(05-01-2014, 04:12 AM)Zhavi Wrote:I suppose I can agree with what you're saying. Though, despite that, I am still looking for some people to help me out with this Wood Wailers thing. As I said before, if this can really take off, I'd be willing to do some stuff with some Criminal/bad guy RPers that want to wreak some more havoc than normally for once.(05-01-2014, 03:49 AM)Jace Hunter Wrote: There seem to be many IC-criminals, but, it doesn't seem as if they're doing a whole lot to disturb the peace.
Not all criminals are created equal. Â Having had a major setting changing rp plot going for the last ...four years on another site (with an original setting open to being changed, not like ffxiv where most things are immutable), I can safely say that I'm happy playing a low key criminal with hopes for low-key criminal infighting that can easily be ignored by the majority of players if they'd rather not get involved, while at the same time being fulfilling for those who do choose to get involved.
(so. Â much. Â time. Â investment.)
But, eh, the problem with a lot of rp criminal organizations, in my eyes, is that they're so independent of each other and the world they're in, giving them a sort of. . .disconnected feeling. Â At least for me. Â It's hard to set them up so they feel organic, harder than it is to fit into the already established policey-type groups that, in the case of FFXIV, is already in the setting and acknowledged. Â I mean, for a criminal group you have to figure out why they're doing what they're doing (most criminals aren't evil for the sake of being evil or for Big Shiny Evil Doom), how they're doing it, why they weren't heard of in the setting before, who their connections are, and how they fit in with the other various things going on (be it economically or whatever, you know, do they have enemies besides the law? Â friends? etc). Â Without thinking all of that through, I think it can get boring to play criminals, because you're alone in the soap bubble, and you're probably getting slotted into generic-bad-guy real quick.
Not to say that you can't create a convincing or fun group of whatevers without that, but imo that's why "bad guys" tend to either poof or turn into a trope/stereotype quick. Â And not to say that I'm an expert on it either, but after spending the past year really amping up both sides in the rp plot conflict and making them both appealing enough for people to want to play characters on one side, or the other, or both (and finding out the hard way that slapping people together into an isolated cell-type group without adequate consideration for who they are as individuals leads to bad, bad things and tossing out several month's worth of work after it just flat out doesn't jive nicely), I've found that the more work that goes into building the connections and reasons behind a group, the longer it lasts and the easier it makes the rp. Â Problem is, doing all that background and backend stuff takes time, and unless you're an established member of the community who is known for sticking things through and being generally okay with the arpee stuff, you're going to have a rough start to it. Â Eff that, man, starting stuff in general can be rough. Â Much less leading stuff. Â (sidenote: experience tells me that agreeing to become a moderator/officer/temporary-gm-I'll-be-back-in-several-months/whatever is a trap. Â Don't do it. Â Don't do it. Â Don't do it. Â Who am I kidding. Â We're rpers: masochists by nature.) Â Not to say that it's impossible or not rewarding, it's just. . .time investment. Â Headaches.
Then again, I am quite strenuously avoiding research at this point in time and am amped up on caffeine (late night jitters have begun), so er, salt and stuff.
On the topic of moderator and officer and all that, I've done it before. And I am willing to do it again, but only if I see as much effort from members as I put in myself. I am sorry to say this about something that hasn't even lifted off the ground yet, but, I would be just as willing to let this flop--should there be some kind of lack of effort, as much as I am willing to let it fly.