Flickering Ember

This. This is pretty much the source of RPer disagreements and drama. As soon as a RPer has evidence that another RPer has done something "bad" they don't even question it. I have seen this over and over and over again throughout my years of RPing. People will talk about it in a private channel they have with their friends or guild chat. They are free to gossip about any number of things that might actually be untrue if they had only dared to talk to the person for clarification. And it's so universal too! Who HASN'T gossiped to their friends or guild at some point? It's the difference between: Ember slams her hammer down on RPer A. (In a private channel) RPer A: omg! I am fighting at the Grindstone and Ember is godmodding! Or Ember slams her hammer down on RPer A. (In a whisper) RPer A: "Hey! I don't understand the way you worded your post. Can you please clarify?" Although to be fair to Ember in subject A, she's not godmodding, she's autoing. I do agree that you talk to the person before you talk to your guildies about that person. RPers improve with education, and Ember may be new and not even understand that an "auto" isn't referring to her auto-attack function. Though I don't think it's a matter of understanding on the part of RPer A at that point. The person would have to say, "Hey Ember, that's an auto attack. You can't simply write my character being hit. However, you can try to hit her." But then, that's something that ought to have been handled already by the time a roleplayer starts getting into combat. Hopefully, Ember would have met some mentor that didn't titter behind her back and blacklist her who could explain how this works. At least I like to think there are still a lot of mentors out there. Honest question: What is the difference between godmodding and "auto-ing"?

This. This is pretty much the source of RPer disagreements and drama. As soon as a RPer has evidence that another RPer has done something "bad" they don't even question it. I have seen this over and over and over again throughout my years of RPing. People will talk about it in a private channel they have with their friends or guild chat. They are free to gossip about any number of things that might actually be untrue if they had only dared to talk to the person for clarification. And it's so universal too! Who HASN'T gossiped to their friends or guild at some point? It's the difference between: Ember slams her hammer down on RPer A. (In a private channel) RPer A: omg! I am fighting at the Grindstone and Ember is godmodding! Or Ember slams her hammer down on RPer A. (In a whisper) RPer A: "Hey! I don't understand the way you worded your post. Can you please clarify?"

I'm sorry, but I fail to see what your point is. If you dislike the topic or see no reason then to say "It is what it is," then I also fail to see what value you have to the discussion and why you choose to stay. "People don't think" is the answer to many of life's questions.Which is not good or bad really. People are not omniscient. What one may not notice, someone else might. This is the part I was responding to. Why do people prefer it? There isn't an answer really. It's personal preference. Often times, people don't think about it. They just do it. If you fawn over every little detail in your post then it will take you 10 minutes to write anything. That's an exaggeration but in my opinion having a fast flow of emotes is more fun than waiting for a carefully crafted post. (Though, I do enjoy slow RP and and am patient enough to wait for it. Just a preference!) For the record, I have seen people who use present tense be accused of godmodding. I personally am not a fan of conditionals, 'if's, 'attempts', or 'tries' in my emotes but I put them in any way so no one will accuse me of godmodding. I would rather say: "Ember hits you with her hammer." I can also reword that to: "Ember swings her hammer at you." But I find that to be uncertain. Often, when I word it like that people don't even acknowledge me! In the RP community, it's better to upset someone's grammar pet peeve than it is to be accused of godmodding. And that's why people use "would".

You assume that the attempt at answering curiosity is a matter of really caring or getting worked up over it. Seeking knowledge for something one does not understand does not mean that one is getting worked up over it. I've come to the part of the conclusion that there is no real "origin" but I am now curious as why people -do- prefer it for combat or otherwise roleplay. "People don't think" is the answer to many of life's questions.Which is not good or bad really. People are not omniscient. What one may not notice, someone else might.

Maybe you guys should take the RP combat discussion to a new thread? I know it relates somewhat but 'Whether or not you should talk OOC to come to a decision on a combat RP' is not anything like 'Future tense is used primarily in RP combat.' On topic, 'would' is being made into a mountain from a mole hill. You might find you have a lower blood pressure should one stop worrying about such silly things. I guess there are two types of people: those who are bothered by it and those who really can't be bothered to care. It's exactly the sort of people who aren't going to get worked up over it who don't post in threads like these. Thought I would speak up for those sort of people, at least. TL;DR: It's not a big deal unless you make it one. Also I have never played or seen 'tense gymnastics' and have only seen 'would' be used like 3 times in the past 6 months. Shruuug

I've already addressed this in the opening post, as some people do it outside of just making sure that they're not taking away the other roleplayers' agency. They use it for everything. These are cases were someone is going to do it. There's no ifs, ands or buts. There's no other person that would be there to say "NO YOU CAN'T WALK DOWN THIS STREET I HAVE AGENCY OVER THIS." It's just seeing... "She would go to the store and see if there were apples in stock." She's going to go to the store. There isn't a reason other than habit. If it isn't to prevent godmodding then that RPer may have just gotten used to using it. Same reason why RPers in general have writing quirks. I know it is a pet peeve to a decent amount of people but we are here to have fun, not write a college essay. Some RPers really care about grammatical correctness. I would call that being 'high strung.' If someone mistakenly uses 'would' they're probably just pumping out a post in a leisurely manner and trying to keep up with RP flow.

The annoying part is that every winner and runner up is from a Japanese player. I find that rather suspicious. Especially because the styles to be voted on were presumably picked by the Japanese Devs. If you look at the page, there isn't a single non japanese entry :c Let's be honest. Thinking that non-Japanese tastes are going to be strongly catered to in this game pretty much IS the "Final Fantasy" Just to put things in perspective though... There are more non-Japanese subs than Japanese. No clue on China or Korea. I see this point but it bugs me. Especially after the whole "there is no original language" point that was drive home in the "What language do you play with?" thread. Plus with SE always acknowledging how different regions want different things...I feel like SE -should- cater to Western audiences more.

I don't see what's wrong with it, tbh. Yes, beauty is subjective but if someone describes their character as 'beautiful' I picture the western societal idea: average weight with curves, pore less skin, no under eye circles, no blemishes, no unsightly moles, a nose that isn't too long but isn't pugish, full lips, symmetrical features, and optionally: a light touch of make up. In particular, flawless complexion. I'm on the fence on just how subjective beauty is though at this point in my life. There seems to be cultural differences for sure but a lot of factors for beauty seem dependent on how healthy a person is. Health can go hand in hand with complexion so that would make sense. That isn't to say that I think magazine models are perfect examples of beauty, though.

Sometimes just offering to help is helping. There's not really a specific thread that tackles this specific issue. The closest we get is the thread I linked. Perhaps if there was a thread or a guide that better called attention to the fact that there are folks from rising RP communities who would like to become more involved. On one hand there's the mindset that getting involved is rude and controlling. On the other hand, it also makes the RPC feel very 'hands off'. Have fun shouldering the responsibility all by yourself/selves. I wonder if we could meet in the middle?

Hmm. There are some good points in here that I had not considered, particularly RPC's history. I apologize for being insensitive. With admin input being a definite no for this, and some good points in that direction besides, I think there is a lot more we could be doing to help new RP communities spring up. I do feel that aid is needed in that situation, even if many of you feel that it 'isn't up to us.' Many of the folks who have created the communities in my OP are new to RPC or were at the time. It's a high expectation to expect someone who is completely new to the site, and the RPC community, to instantly be able to work up the courage to be as assertive as the leadership or well-established members here, and by doing so, organize a community in the way this thread is implying. It is easy to worry about over stepping your boundaries when you just registered. If I may offer a suggestion, I believe this thread is a bit outdated: http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=2632 The title is ambiguous. If I was googling 'ffxiv rp' and didn't really care to join RPC, how would I know to look here for the server information? Next, the content of this thread could be improved by removing 'Other Servers' and adding the names of the servers I listed in my OP with links to their linkshells. In order to promote the goal that RPC is a space for all RP servers, not just Balmung, the word 'Other' should just be left out entirely.

Why even have Balmung and Gilgamesh then? The RPC had to decide to choose these servers for their respective RP communities. They did not foresee the possibility of these servers not being enough for the entirety of the FFXIV RP fanbase. There has to be a server that is 'decided' upon in the absence of designated RP servers. The RP community is not big enough to where this becomes a matter given up to each individual server. If your aim as a RPer does not require populated, open world RP and only really look for it among one or two RP FCs and/or linkshells then there is nothing to discuss on that end. If your aim is to start up a new RP community due to Balmung and Gilgamesh being locked, I feel this is a worthwhile piece of discussion. Am I the only poster who has been noticing a sizeable portion of FFXIV newcomers who want to RP but can't get onto Bal/Gilg? It is also relevant to note that the RPC is the first match on 'ffxiv rp' in google. If you want to RP in FFXIV but don't know where, consider that this is the place where people with that interest are going to end up at, at some point.

I still think the first step would be collectively designating that Beacon Target #3, though. That way we can say the "Big Three" RP servers are Balmung, Gilgamesh, and... let's say, for the sake of argument, Faerie. It's not much improvement, but it'd centralize the new RPers (and possibly attract some migrants from other servers) a lot more than just having the Big Two and then some possible RP scattered across the four winds. This is basically what I am getting at.

There's no "plan" currently. I just wanted to open discussion on this. I'm not planning on organizing anything. This is basically a continuation of a discussion from another thread: http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=12737&page=4 The OP asked I move it to another thread and I finally got around to doing so. I guess I don't imagine such an event as being a mass-exodus of alts, but rather, a gathering of non-Balmung/non-Gilgamesh that are spread out, combined to make one, more consistently active server with the benefit of their total numbers.

I don't have any intention of leaving Balmung. I am quite happy where I am. I definitely would not suggest that folks from the existing RP servers pack up their bags and move. That would be a train wreck. What I do mean is that FFXIV has a growing playerbase. I definitely feel that there has been some migration from WoW to this game over the past little while. However, only being on the first expansion with Balmung and Gilgamesh having very little room for new RPers, there is very little room to grow. The number of newcomers to FFXIV who have not had a chance to get into Balmung is not a small number of people. What if that sizable portion of RPers entering the game could unify onto one server instead of being spread out over a bunch?

TL;DR: I have no intentions of leaving Balmung nor am I encouraging or suggesting that current Balmung/Gilgamesh residents leave for a new RP server. I am also not planning on organizing this. I am opening discussion to see what the community thinks about a server for non-Balmung/non-Gilgamesh folks to organize on. By now everyone is aware of how hard it is to get into Balmung. Balmung is currently the most populated server, not just in the NA groupings but in the entire game. It's extremely common for RP servers to end up being the most populated servers in any given game though. Our community is often forced to being organized to continue to exist. Most games really only need one RP server, really. However, if it becomes popular enough, the demand for a new RP server becomes increasingly necessary. There is one in the form of Gilgamesh, or it would be if it wasn't nearly as full as Balmung is. As much as I would like to promote the sister RP server here, it's hard to direct RPers there when it is also always closed. At this point, I think it's worth at least opening discussion about possibly maybe thinking about organizing a tertiary RP server. There's not going to be a point where Balmung opens again, at least not during a time when FFXIV is thriving. Server transfers are a good suggestion but also gates out many more potential RPers than it allows in. As of now, we have had a few people attempt to advertise for the building of RP communities on their servers, but nothing unified: The problem is the more spread out people are, the less a RP community can be organized. These small RP communities are great if you're looking for a linkshell or maybe a few FCs. But if people are hoping for more visible RP like what we see on Balmung, more organization is going to be required. I am glad others are taking initiative to create these but if a full, visible RP server that is comparable to Balmung is the goal here, there needs to be 1. Unified effort and 2. RPC's support to make it happen.

Well, voting is ending tonight at 11 pst. So make sure to finalize your votes if you haven't already.

I'm not that great of a player but I don't see the need to provide a disclaimer or make excuses for it. There are many non-RPers who are not skilled either.

I would love to. Ember doesn't know anything about magic but is always getting involved in it. What times are you guys usually active?

Quoting this for emphasis. In my opinion, it would be better to read through this post and consider these factors rather than restrict your character to 'okay my character can only be good at one or two things or a jack of all trades.' It's a bit more complicated than that, as this post highlights.

This is true. However, I'd take into consideration that this line of thinking is a bit different in terms of RP communities. In RP communities 'character trends' are something that happens often. For example, ever since astrologians came out, there has been a huge surge in RP character population of characters who can do tarot card readings. Because we are in a RP community where we cannot control what other people play as vs. being just a gamer/spectator/movie-goer/reader where we can choose what stories we partake in, there are certain types of stories, traits, ideas etc. that can easily be loaded up on. I would argue that after a certain number of these within the community there are points where I get tired of some things. (Though it would be rude of me to go around advertising such things!) Another example: I'm sure writers can still write some original ways in telling stories about princesses. But right now I am so overdosed on them that I don't honestly care how well done they are. You can only do so much when you are cohabiting the same universe too. (DBZ and Superman examples which have the benefit of being in separate universes/canons and thus vary widely because of it.) Anyway, this isn't about what everyone else wants. It's about what you want as a roleplayer. What would you have fun with? The difference here is that OP is asking for feedback. Otherwise I would never see much worth in bringing up what other people might think.

One of my pet peeves in RP forum discussions is the weird idea that it is realistic for characters to not be able to specialize in more than one skill/combat style. This is not balanced for sure, but if we are going for realism multiple advanced skills makes perfect sense. The whole 'jack of all trades' thing is coming from a very video game-y/min max point of view. Here is the brutal honest part in reality. For some people 'what they are best at' is merely average for many other people. Some people are barely capable of pushing a single mediocre skill, some have talents in skills that aren't really useful, others are only really skilled in whatever their job skill set is, others are talented in multiple other areas, and still more are incredibly talented. "Life is not fair" should probably be a phrase that needs some more emphasis in the modern world. It's not. It's absolutely brutal. Real life does not have a perfect spread of point allocation like in an RPG. Some people are born very lucky and others get a raw deal. This is a bit of a downer post but I will say, what's truly important is that you live the life you want, which often means being happy. There are multiple roads to get there. To answer this question you have to ask what RP style you prefer. Do you prefer realism? Do you prefer well-balanced characters? If you're going for realism on this consider that talent also comes with time. Artists may have a creative disposition but they didn't get to where they are by not sinking time practicing their artwork. To be talented in many things, depending on what it is, requires time investment. If you're RPing a character who spends every night at the Quicksand then it doesn't seem that plausible to me. If your character is young (pre-30/40's) then it is also increasingly unbelievable the younger your character is. Prodigies are a thing but they're a bit rare and overdone as well. My overall opinion is that while I do enjoy and need a healthy dosage of realism in RP, it isn't always fun to be realistic. I think it is more fun to limit how much your character is skilled at, that way your character isn't constantly hogging the spotlight.

They are antagonists so it does make a lot of sense. However, 'what makes sense' can also be particularly vanilla. There's nothing wrong with vanilla if your aim is to not have a unique backstory. If that is your aim, then you should probably avoid/tone down the vanilla.

I agree with you Prova. As long as people are constructive, don't resort to name calling or cursing, aren't rude then I don't see the need to shut people down because they disagree on something. Complaining is just fine and I have tried my best to not take it out on the entries.

I think the reason why people are negative about it is because there is something at stake here. A new hairstyle is something a lot of people want and enjoy so it's easy to get irritated when something is winning that you dislike. I know for me I'm wondering if they are not going to add anymore hairs after these contest entries. It's just made more frustrating by the lack of balance in hairstyle selection. Some of the hairstyles that are unique to certain races really have no reason to be. (What does a shaved head strike you as being particularly elezen for example? Female elezens are the only females with a shaved head option) Then you have female Au Ra that have only 1 or 2 hair styles without bangs.

No I agree with you. As a woman who wants very badly to play 'non-traditionally feminine' characters, I am pretty frustrated with the hairstyles. They are too elaborate and fancy. There just isn't any diversity and it feels like we'll be getting more of the same: lots and lots and lots of braids.