Mercurias,
I wanted to respond to you frankly because there's a major systemic flaw in the way you are approaching villainy in roleplay. This is coming from someone who's actively play antagonist characters and fully intends to continue to do so in FFXIV (I actually have one, just haven't been able to play it due to time constraints) The fundamental problem is this.:
This is fundamentally incorrect, in the fact that when you assume the role of Villainy, you are no longer a Player. And let me explain why.
Player Characters, especially in this game, are a function of the protagonist as perceived by Storytellers. Traditionally, in all forms of roleplay to play an antagonist, is to sit at the opposite side of that table. The concerns as a PC should not be the same as those playing an antagonist, because an Antagonist is, the moment he engages a protagonist, holds the weight of responsibility of delivering a good conflict story-line to that player - especially in free-form roleplay. You, are no longer a Player Character at that point - you are a Storyteller, or you are a glorified NPC working under a Storyteller, there's no room for a Player-Character antagonist cause it will boil down to Player vs Player mechanics, which requires a Storyteller to establish fair grounds, to which you've already claimed in your post should not happen.
Attempting to create a Villain PC fails to serve the primary function of an antagonist to begin with and assumes the stance of hiding behind the rights of a Player Character, while being dynamically opposed to the role of a Player Character. In free-form, in the absence of a storyteller, players collectively agree on the limits and extents of consequence between each other when crafting a storyline. This is easy to establish when groups all are invested on the same side of a conflict or have characters that work together. However taking a villainous approach on a player level means that you're actively an antagonist to said groups. Even with perfect OOC/IC separation there is an innate conflict of interest there on both an IC or OOC level. They're playing something along the lines of a slice of life or adventurer storyline, you're specifically writing to disrupt that. Without a Storyteller to oversee that, all that it amounts to is an unsolvable conflict where you are assuming their consent for the sake if your own idea of a story, while hiding behind consent rules to enforce that story. This implies that if the other players don't play to your dance, then they can never progress. That sets a bad tone for what could be an interesting story.
Conversely, doing so from the Storyteller perspective re-asserts and re-aligns all intents in roleplay. Instead of disrupting, you are providing plot for said Slice of Life and Adventurer style roleplays, by playing the Villian role. Playing a continual and Repeat villian means you never really leave the Storyteller perspective and you must focus first on what story you are bringing others, rather than simply pursuing 'your own' story. Otherwise, it boils down to the level of being antagonistic rather than being an antagonist/villian. And that comes with its own IC/OOC problems. Which leads into the next problem playing a "PC" Level.
Law enforcement is an active and real element within most worlds - especially in Eorzea. A Villain who's openly a villain to the point where a PC can report their actions, must have a means of dealing with persecution that is acceptable to their constituents. This is especially true seeming many adventurer type PCs will be holding a rank of some sort in one of the Grand Companies. And when that happens, you MUST have the rank of Storyteller in that situation or you must concede to another storyteller's call. "I escape because I said so." pushes the borders of consent, because no party, on the player-character level can rightly claim ownership of the greater law-enforcement entity in a roleplay - that is a role of a storyteller.
As a storyteller, you can control factors as to the strength and numbers of the Law enforcement as they enter the fray, and organize your villain's escape in a means that is believable. Conversely, if you're working UNDER a storyteller, you're going to have to work with them weather or not your character escapes and how. We'll digress on the matter of persecution.
Playing a Villain without first assuming the role of a Storyteller or working directly with one amounts to simply playing a power-fantasy, intentional or otherwise - it cannot be done correctly without first putting protagonists to the forefront of your consideration. To be a roaming villain is to be a Storyteller with a story waiting to happen, and should be presented to other Players as such before the story happens to prevent OOC conflicts of interest.
This is why I see so many attempts at Villainy in Roleplay failing so frequently. Collectively, we are playing a game, and no matter how you perceive it Villainy is a linchpin role in that game. A Villain is a source of conflict, a source of story. And as such, that comes with a bit more responsibility than your typical PC role. Even a Player Character, who's running an independent story-line for their character's personal plot, assumes the role and responsibility of Storyteller while doing so, for Villains, unless you're 'in hiding' or assuming the role of an Anti-Hero for a plot other than yours, you never step away from that Storyteller role. You are a walking plot-line. You can't assume that you are a Player Character. Player Character comes with limitations and assumptions a Villain can't concede to.
I wanted to respond to you frankly because there's a major systemic flaw in the way you are approaching villainy in roleplay. This is coming from someone who's actively play antagonist characters and fully intends to continue to do so in FFXIV (I actually have one, just haven't been able to play it due to time constraints) The fundamental problem is this.:
Quote:Villain PCs are still PCs, with all the rights that entails
This is fundamentally incorrect, in the fact that when you assume the role of Villainy, you are no longer a Player. And let me explain why.
Player Characters, especially in this game, are a function of the protagonist as perceived by Storytellers. Traditionally, in all forms of roleplay to play an antagonist, is to sit at the opposite side of that table. The concerns as a PC should not be the same as those playing an antagonist, because an Antagonist is, the moment he engages a protagonist, holds the weight of responsibility of delivering a good conflict story-line to that player - especially in free-form roleplay. You, are no longer a Player Character at that point - you are a Storyteller, or you are a glorified NPC working under a Storyteller, there's no room for a Player-Character antagonist cause it will boil down to Player vs Player mechanics, which requires a Storyteller to establish fair grounds, to which you've already claimed in your post should not happen.
Attempting to create a Villain PC fails to serve the primary function of an antagonist to begin with and assumes the stance of hiding behind the rights of a Player Character, while being dynamically opposed to the role of a Player Character. In free-form, in the absence of a storyteller, players collectively agree on the limits and extents of consequence between each other when crafting a storyline. This is easy to establish when groups all are invested on the same side of a conflict or have characters that work together. However taking a villainous approach on a player level means that you're actively an antagonist to said groups. Even with perfect OOC/IC separation there is an innate conflict of interest there on both an IC or OOC level. They're playing something along the lines of a slice of life or adventurer storyline, you're specifically writing to disrupt that. Without a Storyteller to oversee that, all that it amounts to is an unsolvable conflict where you are assuming their consent for the sake if your own idea of a story, while hiding behind consent rules to enforce that story. This implies that if the other players don't play to your dance, then they can never progress. That sets a bad tone for what could be an interesting story.
Conversely, doing so from the Storyteller perspective re-asserts and re-aligns all intents in roleplay. Instead of disrupting, you are providing plot for said Slice of Life and Adventurer style roleplays, by playing the Villian role. Playing a continual and Repeat villian means you never really leave the Storyteller perspective and you must focus first on what story you are bringing others, rather than simply pursuing 'your own' story. Otherwise, it boils down to the level of being antagonistic rather than being an antagonist/villian. And that comes with its own IC/OOC problems. Which leads into the next problem playing a "PC" Level.
Law enforcement is an active and real element within most worlds - especially in Eorzea. A Villain who's openly a villain to the point where a PC can report their actions, must have a means of dealing with persecution that is acceptable to their constituents. This is especially true seeming many adventurer type PCs will be holding a rank of some sort in one of the Grand Companies. And when that happens, you MUST have the rank of Storyteller in that situation or you must concede to another storyteller's call. "I escape because I said so." pushes the borders of consent, because no party, on the player-character level can rightly claim ownership of the greater law-enforcement entity in a roleplay - that is a role of a storyteller.
As a storyteller, you can control factors as to the strength and numbers of the Law enforcement as they enter the fray, and organize your villain's escape in a means that is believable. Conversely, if you're working UNDER a storyteller, you're going to have to work with them weather or not your character escapes and how. We'll digress on the matter of persecution.
Playing a Villain without first assuming the role of a Storyteller or working directly with one amounts to simply playing a power-fantasy, intentional or otherwise - it cannot be done correctly without first putting protagonists to the forefront of your consideration. To be a roaming villain is to be a Storyteller with a story waiting to happen, and should be presented to other Players as such before the story happens to prevent OOC conflicts of interest.
This is why I see so many attempts at Villainy in Roleplay failing so frequently. Collectively, we are playing a game, and no matter how you perceive it Villainy is a linchpin role in that game. A Villain is a source of conflict, a source of story. And as such, that comes with a bit more responsibility than your typical PC role. Even a Player Character, who's running an independent story-line for their character's personal plot, assumes the role and responsibility of Storyteller while doing so, for Villains, unless you're 'in hiding' or assuming the role of an Anti-Hero for a plot other than yours, you never step away from that Storyteller role. You are a walking plot-line. You can't assume that you are a Player Character. Player Character comes with limitations and assumptions a Villain can't concede to.
