![](https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/images/reksio/flecha.png)
After reading through the larger body of this thread, I came to a realization about the idea of a main-body of authority and why it can't work.
How do I know? Personal experience.
I have seen games where this was done and it did two things:
1. Made the RP community seem like a group of self-righteous and cliquish pricks to those not involved in the main community.
2. Eventually destroyed the community.
I'll pull again from my Champions Only experience here. Champions had a main RP group that was by far the largest. While you could indeed have your small groups, this main group was sort of the go-to if you wanted to be involved in RP. Kinda like how Balmung is a designated server, this group had a massive community of IC chats (which was essentially a radio frequency your hero could tune into to connect with and talk to other heroes, either to shoot the breeze or call for back-up etc). Now this group was great. They had a few appointed individuals that were largely in charge through seniority and having helped established this main ruling body, as well as having the folks that were good at coordinating the events and the like. Costume contests, massive RP arcs spanning months of real-time, all that jazz.
But then tragedy. The IC Channel was in-lore of the group established by PRIMUS (the U.S. Government) and had 'dispatchers' who would listen in constantly to make sure the conversations were in-keeping with the government's standards (transaltion: mods who would ensure players didn't do/say anything that was breaking rules or picking fights or flaming). I'm sure you see where this is going.
Because everyone had to adhere the whatever these 'dispatchers' said, if you didn't do what they said, you were cut off from the channel ICly. If your character was cut off, you were essentially screwed because then you had no way to communicate with the community as a whole. This would quickly lead to missing events, being shunned ICly (which as well all know can lead to OoC shunning).
Eventually, this Utopian RP Group eventually began to be seen as cliquish by all other players of Champions Online (both RPers not involved and even NON-Rpers who saw them as rigging contests and even whole events for the sake of their favored members).
I was there until the end, watching it slowly collapse in on itself. Nothing held weight anymore. Players (great players) who had characters that were out-spoken or vigilantes were cut out ICly, leaving only players that followed the rules. Those players didn't want to do anything to risk being cut out themselves so their characters got blase about threats or the same stories were told over and over again.
'Oh, someone planted a series of bombs in Westide? Someone else will take care of that...'
I saved that quote to remind myself that it was actually said. In character by a hero that had saved the world and had, at one time, been a passionate leader. OoC, the player told me that they simply did not want to risk pissing off the wrong people by going to events anymore.
And so you see, a main body, on paper, will always, always look grand.
Karl Marx saw a vision of Utopia too, but we saw what happened with that. (And I mean the actual Revolution and it's results, not actually the idea of Communism). The people cannot rule themselves. It can't be done. And unless you find that very special person that can rule completely fairly and without being HUMAN then no, Utopian RP Communities will sadly always be a myth.
Especially where one tries to establish a body of law enforcement.
How do I know? Personal experience.
I have seen games where this was done and it did two things:
1. Made the RP community seem like a group of self-righteous and cliquish pricks to those not involved in the main community.
2. Eventually destroyed the community.
I'll pull again from my Champions Only experience here. Champions had a main RP group that was by far the largest. While you could indeed have your small groups, this main group was sort of the go-to if you wanted to be involved in RP. Kinda like how Balmung is a designated server, this group had a massive community of IC chats (which was essentially a radio frequency your hero could tune into to connect with and talk to other heroes, either to shoot the breeze or call for back-up etc). Now this group was great. They had a few appointed individuals that were largely in charge through seniority and having helped established this main ruling body, as well as having the folks that were good at coordinating the events and the like. Costume contests, massive RP arcs spanning months of real-time, all that jazz.
But then tragedy. The IC Channel was in-lore of the group established by PRIMUS (the U.S. Government) and had 'dispatchers' who would listen in constantly to make sure the conversations were in-keeping with the government's standards (transaltion: mods who would ensure players didn't do/say anything that was breaking rules or picking fights or flaming). I'm sure you see where this is going.
Because everyone had to adhere the whatever these 'dispatchers' said, if you didn't do what they said, you were cut off from the channel ICly. If your character was cut off, you were essentially screwed because then you had no way to communicate with the community as a whole. This would quickly lead to missing events, being shunned ICly (which as well all know can lead to OoC shunning).
Eventually, this Utopian RP Group eventually began to be seen as cliquish by all other players of Champions Online (both RPers not involved and even NON-Rpers who saw them as rigging contests and even whole events for the sake of their favored members).
I was there until the end, watching it slowly collapse in on itself. Nothing held weight anymore. Players (great players) who had characters that were out-spoken or vigilantes were cut out ICly, leaving only players that followed the rules. Those players didn't want to do anything to risk being cut out themselves so their characters got blase about threats or the same stories were told over and over again.
'Oh, someone planted a series of bombs in Westide? Someone else will take care of that...'
I saved that quote to remind myself that it was actually said. In character by a hero that had saved the world and had, at one time, been a passionate leader. OoC, the player told me that they simply did not want to risk pissing off the wrong people by going to events anymore.
And so you see, a main body, on paper, will always, always look grand.
Karl Marx saw a vision of Utopia too, but we saw what happened with that. (And I mean the actual Revolution and it's results, not actually the idea of Communism). The people cannot rule themselves. It can't be done. And unless you find that very special person that can rule completely fairly and without being HUMAN then no, Utopian RP Communities will sadly always be a myth.
Especially where one tries to establish a body of law enforcement.