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Eva · **07-02-2013, 01:45 PM**

(07-02-2013, 01:22 PM)Aysun Wrote: To me it's about treating these kinds of situations realistically and dealing with the consequences of our IC actions, whatever they may be.

This statement sort of matches my view on what I consider to be the most immersive or most fun RP. Â When characters are behaving as they ought, and events are happening realistically - sometimes bad things happen, sometimes good things happen, sometimes things are just dull and we scrape together our own entertainment. Â But I agree insofar as I don't like it when characters "win" all the time, or are eternally successful. Â By the same token, it's just as offputting when drama is forever constant and there's never any sort of respite or celebration. Â I like the middle of the road where I can be dragged along on the dangerous, gritty missions... and then get dragged along [usually via peer pressure for my own part] to "tavern RP" or [my favorite] "tea party RP" - which sounds a lot more dull and uninteresting than it usually winds up turning out to be.

Good RP, to me, is a realistic balance - one that provides multiple avenues for developing characters and sharing background realistically.

moody · **07-02-2013, 01:52 PM**

(07-02-2013, 01:45 PM)Aysun Wrote:
(07-02-2013, 01:40 PM)Magellan Wrote: @Aysun: ahhhh consequences *__* (eyes sparkle with rapt attention) yeah I know what you mean. Its disappointing when things carry over negatively into OOC, particularly when the IC is going so good.

Which touches a little upon OP's message; RP is meant to be fun. If its upsetting you, one may be putting too much of their OOC selves into it, and may need to take a step back.

Thiiiissssss

Yep. THIS.

ArmachiA · **07-02-2013, 02:41 PM**

When it comes to RP, I (And therefore my guild as a whole) only has a few rules: Don't Godmod, Don't Metagame, Stick to Lore (You can bend it, don't break it) and don't make players uncomfortable (Unwanted sexual advances, racist remarks, etc)

After that... Funny rp, Dramatic RP, crazy RP... do whatever you want. Do what makes you feel immersed. I tend to like both fun and dramatic RP and sometimes I like a little romance.

Do what makes ya happy, man.

Asyria · **07-02-2013, 02:47 PM**

I'm all for having a hard time and incuding conflicts in stories (after all there's no heroes without conflicts!) but there's a limit to how much drama I can take.
I've had friends whose characters had it hard and mine and others were helping them out... and things were starting to get better... but instead of giving everyone a break and leaving room for someone else to have some hardships, they just went batshit crazy with the horribles.
I was like... nope. I'm out of this one.
Then I rolled a new character.
(this was on a nwn PW server, not in a mmo, so the playerbase was pretty damn limited)

So, no happy ending is one thing... but never having any happy at all is just... not my thing.

Eva · **07-02-2013, 03:20 PM**

(07-02-2013, 02:41 PM)ArmachiA Wrote: Do what makes ya happy, man.

I think maybe that's the point of this thread? Some RP is more fun to some folks than it is for others? Different tastes, different preferences, different reasons why folks won't all ever exist in one all-encompassing linkshell because different styles draw different sorts of RPers with different interests.

In short, what makes ya happy may not always make another RPer happy. I know this was touched upon earlier in this thread. And while it's your character to do with as you please, if you want to interact with a particular individual or group, it's also important to give some acknowledgement to their styles and preferences.

To give an example, I could never belong to a group where members ran around performing heroic feats all the time, patted each other on the back, and all went out for ice cream afterwards and there was never any [in-character] sort of drama. That might work for some folks and if it does than that's great, but for myself I need more than what would feel to me to be the RP equivalent of a diet of candy and cake all the time. I need the meat and popotos - the grit and the drama of [again IC] hurt feelings and sorrow and betrayal and guilt and all the other sort of stuff that makes real life more than just that. I can understand the view though. Real life can suck sometimes, and people want to get away from it to a place where they can be happier by living vicariously through their happier characters. I understand it. And I'm not knocking it at all. (Can you tell I'm concerned someone's going to read too far into this and take offense?) It's just not my own individual preference. Real life sometimes ends on a down note, and I like RP that immitates real life.

But we're a community of RPers with a broad spectrum of preferences and styles across a number of topics. The fact that so many interesting (and sometimes unfortunate) debates crop up is testament to this fact. This isn't something that should be regarded negatively but rather celebrated. Generally any new RPer coming to the RPC is going to be able to find some group of like-minded individuals to RP with, regardless of his or her style. And this is a very good thing. That we can all come here to the RPC and speak to each other and express these opinions while still [usually] remaining tolerant of others' differing opinions is also a good thing.

Gar · **07-02-2013, 03:29 PM**

First off, you guys are awesome. I have a hard time figuring out what to read on the forums all the time, so this was a good look into how the community is going.

I just wanted to pop in and add another 2 gil (As Eva calls it) on the subject.

Mostly I wanted to sort of clarify my "happy ending" comment. I didn't mean to make it sound like everything had to have an 80's cartoon moral at the end of every RP session. Nah, the world is gritty and stuff happens that is horrible. That is part of the drama and the fun and the storytelling.

I think mostly my point is part of OOC communication. Which falls into the category a lot of you have brought up about style preferences. I totally get that people have their own styles they dig. That is awesome! And yes we sort of need sub-categories so we can have our group of peeps that see mostly eye-to-eye with each other.

I totally agree that if you're getting upset that there is a good chance you're putting yourself into it possibly too much. But I'll at least admit that I have to put some of myself into it or I'm not having a ton of fun. Like when I read a good book, I'm emotionally attached to my characters and the characters around me. (Not to say that I throw tantrums and have to have everything my way because I'm attached. No.)

Really all this just stems from wanting this community to be everything I hope it can be. I'm going to meet people I don't like. There will probably even more that don't like me. That's life. But I'm trying really hard to respect even those I don't like because they're trying to have fun, too.

So all-in-all, I just hope there is more OOC communication than sometimes I've experienced in the past. I hope to play with a lot of you, so I'll say it now: If I ever disrespect you or hamper your fun, tell me! We're all on the same team.

LandStander · **07-02-2013, 03:49 PM**

Ah, this thread makes me happyÂ Moogle

. I am glad to see so many people understand how important conflict is to overall character development. I tend to play characters who lie, cheat, steal, and use deception to cause conflict (because life is full of conflict), but also give them comical traits so that people might actually want to be his/her friend.Â

Its hard not to invest some of your OOC personality into your character, but as long as you keep the feelings of the two separate then you should be fine. I think the main reason real drama happens is because people forget to separate OOC and IC. If you find yourself getting upset IRL then just break the RP off. Screw immersion if it will save you a headache and possibly a friendship. At the end of the day, its just a game.

Rhio · **07-02-2013, 03:53 PM**

(07-02-2013, 03:29 PM)Garryson Wrote: So all-in-all, I just hope there is more OOC communication than sometimes I've experienced in the past. I hope to play with a lot of you, so I'll say it now: If I ever disrespect you or hamper your fun, tell me! We're all on the same team.

In the years I've been playing with the community, there's always been a very strong level of OOC communication and a willingness to discuss potential triggers before and after any given interactions. To use an obvious example, Eva and Rhio have been at odds more than once, but Eva and Rhio's players have always been on good terms. (At least to the best of my knowledge.) When something potentially straining has come up, it's been discussed and sorted quickly and without undue drama or hand-wringing.

If you want a happy ending, that's completely valid and no one is going to fault you for it. There's nothing wrong with just going out and having adventures, nor does it make you more or less mature than someone whose character is being put through the wringer. Nor does it mean that someone assumes your end goal is for things to wrap up nicely on a laugh with everyone being friends again. But there are lots of different sorts of happy endings.

Oddly, this lines up nicely with the Final Fantasy series as a whole. Every single game is all about a group of people off to take part in an adventure, but each game also differs in its scope and the impact of those adventures - and the happy ending the characters receive. In Final Fantasy IX, everyone's alive and whole by the end of the game, and for all the pain that happened there's a sense that what was lost can be recovered. In Final Fantasy X, several main characters are dead, and the entire point of the story is coping with the loss of these people and honoring that sacrifice.

Everyone's entitled to their preferences, and it doesn't make one style better than the other. I know what I tend to like, as evidenced by Rhio's history and the people I tend to play with, but that's not the only way to play. Work toward the happy ending you want to have.

Averis · **07-02-2013, 04:20 PM**

Like others have said, everyone has their own take on role-play, but it is healthy to be able to take a step back and realize that at the end of the day we all are here for the same thing. This is why LS/FC are a great way to find a group that meshes with you the best, and when you mingle with others you can try to go with the flow or learn whom to avoid. No one should be forced to play together if it just causes each side frustration, but that should also not mean that we can't stick together in the grand scheme of things. We are a small community in general, playing on servers filled with non-role-players. I would like to think that when push comes to shove we'd have each others back.

As for my role-play mentality,

Life has its ups and downs, and I'd like to think that for most people their life is on average pleasant enough, but sometimes has spikes of bad events. I think that kind of balance in role-play makes the most sense. Any person or character that has to deal with constant bad events would probably become extremely depressed or worse.

For me, I don't really go into role-play with an expectation of how things will turn out. Like life, I hope for the best and try to setup my character to be determined enough to strive for a good result in their life. But as I play I just take things as they come, just like I do in life. You can't prepare for everything and sometimes "crap happens". It's interesting to try and figure out how your character would react and change.

I don't usually plot out a story for my character (except for their background) as I rather "live" in the game-world.

I think this method has helped me be able to get along with most role-players over the years. As long as they aren't godmodding, metagaming or breaking the lore etc, I usually get along.

My characters usually have had some amount of traumatic event in their background as a catalyst to get them out into the world. I usually setup their personality to be optimistic and easy-going. I think that helps balance out those that like to play the more rambunctious and shifty characters. Tongue

Kyatai · **07-02-2013, 05:16 PM**

Big fan of complex, interactive and expansive (aka involving/enhancing more than one person's story) storylines, and storylines with 'real' consequences for IC actions. But, like others have said, keeping the Drama to a realistic level and... sharing the spotlight.
It gets really, really tiring when "X" is =always= in some kind of ZOMG! situation and no one can get a RP story in edgewise. We all want to get some limelight- some like the spot light more than others, but we all want to be 'seen' in some way.

But yeah, everyone RPs differently.
Some people's RP styles irk me. Some I can ignore the small annoyances and still enjoy the interaction. Some... I absolutely LOVE... but no one way is the RIGHT way, so we all need to either accept it, or just step away from the RP that bugs us and let people have fun that enjoy RPing how they like.As long as the "RP is true RP... and not griefing in disguise, I can deal.

(that said, some RPers enjoy RPing against the griefers... I usually just don't care to spend time doing so... but its often amusing to watch! Especially if the RPer is -very- good at it... haha)

Macey · **07-03-2013, 02:58 PM**

I've always had a challenge RPing in MMOs. I've done table top RPing for yearsÂ but cant seem to elicit the same satisfaction online. Maybe its the lack of a GM or someone to set some kind of rules.

I have found that unfortunately the strength of a game's RP community is inversely proportional to the success of its gameplay. I think this is mainly because, like the OP said, if the game isn't fun itself, people end up making their own fun. One caveat to this, is that the game's lore has to also be someone in depth or creative enough to support the rp.

That being said, I am interested in seeing how involved RP will be in FFXIV 2.0. From what I have seen thus far, they are mirroring a lot more the things that made FFXI so satisfying as a game. As a long time FFXI player (7~8 years staring from NA launch) I can say that RP didn't really exist there,Â but because of how engaging and demanding the game was, people sort of became their characters anyway.

That might sound hard to understand, but your ooc self and character sort of blended. e.g. You had a reputation, people knew you as your character name, because with no need to alt, you were the same character all the time and connected with it-you were it. And because each class took skill to play, if you were a good ninja, YOU were actually a good ninja, for real! Same for Crafting or even wealth. To this day I have good relationships with people I know only by their in game name.

Thus far, FFXIV appears to be shaping up to be a pretty good game and I wonder if history will repeat itself. Can anyone else identify with that I'm talking about? Or perhaps i'm just growing old and obsolete. Cool

Koninbeor · **07-04-2013, 12:22 AM**

I had about six paragraphs typed up and realized that I wasn't saying much of anything that someone else hasn't already said. So here's the super-revised version. RP is supposed to be fun and it's up to you to make that fun. It is impossible not to put a part of yourself into your RP. Even if you're just goofing off, you're placing a part of yourself that needs to cut loose into your character. The role you're playing may be nothing like you at all but it's still a reflection of something that you want to experience. Your mood will ebb and flow with what you allow yourself to take part in, so just RP responsibly as with all things in life. I am of the mind that nothing worth having in life ever comes easily. This belief is ever present in my RP. I don't save the world and eat candy for three square meals on a daily basis. I don't let myself get dragged into endless drama from which there is no return. And this seems to be a common style in this thread, so I'm hoping for some very wonderful RP in the very near future.

Always, always, always remember that your RP is just a game. Always. This can be difficult for some. You're putting a part of yourself on display and if someone attacks your creation you have to exercise restraint or you'll become hurt. Likewise, if someone responds very favorably to your creation then you can get the wrong idea about how that person feels about you. Some people require more OOC interaction than others to keep things straight. Just please, whatever you do, keep sight on the difference between IC and OOC. Lose track of the line and you'll find that you're inadvertently participating in that "outside" game rather than the one you thought you were playing. When it stops being fun, time to unplug.

Alexandr Nocturne · **07-04-2013, 01:29 AM**

Which side of the egg shall we open first?

As noted, there are many different tastes and flavors of RP, but one thing I don't see much attention paid to is the OOC communication.Â If you are going to develop deep RP ties between characters, you as players, must make sure you are on the same page.Â I have seen too many circumstances where one player makes a decision all on their own, that leaves the other dazed, confused and blindsided.Â You make this whole path together, but you feel you have the right to just destroy what both of you made?

As has been mentioned, if RP is not fun for you, they don't do it.Â Instead look inside and see if you can figure out why.Â And as mentioned in an earlier post, this is where linkshells/free companies come into play.Â Find a like-minded company and your most frequent traveling partners will be in the same mindset as you.

I think we face enough problems without turning on one another.Â We're a small enough community, let's focus on something more important.

moody · **07-04-2013, 03:21 AM**

(07-04-2013, 01:29 AM)Xerek Wrote: Which side of the egg shall we open first?

War against the big-enders!

Koninbeor · **07-04-2013, 03:01 PM**

(07-04-2013, 03:21 AM)moody Wrote:
(07-04-2013, 01:29 AM)Xerek Wrote: Which side of the egg shall we open first?

War against the big-enders!

Wait, wait, wait... you don't open them from the sides?

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RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes