Thinking of trying the game again, but have some questions about the RP community

[tenereamir]

Hi there--
 

I just have some general questions before I decide if I want to try RPing in this game.  Namely, I've heard most RP in FFXIV is ERP-based, which isn't my thing. I don't mind character romance and whatever, but it has to come about via long-term story development and not just "let's jump in the sack and cyber". Are there groups that are more dedicated to story-based RP, or would I be better off just focusing on the PVE stuff?

Thanks in advance!

[Lucius Ignatius]

24 minutes ago, tenereamir said:

Hi there--
 

I just have some general questions before I decide if I want to try RPing in this game.  Namely, I've heard most RP in FFXIV is ERP-based, which isn't my thing. I don't mind character romance and whatever, but it has to come about via long-term story development and not just "let's jump in the sack and cyber". Are there groups that are more dedicated to story-based RP, or would I be better off just focusing on the PVE stuff?

Thanks in advance!

Hi! Honestly, it just depends who you hang out with/find to RP with. I can tell you from experience (been playing since Heavensward) FFXIV RP is not all JUST ERP.

 

You may find many who are into it, wanting it, etc. but it mainly depends on who you choose to play with. I'd give everyone a fair chance, but if they do veer into a direction you don't want, I'd simply tell them/leave the RP.

 

Personally, I prefer only ERP if theres lead up/makes sense for the characters to do so. Slow burns, evolving characters and romance are my bread and butter.

 

You might hear from various people to 'stay away from the Balmung Quicksand '. While its true, you WILL find a good many people there who are only seeking ERP, you can find good story-based RPers there too. Its just a matter of weeding out and finding your crowd.

 

Also, you may find RP on Balmung for the most part, but Mateus if its a slow night on Balmung, just jump there using the aetheryte and see who you can find there.

 

I'd also check the Party Finder, sometimes people advertise RP venues in their FC homes, as well as separate communities from this one. Just be on the lookout!

Hope it helps.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Lucius Ignatius

[tenereamir]

5 hours ago, Lucius Ignatius said:

Hi! Honestly, it just depends who you hang out with/find to RP with. I can tell you from experience (been playing since Heavensward) FFXIV RP is not all JUST ERP.

 

You may find many who are into it, wanting it, etc. but it mainly depends on who you choose to play with. I'd give everyone a fair chance, but if they do veer into a direction you don't want, I'd simply tell them/leave the RP.

 

Personally, I prefer only ERP if theres lead up/makes sense for the characters to do so. Slow burns, evolving characters and romance are my bread and butter.

 

You might hear from various people to 'stay away from the Balmung Quicksand '. While its true, you WILL find a good many people there who are only seeking ERP, you can find good story-based RPers there too. Its just a matter of weeding out and finding your crowd.

 

Also, you may find RP on Balmung for the most part, but Mateus if its a slow night on Balmung, just jump there using the aetheryte and see who you can find there.

 

I'd also check the Party Finder, sometimes people advertise RP venues in their FC homes, as well as separate communities from this one. Just be on the lookout!

Hope it helps.

Thanks for the reply  yeah I don't have interest in ERP at all (I'm married with a kid and while story romance is fine, I don't RP out sex scenes as I don't stray for -any reason- outside of my marriage), so I'd definitely be looking for more story-based stuff. I'll check out the party finder and stuff as well, and probably just roll a new character if I can get on one of the "RP" servers as it doesn't seem many people are into RP on Zalera. 

[Faye]

Hey there! "All RP is ERP" is mostly just a stereotype spread by, ironically, people who don't RP. While there are a lot of people primarily interested in ERP (be it those who are straightforward and singular about it, or those who try to "hook" people in with seemingly normal RP first), the majority of the RP community is not ERP-focused.

[tenereamir]

3 hours ago, Faye said:

Hey there! "All RP is ERP" is mostly just a stereotype spread by, ironically, people who don't RP. While there are a lot of people primarily interested in ERP (be it those who are straightforward and singular about it, or those who try to "hook" people in with seemingly normal RP first), the majority of the RP community is not ERP-focused.

Awesome, good to know. And yes, it seems mostly on reddit and some other MMORPGs I've played where the "FFXIV is for ERPers" is coming from. Buuuut I wanted to double check and make sure there's space for storyline RPers as well. I've no problem if people want to ERP (in private), but I'm more into the plot-driven stuff myself

[Lucius Ignatius]

5 hours ago, tenereamir said:

Thanks for the reply  yeah I don't have interest in ERP at all (I'm married with a kid and while story romance is fine, I don't RP out sex scenes as I don't stray for -any reason- outside of my marriage), so I'd definitely be looking for more story-based stuff. I'll check out the party finder and stuff as well, and probably just roll a new character if I can get on one of the "RP" servers as it doesn't seem many people are into RP on Zalera. 

No problem! Also, if you cant get onto one of the RP servers, just pick the Crystal datacenter and whatever server on there that is available. You can jump to Balmung or Mateus/any other server on that Datacenter. They also mentioned you will eventually be able to jump from datacenters as well, but that will come later. So you aren't limited to having to be on Balmung or Mateus for RP. :)

[Mua Viras]

^It also helps to post your preferences here and active FCs with a similar focus to what you want will help. Basically,  build contacts you enjoy rping with and you'll never find yourself wanting for rp.

[Dat Oni]

On the subject of the ERP stigma, I echo the sentiment of what other people have said: it's a baseless rumor spread by people who hang out on Balmung almost exclusively in the dead center of the Quicksand in Ul'dah, which is where 90% of the ERPers happen to hang out and do their thing. Every server with an RP population has a center like that, and if that's where you do most of your searching damn straight you're gonna get that kind of impression.

The truth of the matter is, the people who spread that sentiment, if they're even being completely serious, have not actually looked for non-ERP roleplayers all that hard to begin with. They don't use discords, sites like this one, or other communities to find out where the RPers are organizing their stuff and they usually don't travel the map much either. It's even more hilarious because right next door to the Quicksand on Balmung is the entrance to Pearl Lane, which is the nesting site of a bunch of non-ERP roleplayers and is heavily populated most of the day with IC interactions. When I say these people didn't look very hard, I mean that.

 If we have any kind of problem in the RPing community, it's not an overabundance of thirsty ERPers, but a bloom of freaking wallflowers who are all walk-ups and wait for other people to engage with them, and not the other way around, creating a perpetual status quo where nobody actually does anything and everyone is waiting for someone else to break the ice. It is a problem that has lasted multiple expansions. 

On the subject of finding IC groups, there are plenty, all you need to do is look around, either in game on the Party Finder, in shout chat (people love to advertise their FCs or Linkpearls there), Community Finder on the FFXIV Lodestone, this website you're using, or just ask other people in game. A valid way of doing this is just walk-up rping with other people and if they happen to have an FC tag hit 'em up with a question about whether it organizes RP events. Be friendly and talk to people, you'll find out a lot.

If I may hit you with a personal recommendation, one of the most popular RP events on Balmung has been the Grindstone, a massive organized fight tournament that uses dice rolls to determine victory or defeat. This event tends to attract tons of not just participants but also in-character onlookers and is one of the best ways on the server to find active roleplayers and learn a thing or two about the community. It's the closest thing Balmung has to a roleplayer convention. It takes place in Central Thanalan (pos x21, y25 on the map). 

 

I hope all this wall of text helps you in some fashion. 

[Rigel]

On 5/21/2021 at 1:22 PM, Dat Oni said:

On the subject of the ERP stigma, I echo the sentiment of what other people have said: it's a baseless rumor spread by people who hang out on Balmung almost exclusively in the dead center of the Quicksand in Ul'dah, which is where 90% of the ERPers happen to hang out and do their thing. Every server with an RP population has a center like that, and if that's where you do most of your searching damn straight you're gonna get that kind of impression.

The truth of the matter is, the people who spread that sentiment, if they're even being completely serious, have not actually looked for non-ERP roleplayers all that hard to begin with. They don't use discords, sites like this one, or other communities to find out where the RPers are organizing their stuff and they usually don't travel the map much either. It's even more hilarious because right next door to the Quicksand on Balmung is the entrance to Pearl Lane, which is the nesting site of a bunch of non-ERP roleplayers and is heavily populated most of the day with IC interactions. When I say these people didn't look very hard, I mean that.

 If we have any kind of problem in the RPing community, it's not an overabundance of thirsty ERPers, but a bloom of freaking wallflowers who are all walk-ups and wait for other people to engage with them, and not the other way around, creating a perpetual status quo where nobody actually does anything and everyone is waiting for someone else to break the ice. It is a problem that has lasted multiple expansions. 

I have to say that I never heard any of those rumors before trying the game; I arrived to that conclusion myself after playing for a couple of months. I had terrible luck with the party finder, and most - not all, in all fairness - of the RP I found in the world was very ERP-oriented.
That said, I have to agree with you in the fact that I didn't really look that hard, and I usually wait for someone else to break the ice. I am decided to give it another try, maybe join a discord server and explore this site more (I'm happy to see that I was wrong, since there seems to be plenty of serious RPers out there!). All that is left for me to say is thanks for your post! It truly made me reconsider my initial judgement.

[Faye]

17 hours ago, Rigel said:

I have to say that I never heard any of those rumors before trying the game; I arrived to that conclusion myself after playing for a couple of months. I had terrible luck with the party finder, and most - not all, in all fairness - of the RP I found in the world was very ERP-oriented.
That said, I have to agree with you in the fact that I didn't really look that hard, and I usually wait for someone else to break the ice. I am decided to give it another try, maybe join a discord server and explore this site more (I'm happy to see that I was wrong, since there seems to be plenty of serious RPers out there!). All that is left for me to say is thanks for your post! It truly made me reconsider my initial judgement.

A lot of "club" and brothel or otherwise 18+ RP events use the partyfinder for advertising. I hesitate to call a lot of them "RP events" because most are pretty light on the RP, ERP or otherwise, and seem to be more just hangouts for people to make their avatars dance around to some music before partnering off for some vaguely IC cyber hookups. As far as personals go, I also see a lot of what amounts to singles ads on partyfinder. I'm not saying you can't find actual RP on partyfinder (my own RP venue advertises there whenever we're open!), but generally it's not a place a lot of RPers go to look or advertise when there's alternatives like this site, numerous RP Discords, and the RP calendar.  I'd not draw any conclusions from it when most RP is advertised on actual RP hubs.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Faye

[Dat Oni]

On 5/30/2021 at 10:50 PM, Rigel said:

I have to say that I never heard any of those rumors before trying the game; I arrived to that conclusion myself after playing for a couple of months. I had terrible luck with the party finder, and most - not all, in all fairness - of the RP I found in the world was very ERP-oriented.
That said, I have to agree with you in the fact that I didn't really look that hard, and I usually wait for someone else to break the ice. I am decided to give it another try, maybe join a discord server and explore this site more (I'm happy to see that I was wrong, since there seems to be plenty of serious RPers out there!). All that is left for me to say is thanks for your post! It truly made me reconsider my initial judgement.

AND ANOTHER THING, even the people with blatant ERP tags in their search info shouldn't be judged at their cover, because a lot of people who do ERP are also willing to do normal RP, too. I'm not saying all of them are like that, but a lot of them are and often supplement normal story-driven rp with ERP on the side for things like romance plots or darker subject matters. These people will gladly respect your desire to do normal rp with them and leave the erotica out of it (i'm an example of this). 

Again, ask people, send them a /tell, especially if their search info says to do so. Glad to hear I've helped you reconsider your initial judgement, and if you have any other questions or concerns, please, don't be afraid to share them. We don't bite, I swear.