Hey, everyone! An old time RPer and MMO player here, newish to FFXIV. (By newish, I mean "just started Heavensward.) I waited for a bit before jumping onto the RP sites because I wanted to have at least a little bit of a grounding in the game before I began, but now I'm looking to hopefully strike up some interesting stories with people.
MMORPG Background
Aaalll the way back to Everquest (although I was way too young for it at the time...). From there, I briefly played WoW--never hugely got into it--and then I ended up sort of jumping around various MMOs. I dipped my toes into EVE (not really my thing), had a lot of fun with Face of Mankind (RIP, you were too beautiful for this world), even that first FF MMO a good number of years ago. I had mostly dropped them until I played The Secret World, which became my absolute jam. I loved that game, was part of an RP cabal there, levelled up to the raids, and just drank in the world. Unfortunately, they moved over to the Legends game which I can't quite stomach and most of my friends have moved on from it.
RP Background
Dating myself slightly, but all the way back to the Yahoo! and AOL RP communities when I was... again, maybe younger than I should have been. A lot of time doing chat RP and forum RP. After a while, it sort of dropped while I did other things in high school etc., but I went in and out of it, dipped my toes into RP in various MMOs. I got back into it big time in The Secret World, and, like I said, became an officer/really active in this cosy, mid-sized cabal (TSW version of a free company). We've all more or less dropped that game since then--as much as we rhapsodize about it--but we all still hang out together and have a weekly tabletop night. All in all, I've RPd for quite a little while--I may not be the god-and-master of RP, but I'd say I'm broadly comfortable with it.
Character Ideas and Info
This is a toughy. I often tend to let character stories congeal through interaction, working off of a central core, but it's been tricky for me to really nail down what that core is in my character's case, and I'm bouncing between a few central schemas. In general though, I don't tend to play very "special" characters and usually prefer more grounded, down-to-earth characters--"supporting roles," might be the term.
How did you learn about the coalition?
Honestly, just searched. Trying to find my way into the community, maybe find a nice group, and this seemed like a place to go.
What kind of a role-player are you aiming to be? (e.g. Light, medium, or heavy)
I'd say medium-heavy? I've made it more or less the mainstay of my experience in other games--e.g., TSW. But then again, I've known people who would refuse to say a peep OOC ever, even if you were trying to tell them their house was burning down around them. (I had to run a dungeon with one of those guys.. it's fun explaining opaque dungeon mechanics in an entirely IC mode!) So I'm not sure I'd say I'm heavy-heavy. But I'm often perfectly comfortable spending the night RP-socializing rather than necessarily running a dungeon.
Anything from real life you're comfortable with sharing? (Work, school, hobbies, etc.)
I won't get into too much, but I've bounced around in life. I've worked as a freelance journalist, studied as a sinologist, lived in Shanghai and Hong Kong and then spent time packing through Europe. As for my hobbies, except for FFXIV right now, I still love Chinese literature (especially Song ci-style poetry), I jog four times a week, and am a huge fan of history. I've always wanted to learn to draw, but I can't get beyond stick figures, but I'm pretty decent at calligraphy and I love fountain and dip pens.
