I can kind of try to answer each of these in turn, but not everyone is going to be of exactly the same opinion so please take these suggestions as nothing official but more of a guideline that I've found to be kind of a roadmap to satisfying RP.
1. Backgrounds:
The sky's the limit for backgrounds. You'll just want to keep in mind that certain RPers are more tolerant than others depending on how far things reach. I don't think a conjurer that can hear elementals strays much from the lore, based on a number of the cutscenes and dialogue from that particular story line in-game. If that's what you were wanting to do I don't think that's much of a stretch at all. I've known a couple of other RPers who RP being able to hear them. As far as RPing a male miqo'te prior to 2.0, you're probably going to received a mixed reaction. Will touch upon this a bit more in point #2.
2. IC = IG?:
Again you're going to get mixed reactions to this one, but I think the large majority is in favor of the fact that their characters do not look exactly like the game model. My own character is shorter than the game model, more buxom, and has longer hair which is sometimes wavy when it's humid out. These aren't things most other characters are really going to concern themselves very heavily with though so it seldom becomes much of an issue unless such deviations from the IG character model are somehow important enough that they would influence the way others interact with your character. To have long, wavy hair though seems fine. If you wanted to assert this somehow in-game, perhaps creative use of emotes may be used to make other RPers around you aware of that variation. More stark contrasts (such as being a male miqo'te when the character model is pretty obviously female) may be met with a little more reservation. Again, this all depends on the people with whom you're interacting and how open-minded they are to that sort of thing.
3. Roles/Jobs:
In short, yes. Again the sky's the limit. I would go so far as to say even that it's better to deviate from the set list of jobs we're given at the onset of the game since not every character should fall into one of these cookie-cutter molds. Characters who are engineers, researchers, guards, etc. and don't necessarily allow themselves to be classified into one set "game class" tend to be a little more unique and interesting. That's only my opinion though, but I suspect it's a shared one.
4. Posting:
The text limit in game is pretty long now. I'm not too sure of your style, but for the purposes of dialogue unless you're going on some longwinded tangent you can usually say what needs to be said within one "line" of text. These may often be coupled with emotes as well. There are a lot of creative ways that this can be done and I think once you begin RPing with others and see how they talk and emote in the setting of FFXIV you'll probably feel a lot more comfortable about it.
5. Icebreakers:
Not having an in-depth background for a character at first is fine. The lore has been known to shift a bit and it's entirely possible that the floor may be removed from under us at any time with regard to backstory. There is no expectation in my mind that a character must have a fully fleshed-out backhistory. This can be made up as you go along.
As far as breaking the ice, most every other RPer I've interacted with is friendly and open and very few are judgmental. I think you should just dive right in, but perhaps watch how other RPers interact with each other for awhile and observe for a little while before you start adding too many dimensions to your own character. I've seen some really amazing characters start out rather two-dimensional and after soaking in what others are doing they've been able to find a niche or otherwise adapt themselves into becoming a unique and intriguing character.
6. Consistancy:
This does vary greatly between linkshells. I can't speak to all RPers, but I know some avoid the "super special" elements of the actual storyline, can't interpret mooglespeak, etc. Just because something's happened in the actual storyline doesn't necessarily mean that your character needed to be a part of it. Everyone is going to have differing opinions. It's like [if you're familiar with FFXI] how not everyone could have defeated the one and only Shadowlord, for instance. Some things, while they may have happened in-game, we almost have to keep quiet about so as to avoid spoiling things for those who may not yet have gotten to that point.
I know this became a rather lengthy response but I hope it answered at least some of your questions. If you want to bounce any more ideas off of me, please feel free to ask them here, or shoot me a PM or my name in-game is Eva Ianeira - I don't bite.
1. Backgrounds:
Spoiler: show
The sky's the limit for backgrounds. You'll just want to keep in mind that certain RPers are more tolerant than others depending on how far things reach. I don't think a conjurer that can hear elementals strays much from the lore, based on a number of the cutscenes and dialogue from that particular story line in-game. If that's what you were wanting to do I don't think that's much of a stretch at all. I've known a couple of other RPers who RP being able to hear them. As far as RPing a male miqo'te prior to 2.0, you're probably going to received a mixed reaction. Will touch upon this a bit more in point #2.
2. IC = IG?:
Spoiler: show
Again you're going to get mixed reactions to this one, but I think the large majority is in favor of the fact that their characters do not look exactly like the game model. My own character is shorter than the game model, more buxom, and has longer hair which is sometimes wavy when it's humid out. These aren't things most other characters are really going to concern themselves very heavily with though so it seldom becomes much of an issue unless such deviations from the IG character model are somehow important enough that they would influence the way others interact with your character. To have long, wavy hair though seems fine. If you wanted to assert this somehow in-game, perhaps creative use of emotes may be used to make other RPers around you aware of that variation. More stark contrasts (such as being a male miqo'te when the character model is pretty obviously female) may be met with a little more reservation. Again, this all depends on the people with whom you're interacting and how open-minded they are to that sort of thing.
3. Roles/Jobs:
Spoiler: show
In short, yes. Again the sky's the limit. I would go so far as to say even that it's better to deviate from the set list of jobs we're given at the onset of the game since not every character should fall into one of these cookie-cutter molds. Characters who are engineers, researchers, guards, etc. and don't necessarily allow themselves to be classified into one set "game class" tend to be a little more unique and interesting. That's only my opinion though, but I suspect it's a shared one.
4. Posting:
Spoiler: show
The text limit in game is pretty long now. I'm not too sure of your style, but for the purposes of dialogue unless you're going on some longwinded tangent you can usually say what needs to be said within one "line" of text. These may often be coupled with emotes as well. There are a lot of creative ways that this can be done and I think once you begin RPing with others and see how they talk and emote in the setting of FFXIV you'll probably feel a lot more comfortable about it.
5. Icebreakers:
Spoiler: show
Not having an in-depth background for a character at first is fine. The lore has been known to shift a bit and it's entirely possible that the floor may be removed from under us at any time with regard to backstory. There is no expectation in my mind that a character must have a fully fleshed-out backhistory. This can be made up as you go along.
As far as breaking the ice, most every other RPer I've interacted with is friendly and open and very few are judgmental. I think you should just dive right in, but perhaps watch how other RPers interact with each other for awhile and observe for a little while before you start adding too many dimensions to your own character. I've seen some really amazing characters start out rather two-dimensional and after soaking in what others are doing they've been able to find a niche or otherwise adapt themselves into becoming a unique and intriguing character.
6. Consistancy:
Spoiler: show
This does vary greatly between linkshells. I can't speak to all RPers, but I know some avoid the "super special" elements of the actual storyline, can't interpret mooglespeak, etc. Just because something's happened in the actual storyline doesn't necessarily mean that your character needed to be a part of it. Everyone is going to have differing opinions. It's like [if you're familiar with FFXI] how not everyone could have defeated the one and only Shadowlord, for instance. Some things, while they may have happened in-game, we almost have to keep quiet about so as to avoid spoiling things for those who may not yet have gotten to that point.
I know this became a rather lengthy response but I hope it answered at least some of your questions. If you want to bounce any more ideas off of me, please feel free to ask them here, or shoot me a PM or my name in-game is Eva Ianeira - I don't bite.
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Â ~ Lewis Carol
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
