sanguineFenrir

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After seven months of inactivity with this thread, I decided to try drawing again... and not trace for once. The result?

I'm glad to hear things are still alright with you guys. Before I unsubbed, I was on a bizarre nocturnal sleep schedule, so I didn't even see anyone from the FC online most of the time. I'll have to find out what everyone's hours are so I know when to be on what character. To Ignacius, I actually did make a character on Gilgamesh today, for several reasons, chief among them being that I was tired of playing the same one and missed actually questing. I'll still keep my "main" on Balmung of course, but it might make things fresher for me to have an alt if I get bored. I have noticed that several groups have sprung up while I was gone. Look up Asche Rose. I've heard of Kiht Jakkya (probably either here or as an app on the Mysterium boards. My character was a Master before I left and that was what I enjoyed doing the most, out of any RP. I would probably enjoy setting up some RP, but the one issue is that I have no idea what to do with my character. I only vaguely explained my departure ICly at the time of it, and Freelance knows that my attempts at RP history and personal storylines have been tumultuous at best. (What works very well in my own personal campaigns tends not to work here, sadly.) Retconning is a finicky thing, and it's too much hassle to just nuke the entire character history unfortunately. (Even the white lies and go-to excuses elude me because they don't feel natural.) However, I probably should figure something out, because Kevaraan's been a victim of the "Level 50, now what.... not FATEs" for a while now, and RP does at least provide another avenue of progression.

Hi Rinette, thanks for the reply: I do have a tendency to make problems larger than they seem (for example, a group of people was unimpressed with my reaction to something that happened in an RP, but understanding after I had a long talk with them. They moved past it, but I partially did not, and we didn't really end up doing anything afterward. I was one of the lucky few who were able to get on Balmung in the second day of early access. For the first few months, I was fine. Things were great because I was talking to a lot of people from the forums, I'd found an FC a month before launch, and RP was looking up. I had kind of adopted the personality of my character for my forum posts and IC chat, which meant that I was able to politely defuse most bad situations or prevent them from happening in the first place. Unfortunately, one of the things that really aggravates my "issues" happens to be large numbers of people. I am of the sort that can happily talk to one close friend (or even two at the same time, if I'm really comfortable) for hours, and I have no problem fielding tells from multiple people as long as it's two separate conversations and not a group conversation. But, random OOC chatter/smalltalk, like you might find in an FC or large LS tends to get on my nerves. The best way to explain it is that I find it very distracting, and I don't know how to contribute or react to it, especially if it's silly, lewd, or even a debate--and the more people are involved, the harder it is. I have troubles with improvising in RP too, so I wind up being reclusive, even if my characters shouldn't be, and I'm ineffectual if put on the spot. I was alright with my FC for the first while because there was only four to six of us, and I got to know the other people through lots of slow interaction and gentle chat in both channels. As the game continued though, we started getting more members, and reaching out to other entire guilds. It's impossible and impractical for me to go 'door to door' or tell to tell, trying to get comfortable with so many people. I don't have the time nor the 'space' for it, and oftentimes any events with big groups (larger than three or so) would cause me to be silent and bored, or to make excuses and leave. I could hardly read the chat sometimes. Add to that that I started having differences of opinion with a few people; my inability to deal with their personalities or however you might call it meant that the measured facade I had been using got cracked. I never completely lost my temper, but I just shirked instead and became neurotic. I would really like to have either a large group of unconnected or paired individuals, or a regular group of three to four other people, to RP with. But even the small guilds on the game tend to have fifteen to twenty members, and that's a lot to me. I tried making an LS with my own preferences, which are, I'd suppose, a bit unorthodox, but I didn't advertise it first. The LS got one other person interested, and we spoke once--I actually tried to contact this person again, but nothing. Other than that, the LS died off--and was purged from the hall when the LSes were cleaned up a few months ago. I would be open to meeting you in game or RPing/talking via PM. Skype's also an option. I have my own lore and worlds unrelated to FFXIV and I've used Skype as a platform to host two person campaigns with them (although I can probably do Eorzea too.)

This is going to be a long, long post. Pertinent stuff is near the bottom. After three months of inactivity on both the game and these forums, I decided to resubscribe as of yesterday. Today, I came back to the RPC forums and noticed a few "I'm back/I'm leaving" threads, and I've decided to post my own thoughts here in hopes of getting some perspective. Some of you might know me as sanguineFenrir, and I'm in the process of updating my profiles and such to better reflect, well, me. I left the game when I was feeling a lot of confusion/anxiety/general discomfort over it. Not just RP and social anxieties (which caused a lack of connections) but also the game mechanics (running out of fun stuff, getting burnout, not being able to hold down a PVE FC without feeling uncomfortable in such a large and chatty group.) I've written and spoken about my issues with RP before, and when I left my former group, I pretty much turned off the channels and some time later told one member "tell the officers I'm retiring" and went quiet into the night. I took a three month break to work on my console backlog, and I had plans to come back in April after the PS4 launch. Long story short, my burnout waned a month early and I decided to come back to sate that mob-killing, looting, boss slaying itch. Here's the thing: I still like the game. It's beautiful, the accessibility and controller use is a major plus in making it the "right one" for me, and I get really excited when I think about the cool features coming in future updates. The point I'm trying to make is that I've come back and it's good to be back, but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what to do with myself, especially in regards to RP. I can't pretend to be calm and collected any more because that veil is so thin, but without it I'm paranoid and anxious. I've had enough time away to realize that, yes, I screwed up majorly, and there were situations and people I could have handled better. I want to be a part of the community and do things with people, but whenever I think about doing so, I just get hit with a barrage of questions. Do I stay retired despite wanting more from an MMO than just the mechanics? Do I roll an alt? Where? What kind of group do I find? How do I make sure I don't mess up again as the cycle tends to be? But, most importantly, how can I stay connected with people and avoid talking once and never again? How do I overcome the internal "freezing up" whenever someone types a message to me (which has been a problem since WoW, and in every game I've played?) How do I be more proactive, more trusting of people, more able to avoid misunderstandings (especially in groups I hardly know how to deal with?) Without going into personal details, my own RL situation probably has a very large impact on the issues I have. The tiny paranoia-monger in my head says that maybe this board isn't the best place to post such a spiel, that people know and remember who I am and they're angry. But, generally, it tends to be wrong. It took a lot of nerve for me to post this and figure out how to word it as myself. I'm hoping that maybe people with similar issues will see this and be able to offer what has helped them. Thanks for reading, and long live Eorzea.

Wordweavers. Inc (my former LS) is INACTIVE. Project's pretty much dead in the water. It may come back under a new premise, but the current iteration is defunct.

Another Balmung citizen here, with my two gil: Preface: As a "writer before roleplayer" a lot of this response is going to draw from my own writings to illustrate the point. I don't ascribe to "typical" morals in real life either, so that will color my views on good guy/bad guy. To put it simply, what bothers a lot of people doesn't turn my head, but things that some people would find inconsequential are absolute blasphemy in my book. As I've said in a few other posts, I don't derive enjoyment from the typical "good guys versus villain trying to foil them or do whatever" because of my strong dislike for large or group plots, and the aforementioned stigma some people have noted that comes with playing a villain outright. Rather, in most of my stories (and thus most of my RP characters) the antagonist comes from within the character themselves. In my "books", it might be a force of strife that moves between the main characters. My most notable universes have always had a lot of tension between "the protagonists"--in some, there's an added societal aspect and they are working against the government or a larger-scale idea. But there's usually never a defined Big Bad, grey or no, that they have to stop. To continue the trope analogy, I like to work with Black and Grey or Grey and Grey moralities. A common theme for this conflict in my works is "pursuit of power", for whatever reason. Sometimes the evil is more distinct, or it's in the name of swinging a balance one way or the other, but my works usually deal with denial and deep-seated desires on the part of the characters. Also notable is the fact that my works and casts tend to become a lot darker or corrupted, and characters tend to be confronted with forking paths in their concepts that I like to play with. Someone mentioned they can't play an evil character without getting a headache...well, I'm something of an opposite, as I can't have a character and keep their concept "free of darkness or torment" for long if I was paid. I have selfish characters, I have strict, ethic abiding ones, I have extroverted ones who are full of life, and hedonists and innocents, and everything else. But they all wind up suffering some way or another and having to bend over backwards to achieve happiness--if I allow them to. To use Kevaraan as an example for why I don't like showing my characters' villainous qualities overtly in RP, I had him react to something plot-related by having a nightmare he was sure would actually happen. Some other players took him questioning his future loyalties out of fear as a legitimate threat, and they informed some affiliates who knew next to nothing of my character. My own introversion (and lack of control) often makes it hard to play my characters as true as I'd like, so during this time I actually did planning for The Bad Ending because OOCly, I was sure it would happen. We were able to rope it back before Kevaraan fell off the precipice, though, and it made me think twice about reacting in the open. If the streak comes out again, it will probably be with people I communicate with beforehand, and isolated. Although his XIV incarnation is neutral, Kevaraan is a character who often has different parts of his personality accentuated depending on the story and my mood. Sometimes he's just like he is here. Sometimes he's more stable or authoritative. In one story I did, however, the roles of his NPC and himself were reversed: he was a violent, if poetic, cannibalistic murderer hunting the girl in question out of a desire to serve her and bring her over to his side (of evil.) He was a lot like Albedo from Xenosaga, for those that had played that. Had this RP mess gone south and he cracked in game, I was prepared to bring back the latter persona--even if that meant quitting the guild and hardly RPing at all afterward due to the issues people (and I) have with villains. I'm aware some of this stems from OOC stuff, and am working on how to "accurately" portray him in a more neutral light, as he "is." My main issue with RP is the collaborative aspect making me cram up and play my characters inaccurately. Tl;dr: I'd rather work with the villainous ASPECTS of a character (even a hero) than have one outright and look for RP on one. I have no outright heroes and few outright villains. However, the NPC I mentioned would probably get seen as a villain which is one reason I swept her under the rug for now. EDIT: As Freelance said, there could just be a disinterest in the concept. I googled "burlesque" and it doesn't seem like an outright brothel. Like all things, there's a good and a bad way to write it, and your establishment doesn't strike me as a front for ERP. I'm not on Gilgamesh, but the way someone worded it with an example from Firefly sounds interesting, especially the psychological aspect.

The LS is now official and has the newly revised name of "Wordweavers Inc." at this time--because "Eorzean Writers' Guild" did not fit. Please send a tell to Kevaraan Annorek or PM user sanguineFenrir if you would like to discuss or volunteer with the project.

Kevaraan's DRG set (and eventually weapon) I just write off as replicas or "stylistically inspired by..." whatever jobs happened to use them back in the day, as an artistic choice. Paying homage to a job's being is important to him because of how into the studies and history of the jobs he is. To continue using DRG as an example, he's not a dragonslayer by any means, but he views the job training as a class guild's way of saying "You've learned all you can from us--we have no more tests, but here's a historical topic of interest that you may want to research and incorporate tenets from if you're so inclined." Because level 30 coincided well with Coerthas as a zone, his entire training there was basically observing, talking to, and perhaps sparring with any knights or guards that would be open to helping him after his assistance. For every job, it's a blend of techniques in my book, as far as IC goes. He may not jump extremely high, but some amount of acrobatic skill does give a tactical advantage in combat. However, I do plan to use the AF sets as replicas in RP, unless I find something I'd rather wear--especially for the casters, since robe design is rather unvaried as is.

As someone who tends to have quite the sailor's mouth in real life (but who never tends to use profanity in text), the use of profanity by NPC's does not bother me, and I sometimes find the British-esque dialect interesting. ICly, Kevaraan's also not the type to swear and has only done so once or twice, I think. Usually, other characters' profanity doesn't bother him, but if it's sexually charged and/or dropped with great frequency, he might roll his eyes or otherwise indicate annoyance. In the worst cases, he might leave, since he's not likely to get along with those types of characters anyway--but he'll never be the "nanny sort" who goes around reprimanding people for language. I generally have no issue with profanity, or violence/gore/torture/what have you, but it gets a little ironic because what DOES bother me is sexual or hedonistic topics. Going into the "why" would turn this into a psychological post, but I just can't agree with either of those behaviors. I can handle the quips by NPCs because SE doesn't overuse them, but that's about it. Out of 30+ characters I have in my broader universe(s), I think only two to four drink or smoke, and most are asexual outside of romance (and if they reasonably shouldn't be, any more hedonistic attraction never comes up in the text.) It's just not something I prefer to write about or bear witness to in RP, and I hardly know how to react to it as is. The same principle, although not as severe, applies to drinking. Kevaraan already dislikes a few characters because of their tendency toward this behavior--but that is, as others have stated, an IC thing. OOCly, I'm capable of putting up with it, but if, for example, a character is fetishistic, I'm probably going to just confide to the player that I can't reasonably be comfortable with the RP for OOC reasons. I'm also the type of person to get quietly annoyed by things said in chat--in the interest of keeping the peace, I refuse to participate in debates (odd, given this topic, but this is likely my sole post in it). For my guild's IC and OOC channels, if a debate over a topic that I'm sensitive to starts up, I will just announce quietly and without detail that I'm turning the chat off, so people know how to reach me. The same thing goes for discussion of my guild's IC plot in the IC channel, which I want little to no part of. Besides enforcing an "out of sight, out of mind" policy given that I'm poor at tuning things out, this also limits chat scroll, as debates tend to involve long posts that clutter up the tiny chat box. Probably the last thing that annoys me is something Rock Sandbourne brought up, which is the use of "glomping" and other silly or memetic things in OOC chat. I understand that some people like silliness, but I find that type of speak to be too prevalent in the RP community, and I'm not a big fan of "talking for the sake of it" and don't know how to react anyway. I am in two linkshells that I always keep turned off unless I actually need their help because of this, and sometimes that gets swallowed up in the banter. This is why my "writers' guild" LS has an explicit ban of this sort of silly speech, because I don't want it clogging up what is rightfully a discussion channel.

After mulling over an idea for some time that may prove to be controversial, I've decided to make a post here, as this project has too much information for a separate "gauging interest" post, and I like the format of Hall entries. This is less of an LS or roleplayers' group and more of a project that needs volunteers and like-minded people. The rules and such are guidelines and are not absolute. This LS aims to explore creative, collaborative "RP" from the writer's point of view. Although I like "regular" spontaneous RP and enjoy my FC very much, I have my background in a more strict brand of collaborative writing that is less spontaneous. This is where the controversy stems from, as much of the ideas and philosophies inherent to this LS run contrary to the typical roleplayers' expectations. I want to see if there's anyone here who feels the same way, as unlikely as it is. Coming from a literary background, I'm used to a product that looks less like roleplaying and more like a novel that was written by two or more people. The individual posts are often very long and heavily resemble prose--with detailed descriptions and figurative language to match. We would often spend great deals of time discussing and deconstructing character concepts, throwing them together, and then commenting over whatever crazy ideas we came up with as they unfolded. Our scenes will have a heavily pre-scripted feel (although this doesn't mean new ideas and twists won't happen.) The other thing that most roleplayers will probably disagree with is that the group will be cloistered by nature. I'd love for this to have as many new members as there is interest, and I won't turn people away as long as they're committed to the philosophy of the linkshell. But, due to its nature, it is closed off to "random RP" from passersby. Most of our writing is going to happen in private channels like /p or /t, so to the average player, we're going to look like we're just standing there. More detail regarding the inner workings of this LS is available in the other tabs, but, in general, this LS is aimed at people who: --Want to prioritize literary skill in their writing/RP and enjoy making detailed posts --Are creative, but do not necessarily identify with the roleplayer label --Are writers who are a bit rusty, or who want to improve and apply their new skills to regular RP --Want character-focused RP in small groups without a predefined theme that they plan out before and while starting--you and your partners are front and center for what you write --Would like a sandbox/serious environment in which to develop character concepts that do not fit current FCs or LSes on Balmung, or which may not fit standard RP --Want to be part of a close-knit community where OOC communication and brainstorming happens in equal parts with writing. How This Works: For the first few days, we're probably going to be hunting for members and getting to know people. We'll be tossing ideas around before any writing actually starts. When everyone's comfortable and we have a few members and arcs (i.e., long-running scene/story) we'd like to start, we'll probably break off into groups of two or three (or one group if there's only three of us,) and start. Discussion of plots is encouraged, and this isn't really going to be an LS for people who enjoy sitting by the sidelines--expect to be doing quite a bit of writing to the best of your ability. There isn't much to say after that--whatever happens in an arc will be the sole domain of the people that are involved in it. Players are welcome to recruit more or ask others to join in/observe, which leads to more discussion in the LS channel (although, ideally, these groups should tay small so people aren't "waiting for an opening" to write in. To keep people from getting bored and keeping to themselves, people will probably have multiple arcs at any one time (in case of boredom or members of one group not being online.) As most of this will happen in /p, communication is important if you want to get involved in an arc. Rules & Expectations: While in terms of style and permitted characters, this group is relatively lenient, I do have a set of OOC rules that I would like members to attempt to abide by in the interest of providing a high-quality environment for everyone ICly and OOCly: 1. Respect your fellow members. This is a writers' guild, and writers can have wildly different opinions on what makes a good character or story. We all have different methods. If you have genuine criticism for something someone's discussing in the LS, offer it politely. If someone's discussing an arc you disagree with and you're not a part of the group running it--let it be. We're going to have some fragmentation here and that's the advantage of keeping everything in private channels, which leads to.... 2. Try to involve other people in what you're doing if they want to be involved. If someone wants to join your arc--even if it's midway through--discuss it with them. Fill them in or point them to the relevant recap. Letting other writers join in, even if it's just to play an NPC, can be fun--and you might learn something from each other. The purpose of this LS is to facilitate writerly discussion, and that's a good way to do it. 3. If someone from the larger community asks if you're roleplaying, be as truthful and polite as possible. We're a minority group, and yes, we cloister off for the greater good. Yes, we have no real way to plan for or involve completely random strangers. I expect this to be a major topic of discussion in the LS, but for now, let them down gently, and leave the door open--good publicity is good. 3. Make sure your entire group agrees on major decisions for your arc. Every character in a group is important, and so is consent. You all bear the burden of managing the story together. If combat breaks out, or someone's majorly injured, get consent of everyone involved. Get consent for systems such as rolling. This is why we prefer to keep groups small--they're easier to manage. If things do come to a head OOCly, ask me or someone who isn't involved to mediate your discussion before you dissolve the whole plot and storm off, which leads to.... 4. Godmoding, consent, and metagaming rules still apply as they do for regular RP. A writer may discuss their character in great detail--but this information is for discussion and potential hooks that everyone agrees on, as above. Even if your character is powerful, and you're best friends with someone in another group, avoid putting words in their mouth. Get consent before allowing your character to know something they'd ordinarily have no knowledge of--all our discussion might be considered metagaming by some, but don't overuse the knowledge it gives you. Metagaming as most RPers see it is fine, AS LONG AS ALL PARTIES AGREE ON IT. 5. Plan ahead before killing off a character or doing something that may alter or suspend an arc. As this is an LS, I am fine with inviting alts and new characters if someone's character dies, and we're bound to get tired of playing the same ones after a while--but have a plan. Retcon if you must, or continue the arc, but don't leave it hanging. 6. For the sake of the rest of Balmung, keep it private--especially if the arc is "out there." Don't use /em for emotes--write them out proper. If your arc is relatively ordinary, as I suspect some will be, there's no harm is doing some of it in /s--but mind chat scroll. For the rest, it's wise to get in the habit of keeping things in /p or /t and invite observers that way. THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAT RULE 1. Stay serious. Stay on topic. The LS chat is for finding arcs, planning, and discussing writing and characters. Asking brief questions about gameplay or greeting your fellow members is fine, but please don't have long strings of memes and "witty OOC banter". Getting to know people is fine, but if the above sort of pointless back-and-forth becomes most of the chat, take it to tells. Same rule applies for debates that are getting lengthy or heated. Some people like "entertaining chat" but I can't stand it, and if this policy is too serious the LS is not for you. FAQ: ((FAQ to be expanded)) 1. How do I join? Reply to this thread indicating your general interest in this, and send sanguineFenrir a forum PM with more detail on your ideas if you desire. Alternatively, you may contact me directly in game (which is faster) for an "interview". 2. Why are you doing this? Do you hate RP? No, I love my FC. However, sometimes I feel pressured into shortening my /s posts in normal RP to get them out faster, so I've let my writing skills fall by the wayside. I wanted to create a space in which people can put writing first while still collaborating on the game. Many of us probably have FCs and people outside the LS that we're very active with. This LS is as much about writing as an activity as it is the actual plots we make--so there will be plenty of discussion of the technical aspects too. 3. This seems like it would be better served on a forum. Why don't you do that? I wanted to allow people to still play the game while doing this. I've managed a forum before and didn't much care for it, and I doubt I could find a sizable user base as easily as if I just kept things here. For the most part, we're still in the game world--and it doesn't make sense to let this beautiful resource go to waste. 4. Is your LS going to be full of Mary Sues and things that don't belong in Eorzea (demons, sons of NPC here, characters from X other game?) As a rule, no. Mary Sues in particular make for bad writing, and will probably get shot down extremely fast for derailing an arc before said arc can even start. "Outlandish" things (other Miqote tribes, perhaps different races, other city-states that we can't go to yet, Garleans, class hybrids) will be allowed as long as the writer in question WRITES THEM WELL and has a plausible explanation for doing so. Alluding to your own work is allowed--but something like Halo probably won't go far here. Other people should try to respect these ideas, even if they do take advantage of loopholes--being open-minded is pretty much a requirement for joining this LS. One of this LSes' reasons for existing is to give writers a space to play with ideas that the stricter among us might not like. Primal slayer? OK. Voidsent meddler? OK. Do you want to play with power? By all means, do--just make sure you find another person or two that agrees, and you put care into your ideas. Because of the community factor, we recommend you play with an alt, or at least try to segregate the continuity you have with us so as not to offend other people. 5. Are you going to make some attempt to open yourself up to the community at some point? I want this LS to be seen as a positive force without detracting from what other people want to do. If there's enough demand and enough users, we may host weekly workshops and readings that anyone will be welcome to attend. I'm also open to having people from the Balmung mainland "guest star" or observe arcs like theatre participants, as long as they understand what we're out to do. 6. Are you going to make a forum or website where people can post the results of their stories and other things? If there's demand yes--as I'm aware that long-running arcs can quickly become complicated for newcomers. 7. Can I be involved in multiple groups? YES. A person might do one thing with two other people, and have another story simultaneously running with two others, although not at the exact same time. To keep things fresh, this is going to be a web of arcs with much less strict continuity rules if the writers so choose--like a What If box.

I've seen some people get around this by having their character be adopted by another race (keeping their first name and tribal letter, but taking their adoptive family's surname for greater variety.) I've also seen some say that their character dislikes tribes or left theirs for whatever reason, and thus they drop the tribal letter or come up with a completely new pseudonym for city life. I imagine the same thing would work for Keepers who want to have a more individualized name not tied to their mothers. My character has been around for many years in my own writings and some other games under this name or another, and I really wanted to play him as a Keeper due to the lunar aspect and facial features/native-esque appearance, but calling him by anything else other than his name wouldn't be right for me. The rationalization I came up with is that his father was friends with and deeply respected many of the Roegadyn he met in his travels, and so he wished to pass down a bit of their individualistic culture to his son. Since Kevaraan and his family traveled through city-states for most of their life and might have been seen as outliers, this works well enough (and "Kevaraan has that Nordic/Scandinavian feel soundwise, even though it doesn't directly translate into the Sea Wolf language. It has become incorporated into his RP a bit--he's still very much a Miqo'te, but speaks like a formal, educated city-dweller, and I've had a few characters who met him over a linkshell be surprised at his race in person. From what I've heard, as long as you have a suitable, plausible explanation as to why you're using a non-tribal name, you should be fine. Maybe your character wants to distance himself from or was exiled from his tribe for whatever reason, and disdains their customs. Maybe he was taken in by a kindly Hyur ignorant of Miqo'te customs. Perhaps he has a tribal name, but wants a more Hyuran equivalent because he's tired of people mispronouncing it.

As an asexual (having no interest in those matters, nor nudity) the constant swimsuits and such elicit reactions ranging from indifference to annoyance. Since my character is a Miqo'te, it greatly upsets me to see a lot of NPCs portrayed in that manner (male or female.) Part of the reason for the differences in my character's backstory is to avoid the whole tribal situation and the pressure to breed (or being a minority among females.) There's a "commander" NPC whose unit consists of two other female Miqo'te, and their dialogue is full of innuendo. Although I'm not opposed to purely romantic relationships, it does really bother me when people flirt with me/my character ICly or OOCly. I've learned to cope with this by incorporating it into my RP to a degree (Kevaraan, along with one of his close friends, abhors the treatment of Miqo'te as "exotic house pets" or toys. Somewhat related to the topic is the fact that I hate the whole fanservice aspect of nekomimi as is. I like the vaguely "native" feel of Miqo'te and the animalistic dynamic, but I hate the harem tribes and the oversexualized portrayal of the NPCs. I want to tap into my character's nature, but I also want him to be more than a human with cat ears and a tail. I saw a female Miqo'te NPC whose sentences were peppered with "meow." Please, no. (If a suitable, more beastly race comes along. I might reroll and find some way to work that into my RP, but that's up in the air.)

I would like to partake in some of this gritty, serious RP--because I feel that that is just what I need to regain my writing ability. The concept would fit me well as a player, but I'm not sure my character would mesh well (or if it takes too many liberties for the leader's liking). Too often I find myself having to write more informally, and I mentally chastise myself for not living up to my own standard. I'm tired of feeling vaguely stilted as a writer and/or roleplayer and might consider trying the group if approved to.

The others have done a great job offering ways to resolve walkup anxiety--which I've read, but I thought I would share my own frustration and anxiety: As someone who did work on one forum I owned, which was less "roleplaying" and more "long novel literary collaborative writing with only one other user", RP in other games has often left a bitter taste in my mouth. I do OOC a lot less here than I did in those other games, which does work out better for me, but I think that, in general, the "brevity" or quickness of individual /say replies in a lot of game RP doesn't help me. Because of having to keep the pace for other people and being a relatively slow typist, I am afraid to make the long, descriptive, figurative posts that were so characteristic of my former writing. For one thing, I had the reputation of being a "show-off"(I'll freely admit that), and, for another, the RP goes by so fast that I can't feel the sensory details I rely on. So it comes off as stilted, and I stop. Crowded areas are very distracting to me, but planning everything is something some people decry as inorganic. I still roleplay on this game, but with a constantly nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I am not living up to my own very high self-standard. For whatever reason, perhaps lack of practice or a change in emotional state, I have completely lost the ability to write except at a relatively basic, nondetailed, technical level, which outright infuriates me. I would go back into practice, but I have no reason to write, and even if I were to post things here, I would have to disallow input, because they may not have anything to do with the world at large, and I don't really want others reading my work until I can get my "power" back, if I knew how. It's a vicious cycle, and it upsets me, because I know I can do better work than what most people see.

On PS3, it's only 757.43MB. I wonder what the patch contains...

Update: Ryanti's linework is ninety-nine percent done. It's very messy due to being a partial composite (I had to draw some things myself), but I should be along with the colors in short order. I am considering doing the background in pastel, because that is smoother, as they requested. Friendly reminder: today and tomorrow are good times to submit requests, if you want them now. Requests will always be open and will always eventually get finished, but following early access/release, there will be a larger turnover time. If requests dry up, I might also populate this thread with non-Final Fantasy work, should I choose to do any. I have plans to do Torn Sky at some point, particularly if I can ever get my lines to improve. You can also request colorings of your own lineart, if you're an artist.

Hello, and welcome to the community. To start with your questions: 1: Yes, and yes. Taverns and such are scattered around the world and in the cities. Player housing will be implemented. During the last beta we got to see the housing area exterior.... it's a very nice area with stairs, walls and even a beach that really feels like a residential area. I don't think we know too much about the systems yet, other than that you'll get an aetheryte for your house. 2. Servers have been locking and unlocking during beta and it's likely to happen during early access as well. It should clear up shortly after launch. Balmung is accessible to anyone and anyone can make a character there--it's the people that played 1.0 that can't leave the realm (yet). If you want to make a character on Gilgamesh, you'll be able to, but it takes some patience and/or the ability to log on during off-peak hours. 3. When you create a character, you see a full calendar. The months have 32 days, so the real world correspondence puts two of the Eorzean days as the same Earth day--but other than that the conversions are direct. To find the month you want, just count down in an astral/umbral pattern until you get to the sixth set. First Astral is January, First Umbral is February, Second Astral is March.... The days don't yet have any significance, but that may be patched in. 4. Yes--we have a Linkshell hall subforum that includes Free Companies as well. You can reply to those threads to show interest, and the hall postings often also include websites for each organization. (Click Linkshells on the top navigation bar.)

"The seventh hell" seems to be the hell analogue for Eorzea. Kevaraan does swear, albeit relatively rarely, which makes it quite effective when he does. He does use "bloody" though.

I believe it starts at 2am PST on Saturday, which would be 5am for you. Same as the betas--but that's what the countdown site I'm using says. I slightly wish it started at midnight, myself.

I'd be open to using it for text only RP, but I don't know anyone else who does. Speaking of Skype, I wanted to get into the chat the RPC had in the off-topic subforum, but that seems to have died off. I'm curious if there are other Skype groups as well.

In addition to the new Lodestone, I think SE is preparing a new account management site, since things are scattered now between the Members site and the actual Account Management System. I believe it's called MogStation. Hopefully it will launch with the start of official service, or earlier.

Besides Dark Knight, some sort of hemomancer or Blood Knight would fit me the most. I agree gunblades or greatswords would be great. Something closer to a Shaman or Druid than Conjurer is would be nice and appropriate for Kevaraan, as well. While the system has great potential for hybridization as is, I have an acquaintance that initially refused to pick up the game because it had no Red Mage. I pointed him towards Bards, but he's still pining. I just read about Rune Fencers and I'm hoping we might get something like that.