ArmachiA

Aww I missed this. Yoshi-P is a nice dude. I got to talk to him and shake his hand at Fanfest. Really really nice and seems to genuinely care about the FFXIV audience.

Okay so I'm going to be pretty open with you right now, but I want you to know that I actually agree that it can be very hard for new RPers to get into RP and have tried, in my own way, to help with that. I'm on your side, despite what I'm going to say, it's just a harsher truth. This server is MASSIVE. Because there isn't a few official RP servers most RPers have chose to roll on Balmung, this makes FFXIV's RP community one of the largest I've probably ever seen. We're all on one server and we're probably in the thousands (Though still in the minority, as there are about 35,000 total on the server) this makes it's easy for people to get swallowed. Are you invisible? Probably. But this isn't the fault of any sort of clique. It's the fault of how big the community is in the first place. I've said it a few times on here, but I've hardly seen anyone on the RPC actually in game unless they were in my FC at one point. I just met Erik OOC last week in game and me and him have both been playing since launch. It's easy to just... never see anyone from this forum. If there is a group you are specifically looking for, there's a damn good chance you are never going to see them. Walk-up RP hardly ever produces long lasting connections. You like random and don't like planning ahead you are going to have a REALLY hard time making IC friends. Most people treat the Quicksand, or walk ups in general, as one shot RP to have fun or just look for a date or something. It's harder without actively planning, but if your the sort who likes one shot RP sessions and casual encounters, you won't really have much issues with it. Deeper Roleplay though? That comes with planning. It HAS to, just the way that it works. Even look at FCs, while Fcs are a great way to meet an RP circle, if you look at the thread about what FC leaders want in a member, most of them said "proactive" because while we can lead a horse to water, we can't make him drink. I can show you where my members RP, I can tell you a bunch of them are rping in the mansion and to go join... but I can't make you join. You have to join on your own. You have to decide "Well there is rp going on, and I know about it and I'm invited, so I'm going to interact." As an FC leader, I can only do so much for you. I can give you the tools, but I CAN'T make you make anything with them. It doesn't matter how many times I say "It's an open invite, anyone can go." if you decide to stand in a corner even when I say that... I can't help you anymore. This of course requires some planning, too. In my FC we get you into the Company ICly, which is a preplanned meeting with Ellion Goto or one of the IC officers, and then we shove you into the fold. We have plots you can join that are planned for the FC, and we have random RP at the house. But it is, in essence, planning. Asking an FC member if they want to RP works much much better than waiting for them to be available. One of my FC mates is extremely shy.She struggled with RP for a very long time because she would wait for one or two people to be around and try to talk to them. What really works for her is sending /tells and asking to rp ahead of time. That way she can control the number of people around (Too many is over whelming) and she gets some rp time. Planning has a LOT of benefits. The thing is, we're not trying to be cliquey. I don't think anyone on the server is. For us, we have 70-80 members we can interact with at any given time and RP is rather easy to come by. BUT when a new member makes themselves involved we welcome them with open arms. We do have problems with people feeling like they aren't fitting in, but it's usually in their head. We like new people, we love new people! We however can't work with new people who do not work with us. And thats the server. I understand you are shy, but you have two things against you here. You're shy and you don't want to ask people to rp in /tells, this is going to make you feel quite invisible. I have a very large circle of friends in the game, I can find RP pretty much whenever I want, but if someone sends me a PM (hahaha that will never happen ; and wants to RP with me? I schedule it with them! Barring any kind of plotline where my character is gone (Like right now...) I'm always up for meeting new people! I have sent PMs myself asking people to rp, and despite them having their own circle, they've always said yes. We do not know you want to RP with us if you do not tell us. And that's the crux of the issue. The thing is Nataru offering her character above is a sort of planning, which you don't really like, which kind of puts us between a rock and a hard place on trying to help you.

"Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?"

Oh goodness, Armi is so sentimental... Let's see, she doesn't have a trinket per say but a lot of different objects that she keeps... some of these things are gone now from a fire, but she managed to keep most of them. A page of a book of Miqote folk songs - Lost in the fire, it was a book of Miqote folk songs from the X tribe, handwritten, bound, and given to her by a dear friend of hers - someone she considers her best friend though their relationship is... complicated. The person who gave her the book, in essence, no longer exists, though he still lives and, before the fire, it used to be a reminder of who he was. She only managed to find one page in the ashes, it now resides in her journal. Bookmark - Safely tucked in an old book of different plants, it was given to her by her ex-boyfriend and now sometimes friend (Depending on the day). She had thought she lost it but found it after the fire stashed away in the book she saved. Armi misses the person she used to know, and she keeps the bookmark as a reminder. She has thought to ask to give it back, but she's worried he would take it offensively. "Alo" - It's a book. An old book. An old book about plants. And it's falling apart and ratty as hell. And it has a name. It's name is Alo. It's the first thing she saved in the fire and a constant reminder of the first time she ever really fell in love. It isn't hers. Not really. Just like him. It was never hers. She's just taking care of it for now. Burned Up Sword Handle - It was a sword, but the fire melted it and the blade fell off, with nothing but a handle remaining. She couldn't bring herself to throw it away, she isn't sure why. There's flashes of a person when she looks at it. Someone she remembers, but someone that feels like a stranger at the same time. The memories are there, but it feels like it happened to someone else, like she's completely detached from them. There's a dullness to the ache, but the ache is there none the less. She can't throw it away. She... can't. She cried once when she tried, so she stopped. She doesn't know why she cried, but she does... She's pretty sure she misses them. But it's static in her head. These are only for past memories, this isn't even the list of current objects she has of people she's still close to.

Well there is a bar right right when you walk in... and now I'm imagining a bunch of drunk people dancing shirtless on the stage. Oh, my second is going to be M'sato Tia. The butt.

Yeah, my best advice is not to be passive. Reading a book shows you want to be alone, saying you are drinking at the bar doesn't necessarily mean you want to interact. Armi is a clumsy sort, usually if I feel like walk-up RP I'll have her trip over someone, run into them, or have her drop something. If I hear a conversation I want to be a part of of, I'll have her VERY OBVIOUSLY eavesdrop so she;s caught (Though I also send /tells before hand on conversations that look like they may be private) and if she isn't caught, I'll have her do something stupid so she is caught. Really look at your characters personality and see what they can do to be noticed. Armi, for instance, is a doof so I do doofy things. Loki is pretty cool, laid back but kind of snarky. So for Loki, she would just walk up and talk to someone alone at the bar. If she sees something of interest she'll ask someone about it. She'll interject her opinion even when someone didn't ask for it etc etc. There are always ways to make your RP a more aggressive one, even when your character is shy (Like Armi is) it's just a matter of figuring out exactly what would make sense within the boundaries of your character. Aloof? GM them spilling a drink, or being angry that day and just needing to vent. Someone in my guild plays a pretty aloof character and he goes to the Quicksand when the character gets agitated so he'll just sit next to someone and start talking. It's actually pretty funny! Shy? Earring gets lost. Or they are looking for someone who told them to meet them there and they just didn't show up. How about a shy character who is actively trying to be more social? It could be for funny rp to watch a shy one try to interact (I've done this on Armi, she made a joke about cheese. It didn't go well.) Aggressive and loud? Buy everyone drinks, you had a good day! There's always something you can do. The cutest one I've seen was my guild went to the Golden Saucer and this Lalafell pranced right up and interjected himself right in the scene. He started pointing out the stereotypes of the group "That must be the brooding one". "That's the token female." It was amazing.

Uh... Mainstay RP outfit that I've been using for over a year - Woolen Shirt/Hyur shorts/Leather Jackboots The Highland Smock/Valentione's leggings/Valentione's Shoes. Those are the two I use the most, like 90% of the time. I weave in other stuff from time to time but always end up going back to those two things.

I think if meme's are part of the discussion then they're fine. Like is someone was going "Do I level this class or this class?" and someone posts a "Why not both?" Meme then explains why. I could be wrong.

hahah wow, talk about escalating an argument. Where did the triggers thing even come from?

This is true, honestly. I think you kinda hit the nail on the whole issue right there.

A prime example of the sort of passive aggressive personal attacks that these policies will not fix. That's isn't the definition of passive aggressive. I'm being quite blunt. it seems to me your are looking for arguments

Offended is not the same as offensive. I'm not sure if your being deliberately obtuse or what, but at this point it seems there isn't any reasoning with you. I edit all the time just to make sure my post is clear, I highly doubt I'll be punished for it. Now you're just looking for arguments.

The people who are concerned are the ones who violate that rule frequently, probably. ding ding ding. Again, I'll say it. I'm not really "nice" here. I'm blunt and word my arguments neutrally and speak freely. Usually my arguments are met with meme's and people being troll-y, like they are trying to shut down the argument because they don't agree with it. You don't agree with it, tell me you don't, don't be a jerk about it (Even worse don't be condescending which adds nothing to the convo beyond "Look how cool and detached I am."). This isn't rocket science.

Nat, did you know that people have managed to have discussions - complete with dissension and conflict - without falling back on petty insults and the like? There are examples stretching waaaaaaaay back in history! I understand what you're trying to do. You're worried that you'll fail to consider the words you write, and you'll get shut out of this community. But you're going about it all wrong. Dissension is good. On that you and I (and pretty much everyone here) can agree. Conflict is fine. This discussion we're having right now? It's got dissension and conflict. Notice how neither of us has had to resort to insulting one another? This is not a black and white issue, where there is one side that is filled with free-spirited people tossing around insults in the spirit of free speech and another side filled with 1984-esque thought police. Trying to cast it as such is simply ludicrous. "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins." As someone who REGULARLY dissents in this community and tries her damnedest not to be rude about it. Agreed. (And, for the record, I've only been warned once in the 3 ish years - 2 don't count I wasn't active - I've been here. You CAN dissent and not be mean about it. I'm pretty sure I have a reputation for being quite argumentative.)

Jpop idols. Even in the Japanese pop fandom liking idols is looked down upon because it's not "serious business" music. I'm a HUGE fan of Morning Musume. I've flown to LA and New York to see them in concert and meet them. This video? [video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0uny_EaIH0 Anytime you see a weird circular yellow glowstick on the left? That's me. I don't even know. I've been a fan for about 12 years at this point (Morning Musume has an ever changing line up as old girls leave and new girls come in) and it's just such a weird thing but it makes me smile. I like a lot of kind of music that doesn't really fit... that.. like The Neighbourhood, Daughter, 30 Seconds to Mars, Oasis, Ed Sheeran, MONKEY MAJIK, Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki... and then... Morning Musume. I like the music. Shut up. <,<

I've read it and it's a pretty good comic on an actual BDSM lifestyle (None of that 50 Shades stuff) but it's uh... very NSFW. I actually love the authors fanart for Marvel and DC , their superhero comic stuff is GREAT.

Fine, cake for all! We just had two more people get married, too. All the cake. Cake for years.

I thought about it for like 5 minutes, but I honestly like Armi far far too much to make an Au Ra main.

I'm on Something Awful really regularly, and I'm even in the SA LS on Balmung, and honestly there's no real public shaming in the way you would think. Most of the time, the leper colony is looked at at what NOT to do, and outside of GBS (which reverted back to more lax rules) and FYAD, SA actually has a lot of the same rules as the RPC. Read their FFXIV thread sometime. No Meme's, proper spelling, really overly snarky or aggressive people get put on probation or outright banned. SA has a weird reputation, but it's actually one of the BETTER moderated forums on the internet and a lot of it has to do with the type of stuff because it teaches people what not to do. I'm a huge supporter of it and even made a suggestion to that effect in a previous thread. I think that kind of transparency is good for a forum, and isn't really shaming, it's showing others "Here's what we mean." Plus it really does help to know what people have been warned for and to know a post you thought was egregious did get smacked down. It helps foster trust between mods and users, really. On the rest of it. Honestly, it sounds fine to me? Users with regular behavior of being disruptive is something all forums face and is something all forums need to handle. I am curious on what exactly is going to get the smack down, and as much as I would like to I certainly can't ask you to bring an old thread as an example that got closed and say who would get in trouble under the new warning so I have an understanding... or can I? <,<

Thing is, they gotta cannibalize SOMETHING and it's probably better to cannibalize the most populous race then the least populous ones. I would actually hate to see a stark drop in, say, Roe females over the Au Ra, there's already so few.

I actually don't know of places to go outside of Ul'dah so if there is any hubs let me know and my FC will likely go there. We just don't go to Ul'dah since there's hardly ever any reason for us to - spending most of our time in Limsa/Gridania/FC housing. Meena - never met a Gridanian Elezen? *Points to RPC user Temariah* Now you have

No problem! We'll make sure to remove all the wedding cakes <,< Tis a very silly place.

I'll be fantasiaing an alt. Langli was my Miqote alt in 1.0 and I actually haven't touched her in 2.0, I kept telling people I was waiting for whatever the new race was, I didn't even care I just didn't want to play a Miqote in 2.0. Then the Au Ra showed up so that's what she's being! Was kind of a gamble

Au Ra is the new ish, so a bunch of people will Fantasia to them because they don't roleplay and it;s not as big of a decision and then... a lot of them will fantasia out. These kinds of things always balance themselves out. I personally think the Au Ra will take quite a few Miqo players, which is fine because when the server is 50% Miqo I would like to see more diversity.

I honestly believe it may be in SE's future to dig in at the Character Creation screen, but it wasn't in the cards for a few reasons: 1. Most of the coding from 2.0 had to match 1.0 or be compatible with 1.0. They talked a lot about this in Beta and I really wish I had saved their forums posts, but 2.0 had been running on the back of 1.0 this entire time and there's a few people from Beta who could tell you 1.0's coding was... really really bad. Any major change to the CC coding probably would have rendered any characters from 1.0 useless. 2. For... some reason.... Legacy characters (Character being moved from 1.0 --> 2.0) appearance data wasn't saved on the convenient character saver. They were saved into the character themselves. Any character option from 1.0 pretty much had to remain or else risk losing what those characters looked like forever. People hadn't seen their characters in over a year at that point, they probably couldn't remember the minute details, but SE did everything that they could to keep those details arounds. It wasn't perfect - My highlander male from 1.0 came to 2.0 with bright red hair instead of brown for instance - but adding sliders could have done some numbers of those characters. 1.0 actually did a number to this game. I am of the firm belief we need to get further out from 1.0 in order to see major changes.