(02-22-2015, 02:45 PM)TheLastCandle Wrote: Walk-up RP can be tricky, and I think making it feel natural takes a certain level of social skills that some people generally lack. And that's okay. That's why it never hurts for there to be OOC communication.
THIS. I'll be the first person to admit that unless I'm on my bard, I am the most awkward penguin alive when it comes to trying to initiate a casual walk-up with someone. ;___; 3 out of 4 of my characters are just not the types to randomly approach people without a reason, so it's really tough. I have to invent hooks for myself and they don't always really work out too well without feeling awkward from a social-sense. Chatting with folks OOC always kind of helps me sort myself out - just to help myself feel less awkward and not to script out an entire interaction.
As for the Quicksand - for me there's a mix of reasons why I don't typically go there.
1) None of my characters except Leilani would really go to a bustling tavern for drinks. It would be pretty out of character for them unless they were invited by someone to share a drink or eat there. While they're not really loners, they're also not the personality type to go to a bar or they have backstory reasons why going to a tavern in Ul'dah specifically wouldn't be a great idea for them. (which is why it kinda bums me out that the Bismark or The Drowning Wench don't get used as often.)
2)
![[Image: 1409834574.jpg]](http://www.collegeokplease.com/uploads/2014-09-04/1409834574.jpg)
As I mentioned before, I am a huge shy dork. :V If I'm not on a character that is naturally outgoing and inquisitive, I feel UNIMAGINABLY awkward trying to plug myself into people's conversations or just walk up to others without coming off like a social cripple. I know that not a lot of people have had success with events, but I suppose I like them mainly because it really helps me when I have some built in context for why my character is around some people. I can springboard off of it and immediately engage folks.
3) Maybe it's not happening anymore, but was a period of time when people soliciting others for ERP got really, really, REALLY bad in the Quicksand. I don't mock Quicksand RP, because I have friends who enjoy going there to fish up random roleplay, but I'm kind of skittish of heading back. There were a ton of times where myself or others I know have gone there, gotten propositioned for ERP minutes into a conversation with a person. Some of my roe-lady friends have gotten asked repeatedly if they're secretly futas. (Wat.) It's also particularly bad if you're playing a miqo'te because lots of ERPers (who often wind up being miqo'te themselves) just kind of assume 99% of all people playing cats want to get their freak on. This has happened even when folks were blatantly playing characters who are basically still children.
I kept visiting here and there on various characters hoping for some random RP - but eventually it honestly felt like if you were in the Quicksand and you weren't looking for a hook-up, no one really wanted to have anything to do with you. It got to the point where at one time, I was really tempted to start a new thread on these forums advocating for a second RP hub in Limsa for people who just want to share a drink/chat with people and not have to worry that someone's going to try and get into someone's pants.
I understand that the there are plenty of people who go to the Quicksand not wanting ERP and that the ERP brigade is not there every single day at every single hour. However, when the majority of your experience is initiating an RP conversation with someone, getting excited that you've managed to strike up a decent conversation, only for it to suddenly veer towards cocks 5 minutes in -- it gets really, really discouraging.
Add the whole cripplingly-shy thing along with the not-really-IC-for-my-character thing and it was actually pretty distressing and uncomfortable for me to be there, more so when I was playing a female character instead of a male.
That said, I might head there with my bard in the future once my real life schedule is less of a clusterfuck to sort of dip my toe in the pool and see if things are a little better now.
