(11-08-2013, 11:02 AM)Magellan Wrote: There are 2800 members on this site. For the purpose of this discussion, lets just say 2000 of them rolled on Balmung. In any realistic town of that size, you'll be acquaintances with about 50, be friends with about 20, and know of about 100-200 (studies show the average facebook friend count is 150. But do you actually know all 150 of those people?)
And that's if you are an outgoing personality. For a lot of characters, it makes sense to only have a handful of friends ICly. To stay within what feels comfortable. IC rudeness, if it fits the character, is a non-issue.
OOCly, its a different story. A majority of people have rather diverse, yet generally specific tastes on RP, on everything from romance to combat, to how dark or humorous they like to keep things. It should come as no surprise that when you find people who share your taste, you tend to RP with them a lot, and develop rather involved interpersonal storylines. Its that progression of character that keeps people coming back, and you don't always get thet from random meetups.
This.
I think the problem is that this is such an open-ended world with so many different storylines going on, that it's hard to include everyone. There is no single DM running a plot. There are multiple DMs - officers of FCs/LSes, the players - running their own storylines that may or may not mesh well with others' storylines.
As an example, over a month ago my character was involved in an FC storyline event in Limsa where HOLY CRAP MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS AND MAGITEK AND EVERYTHING. While this is going on, other roleplayers not involved in this event are happily getting drunk on their ales at the Bismark. What gives? There's explosions afoot! C'mon people, get your swords! What gives is that there are essentially multiple universes going on that may or may not intersect with your own universe. If you want in, all you gotta do is ask!
As another example, I'm currently running my own storyline that involves a smattering of people. It branches out as the characters choose to involve other characters. It's their own choice whether they want to include the entire Free Company or not, or if they want to include outside help. This really all depends on the characters' personalities, motives, etc. Hell, some characters know the hooks but choose not to be involved. That's perfectly fine too! I'm planning on writing up a separate hook once a different FC storyline is "settled" - if I get the coolio from the officers. Will I post it up on RPC? We'll see. Too large a group makes me nervous.
As for events, I will be more than happy to run stories for people. Not huge MEET N' GREET events like I've seen, but rumors going around town or even personal storylines if people want outside help.
