Vanys

Blade, I wrote this as an alternative to the open debate with Castiel/Kylin that was requested of me. It is in no way meant to be an advertisement. It's a catch-22; I'm being called out for doing the exact thing you suggest: acting independently and disregarding the RPC, and at the same time I am being chided by you for taking the RPC into account and opening a line of discussion, albeit not in the same capacity that was originally requested. Keisuna, thank you for that apology. I'm not looking to change opinions, I only want to have a discourse that is free of assumptions. After last night I wasn't convinced such a thing was possible, but I'm willing to admit I could be wrong, particularly if your own demeanor is anything to go by. I am also willing to admit that your other statements aren't without their merit. The comparison of ZAM and GamerEscape is not a wholly accurate one because yes, in an ideal world all roleplayers should strive to create the most interactive community possible. This is why we create websites such as these, and why we try to coordinate on the same server as much as possible. For one reason or another however, the community here has fractured. Individual opinions vary, but the end result is mostly the same: they have a reason for not wanting to engage with the RPC, but are interested in an alternative. Unity would be wonderful, but some people don't feel it's a realistic goal, and so the alternative is to provide these people with a space and an opportunity capable of filling a similar role as the RPC in an environment they feel more comfortable in, or believe is more conducive to a positive future. I'm not doing this because I want to supplant Kylan; he has nothing but my admiration and respect for all that he's done over the last few years. Consulting with him and offering my time and energy to the RPC was the very first thought I had. It's my experiences attempting to work with him in the past, and the opinions of myself and some others, which influenced me against doing so. Part of that is due to past behaviors in which some feel that Kylin acted less as a caretaker of this website and a facilitator of community, and more as a leader and influencor. I'm not saying that this is still the case, but I do feel it's necessary to emphasize that any claims of me doing what I've done to assume any sort of leadership or ownership of the community go against my entire philosophy. The events of two years prior were due to my belief that the RPC belonged to the community, and was not beholden to any one individual. My belief hasn't changed, this is a core philosophy of mine going forward, and is in particular why I chose hosting on Enjin where no one individual has absolute control over the databases and servers. This brings me to a concern that is being reinforced by some of the responses in this thread: I'm seeing words like "leader" bandied around. Leadership is, in my opinion, the problem and not the solution. If I am to be considered a leader, it should be in no more capacity than my designing of the website, support of its policies, and propagation of its advertisements. Eva, I've already explained above why coordination was not attempted, so I won't reiterate that here. For what it's worth, I will say that I am sorry for not approaching Kylin prior to "going live". More than that however, because I don't believe any one person should be representative of the community, I apologize to the active members of the RPC for not consulting with you. I can't expect you to understand my reasons for not doing so, but I hope you can at least acknowledge them, just as I acknowledge your reasons for disagreeing. I hope this helps address some of your questions and concerns. I'm at work, so I can only fit so much in a limited window of time, but I'll continue to check in for as long as people are interested in discussing this (amicably). (Also, Sienna, I apologize that I didn't have time to respond to you directly, but I hope that some of what I explained above can at least shed some light on why not all Balmung roleplayers would want to utilize the RPC)

Kylin, I was asked to have an open conversation with you, and I'm inclined to agree that such transparency would be good and welcome. However while I agree that such a conversation would help give some perspective to those who desire it, after further consideration I have decided to decline. Not because I don't want a transparent conversation, but because I don't believe it would do anything more than drive a further wedge between us and our respective websites. So instead, I write this open letter, so that my peace is stated. I constructed FFXIV-RP.com with one goal: to create a space similar to the RPC for those who have come to disagree with it, and provide them an opportunity to be a part of the growing Realm Reborn community. Whether they disagree because of a personal dispute with you as an administrator, because of the behavior of the community, or simply because FFXIV lost its players, and subsequently so too did the RPC, is irrelevant. We are all entitled to our opinions, and reflecting back on my experience with Back Stage today, I'm not convinced that many of those still active here are of the same mindset. But that's okay. Disagreements happen. It's because of these disagreements that I don't feel any good would come of harping on the same points here; we will disagree, and we will ultimately cause more trouble by pursuing that. The fact is, the roleplaying community is divided. Nothing we do here would change that. While some sort of uniting moment would have been nice, it was neither my goal nor my expectation, and so I simply ask that we each do our respective part to provide a haven for roleplayers. You are welcome to claim that the advent of FFXIV-RP creates divisiveness, just as I am welcome to claim that the attitudes of those with whom I spoke tonight are equally divisive. We are both neither right nor wrong. Neither of us has the right to lay claim to the future of the roleplaying community, either. Do GamerEscape and ZAM tear at each others' throats in competition? No; the freedom of choice encourages a healthy community, with diverse opinions and viewpoints. My aim isn't to grasp and tear at people like prizes to be won. I'm not looking to claim anyone from the RPC. I would hope that many people would visit both our sites, and by providing these different atmospheres, we provide places where roleplayers of differing mindsets can feel comfortable, and hopefully we can achieve better roleplayer retention by doing so. I am looking to build a new experience, with a new atmosphere, because I believe it will do some good. You don't have to agree with that, but do not vilify me for expressing my ability to choose. I would be more than happy to work in tandem with the RPC; while past experiences leave me concerned regarding my ability to work directly with you, I have no qualms against mutually supporting one another. I won't debate this point further, however I will agree to disagree. FFXIV-RP was built for the sake of inclusion and mutual respect. Keeping with that, I am extending my willingness to honor the RPC, and not allow this disagreement to come between us or our roleplay. I sincerely hope that we can jointly build a healthy and vital roleplaying community for A Realm Reborn, and create a climate of respect and cooperation. ~Lior

For those who haven't seen it yet, we're now confirmed to be going with Option 2, wherein Besaid and another server will be merged into a new name entirely (new names for all servers), with the option to transfer elsewhere for those who wish it. Source So unless someone wants to pull some "We should move the RP community somewhere else entirely and screw Besaid!" card, this is now a non-issue and we can just let Squenix do the work for us. :ugeek:

I was under the impression that Option 2 was something more along the lines of two servers land on server x by default, anyone who doesn't specify wanting to go elsewhere ends up on server x. In that way, those already on Besaid would have priority of remaining on the new server. Still, it's SE so...who knows what will actually happen. :roll:

And just as soon as I post that, apparently the new plan is to go with "Option 2", wherein two worlds are merged together and people can elect to move elsewhere after the fact, thus negating most of this anyway At least, it was posted JP-side...and that's strictly word-of-mouth as I can't read japanese and didn't bother to search for a link, but I'd expect a translation soon.

Just wanted to put my two cents in (again): I've noticed some people jumping the gun on forums and in-game, spreading two different kinds of information. One is that Besaid is 8esaid, and Server 8 is the option of choice. The other is that Server 9 is the RP server if nothing else comes out of SE, be it server names or an official server designation. I personally don't think anyone should be spreading any plans yet whatsoever, not until we've had some more time to see how this is going to turn out and what the rest of Besaid plans to do. Forum-goers are the minority in most cases, and so if word of mouth is already spreading that people should be going to one server or another, well...we're going to be left in a sticky situation if the final result ends up being something different.

Just when I thought I'd never have to deal with another community server vote. :cry: Personally I'm not sure that I'd like to see the RP community take a completely separate stance from the rest of Besaid, if it comes down to that. While I'm all for going wherever this poll takes us, I've felt very at-home with most of Besaid's community and would like to see as much of that maintained as possible, roleplayers or not. Basically all I'm saying is that regardless of what is chosen in this poll, I hope that there is still a willingness to work with the server community instead of trying to pass the RPC's vote off as some sort of ultimatum.

While I appreciate the "warning", there are various inconsistencies here that lead me to call "troll". Before anyone thinks to panic, numerous sources point to Gysahl as the unofficial spanish server, and unless our friend here has evidence to the contrary, of which I could find none, I stand by my above claim. Either way, my sentiments reflect Aveline's. Edit: Meh. http://www.ffxiv-esp.com/blog/post/2010/09/11/Final-Fantasy-XIV-Esp-FFXIV-Hispano-Servidor-Besaid.aspx