I often see people say that at the end of the day, they feel like they have nothing to do, and that is quite understandable. But what if I told you all there was a way to have infinite content and always something to look forward to in FFXIV? Yes, Roleplay, that old nasty word that has been coopted, laughed at, and overall looked upon in curosity by so many of the community over the past year.
What I want to do with this guide, like the few guides that have been posted before it, is give a simple, comprehensive overview of what to expect in the FFXIV RP community (At least on the US side, I can't speak for the other Data Centers), the basics of creating a character, and what people expect in RP. Hopefully, this gives you some ideas and even perhaps inspires you to join the RP community on your own!
-Part 1-
The Basics
So, there are some terms that you need to know before you can generally start addressing any form of RP in any MMO. These terms are terms I'm sure you have heard before, but it never hurts to go over them and define them exactly.
Out Of Character(OOC, OOCly): This is the time that you aren't playing a character. When you aren't roleplaying, you are OOC. This is more or less the default state of Roleplayers, as people who play Icly 24/7 aren't really common, at least from my experience. In addition, people often indicate that they are speaking not as their characters, but OOCly, through surrounding the words in brackets, which include (but is not limited to):
(( ))
< >
[ ]
()
I have seen several other combinations, but the most common one, at least in my personal experience, is (()). When Rpers are not IC though, they generally don't speak with these, because it would look odd. That means that anyone around you could be an Rper, and you would never know it. It could be you. It could be me. It could even be-
IC: So, I used the term IC a few times back there. If OOC stands for out of character, you can imagine as IC being the time you are in your character. More often then not, conversations in this state take place in /say or /emote. Players who are speaking Icly will also often use quotes “” as a means of indicating when their character is speaking in dialogue. If you see someone with an RP tag, around eighty percent of the time, they are considering themselves In Character at that point in time. Unless they just forgot to turn it off, which happens sometimes.
RP: Role Play. Yeah. Cool. Neat
ERP: listen its an elephant in the room and if I ignore it I'll just be inviting comments. ERP stands for EXTREME ROLE PLAY Erotic Role Play. During this time, two characters are... generally doing what adults do. Doing this in public is a temp bannable offense, as far as I am aware and people who make characters JUST to ERP generally aren't welcome in more serious RP communities. However, I would be a liar if I didn't claim that it didn't happen in these serious RP communities as well. Just know that it makes up about 2% of the total RP in these communities, is private and between consenting adults, and generally, can be ignored completely.
Godmoding or GodModeing: I have seen it spelled either way, but the point is the same. This is when your emote is telling another player what to do. So, for example, if you typed out “I stab you and you die”, thats considered god modding. Don't do this unless you want to be put on a lot of black lists.
Metagaming: Another form of Godmodding, this is using outside information given to you by the game OOCly Icly. So, imagine you walk up, and your character is Icly meeting another character for the first time. If your character went “Hello there, <Character Name>”, that would be considered Metagaming. Because you found out that persons name not through IC interaction, but through the blue name floating above their head. When Rping its imortant to consider not the information that you know, but instead the information that your character knows.
Misc: Other various things to know is that most Rpers do not use the in game PVP system for combat, because it would be a pain and result in severe mismatches that really could break character. 95% of the time, when you see people Rping combat, they will be using /random or /dice to determine the victor between two emotes. This is to avoid God Modding
-Part 2-
An Example
Since we have gone over the basics, I want to give you an example of how a typical RP interaction might take place. Bare in mind, this is a very, very short interaction, and is just here for example purposes.
A:/emote walks up next to the bar and orders a drink. She turns to the strange Hyur sitting next to her, waving at him before speaking “Hello! Do you come here often?”
B: /emote turns towards the woman and grunts noncommittedly, pulling up his drink and taking a sip of it, saying nothing.
A: /emote shrugs, taking her drink from the bar and walking away
This structure can change based on how many people are Rping, but in general it stays the same. One person acts, the other reacts, and this goes back and forth until they part company. Bare in mind, on average the emotes I just posted are considered rather short, but workable. Some people prefer to emote and type in short paragraphs, some people prefer smaller, more condensed emoting style. Neither is wrong. In addition, while some basic grammar and spelling comprehension is expected, no one is going to judge you for small spelling or grammar errors. We are all humans here, just trying to have fun.
-Part 3-
Getting Started
Getting started with RP can often times be the hardest part. From creating your character, to defining a backstory, deciding a personality, finding a server, finding a group of people to Rp with, to the hardest part, naming your character
Lets start at the basics. When you choose a Race, Clan, and Gender in FFXIV, you should carefully consider the lore of the game. The character creation screen goes into the basics of this, and you should pay close attention to it when you are making you RP character. In general however, its worth considering that much of what is mentioned in these lore screens is Tribal living, and it is stated several times throughout the lore that the spread of cities is beginning to obliterate these traditions. I would argue that if you are making your first character, creating a simpler backstory is better. While it might be fun to have a deep, dark backstory, your first concern should be figuring out the personality of your character, and then your backstory. Even leaving your backstory intentionally vague as you figure out your character is completely valid, and its a good tactic for first time Rpers.
Next, naming conventions. I won't take too long on this section, but here you can find all of the naming conventions for every race in FFXIV.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/63112
A special note here goes to Xaela players. Your names also impact your backstory, so pay close attention to the tribes described there. If you are having trouble picking out a name, in general the in game randomizer has some good options, and if that doesn't work I recommend https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/final-fantasy-xiv.php , the savior of nerds the world over for name generation.
I would also like to note special restrictions on some jobs. While nothing is stopping you from being creative with these jobs, I want to note that the lore is harsh on the following three jobs:
Dragoons: There are mentioned to be no more then 100 Dragoons in existance at any one point, and the vast majority of them are Ishgardian.
White Mage: White Magic is very rare and heavily monitored. Using it is illegal without permission.
Black Mage: The same as White Mage, Black mage is illegal and heavily monitored.
That being said, all of the Classes in game are available easily to anyone living in Eorzea with the aptitude for it. Just bare in mind your character when you decide.
I want to make a quick tangent here into the subject of the WOL. Generally speaking, it is frowned upon by most public communities to claim that your character is the WoL. The reason for this is pretty simple, as not only would everyone be claiming to be the WoL, but it would also give your character an unreasonable amount of power. In private communities, this might be more acceptable, but your mileage may vary from community to community.
Speaking of Communities, lets get to our servers. Here in the US, we have two main RP servers. Balmung is the most well known of these two, notorious almost for its RP community. I can't speak for much there myself, but I know for a fact that if you seek RP, you can find it on Balmung. On the other hand, there is Mateus, the younger of the two RP communities. Mateus arose after Balmung was given the hard lock back in Stormblood, preventing any new players from joining it at all, and given free transfers off. Roleplayers decided to, in mass, move to Mateus. I have heard some grumbling from Mateus old timers, but for the most part, before this, Mateus was a near empty server. Now, Mateus is full of RP communities of different types.
Speaking of, while finding public RP can be fun, eventually your going to want to consider finding an FC. There are many types of Fcs, and while I can't speak to any one quality on them, I recommend using both the Community Finder on the lodestone and the Hydaelyn Roleplayers Coalition, found here. https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/. In addition, there are quite a few discords available for Rpers, and while I wouldn't link of them here, as I have no permission, they are quite available with a light google search. Rpers, in general, are welcoming, if not a little strange at times, so if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. Finding an FC will let you have more organized structure and find events and other things that they run. If your looking for a stucture and storylines, an FC is the best way to go.
Rping can be a fun and rewarding way to add life into the game after periods of long inactivity and boredom. I hope this guide helps you find what you are looking for, and if not, it was at the very least slightly entertaining and educating to see that RP is more then just people hanging around in the quicksand. Its easier to look at RP as a never ending, always evolving, massive game of D&D, with all the warts that that involves.
submitted by /u/TexanDedede
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Continue reading...
What I want to do with this guide, like the few guides that have been posted before it, is give a simple, comprehensive overview of what to expect in the FFXIV RP community (At least on the US side, I can't speak for the other Data Centers), the basics of creating a character, and what people expect in RP. Hopefully, this gives you some ideas and even perhaps inspires you to join the RP community on your own!
-Part 1-
The Basics
So, there are some terms that you need to know before you can generally start addressing any form of RP in any MMO. These terms are terms I'm sure you have heard before, but it never hurts to go over them and define them exactly.
Out Of Character(OOC, OOCly): This is the time that you aren't playing a character. When you aren't roleplaying, you are OOC. This is more or less the default state of Roleplayers, as people who play Icly 24/7 aren't really common, at least from my experience. In addition, people often indicate that they are speaking not as their characters, but OOCly, through surrounding the words in brackets, which include (but is not limited to):
(( ))
< >
[ ]
()
I have seen several other combinations, but the most common one, at least in my personal experience, is (()). When Rpers are not IC though, they generally don't speak with these, because it would look odd. That means that anyone around you could be an Rper, and you would never know it. It could be you. It could be me. It could even be-
IC: So, I used the term IC a few times back there. If OOC stands for out of character, you can imagine as IC being the time you are in your character. More often then not, conversations in this state take place in /say or /emote. Players who are speaking Icly will also often use quotes “” as a means of indicating when their character is speaking in dialogue. If you see someone with an RP tag, around eighty percent of the time, they are considering themselves In Character at that point in time. Unless they just forgot to turn it off, which happens sometimes.
RP: Role Play. Yeah. Cool. Neat
ERP: listen its an elephant in the room and if I ignore it I'll just be inviting comments. ERP stands for EXTREME ROLE PLAY Erotic Role Play. During this time, two characters are... generally doing what adults do. Doing this in public is a temp bannable offense, as far as I am aware and people who make characters JUST to ERP generally aren't welcome in more serious RP communities. However, I would be a liar if I didn't claim that it didn't happen in these serious RP communities as well. Just know that it makes up about 2% of the total RP in these communities, is private and between consenting adults, and generally, can be ignored completely.
Godmoding or GodModeing: I have seen it spelled either way, but the point is the same. This is when your emote is telling another player what to do. So, for example, if you typed out “I stab you and you die”, thats considered god modding. Don't do this unless you want to be put on a lot of black lists.
Metagaming: Another form of Godmodding, this is using outside information given to you by the game OOCly Icly. So, imagine you walk up, and your character is Icly meeting another character for the first time. If your character went “Hello there, <Character Name>”, that would be considered Metagaming. Because you found out that persons name not through IC interaction, but through the blue name floating above their head. When Rping its imortant to consider not the information that you know, but instead the information that your character knows.
Misc: Other various things to know is that most Rpers do not use the in game PVP system for combat, because it would be a pain and result in severe mismatches that really could break character. 95% of the time, when you see people Rping combat, they will be using /random or /dice to determine the victor between two emotes. This is to avoid God Modding
-Part 2-
An Example
Since we have gone over the basics, I want to give you an example of how a typical RP interaction might take place. Bare in mind, this is a very, very short interaction, and is just here for example purposes.
A:/emote walks up next to the bar and orders a drink. She turns to the strange Hyur sitting next to her, waving at him before speaking “Hello! Do you come here often?”
B: /emote turns towards the woman and grunts noncommittedly, pulling up his drink and taking a sip of it, saying nothing.
A: /emote shrugs, taking her drink from the bar and walking away
This structure can change based on how many people are Rping, but in general it stays the same. One person acts, the other reacts, and this goes back and forth until they part company. Bare in mind, on average the emotes I just posted are considered rather short, but workable. Some people prefer to emote and type in short paragraphs, some people prefer smaller, more condensed emoting style. Neither is wrong. In addition, while some basic grammar and spelling comprehension is expected, no one is going to judge you for small spelling or grammar errors. We are all humans here, just trying to have fun.
-Part 3-
Getting Started
Getting started with RP can often times be the hardest part. From creating your character, to defining a backstory, deciding a personality, finding a server, finding a group of people to Rp with, to the hardest part, naming your character
Lets start at the basics. When you choose a Race, Clan, and Gender in FFXIV, you should carefully consider the lore of the game. The character creation screen goes into the basics of this, and you should pay close attention to it when you are making you RP character. In general however, its worth considering that much of what is mentioned in these lore screens is Tribal living, and it is stated several times throughout the lore that the spread of cities is beginning to obliterate these traditions. I would argue that if you are making your first character, creating a simpler backstory is better. While it might be fun to have a deep, dark backstory, your first concern should be figuring out the personality of your character, and then your backstory. Even leaving your backstory intentionally vague as you figure out your character is completely valid, and its a good tactic for first time Rpers.
Next, naming conventions. I won't take too long on this section, but here you can find all of the naming conventions for every race in FFXIV.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/63112
A special note here goes to Xaela players. Your names also impact your backstory, so pay close attention to the tribes described there. If you are having trouble picking out a name, in general the in game randomizer has some good options, and if that doesn't work I recommend https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/final-fantasy-xiv.php , the savior of nerds the world over for name generation.
I would also like to note special restrictions on some jobs. While nothing is stopping you from being creative with these jobs, I want to note that the lore is harsh on the following three jobs:
Dragoons: There are mentioned to be no more then 100 Dragoons in existance at any one point, and the vast majority of them are Ishgardian.
White Mage: White Magic is very rare and heavily monitored. Using it is illegal without permission.
Black Mage: The same as White Mage, Black mage is illegal and heavily monitored.
That being said, all of the Classes in game are available easily to anyone living in Eorzea with the aptitude for it. Just bare in mind your character when you decide.
I want to make a quick tangent here into the subject of the WOL. Generally speaking, it is frowned upon by most public communities to claim that your character is the WoL. The reason for this is pretty simple, as not only would everyone be claiming to be the WoL, but it would also give your character an unreasonable amount of power. In private communities, this might be more acceptable, but your mileage may vary from community to community.
Speaking of Communities, lets get to our servers. Here in the US, we have two main RP servers. Balmung is the most well known of these two, notorious almost for its RP community. I can't speak for much there myself, but I know for a fact that if you seek RP, you can find it on Balmung. On the other hand, there is Mateus, the younger of the two RP communities. Mateus arose after Balmung was given the hard lock back in Stormblood, preventing any new players from joining it at all, and given free transfers off. Roleplayers decided to, in mass, move to Mateus. I have heard some grumbling from Mateus old timers, but for the most part, before this, Mateus was a near empty server. Now, Mateus is full of RP communities of different types.
Speaking of, while finding public RP can be fun, eventually your going to want to consider finding an FC. There are many types of Fcs, and while I can't speak to any one quality on them, I recommend using both the Community Finder on the lodestone and the Hydaelyn Roleplayers Coalition, found here. https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/. In addition, there are quite a few discords available for Rpers, and while I wouldn't link of them here, as I have no permission, they are quite available with a light google search. Rpers, in general, are welcoming, if not a little strange at times, so if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. Finding an FC will let you have more organized structure and find events and other things that they run. If your looking for a stucture and storylines, an FC is the best way to go.
Rping can be a fun and rewarding way to add life into the game after periods of long inactivity and boredom. I hope this guide helps you find what you are looking for, and if not, it was at the very least slightly entertaining and educating to see that RP is more then just people hanging around in the quicksand. Its easier to look at RP as a never ending, always evolving, massive game of D&D, with all the warts that that involves.
submitted by /u/TexanDedede
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...