HOO-RAH!
I did always find it rather peculiar that I belong to multiple RP pearls and none of them sees nearly as much traffic as the OOC pearl. I attribute this - in part - to the sheer number of people that belong to the OOC pearl. But I think there is an inclination for a lot of RPers to not want to RP so much. My own view on the matter has been a point of contraversy in some linkshells I've belonged to in the past, but I'll share it anyway in the hopes that it at least sparks some further discussion.
I'm not IC 100% of the time. If there's an Ifrit run happening or anything else where it's fundamentally important to discuss the matters at hand in an OOC manner, that's understandable. I usually try to do so in as convenient a channel as possible - /p or /tell if it's feasable. But I am IC as often as I can be, easily over 90% of my time playing. I got more than my fill of endgame from FFXI and while having pretty virtual items is nice, having meaningful storyline and in-character interactions with other brilliant RPers is far more important - to me. I understand not everyone is of this mindset.
From the get-go I've wanted to be a part of 100% immersive linkshells and without going into any flowery recruitment-esque descriptions, that's what I love about the Everwatch. Very rarely is anything said OOC over that linkpearl for any reason. There may be lulls, which is where having other RP pearls has its perks, and then OOC pearl is usually active if I'm looking for social interaction where RP is unavailable at any given moment. But it has always made the experience more "real" from a more pure role-play perspective.
Our preferences are as different as our personalities, though. I have found that casual RP is a lot more prevalent and heavy RP a lot less popular than I have seen in previous games. There is nothing wrong with this. But it happens not to be my own style. And then of course having the ability to jump between multiple linkshells and filter text accordingly has provided a whole new dimension to the experience as well.
Events like last night's picnic make me happy, and I'm thrilled that Deirdre put that together. I had a lot of fun at it, and several unexpected things happened during the course of the event. This came on the heels of the Valentione's event I had put together for Friday which was a partial success. I think if I'd advertised it a little better, it may have seen a better turn-out. But for what it was, we got to meet up with several RPers bit-by-bit rather than all at once in one big event. So it was fun in its own way (and Eva doesn't like large crowds anyway so she could be a little more comfortable than she would have been if it was a swarm of RPers).
My take-home from the experience has been that the OOC pearl is a valuable tool. The RPC forums are a great way to organize events for the greater RP community. And marketing an event entails a bit more than just writing a post, but building up hype about it and maybe talking about it on the OOC pearl as well.
I also have a few ideas for future events and something on the horizon which should help foster more RP opportunities, but I'm waiting for certain conditions to be met with the game itself and with some of my friends before that can really move forward.
Still, I have to laugh whenever someone says that "RP is dying" because I have spent SO MUCH of the past week-and-a-half RPing with various people, both in linkshells that I belong to and not, that it's hard for me to see where this mentality is coming from. The only thing I can think is that maybe some people aren't being as proactive about FINDING the RP or limiting themselves to RPing with just a handful of their fellow RPers and may want to consider "casting a wider net" so to speak.
I have no funny Spoiler pics to post, so I'll just conclude by saying thank you to Deirdre for putting the event together last night and for making this post. :cheer:
I did always find it rather peculiar that I belong to multiple RP pearls and none of them sees nearly as much traffic as the OOC pearl. I attribute this - in part - to the sheer number of people that belong to the OOC pearl. But I think there is an inclination for a lot of RPers to not want to RP so much. My own view on the matter has been a point of contraversy in some linkshells I've belonged to in the past, but I'll share it anyway in the hopes that it at least sparks some further discussion.
I'm not IC 100% of the time. If there's an Ifrit run happening or anything else where it's fundamentally important to discuss the matters at hand in an OOC manner, that's understandable. I usually try to do so in as convenient a channel as possible - /p or /tell if it's feasable. But I am IC as often as I can be, easily over 90% of my time playing. I got more than my fill of endgame from FFXI and while having pretty virtual items is nice, having meaningful storyline and in-character interactions with other brilliant RPers is far more important - to me. I understand not everyone is of this mindset.
From the get-go I've wanted to be a part of 100% immersive linkshells and without going into any flowery recruitment-esque descriptions, that's what I love about the Everwatch. Very rarely is anything said OOC over that linkpearl for any reason. There may be lulls, which is where having other RP pearls has its perks, and then OOC pearl is usually active if I'm looking for social interaction where RP is unavailable at any given moment. But it has always made the experience more "real" from a more pure role-play perspective.
Our preferences are as different as our personalities, though. I have found that casual RP is a lot more prevalent and heavy RP a lot less popular than I have seen in previous games. There is nothing wrong with this. But it happens not to be my own style. And then of course having the ability to jump between multiple linkshells and filter text accordingly has provided a whole new dimension to the experience as well.
Events like last night's picnic make me happy, and I'm thrilled that Deirdre put that together. I had a lot of fun at it, and several unexpected things happened during the course of the event. This came on the heels of the Valentione's event I had put together for Friday which was a partial success. I think if I'd advertised it a little better, it may have seen a better turn-out. But for what it was, we got to meet up with several RPers bit-by-bit rather than all at once in one big event. So it was fun in its own way (and Eva doesn't like large crowds anyway so she could be a little more comfortable than she would have been if it was a swarm of RPers).
My take-home from the experience has been that the OOC pearl is a valuable tool. The RPC forums are a great way to organize events for the greater RP community. And marketing an event entails a bit more than just writing a post, but building up hype about it and maybe talking about it on the OOC pearl as well.
I also have a few ideas for future events and something on the horizon which should help foster more RP opportunities, but I'm waiting for certain conditions to be met with the game itself and with some of my friends before that can really move forward.
Still, I have to laugh whenever someone says that "RP is dying" because I have spent SO MUCH of the past week-and-a-half RPing with various people, both in linkshells that I belong to and not, that it's hard for me to see where this mentality is coming from. The only thing I can think is that maybe some people aren't being as proactive about FINDING the RP or limiting themselves to RPing with just a handful of their fellow RPers and may want to consider "casting a wider net" so to speak.
I have no funny Spoiler pics to post, so I'll just conclude by saying thank you to Deirdre for putting the event together last night and for making this post. :cheer:
"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
