With only six months left until the release of Final Fantasy XIV, version 2.0, the community at large is left with a rather daunting task and a winding road filled with a myriad of obstacles we are in dire need to overcome. While there are several details regarding the future of the game that are still under wraps by the development team, we have a general understanding as to which direction the game is heading in, and more importantly, what's in store for us: the role-players who populate the game world.
However, before we can begin to take a serious look at the future, we need to look at the current condition of the community as well as the present and ongoing challenges we face.
Up to this point, the RPC has allowed new role-players and seasoned role-players alike to find a home within the over-arching community of Balmung and Besaid. It has provided players with a central hub via forums to discuss, advertise, and plan events for the player base. However, even with the strides the RPC has taken and the efforts it has made, it still seems to be lacking in many aspects and hindered by others. Among these aspects is the sense of community, the presence of ongoing and engaging activity, a sense of order, and of course, the presence of communication, not only between the role-players, but the linkshell leaders as well.
Communication
Communication is perhaps the bane of the current iteration of the RPC, or to be more direct, the lack thereof between the heads of the linkshells and the bodies they represent. Many of the shells remaining have adopted a rather wolf pack mentality, that meaning they feed for and care for only the members within their established groups. This, of course, is a natural occurrence and was bound to happen given the nature and traditions of linkshells to begin with. However natural forming or not, it does present a set of issues that sneer in the face of unity and growth which the community so desperately needs. Issues such as OOC cross shell conflict, competition for self-gain, linkshell isolation and seclusion, needless and biased stereotyping and discrimination, and blown up and out of proportion egos have all risen and taken deep root within our floundering community. What’s left is little more than a shattered field of glass that was once intended to be a mural and mosaic of art; while those who have the ability to help piece it all back together are either too content with their current positions or too tired to try to make any change. What’s worse is that there are still others who hinge on the notion that version 2.0 will come and save us with the influx of new players. The simple truth to the latter is that if the problems present now are still present in the near future, we would have solved nothing and instead left the issues to fester and form a bigger beast to tackle. Organizing two hundred people is a challenge without proper communication and structure. Organizing nearly a thousand without either is nigh impossible.
The issue and solution here lies in the hands of communication. The heads of the shells need to come together and discuss the current state of things, evaluate what they as leaders can do to help the community return to a state of growth and unity, and lastly, make plans and follow through with them. The talk needs to be there, but talks with no action are just words being said for nothing. The linkshell leaders as a whole need to realize that they have an obligation to the community they represent, that is to say, the heads of these guilds need to be in constant communication with one another to help better the role-playing community, the RPC (or what they choose to use as the central hub for the player-base), and ensure that we as a minority are able to stand tall in the coming surge of players and face of discrimination and adversity. Recall, we are not a popular group to begin with simply due to preconceived notions and judgement surrounding us as role-players.
Sense of Community and Order
Moving along and tying together with the previous point of interest is the aspect of having a sense of community and order. To begin, let's first look at what it truly means to be a community. By definition, a community is a unified body of individuals joined together by common goals, interests, policies, history and joint ownership and participation. By that definition, no single person can claim ownership over a community nor can they simply stand idle while twiddling their thumbs. To this end, the role-playing community is owned as a whole by the members therein and formed on the grounds they agree upon. What is acceptable as proper role-play and behaved conduct should be clearly defined by way of charter formed via unanimous decision of the role-players within. This means everybody has a voice in regards to the standards we as role-players should set and follow.
Does this mean that various styles of role-play can't continue to coexist? Not at all. Instead what this entails is a social norm that the community has established to prevent players from deviating towards extreme ends of the spectrum. Examples include unexplainable demonic powers and abilities, ancient powerful relics that can create and destroy worlds, magic which has not been seen, confirmed, nor accepted by the lore established by either Square Enix or the community at large, and etc. Without order within the community and a complete understanding of the standards set in place, players are left in a rather free flow position where they can role-play in whatever manner they please, often bringing up cases like the examples listed above. Examples like these, in turn, lead to the ousting of members from the community for being different when there was nothing in place to say that they couldn't be in the first place. Having an established order to begin with helps prevent this from occurring.
On a related note, the linkshells currently found on the server all vary in different ways. From leadership style to structure and organization all the way down to role-play styles. Each linkshell should be entitled to be able to role-play in a manner that they please so long as it stays within reason to what the community and the lore has established. Furthermore, if a linkshell forms sub-communities and micro-communities within the overarching community, they should be able to so long as it does not adversely affect or undermine the sanctity of the larger community. An example of this would be a linkshell intentionally shutting themselves away OOCly and ICly from the rest of the overall role-play population for self-gain or creating a means to place one person above the rest of the community through subterfuge.
Should there be a council of leaders to help establish a greater sense of community and order? Yes and no. Ideally, the leaders of the shells should be communicating together to establish potential role-play avenues as well as plan and discuss ideas. This can be done on both fields of character, and regardless on where it starts, what matters is that content is being developed that is agreed upon and is for the greater good of the community, not the self gain of one party or individual. If a council is formed, the only authority it would have would be over the members the linkshell leaders therein manage. It should not act as a central body of government, but rather serve as an assembly of leaders called together for consultation, deliberation, discussion, and advising.
Revamp of the RPC
Spearheading into what is the final part of this post is what has already been stated by others in minute details and in redundant repetition.
The RPC as a website serves the function it is currently in place to do, that is, it acts as a central hub for members of the community to discuss, plan, and advertise events made by role-players for their fellow role-players. It also serves as a means for potential role-players to find groups they can better associate themselves with while still being part of the overall community. The problem with the RPC isn't about how clean or cluttered it is, the problem rests in the fact that it does not receive the proper support it should be getting and that the moderation and the administration is not there, leaving only one person to effectively handle things under the hood. What needs to happen is that more people need to take a stand to assist in rebuilding the website to be friendly, lively, and active place.
Having a shell like Intermission more intertwined with the inner workings of the RPC would help bolster the community because there would be moderators present who are able to advise and direct new players towards the community and places of interest both in and out of game and character. Consolidate the resources available.
In regards to Free Companies, there isn't much that can be truly said at the moment simply due to the lack of information available to us. We only know a handful of details, and even then, that may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. It's too early to decide a theme when we hardly know our options, but it would be naive of us to simply put it off and wait.
(Quite honestly, another thread is needed for the last topic and I'm simply far too tired to go into further detail of my thoughts on a Free Company. Expect a new thread either later today or tomorrow)
However, before we can begin to take a serious look at the future, we need to look at the current condition of the community as well as the present and ongoing challenges we face.
Up to this point, the RPC has allowed new role-players and seasoned role-players alike to find a home within the over-arching community of Balmung and Besaid. It has provided players with a central hub via forums to discuss, advertise, and plan events for the player base. However, even with the strides the RPC has taken and the efforts it has made, it still seems to be lacking in many aspects and hindered by others. Among these aspects is the sense of community, the presence of ongoing and engaging activity, a sense of order, and of course, the presence of communication, not only between the role-players, but the linkshell leaders as well.
Communication
Communication is perhaps the bane of the current iteration of the RPC, or to be more direct, the lack thereof between the heads of the linkshells and the bodies they represent. Many of the shells remaining have adopted a rather wolf pack mentality, that meaning they feed for and care for only the members within their established groups. This, of course, is a natural occurrence and was bound to happen given the nature and traditions of linkshells to begin with. However natural forming or not, it does present a set of issues that sneer in the face of unity and growth which the community so desperately needs. Issues such as OOC cross shell conflict, competition for self-gain, linkshell isolation and seclusion, needless and biased stereotyping and discrimination, and blown up and out of proportion egos have all risen and taken deep root within our floundering community. What’s left is little more than a shattered field of glass that was once intended to be a mural and mosaic of art; while those who have the ability to help piece it all back together are either too content with their current positions or too tired to try to make any change. What’s worse is that there are still others who hinge on the notion that version 2.0 will come and save us with the influx of new players. The simple truth to the latter is that if the problems present now are still present in the near future, we would have solved nothing and instead left the issues to fester and form a bigger beast to tackle. Organizing two hundred people is a challenge without proper communication and structure. Organizing nearly a thousand without either is nigh impossible.
The issue and solution here lies in the hands of communication. The heads of the shells need to come together and discuss the current state of things, evaluate what they as leaders can do to help the community return to a state of growth and unity, and lastly, make plans and follow through with them. The talk needs to be there, but talks with no action are just words being said for nothing. The linkshell leaders as a whole need to realize that they have an obligation to the community they represent, that is to say, the heads of these guilds need to be in constant communication with one another to help better the role-playing community, the RPC (or what they choose to use as the central hub for the player-base), and ensure that we as a minority are able to stand tall in the coming surge of players and face of discrimination and adversity. Recall, we are not a popular group to begin with simply due to preconceived notions and judgement surrounding us as role-players.
Sense of Community and Order
Moving along and tying together with the previous point of interest is the aspect of having a sense of community and order. To begin, let's first look at what it truly means to be a community. By definition, a community is a unified body of individuals joined together by common goals, interests, policies, history and joint ownership and participation. By that definition, no single person can claim ownership over a community nor can they simply stand idle while twiddling their thumbs. To this end, the role-playing community is owned as a whole by the members therein and formed on the grounds they agree upon. What is acceptable as proper role-play and behaved conduct should be clearly defined by way of charter formed via unanimous decision of the role-players within. This means everybody has a voice in regards to the standards we as role-players should set and follow.
Does this mean that various styles of role-play can't continue to coexist? Not at all. Instead what this entails is a social norm that the community has established to prevent players from deviating towards extreme ends of the spectrum. Examples include unexplainable demonic powers and abilities, ancient powerful relics that can create and destroy worlds, magic which has not been seen, confirmed, nor accepted by the lore established by either Square Enix or the community at large, and etc. Without order within the community and a complete understanding of the standards set in place, players are left in a rather free flow position where they can role-play in whatever manner they please, often bringing up cases like the examples listed above. Examples like these, in turn, lead to the ousting of members from the community for being different when there was nothing in place to say that they couldn't be in the first place. Having an established order to begin with helps prevent this from occurring.
On a related note, the linkshells currently found on the server all vary in different ways. From leadership style to structure and organization all the way down to role-play styles. Each linkshell should be entitled to be able to role-play in a manner that they please so long as it stays within reason to what the community and the lore has established. Furthermore, if a linkshell forms sub-communities and micro-communities within the overarching community, they should be able to so long as it does not adversely affect or undermine the sanctity of the larger community. An example of this would be a linkshell intentionally shutting themselves away OOCly and ICly from the rest of the overall role-play population for self-gain or creating a means to place one person above the rest of the community through subterfuge.
Should there be a council of leaders to help establish a greater sense of community and order? Yes and no. Ideally, the leaders of the shells should be communicating together to establish potential role-play avenues as well as plan and discuss ideas. This can be done on both fields of character, and regardless on where it starts, what matters is that content is being developed that is agreed upon and is for the greater good of the community, not the self gain of one party or individual. If a council is formed, the only authority it would have would be over the members the linkshell leaders therein manage. It should not act as a central body of government, but rather serve as an assembly of leaders called together for consultation, deliberation, discussion, and advising.
Revamp of the RPC
Spearheading into what is the final part of this post is what has already been stated by others in minute details and in redundant repetition.
The RPC as a website serves the function it is currently in place to do, that is, it acts as a central hub for members of the community to discuss, plan, and advertise events made by role-players for their fellow role-players. It also serves as a means for potential role-players to find groups they can better associate themselves with while still being part of the overall community. The problem with the RPC isn't about how clean or cluttered it is, the problem rests in the fact that it does not receive the proper support it should be getting and that the moderation and the administration is not there, leaving only one person to effectively handle things under the hood. What needs to happen is that more people need to take a stand to assist in rebuilding the website to be friendly, lively, and active place.
Having a shell like Intermission more intertwined with the inner workings of the RPC would help bolster the community because there would be moderators present who are able to advise and direct new players towards the community and places of interest both in and out of game and character. Consolidate the resources available.
In regards to Free Companies, there isn't much that can be truly said at the moment simply due to the lack of information available to us. We only know a handful of details, and even then, that may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. It's too early to decide a theme when we hardly know our options, but it would be naive of us to simply put it off and wait.
(Quite honestly, another thread is needed for the last topic and I'm simply far too tired to go into further detail of my thoughts on a Free Company. Expect a new thread either later today or tomorrow)
Take some bacon and I put it in a pancake.
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