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V'aleera · **06-19-2015, 09:02 PM**

What other people think about your character's backstory is entirely irrelevant. Speaking from personal experience, if you create a well-written, interesting, and engaging character people will want to play with that character. And the more people you play with and friends you make, the more cowed into silence the people who would detract from your creation will be.

Tokki · **06-19-2015, 09:55 PM**

I say GO for it if you really want to. At the end of the day, it is your character and I think you need to be happy with it.Â

Miya was raised by a Hyur family, but recently she has gotten in touch with her birth roots changing going by her adoptive name I'yehmiya Faolain to her rightful name I'miya Yeh. Her father wasn't quite traditional, he left his tribe for adventure and a quest for knowledge and treasure on the high seas, but ended up kind of forming an honorary family of his own later on that he picked up along his travels. xP I feel bad though I killed off a lot of people in her past (pretty evil of me), but I like her backstory and at the end of the day I'm happy. Tongue

Â The adversity in her life makes her the kind soul she is today and idk...she has an awkward aloof side to her when culture clashes arise, but she still can be lovable even though she sometimes talks to her Chocobo like he's a person.Â

My advice? Make your character your own. It is your story. A character is more than the people who raised he/she. Also find some awesome people to bounce off ideas with!~

Faye · **06-19-2015, 10:35 PM**

(06-19-2015, 06:31 PM)Zhavi Wrote: I don't understand this attitude. If I were to be in a rp that takes place in the real world, and want to rp someone of Korean ancestry who is a US citizen, would people still have this idea of "it's getting old how all you people want to play Koreans who aren't actually from Korea and of the Korean culture" ?

I mean, you can come up with all these human race stereotypes that I ... don't want to use as examples because I don't want to create race arguments, but just -- whatever floats your boat, but please don't discourage people from creating characters that make them happy. In my experience, playing solely to please other people is going to make you unhappy at the end of the day.

No matter what you do, there's going to be someone who doesn't like it, so you might as well just do it.

In the real world, a lot of kids are given up for adoption or otherwise orphaned. In game, however, lore tells us Miqo'te are rare with a small population. For Keepers, males are rare. For Seekers, only certain males are allowed to breed in order to create the best offspring. For a race so focused on procreation for the longevity of their tribe/clan, it's weird to think so many would be orphaned, weirder still so many would be picked up by other races (especially considering Miqo'te are often somewhat secluded from the rest of society and other races). The comparison is pretty much apples to oranges, but yeah, if I was in an RP set in the real world and half the characters involved were Korean adopted by American parents, I'd be a little confused.

Either way, I'm not discouraging anyone from doing it, so please don't put words in my mouth when there was no indication of that in my post. I just think it's helpful to give people fair warning that others might wrinkle their noses at their character, because some people don't want that, and others don't mind but like to be prepared to face it.

(06-19-2015, 06:52 PM)Kousagi Wrote: @Faye True, true. It is rough, though I'm mostly asking to gauge just how often people have something to say about other players that have plots/origins they don't particularly like or are tired of seeing. It's been a really long time since I played on Balmung. I wrote a Miqo'te lancer for a while who had the dream of becoming a Dragoon, and luckily I never really got shit for it... but I had someone else in our very same guild who was a Miqo DRG and every time she was offline, people would talk crap about it... it was kind of discouraging. But granted, she had other issues that made her less than popular in the guild that I don't even remember (some drama between her and a few other members...? IDEK?) What is the KISS method, though, might I ask?

Keep It Simple, Stupid! It's a mantra people typically use to remind themselves not to overcomplicate or overthink something.

Lilia Lia · **06-19-2015, 10:37 PM**

Do it if you want to.Â It's just a cliche, like Faye said.Â If you're fine with that then go on ahead.Â

Some people don't like developing a character only to realize later that it's a cliche.Â Rarely do people actually hold it against you, so if you're fine with it then don't let it bug you.Â

I kind of smirk every time I meet another adopted miqo'te, but it wouldn't make me judge them or refuse to RP with them or make assumptions about them or anything.Â Some of my best friends are adopted miqo'tes.

Caspar · **06-19-2015, 10:52 PM**

I play a foreign character from a fanon locale I created myself, that seems unobtrusive and realistic enough that I feel it wouldn't ever be disrupted by updates in the setting. Since she was raised as a Doman, there is a tension between her displacement and her trained behavior that I can use to create conflict in RP with Othard natives. I found it a convenient way for me to brush up on lore I wasn't that familiar with, but also because I'm really attached to the "person between two cultures" tension. It has nothing to do with my own experiences and sympathies, I can assure you.

I'm disappointed Virara has not suffered greater discrimination, from Eorzeans of course, but particularly from Domans suspicious of a "Doman" who has never even been to the homeland, before or after the razing. To them, a Doman who has no particular love for their devastated home and a peculiar awkwardness among what should be her own kind ought to seem like an impostor who is too good at acting like one of them, and people ought to be suspicious or uneasy around her.

I like the idea of being an outsider and someone who cannot fit into any single culture, as I think culture is a mutable thing characterized by constant shifts in influence. I have a lot of affinity for the players who play characters outside of their traditional culture, including the miqo'te. However, they're just so common, it's easy to get lost in the masses. Rather than saying the cliche itself is bad, which it honestly is not, and is undeserving of the flak it usually gets here, I'd argue that it is hard to stand out and get attention for RP if you don't have a unique angle. And I would love to see more people take seriously the implications of being estranged from your own culture.

V'aleera · **06-19-2015, 10:54 PM**

(06-19-2015, 10:37 PM)Lilia Lia Wrote: It's just a cliche

I've yet to encounter a character on these forums or in this game that isn't.

Magellan · **06-19-2015, 11:16 PM**

(06-19-2015, 10:54 PM)Intaki Wrote:
(06-19-2015, 10:37 PM)Lilia Lia Wrote: It's just a cliche
I've yet to encounter a character on these forums or in this game that isn't.

Lol. Pretty much this. Simply the act of playing a Miqo, traditional or no, is a cliche, simply because they are SO ABUNDANT in both the rp and greater community. The mere presence of their numbers alone kind've shatters their lore.

The point is; ain't none of us original around here, so just rp what interests you and have fun doing it Tongue

Sin · **06-19-2015, 11:46 PM**

If you're asking if you're going to get shit for using an overdone trope? Probably depending on how well you roleplay it. If you're asking how much? Who knows depends on the crowd you play with and who your friends are.Â Should you care? Probably not, unless you do, then you should. <--- Wisdom.

@Hauntmedoitagain
Of course you perceive the negativity to be centralized in the RPC. I believe that is because this is a public forum for discussion, and here people are free to discuss their ideas and opinions no matter how upsetting they are to some of the listeners. In game, if I pass by someone roleplaying Cloud reborn, Slayer of Thrall and Garrosh, I'll shrug and move on to roleplay with someone else who is more my style. In the forum if someone asks me what I think of someone roleplaying Garrosh and Thrall slaying reborn Cloud I'll happily say I think that's an awful character and in my opinion wouldn't open yourself to a lot of fun roleplaying and writing opportunities.

I think a lot of good comments here. Eorzea is a dangerous place, the prospect of losing your parents and being adopted is more than plausible. If you have a unique character, and you can really bring that identity to life in a fun way. Go for it! Will it lump you in a category with a certain stereotype of cliche'd characters with cliched characteristics? Yup. Does that matter? Maybe. Up to you.

The game's RP community is robust enough that you will through a bit of searching find people who like to roleplay just as you do, and that's the beauty of it. Live and let live.

Lilia Lia · **06-20-2015, 12:19 AM**

I feel I should clarify something.

There are some people who feel personally let-down when they realize, too late, that the distinctive quality they meant to give their character is actually the opposite of distinctive.Â This is a subjective feeling that some people get towards their own characters and it's the main reason to caution someone who is considering basing a character around an idea that's a teensie bit overdone.Â

For some people, they realize only too late that their character backstory is an instance of an overdone player trope, and that bothers them because they genuinely wanted to use it as a way of making their character stand out.Â From a lore point of view, the concept of a miqo'te who was raised by hyur parents is unique, which is part of the charm of it.Â But the fact is that in the player community, it's just the opposite.Â And people wouldn't know this unless they were told ahead of time.Â That's really the only reason I see it as a courtesy to alert people to how widespread it is.Â

If it doesn't bother you that you'll be one of the many playing a very similar backstory, then that's really all that should matter.Â But there are people that would want to avoid this kind of thing for their own reasons, so knowing ahead of time can be helpful to them.

To put it another way:Â It's now a kind of fan-made lore that miqo'tes tend to be adopted and raised in cities.Â It's so commonplace, in fact, that it's almost the norm.Â Many characters you meet will not be surprised to learn this about you.Â You may find this to be disappointing.Â And for that reason it won't really be a distinctive feature of your character like you may have intended for it to be.

This only really matters if you intend for the city-raised tribe-ignorant backstory to be anomalous or to be going against the grain.Â I think a lot of players do intend this because they write that story with the official lore in mind, without taking into account what you might call the "player-made lore" which is in reality going to form a significant part of the actual RP experience.Â Does that make sense?

Also, as a disclaimer, I don't mean to offend any of the many adopted miqo'te who are certainly replying to this thread.Â I'm only saying that there are some people who would decide against making this a major part of their character if they knew how common it was.Â And there are players in the community who find it refreshing when they meet a miqo'te who actually does have a tribal background, so that alone makes it an attractive option when considering the kind of character you want to RP.Â You COULD be the first tribal miqo'te that a lot of people meet, and firsts like that are always interesting.

Taeh Niumoenwyn · **06-20-2015, 01:49 AM**

On a slight varation my Keeper (Taeh Marchand)was raised by an Elezen family, perhaps this isn't quite so common but even if it was I thought of the idea and characters background without being aware of this and therefore I'm okay with it.

Magellan · **06-20-2015, 03:12 AM**

(06-20-2015, 12:19 AM)Lilia Lia Wrote: I feel I should clarify something.

There are some people who feel personally let-down when they realize, too late, that the distinctive quality they meant to give their character is actually the opposite of distinctive.Â This is a subjective feeling that some people get towards their own characters and it's the main reason to caution someone who is considering basing a character around an idea that's a teensie bit overdone.Â

For some people, they realize only too late that their character backstory is an instance of an overdone player trope, and that bothers them because they genuinely wanted to use it as a way of making their character stand out.Â From a lore point of view, the concept of a miqo'te who was raised by hyur parents is unique, which is part of the charm of it.Â But the fact is that in the player community, it's just the opposite.Â And people wouldn't know this unless they were told ahead of time.Â That's really the only reason I see it as a courtesy to alert people to how widespread it is.Â

If it doesn't bother you that you'll be one of the many playing a very similar backstory, then that's really all that should matter.Â But there are people that would want to avoid this kind of thing for their own reasons, so knowing ahead of time can be helpful to them.

To put it another way:Â It's now a kind of fan-made lore that miqo'tes tend to be adopted and raised in cities.Â It's so commonplace, in fact, that it's almost the norm.Â Many characters you meet will not be surprised to learn this about you.Â You may find this to be disappointing.Â And for that reason it won't really be a distinctive feature of your character like you may have intended for it to be.

This only really matters if you intend for the city-raised tribe-ignorant backstory to be anomalous or to be going against the grain.Â I think a lot of players do intend this because they write that story with the official lore in mind, without taking into account what you might call the "player-made lore" which is in reality going to form a significant part of the actual RP experience.Â Does that make sense?

Also, as a disclaimer, I don't mean to offend any of the many adopted miqo'te who are certainly replying to this thread.Â I'm only saying that there are some people who would decide against making this a major part of their character if they knew how common it was.Â And there are players in the community who find it refreshing when they meet a miqo'te who actually does have a tribal background, so that alone makes it an attractive option when considering the kind of character you want to RP.Â You COULD be the first tribal miqo'te that a lot of people meet, and firsts like that are always interesting.

Good stuff here, but I also stand by my previous statement that due to sheer numbers, pretty much all bases of Miqo RP are abundantly covered. That includes tribal kitties, brooding male Miqos (of which there are far too many to count) adopted kitties, backwoods Keepers, etc. etc. the entire race has pretty much become a trope.

Which is fine. Obviously I play one so I'd be a big fat hypocrite if I didn't rp with Miqo's. In fact, I rp with quite a number of them and enjoy their stories, even if I've heard it before. And honestly... I don't think I've heard an original story since I started playing ARR. It's not in the story itself, it's in how believable and real you make it feel to others around you.

Just as Xaela has become an instant rp trope (seriously, am I the only Raen on Balmung?) it doens't mean there won't be good stories and good rpers amongst them.Â

Finally.... backstory is meant to define and guide who your character is in the here and now. Claire was raised Hyur, by a baker. Because of this, she's led a sheltered life free of danger and hardship, which at times leads to some really enlightening, eye opening moments when she realizes just how dangerous the real world can get (she's a bit of a coward when violence is involved). I don't know that she could have reached this personality growing up in the hard tribal life of a Seeker. She would not have been the character I wanted to play when I imagined her. The Seeker lore can be pretty limiting for those who want to play Miqo's as something other than 'fierce amazonian', and so adoption is a pretty easy route to take. It's a means to an end. Imperfect, but if it's what led to your character being the awesome person they are today, then it's the backstory they were meant to have!

Arik · **06-20-2015, 12:42 PM**

Just about every story device and bare-bones plot in existence these days is a trope in one way or another. It's not about what it is, it's about how you do it and the thought you put behind it. I'd always pick RP with someone who's acting out an overdone "cliche," but are doing it well, before opting for RP with random guy #523 who's doing something I've never seen before-- but doesn't bother to remotely follow the rules of the english language and has no consistency or continuity.

Does that make random guy #523 someone who should be ashamed of what he's doing? Not at all! If he's having fun, that's all that matters. Just as it's within his right to do what he wants with his character, it's within my right to just not RP with him. The only people who Â should be ashamed in those situations are the people who activelyÂ go out of their way to "give shit" to random RP strangers because they don't like something they're doing with a character that the aforementioned person really doesn't need to involve themselves with in the first place.

I haven't been around the FFXIV RPC for very long myself, but I've yet to see any of that nasty behavior of the latter sort. Do I see people giving their honest opinions when asked for them? Yes. There's nothing wrong with wanting to see something a little different come to the community, and I see nothing wrong with warning that the concept has been very much done (in case you *were* looking to it as a way to differentiate yourself.) But being honest and blunt is different from being rude or unwarranted.

I say go for what you want for yourÂ character, OP. If someone has an issue with it, they can RP with someone else. If someone "gives you shit" about it, then don't sweat it and don't RP with that person. The backstory is only one of many facets that make a character. Just because you use a few tropes here or there doesn't mean that you can't still have a unique character in the bigger picture.

Lost River · **06-20-2015, 12:46 PM**

I say play what you want; don't worry about what others have to say unless you are being highly abrasive with everyone else out of character. Cliches are everywhere, but who cares; this is a land of adventure, remember, you are not the majority of the world of Hydaelyn, but the minority.Â

You can be from Eorzea to parts unknown. If you want to put a spin on your character, why not change the parentage instead of Hyur, why not say, you were raised up by Roegadyn, Lalafell; a beast tribe? What have you. It's always nice to take spins of a given foundation.

In the end though, play what you want and as others said, keep it simple and then expand afterward for better results and stick to your guns.

V'aleera · **06-20-2015, 01:15 PM**

(06-20-2015, 12:46 PM)Lost River Wrote: If you want to put a spin on your character, why not change the parentage instead of Hyur, why not say, you were raised up by Roegadyn, Lalafell; a beast tribe?

Given the OPs desire to have their character be unconstrained by mainstream Eorzean culture, and given the significant amount of miqo'te present in Vylbrand, I think having their character raised by seafaring Roegadyn that spend most of their lives on the seas trading with far off nations would be a possible solution. Just one possibility.

Kousagi · **06-20-2015, 03:19 PM**

(06-20-2015, 01:15 PM)Intaki Wrote:
(06-20-2015, 12:46 PM)Lost River Wrote: If you want to put a spin on your character, why not change the parentage instead of Hyur, why not say, you were raised up by Roegadyn, Lalafell; a beast tribe?
Given the OPs desire to have their character be unconstrained by mainstream Eorzean culture, and given the significant amount of miqo'te present in Vylbrand, I think having their character raised by seafaring Roegadyn that spend most of their lives on the seas trading with far off nations would be a possible solution. Just one possibility.

Ngl, I actually REALLY love the idea of a seafaring Roe family taking in orphaned children around the time of the calamity and raising them up to be privateers or even just seafaring adventurers. I'm just imagining this super diverse sea family with Miqo, Elezen, Lala babies, hell, even a few random Au'Ra tweens all growing up together to be a badass family that hails the sea as their parentage. That just brings such a happy grin to my face.

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Miqo'te raised by Hyur families? Also, discussing: characters from "far off lands?"

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