Maril

The problem is when people who are new or trying to drum up connections in the connections forum get passed over. Or when new people say hello, and people ignore their threads. It's not even a matter of those people saying that they're being ignored. It's a general sense of seeing that they're being ignored. Trust me, I'm an advocate for people getting out there and finding RP, starting it up with people randomly. It's how I met some of the best friends I have in this game. It's how I met my current RP partner. But pretending like it's not happening is just as bad as people who don't advocate for themselves. It does happen. You may not have experienced it, but it doesn't lessen the fact that it does happen to other people. It reminds me of a camp that I went to for the school I teach at. It was a diversity camp thingy, and one of the things that they taught us was that "We are the owner of our own story." We cannot invalidate someone else's experience simply because it's an experience that we have never had. Count yourself lucky that you don't feel that way, and make a point of ensuring that others don't have that experience. That's how we're going to fix it. Not by telling people that it's their own fault for feeling ignored. Presently speaking though, all of the threads in the welcome desk has replies and some of them even have upwards of ten. I don't know if you were specifically meaning for the welcome threads, but getting a few replies to something like that is pretty good in my eyes. They're hard to reply to in the sense that usually you can say little more than some variation of welcome and maybe toss in a compliment to their character design. I try to do it because I like doing stuff like that but I can also understand why someone wouldn't bother so much with a one-five word reply. I also feel like there shouldn't be so much blaming involved when it comes to finding and not finding roleplay. It's not to anyones fault because it's not just one persons responsibility, it's everyones responsibility. You, me, even the lurkers. So if one is to blame we're all to blame in the same bout and that doesn't really lead to anywhere constructive. I have posted in a lot of making connections threads, and so far I have been contacted by a fraction of the OP's, I usually try to encourage people reaching out to me in game because I will forget to do it, I have the memory of a sieve. I have a slight expectance for people looking for connections also following through with a tell or a PM or similar. Though I think this talk has happened before. If someone is struggling to find roleplay, my advice is always to try and get in the fray and do some walk ups. It's hard to start storylines with strangers, so try to have a stab at the crowd and see if you can turn some of the strangers into regular contacts. That might mean showing up at large events that doesn't always suit your character (eg. I try to spectate the grindstone now and then, none of my characters fight however, and there's not always someone to cheer on. But you might just meet another spectator to idly chat with about the fighting that's going on) Sometimes bringing your characters into envirionments where they wouldn't exactly thrive can help develop them as well, maybe a positive experience means they wont be so opposed to it in the future. Mind you I'm not saying break your character, cause that's no fun. And then.. Persistence. I know it's hard, but it does pay off in the end. Despite being a GM, I do go through times of RP starvation, and generally wanting to RP with someone outside of my company as well. I end up facing the same challenges. If there's anyone out there compatible with my activity as an EU'er, feel free to reach out and poke me. Nailah is a very versatile character, save for coerthas and northern thanalan there's not a place where she wont go, and she will absolutely start the conversation too. She isn't overly great with paralysingly shy characters, though. This ended up being longer than I expected. I sorry. Please accept a cookie.

So is putting things over your face and making them look cool. I adore characters with red/orange-red-ish hair Kyrio wears it well.

*runs into thread* I would like to suggest a box-thing where you can put in your timezone, so that it appears under your avatar like this: Pardon the shabby paint-edit. It'd make it a lot easier to figure out which people you are time-compatible with. It's not a given that people include their timezones in their making-connections posts for example, and at least for me I know there are some timezones like EST that I can work better with - The difference between 6 and 9 hours is pretty big for me. I know that you can click on people's profiles to see their local time, but that's only something I realized recently and it's a little tedious having to click peoples profiles to see it.

Yeah, it does a bit. I love the European Directory you've done but I didn't even know it existed for a long time. Could just be me failing to notice things as usual but that's why I jump up to link it whenever I see a new EU player post in the Welcome Desk. I don't want people to give up on Balmung because they're not aware of the EU community here. I get the feeling there's actually a lot of European players on Balmung but many are hidden away. It makes it difficult to organise stuff - especially when it comes to raiding groups and in-depth events. Not to mention the fact that quite a few European players end up adhering more to an American schedule than a European one and end up missing EU prime-time fairly frequently as a result. I'm guilty of that. This is one of the reasons why I kind of liked it back when there was a front page to the site here because it made it just a little easier to twig that it was for everyone. Now it's just basically a forum page and you have to click around a bit to get a description of the RPC, which is not always great. Something that's on my secret wish list for the site is to have a time-zone bit out under the avatar that people can fill in just like they can fill in their character name. I know you can click on their profiles to see local time but, it would just be a bit easier if it was visible on the posts (Especially in Making Connections) - Not just because I want to identify other EU'ers but also because when it comes to the US of A, some timezones like EST are more workable for my schedule than say, PST. But you're absolutely right, there's a whole heap of EU RP'ers hiding out there. Certainly far more than just the ones hanging around in the EU linkshell.

I haven't seen this forum game here yet.. So here goes. King of the Hill (or queen, emperor, whicheversuits) is another poster above type forum game. The idea is that the poster above has become king of the hill, and the next poster then has to dethrone them using any means possible so that they can claim the hill, and then it goes on forever. I find it a fun creative little game - and whilst this is entirely OOC I suppose people could play a bit on character quirks, like those mentioned on wiki's etc ^^ Example: Poster #1 is king of the hill Poster #2: (Name) puts a heap of cookies at the end of the hill, and watches Poster #1 run for them. (Name) then steals the hill and declares "King of the hill!" So, to start this whole thing off. Nailah is King of the Hill. Steal it, I dare you!

So I have no idea but, I see a compass, a steering wheel for a ship (theyprobablyhavea nameI dontrememberrightnow), tentacles, waves.. And a spiky wheel? Maybe it's something related to a kraken or leviathan? It definitely seems sailory. Maybe it's like "How to react when you sail over a Kraken 101" and then all of the pirates/"privateers" ever are like "Arrr... We can't read." and that's why krakens are a problem.

18e3KIFn1Bg Highlanders with beards. Esp if of lominsan upbringing. And here's one for certain hopelessly romantic people 5 minutes after they meet an interesting woman (Or man?) in the quicksand: bWWqB8Hb_js One a side note, Vat-19 videos are full of awesome.

This. I've noticed that a lot of the nice happy-feely, let's-all-compliment-each-other threads on here are (and please excuse the crass language--there's really no better term) one big circlejerk where the OP's close friends and frequent role-play partners chime in to fawn over each other and anyone else who tries to join is brushed aside, only to be acknowledge if their own friends jump into the fray just to offer them a response. It's really off-putting for any role-players who are new, less active, or simply not a part of the clique in question. Sorry but I feel this is a bit eh. Not the case? At least for me. I've posted in the compliment thread a bunch of times, and I actually mean the compliments I give out despite the fact that I have not had any interaction with the people there beyond in that very thread - with the exception of a few people. I get that it seems circlejerky, but I do believe it was created in good intention and perhaps even to serve as something fun in the midst of a lot of negativity (It reminds me a bit of this one anti-bullying experiment a school did where you have to sit in a circle and give eachother a massage, the idea being that if you do that you'll eventually not feel that someone is odd and pickonable. It's also a frequent topic on just about any forum board I've been on :3). I heavily heavily doubt that anyone is posting in that thread to be mean to others and exclude someone, and honestly if people go about not posting in it because they assume it's just for a select few people.. Well that certainly isn't going to help? It just helps create a problem that (as I see it) isn't really there. At least I can say for myself that if someone new to the thread posts I will compliment them, maybe even for jumping into it because jumping into anything new takes sometimes takes braveheart-like courage. I really appreciate the banpersonaboveme/compliment/givethepersonaboveaskill/etc threads, they're fun and not serious and shows another side to the posters. Well, and then they add to your post count, which is a motivation for some because pretty little numbers going up is something most people like.

I am on at seemingly senseless times here on the east coast of the US. Kids are in bed and Mama should be sleeping? Too bad for her, she's an insomniac who does better with no sleep than she does with 2 hours. O_O Woke up at 5am because the toddler still doesn't sleep through the night? Can't do housework that early, might as well hop on and play! I've seen you on, tons of times, without that little red chair, lol. Maybe next time I'll actually say "Hi!" Although I very well may have and just don't remember it lol. Haha, yeah I dont get enough sleep either. You should totally say hi, I promise Nailah doesnt bite. Much.

Welcome!

Honestly, most of my guildee's avoid the RPC because of it's reputation for drama and fights. Save for the start of the relaunch I can't think of a time where I haven't heard someone say "oh I don't go there because I heard.." - Many times they haven't even seen it themselves, they just assume. It's also part thanks to the fact that almost all RP-community websites end up toxic at one point or another, some of the worst cases I've witness has had biased corruption in the staff/mod-group as well, to the point of refusing to ban a clearly abusive user because they were picking on someone they didn't like anyways. As far as I can tell stuff doesn't get abused here when it comes to modpowers anyways, something I'm really happy about. And those who aren't avoiding the site because of it's reputation, are not using it because when you first come here it really seems like a site for NA people only - which is obviously because my fc is an EU one and that. Heck when I came here myself I was confused about that too in the start. But that's #justeupeoplestuff. Anyways. I have noticed the increase in agression here, but I certainly also have noticed it in-game. I recently left a linkshell - not going to mention names - which used to be friendly, but has become worse over time. One evening there was a bunch of people bashing on heavy-rpers for being too serious/elitist/etc and it just got a bit much. Might seem like an over-reaction on my part, but honestly I don't want to expose myself to more of that kind of toxicity than what I can't avoid. It's no secret that roleplayers often disagree about things but it's gotten a bit OTT recently. When it comes to this site I just try to stay out of ticking-bomb threads or, alternatively abandon them when they start to become toxic or excessively passive-aggressive. To the point of not even reading them, because it's just going to end up ruffling feathers.

My character Nailah could probably pitch in with some help. She has a thing for making things happen that at times seem completely unrelated to anything else she's got going on. Timezones might not be compatible though, but there might be ways where I can still help ^^

Definitely interested in establishing connections ^^ With some people from my fc we're planning a small tribe, which definitely could be opened up for more but certainly would also love to have some connections to other tribes, be they of warring conditions or not.

Contract offer: An Urgent Delivery Info here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EhdcxiyVheaVICGAVHPAOKS0dhpl9OwZLg9ZemlK-po/edit?usp=sharing 23/04-15 at 8PM GMT. Time converter linked in document. Need mercenaries and NPC's. Send me a /tell or a PM in game to sign up (first come first serve).

Banned for not feeling good. You should feel good! B1wOK9yGUYM

Nick seems pretty cool, I just can't help think of a ship every time I read his username :blush: Definitely ought to try and find icly sometime. (I was totally beaten to it, please have this edit instead)

Clio is very nice to talk with oocly ^^ IC interaction pendingTM

I am usually online from afternoon GMT+2 time and then until anywhere between 1-5am GMT+2. Sundays and every second wednesday I'm not on as much due to social stuff, thursdays I tend to be on a little bit later in the day as well. I've been trying to look out for you as well but so far I havent been able to catch you, I'll keep on trying tho If I am not on Nailah, I might be on Thala'to Relehna or L'nessa Kasah.

My favorite screenshot from tonight. Post-event RP Very nice.

Thank you for coming everyone! I picked out some of my favorite screenshots from the night Look out for more of this in the future. Bonus: Let the shipping.. Continue *hugs* Love you all

We are gathering at aleport now, come one and all. We don't bite

Just two hours to go! Remember, we start in Aleport.

Banned for drinking coffee! Tea for life.

Banned because when I woke up after passing out last night I was so confused, and that's your fault D:

Welcome!