Pertaining to the seasonal temperature changes, I tend to liken things to how they would be in the Northern Hemisphere (since I assume that's where the vast majority of RPers are anyway) and treat the RL winter months as being colder and the RL summer months as being hotter and spring blooms and autumn leaves falling as being a thing.
It's hard to talk about weather effects without talking about the strange advancement of time. I [and I think most other RPers] also ignore the day/night cycle as it happens in-game. Otherwise that long and meaningful talk a fellow RPer and I had beneath the stars didn't take place beneath stars, but over two "game days" and that's just a little more awkward. I generally treat the time as being what the time is in real life. I think most in our company have agreed upon things centering on the Eastern U.S. time zone, though we have members on Pacific time and EU time (mostly because it falls in the middle and isn't quite such a drastic extreme). Other companies whose member base falls more on a different time zone may well treat their events as occurring at that time. I haven't heard of any incident occurring [during crossover RP or such] where anyone got terribly upset about a misunderstanding pertaining to what time it was. I can see where there could be a misunderstanding, but it just has yet to happen in my own experience. "Aren't the stars beautiful tonight?" "What are you talking about, it's only the 15th bell and the sun is shining brightly..."
That bit of tangent aside, I tend to treat weather effects similarly. Normally, unless it's a long scene, I go with whatever the weather is like at the start. If there is a weather shift after that, I generally ignore it. The caveat to this policy is if someone else acknowledges a change in weather condition, such as if it starts raining. I will seldom do this myself, but I'll follow others' cues so long as it's not constantly changing or detracting heavily from whatever RP scene is taking place.
For events like our old bonfire storytellings, I would post a disclaimer in advance indicating that it was a clear and starry night, regardless of how weather effects may change, or if we arrived on the scene and it was pouring rain that should simply be ignored.
I've been puzzled by the amount of rain in Thanalan before as well. I tend to think that any desert climate will usually not see much in the way of rain, and when it does rain the parched landscape and wildlife absorbs it pretty quickly.
For Coerthas, I know a lot of folks who weren't around before ARR thing it's just always been bitter cold and snowy, but it was a more Alpine, mountainous region void of snow in 1.0. Eva lived there until she was 7 years old, and fondly recalls summers spent swimming in lakes (which may well now be frozen over) and other such summertime activities. I am very curious to see more of Coerthas though (particularly the northwest), and if all of it got hit with the same cold snap after the Calamity or if it was just the central region.
This all being said, I would assume that in the fall months there are fallen leaves crunching underfoot in parts of the Twelveswood, and in winter months in most of Eorzea (probably not Thanalan) I would imagine there would be snow, even though it's not depicted visually. I wouldn't be averse to RPers suggesting this, though I'm not sure I'd want it forced upon me without some sort of an understanding in place first.
It's a good question though and provokes a lot of thought.
It's hard to talk about weather effects without talking about the strange advancement of time. I [and I think most other RPers] also ignore the day/night cycle as it happens in-game. Otherwise that long and meaningful talk a fellow RPer and I had beneath the stars didn't take place beneath stars, but over two "game days" and that's just a little more awkward. I generally treat the time as being what the time is in real life. I think most in our company have agreed upon things centering on the Eastern U.S. time zone, though we have members on Pacific time and EU time (mostly because it falls in the middle and isn't quite such a drastic extreme). Other companies whose member base falls more on a different time zone may well treat their events as occurring at that time. I haven't heard of any incident occurring [during crossover RP or such] where anyone got terribly upset about a misunderstanding pertaining to what time it was. I can see where there could be a misunderstanding, but it just has yet to happen in my own experience. "Aren't the stars beautiful tonight?" "What are you talking about, it's only the 15th bell and the sun is shining brightly..."
That bit of tangent aside, I tend to treat weather effects similarly. Normally, unless it's a long scene, I go with whatever the weather is like at the start. If there is a weather shift after that, I generally ignore it. The caveat to this policy is if someone else acknowledges a change in weather condition, such as if it starts raining. I will seldom do this myself, but I'll follow others' cues so long as it's not constantly changing or detracting heavily from whatever RP scene is taking place.
For events like our old bonfire storytellings, I would post a disclaimer in advance indicating that it was a clear and starry night, regardless of how weather effects may change, or if we arrived on the scene and it was pouring rain that should simply be ignored.
I've been puzzled by the amount of rain in Thanalan before as well. I tend to think that any desert climate will usually not see much in the way of rain, and when it does rain the parched landscape and wildlife absorbs it pretty quickly.
For Coerthas, I know a lot of folks who weren't around before ARR thing it's just always been bitter cold and snowy, but it was a more Alpine, mountainous region void of snow in 1.0. Eva lived there until she was 7 years old, and fondly recalls summers spent swimming in lakes (which may well now be frozen over) and other such summertime activities. I am very curious to see more of Coerthas though (particularly the northwest), and if all of it got hit with the same cold snap after the Calamity or if it was just the central region.
This all being said, I would assume that in the fall months there are fallen leaves crunching underfoot in parts of the Twelveswood, and in winter months in most of Eorzea (probably not Thanalan) I would imagine there would be snow, even though it's not depicted visually. I wouldn't be averse to RPers suggesting this, though I'm not sure I'd want it forced upon me without some sort of an understanding in place first.
It's a good question though and provokes a lot of thought.
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Â ~ Lewis Carol
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
