(07-01-2015, 02:34 PM)ArmachiA Wrote: The thing that I love most about the people I RP with is the fact that we can sit down and discuss scenes of the story we're playing out like it were a novel or a TV show. We can do this FOR HOURS. Sitting around and discussing the value of a certain scene, what happened between two people, why some people are fighting, what decisions were made, etc, etc. No one gets offended if someone says "I really didn't agree with the choice <character> made." or "Man, I'm not sure that will end well for <character>." We understand that disagreeing with a character doesn't mean we disagree with them OOC and we understand that we are not our characters. We, of course, say lots of positive things too, but it's nice when the players don't get mad at each other for what characters do, and even better when the players can discuss each others characters' motivations and decisions without getting offended if they disagree. One of my favorite things to do is to talk shop, discuss whats going on with characters and discuss scenes - even when I wasn't even around for them. I really value that I'm able to do that with my group and it makes the story feel... more epic. We're talking like it's not just roleplay, but an overarching story and that's pretty cool.
The community in general? I think my favorite thing is how there are many, many, many different kind of groups on the Server. Some that follow lore strictly, some that don't, some that have super powerful characters, and others who play weaker ones. Since this is a large community and there are so many different opinions it's EASY to find a group that has your personal roleplaying style. I can tell you, in certain games it was never that easy, generally having to follow the ruleset of the small rp population. Here though, on Balmung, there are so many different kinds of RPers you WILL find a group that shares your views on roleplay if you try hard enough. I like that the server has no specific ruleset on RP or what it should be. RP is different for everyone and it means something different to everyone. People aren't to agree on what "real" RP is and that's okay, as long as theirs a place for everyone to build their own sandbox. I've not heard of a lot of harassment related to RP Styles, and I think healthy debate on the forums is important and necessary to keep the community honest. I think Balmung does a lot of things right where a lot of games have done them wrong and FFXIV is a testament to the benefit of a large RP server. And its nice, too, that most of these different groups can co-exist with very little drama on the game.
THIS.
This is the first MMO RP community I've been in where we don't really have a lot of people policing the ever-living heck out of each other on what is the 'right way' to RP. Policing people and trying to get everyone to RP the same way with the same view on the lore and the same understanding of what is 'correct' was just the default thing people did in other MMO communities. In fact, it was seen as "healthy for the community". I'll be first to admit - I was definitely one of those jerks shaking their heads, going 'tsk-tsk' at people I felt were "doing it wrong".
It wasn't until I came here to FFXIV that I first ran into this live-and-let-live attitude towards RP/RP styles and good glory is it refreshing. It's so simple and obvious, but it has such a big and positive impact. Instead of the entire community trying to force the everyone to adhere to a certain way of doing things and looking down on folks who don't go with the flow - everyone here has their own 'right way' of doing things. And most importantly, we all (or at least most of us) acknowledge that it's 100% okay if a bunch of folks have drastically different ways of RPing that can't really be reconciled. We understand that the server's big enough for each person to find their own crew of awesome buddies. You do your thing. I'll do my thing. We'll find friends that mesh with us and everyone's happy.
This is admittedly why I got a little anxious in things like the pet peeves thread or in other threads when it sort of feels like people might be veering towards "my-way-or-the-highway" / "you're doing it wrong" land, because it makes me worry that folks are bringing that old "everyone has to RP the same way FOR THE GOOD OF THE COMMUNITY" vibe over to FFXIV.
Also - this is less about the RP community and more about Balmung itself - but I REALLY like that I can RP out in the open on Balmung 100% of the time and experience less trolling/clusterfuckery than I ever did in other unofficial RP servers and even actual official RP servers in other MMOs. I think this is a testament to how chill (or at least tolerant) a lot of the Non-RPers are on our server because honestly? It's AMAZING to me that the Quicksand can be an actual RP hub without legions of trolls constantly slamming into it day and night to chase everyone out. (::KNOCKS ON FUCKING WOOD::)
Sure, every once in a while I get some buck-nekkid dancing roe with a snowman-helmet on, but I find that if I laugh it off or just play along (swap to slut gear, put on horse helmet, and manderville at them), they go off on their merry way.