(06-24-2015, 09:11 AM)Alaz Wrote: I get where the other side is coming from (and I know that good RPers usually won't do this) but if I bust my ass to get something, I often do so because I'd like to use it IC or implement it into my character. It feels cheap, to me, to have a person say 'yeah, well me too!' when they didn't do the work to get there. This can be anything from levels to items to mounts to minions. Take your pick.
I can completely understand that. I busted my ass to get Chachan his Vulcan Lucis - solely for him to use in RP since I play him as a master smith. Plus, I thought it would be hilarious to see him using a hammer the size of his torso (still super bummed that it "shrinks" when you unsheath it).
However, I would like to believe I could still RP him as a great smith even if I hadn't gotten it or leveled BSM and ARM to cap. In his history, he was born to a long line of smiths and had his skills hammered into him since he was but a little spud (ha ha popoto joke). He's also a 50 PLD, but he's nowhere near a master swordsman - if anything, it's his self-made armor and weapon that is making up for his lack of battle prowess. Even after moons of training with a Free Paladin and attending the Grindstone on a fairly regular basis.
To take things further, how would one mechanically prove skills that they're are RPing but don't have a mechanical equal in-game? To go back to that Master Dancer, Ninja, Sorceror as an example... how would she "prove" that she was a master dancer? There's no dancing class, and all the dances are exactly the same (minus straight /dance, which is still the same as everyone else of her race and gender). Before the advent of the MCH, how would one prove they tinker with Magitek or even just use a gun with any sort of skill?
RP is a lot more... freeform, I suppose would be the word for it, and is oftentimes difficult to constrain to the mechanics of the game they're in. As I mentioned before, I don't look at levels and I'm of the opinion one shouldn't... because you're there to RP with them and not run a dungeon with them. So, their actual game stats matter less than their "roleplaying" stats - i.e. how well they tell their story in roleplay.
I mean, would it be fair to deny... say... a full-time working mother of three who wants to RP being an accomplished swordswoman solely because she hasn't leveled Gladiator (or better yet, DRK) - something she hasn't done due to real life leaving her with precious little time to actually commit to grinding out those levels? I'm not saying this is always the case, but one really shouldn't discount people who are just using the game as the vehicle for their RP - to hang out with their friends and tell pretend stories rather than run dungeons and gear up.
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