(02-08-2017, 02:14 PM)Kilieit Wrote: But you have to admit that doesn't really work for people who:
• use the time of year (e.g. winter cold, summer heatwaves) as part of their RP
• roleplay their character's nameday
• use seasonal events as points of conversation, or as basis for roleplay events
• want to see their character reach the end of training that takes over a year to complete
• want to see their character recover from long-term injuries without having to retire them shortly afterwards
• want to roleplay their free company completing military campaigns or diplomatic negotiations over a realistic timescale
• want to roleplay long-term relationships as actually being long-term (a year is barely any time to know someone)
• want to roleplay having young children and watching them grow
(& probably more i forgot)
Right..?
You already admitted you pick and choose pieces of lore based on what suits your RP best. I think it's fair to allow other people to do the same thing.
For the record, here's my personal reason why I choose the passage of time over the time bubble:
The value of the lore is that it provides a common denominator for people to work within that is both stable and engaging. Stable means everyone generally agrees on it, and if you meet a random person they'll probably be on the same page as you; engaging means it's fun and provides more opportunities for depth and development in roleplay.
The issue I have with the time bubble in RP is that to follow it, you basically have to lock yourself out of ever using other parts of the lore - in-universe, worldbuilding things like seasonal weather changes that differ by region, as well as what Eorzeans find worth celebrating, why, and how they celebrate it. It also locks you out of using things which give a roleplayer an opportunity to display more things about how their character thinks and feels - like differences in how each character celebrates their nameday from year to year.
Which means you have a binary choice between two pieces of lore (EITHER you follow the time bubble OR you roleplay stuff that depends on the time of year)... and some people are going to take the other choice. Which removes the "stable" aspect of the time bubble, because not everyone you meet in-game is going to agree on following it (others are going to go for the in-universe worldbuilding stuff).
This leaves only "engaging" as its merit, and it's... not. IDK. There's nothing engaging about "all this takes place within a year" - it's just... a thing. It's not a compelling storytelling device or anything; it doesn't tell us anything about what it's like to live in Eorzea. It's just a meta convenience for the dev team so they don't have to keep scanning over NPC dialogue to make sure they got the year consistent.
So it's not stable, and it's not engaging... I don't really see any point of it, other than to say "well technically this is correct".
Wow, nobody told anyone they aren't allowed to do whatever they want with how they consider the flow of time in their RP...
I hear you and I'm still not totally decided on how I should treat it myself. It has pros and cons for both solutions. I'm already annoyed at the progression my character is doing since I'm trying to kickstart something for her to advance eventually. I always have to thread carefully with such things, and doubly so here.
Also technically, no I never said I pick some parts of the lore above others, even if it sounded like it. Starlight and other stuff like that are part of the lore and I deal with them accordingly. I just feel like people are way too attached to being precise on dating and their calendar. Since I have played in eve online where such things matter, are part of the lore, and everything is tied to real time in real life, I have a way different perspective on FF14 RP, and my take is quite similar to the take of the writers: if something happens, well, it happened at some point. And I leave it as that.
And when we get new info on how much time has passed, I just incorporate it all inside as much as I can. But yes, I understand that seasonal festivities are a problem in that regard. And on the other hand, saying that the Castrum Meridianum got raided 3 years ago and you were there to see it is flat wrong. The same will go soon for the end of the Dragonsong War, etc etc. Or as said just above, Doman refugees (good example!). If you try to take those precise dates into your background or RP history, then time will have passed in your RL time model, where in lore it will not and still be super fresh.
I also don't see why you would necessarily need a huge timeframe to tell something meaningul of Eorzea... In your own words, a movie is meaningful but not a photograph or a painting? The latter don't describe anything worthwhile? Or at least, their storytelling ability is lesser? I'm not sure I subscribe to that personally.
So... Vagueness is your friend in my book vOv
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu
