On Extreme Role-playing Within XIV

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Originally Posted by Setesh45

The RP character that's a dick. I role-played with a character like that for a while, it completely ruined the atmosphere every time, the whole RP session just ruined by one person role-playing a racist egotistical orc.
After our second session I had people refusing to go with him. He kept harassing the elves in our party, his every second line was an insult towards someone. IRL you wouldn't stay around someone like that, so why should you in RP?

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Well, I mean in IRL such actions do cause a sense of lasting damage, but in terms of RP if that is their character I do not understand what made them feel uncomfortable, wouldn't it have made more sense to express the discomfort through the RP session verse just ignoring the person altogether? Just seems like the player was being avoided because others were personally comfortable not their characters. Though it does also sound like a poorly written character, which is fine line, they do not have to be overly racist where every other word is a slur that is just lazy. So I can also understand it from that PoV, though it seems less to do with a racist character and more so the person created a poor racist character.

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Originally Posted by Cyreil

Maybe because it requires you to put yourself into the mindset of being racist, xenophobic and intolerant.

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It also does require you to unnaturally feel like you and your character are the same to get offended by it. I mean, I have yet to feel offended when a Garlean calls me "EORZEAN SAVAGE!!!1!" during the story, can't see why it would be any different in Roleplay, especially since you can talk back to players.

Then again, I used to roleplay in WoW and let me tell you, almost every nightborne, blood, void and night elves tended to be prettyyyyyy elvish levels of xenophobic.

Time and place. Nuance and consideration. And most of all, consent and affirmation.

These are the key components to playing any sort of antagonistic character in any sort of roleplay. They're the same bedrock principles used in all kinds of roleplay. Yes, to many the bar scene RP might seem bland, but that is by intention for those who are seeking to alleviate other outside stresses. Mindlessly throwing an antagonist into that mix without consent or consideration might not be the smartest thing to do - and this is from someone who's played Garlean and mixed-blood Garleans before for Roleplay.

"Why can't I play _____" has clear and definable answers with exceptions you can work around. Follow guidelines and respect other people's intentions desires and personal spaces and you'll find that niche you're looking for - and probably provide a great experience for others looking for that sort of thing as well. That's how RP communities intend to work. (Harder in execution. Ego, drama, loss of personal detachment and social/interpersonal issues native to being invested in a story can and will all rear their ugly heads in RP environments.)

I think this is just a matter of looking for the right crowd to play with. There's multiple RP sites and communities available to reference and look for if you're wanting that. I've been out of the RP scene for a couple years now so any suggestions I'd make would be dated. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Bobby66

Well, I mean in IRL such actions do cause a sense of lasting damage, but in terms of RP if that is their character I do not understand what made them feel uncomfortable, wouldn't it have made more sense to express the discomfort through the RP session verse just ignoring the person altogether? Just seems like the player was being avoided because others were personally comfortable not their characters.

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Yes, the behaviour made them personally feel uncomfortable. People who roleplay are emotionally invested in their characters and in the roleplay.
The guy also wasn't a random person but a part of the guild and an IRL friend to another guldie. Unfortunately, this person got invited into the guild via this friend and not the official way, this was the result.
In the end nobody wanted to openly exclude him because he was in the guild but they also didn't want to play with him because he refused to change his ways in character.

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Originally Posted by Setesh45

Yes, the behaviour made them personally feel uncomfortable. People who roleplay are emotionally invested in their characters and in the roleplay.
The guy also wasn't a random person but a part of the guild and an IRL friend to another guldie. Unfortunately, this person got invited into the guild via this friend and not the official way, this was the result.
In the end nobody wanted to openly exclude him because he was in the guild but they also didn't want to play with him because he refused to change his ways in character.

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Though I think that goes to show the point many have made, the person and the character should be able to separate ones feelings. Sure it is understandable for ones character to be uncomfortable since the slurs and comments are aimed towards the character. Though for what reason should the person behind the keyboard feel uncomfortable? The comments are not aimed towards them in any shape or form. Maybe I am a boomer, but rule of thumb I have always been told to follow is another player does not have the right to ask another within the group to alter their characters personality unless it is grossly overpowered or something along those lines.

Personally, I think it's way too far and even tiring to even THINK about this idea of "if you're someone who RPs as hating lalas then you're racist irl" I just. I'm so tired. It's both a joke and insult. Like please do not put a lalafell hater on the same level as someone who would gun me down simply for breathing, do not insult me like that. If you can't comprehend why even insinuating that someone pretending to be racist against made up characters is awful, I don't know what to tell you other than you're apparently extremely sheltered and perhaps are consuming way too much fiction. Please read about reality sometimes too. The two will never compare, it'll never be the same, you will never be the leader of morality that you think you are attempting to pull that self indulgent little trick.

And what anyway is the proposed idea in relation to this. Have there be one set of RP rules and everyone has to follow it to a T or they should be banned? Everyone should have the same views, the same mindsets, the same backgrounds-you all just wanna relive the same fart sniffing stories over and over again just to remain morally righteous in a video game? In a video game where both you and all the other main characters around you make morally questionable decisions from time to time???

Are we finally reaching that point where media isnt allowed to have conflict? Because I've seen it popping up with fan writers and other things. Like.. "well if you make a villain, you CO-SIGN what that villain does because you literally created him" Huh?? Then where does the good guy come in? Where's the dark to fight for light? It's ok to enjoy slice of life, but why does everything have to fit this bubble of an ideal perfect no one is ever hurt EVER world?

It's 100% ok to not RP with people you're not comfortable with. Regardless of the situation.
It's 100% ok to avoid someone for in-character and even out of character reasons. Regardless of the situation.
Everyone has boundaries. Everyone has preferences. That's good, that's great. Surround yourself with what you enjoy and others that enjoy you.
But for the love of god, please don't go and look for people who write in ways you don't like and then seek to have them thrown out of communities or banned or anything else. Just leave them alone. We don't need people trying to be the RP police about what others are and arent allowed to pretend in their own mind in regards to their made up character. Ok. None of it is real. None of it is real and the idea of potentially getting people in trouble for made up thought crimes is so unhinged it makes me worry for the future of story telling entirely. Enjoy Endwalker.

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Originally Posted by Setesh45

The RP character that's a dick. I role-played with a character like that for a while, it completely ruined the atmosphere every time, the whole RP session just ruined by one person role-playing a racist egotistical orc.
After our second session I had people refusing to go with him. He kept harassing the elves in our party, his every second line was an insult towards someone.

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This sort of thing has been my experience with more "extreme RP" as well. When someone wants to RP as the "extreme" sort it almost always goes hand in hand with them wanting every interaction to be About Them. Really by it's very nature, it sort of almost has to be at least a fairly major part of the scene. I mean, if you have Susan BigMuscles spouting racist, sexist, etc. commentary it's hard for other characters to at least not address it, even if she's only doing it over in the corner. That can be fine for a scene or two but if it's just a constant thing and a "feature" of the character it can absolutely make RPing with them a drag. Even if you don't take their commentary personally, when every RP session ends up being about the same thing it can just get boring and annoying.

I tried to roleplay on 14 once.

I created an unconventional, highly flawed character with a visible physical disability.

People kept asking me why I would want to play such a flawed character, particularly one that wouldn't be considered physically attractive. I realized pretty quickly that virtually everyone who roleplays on this game plays the same cookie-cutter, self-insert, sexy, strong, calm, cool, collected, boring character, and that 90% of them are using ERP potential as their first evaluation of your character.

When you get a bunch of people who create characters that are essentially self-insert, better versions of themselves, it's not surprising that they'll heavily question why anyone would want to play a xenophobe or racist. Their immediate assumption is that you're creating your character for similar reasons, ergo you must be xenophobic or racist.

To address some of the issues presented. One, you can play a racist character without constantly having them hurl slurs all the time. A better way to do it is to be subtle, such as having your choices built around being indifferent and acting without remorse towards that which your character dislikes. Same thing for xenophobia and intolerance. Two, when everything is the same it gets boring and bland. Such is my issue with XIV's scene. In fact it kind of burned me out on rp as a whole, given as it's the game I spent the most time in. It's really needs to get spiced up a bit in my opinion. Three, the fact that it creates an atmosphere of unease is intentional. It creates a more textured, believable experience. This is a good thing, writing wise atleast.

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Originally Posted by Hatfright

The problem with that sort of roleplaying I usually saw in other games is someone just starts spewing insults at others for no reason. And when you confront them about it, it's always "Thats just how my character is, relax, lol". Well, don't be surprised your character gets slapped over and over then, cuz if it wasn't discussed beforehand, it's not other players job to change your characters mind.
Roleplaying supposed to be fun and comfortable for every party involved. Communicating with co-players first, throwing imaginary fists later, if everyone is okay with it.

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This. I've been role-playing for *mumbles* years now, and too often people use the "I'm a racist POS character" as a stand-in for their actual beliefs and as a way to harass and abuse other players. I'm honestly glad the community doesn't have too many of these kinds of people.

That being said, the characters I have seen played more zealously (Garlean/Ishgardian nationalist/etc) usually aren't there to make it their whole personality, which makes more more fun and interesting RP with a character like that.