In the end this is the same argument that crops up every few weeks/months around here (and the same can be said of some of the other jobs as well) where the game's storyline quest throws lore at us which belies what we see with our own eyes (e.g. "if white mages are so rare, how come I can't run through Ul'dah without spotting fewer than 29 of them?") and there's really no easy answer.
For my own part I don't think anyone's explicitly "wrong" in choosing how they want to RP. I sometimes feel people take the storyline lore a bit too literally, and I sometimes feel people take far too much freedom in straying from that. For myself I prefer a middle-of-the-road approach. I deal in abstracts.
Eva in-character is a healer. She possesses the ability to mend wounds with aetherial energy. By trade she is a nurse (among other things). I don't think she would ever refer to herself as a "white mage", however she doesn't protest when RPers (generally those from the 'take more freedoms' bunch) address her as such. It can't really be denied that she wears that garb and I see no point in raising a fuss over it. I try to look at it as not the specific thing that the lore says it is, but more as a synonym for a healer - any healer. Or one who uses magic for benevolent purposes (and yes there are a lot of gray areas here as well, pun truly not intended).
I just feel like it's inhibitive of RP when folks look too far into things like this. While I enjoyed the quest story arcs, I think it's a little unrealistic to make certain expectations of peoples' RP based upon the lore contained within. There is a lot of room to play around in the abstractions. Maybe "white mage" can be looked upon as something of a synonym to "healer" - and I've certainly seen many different approaches at healing in RP, from crude field medicine, to shamanistic style rituals which may or may not draw upon aether, to the purely aetherial and traditional "white mage" approach that utilizes only magic. There is really no wrong so long as it's interesting and realistic to the world's views of the thing, however you interpret them.
To the OP I would encourage you to explore that facet of the character, if it is something that intrigues you - or more aptly if it's something that would intrigue the character. There are always methods to find middle ground with things that may seem implausible. In just a few seconds I was able to think of a good half dozen plausible examples that would work for a variety of different character types that could at the very least pursue a study of white magic in the more "lore-specific" sense as its presented to us. I am of the belief that it's malleable enough to make almost whatever you want of it that you'll enjoy RPing, within the confines of reasonable RP of course.
For my own part I don't think anyone's explicitly "wrong" in choosing how they want to RP. I sometimes feel people take the storyline lore a bit too literally, and I sometimes feel people take far too much freedom in straying from that. For myself I prefer a middle-of-the-road approach. I deal in abstracts.
Eva in-character is a healer. She possesses the ability to mend wounds with aetherial energy. By trade she is a nurse (among other things). I don't think she would ever refer to herself as a "white mage", however she doesn't protest when RPers (generally those from the 'take more freedoms' bunch) address her as such. It can't really be denied that she wears that garb and I see no point in raising a fuss over it. I try to look at it as not the specific thing that the lore says it is, but more as a synonym for a healer - any healer. Or one who uses magic for benevolent purposes (and yes there are a lot of gray areas here as well, pun truly not intended).
I just feel like it's inhibitive of RP when folks look too far into things like this. While I enjoyed the quest story arcs, I think it's a little unrealistic to make certain expectations of peoples' RP based upon the lore contained within. There is a lot of room to play around in the abstractions. Maybe "white mage" can be looked upon as something of a synonym to "healer" - and I've certainly seen many different approaches at healing in RP, from crude field medicine, to shamanistic style rituals which may or may not draw upon aether, to the purely aetherial and traditional "white mage" approach that utilizes only magic. There is really no wrong so long as it's interesting and realistic to the world's views of the thing, however you interpret them.
To the OP I would encourage you to explore that facet of the character, if it is something that intrigues you - or more aptly if it's something that would intrigue the character. There are always methods to find middle ground with things that may seem implausible. In just a few seconds I was able to think of a good half dozen plausible examples that would work for a variety of different character types that could at the very least pursue a study of white magic in the more "lore-specific" sense as its presented to us. I am of the belief that it's malleable enough to make almost whatever you want of it that you'll enjoy RPing, within the confines of reasonable RP of course.
"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
