Racial RP: How do YOU do it?

[Warren Castille]

I think OP was more concerned with the ignorance of lore rather than emoting tail swishing lol..though everyone seems to he fixated on the latter to invalidate OPs argument.

 

I have to disagree, if only because those points are brought up in the very same sentiment as writing folks off as "cosplayer."

 

What I'm on about with "Hyur in cat ears and a tail" is that for the vast majority of Miqo'te RPers you could retcon their character into a Hyur and absolutely nothing would be different other than them no longer having ears and a tail. This holds true for a lot of long time veterans around here who are otherwise great roleplayers.

 

It's things like never emoting the expressiveness of these aforementioned ears, or the tail, failing to ever use the sensitive nose to emote picking up scents, ignoring the Keeper diurnal tendency entirely, and (although it's fine to have a non-traditional Miqo'te) outright ignoring the lore because many find it distasteful - at least have the character acknowledge that lore with an IC rejection, don't pretend it doesn't exist at all or be outright hostile to those who acknowledge Keeper promiscuity or the political correctness nightmare that is Seeker harems.

 

They're his first three points of debate, not an aside at the end being focused on. If these are the pieces of evidence to back up his claim, I'm going to debate them.

[Alothia]

Honestly, I picked Miqo' before I started RPing. Aesthetically, I liked the way they looked. I didn't know what RP was, I didn't even know I would be doing it. So no, my character name does not meet the lore. I started RPing in November of 1.0 release year, and Alothia was my first RP character ever. When I learned something in game, I tried to remember it and use it in her storyline. Am I perfect, no. But I tried to incorporate her physical differences when it mattered. If she was angry, her tail would lash and her ears would flatten against her head. Her fangs would poke out when she grinned. It was an always present thing. She was and is a Miqo'te in appearance and movement.

 

When 2.0 hit, I could have re-rolled her as a Hyur because of the Fantasia potions. Did I? No. Because I have art of Alothia. I have a strong connection to her as a character and the way that she looks is important to me. I have, however tried to connect the lore that I have learned about Miqo'te and put it into her story.

 

I know plenty of people who have done the same with their characters. Saying that Miqo'te have to act a certain way is no different than saying that people of a certain race IRL have to act like that stereotype. IRL, there are reasons that people act the way that they do. If you have a reason for your character to act the way that they do, whether it is something that they feel the need to tell everyone they meet or no, why should it matter? Perhaps their reasoning is something that they're ashamed of. Perhaps it is something that they don't think of because it is so deeply ingrained in their persona. Again, what does it matter?

 

Does Y'shtola act any differently than her human counterparts in the storyline? I don't ever remember her doing so. Sure, there are some NPCs that embody the tribal life, the tribal traditions. But there are those that don't as well. Just as in the real world, we should have characters that fit the spectrum of personalities, character quirks, and backgrounds.

 

To say that all characters should fit into a certain mold is to do a disservice to the breadth of originality in both writing and in life.

[Warren Castille]

See, Keepers always be walkin' like this, but Seekers? Seekers always be walkin' like this.

 

/laughtrack

[Delilah Scythewood]

...and (although it's fine to have a non-traditional Miqo'te) outright ignoring the lore because many find it distasteful - at least have the character acknowledge that lore with an IC rejection, don't pretend it doesn't exist at all or be outright hostile to those who acknowledge Keeper promiscuity or the political correctness nightmare that is Seeker harems.

 

This right here is one of my peeves when it comes to RPing the miqo'te. Especially when I see in many miqo'te RPers. I almost made a thread about it one night, but after talking with my boyfriend about it I figured I'd be opening up yet another can of worms that might stem into some kind of bickering that some of my last threads have started due to their content ("Polyamory: A Roleplay Guide" being one of the biggies for its controversial nature).

 

I don't feel like we should all RP our characters in a cookie cutter sort of way, mind you, but a certain level of acknowledgement and lore following is expected since the game does give us plenty to go off of if you know where to look or even if you browse the forums here or on the main site. Especially with a race like the miqo'te that, let's face it, goes against a lot of our social and cultural norms many of us have had hammered into us since we were small. Keeper promiscuity being one of them.

 

There have been many a night that I have facedesked and groaned with frustration when I'd be out RPing something as simple as bar chat and a miqo'te with traditional naming, mannerisms, and everything else shows disgust and disdain for the 'sluttiness' of his/her people. When it's like "...you do realize it's a cultural norm, ja?".

 

Granted, I understand that part of RPing individual characters is that some of them will go against the norm. Which is part of the beauty of having your own character: to an extent, you're allowed to let them go against the grain. It's part of what can make them fun!

 

But it's almost all that I see around. Save a handful of miqo'te RPers that I've met over the almost year since I've been on this game full time, when the topic comes up there's some sort of judgement, scorn, etc. Like what they're doing is wrong and despicable when it's what many NPCs, lorehounds, and otherwise acknowledge as being part of the racial structure. With the variations between clans (Keeper and Seeker) of course.

 

As for the subtle motions and the like being described in the RP, I do it about 40% of the time with my miqos. For the most part? I'm too focused on the story and dialogue to remember to put it in place all of the time and I never think much of it if others don't add it in for themselves.

 

Also as for the miqo'te being like cats...they have a lot of catlike mannerisms. I don't mind myself if one plays them more neko like (as long as it's not going into anime style territory). I mean, hell, just watch the female miqo'te sleep animation when you log out or exit the game from an innroom. Kitty central, yo. Not including many of the emotes the miqo'te have.

[Knight Kat]

 

It depends on the approach. I mean, I won't lie - it would be refreshing to see more Miqo'te acting like Miqo'te. Even the subtle stuff like twitching ears or struggling to grasp the full extent of Eorzean culture can make a huge difference in terms of a character's impact.

 

 

I play a Miqo'te. I play around A LOT of other Miqo'te. I think the problem IMHO is that it's harder to see those Miqo'te who play to be Miqo'te when you have them mixed in with the many who don't do so in a place like Ul'dah's Quicksand.

 

I can tell you that I meet lots of Miqo'te who act like Miqo'te. They kinda have to be dug out, but there are many. I agree with many of your points though.

 

Now here is a real question involved with this topic. How much Beast is in a Miqto'te? The Art of them they are more or less Human with cat ears and tail, where a Khajiit are bi-ped felines. How savage could a Miqto'to life be? There bound to be trade with non-Miqto'te they have weapons and training enough to go toe to toe with the Guardians. Equipment made by Miqto'te is on par with what you can get elsewhere. They are even moving into other culture's cities.

 

The question of how much beast is in Miqo'te isn't entirely answered in-game. Or maybe it is, but it is not so specific or defining.

 

For example, take IRL humans. We are literally the most dangerous animals on this planet. We can be the meanest, most savage and brutal creatures. We chase lions, hunt elephants, kill sharks and whales. We are the apex predators of our world because we are mean enough, bold enough and smart enough to face any creature (under the right circumstances with the right tools).

 

However, we are also more capable of charity and kindness than what you see from most animals in nature. We will spare something if we pity or feel sympathy for it. We care for animals that are not our own kind.

 

You have humans in this day and age who hunt animals with bows while you have the people who wear fancy suits every day to their "civilized" job. This world has "savage" humans and "civilized" humans.

 

I see it as possibly being no different for Miqo'te. Based on NPCs, I see savage Miqo'te and civilized Miqo'te. I see some NPCs act more cat-like while others don't show as much cat-like tendency.

 

If you go back far enough in history, I think it would be found that all the races in Eorzea probably lived in tribal societies at some point. It is just so note-worthy for Miqo'te because at least -some- groups still live in tribal societies in modern Eorzea. It is mentioned in the character creation lore, and referenced a few times in-game.

 

TL;DR: To me, I see a place where both tribal and urban Miqo'te exist. A place where both feral hunters (Pawah Mujuuk) and civilized Miqos (Y'shtola) exist. I think people are right and entitled to play either and anything in between as long as they acknowledge that their interpretation may not be fact, and that the lore for both types of Miqo'te -is- there.

[Kestrael]

Hi, everyone. I am new to the forum and FFXIV (as well as the game franchise). I picked up the game recently because a friend who plays requested it and the first character I made was a Miqo'te. This was in part because my friend was already playing that race and yes, I thought they were cute. I had no way of knowing that the server we were playing on was already heavily saturated. With that being said, this was on Lamia with no expectations of role play. I wasn't even aware there was a role play community but am very pleased to see otherwise. 

 

I agree with Haeden in regards to assimilation. In each city there are large populations of refugees due to the Calamity, all cramming together in what amounts to shanty towns. When you walk through any of the cities you see all the races (NPCs) mingling together. Miqo'te hold various jobs and it seems to be implied that at least some have embraced city life. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that when they go home for the evening they don't slip back into traditional behavior but I feel it sets a certain precedent. The fact that the lore states they are solitary creatures yet have such a large NPC presence would lead me, as a newb, to believe that the population is slowly migrating away from some of their traditionally held beliefs and lifestyles.

 

I personally feel that both play types are appropriate and add an opportunity for interaction between the traditional and non-tradional characters. I have absolutely no intention of making one myself. Should I be able to get a spot on Balmung I have a Roegadyn planned.

[Alothia]

 

 

Oi vey. This is something that people need to stop doing. Projecting OUR cultural norms onto our characters...is not cool.

 

Just because you're not okay with it OOCly, doesn't mean that your character is against it. If it's a societal thing, then there needs to be an understanding that your character is probably not going to have a problem with it.

 

Now, if you want to create a reasonable reason for your character to struggle with it, that's one thing. But simply saying that your character isn't okay with it....that's another thing entirely.

[Berrod Armstrong]

What I'm on about with "Hyur in cat ears and a tail" is that for the vast majority of Miqo'te RPers you could retcon their character into a Hyur and absolutely nothing would be different other than them no longer having ears and a tail. This holds true for a lot of long time veterans around here who are otherwise great roleplayers.

 

It's things like never emoting the expressiveness of these aforementioned ears, or the tail, failing to ever use the sensitive nose to emote picking up scents, ignoring the Keeper diurnal tendency entirely, and (although it's fine to have a non-traditional Miqo'te) outright ignoring the lore because many find it distasteful - at least have the character acknowledge that lore with an IC rejection, don't pretend it doesn't exist at all or be outright hostile to those who acknowledge Keeper promiscuity or the political correctness nightmare that is Seeker harems.

 

Most Miqo'te RPers are just Hyur in catboy/girl cosplay. And let's not spend any more time than we need too talking about the fetish crowd that permeates Miqo'te. I used to doubt how widespread some claimed it to be, but considering how often I run into Miqo'te who are just a vehicle for fetish, I had to rescind that view.

 

 

 

To address the first paragraph, let's take things a step further. Both miqo'te and hyur are 'races of man'. So rather than a miqo'te being a 'hyur with cat ears and a tail', a miqo'te is actually a MAN with cat ears and a tail -- similarly in a fashion of a hyur being a MAN without cat ears and a tail. There is absolutely zero pressing need to emphasize the differences; that is entirely on the discretion and style of the roleplayer and SHOULD NEVER be judged as 'right or wrong'. They're standing right in front of you wagging the damned tail, use your imagination! If roleplayers were made to adhere to this as a standard, then my Roegadyn would forever be heaving his barrel chest, my elezen would always have to draw emphasis to his neck and I would end up lacing every one of my lalafell emotes with popoto allegory. 

 

For those who are accused of 'ignoring' the lore. I take that with a grain of salt. I have seen many Seeker characters who are city-born and raised, and therefore completely oblivious to the tribal culture of their race. Nothing wrong with that at all. In addition, it is entirely up to the roleplayer to decide how their character feels about the miqo'te social structures. If they decide to give them active disdain for it because they can't really take to it OOC -- that is their right. It's pretty awful to expect other people to play their characters exactly to those expectations. 

 

That third point of yours is more or less a rehashing of the first. Miqo'te aren't so much a 'hyur in cosplay' as they are men with 'this and that feature'. They're men. That's the core of it. Anything else is just dressing that a roleplayer can either choose to elaborate on or not. As much as I side-eye at some of the catboy/catgirl fetishists, I've run through the MMO scene long enough (and it doesn't have to be that long!) to know that THAT GROUP of roleplayers who fetishize the race are in no way near representative of the whole. Man, every game with a hot body is gonna have someone playing the body to get off on it. It's a fact of life -- and not AT ALL in any way representative of the majority of Miqo'te roleplayers. 

 

Hell, I play a highlander because GODDAMN THAT BODY -- but that's not the only reason, and it certainly doesn't define me as a roleplayer, writer or person.

 

I think when someone looks through the lens of expectations -- especially awfully specific ones -- they are bound to be disappointed when -- hey! Different people have different ideas, and approach things in various ways! I've been around the roleplaying block in this game a few times and seen a LOT. The things you're complaining about are not as widespread as you think. They're just very visible because they stand out -- and two out of three of them aren't really an issue at all, just a matter of player preference. 

 

In conclusion: Different strokes for different folks, but don't expect the strokes to all suit you.

 

To clarify: 'Men' is used in the context of 'mankind' here.

[Gegenji]

Hell, I play a highlander because GODDAMN THAT BODY -- but that's not the only reason, and it certainly doesn't define me as a roleplayer, writer or person.

 

I have to also wonder how much of this comes from just popularity of the race, too. I note these sorts of threads only seem to pop up (both here and on the main forums) in regards to Miqo'te, and similar hintings towards the Au Ra. Cat people and dragon people, common "attractive" things.

 

I wonder how many such threads would come out if it was common fact that, say, Roegadyns saw Lalafell as a delicacy. Or Lalafell were actually born from seeds planted in the ground and were pulled forth from the earth full-grown screaming and wailing.

 

Heck, there's things in lore for other races that people don't seem to enforce emoting about or focusing attentions on. A Dunesfolk's protective eyes, for one - sure, it creeps some players out, but how many Dunesfolk emote about those eyes? Or a Roegadyn's last name being "Son of" or "Daughter of" their father, implying importance in one's patriarchal line? How many Roes actually have put thought into the father figure their last name draws from?

[Warren Castille]

Hell, I play a highlander because GODDAMN THAT BODY -- but that's not the only reason, and it certainly doesn't define me as a roleplayer, writer or person.

 

I have to also wonder how much of this comes from just popularity of the race, too. I note these sorts of threads only seem to pop up (both here and on the main forums) in regards to Miqo'te, and similar hintings towards the Au Ra. Cat people and dragon people, common "attractive" things.

 

I wonder how many such threads would come out if it was common fact that, say, Roegadyns saw Lalafell as a delicacy. Or Lalafell were actually born from seeds planted in the ground and were pulled forth from the earth full-grown screaming and wailing.

 

Heck, there's things in lore for other races that people don't seem to enforce emoting about or focusing attentions on. A Dunesfolk's protective eyes, for one - sure, it creeps some players out, but how many Dunesfolk emote about those eyes? Or a Roegadyn's last name being "Son of" or "Daughter of" their father, implying importance in one's patriarchal line? How many Roes actually have put thought into the father figure their last name draws from?

 

I do think a large portion of choosing a race is the superficial part. I mean, what do we know about the races before we start playing? We have tiny onion people, we have human guy, we have STRONG HUGE human guy, we have elf, dark elf, beargorillaman, red beargorillaman, and catgirl catboy. People are going to gravitate towards what they find pleasing, be it archetypical or aesthetically.

[Dravus]

I don't think there's anything wrong with picking a race based on whether or not it's conventionally attractive. I do think it raises alarm bells when a character has no depth beyond 'look how hot I am' though.

 

I role-play a blood elf over in WoW but that's a combination of me finding my character easy on the eyes and more importantly because I love the race's lore and culture.

 

FFXIV doesn't have a lot to draw on when it comes to racial lore though, as mentioned earlier.

[Kinono]

 

I wonder how many such threads would come out if it was common fact that, say, Roegadyns saw Lalafell as a delicacy. Or Lalafell were actually born from seeds planted in the ground and were pulled forth from the earth full-grown screaming and wailing.

 

...I would have to retcon SO MUCH.

 

 

Heck, there's things in lore for other races that people don't seem to enforce emoting about or focusing attentions on. A Dunesfolk's protective eyes, for one - sure, it creeps some players out, but how many Dunesfolk emote about those eyes? Or a Roegadyn's last name being "Son of" or "Daughter of" their father, implying importance in one's patriarchal line? How many Roes actually have put thought into the father figure their last name draws from?

 

I find the phsyical features of lalafell (besides the height and rotundness, obviously) are much harder to convey. Unless the brightness of the sun is specifically brought up, I'm gonna have a hard time working protective eye film gracefully into my emotes. I do abide by the typical hatred of cold and even the occasional flight of superstition, but those are more racial personality quirks than physical features.

[Sounsyy]

Merp. Sounsyy is Miqo'te because Sounsyy was Mithra in XI. Honestly no other reason. She could just as easily be played as Hyur with very little retcon. Why? Well, for one, when I created her, Miqo'te lore didn't even exist, and by the time it did, it didn't really make a lot of sense with her story.

 

I did add in some Seeker Miqo'te drama into the backstory, but (to keep from retconning Sounsyy's personality) most of it she is unfamiliar with or doesn't remember. And I think, for myself, that's enough. Sounsyy is a Seeker raised in Ala Mhigo, then after it was razed Gridania, Ul'dah, and Limsa. She's never interacted with a Tribe. It's not a part of her lifestyle. So naturally, she doesn't behave like a Tribal Miqo'te. She behaves like her fellow Ala Mhigans.

 

Is this evidence that I don't know XIV's lore? Hehehe....

No, it simply means that if I were to make Sounsyy behave/adhere to a Seeker background, I might as well scrap her and start over, but I'm not gonna do that cuz attached. I will spoiler what I did to introduce some Seeker culture into her background though:

 

Sounsyy's Birth Name: R'sunhsi Jahkob

Hmm, that's a very different last name...

 

[Iex]

Hell, I play a highlander because GODDAMN THAT BODY -- but that's not the only reason, and it certainly doesn't define me as a roleplayer, writer or person.

 

Heck, there's things in lore for other races that people don't seem to enforce emoting about or focusing attentions on. A Dunesfolk's protective eyes, for one - sure, it creeps some players out, but how many Dunesfolk emote about those eyes? Or a Roegadyn's last name being "Son of" or "Daughter of" their father, implying importance in one's patriarchal line? How many Roes actually have put thought into the father figure their last name draws from?

 

Depends... really, if the character knows who their father is. If that isn't the case, they may improvise. One of my characters has a 'title' as his father, because his father was probably a drunken one night stand with his pirate mother. Then there are folks who dislike their father so they cut that out. Finally there are Hellguard which cut out the family name all together most the time for different reasons but in my case because Grave Shadow son of Hollow Voice would be a damn mouthful to relay every time.

 

As for the eyes... they are the only way my character (read me) can tell plainsfolk apart from dunesfolk. However, getting his face up in their 'grills' just too look at the eyes is a bit rude. So most the time he avoids the topic or commits social awkwardness when he can't identify them easily.

[Maril]

I find that my Miqo'te has actually taught me as a roleplayer quite a lot. For one he's my first male character, but secondly the lore itself has been "forcing" (It's such a strong word) me to deal with or think about some aspects of their culture and behavior that have otherwise been a taboo either IRL or in other RP communities, and I definitely do not think anyone should straight up denounce their lore because as much as it has been a bit challenging at times (Like, learning how to even Polyamory, thank goodness for the guide) I feel like I've uh. Grown a bit? and I have actually come to enjoy the generally mature-mindset that I see a lot on the RP community here. I mean, sure, some people still choke up and have a heart-attack when you mention ERP, but that is more the exception to the rule it seems. Thirdly, as a roleplayer I have always gravitated towards the standard human race in the various games, the Miqo'te is the first race that I found I could still relate to in some way but where it's still definitely not just a human - I believe that through playing my Miqo'te, I've managed to expand my horizon and see more possibilities. Maybe in future games I'll be able to take a step further and play a race that is more beast-like than human like. I really appreciate that as a roleplayer, I love learning and I don't think we ever truly stop learning and growing. 

My Miqo'te is city born-and-raised and is as such not a deep part of the cultural norm of the keepers, but I am happy to say (because it has been fun!!) that a lot of the points where he differs have been recurring themes in his RP when it comes to reactions from others. For example, he's been looked down upon quite a bit of taking a shining to men and generally not wanting to spend his life producing as many kitts as possible. 

 

I get a little miffed when people say that all Miqo'te rpers are just yaoi/yiff/anime/insert-your-fandom-fetish-here excuses, because it's a bit of a short-sighted generalization that doesn't fit 95% of the serious RP crowd that has a miqo'te. It's kind of like saying all football fans are violent hooligans. In general, I haven't been in contact with the fandoms and the fetishes that people so often compare it to - I don't watch a whole lot of Anime and I'm not big on the japaneese culture. Literally what I thought when I saw the Miqo'te was that I like cats, in the sense that I find them interesting, and felt it was kind of cool to see that kind of a mix between man and cat. Just like I'm sure there's a lot of people getting interested in the Au Ra because dragons are fucking awesome like. So that makes them interesting to them. 

 

Give your local Miqo'te a chance

[K'nahli]

What's wrong with Seeker culture?

 

To take a guess:

 

SE handed players lore that outright said "These guys in specific get ALL the tail they want, and yes, you can play as one."

 

They made Sex God a playable race.

 

But that's such a modern societal view of it. I wonder how many tias actually see that side of it as opposed to treating it as a position of respect and honour. It defines them as the most capable hunter in the tribe and one whom bears the responsibility of siring the next generation. All I ever see are people scrutinizing it and writing it off as though it were just like:

"lol im nuhn now. all de girlz are mien."

 

 

Plus they don't really get any girl they want when they want. They obvious have to establish relationships with some of the girls that support him and not just treat them as pregnancy machine, haha.

 

I don't know, but I think that any miqo'te that calls the setup a harem probably wants it to be a harem if that's the only way they can see it.

 

 

Or Lalafell were actually born from seeds planted in the ground and were pulled forth from the earth full-grown screaming and wailing.

 

This is almost like.... genuinely my canon perception of how lalafel come to be, hahahahaha ;;

[Warren Castille]

But that's such a modern societal view of it. I wonder how many tias actually see that side of it as opposed to treating it as a position of respect and honour. It defines them as the most capable hunter in the tribe and one whom bears the responsibility of siring the next generation. All I ever see are people scrutinizing it and writing it off as though it were just like:

"lol im nuhn now. all de girlz are mien."

 

 

Plus they don't really get any girl they want when they want. They obvious have to establish relationships with some of the girls that support him and not just treat them as pregnancy machine, haha.

 

That requires nuance and reading, though. We're discussing the lowest-denominator groups who saw tails, ears and alpha male positioning and stopped reading. Good roleplayers will play good characters. I'm challenging the idea that not emoting your tail or being overtly-miqoish in emotes removes you from the "good roleplayer" side of things.

 

I do not think SE did themselves any favors incorporating such a taboo concept, though. It's going to draw folks who are only in it for the ass, and has.

[FreelanceWizard]

So, naturally, as the player of a miqo'te main, I feel I have to chime in. I apologize in advance if this comes off as defensive.

 

In RP, I try to emote L'yhta's tail and ears regularly, especially when they'd be very noticeably expressive or what they're doing adds nuance to what she's saying. After all, if the emote isn't benefitting the narrative in some way, why do it? Emoting it when it doesn't add anything is, as Warren noted, somewhat redundant. I'll admit I could do a bit more in this regard, though. As for the improved sense of smell, I don't use that primarily because a trait of my character is that she's imperceptive, especially so for a miqo'te.

 

As for the overall lore, much of L'yhta's character concept is related to the way Seeker tribes work -- bearing in mind that there's a fairly wide variance in how that's interpreted. What I wanted to do was take a character who, by all rights, was a normal member of her culture and introduce life-changing experiences that would serve as the Call to Adventure in her story. So, I took some of the (frankly, squickier) parts of Seeker lore, combined them with the upheaval of the Calamity, and introduced a major event in her backstory that caused her to leave her home and old life. She's so loudly and obnoxiously pro-Limsa and anti-tribal culture as a way of separating herself from her prior life and attaching herself to a new culture she doesn't fully understand (reaction formation -- her favored defense mechanism). Things like eternal bond ceremonies are somewhat confusing to her because, where she grew up, they didn't have such things. It's not that she doesn't get the concept, but rather she doesn't entirely grok why you'd do them at all. That said, she adapts because she's trying to assimilate into a culture that she actively wants to be a part of, as she prefers the Bright City Lights and Adventurer's Life over a simple tribal existence.

 

Certainly, one can accuse me of breaking lore here, but honestly, I think a tribal miqo'te ultimately must leave the tribal culture and assimilate into city-state culture to some degree in order to succeed as a professional adventurer. I realize not everyone plays an adventurer character, but I think it's quite unfair for those of us who do -- or who for other reasons choose to have our character be part of the city-state cultures -- to be viewed as "hyur in cosplay" and written off as poor role-players who should be avoided. I like to think I have a reasonable narrative justification, informed by the lore, for why my character is the way she is and does the things she does.

 

All that said, I do wish there were more tribal miqo'te about, and I do wish we saw more conflict between the "city miqo'te" and the "country miqo'te." I try to rile them up when the opportunity presents itself, but since city miqo'te are more common in cities (which is, primarily, where L'yhta hangs out) and country miqo'te tend to keep to themselves (which makes sense, as a minority culture attempting to preserve itself), the opportunity is rarely presented.

[Kinono]

It's going to draw folks who are only in it for the ass, and has.

 

That's why I play lalafell exclusively in first-person, though.

[Zhavi]

You know what irritates me about fantasy? The lack of attention to detail of culture. It's one thing if you have a single isolated group of a species that is the only group of that species, but to say 'all dwarves love drinking beer and mining' or 'all miqo'te of this particular subspecies are tribal' or ... hell, anything that goes 'the vast majority of this species acts this way' is supremely, supremely annoying to me. I mean, yes, we all have a tendency to be ethnocentric, but to present things as the rule rather than a part of the rule. . .

 

it leads to debates like this.

 

biology does not equal culture. And we have a wider range of species than humans that shows us this! Animals too have their own subcultures, particularly when looking at certain types of apes or even other animals like ravens. Groups will adapt to their surroundings and pick up tool uses that others don't, as well as methods of communicating with each other and how they interact with other species -- they adapt to their surroundings and learn from each other.

 

If you want biology to be a bigger indicator of behavior, then developers need to dig deeper than 'hurr durr this group looks different and is haughty'.

 

Otherwise, yeah, every single damn group is going to have similar characteristics because they're all going to be various types of (horrendously shallow) human behavior. The biggest difference is that rather than being dynamic devs are taking the lazy route and going 'well this one is like an exaggerated version of this human trait, and this one is like an exaggerated version of this human trait' etc.

 

So, yup, to me so long as the history of the character makes sense for the behavior (ie, did not grow up in the stupid little microcosm the devs determined to be how all of the species miraculously developed culturally), of course you're going to see some hyurs with tails.

 

My cat grew up in the city, and you bet your ass she acts like it. And at that point? Yeah, the only thing that truly separates her from the other species is the undeniable biological differences: good senses, a hatred of the sun, and legs suited for climbing and running.

 

/rant

[Bopdoot]

I think it boils down to why individuals RP.  Are they seeking deep immersion in setting lore? Are they simply living out a personal fantasy vicariously through they're character? I think most of us are a bit of both..leaning more one way. 

 

Luckily we can choose who to RP with and who to avoid. Surround yourself with people that match your RP goals I guess.

 

As a personal opinion... I think you can successfully RP a sexual culture without spending most of an evening typing out the act of intercourse. To each their own, I personally would rather do something more productive with my RP time.  >.> Fade-to-black is good enuff for meee. :lol:

 

*EDITTED BECAUSE AUTOCORRECT SUCKS*

[Dravus]

Even if Seeker Miqo'te hadn't been written with the whole 'Nunh' thing I'm pretty confident in suggesting that those same players desperately using it for unsavoury means would still be playing overly sexual characters designed for ERP and little else. Certain races/niches just attract that sort of thing like a bee to pollen.

[C'kayah Polaali]

But that's such a modern societal view of it. I wonder how many tias actually see that side of it as opposed to treating it as a position of respect and honour. It defines them as the most capable hunter in the tribe and one whom bears the responsibility of siring the next generation. All I ever see are people scrutinizing it and writing it off as though it were just like:

"lol im nuhn now. all de girlz are mien."

 

 

Plus they don't really get any girl they want when they want. They obvious have to establish relationships with some of the girls that support him and not just treat them as pregnancy machine, haha.

 

That requires nuance and reading, though. We're discussing the lowest-denominator groups who saw tails, ears and alpha male positioning and stopped reading. Good roleplayers will play good characters. I'm challenging the idea that not emoting your tail or being overtly-miqoish in emotes removes you from the "good roleplayer" side of things.

 

I do not think SE did themselves any favors incorporating such a taboo concept, though. It's going to draw folks who are only in it for the ass, and has.

 

You clearly haven't seen C'kayah around any of the self-proclaimed adventurer Nunhs, have you?

 

In any case, as someone who pretty much only plays Miqo'te, I can definitely see what you're talking about in terms of "Hyur with cat suit" roleplay. But it's not really "Hyur with cat suit". It's "Modern person with cat suit". You see that with everyone.

 

Hyurs aren't modern humans, yet you see lots of people who are played either as "ordinary Americans dropped off in Eorzea" or "Some very specific culture dropped off in Eorzea". A prominent roleplayer on this forum roleplays a Samurai. You, Warren, don't have a particularly Highlander name.

 

How many Lalafell are played as the passionate, powerful people that they actually are? Ul'dah is a Lalafell city, after all! The rest of us have just emigrated there.

 

Find me a Roegadyn that actually plays to the traditional Roegadyn culture.

 

Elezen RPers are probably the most lore-appropriate - at least the ones that I've seen - statistically. This may have something to do with the relatively small numbers of them on Balmung.

 

But, of course, if you look at the races as portrayed by the various quests, things get complicated. They're all over the map, culturally. Urbanized non-tribal Miqo'te outnumber the actual traditionals by something like 5:1. You're hard pressed to find a hint of traditional Roegadyn culture in Merlwyb and her crew. Highlanders are supposed to be touchy about their names, yet you never see any hint of this.

 

You could almost argue that the roleplayers who create Miqo'te named "Take'me B'igboy" and are in it solely for the ERP are doing a better job of playing their characters to lore than those of us who try to play "real" Miqo'te.

 

I've got to address this, though:

Even the subtle stuff like twitching ears or struggling to grasp the full extent of Eorzean culture can make a huge difference in terms of a character's impact.

 

Why should Miqo'te have trouble grasping the full extent of Eorzean culture? Why would ignorance about the world be a Miqo'te trait? You look at the U-tribe Miqo's in the MSQ, they're fully engaged in the world and aware of things happening across Eorzea. Tribal doesn't mean isolated.

[Gegenji]

Even if Seeker Miqo'te hadn't been written with the whole 'Nunh' thing I'm pretty confident in suggesting that those same players desperately using it for unsavoury means would still be playing overly sexual characters designed for ERP and little else. Certain races/niches just attract that sort of thing like a bee to pollen.

 

I could just as confidently say that this would likely happen even if there weren't Miqo'te around as a race. If not Miqote, then Hyur or Roegadyn. Heck, I'm sure there's someone other there ready and eager to show how little Popotoes are made. It's just the fantasy they're going for - and that fantasy involves getting laid. The cat ears/dragon horns just happen to be a bonus.

[Alothia]

I think that having cookie cutter roles for different races leads to a dull and dry sort of Eorzea.

 

We want people who differ. We want people who go against the "norm" of their culture, because that causes conflict, and really, what are we as RPers if not drama mongers (just drama of our own making).

 

Again, it's like saying that the sky, because it's the sky, is always blue.

 

It's not. There are so many hues of orange, yellow, purple, gray, black....to ignore them, is to ignore the beauty of the sky as a whole.