What is your view on RP or ERP and why is it so taboo within the community?

I legit don't get why ppl rate RP or ERP think its a crime. I try to understand here so I'm neutral on the matter and want your opinion about this subject.

You remember being in middle school where doing something different made you weird/strange/outcast? Yeah, that's all there is to it. The majority of people will never grow up.

I don't think there's anything wrong with RP. It exists on all servers, and to some extent a lot of people do it naturally when creating a character. People make fun of hardcore RPers because people make fun of anyone different to them; they speak in character or make fanart of their characters, therefore they must be bad at mechanics or something. The two are completely unrelated. Light teasing is fine but some of the comments slamming people for daring to have fun make me cringe, and I'm not even on an 'RP' server myself.

I also don't think there's anything wrong with ERP though people should keep it to their prearranged groups and not prance through the streets of Ul'dah soliciting random strangers, a stereotype which has sadly fed into the bad reputation Balmung has attracted, largely unfairly. A few crazy people with no boundaries spoil things for those who play just to have fun.

I enjoy getting roleplayers in pug groups. I adore their imaginations and they're generally quite a friendly bunch. ERPing is just one of those things that I feel belongs in a private LS or behind closed doors. Not everyone wants to be apart of that or even witness it going on. Had an issue in an old FC where people were ERPing in FC chat. And the consensus among us was exactly what I just stated. Keep it within your private circle.

There are entire walls of text and tons of research done on this subject. To go through it all would be too massive on a forum like this. So my explanation to this very complex subject has oversimplified. Please understand it is oversimplified.

1) There is a history of bad blood all the way back when role playing games were just books, pencils and dice. Role-playing has been perpetuated by media and other sources as being an outcast/nerd/socially awkward hobby. Despite evidence to the contrary.

2) Some people do not understand it, or are bad at it, therefore have to demonize it.

3) Some role-players have in turn been aggressive and boorish, role-playing like a steamroller over other people who find it awkward. These people then push back, really hard, often grabbing a bigger mob to help champion ant-rolepaying. Both sides have been bullies in the past.

4) Fandoms ... Fandoms and role-players of fandoms, I just cant tell you how bad modern fandoms have been for the roleplaying scene.

Its best to keep it to your friends and to recruit role-players through conventional means rather than public demonstration, lest you drag in unwanted elements to your sessions.

I think the best course of action here is for people to mind their own business. My two cents.

An orchestrion is a Roll-Player and everyone seems to like those.
>_>

For me, the only issue with RPing is when it interferes with other's gameplay, like when an RPer queues into a dungeon but they are an "Ice Mage" BLM (they only use Blizzard spells) or a Bard who refuses to use songs because their character is a Ranger.

eRP is just creepy though, especially when they are doing it in /say and are doing it in public or, even worse, in someone else's house/appartment. If you're going to eRP, do it in /tells or a linkshell or FC chat.

I had an RP'er in a dungeon whose character was supposed to be afraid of lightning and everytime lightning was cast they would use the /panic emote and run around (they were the tank) making the run more painful and annoying.

Like, if you want to engage in that stuff, fine, power to you, but please only as a pre-formed party, RP is fine as long as you keep it to you and your buddies (or at least not obstruct a run)

As for ERP, keep it in your own group and don't let it leak out, engage in it if you enjoy it, but its not something most other players want to see.

I don't mind RP in a game, although I do not want to belong to an RP guild because its not my thing.

The only thing about RP I cannot stand, and I think is what ppl really get annoyed with, is when ppl macro dialog into commonly used abilities. Use /echo for that if its important to you. The only dialog that should be in my chat box are macros for abilities I need to know about, like raise, or conversation. It's esp annoying in /s /a or /sh. There are also those who want to make a dungeon x2 as long to fulfill some RP thing, when you pug you gotta understand that its likely youre with 3 non RP ppl who just wanna get thru it.

We get it, you like to RP but please understand that the majority does not and we don't need text for every cure, combo or jump.

RPing is fun and mostly harmless. I get getting into character and appreciate world building for said character.
ERP is another beast entirely. I mean hey, to each there own, but if you were aggressively making out with your partner in the middle of a mall in the real world, you garner the same reactions.

And I think a big problem is the whole "all anime is hentai" thing and people can't distinguish between the two.

Oddly enough, I've actually found that the FFXIV community has a much more favorable and open-minded approach to ERP than most MMOs. My old server had a literal brothel FC that was a fully functioning business, and on big servers like Gilgamesh and Balmung nobody bats an eye at it.

I don't really care what two or more consenting adults do with each other offline or online - as long as they don't bother anyone else. The issue with the online form is you can't know the person you're playing with is an adult (if you don't know them outside the game).

I dont even know what ERP is. But I generally don't care if people RP or not as long as it doesn't interfere with my game..

Think the worst case was quite a while ago had a warrior and whm queue hullbreaker hard when it was the expert and try to do the whole thing in broken gear because they were on a journey to meet a legendary Smith who would repair it all for them...

Dropped that party very fast didn't even care for the 30 minute penalty.

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Originally Posted by Dzian

I dont even know what ERP is. But I generally don't care if people RP or not as long as it doesn't interfere with my game..

Think the worst case was quite a while ago had a warrior and whm queue hullbreaker hard when it was the expert and try to do the whole thing in broken gear because they were on a journey to meet a legendary Smith who would repair it all for them...

Dropped that party very fast didn't even care for the 30 minute penalty.

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The legendary Smith? LOL! I repair my own gear usually but I guess not all know the bonus repair percentages u het. Are you sure that wasn't trolling? I mean, it sounds odd and I believe most RP'rs are writing in a certain way like [hi this is a test] (her eyebrows slowly went up as she heard his proposal). Something like that, ofc I don't know.

I'm not on one of the big servers known for it, but I do RP in my corner of FF14 with a small circle of friends. I've also RP'ed in other MMOs in the past. I've never really caught a lot of flack for it because I don't run around In-Character most of the time. For most of the week I go about my business, running dungeons, crafting, questing, like any other player. I only do things IC for the couple of hours a week that my RP group does events or holds meetings. We did have an event last night that took place way out in the boonies away from any quest hubs at very off-peak hours and still had a couple of passersby stop and stare. No one heckled us though; they left us alone and we left them alone.

In my experience, it's important to separate yourself from your RP character. The people who are IC 100% of the time and, in doing so, make themselves at best a nuisance and at worst a burden to the non-RPers around them, they are the ones that stir up a lot of the bad feelings from the rest of the community. And the RPers who get overly attached to their characters to unhealthy levels where they can't stand their characters not being seen as completely perfect in every way and worshiped by everyone they meet, are the kind of RPers who are pretty universally disliked by both the RP and non-RP community. In those cases, it's not really the fact that they are RPing that is the problem, it's the fact that they are letting their RP negatively impact the experience of the other players around them.

As for ERPing, I've never participated as I personally find it distasteful. I'm also married IRL and even 'pretending' to be intimate with another person crosses all kinds of boundaries. If someone wants to do it, that is their prerogative, but it should most certainly be kept out of public places (including chat channels,) just like IRL.

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Originally Posted by Rymm

I'm not on one of the big servers known for it, but I do RP in my corner of FF14 with a small circle of friends. I've also RP'ed in other MMOs in the past. I've never really caught a lot of flack for it because I don't run around In-Character most of the time. For most of the week I go about my business, running dungeons, crafting, questing, like any other player. I only do things IC for the couple of hours a week that my RP group does events or holds meetings. We did have an event last night that took place way out in the boonies away from any quest hubs at very off-peak hours and still had a couple of passersby stop and stare. No one heckled us though; they left us alone and we left them alone..

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Imagine if u were on Balmung where people constantly RP (so rumours say!) - not sure how that would work if the vast majority is out of RP players, but so far its not only RP for most people, ic there are some serious raiders rping.

RP doesn't bother me, even though I'm not an RP'er. If someone RP's to me I try to respect their game play and RP back.
ERP'ing on the other hand.... If I'm gonna ERP with someone I want to know who (and what) is ERP'ing back. NO random ERP, pls.

Only gripe I had was when people tried to solicit rp (usually erp...) from me, and when I tell them I don't rp at all they then ask me why I am on Balmung. Does it matter? I've been here since it was formed, so /shrug.

I agree that if you want to rp inside a dungeon, either unsync it or get a premade. I've done both at different times and the biggest issue we faced was that we had to cut on the rp at some points because, derp, we were still on a timer and some of the rp included actually beating the final boss of the place. But taking that hour+ to roleplay in that manner didn't affect anyone else's enjoyment of the game, which is where the line should be drawn with these things, imo. Not going to extremes like 'you don't pay my sub!!!!!1' but I think people need to realize that if you queue for a pug, the general assumption made by the game itself, not just the other players, is that you're there to clear the content to the best of your abilities. Running it in broken gear is... not that.

As for erp, similarly to how you wouldn't engage in actual sexual activities in the streets, you shouldn't erp in public channels. I mean, people can and do these things in public, but they hopefully do it so no one notices, under the table or what not. Slap the thing in party chat and there you have it. x.x;
What WOULD be nice, to accommodate it, is if they added some form of party mode /emote. Because I do get the difficulty of trying to write /emote within private channels like party chat. Like, if you're erping, that's not an excuse to use /emote. But it is a thing that's done in the game, it's relatively wide-spread, and if the developers don't give us child skins for characters because they know people would erp with them, I think they're aware of it enough to make some accommodations to make everyone's lives better in this regard, both erpers, and the people who don't want to see that in public chats.

It's the whole 'stop liking what I don't like' mentality. It's all that it is.

I played on Wyrmrest Accord in WoW.

One Alliance guild held multiple events per month. They had weekly "open mic" nights, where people could come and share stories, poetry, tell jokes, etc. They also held monthly tours of zones and cities, as well as monthly debates and educational talks.

It was fun to jump in and see a bunch of people making their own content when nothing much but the standard grind is going on in the game.

There were also quite a few people who tried trolling these events(usually the same group of people), but in the grand scheme of things, you have people RPing on an RP server and then you have people who join an RP server in order to troll RP events, who are the real jerks here?

In my experience, as a role-player, a lot of role-players bring their poor reputation upon themselves. Only a small portion of role-players actually want to role-play in such a way as to actually portray an interesting character and make use of the game world. Many are simply desperately trying to focus on filling a void in their real lives and seeking romance and erotic stuff through their character in a way that is, quite honestly, unhealthy and sabotaging not only to themselves but all those around them. The shining gems that can be found within the muck make pursuing role-play as a hobby worthwhile but Balmung in particular is a very mixed bag. I've had an easier time finding quality, consistent role-play in other MMO's. FFXIV, for some reason, seems to have a particularly high number of role-players who care nothing for anything that isn't centered around romance or erotic stuff.

I don't mind the role-players (unless you really want to RP in a dungeon and use DF to do this....), but the erotic role-players can certainly see themselves out. Keep it out of game, please.

My main gripe with RP, especially on a server that is now getting flooded with it, is people doing it in public channels. RP in your own homes, RP in LS's or FC chat or parties, but don't do it in /say in public areas filled with people. Like, I don't want to have my chatlog filled with your bad fanfic dialog while I'm trying to go about my business in town. I blacklist anyone one who uses /say for RP purposes around me, because it is unbelievably rude and obnoxious, even moreso than the RMT spambots.

You wouldn't walk down a busy street shouting some random story right in the ears of everyone around you in real life, and you shouldn't do it the game either.

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Originally Posted by Madepossible

Imagine if u were on Balmung where people constantly RP (so rumours say!) - not sure how that would work if the vast majority is out of RP players, but so far its not only RP for most people, ic there are some serious raiders rping.

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A lot of the RP on Balmung tends to happen around major cities like Ul'dah and Kugane at the moment. The rest are done in the housing areas in the private homes or chambers/apartments of most people. So it is rare to go out and about in the rest of the game and see people.

It is a sentiment shared though that if you are going to go into dungeons and what not, don't drag RP into it unless it is with a pre-made party. Chances are you will get stuck with a non RP-er and sure it might seem funny and chill at first but it can get annoying very fast for them.

As for ERP, it is the same. A lot of RP'ers (least those that don't want to troll others and give it a good name) know that ERP needs to stay in LS, FC chat, party, tells, chambers, etc. No one needs to know and no one cares about what you are doing with someone else and sure there may be mistells or mistakes done that it leaks out somewhere else, but if someone is doing it in purpose than that is an issue. Though I find it funny that people say ERP is creepy when to me people are willing to pay to go to these cam sites and watch women (or men if you prefer that).

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Only gripe I had was when people tried to solicit rp (usually erp...) from me, and when I tell them I don't rp at all they then ask me why I am on Balmung. Does it matter? I've been here since it was formed, so /shrug.

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That is the major problem I think with Balmung people closed an the offical 'RP' server. More high end raiders tended to leave to other servers which made the statement even more truthful and some people get it in their head that unless you RP you shouldn't be taking a slot on the server. Really stupid way to look at it since not everyone wants/cares to RP on Balmung and as long as one side doesn't harass the other, there is no problems.

If people have questions or anything about RP/ERP I can try to answer what I can. Been doing RP for 15 years and ERP for half of that (no shame). I have thought of just making a tutorial video or something on youtube at some point. . .

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

My main gripe with RP, especially on a server that is now getting flooded with it, is people doing it in public channels. RP in your own homes, RP in LS's or FC chat or parties, but don't do it in /say in public areas filled with people. Like, I don't want to have my chatlog filled with your bad fanfic dialog while I'm trying to go about my business in town. I blacklist anyone one who uses /say for RP purposes around me, because it is unbelievably rude and obnoxious, even moreso than the RMT spambots.

You wouldn't walk down a busy street shouting some random story right in the ears of everyone around you in real life, and you shouldn't do it the game either.

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Actually .. this does happen .. its called LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) ... Generally there are rules so as not to disturb the public peace but you can imagine that these things dont always get properly regulated.

Regardless, I encourage role players to make parties to role-play in party chat, generally that's all you ever need. If for some reason you have a massive group (There are some RP FCs out there), you can make an alliance to do so as will. Lastly, you can activate a role-play tag next to your name on your characters (So you can quietly advertise that you are a RP-er looking for other RP-ers). Typically this is a bullseye for trolls, but it has yielded some pretty cool results for me at times.

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

My main gripe with RP, especially on a server that is now getting flooded with it, is people doing it in public channels. RP in your own homes, RP in LS's or FC chat or parties, but don't do it in /say in public areas filled with people. Like, I don't want to have my chatlog filled with your bad fanfic dialog while I'm trying to go about my business in town. I blacklist anyone one who uses /say for RP purposes around me, because it is unbelievably rude and obnoxious, even moreso than the RMT spambots.

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"Don't do something I don't like". People are free to chat about whatever they want to, as long as it doesn't go against the ToS, just like you're free to just blacklist them.

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

You wouldn't walk down a busy street shouting some random story right in the ears of everyone around you in real life, and you shouldn't do it the game either.

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That's odd. I walk down plenty of streets on a daily basis, and I'll often hear people talking to each other.

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

My main gripe with RP, especially on a server that is now getting flooded with it, is people doing it in public channels. RP in your own homes, RP in LS's or FC chat or parties, but don't do it in /say in public areas filled with people.

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RPing in /say has been standard for roleplayers for many, many years. It's the only way for people to engage in public, walk-up RP. Blacklist all you want, but it's not really your place to tell us where or where not to RP. It's not rude, and it's not obnoxious.

The only time I have an issue with RP (and I presume this is how most sane people feel) is when they act in a manner that lets the team down. For instance, I presume that Eyriwaen is not a White Mage in-character (because white magic is specifically restricted to very specific individuals and having your character be the unique chosen one in public RP is generally frowned upon), but that doesn't mean I'm going to unequip my job stone during dungeons or refuse to use white magic spells. I just gloss over that as gameplay/story segregation.

Most of the time when I run into other RPers, it's a fun experience with more interesting conversations between pulls. Definitely a pleasant change of pace from the endless quiet, or people ranting about dumb personal stuff >.>

Must be my mood today lol, couldn't resist.... :o

http://i.imgur.com/yJxvtW3.gif

Silly Balmung! :o

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Originally Posted by Urthdigger

The only time I have an issue with RP (and I presume this is how most sane people feel) is when they act in a manner that lets the team down. For instance, I presume that Eyriwaen is not a White Mage in-character (because white magic is specifically restricted to very specific individuals and having your character be the unique chosen one in public RP is generally frowned upon), but that doesn't mean I'm going to unequip my job stone during dungeons or refuse to use white magic spells. I just gloss over that as gameplay/story segregation.

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White mage is probably the only job that is so restrictive. Otherwise, the only other thing that would limit others in RP is who is the Warrior of Light. This was pointed out in a Q&A that there is only one WoL and they bring strong adventurers with them.

Dont like my RP? I will rescue u to dead ;)

I am a roleplayer but honestly? I think one of the things that helped ruin it is when people try to do it in a PUG. None of this ice mage or pausing for a moment to say some in-character dialogue. The people in the PUG didn't come for RP shenanigans to get in the way of progressing through content.

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Originally Posted by Ruinfeild

If people have questions or anything about RP/ERP I can try to answer what I can. Been doing RP for 15 years and ERP for half of that (no shame). I have thought of just making a tutorial video or something on youtube at some point. . .

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I do wonder how you can detect someone is RPing or not, and will most ppl stop RP in dungeons if u tell them to or are most stubborn and go dick mode? Just trying to understand how and why ppl RP and how to approach them.

Honestly no one likes talking in dungeons, RP or otherwise.
For the most part talking is pretty much reserved for anything other than playing the game. (Im not saying i condone it, Im a pretty chatty player myself; when people let me.)
Unless its private, FC or party no one really says much in this game. With discord, party chat, and voice chat options ... even less. Talking in this game just seems to irritate people.
Correction, TYPING in this game just seems to irritate people.

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

My main gripe with RP, especially on a server that is now getting flooded with it, is people doing it in public channels. RP in your own homes, RP in LS's or FC chat or parties, but don't do it in /say in public areas filled with people. Like, I don't want to have my chatlog filled with your bad fanfic dialog while I'm trying to go about my business in town. I blacklist anyone one who uses /say for RP purposes around me, because it is unbelievably rude and obnoxious, even moreso than the RMT spambots.

You wouldn't walk down a busy street shouting some random story right in the ears of everyone around you in real life, and you shouldn't do it the game either.

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I absolutely adore people chatting in public. It makes the game feel very much alive and sometimes I would sit and read what people are up to if I'm just afking/tabbing.

Also your comparison actually is terrible because I don't usually hear people SHOUTING a story anywhere.
You're READING text online and you can blacklist them. Simple and easy.

Well, bakers aren't taboo.

They just play with rolls.

Roll players, they are, but taboo... they are not.

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Originally Posted by Nezerius

"Don't do something I don't like". People are free to chat about whatever they want to, as long as it doesn't go against the ToS, just like you're free to just blacklist them.

That's odd. I walk down plenty of streets on a daily basis, and I'll often hear people talking to each other.

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I consider people spamming my chatlog with unwanted walls of text as harassment, so yes I would consider public RP'ing to be against the ToS if we're going to be technical about it. When spambots do the exact same thing, it's against the rules, and this is no different. It's not "don't do what I don't like", since you're perfectly free to RP in private/designated places/channels and I don't mind at all. It's "don't be rude and force me to see what you are doing when I don't want to see it." It's called respecting others.

Hearing people talk to each other quietly as you pass them is very different from hearing them recite a script, badly and loudly, right next to you while you're standing there trying to buy groceries. Most people would find that very rude.

I can blacklist all day, but there are always more doing it, just like spambots. People just having the decency to keep things that other people might and probably will find annoying out of /say is all that needs to happen. If this sort of "I can do and say whatever I want in public and you have to deal with it" behavior has been "standard" for RP'ers for years, then it should be no surprise why there such a stigma around it.

Just adding something like an /rp chat mode so that only other people with the RP tag can see it would give the RP's that sense of open world RP they want without being inconsiderate to those around them. I mean SE was aware enough of the community to give them a tag, why not a chat mode as well?

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Originally Posted by eschaton

Must be my mood today lol, couldn't resist.... :o

http://i.imgur.com/yJxvtW3.gif

Silly Balmung! :o

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looks like you are dressed for some epic role play :p, in all seriousness:

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Originally Posted by xNewbx

You remember being in middle school where doing something different made you weird/strange/outcast? Yeah, that's all there is to it. The majority of people will never grow up.

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Originally Posted by Serilda

I don't think there's anything wrong with RP. It exists on all servers, and to some extent a lot of people do it naturally when creating a character. People make fun of hardcore RPers because people make fun of anyone different to them; they speak in character or make fanart of their characters, therefore they must be bad at mechanics or something. The two are completely unrelated. Light teasing is fine but some of the comments slamming people for daring to have fun make me cringe, and I'm not even on an 'RP' server myself.

I also don't think there's anything wrong with ERP though people should keep it to their prearranged groups and not prance through the streets of Ul'dah soliciting random strangers, a stereotype which has sadly fed into the bad reputation Balmung has attracted, largely unfairly. A few crazy people with no boundaries spoil things for those who play just to have fun.

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^ those and for me, i don't care what people do. I find it strange someone is having a mini fit over seeing rp as they walk past people, let people be, why does it bother you?

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

I consider people spamming my chatlog with unwanted walls of text as harassment, so yes I would consider public RP'ing to be against the ToS if we're going to be technical about it. When spambots do the exact same thing, it's against the rules, and this is no different. It's not "don't do what I don't like", since you're perfectly free to RP in private/designated places/channels and I don't mind at all. It's "don't be rude and force me to see what you are doing when I don't want to see it." It's called respecting others.

Hearing people talk to each other quietly as you pass them is very different from hearing them recite a script, badly and loudly, right next to you while you're standing there trying to buy groceries. Most people would find that very rude.

I can blacklist all day, but there are always more doing it, just like spambots. People just having the decency to keep things that other people might and probably will find annoying out of /say is all that needs to happen. If this sort of "I can do and say whatever I want in public and you have to deal with it" behavior has been "standard" for RP'ers for years, then it should be no surprise why there such a stigma around it.

Just adding something like an /rp chat mode so that only other people with the RP tag can see it would give the RP's that sense of open world RP they want without being inconsiderate to those around them. I mean SE was aware enough of the community to give them a tag, why not a chat mode as well?

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Ok but it isn't harassment. It is different because people are sending you a tell, asking you to violate the tos, if i sent someone a tell about where to go to find a paser, like that parser thread that was recently deleted, you be flagged for a ToS violation, not because they find it as "spam"