The New 3.4 RP Status: What it means

[ZOMGodzilla]

Now, before I proceed I'd like to preface this by saying that the below is my opinion and that this thread is as much a thread for discussion on the subject as it is me speaking to the roleplaying community. If you have an opinion on the matter too, I'd love to hear it.

 

With the advent of FFXIV 3.4, we have attained the glorious ability to put an "Rp" icon next to our characters in game, similar in effect to an afk or busy status. This is great for a number of reasons, all of which I'm quite sure the community is aware of. However, I do believe that a large number of people are using it incorrectly.

 

Prior to 3.4 roleplayers had to rely on their search info to indicate they roleplay, as well as information on their character if they chose to include it. Finding out if someone roleplayed, if they preferred tells, etc, required looking up their search info. While the 3.4 Rp icon allows us to eliminate a portion of this, we will still inevitably need to use search info to display character information.

 

Day 2 into 3.4's existence and I'm already seeing a habit of players that I don't think utilizes the new Rp icon effectively. In many cases, roleplayers will set their status to roleplay even if they are not currently engaging in roleplay, or are not (visibly) ready for roleplay. I am of the strong opinion that this is improper use of the status icon and does nothing to help fellow roleplayers glean any information on when they can roleplay with you, or if you are roleplaying. I believe that the Rp status is best used to indicate one is currently roleplaying (or is prepared to do so and waiting) and that walks ups are permissible.

 

Consider the following situations:

 

Situation A) Two roleplayers currently have their roleplay status turned on and are seeking roleplay. Should player 1 wish to engage in rp with player 2, and is unsure if they allow walk-ups, they need only look at their status symbol. Since it is on, they already understand the agreement. There is nothing questionable about the player's assumptions.

 

Situation B) One roleplayer has their roleplay status on but is not ready or wanting of rp at the current moment. Another roleplayer sees this status and may assume they are ready for roleplay. If they are not, then awkwardness ensues. If the second player doesn't make the assumptions and looks at their search info, then the purpose of the rp status symbol has been completely defeated.

 

Situation C) A group of roleplayers are currently engaged in some sort of private event. They are not ready or wanting of walk ups, so they leave rp status off. Another player in the area will notice this lack of rp status, and understand they are not wanted in the event.

 

It is for this reason that I plead with the Rp community to USE THIS NEW GIFT WISELY. Use it only when you are:

 

1) At your keyboard

2) Prepared and awaiting roleplay

3) Are accepting of potential walk ups

 

Any other use helps no one or otherwise defeats the purpose of having the status symbol in the first place. Much like the afk symbol is meant to indicate you are in a current state, so to is the rp symbol meant to indicate your current state, not your being a roleplayer.

 

Any opinions, discussion are most welcome.

[Lydia Lightfoot]

I logged in today to discover it didn't retain it being visible between sessions. This means if someone gets disconnected during RP, they'll have to flag it back on when they log in again. It's a minor thing, but for me it means I'll probably just not even use it. It's nice that they implemented it, but it's not really very useful, IMO.

[Hyrist]

I will primarily be using it as a status that I am currently in-character and walk-up friendly. There is no point of publicly advertising my RP status when I have intentions to privately RP, as I can use the "Busy" Icon for that.

[Flynn Bladebreaker]

Just like in LOTRO I'll only use the tag if I am in-character and walk-up friendly, just as I assume that's what other characters are when they have it on. If it turns off when I log or disconnect, meh, no biggy I can turn it back on. It would be annoying if I logged in and it was still on when I'm not ready for RP, then I'd have to turn it off before logging.

[BumblingSeaBiscuit]

Repeating into the void but:

 

I'll only use this when I'm walk-up friendly. It's a great way to signify I'm available for RP. As someone who has been minorly GM'd by walk-ups when I was afk and they RP'd for my character while I wasn't available? I've always sort of detested not having a clear way to be like, "Not available," and this is a way to show I am available so people don't assume so (let the record show I don't have, 'Walk Up Friendly,' in my SI when these walk ups were happening).

 

I think utilizing it as a way to show you're available & walk-up friendly can also negate some of the anxiety people have about whispering others to make sure. Now they have an RP signal that tells them, "Yep! I'm here and I'm looking for RP!"

[Shoshopu]

I'm of the same mind. Just leaving it on all the time even when you're clearly not IC does absolutely nothing but save two to four characters in your search info. I'm hoping as time passes people will figure out that it's best used to indicate whether or not you're IC at that moment, because if enough people use it incorrectly that makes it hard for others to know when someone is using it correctly.

[Maril]

I think some of the people that seem to have it on constantly might also just be because it's a new shiny thing and they forgot to take it off, and such. At least here in the start I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. 

 

As I see it, it's something I'll only use to denote that I am IC. To me it feels more reliable than being in "RP Walk mode", which is how I've identified rp'ers before. My search comment will now just be a space for having my wiki links and such. As I see it, if I am in a public RP space and I have the RP-tag on to denote that I am IC, the fact that I'd be open to walk-up's is a rather given thing, if I didn't want that I probably wouldn't be there. 

 

But indeed, I can only support that it's something that people should put on when they're IC. Honestly it's how I understood the nature of the request to be when it was suggested at the fan Q&A panels.

[Sisiya Siya]

I have mixed feelings about this new status icon. I really wish that it was added a long time ago but there we go. I now feel forced to use it to let others know that i'm available for role play.

Now, I don't play with player character names on as I dislike blue letters hovering over peoples heads all over the place and especially when role playing.

So with that, I never see anyones status icon anyway unless I target and click them. I was just role playing yesterday and somebody whispered me the following:

 

"Are you a roleplayer?" (At this moment I am quite clearly roleplaying with someone.)

"You know there is an RP tag right?"

 

So I replied, Well I don't see peoples names or mine so I kind of just forgot about it.

 

"Well people might get confused..."

 

And he just went on and on.

 

Fair enough if the status icon had been around for quite some time. But it was a day.

 

I hate that I feel forced to use it now whenever I go to role play. I'm pretty much open to role play wherever I am unless i'm crafting, by the marketboards or in duty. All the places you usually don't find anyone being IC that often.

 

Does anyone else feel abit 'forced' to use this to indicate whether they are available to role play now?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate their implementation of it but I feel it's a little late for it but I do believe it'll also just be a matter of time before we all get used to it too.

[Virella]

I personally use it only to tell people that I'm IC ect. I forget about it constantly though, but it is a matter of getting used to no doubt!

 

But I do agree, I hope people will use it to tell others that there are free for roleplay and what not.

[Aedan Marceaux]

I'm just waiting for the inevitable swarm of "elitists" to come in and make it a server rule.

 

"Ermagerd! You're not using the icon! You're not doing it right. I can't RP with you!"

 

Sure, it's a nice tool, but I honestly think that people are already (day 2) getting too serious about it.

[Aaron]

I haven't used it yet, I've also seen people I clearly know who didn't RP have it up for absolutely no reason also.

 

Then again I've only been at the dueling arena since patch release lol

[Valence]

Since I don't really RP walk-up, I suppose I'll probably have very little occasions for me to use that specific tag.

 

But I think a lot of RPers I have seen use it just as a way to label themselves as RPers more than anything.

[Kilieit]

Adding to the "using this when I'm actively in-character" crowd.

 

I usually do event RP, so it's obvious by my surroundings that I'm in-character... however, the people it's not obvious to are my friends and LS mates, who can only see my name and location listed (nothing about who I'm with or whether it's part of an event).

 

So the RP status, for me, will mostly serve the purpose of indicating to my networks that I'm busy roleplaying and probably won't be up for helping with your Coil run or whatever.

 

The biggest gift to me is being able to shave the 4-character "RPer" in my search info down to 1 character, the auto-translate phrase {Role-playing}.

[Martiallais]

I'm just waiting for the inevitable swarm of "elitists" to come in and make it a server rule.

 

"Ermagerd! You're not using the icon! You're not doing it right. I can't RP with you!"

 

Sure, it's a nice tool, but I honestly think that people are already (day 2) getting too serious about it.

 

Seconding this. While what is 'correct' will vary from person to person, there's no reason not to use it for both/either as far as I can see? Mileage may vary as with anything else. On top of that, there's no way we'll ever get a community consensus on it so I hope people don't take down the 'OMG YOURE DOING IT WRONG' path.

[Branson Thorne]

The tag says "Roleplaying" not "Roleplayer" so for that matter, it's only used to announce IC for me.

[S'imba]

The big advantage that I see for it is people being able to locate rpers on different servers. I mean right now it probably isn't too effective since non rpers could just be messing around with it. But given time it might help other communities grow.

[Delilah Scythewood]

I've gotten in the habit of having it flagged regularly to show I'm a RPer. However, this might change in the future. -shrugs- I'm still in the phase about the icon where it's so OMGbksjfkjdnkdjfnbjdcfnjkl (see gif below for translation)

 

[Trigonxv]

IC or not it let's me know who is an rper cause I can tell you right now there are a lot of ppl I didn't think who rp'ed cause no search info which upon inquiring showed they do so. I see it as a means to expand your rp base, besides we did fine without it before so we should be able to stay the course no matter how it is used. I mean to say to use it only on certain pre requisites is a bit silly and just limits how useful it can be

[Graves]

While it does say Roleplaying and not Roleplayers I leave it on to show I am a Roleplayers. As stated in a previous post I have seen Roleplayers pop up that I didn't know took part. People will still more then likely view search info, whisper, or just walk up for roleplay so things won't truly change no matter if there is a tag or not next to their name.

[SkyeTheKnumpty]

I hope more people use it to signify when they're IC. Although people might think I'm using it wrong because I've basically got my RP logo on the entire time I'm online, but that's just because I genuinely am down for walk-up RP literally any time.

[Valen]

I feel like using the RP icon as just another way to tell others you're an RPer is a bit redundant when with one character, you can have the word "Role-Player" in your search info, and also a good majority of RPers have an FC tag that says *Insert FC Name*-RP.

 

I'd much rather people use it to signify that they're currently IC, as I'm already more than well enough aware that you're an RPer without the icon.

[Ruran]

I'm on the side of those who would like it to be used as an IC indicator. It's already been said, but search comments are easy to check if you're curious about whether or not a specific someone is a roleplayer.

 

I plan to only use it to let people on my Friendlist, LSs, walk-ups, etc know that I'm currently IC. It just seems to be the most practical use so far. /shrug

[Zhavi]

I like it when people use it to indicate that they want to rp, no matter what they're currently doing. I don't randomly look at everyone's note. I like having an indicator to check someone's note, or send them a tell asking if they'd be willing to rp.

 

Or hell, even just to make a new contact. I don't generally like restrictions* in an open rp setting like MMOs -- even ooc things like this.

 

 

 

 

*I've said it before and I'll say it again: RP is a hobby. Do what you want, but just don't expect that everyone else is gonna wanna do the same thing.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I'll be putting it on when I'm looking for RP or open towalk ups . If actively RPing, it should be pretty easy to tell if a scene is open or not, so I don't feel it's strictly required for that.

 

If I don't feel like being IC or advertising that I want to RP, I'll not put the status icon on.

[ExAtomos]

It makes sense there will be a bit of bumpy road til we figure out how we as a community want to made use of this status.

 

Similar to Kilieit, I'll put it up if I am actively roleplaying (as in I'm busy doing a thing) at that time. This does not necessarily mean I am open to walk ups at that time. Or I'll throw it up while I'm jogging to the GS or somewhere if I /am/ open to walk ups. But even then, I've always been one to prefer tells prior to said walk up. The new RP symbol kinda has to cover all these differences anyways. >w<

 

What I'm curious about is how to handle RP events. If everyone involved puts up the RP symbol, how do we tell who is running said event? /lfm has worked before of course, but I actually get tells asking if I want something melded... ; Plus, they are both gold colored. Are we changing or keeping to the usual way?