(06-06-2013, 12:06 PM)Lanos Blaquesun Wrote: I know what the real answer is, but let me say this, by reading the posts of the legacy players would you say that your response would be apparent in their reactions?
I think people who have played on Balmung want to stay with Balmung, for the most part. Their reactions have to do with the fact that the RPC initially set out to bring roleplayers together, on one server. It makes several things easier; as I currently lead an FFXI RP Linkshell on Siren, I can attest to the overwhelming difficulty it is in recruiting members. Not because there is a lack of interest, but in many of my postings, most of the interested I have found have been located on other servers. Changing server, at least for XI, requires a fee of $20-$25, and would require people to leave their out-of-character friends behind as well. It's a major hurdle; the best luck I have in getting people in my RP LS from other servers is if they return and find their OOC friends all gone, and they look up my group, and they are willing (cus they have no more existing ties on their server) to change to Siren. But those are few and far in-between.
Those of us who have been at the RPC for a long time do not want to go back to those days where it was a struggle to recruit members. The RPC was put together specifically to combat that hassle.
Will there be other roleplay communities on other servers? Of course there will be. We realize we can't stop that and we don't really try to. But within this community, I believe it would be against the purpose and the mission of the RPC to cater to a multiple server approach. It is not what the RPC was established to do. The defense against the idea of multiple RP servers stems from wanting to avoid having several communities spread out across multiple servers.
In addition, the more spread out the community is, the less well known said community is, and the harder it is to find. How many times have I looked across FFXI boards these days to find someone who posted months ago looking for an RP server, only to be told that no such thing exist? The fact is, they do exist, but they're so small and despite constant advertising, the majority of the game population doesn't know them by heart. The benefit of the RPC is that it has achieved a status within the community, and a reputation of being 'the place you go for RP.' Balmung has a community-wide reputation of being the RP server; we're well known even to people who don't participate in RP.
So once again, are we defensive against the idea of spreading things out across multiple servers? Absolutely. It's not what we built this community for, and we enjoy our reputation as it stands. As such, while we wouldn't prohibit the starting of a new RP server, and as its been stated before--we've allowed other RP groups on other servers to advertise here before--it isn't something that we are here to necessarily cater to.