Aveline

"Thal's balls" is commonly said around Limsa Lominsa LOL

I know my boyfriend is planning on playing a Roegadyn, so that makes three!

Miqo'te Keeper of the Sun for sure, not sure which starting city (Ul'Dah or Gridania.. not big on the whole pirates theme in Limsa Lominsa).

LOL I wasn't attacking anyone or getting carried away, I was responding to the question 'what's worse than making your character the main hero?" I just listed a few examples that I've seen. It seems like people are getting really touchy on this subject, but I'm not sure why. We all just have different ways of approaching the game itself. I personally absorb all the aspects of the game itself into my RP. Even if say, taking down a dragon is done with a group that contains only 3 RPers, I would put that incident into my character's personal history of the game, and include those RPers in it. You're right that if a mission COULD be soloed the game wouldn't care, but really that's up to you then to chose if you want to solo it or if you want to approach it as a group. That's a decision only you can make, not the game. But anyway, like it has been said, this forum is not for deciding the intricacies of how all linkshells will approach roleplaying. A discussion like this will most likely be had many times over within each individual linkshell, and once those linkshells have been decided, then we can all go to whichever one best suits our RP styles.

Your hero being a fallen angel/risen demon. Your hero coming from another universe Your hero being a lesbian vampire with mind control For a few... Almost all RPGs follow the trope of the stronger-than-life hero (you) saving the day. XI and XIV just add in a bunch of other players. Yes, I think the cut-scenes should include the rest of your party, but many times in game it is made clear that you aren't supposed to be doing this by yourself. No one can say that XI is a solo game, by any means. To get to the end of the storylines, you have to cooperate with people. MANY people. If you RP the missions/storylines together, it just makes that all the more vivid. You are supposed to be a powerful adventurer, yes (wouldn't we all be a lot stronger IRL if we ran literally everywhere and had to carry 100 lbs of gear around with us everywhere?), but the game never suggests that you are supposed to be more powerful than the main enemies. That's why you have to go through the missions and quests in teams. The biggest sense of community in the game I ever got was going through the entire CoP storyline with my linkshell. It sadly wasn't a RP linkshell, but it was a close, tight-knit group of friends who I'd never met in person but even after we went our separate ways outside of the game, we still continued to call each other up on the phone just to say hey. I also don't recall doing Dynamis solo, or Ballista/Brenner by myself, or taking down the lesser gods, or fighting a dragon... all those I had to do with the immense participation and co-operation from friends and shellmates, and not once did I ever feel like I was the sole hero in those instances. In fact the more I think about it, the more I am wondering how you guys could see those things as anything other than teamwork, and intentional teamwork at that on S-E's part.

Personally I like a balance to these sorts of things, and for TALE I hope we keep a balance between personal storyline and in-game plotline. In linkshells that almost completely ignored missions/game storyline, it seemed people went out of their way to out-do each other with increasingly wild plotlines and stories. But on the other hand, I can see how someone new to the game or further behind on storylines would feel put out from joining a group that was roleplaying specific missions. Then again, if a group was RPing along a linear story path, why would they be recruiting in the first place? To use XI as an example, it always seemed to work out best if people referred sort of indirectly to the missions within the LS chat, unless a large group of members were all running them at the same time. For instance, if we had new players that were just getting to the Shadowlord fight, those of us that had done it a dozen times over wouldn't refer to it necessarily as the Shadowlord, we'd simply say in the linkshell that we were going to help ______ fight off increasing evil in the north. This runs well within the game, as there is ALWAYS evil in the north, and it allows the person running that mission for the first time as well as those that are doing it for the 20th time, to roleplay it in character.

Well.. to the ancient Greeks the gods really DIDN'T care about humans, though from time to time they played favorites, sort of like a socialite doting over a favorite miniature poodle for a while. However, the gods weren't omnipotent beings, like the Judeo-Christian god. The Greek gods were mostly personifications of feelings or natural events. Would any of you say "I don't believe in wind storms" or "I don't believe in fire." ? Of course not. But getting back to the patron deities in the game.. if you don't want to RP as having one, then simply.. leave it out of your character? Just because it's listed somewhere on your character sheet that you have a patron deity (if you are absolutely required to have one, that is) doesn't mean at all that you actually have to make it known to anyone else, or to integrate that in to your character.

Interesting thing just came up in my Greek lit class. The primary Olympian gods/goddesses numbered 12 in total, and in daily Greek life it was common to say "By the Twelve!" as in "I swear by the Twelve, I didn't steal your sheep, Amenekos!" Did anyone's characters swear by any deities in XI? Do you plan to in XIV? My character Niami was raised in Mhaura, around sailors so she would always say "Altana's tits!" when something surprised or amazed her.

<3 Khajit! I love even more that they are from Elsewyr.

Haha yeah I was talking about the in-game models. Like that one you linked looks to me... 19 at the oldest. The one they showed prominently at the German games festival looked 16. In contrast, the Elezen women we've seen so far look like they have actually graduated high school. :lol: I loved playing Mithra in XI and I want to play a Miqo'te in XIV, so I'm hoping they just chose the younger looking models for their demos because as you say, many people want a younger looking character.

I never liked the old Mithra nose.. it reminded me of Scarecrow's nose from the Wizard of Oz. I love everything about the new Miqo'te design except for the fact that their faces almost all look like those of adolescent girls. I want to play a Miqo'te that looks like an actual woman wielding a blade lol.

Yes, cliches are fun to satirize because they're easy to do so, but I have seen good examples of all of these cliches being played out before as well, so it's important to remember that just because something is overdone or has been done badly before, doesn't mean an individual player has to rule it out completely. I think my only exemption to this list as something I really don't like to see in a set MMO world (like XI) is character concepts where they want to have wings or horns or hooves or something else not actually on their character. It's jarring to be in a fantasy world already pretending, and then have someone expect you to pretend even more just for the sake of the aesthetics of their character.

Yeah I think the most important thing to realize about RP cliches (especially the cheesy ones!) is that they oftentimes come from inexperience/unfamiliarity with roleplaying in the world. Hopefully this time around though, those of us who RPed a lot in XI can kind of steer new XIV roleplayers towards topics like this to give them examples of what they might want to avoid. I joke a lot about placing bets on how many new Ala Mihgo orphans we're going to have whose families were all murdered by the Garleans.

Hahaha I think everyone covered most of the cliches I saw on Asura. Families slaughtered by orcs was a big one, in the early days.

To add to what Mason said about character flaws, a good way for beginners to start is to say for every "perk" or positive character trait, their character has an equal "flaw" or negative character trait. For instance, I might make an Elezen who is courageous, has a fondness for Miqo'te traditional cooking, and is an excellent fighter who prizes her sword collection above all else, but she also is mildly allergic to wildflower pollen, has a fear of swimming/large bodies of water, and tends to get distracted when sword shopping, to the detriment of her daily schedule. Characters of course don't have to be this symmetrical, but I find it helps with creating a more realistic persona.

I don't know about derogatory, but it seems like since this is an attempt for us to define roleplaying as it relates to our collective groups in FFXIV, we should have a comprehensive definition. This text is likely to be seen by many players who are new to roleplaying in MMOs, or who have heard of it or are curious. If I was interested in trying something out--say a new hobby--and I went to a website for information and found reference to only two styles of participation: fluffy bunny or 24/7 immersion, I would be put off to say the least. While individually we might have different concepts of what it means to be hardcore, collectively we're putting together a general definition that gives interested players some idea of what this is all about. I think explaining 'casual' and 'hardcore' are important, but so is making it clear that those are by far not the only two ways in which the RP community interacts with each other.

That's a good first draft, but I'm wondering if we shouldn't include a middle ground between casual and hardcore. I think, looking at it from the perspective of someone new to RP, they might get the impression that you're either one or the other when in reality many fall somewhere in between.

I'm confused as to why we would need asterisks (or any other markers for that matter) to describe actions in an MMO. Isn't that what /em is for? In the linkshells I've been in, we would just say: /em yawns and looks around for the coffee. Not: Niami: *yawns and looks around for the coffee* If it was via linkshell chat... the groups I was always in treated linkshell chat like hands-free phones, basically. We could hear stuff but not see it. I'm curious how everyone else's groups performed actions to make asterisks or action markers necessary. As far as emotions, we usually tried to show not tell. Like instead of Niami *feels sad* we would emote: Niami looks down at the ground and bites her lip, frowning slightly. Or whatever actions would appropriately convey that the character was upset about something. This allowed for a more natural way for other players to respond to the character's feelings. As far as ~, agreed -- that was always used to depict a lighthearted tone or musical intonation.

I want to begin by saying, I definitely think it should be left up to individual guilds to define what roleplaying is to their group. I think that's one of the reasons why we have a coalition of groups to begin with--not everyone has the same play style as others. But that being said, I also agree that it would be good to have a general definition posted to give newcomers a broad idea of what they can expect from roleplaying linkshells. I actually plan on putting up a similar document on TALE's website once our founding members can get together and hash out what roleplaying will be defined as in our guild. So to me, roleplaying is stepping outside of your own self and acting out the persona of a created character, like acting in a freeform play. I generally tend to play AS my character when I'm roleplaying, and I try to stay true to how I think she would feel about certain situations or people. Would she react spontaneously, or in a calculated manner? Would she try to make small talk to get to know the new guy, or would she coolly watch to see him prove his worth by his actions? I think what ?isn't roleplay is, as said by others, entirely subjective. Much like art. Personally, if the whole point of roleplaying in an MMO is to further immerse oneself in the game, then I don't see why /em punts taru couldn't be roleplaying. It might be disruptive to those of us with stories that we're trying to enact, but to others, it's all part of the game. As far as in character and out... If I'm rolling my R's and acting as my character, then I'm in character. If I'm using a "regular" voice and talking about things that are happening outside of the game, or talking about the game in terms of MMO mechanics, I'm out of character. Usually I stick with (_____) or ((______)), but when I first started RPing in FFXI, it was common in our linkshell to use OOC:__________, and sometimes still do that out of habit. I've seen others use asterisks, brackets, or #_______________ to signify being out of character, and I think that as long as it's clear to others what those symbols mean, then it's fine. Typing styles tend to make different keys easier to knock out, so if it's faster/easier for someone to type [ooc comment here] than (ooc comment here), well good on them. Sometimes, in RP linkshells of yore, I noticed a trend towards slowly blending out of character dialogue into in character dialogue. This almost always happened when there were only a few people logged into the shell, and it usually was not a problem, since the people in the conversation all willingly were interested in pursuing the OOC conversation, and at that point it was easier to stop using OOC tags than otherwise. As soon as others logged in and started talking in character, the conversation switched back to OOC tags, or stopped completely if people picked up the in-character dialogue. As a note to this though, I want to stress that this was if a group of people were interested in the topic. If it was two people and they kept up the conversation in OOC tags, I'd usually ask them to take their talk to /tells and clear up linkshell chat for roleplaying. I think 'freelance' has more to do with linkshell/guild affiliation than anything else.. I may be wrong in this assumption though. Casual roleplayers, or those that have identified as being casual roleplayers, tended to be more the ones who maybe had a rough idea in their heads of their in-game persona, but weren't interested in any epic-length story arcs. They usually had another non-roleplaying linkshell, and tended just to pop in to the RP linkshell from time to time for flavor text. Hardcore would be the opposite? LOL. And yeah for me... there were definitely times not to roleplay. The people I roleplayed with on Asura tended to keep RP chat to the linkshell and to private RP party chat. If it was an XP group, we generally talked through the linkshell to RP. Sometimes if we had a big enough group, we would roleplay freely in /say and let passerby enjoy the theatrics. :pirat: Not really sure what you mean by #4 but I'm going to go with... environment and settings have everything to do with roleplay? If I'm standing in Yhoator Jungle, I'm going to react a little differently than if I'm up in Xarcabard. Maybe if I'm in the latter I'll occasionally shiver, or I'll throw on a hooded robe for effect. Maybe I'll whip out a cup of coffee to keep warm with. A lot of the time, we (Asuran roleplayers) would take note of the environment. The weather, the day of the week, the city/region, to work in to fictions we wrote later regarding the RP session. It would flesh out the story more, and often painted a more vivid picture of the world.

RL Name: Mindy RL Age: 29 Country: USA Timezone: PST RL Gender: Female --Why do you like to RP? I enjoy spontaneous story development and improv with others, and I like to feel immersed in a world that I'm playing in from time to time. It's almost like reading a book--instead of stepping in to the gaze of the protagonist in a novel, I'm stepping in to the role of my own heroine. RP Preferences: --Are you willing to RP a fight scene in game? If there are in-game mechanics for it (such as World of Warcraft's duel system, or PVP in general), or if not a physical fight but a verbal one, sure. --What is your preferred method of combat? (/randoming, skill based, etc) Well if we're going outside of game mechanics I'd say a tabletop-esque system that is a mix of random and of set skills --Are you willing to take major injuries in game? (ie limb loss) Not unless the game mechanics include this. To me I couldn't sit there looking at my toon with all limbs and still pretend that I'm missing an arm or an ear. I could definitely do a temporary setback though, like if my character lost her voice for a week or if we went through some particularly epic fight and I couldn't go out and battle for a few days while I recuperated. I often use things like that to explain extended out-of-game absences. --Are you willing to let your character die permanently? Tentatively yes... Or send them off in to the sunset at the very least, if I'm done playing that character and know that I never want to play them again. I wrote out a finale for my FFXI Mithra, Niami. When I came back into XI for the last time and I realized most of my friends (including myself) were done with roleplaying our specific characters, I created a storyline where they all (the ones that weren't already dead) ended up going off to research an unexplored continent in Vana'diel and left it at that. --Are you willing to RP romance in game? (ie Level of romance willing to go) Haha I have before... Niami was married and also had a few flings. The romance aspect can be a lot of fun and I enjoy it (going off to fight monsters as a couple, etc.), but sometimes it can end with a lot of drama and that I DON'T like. My plans for my character Mythis are for her to be kind of like a Captain Kirk--she'll tumble with the boys (in a fade-to-black sense, not in an actually played out sense) but she doesn't want anything too personal. I can't say right now if I'd ever purposefully have one of my characters get into a romance with another character again. --What about non-romantic relationships? The problem with these is, what happens if one of the other players decides to stop playing the game, or leaves for a few months and comes back? I've had things like that happen before, primarily with RP romance, but I can see it happening to non-romantic relationships in game as well. I would say I'd only have a 'related' relationship (like brother, sister, cousin, etc.) with another player-character if they were someone who I trusted OOC that wasn't just going to drop the game 3 months later and totally leave that storyline on a cliff. As for non-related or non-romantic relationships, friends come and go and that goes double for adventurers who are already reckless with their lives. --Are you looking for Cross-guild Rp? YES YES YES. The sooner people get over this 'one guild to rule them all' nonsense, the better. --How do you prefer to be contacted? (PM or post in this thread) Either/Or.. I don't really have a preference.

The new changes are interesting to me because it's S-E basically saying "OK this game is now for the level 75+ characters only." They're removing level caps from the CoP zones, which at least enabled players with highest levels of 30, 40, 50 and 60 to participate in quests/leveling with other players, they're focusing ALL the new content on levels 75 and up, and all the new areas are for higher levels. I know that lowbies have Fields of Valor to make soloing (a little) easier, but unless they drastically change some aspects of the hike from 1-75 (level cap quests, mission ranks, etc.), they've just made the game even more unwelcoming to new players. Granted, I think that's what FFXIV is supposed to be for, but it's still interesting, nonetheless.

Hahaha Happy I did almost the same thing! I swore up and down I would never reactivate FFXI again.. then I went and did it, then paid for a world transfer to a server where my name already existed just so I could change my character's name. I swear.. this game... :roll:

I just wanted to add... you actually have to be an active FFXI player with an FFXI e-mail address too. It's not just for people who are members of either site. I'm interested in the beta, but I don't know if I'm interested enough to reinstall everything and re-subscribe to FFXI lol.. [EDIT] Sooo yeah.. I caved after all, hahaha. Here's hoping for the beta ^.^

Hmmm, that's an interesting question. We are essentially all participating in a work of creative art put out by Square-Enix, but as roleplayers we are actively contributing to that art and reclaiming some of it as our own. However, in a legal sense, Square-Enix still owns it. For example, if we were roleplaying and came up with a novel-length story in the process, we couldn't ever sell it as our own work of literary art. I think it's definitely a spontaneous form of creative collaboration, but whether or not there is an intent to make "art," I think that it is largely situational and depends on the individual or the group actively pursuing the game as an art form rather than as a hobby or a way to relax. I would say that a group of players who write out skits and perform them on a schedule at locations inside the game, in character, are acting more as artists than a group that logs in and plays the game in-character. The first group is actively creating a style of performance art while the second is actively playing a game that has already been created.

Yeah Mason, all the jobs are getting new abilities/spells, etc. and they are adding a bunch of new areas to the game, and expanding upon the nation rank quests and WOTG and all that. It seems like they are holding true to what they were saying about keeping FFXI alive for the people who want to play. They made a distinction early on that they felt FFXI was more for hardcore players, and they wanted to give those people who enjoyed FFXI end-game a place to continue playing and being rewarded for their efforts.