I have to admit that I'm a little frustrated. My main point in all of this has been if you're going to post in a newbie's Let's-RP Thread on the Making Connections Forum:
1) Post your timezone and availability so they can actually find you in-game or
2) Coordinate with them and pick a day so that both of you can actually meet up.
However, a lot of the responses I've been seeing harp on about how it's the responsibility of the thread-posters to make the effort to reach out and how the onus is on them to actually do their part in hunting folks down for RP. I agree and I get this sentiment. I earnestly do. It IS their responsibility to meet you halfway, and as someone who has been some form of guild leadership in nearly every MMO I have ever played, no one hates spoonfeeding or handholding more than I do. Especially when someone feels entitled to it.
However, if all anyone ever posts is "My name is Tiergan Vashir. Feel free to hit me up in game sometime!" and literally nothing else. It is crazy hard for these people to actually do their part in reaching out and finding folks in game when that's all the information you have on hand. Failing to reach out to someone doesn't necessarily mean laziness or someone not meeting you half way. It might mean they just can't find you period.
Like I mentioned already, before real life decided to crush me and rob me of most of my freetime, I tried to start a plot that involved me hunting down 50+ people knowing ONLY their character names. Coming from a position where I definitely wanted to find all of these people and was constantly going through a list searching for every single person for literally a month or more and STILL not being able to find some people -- it is very, very hard. Sometimes even when I knew their schedules or timezones, it was still tricky. That experience was actually how I came to realise just how difficult it is for new people to actually make use of their Making Connections threads when most (but not all) of the responses basically amount to: "I'd love to RP with you! My character is Tiergan Vashir! If you see me in game, feel free to send me a tell!"
At best, their option is just to PM you on these forums because it doesn't involve logging in at various times hoping that you just happen to have a similar timezone/schedule as they do. And that PM will inevitably probably involve them asking you when you're generally online and what timezone you're in anyway - so we might as well just either post it in their thread and put your money where your mouth is or send them a PM with the information.
By providing that info, we're not suddenly doing all the work for the newbies. The new folks still have to take the information we provide and find us. We're just making it way easier for them.
[[Edit: Cut and changed some of the post that I felt might have been a little too aggressive.]]
1) Post your timezone and availability so they can actually find you in-game or
2) Coordinate with them and pick a day so that both of you can actually meet up.
However, a lot of the responses I've been seeing harp on about how it's the responsibility of the thread-posters to make the effort to reach out and how the onus is on them to actually do their part in hunting folks down for RP. I agree and I get this sentiment. I earnestly do. It IS their responsibility to meet you halfway, and as someone who has been some form of guild leadership in nearly every MMO I have ever played, no one hates spoonfeeding or handholding more than I do. Especially when someone feels entitled to it.
However, if all anyone ever posts is "My name is Tiergan Vashir. Feel free to hit me up in game sometime!" and literally nothing else. It is crazy hard for these people to actually do their part in reaching out and finding folks in game when that's all the information you have on hand. Failing to reach out to someone doesn't necessarily mean laziness or someone not meeting you half way. It might mean they just can't find you period.
Like I mentioned already, before real life decided to crush me and rob me of most of my freetime, I tried to start a plot that involved me hunting down 50+ people knowing ONLY their character names. Coming from a position where I definitely wanted to find all of these people and was constantly going through a list searching for every single person for literally a month or more and STILL not being able to find some people -- it is very, very hard. Sometimes even when I knew their schedules or timezones, it was still tricky. That experience was actually how I came to realise just how difficult it is for new people to actually make use of their Making Connections threads when most (but not all) of the responses basically amount to: "I'd love to RP with you! My character is Tiergan Vashir! If you see me in game, feel free to send me a tell!"
At best, their option is just to PM you on these forums because it doesn't involve logging in at various times hoping that you just happen to have a similar timezone/schedule as they do. And that PM will inevitably probably involve them asking you when you're generally online and what timezone you're in anyway - so we might as well just either post it in their thread and put your money where your mouth is or send them a PM with the information.
By providing that info, we're not suddenly doing all the work for the newbies. The new folks still have to take the information we provide and find us. We're just making it way easier for them.
[[Edit: Cut and changed some of the post that I felt might have been a little too aggressive.]]
