MikeRaffone

@Shev @SinfulFox Thank you both so much for your amazingly informational responses! I realize these are kinda silly questions, but as someone who is brand new to all this, it's all a bit daunting. I understand much more about the character building and acting than I do the actual mechanics and logistics of the whole thing. There is a very good chance I will be messaging either of you here on this site for help should I run into trouble or confusion. Seems the best thing to do is just jump in and get my feet wet. I'll be working on my character to be ready for the weekend and take it from there. Thanks again! I truly appreciate the responses! :3

First, hello! As the title says, I am brand new to RP and FFXIV in general (played for a few months). I have played MMO's many years ago (Lich King days of WoW, then SWTOR on release), but have never really ventured into RP of any type. (Besides just messing around IRL and speaking as another person. eg. Mr Bean) I do find the whole thing very interesting, but am intimidated as I don't really know what I am doing. I have been reading around and see what others are doing, and I mean, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that people RP basically everything you can think of. As I am really new, I have some extremely basic questions that I am just looking to get cleared up. As it may show, I tend to overthink everything. ** I have read this site's 'frequently discussed subjects', read the 'Role-Play Handbook' and ALL of the other resources I could find before posting this. ** 1. Do RPers ALWAYS communicate OOC first? I was reading something that basically said if you see RP going on, it's best to ask OOC in /tell if you can join in. While this makes perfect sense to me for many reasons, it does feel like that would break immersion. Just looking for clarification on how this normally works. How much of RP is also talking OOC to others to get each others intentions? 2. In the game it is very obvious what people's names are, as they have names floating above their head. In RP, do people ignore this? Or is it just assumed that people know your name and vice versa? 3. I'm going to use a recent experience to explain some of my questions. I went to a bar/nightclub in FFXIV, and a bartender was selling drinks. Say I wanted to get a drink. Which is more normal, just using the 'say' chat, or whispering/telling as you are speaking to that person directly? Would I know the bartender's name? I would think that you'd play this out as if it were a real bar. (walk up to bar, wave/say hi to get bartender's attention, ask about drink specials, order the usual, then make a terrible joke and pay for the drink. Maybe if you went to a bar a couple times you'll get their name) - Let me know if this is kinda correct. 4. I'm also wondering when to use say vs tell. Everything we say IRL is out loud, so to me, RP would be mostly 'say' chat. I may be totally wrong on this. Of course private convos would end up in a tell/group chat. Last questions I'll ask here. 5. I hear a lot about people making connections outside of the game to then RP within the game. How important is that, and how common is that? I basically just expected that people go to the same place coincidentally and meet, then form friendships and OOC connections from there. But it all seems like it is more organized than I initially thought. Is there anyone out there who would consider being an RP 'mentor'? Just someone I can ask my questions too and maybe RP with or find more communities with. (oh, I lied. I asked another question) Thanks to anyone that read this whole thing, Mike Raffone