Michelleswain

Alright time for another one of my rants! :blush: I think I'm getting old, but it's slowly starting to bug me when characters around me point out; "Hey you're wearing revealing clothes" even though Feo is in her tribal subligar. She turns around and tells them "Uhm... but dis wha my tribe war all da time." But they have none of it and want her to put on a sweater... So that brings me to an issue I've been noticing lately. Part of it having to do with bringing everyday sensibilities into the fantasy world (another one of those OOC into IC bleeds). Now, I'm assuming that the general Eorzean public is used to tribal sorts (or people from any origin) visiting the various cities to trade and do what ever business right? It's the same as if I visited Africa, New Guinea, or the Australian outback and started going; "Oh the horror! You people aren't wearing clothes! She needs to put a shirt on!" Should I expect that the culture clash between the citizens of the city states and outsiders be that bad? Isn't it common that some warriors of all sorts, eschew clothes or cover up less (think coliseum top and bottom) on occasion in this setting? Seeing a hygur in the camisole top and bottom as part of her "armor" ensemble is perfectly normal to me and should be a pretty common sight. After all even hygur have tribes and the look seems pretty appropriate to the setting. The same holds true for a miqote in any revealing combination. That includes the male in the coliseum top and bottom. Seems to me very appropriate, fits the setting, and shouldn't be a rare sight. I'm starting to associate the comment; "Hey that's revealing clothes!" with breaking the 4th wall. Now, keep in mind we're in final fantasy land, not modern everyday downtown LA. I look forward to your opinions on this!

I don't use class per se when dealing with others, but more their appearance. If you have a bow and quiver, I'll assume you're a hunter of sorts and F'eora will mention it. An axe a mercenary of some type, and a sword and shield a "Pah-lay-din". If you have no weapon and armor falling into those general categories, I'll assume you're a tavern denizen. For myself I use the class as a framework and then build outward from there. The class more or less dictating the character stereotype as a foundation. With F'eora I've blended the role a bit leaning more towards huntress back at her tribe (archer), but more of a social butterfly, chatty Kathy, and trobairitz with lyrics poking fun at people around her (bard).

My turn: -I enjoy role play involving three+ characters, but not more than five. -I enjoy active role players that add bulk material as we role play along. -Down to earth, low tier characters. Not a fan of high tier "Queens, Angels, Goddesses" type of role play. -Must be framed by the game world. Not a fan of characters that are outside the game world such as vampires in a setting where they don't exist or where it wouldn't make sense that they run around the local Tavern sipping margaritas with the locals. Same goes for demons, werewolves, and so on. My current policy is; If you can't select the race in the character select screen, it's not one adventurers can be. No exceptions. -Medieval light. I shy away from too many modernisms, but on the other hand I make a concession to the availability of magic. -Absolutely do not like hybrids. Half-elf, half-human-half-elf, half-dragon, half-this, half-that. -I'm very much against skeptics or atheists unless the setting allows it (The Secret World vs. Age of Conan for example). Conversely, I'm very much against philosophers using modern assertions in a high fantasy setting. -My newest thing is over-protective and sheltered characters have begun to bug me. Not because I have a thing against the trope, but because I've noticed that I really don't have fun with these sorts of characters. -I enjoy mercenary type work such as adventuring to an unknown place to take out a band of bandits. Going to some ruins to seek out relics, or running a dungeon all in character. Keep the role play moving forward and active. This is my number one rule. I consider silence "dead air". I also consider an activity (such as investigating a relic) that takes too long a violation of this rule. If you the narrator wish for us to investigate something, keep it short (5 minutes at most), and resolve it or give us clues. The same goes for a character that doesn't react to me with either some form of information or something that keeps things interesting to the audience. Often times I find myself doing most of the talking do to this rule. But if the player I'm role playing with is too silent (including if that is their character type), I promptly move away. As I've said before; role playing to me is like being at the movie theater, even silent characters have lines and actions to convey to the audience.

The OP laid it out pretty well (no pun intended). She beat me to the punch since I was planning on making a similar post. My definitions of the various styles pretty much being the same as hers. Except the title of my post was going to be; "ERP, the 800lb gorilla in the room" ERP to me comes in two flavors; ERP the noun, and ERP the verb. ERP the noun; has become synonymous with Cyber. Basically the days when folks would get on the AOL/CompuServe/Prodigy chat rooms (teen to 35 year olds) have moved over to MMOs. MMOs providing an additional layer of anonymity plus visual elements that chat rooms of old did not provide. Not only can you get your gaming on, but some cyber as well. The statement; "I'm an ERPer" to me means; "I'm not a role player. I just like to cyber between duties/grinding/boredom." Option 3 in the OP's definition. In my many years of role playing in MMOs this has slowly become the dominant type of so called "Role Play". Often times they will masquerade as legitimate role players but a few clues (blushing at any action you do for example) quickly tips me off. These are the people I have the most problems with. In so far that I now blacklist them or ignore them soon as I identify their intentions. This has caused issues where I've blacklisted a legitimate role player, but that is something I can live with. Then I have the traditional role player, that is open to an ERP encounter as a facet of their role play. As a serious role player who gets pretty involved with her character (including wanting to add a little grit or spice), I'm ok with this, so long as the hard line between IC and OOC is maintained. I'll go all the way in developing my character to be as dynamic as possible using the lore when able. If I need a little ERP just to spice things up (an example being my castanic character in Tera) then I'm open to it (typically in the form of alluding to an encounter or fade to black). Unfortunately do to issues with IC bleeding into OOC, I've slowly begun to make characters that don't subscribe to ERP. This isn't a prejudice of mine, but rather I got fed up with players that either took things too far, or suddenly associated me with OP's Option 3 or someone who cybers. As a result I no longer use ERP as a facet of a character but instead write it into the background. "She's feisty, a little naughty, but rather licentious." Would probably be on her background. Or she may be a bit flirtatious when socializing, it really depends on the character. In other words, most of my characters are now PG-13. In the case of my character in FFXIV, I railroaded her meta into a dead end when it comes to relationships. Although she may take a liking to your character romantically, the criteria for that to happen is extremely narrow. Additionally any form of date would go as far as a dinner or perhaps going out to some romantic place, that being the extent of it.

And to also bring it back on topic; I wasn't aware this was common knowledge as an issue. Hence I brought it up thinking it was this unspoken hidden thing going on no one really touched on. However this brings me to the issue of communication. What is everyone's thought on OOC guidance, clues, or precautions? (I call these story guides) "OOC: I think you should be careful with how you handle this situation, my character gets easily offended when talking about her father" "OOC: Well, if you give him the ale, he'll get drunk and may give you the information you need. If you punch him in an attempt to knock him out... things can get ugly." "OOC: Hrm, I'm not really comfortable with where this is going. My character really wouldn't fight in the tavern for fear of being arrested nor would they carry out an attack in public. Also I was kind of hoping to role play with my friends here rather than just up and leave." This is in reference to OOC being used in a positive way. My general opinion from feedback I've gotten is that most role players don't like this?

Your statement is basically saying; "There are some people in real life with pointed ears, therefor Elves exist" Futanari as a trait commonly used by ERP Role-Players is distinct and has it own characteristics typically the result of magic or the involvement of a god. One of these traits usually being licentiousness to the point of exclusion of any other activity or the need for constant sexual activity. The current common use of Futanari as a character trait is taken from the Hentai genre and is distinct with it's own definition and is rarely used anymore as it's original meaning in Japanese. Transgender/Intersexed being a real world occurrence. The two terms are not inclusive of one another. Futanari being a distinct character trope. I have not read anywhere that the terms Transgender or Intersexed is interchangeable with "Futanari" the character trope, and could be considered offensive far more than the term "Shemale". Stating that my statement regarding Futa is equivalent to stating "Hermaphrodites do not exist or intersexed people do not exist, is an attempt at instigating flamewars and causing inflammatory remarks when that is not my intention. Perhaps you didn't do it intentionally, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't make propositional fallacies like this. The discussion on what settings I would be ok with having futanari or not is not the point of this thread. The point of my example being how once I backed out of the relationship with this person it bled straight into OOC regardless of any explanation I could give. Second as someone else explained; in my experience every encounter I've had with futanari characters have all leaned to a potential ERP exclusive role-play session. It's unique in that as soon as I steer the thread in a non romantic, non ERP direction the person loses interest and leaves. This is the source of my contention with these characters and not their design specifically. In Star Trek Online I had an extremely positive and excellent experience with a futanari. They fit their species perfectly into the lore, behaved like any other captain you'd meet in the setting yet with an interesting spin to their background. They respected my characters position in the Klingon Defense Force and at no time pushed the ERP agenda. Although at first I was distant the more I interacted with the character the more comfortable I became to the point of being good friends and always striking up an RP. Because of that positive experience when I came to FFXIV and met a Futanari miqote I gave them the benefit of the doubt until I encountered otherwise. I hope that cleared that up

Loved this advice and I could use more of it! I am guilty sometimes of putting the blinders on and not saying to myself "Ok time out, lets take this OOC and ask them in a whisper if everything is ok". Or at least saying "Hey, is everything ok? I really like this dramatic RP, but I think feelings are being hurt" or something to that affect. I'm normally pretty good at that. The one thing that normally does derail me is if my character of a different race/species being treated like any other ordinary 2014 human from the U.S. even though the game takes place in 1200's medieval fantasy land. :frustrated:Typically any OOC debate divulges into some high end philosophical argument on because we're all sentient beings we all should act, feel, behave, have the same instincts and so on, or the immature response of "Well you just hate humans." However the one growing trend where as in the past that would have worked (a few simple OOC checks), I'm noticing that the player is also recalcitrant OOC. Meaning the line between IC and OOC is completely gone. No, they really are mad at you. So I take it to OOC and I try to be sweet and friendly as you described. But they are still upset OOC, and then I get upset that they are upset. At that moment all communication breaks. Here's an example; I'm not into Futas. Not for any moral reasons, but I have viewed the growing trend of Futas as outside the parameters set by most MMO game lores (I consider them like a race of their own?). Rarely does any setting set a plausible background where they can exist without extreme bends in the lore (aside from the cheesy "well it's magic" excuse). A lot of my prejudices against such characters stem from their predominance within the ERP exclusive community whereby ERP is prioritized above all else (to the detriment of lore, background, other forms of RP, non-romance RP etcetera). I almost always fade away when a character confronts me (typically OOC) that they are a Futa. I appreciate that they make it known, however I had one case where the player didn't make it known until well into about a week's worth of role play sessions. They had failed all my other checks, but stupid me was mesmerized with how helpful, how active and reactive(my favorite type of role players), and how available to role play they were. When I confronted them about it OOC their response was "Well that's only if we get really close, otherwise it's not an issue". My brain exploded... I didn't know what to say or think. I then tried to explain why I had some reservations about it and the person exploded saying I was being intolerant. I tried my best to diffuse the encounters and lower my level of interaction with them, only to be met with increasing accusations of "abandoning them and being a jerk to them for no reason". Again a bit more searching revealed the person had grown attached to my character and I. This all ended in having to blacklist the person and de-friending. What was the proper course of action in this situation? Was I to accept what ever race, species, pseudo-lore, third party creation they came up with? This is a hard case of IC bleeding into OOC severely (I'd argue there was no bleeding but a hemorrhage).

Method acting and a bit of meta is ok in my opinion, so long as it is not disruptive (such as causing one to leave a guild or not getting in-game actual help). An example of this is my player walking away and not talking to you IC for a while. Perhaps you offended her or something. Even though she is mad at you IC, if you suddenly asked for my help in a duty, the OOC me would help you. I don't feel it's a rant per se, but I wanted to raise awareness, bring the issue to light. But guess what? So many positive responses on here and so many people telling me "Yes this is a common problem and this has been my experience", that you're right. Honestly I did not know so many people shared my opinion on this matter and have had the exact same experiences I have had! By the way, even the tabletop examples myself and my husband have experienced. That being said, this is a discussion forum regarding the ebb and flow of role playing. I feel a lot better that there are others out there that have experienced this issue but having the discussion raises awareness in hopes that new role-players who I direct to the site can see such threads and reflect on them. And regarding all of my examples (and other occurrences) I simply ended any relationship, left the guild immediately, as well as ended any outstanding RP threads. Only people involved in the RP thread that were affected are informed if need be. I understand where you're coming from regarding the Witch-hunt flipping around. I end any such gossip immediately.

My jaw dropped at how awesome your response was. Several of your points are topics that I've quit MMOs over. I can't say thank you enough. However, some of the points you raised I think deserve its own topic. One of the issues I've had when raising them in the past among friends or in-game OOC discussions, is that like you said it almost always causes rage. I fault game designers for some of the points you raised. Do to lack of proper funding, resources, or because they don't want to offend, they do not provide proper background framework for either the various species/races, the various factional differences, or political dispositions. Almost all developers assume nationalism is the norm regardless of the period of the setting. I concur with both posts completely. The issue here with all the examples was letting down my guard because I made the assumption that "Hey this person I role played with is not so bad, surely their guild must be the same", or I simply stopped following my rules just to get out there more. I admit, I'm a very social person. I will walk up to you randomly and strike up a role play. Rarely do you see me in the Quicksand alone.

You're entirely correct. It's not an issue of enforcing rules or being elitist an such. It's an issue of actual role playing community members turning a blind eye as described by another poster below. I'm a very calm person when dealing with such an issue. In all my experiences I calmly explain to them why I think what they are doing is wrong, how it's affecting me, and what lasting affects it can have. Almost always I get the excuse of; "well I'm new to role play and/or am a light role player". To which I don't have an answer and the best solution is to simply walk away. However; that also has a negative affect. Since the person in question may tell others, OOC that I'm difficult, don't like them, or any other such affect. You may say, but that doesn't matter, plenty of role playing fish in the sea. Unfortunately in the grand scheme of things, role playing communities are small, even smaller when your regular role playing group stages in a particular area (the Quicksand for example). A player taking IC into OOC can have a huge negative impact in small communities like this. I hope this clears up my plea to enthuse role play leaders and prominent role players, particularly in role play hotspots to be pro-active in stopping this. I'm not saying you need to run around slapping people with a ultimate role players rulebook, a simple explanation of when this happens and they identify it helps all of us. In Example B (since it took place in FFXIV and therefor is applicable), while the event happened, another FC member supported the officer's actions (even as they unfolded in FC Chat). Both officers visit Hydraelyn Roleplayers and both officers I believe have read some of the material on here. I even took the other officer aside and quoted parts of our own role playing handbook regarding gil in in-character events. They argued with me otherwise stating the convention on the handling of IC into OOC is normal and common but further supported the actions of the senior guild officer with the excuse that "They are very helpful to everyone and has done a lot for everyone". In other words their message to me was "This person using IC as OOC and taking it into OOC is alright because this person is not only very experienced with the game, but has a lot of resources and helps various people". Which I think is wrong and not conducive to a healthy role play community. I'm just going to pull this part up for citation. It just seems like a really weird thing to make assumptions over especially when there are people on the larger servers from a variety of different timezones. Not to mention, RPers actually playing the game to take a break from writing? Colour me surprised. Also that wording on the last line, just makes it sound as though you've tried to get people who aren't interested in RPing to try to do it. Thank you for bringing this up. I clarified a little bit more how this is not always the case, but I use it when combined with other checks and balances I take. However allow me to elaborate on this issue. -All- the problems I have had, have almost always been with a player that is really into the game and not necessarily the lore or persona of your character. In other words; their accomplishments in game trumps any small or big accomplishment your character may have performed through background, persona build up, characterization, or in-game accomplishment/IC hybrids. Because you don't have all of the achievements, unlocks, time-in-service, Tier grade equipment, max rank characters, etcetera, your character as a "character" is insignificant to them. That's not to say such actions can't be used In Character (and I welcome them because I sometimes use game achievements in my RP as well) but they should be framed within the scope of the event and not used as a god-modding, OOC tool. Example A: Jim went out and got the Tier 12 Sword of Kill Everything. A very difficult thing to get in the game. Jane is only Tier 10. When we role play together the prudent thing to say is "Yes Jane, obtaining this sword was difficult and took a lot of blood sweat and tears", not "Sorry Jane, you're Tier 10, doubt you'll ever have this sword". Example B: Jane is the highest Tier in the game, knows all the dungeons, pretty much knows everything about the game. Jim is an upstart character both IC and OOC. But IC Jim has a bit of knowledge of a particular empire or organization and as such specializes in them. When Jane confronts Jim, Jane becomes offended OOC that Jim has more knowledge about a particular race/kingdom/organization than Jane had (perhaps Jim focused on a particular topic). Jane then refuses to help Jim with a quest or game-feature because she felt offended by Jim. I can come up with various other examples but it would teeter into Meta-gaming territory which is a monster all on it's own. Now then, to conclude; I would never make a hasty generalization about a player without having a few sessions with them or asking politely OOC about their stance on the topic. Just because they're a high tier player and have the whole game mastered is not necessarily a red flag without them tripping other warning signs.

Before I begin let me preface this by saying, this is not a discussion on the usage of meta information in in-character role-play. I would prefer that the discussion on meta information usage be left for a different thread. This discussion focuses solely, on a rather large demographic of role players that are using In Character role-play as a direct affront to their person. IC: In Character OOC: Out of Character Meta Information usage: This is when a role player uses meta information; Forum Write ups, Name tag hovering over a character, god modding sources, etcetera when role playing. This discussion is not about this sort of OOC in IC behavior. I would prefer it taken to a different thread. In Character bleeding into Out of Character actions: The is when a player, role plays their character in a fashion where a typical role player assumes they are In Character. However, the player is actually taking all actions, stigmas, prejudices, political dispositions, money discussion, as Out of Character actions. This is the topic I would like to have a discussion about. A lot of you are about to tell me; "But that never happens, we all assume if we're role playing all of that IC, the player shouldn't be taking that OOC". Unfortunately there is a string of self proclaimed "Light Role-players" or "New Role-players" that are not aware of the hard 4th wall dividing these two modes of play. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for that some of these players are actually leaders of Role-playing guilds, or officers in such guilds. I use the term guild since it applies to other MMOs as well (equivalent to Free Company). This is a growing problem in the role playing community and it has to stop! If I was to peg the death of role playing in various MMOs I would say it lands squarely on the shoulders of this behavior. Not enough efforts are being put forth by role playing community leaders in stopping this behavior. Often times; "but they're a good person, and they have done a lot for me in game" is used to excuse these actions. Example A: In a certain MMO I played a really haughty, uppity, stuck up, xenophobic character, although she was not a villain by any measure. She was a bit of a socialite and although she may have had reservations with some people, eventually she would warm up to them. However, she was very vocal of her political standing in the realm and which kingdom she would side with. Unfortunately, certain players would take her approach as attacks on them personally. After some investigating, one of the players whom I had role played with had been telling their friends that I personally didn't like them, breaking the wall between IC and OOC. Rather than role play out why the character had her reservations (based on game lore), they preferred to just generalize me the player, as not liking them, the player! This was all cleared up, but by then I had had enough and shortly after quit the game. Example B: This occurred just recently in FFXIV, names and such obviously omitted. I have formed a small and growing group of role playing friends. One of them started a plot involving the search for various relics. While sitting at the tavern I asked a Free Company member (not in my role playing group) if they'd like to role play with us since they had asked if there was any role playing going on. Keep in mind I joined this Free Company for the purpose of networking with role players. So this FC officer joined in the story. We were to venture to Sunken Temple and retrieve some potential relics. While in the temple they role played that they were a very headstrong and resolute warrior as well as a bit careless. So much so that at the end of the dungeon they passed out into a coma! Personally, we all had fun and had looked forward to the continuation of this story. Upon the continuation of our role play, my character was accused of being careless as well as responsible for "medical bills" incurred by this warrior that accompanied us. My FC Officer (the one playing the warrior) asked that I pay these bills in actual game gil. When I questioned this, not only did they demote me in the FC itself but they became very defensive in FC chat. Keep in mind that at no time was any of us aware that we or I were responsible for actual gil payment if the IC warrior in question had an IC effect (such as their IC role played coma). Additionally I was never informed that the FC was a hardcore IC affects OOC company. Example C: This has happened to several of my characters, and I'm sure some of you have also experienced this. You strike up a role play with another role player. Inevitably the other Player falls in love with your character. Which to them means, you two Players are a couple. They more or less are always checking on you through whispers, are asking for out of game contact information (email, social media, etcetera). They become heavily offended bleeding into IC when you reject them IC and/or OOC. The problem is exacerbated when the player in question is a guild officer. Steps I have taken to avoid these situations -I've begun to do a lot more heavy due diligence when forming role playing friendships. I now only invite to my LS those role players whom I've role played for a while and know for certain that they do not take IC into OOC. Even though the list is small; Quality over Quantity. -When role playing in public spaces (such as taverns and such), I no longer mention names IC of a character that isn't present and active in the role play. For example: "Damn that Lancelot! How dare he betray us and take the grail for himself! That bloody hygur!" is now turned into: "Damn! I can't believe they did that! They betrayed us and took the grail!" Note the lack of race and name. I understand that it makes my character sterile, unfortunately until more of the role playing community gets involved and active in stopping the use of IC being taken into OOC I will continue to water down my characters so that no one can be offended. -When joining an FC (or Guild) I'm taking a much more active approach in fully learning what type of organization they are and where they land on the role playing scale. The above example B was a case where I assumed they were role players (based on previous role play) but found out the hard way they pre dominantly weren't. -I now steer clear of any role playing guild that isn't clear on their IC use as OOC policy as well as now make sure I check with all officers of said free company. Steps to identify such players I've become pretty good at identifying these sorts of players. I will share some of my methods below to help avoid these situations: -Lack of a consistent background, and/or refusing to take any lore based input. They may also refuse to accept any role-playing community conventions (such as those described in this forum). Typically they are quiet and never quite explain what their character is about. For the most part they may be distant. Note: Although the quiet, in the corner, reclusive type character is valid for me, unfortunately they have ruined it for me since most players taking IC into OOC hide behind this persona. As such unless you make an active effort to make it known why your character is how they are an what in-lore background caused that (i.e. they're a bounty hunter, spy, diplomatic scout, etcetera), I will assume otherwise. Even James Bond, Batman, Boba Fett, Cowboy Beebop, had lines, and through their lines and actions (not lack of dialogue) helped tell the audience more or less their persona. -I ask myself this question: "Can I describe their character without using their appearance?". If the answer is no, I begin taking precautions and will wait for additional role play sessions before moving forward. -If at any time I see they are mixing OOC with IC, or if they begin treating me OOC in reference to my character I will take precautions. For example; My character in FFXIV is a bit naïve and bubbly. If I start being treated OOC as ignorant of the game or as a child by the player I role played with, it's safe for me to assume they're treating IC as OOC. -The player may be distant to anything involving role play, game lore, racial backgrounds, may claim to be a Light or New Role-player (see below) and instead are more involved OOC. -They tend to have multiple maxed out characters. Have maxed out most if not all professions (gathering-crafting), are top tier, and are mostly into the raiding scene. It may take a bit of effort to even get them to role-play if at all. Although this is not always the case! I typically combine this with various other factors before making a decision. New Role Players Now you may assume from this post that I don't like new role players. That is far from the truth and I've had my best role players be new to role playing entirely. There is a large difference between an actual New Role Player, and a false one taking IC into OOC and dressing it up as just being new to role play. -Legitimate New Role Players typically (but not always) do not have multiple maxed out characters and top tier equipment. This is not always the case! Although this a warning sign only when combined with other signs described above. -Legitimate New Role Players will ask for role playing advice, they will ask questions about race backgrounds, lore, or political dispositions of the various realms. If they don't ask, they are very receptive to advice you give them. Most New Role Players welcome websites you give them (Hydaelyn Role-players, FFXIV Lore Wiki, etcetera). In summary; I think we should all make an effort at raising awareness among the role playing community regarding this issue. I believe Role players taking IC actions into OOC, is the driving cause of the loss of role playing communities in various games (second to lack of developer support). When a guild officer or leader takes IC actions into OOC, it can have an emotional affect on the player, and a debilitating affect on the guild as a whole as the player may leave the guild/free company. Guild/Free Company Leaders: Should make an active effort and disclaimer in black and white. IC actions are not to be taken as OOC and should root out an officer or member that is doing this (either through using guild policies or advice). I've met several guilds that aren't clear on this or tend to leave it to a "Role-play officer" who is further confused. New Players: Should be informed of the hard 4th wall dividing In Character personas and Out of Character. If this 4th wall is to be broken, all players engaged in the role play should be acutely aware.

Saw Aya walking around waitressing last night. I tried to say hello, but was too distracted by an RP I was in. But like others said, F'eora does the same thing. She just randomly waltzes up to the counter and will say something generic like; "Dis tavern is fulls as always... whew" and then I'll emote: *Nods acknowledging the others down the counter, beaming them a welcome smile.* That almost always guarantees I get someone's attention and shortly after a lengthy RP ensues. The other thing is consistency. Try and show up to the RP hotspot consecutively until you've built a repertoire. Once you have a good stable of RP friends on your list feel free to skip out a bit. Keep in mind that a reclusive type character (anti-social) doesn't work too well in a tavern setting and seems more fit for a preset RP Guild. Otherwise take notes from movies; Even reclusive anti-social characters still have mannerisms, habits, and dialogue. Don't be afraid to chum the waters until the alligators bite.

My characters tend to be a lot like yours; independent agents that tend to take on mercenary work freely. One of the problems I've seen with role-play guilds is they fall under one of several categories: -You have the hard-set self-story based guild that assumes its members must follow its predefined hierarchy, goals, and functions. While I have no problem with this sort of guild, experienced role-players with predefined backgrounds and goals will inevitably run into characterization issues. Almost always my background clashes with theirs. This is a type of guild I recommend to new role-players. Almost always the guild leadership dictates how it wants its new membership to behave and act. Coincidently these types of guilds have huge reams of texts on all their various laws, bylaws, hierarchal structures, voting rights, management decisions enough to make the US Army Center for Strategic Planning jealous. -You've got the not so serious role-play guild where everyone is happy puppies, cookies and cutesy-poo smilies in chat. That may very well be your thing. But beware that often times these sorts of guilds mix OOC with IC and don't view the difference. -And finally the guild that claims they role-play, but doesn't really. Almost always the guild leader is a role-player who decided to start his/her own guild and just started blanket inviting people to bulk up their numbers and start doing end game content. When you join and interview they swear up and down that they role play. A little digging and you'll discover they're just a normal guild with a few members that have role-played in the past but probably have no interest in it now. This is the most common type of role-play guild in my vast years of experience. Then you have shades of everything in-between. My best advice to you, given that your characters are a lot like mine, is this: Visit a role-play hot spot and visit it as often as you can. Get to know the various groups there, and start walking up and getting involved in general role-play. Make a few friends, if you can make a role-play circle even better. Once you have that solid group of role-play friends start learning about the various role-play guilds by networking, and NOT by asking their guild leaders. A guild leader will almost always paint their guild as the best role-play center of the universe. Ask members of a guild you're casing. Role-play with them, form a circle of various members and see what the role-play is about. After you have done that, then make an informed decision. Not to promote Faye, but one of things I'm liking about her guild so far from what I've read is the open nature of it. I think that's the way for us to go (characters like yours and mine). Guilds that accept role-players in general, promote events and gatherings, and are pro-active in getting the role-play cogwheel (rooted in game setting) going. In Star Trek Online, I had the most satisfying role-play (stuck to the lore very closely, was entertaining, moved forward), in general "Role-players Aggregate" fleets. These weren't guilds perse, but a conglomeration of role-players (such as STORP, or STORP Starfleet, STORP KDF, etcetera). They aggregated all role-players regardless of background. It was a perfect way to coordinate events, stories, hot spots, hooks, and seeds. In many ways similar to an RP Linkshell used to coordinate various events, or like the chat channel systems used in CoH or Champions Online. I wish we had more of those types of guilds in other fantasy games.

Wow! Never thought I'd find a group of people who knew and understood these concepts. I've struggled with this for years. Have quit whole games over this (big reason I left Tera). I never put it in simple terms reactive vs active, but now that several of you have defined it, it solidifies the concept for me. My problem has always been not finding active role-players. I'm almost always the one running things, or trying to get things going in some way. Whether it's to host a part, drop a quest seed, or just walk up to people. Eventually I got sick of being the active role-player. And like some folks mentioned, other role-players begin looking at you as if you're elitist or want to come off as a special snowflake. Back in Tera, I stopped being active, I just gave up. I'd sit in the tavern with my RP groups, not a single one would say anything. If they did it was almost always something to do with romance at best. What little rp I did get was shallow, and rarely hit the setting or game world. Everyone I met was playing a modern day American in fantasy land. Just responding to whatever I said in the most mundane sterile fashion. So eventually I just gave up trying. I tried to come up with stories using the setting, racial tensions, political intrigue, and Machiavellian power schemes (I would allude to them). Inevitably you'd have groups of people claiming I was racist or out of my mind (they didn't understand role-play vs real life.) So I came over to Final Fantasy after the 14 day trial thing. I'd heard all the good guilds from Tera moved over to FF. So far I've found pretty much the same experience I got in Tera. So I made a completely Reactive character in F'eora. She'll go with the flow and react to what ever is going on around her. I still walk up to people and such since I'm a very social person. But F'eora is no where near as in depth as my character in Tera, and that's a real shame.