RP Discussion: Dimensional Hopping and You

[Warren Castille]

1) A godlike figure sending someone to Eorzea for reasons

2) A godlike figure sending herself to Eorzea for reasons

3) The hope of an entire world being sent to Eorzea at the end of the world

 

4) Random ass Brickmans/Golems spawning just because.

 

Or am I the only person on the RPC that gives a shit about Dragon Quest?

 

On Gilga, there's argument to be made there because he dimension-hops even in other games but no proof means just a whole lotta words.

 

Admittedly the DQ crossover is largely forgotten in my head aside from zee Puff Puff scene for obvious reasons. Were the mobs for that actually cross-dimension or just randomly appearing? I don't remember there actually being an explanation involving alternate worlds.

[Kellach Woods]

Brickmans are at least claimed to come from Aetherial Rifts according to the Wind-up Brickman flavor text. The NPCs don't.

[Lost River]

I think it may be far more likely to be trapped in a rift in time (as it has happened a few times) or in the void itself, then come back as a person out of time than it is to dimension hopping. Not to say what has happened isn't canon, the dimension hopping is; just, great circumstances cause it to happen for certain individuals. 

 

But, I am not one to tell you cannot do it, I just hope you have a great explanation as to why instead of just "Just cause I can".

 

Just my two cents.

[Dravus]

It can be done well but it's rare for it be handled tastefully. It's the sort of plot point that pretty much forces a particular character to be the centre of attention if it's ever uncovered - because it isn't really something that you can realistically pretend that it isn't a big deal.

I feel like it's better suited to stories that don't involve other players. Almost every major example of a character 'dimension hopping' involves what is essentially a legendary and iconic figure.

 

If someone's character is on the same level as Gilgamesh or Lightning then I wouldn't be particularly interested in interacting with them. I like stories and role-play that leave room for everybody to participate in. I loathe stories involving super special snowflakes and characters that directly or indirectly end up hogging the spotlight at almost every turn.

 

You can achieve the exact same effect of being 'displaced' by playing a character that hails from a distant land within Hydaelyn itself. I'm having a lot of fun playing a Garlean who has to disguise and fend for himself whilst outside of Garlemald for example.

 

There's the culture shock, the unfamiliarity with locations and people, the sense of being overwhelmed and also the lack of being able to act and dress as he normally would without drawing attention. All the themes you could explore through 'dimension hopping' can easily be embraced by going down that route and it's a lot less jarring overall for everybody involved.

[Kellach Woods]

Most of the RP hooks someone from another world has can be done by simply hailing from a different place in the world.

[Lost River]

Everyone in this game is a special snowflake to a certain degree; as are everyone else in the real world. I think the degrees of how one and two dimensional you go is what ends up ruining things. Fleshing out a character from concepts is a fun thing and the dimensional jumping can be done many ways; but as I said before, it is more common-place to be 'out of time' than dimensional jumping; especially when it comes to species of the characters.

[kamikrazy]

To be perfectly honest I don't see that much of a problem with it, but like being super strong, super handsome, super important super skilled, and super rich, it really falls into the category of "possible but lame."

 

Can you do it in the game story? Of course you can. It's totally possible. But if you do it, just like someone who is super rich, strong, liked, important and beautiful, there are people who are going to think your self-proclaimed special snowflake traits are lame and cheap. Every RPer has to deal with the consequences of what they choose to RP, and just always playing it safe to not offend anyone does not automatically mean you are doing things "right."

 

Like all things in RP, it all can boil down to presentation and usage. You could have a character who is perhaps from FFXI, but is so mentally scarred from the transfer process, that they can't or don't talk about it ever, and never reveal it. Never revealing it would still affect them, but in ways where the effects could be seen, not the cause itself, which could result in a deep character, and if you did finally reveal it at some point, other players who discovered it may be much more impressed with the reveal, enough to enjoy it.

 

It's a lot like being a dragon in the warcraft universe, if anyone has played that. 99% of people get it wrong because they just want to be strong, powerful, and beautiful. It's the 1/10,000 players who get it right, but when they do, they really do get it right, and you'll find a great character in there that's very memorable.

 

You would need to do a lot of meditating on what you want out of the character. If all you want to do is import your character from one game to the next ala Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2, its going to cost you the disdain of many players. If you are soft handed with it, subversive, and very unrevealing, to the point where revealing it is a direct circumstance you actively avoid, then you may earn the respect of many players.

 

Just my 2 cents.