Nero was kind enough to confirm this thread could be created. So, get ready for a party. Gather around the campfire. Pull out your guitars. And get ready to start singing kumbaya. Because splitting the party is never a good idea.Â
This post is about the importance of consolidating FFXIV RP on one server and supporting one centralized hub for roleplay. Until SE designates an official RP server, RPers should support their centralized RP hub – Balmung.  Individuals who RP on smaller servers (especially RPers unable to transfer to Balmung presently) should transfer to Balmung once the restriction is lifted. There is no reason to fragment our already small and ostracized community. Â
Please post in support of this thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threa...leplayers/. The long-term cure to these issues is for SE to designate an official RP server.
Dividing the RP community across different servers is detrimental to its long-term health and will reduce the frequency, diversity, and types of roleplay available to everyone. RPers need a centralized RP hub to ensure that roleplay remains diverse, available, and open to newcomers.
1. Balmung is an excellent and unique RP community because RP has been consolidated there.
The amount of RPers on Balmung speaks for the quality and diversity of its community. You can find virtually any type of roleplay on Balmung at any hour of the day. This is an incredible benefit for all roleplayers. Balmung’s large population supports diverse forms of roleplay and caters to the interests of virtually everyone. On Balmung, you can find everything from Garlean-themed FCs to groups that operate weekly pizzerias. You will not find these same opportunities on smaller servers.
Balmung is a very welcoming and positive RP community. Most RPers jump on the opportunity to engage in walk-up RP or start RP after receiving a tell. The size of Balmung’s population allows users to participate in an enormous range of events. At the same time, the population is decentralized enough to allow tight-knit groups to flourish and grow. It is unreasonable to claim that Balmung is “cliqueish†or that RP is difficult to find here. The opposite is true: Balmung is the least cliquish RP community and RP is so plentiful that it is incredibly simple to find.
One of the greatest benefits of Balmung’s RP community is that its size keeps opportunities open. This allows RPers to explore new characters, ideas, and meet tons of new friends. These opportunities do not exist on smaller servers. We need new people and to retain thepopulation. We need this to prevent the community from stagnating. We need to stick together.
2. RP communities on small servers are not sustainable and could benefit by joining the greater RP community on Balmung when the transfer restriction is lifted.
There is no valid reason to RP on a smaller server or break off from the greater community.  Most of the time when RPers break off onto a smaller server, it is due to a personal issue (such as social anxiety), feeling stigmatized by the community for some reason, or feeling frustrated towards the community (which is rarely justified considering its size and already loose structure).  A decision to leave the community for a personal reason should not cause a snowball effect.Â
Small RP servers are not sustainable because they eventually become nothing more or less than 20-50 person cliques that cater to very specific types of roleplay. As players naturally lose interest over time, these communities become increasingly small and stagnate. This is a result of not having a sufficient population to keep RP diverse, vibrant, and interesting. Small servers are kind of like living in the rural Midwest. You’re stuck conforming to the small community around you, and eventually that community dwindles in size.  All attempts to create an alternative server that is greater than a temporary clique have failed spectacularly for these reasons.
Dividing the community over several severs will only harm the RP of all parties involved. Communities will be split, cliques will form on the small servers, and newcomers will struggle to integrate into the RP community. RP will become homogenized and structured around generally acceptable themes. Finding participants and growing the alternative community, as opposed to the quality of the IC content itself, will become the focal point of these servers.Â
Roleplayers don't get magically get along.  Our styles and preferences vary immensely. On Balmung, you can find groups of full-blown lore Nazis who will explode at the slightest misinterpretation of lore to harems of warrior of light catpeople who couldn’t tell you the difference between a Seeker and a Keeper. Yet, our community can sustain both populations (and benefits from that diversity). But on a small server? You don’t have a choice – conform, get out, or RP with yourself.  No one should have to endure that type of environment.
Ultimately, the RP community on a small server will inevitably consist of 3-5 FCs (at most) with about 10-30 each, all of which rarely show interest in others and the community at large. The saddest thing is that most of these RPers are likely interesting people and capable of producing great roleplay. But by segregating themselves to a small server, the larger RP community is unable to interact with these RPers, and the threat of stagnation/decline on the small servers increases exponentially.
RPers on small servers (new and old alike) will hopefully transfer back to Balmung after the restrictions are lifted. We are all missing out on great RP opportunities by allowing an artificial barrier like server selection to divide us. Everyone stands to benefit if we stick together.
3. SE will likely lift the transfer restriction in 1-2 months, and the state of the RP community will revert to the status quo.Â
The efforts underway to create a second “unofficial†RP server will likely be rendered moot in 1-2 months after SE lifts the server transfer restriction.  Most believe SE will revert the server transfer restriction shortly after the SB launch like it did during 2.0 and 3.0. SE has generally lifted the transfer restriction after several weeks following the release of a new expansion. This pattern will likely continue and RPers will resume playing on Balmung because it is a vibrant, diverse, and wonderful community. We need only batten down the hatches until then.
In the meantime, RPers should be putting as much pressure on SE as possible to lift the server transfer restriction (or designate an official RP server). Instead of creating another alt on a small server, go post on the SE forums. Reach out to SE anyway you can. Scream out your window if you must. The world is your oyster. Think not of the “alt you’ll make to support the new alternative server†but instead of what you can do to strengthen our central RP hub.
Let us all hope that probability will flush out correctly and three months down the road, we’ll be shaking our heads at this uncertainty and enjoying the great RP community we’ve created on a Balmung.
This post is about the importance of consolidating FFXIV RP on one server and supporting one centralized hub for roleplay. Until SE designates an official RP server, RPers should support their centralized RP hub – Balmung.  Individuals who RP on smaller servers (especially RPers unable to transfer to Balmung presently) should transfer to Balmung once the restriction is lifted. There is no reason to fragment our already small and ostracized community. Â
Please post in support of this thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threa...leplayers/. The long-term cure to these issues is for SE to designate an official RP server.
Dividing the RP community across different servers is detrimental to its long-term health and will reduce the frequency, diversity, and types of roleplay available to everyone. RPers need a centralized RP hub to ensure that roleplay remains diverse, available, and open to newcomers.
1. Balmung is an excellent and unique RP community because RP has been consolidated there.The amount of RPers on Balmung speaks for the quality and diversity of its community. You can find virtually any type of roleplay on Balmung at any hour of the day. This is an incredible benefit for all roleplayers. Balmung’s large population supports diverse forms of roleplay and caters to the interests of virtually everyone. On Balmung, you can find everything from Garlean-themed FCs to groups that operate weekly pizzerias. You will not find these same opportunities on smaller servers.
Balmung is a very welcoming and positive RP community. Most RPers jump on the opportunity to engage in walk-up RP or start RP after receiving a tell. The size of Balmung’s population allows users to participate in an enormous range of events. At the same time, the population is decentralized enough to allow tight-knit groups to flourish and grow. It is unreasonable to claim that Balmung is “cliqueish†or that RP is difficult to find here. The opposite is true: Balmung is the least cliquish RP community and RP is so plentiful that it is incredibly simple to find.
One of the greatest benefits of Balmung’s RP community is that its size keeps opportunities open. This allows RPers to explore new characters, ideas, and meet tons of new friends. These opportunities do not exist on smaller servers. We need new people and to retain thepopulation. We need this to prevent the community from stagnating. We need to stick together.
2. RP communities on small servers are not sustainable and could benefit by joining the greater RP community on Balmung when the transfer restriction is lifted. There is no valid reason to RP on a smaller server or break off from the greater community.  Most of the time when RPers break off onto a smaller server, it is due to a personal issue (such as social anxiety), feeling stigmatized by the community for some reason, or feeling frustrated towards the community (which is rarely justified considering its size and already loose structure).  A decision to leave the community for a personal reason should not cause a snowball effect.Â
Small RP servers are not sustainable because they eventually become nothing more or less than 20-50 person cliques that cater to very specific types of roleplay. As players naturally lose interest over time, these communities become increasingly small and stagnate. This is a result of not having a sufficient population to keep RP diverse, vibrant, and interesting. Small servers are kind of like living in the rural Midwest. You’re stuck conforming to the small community around you, and eventually that community dwindles in size.  All attempts to create an alternative server that is greater than a temporary clique have failed spectacularly for these reasons.
Dividing the community over several severs will only harm the RP of all parties involved. Communities will be split, cliques will form on the small servers, and newcomers will struggle to integrate into the RP community. RP will become homogenized and structured around generally acceptable themes. Finding participants and growing the alternative community, as opposed to the quality of the IC content itself, will become the focal point of these servers.Â
Roleplayers don't get magically get along.  Our styles and preferences vary immensely. On Balmung, you can find groups of full-blown lore Nazis who will explode at the slightest misinterpretation of lore to harems of warrior of light catpeople who couldn’t tell you the difference between a Seeker and a Keeper. Yet, our community can sustain both populations (and benefits from that diversity). But on a small server? You don’t have a choice – conform, get out, or RP with yourself.  No one should have to endure that type of environment.
Ultimately, the RP community on a small server will inevitably consist of 3-5 FCs (at most) with about 10-30 each, all of which rarely show interest in others and the community at large. The saddest thing is that most of these RPers are likely interesting people and capable of producing great roleplay. But by segregating themselves to a small server, the larger RP community is unable to interact with these RPers, and the threat of stagnation/decline on the small servers increases exponentially.
RPers on small servers (new and old alike) will hopefully transfer back to Balmung after the restrictions are lifted. We are all missing out on great RP opportunities by allowing an artificial barrier like server selection to divide us. Everyone stands to benefit if we stick together.
3. SE will likely lift the transfer restriction in 1-2 months, and the state of the RP community will revert to the status quo. The efforts underway to create a second “unofficial†RP server will likely be rendered moot in 1-2 months after SE lifts the server transfer restriction.  Most believe SE will revert the server transfer restriction shortly after the SB launch like it did during 2.0 and 3.0. SE has generally lifted the transfer restriction after several weeks following the release of a new expansion. This pattern will likely continue and RPers will resume playing on Balmung because it is a vibrant, diverse, and wonderful community. We need only batten down the hatches until then.
In the meantime, RPers should be putting as much pressure on SE as possible to lift the server transfer restriction (or designate an official RP server). Instead of creating another alt on a small server, go post on the SE forums. Reach out to SE anyway you can. Scream out your window if you must. The world is your oyster. Think not of the “alt you’ll make to support the new alternative server†but instead of what you can do to strengthen our central RP hub.
Let us all hope that probability will flush out correctly and three months down the road, we’ll be shaking our heads at this uncertainty and enjoying the great RP community we’ve created on a Balmung.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
![[Image: 7h16uc3.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/7h16uc3.jpg)
