Roleplay/Partyfinder Discrepancies & Policy Enforcement by GM's

[Saefinn]

honestly rp has no place in this game, it just makes everyone want to actually play the game less and less.

You know that the RP community is huge in this game right? They also tend to remain subbed during content draught and are one of the demographics for vanity items on the FFXIV store.

This being annoyed by RP sounds like one of your own hang-ups. It's a legit thing to do in an MMORPG and the devs facilitate it. Note: the GM's issue is over the PF not being used for its intended purpose and not for advertising RP.

If SE decided to say "RP has no place here" they are going to be excluding a huge part of their community. In fact SE have been the opposite and welcoming of its RP community which is why this GM's behaviour seems odd.

But it's an odd thing for people to have a hang-up over. Like, people engaging in something in game you don't have to participate in or engage with, what horror.

[GaleMex]

Ultimately, Final Fantasy XIV is a product by Square Enix. You don't get special treatment because you are a consumer that is paying for the product. When you create a profile, you agreed to their Terms of Service, which many of us probably don't read until it's convenient for us for the sake of rules lawyering. However, this is not a courtroom. The person in control is Square Enix, and they can enforce which rules they want to enforce and which ones they deem are too harmless to enforce. I understand the feeling like there's a double standard for "why do E/RP PFs get taken down but AFK Clubs can survive? aren't they also breaking the rules?" but clearly no one cares for the latter, people are only making a stink of the former. They can mediate as they please and frankly they don't even need to give or owe anyone a reason as to any actions they may take.

[Taytay]

at the end of the day rp/erp isnt the intended purpose of the game

The fact that there’s literally an RP icon that can be toggled the same way a mentor crown can be proves how utterly incorrect you are.

[Anslin]

Some people in this thread: "Rp DoEsNt BeLoNg In An MmOrPg." I guess some people thinking only raiding belongs in a hmmmmmmmm what's rpg stand for again......? It's on the tip of my tongue. That's right Roleplaying Game, and follow with me now I know this might be hard to grasp but Rp stands for Roleplaying shocking I know.

[Mistress_Irika]

Didn't some people already get a warning/temp ban for spamming emotes in chat and/or spells in a crowded area last year?

I don't see advertising in chat working. Venue owners might end up competing with one another like that, and certain areas may be spammed with different venues to go to which is going to annoy everyone in the end. (Not like it's been happening already...) Groups/FCs don't have to necessary advertise multiple times in the same area per day in order for this problem to blow up .

I wouldn't mind fellowship if they added chat to it. Otherwise, it's going to continue to get highly ignored. Only suggestion I have regarding to using fellowship.

[Doozer]

Some people in this thread: "Rp DoEsNt BeLoNg In An MmOrPg." I guess some people thinking only raiding belongs in a hmmmmmmmm what's rpg stand for again......? It's on the tip of my tongue.

Raid Playing Game, obviously.

[Isturma]

This is a really sad thing to have happen. I cannot believe in good conscience that Y-P or anyone from the game's development/management teams would seriously condone the behaviour of this GM. Adding to /sh spam has to be more taxing on the server load and people who have to police that activity, a harmless post in the party finder's "OTHER" section takes up fewer resources overall.

Reading though all the comments, there seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread about the difference between ERP and RP. If you've ever held a conversation ingame with another player about something ingame - i.e. "The Ishgardian nobility must recognize the plight of the commoners and how the isolationist policies hurt -everyone.-" Congratulations, you're Role Played. It's not some icky thing that needs to be hidden away "for the good of the children!" As for ERP and how "sexual content has no place in this game!" other people have made better points elsewhere (i.e. e9s, although e9 is pretty suspect too.)

RP has thrived in XIV since the ARR days, and possibly in 1.0 (since actually playing the game was nigh impossible) and it seems suspect that just now do we see someone publicly "cracking down" on legitimate advertisements. Advertisements so incredibly out of the way that I personally had no idea they were even there! I've been spending nights peoplewatching in Limsa while doing things IRL, and would have hung out in one of these venues instead. I'll be looking for one on my sleepy little server in the future.

More than that, I think that these RP venues provide a much needed service. The pandemic has made meeting IRL impossible for most people - I'm sure that hanging out ingame in a virtual nightclub is way more satisfying than spinning up a new series on Netflix. Before the pandemic, the idea of going to a nightclub for an introvert or someone with social anxiety would seem daunting, at the very least. Even if you disagree with ERP, I hope you can see that having events in this context really add to the game instead of subtracting from it. As for the 18+ tag, it has its uses beyond ERP - when I played WoW I stumbled across an RP troupe that would hold murder mystery parties every week. That's not really all ages content. Moreover, LGBQTIA+ tag lets people from those communities know it's a safe place - it's why my IRL house has a symbol in the window, and I'd gladly give aid to anyone who needed it. It doesn't have anything to do with "getting off ingame" - although, what adults do in the privacy of the housing district doesn't really harm anyone else.

I know that SE can't discuss punishment of internal employees, nor do I want them to. My hope is that leadership takes a look at the actions of their GMs, and walks back any punishments that were doled out incorrectly. If you made it to the bottom here, wall of text crits you for 99,999! and thank you for reading my ramblings. Have an amazing day and be awesome!

[Ehksidian]

I doubt this is an official stance given it's only one GM, honestly. Really hope that it isn't at least.

RP is pretty much the only reason I stay subbed between major patches, because I don't have the energy to do more than that with my work schedule as it is - and PF is the easiest way to find venues. Hell, I tried USING the Fellowship Finder for RP stuff when I first got in the game and it sure wasn't great for that beyond linking me to a discord that posted the events.

Making it harder for folks to find venues to go to doesn't benefit anyone, because venues already use the Other tag. At least they're properly labeled unlike, oh I dunno, the content sellers that are far more egregious with breaching TOS. If RP stuff gets taken down like this, all of those absolutely should be removed as well.

(also hating rp in general isn't a personality, it's just kinda sad. let folks have fun, like c'mon. being rude to people just because they do something you're not big on because it's "cringe" or w/e doesn't make you cool it makes you look like a garbage person)

[Anslin]

I thought that was called RAID shadow legends. The hot new mobile strategy game sweeping the world.

[Themarvin]

As much as I find this silly then it is technically considered as spam or something down those lines in the PF or something like that.