Roleplay/Partyfinder Discrepancies & Policy Enforcement by GM's

[rance-sama]

Can anyone offer a valid reason that isn’t based on personal opinion as to why RP venues should be banned from advertising in PF?

Because as it stands, no one in this 30+ page thread has offered anything tangible other than “I don’t like it.” And that’s not a valid reason considering you can just as easily ignore it.

You're expecting too much from people who believe their opinions are "facts".

[Jijifli]

This isn't an attack against RP in general, but rather the advertising in party finder. Can SE do better for social players, sure? But PF is simply no place for this.

I can sell items in the PF without any issue.

People can sell content clears without any issue.

People are selling FEET PICS without any issues.

This isn't about advertisement, clearly.

[Nayout]

Yeah, usually we hold adults accountable instead of literal kids. Adults are the ones who should have the mature judgement and presence of mind not to get into sexual situations under circumstances where 1. They can't know the age of their partner and 2. It's explicitly prohibited by the terms of service.

Edit: I'm pretty sure I've unironically heard people arguing similar logic on episodes of To Catch A Predator

You are doing ERP, when you do ERP or RP in general you do not ask personal data because it is disrespectful because you are "taking" the role of a person who is not you, the same with ERP when you do ERP you do it with your characters not with your person and that is a very common problem with people who do ERP in general, they don't know how to distinguish "RP" from something real.

This is not a problem in this game, it is a problem in general with people who do these things, many people use ERP as an excuse to have sexual encounters.

[JanVanding]

This game is rated T for Teen. Teens play this game. Adults playing this game need to be mindful of that fact and be responsible for their actions and words. Period.

I'm trying to be as nice as possible with you here, but as I and many others already pointed out, the game has sex references, drugs, violence, trafficking, brothels, slavery and so on within the games written story content. It's not Super Mario sunshine.

It's in written form, why? Because writing doesn't get hit with harsher ratings that actual graphic depiction does.

Should we go yell at all those players in Teen rated Fortnite to stop taking videos of "teabagging" Corpses? That's a little more of a graphic depiction don't you think?

But you are right, adults should take responsibility, starting with their parents not letting them have their credit card details.

As for the roleplay community that does do 18+ Venues, they have a strict vetting process in place at many of them, just because you don't see it here, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Anyone can come in and party, but if they want to partake in drinking, gambling gil, other extra-circular activities, they have to be vetted.

You'd be surprised just how serious the RP community takes these situations, not just to keep minors out of that issue, but to keep adults from potentially putting themselves in a situation where they're letting a minor "simulate" activities they shouldn't be (Drinking/Gambling/etc)

Not all 18+ Venues are ERP, a lot of them are just nightclubs, they are strict.

[Aurou]

The idea behind party finder is that you're using it to join a party. When you go to an RP venue being advertised in PF, you don't join the party the person has hosted to do so. Often the party is locked to an impossible ilevel or some such. Ergo they are not using it for its intended purpose. This can of course also apply to run sellers and the like.

But according to Oxford, RP'ers are doing it right since they're just throwing social gatherings, IE: a party, for entertainment.

[Glaschuu]

I think we have a two-fold situation here, where both SE and the community need to do more.

Event runners (particularly nightclubs) do you really need 3+ Party Finders advertising the same event? I know for a fact the majority of the playerbase blacklists venues/players who spam PF with their ads, so this is counterintuitive for your attendance anyways. I know I make it a point not to patronize venues spamming Shout and PF.

SE, this a MMORPG and socializing is the name of the game. Please design better tools, both for those who want to RP, and for those who'd rather not see this content.

[SturmChurro]

I can sell items in the PF without any issue.

People can sell content clears without any issue.

People are selling FEET PICS without any issues.

This isn't about advertisement, clearly.

Should the GMs crackdown on that as well? Of course! Two wrongs don't make a right, though.

What is it about then? The GM laid it clearly in those screenshots, the PF is for creating parties to run content.

[Ashemmi]

I am a almost fulltime roleplayer since HW and actually i support this ban (not of players obviously nobody should be banned for this directly) of rp stuff off the PF. At least how they are atm, on my time at NA i almost always saw just brothers and nightclubs and 18+ 18+ 18+ stuff. If that is everything your RP is about and you want to advertise for i personally won't cry a tear for SE wiping the PF Tool clean again.

But then ofc there are a few people who are actually invested into the hobby and not only in cybersex and lewd things. They could do what EU does since day one. Have a giant discord or two with all the roleplayers, a wiki with a rp calendar and every week the calendar gets postet into the discords. We over here don't even use the pf, our pf is always clear of rp stuff cause we managed to don't rely on it. So maybe it is time for NA to do the same and for the good rp projects to leave the erp partyfinder swamp.

As someone who actively runs larger-scale RP events, and has metrics on how people find them. These community Discords are largely ineffective for getting the word out. The more events posted, the smaller, less flashy events and venues get hidden by the page-long beautiful art-driven ads posted by some of the larger.

From my own metrics, this is the order of how people find events:

Word of Mouth
Private Discords
Party Finder
Crying/Yelling
Public Discord
RP Calendar
Twitter
Tumblr

Discords are also subject to the whim or values of its owners. While many of the RP Discords are relatively neutral, some are far from it. Non-established venues or events will have less or even no access to word of mouth, and limited access to private Discords. It really hampers those who aren't already established.

I personally would rather see an RP tab added to PF, and perhaps a good faith check-box for rating, while keeping in mind that 18+ or adult only is not inclusive of mature. There distinct differences in brothels or clubs which actively promote ERP, and venues like a bar or tavern which are often not appropriate for youth.

[LittleImp]

But according to Oxford, RP'ers are doing it right since they're just throwing social gatherings, IE: a party, for entertainment.

This may just be one of the most intentionally obtuse responses I've ever seen on the forums.

Party has a specific and narrow definition in the context of the game. Don't be dense.

[Jijifli]

Should the GMs crackdown on that as well? Of course! Two wrongs don't make a right, though.

What is it about then? The GM laid it clearly in those screenshots, the PF is for creating parties to run content.

Then why is there even an 'other' tab when 100% of content (Yes, 100%) has a PF section for it?

Why let me put an item level requirement higher than the obtainable amount, which makes it so 0 people can join it?

Isn't it strange the PF has features already placed in that outright aren't promoting doing the content this GM states it's intended for?