Thread Closed
I'm sorry for the delay since my last post. Â It's been a busier week than I anticipated and I haven't been able to read/post as much as I would like. Â This post is going to be rather lengthy as a result and I'm sorry about that because I try to avoid wall'o'texts whenever possible but there were a lot of great points made and I don't want to leave anything out.
I'll address the point about some of our members posting here first since that seems the most recent/pressing issue. Â As I was busy for much of the day yesterday and this thread was/is still taking its course, I had encouraged any member who wanted to speak up on behalf of the linkshell to discretely do so. Â As we are a community I thought it might be a good thing to let some of the other members have their say as well. Â That and I was busy and didn't want to leave any points left unaddressed for too long. Â While I personally don't view any of their posts as being particularly defensive, I do see where some points that have already been made were reiterated and I apologize for this misunderstanding. Â I've since requested that no further posts be made on this thread by our members and will take it upon myself to funnel their thoughts here if any of them feel compelled to share anything. Â Going forward it should just be me addressing these concerns, but I may not be able to reply as promptly as I would like, so please take that into consideration.
@Averis: Â I've heard the phrase "RP Elite" - or variants of such - tossed around a bit, usually with a negative connotation. Â I've never really minded the implication that some of us take our RP interactions and experiences more seriously than others. Â It was explained to me in a Skype channel once as being less about being immersive in RP and more about being condescending or having certain expectations placed upon others. Â I admit we strive for realistic and believable experiences and interactions, and have certain rules in place about expectations for godmode/meta/etc. for our own members. Â I don't think any of us really have any sort of expectations of folks outside of our group who may RP different styles or exhibit more deviation from the game's lore. Â Instead we try to find common ground to make interactions work between our characters, even when our methods may differ somewhat. Â I hope this makes sense.
@Zeah: Â I can appreciate that the LS would not fit with your character, or many others. Â While we were hoping to create a company with a theme that would sort of cast a wide net regarding character types, it quickly became clear to us that not all would fit well with this theme. Â It felt important to find and fill a niche like this and it's not as all-encompassing as it was in FFXI, and we understand not everyone will be drawn to it, and may even stand to lose a few members (but hopefully not friends!) that we had in 1.0 as a result. Â Since FFXI was mentioned, I just wanted to be clear that the LS is entirely different in structure and purpose from what it was in FFXI. Â I asked around and figured out who your FFXI character was. Â Knowing that now, I can appreciate how you might feel some disenchantment with regard to your experience with us for the couple of months you were with us in XI, particularly given what happened with one of the officers at that time. Â Even though this is XIV and even though you probably will likely not be joining us, I would like to apologize for any bad feelings from back then. Â If you would like to talk more about the XI stuff, I invite you to send me a PM. Â All I can really say is that things are much different now and I hope we may still get a chance to RP at some point.
@Rhynka & Spiritual Machine: Â I hope the opening paragraph of this post addresses those concerns brought up on the last page. Â I don't think it wasn't really anyone's intent to leave anyone feeling they couldn't speak their mind freely here but I can understand that perception when a number of our members start posting and certain points that were already made have been reiterated. Â This was my fault as I encouraged it with our membership and I'm sorry for any confusion that may have resulted.
@L'yhta: Â I agree with the point you made of ignoring rumors. Â I generally base my own opinions of things on facts and observation. Someone recently related to me a paraphrased conversation that went something like:
Person1: "What do you think about Crystalline?"
Person2: "I've heard bad/negative things about that LS."
Person1: "What sort of things or why?"
Prior to this thread I don't know that there was really any sort of concrete answer to that, at least none that I've heard or been able to figure out. Â I have no such dillusions that everyone would like the LS, myself, or its members. Â People are always going to favor different things based on their own preferences and experiences, and I totally understand that Crystalline is not going to appeal to everyone. Â What I was hoping to discern by creating this thread was not so much what the rumors are. Â Admittedly I'm curious, particularly since a couple of posts now have indicated that they've heard things but haven't been much more specific than that. Â But the rumors themselves aren't the major concern here. Â The reasons for them and the reasons our LS may be seen in a more unfavorable light is my concern. Â So far the responses have been illuminating for us and we're using this information to try and make some adjustments so that we can integrate better with other linkshells and the RP community.
@Femgame: Â I can't think of a way to respond to your remark without it being regarded as somewhat defensive. Â So I'm sorry if it gives that vibe, but I don't want to sound like I'm disagreeing with your point. Â I generally tend to think we're pretty open to RPing with all RPers and not just our own members - and yes even little lalafell folk too! Â I'm not sure which member you may have bumped into or what happened there, so I can only speculate, but is it possible that he or she didn't realize you were a RPer or trying to engage in RP? Â I think it's fine if your character isn't a proactive sort, but if you would like to RP with us - or really with anyone - please feel free to send an OOC /tell to communicate that. Â If you did this and I'm off base here than I apologize, and I'm sorry if it left you with a negative view of us. Â We really don't want to be looked at as big, imposing, or frightening. Â We just want to have fun with everyone!
@Asyria: Â I agree that keeping a group to a certain size and RPing within can be perceived as insular or restrictive, and I can understand where some people might see that as a negative thing. Â For ourselves what we're going for is that sort of closeness but we also want to have open channels with the rest of the RP world. Â But you are correct that people do segment into these linkshell groups because they may favor a particular style or a particular sort of guild to another, and preserving that sort of uniqueness that makes us who we are is also important to us. Â Thank you for your first response. Â Regarding the second one just above this post, I'm inclined to agree that our members all do have varying opinions and not all of us are in agreement on every point. Â That said, I understand the point made by others where it may be regarded as a bit confusing with multiple members of our group coming here and in some cases reiterating certain points that have already been made. Â I've offered to be a sort of mouthpiece for them as well and will be bringing any concerns they have to the table on their behalf as well. Â I hope that this is a suitable compromise.
@Ellion: Â Thank you for welcoming me to your forums as well. Â I look forward to future cooperation both IC and OOC between our two guilds, and the other RP guilds as well.
@C'io: Â Thank you for your feedback. Â As a result of your post and others we've decided that I'll communicate on behalf of the LS solely as to avoid any further confusion. Â Also Aysun asked me to help clear up one point from your last paragraph. Â Crystalline as a LS was actually an IC linkshell to begin with. Â Prior to ARR (and presently) it was sort of a subnetwork. Â In 1.0 I belonged to a number of guilds over a period of time and either left some for one reason or another or in most cases they disbanded and this started out just as an IC way to keep in touch with friends who wound up joining a bunch of different guilds. Â Its purpose back then was to be a secondary linkpearl and it didn't see much use, but it was conducted in-character and at the end of 1.0 when Everwatch disbanded most of us kind of migrated over to that for the final weeks of 1.0 since the world was ending and all. Â So I guess in 1.0 you could say Crystalline was "Eva's Friend Network", and in ARR we're looking to sort of morph that into an actual company as you noted in your post. Â I hope this helps explain our history a little bit better.
@Azelle: Â I agree with everything your post says! Â We are hoping to maintain a certain atmosphere in the LS and want to make sure applicants/members are a good fit. Â This will mean that we may have to unfortunately reject some applicants, but in doing so we're hoping to be delicate about it and are also hoping to be able to make recommendations for other community LS's that might be an even better fit for them. Â But you are right in that level of experience is not a requirement. Â We have a few RPers in our group now that came to us brand new and are valuable members of our community. Â We're also hoping that the change of our recruitment status from Closed to Invitation may help us be seen as a bit more open to the possibility of trickling in some new members as time goes on. Â Moreover, I agree with your point about preferring to get to know the LS members before release and we have an avenue for this on our forums right now for anyone who is interested and registers, they need only communicate to us that they wish to be considered for membership and we can tag them on the forums which then opens up most of our threads so we can establish a dialogue - get to know the recruit and allow them to get to know us and make sure it's a good fit. Â I know this has been very poorly communicated in our LS posts and we're going to be making some changes to the phrasing of those in order to spell that out more clearly. Â Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
Again, I'm sorry this became a massive wall'o'text but I have been somewhat busy this week and I'm trying to address all the posts made at least once a day.
EDIT: Reworded one sentence at the request of one of the participants of this discussion.
I'll address the point about some of our members posting here first since that seems the most recent/pressing issue. Â As I was busy for much of the day yesterday and this thread was/is still taking its course, I had encouraged any member who wanted to speak up on behalf of the linkshell to discretely do so. Â As we are a community I thought it might be a good thing to let some of the other members have their say as well. Â That and I was busy and didn't want to leave any points left unaddressed for too long. Â While I personally don't view any of their posts as being particularly defensive, I do see where some points that have already been made were reiterated and I apologize for this misunderstanding. Â I've since requested that no further posts be made on this thread by our members and will take it upon myself to funnel their thoughts here if any of them feel compelled to share anything. Â Going forward it should just be me addressing these concerns, but I may not be able to reply as promptly as I would like, so please take that into consideration.
@Averis: Â I've heard the phrase "RP Elite" - or variants of such - tossed around a bit, usually with a negative connotation. Â I've never really minded the implication that some of us take our RP interactions and experiences more seriously than others. Â It was explained to me in a Skype channel once as being less about being immersive in RP and more about being condescending or having certain expectations placed upon others. Â I admit we strive for realistic and believable experiences and interactions, and have certain rules in place about expectations for godmode/meta/etc. for our own members. Â I don't think any of us really have any sort of expectations of folks outside of our group who may RP different styles or exhibit more deviation from the game's lore. Â Instead we try to find common ground to make interactions work between our characters, even when our methods may differ somewhat. Â I hope this makes sense.
@Zeah: Â I can appreciate that the LS would not fit with your character, or many others. Â While we were hoping to create a company with a theme that would sort of cast a wide net regarding character types, it quickly became clear to us that not all would fit well with this theme. Â It felt important to find and fill a niche like this and it's not as all-encompassing as it was in FFXI, and we understand not everyone will be drawn to it, and may even stand to lose a few members (but hopefully not friends!) that we had in 1.0 as a result. Â Since FFXI was mentioned, I just wanted to be clear that the LS is entirely different in structure and purpose from what it was in FFXI. Â I asked around and figured out who your FFXI character was. Â Knowing that now, I can appreciate how you might feel some disenchantment with regard to your experience with us for the couple of months you were with us in XI, particularly given what happened with one of the officers at that time. Â Even though this is XIV and even though you probably will likely not be joining us, I would like to apologize for any bad feelings from back then. Â If you would like to talk more about the XI stuff, I invite you to send me a PM. Â All I can really say is that things are much different now and I hope we may still get a chance to RP at some point.
@Rhynka & Spiritual Machine: Â I hope the opening paragraph of this post addresses those concerns brought up on the last page. Â I don't think it wasn't really anyone's intent to leave anyone feeling they couldn't speak their mind freely here but I can understand that perception when a number of our members start posting and certain points that were already made have been reiterated. Â This was my fault as I encouraged it with our membership and I'm sorry for any confusion that may have resulted.
@L'yhta: Â I agree with the point you made of ignoring rumors. Â I generally base my own opinions of things on facts and observation. Someone recently related to me a paraphrased conversation that went something like:
Person1: "What do you think about Crystalline?"
Person2: "I've heard bad/negative things about that LS."
Person1: "What sort of things or why?"
Prior to this thread I don't know that there was really any sort of concrete answer to that, at least none that I've heard or been able to figure out. Â I have no such dillusions that everyone would like the LS, myself, or its members. Â People are always going to favor different things based on their own preferences and experiences, and I totally understand that Crystalline is not going to appeal to everyone. Â What I was hoping to discern by creating this thread was not so much what the rumors are. Â Admittedly I'm curious, particularly since a couple of posts now have indicated that they've heard things but haven't been much more specific than that. Â But the rumors themselves aren't the major concern here. Â The reasons for them and the reasons our LS may be seen in a more unfavorable light is my concern. Â So far the responses have been illuminating for us and we're using this information to try and make some adjustments so that we can integrate better with other linkshells and the RP community.
@Femgame: Â I can't think of a way to respond to your remark without it being regarded as somewhat defensive. Â So I'm sorry if it gives that vibe, but I don't want to sound like I'm disagreeing with your point. Â I generally tend to think we're pretty open to RPing with all RPers and not just our own members - and yes even little lalafell folk too! Â I'm not sure which member you may have bumped into or what happened there, so I can only speculate, but is it possible that he or she didn't realize you were a RPer or trying to engage in RP? Â I think it's fine if your character isn't a proactive sort, but if you would like to RP with us - or really with anyone - please feel free to send an OOC /tell to communicate that. Â If you did this and I'm off base here than I apologize, and I'm sorry if it left you with a negative view of us. Â We really don't want to be looked at as big, imposing, or frightening. Â We just want to have fun with everyone!
@Asyria: Â I agree that keeping a group to a certain size and RPing within can be perceived as insular or restrictive, and I can understand where some people might see that as a negative thing. Â For ourselves what we're going for is that sort of closeness but we also want to have open channels with the rest of the RP world. Â But you are correct that people do segment into these linkshell groups because they may favor a particular style or a particular sort of guild to another, and preserving that sort of uniqueness that makes us who we are is also important to us. Â Thank you for your first response. Â Regarding the second one just above this post, I'm inclined to agree that our members all do have varying opinions and not all of us are in agreement on every point. Â That said, I understand the point made by others where it may be regarded as a bit confusing with multiple members of our group coming here and in some cases reiterating certain points that have already been made. Â I've offered to be a sort of mouthpiece for them as well and will be bringing any concerns they have to the table on their behalf as well. Â I hope that this is a suitable compromise.
@Ellion: Â Thank you for welcoming me to your forums as well. Â I look forward to future cooperation both IC and OOC between our two guilds, and the other RP guilds as well.
@C'io: Â Thank you for your feedback. Â As a result of your post and others we've decided that I'll communicate on behalf of the LS solely as to avoid any further confusion. Â Also Aysun asked me to help clear up one point from your last paragraph. Â Crystalline as a LS was actually an IC linkshell to begin with. Â Prior to ARR (and presently) it was sort of a subnetwork. Â In 1.0 I belonged to a number of guilds over a period of time and either left some for one reason or another or in most cases they disbanded and this started out just as an IC way to keep in touch with friends who wound up joining a bunch of different guilds. Â Its purpose back then was to be a secondary linkpearl and it didn't see much use, but it was conducted in-character and at the end of 1.0 when Everwatch disbanded most of us kind of migrated over to that for the final weeks of 1.0 since the world was ending and all. Â So I guess in 1.0 you could say Crystalline was "Eva's Friend Network", and in ARR we're looking to sort of morph that into an actual company as you noted in your post. Â I hope this helps explain our history a little bit better.
@Azelle: Â I agree with everything your post says! Â We are hoping to maintain a certain atmosphere in the LS and want to make sure applicants/members are a good fit. Â This will mean that we may have to unfortunately reject some applicants, but in doing so we're hoping to be delicate about it and are also hoping to be able to make recommendations for other community LS's that might be an even better fit for them. Â But you are right in that level of experience is not a requirement. Â We have a few RPers in our group now that came to us brand new and are valuable members of our community. Â We're also hoping that the change of our recruitment status from Closed to Invitation may help us be seen as a bit more open to the possibility of trickling in some new members as time goes on. Â Moreover, I agree with your point about preferring to get to know the LS members before release and we have an avenue for this on our forums right now for anyone who is interested and registers, they need only communicate to us that they wish to be considered for membership and we can tag them on the forums which then opens up most of our threads so we can establish a dialogue - get to know the recruit and allow them to get to know us and make sure it's a good fit. Â I know this has been very poorly communicated in our LS posts and we're going to be making some changes to the phrasing of those in order to spell that out more clearly. Â Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
Again, I'm sorry this became a massive wall'o'text but I have been somewhat busy this week and I'm trying to address all the posts made at least once a day.
EDIT: Reworded one sentence at the request of one of the participants of this discussion.
"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