Mermaid

This is very sad to see but I had a feeling it was coming eventually. The traffic has slowed significantly since I joined in 2016 or 2017. I really used to enjoy seeing discussions happen here and Discord not only doesn't let you easily see a long conversation amongst multiple people it doesn't really let it continue for several days with new people coming in as they can. It's also honestly abysmal for search, archival, and trying to get your post (be it an RP profile or FC advert) seen. I guess that's just me being a salty old person though. I made a couple good friends here even though I never managed to find even one consistent RP partner through this site. I was just about to finally free up some time and wanted to come poke at it again for a new character. I suppose I'll have to finally try searching for those Discords I hard avoided for years. But since I keep rambling about Discord I suppose I'll comment on the topic of making one. There's no way it replaces the functionality of this site and, from what I've heard, several already exist for general community RP purposes. One also couldn't well replace the functionality of this site. If it's purpose was more or less to keep the small remaining community here in touch I suppose I could see the merit in that. I might even be down to dump some screenshots or memes or something if my social anxiety allows it. So long RPC. You will be missed.

There are enough different people with enough different wants that I can safely say what you're looking for is out there. Where and how to find it? Who knows. Balmung has unfortunately shifted to the Quicksands actually being the slightly more ERP-centric place people joked it was for years. Before there was a good balance, now it's as you say. There's enough ERPers there that some people go out to the nearby back alley which really doesn't fit a lot of characters. I've heard a lot of people these days just go to public events hosted in houses to meet new people. The difficulty is determining which ones are actual RP venues and which are the "semi-OOC livechatting"as you word it. A lot of it popped up with the night club explosion that followed the COVID content drought. This is not a stab at those folks, by the way, it's simply not the sort of RP I look for either. Beyond that, the Mateus Quicksand also has a number of RPers forced out of the Balmung variant by the ERPers and sightseers. There's also Discord servers dedicated to finding RP though I am in none of them so I can't comment on their effectiveness.

Oh boy that's a call back. Ironically I ended up having a lot of the same problems. To tl;dr it I looked for discord rp because I had weird times and type slow and figured nobody would want that for in-game. I would find like 1 person every couple months then they'd bail after one scene so I switched to in-game after someone who wanted to ship with my character wanted to drop discord as well. They bailed on me when someone willing to ship with them came along and was constantly around jumping in every scene they could. I switched characters after that feeling nobody liked the previous one. From that point I mostly hung around the QS as it's the one open all the time RP hub and the story is mostly the same. I got a walk up maybe once a month but nobody came by for more than one or two scenes. These events took place over the course of about 4 years btw. The happy end to all this was someone who did walk up one night wanted to go somewhere out of the QS which instantly got me way more hopeful. They also wanted to finish the scene later instead of cutting it off prematurely when they had to go. I lowkey forced an exchange of discord information for the purposes of keeping in touch. Several events happened that lead to actually finishing the scene for once and after learning where our schedules lined up and finding we had things in common I finally had a long term partner and new friend. I don't have a secret to success here. It took me 4 years, a lot of pain, and honestly a fair amount of luck with being in the right place at the right time. I didn't find a four leaf clover I found a unicorn. All I can really say is your struggle is something a lot of us deal with and to constantly put yourself out there. When you get too discouraged take a break. Play a different game or focus on other parts of this one.

So first off, apologies that this isn't something I'm saying from personal experience as I'm not necessarily LGBT+ myself but more what I've heard friends say. To expand on the topic of separating general RP and ERP and how it might alienate certain groups of people, I've been lead to believe a fair number of ERP circles are not all that friendly to trans folks. The one or two times I've glanced into ERP-centric channels out of my own curiosity the prevalence of terms like "futa" and "cunt boy" is staggeringly high. Even just going around the Balmung Quicksand you see a lot of "F/F+" in search info. Whether this actively turns away the trans part of the community I can't say but I can say I've known a few people who would rather avoid those terms and connotations.

I have an all over the place schedule with a few late nights a week free. I recently moved from PST to EST and didn't really adjust my times which made it all worse. I admittedly don't see much in the way of connections between our characters but I can certainly do some PVE content here and there if you're looking for that.

Realistically? Yes, there would be a decent amount of inbreeding. This is something a lot of people realize and do their best to pretend they don't. There are multiple outs and ways to keep the gene pool a bit more mixed up some of which posters above me have mentioned. 1. There can be multiple nunhs. 2. Females breeding only with nunhs is not a set in stone law. They can and in rare cases do choose to breed with a tia. They just normally don't as breeding with strong males is preferred. 3. Nunhs do change and likely frequently. This can, much like lions, simply be a son kicking his dad out of the position though.

Was going to say I heard of an Eastern Discord server back in Stormblood but it seems Fox is ahead of me. I'm kind of dealing with the same problem over on Balmung. I wasn't specifically looking for an Eastern themed FC but it was one of the kinds I had my eye out for. 8 out of 10 are yakuza fronts and the remaining 2/10 are either for geisha or straight up courtesans. Neither is really fitting for my character.

I do believe the point of the topic was somewhat missed. It was initially about struggling to find heterosexual romance RP with a few of the posters mentioning their gender/sexuality lining up with their searches for ship partners. It didn't actually turn towards OOC gender mattering until one poster mentioned he was an IRL straight man who was specifically looking to RP with IRL straight women and several people jumped in to point out some of the problems with that.

I'll back up the posters above me on the raising flags part. I'm a straight female who likes RPing straight female characters and loves the slow burn of a couple of love birds entangled in a romantic plot. Now I can't find people to RP this because my times are all over the place and nobody seems to want to discuss things over Discord but I'm getting off point. The fact of the matter is I have a boyfriend, whom I have no intention of leaving, and when one sees someone specifically looking for romantic RP with a female RPer it raises a red flag for there being an ulterior motive. Of course, this is not always the case and I'm not accusing anyone but when you've been in RP communities long enough it's something you learn to be wary of.

I. Basic Info Characters: Kasumi Sui (Balmung/Active) , Tsubaki Yuzuka (Balmung/Hiatus), and a content main over on Aether. Primary character: Kasumi Sui (for RP) Linkshells: None Primary RP linkshell: None II. RP Style Amount of RP (light, medium, heavy): Medium. I dislike being in character for everything I do in-game and also dislike incredibly casual interactions where one struggles to differentiate between the character and the RPer. I value character interactions and having fun. I take RPing seriously but not too seriously. Views on RP combat and injuries: I'm not opposed to combat but I'm inexperienced with it so there may need to be some discussion and hand holding. My current RP character was also intended to be magically gifted and clueless about other areas of life as a way to balance it. I'm not opposed to her losing a fight, getting hurt, or even getting captured but I'd rather her win more fights than lose them. Injuries should be discussed ahead of time for both sides. My current character is also a healer and the power level and effect of that is something that should also be discussed. I have no desire to take away anyone's agency. Views on IC romance: I thoroughly enjoy it and, if I'm honest, I tend to get more invested in romantic relationships. That said, while all types are welcome for friendships, I tend to be a bit pickier for romance. My character is a straight monogamous female. Furthermore, I find lalafells too child-like in appearance to feel comfortable doing romantic RP with. Also, not interested in ERP and prefer fade to black if sex comes up. Views on non-romantic RP (family ties, etc): I have had an unpleasant experience with preexisting relationships in the past but I'd like to move past that. If this is something you'd like to do with my character then please, for the love of Hydaelyn, have an idea of what you want and be willing to discuss it with me. Given my character's backstory, I think it'd be really fun to run into people who knew her. Views on lore: I believe a little bending is fine but prefer to be mostly lore adherent. To be honest though I'm pretty RP starved lately and am doing my best to keep an open mind these days. Just don't bring me completely out there characters like literal Warriors of Light or isekai'd anime protags. Views on chat functions (/say, /linkshell, etc): Prefer /tell or a party for crowded areas so I can filter out other chatter. /say is fine for less populated areas. III. Other Info Country: United States Timezone: EST. My times are all over the place but lean to the later side. If you can make plans ahead of time with me I can probably accommodate them. Alternatively I'm very happy with RPing on Discord and responding at my own pace. Contact info: Discord: Oaris#0605 Old LFRP post on my Tumblr over here. Some info is outdated or needs to be rewritten but it's still mostly accurate. I also plan to make a proper LFRP post on these forums but for now I'll just make this.

The naming conventions for most races can be found in the lore section of the official forum. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61150-Miqo-te-Naming-Conventions There's a large list of names over on this wiki page: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Seekers_of_the_Sun As well as this one if it works better for you: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Seekers_of_the_Sun/Naming_Conventions Lastly you can find a name generator over here: https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/miqote-names.php Though going into the character creator and randoming names is also an option.

It's actually the opposite! Astro was too optimal. They were already good then they got buffed further in one of the later Stormblood patches to where they were at a point where there was no point in bringing a White Mage. Savage statics (and even some picky extreme parties) began excluding White Mage because "muh parse!" SE doesn't like when a class gets forced out so they needed a way to bring White Mage's damage up enough that it was worthwhile and Astro's "raid utility", which is defined as the damage it gives other people in that sort of raiding culture, down so as not to force out White Mage. There were also many complaints of having to wait around for the Astro to draw the cards for the optimal opener. What people wanted was SE letting us pick cards out of combat instead their wish and balance fix turned into homogenizing it all. It's actually been buffed up to the point it's good again and three healers are in a surprisingly balanced state right now. Healers finally being balanced just sadly came at the cost of the card system.

I can't say that any of my attempts had that sort of agreement but with the exception of one all were just simple meet and talk in a bar type encounters. The type of thing most people do to meet in-game. One time a bar fight was included but that was as crazy as those tavern scenes actually got. They tended to be pretty simple and there was never any ambitious planning. Heck, I would LOVE to have someone make plans with me or at the very least read my character's info and be able to tell me what sort of connection they wanted when they saw it. I can't really blame the people who just saw someone who's time, style, etc looked compatible and took a shot in the dark without that though.

I 100% prefer Discord. It's a program I can have running whenever and, thanks to mobile, wherever. Even if it's not RPing on Discord I very heavily prefer sharing Discord info just for the sake of messaging people stuff along the lines of "Hey, are you free to RP tomorrow?" It's not a case of the sub fee for me it's the fact that I have a static that goes hard on raid content when it comes out then eases up on days/hours when we clear. So come the new patch I'll be raiding 20 hours a week for a couple weeks to a month then have free time again. During that raiding period I have free time but not consecutive hours to stand around in the game RPing. I need the Discord versatility for that period of time. That said I used to look almost exclusively for Discord or forum RP on my old character and I haven't been able to find any partners willing to stick with it. People would disappear mid scene or tell me after they were trying Discord and didn't like it. Now dropping that character and trying to focus more on in-game RP and I still can't find anyone to stick around. So maybe Discord wasn't my problem.

Except I have been diagnosed with the mental disorders I have. I have gone through therapy in the past. They do impact my life. In several cases, I have learned how to cope. I noped out of responding to the post above yours as soon as I saw the words "self-diagnosis". Medical insurance sucks and there is some stuff I'm not medicated for that I could be if I so desired (ADHD being a big one though plenty of people dislike medicating for that) but this is all stuff I've been diagnosed with and sought medical help for before. Specifically talking about the social anxiety and using a relevant example, I spend a good 5 minutes talking myself into pushing the "Join Call" button before joining a big group of new people and then forcing myself to be talkative all while my mind is screaming at me. It took time for me to build that up which is why I figured something like this would be a similar hurdle. Perhaps I didn't stress this point enough previously but I try not to over explain things and didn't expect people to come into the thread accusing me of self-diagnosis. Regardless, me having to defend the fact I have been diagnosed by actual doctors completely gets off the point of this thread. I understand it's all well-meaning but if it continues I will ask moderation to lock this. Please keep further commentary relevant to the topic.

I have started working on a second character that I hope to have leveled in time for the server changes. Still feeling the same anxiety trying to initiate any sort of walk-up. I just....can't bring myself to RP with people I haven't chatted with a little beforehand. I don't think anxiety is a majority issue in the game overall but it certainly seems like a prevalent one in the RP community. Also, porque no los dos? I log in and get content done at a savage level and the only drama there is your typical static drama. I feel the social anxiety when it comes to messaging a prospective static and get your typical tryout imposter syndrome, of course. Once I'm in a Discord call with a potential group, I've dealt with this stuff enough to know how to socialize with the other people and I've never been turned down due to anything like personality, attitude, or being too quiet. It is to the point I've had one group say they'd turn down a duo because they liked my personality and another that turned me down due to skill/main class come back several weeks later, after I hung out with one of the members and subbed for them, asking if I was still interested. The point being social anxiety is only having this much of an impact on my ability to roleplay. I don't really think I need to seek therapy just so I can roleplay in a video game.

Glancing at your other post I could actually work with your weird hours. I've kinda hit a wall with my own RP and I'm not entirely sure I could offer you the sort of character you're looking for? I will throw the offer out there nonetheless and say there's info linked in my signature that includes my Discord info if you're interested. I will also say I'm bored af contentwise with the raid tier cleared, EX primals farmed to death, and Eureka being a massive flop so I'm 100% at that point where I am more than happy to go back and help people with content every now and then.

Not at all! A lot of that is really interesting and is probably stuff I should try! Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to put the advice in this thread to use I very likely won't be in the near future. When I made this thread I had found a group of people to hang out with but was only RPing with one maybe two of them. As I'm trying to work on getting better at this for them a bunch of drama happens behind the scenes and the group splits in half. The main person I was RPing with is naturally on the side I'm scared shitless of and no longer seems interested in RPing with me so now I've gone from trying to get over my problems to...not even RPing. I really do appreciate all the advice and would love to see more on the off chance that one day I do get a chance to work on this problem again.

Ack, saw this response a little late in the week. When I did I wanted a chance to gather my thoughts before responding because I felt like what I had to offer on one point might be relevant to anyone in the future who might find this thread looking for advice themselves. First, I want to clarify and say I didn't make a socially anxious character I made one that was shy and not exactly great at talking to people. She can spout sayings and wisdom read from books or force herself to be happy and cheerful when it seems like someone's down but outside of that she's reserved and afraid of what people will think when they talk to her. Bailing from a social event last week was really not to her character and I wrote an IC excuse for her not showing up. Subtle differences I'm sure but I wanted to make it known it's not as severe as giving my character social anxiety. I play a lot of D&D/Pathfinder and I really struggle with the improv of verbal roleplay. Playing a more reserved character was also 100% a crutch for my improv failure. I wanted something easy to practice with. Again, probably still a problem but I wanted it clarified for any future commenters. Now onto the more important part of me playing D&D/Pathfinder. I'll do the same thing there where I play the quiet characters about half the time but the other half I go out of that comfort zone. In fact, I'm set to play one in a few days. This has mixed results. Sometimes I can get really into the new persona and other times I flub it so hard other people don't know what my character is supposed to be. Practice, practice, practice, I know, but I've been practicing for several years now and don't feel like I've gotten much better. On that note, I have made a character that's more outgoing. She's bold and boisterous even. I've brought her into the QS and just gone people watching but let's be real half those times I also think "What if I just walk up to people and RP?". The character has certainly gotten a lot of attention for looks/glamour even more than than my main RP character that's at least a year older. Once when I was leveling her I got asked to join an FC that would've fit her but at the time I didn't think I could give an FC the time/attention it deserved. Another time I watched a bar fight and really, really, REALLY wanted to throw her into the fray because it seemed like a lot of fun but no matter how hard I tried to convince myself I couldn't bring myself to do it. Last week I brought her in there purely to compare the Balmung scene to the Mateus scene and was whispered by someone asking about my character as, despite having nothing about RP in my search info, he assumed from my glamour, the fact I didn't have a nonsense name, and the fact I was in the QS that I RPed. I REALLY wanted to RP with this guy but instead I apologized and said I hadn't really RPed that character before. He still invited me to check out his FC and, damn, if I can remember what it was maybe I should hit them up. For whatever reason though, I just have not been able to force myself to play this character. I have been toying with the idea of making another character. Maybe something a little less out there but also less shy. I struggle to convince myself to do this for two reasons. The first is it feels like giving up on my main and just making new characters when you hit a few bumps with one leads to a vicious cycle. The second is that I just hate the QS as a setting and I feel like that would be the go to place for practicing more public things. Who knows, maybe I should just go for it.

I'm more looking for advice regarding RPing with social anxiety as opposed to social anxiety itself. I'm sure there's tons of advice for social anxiety out there or more general websites/forums I could go to for that. I figured the problem was a little more niche and thus required a more niche forum. Thank you for the comment though.

So let's start at the beginning. A dozen or so years ago I was a depressed kid struggling to get through high school. I, like many others with mental and physical illness, discovered and began dabbling in forum and chat room RP at this time. Looking back on the sort of stuff I did it was awful and cringey and yet I had no qualms waltzing into a thread or chat room and just going for it. Fast forward to today and the depression seems to have turned into anxiety. The lonely teenager who used to jump into chat rooms and talk to random people is now a woman who struggles to be the first to send a message on Discord. I wrote a shy/socially awkward character to hopefully give myself something easy to work with on that front. I figured RP was something I could still do since I'm hidden behind not only a screen but a character and surrounded by people doing the same thing I am. Well, I can but it's been a struggle. For the first time I'm finally starting to go in game to RP. I panic nearly every time and I can't RP in /say in public areas but I still do it. Once I start it isn't so bad though I notice it gets harder with every person added to the scene. Then I got invited to a small public event and suddenly I couldn't push past it. I stood outside the house the event was at for a solid 10 minutes or more before apologizing profusely to one of the people who'd invited me and fleeing. I felt a sort of jittery feeling for the next hour or so and only shook it by taking a hot shower. There wasn't any denying it, I'd had an anxiety attack. So what's the point of all this? I don't want to just accept that that's that and that I'll never be able to go hang out with people and RP outside of Discord and one and one scenarios. I don't want to roll over and let mental illness rob me of something I used to enjoy simply because I've changed the platform. I want to improve. Unfortunately, this is a new struggle for me and I don't know how. So I'm asking you. All you people with social anxiety struggling alongside me or watching your friends struggle, what are some ways to deal with it? Are there steps that can be taken? A natural progression of easing yourself into more public scenes, perhaps? Or do you just keep ripping the band-aid off over and over? Everyone's different and what works for some many not work for others but I'm afraid I'm at a loss here for how to handle this.

Have a friend saying she went to White Tree Beauty on Balmung on the 19th at around 9:20 pm EST and while there were people RPing there was apparently no one staffing the event.

If the character's only level 18 you might as well just remake it with the lore accurate name. At most, you lost a couple hours of work. That said names are probably the thing people are the least fussy about. A lot of people make the same mistake you did and the community tends to be sympathetic. For me personally, it only really bothers me when people try to play a lore inaccurate name like it makes sense. I prefer when people either use their backstory to explain an inaccurate name or use a different name for the purpose of RP.

It'll probably draw a little criticism but I think only the pickiest of people would avoid people borrowing a last name from other media. I've seen people in the Quicksand RPing at the bar who have ripped their full name from some anime. Hell, I've seen someone on Mateus with an RP tag up that took their character's name from a Pathfinder villain of all things. Personally my concern when I see characters like that is just how much they're trying to make their character like their namesake. I don't think anyone'll complain about Arthur Leonheart, the paladin with a heart of gold, but Arthur Leonheart, the brooding gunblade wielder, is probably going to have some problems.