Thinking of dipping back into FFXI until XIV..

[Verranicus]

None of my friends play anymore, so I was wondering if any of you were part of active linkshells that would be willing to take me in?

 

RP is a plus, but not required, and you'd like need to put up with me asking a ton of dumb questions since it's been ages since I last played.

[Kylin]

The RP scene in Vana'diel is a bit less than spectacular in that it's a dying art. Never having a RP server from the start certainly didn't help matters. There is a sticky in this section of the forums with RP linkshells in FFXI though.

 

Currently, there are only 2 listed, one on Siren and the other on Lakshmi. I do know that there are two more though -- one on Asura and one from Sylph simply awaiting advertisement details. Tsumi can shed more light on the currently unadvertised Asuran RP group when she gets the opportunity. Isilme knows about the Sylph one but has yet to even log in since registering, so that one may not get advertised .

 

Just keep in mind that all of these groups are pretty small these days in comparison to what FF14's RP community will be at the start.

[Verranicus]

I took a look at the sites for the two that were already advertised here, and the fact that they base their RP around missions and such makes me wary.

 

I've always found LS' using too many of the games characters and events in their own RP to be nothing but trouble. I remember back when I used to play there was an LS RPing their way through the CoP storyline and would snub anyone that tried to RP with them who didn't accept -their- canon. They then had the nerve to complain about lack of RP on the server.

 

It's always been my stance that while you can reference some major happenings in the game, you should do so sparingly and rely only on your own ideas for the majority of your RP, otherwise your group becomes cut off and inaccesible to everyone else. And just think about how stupid a community looks to prospective new RPers when 10 different RP LS' have 10 completely different stories wound so tightly around the ingame missions that you either a) Simply can't RP with them or b) Would need to alter your own character so drastically it wouldn't be worth it.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Mho]

As a member of Canta Per Me, I'm... Trying not to be insulted, so I'm sorry if my post comes off as a bit defensive. In my experience, RPing missions has been a wonderful way to add interest and fun to what would otherwise be a grind, while generating an interesting storyline the entire linkshell can get in on, even if they're not directly involved in the cutscenes and BCs just from the spillover consequences of the major events taking place. When another group within the LS wants to re-RP it later, as they often do, it's a great opportunity to bring creative plotting and story writing to bear to have it all make sense again. One of the most fun long-term plot arcs I've been in was a redo of CoP and it worked great. Before a few members quit, we even had someone putting together a plot for a crossover 3rd CoP run-through with ToAU missions mixed in and a storyline that tied it all together.

 

Two different RPLS's are always going to have different 'canon' and if they're going to shun each other and butt heads over the differences, they certainly don't need missions as the impetus. That's not the fault of mission RP, that's the fault of short-sighted leaders who can't communicate a compromise, even if it's "Just don't talk about mission-specific events in cross-LS RPs." That's the rule Canta Per Me and Phoenix Ember stuck to and it worked fine - so well in fact that we declared each other sister LS's and had people with pearls to both who hopped back and forth to RP and hang out. We had different 'canon' but we had the maturity and decency not to make it a point of contention.

 

All that aside, to talk about CPM specifically for a moment and not just for the sake of example, mission RPs has never been our focus or central theme. We love doing it but we've been around and active since NA PS2 launch. MOST of our plots are 100% member-written, though often they'll implement and expand upon ideas and elements that first appeared in mission RPs and quests. Flat-out not RPing missions at all robs a RPLS of a lot of potential enrichment, to me.

 

Now, CPM has been the only RPLS for most of Lakshmi's history, so it's not as much of a problem for us. In a larger community, if you're going to RP missions, you of course have to be mindful to RP them not 'by the book' - You'll have to think up some way to RP them non-specifically enough that there won't be conflicts with other groups. If a RPLS wants to just avoid that mess completely by not RPing missions ever, that's certainly the easiest route. But to globally condemn mission RPing just closes doors that really don't have to be shut.

[Xenedra]

To sort of add to Muir's schpeel... and maybe more directly address your concern?

 

I've seen EXACTLY what you're talking about in RP communities before (in fact, years ago, even in CPM): RPers who've previously RP'd or are currenting RPing a mission snubbing new RPers. Having experienced this snubbing myself and as one of CPMs primary SHs, I can tell you that our shell is preeetty careful to avoid this. Frankly, at the mere mention of a new RPer we drop what we're doing (Cerb? PFFFT, RP TIME!!) and descend like seagulls on a french fry. We'd be quite happy to have you as well as help work you into the story line

[Smiling River]

I don't think anyone should get offended by what Verranicus said. I don't think he is condemning all RPers who play out missions or naming names, he is just saying that it's not for him (based on previous experience).

 

While you guys make a convincing case for CPM, it's entirely up to him to take it or leave it. There might be a great way to RP in all kinds of ways, but once a person has a negative experience w/ a certain style, even if your LS does it better and it works, it's often hard to change their opinion.

 

This is after all just an opinion, not a personal attack against any individuals or a community. If this is to be a successful, open-minded coalition where people can express their opinions freely, we have to leave that at the door. (Unless someone is purposefully saying X LS is crap, etc etc.) Otherwise everyone is going to get offended by everyone else's different view on what works and what doesn't in RP, and our dialog will be reduced to generalities and PC statements that really don't mean anything.

[Blade]

Not trying to be defensive here, but just wanting to explain why we use this definition of canon and why our RP tends to be based around the game's canon and plotline.

 

I decided to make the game our GM for the most part. In other words, instead of having someone sitting back and calling the shots, let the game and it's included lore handle that. I have been in other groups in the past and managed groups in the past that allowed for lore and canon to be disregarded and the world was left completely in the hands of the RPers. Not necessarily bad, but what I found was that these particular groups I was in suffered from character power struggles... having implausible backgrounds, and everyone seemed in competition to make their character more awesome than the other, developing powers that others couldn't match... you catch my drift? As GM for that RP I had to make the calls on what was allowed to be done by our characters, which then incites anger when I side with someone but against someone else.

 

For this group I wanted something different. Everyone has access to the game's rules and its canon and its lore. Why not use that as the rules for the RP and let the game balance itself out? No one can complain about another character getting powers they can't, etc. There's no snubbing of another person's canon since we just use what's already in the game. A common ground as it were.

 

And the honest truth is that this has worked out well for most of our group. But I'd be lying if I said that it worked out for all, and we've had some people where our group hasn't worked out for them.

 

I'll be the first to say that one of the drawbacks of this strategy is that it removes some possibilities to really get some unique ideas going simply because you have to work within the game's storyline and guidelines. But I also think it presents a creative challenge to make a neat character that has to fit into the world. In fact, I think characters end up being *more* interesting and more believable working under these restrictions, as opposed to writing whatever you want and not having to worry about whether or not it works.

 

But our style is not for everyone, and I don't think we're better than other groups or anything. It's our style and our preference and other people have their own. But our group is certainly not "nothing but trouble."

[Verranicus]

There's a huge difference between making your character fit the setting and established lore of the game (which is a good thing and I 100% expect of any serious RPer) and using actual in-game missions and quests to RP around. In my experience it's always been best to keep a fair amount of distance between roleplay events and ongoing story events in the game itself. Reference stuff in passing, mention people or places off hand but always avoid putting yourself in the place of a "main character".

 

"We just defeated the Shadow Lord! We're heroes!" If you walk around town claiming you just did in the big baddie or just saved Eorzea from certain doom at the hands of whatever villain we're up against, what happens when someone from another group happening to be running the same sort of gimmick wants to RP with you guys? It becomes awkward and convoluted.

 

The best way to avoid stuff like that is to make your own stories from scratch. A seasoned roleplayer should never have trouble taking what he sees around him and turning it into an engaging plot without having to rely so heavily on the game script that it becomes the focal point.

[Blade]

Well, part of my point of view is that its damn fun and more interesting for our characters to be the 'main' characters. There aren't any other active RP shells on Siren either as far as I know so running into another group hasn't been an issue, but if there were another group to start up, I'm sure the leaders would just discuss it and create a compromise. People can do that, you know. It's not like our characters parade through town and point out to everyone "oh btw we beat the shadow lord."

 

I'm not attacking your preferred method of RP and I'd prefer you show me the same sort of respect. You talk of 'seasoned RPers' like we would struggle to come up with our own storyline, when the reality is that all the people in our RP love the storyline that is already there, however, the meaning of the storyline is lost and butchered when you are forced to blitz through cutscenes and whatnot. So we decided "Hey, lets go back through it all, slowly, using the storyline as a guide, and see how it goes?" Besides, our storyline is by far and mostly about the character interactions. Progressing through the story and saving the world just helps the group bond.

 

Obviously you prefer something different. But we aren't using the story as a crutch like you seem to be arguing, this is what we have chosen to work around.

[Kylin]

Silly RPers chasing tails again :lol:

 

First and foremost, we need to realize that FFXI's RP community is vastly different than what it once was and I think the tiny handful of remaining shells can agree on that. Aside from being significantly smaller, the remaining shells have mostly settled into a strong core group of friends most likely. That means they're not necessarily used to getting new members and are primarily focused on keeping their core members interested in stuff. Keeping them interested probably means getting OOC stuff done (missions, gear, etc).

 

From what I understand, the above shells don't revolve their entire RP around the game missions but rather do the missions moreso on the side. They simply RP while doing so is all.

 

Second, much like FFXIV's RP community will vary in style from group to group, FFXI is no different. What's good for one group may not be good for another. Different RPers have different needs and like to express themselves in different ways.

 

Those things being said, I do personally agree with Verranicus to an extent. I don't condemn using the game missions in RP. It's just not my individual style to do so. The one exception to this was when Crystalline had a CoP static and a group of us (Kes and Tyriont included) Rped through those. We did however keep the content of those missions strictly between ourselves and never really spoke about any of it in public to the other members who weren't in the static.

 

Another thing about the game missions is that you can use them in other ways. I did this a lot with some of my RP events. For example, let's look at mission 5-1 (lich fight). Instead of fighting the lich that was guarding a seal to the Shadowlord's imprisonment, we used the fight for something completely different. One of my villainous characters, a scientist named Ramsus Mortavo, ended up eventually getting cornered by some of the linkshell's good guys. They chased him through Fei'Yin and to the burning circle basically (he was a level 1 mule of mine and I literally got him to the burning circle on foot >.>). After some IC dialouge that led to various revelations, Mortavo downed a vial of a potion that turned him into a skeleton. Then we entered the 5-1 fight, IC'ly fighting Mortavo and not the actual storyline's creature. I did similar things with mission 2-3 and several bcnms. Thus, the game's storyline can be used as a tool and still stick with canon if used correctly.

 

Ultimately, it's up to one's individual style and preferences though. Ironically enough, the whole mission/rp mixing issue will actually be a formal discussion and eventually end up in our etiquette section.

[Aveline]

Personally I like a balance to these sorts of things, and for TALE I hope we keep a balance between personal storyline and in-game plotline.

 

In linkshells that almost completely ignored missions/game storyline, it seemed people went out of their way to out-do each other with increasingly wild plotlines and stories. But on the other hand, I can see how someone new to the game or further behind on storylines would feel put out from joining a group that was roleplaying specific missions. Then again, if a group was RPing along a linear story path, why would they be recruiting in the first place?

 

To use XI as an example, it always seemed to work out best if people referred sort of indirectly to the missions within the LS chat, unless a large group of members were all running them at the same time. For instance, if we had new players that were just getting to the Shadowlord fight, those of us that had done it a dozen times over wouldn't refer to it necessarily as the Shadowlord, we'd simply say in the linkshell that we were going to help ______ fight off increasing evil in the north. This runs well within the game, as there is ALWAYS evil in the north, and it allows the person running that mission for the first time as well as those that are doing it for the 20th time, to roleplay it in character.

[Verranicus]

Castiel's got it right, and I think what you did with the 5-1 fight is great. I totally understand how the above LS' usage of the missions for their RP is cool now that RP is essentially limited to one or two groups per server, but when we go to XIV the situation would simply be too chaotic for everyone to maintain their own "canon" in regards to the game plot.

 

EDIT: And in regards to people coming up with crazier and crazier stories of their own when not relying on the established game canon, the best thing to do if they take it "too far" is just talk to them. I know when I was newer to RP I was always trying to be the darkest guy out there, and over the years I realized how much that puts a lot of people off and mellowed out.

[Blade]

But on the other hand, I can see how someone new to the game or further behind on storylines would feel put out from joining a group that was roleplaying specific missions. Then again, if a group was RPing along a linear story path, why would they be recruiting in the first place?

 

Yeah, this is probably the biggest problem we run into, we end up having to do a lot of OOC catch up with some people in order to get them all caught up to speed. Or they just participate in the social RPs that we have, since we have strictly social RPs and mission RPs as separate sessions but all part of the same group.

 

But as trying as it can be sometimes to get someone caught up with missions, one of the best things about this group is how hard we work together and how excited we are for new people. Whenever I tell them "We got a new one coming in" everyone wants to know the job, the race, the background, they start trying to figure out how they are going to jive with them in character... that's probably the best part of the group I think. And we work a lot with people, I don't just say "We're on this mission, fit in somehow" lol. We work out a lot of kinks... because its hard to join up with an established group already, whether or not they are doing missions.

 

Forgive my rambling lol. I'm actually watching the dialogue pass through the LS chat (we're doing social RP now, although right now I'm just watching), between one member who has been with us a long time, one who joined half way through, and one who joined rather recently, and it just amazes me sometimes the kinds of things that they are able to turn out and the character interactions we get.

[Verranicus]

It's cool that it works for you, but that style of RP just sort of screams exclusive to me, and if anything with this new game coming out we should do everything we can to maintain an open and easily accessible RP community to all of the people who are newer to it.

 

It's small cliques of people doing their own little RP's away from everyone else that kill off the sense of community.

[Blade]

Well anyone who has been interested in our RP has actually been able to get involved in our group, so exclusivity hasn't been an issue with us. Maybe you've just run into some bad groups, I don't know. We've even had lots of freelance RPers jump in here and there and it's gone fine, so I think it works from a community perspective.

 

Anyways that's all I'm going to say in this topic. You seem pretty closed to the idea that something like this could work and be enjoyable and support community, and I'm not going to get into a mud-slinging fight over it.

[Eva]

It's small cliques of people doing their own little RP's away from everyone else that kill off the sense of community.

This is hard to avoid, and from a leadership perspective even the best efforts will fall short at trying to conglomerate groups that simply don't mesh well together or don't want to. Cliques are a way of life, both in RL and in any sort of in-game social network. I spent much of my time in FFXI sort of bouncing between the cliques and never really falling into any one, and that was sort of my existence. It's easier to just sort of accept that it's going to happen, and not to burn any bridges unnecessarily.

 

As far as the rest of it goes, I did participate in Castiel's RP relating to the Archlich for 5-1 and that was a lot of fun. I had also run most of the CoP storyline in-character with a group of five other RPers. While the group had been established early on and there was really no opportunity after that point for outsiders to join, we were not what I would call 'exclusive' about what we were doing, and continued along with other missions for non-CoP participants in parallel, doing such things as Assaults and coffer keys and the usual gamut of what I guess could best be called 'midgame'. It worked for our purposes, and when it was done many of us made a push to try to get others through the missions, also in an in-character fashion.

 

I can't say this is definitely the best way, or worst way, of handling such mission-related RP. Every RPer has his or her own preferences. We did make an effort not to come off like we were 'snubbing' those who weren't participating with us though, and never RPed any spoilers or secrecy around those who weren't privy to the mission details. In short we weren't all like, "omg we know something you don't!!"

 

:lol:

[Smiling River]

I didn't like RP'ing the missions... actually I didn't really like missions period. I know the story is great and all, but it makes you feel as if you are a "hero" like no other. SE basically made an MMO full of adventurers who are supposed to individually feel like they are the sole person everything revolves around. I could never fully believe that, knowing that in reality this wasn't true.

 

There are 3 ways for RPers to approach this:

 

OOC missions: Simply bypass this idea of individual heroes, do the mission OOC, and IC say that you've gone on some intense adventure or what have you.

 

OOC/IC hybrid: Basically act as if the mission took place with the people you completed it with, but don't say anything important to anyone who wasn't there.

 

IC missions: Do the missions IC and act afterwards as if you did complete the objective and/or defeated a specific opponent, as SE would have you believe.

 

Personally the Hybrid way of doing this doesn't seem genuine to me. If my character were to say, defeat the Shadowlord... why wouldn't he mention it to his close friends? The IC way for me doesn't work either since it doesn't mesh well with the fact that millions of players could say they defeated X boss... then my character would be freaked out lol

 

So sadly the only possible option is to do missions OOC. Again this is just my perspective, but XI's style of making you feel like a hero didn't work. I hate when they do that in single player RPGs... but in MMOs it just doesn't make sense, even in terms of game mechanics.

 

I hope that XIV's main plotline will be done differently, or at least have some sense of the community accomplishing goals.

[Verranicus]

I didn't like RP'ing the missions... actually I didn't really like missions period. I know the story is great and all, but it makes you feel as if you are a "hero" like no other. SE basically made an MMO full of adventurers who are supposed to individually feel like they are the sole person everything revolves around. I could never fully believe that, knowing that in reality this wasn't true.

 

There are 3 ways for RPers to approach this:

 

OOC missions: Simply bypass this idea of individual heroes, do the mission OOC, and IC say that you've gone on some intense adventure or what have you.

 

OOC/IC hybrid: Basically act as if the mission took place with the people you completed it with, but don't say anything important to anyone who wasn't there.

 

IC missions: Do the missions IC and act afterwards as if you did complete the objective and/or defeated a specific opponent, as SE would have you believe.

 

Personally the Hybrid way of doing this doesn't seem genuine to me. If my character were to say, defeat the Shadowlord... why wouldn't he mention it to his close friends? The IC way for me doesn't work either since it doesn't mesh well with the fact that millions of players could say they defeated X boss... then my character would be freaked out lol

 

So sadly the only possible option is to do missions OOC. Again this is just my perspective, but XI's style of making you feel like a hero didn't work. I hate when they do that in single player RPGs... but in MMOs it just doesn't make sense, even in terms of game mechanics.

 

I hope that XIV's main plotline will be done differently, or at least have some sense of the community accomplishing goals.

 

Pretty much. People complain when a person's RP gets too outlandish or their characters become "godly" but what's more out there than your character being the hero of all the mission stories in FFXI?

[Aveline]

Pretty much. People complain when a person's RP gets too outlandish or their characters become "godly" but what's more out there than your character being the hero of all the mission stories in FFXI?

 

Your hero being a fallen angel/risen demon.

 

Your hero coming from another universe

 

Your hero being a lesbian vampire with mind control

 

For a few... Almost all RPGs follow the trope of the stronger-than-life hero (you) saving the day. XI and XIV just add in a bunch of other players.

 

Yes, I think the cut-scenes should include the rest of your party, but many times in game it is made clear that you aren't supposed to be doing this by yourself. No one can say that XI is a solo game, by any means. To get to the end of the storylines, you have to cooperate with people. MANY people. If you RP the missions/storylines together, it just makes that all the more vivid.

 

You are supposed to be a powerful adventurer, yes (wouldn't we all be a lot stronger IRL if we ran literally everywhere and had to carry 100 lbs of gear around with us everywhere?), but the game never suggests that you are supposed to be more powerful than the main enemies. That's why you have to go through the missions and quests in teams.

 

I hope that XIV's main plotline will be done differently, or at least have some sense of the community accomplishing goals.

 

The biggest sense of community in the game I ever got was going through the entire CoP storyline with my linkshell. It sadly wasn't a RP linkshell, but it was a close, tight-knit group of friends who I'd never met in person but even after we went our separate ways outside of the game, we still continued to call each other up on the phone just to say hey.

 

I also don't recall doing Dynamis solo, or Ballista/Brenner by myself, or taking down the lesser gods, or fighting a dragon... all those I had to do with the immense participation and co-operation from friends and shellmates, and not once did I ever feel like I was the sole hero in those instances. In fact the more I think about it, the more I am wondering how you guys could see those things as anything other than teamwork, and intentional teamwork at that on S-E's part.

[Tyriont]

Psst...hey...you know what's awesome about having an RP Coalition? I mean, above all else as far as I see it?

 

Choice.

 

It's not wrong to dislike mission RP, nor is it wrong to love it. Some of the most fun I've had RPing was during that CoP static that both Castiel and Kes have mentioned. I've also seen "insular" stories done as part of a larger group without much problem - Renaise tried to kick something like this off before and it worked out great until he quit playing like the evil bearded jerk that he is

 

I can also see disliking mission and in-game storyline based RP for the reasons already listed. That's why the coalition is awesome. It gives a common ground for people looking for one particular brand of RP to find a place that best suits them. Does that mean some groups won't gel too well with others? Yeah, probably. Is that a bad thing? No, not really. Things don't have to be all sunshine, flowers and everyone getting along like the best friends ever 100% of the time.

 

Personally, I don't think there really needs to be a big discussion over RP/Mission blending. It can just be left as "let each group determine what is/isn't canon in their own way, be respectful of that and don't whine about it" without much more being said. Just ask to add what a group's preference on that topic is to their overall introduction for their "About us" bit (or whatever we're calling that type of thing) when we go live. That way people know what to expect from members of each group.

[Smiling River]

I might as well mention again that I do not reject the game's lore. It's wrong to say that "well... if you aren't RP'ing the missions then... well your character is a blood thursty demon-vampire half-breed!" Let's not get carried away, this is just another extreme. It also shapes the game (ignoring the lore) around just that character, similar to someone saying the game lore declares that their character is the hero of all time... both these positions taken too far go full circle.

 

I was just saying that it is a matter of preference, but also that it's the developers fault IMO. I mean, you can't tell me that XI did not make your character feel like the center of it all. The couple of things that were more communal (felt like a small part in a big battle) were the Conquest, Besieged, etc. But these things didn't influence the story, as far as I know. But they did change the world in which the characters lived, which was awesome. I'd prefer that to happen all the time. If your character is really a paragon, then they'd perhaps have the trust of a legion of players and be a commander of sorts... I donno.

 

Almost all RPGs follow the trope of the stronger-than-life hero (you) saving the day. XI and XIV just add in a bunch of other players.

Yeah, I pointed this out- and don't you think it's ridiculous for an MMO? I mean, at the very least it's conceded. RPGs used the same formula (which I thought would go away by now) since their creation. It's more plausible in an RPG though.

 

Mythis, I am not referring to teamwork that is required to get many things accomplished in the game. I am talking about the story. While you may need anywhere from one other person to 17+ others to defeat certain bosses, the actual story is not effected by this. IF you could solo them, nothing would change in terms of the CS or the major plot. I am agreeing with you to an extent. But I am also aware that there is a disconnect between the whole community fighting off beastmen (teaming up) and the plotline, CS, etc..

 

RP'ers adapt to this in different ways is the main point... but I am trying to say that the fact they we all HAVE TO adapt to it is the fault of developers who used 'traditional' RPG style of story-telling in an MMO. Either way, if you are to take your character seriously in XI, you have to make compromises.

 

This is an example: (spoiler alert?)

[Verranicus]

You can't assume the worst of the people who don't stick to the mission plotlines like glue. Not everyone who RPs without using the quests/missions as a backbone pretends they're Sephiroth's half brother.

 

All of my characters in any MMORPG have been reasonable and flawed. None of them had superhuman strength or any powers that wouldn't fit with the game lore. I never had any trouble coming up with my own ideas for long term stories, and when my friends and I did do missions while in-character we would tweak them to be more reasonable, like Castiel mentioned with the 5-1 lich.

 

And even if someone was running around pretending to be Goku trapped in a Lalafell's body, you can at least talk to people like that and explain to them (most of the time) why they're being ridiculous. I'd rather deal with people like that the the insular groups that act as if they personally slew the Shadowlord and are personal friends of Aldo and the President of Bastok, etc.

[Eva]

What I think a lot of people don't realize is that strengths and powers are overrated, and weaknesses and shortcomings are really what make characters unique and interesting. Up to this point, I've given most of my characters a plethora of weaknesses and maybe one or two "strengths" which sometimes themselves turn out to be more of a curse than a blessing. Case in point - Dyterium on the surface was a strong knightly type who was admittedly very strong but was shown to possess no actual powers aside from some difficult-to-interpret visions/dreams. His shortcomings were much greater. He was extremely stubborn (there was always much talk of the Zelorius stubborn streak, and pretty sure Kes will inherit some of this). He was socially inept. He grew to have severe trust issues, and as a result had a difficult time retaining friendships and throughout RP had very few close friends. Physically he had a visual impairment where bright light hurt him. His close ties to his wyvern (which while a bit 'supernatural' possibly, were a very far cry from overboard) were more often a source of weakness than of strength. He was never meant to be very attractive - a bout with one of Castiel's characters' avatars left him with scars across much of his body. His one redeeming quality was always his unwavering loyalty to the things to which he dedicated himself.

 

While a pretty big tangent, I just wanted to point out that I've always found weakness and "the human element" to be far more interesting than strength. It seems to me to be more inviting to conversation in many instances than always talking about how great and awesome people are. Maybe that's just me though.

 

To conclude, and to get back on track though - I make no assumption about RPers based upon whether they choose to carry out RP involving mission stuff. I will admit I've always thought it dangerous to tie one's storyline too closely to existing NPC's (i.e. Cid's illegitimate son, Trion/Piejue's secret half-brother, etc.) But RPing missions and such, so long as nobody gets snubbed, has always been ok in my book. I guess like many of our debated discussions, perhaps this is a spectrum as well, and I find myself right around the middle of it with a fair amount of leeway in both directions.

[Aveline]

I might as well mention again that I do not reject the game's lore. It's wrong to say that "well... if you aren't RP'ing the missions then... well your character is a blood thursty demon-vampire half-breed!" Let's not get carried away, this is just another extreme.

 

LOL I wasn't attacking anyone or getting carried away, I was responding to the question 'what's worse than making your character the main hero?" I just listed a few examples that I've seen.

 

It seems like people are getting really touchy on this subject, but I'm not sure why. We all just have different ways of approaching the game itself. I personally absorb all the aspects of the game itself into my RP. Even if say, taking down a dragon is done with a group that contains only 3 RPers, I would put that incident into my character's personal history of the game, and include those RPers in it.

 

You're right that if a mission COULD be soloed the game wouldn't care, but really that's up to you then to chose if you want to solo it or if you want to approach it as a group. That's a decision only you can make, not the game.

 

But anyway, like it has been said, this forum is not for deciding the intricacies of how all linkshells will approach roleplaying. A discussion like this will most likely be had many times over within each individual linkshell, and once those linkshells have been decided, then we can all go to whichever one best suits our RP styles.

[Merri]

So, completely off the subject at hand, but, i'm curious.

 

It's been awhile since anyone has touched this thread, and I know how things can take a turn for a worst in the matter of a week. Are any of these Roleplaying linkshells still active? (And by active, I mean still having RP occurring every other day or so.)

 

Aion just released their 1.9 patch, and it honestly has made the game even worse than it was before. They just mutilated the economy. That, doubled up with the fact that i've grown tired of their neglect and inefficient work ethic. Knowing NCSoft's track record, I honestly only see it as a matter of time before they shut down western servers.

 

I've canceled my Aion account, but, i'm debating whether or not i'de really want to return to FFXI. I've always preferred to be a full-time Roleplayer, and I really do believe i'll go a bit crazy without any RP to sate my hunger. So, finding a Roleplaying linkshell would be a must for me. If anyone has any leads at all, i'de really appreciate them. ^^