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I recently did an experiment that was kind of along these lines.
Now I have an established Free Company full of some awesome people that engage strangers and work for more collaborative communities. Â I am very grateful for my FC mates and how they make Eorzea a better place.. but I kept hearing things like this OP's pov where they can't get any RP, they get ignored, etc.
I made an alt, I levelled it up to a respectable level and I told nobody about it. Â I tried to work organically the way I did when I first came to Balmung. Â I started out in the Quicksand and then I'd attend RPC events to try and engage people or be approached. Â What I discovered is the following:
- If you have a green leaf on your head you're very likely to get ignored.
- 90% of the time if someone puts on their RP tag and goes and sit alone in a corner you end up with 10 people sitting alone and nobody interacting.
- If you approach people directly you will get a decent contact about 3 or 4 times out of 10. This number goes up if you send them a /tell first asking to RP before you just walk up.
- Approaching a group that's RPing is VERY likely to be ignored.
- Approaching an FC to try and get involved in their RP is about as effective as cold walkups. Â FCs by their very nature are cliquish. Â I actually had a VERY negative experience with a walkup to an FC where I was OOCly chewed out because their RP was "closed" in spite being in a public setting and all their emotes being done in /em.
My conclusion is that we have a very toxic and insular community on Balmung. Â Cliques form of tight-knit groups of people of like minds and similar RP styles probably due to bad experiences from people outside of those groups. Â Growing an RP contact network takes a lot of time, energy and luck. Â What is made worse is the fickle nature of people it's not uncommon to make a contact that you never talk to again.
The best luck I've had so far is to try and figure out my character's niche or drive and make it specific enough then find others who have similar qualities or drives. Â There are certain setups and tropes that seem to get a lot of mobility as well. Â The worst case scenario is using Party Finder or the RPC to advertise what you're looking for and go from there.
My heart seriously goes out for any new RPer or ones struggling to get established contacts. Â Having character motivation and drive helps because too often I see people struggle but when they do make a contact they have an expectation of "being entertained" or included. Â At the same time I've also seen it to where even when effort is made.. people ignore you.
I hope things improve.
Now I have an established Free Company full of some awesome people that engage strangers and work for more collaborative communities. Â I am very grateful for my FC mates and how they make Eorzea a better place.. but I kept hearing things like this OP's pov where they can't get any RP, they get ignored, etc.
I made an alt, I levelled it up to a respectable level and I told nobody about it. Â I tried to work organically the way I did when I first came to Balmung. Â I started out in the Quicksand and then I'd attend RPC events to try and engage people or be approached. Â What I discovered is the following:
- If you have a green leaf on your head you're very likely to get ignored.
- 90% of the time if someone puts on their RP tag and goes and sit alone in a corner you end up with 10 people sitting alone and nobody interacting.
- If you approach people directly you will get a decent contact about 3 or 4 times out of 10. This number goes up if you send them a /tell first asking to RP before you just walk up.
- Approaching a group that's RPing is VERY likely to be ignored.
- Approaching an FC to try and get involved in their RP is about as effective as cold walkups. Â FCs by their very nature are cliquish. Â I actually had a VERY negative experience with a walkup to an FC where I was OOCly chewed out because their RP was "closed" in spite being in a public setting and all their emotes being done in /em.
My conclusion is that we have a very toxic and insular community on Balmung. Â Cliques form of tight-knit groups of people of like minds and similar RP styles probably due to bad experiences from people outside of those groups. Â Growing an RP contact network takes a lot of time, energy and luck. Â What is made worse is the fickle nature of people it's not uncommon to make a contact that you never talk to again.
The best luck I've had so far is to try and figure out my character's niche or drive and make it specific enough then find others who have similar qualities or drives. Â There are certain setups and tropes that seem to get a lot of mobility as well. Â The worst case scenario is using Party Finder or the RPC to advertise what you're looking for and go from there.
My heart seriously goes out for any new RPer or ones struggling to get established contacts. Â Having character motivation and drive helps because too often I see people struggle but when they do make a contact they have an expectation of "being entertained" or included. Â At the same time I've also seen it to where even when effort is made.. people ignore you.
I hope things improve.