Hm. I am going to make a bullet point post to sum up my points. Admittedly, I kinda feel like the points in my previous posts might be hard to understand.
Issue 1: The game writers take a "Tell" instead of "Show" stance to their in game lore.Â
1. Sin linked a very informative post from the writers that tells us how the world is supposed to be. A lot of Koji Fox's words, in my opinion, clash harshly from what we see in game. (I would never in a million years have gotten the vibe that all these different races hang out with each other but dislike each other?
2. There are a couple of side quests that deal with racism, as well as some ambient dialogues from NPCs. Both of these are extremely easy to miss and I have never come across any of these examples.
3. "Eorzea is a terrible place to live." There are implications in this thread that Eorzea is dangerous and harsh. I don't see how FFXIV is even the tiniest bit of a gritty fantasy though. (See: Berserk and Attack on Titan for comparisons) City states, and the world as a whole for that matter, are clean and pretty. We see mixed races regularly not only getting along, but befriending each other, in the majority of quests available to us in FFXIV. Suffering is implied, rather than shown. (If Eorzea is so dangerous, why don't we see more people dying during quests?)
Conclusion: More roleplayers don't acknowledge racism in their RP because it just isn't obvious. Point 1 requires you to look for sources outside the game. Point 2 are obscure sources in game that are hard to find. Point 3 shows how certain lore elements in game conflict with the idea of suffering and racism being widespread.
Therefore: Presumably, few people RP these elements because they are simply not known.
Issue 2: Some people don't like RPing elements of racism
1. This has nothing to do with mixing IC and OOC. Folks who don't want to RP racism aren't getting personally insulted over it, they just don't enjoy those themes. I don't force my friends and family who dislike horror movies to sit down and watch a horror movie and then explain: "Why do you dislike horror movies? It's not like this is happening to real people. It's not like it's happening to you."
2. It's honestly pretty over done with most fantasy universes already featuring it in spades. Some folks actually find races getting along to be more interesting than racism because we almost never get to see it. Strife may be an essential part of story-telling and RP but it can be gained elsewhere.
3. Way more examples of races positively interacting each other on a friendship based level, not just 'tolerating' each other like Koji Fox's post states. This conflict in what we see in lore gives those people who don't want to RP elements of racism equally valid reasons to not RP racists.
Conclusion: Racism is not an integral experience to FFXIV. It is there. How common it is is debatable, given Issue 1. As Freelance states above, there is strong merit to go either way with your RP. Plenty of wiggle room to RP a racist or to not RP a racist. If you choose to not RP a racist, you are not writing an unbelievable RP character. Additionally, people can RP what they want and shouldn't be accused of mixing IC and OOC for it. I have little desire to RP the MSQ or ERP or any number of themes (see: Warren's post on page #2). You can RP those things. I won't think less of you for it. Let's respect each other's likes and dislikes and acknowledge that we don't have to RP with each other if we don't get along.
Issue 1: The game writers take a "Tell" instead of "Show" stance to their in game lore.Â
1. Sin linked a very informative post from the writers that tells us how the world is supposed to be. A lot of Koji Fox's words, in my opinion, clash harshly from what we see in game. (I would never in a million years have gotten the vibe that all these different races hang out with each other but dislike each other?
2. There are a couple of side quests that deal with racism, as well as some ambient dialogues from NPCs. Both of these are extremely easy to miss and I have never come across any of these examples.
3. "Eorzea is a terrible place to live." There are implications in this thread that Eorzea is dangerous and harsh. I don't see how FFXIV is even the tiniest bit of a gritty fantasy though. (See: Berserk and Attack on Titan for comparisons) City states, and the world as a whole for that matter, are clean and pretty. We see mixed races regularly not only getting along, but befriending each other, in the majority of quests available to us in FFXIV. Suffering is implied, rather than shown. (If Eorzea is so dangerous, why don't we see more people dying during quests?)
Conclusion: More roleplayers don't acknowledge racism in their RP because it just isn't obvious. Point 1 requires you to look for sources outside the game. Point 2 are obscure sources in game that are hard to find. Point 3 shows how certain lore elements in game conflict with the idea of suffering and racism being widespread.
Therefore: Presumably, few people RP these elements because they are simply not known.
Issue 2: Some people don't like RPing elements of racism
1. This has nothing to do with mixing IC and OOC. Folks who don't want to RP racism aren't getting personally insulted over it, they just don't enjoy those themes. I don't force my friends and family who dislike horror movies to sit down and watch a horror movie and then explain: "Why do you dislike horror movies? It's not like this is happening to real people. It's not like it's happening to you."
2. It's honestly pretty over done with most fantasy universes already featuring it in spades. Some folks actually find races getting along to be more interesting than racism because we almost never get to see it. Strife may be an essential part of story-telling and RP but it can be gained elsewhere.
3. Way more examples of races positively interacting each other on a friendship based level, not just 'tolerating' each other like Koji Fox's post states. This conflict in what we see in lore gives those people who don't want to RP elements of racism equally valid reasons to not RP racists.
Conclusion: Racism is not an integral experience to FFXIV. It is there. How common it is is debatable, given Issue 1. As Freelance states above, there is strong merit to go either way with your RP. Plenty of wiggle room to RP a racist or to not RP a racist. If you choose to not RP a racist, you are not writing an unbelievable RP character. Additionally, people can RP what they want and shouldn't be accused of mixing IC and OOC for it. I have little desire to RP the MSQ or ERP or any number of themes (see: Warren's post on page #2). You can RP those things. I won't think less of you for it. Let's respect each other's likes and dislikes and acknowledge that we don't have to RP with each other if we don't get along.
Now with a wiki! Flickering Ember's wiki
