Melkire

Oi. We left that faking-crazed lalafell alive.

Banned for stretching the truth.

That might've been me! The Coffer & Coffin is the favorite watering hole of one of my characters I remember a pair of miqo's strolling in on me one day. Even if it wasn't you.... .... while I did not join in directly with their rp, we emoted with each other on the fringes, which was a great & fun world-building feeling. Was a male miqo' and a male middie. There was a male lalafell and a female hyur present (least I think it was a hyur). Not sure if you, but emoting on the fringes def happened, and it was fun.

...Terry McGinnis.

Too many to count, but I'll toss out a few. Caine Black Knife of Garthan Hold. Matrim Cauthon. Locke Lamora. Azoth, a.k.a. Kylar Stern, pre-kakari. Dean Winchester. Thorfinn, Son of Thors. Kamishiro Yuu. Indiana Jones.

What staff is that, if you don't mind my asking? Ifrit HM WHM staff. Absolutely, this! Was a nice hold over between finishing the Thyrus quests! Thank you both, didn't recognize it at first! EDIT: You too, Jancis!

And I get that, that's why I felt the need to point it out, because it could be read that way. Been in too many discussions that have gone to hell because someone took something on a personal level. I'd agree with you: La Noscea has a lot of appeal to it. My character's background and story took him to Ul'dah even before I knew where most of the roleplayers were to be found, otherwise I might've chosen to make more of an effort in grounding myself in, say, Limsa, for example. Now my character is definitely rooted in Thanalan, and opportunities to break him away from there, while refreshing and I do jump on each and every chance that makes sense from an IC perspective, are rare. Disclaimer, never played WoW, but I think this phenomenon in FFXIV largely owes itself to the "Quicksand is the hotspot for RP!" and "Sign up for an event if you need to break out!" mentality which discourages a more personal, one-on-one approach of random encounters. That, and a LOT of new people I see here on RPC list themselves or their characters as really shy and introverted, which makes losing themselves in a noisy crowd a lot more appealing than walking up to someone on the street at random and going, "Hey, will you walk with me for a bit? I'd like to ask you about _____" as a hook. This, too, is very important. Even if someone takes your hook, or you take theirs, there's no guarantee it'll turn into anything long-lasting or meaningful.

Quoting this for emphasis, because I think it's really, really important. Communication, as always, is key.

If the gods are good, it'd be Osric's sweetheart. If they're looking for cruel and usual punishment, it'll be S'kiear Grimsong.

I've been playing FFXIV on and off since the game's relaunch, personally. Yet despite multiple attempts to get involved with more than just brief meetings in the Quicksand it was only when I stumbled across my current FC that I actually felt welcome. Now, I'm not new to role-play by any means. I've led events and role-playing guilds back when I devoted my MMO time to WoW. I've got a pretty big load of ideas for planned events and the like yet any attempt to break into the community outside of my FC often falls flat. People say they're open to being approached in-game or that they're happy to join a particularly intriguing fresh LS and yet when push comes to shove they don't deliver on that promise. It's understandable if they're busy or swamped with other matters but if so maybe they shouldn't be giving people false hope by saying 'sure, I'll get involved' and then not doing anything. As you can no doubt imagine it becomes even more frustrating when those same individuals then come to this very thread and feign innocence or deflect blame by making it seem like those putting in genuine effort need to do more to get involved. It's a dangerous, vicious cycle and I for one will be doing what I can to try to end it. Though for that to happen we need acknowledgement and humility from those responsible. The first thing I want to ask: did you ever try anywhere other than the Quicksand and your FC? Anywhere other than a tavern, or a tavern night, or a large-scale event where your emotes can get lost in all the noise of people chatting it up with their own friends? And I acknowledge that many of us do, in fact, make false promises. We're human, and it happens. I've lost track of the number of times I've told newcomers and friends alike that I'll have time for them at such-and-such date-and-time, and yet it never happened because I got swamped, or I was pulled away for something else, etc. I see a lot of it happening here on the Welcome Desk and Making Connections board because people are more interested in looking and appearing nice and friendly than they are in committing to meeting someone (again, I've been guilty of this). What I can tell you is that guilt-tripping folks isn't going to help. It's just going to make your case, and the cases of those like you, even worse. Acknowledgement is already here, courtesy of the fact that this thread exists, and we've had numerous threads like it. It's an on-going problem, and the awareness is on-going, too. It's not like we didn't know this was a problem - we did. We have known. And asking for humility? That, more than anything else, is going to cause hairs to bristle, because you're implying that folks aren't humble, and that's insulting, because it implies that we're all self-centered egomaniacs who don't care. EDIT: I'd like to echo what Berrod said.

No one said it was. Fault isn't the topic here. Assigning blame isn't, either. Identification of what, exactly, folks are having trouble with, and how those of us who are available to help can help them is ideally what's up for discussion. Communication here isn't a two-way street, it's a town square with folks standing around all over the place. I'd love to hear more from newer members of the community and members who aren't new but are still trying to break through. What I'd like to hear more of is: 1. What they've tried. 2. What they haven't tried. 3. What they think might help them. 4. What they think isn't helping them. I'm also fully aware that many of us get side-tracked onto conversations and lose the ball when people are posting the above. Going to go looking back through this thread for anyone who mentioned they were having trouble and yet didn't get addressed. EDIT: A small note, wailing about how difficult it is to break out into the community at large doesn't help anyone. We know it's difficult. This isn't anything against you, Graeham, I'm just pointing out that "this is so hard" is a common complaint I see, but it's not really anything someone can build off of or help with.

Walk over to someone in a drunken stupor or a full-blown rage and sock 'em in the jaw with a well-thrown punch or an open-handed slap. That always works. Just be sure to poke them OoCly with a /tell to ask permission first, in case they're assholes who won't roll with it.

Weeellll....I didn't want her to be from Eorzea, but I didn't want her to be Garlean either....I'll change that as well. No need to, so long as you're aware of and okay with the fact that some people are going to raise eyebrows. Some out of ignorance - "oi, I've never heard o' this what's-it place before" - and some out of "studious learning" a.k.a. lore-sticklerness - "There's no such place. You're making this up. You're a liar. I've read every text and perused every map." That doesn't mean your character is wrong, or impossible. Just that you'll either have to put up with that or else keep it on the "down low".

...I feel like I should clarify. I didn't write up a short "so-and-so character walks into this tavern and sits down, looking shyly about" thread and post that in the In-Character section with an [OPEN] tag. That's not what got me replies. I sat down and wrote what I thought and hoped was an interesting story, fully expecting to be ignored. I was just having fun. I made a few references to something I'd spotted while standing around being a loner in-game, and included a little disclaimer about how I was only recording what my character had seen, as he saw it, and if anyone wanted me to make changes I'd be perfectly happy to do so. I was not writing a hook to wait around and see if anyone was going to drag me into their RP (EDIT: even though that's what I wanted). I sat down and wrote a story because I enjoyed it, because I wanted others to get to know my character, and because, yes, I was hoping someone would notice me... but I wasn't counting on it. I highly doubt anyone is going to get the sort of fulfilling roleplay they want out of doing on the Town Square board exactly what they do in-game, i.e. sitting around and waiting for someone to approach you. Your chances of being approached for RP are about the same, the only difference is that you're not being drowned out in the noise of Quicksand chat spam.

What worked for me: writing up my own character's story, as it was happening alongside whatever the "cool kids" were doing at the time, and posting it in the Town Square (IC) board. I didn't stop writing when I started catching people's attention/interest, either. I kept writing, then I started getting pokes and Private Messanges and /tells from people. Then I started poking and PMing and /telling them back, asking for chances to RP with them in-game, if they would mind helping along a newb, what times would be good for them, etc. This won't work for everyone. But it might work for some people who've tried just about everything else they can think of.

Fully updated now. Since we're so close to the end of March / beginning of April, I will be expecting updates from folks during the last week of April as we approach May. I will post in this thread announcing such when the time comes. In the meantime, bring on more volunteers! Also, TIL: Everyone is a merc.

Have this ban. We Flames are the military, not law enforcement.

You are banned for your use of incomplete sentences, Warren.

Oh bby~

What staff is that, if you don't mind my asking?

I guess I don't feel like it has to be some sort of IC hook up alone where we serve up the RP to someone, but more like a friendly resource they can feel comfortable to approach and talk to. I don't know, I guess to me one friend goes a long way in at least getting the foot in the door. Perhaps, I am a bit idealist! Perhaps I'm just worried that it sets a bad or false precedent on what to expect. It should go without saying that everyone ought to make an effort to be more inclusive and receptive, especially when RP'ing in public. I agree with you. I also recognize that many of us are so swamped for time that we can't be there for the new people. I can't speak for anyone else, but between a 40 hour work week, a three-hour commute every day to-and-from, any time I sink into PvE, time spent on FC RP, time spent on event RP, time randomly spent roaming Thanalan/insert-region-here, and the regular and not-so-regular demands of my own life, I can't be as inclusive as someone who has the time to dedicate and say, "I can be there to work with new people." We all have differing lifestyles that affect how inclusive and receptive we can be. If we're RPing in public, yes, we should make an effort to be inclusive and receptive. But just because the midlander in the sipahi turban and Immortal Flames jerkin is just standing around watching the Quicksand doesn't mean he isn't juggling two different conversations under his breath over two different linkpearls while scanning the crowd for a potential informant who he needs to somehow slip some coin so he can get some dirt on the latest scum to find their way into this city, and hey, guess what, if that's what he's doing, he's not going to have time to sit down and discuss chocobo breeding with the latest Miqo'te who just randomly walked up to him to try and be friendly. This has very little to do with OoC inclusiveness/receptiveness and everything to do with the story of that character at that moment. But you know what? That Wildwood Elezen lass over that-a-way, she's DEFINITELY down for that sort of thing, and she's got nothing else on her plate at the moment, and boy oh boy did you know that if you invest in the proper feed.... EDIT: There's also the trouble with characters who are, for story purposes, more or less region-locked. EDIT 2: Please resume original discussion(s). ; ;

This is an actively-maintained listing of roleplayers who have volunteered their characters as potential starting-points. That means new roleplayers can feel free to seek these characters out and interact with them as a means of roleplaying with and/or becoming actively involved in the community here at RPC. Maybe your character is really shy, but they'd really like to go on an adventure. Or maybe they'd rather sit down at a table somewhere, order tea, and discuss the latest scandal. Or maybe you've got a big, burly, antisocial warrior who really just wants to butt heads, but you're uneasy about randomly challenging another roleplayer to a spar. That's what this resource is for! Catch these volunteers during their availability, send them an in-game "/tell" or a Private Message here on the forums to introduce yourself, and start roleplaying! Volunteers, please use the template below to post in this thread and let us know that you're available so that we can add you to the directory. Likewise, please post to update your availability or if you need to step down. Volunteers will be pruned from the directory after a month without updates. [b]Character Name:[/b] [b]Character Type:[/b] [b]Availability[/b] [i]Day(s) of the Week:[/i] Available Days [i]Time(s) of the Day:[/i] Available Times PST/CST/EST/GMT [b]Frequent Locations:[/b] Volunteers should be advised: Please keep your details short, sweet, simple, and to the point. Be brief, not verbose. You may find some of the new characters and/or players who approach you to be disagreeable or otherwise difficult to interact with, whether this be due to stylistic differences, lingual or cultural barriers, or conflicting personalities. We ask that you please be amicable during your listed availability. Likewise, you may find that your interpretation of FFXIV lore conflicts or clashes with that of a new player's. We ask that you please be open-minded, flexible, and receptive. This is not an opportunity for Free Company recruitment of new members. Volunteers are to provide in-character interaction and some degree of in-character guidance. Should RPC staff learn that a volunteer is abusing this program and directory for FC recruitment purposes, the volunteer will be removed and permanently barred from this directory. Now, without further ado, [align=center]The Directory of Contacts for New Players[/align]

Looking over the Mentorship thread, I think a fundamental cause of its problems might have been that it was, simply put, too much. I'm thinking just a listing of character names, their availability (days of the week/time of the day), and where they often be found in-game. That's all you really need to provide an out-of-character hook for new roleplayers such as Aris to get involved in-character. I'll use Aya as an example, not because I'm volunteering her for anything, but because the barmaid concept she went with for a time had her character firmly rooted to a certain location. "Hi, my character's name is Aya, I'm usually in the Quicksand (Ul'dah's Adventurer's Guild) on such-and-such days at such-and-such times. I play a barmaid." That would be it; everything else that the Mentorship Program had seems, imo, extraneous. With this, though, you'd have a listing of social, available people who have volunteered themselves as potential starting-points for other characters. New members check the sticky, go "oooh, Aya seems like the kind of character mine could talk to, and so does ____" and from there it's a hop, skip, and a jump towards getting involved with this community. ...I know, I know, I went against my own advice and went into detail instead of making a separate thread. Whoopseedaisy. I'll see if I can't draft up a sticky thread along these lines and give it a trial run.

This is something I'd definitely like to see. Search Info would be a good place for this in-game (it's already sort of used that way, when folks designate themselves as "Roleplayer, Walk-up Friendly!"), but something here on the forums to designate the "receptive" would be useful. Maybe a stickied directory of such people, to go up on the Welcome Desk board? Make a thread, provide a template, folks post to sign up, to update their info, or to request to step down? I'm on board for making said sticky if folks think it's worthwhile.