Fates Skein

After having it broken down as it was above, I find that I am in agreement with basically everyone that's posted here. Elite is a positive word but being 'elitist' is not a good thing (is basically what I considered as just being rude/jerky). I think a lot of people that have roleplayed in MMOs a long time have run into this elitist behavior- I had 2 MRPs of mine put up on one of those 'bad' sites. The funny thing was, one was held up as a 'perfect example' of good RP, the other was lambasted. I think I've had some really negative experiences with people demanding that everyone be treated exactly the same and that exercising one's preferences for certain types of RP (single-line, multi-paragraph, not emoting thoughts/emoting thoughts as a fourth-wall breaking joke) is the sign of an elitist, bad roleplayer when really it's just that certain things don't appeal to me. This attitude (everything is right and you're bad to not accept it) is what makes me feel that wanting to be elite is not bad, what makes it bad is if you attack/put down/laugh at or otherwise denigrate people because their way is not your way. I'm really, really impressed with the responses to this thread. It's the most mature I've -ever- seen people be about this topic and I've been doing this for a long, long time. I'm really happy to see that people are discussing this and not calling other people out as big bad meanie-heads- as I'm sure some people are accustomed to seeing when this topic comes up in other MMORP communities (WoW, I'm looking at you). I definitely think this is the right community for me. *throws love and confetti all over this thread*

Except for my chocobo's name inspiration. Kuzco was an awesome protagonist. And K'uzco is an awesome chocobo. Pacha was a good guy too and totally relatable. And Lilo & Stitch weren't goody two shoes either. Okay, I'll stop and be good now. >_> <_< (K'uzco is an awesome chocobo) /runs away *laughs* Fair point to you! Kuzco was awesome. He was flawed as heck and I loved him. Lilo and her sister too (and Stitch). You caught me on that one.

I struggle with this concept a lot. To me, to be 'elite' is a good thing- elite is a word for someone that has struggled, has worked hard, has really put the time into whatever it is they are elite at and thus have earned that word. Is it exclusive? Yes. It does exclude people who have not done those things. Does it mean be a jerk to/talk down to/offer unsolicited advice to those one feels is -not- elite? Not at all. That is rude, not elite. However, the concept of 'you have to be nice to everyone that RPs and accept what they do' is one that I find unrealistic and frankly ridiculous. I have been told (repeatedly) in other MMOs that my character walking away ICly means -I- am rude and elitist because the person I'm RPing with is, frankly, bad at it but no one is allowed to judge them. I do not do or say anything to the player, I do not mock them, I do not laugh and call them 'a bad'. I simply choose to not to continue to RP with said person- but this is bad to many people because roleplayers -must- be inclusionary, after all, we're all part of a larger subset of the commonly excluded/teased/picked on and therefore we must all present a solid front. Community is very, very important, absolutely. But I feel that not having standards and taking the 'everyone can do what they want and nobody is allowed to censure them in any way' tact is a detriment to the community as a whole. We should -want- to be elite. We should want to be great at this craft. There will always be folks that just want to play what they play and not be told any differently which is all well and good, but to throw around the term elitism as a bad thing is, imo, basically the same thing as saying "Person that has put time and effort into this is -required- to interact with person that hasn't because we're all RPers and that means we -have- to be a big happy family and if you -don't- do that thing that means you are elitist and a bully and bad." Which is, admittedly, an extreme view but it is one that I have encountered before. I do not generally speak whenever this topic comes up because I know my words are not popular and that people will use them to determine that I am some elitist jerkwad that doesn't want anyone else to have any fun. For the record, I don't care what people play. Be the half-fairy/half-dragon. If you're having fun, have fun, but don't automatically decide that just because you're roleplaying that means everyone -must- accept you- and if they don't that means they're ~elitist~.

A lot of people have responded to this in interesting ways. I see that the OP seems to have a very specific complaint: false advertising. (S)He joined a guild claiming to be heroes, then found out that the other people playing said guild are not heroic- they are anti-heros at best. The thing is, and this is entirely speculation, what if the players of those characters are planning on taking their characters through the route of redemption? Maybe they're heartless mercs right now, or anti-heroes, or fallen heroes. One interesting possibility is that they are wanting these characters to fall, to hit rock bottom, then rise again to become the shining paragons. Personally, I do find 'truly good guys' boring and unrealistic to play. Jedi I see as a religious organization that is rigid and unyielding, more concerned about whether their members are knocking boots or -caring about anything- than going out there and really making the world better. (The Jedi Code never mentions 'be a good person'.) The Enterprise crew was generally good but flawed- they gave in to rage, and lust, and fear and sometimes they did the wrong things for 'the right reasons'. That's what made them interesting to me. Characters that are completely selfless confuse me- because that selflessness -is- a form of self-interest, imo. Whether or not the characters themselves see it, they are receiving feedback from others to continue their actions- they are rewarded for being good. This is not to say that I'm all about grim-dark either. Typically speaking, I play nominally good characters- Anais is a pirate and has very little conscience nor a strong moral compass, but she believes strongly in saving people and has dedicated her studies into the healing arts. C'rhisi is a naieve child that wants to do good but has a strong temper and a stronger fear of failure that can and will drive her to do things that may not be right. Former characters I've played were a demon trying desperately to atone for the evil of her race, a Sith Inquisitor who didn't want to rule the world- she just wanted a library the size of a planet- but was willing to do whatever it took to get what she wanted, etc, etc, etc. The thing is, speaking in broad generalizations, people playing 'heroes' have fewer motivations and less characterization than people playing around in the shades of grey. They also, in my experience, tend to expect to be rewarded universally ICly for their actions and become very OOCly upset when the people they save or the fight they broke up or the black-marketeer they locked up isn't met with appreciation and praise. When I think of 'truly good' heroes, I think of Disney characters- the heroes, imo, are far, far less interesting and less relatable than the villains. Not because I am a bad person but because the villains' stories, their motivations, are things I feel are universally understood. I think 'shades of grey' heroes- Batman, Spidey, the Fellowship of the Ring, etc.- are more interesting, more relatable, and in the end, longer lasting archetypes/characters.

Evanyell!! Yay!! I've been art-stalking you since...SWTOR? Chiss, right? (Ohgod I hope I am remembering that right.) So very happy you're here and your art is bloody amazing. Looking forward to seeing all the shinies!

I saw you! I knew your name sounded familiar. Had RL stuff going on else I would have approached. You'll get to see me around LS activities though. Welcome to Balmung!

Hello, everyone. I wanted to thank you all for the warm, sweet welcome that we received as a FC and the interest in our group. Sadly, due to unavoidable real-life situations, we are closing the doors to the Black Lotus Cartel on January 18, 2014. Thank you all again. ~Anais Fleurdevide and Obsidian Hornet

Eeeee, a Black Jewels reference! I just had to say yay for that.

Well, the article identified it as griefing so I really hope all these asshats get banned. I -despise- crap like this because it destroys so many aspects of the game- it increases gil-buying, it destroys the marketplace, and it makes it harder for casual players to -ever- get into end game stuff (and it's hard enough for casuals to get in with all the crazy 'you must be geared' nonsense). I hope they're made an example of.

Session Zero: What they're doing is putting together a PUG to do Hard Mode Titan, then deliberately dying by jumping off the platform. Once dead, they are selling their place in the group for up to 200k gil to people so that another person can join the group (which is being held hostage because they can't go on as a 3 man) and be 'carried'. That's as I understand it, anyway. I have a friend that plays on Ultros and a lot of the endgame guilds there are PISSED about this. I haven't heard anything solid about the guilds on Balmung doing it.

YAY PETS! >.> Here are my two:

I'm good for afternoons and evenings on Friday or Saturday. Anywhere from...um...12:00am Server time? (That's 5pm Mtn time I think).

Heyla! I was a little bit late for the get together but I seem to have missed ya'll.

I kind of have an interesting take on this. IRL I moved from one of the largest cities in the US to a very, very small midwestern town. I was in a grocery line and the lady in front of me turned to me and, smiling, said, "Sure is a nice day!" I panicked. Why was this person talking to me?? What did she want? Was she going to follow me to the parking lot and mug me? It was a culture shock moment. Now, after living in small midwestern towns for 10 years and having moved back to a somewhat large city, I have brought that culture with me- I smile at people and ask how their day is going. I say hello to my neighbors and people I meet walking the dog. I initiate. I find it important to keep that perspective in RP. I roleplay publicly- my character speaks in say and /em and when someone indicates in emote or say that they are listening, I respond to that- because it's polite to acknowledge people around you. It's rude to ignore everyone around you- a glance, a nod, a somewhat strained smile if you're having a semi-private conversation or talking about something personal. These are all realistic, imo. People have different roleplay styles and that's cool, variety makes the world go around. But different perspectives are out there and I don't think it's...right to downplay them just because you don't see things that way.

That seems like harassment to me. I'd report that kind of shit.

Anais was a former privateer- she would attack pirate ships for the Admiralty and steal their stuff. Could be an interesting foil! She is known primarily for running Garlean blockades and attacking Empire ships vs. pirates, and she used to smuggle Ala Mhigans out of the city. Have a glance at her wiki in my sig if you're interested at all. I'd love to have some good shady contact-ness for her.

I think a C-cup chest would be just fine with binding. I'm rather larger but a cousin of mine has bound herself before. She likes to run and is an amateur traceuse (parkour runner) and I believe she's about a C. The fit of men's dress shirts does make it easier to hide your bust, too, which is nice. On a quick search I found this link, it gives several different options: http://www.ftmguide.org/binding.html

These definitely won a few giggles. I approve of cat-girl cheerleaders. We need to make this a thing. And yes, that cook. *fans self*

Still working my way up to level 50 but I -really- love running dungeons with newbies, tackling the mobs and bosses until we all get to feel that feeling of accomplishment. Anais Fleurdevide Scholar Balmung Times online vary. Typically all day on the weekends (with small breaks for food) and in the evenings on weekdays. I'm in MTN time. Currently level 35. Bio: Long, long history of playing a healer or a tank in MMOs. Some experience as a DPS as well. If you need a tank -and- a healer, my SO is my pocket tank and he has years of experience doing that. We don't get frustrated at wipes unless they're caused by people being dumb (if the dps purposely face-pulls that group of 5 mobs because they want to 'go faster' then we have no problem letting that dps die). We're all about educating and enjoying the challenge of a dungeon run. We'll happily do the research to make sure we have the best possible chance at winning.

Hi! I can answer only one portion of your question, I'm afraid. Regarding the tribes of the Sun Seekers- there really hasn't been any widely publicized lore released for the individual tribes. Below are a couple of spoilers that I've either been told of or experienced. There's really not much that's not fan-made regarding the lore and even for the cases I mentioned above the canon lore gives a good amount of leeway because while that part of the tribe in game may be a certain way, it's mentioned that the tribes were nomads for a long time so there may be offshoots that act completely differently. Good luck with the other questions and I hope this helps!

I used to do a lot of costuming for LARPs both for my husband and myself. I -highly- recommend going to a Goodwill or second-hand consignment shop for the shirt/suspenders, possibly even the glasses. You can look in the men's or boy's section to find dress shirts and sweaters- with a tiny bit of work they adapt very well to just about any female figure. If you are looking at binding your chest, be very careful where you look up the information as it is possible to hurt yourself. I have a fairly generous bust so I used to bind on the cheap with 2 pairs of sports bras from goodwill- one in the proper size and one in a size down from the right size. It didn't make me flat chested by any means but it did...minimize. Luck with the costume and I hope you post a picture for us!

I'm on Balmung, I haven't rolled on Gilgamesh, but I've run into a lot of walk-up RP in Limsa and observed RP in Ul'dah and Gridania. The Adventurer's Guild buildings in all three cities have had RP in them in the late afternoons and evenings- during the days things are a bit spare. (Days/Evenings in the US- if you're on EU timezones I'm not really sure). Bummer you haven't seen any RP so far! It's out there, promise!

Anais might work for this. She's an arcanist and scholar, primarily focused on healing, as well as a botanist and alchemist. She doesn't tend to be in Gridania, however, due to storyline stuff, but she travels there frequently so she could be a bit of a, like a relief type person. Also, high fives for fellow VTs!

1. Would you be interested in joining a Elezen Rper directory? If so, post: Elezen Name: Anais Fleurdevide Elezen clan: Wildwood Gender: Female Looking for?: Roleplay, particularly the 'grey market' or 'grey hat' style roleplay. Friend-types. Timezone: Mountain (GMT -7) 3. What sort of Rp are you looking for? and do you have a group of elezen you rp with currently? I'm a heavy RPer so I tend to look for those types. Currently just looking for community ties, a larger circle to RP with. Not currently RPing with other elezen- Anais is a bit uncomfortable around her own people to start with.

Um, not sure if Anais will work for your 'pirate' idea as she's not currently sailing the high seas but if you'd like to have a look at her Wiki and see if she'd fit I wouldn't mind setting up character ties.