already here who has no means of contacting others. Asura and Titan are starting to come in so it's too soon to see how many get mobilized there. Finally, I'm not holding my breath for Phoenix, Siren, or CaitSith. Phoenix and Siren are now too scattered and difficult to reach whereas CaitSith's group is very small and mostly have no plans to go to FFXIV. Nodem of Phoenix did send out a mass email via Epic's forums (the last Phoenix RP group that "replaced" LightsTemplar) so the link is out there for those who need it.

For those that didn't notice, I did open up the Gallery section. I also edited the main page for those who are still possibly wondering what this coalition's purpose is. Hopefully that explains everything. http://ff14-rp.webs.com

Regarding actual pre-established RP groups bound for Eorzea: There are currently 3, though they are still building themselves as I understand. There's KnightLife, The Adventure League of Eorzea (TALE), and the new LostBoys (who may or may not be changing their name). I don't want to give links to any of the two that already have sites because I don't want any groups to start with an unfair advantage of gaining membership. They'll all start getting advertised sometime during open beta, which probably isn't too far off now.

My goal is to hopefully open the Assemby Room within a couple weeks. I'd like discussions to at least -start- before going public, though we won't be voting on anything until after going public. So if people still aren't registered by then, they have no right to complain about having no say on laying the foundation for the RP community. By then, we'd have given people plenty of time to get themselves here.

The job for all of you before we go live is to look over the main site (particularly my method of labeling guilds/linkshells under the "Guilds" section) and let me know what's good and what's not regarding formats and whatnot. I'd also like to hear what kind of forum sections you'd like added, if any.

On a final note, I want to post a couple of coalition links for other games. This will give you an idea of what we're striving for in the long run. You can see how successful the RP communities for each game are. While we'll have our own needs to meet and our population will differ, you can at least see what our overall goal is in the long run.

Everquest II: http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?G ... ID=1770901</a><!-- m --> (sometimes takes awhile to load)
Starsider Galaxy: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://starsidergalaxy.com/forum/">http://starsidergalaxy.com/forum (link provided by Tsumi)

As for the new LostBoys, we are still in negotiations over name and storyline. I am waiting to put together a new website for the group until we know what direction we will be going in. That said, I wanted to reiterate that I don't expect anyone to be forced into a certain group or hold allegiance to simply one. If we do indeed settle on a specific role-play server, I look forward to characters being able to follow their own storyline within the world and join groups if it is congruent with the direction they want for their character.

I do have some concerns over how this United Nations of role-play is going to handle disputes between groups should the worst come to pass. I certainly hope this would never be the case, but we all know that it is a looming possibility.

I just tested this forum's mass email feature a few moments ago. Can anyone confirm whether they got the email? I just need to know if it worked or not. I didn't get one but that may be because I'm the admin.

Got it.