Transfer Restrictions and Roleplayers

[Naunet]

Also, what if the non-RPers also don't want to leave for the same reasons? They have friends, etc. You going to live with Balmung locked forever?

Again: If a raid group wants to move, it's just a matter of picking a different name for your server. For a roleplayer to move, they have to manage the logistics of how their move would impact their ability to roleplay, whether or not they should devise a way to remove their character from rp, potentially cutting off existing in-character relationships, interrupting plotlines, and just overall disrupting the entire in-character network. A community of roleplayers is a lot more complex than a community of non-roleplayers. It is a heck of a lot easier for non-roleplayers to jump ship to another server.

[Kuroneko_Jutah]

Once more, my humble excuses for having a different opinion and not wishing to offer a one sided, unrealistic statement. Stating that it is not my business is absurd while we are discussing this topic. Just because you do not enjoy to hear another view does not mean you need to try to silence it.

Likewise. You're insisting it won't work and that the only solution is to allow Balmung to become more and more bloated, and that players shouldn't attempt to branch out and grow the community outside of it because it's not personally what you want to have happen.

But I'll stop pushing my point further, we're not going to see eye to eye on this at all.

[ExKage]

Why is the the RPers who have to move? Label Balmung the official RP server and let the non-RPers - people who would have a much easier time uprooting - take advantage of free transfers/etc.

It's a LOT easier to move/rebuild a raid group on another server than it is to re-establish an entire RP community with character relationships, housing RP hubs, history, and more.

I'm not sure I believe this? Balmung's possibly got a larger PVE community. Houses. Economy. History there as well. Why would it be easier to transfer say 5000 people than it is 1000? Is Balmung's RP population actually bigger than its PVE's?

Are you not unaware of how the raiding community works or? It's not just 8 people who move. You move their FCs. Their friends in other FCs. You want the raid community at your fingertips. "Hey I know this rad group who needs a PUG. I know this other raider from my LS's (note multiple linkshells) of people who I can ask to fill, to farm."

[artemos7]

This, so much. I understand not wanting to abandon friends and established communities (I wanted to play with my in-game spouse so much I followed them to Balmung) and assets. That part is well documented and understood.

What I don't understand is the active discouragement of people to find their own way around it. Digging in your heels and refusing to move is your business, and you're welcome to it. Telling other people not to do it on the grounds that you don't think it'll work is, however, none of your business. But we're all entitled to opinions, I suppose, so that's that.
For what its worth, the only reason I'm not an active member of Balmung's RP community is that I'm already a member of an RP community elsewhere, and XIV is where I go to unwind from that. I am fairly experienced in watching and maintaining these sorts of things, and allowing a community to become bloated to excess is, in fact, not healthy for growth at all. People get pushed out or feel they don't belong anymore. This is especially apparent in the (lack of) housing available: I'd probably be an active part of the Balmung RP community if my husband and I could actually get a house and settle down.

That isn't how our community works, it thrives in larger numbers. Because that means, new people can find groups or form new groups for older RPers to join or work with and grow with. We aren't limited like most of the other communities in the game, sometimes numbers in one place aren't great for raiders or PvPers, because it can cause rifts and outsiders, but here that isn't as much of a problem. She wasn't saying don't do it, she was saying it has been tried and failed many times, or never really got off the ground in the first place, and when we ask for some help, the first reply from someone shouldn't always be: "Do it yourself." because movement and growth of the community requires a large agreement that is hard to obtain and solidify. Oversimplifying the case or solution isn't helping.

[Marluxia]

Why is the the RPers who have to move? Label Balmung the official RP server and let the non-RPers - people who would have a much easier time uprooting - take advantage of free transfers/etc.

It's a LOT easier to move/rebuild a raid group on another server than it is to re-establish an entire RP community with character relationships, housing RP hubs, history, and more.

I don't disagree, and really your solution is the other side of the coin.

The problem is that there needs to be some kind of segregation between RPers and non-RPers, the reason why Balmung is full is because of that lack of segregation.

Doesn't really matter who moves, as long as it's one side or the other. But a move does need to happen or there.

[MomomiMomi]

Again: If a raid group wants to move, it's just a matter of picking a different name for your server. For a roleplayer to move, they have to manage the logistics of how their move would impact their ability to roleplay, whether or not they should devise a way to remove their character from rp, potentially cutting off existing in-character relationships, interrupting plotlines, and just overall disrupting the entire in-character network. A community of roleplayers is a lot more complex than a community of non-roleplayers. It is a heck of a lot easier for non-roleplayers to jump ship to another server.

I agree, it's easier for non-RPers to leave. but that doesn't answer my question. What are you going to do if the non-RPs don't want to leave also?

[RaijinSupreme]

Unfortunately, server stability has to take priority over Roly Playing. We can play shoulda coulda woulda all day when it comes to SE, but it doesn't change the fact that if they don't do something proactive about this issue now, especially after a Data Center relocation and right before the release of an entire expansion, I can't even imagine what the consequences might be.

I don't role play, and I can certainly understand how difficult it would be to just move to another server, but I would rather you guys have the ability to do so now, before Balmung becomes so unstable that it shuts down the server, and possibly the entire Data Center, to where no one at all can play for a long time.

[Naunet]

I agree, it's easier for non-RPers to leave. but that doesn't answer my question. What are you going to do if the non-RPs don't want to leave also?

That's not really a fair question. Obviously something has to give or SE will keep the server locked forever. But "what if"s aren't really helpful. I was pointing out that fragmenting a roleplay community has a much greater negative impact on roleplayers than fragmenting the raiding community has on raiders.

[Kuroneko_Jutah]

That isn't how our community works, it thrives in larger numbers. Because that means, new people can find groups or form new groups for older RPers to join or work with and grow with. We aren't limited like most of the other communities in the game, sometimes numbers in one place aren't great for raiders or PvPers, because it can cause rifts and outsiders, but here that isn't as much of a problem. She wasn't saying don't do it, she was saying it has been tried and failed many times, or never really got off the ground in the first place, and when we ask for some help, the first reply from someone shouldn't always be: "Do it yourself." because movement and growth of the community requires a large agreement that is hard to obtain and solidify. Oversimplifying the case or solution isn't helping.

It is difficult. It requires coordination, cooperation, and planning; networking together (outside the game in many cases). The unfortunate reality of the situation is that doing these things involves a lot of risk and little reward and folks would rather stay on Balmung instead. It's this attitude that bugs me because it just enforces the status quo and doesn't allow for change. SE putting up an RP tag on specific servers would go a long way to solve it but at the end of the day if people aren't willing to relocate to "seed" these communities we'll end up right back where we are right now: an overpopulated Balmung.

[MomomiMomi]

I have a question to those who don't want to leave. What would you do if SE created a completely new world and designated it as an official RP server, and didn't do so for Balmung?