Zhavi

WARREN WARREN HE'S OUR MAN, IF HE CAN'T DO IT NO LALAFEL CAN! You're a cool dude. Your writing is cool. Your ideas are cool. Your hardassness is cool. Keep being cool, man.

Yup, when I'm being all active I regularly delete the oldest of my messages, except ones with information I might need (there's an archive feature?!). What Warren says is true, and it's the same thing I've been telling you: private, assertive communication is a healthy thing to do here. I know it's a pain, because you want to just do one lump round in a thread and have done, but nothing will ever beat one-on-one for cutting through misunderstandings. Not that one-on-one solves everything (my very long series of attempts to help my mother and sister understand where I'm coming from attests to that!), but it will definitely aid here. And, I mean, think of it this way: you've already tried this route before. It isn't working for you, man. Time to try something else. <3s and hugs.

You guys are really, really making me want to play.... but I have around 200 more pages to read for homework before tomorrow. The most I can do is fish while I read. ;_;

Solitaire shrugged, and quietly hoped the man never found Kink. Not for any love lost between him and the other streetrunner, but because the roe had the nerve to keep him tied up for hours waiting for the promise of a not-significant amount of money. Scrag deserved to get knifed. "Her favorite haunt's The Highness," he began, ticking off each place she frequented when looking for a job, a score, or information. He also gave two of her hidey holes, though he did mention off-hand that that information was old news. "She ain't th'brightest," was his dismissal, following up with, "last, if she's out o' sorts, she might be found at th'Wench, but it ain't likely if she's runnin'." He extended his hand with an imperious flourish, expectant.

I can't help but think this is a not-so-veiled stab at Blizz for their pokemon pet battles system.

Meant to be essentially nonsensical and sound cool, with some gratuitous language and a loud beat (and some bad dancing): yup, definitely Zhi. Especially drunk Zhi.

Honestly, there are too many variations that could only be answered by Squaresoft. You wanna know why despite all of our science and technology we still have a hard time predicting local weather? Because it is super freaking complicated. * Mountains would affect weather. * Low and high pressure centers would affect weather, especially in relation to the mountains. * Current temperatures of the ocean would MAJORLY affect weather (ie, whether it is relatively hot water heading north or relatively cold water heading south on the west side of eorzea, as well as any jet streams nearby). * How much ocean is between Eorzea and other landmasses. * Even assuming the global bands of air currents were placed similarly to Earth's, without a good idea of landmasses you wouldn't be able to really accurately predict them. And even in predicting them, companies tend to be dumb and do things that make no sense because well, story matters more anyways). etc etc etc Honestly I'd just classify it as a dry (arid or semiarid) climate and sorta stay vague on the details. It's on the west side of the continent, and those tend to foster that type of environment in earth (for reasons that may or may not affect ff's world), and, well, bleh. edit - linky-link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification

Hey there, welcome to balmung and the rpc! Don't be shy to ask questions or reach out to folks oocly to start up rp -- the community is very friendly. Much open-world rp happens in the city states, but the most frequented joint is Ul'dah. I've had very good luck pming people whose characters I find interesting and setting up a time/place oocly, so if you can't find rp organically, give that a try. Happy writing!

Solitaire held up his hands, lips twisting into a sneer. "Hold on, ye ruttin' scrag, ain't nowhere did I tell ye I was trottin' along wi' ye t'find Kink. Y'want t'follow at me apron strings, that'll cost ye extra." His expression was hard. It was the sort of hard that expected plenty of extra for all the time that had already been wasted.

Find people you think would be cool to talk to and PM them out of the blue. Comment on their forum posts, ask them about storylines, tell them you think they'd be cool to chat with. Vast majority of the folks here are actually very nice from what I've found. This, this, this, this. When I was starting back up in Feb last year, the very first thing I did was hit up the wiki and search out characters I thought were cool or interesting. I would check the activity of the player and then pm them. Most of the time things would fall through, but I wound up netting myself a few people I rped with regularly -- and most of those were people who rarely (if ever) posted on the forums here. The rudest I ever got was people standing me up and then not replying; I think you'll find here that people will go out of their way to avoid being outright rude to you, though you will likely get your share of 'no's, people standing you up, or your rp style just not jiving with someone else's rp style. You do gotta make some effort, though. People cannot yet read minds, and even if it's just posting in the making connections forum or pming someone, you gotta put yourself out there and followup. RP is a social beast. ... and I say that as someone who has had social anxiety issues (I can rant for hours about the rampant sexism amongst the younger set at the only really weightlifting focused gym in town, and how idiotic the machismo is, and how I won't go anymore because of how shitty it makes me feel -- so I get the being shy and not wanting to put yourself out there, but at a certain point you do have to make that choice of whether you will or won't). edit - and I also want to point out, when I came back there was no making connections forum. So, you know, it was very easy to think that no one wanted to rp with me and I had to convince them that I was worth rping with. Every time I sent a pm (and I sent a lot) I'd have that feeling of 'what if they tell me I suck?' . . . but no one did. I'm talking, man, the people I sent pms to didn't know me at all, didn't know how I rped, and so on. Yet out of every batch a few would be willing to set something up with me. When I saw some people saying they didn't have anyone to rp with, I would pm them and offer myself up on a silver platter. BOOM instarp. It wasn't always easy and it didn't always work out, but I made some great rp buddies that way.

Solitaire was in a mood. He'd left a few times, had come back all the same. He hadn't gotten paid, it was very obvious to those who'd been there for the start and the end of it. He'd been intimidated and humiliated. It was the humiliation that was getting to him. Another bell until the tavern closed, more or less, and most of the patrons there who'd seen him left alone had gone out the doors with knowing looks and sniggers to match. And yet, Solitaire had stayed, holding out on the chance the blighter might come back, and readying several vengeful solutions in case he didn't. The roe's entrance back into the tavern was not met with any welcome, or much shift at all from the dour expression Solitaire had been wearing the last several, slow, boring bells he'd been waiting. He was definitely in a mood. "Y'have t'go to th' Twelveswood t'fetch yer coin?"

I haven't been rping much at all lately (Innocence and Avarice is it, really), but when I first came back I didn't really find it any more difficult to find rp than any other place... and here's why: You have to be ready to accept rejection. You have to put yourself out there. In a rp sense, I'm confident enough that I'm okay with the inevitable 'no's and being stood up -- but not everyone is. That's the issue with some new people. They don't want to be ignored, be left out, be disliked, be put out in the spotlight and left hanging. It happens. To me, you really wanna help someone get into rp if you see them struggling? Send them a pm. If they don't like arranging rp oocly, just nudge them with a 'hey, I'll be on at this time and this area. If we can't meet or we don't seem to be on at the same time, maybe I can introduce you to some people who will be on at the same time'. Jumping into any new social situation means that your pride or ego might get hurt. You might feel sad. There's just no way around that that I've ever found. And yet, for all the times I got stood up or ignored or told 'sorry, that's just not my thing' I still had as much rp as I wanted. Persistence and friendliness. That's really all there is to it. And for shyer folks, explain your situation and ask for specific things in your making connections threads (ie, I don't like to plan, but I'm on around this time in this area and if anyone would be interested or is on at the same time please let me know), and I bet a couple people will bite. All you need is one person to make some really good rp.

- In reference to creating a discussion topic - I think people might be shy to create one because they don't want to ... hmmm, be seen as perhaps attacking you. I would suggest you create a thread and link to it in the OP.

I don't think I've ever seen a post from Eleni that is not kind and encouraging. Very positive presence.

After this first one, moving forward, I would encourage there to be some sort of outreach arm of the summit to pick up FCs in game who do not visit the RPC, or FCs on the RPC who are quiet but rp intensive. I think it's just one of those human things where people get comfortable and, in getting comfortable, become reluctant to put themselves back into a position of possible discomfort (because keeping things fresh and making sure your collection is constantly checking for new blood and keeping that new blood feeling welcome is a job that takes time and effort and includes missteps). I don't think it's a matter of bad intentions or whatnot -- but with this sort of thing everyone has to keep an open mind and be willing to accept and consider ideas outside of the insular community. It's easy to forget to take a step back and consider "outsider" opinions when you already have a working group that harmonizes well -- but it is necessary to keep from splitting into camps who are pro or anti summit, y'know?

For long running things, I start with general idea, a few ideal mid or end points, and then pretty much just toss it at people and let them do what they will. Which can be really damn hard because sometimes it swerves from cool ideas I wanted to put into play. But, I dunno, my longest running one is going on six years now (forum rp), but at this point it's evolved to the point that I don't really need to touch it anymore. The people invested in it have taken on characters from all the sides, so it has a life of its own and as such it'll play out how it plays out. For shorter things I tend to plan things more point by point, though with rp I always believe that there should be plenty of space left for people to bring in their own ideas. For story things there is idea of point I want to share/write about, then I think of an end point, cool things that happen in the middle, and then how to start it. I'm good at writing things down, terrible horrible awful at revision and making all the little parts flow together in a good way. I know a guy who is tremendously meticulous about his story planning and putting all the story bits together. I am most jealous of his ability, and also in awe of it. Sometimes when I'm struggling I'll think 'hmm, what kind of twist would he throw in here...'. He just has that ability to think of all the levels and plot points at once, in a comprehensive sort of way. That's something that I need to work on, as I feel it is a weakness in my own writing.

Zhi and Jager Zhi and Ruru Zhi and Pyralis <3 Zhi and Lolotaru (don't really know who's going down, at this point!) ....and I haven't really done rp with anyone else anywhere near recently, so that's all I got. :<

There was a time doing forum and mud rp that I'd stay up all night and then continue the rp during work breaks . . . but I can't do that any more. >< I need at least six hours to be cognizant for work and school (I start fumbling my words on the phone when I don't get enough sleep, which really makes us look unprofessional). If I get four or less hours... things like monday happen, where I forgot my wallet (luckily a roommate was kind enough to drop it off at work), forgot my homework, put my purse in the wrong area at work (my coworker pulled it out of a filing cabinet and was like 'any reason why you put your purse here?' uhhh...) and wind up doing a presentation for class by drawing on the whiteboard and then trying to use the dry eraser to erase it with the whiteboard cleaner (which left a smear I couldn't take care of because I had to get back to work). Then I go home to take an hour nap and wind up sleeping through until the next morning . . .which means double homework tonight. Sooo... yeah, I'm getting sleep. I have to, or else I start falling apart.

Most peoples' tastes tend to run to stuff dealing with combat or violence in some way or another (mine included >>), so I have always hugely admired Aya's role as barmaid and her perspective as a character who has to live and interact with all these rough and tumble folks (be they nice people or not so nice people). Aya is a well done character! edit - and Melodia is another character I admire, for evolving as she has. Sexuality is something that people tend to shy away from as a character problem (in the sense of addiction), so to tackle it and use it as a means to strengthen and develop the character was a risky move that I feel has paid off quite well.

I actually found that one as well! But thank you for posting it. Hehe, I thought you might, but good to be sure! In any case, my best on your rp endeavors and don't feel shy about posting in and around here, either!

A quick google search brought me to this site: http://www.gilgamesh-rp.com/

zhi would be that annoying wannabe thug posting pictures of her "scores" and talking about her homies or whatever and dissing the local law enforcement as being stupid and incapable. There would be copious amounts of bragging and asshattery and lots of lowbrow humor. .....this is assuming she ever learned to read or write. If she did, she wouldn't pay much attention to silly things like grammar and spelling.

Maybe a separate idea for a separate thread, but it might be cool to try out timed 'rp hotspots' where someone just says 'hey, my character will be here at this day/this time if anyone wants to stop by to rp'. Dunno if that might help that kind of problem, but it would hopefully be less pressure for those who don't like coordinating oocly?

Hee, I did that before with one of my old rp buddies who came to the game to try out the rp. Rather, we started to rp, and he goes 'no, this is all wrong, I hate this' and was frustrated because it wasn't what he wanted from his character. So we tossed that rp out the window and started over! No harm, no foul.

To me, the purpose of a face claim is generally for forums where you have no other avatar, and so you're basically claiming a real life person's face as your character's face -- but here we have in game avatars, so I think the need to keep people from doubling up on people is greatly reduced. But as Unnamed Mercenary posted, there's a similar thread. And also I mean if people want to do face claims that's up to them -- but because of the format you're still gonna have people in other threads using pictures of people who might be in here, as well, which kinda defeats the purpose.