(01-24-2018, 09:38 PM)Jaran Wrote: So, before playing on FFXIV (or WoW) I used to play on a few other games and with a number of other communities. The way that a lot of people broke down different RPing 'styles' (from an OOC/IC meshing perspective) in these communities was to classify it as one of three things: Social, Persona and Strict.Â
Social was more or less playing as just yourself, but with an avatar or character that may not have looked like you outside the game or screen. The roleplay done was not so much intended to be you playing a character, but rather attempting to break the boundaries and limitations of distance and reach for deeper connections in a social/OOC way. Often these were kept short to things like *hugs* or whatever else. There are no backstories, no alternate stories, etc. Most people in MMOs, I find, do this sort of thing and don't really consider it roleplay.Â
If anyone has seen that 'Father of Light' show, then that's a perfect example of what I'm talking about here.Â
Strict RP was more or less what others have said, and there are obviously varying degrees of it, too. But for the sake of brevity it was putting a hard and defining line between OOC and IC. Some people who do this sort of thing don't bother with OOC connections between those they RP with (as was mentioned) while others hop back and forth between this and OOC interactions with their RP partners.Â
Either way, this is very much the 'author vs the character' mindset, and there is at least an attempt made to define and differentiate the two.
Persona was a lot like a blend of the two above (and more what you're talking about, I think, OP). There could be alternate backstories, characters that one made and emoted with and all of that, but the connections under all of that blended between strict and social for various reasons.Â
One of the better examples that I can think of off the top of my head is a pair of friends of mine who are an OOC couple. They may dive into an RP world and play their characters as characters, but they also allow the lines of fiction and reality to blend, and happily so.Â
Some characters may start out in a relationship together or they may have that as a goal, perhaps even with the intention being to strengthen the bonds they have OOC.
I know a lot of people make blending OOC/IC out to be something undesirable, but really it comes down to just finding your people and everyone being on the same page. There's nothing inherently wrong with any RP style as long as all parties consent and agree to it.
I've done all of these types of RP myself with varying degrees of success. I don't quite know how one would go about finding more of the 'Persona' type RPers on this game -- I've done a bit of searching on that myself, actually. I tend to keep my RP these days mostly on the strict side since that seems to be what most people are searching for, but you're definitely not alone!
Fascinating! I've never heard of those categories but those are pretty useful. And thank you!
