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Arc · **09-04-2013, 03:34 AM**

Well met, fellow Eorzeans. I am new to RPing in an MMO, and what little experience I have is limited to a few D&D sessions in highschool and some self-imposed RP in Skyrim. I'm excited about taking it to the next level and am looking forward to becoming involved in the RP community within FFXIV. I have spent the past few days browsing this site, reading all the tips and tutorials I can my hands on, from "How-to's", to "Proper Etiquette and RP Guidelines and Conventions", all the way to basic lore. I'm a little confused on the lore side of things, which may be because I never played FFXIV 1.0, and haven't finished ARR yet. I've done research, now I would like to put it into practice, but I have no idea how to do that.
I suppose I'll start by saying a few things that could impact my RP experience. Firstly, I play on PS3. Tomorrow, I'm going to buy a USB keyboard that I can plug into my Playstation so that I can type properly instead of having to use the painfully slow 'console keyboard'. I don't want my own personal circumstances stopping other RPers from having a good time, hence the new keyboard.
I have a bunch of characters all saved and ready to be created, but for now, I have been using one temporary characterÂ (Leon Kerrick) on the Coeurl server. I discovered this community only a few days ago, but have spent the past couple of days trying to get onto Gilgamesh or Balmung with no success. Leon is strictly a temporary character so that I can 'learn the ropes' of the game mechanics and become familiar with the game world and its inhabitants. It's slow going.
I've also noticed a few people requesting RPers on the Lamia server, so if I can, I'm going to try and create a character for RPing on that server.
I have a character in mind that I would like to RP, but without a server transfer service, I'm waiting until a spot opens up on Gilgamesh or Balmung because I would like him to have as many RPers as possible to interact with.

This might seem like a bunch of useless information, but I have a point, I promise.

I have a few questions about where to go from here, so:

1) Should I finish the game before starting a character to RP, or is it acceptable to just jump right in as soon as a spot opens up of the server, even with my own basic knowledge?

2) If said character is created, how far should I develop his backstory? Is it okay to create a basic backstory, with some motivations as to why he is in the game world, and a personality influenced by this basic backstory that would grow as I RP, or is it better to flesh out his history, friends and family, relationships, influences, etc, before starting to bug other RPers.
For example: A spot opens on Balmung. I haven't finished the game, I only have a basic to intermediate knowledge of the game mechanics, and no RP experience, but I decide to create my character for fear of being shut out of the server. Can I RP the son of a blacksmith whose father has recently been murdered (mother died giving birth toÂ second child)Â and whose younger brother has disappeared under mysterious and suspicious circumstances. Instilled with the virtues taught to him by his father, and a desire to find his lost sibling and find out the truth, he strides, cautiously, but with the flames of determination burning in his heart, into the realm of Eorzea. Orphaned, alone, he earns his gil as an adventurer, helping those who need it, (as long as they can pay, or if they're REALLY desperate), he begins his search. No leads, no clues, nothing to go on. All he can do is live his life, and pray that his brother will reappear...

Oh yeah, that's some good stuff right there.

Ahem... my point is, that gives me a basic background, some family ties, a goal, a reason for just living day to day, a trade, and a base personality. Would that be considered acceptable.

3) Assuming I jump in with that character, at what stage in theÂ game should I begin to seek out RPers? Post-game? After the tutorial and the world opens up? Level 20? Is there a general starting point?

4) This is more a scenario that could occur whilst RPing in the game. How should I enact this?
Scenario: I walk into a tavern in Thanalan, and stand at the bar, searching for someone to order a drink from. A fellow RPer sends me /say and begins to engage me in conversation. How would that conversation play out? Would I try to use as many emotes (the in-game kind: /sit or /joy etc) alongside typing what my character says? Should I use more specific emotes?

Eg:
Fellow RPer: "Well met, Midlander, nothing like a cold drink after a hard day's work, eh?"
Me: "Indeed. Assuming the work has been hard. /grin"

OR

Fellow RPer: "Well met, Midlander, nothing like a cold drink after a hard day's work, eh?"
Me: ((Arc leans against the counter, and gestures to the barmaid before turning to the newcomer.)) Indeed. ((Arc grins))Â Assuming the work has been hard."

Is either of these examples accepted? Should I base the level of detail I go into on the initial contact of the 'Fellow RPer' and what he has typed in first? Is there a standard that the majority of RPers expect when interacting with each other?

5) How extensively should I use the in-game emotes? All the time, just a bit, or somewhere in between?

6) How can I initiate contact with an RPer that I haven't had any prior interaction with? Should I just find someone and send them an OOC /tell?

Sorry there are so many, and I guess most of these are just small, specific scenarios relating to proper RP etiquette, so I'll leave it here for now. Any response would be appreciated on how best to proceed.

Quuyn · **09-04-2013, 04:01 AM**

Hey-o~ Welcome to the RPC and Roleplaying in general, the lore is pretty simple to pick up. In most MMOs it's not very relevant in RP besides your connection to things, such as the Aether, or the Gods. Getting super deep into the lore will more or less sate your own tastes for story, but I don't see it as -too- relevant. I haven't run into any more thumps in my time RPing.

Onto the questions!

1) Completely up to you from a personal standpoint. Due to ARR's character models and base gear, I'd say it's perfectly possible to jump right in because you already look awesome enough to do it! But I'm extremely fashion orientated, I worry about my clothes more than my level. Not that I want the prettiest dress or the shinest armor, I simply want something that reflects my character. If you wish to jump in at level 1, you totally can. It's up to you weather you want to go out and find the perfect outfit first or not.

2) Background are completely up to you. Most people don't judge on backstories, and some people don't flesh them out at all. They prefer to grow the character 'organically' which means they develop things through roleplay itself, or maybe make something up on the spot with their history. The fact that you have such a fleshed out history is impressive! It's completely average to have that level of depth, a simple backstory as to how he got to where he is now. Some people go into detail, past friends, branching out into the personalities and qualities of their deceased relaitives, etc etc. -All- of that is totally up to you, and if you want a place to flesh it out and write it all down. You could make a wiki page on the website about your character!

3) Again, you can jump in instantly after the tutorial, or you can wait it out. It's perfectly accepted to jump in, just as it is perfectly acceptable to not touch RP till max level. Personally I don't public RP at all till I'm max level, just because I enjoy playing the actual game way too much, and I want to look pretty, but again. Completely subjective!

4) Both styles are completely fine and accepted, usually they alter depending on circumstance. For exmaple if you're in a populated area you might want to stick to /say and just regular emotes such as /grin. Simply because it causes less clog and the RP can roll faster. However, most people view the other way as bog standard, the majority of RPers in my personal experience and personal use, lean towards emoting in as much detail as possible, some going as far to post paragraphs of detail for simple actions. - Adding the layers of detail make the picture more painted in your mind, in my opinion. So, I'd personally say lean towards detailed custom emotes. (For a side note you can type '/em' and it will start an emote, so you can write out your action.)

5) Again this is up to you, but my opinion would be on the lower scale. I try to avoid them as much as possible. Even if the animations are fun to watch, usually they don't display what I'm trying to get off, and on top of that each one fills up a line in your chat box. Using them constantly would start to flood your chat. However, if you enjoy using the animations and such I say the more power to you!

6) Usually you simply walk up and start roleplaying. I've never been asked OOCly if it's okay, nor have I asked permission... If it's obvious they're roleplaying at the moment then I'd assume they wouldn't mind getting some roleplay, right? So I'd say walk up and initiate conversation, as you would in real life.Â

Are you going to lean over, whisper in the hot guy's ear and say "Hey... Want to talk?" or are you going to just talk to him?.... Okay if you're super nervous about it I supoo- LOOK. You can walk up, RPers don't bite! Annnd if you don't know what to say, just try to think of the reason you want to talk to them in the first place. If worst comes to worst, walk up, tug up your belt and say "I am bored. I wish to chit chat, would you indulge me?"

Hope these helped, Good luck getting on one of the servers!

Torvhan · **09-04-2013, 04:15 AM**

1) I would say start when ever you would like, being lv 50 is by no means a requirement to role play, though I would hit 15-20 when you can get access to other cities.

2) Your welcome to develop your back story as much as you would like, I would say it depends on the age of your character or how important your back story is to their current lives. I would say at least some idea of major events that influenced your character help flesh it out and make it easier to play. My character Torvhan has a couple events that effected his life that I wrote out. While my character K'mana is part of a tribe on the forums so I am spending significantly more time on her past.

3) I found it easiest to seek out people on the forums, or to attend open events on your server. I joined a linkshell after an open event in Beta 3 on Torvhan run by Blue Skies that was posted here on the forums, and K'mana came to be as part of the Hipparion Tribe organization thread.

4) Everyone seems to have their own preference, though I believe ingame emotes must be in a separate line by them selves or you can make buttons to click from the emote window.

Couple things I've seen for emotes their is a custom emote system so if you type
/em sits on chair. the game will output that in emote text as Torvhan Durant sits on chair.

Personally I'll use ingame emotes or the *emote* method. I usually see the (( )) for OOC chat like asking a question or talking about something metagame.

5) It all depends on your group I tend to shift to what other people in the group are doing, I feel it makes the chat easier to read. But for active emotes I usually perform them when I want the action to happen on my toon. Though I would note that emotes and such are useful for local RP and if you would like to keep your RP in party chat or such I would stick to the the text based version.

6) That would work, but often times you can just walk by and hop in especially at events, I've seen quite a few meet and greet or other open events meant to help people get to know one another. The forums from what I seen is open to people randomly joining in at taverns and such, thats half the fun.

Hope you have fun and find a good group! I would make sure to attend any events you can their great places to meet people, and get an idea about the link shells that run them.

Divisor · **09-04-2013, 04:16 AM**

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 1) Should I finish the game before starting a character to RP, or is it acceptable to just jump right in as soon as a spot opens up of the server, even with my own basic knowledge?

That's up to you. It's probably a better idea to wait a little while to get a better feel for the world, learn about the lore, and maybe even spectate on some other RP you see around so you have a better grasp on what you'll be getting into when you decide to RP yourself.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 2) If said character is created, how far should I develop his backstory? Is it okay to create a basic backstory, with some motivations as to why he is in the game world, and a personality influenced by this basic backstory that would grow as I RP, or is it better to flesh out his history, friends and family, relationships, influences, etc, before starting to bug other RPers.
Â Â Â For example: A spot opens on Balmung. I haven't finished the game, I only have a basic to intermediate knowledge of the game mechanics, and no RP experience, but I decide to create my character for fear of being shut out of the server. Can I RP the son of a blacksmith whose father has recently been murdered (mother died giving birth to second child) and whose younger brother has disappeared under mysterious and suspicious circumstances. Instilled with the virtues taught to him by his father, and a desire to find his lost sibling and find out the truth, he strides, cautiously, but with the flames of determination burning in his heart, into the realm of Eorzea. Orphaned, alone, he earns his gil as an adventurer, helping those who need it, (as long as they can pay, or if they're REALLY desperate), he begins his search. No leads, no clues, nothing to go on. All he can do is live his life, and pray that his brother will reappear...

Â Â Â
You can absolutely do this. In fact, throwing together a character concept and worrying about the intricacies of his backstory and how I want to weave that into the game's lore is exactly how I did it. It's usually how I do it with all of my characters. Creating backstories takes time.

As far as your example goes, it should work fine within the boundaries of the lore. And feel free to retcon (go back and change, for lack of a better explanation) it later or add to it as you see fit. That's a pretty commonplace thing to do in RP.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 3) Assuming I jump in with that character, at what stage in the game should I begin to seek out RPers? Post-game? After the tutorial and the world opens up? Level 20? Is there a general starting point?

Again, this is up to you. Some people like to jump in asap, others prefer to get to end-game before worrying about RP, and some jump in and out of RP as they level and etc. Whatever your comfortable with is fine, although since you're new I would suggest that you take some time to get your bearings before you try getting into stuff yourself. Just so you'll be more comfortable later.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 4) This is more a scenario that could occur whilst RPing in the game. How should I enact this?
Â Â Â Scenario: I walk into a tavern in Thanalan, and stand at the bar, searching for someone to order a drink from. A fellow RPer sends me /say and begins to engage me in conversation. How would that conversation play out? Would I try to use as many emotes (the in-game kind: /sit or /joy etc) alongside typing what my character says? Should I use more specific emotes?

Do you know about emoting? The /emote or /em command allows you to type out custom emotes for what your character is doing. For example:
/em moves over to the bar and places his hands on its surface. He gets the attention of the bartender and politely gives his order: "Just a mug of water, please."
Generally this is how you'll see conversations play out. Either using custom emotes or /say, or like you said, /say and then using one of the preset emotes. Also, just so you know, in FFXIV you can type an emote and add " motion" to the end of it to just do the motion of the emote without actually emoting. For example:
/soothe without " motion" would give you "<name> tries to calm <target> down" or something like that. /soothe motion would just have your character do the soothe animation without the text.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 5) How extensively should I use the in-game emotes? All the time, just a bit, or somewhere in between?

Up to you. I see people using emotes and " motion" a lot, but they're really only supplementary. If you think using an emote will help convey what your character is doing, by all means do it, but nobody's going to scorn you for not choosing to.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 6) How can I initiate contact with an RPer that I haven't had any prior interaction with? Should I just find someone and send them an OOC /tell?

This is an incredible beast of a problem that a lot of RPers have. And there's nothing wrong with being at a loss for how to do this. Firstly, yes, you could ask someone OOCly via /tell and initiate some RP that way. But there are many other methods as well, and this really depends on what kind of person your character is. Is he the kind of guy who would have no issue with walking up to someone and striking up conversation? "Hey! How's it goin'? I'm John." Or is he more introverted and would much prefer to be the person someone walks up to? Maybe your character is a merchant, and could benefit by meeting lots of new people and getting their name around, so as to pull in potential customers or assistants. Maybe your character has a problem, such as a lost pet, and needs some help with solving it. Going up to strangers and asking them for help is a great way to get RP going. Remember that it all has to do with how your character would do things, although it is of course recommended that you make a character with an attractive personality, as it's always harder to play the brooding type who doesn't talk often. Being able to take initiative is an incredibly good quality to have. You'd be surprised how many people are out there who desperately want to RP, but are too afraid to start it themselves.

Hopefully that helps point you in the right direction! I've been RPing for a long time, so I like to think I'm pretty good with the basics by now. If you have any more questions or even want to RP, let me know! I'm glad to help. Big Grin

Shae'ra · **09-04-2013, 04:25 AM**

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 1) Should I finish the game before starting a character to RP, or is it acceptable to just jump right in as soon as a spot opens up of the server, even with my own basic knowledge?

This is a personal choice, mate. I have only made it up to level 23 at the moment and have gotten lightly into roleplaying. I have general knowledge up to here, but I am also not trying to be a lore keeper in-game. Most roleplay mentions very little on detailed lore in my experience. On the average day, people are not going to question you about how exactly Primals are brought about and what tempering is - they are more likely to try to rob you or ask you how you are doing.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 2) If said character is created, how far should I develop his backstory? Is it okay to create a basic backstory, with some motivations as to why he is in the game world, and a personality influenced by this basic backstory that would grow as I RP, or is it better to flesh out his history, friends and family, relationships, influences, etc, before starting to bug other RPers.
For example:...
Ahem... my point is, that gives me a basic background, some family ties, a goal, a reason for just living day to day, a trade, and a base personality. Would that be considered acceptable.

This is up to you. There are generally two types of writers: The Architect and the Gardener. I am a Gardener myself. I will never know all of my backstory until I develop it a I roleplay (which has lead to amazing plots, or so I am told) an example of this is I RPd the other day in FF and someone mentioned why my character was wearing a Maelstorm jacket - well, let's just say that my Miqo'te ended up being a twin suddenly rather than all his brothers just being older than him.

As for your story: It is yours. I see no reason you couldn't go with the backstory and it is good that your character's personality and drive comes from something in his past (stronger character foundation). Only thing I am not sure of is if you mean literally into the realm like he is from out of it or not, if you just mean to call it a realm then nevermind me it's 4am.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 3) Assuming I jump in with that character, at what stage in theÂ game should I begin to seek out RPers? Post-game? After the tutorial and the world opens up? Level 20? Is there a general starting point?

This is completely up to you. I personally am trying to get to end-game before I do most RP -- but this is because I am picky on my outfits. It is completely up to you what you want to do and when you feel comfortable roleplaying.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 4) This is more a scenario that could occur whilst RPing in the game. How should I enact this?
Scenario: I walk into a tavern in Thanalan, and stand at the bar, searching for someone to order a drink from. A fellow RPer sends me /say and begins to engage me in conversation. How would that conversation play out? Would I try to use as many emotes (the in-game kind: /sit or /joy etc) alongside typing what my character says? Should I use more specific emotes?
Is either of these examples accepted? Should I base the level of detail I go into on the initial contact of the 'Fellow RPer' and what he has typed in first? Is there a standard that the majority of RPers expect when interacting with each other?

One thing to note: The use of double brackets ((this)) is to indicate OOC chatter. So you would most likely confuse the seven hells out of people, could be amusing though! The way you roleplay is up to you. Though, I do not recommend relying on the game emotes like /dance /wave /salute
I will use game emotes every now and then to accompany what my character does and this is my personal way of roleplaying:

Nahv'ir took a seat upon the wooden chair, pressing his back against it and leaning his head back with a small sigh escaping past his pale lips. It took the Miqo'te a few moments within his own thoughts before he jolted his body forward, elbows crashing hard down upon the wooden surface of the counter with his hands balled into fists, "How long does it take someone to get a drink around here?"
Nahv'ir /sit
Miah jolted upon the sudden movements of the Miqo'te, her own ears perking up as her tail straightened in mild fear before settling back down,"I'm Miah" the female Seeker dipped her body into a small bow before lookign back up to him, "what do you want to drink?" She canted her head to the side, wide eyes set upon the other's face as she awaited his answer.
Miah /bow

(not all typed emotes have to be followed by or used with a game emote either!)

There are people who do faster style for taverns which is the
Nahv'ir: How long does it take to get a drink around here
Miah: Well, what do you want to drink?

However, that is not my personal style as I prefer detailed posts.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 5) How extensively should I use the in-game emotes? All the time, just a bit, or somewhere in between?

Refer to the above ~ I rarely use in-game emotes outside of /sit /kneel /pray (if I have a character that would do that) /bow /salute
If someone /waves at me -- I usually take it as OOC unless I see them emote something else along with it.
Ex: Miah /wave
Miah flails her arms over her head with a broad grin on her face, "Nahvy!"

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: 6) How can I initiate contact with an RPer that I haven't had any prior interaction with? Should I just find someone and send them an OOC /tell?

That is one way to do things, another is to wait and watch what kind of roleplay is going on in a location and then to approach them ICly. Most times people just approach ICly if it doesnt seem like a private roleplay and all is well. Do note though, if someone decides to leave then or they want to roleplay just themselves - Don't feel bad or anything -- 99% of the time it is just the fact that the two people were trying to get somewhere with their roleplay and couldn't include another, not specifically you.

(09-04-2013, 03:34 AM)Arc Wrote: Sorry there are so many, and I guess most of these are just small, specific scenarios relating to proper RP etiquette, so I'll leave it here for now. Any response would be appreciated on how best to proceed.

No worries on questions -- it is better to ask and to be willing to learn than it is to not ask and then not want to take any advice from anyone..and that applies to both new and old roleplayers.

Arc · **09-05-2013, 03:33 AM**

Thank you all so much for answering, you've been a great help. I generally like to learn by doing, but it helps to have some general knowledge. I was worried about spoiling the moment in certain situations by doing something wrong, even if it is just a small error, it still breaks the fourth wall.
I also managed to get onto both Balmung and Gilgamesh! *Happy dance*.

New RPer needing guidance

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