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Roleplaying etiquette for open world on Balmung


Terra

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RP there if you want, enough said. But be polite, as Natalie said. I can't stress this enough. That doesn't mean your character can't be a jackass. I've rped a crab-ass kitty before, but oocly just be respectful of others.

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Wow.

 

Uh...

 

Well, after reading that thread, I realize that the person the player is talking about (in the second post onward, who called her character crazy) is, well, me.

 

The gist of it is that I was sitting at an empty table in the Quicksand, not much RP going on, when this person approached me and started doing waitress RP at me. Completely fine, nothing wrong with waitress RP, so Oskwell orders a few drinks and it's all fine, but I notice that each time she leaves a table, she goes and emotes talking to various NPCs, but not actually emoting what they say to her (so it just looks like a one-sided conversation.) A kinda-strange way to approach roleplaying with NPCs, but I don't take it OOC, of course. This is where it gets weird, though.

 

The other piece of rudeness pertains to a patron who I had taken an order of drinks from and served. Now this guy just wanted to know what was I getting from playing the waitress at the Quicksand, interacting with non-playing characters and just adding to the fantasy of the place. Well, to answer him here, I do not get anything other than feeling like I'm making the piece of fantasy more believable to others. So when this "patron" calls my waitress over to the table to place a food order and adds, in character, "I'm just trying to find out what your angle is here and why you are speaking to the gentleman with the turban over there." (Why are you adding to the fantasy of my game, godsdammit?),

 

I don't know where this person got the idea I was OOCly or ICly questioning why they played a waitress, Oskwell hadn't said anything to her (before the Echo stuff, I'll explain that further in the post) other than idle small-talk and food/drink orders.

 

Well, my character was reporting to the man on the turban (an NPC) about the comings and goings of this patron at the Quicksand to further the fantasy that this waitress was an undercover member of some secret organization somewhat associated with the Scions and/or their enemies. She seems shocked when confronted (shouldn't have happened as she had been WHISPERING to the man in the turban out of earshot), but blames it on the power of The Echo which the annoyed patron seems to possess granting him the ability to learn secrets. At this point, the patron behaves as though my waitress character is crazy and that he doesn't know what 'The Echo' is.

 

The bolded part here is what I take issue with. Oskwell pretty clearly was watching her serve the tables, and saw her whisper to the man in the turban each time she left his, it was a purely IC thing, and in fact I was trying to give this person some support by maybe acknowledging their constant emoting at various NPCs in the room as well. Though the person at least is being truthful about what happened IC. After Oskwell confronts the waitress for behavior he feels is pretty shady, she claims that he possesses the Echo. Oskwell tries to explain to her that he looked right at her while she was whispering to the NPC, but she insists that he's got the Echo, so Oskwell decides it's a good time to bail and offhandedly mutters something about crazy Quicksand people on his way out.

 

Just seems like calling people 'crazy' in roleplay is one of the cheapest, laziest ways to roleplay. Why, I could have called the patron 'crazy' for thinking I spoke with the man with the turban (eventhough I plainly did). We can all call each other 'crazy' for roleplaying in the first place, right? But just because you don't understand that there are selfless people out there who will roleplay a lowly character doing menial things such as wiping tables just to add fantasy to your world doesn't mean you should go there and call them 'crazy' because you simply can't wrap your head around such selflessness...

 

This is the part of their rant I just can't wrap my head around. Does this person not realize that OOC and IC are different things? Their logic for why Oskwell thought their character was crazy I just don't understand, how's it lazy? How's it cheap? Did this person think I was insulting their roleplay when my character called theirs crazy? Really, this whole rant strikes me as this person not being able to distinguish between IC and OOC, which I can at least partially forgive because they seem new to roleplay, I guess.

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I'm sleepy and grouchy. Bear with me.

 

Emotes at someone, is told (I'm OOC) and then proceeds to treat the person as if they were anyway.

 

My character stays IC, and goes over to the Quicksand's counter and blames the patrons' behavior on alcohol.

 

Coming from someone who has done majority of his non-event roleplay in the Quicksand, I'm fairly confident in saying this is a PEBKAC issue and not an RP one.

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I'm sleepy and grouchy. Bear with me.

 

Emotes at someone, is told (I'm OOC) and then proceeds to treat the person as if they were anyway.

 

My character stays IC, and goes over to the Quicksand's counter and blames the patrons' behavior on alcohol.

 

Coming from someone who has done majority of his non-event roleplay in the Quicksand, I'm fairly confident in saying this is a PEBKAC issue and not an RP one.

 

This too.

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I'm sleepy and grouchy. Bear with me.

 

Emotes at someone, is told (I'm OOC) and then proceeds to treat the person as if they were anyway.

 

My character stays IC, and goes over to the Quicksand's counter and blames the patrons' behavior on alcohol.

 

Coming from someone who has done majority of his non-event roleplay in the Quicksand, I'm fairly confident in saying this is a PEBKAC issue and not an RP one.

 

This too.

*pats* I'm glad I'm not the only one who read that thread and felt like something was off. I'm glad you were able to tell your side of the story. I also hate when people think saying their toon is crazy icly with your own means that you instantly hate that person and think their RP is stupid. :/

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*pats* I'm glad I'm not the only one who read that thread and felt like something was off.

 

Nope, you certainly aren't. Shows the value of knowing all the sides of the story. What kind of bothers me is that there's a damn good chance some newbie to RP looking at Balmung or whatnot is gonna come across her thread and change their mind about coming here.

 

But really, though. It took multiple posts to even get a response from someone else. So let them live in their own world I guess. At least that person isn't naming everyone.

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It sounds like the poster in question needs to get better acquainted with rp in ffxiv and how it works. Clearly they aren't aware that most characters don't actually have the Echo when it comes to rp. I mean I'm not saying someone can't have their character have it but I don't see how Oskwell, a lancer from Ishgard, would be aware of what the echo is. It seems pretty reasonable to me for a character to assume another character is crazy when they start discussing the echo ect. Maybe someone could send them a heads up and inform them about the rpc and role playing in ffxiv and what's reasonable knowledge for characters to know?

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You should be polite. You shouldn't be a butt. There's absolutely not reason to avoid the Quicksand aside from personal preference. I'm not sure what else there is to add, other than this: Balmung is full of friendly and helpful people. Unfortunately, it's the few nasty ones you hear about. After all, people usually don't post online to share their positive day-to-day experiences, they post to vent about that really nasty jerk they met in the Quicksand today.

 

But as this very thread turned out to be an example of, there are two sides to every story. Just because you hear a complaint about something doesn't mean it's entirely true. And chances are, if someone has only negative things to say about the people and places around them, they are likely the problem, not everyone/everything else.

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As for the actual thread that was linked, I skimmed it, thought it was odd and didn't heavily read into it to be honest things didn't make sense. Which is why I didn't comment on the thread in my first post. But to see both stories now, it makes a lot more sense of what was going on.

 

I think I can safely ask this but... Is the Quicksand pretty much the 'Goldshire' of Eorzea? in terms of RP?

 

Nope, as Faye said it isn't.

I've not once ran into "Goldshire" behaviors Quicksand. Outside of it, yes.

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I think I can safely ask this but... Is the Quicksand pretty much the 'Goldshire' of Eorzea? in terms of RP?

 

Not at all.

This.

 

While you will run in to the occasional level 1 alt with ERP/FUTA in their tag line they actually do not seem to bother people who are there rping on a normal basis. People often go to the quicksand to watch rp because there can be some entertaining things to read that were said by characters. Others find it as a way to just sit back and enjoy a good book or get ideas for their own events/characters.

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I honestly don't think there is a Goldshire equivalent in this game, which is nice it hasn't devolved that way.

 

I don't think there is either? Only time I've ran into it was once in Coerthas where beds were, and several times at SummerFord farms which was kinda weird since the situation had erm... Behaviors with them sitting on the ceiling somehow.

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Hermit's Hovel used to be the ERP hotspot, but it was still nothing like Goldshire - more like a Japanese Love hotel people would go to to be alone in the corner of the world. No one hung around there looking for/advertising erp.

 

Just starting to get a little derailed on my part but yeah.

 

I generally tend to think that those who do ERP here on the server, (If they want to that's just fine I don't have a problem with that, I just don't personally do it), are really mature about it. I rarely see it around. I used to see it a lot in TOR and other games though. Though it may also be the entire player base mentality here on Balmung I don't know.

 

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Hermit's Hovel used to be the ERP hotspot, but it was still nothing like Goldshire - more like a Japanese Love hotel people would go to to be alone in the corner of the world. No one hung around there looking for/advertising erp.

Ah, that's interesting. I was doing the Delivery Moogle Quests the other day and had to go to the outside of the Hermits Hovel but I thought it was inside. I ran inside only to be greeted by two naked female miqo'te, promptly did a lap around the cottage before leaving and realising the quest was actually outside the Hovel, not inside. It was quite amusing. Gave me a good laugh.

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The reason Balmung has not developed a Goldshire analog of its own is due in large part to the exclusive nature of the server. As any Moon Guard native will tell you a large portion of the Goldshire residents are "tourists"; throwaway ERP alts made by people from many different servers come to partake in the local phenomenon of debauchery. Of course, a lot also come for the side attraction of trolling in regional chat channels.

 

If people could freely make alts on Balmung I don't think it's unlikely that a similar fate would befall the Quicksand, eventually if not immediately.

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FFXIV is one of the few MMO's I know of that have a veil on that sort of thing. Unlike most MMO's that have their one 'spot' where people aren't afraid to be loud on shout chat, that kind of stuff is mostly underground. It's there if you want to look for it, if you know what doors to knock and passwords to say for said doors to open for you.

 

But it's not out in the open.

 

I'm no stranger to the jokes people make about Hermit's Hovel and various places around the Wanderer's Palace, with the hot springs and changing stalls and stuff. As well as the immense database of Quicksand jokes. But if you go to either, I doubt you'll run into more bad experiences than good ones. So if you are expecting a bad experience (or have expectations that are way too high), you have a better chance of being disappointed than anything.

 

But again, taking this subject and turning it around to suit the thread... the idea that people aren't running around shouting for debauchery aka 'Goldshire-ness' is an example of roleplaying etiquette. I can't really tell you why it is this way, but I believe that part of it has to do with how hard it is to make a character on here so people from other servers can't really sneak on here that much.

 

Though I -want- to believe that the RP community here on XIV, as a majority, have respect for one another's public space if that makes sense. Unlike someone who pours thousands of words into reporting nothing but negative experiences they have on some thread on the official forums. Out in the open.

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Be nice, be patient, and realize that everyone is playing by a different set of rules.

 

It is really just this.. and this is a life thing not an RP thing.

 

I think it is best in Open Game to:

 

1. Take a lowest common denominator approach to RP until you get to know the other person(s) style

 

2. Take OOC and stuff like that in good humour, though rude is rude.

 

3. RP around and over the rest.

 

4. In the end you decide what IC you take from RP

 

 

Quicksands is like Goldshire in that it is a hub and as such attracts the easy and opportune RP. It is not like Goldshire as we don't have hordes of the sorts you would find in WoW's Goldshire. It's all relative.

 

My advice.. go RP in the other Cities where it is a lot "nicer", I find Limsa has huge RP potential.

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I actually adore Hermit's Hovel; it's a quaint place, perfect for scenarios that involve mending and solitude. Reminds me a lot of a certain drunkard's home in Come Drink With Me, actually, which serves as my main reason for viewing it as such.

 

As for the Bronze Lake Springs... well, I'll be the first to admit I've had my share of scandalous encounters there. I can't blame anyone for it, really, not when it's such a lovely location to begin with, full of little private nooks and crannies. Also the hidden Miqo'te girls that kind of 'set the scene' (at least if your PC is female, anyway). Never saw anyone that didn't keep things in party chat, though.

 

On the Quicksand: it is what it is. Occasionally you'll find a gem, but most of the time it's a lot of idling and throwaway RP. If I'm there, it's usually just to people-watch while I'm sitting in queue to farm glamours. Willing to drop if I find the right person, of course, but that's only when all the stars and planets align.

 

Now, when it comes to RP 'etiquette', I'm a strong believer in one simple motto:

 

Don't be an asshole.

 

Be friendly, kind and perceptive to those around you. Don't aim for questionable and/or sensitive subject matter with someone new and untested; save it for people that are mutually comfortable with it. Don't play a crass jackass without fair warning, either, otherwise expect rejection nine times out of ten and for good reason.

 

Other things to take note of: ask questions. Send /tells. Link us to more than [RP] Walk-ups, etc. in your player search. Give people a reason to approach you! They can't read your character's mind, nor should they have to. Roleplayers are a dime a dozen on this server. They honestly are. You have to make an effort to stand out somehow, yet still keep it within reason. Easier said than done, I know, but it's very much possible.

 

Roleplaying is give and take; that's what it all comes down to. You can only expect to get back what you put in and little more. It's been like that for as long as I can remember and I don't expect it to change any time soon, if ever.

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Yea I've had to go afk suddenly in hotspots and all but bailing while standing on a table or something is just kinda silly. Hardly the biggest breach but especially in a place like Quicksand where space is kinda a premium that means odds are good someone is gonna have to RP with your butt in their face.

 

And not in the fun way.

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