ArmachiA

I for one cannot wait to be an upbeat Gothic Lolita Xaela Princess. I love Armi far too much to ever make my Au Ra my main, but main-alt? Possible.

PLOTTTSSS. I'm big on plots. As a GM of 17 years it's just what I expect. However, writing plots or constant never ending danger gets... well exhausting. And it doesn't give anyone a lot of time to sit down and get to know each other. A balance is necessary. Do a plot for awhile but remember to give your players some time to breath. The current plot my FC is doing we're going to end about a month before Heavensward (Hopefully, since it isn't very scripted we just gotta hope it goes as fast as we want) and then nothing will be going on for a while. Like, probably not till August. I always space out plots in such a way, 2 month whirlwind then two months of a break or so. It's necessary - social RP is - and it's fun in it's own right. I like deep character depth too, learning about characters and long, slow romances, and that's really hard to do when you're in the middle of a Garlean horde all the time.

Armi is my skin color, which is ridiculously white because I refuse to tan. But I actually tend to like darker skin tones. Loki is pretty dark (I was going for Middle Eastern Princess), Daej is pretty dark, My Elezen is black (literally) skinned, M'ashaia is deep tanned. I actually REALLY LIKE the dark skin/white hair combo and I don't even know why.

I'm not even being critical about it, at all. I'm stating what happened here as a forum. I'm not talking about the Blood on the Sands event as a WHOLE, I'm specifically referring to the Poisoning of Ul'dah incident, because it was a good example of what Red Coat Cat was talking about. He asked and there was precedence for my answer, since that EXACT scenario already happened. You noticed I didn't bring it up Willy Nilly it was in reference to a question he asked that I can actually sight an example for since it was seen on this very forum. In no way did I paint it negatively, I even stated it was clarified LATER and people were happy with the clarification though it spawned a different thread all together. You are reading into something that isn't here.

But I don't agree that means people weren't allowed to talk about it and criticize the decisions made because of it. That's a perfectly fine thing to do. Once something goes public, the public is going to have an opinion. Some people think Wuthering Heights is a great book, some think it's trash and a lot of people formed their opinions and didn't even read the book. It's okay to talk about things in a public space! People saying they don't agree with the choices another group has made doesn't mean that group should stop everything they are doing. It's discussion, which is what these forums are for. If that group chooses, they can take the criticisms and strive to alleviate worries OR they can ignore it completely. BUt talking about it, criticizing it, is not inherently wrong. Even if you aren't a part of it. I didn't write My Humps, but I can't tell you I hate that song. I didn't cook stuffed peppers, but I can tell you I dislike them, especially when it's brought up in a public space. It's what forums are for. You yourself have criticized Erik's idea for the RP FC meet. Even though you don't have to be a part of it and you could have ignored it completely. It's okay that you do! That's what this is about, this forum thing

The answer is easy: They're both right. You're going to find, despite people being popular, if someone decided to change the status quo - regardless of THEIR OWN STATUS - people are going to have opinions. I can use the Poisoning of Ul'dah event as a huge example of this.. Those who were a part of it didn't see it as a big deal and thought it was just for fun, while those on the outside thought it was too much power for one group to have. (For the sake of clarity: I was completely against it) You notice, despite a lot of people from that group being considered "Popular" people still argued against it. People came in, said they were against or for it and went on their way. There was discussion. There was debate. And it was fine. Debate and Discussion is healthy. Disagreements are par for the course. At the end of the day though, those in that plotline could have sat down and just decided to ignore the criticisms. That is a perfectly viable option. They, as you know since you were the main contributor, came in and clarified the position. Saying not all the water was poisoned, just a small section and the bad guys were caught before any damage was done. This calmed a lot of the naysayers - though the thread eventually spawned another thread about how much power one group should have (Which was an interesting thread and had a ton of different opinions). This is a good example. They were called out and they could have very well just rped it in a bubble, but they chose to work with the community instead. Both options were fine, though. Despite popularity, there is one thing I think we all can agree on - no one is going to agree with anyone 100% of the time, but that makes neither side wrong or right. Opinion is stronger than status in these circles. There's no real power here except the power of the majority. And sometimes, even the majority is against that which the popular people do. The court of public opinion is always stronger than post count and reputation points. Does that mean a group is wrong for trying to say Ul'dah was bombed? Absolutely not. They certainly can say that and they are allowed to RP it. Are other rpers allowed to think they are completely crazy and nothing happened to Ul'dah? YUuuuppp. The answer is, they are both right. Neither answer is technically wrong. The opinion you have personally is what makes it wrong or right, and that's going to vary regardless of status.

Okay, to start: I understand the annoyance with being seen as popular. While I'm not here on the RPC, I am seem by some people in my guild and the outside guilds we rp with as the "Center" of it. I've had people state behind my back they were jealous and HATED me simply because I was popular and talkative. I've had some state they were going to take my position as "Center" away from me because I was undeserving. To be frank, I was - and still am - uncomfortable with the label. About a year ago I even pulled my character out of rp for two months because I didn't like the insinuation, but it persisted and still persists regardless of what I do. I am extremely talkative, I like to help people accomplish things in FFXIV and tend to try to rally people together, and the fact that demonized me somehow never sat well with me. It still doesn't. BUT I don't think stating someone is popular automatically demonizes them. The idea of being labeled as "Popular" and it being taken as an insult it really strange to me. It reminds me a lot of when I ended up meeting a few rich people in my life, if you pointed out they were rich - they actually got insulted. Don't point it out, don't talk about the fact they have money. Just saying it demonized the fact they were rich in their eyes - even though it was just true. It was just a thing that was. People with status are uncomfortable admitting that status, sure, but it doesn't make it less true (Also most people who have money will immediately argue that they in fact don't have money and/or use the argument of "I worked hard for this!" which rings strikingly familiar). I don't think there is anything wrong with the label. Let me repeat that: There is nothing wrong with being labeled popular. Nothing. Popular people are going to exist in ANY community. Youtube? Pewdiepie. Imgur? Kylecorn. Something Awful? Lowtax. Little Old Jplop forums I've mentioned before? Starra. It happens. It's not exclusive to FFXIV RP. Communities form and faces stand out in the crowd from them. This is not bad. If you get labeled as a popular - own it. The community has deemed you one, fighting against it isn't going to change anything. But, also understand what it means. On the "Popular" side: I think if someone comes in and says "I'm having trouble finding RP, here's what I've tried." and someone they know has no trouble with it NOW comes in and says, "Just try harder." - even with it being good advice - can be demoralizing. In their mind it's like: They are trying harder! How dare someone who has no trouble finding rp tell them they aren't trying hard. Is this fair? Not really, but that is what's going to happen. They are going to get frustrated at you for holding your 100 dollar bills in your hand while you proclaim they just need to work harder to pay their bills. It's going to be frustrating. For both sides. To them you aren't giving meaningful advice, to you, you're giving advice that you tried - working hard. In their mind, they probably are working hard and your making a snap judgement about their work ethic. Popular people, as deemed by the community, are speaking from a place that other people strive to be at. They are looking AT YOU and seeing where YOU ARE as they're end goal. Because of that, you are perceived differently. The best thing I got here is just to be understanding of that privilege. There are so many people so want to be in your shoes. Being understanding of that - that you are in a place others strive to be - can go a long way. To the "Unpopulars": Look, same thing as above: Snap Judgements are bad. Don't make them. If you are running around saying all popular people do is rp with the other popular people and you can't seem to squeeze into that because they all wear pink on Wednesdays, you're doing EXACTLY what you hate them doing: Making judgements about the state of someone's RP ethic. The fact of the matter is, you don't know who RPs with whom unless you ask them directly. And, this is very important, while they may be popular on this forum, this forum is NOT the game. Things work a little different on the game. For example: I don't think I've ran into like 95% of the RPC. Ever. Most of the names I know and like I've never seen in game since launch. Most of the people I'd like to rp with on this forum I have NEVER caught online. Do I assume that when I'm offline they are rping with each other and not inviting me to the barbie party? Nah. Shockingly, schedules vary wildly around here and there's a BETTER chance they AREN'T rping with each other then that they ARE. However, if your kind of insecure about it (Which is okay, don't think it's not okay to find people intimidating. It's natural to do so, but also try to take a step back from that emotion and realize while - yes some are gonna be dicks - most are going to be pleasant - there is a reason why they are popular and it's probably not because they are asshats) you can ask people what LS's they are in. Linkshells are a good way to gauge people's RP circles, or at the very least wannabe RP circles, and you can ask to see if their LS is open to the public. An easy, noninvasive way to try to get in with a group of your choosing. Do I believe some people are going to be dicks about their so-called status? Yes. And if this has happened to you, there are avenues you can go (Tumblr) to tell your story. Do I believe this is always happening? No. And you shouldn't either. Now that I've said all this, I'm pretty sure everyone is just going to see this as me demonizing popular people, but really I can see both sides. I can see flaws in both sides' argument.

I actually agree with both these statements, as contradictory as that may be.

Red name just means you support the RPC via Patreon. It's in the Headline section on this very forum ;o I don't think reputation is inherently bad, either. It's pretty common on lots of sites now thanks to Reddit. Take away Rep, it's post count. Take away post count, it's join date. The idea that some people may be more important than others is something that will forever be prevalent on forums.

Is there a way to pull a Something Awful/4chan and like if someone says something snarky at the bottom of the post it says: [user was given a warning for this post] [user was banned for this post] Instead of completely editing it? Or would that not go over well?

Gonna quote the rules on my stance. I take this literally. If I've said something, then it means I've read it over and assume it's going to stick around, whether it makes or breaks me is of my own responsibility. But that's just it. I'm accepting responsibility for whatever I type, which may not be what others are always doing. That's how I see it too. However, I feel like when mods edit post to uh... sound nicer? it sort of scrubs that responsibility, like they can say whatever in the moment because a Mod will come and clean it up later no biggie.

Oh, boy. Okay, so first - the reputation system: It wasn't around when I first joined and suddenly appeared when I came in. I think, overall, it's an... okay... system. But I think Verad has a point, it can breed being snarky just for points. I'll give an example of myself. Generally, I try to keep my posts tone neutral in serious discussion - some people still take it for hostility but over all I try my best to make sure my tone is respectful and not too harsh. However, in one thread a while back about Gilgamesh some girl was kind of getting on my nerves and I ended up snarking at her. I remember saying very vividly "I can see why no one likes you." and, while my usual long posts with meaningful discussion warrant me 1 or 2 reputation, I got 20 REP from that ONE POST. I also got warned from the Moderators (50% warning!) and while I should have felt worse about the warning, all them rep points made me feel justified in being a snarky asshole. THAT being said, over all it's an okay system. I wish there was a way for Mods to watch the rep scores, deleting the scores that were for mean comments and Dick jokes, but then you get into the question of the Mods doing too much and blah blah blah. I go to one forum that has a similar system, EXCEPT it shows on each post who specifically thanked for WHO so they know where those Rep points are coming from exactly. For example (Warning this is a forum dedicated to Japanese pop group factory Hello!Project): http://jplop.com/viewtopic.php?p=176358#p176358 As you can see, this shows exactly who thanked this low quality post while http://jplop.com/viewtopic.php?t=5979&p=84760#p84760 you can also see who thanked for this more effort one (AyuHikaru is me, so I use my terribleness as an example) The community over at Jplop is ridiculously snarky, more so than here, so that thank system really lets you learn REAL quick who's only thanking people for being assholes and who is actually getting thanked for high quality posts. Something like that, where we can see who is getting thanked for what would be a boon here. ~~~~ OKAY SO ON THE REST: I'm here on this forum for discussion. Period. I'm not here to play the light hearted "Circlejerk" (As some have called them) games or try to become a giant pillar of the community. I'm here to talk about roleplay as a process, lore as it is, the community as it could be, etc etc. I'm here to have conversations with people who disagree with me and we can talk. Some people on this forum have made me change my mind on some things and I'm glad for that. I always stick my nose into the more serious conversations because that's what I like to talk about. There are some people here who I don't agree with a lot of the time, but their posts are always respectful and I respect their opinion and want to hear more from them. I like really deep conversation about rp as a whole. It's interesting to me to see how other people think and act. As I stated above, I try my best to keep my tone neutral as possible, though I understand that in and of itself can come off as harsh. I wish more people would ASK what the tone is instead of assuming what the tone is. "Was this intended to be mean?" is just a lot more meaningful then "This post was mean." It would go a long way to get rid of confusion. I don't want to see this place become a hug box, where if you say something the majority doesn't agree with your spammed with GIFs and Meme's. Where snarky comments are the answer to long thought out posts because somehow it disagreed with someone else's sensibilities. We aren't 4chan, GIFs and Meme's have a place and it's not in a serious discussion. I don't want to see discussion shut down because some people don't like it - yes that includes the "popular" discussion, the "New RPer" discussion, and even White Mage lore. Discussion should be free and open, and those who try to stop it or act aggressively towards it are the ones who should be warned, not the people starting the discussion (Unless of course, they don't come correct and/or start getting all aggressive too. Those who start topics can also be in the wrong!). It's so easy to just ignore something you think you've seen a hundred times, and yet so many people can't seem to bring themselves to do it. That being said, I've considered taking a step back from the RPC myself. I am always worried that what I say here is destroying my reputation in game. This Lore nazi who takes rp sooo seriously when really I joke about ERP and Shipping 90% of the time. I just like discussion. Hardly any of my FC posts here despite is being fairly large - they feel they may say something "wrong" because most of us are quite opinionated so they don't bother. I will be watching closely what choices the moderators make and that will finalize my decision.

I think we'll see quite a few people switch to Two handed swords since quite a few people were waiting for that option. I think less people then you think will switch to the Dark Knight JOB though, I'm sure quite a few will, but the majority will probably just be two handed sword users. I've noticed most roleplayers - even when the lore for jobs is easy - stick to classes and I don't expect this to be much different (Yes, I'm aware there's no class attached but you know what I mean).

Or a Doman military scout who finds delicious irony in turning Garlemald's weapons against them. Or a bounty hunter who had a pair of crystal-powered energy guns made to go with his stolen/upgraded Garlean armor. Or a retired Flames soldier who finds that a carbine-type weapon doesn't agitate his injury and makes a good ranged weapon aside from hand throwing axes. Or a combat mage who keeps a high-caliber semiautomatic squirreled away for emergencies. Or a guy who fell through a rift to another world is perfectly normal, thank you very much, and does freelance "ambassadorial" work for the Maelstrom. This probably isn't going to go over WELL, but my Machinist is basically just going to be a gun user with some gizmo's made for her by the FC tinkerer, Siben Farnesworth. Siben is an inventor and has been since 1.0, it's what his character does. He's spent the last two years in 2.0 studying Magitek and Allagan technology, our mansion even has a lab set up for him in the basement (It's right next to the medbay >.>). He's a tinkerer, he tries to make robots for fun and usually things end up exploding. He's even working on an Airship project called "S.S. Probably Fine." Armi will be getting all her tools from him. As you can imagine, Siben is also going Machinist as his main, too. (Yes, the last name Farnesworth was indeed a deliberate choice)

I think the term "ERPer" is used for people who use RP for sexual gratification. If that isn't you, you aren't an ERPer. You're a roleplayers who ERPs. Though, while I'm not against ERP at all, I have to wonder what character growth is coming from ERP that happens rather often. I understand growth from a character's first time with a partner, a character's first time at all, a character who hasn't seen their partner for awhile due to plots, almost dying, or even making up after a huge fight. I've erped, but I've also faded to black when I felt like it would just be another sex scene with no real growth. The characters know how the other would have sex at that point and it isn't very surprising. ERP can also take a loooot longer than regular RP. So, true question, whats the rational for doing it quite frequently? Again, not judging. I really don't care how often you ERP, it's just a question.

I agree, it seems to me the RAEN are going to be the harder ones to play, not the Xaela.

Unfortunately, we have hit a cap that we aren't quite comfortable with and have decided to close our doors for awhile while we adjust to the new influx of members and try to get everyone where they want to go and adjusting to each other. The planned date for reopening Recruitment for regular members is 5/14/2015 to allow for Heavensward returners. We apologize for the inconvenience but please send me a pm if you would like on the waiting list.

I'm really really looking forward to the Haukke Manor one. Though the Coil one sounds fabulous. I would really like to see one on ancient civilizations like Allag or Nym or maybe some more information about the Twelve themselves. Just some stuff for your suggestion box. Whatever you put out is amazing though

Oh hey! You're videos are required watching for my Storytelling and RP Staff. Thanks for putting them up! I hope you can dive into the lore discussions here, it'll be nice to have another lore expert so Sounssy's Signal doesn't get wore out.

I try to keep all of my characters somewhere between 4-6 just because that's my style of RP. Armi is a solid 5, though can be pushed into 4 if the situation is desperate enough and can be a 6 is she loses confidence.

My Au Ra decided to immigrate with her brothers because she heard about the Golden Saucer and now wants to be a FAMOUS PRIZE FIGHTER there. She's gonna be so disappointed it doesn't have prize fighting. Her brother is coming down for FC reasons, and her other brother is pretty much being forced because he's a trouble maker who the older brother needs to watch. It's the silliest reason for deciding to go with her brothers but it fits her doofiness so well and I'm sticking with it.

K.I.S.S - Keep it Simple Stupid. Post lengths that are unneededly lengthy, characters that are unneededly bloated, complicated plot lines so confusing it hard to follow them. A lot of people think Unique or good means overly complicated. If it takes a sentence to say something, say it in a sentence. If it take a paragraph, say it in a paragraph. If your character has so much stuff thrown into them because you the player thought all that was cool, it's going to be hard to follow. Same with plots. K.I.S.S - best thing I ever learned in English Class. Show me, don't tell me. One thing that bothers me about RPers sometimes is they'll come in and tell us how are characters are supposed to respond to theirs based on something in their profile. That we're supposed to think they are extremely charming, or extremely intimidating, or an extremely good fighter. Then of course, they get frustrated that people don't respond in such a way. I would much rather you show me through your acting and roleplaying ten telling me right out the gate then get mad when it fails. Don't take OOC talk personally. This is a huge one for me, since my guild likes to comb through characters decisions with a fine toothed comb and talk about whether or not what they made a good one. One thing I really like about the people I rp with is that they will talk about the negative aspects of a character along with the positive, never throwing out "Yay your character is so good!" for no reason. I think this helps us keep the OOC/IC barrier intact, we're able to criticize character decisions without criticizing the player for playing them. Some people take this as a personal attack however, unable to see that other characters would see theirs in a negative light. Don't be afraid to let your character lose or get hurt. As a GM this is vital. So many people will get really pissed off really easily if it looks like their character is going to lose or something happens to them they didn't anticipate. It doesn't even matter if you warn them something is coming first, when it happens some people will still get upset. I like working with fluid people. Don't take lore talk personally. Be interesting. Plus, everything A'rklonn Sargonnai said.

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY. It's not like real ERP but... So Ellion way back in FFXI roleplayed basically the same character, just a little younger and a little more naive. Ellion was pretty new to the Roleplaying scene and wanted to make a good impression, so he roleplayed often and hardly ever left character. He asked a lot of questions about how to rp properly and was really trying to make himself "worthy" in the eyes of the more veteran RPers in the ls. In walks one of my more Veteran RPers - who was playing someone with a split personality. During one of our RP sessions in the warehouse in Bastok, her other personality suddenly decides to take over and jump Ellion, trying to strip him to have sex with him without his consent. The rest of us were about 10 yards away and had no idea this was going on, but Ellion was highly, highly uncomfortable and didn't give her consent. He tried to tell her he wasn't comfortable, but she told him he would have to roll to see if he pushed her off. Thinking this was just what super serious roleplayers did, he rolled and... rolled a 7. She rolled in the high 80's. She starts stripping him of his pants DESPITE his confused protests OOC. It was about the third roll (Not kidding: He rolled three 7s in a row) that someone was finally in range and alerted me to what was going on (I wasn't his girlfriend at the time, just his guild leader) and we put a stop to it. He had no idea he was allowed to say no OOCly. And TO THIS DAY he has a lot of issues about more sexual RP because of it. He said he felt oddly violated. Now-a-days we make fun of it (THe NB has a "NEVER ROLL A 7 OR YOU LOSE YOUR PANTS" rule) but he was really uncomfortable for awhile.

Oh, ERPs. Most Roleplayers feel like they are contractually obligated to say they don't do it wherever they think Non-Rpers can see simply because roleplay already has such a strong stigma already. "Outsiders" perceive us as ERPers by default, so we have to prove we aren't. In recent years, I've actually started seeing more roleplayers just accept that other people aren't going to get it and admit it's a part of their RP experience and that's good. No sense lying about it. It's around, people do it. If it's consensual, then all is fine and dandy. Someone said above that they had seen ERP wreck people and I'm inclined to agree, actually. I've seen it too. There's a strange kind of bonding you have when you ERP with someone, even when you don't really take things OOC - kinda like having a one night stand with a friend you never thought you'd sleep with. That happened and now that's part of your friendship. Some people are able to laugh it off and stay really close friends in spite or (or even because of, since you know you can trust that person) it, but I've seen ERP go some dark places. People you thought were fine suddenly taking everything OOC, predatory behavior disguised as character growth (In men AND women), pushing for ERP too fast or pushing for ERP when someone is more comfortable fading to black. It all happens. I've seen it unravel friendships. Does that mean I avoid it? Nah. I've ERPed in the past and I'll probably ERP in the future. My fiance is generally fine with it, though he can push the big "NO" button if he feels like someone is going to take it OOC. I'm a big believer in communication. It's the most important thing. It doesn't fix everything, but it helps. It helps a lot. ERP is a personal decision and if you don't want to - say so with gusto! Don't let anyone try to convince you you're wrong about it. If you do want to - understand it's something that needs a lot of communication and time to make work with constant back and forth between the two parties as a reminder "This is not real."

Xaela is probably what I'm going with, I like them too much. But I'm gonna be boring and say she's an Othard nomad - never venturing into Eorzea before. My fiance is rolling her oldest brother and he's going to be a Dark Knight - vigilante Batman justice seems right up his alley really, now we have to do lore bending so an Au Ra could be one... Hopefully though they explain that so we don't have to, but it shouldn't be too difficult if we do.