Trying to Decide if Rping is For Me

[WovenTears]

Hi Y'all!

 

I have always liked the idea of Rping in an MMO. I have played campaigns of D&D before and have even played the Pokemon Tabletop game as well. So I have some in Person RP experience. I have never one it in a MMO though. I've played MapleStory since it came out and started XIV about a year ago. Since I'm all caught up on the story content (currently 4.3), I was thinking of starting an alt, but I don't want to just grind through the story again like I did with my main (a SCH Hyur on Ultros). So I googled an RP advice guide thing which directed me to this site.

 

I guess this post is for me to figure out how RPing in XIV works. Do people just walk around and randomly talk to each other in character? Do I need a mic and to use linkshells? Is it frowned upon to also be doing story content while you RP? Do you only RP at specific events and times (I saw the RP schedule)? Is it easy to make friends and RP with strangers? Is the community generally welcoming to newcomers?

THAT was a lot of questions. I guess in reality I just want a brief overview of what RPing in XIV entails and what servers I should look into. 

 

Thank you so much and I am thankful for any incite! 

[sersi]

No advice given here is going to be entirely universal, but I'll try to keep it as general as possible.

1) People either walk around and talk to each other in character, or at events/normal gathering places. 

2) In game I don't think many people use the mic to RP, its all via in game chat though some roleplay FCs might do it over mic in their teamspeak/discord

3) As the main story is focused on the warrior of light and their specific journey, *in general* its considered poor form to RP that you are the warrior of light or that the story is IC for you. this will vary between groups greatly tho, and other content some people will roleplay while doing in some for or another (such as dungeons or things like that)

4) Events are just things that are announced for everyone to gather at, but on the RP servers there is usually people RPing almost all the time at say the quicksand, or in various Linkshells/Free Companies.

5) IMHO, yes but ymmv

6) same as 5

 

Hope that helps!

[WovenTears]

22 minutes ago, sersi said:

3) As the main story is focused on the warrior of light and their specific journey, *in general* its considered poor form to RP that you are the warrior of light or that the story is IC for you. this will vary between groups greatly tho, and other content some people will roleplay while doing in some for or another (such as dungeons or things like that)

Is progression in general frowned upon? I think that is my biggest concern. Or is it the sort of thing where it's progression only for the sake of the character? Like, if I want to RP as a Weaver, I need to be whatever level to learn other jobs. Do I progress to that point then stop? Or does nobody really care where you are in the MSQ as long as you don't bring it into the RP?

 

Also, I was thinking of creating my character on Mateus. I read that it's one of the more populated RP servers. *Update: It's also locked like Balmung...

Edited September 11, 2018 by WovenTears

[Kieron Lohengrin]

1. Find a good RP group that matches your storytelling style. Like finding the right table irl to roll dice at, cohesion will save you a lot of headaches. 

 

2. You don't need to be the WoL to do WoL-ish things. People with the Echo have been canonically depicted taking on Primal-level threats without him. 

 

3. If someone's bio says "walkups welcome" when you examine them, then feel free to approach and speak in-character. 

 

glhf \o

[Unnamed Mercenary]

2 hours ago, WovenTears said:

I guess this post is for me to figure out how RPing in XIV works. Do people just walk around and randomly talk to each other in character?

 

 

There are a few different preferences between roleplayers when it comes to this. Often, they're sort of a gradient between two extremes and everyone's got their own preferences. Some things to keep in mind when looking for RP and other RPers you'll get along with are.

1. How often you want to be in-character. This ranges from Light RP (casual, here and there), to Heavy RP (in-character almost all of the time. May also be called an immersive RPer). 

 

2. Are you looking to roleplay as a class/job or as a character first? This one varies a lot and there are a LOT of opinions. For the sake of combat RP, if that interests you, you don't necessarily need to be part of a named guild to use that particular tool/weapon, although many people are! 

 

3. Do you prefer to walk up to strangers/friends in-character, schedule a block of time for a scene, or pre-plan your  RP? A mix of these is also certainly fine too and you may find you like to do a little of each, depending on what suits your tastes. The event calendars are a great way to see which things are coming up, although they are only a fraction of what is actually going on at any given time.

 

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Do I need a mic and to use linkshells?

1

 

I haven't seen any roleplayers who use voice chat in-character yet. Most of the time, RP is typed out in game, in forum posts, or in chat services, like skype/discord/etc. You'll see a lot of variety in how someone may handle this.

 

For in-game RP, you'll generally see /say and /emote channels being used together. Some players may use quotes to denote in-character text while others do not. ((Sometimes this is used for out-of-character text)) [[but some may do this]] (or a single version) or just at the end)). Some prefer to keep all their speech in /say while leaving only actions in /emote. The most common I've seen is to mix and match. A couple examples are below.
 

/s "Hi, I'm a new person." He looked around the space.
/em looked around the space. "Hi, I'm a new person."
 

In terms of Linkshells, I've got two interpretations of this I can cover.

 

1. Do you need a linkshell present to speak into?

- No. Some RPers do make use of IC Linkshells for communication. This varies upon groups.

 

2. Do you need to be part of a linkshell to find/coordinate RP?

- Still no, although they can help! RPers may use linkshells for a variety of reasons, such as in-character communication, out-of-character coordination, or just for general chatter or to group similar interests. 

 

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Is it frowned upon to also be doing story content while you RP?

 

 

This is going to vary largely with the people  to RP with. Generally, unless you're roleplaying the main scenerio quest, I wouldn't be doing quests or turn-ins while also in-character unless there's a need to for in-character purposes. I'd generally recommend not having the Duty finder active if you plan to be in-character as it's definitely more game mechanic than in-character lore. People can and do roleplay in levequests, guidehests, and dungeons, but I'd recommend keeping that to a pre-formed group. While some players may not mind if you're in-character during your daily roulettes, others will. See: "Ice mage" controversies for this.

 

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Do you only RP at specific events and times (I saw the RP schedule)?

 

 

I touched on this above, but to reiterate, it's personal preference. The calendars are just to show scheduled events. 

 

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Is it easy to make friends and RP with strangers? Is the community generally welcoming to newcomers?

 

 

In my experiences, I've found it pretty easy to get to know people when I was also willing to put the effort into that. Simlar to real-life relationships, the people who are social or outgoing will usually have more success. A lot of roleplayers will note in their search info if they're open to strangers walking up. Otherwise, the Making Connections forum is a good place to start to see if there's someone looking for a character like yours, or to advertise your character! The RPC Wiki is also a good place to browse through some created characters. If a character catches your interest, don't hesitate to send their player a /tell in game, or a message on the RPC, or a message on any other platform they might be on (tumblr, discord, etc). You may not always get a response, but people do pick up on the effort and the ones who do respond could be a good match for a scene!

 

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THAT was a lot of questions. I guess in reality I just want a brief overview of what RPing in XIV entails and what servers I should look into. 

 

Thank you so much and I am thankful for any incite! 

 

 

I probably shoulda started with this on the top, but welcome to the RPC! We're glad to have you here. We've got some pinned threads in each of the forum sections to help you get started. While some of the content may be a little dated, or contain screenshots from our previous site layout, the information should still all generally be current. 

 

Currently, most RP is centered around Balmung (NA Legacy), Mateus (NA), and Omega. However, there are generally smaller clusters of  RPers on pretty much every server. Siren, Faerie, Jenova, and Malboro have some people as well. I'd check out the Free Comany and Linkshell sections of the site to see if there's a group on your server, or to see which groups may interest you.

 

1 hour ago, WovenTears said:

*Update: It's also locked like Balmung...

 

Mateus unlocks during non-peak hours. You may have to try late at night or early in morning, but you can definitely still make characters there or transfer in.

[WovenTears]

Thanks so much for all the replies. I made a character on Mateus (Bappo Dalappo) and am going to try my hand at RP. I set the RP symbol next to my name. I am super looking forward to it!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

To better help with finding RP on Mateus, I'd also join their Discord hub (or one of them. There are a few).

 

https://discord.gg/77DDRUg

[Oyuu]

7 hours ago, WovenTears said:

Is progression in general frowned upon? I think that is my biggest concern. Or is it the sort of thing where it's progression only for the sake of the character? Like, if I want to RP as a Weaver, I need to be whatever level to learn other jobs. Do I progress to that point then stop? Or does nobody really care where you are in the MSQ as long as you don't bring it into the RP?

 

Also, I was thinking of creating my character on Mateus. I read that it's one of the more populated RP servers. *Update: It's also locked like Balmung...

Just wanted to address this question since I don't think it was really answered - There is a big difference between what you are out of character (An omni-crafter with all Disciple of War/Magic Jobs at 70 for instance) vs. what you define what you are in character (Say, a weak merchant that dabbles only in weaving and thaumaturgy.) No one is going to look at your levelled jobs, your Grand Company rank, etc. and base your character on that. It's what you roleplay and write your character to be. For example, I can roleplay on my Astrologian at an RP event for two hours, turn off my RP tag when it is finished then go queue up in a dungeon as a Dark Knight. People can choose when they are In-Character or Out-of-Character at their leisure, and you'll find that no one is ever constantly IC. 

 

I remember when I started RPing for the first time on FFXIV (my first MMO), that I was surprised that people had 'Roleplay Outfits'. They didn't just walk about in their full raid gear. They wore what their character would wear, and it was pretty easy to recognise who was a PvEr and who was an RPer. It's even easier to recognise roleplayers now with the RP tag.

 

If you're ever unsure, do what I did and just... lurk. Politely, of course! Standing around in the Quicksand (a big hub for walk-up RP) or going to a public RP event is a good way to observe how people /emote and such and get a feel for how to write in-game, how to approach and interact with others ICly. Take it slow, and I'm sure you'll make friends and good roleplay. I wish you luck on Mateus! 

[sersi]

On ‎09‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:28 PM, WovenTears said:

Is progression in general frowned upon? I think that is my biggest concern. Or is it the sort of thing where it's progression only for the sake of the character? Like, if I want to RP as a Weaver, I need to be whatever level to learn other jobs. Do I progress to that point then stop? Or does nobody really care where you are in the MSQ as long as you don't bring it into the RP?

 

Also, I was thinking of creating my character on Mateus. I read that it's one of the more populated RP servers. *Update: It's also locked like Balmung...

 

its not, and it would be cool if more people did that, but also as stated above, what you have levelled up doesn't necessarily (and possibly shouldn't) equal what your character can do. You can realistically take all the magic classes up to 70 in a month or two. That's pretty unrealistic to say that happened in game, however. But as to everything else I said, ymmv.

 

Welcome to the site, to Mateus and to RP in general! <3