Dis

You're completely missing my point entirely. It has nothing to do with being 'politically correct', a poor excuse to begin with. Sensitivity towards people who actually deal with awkward and uncomfortable gender identity issues on a day-to-day basis is important. Like, really important. They get enough shit in real-life; no reason to carry it over into their chosen escape. I don't have a problem with ERP, either, but as a transwoman, I do not and will never appreciate anyone turning my situation into a vehicle for their fetishes while employing the usage of disrespectful terminology (tranny, shemale, etc.), virtual or not. It's disrespectful and above all, incredibly demeaning. Now I know for a fact Chiyo would have no intention of doing any of this, but for the sake of discussion, I feel it incredibly important to bring the subject up before feelings are incidentally hurt. Is that really so bad? I leave it up to others to deal with the term, and the political correctness surrounding it. When I'm speaking to someone who identifies that way, I ask what their chosen pronoun is, and refer to them that way. I don't go into detail about their sex(es) and the way in which they're interpreted in that fashion, if at all. I don't normally bring up my gender, situation, or preferences, but since we're going there, I'm going to say that as a pansexual genderqueer individual, I get my fair share of hate. I feel as if I should direct you to the Wikipedia, and the disambiguation for Hermaphrodite as an entry. A lot of people use the phrase as a scientific descriptor, because, as said before, intersex is still a relatively new term. I won't debate the specifics about it with you, but given that one of my best friends told me about the term a year ago, and I had never heard of it before that point in time, and I like to consider myself pretty decently learned, it's still pretty new in frequent use. These terms are still gaining traction, so of course they're not commonly used. And the terms are interchangeable. Considering that they're referring to a character who would have both male and female reproductive organs, that isn't an inaccurate term to use.

I play an Au Ra who is intersexed. She actually has a pretty hard hate for the state of her body, and wishes she was fully female. She identifies as female, and the state of her body only comes up if someone shows interest in her and things lead to a bedroom situation, or if someone happens to get on top of her for some fashion, and suddenly gets confused by the extra parts. It's a constant underlying thread of her existence, because it does happen to be part of her body, but it isn't the core focus of any RP for her. As for using the term hermaphrodite (leaving out the sociopolitical aspect of things), consider the time period that is represented in the game. Especially in certain areas (Ishgard), they may not even have the term used, as it has a mythological root (greek gods), and is technically a more scientific term. That said, I tend to go with more spiritual-esque terms. Zehra refers to herself as 'twin-souled', but 'dual-sexed', or 'dual-bodied' also works. It depends on the feeling you want to give your writing. There are all sorts of terms out there, but the one I use is meant to reference the fact that she is intersexed. I see nothing wrong with playing a character who is one or the other, or a mixture of both sexes, as people so see fit. Approach the character as a serious character, and you'll be fine. Include it as a singular part of the whole of the character, and people shouldn't have a problem. Approach it as a fetishist representation of something in a strictly ERP context, and people will likely get upset or draw away from you because that isn't what they 'want to be associated with', as if that aspect of RP is somehow dirty or wrong (psst, it isn't). I haven't yet worked on Zehra's wiki, but I will, and when I do, I'll reference it, probably in part of her backstory, as well as in her physical appearance. But it's just another fact of who and what she is, and that's how it should be treated. I'll let other people tell you the reason not to use certain terms. I've never cared about being specifically politically correct, so I won't jump on that bandwagon. As far as 'snow-flaky', that's like walking up to an actual intersexed individual and telling them, 'you're a snowflake because your body is different, you should change it'. This is meant to be a part of your character that has serious and lasting impacts on everything from their mental well being to the way they might be treated by partners with who they want to become intimate. Just like with any other character trait that is 'different from the norm', you have to put more thought and effort into it. Unfortunately, you have to find a better way to justify it to the community or they look at it as if you're doing it strictly for attention, even if it's just a unique challenge you want to approach in your writing. If you want to make your character that way, do it, and enjoy the challenge. If you feel like you're not up to it, then don't. But don't do or not do it because of how someone 'says' it might be perceived. That is one persons perception, and people have many different ones.

I actually enjoy sad RP, because it tends to bring my own mood down, and the more depressed I am, the better I write. Which is kind of a bad thing, but also a good thing. It's complicated. That's really the only way I know how to say it. It's complicated. But either way, I enjoy seeing the dramatic scenarios that can be drawn out during sad role-play. Like Ark and others, I like watching the way it can impact a character, change the way they view the world, and the way it manipulates and sometimes twists their worldview. There's a time to be light-hearted and fair, but the sadness, the drama, the conflict, the tragedy, the antagonism. These things are part of real life, and I find including them in my RP tends to make my characters feel more 'real'. Even my most light-hearted character, Liviana, has a bit of tragedy in her backstory with the loss of her brother and father during the Calamity.

I play a super skilled character. She's got a super long list of skills, but only one of them consistently maintained as mastery. She also has a unique condition that contributes to her being able to learn anything quickly, but that again, doesn't provide her mastery. She spends most of her time with her crafts, and with researching and trying to expand her skillset. If I had to knock off all of her other skills, however, I'd probably give her 1.0 Conjury (dem elemental spells, yo'), and Monk (which I need to level on her), on the combat side of things. On the crafting side of things, Cooking and Alchemy, or alchemical cooking, as she rather enjoys. Everything else is fluff to give her a kind of in to talk to others about, or as a general skillset that she's started picking up since I began playing with her a little over a year ago, because of IC things that have happened, people she's come into conflict with, or just in general because she's a 'I want to learn everything' type of person. Typically, if she focuses too much on one area, she starts to slip in other areas, with the exception of healing, because she spent too many years in conjury to have that slide away from her, even if she doesn't heal someone every day. I think that, like was said earlier, when your character becomes the central focus of an RP and leaves absolutely no room for others to positively contribute, then, your character has become too skilled. It's all about checks and balances, just like anything else is.

I went with multiples, because reasons, and stuff and things. Favorite Opening Theme: Answers. Favorite Non-town theme: Theme of the Ninja, Brotherhood of Ash (Smoulder), Zenith. Favorite NPC/Character Theme: Canticle, Dreams Aloft, Dewdrops & Moonbeams. Favorite Raid (Non Boss) Theme: Syrcus Tower (Calm). Favorite Quest Related: Crystal Tower Ending (Eternal Wind). Favorite Town Theme: Ishgard Night Theme (Foundation). Favorite Primal Theme: Tie between Garuda, Ramuh, Shiva (Phase 1). Favorite Raid Boss Theme: Alexander Boss Theme. Favorite Mount Theme: Magitek Armor's Terra Remix. Favorite Dungeon Theme: Tam-Tara Deepcroft HM or Snowcloak. Favorite Dungeon Boss Theme: Battle in the Big Keep. Favorite Battle Theme: Heavensward Hunt & Heroic Moments.

I've been role-playing since before I was a teenager, so I consider myself pretty much a veteran at this point. 22 years is a long time to pursue any hobby. I don't have logs to look back at any more, but I know how terribad some of role-play sessions were. My RP partners and I always had fun, but I do tend to sit and go, 'Well, I could do this different, or I could phrase this better, or..'. I think being critical of ourselves as writers is something that a lot of RPers, for better or worse, do at one point or another in their time as a RPer. For me, I've been cutting out certain words that I use to death, trying to find different ways to phrase things. I spent a few years without RP, and it degraded my writing skill more than I like to admit, so I tend to abuse the phrase 'gave a'. Smile, laugh, grin, chuckle, yep, she gave one. I've had to adjust the way I type because I was even getting repetitive to myself. I tend to read a lot of 'how to RP' articles to compare and contrast my style versus others, but at the same time, while I want to improve for myself and to stretch my writing skills back out, I'm not really trying to mimic anything else that I've seen, not to any great degree. So long as the people I'm RPing with are having fun, I consider my posts a success, same with my writing style. Like Ryanti said though, you never stop learning, even if you're a veteran player. There's always something more to learn, and that's one of the coolest parts of our hobby, at least, in my opinion.

I took the Xaela groupings to mean that there is an umbrella of a singular tribe, but that each tribe could have splintered into differing groups. Meaning just because everyone shares a single tribal name (Kha, for example), but that there might be several groups of them spread out across the plains. Similarly, I could imagine them having a tribe gathering every x-number of years in order to exchange information, pair off partners, expand their tribe, discuss important affairs, show off, and just generally celebrate, as it were. I mean, we don't expect that every R tribe Miqo'te will know every other R tribe Miqo'te, so I don't see why Xaela should be any different. I could see a Raen being taken in by a clan (not just the one accepting of outsiders) for a number of reasons. Some people are very hesitant to leave behind a child, for example. Another could be something exceptional that he did that made the clan look at him as a valuable asset. Someone owing him a life debt. And those are just a couple of examples. I don't think you'd have to stretch very far to get justification to have a Raen who is part of a Xaela tribe.

I think Liadan summed this up pretty well. If you don't know the OOC motivations behind the character telling you this, then your character should react accordingly. If someone tries to provide your character with information they don't know isn't true, react accordingly in that fashion. If they say something that your character knows to be false, react accordingly in that fashion. If you decide you don't like that character portrayal, explain politely to the player that you're not interested in engaging with them again, and call it a day. Your only 'duty' when dealing with someone is to react the way your character would. And if you don't like interacting with that person, rather than just 'shutting them out', something that seems to be an immediate reaction in the RPC, tell them (politely and privately) why you don't find the encounter engaging, and let them know you don't want to RP again. It could strike up a conversation that reveals a deeper insight into that character. Maybe their character is a con-man who is trying to pass off fake knowledge as being truth. Maybe that character is a madman who actually believes that cats are reptiles. You don't know, and making an immediate assumption cuts them off at the knees when it honestly isn't necessary, and actually tends to make the "better" RPers very cliquish against anyone perceived to not be up to their standards when playing. And that is no way to foster or bolster the community. I'm probably going to call it quits at this, however, as it seems like the topic keeps going in circles. Hopefully you don't deal with any theoretical assholes who try and shove a character concept down your throat - I've never actually seen this type of character represented anywhere by anyone who is part of the RPC, or even the community at large.

I have a problem with the "non-genius" character outsmarts a genius theory. Every character is capable of displaying a certain level of intelligence and wit, based on the player of said character being able to adequately display that intelligence. That said, people are also capable of playing characters who are 'less intelligent or knowledgeable' than they personally are about certain subjects. As an audience, I can perceive a character to be more or less intelligent than they actually are. However, as a player, if I'm going out of my way to 'outstrip' a character who claims to be a genius when my character would clearly have no idea what this other character is talking about, that's akin to me trying to deliberately shut that individual down with OOC information. A good example is my character Liviana. If someone was talking to Liviana, and the subject of aether suddenly came up in the conversation, despite the fact that I've read about the different types of aether, and the common methods of utilizing aether for magic in game, Liviana has no idea about the details of such. Say that someone tells her that expelling aether from inside the body is the way to practice arcanima. I'm aware that the method they're talking about using isn't arcanima, but thaumaturgy. I know this, from past RP experience, and from reading while playing the game. Liviana isn't a 'genius' when it comes to aether at all. And while I can send that player a tell saying, 'C'mon now, you know that's wrong," Liviana has to reply accordingly. She just does not know. I'm under no obligation to have my non-genius character comment on a subject that he or she knows absolutely nothing about. A lot of cases of a non-genius character outsmarting a genius character seem to boil down to that type of situation. Character A says something to seem intelligent, even if Player A knows that the information they're giving is wrong, to try and impress Character B. Character B corrects Character A, even if Character B is meant to be the less intelligent of the two on that subject matter, because Player B knows that what Character A said is wrong. That isn't a case of a non-genius character outsmarting a genius character, but instead one player using their character as a vehicle to tell the opposite player that they are in fact wrong and their character is not a genius. And while this isn't an 'absolute' example of any kind, that is hands down the most common example of a non-genius outsmarting a genius that I see portrayed in the RP community. That's taking OOC IC. That's an entirely different matter. I have characters who are completely ignorant about things I know in the game, that's not the point. My point was criticizing people who OOCily brag about their character's intelligence and wit, only to say something shockingly stupid when they hop in IC. Say, you are playing a "genius" character, yes? My character is not a genius. They get into a discussion. Your character says something stupid along the lines of "Cats are reptiles." ... Just because you OOCily claim your character is a genius does not mean everything they say will be intelligent, it does not mean people will perceive them as such. If your character says cats are reptiles, my character will argue against them because of COMMON SENSE. Common sense is not a rare feature for a character. Just because you tell me your character is an absolute genius does not mean my character will clap their hands and cheer whenever they announce cats are reptiles. Because that's stupid. Why would anyone dumb down THEIR character so that your seems like a "genius"? Are you telling me that if a "genius" character approaches mine, says cats are reptiles, my character should nod and say: "WHOA! Really!? I thought cats were fish!" Simply because I don't promote my character as smarter or as smart as theirs? You can't force the idea that a character is a genius unless you manage to keep intelligent conversation flowing. If you say stupid shit, no matter how "amazingly intelligent" you claim your character is, it simply isn't going to be received well. I think you missed the point of my example. I was specifically talking about a situation where one character obviously knows more about a certain topic than another character. Not specifically about a character who says something that is common knowledge as being incorrect. Hence why I used aether as an example, and not animal species. It's easy to know that a cat is a cat. And common sense says if someone tells you a cat is not a cat, you can disagree with them. I'm talking about when someone says something about a topic that could potentially be obscure to your character, and your character corrects them even if said character wouldn't know they're wrong, but you as the player know they're wrong. It might not be received well, no, but you have every right to try and portray that kind of character. Even if it is 'above your means' or 'out of your comfort zone'. I'd rather see a player try and grow as a player by playing out of their comfort zone, than I would see them stagnate by never playing anything challenging to them.

I have a problem with the "non-genius" character outsmarts a genius theory. Every character is capable of displaying a certain level of intelligence and wit, based on the player of said character being able to adequately display that intelligence. That said, people are also capable of playing characters who are 'less intelligent or knowledgeable' than they personally are about certain subjects. As an audience, I can perceive a character to be more or less intelligent than they actually are. However, as a player, if I'm going out of my way to 'outstrip' a character who claims to be a genius when my character would clearly have no idea what this other character is talking about, that's akin to me trying to deliberately shut that individual down with OOC information. A good example is my character Liviana. If someone was talking to Liviana, and the subject of aether suddenly came up in the conversation, despite the fact that I've read about the different types of aether, and the common methods of utilizing aether for magic in game, Liviana has no idea about the details of such. Say that someone tells her that expelling aether from inside the body is the way to practice arcanima. I'm aware that the method they're talking about using isn't arcanima, but thaumaturgy. I know this, from past RP experience, and from reading while playing the game. Liviana isn't a 'genius' when it comes to aether at all. And while I can send that player a tell saying, 'C'mon now, you know that's wrong," Liviana has to reply accordingly. She just does not know. I'm under no obligation to have my non-genius character comment on a subject that he or she knows absolutely nothing about. A lot of cases of a non-genius character outsmarting a genius character seem to boil down to that type of situation. Character A says something to seem intelligent, even if Player A knows that the information they're giving is wrong, to try and impress Character B. Character B corrects Character A, even if Character B is meant to be the less intelligent of the two on that subject matter, because Player B knows that what Character A said is wrong. That isn't a case of a non-genius character outsmarting a genius character, but instead one player using their character as a vehicle to tell the opposite player that they are in fact wrong and their character is not a genius. And while this isn't an 'absolute' example of any kind, that is hands down the most common example of a non-genius outsmarting a genius that I see portrayed in the RP community.

I tend to subscribe to the school of 'fake it till you make it'. When I first started RPing when I was younger (11-13ish), I wasn't as witty or as intelligent as my characters were. So I pretended. I faked it, I looked up witty conversations, I copied what I'd read in books, and tried to insert it appropriately. And eventually I started not having to rely on outside sources to do the work for me. You can pretend until its a skill you develop. And it is a skill you can develop. Trust me, mimic something enough, it starts to rub off on you and you begin to learn the appropriate way to formulate responses that are just the right combination of scathe, snark, and intelligence to be seen as 'witty'. Intent is important, though. And I've RP'd with people who aren't 'as intelligent', but who played characters that way. And while I acknowledged to them as another RPer that they could try and make x or y changes to make their character seem wittier, or referred them to resources I'd used, my character acknowledged their character, until my character had a legitimate reason to doubt them based on interacting with them. It doesn't take much to not be a judgmental snob when someone is trying to portray something that they're not good at. Just a bit of patience and offering to help them get to where they want to be.

4.) I ERP. I ERP because it's just another form of writing for me. It's fun, it's often times funny, the scenes can be anywhere from awesome character development fodder to having me laughing so hard with the dialogue that I can barely see the screen, and it's just enjoyable to write. I even allow this in scenarios that have questionable views: adult lalafell, characters who are adults in Eorzea but wouldn't be adults in the real world (15+), so long as it fits the theme and is part of legitimate character development, and all of the players are over the age of 18. 5.) I spend a lot of time wobbling over character concepts, especially where the lore is concerned. I want to make a character who fits well within the lore, but I don't want to feel so constrained by it that I can't create. This means I spend too much time on creation and tweaking, and not enough time really playing my character, or even the game. That can be frustrating. 6.) I'm always too nervous to approach people who have 'walk-ups' in their search info, despite the fact that they genuinely let other people approach them. I always worry I won't be interesting enough, or that they'd rather find something else to do with their time. I have a decided lack of confidence in my writing skills lately. 7.) I flake out sometimes when I'm RPing with people and another person joins. This means I end up sitting and reading as a spectator more than writing myself, because I just find enjoyment from watching others RP, even if I'm not interacting with them. 8.) The oddest thing I've ever RP'd is a glowing rock. I did this for almost two hours once, and had players laughing so hard they were crying over voice chat, begging me to stop. It was also one of the best RP's I've ever done.

This is going to be kind of long, so I'm going to put them under cuts, to save space. I have a few characters I play, but the three who are most fleshed out right now as Glioca, Dark, and Liviana. I've played Glio and Livi the most, with Dark just sort of sitting in a corner somewhere until I can get my head all the way around the lore for what she is - a Roe who was possessed by a Voidsent - and make sure I'm 100% in boundaries with her. Glio, I'll always try and stretch the lore with her, because I love her as a concept too much to give her up. Anyway, more on the concepts below.

All of Glioca/Meallaire's backstory was fueled by the fact that she lost her mother when she was very young. If her mother had never died, she never would have started experimenting with conjury, alchemy, and the other magics she did. She probably would have eventually become a Hearer, and settled down with a nice Elezen man from the Shroud. She never would have gone across the sea to Othard, and she would have died at the end of her expected lifespan, since unnatural magic would no longer be keeping her alive. Her aetheric condition never would have happened, so she'd be dead already by now. Meaning she wouldn't technically exist in ARR.

1) I completely changed my main character's public storyline because while I feel it's plausible, so many people cringe at her original character concept, and I got tired of being excluded from RP because of what I referred to her as. 2) I often feel as if my RP isn't interesting enough to really gain anyone's attention, and get, not so much shy, but nervous in large open RP settings. Because of this, I rarely approach people in places like the Quicksand, or even during open RP events. 3) I like high fantasy, and the extravagant, so I'm leery to approach anyone I see from the RPC for role-play, because I feel like I don't play to the ordinary life aspect of my character enough to be interesting for any kind of long-term RP. In hindsight, I realize that some of those statements could be accusatory or an attempt to be inflammatory towards the RPC and its community, and I wanted to tack on a disclaimer here, because that was not my intention.

I'm going to agree with some of the earlier points stated here. There is a definite disconnect from our characters (not a bad thing), that leads to a lot of people either not understanding that IC actions have IC consequences, or not being willing to take those consequences into account. Chill is right that a lot of people want their character to be their idealized self, and so don’t like dealing with failures that might influence their character in a negative way. The biggest time I often see the ‘consequence lapse’ is with characters who run their mouth or cause trouble, start arguments, or purposefully goad people, but then counter the IC negative reactions with an OOC comment of 'lol, but this character doesn't fight'. That’s a terrible attitude to take. If your character does something that will cause someone to hate them, you have to be willing to accept that while there will be characters who find it funny, there will also be characters who will be ready to drag your character out into the street and whip their ass for them like they’re a twelve year old. Physical conflict happens in any dynamic world. People shy away from it in real life because there are harsher laws preventing assault against someone. But Eorzea isn’t the real world, and people fight all the time. The best example is in the MSQ,very early on, where you’re in a street brawl in front of the Quicksand in Ul’dah. Against a guy and his hired thugs that were hassling a woman. The very world, while yes, there are some peaceful locations that aren’t touched much by direct conflict between people, is generally full of people who start fights and do terrible things to one another. I’ve always been of the opinion that if a character exists, they will come into conflict at some point in time in their life. This is especially true in a world where conflict is a central point of most people’s lives (class conflicts in Ul’dah that sometimes escalate, conflict in Limsa between pirate/privateer groups, conflict in Gridania with the Ixali, the Dragonsong war in Ishgard). I feel as if the character that has never been in any conflict would feel too sheltered. And while that isn’t a problem, it’s a little disgusting that players use ‘My character doesn’t fight!’ OOC as a valid excuse to start fights, arguments, pick people apart, and be insulting ICly, and then avoid the consequences of their action as their character. And while yes, you can say ‘Just avoid the people who play that way,’ it’s actually a pretty hefty chunk of the player base (not specific to the RPC, but role-players in general) that do this. Or if there are consequences, they're waved off. As far as the fearless thing, I think with me personally it depends on the character. Glioca is fearless because she's older, so she doesn't feel as if she has to worry too much when someone is trying to intimidate her. She’s fully prepared that someone will eventually be able to beat her, but that doesn’t mean she’ll back down. That said, she does her best not to start fights at organized events, with just one or two exceptions. Aelden doesn’t show a lot of fear because he’s young, arrogant, and doesn’t know any better. If someone was playing a character who didn’t respect authority, I could see them being arrogant and fearless, trying to ‘stick it to the man’, because that’s what they’re going for as their character. But most of the time, it’s just a bleed over of ‘Well, without my permission, you can’t do anything to my character, and I don’t have to acknowledge you trying to intimidate me, so I’m going to have my character stand here and keep being a jackass, knowing you can’t do anything to get rid of me.’ Sorry about the length, got a little rambly there.

Ironically, this is easy mode for me. Finding songs with lyrics for certain characters? The only one I don't have a song for is Liliane. But that's because I don't have much of her in my head yet, she's a definite work in progress.

Glioca could be a lot of things. I see her as an on-reserve special forces type, who happens to own a flower-shop when she's not killing people. Dark would be a bouncer at a goth club, and spend her weekends as a professional dominatrix. Liviana would probably work in a nick-knack shop. Aelden would be a 80's type musician. Think in the vein of David Bowie. Zehra would be a martial arts instructor, most likely Jujutsu. Khadan is really hard to pin down. I see him owning a hunting goods store, and participating in tournament hunts/fishing tournaments when he can. Liliane would maybe be a private investigator type.

[align=center][/align] A'rklonn and Glioca, enjoying a very lovely La Noscean sunset.

The original concept for Glioca was very, very close to the Sidhe fae. Tall, willowy, pointed ears, fair skin and fair hair, mostly. Most games who had elves didn't have the ability to make them very tall, unless they were certain types. And if they did, they always looked too hawkish, with certain features too pronounced, never human enough. In XIV, my first concept for her was Highlander, but their emotes were very rough and Glioca is definitely more subdued than that. Then I saw the Elezen and tinkered with this one specific face. After that, it all just kind of clicked into place, and I was content with it. I also just really like the Elezen in generally, and their lore. It's probably why my other main Elezen character is an Ishgardian Duskwight (discounting Glioca's son, of course). I always tend to play at least one elf in every game setting I'm in, and that's in part because of Tolkien, and in part because I just love humanoid, but non-human races. I'm also very fond of halfling, and I really like Lalafell, but I could never solidify an idea in my head enough to make it really take off, you know?

I've used a Fantasia's effects for an IC context. After Glioca had a literal fight with herself at the edge of the Void, all of the color bled out of her hair and eyes, leaving them white/silver respectively. Once upon a time, her eyes were a lovely shade of purple, and her hair was black for a while (dyed from it's more natural red). I've never directly used Fantasia in RP as an actual Fantasia. I don't see a problem with it, however, if a person wants to use it to advance their plot, or take their character in a new direction. That said, the devs did say it's not an IC/in-lore thing, but I've seen some really good takes on it, so I'm in the 'do what you want as long as it's plausible/you're happy with the results' camp. It might create conflict with people, but even conflicting RP can be good RP sometimes. If others don't agree with it, well, ultimately they have the option of cutting contact. It might be a good idea to just ask those you RP with consistently if they'd be comfortable with a change, or how their character might react. If there's an overwhelming nope response, it might be time to either find a different circle of people to RP with, or look at a more drastic change to your character, or even a character death with a new character coming up in their place (I've done that last one). Either way, do what you feel most comfortable with, and what works the best for you in-RP and in-story.

As someone who did play XI, a lot, I can go on record as saying Vana'diel has as much in common with Eorzea as . Aside from the races looking sort of similar, there's nothing at all that repeats from XI to XIV. That's why I was pointing out that XI is as admissible as Marvel and WWE and DC and Whatever are. Someone from XI might have seen a Chocobo, but someone from Middle Earth might be more familiar with giant chickens too. It doesn't work too great when you get down to it. But it does work, that's the point. In this case, it does work, and there's a period of adjustment, and it's the character himself who has the largest adjustment to do, not everyone around him. Looking at it from a purely character perspective, he's the one who has to get used to the fact he's not in the same world. Hell, maybe that character wants to find a way home some day. Now that's an RP plot for you. Getting dozens of people involved to try and create a ritual fused with Allag technology to try and open up a dimensional rift to blindly send someone home across dimensions. There are literally dozens of ways this RP could go, and multiple ways that character could positively influence the plots and stories that stem from his existence. But no one wants to take those things into account. They just want to slap the same stigma onto his traveling character as someone who tried to play Jon Snow, to take from an earlier example. The thing about allowances is they're made for a reason. If someone wants to make a character who is to their core from Eorzea, awesome. I have six other characters that are from Eorzea, who I RP when I can and when I'm in that mood. Hell, talking to Glioca ICly most would never know she wasn't from Eorzea unless I specifically stated 'This character is a world traveler'. But I still deal with that same stigma from people who look at the concept and go 'Meh, it's not normal, I don't want to deal with it.' We're a community of creators and writers. Things like plot twists and unique hooks should be nothing for us to deal with on a conceptual level. Why do we levy so hard against something that's not out of the batch of round cookies, when someone tries to make a cookie that's slightly square? Don't ask how I got square cookies, they spread out too much and I ended up with a flat sheet that I had to cut into squares. Shut up, my oven sucks. ._.

I think there's a large difference in someone from a similar world (XI and XIV) and someone from a world so drastically different (Earth, or whatever the GoT world is called, I don't watch it). I never played XI personally, so I can't attest to how similar they are, but the races are in some aspects similar and yet different. There'd be a much smaller period of adjustment, I would think, in being someone from XI as opposed to someone from Earth, for example. I don't think there's a specific problem with pulling in someone from a similar Final Fantasy world if you can find a reasonably plausible method of getting them here. For Glioca, for example in the world she was last on, died. She died and went into the Void (that world had a void similar to XIV's concept of it), her host died, she took over her host after being spit out of the Void, and poof! Eorzean with mixed memories (not a zombie)! You could technically play Captain America, but that's a more extreme example of someone playing a world-traveling character. In this instance, we're talking about things that are roughly aligned along the same general axis. A fantasy world with similar and in some cases shared elements (Moogles, Chocobo, Cactaur, similar races, similar foods in some instances, etc). Another Final Fantasy world. This makes things much simpler as opposed to much more difficult. I have plenty of characters I'd love to make into characters here, and in those cases, I'd rewrite their history to make them be from XIV and have similar backstory elements, rather than porting them wholesale into the world. But there are some characters where that kind of rewrite doesn't feel right, or like it does that particular character justice. Allowing someone to play someone from a similar world doesn't mean we have to accept someone from all different types of worlds. And for the record, if someone played a WWE character in XIV, I imagine them becoming a showmanship gladiator in Ul'dah pretty damn fast, I'm just sayin'. The point is that we can't technically allow someone to be anything. They have the right to RP what they want. All we can do is point them in the right direction of people who are willing to role-play with that type of character, and ourselves say 'I respect this idea, but I don't want to interact with that type of character, I'm sorry.' And that's not what we're doing in this thread.

If you can rationalize being a stranger in a strange land with no history, no backstory, and no attachment to the XIV story then nothing is stopping you. THESE ARE THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T IGNORE THOUGH. Galka are NOT Roegadyan, and Vana'diel is NOT Eorzea. There's nothing to stop you from being a legacy-character, but I would ask what purpose being one would serve? Vana'diel and its history would just isolate you more from general RP. The thing is that he doesn't want to ignore those things. He wants his character to experience learning about these things from an IC perspective. It actually offers up a lot of play for those who are willing to see his character as strange, odd, or otherwise queer because of his opinions, views, and beliefs on the world, or on the flip side of that, because he should know things, and instead knows so little. That puts out a lot of starting points for RP and actually gives a lot of plot hooks that people could get into. Hell, just generalized RP, walk-ups with a lot of 'Hi, how are ya' could be interesting if his character isn't familiar with local customs. Speaking of Vana'diel and other lands, if these lands have no influence on Eorzea at all, why are bits and pieces of Vana'diel mentioned here and there in FFXIV items? I don't recall where, but I think at one point is was almost theorized that Eorzea was an alternate version of some kind of weird transitioned AU of Vana'diel as a way of connecting them. Final Fantasy is notorious for alternate versions of a world, world skipping, connecting games, and other similar links between titles in the franchise. It hits a point where the argument begins to boil down to "Yes, you can do this, and you can even make this seem plausible and interesting, but it means I'll have to make more effort to figure out how my character would react to someone being so different, so don't do it so I don't have to try and interact with you." Or at least, that's definitely how it feels from the other end of it. Yes, you could argue about the other person being special, but it's no different than dealing with someone who has different customs in the real world. We can't realistically expect them to conform to what we believe.

As someone who plays a world traveler as their main, it's doable. Glioca has an entire history from Eorzea before she became Glioca. It's all lined out on her wiki. Glioca herself plays off as having the Echo. The body she inhabited belong to someone who died during the Calamity. She took the body, took the memories, took the soul. She's both people now, technically. She's told maybe three people in Eorzea who she really is and where she's really from. She refers to far away places as that, far away. She plays herself off as a traveler. She's been to other places in Eorzea that others might not have seen. She gets surprised by some things, and not by others. Example, in her backstory, she spent time in Doma. So the Au Ra boom that is happening now? Doesn't phase her much. She's familiar with them, at least in a cursory fashion from being out in and around Othard for a while. Point being, there are ways to explain it that don't get your idea slapped around by people who want to adhere to the lore so closely that they feel the need to avoid your character. A lot of it is about being plausible, and finding people who don't mind that style of play, to play with. (Minor edit, because I realized one word in a sentence sounded passive-aggressive and accusatory.)