Verence

Starting on the same note as Eva's post and diverging, I have a few more. We know there are "seagull shrines" in Limsa Lominsa, identified as Bethels by an NPC in a cutscene. What's their significance? We know a bit about how Nald, Thal, and Nophica are worshipped / revered, but are there any specific rituals / religious rites observed in Limsa for the worship of Llymlaen? How does the government in Gridania work? We know the Seedseers guide national policy and the Wailers / Quiver handle internal and external security, but who handles day-to-day stuff like licenses, building permits, passing laws, etc? There doesn't seem to be any body for this. When was crystal synthesis first introduced to society? Why is everyone so utterly dependent on it? It doesn't seem to provide any benefits to manufacturing other than speed and efficiency - important factors but nothing to grind the wheels of progress to a halt over. Also, crystals themselves. I appreciate SE doesn't want to tip their hand too much with the whole deaspected crystal metaplot going, but any and all information they'd be willing to provide about crystals, shards, the aether within them, how it gets there, how it's released, and really anything of relevant interest would be awesome.

OK, so wait. Let me get this straight. SE is acknowledging its customers exist SE is actually listening to them SE is recognizing some of them are RPers SE is answering the RPers BRB, head exploding. :bomb: I think it's pretty clear this is not the Square-Enix of a few years ago, and that's kind of awesome.

We would? I'm kind of 'meh' about the notion of being OFFICIALLY recognized as an RP server if all it earns us is a nametag and no more. If it gets us actual greater consideration/interaction with IC elements of the setting / GMs then hell yeah, otherwise I can see as much good as bad in having an 'official' designation that changes nothing. I'm not against it, I'm just not really excited about it either.

Welcome to the nerd RP server! The LS List is always a good place to start, as visiting LS websites can give you a feel for who's doing what. Don't be afraid to ask around, either. As for game lore, well, it's a bit sparse but we're ever-so-agonizingly-slowly being given more in quests and missions - your best bets to learn about the setting are to crank those out and/or find someone who's been around a while to barrage with questions. I'd be happy to volunteer myself from the 10th on, when I start actually logging in again, if you'd like. Just poke Verence Meillune. If it's IC education you're after though, there are, to my knowledge, two academically-oriented linkshells: AETHER, which is a theoretical research, education, and vocational training academy, and Archavalon, which has an academy branch but (correct me if I'm wrong here Kylin) focuses more on archaeology, artifacts, magic studies, and the like. AETHER will be gearing up for a student enrollment program in the coming month, so there's also that if you aren't interested in becoming a dedicated academician. Long story short, hit the LS list and poke a few people, you'll be sure to find a good fit before long!

I'll be around. Got to see what's going on with this Umbral Era tomfoolery, after all! ...Oh yeah, guess I have a LS to run too. Details!

I'd be interested in a canon answer to the mixed races question. Points can be made for and against, but this isn't the place for that debate and the simple fact of the matter is, we flat-out don't know. Can they crossbreed? If it is possible, how viable are the offspring? If they're viable, what sort of physical characteristics would they have? If they exhibit mixed characteristics, why don't we see or hear about any mixed-race NPCs? How commonly does it occur, if possible? OK, so that's technically five questions, but they're all related durnit. :afro:

AETHER will be opening student and associate enrollment at some nebulously soonish point in the future! What will this look like? Well, we have some ideas, but we'd like to ask you, the community, how you'd most be interested interacting with the academy! Feel free to head over to the discussion thread on the AETHER forums, or if you'd like, PMs and /tells in-game work almost as well!

Did some hasty knit-togethers of the last four so they can be seen as one image. http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/5429/newcoerthas.jpg http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/2662/mountainarea.jpg

I'd been planning on doing this for a few days now, but RL has once again clubbed me over the head. To avoid any confusion, I'm not an admin here, just a member of the RPC community and head of one of the linkshells which comprises it. Regardless, just a few comments... I still intend to stay out of sharing opinions myself, as I think I've done more than enough in my original posts, but I do wish to say a few things about the thread and discussion thus far, as well as attempt to clarify the thought and intent behind my initial post. Let's see if I can keep it brief! (I probably can't.) First off, I'd like to ask that posters be a bit more mindful of how they come across. Tone is huge - people often listen more to method than message! If we don't approach this from a mindset of "How can we all play along, even if we disagree (especially if we disagree)", we're not going to even get out the starter gate. That's part of why I proposed a minimalist approach - less for people to disagree with! I didn't post what I did so much from a perspective of "How do we refactor the RPC" but "How do we, as members of the community, change how we think and relate to each other so we can all get along and RP free of drama and misunderstanding". Any necessary changes to the RPC I believe would follow naturally as a consequence of that, if the community could reach a point of all-inclusive acceptance and understanding (or at least enough so that we aren't bickering or drawing imaginary lines). Diving straight into what to do with the RPC site itself is cart before the horse, if you ask me. Get people willing and able to freely communicate without butting heads and I think a clearer picture will emerge on its own. That's also why I think as many voices being heard here as possible is absolutely essential. I sent PMs to each of the RPC-listed linkshell leaders with a link to this thread, asking that they inform their members, but as of this posting I haven't seen any posts regarding this... It's entirely possible I simply missed them or it went up on private portions of the forum that a visitor simply can't see, but just to be safe, after posting this I'm going to be making the rounds and posting myself to insure visibility. Due to what will hopefully be an influx of new readers, I'd like to draft a new discussion suggestion: If you find yourself in a sharp difference of opinion with someone, rather than start a debate in the thread, try contacting them privately via /tell, PM, IM, or the like. Debates on forums often become a war of statements rather than actual communication, and the walls of text generated can discourage those trying to get a handle on the situation. Talking person-to-person changes the atmosphere and can help you refine your views, see what you agree on, and what your differences are. Then you can bring your conclusions back to the table so we can all see what you've come up with. The apparent conflict raised in the etiquette I see as no conflict myself, just a turn of phrasing. You're allowed to discuss things and bring up relevant points that involve specific people or groups, but be clear when you do so. However, you are not permitted to abuse them for the purpose of attacks or accusations. We're here to discuss and learn, not fight. As for the etiquette details, some of the content in the above posts have been flirting with the line between OK and not OK. Castiel's concerned about bringing down the mod-hammer on it due to some of the points raised in this very discussion and the fact that it's borderline and not blatant violation, but I'd again appeal to a spirit of "how do we work together to move ahead". Castiel and I disagree on a number of things, but the fact that this thread and this discussion continue to stand uncontested I believe is the first inkling of what I sincerely hope is a greater cooperation in the future. We don't need to agree, but we do need to get along if this ship's going to get us anywhere. LATER EDIT: I suppose I ought to clarify so as not to cause misunderstandings; I'm actually not referring to the points raised in the discussion itself, but rather the tone taken. Some of it is unnecessarily aggressive.

Discussion Etiquette I hate doing this â honestly, I do. But given our community's history, I think it would be a bit irresponsible to encourage a discussion without laying a few ground rules everyone can agree to. By posting in this thread, you signify that you have read and agree to all the rules of discussion etiquette. Kylin has graciously agreed to enforce these to keep the tone civil and friendly as possible, though we both sincerely hope he won't need to. [*]Dispute the argument, not the arguer. Don't get too personally entangled in your own views and remember you're not debating to see who wins, but to see which idea is better supported. Acknowledge the possibility that you MIGHT be wrong and if someone else disagrees with you, that doesn't mean they are attacking you personally. Respect works both ways. [*]No veiled/underhanded/backhanded/etc insults, put-downs, accusations, jabs, or the like. Especially no "some people" or "parts of the community" or "certain linkshells" if you're actually referring to someone or something specific. Chances are we all know who you mean, and if we don't, the misunderstandings that result could make things even worse. If you won't name names, don't play games. Discussions are to be kept open and straightforward. [*]No explicit insults, put-downs, accusations, jabs, or the like. Probably obvious, but included for completeness' sake! [*]No assumptions about anyone else's motives or emotional state. If their points are valid then it doesn't matter if they posted out of the depths of a boundless rage because someone else's views would prevent them from kicking puppies, their points are still valid. [*]Don't tell someone else what they said. Let their posts speak for themselves; often times the way they phrased it is vital to understanding how they meant it. If you're not sure, ask! Assumptions are the bane of communication. [*]No accusations of immaturity. It's, frankly, pretty immature. If you're mature enough to respectfully and constructively contribute to this discussion, you're mature enough to have your contributions taken seriously.[/list:u] Discussion Suggestions These won't be enforced, they're just little tips to help the discussion along! [*]Support your views, if possible. Well-reasoned arguments are much more compelling and much harder to shoot down. Don't jump straight to a conclusion without first going over how you got there. [*]Avoid kneejerk posting. After you write a post, take a quick time out before you hit 'submit'. See if it sounds level-headed and reasonable when you come back. [*]Try not to sulk. We know the community has had its rough spots, but this is neither the place to settle scores nor nurse old wounds. We need to discuss how to move forward, now how to slide back. [*]If you think someone IS sulking, calling them on it will probably just start an argument. Politely ignore it and move on.[/list:u] Closing Bet you thought I'd never get here, eh? I do like the occasional surprise. I expect this will probably prompt some discussion, though I have no idea how much. Frankly, the more talking this results in, the happier I'll be. Why? Because at the end of the day, I want the RPC to be somewhere I can go free of drama, guilt trips, politics, and snark to connect and communicate with the many and varied members of our community. I don't want to sweat the small stuff. I want to roleplay. I leave the rest of this discussion to the RPC. But who is the RPC? You are. Sitting in your chair, checking your iPhone at the bus stop, with your laptop in the airport terminal. Every person reading this is the RPC, if they only choose to be. Your voice needs to be heard. If for whatever reason you have an opinion but do not wish to post publicly, PM someone! A friend, me, Kylin, anyone â maybe even all of the above. But don't lose this opportunity to help guide the future course of roleplaying on Besaid.

WARNING: This is a wall of text. Like huge, holy crap, oh my god wall of text. However, it is intended to be taken as a whole. I would like to respectfully ask that before replying, (and I welcome discussion, that's the point of this post) respondents make sure to read these posts in their entirety and think of how each point relates to the argument as a whole, in its proper context. My perfectionist tendencies have made me hold off on this for weeks while I tried to chase down each and every last trail I could, but with the leader forum poll in place, I couldn't have asked for a timelier lead-in for this post. Apologies to those I was unable to contact in time, but I have faith they'll be able to represent their views fully in any ensuing discussion. Essentially, I decided it'd be neat to post a road map for how the RPC could regain its faith, appeal, and ultimately its use with the larger community, but then I realized something - I have MY opinions, but what about the community's? So, I went about interviewing as many community leaders (leaders of RPC-listed linkshells) as I could track down. I realize this isnât a 100% representative snapshot of the entire community, but Iâll work with what Iâm able to get ahold of. Much the same, I did get a very interesting variety of opinions and views I'd like to share before I move on to my proposals, some of which are wholly inspired by these conversations. I endeavored to remain as impartial as possible, although in some instances, post-interview discussions ensued. I saw no real reason to log those since they covered points that will be brought up later in this series of posts. All conversations have been logged with the knowledge and consent of those involved and can be posted in their entirety should anyone wish to read even MORE walls of text. I have attempted to balance viewpoints by citing as many people as I could, and am not attempting to endorse one view over another by their selection. (I have plenty of room for my own views in the posts below this one!) First off, the community. Is there a problem? If so, what is it? Linkshell leaders had the following things to say. Another thing I asked was opinions of the RPC itself â the individualâs and the members of their linkshell. The responses speak for themselves. However, when asked if the RPC was accomplishing this goal, they continued "Not at all. Right now the RPC is a place where linkshells advertise themselves and a dozen RPers discuss various things." When asked how their members regarded the RPC, LS leaders stated many of their members found it irrelevant, intimidating, or outright distasteful. Long story short: The RPC isn't working out so hot right at the moment. Why is that? Without exception, everyone interviewed agreed that the RPC could be a useful tool but at present isnât quite meeting its potential. What can we do about it? What SHOULD we do about it? This was the next question. Sounds a little extreme, but what DO people think of how the RPC has been handled by the administration? Several interviewees declined to comment, stating lack of familiarity with the matter.

I think we're thinking along similar lines. As I may have mentioned before, I'm piecing together a pretty large wall-of-text series of posts drawing on opinions and views I've gathered from the community but illness and RL busy-ness have prevented me from having it all hacked together quite yet. I'm hoping to be able to present a composite of the community's views on why the RPC isn't working and a road map for how we can get it somewhere people will be happy to use. I'm booked solid with RL for the first half of this week though, so it may not be ready until next weekend. We'll see how it goes; hopefully it'll encourage people to start communicating more. Say what you will about past drama, RP cliqueishness, etc etc etc... I say they're all symptoms of one central problem: People aren't talking to each other and don't seem quite sure how to get started.

So far as I recall, the boards weren't taken down over people not liking linkshell leaders having an exclusive forum to discuss things â if we didnât like this, we might as well petition Square Enix to remove /tells from the game. People are going to talk to each other. Itâs just going to happen. The issue was that those forums were being used to direct setting, policy, and events of the RPC as though it were some sort of governing body with authority over its membership. THIS is what made members chafe, and THIS is what made members protest. Both sides had difficulties clearly stating concise points in the howling torrent that followed, and the boards were scrapped as they were deemed more trouble than they were worth. It didnât help that those on one side of the matter were branded a tiny minority of troublemakers, dissidents, and not true members of the RPC. (Yet now two of those linkshells are in the so-called "big four"... Which is a little confusing.) However, things have calmed down now. I donât think anyone will object to linkshell leaders having a place to communicate, share, and discuss things so long as they do not abuse this privilege and attempt to institute some sort of community-wide shadow government. THAT was the heart of the matter that caused things to fall apart last time. And no, Iâm not blaming those bad evil linkshell leaders; several of them were leading the protest, in fact. What happened, happened and hunting for a witch to burn will just waste wood we could use rebuilding burned bridges. Despite this, I do think a poll probably won't help much. Am I mistaken in stating that the goal here is to get the RPC revitalized and active again? This would mean we want people who AREN'T using the site, to use the site. Yet, a poll on the site asks people who ARE using the site what would make people want to use it. The wrong people are being polled, and it doesn't really seem possible to poll the right people. I think at this point, it's time to accept that things aren't working out around here and just go ahead and try something different.

AETHER is working on a wiki site comprised of 100% IC articles and lore, open to the community as the academy's archives in Gridania. Progress is going a bit slow due to... well, me being lazy /cough but we ought to have it presentable in the quasi-maybe-near future! I'll be sure to toss a link when it's presentable.

I actually have a number of thoughts on this precise matter that I'll be posting in the indeterminately-soon future, based on opinions and views gathered from various parts of the community. But, for me personally, I tend to think it's not so much that people don't want to RP with each other but that people have lost faith in the RPC's ability to fully and accurately represent the broad spectrum of the community... In its relevance. So, like-minded groups have begun to clump together. Now, is this bad and unhealthy? That's actually a matter of opinion, and opinions vary. I won't go into it too much now, but expect a full treatment later when I've gathered more viewpoints and organized my thoughts better.

Just to toss in a comment, something I commonly see is new RPers walk up to an RP in progress then just stand around and make a few random IC emotes such as staring at the wall or shuffling their feet... then wander off complaining nobody will RP with them. Something I'd like to stress to new RPers looking for some RP is that if you want to get involved, it's very difficult to involve someone who won't involve themselves. Say something. Come up with a pretense for an interruption. Ask for a hand with something - even just directions. Be proactive! I've been RPing before and had people walk by, stop, stare for ages, make one emote that may or may not be IC, then run off when I can't make heads nor tails of them. Oftentimes when I shoot them a /tell immediately after, it turns out they are, in fact, a roleplayer looking for RP and I have to work out an entry for them. I don't know how common this sort of thing is so maybe there are loads of people who really are making their best effort to wedge in and are getting ignored, but by and large what I've personally noticed is attempts so half-hearted, at the time I'm honestly not sure if they're trying to RP or not. If you want to be involved, get involved! People appreciate interest and effort and I guarantee if you keep it up you'll find someone ready and willing to engage. As for concerns... Well, the logspam thing. Honestly, when I attend large events I tend to wind up disoriented and with a faint headache mere minutes in, totally unable to follow the thread of what's happening around my character in the rolling sea of text. What may be helpful if this DOES become a problem (which it may not) is multiple smaller events at varying times, both to include as many people as possible and discourage character-zerg since people have the security of knowing if they don't make The One Event, they'll miss out. That may be a bit complex though, so it could just be something as simple as saying "Every weeknight / weekend night at X o'clock".

G'day to ye! With the current state of the community, while freelancing is certainly a viable option, finding a RP linkshell tends to provide more opportunities for RP so it may be something you'd want to consider. If not (or supplementally), there's always Redpearl, a purely OOC RPer discussion and meetup shell. It can get a little spammy at times, but temporarily filtering specific linkshells out of the log is always an option. But yeah, if you want to dive straight into RP, I'd give the Linkshell Directory a look. Be careful though, a number of the shells listed on there are currently inactive and there are a number more unlisted. This is slated to be resolved soon, but just now the listing isn't 100% accurate. Check the website link for any group that interests you and make sure. Alternately, there's always the Guild Hall forum which, while not as convenient to browse, does offer a more up-to-date and comprehensive listing. Whichever way you choose to get RPin', here's hoping for the best.

Probably nobody cares but obsessive types (me), but there is an instance of "day" being used in NPC dialogue. Not necessarily as a discrete unit of time as much as part of a colloquialism, but hey.

Talk about hoops to jump through... Did all you suggested and it seems to be working for me now. Front-page login still doesn't work right off the bat, but the page it shunts me to will. Killing the browser and coming back doesn't seem to lose the login, so unless internet gremlins decide to sneak in and mux things up in the dead of night, I think the matter's resolved. Sorry to drag you off for random tech support, and thanks for the tips.

Hey, there's what I'm looking for! Thanks for the screencap. While I can't bring to mind any instance of 'day' being used in dialogue... even if it isn't, I just can't bring myself to stress over stuff that small. My chief interest is digging up the precise nuances of word use in the hopes it might shed some light on the culture or language of Eorzea. Looks like both "hour" and "bell" are confirmed canon, but I wonder if they're 100% interchangeable or if one's somehow less formal or preferred in writing or something odd like that. I'm sure I'm over-thinking it, but these sorts of things have always interested me. I certainly won't say no to further examples of the usage of hour vs bell if anyone finds more to share.

Yo, thanks for the speedy reply! I clear out my cookies and internet cache semi-regularly but I gave it another shot just now, making sure the ffxiv-roleplayers.com one got wiped, and I'm still getting the exact same problem. Doesn't seem to be a cookie issue for me, not quite sure what might be causing it.

Major necropost, but I am a bit curious - where did "bell" come from? I don't doubt it's part of game lore, but I can't for the life of me recall where it's from. I'm chiefly curious because I see roleplayers being corrected for using the term "hour" and all sorts of verbal acrobatics being used to avoid the terms "second", "minute", and "year", when "hour" and "year" are confirmed in the in-game handbook on time to be completely canon terms. And, well, if "hour" is canon... Why not minutes and seconds? They're all part of the same base-60 system and it's not like we're given any other term to use. As I thought all this, I realized I couldn't for the life of me remember where "bell" even came from. A friend informed me that they seemed to think it came from some NPC dialogue in the Limsa-only beta and just sort of stuck with the RP community, but neither of us are positive about that. Does anyone remember the source? Which NPC / mission CS / quest has an NPC using the term? I'd like to go confirm its usage since I have a sneaking suspicion it's either slang, peculiar to a certain dialect, or perhaps does not even refer to hours at all, but is the Eorzean equivalent of "o'clock"; for example, from an IC perspective if it is now the eighth bell, then in two hours it will be the tenth bell. I can't be sure of this, so if anyone can remember where the term "bell" came from and can point me to where it's used, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I don't know if it's just me (Don't seem to think so, several others I've spoken to have reported similar problems), but is the login feature for the RPC site and the forum sort of... broken? I can't get it to work at all from anywhere but the forum main page, and if I use bookmarks to navigate to any part of the site or forum, I find myself logged out again. Also, the login refuses to acknowledge the "keep me logged in" tick mark. I'll spare myself the embarassment of attempting to theorize why this may be, but would anyone knowledgeable about this particular site and how these things work be able to offer any wisdom as to workarounds or fixes? It's quite annoying when attempting to post in old threads only to find myself locked out due to spontaneous logout, or to simply visit every now and then to keep tabs on things, only to have to manually re-log each and every time.

A Plea to the Common Decency of the Peoples of Eorzea FACT: Each day, thousands of Lalafell are exposed to men wearing tights. At their height disadvantage, the resultant spectacle may result in irreversible psychological damage. While Hemp, Cotton, and Canvas each have corresponding x6 level slops, Velveteen Slops are conspicuously absent. YOU CAN HELP Strike a blow for decency in Eorzea! Help end Lalafell cruelty TODAY by going to this thread on the official SE forums and liking the post or replying with your support. Velveteen Slops â Because nobody wants to see