Eva

16. How is hair coloring seen? For example, someone has green hair. Would they say they dyed their hair green, or are all the colors possible to be born with in regard to hair color in Eorzea? What about highlights? Would people assume they added highlights, or since it's fantasy someone could be born with something like blue and purple hair? To be honest I never really gave this one a lot of thought. I had always just assumed that all options at the character creation screen were possible colors based on race/clan, and then highlights could be added on top of that. I've always assumed that since it's fantasy someone could have more extraordinarily-colored hair. But this may be one of those things that varies from RPer to RPer based on their own opinions and beliefs. I'm not sure it's stated anywhere in the lore. 17. What is/are the way(s) people RP calling a chocobo? In game it's obviously a whistle and then they appear. Is that how most roleplayers call them through whistling? The in-game action is a whistle. I suppose RPers can come up with something completely different, but from all I've seen and heard, this seems to be kind of standard. 18. Is leveling mostly done IC as something like training exercises, or done more often OOC? Usually [but not always] leveling is conducted OOC. That's not to say if a RP group levels together that they wouldn't RP while it's happening. Like so many things this will vary depending on who is leveling, and whether they're doing so with other RPers or whether non-RPers are in the mix. Many people will drop character with a group of non-RPers and focus strictly on the leveling - and possibly continue to RP over their /linkshell channel if they choose. There can also be training events which are handled strictly IC, or which may bring in an element of actual leveling. We used to RP doing levequests, which involved leveling. 19. Let's say you want to RP with someone that would lead to something like leveling, exploring, or a player-created storyline. Is the best way to just /tell the person and come up with a reason IC to bump into each other, or do most RPers want an element of surprise and would not like a preplanned /tell? I hate to sound like a broken record, but this will also depend largely on the RPer. I'm not sure that many people would reject the opportunity for RP though, unless they're off to some endgame thing maybe, or about to log out. I, for one, like the random element of having another RPer strike up a conversation, but I'm not opposed to the preplanned /tell either. In the end I think both methods of approach are just fine. 20. You just gained access to having anything you want for dinner. What are you having? Does your actual level in a class/job reflect your proficiency? I assume it does, but is there anyway a slightly lower level can defeat a higher level if they RP in such a way that they could win? Or is it generally accepted that the higher level character will pretty much always win? Ravioli. This is a tough one because a lot of RPers that I've seen feel differently. In 1.0 there are many people who have leveled all classes to 50, and I don't think RPing expertise in everything is very realistic. I am of the mindset that using the level more as a guideline is the best way to handle it. I would think that in any fighting situation, a lower level could have any number of advantages that might put them on a more level playing field. I can give an example. Eva is a level 50 marauder. In-character I don't think she's ever even touched an axe. If a level 20 marauder were to go toe-to-toe against her with axes, I'm fairly certain Eva would lose. Others' opinions on this will vary widely though, and it is often a hot topic. EDIT: You may also feel free to send me a PM if you have any further questions or want me to explain anything more clearly. Been RPing for a very long time and seen a lot of stuff in my years.

I can't wait to have [iced] tea with her and help her with her troubles~ :dazed: Seriously, very beautiful picture Gerik!!

Ohh she's so beautiful! I do love how you use the flowers and colors to really bring your images to life! I can't wait to see her colored, and everyone else as well!

I wouldn't necessarily say that the hairstyle "makes or breaks" the character, but it was a detail set before official launch of the game and given hairstyles at the time were somewhat restrictive. I don't go to great lengths to emote anything flowery about having very long hair or anything though. Generally, I would rather convey the character's mannerisms through emotes than her appearance. I don't think of it really as a major plot point either. But it is an attribute to the character so it is important to us. Short of someone saying, "Gosh Eva, your hair is short even though it's the longest hairstyle available for elezen women," I don't really see us having to clarify her appearance. There are a couple other significant modifications from the actual character in-game appearance, but this is also downplayed to some extent. :blush: Anyway my opinion of the topic would be - is it all right to deviate a bit from the character's appearance? Sure. I don't see why not. But to expect everyone to be aware of these specific differences and RP accordingly is probably expecting too much. But it's probably fair to say that the people in your LS or in other LS's with whom you RP most regularly will be aware of these differences and if it's enough to be a plot point for some reason than they will surely be willing to play along with that, I'd think. Here's hoping that they give long hair options for the male characters too though~ :angel:

Mtoto... This is OUTSTANDING!! :love:

I'll take a turn: 11. During an RP secession if someone logs off unexpectedly is the "scene" frozen until that person returns, or would the characters react to the person disappearing? Usually people will wait for the person to return. There are the occasional network hiccups and other such things. This depends on the size and scope of the RP also. If someone disappears who isn't particularly active, the scene may go on and someone can bring them up to speed afterwards. From my experiences though, most RPers are all right with sort of 'pausing time' for a few minutes to give them a chance to log back in. 12. Are there guidelines to how names are formed for each races, or can any name created go to any race? There are some general rules which are similar in a lot of ways to how names were handled in FFXI. A lot of the Seeker miqo'te seem to have an apostrophe after the first letter of their name (which is only odd because at least in 1.0 you could not have an apostrophe in your actual name). I think there's a thread somewhere that addressed this particular question in much more detail. Someone will probably either link that or clarify in more detail about the character naming conventions. Though I think this is largely open to interpretation and creativity. Just because there are certain race/clan tendencies is no reason not to name a character something you want to, so long as it's nothing totally outlandish of course. 13. What are some examples or the norm for what linkshells actually are physically? Physically I think they are pearls. Different characters have fashioned different ways to utilize them. I believe they are a sort of magical device, and I don't know that anyone has really nitpicked the exact usage. Some might wear them like earrings, for example. It has been confirmed that they are an 'audio-only' device, though this hasn't stopped some RPers from stretching past those bounds. What the physical linkshell/linkpearl is itself though is something that is often quickly put out of mind. 14. Where is most IC chatting done in game? /say, /l, or /p? This varies widely depending on the characters and linkshells involved. I will sometimes take /say RP to /party channel when in a congested area like Ul'dah marketplace where non-RPers can sometimes get annoyed at what they feel is "spam" chat. Different linkshells also serve different purposes, but most of the RP linkshells I have belonged to regard it as a means of IC communication over distances. This may not always be the case and probably varies from LS to LS. 15. What's your favorite color? Let's say there is an event posted on a site either here on the RPC or on a personal LS site detailing an event that all are welcomed to join. I assume characters can't just know about it obviously, so is the best method of learning of an event (IC) through pretending to see a poster in town, talking with close friends, seeking the person holding the event to come up with a reason for arriving, or something else? Purple. There should be some sort of IC avenue of announcement. Many posts advertising events will make a vague remark like, "The following can be seen upon flyers throughout the taverns and eateries of Eorzea:" or something to that effect. There should be some plausible reason for a character to have ICly heard about an event. I hope this helps.

Eep! I would but there is no covering for my tummy and there are vital things there, and babies ( :blush: ), and there's still a bit of pudge~ But I'm off-topic. Ashkara sounds like an interesting character and I'll certainly be looking forward to making her acquaintance when the RP days begin again!! :bouncy:

Oh wow! Your style really is wonderfully different!! If you would like to add me to the list and draw/color Eva in your way I would certainly love to see it! Eva's Wiki is a bit outdated and needs to be updated soon, but it has some screenshots and info about her physical appearance is still the same. :love:

I think Deirdre hit the nail on the head in that more research should be done about the various RPLS's rather than simply assuming "heavy", "moderate", or "light" would be enough of a qualifier on which to make a selection. I like the idea of additional bullet points and trying to expand upon why a linkshell might be regarded as heavy RP. I have belonged to a couple RPLS's now that I felt misrepresented the quantity of immersion, and spent a good deal of time in my first year or so hopping around looking for something that fit me as a RPer. And I think that's what almost needs to happen before one can truly find a sort of "RP home" in which they can really be comfortable. Figure out what you want out of a RPLS and then find out about what's available. And don't just go by an introductory post, but rather ask the members how they feel about the quality and quantity of the RP. Ask others from the RP community. Sometimes that third-party opinion can really shine a light on things. This is all probably common sense, but the more information you're equipped with, the more easily you'll be able to make a fact-based decision about what best lines up with your own interests and goals. For individual characters, I tend to form my own definitions based on my own set of criteria. And I imagine most others will do the same thing. While I think nearly everyone wants to regard themselves as a heavy RPer, I don't necessarily think this is always the case. I'm not going to lay out my own criteria though because this has never been a disqualifier for RP to happen. Everyone looks for different attributes in a group with whom they can RP anyway. In the end we should be celebrating whatever time is spent being in-character anyway, even for those who may be light RPers.

I do love that dress! And dem shoes! And her hair up like that. And really pretty much everything about this picture!! :thumbsup:

That is amazing!!! :love:

I recognize that avatar! Welcome back! :bouncy:

I'm sorry that the non-canon RP story thread sort of ended. It didn't seem like it was taking any direction and the handful of RPers involved I think tend to be more reflective than proactive so it just sort of turned into chit-chat around the campfire - which is neat to a certain point but I suppose it isn't terribly exciting. It could probably be revitalized if you wanted, but I was sort of waiting for one of the others to jump in. I personally tend to stay away from RP outside of the game and I usually shirk away from forum-based RP because a lot of times it sort of relies on a number of people posting at a certain frequency and when that doesn't happen... well... the story just kind of gets left dwindling, or never really gets off the ground. And people post at different speeds and some folks aren't able to post as often as others and get upset when things progress more quickly than they're able to keep up, and others get frustrated when it goes too slow. It's just easier in game, or I suppose along any sort of chat medium where the action is happening much more rapidly. I sort of broke from my usual practice because it looked interesting - and I suppose because I missed RP and your thread was advertised as non-canon. Our own reason for [generally] avoiding most of the non-canon RP stuff that's ongoing right now is because we would like to meet a lot of the new characters and faces in-game rather than "unofficially" meet them and then later try to spin it as a new meeting again. We've also both been really busy with a number of other things/projects so I suppose even if the game was up we probably wouldn't have a lot of time for it anyway. The other reason I suppose is that it's just "practice RP" and doesn't really matter anyway since there are no results of the outcomes of any of it, and we'd also prefer to wait until things are on record again and all 'official-like'.

Weaver here too~ (first lv.50 job) and also leatherworker. Seems we have a bit in common~

Welcome from another crafty White Mage~ :cheer:

You are correct. This is also "open beta" which I interpret to mean anyone can join by this point so I don't think anyone would be excluded from RP. This is also the stage where your character data gets ported in from 1.0. So this seemed like a logical "starting-out point", but I foresee a variety of different opinions on the matter and just was curious what everyone else was planning to do. I also know some people with Legacy status are really antsy to begin RPing again. I don't really think anything is right or wrong, but I'm kind of trying to figure out when I should start RPing again myself, so I was mostly just very curious.

Since there's been a lot of debate lately I figured I'd ask a question I've been pondering to see what everyone else thinks. When should we officially start RPing again? This post is probably best geared more towards other other characters who entered the rift in Mor Dhona at the end of 1.0 and thus disappeared from the known world for 5 years. But if I'm interpreting the Beta roadmap correctly, the earlier stages of Beta aren't open to everyone until Stage 4, which is also where 1.0 data can be carried over. So I'm mostly just curious when people are planning on picking up RP again. Those staying behind for the 5-year duration can probably RP across any other medium they choose but I would imagine it would make a lot more sense for the rift characters to all return at roughly the same time (though perhaps not and hopefully Stage1 beta will give us a clearer picture of this along with so many other things we've all been quibbling over lately). But it seems to me that either Stage 4 Beta or Official Release would both make sense. And I was mostly curious what other RPers had planned. I was going to make this a poll but I would rather just keep it open-ended. I also haven't made up my own mind yet when Eva will be ICly returning exactly. :?

I'm not really sure beta will address this point. In terms of what the game will almost certainly cite: 1. The present year is 1577. 2. The Battle of Carteneau Flats occurred 5 years ago (1572). 3. Silvertear Falls battle happened 15 years ago (1562 officially; some RPers may say 1560) 4. Ala Mhigo was sacked 20 years ago (1557 officially; some RPers may say 1555). I believe everyone can agree with #1 and #2. The issue is that we've been told from the very beginning that Ala Mhigo happened 15 years ago. Granted we were told that over the span of two full years, so a lot of RPers took that to mean it happened 17 years ago. The game won't acknowledge this, however. That's where some RPers run into problems with it. But the dates above are what S-E seems to be sticking with officially.

The gap certainly makes things weird - particularly for those of us disappearing into the rift for 5 years. Technically we're not aging, so even though Eva would have been born in 1540, she'd have lived for 32 years and change (and not 37 even though the date would fall 37 years after her birth date). I think those dates you mentioned sound correct though. But different people may regard things differently - particularly if a character's backhistory is tied closely. For instance if a character started RP in 2010 (RL year of course) and had a 15 y/o character that was born during the Ala Mhigo drama, they're going to probably regard that as having happened in 1555 rather than 1557 because the character would be recalling it as being 17 years ago instead of 15. But according to the devs, officially, 1557 is supposed to be the year of the Ala Mhigan invasion. 1562 is Silvertear Falls. 1572 is the battle at Carteneau Flats. 1577 is the year at which the events of ARR are supposed to pick up. It's kind of messy because some people are willfully breaking from what they're telling us are official dates (but only for stuff before 1572 - I think everyone is in agreement that the battle's happened at 1572 and we're starting ARR in 1577.) I realize this is very confusing. To make things a little more clear, the duration of the game in its 1.0 phase is being regarded by many (I think most) of us as having occurred between 1570 and 1572. I think the game developers would have us regard ALL past events from 1.0 launch date in 2010 to Carteneau Flats in 2012 as happening entirely within the year of 1572. For many of us who have had a lot of character development, that's simply not practical.

The short answer is... it depends who you ask. These two threads may help you understand why (particularly the first): viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3125 ( this post specifically explains my own views: ) viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3051 Some of us regard the events mentioned happening 12/17 years earlier rather than 10/15 to account for the two years of active RP that has happened. I don't know that this will ever create any major inconsistency because I can't foresee someone saying "remember in 1560 when..." as opposed to just "remember when..." - but it's one of those annoying little things. I think most everyone agrees that 1572 is where we left off, and 1577 is where we'll be picking up though. It's the whole "passage of time" thing - both before 1572 and after 1577 - that has people a little befuddled.

As a footnote I don't expect the study to be a be-all, end-all to this debacle. I see it being a guideline to help folks figure out for themselves what an appropriate height for their character might be. A dev response would be preferable but I don't foresee one of them coming right out and saying that an average midlander stands at X height. When I post the findings I'll leave it in a way that you may draw your own conclusions but I probably will draw up a few correlations for: 1-3. feet/inches based on average human heights in US and JP as well as an averaging of the two. 4. using 'smallest' female lalafell as a metric (perhaps tallest roegadyn = 2.467 SFL's - this is not a fact but just a number I pulled out of the clouds - please don't get butthurt if you are a teeny lala or a supersize roeg!!!) 5. open to other ideas as well, but the raw data will be provided so that everyone may draw their own conclusions I'm not going to post on this topic anymore until we're ready to organize the actual study because it seems to be strangely inflammatory. I don't think anyone's right and I don't think anyone's wrong. I've known at least two other elezen whose given height [on the old wiki] and weight were listed as being right around that same given figure and both were awesome RPers. I also think Deirdre's charts make a lot of sense also. I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of the two and I'm looking forward to finding out where. But let's all try to play nicely in the meantime? Beta is coming soon and it's going to be awesome! :cheer:

That chart also assumes that all figures pictured are 'average' height? It's actually about what I would have figured but I was hoping to measure ranges more than just averages. I'm largely curious where the overlaps will be. EDIT: I have also factored in calculations for U.S. and Japanese heights as well. The legwork is done in that regards and I just need to get the screenshots and figure out the differences. I just want to examine exactly how tall a "tallest" is versus "shortest" for each race. I expect the final results will be very similar to your first posted image.

I was really hoping this issue wouldn't come up until after beta started, but the derailment of Deirdre's art thread and the creation of this thread would seem to indicate that I'm not the only one who has been very curious about the matter. The fact is a few of us were going to run this project quietly after beta came out and post the findings here afterwards, but I suppose it doesn't really need to be a secret. My own curiosity stems from the fact that Eva is a "shortest" model elezen female and on the RPC wiki I've written her in at being very short for her race, standing on level with many hyur women. In-game however I think she stands about on level with only the "tallest" male hyur, and may even be a little bit taller. I don't think this is entirely accurate and may be adjusting the figure for her height to match more realistically with things. I'm waiting to see what the results of this experiment are, and I was waiting until beta because I really wanted to be able to include the male miqo'te, female roegadyn, and female highlanders. I'll also make a post on your thread tomorrow Gospel, if it needs a bump. I would love it if a dev remarked and gave us some specific figures, but I think they will prefer to keep things vague. I still plan on conducting my study the first day of beta and including anyone who wishes to help, though we have quite a few interested volunteers at this point already who don't mind putting off exploratory stuff for a couple hours. I'll be making a more detailed post when we have specific information about the date/time of beta launch for those interested in being involved with this. Mostly I see it being pretty boring though - show up, get photographed standing in front of or behind some others, log off and on as a different race/gender/height. Rinse and repeat. I was also going to use a few different baseline metrics since "average human height" is a rather subjective thing depending on where in the world you live and such, but was planning to equate that to average hyur height, and then extrapolate height ranges from all the other races and such based upon that. This won't be an exact thing, by any means. But it should give some idea if a certain height for a certain race would be reasonably tall, unnaturally short, or what-have-you. What I mean to come out of this is a guideline for what is a reasonable height range for each race/gender/clan. Not a hard-and-fast rule. There will always be exceptions and I don't think "tallest" or "shortest" is meant to reflect giantism or dwarfism but rather a sort of upper and lower range of what some might consider reasonable heights for each of the races. I see nothing wrong with a character being gigantic even by roegadyn standards, or a hyur little person, or whatever else. I just thought it would be helpful to establish some reasonable height ranges for new players who are wondering, "Hey, just how tall WOULD a 'tallest' lalafell be??" and such.

I love it!!! You did a wonderful job! :cheer:

I admit I really like this idea and I've been kind of mulling over it since the OP to properly organize my thoughts on it. At first glance it reminds me of what I had hoped for Crystalline to be prior to ARR - that is a sort of "secondary" linkpearl that RPers across a variety of "main" companies could fall back on if RP was scant or just for the sake of variety. With Crystalline being repurposed in ARR I was hoping that at least one or two of these sort of networks would crop up to help tether everyone together, and from what I have read so far I really admire the direction that this has taken. For ideas, I played a text-based game (MUD-ish?) about 16-17 years ago called GemStone III (I think it's still around in some form now as GSIV but it's been a very long time). In this game there were a couple of societies, one called the "Council of Light" which is similar in many ways to what you are describing. There was a sort of leadership structure in place, but they were all NPC's and the signs were integrated into the game's coding, so everyone who was RPing was essentially all on the same standing. This is to say if you used the Sign of Recognition (the very first sign you receive), you would automatically conduct a seemingly random emote such as: "You touch your right index finger to your left earlobe inconspicuously." Anyone else in the same room would receive this text, and you in-turn would notice their reply, whatever the emote may be - I think it might have been random or possibly based on rank but this was a long time ago and I don't really remember. Anyone not belonging to the organization would simply not be privy to the signals. You can read a little more about it here if you're interested: http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Light - though it also goes into information about the mechanics of the game. But one thing that was paramount was that you not talk about the council to anyone not belonging to the council. Kind of "Fight Club" and since RP was actively enforced by the GMs, if anyone was found out than assassins were hired against them and such. It was actually pretty well-conducted and you may be able to draw upon some aspects of it for what you're trying to do. I'm not really sure my character could fit into such an organization, not because I think it's a bad idea or any such thing. Just given the direction she's going lately I'm not sure it would make a lot of sense from a RP perspective. But I do think it's a great idea and I'm looking forward to hearing more about it (at least OOCly ). I know at the game's launch a couple years back there was a fellow who was making a kind of LS geared towards Duskwight Elezen characters only, possibly along a similar vein but somewhat exclusive in that regard (I know yours isn't but the underlying theme feels similar in a way). I think this could work for any race/clan designation but seems most fitting for Duskwight ICly given the kind of xenophobic nature the lore suggests at. I always liked the idea of having a LS like this as a secondary and was sad when he sort of disappeared from the RPC. Forgive my tangent there. Very seldom have I ever carried only one linkpearl though. Having options is what makes the game so great and keeps RPers interacting across the boundaries of multiple LS's, and being able to RP in a sort of subgroup like that which spans across several other groups is such an awesome concept. For Crystalline it was just an amalgamation of friends. You could do something more interesting, or even more sinister with it where it's like a secret fraternal order that has agents scattered across other groups. I bet there are a lot of fun possibilities there! I do know there's been at least one "secret society" LS, but I think this was intended to be a kind of primary linkshell for its members also. I never belonged so I don't want to make any assumptions but I just wanted to put that out there. One who was a member of Stormguard may have further comment on that. I think that's about all I had on my mind, but from kind of an outsider perspective I think it's a great idea!