Sorry this is so long!
--MMORPG background
I've been playing WoW for ten years, and was (am? we didn't disband, just...) a guild leader for the more recent chunk of that. But a combination of lack of new quests to play through and all of my guild members except two moving to FFXIV lead to them buying me the game as a gift this winter gone, and me giving in and switching. I'll probably still go back to WoW when Legion drops, but how long for depends how established I get myself in FFXIV, really.
--RP experience
I grew up roleplaying. Both my parents are roleplayers (tabletop - if you're familiar with the UK scene, you might know us...), so I can't really remember any time when I enjoyed a game without turning it into something of a roleplaying exercise.
I ran a popular RP guild in WoW for a couple of years. I used to run weekly events and all that stuff... except then my friends stopped logging in, and my chronic illness kicked my ass. I haven't done any public RP in an MMO in almost two years, tbh. I've been roleplaying privately with friends during the interim.
--Character ideas/info
I have eight Balmung alts at various stages of development.
Aghurlal, my Au Ra "fisherman", is the most polished of them & the one I have the most interest in RPing on a ~daily basis.
I've had trouble getting started with him, because he's very reticent with... all the things that make him interesting from an OOC perspective, haha. I'm worried people will either find him boring (if it takes too long for him to open up) or overly angsty and "attention-grabbing" (if he does so too soon). It's a difficult balance to strike, and fear of getting it wrong has been holding me back.
He lends himself most easily to planned, plot-heavy, closed RP... but I want to get back into walk-up and attending public/open events (and maybe running them again, health allowing).
--How did you learn about the coalition?
Saw it mentioned several times in-game. Decided to google. Realised I'd been using yourn timeline resource since I started making my characters' backstories anyway. Eventually got around to signing up so I could make wiki pages. Decided I should probably at least say hi on the forums.
--What kind of a role-player are you aiming to be? Light, medium, or heavy?
In my heart I'd love to be a heavy roleplayer, but most of the time my health just simply doesn't allow me to put the time in. So as much as I can do, really.
That said, I take a comparatively loose approach to canon. Which is to say, I enjoy following it, and finding ways to fit my characters into it... until there's no canon ruling on what I want to do. Or until I think the canon ruling is lazy hand-waving, and that something more in-depth would lead to more entertaining roleplay. I love filling in gaps where I see them; or hearing what other players have done to fill in the same gaps, and incorporating that into my roleplay.
I want to get my characters into (non-FC-based) linkshells that suit them, but I'm going to be careful with that, because I only have so much time and energy to divide between them. I don't want to take up a space in someone's busy linkshell if I only log on the character once a fortnight.
Also worth mentioning that LGBT and mental illness themes feature fairly prominently in what I do.
--Anything from real life you'€™re comfortable with sharing? (Work, school, hobbies, etc)
My name's Otter. I'm in my 20's. I live in the UK. My first FF game was Crystal Chronicles. As I mentioned before, I'm chronically ill/disabled, and unfortunately it affects every aspect of my life (including my RP hobby). I have a kitty.
--MMORPG background
I've been playing WoW for ten years, and was (am? we didn't disband, just...) a guild leader for the more recent chunk of that. But a combination of lack of new quests to play through and all of my guild members except two moving to FFXIV lead to them buying me the game as a gift this winter gone, and me giving in and switching. I'll probably still go back to WoW when Legion drops, but how long for depends how established I get myself in FFXIV, really.
--RP experience
I grew up roleplaying. Both my parents are roleplayers (tabletop - if you're familiar with the UK scene, you might know us...), so I can't really remember any time when I enjoyed a game without turning it into something of a roleplaying exercise.
I ran a popular RP guild in WoW for a couple of years. I used to run weekly events and all that stuff... except then my friends stopped logging in, and my chronic illness kicked my ass. I haven't done any public RP in an MMO in almost two years, tbh. I've been roleplaying privately with friends during the interim.
--Character ideas/info
I have eight Balmung alts at various stages of development.
Aghurlal, my Au Ra "fisherman", is the most polished of them & the one I have the most interest in RPing on a ~daily basis.
I've had trouble getting started with him, because he's very reticent with... all the things that make him interesting from an OOC perspective, haha. I'm worried people will either find him boring (if it takes too long for him to open up) or overly angsty and "attention-grabbing" (if he does so too soon). It's a difficult balance to strike, and fear of getting it wrong has been holding me back.
He lends himself most easily to planned, plot-heavy, closed RP... but I want to get back into walk-up and attending public/open events (and maybe running them again, health allowing).
--How did you learn about the coalition?
Saw it mentioned several times in-game. Decided to google. Realised I'd been using yourn timeline resource since I started making my characters' backstories anyway. Eventually got around to signing up so I could make wiki pages. Decided I should probably at least say hi on the forums.
--What kind of a role-player are you aiming to be? Light, medium, or heavy?
In my heart I'd love to be a heavy roleplayer, but most of the time my health just simply doesn't allow me to put the time in. So as much as I can do, really.
That said, I take a comparatively loose approach to canon. Which is to say, I enjoy following it, and finding ways to fit my characters into it... until there's no canon ruling on what I want to do. Or until I think the canon ruling is lazy hand-waving, and that something more in-depth would lead to more entertaining roleplay. I love filling in gaps where I see them; or hearing what other players have done to fill in the same gaps, and incorporating that into my roleplay.
I want to get my characters into (non-FC-based) linkshells that suit them, but I'm going to be careful with that, because I only have so much time and energy to divide between them. I don't want to take up a space in someone's busy linkshell if I only log on the character once a fortnight.
Also worth mentioning that LGBT and mental illness themes feature fairly prominently in what I do.
--Anything from real life you'€™re comfortable with sharing? (Work, school, hobbies, etc)
My name's Otter. I'm in my 20's. I live in the UK. My first FF game was Crystal Chronicles. As I mentioned before, I'm chronically ill/disabled, and unfortunately it affects every aspect of my life (including my RP hobby). I have a kitty.