Shout Chat Cafes

[Illmaeran]

I've been playing for a few years now and one thing that has been a constant is the shout chat cafes that are advertised in city hubs, Limsa most notably. I've always wondered though: what's the appeal? The game doesn't really seem set to enable bars or night clubs without an extra helping of imagination (though, to be fair, that does seem to be the general vibe of roleplaying). But why FF14 and not like, VRChat? What does FF14 provide that makes this form of engagement worthwhile? No offense intended of course, don't want to give the wrong impression.

I'm not sure what you mean by shout chat cafe, would you please clarify?

If you're talking about regular RP venues such as cafes, restaurants, bars, etc; the appeal for many is to relax and chat with other people in between game activities. For others, there's story-driven roleplaying. For yet others....that other stuff. There are as many reasons to chat/RP in XIV as there are reasons to, and styles of, RP (D&D, etc) in the real world. Work's taken me all over the country so I haven't been able to keep a stable gaming group IRL, but my XIV friends are always there.

If you pretend your WoL has a personality and interacts with NPCs and the world in a certain manner, that's RP. For a lot of people, that's the extent of it. The next step from that is to interact with people the same way; even if it's talking about things with your characters' mannerisms without really having a story behind it. Adding a themed venue to this is the next step and makes a big difference for a lot of folks. Playing make believe, with a virtual dress-up doll, in a space dedicated for it is a lot of fun, give it a try!

[Padudu]

What the hell kind of RP venues/FCs are you guys looking at lol, I see plenty of SFW ones all the time.

[ameliaw]

This week on OF: Venues BAD, ERP BAD
I wonder what we'll get next week

[game_enjoyer]

I don't have an issue with them btw, I just didn't (and still don't honestly) get the appeal. It's just not for me.

[Mosha]

I was about to say the same...
I made a char in Balmung after waiting for early hours in the morning for a window in the character creation restriction. Back then, Balmung was the capital of true RP and I was very proud of being isnde there xD I went inside a roleplay FC and learned a lot from them (even things about the lore of the game, like places and some historical characters. I REALLY loved to play like this).

But now it's this degenerated and sexual stuff... I feel embarrassed for that as well. Even now, if I ask to enter a "RP FC" I can't thrust that all members there are looking for real RP or just the redtube's eorzean extension... It's really sad.

I'm about to move my alts to one of the new servers in EU DC. I hope i can create some true RP events inside a FC there (small and true RP events for the FC members only and only if ALL of them mind the difference and aren't looking for pervert content).

"But now it's this degenerated and sexual stuff"

I mean it's always been part of Balmung, but now with the world visit and DC visit all your degens come over here and us natives get blamed for it.

[Adamantini]

I've been playing for a few years now and one thing that has been a constant is the shout chat cafes that are advertised in city hubs, Limsa most notably. I've always wondered though: what's the appeal? The game doesn't really seem set to enable bars or night clubs without an extra helping of imagination (though, to be fair, that does seem to be the general vibe of roleplaying). But why FF14 and not like, VRChat? What does FF14 provide that makes this form of engagement worthwhile? No offense intended of course, don't want to give the wrong impression.

Depends on the cafe you're going to.

If it's a RP-only one, people set up a house to look like a restaurant, or something, you can buy in-game food (just for the RP), and chat with new folks. It's an interesting experience that I could only have here in FFXIV, I would say try it out and see it with your own eyes.
In addition, some RP cafes provide glammour events, with prizes.
FFXIV have a lot of emotes that help in RP, apart from the option to take photos with Gpose.

As for ERP, I believe it to be something more "wild". I've never been to one, so I can't say what happens.

[rainichan]

Not every cafe is NSFW (though it's probably the majority). From personal experience, a lot of people enjoy RPing their character and like having special made spaces to playing said character. People can usually 'work' for cafes too, making gil for playing their part, so there's some extra motivation too. I have an FC mate that makes an insane amount of gil just serving people food at a tavern and having chats with the customers like a real waitress. Paid by the owner + tips. Just another form of entertainment, really.

Nah, cafes aren't usually erp stuff. Cafes are usually a "come by, just have some roleplay without needing to go into the Quicksands and in a smaller venue for fun", meet new people, get your fill in a couple hours, leave for the next set of people. I did some helping at a friend's cafe, it was mainly just for people to hang out with and get "food" and "drinks" (rp served of course) and everything was SFW. If you wanted NSFW, you had to go elsewhere since that wasn't the theme of the cafe itself.

It's old tavern rp on AOL, but without dark corners to lurk in lol.

[Jagick]

"But now it's this degenerated and sexual stuff"

I mean it's always been part of Balmung, but now with the world visit and DC visit all your degens come over here and us natives get blamed for it.

This. Even passing through Quicksand Inn you can see that half the people there are just tourists with the "Wanderer" and "Traveler" tag.

[Payadopa]

What the hell kind of RP venues/FCs are you guys looking at lol, I see plenty of SFW ones all the time.

Agreed. If anything I think the influx of RP people livenes the servers up. There is way too much single player-ness and people rarely talk.

[Lieri]

I still dont know how DJs work in these ads. How do you play music? how do people listen to those? and why would they wanna do that anyway.