Flickering Ember

With the amount of time needed for MMOs, I can't imagine people playing more than one and being able to keep up with RP in both. I don't play more than one at a time but I have tried and always failed miserably.

Sources of inspiration were instrumental for me. If you're having a hard time thinking up concepts, I highly recommend you take a look at other characters and stories for inspiration. 1. I had just finished my 4th or so rewatch of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Toph is probably my favorite character from the show and I always thought it was really cool how the show portrayed her blindness. I had seen people RP blind characters before, but most I have met ended up being no different than if they had sight. Whatever magical workaround they had created always defeated the purpose of RPing blindness. I wanted to RP a blindness more like Toph's and I thought if there was any universe I could get away with that it would be Final Fantasy. 2. While I still consider myself cynical, at the time I was feeling especially so. I had just adopted a rather negative outlook on people where I chose to see them as not being as above the rest of the animal kingdom as people think they are. Effectively viewing the free will of humanity as little more than an illusion of instinct. (Whether or not I still believe that, I'll leave it vague since it's not the focus here) So I decided that Ember would also be a wild child, much like Gau from Final Fantasy VI. She would be ignorant of society and know only instinct and the rules of nature. I wanted to use this to paint her in a darker, more selfish and violent light. She's affectionate but it would not be true love. She would only love those who showered her in gifts first. That was the plan but I quickly turned the character to a more optimistic direction rather than cynical. I also decided that I needed this extra element from the start of her conception because blindness is just a trait and I needed the core of her character to rest in a different, completely unrelated concept. 3. Extending off of animals, I adored the cats I had grown up with and recognized that each of them had very distinct and interesting personalities. Creating an interesting, fun personality for a RP character can be somewhat difficult. I want something that is fun but not cliche and stereotypical. It can be hard to achieve this while thinking up personality traits. I got it in my head to look to my cats for inspiration. One of my cats had recently died of cancer and she was still very much on my mind. Her personality was the most affectionate I had ever seen, yet she was aggressive towards those she did not like. (Mostly other cats) These were the beginnings I had for her concept and the rest of her character sprung out of them. I realized early on that Ember would have a disposition close to my TOR character's with the personality I had chosen. So a previous RP character was also used as a little bit of inspiration as well.

I could have sworn that female Au Ra sitting pose was slightly different from the above? I remember the hands being in front for some reason (between their knees?). I dont play one though so I could be wrong There are slight differences such as where the hands are, but they are the same. It's kinda how all the /changepose 4 has everyone put their hands in their pockets somehow, or /changepose 3 has everyone doing a certain hand movement somehow. Different variations of the same pose, which I frankly approve. (Hand on groin) (Hand on calf) (Hand on inner knee) (Hand on the back) It seems the direction in which the legs are bent, as well as which leg is lifted up and which isn't, change. Again, minor differences that help us look different while giving everyone the opportunity to have a certain attitude. The fact that the sitting positions aren't carbon copies of each other and are noticeably different in small ways combined with some of the wording from the developer blog just makes me think we won't be getting all of them. I think it's more realistic to expect a couple that fit well. Would love for all of them though. It's just easier to go in with lower expectations than end up getting disappointed with higher ones. Directed at Foxberry actually but I quoted the wrong person. I guess I quoted Blue because his point goes along with my own.

I'm excited but.... I don't see anything anywhere that says these are "universal". It says they are new cposes. Maybe I'm just not seeing it but are these new for everyone? Are they new but gender/race specific? Or are they just making current sit poses available to other races? The English article is not clear and I am horribly confused.

I RP that Ember is not talented with teleport magics. She never uses teleports IC UNLESS... ....Someone else teleports her. She will hold onto someone else's hand and allow them to use teleport magic. Most of the time though, all her traveling is by conventional means.

I admit I am part of the problem. I like random walk up RP but I usually don't go looking for it. I enjoy stuff with established contacts more because it continues an already established story I am emotionally invested in. I like meeting new people and getting new rp contacts but prefer meeting them in events or odd, out of the way places than at Quicksand. What I mean is, I prefer keeping up with fewer characters for RP. I've already built up my contact list so I already get a good amount of RP. So yeah I am a part of the problem but I don't know what else I can do.

I'd been meaning to respond to this topic for a while but for some reason I just haven't gotten around to it. The question is 'Are too many people 'fearless'? And to that I answer a resounding 'Yes.' I have absolutely noticed the unrealistic amounts of fearlessness in characters since my first RP character in a MMO but it became even more noticeable after diving into tabletop. As always, everything in tabletop depends on your group/DM, but played by the books, it is possible for your character to die at any given moment. This reality has absolutely encouraged me to play more conservatively with my characters and adds an intense story element to tabletop RP that MMO RP does not get. That said, I vastly prefer MMO RP. As I have made more characters, I have steered away from tough, and hardened warriors to characters who are quite capable of being frightened or freaked out by the occurrences of RP. Having your character be afraid, beyond such things as phobias and extending into combat scenarios or frightening monsters, doesn't make your badass warrior less badass, it makes them human. I feel like it adds more fun elements and conflicts to RP that I personally would love to see more of. It's more interesting than no one ever reacting to big scary monster ever. I think being immune to it because "you see this stuff all the time" is not exactly compelling or correct 100% of the time. (or even the majority of the time) It's a bit off topic but I also want to point out there is a difference between a 'fear' and a 'phobia.' I have a phobia IRL and phobias are such intense fears that they leak into your everyday life and can stop you from enjoying things that normal people often enjoy. Having a fear or a big fear of something is different. After living in a surburban area all my life and then moving to a metro area, I do have a fear of being mugged or picked off the streets but such a fear does not invade my everyday life the way my phobia does. Most people are simply afraid of spiders. A phobia of spiders would probably involve you not being able to look at them, leading to you obsessively scrubbing down your home and setting up spider traps everywhere to make sure they don't get near you, you check everywhere you go for spiders first before you sit down or put something on, when you go to a friend's house you realize their house has not been spider trapped so you patrol their house first before you can relax, you probably have trouble sleeping at night in fear of them or they are in your nightmares every single night. Anyway, I think people would find some good RP opportunities if they allowed their character to feel fear once in a while. And not just fears of spiders or water or losing one's friends, but the very real of that axe dealing a fatal blow to you. If you don't, that's okay too though. I won't dictate how anyone should RP their characters.

Quoting for emphasis and because I have a feeling that many folks missed this incredible screenshot due to it being spoilered. This should definitely reinforce the idea that Limsa is not an anti-septic white due to the rogue's guild, which I agree is very boring! I have not finished the rogue's quests yet so maybe I haven't gotten to the part where they police and succeed 100% of the city. I would not be surprised if this was bravado, as that would seem to match their character. And they actually don't end up succeeding 100% like they say they do.

@Graeham --Sorry bad format because responding from phone "I guess I've just been left disappointed by the amount of role-players I've encountered who expect to be considered to be a 'big deal' based not on actual role-play but how much backstory they've shoved into their character's wiki. For me role-play is about interaction and mutual character development. Someone who takes the time to develop their character as a 'big deal' is going to interact with people in-game, influence other character's stories in the process and it just feels more justified overall." I think it is fair to worry about OP characters. I certainly think it can kill a lot of the tension and excitement if players muscle through everything. On the bright side, RP communities do tend to go by how a character is portrayed, rather than how they are described. So the community can kinda police itself in some ways. It isn't about how much destruction that character can dish out at the Grindstone or in a brawl, it is how the character is portrayed that shows that character. A badass character can die in anti-climactic ways too. Anyway, this topic in general we are going on is rather off topic. I was going to tie it back in with the original post but I already forgot. So. Yeah. There's that.

Sasha, this is a very simple and easy fix. If folks are thinking your character is weak, then it is because they have seen too much of this side to her and not enough of her strengths. You know she is strong despite her flaws so what could help is to simply engage in more RP scenarios where she is able to perform well and to minimize your involvement and focus on RP sessions where Sasha is being knocked out or losing. This can be tough because if the bulk of your RP combat comes from emote battles then you have to get them to concede to let you win. You could move your private/planned RPs out to where Sasha can show her strengths. Maybe she really needs a rare herb and absolutely obliterates a few terrifying morbols. Or it could also be that her weakness doesn't balance well with her strength. The weakness could be too powerful. Not all character strengths and flaws are created equal!

We had wanted to make Ward 3 in all housing areas to be RP neighborhoods, but due to the limited amount of houses and them being in huge demand, those plans kinda fell apart.

It is uncomfortable, but do you understand why? It's not uncomfortable because of society treating period discussion as a taboo. It's not uncomfortable because it deals with bodily fluids. It's uncomfortable because, well, to beat around the bush, if someone were to ask me: "Ember, what are some tips for RPing a female character?" ...I would include "Emotional fluctuations affecting superpowers negatively" as something not to do.

Not every woman experiences mood changes. Yes, there are hormones changing but it doesn't always result in moodiness. Yes, there are hormonal changes. Yes, mood changes affect a significant portion of women. But it's not something that turns women into angry berserkers. It plays off of what is already there. For example, I tend to experience depression, as already noted. But if I don't have a reason to be depressed, if I'm having a good month then I'm not going to be depressed. These symptoms play on what is already there. If you're already a rational, logical person who is good at controlling the Inner Beast, then a period isn't so drastic that it will suddenly make you lose control. If you're an emotional wreck 90% of the time then why does the period matter? That's not the period making you that way: that's all you. Mood changes are supposed to occur primarily BEFORE your period anyway. That is worth mentioning. Supposedly 1-2 weeks before your period, even. As a woman who does experience emotional changes, this is really only noticeable the last few days before a period. Menstrual cycles do influence emotions. But they don't do so in such a radical way. You're still you. You still have logic. (If I'm depressed before a period you better believe I have actual logical, REAL factors in my life to be depressed about) You're wanting to know how much a menstrual cycle would influence things such as the Inner Beast. I fully believe the differences would not be hindering or difficult to manage. At least not anymore so than just having a bad day or not being satisfied with your lot in life--something that everyone experiences at some point. I'm not that interested in how menstrual cycles affect something like the Inner Beast because it's an incredibly mundane part of a woman's life. (unless you're unfortunate to get some really horrifying symptoms) It's really not that much of a gamechanger, it's just life--but I don't imagine that's something you can know without experiencing first hand. I'm aware that men have a cycle too but it doesn't have the impact that a menstrual cycle does. Men have not been subject to stereotypes or had laws dictating what they can or cannot do during their time of the month. They don't need to see a doctor when things get weird down there (as a result of their cycle) nor do they need to make an emergency run to the market, to invest their own personal money into this biological upkeep. There are similarities but not enough to the point where a man can step into a woman's shoes on this point. So, I think if you want to consider how a person's emotional states factors into the Inner Beast, it would be better to go by life events. What is your character's temperament? Is your character down on their luck? Have they ever lost a loved one? Have they gone through something traumatic? Do they have emotional illness? Anger problems? These are more likely to cause problems than a menstrual cycle will. The type of hormonal imbalance you are talking about in regards to Inner Beast feels like something someone would go to the doctor for, like a thyroid problem. It shouldn't be so strong that your character is flying off the handle, unless they are already emotionally inclined to be that way to begin with.

I think theorycrafting on how menstrual cycles affect these powers goes off of a few posts already written here. Specifically, that emotional instability is a negative stereotype and an exaggeration. I feel like choosing to make periods as anything more than a footnote can be irrelevant at best and offensive at its worst. To call attention the effects of menstrual emotions on super powers inadvertently implies that women are irrational at this time. (Even if you're looking at it from the 'not an average woman' perspective) That may not be your intention, but I would suggest treading lightly here. I would say RPing menstrual symptoms linked to job superpowers as anything more than 'subtle' would be over doing it. It's a biological function, not a mental illness. I'm only half sure of what you're going for in RP with this. I would recommend not using periods at all and instead go for mental illness or an emotional temperament. Unless the period is a tie in to a theme of your character's. (For example, a coming of age story where said character is grasping what the idea of 'womanhood' means to her)

Right, the idea that women get angry and crazy around period time is mostly a myth. Mood changes are a symptom but they're not as common as people make them out to be and are highly exaggerated. Mood change is one of the few symptoms I experience OOC, but it's depression rather than aggression. Periods do vastly differ between women so trying to pin down how 'periods should be portrayed' is tough. Every woman's is different! Personally, I have very mild periods that barely hinder me. Many times I don't even get a single cramp for the duration. I would just go with what medieval eras used for bleeding. Eorzea isn't particularly technologically advantaged--that's Garlemald. Eorzea only tends to make up for technological advances with magic. (Ice crystals for ice boxes, for example) Mostly what I know of for that would be re-usable rags, similar to pads, but probably not as convenient or comfortable.

You can say 'you' here, Graeham. It is alright. I won't be shy in saying that I am one of the folks you are referring to who interprets the lore/story differently. I suppose I don't see my interpretation to be false because I don't hold developer quotes in as high regard. Well, I do tend to believe in lore Q & A's ....just not if they seem to contradict other sources. Unless it is debating over whether or not Hydaelyn also exists in the DBZ universe or some other ridiculous claim, most of the story and lore can be debated on because it is gray. What makes it gray in here is that you hold the developers' words in a higher regard, whereas what happens in game takes precedence for conflicting lore, for me. I really do wish you and any others' luck to find the RP conflict and themes they are clamoring for. It is always a pleasant surprise to find those rare RP incidents that make you go "This is why I made my character!" I do actually enjoy gritty, dark stories more, I just don't see FFXIV as that. I am happy to participate in the RPs you're looking for as a boring neutral good type character, I just don't initiate them and focus on different elements. I'm sure most of us have different story themes we like to focus on anyway. It can be frustrating when everyone is neutral good but perhaps there is a work around for that? If the opposite player plays a NPC there could be potential there.

I'll drop my 'show,don't tell" shpiel here. So if we all agree a developer's word is law...how is that enforced? I can ignore racism and illiteracy to an extent and no one will ever be able to know. I could deny racism being a thing and any RPed out examples being outliers and no one will ever know. It doesn't affect anyone because they are based on character reactions. No one can force my character to be racist. They can't even force my character to say "Oh no! A married hyur and elezen! I support you but how ever have you made it this far in today's society?" No one can force my character to be surprised if she finds out they can read. I can ignore these things without causing problems or upsetting anyone. In contrast to Doma which is relevant to the story and is a point of history. It isn't because I want to be a jerk, I just have a different interpretation of the story. It is a lot like interpreting a movie or a song differently. I don't see Eorzea as a dark, gritty place. Real life is worse than anything that happens in Eorzea. My subjective views on the story of Eorzea don't hurt anyone nor do they break lore. (Unless not playing a racist is breaking lore) What I mean is. I have given my answer why I don't rp as a racist in this game. I have speculated why others don't. The answer is there already. Perhaps this thread will inspire more people to roll those types of characters, perhaps it won't.

Well, it was just a few examples. I suppose I could scrounge up some more if you really want me to and if I'm not lazy about it. Still though... A lot of the quest NPCs can often be ordinary citizens or the vastly intermixed cities and towns. If the majority of the people I interact with don't offer reasonable indications to me as a reader that they are just "tolerating" each other then how am I going to know? By reading one of many SE posts on their forums, I guess. Me mentioning Hildibrand was a double meaning since his inclusion along with other things really calls into question the grimdark reality I think(?) (honestly not sure at this point; too many posts to keep track of) is trying to be sold in this thread. Which yeah, bad stuff happens in Eorzea. It has to so we adventurers can come in and fix it. But the point of FFXIV's story isn't about how terrible the nature of humanity is; it's about grand adventures and the conquering of evil. Anyway. "Show, don't tell" or not, the man is the damn developer for the game. Are you calling him a liar? Are you suggesting that he's just deluded? Or confused? I mean...really? Hm. I wouldn't say 'liar' or 'delusional'. I would just say 'incapable of writing a believable story/world that makes sense'.

I absolutely do believe in the usefulness of dev Q&A's for lore. I do believe, though, that if it has to be mentioned in a Q&A instead of showing up in the actual story that it isn't THAT important. (IE: Going back to my previous post about these elements being 'out of focus') What makes Mr. Koji Fox's post problematic though is that his words on race conflicts what we see in game. It's really hard to believe that the various races are 'just tolerating each other' when multiple characters of varying races form friendships with each other. All this time the lalafells in the pugilist guild were just 'tolerating' their sensei, Hamon Holyfist. Biggs and Wedge are just 'tolerating' each other despite being mostly inseparable. Hildibrand and his assistant are just 'tolerating' each other throughout their wacky hijinks. I thought it was universally agreed upon that "Show, don't tell" was a sign of good story-telling and writing? It certainly should be at least noteworthy in situations like this where what Mr. Koji Fox says in game seems to clash with what we actually see.

It's admirable that the RPC respects other servers in this way. However, just like the RPC stepped up and named Balmung and Gilgamesh as RP community servers, the only way an additional RP community is going to gain any traction is if we step up as a group and organize something. When one person tries to step up to that plate alone it results in, well, multiple individuals stepping up to the plate but not working together. There are at least a few threads floating around advertising for new RP communities, all of them on different servers. Think of how much tighter those RP communities would be if they were all on one server. IMO, RPC would better show its support of co-existence by helping to organize a new community instead of leaving it solely in the hands of a few folks from that server. If this had never happened to begin with, we'd all be spread out and we wouldn't have Balmung or Gilgamesh. RPing as a small group is fine but what I think these newcomers we're seeing are hoping for is an open RP community where RP is not all hidden in guilds and linkshells.

When a prominent developer states something like that and continuously refuses to do storylines that involve what he just says, that says more about the developer than the world he created. And I'm contesting the frequency and intensity that this happens, not that it happens at all. If it was important, it would be shown and it would be prominent. We barely have mention of a very specific racial conflict (in this case I was citing Hyur/Elezen specifically). We have more examples of Hyur/Elezen collaboration and tolerance than of outright hatred/racism. Gridania would be fucked without the Hyur and the Elezen who live there know it. Ishgard is a whole other story. These two posts go hand in hand. First, I'd like to thank Kellach for clarifying on this subject. I don't know for sure who brought up disbelief in Eorzea's suffering but I am fairly certain it was me. Since then, my point seems to have played an important point of discussion in this thread. I thought I was done but these two posts create a great combination for me to explain further. FFXIV is a story driven MMO. The developers have said this, the players know this, and it's even justified for barring HW content for players who have not completed the 2.0+ storylines. Regardless of this, when looking of the story of FFXIV, I look at it as a whole--just as I do a movie. In a movie, it is not just writing that tells the story, like in a book. (Same with video games) We have actors or voice actors, the musical score, sets, costumes, etc. etc. Movies and video games are a team effort to create and every little aspect comes together to make something unique. (Not always good, but definitely unique) I believe fans do not give the these lesser known aspects of story-telling enough credit. They have huge impact. And one of those things is: Mood. This is an element of storytelling that goes hand in hand with Tone. The emphasis of FFXIV is not on the suffering, at least not in ARR. The focus is on heroism and adventure, positivity and idealism. Note the contrast of ARR and HW. HW features darker colors and even defaults you to turning off character glow that had previously been enabled in ARR. Clearly, SE was trying to shift the mood of FFXIV from a positive, heroic adventure to a struggle of classism and war. I know there are plenty of darker aspects to narrow in on ARR. The point I am making is to piggyback off of what Kellach has said: They are out of focus. It's not convincing. (Convincing here from an emotional standpoint, mind you, not from a logical standpoint. It can logically be explained that children are dying of starvation but unless it's emphasized somewhere in the main story, we aren't feeling that emotional impact) If these themes were important, they could include them. But they don't. Instead of making me gather a banquet feast to prove myself able to fight Titan, which we all know is ridiculous, focus on us overcoming the Costa's citizens crappy lives. Instead of giving us quests about delivering love notes or dispersing meals: show us in extreme, horrifying detail romance falling apart or show us NPCs fighting over the meals we disperse. Instead of having us cull a wild population of animals, FF's fall back story for side quests it seems, give an actual story to the side quests. Give them backstory other than "whoa! This animal population is way out of control! Kill them!" How about something like: "Some big bad evil people kidnapped my friend because she's a Duskwight! They're those three in the back of the alley. Go beat them up!" So...why don't we see more side quests like that? Instead we have side quests that focus on the mundane. If XIV is so story heavy, why not add more essential world-building elements to active parts of the gameplay the same way the main story is an active part of the gameplay? How about some side side quests like Hildibrand and moogle mail except as a serious drama? When you choose to focus on the mundane (kill 5 boars) and the silly (Hildibrand) it really takes away from the serious, dark world building. Some of it is reader apathy too. When you've seen X amount of horrible things in other stories, it becomes difficult to top them. 'My wife and children are dead' is not the pinnacle for absolute character suffering anymore. It's sad, it's awful and it's entirely normal for fiction. The amount of suffering presented in Eorzea is fantasy status quo that doesn't make it any darker than your standard JRPG or an entertaining D&D romp. It's just enough conflict to justify having adventures and super powers. We have seen a shift in mood with HW taking FFXIV onto a darker road. Right now I'm level 57 and I'm still not seeing this 'Game of Thrones' like quality that has been used as a comparison from the creators. What does this huge ass post have anything to do with Graeham's post though? Well, just as we have seen a boost in characters who are Elezen or hail from Ishgard, if racist elements were to become more of a focus in story and world building, we would see them more in RP too. Additionally, surely I'm not the only one who changes the type of characters she roleplays as depending on the setting? A character I would RP in World of Darkness is going to be vastly different from a character in Final Fantasy. In other words, the mood of the setting and game can help affect what people RP as. It made sense to RP a racist in WoW, for example, because racial tensions are pretty much the center of conflict in that universe. If Mr. Koji Fox were to show more details on just how the current races are 'working together but just tolerating each other' then we might see more people RPing these elements.

Certainly not to this extent, that I have ever experienced. Balmung is locked far more than it is available, and what's more, it's locked to new players and established players. At the very least, I think SE could stand to ease up on the restriction for players who already have a character on the server. Dissatisfaction with the server lock outs is a constant around here. It's understandable. Balmung is the designated RP server and that's a unique niche available on one server. People can't make new RP characters or introduce NPCs for their FC storylines. As sucky as this restraint is, it's effective. It not only stops people from rolling on Balmung, but it also inconveniences people for playing on a full server--both of these are very useful for population control. Otherwise, as you noted earlier, our server would be in trouble from a technical standpoint. Problems come with being on a full server, much like problems come with a low pop. If you end up restricting players enough with a MMO wise policy then it encourages transfers to low pops. (Really though they should just introduce free transfers to low pops like on WoW) The idea here is then if alts matter to you then even though you already have a main on Balmung, you are turning your activity to a different server. IMO, RPC should decide on a new RP community to co-exist with Balmung.

There is Gilgamesh but that one is very full too, due to it being the FFXIV's subreddit of choice and probably some other communities as well. At this point, the RP community in FFXIV and RPC would benefit from establishing a new community on a lower/medium pop server. There have been a lot of folks popping in to advertise for emerging RP communities in various other servers, but from what I can tell nothing's really taken off. Who knows if anything will take off? If we were to stop having a new person come in every week to advertise a new RP community server, and organize something as a group, perhaps...?

I am just going to quote this for emphasis. I truly and 100% agree with every word spoken in this post. Virara makes some amazing points that I have thought myself but never had the guts to say in a thread before.

Hm. I am going to make a bullet point post to sum up my points. Admittedly, I kinda feel like the points in my previous posts might be hard to understand. Issue 1: The game writers take a "Tell" instead of "Show" stance to their in game lore. 1. Sin linked a very informative post from the writers that tells us how the world is supposed to be. A lot of Koji Fox's words, in my opinion, clash harshly from what we see in game. (I would never in a million years have gotten the vibe that all these different races hang out with each other but dislike each other? 2. There are a couple of side quests that deal with racism, as well as some ambient dialogues from NPCs. Both of these are extremely easy to miss and I have never come across any of these examples. 3. "Eorzea is a terrible place to live." There are implications in this thread that Eorzea is dangerous and harsh. I don't see how FFXIV is even the tiniest bit of a gritty fantasy though. (See: Berserk and Attack on Titan for comparisons) City states, and the world as a whole for that matter, are clean and pretty. We see mixed races regularly not only getting along, but befriending each other, in the majority of quests available to us in FFXIV. Suffering is implied, rather than shown. (If Eorzea is so dangerous, why don't we see more people dying during quests?) Conclusion: More roleplayers don't acknowledge racism in their RP because it just isn't obvious. Point 1 requires you to look for sources outside the game. Point 2 are obscure sources in game that are hard to find. Point 3 shows how certain lore elements in game conflict with the idea of suffering and racism being widespread. Therefore: Presumably, few people RP these elements because they are simply not known. Issue 2: Some people don't like RPing elements of racism 1. This has nothing to do with mixing IC and OOC. Folks who don't want to RP racism aren't getting personally insulted over it, they just don't enjoy those themes. I don't force my friends and family who dislike horror movies to sit down and watch a horror movie and then explain: "Why do you dislike horror movies? It's not like this is happening to real people. It's not like it's happening to you." 2. It's honestly pretty over done with most fantasy universes already featuring it in spades. Some folks actually find races getting along to be more interesting than racism because we almost never get to see it. Strife may be an essential part of story-telling and RP but it can be gained elsewhere. 3. Way more examples of races positively interacting each other on a friendship based level, not just 'tolerating' each other like Koji Fox's post states. This conflict in what we see in lore gives those people who don't want to RP elements of racism equally valid reasons to not RP racists. Conclusion: Racism is not an integral experience to FFXIV. It is there. How common it is is debatable, given Issue 1. As Freelance states above, there is strong merit to go either way with your RP. Plenty of wiggle room to RP a racist or to not RP a racist. If you choose to not RP a racist, you are not writing an unbelievable RP character. Additionally, people can RP what they want and shouldn't be accused of mixing IC and OOC for it. I have little desire to RP the MSQ or ERP or any number of themes (see: Warren's post on page #2). You can RP those things. I won't think less of you for it. Let's respect each other's likes and dislikes and acknowledge that we don't have to RP with each other if we don't get along.