Do light RP players ruin the experience for heavy RP players?

[Mysterious Person]

I just started RP-ing on FFXIV awhile ago and noticed how different it was here compared to another game I play that I won't mention. There's a lot of etiquettes to follow & it feels really daunting to even begin RP-ing just because of how high the standards are set here compared to my previous game. From the way they present themselves to the way they speak it gives me anxiety to RP in front of players who actually put in so much work on their characters. Like am I even worthy of their time?! 

 

I've read the The Role-Play Handbook & found out I am those Light RP players even tho I thought I was pretty heavy in the other game I played..

 

I recently got the courage to join a small group of players for an RP on the community finder. I've never met these players before & I was shy to go alone so I brought a friend who didn't know anything about RPing but it was every bit embarrassing to say the least..

 

It started like this, with the new found confidence I gained for having a friend with me. I went to the gathering of RP players, there were about 5 other players there so I asked who was the host or the organizer in hopes of letting them know that I'm new to this community and all that. I soon found out that the host/organizer wasn't there. It was just a place & time for players to RP. So I thought to myself, Oh okay.. Then let me be the out going one and have everyone introduce themselves first before we began.. My friend introduced herself despite not being an RP player to them like, Hi my name is _______ I look forward to enjoying this event with you all. I went 2nd introducing myself as someone who loves fishing for sharks just for the sake of it AND We were both totally ignored.. So I'm like okay fine we'll just have to do this ourselves as they already started RPing without us. So I went to sat at the next table with my friend & another person who came to the meet late joined us and thankfully/regrettably it was her birthday so we just RP-ed her birthday in character, poured some drinks, talked about how I was supposed to bring her back in one piece as I was tasked by her son to bring her home safely after the gathering (She ending up getting drunk & passed out but one piece nevertheless) have some laughs and left. 

 

Despite all that I don't blame them. I just didn't wanna inconvenience them any more than I should. We were beginners to say the least & I enjoyed that type of light RP a lot. But I felt like I wanted to get out of there so bad because they were Heavy RPing and I felt insignificant or even bothersome to be in the same room as them (Didn't wanna take up too much of their chat space since we were also light RPing beside their table.)

 

So my question is as the title says. Do we ruin the experience for other Heavy RP players?

Also, Is it normal for us to RP without using the Quotation marks? (I'm not used to using them unless I have to emphasize on a certain word.)

Edited March 29, 2021 by Mysterious Person

[Unnamed Mercenary]

For the most part, people use ((double parentheses)) to denote out of character text while actively RPing. Personal stances vary quite a lot of how often a person may choose to use it, but most everybody is fine being on the receiving end provided it's not being used for [unintentional] metagaming. (As in, don't typically use it to announce your character's internal thoughts or motivation unless you're trying to work out some sort of OOC resolution or need some type of outside clarification as a player, but not as a character).

 

The thing about RP in FFXIV is that it's not super consistent. While there's a ton of RP that goes on, people all have their own stances on power level, where their character fits into the world (general NPC, Warrior of Light, Proper Name NPC, etc) and you'll find it's more like having a bunch of sliding scales in terms of other things like "lore strictness" or high/low fantasy elements. Especially if you ever get into something like combat RP, but it can also be things like "I RP by typing short, quick replies" vs "I do paragraph RP with longer more thought out posts" and other things.

 

Walk-up RP is another thing that can vary quite a lot. Some RPers will let people know if they're open to walkups by putting a message in their search info. Or they'll enable the RPer status icon or make a move to include others, but it's not always a given. 

 

It can be discouraging to have the first experience (or a few) not go as well as you wanted, but you're just as welcome to an open/public RPing space as anyone else and I wouldn't worry about light/medium/heavy RP styles in those circumstances. 

[Mysterious Person]

57 minutes ago, Unnamed Mercenary said:

For the most part, people use ((double parentheses)) to denote out of character text while actively RPing. Personal stances vary quite a lot of how often a person may choose to use it, but most everybody is fine being on the receiving end provided it's not being used for [unintentional] metagaming. (As in, don't typically use it to announce your character's internal thoughts or motivation unless you're trying to work out some sort of OOC resolution or need some type of outside clarification as a player, but not as a character).

 

The thing about RP in FFXIV is that it's not super consistent. While there's a ton of RP that goes on, people all have their own stances on power level, where their character fits into the world (general NPC, Warrior of Light, Proper Name NPC, etc) and you'll find it's more like having a bunch of sliding scales in terms of other things like "lore strictness" or high/low fantasy elements. Especially if you ever get into something like combat RP, but it can also be things like "I RP by typing short, quick replies" vs "I do paragraph RP with longer more thought out posts" and other things.

 

Walk-up RP is another thing that can vary quite a lot. Some RPers will let people know if they're open to walkups by putting a message in their search info. Or they'll enable the RPer status icon or make a move to include others, but it's not always a given. 

 

It can be discouraging to have the first experience (or a few) not go as well as you wanted, but you're just as welcome to an open/public RPing space as anyone else and I wouldn't worry about light/medium/heavy RP styles in those circumstances. 

Thanks for your reply I realized I made a mistake earlier about chatting in Double Parenteses but I meant to say Quotation Marks.

 

"Hello there!" She said in a joyful tone.

 

There's also the Variation I do which is simply

 

Susan Jones : Hello there!

/joy 

 

I get that people having varying degrees of Roleplay. My only examples of any roleplay here are the long paragraphed RP I can say almost a 100% of people outside of my circle roleplay that way and sometimes It feels too much for me to take in. We're all there to have fun & the last thing I wanna do is to offend someone who spends their time scripting a paragraph in response for me and to have me give a quick reply and some emotes that I think fit my perspective..

Edited March 28, 2021 by Mysterious Person

[Thraask]

It seems to me like you just haven't found the right crowd yet. It's tough too! Really tough, but I promise they're out there somewhere waiting for you.

 

If it makes you feel any better at all, I can say that I'm not really one for paragraph RP. You spend so much time sitting around and waiting for each other to finish, and it feels less like an organic conversation than I'd like.

 

I've found that as long as you're making an honest effort, then people are generally accepting. You're probably not ruining their experience. Good luck in the future!

Edited March 28, 2021 by Thraask

[Mua Viras]

Simple answer, no. You don't inconvenience other heavy roleplayers.  I think that group had its own shortcoming in not helping you learn how they thought rp should go.

 

I think, keep finding people you like role-playing with, and also find a few that like to teach.  You'll have contacts in no time.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

10 hours ago, Mysterious Person said:

Thanks for your reply I realized I made a mistake earlier about chatting in Double Parenteses but I meant to say Quotation Marks.

 

 

Ah, in this case, yes, using quotes is usually more of a norm, but it also can vary on player. Some people don't use them in /say speech, but will in /emote due to how the text is displayed.

I personally use them because I try to fit a couple of sentences in and usually toss in an action or two. And then kinda flip-flop between using /say and /emote to help give the text box a little more variety so I can track reading text more easily. (And in large events, I've made use of /echo as well just as like.... SPACER TEXT YOU HAVE READ UP TO HERE SO FAR

[Faye]

I think the only RP "etiquette" you really need to worry about is the bare basics of being fair and respectful to others. That's all most people really care about, so I wouldn't stress the rest. It sounds like either your approach might have confused these people, or they just weren't very friendly. Since this sounds like it was just a "show up and RP" type of deal and the person who organized it wasn't there, I'd venture this wasn't a very structured event. With no real leadership there, it may have just been a case of bystander syndrome where everyone assumed you were addressing someone else or that another person would step up to help you.

As far as light RP goes, I definitely know it's not 100% of RPers who do para RP, and even those who do tend to dabble more in light RP during social events like that. Your emotes aren't bothersome to anyone. You don't have to put your character's dialogue in quotation marks, but it can help other people know that you are IC/RPing and not just chatting OOC, especially if the nature of the dialogue itself is ambiguous as I've noticed it can sometimes be for light RP.

To answer at the question at hand, no, light RPers don't ruin anything for anyone. It may not be everyone's thing, and those people may choose not to engage with you, but that can go the same for anything.

[Kuzhuk]

If your RP (or ambiguous not quite in or out of character chatter in your friend's case) is disruptive to the tone and flow of what other people are doing they will generally ignore you. This is true whether what you're writing is "too light" by their estimation or just in a different genre or predicated on a different understanding of game lore. It's just something you have to get used to dealing with. In fact, generally speaking more people are going to avoid or ignore you than will actually engage substantively when it comes to public RP.

 

There is a lot of diversity out there and thus a great deal of incompatibility. You just kind of have to get used to putting yourself out there and often not getting what you want. Public RP is a lot like dipping a pan in a river to skim for gold. And the higher your standards/more specific your tastes are, the more skimming you're going to have to do.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Kuzhuk