New to RP and light gamer. Should I still join RP?

[soap]

Hi there.

 

My character's name is Drew Ashenwood and I transferred to Balmung recently. Mainly because my irl friend mains there but also because I became curious about role-playing.

 

I started playing FFXIV few months ago and I'm trying to get to all the quests, gears and classes etc before 5.0 arrives. Atm I'm on 4.2 quests. I played many MMOs before 2 big ones being WoW and Mabinogi but I've never RPd. I've created stories or drew fanarts and exchanged them with my friends whom I'd play at the time but I've never actually RP online. It would be a whole new experience for me.

 

I am super curious about RP. I would love to learn the how-tos and experience this whole different side of FFXIV. The problem is my RL. I have a pretty demanding job that 9-5 is almost never promised. Unexpected events happen frequently which would take my time away from the game on short notice. So I guess the question is... Should I even consider trying RP when my time is so unpredictable? Is there a type of RP or a FC that's suitable for situations like mine?

 

Sending many thanks ahead.

Edited April 28, 2019 by soap

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Hey there and welcome to the site!

 

To be honest, FFXIV was my first experience with MMO RP as well, although I'd done a little bit of tabletop with friends before that. Plenty of similarities, but also plenty of differences. The best way to pick things up is to just delve in. 

 

From my understanding, RP etiquette in FFXIV is a little different from other MMOs, but still pretty straightforward. Most people will RP in /say or /emote chat, depending and use them interchangeably. Some people will add some narration or inner thoughts, others do not. Lore strictness, high/low fantasy (magic, skills, , high/low power levels are all personal choices that varies quite a lot among everyone. 

 

If your time is really restrictive, I'd suggest trying out either some public events, which you can find on the site calendar (whether imported from outside feeds or on the main RPC site calendar itself) or give some forum/discord RP a shot if you want to dabble without a time frame. Forum RP is how I started out way back! It provided some space to set things up, a little narration, and some ready-made contacts for once I got more comfortable RPing in game. It's been a little while since I've seen a general/open in-character thread, but some common ones in the past were simple things like chatting in a tavern or pub, or journalists making an announcement. There've been some interviews and the like as well!

 

It's a little dated, and has some old/broken links after a site move, but the RP Handbook by Eva is also a good place to start as well, to give you an idea of some of the foundings of FFXIV RP.

 

People are always happy to help answer any questions you may have as well, whether they be character-development, rp in general, ffxiv things, etc. If you unsure about something, you also also always flag down a staff member in a bolded blue name and they can help point you in the right direction. (Or stick a post over in the Requests and Feedback forum, and we'll help answer or move it to an appropriate public section.)

[soap]

Wow! Thank you so much! I wasn't expecting this in-depth answer. I will definitely check out the handbook and discord. Maybe I just need to start small

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Starting small is good! Especially if you find a group you jive with, whether it's similar interests, a plot or story, etc. The Making Connections forum and the RPC Wiki are also pretty good places to peruse characters, on top of tumblrs and discords. The RPC site is only a portion of the general FFXIV RPer population!