So, what do we do with all this? The below may seem like stating the obvious, but just to make sure we're all on the same page and got there the same way, here's my reasoning.
- Greater community interaction is desirable
- Communication is the foremost way to achieve this
- A centralized location is the best way to achieve widespread communication
- A forum fits the bill nicely
- Members of the RP community are not satisfied with the RPC forum, causing them not to visit
- Despite RP community activity, the RPC remains quiet
- We may conclude that RPers are active and communicating, just not on the RPC
- The RPC forum is not achieving its purpose
- Three alternatives exist: Allow things to continue, start a new forum, or make the RPC palatable again
- Allowing things to continue as they are does not resolve the concerns raised
- Starting a new forum may cause confusion and divided loyalties, therefore is undesirable
- The RPC is the first, best known, and currently only of its type, therefore its use is preferable
- For the RPC to fulfill its purpose, it must have the support and use of the community it serves
- The community as a whole will not use a site that parts of it find irrelevant or distasteful
- Displeasure has been voiced with the RPC's current state, resulting in a significant portion of the community declining its use
- To annul this displeasure and restore activity, the RPC must begin to operate differently[/list:u]
Easy to say, but what does that mean exactly? To my mind, a lot of things clear from the top down to how individual members think of these forums and each other. There are a few core concepts that must be laid into the foundation of the community from which all other details arise. Among these, I see two main divisions: How the RPC and community ought to relate, and how the community ought to relate to itself. (This is actually part of the problem – right now many want to relate but can't!)
Above all, respect others' choices and RP styles, but at the same time acknowledge and accept that their RP preferences may run counter to yours. The fact that we are all RPers doesn't actually mean we have that much in common! What people want to RP about, how, and with which type of character can vary hugely. If how you roleplay doesn't appeal to someone else, don't try to guilt trip them by labeling them elitist – just move on and find someone whose style suits yours. On the other side of the coin, nobody gets to tell anyone else how to roleplay – if someone is doing something you don't agree with, just politely nod, smile, and keep walking. The community is big enough for all of us if we're willing to talk without judging each other unnecessarily.
We do this for fun, to enjoy ourselves and the company of others. While it's certainly nicer and more inclusive to always RP with everyone all the time, RP should not be an obligation. Accept that for any one of a variety of reasons, someone might just not want to roleplay with you right now. Don't take it personally! In fact, I'm going to be extreme here and say that due to differences in styles, goals, and motivations, not everyone SHOULD roleplay with each other! But you should never make that call without first giving it an honest try.
Everything above carries to out-of-character, too. The cornerstone of RP and really ANY sort of interaction is communication. If you don't talk, you won't know. Misunderstandings often spring up, and many have in this very community. For communication to flourish however, people need to feel comfortable and free to speak. People will always disagree but so long as they do it courteously, respectfully, and with discretion it shouldn't lead to heated arguments or drama.
This attitude ought to carry to the administration, as well. Opinions will vary. Some will be strong, others not so much. At no juncture should the forum meant to give the community a place to talk be the very thing that silences or makes unwelcome members of that community. If at any point a forum administrator intervenes in a matter purely of the community, they have transformed a community matter into an administrative matter and that can lead to all sorts of messes. It indirectly creates a hostile, polarizing atmosphere that is self-defeating and counter to the very purpose of the forum. An administrator's role should be facilitative and encouraging, not restrictive or suppressing.
Naturally there will be times when someone is just plain out of line and in need of correction, but administrative action ought to be a means of last resort, used only after the individual has proven themselves unreasonable, disrespectful, and disruptive to the smooth operation of the forum itself. The community's confidence in administrative discernment depends on trust; trust built by the continued vitality of the forum.
That covers the basics. All the specifics below grow out of these principles.
The Nature of the RPC
OK, so. We've already agreed (by 70% majority!) that the RPC is not a governing body. Quoted from the poll:
Quote:The RPC will become a hub and nothing more. . . The RPC would hold no structure, no form or hierarchy (aside from basic forum administration in regards to forum drama and organization), and basically a normal community like the rest of them out there.
Well, sounds great! That's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for. I basically see the RPC as the "least common denominator" – something that brings us together, but above all doesn't get in our way when all we want to do is get some RPing done. By necessity, anything of this nature that tries to unify so many views, preferences, and styles that vary so widely under one flag must fail. RP styles vary. RP tastes vary. Viewpoints vary. Try to get everyone to toe the same line and those who don't want to will simply go somewhere else!
Let people disagree. As long as they do it respectfully and, if possible, quietly, we should be just fine.
Linkshell Identity
So, how do we disagree nicely? Well, for one I see a lot of talk about Linkshell A and Linkshell B, as if linkshells were the basic unit of decision-making and roleplay within the community. I really don't think that's the case – individuals are individually motivated. People do what they want; linkshells aren't half as binding as people seem to think they are. Most of the time they don't RP with a certain linkshell because they like that linkshell, they do it because they like the members of that linkshell. Linkshell policy usually emerges as the result of all the members expressing and blending their individual opinions, not some sort of hivemind phenomenon.
Naturally, like-minded people tend to clump together but isn't this ALWAYS the case? They still have the capacity and right to disagree, and frequently do. Furthermore, often one person is a member of multiple linkshells and switches between or even bridges them at will. A linkshell is no more than the sum of its individuals, just as the RPC is no more than the sum of the linkshells in its community. I feel the linkshell-centric school of thought is inaccurate, misleading, and harmful to meaningful discussions of the RP community. Let's let each individual be weighed by their own contributions to the RP community, not prepackaged according to what design they have in front of their name at the moment.
Linkshell Leader Forum
Reference: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2590">http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/forum/ ... f=5&t=2590</a><!-- m -->
Almost every linkshell leader I broached the topic to liked the idea (and the rest were willing to try it), though I didn't think to ask about it specifically until I'd already gotten through several interviews. Oops! I can't be 100% confident on community views of this, but given that a lack of communication seems to be at the heart of many of our issues, I don't think more would hurt... Provided it had some very definite guidelines that everyone agreed to beforehand. Many understandably still have a bad taste in their mouth over last time, but I think with the proper framework this can be the useful tool it was originally meant to be.
Perhaps a bit ironically, my post in the above thread seems to have been taken as speaking against the reinstatement of a leader forum, but I'd actually meant it to support the idea. Why? I see the benefit of a place where community leaders can come together as one without distractions and random interjections to efficiently discuss and plan how to raise interest in getting the members of their linkshells to interact. I'm not alone in this, though I won't go claiming total leadership solidarity.
I support the notion of a forum only leaders can read so that they can discuss plot twists, shocking revelations, and other surprises without ruining it for everyone. However, this raises some unfortunate specters. For this to work, we'd need the community's faith that nobody will get up to hijinks. The following principles might help alleviate those fears:
- The leader forum is a restricted access forum but it is NOT a private forum. Just because everyone can't read it doesn't mean it's not public. Anything you say is fair game to be shared among the community at large. Post as if the community is listening; it probably is.
- Leaders have absolutely 0 authority over anything but their own linkshell.
- Policy and politics are not appropriate topics of discussion. Neither is the behavior of specific groups or members of the community.[/list:u]
There are all other sorts of rules and specifics we can debate for hours, but I'll leave that to others to decide.
Community Epic
Reference: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2401">http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/forum/ ... f=2&t=2401</a><!-- m -->
This came up several times over the course of my discussions. A couple people wondered whatever happened to it, one even suggested starting one as a means to help unify the community. Another said:
Quote:I do not like the idea of a 'community epic' where some other guild leader controls where our guild fits in to a world. There already is a community epic: it's called Final Fantasy XIV.
I'll be honest, I was 100% opposed to even the idea of a "community epic" until quite recently. I'm still pretty uncomfortable with it, but one of the linkshell leaders with whom I spoke proposed a framework I'd be able to work with (more on that later). "But why don't you like it?" you may ask. Well, the reason is simple... but wordy. If you've read this far, did you expect any different?
As proposed, I feel the community epic missed an essential mark. Specifically, it sought to create alterations to the setting that the entire community was expected to acknowledge – it even went so far as to use the term 'canon'. To my mind, there is one determinant of canon only, and that is Square-Enix. Anything and everything we do as roleplayers is by consent and agreement of those roleplaying. No one can force anyone else to acknowledge something they do not agree with if it is not supported by official Square-Enix lore.
The current format of the community epic forces a Hobson's Choice to anyone who doesn't fancy the premise: You are a member of the roleplaying community. Will you roleplay something you'd prefer not to, or be cut off from the community's newly-divergent setting? While this would certainly encourage interaction among some, it would force isolation on others! In my opinion, the community epic failed because it backfired.
Does this mean we can't do community epics? They can still be a fun, engaging way to draw in people from all over the community BUT they must be carefully and tactfully handled; the RPC itself should remain the neutral hub it professes to be, not placing official seals of approval or validation upon anything. Participation would be completely voluntary, and the plot should not include any events that change or affect canon setting in such a way that anyone who's not interested is forced to awkwardly choose to either acknowledge or ignore it.
With all the pressure off of both sides – planners don't have to make something grandiosely sweeping and epic and everyone else can join in or stay on the sidelines as they please – there will hopefully be a more relaxed OOC atmosphere that encourages people to take a peek without fear of it overturning a world they rather liked, actually.
Events and Alternatives to Getting Involved
This leads neatly into the next two points. I think the way we as a community think of events could use a very minor adjustment. Nothing overwhelming, promise.
I notice that the community is very event-centric. It makes sense after all, it gets everyone together and roleplaying in the same place at the same time with a common draw! However, I feel there is an almost-exclusive focus on events that underplays the importance of the event's lesser-appreciated sibling, the plot arc. But didn't we just cover that with the talk of community epics?
No, I'm talking about something much smaller scale. Something that may or may not involve your character directly, something that develops gradually over the course of one or many RPs. Often these happen naturally as your character develops and draws friends and companions into their personal story but I'm not quite talking about that. I'm talking about coming up with a plot thread for the purpose of drawing in and engaging others.
As with everything else, OOC communication is key here; it's entirely possible that you toss out some tantalizing IC hint that nobody picks up on because nobody's sure what to make of it! Approach people you'd like to roleplay with and give them an OOC nudge. Run the premise by them without giving away too many of the details and see if they're interested. Discuss what might interest them and their character and adapt on the fly. It doesn't even have to be anything complicated, it could be as simple as "Hey, I notice you're a pugilist ICly. So am I! Maybe the Silver Mirage assigned us to the same job?" See what they think! You could even toss up a post on these very forums saying "I'm thinking of doing a plot thread / mini event / etc along these lines, who would be interested?" Events aren't the only way to meet new people. If they don't seem interested, it's probably not because they're a jerk or because they hate you – it may just not be their style. Respect that and try something or someone else.
Despite that, events are still a pretty good way to meet new people and their importance should not be discounted. Keep 'em coming! But realize that not every character will be interested in your event. Heck, not every player will be interested in your event. If not many people show up, don't be disheartened. Just keep trying! Lack of attendance is not an indication of poor community health or interest, it's only an indication of lack of interest or just plain poor availability for that event. The key to a thriving climate of events is to have enough that are varied enough that everyone will find something that they'd like to attend, during a time they're able to attend.
- The leader forum is a restricted access forum but it is NOT a private forum. Just because everyone can't read it doesn't mean it's not public. Anything you say is fair game to be shared among the community at large. Post as if the community is listening; it probably is.
