Old RP-er, New Game, Many Questions [Balmung]

[mbulsht]

Ho there, everyone. I'm certainly hoping that I have the right forum board for this topic. If I've posted this in the wrong place, I will happily redirect my attention to the correct board.

 

Anyways, hi! Online, I go by the name Mbulsht, though in MMOs I always have a main toon by the name of "Amarissa" or some derivative thereof so most of my MMO buddies call me "Rissa." My current main is "Amarissa Leigh," a Hyur woman on Balmung. I've been playing for about two months now, having recently joined the game in the wake of my previous main MMO being shut down. I'm currently in the middle of the Stormblood storyline, and having seen a great deal of lore, I've started to build my character(s), and started to look into roleplay on my server.

 

And, well, here I am, I guess. Poking my head into a new game, and a new roleplay community. FFXIV is the latest in a somewhat long list of MMOs I've played, though only the second in which I intend to roleplay. Before I played MMOs, however, I roleplayed. Alot. This would be somewhere around the tenth roleplay community I've joined, and I've been roleplaying in various formats (from chanboards to IRC chats) for around ten years now. With that in mind, I skimmed somewhat quickly through this forum's role-play handbook and role-play etiquette topics, just to see if I saw anything  new.

 

In that light, I actually have a few questions about roleplay in FFXIV. This community seems pretty cool, and I am excited to dive headlong into roleplay. But I wanna make sure that before I do, I've become familiar with culture traditions that this community has developed over the 6+ years that it's been active. I'm hoping I have the right board here, so I'll just dive right into a list of questions I have. Any feedback, links, direction, or general advice anyone on this board could give me would be greatly appreciated. I had planned on asking some of these in the novice network on my server, but before I could strike up the courage, the game took me out of the channel.

 

=-=-=

 

-Throughout the story of FFXIV in both MSQ and sidequests, we've been introduced to a variety of couples both same and opposite sex. But little is said about inter-species relationships. Are these common? Are they frowned upon?

 

-What are the standards of formatting in chatbox roleplay? Do we use /say more than /emote? Are there any slash commands I should be aware of?

 

-In voiced cutscenes, 99% of characters in FFXIV have european accents, mostly "vaguely british." What accents do players tend to give their characters? Do they usually denote these things in the way they write, or is it mostly implied?

 

-What are the main roleplay hub areas in FFXIV? I'm going to assume the bar area in Ul'dah is one, since I see people there all the time.

 

-Does a lot of roleplay get done in housing areas, or is there a lot of open world roleplay as well?

 

-Are there roleplay linkshells for different types of races/cultures/classes/jobs/roleplay subjects?

 

-Characters are often seen taking up multiple classes or jobs. How common is this in roleplay? What is an acceptable limit? For example, say I want to make my character a Conjurer or Thamaturge, but also give them some skill with a bow (archer) and maybe some skill with a ladle (culinarian)? How common is that? At what point is the number of skills considered excessive and power game-y?

 

-In my experience, the longer an MMO has been out, the more closed the RP community becomes. Storylines develop, public RP events turn to private RP events, and people get wrapped up in their own character developments and the developments of their RP partners and friends. The game has been out for many years now. How much open public RP is left? Where can I go to find it? Do people have open housing plots like tea houses or restaurants? Is there a hub I can look at to see a list of them?

 

-How much does MSQ factor in to individual roleplay? Is there a lot of roleplay pertaining to the story of the game, or is a lot of that left by the wayside in favor of user-made plots and casual slice-of-life RP?\

 

-With that in mind, if MSQ subjects do make it into roleplay, what's the statute of limitations on spoiler content?

 

=-=-=

 

Anyways, that's all the questions I can think of at the moment. I still haven't finalized my character sheet or my character's backstory and personality, but I'm excited to start! Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my questions, and with that I suppose I should probably leave a couple pictures of my character...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by mbulsht

[Aedan Marceaux]

-Throughout the story of FFXIV in both MSQ and sidequests, we've been introduced to a variety of couples both same and opposite sex. But little is said about inter-species relationships. Are these common? Are they frowned upon?

 

IIRC, in general, cross-species relationships are generally frowned upon. I do know for sure that offspring of such pairings are rare and generally treated worse than dirt

 

 

-What are the standards of formatting in chatbox roleplay? Do we use /say more than /emote? Are there any slash commands I should be aware of?

 

I don't really think there's a "list of rules" with regard to this. Most people tend to use a mixture of /say, /em, and various emotes. The biggest hints I can give you are /cpose for both standing and sitting (on the ground or in chairs) to have different idle poses for your character. Beyond that, the using of "/-emotename- motion" is fun as well as it'll make your character do the motion of whatever emote you typed out without putting it in the chat log.

 

 

-In voiced cutscenes, 99% of characters in FFXIV have european accents, mostly "vaguely british." What accents do players tend to give their characters? Do they usually denote these things in the way they write, or is it mostly implied?

 

I'd wager most people tend to stick to the "vaguely British" (and its many variants) as you mentioned, with perhaps a bit of Irish/Scottish. 

 

 

-What are the main roleplay hub areas in FFXIV? I'm going to assume the bar area in Ul'dah is one, since I see people there all the time.

 

The Quicksand in Ul'dah is certainly, arguably one of the busiest places... but it also tends to have a reputation of being the place to go for ERP more than anything else. Main city adventure hubs like the Quicksand tend to be the busiest, I believe. However... your next question...

 

 

-Does a lot of roleplay get done in housing areas, or is there a lot of open world roleplay as well?

 

"A lot" of roleplay does indeed happen in housing areas and the houses therein. Open world RP does happen (my company, for instance, tends to hold close to 100% of its events out in the open world), it's just a matter of happening to bump into it when it is happening.

 

 

-Are there roleplay linkshells for different types of races/cultures/classes/jobs/roleplay subjects?

 

I'm uncertain as to the nature of each linkshell out there, but there may well be some dedicated to specific subjects such as that. Naturally, I'd turn you to the linkshell and free company listings found here on the site using the navigation bar at the top.

 

 

-Characters are often seen taking up multiple classes or jobs. How common is this in roleplay? What is an acceptable limit? For example, say I want to make my character a Conjurer or Thamaturge, but also give them some skill with a bow (archer) and maybe some skill with a ladle (culinarian)? How common is that? At what point is the number of skills considered excessive and power game-y?

 

It varies from player to player. A fair handful enjoy the super high fantasy of switching between multiple jobs and the like, while another fair handful prefer the "more realistic" approach of characters only being able to be skilled in a few callings. It's just a matter of personal preference and the preference of those with whom you try to RP.

 

 

-In my experience, the longer an MMO has been out, the more closed the RP community becomes. Storylines develop, public RP events turn to private RP events, and people get wrapped up in their own character developments and the developments of their RP partners and friends. The game has been out for many years now. How much open public RP is left? Where can I go to find it? Do people have open housing plots like tea houses or restaurants? Is there a hub I can look at to see a list of them?

 

There are certainly a number of public events with which to get involved. I feel there may be some truth to your statement with regard to public becoming private as I, too, tend to stick to my circle (for various reasons)... but there are certainly still a large number of different types of events happening pretty much every day around the clock! 

 

 

-How much does MSQ factor in to individual roleplay? Is there a lot of roleplay pertaining to the story of the game, or is a lot of that left by the wayside in favor of user-made plots and casual slice-of-life RP?\

 

This, again, comes down to personal taste just like the classes/jobs. However, I'd wager a large percentage of the RP community tend to not insert themselves into the MSQ or have their characters interact with any of the special NPCs that are found within.

 

 

-With that in mind, if MSQ subjects do make it into roleplay, what's the statute of limitations on spoiler content?

 

I'm sure you're tired of this answer, but just a matter of personal preference and the preference of those with whom you try to RP. Some people RP as though the content happens the day of release... others wait a week, month, two months, etc. before bringing it up in their RP.

 

 

 

You'll find the community to vary wildly in this game as to what their preferences may be. It's just a matter of figuring out what you want out of the RP in this game, then finding like-minded people with whom to RP.

 

My usual suggestion, as mentioned above, is to try to find yourself a linkshell and/or free company that matches your ideal playstyle and go from there!

 

Best of luck!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-Throughout the story of FFXIV in both MSQ and sidequests, we've been introduced to a variety of couples both same and opposite sex. But little is said about inter-species relationships. Are these common? Are they frowned upon?

Generally, these are frowned upon in the game. Not in an overtly racist fashion like segregation, but more in a "but why did our lovely Elezen daughter have to fall in love with a Hyur?" It's only briefly mentioned and shown in-game however and most RPers you encounter will probably not take it to heart unless that's part of some scene setup or a story you're RPing out. For some examples, see the Wanderer's Palace unlock NPCs and Hilda.

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-What are the standards of formatting in chatbox roleplay? Do we use /say more than /emote? Are there any slash commands I should be aware of?

These largely vary between RPers! One of the fun things about FFXIV is that the "RP Community" isn't very homogenous and you'll find that there's a sliding scale for nearly every opinion for RP here. The two biggest are gonna always be /say and /emote, but how you use them is purely up to you. Some people like to use (( OOC Text markers )) while others do not. Some will use quotation marks in /say and others assume that because they're RPing and using /say, there's enough context. Some will only use /say for speech and /emote for actions, others will mix and match like "/say 'Hello!' She waved." or "/em waves. 'Hello!'" 

 

Any of the other emote commands + motion will also only show the motion for you. Like "/wave motion" It comes in handy when you want an animation, but not the automatic game text that comes with it.

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-In voiced cutscenes, 99% of characters in FFXIV have european accents, mostly "vaguely british." What accents do players tend to give their characters? Do they usually denote these things in the way they write, or is it mostly implied?

Lore-wise, we shouldn't call them "British" but the various accents are modeled on sounding more like an older form of English. Like typing in general, you'll find that people with accents have varying methods of doing it. Some will adjust their spelling, much to the pain of ESL RPers, while others may use common foreign word or a hint. Like saying "...she said, in Doman." Some NPCs do this too, so they're always a good place to start for examples!

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-What are the main roleplay hub areas in FFXIV? I'm going to assume the bar area in Ul'dah is one, since I see people there all the time.

This sorta varies by server, but on Balmung, the most common one you'll hear about is the Quicksand in Ul'dah. Most of the main hub cities tend to have some RP in them as well, especially newer patch/expansion cities, like Kugane. In my experiences, you'll see less RP in areas with tons of nonRPers or endgame characters. (So mostly Rhalgr's Reach, currently.)

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-Does a lot of roleplay get done in housing areas, or is there a lot of open world roleplay as well?

Formerly, I'd say in the towns was the most. Then fields. When housing was introduced, especially with additional wards and subdivisions, a lot more RP did migrate into housing. It'll ultimately depend on who you're RPing with and what sorts of RP venues you're looking for. If combat RP's your thing, go check out the Grindstone, which happens every Saturday at 10 Eastern in Central Thanalan by Fesca's Wash. You can't miss it.

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-Are there roleplay linkshells for different types of races/cultures/classes/jobs/roleplay subjects?

Yes! And the RPC is host to a few of them. (Although after some site changes and the rising popularity of discord, our list has shrunk as they're not being posted up here as often as they used to.) Check out our Linkshell Hall and Linkshell Clubs sections for some! The same goes for Free Companies and other groups.

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-Characters are often seen taking up multiple classes or jobs. How common is this in roleplay? What is an acceptable limit? For example, say I want to make my character a Conjurer or Thamaturge, but also give them some skill with a bow (archer) and maybe some skill with a ladle (culinarian)? How common is that? At what point is the number of skills considered excessive and power game-y?

Typically, people divorce their in-game levels and their character's abilities. FFXIV doesn't really have any sort of open-world PvP or method of holding a level over someone else, aside from the gear they can equip. When it comes to the actual skills, remember that most of the jobs were dying arts or recently revived and are either quite uncommon, limited, or brand new to Eorzea. I most often see this come up as "can I be a White Mage and a Black Mage concurrently?" Which...both of these would normally be something a peron couldn't be, but if we were to take it as "can I be incredibly skilled in Conjury and Thaumaturgy," it's still iffy. Think of them like getting a doctorate degree with no overlap. Yes, you can do it, but a person may fully devote their life to the study of one thing and never fully master it. You can find some amazing lore compilations and writeups about many of the jobs and how their interact by Sounsyy. A link to Sounsyy's Lore Index is on the front page under the lore forum. 

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-In my experience, the longer an MMO has been out, the more closed the RP community becomes. Storylines develop, public RP events turn to private RP events, and people get wrapped up in their own character developments and the developments of their RP partners and friends. The game has been out for many years now. How much open public RP is left? Where can I go to find it? Do people have open housing plots like tea houses or restaurants? Is there a hub I can look at to see a list of them?

There are quite a few of these! While I don't know how maintained some of the lists are on RPC, Maril keeps an extensive google sheet with tons of them on tumblr. http://tinyurl.com/where-is-the-rp

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-How much does MSQ factor in to individual roleplay? Is there a lot of roleplay pertaining to the story of the game, or is a lot of that left by the wayside in favor of user-made plots and casual slice-of-life RP?\

This will also depend on who you're RPing with! In my experiences, the MSQ is not something any of my characters or their contacts went through directly, but most people have a semblance of current events, within reason. Typically, I don't see anything happening plot-wise that's current patch tier, but once another patch has come out, some people do take that into their characters' stories. I'd just ask OOC to see where they exist in the MSQ timeline, if at all! There are plenty of user-made plots, although nothing quite server-wide as nobody will ever fully agree to any sort of firm server canon like other MMOs might. There's also generally a large helping of more casual slice-of-life RP and you can easy mix them all together.

 

1 hour ago, mbulsht said:

-With that in mind, if MSQ subjects do make it into roleplay, what's the statute of limitations on spoiler content?

 

I kinda touched upon this above, but for the most part, not the bleeding edge. And not something that only the Warrior of Light (WoL) would know. If you see general NPCs talking about it, it's probably fair game. Otherwise, just check in with the people you're RPing with and you should be fine!

[mbulsht]

Thank you for all the replies and links! I'll be looking into these more as I finish out my character profile.

[Sounsyy]

19 hours ago, mbulsht said:

-Throughout the story of FFXIV in both MSQ and sidequests, we've been introduced to a variety of couples both same and opposite sex. But little is said about inter-species relationships. Are these common? Are they frowned upon?

 

It looks like most of your questions were answered by others, so I thought I'd drop in for this one specifically. As others have said, mixed race couplings and children of mixed parentage in lore are generally looked down on by the more conservative-leaning of their countrymen. In RP, I very rarely see such a thing touched on, however. I have a post on the information we have on mixed-clan and mixed-race children here!

 

Hope this helps!