Square: You need to open servers before this community is slowly choked

[Kaethra]

So you RPers do just spring from the ground fully formed and ready to go then? 20+ years now, I must have been doing it all wrong...

Maybe you were doing it wrong.

I knew what a Roleplaying Preferred server was nearly 20 years ago. My only experience prior to that was rolling dice in HS. And I know without having to look it up that Balmung is the 'unofficial' RP server since SE didn't tag one. I've seen Non-RPers over 20 years and over a dozen games say why they typically join RP servers even though they don't themselves RP.

If you don't get it, I don't know what else to tell you.

An RPer Roleplays.
A Non-RP doesn't.

Its not hard. You become a Roleplayer via a desire to Roleplay. You don't need to be taught how.

You didn't need to be taught how to use WASD or Control stick to move did you? No, you didn't.

[Kukajoo]

Balmung is locked because its bursting at the seams isn't it? A bit of "death" is what it needs to be able to thrive in the future if you ask me, like burning a forest so new trees can grow. To me the slowdown people are complaining about is really just the server slowly bit by bit dropping to what should be a regular amount of activity. Im sure square will unlock it once they feels its leveled off again, till then it doesn't need to stay overpopped.

[DeaconMoore]

Maybe you were doing it wrong.

I knew what a Roleplaying Preferred server was nearly 20 years ago. My only experience prior to that was rolling dice in HS. And I know without having to look it up that Balmung is the 'unofficial' RP server since SE didn't tag one. I've seen Non-RPers over 20 years and over a dozen games say why they typically join RP servers even though they don't themselves RP.

If you don't get it, I don't know what else to tell you.

An RPer Roleplays.
A Non-RP doesn't.

Its not hard. You become a Roleplayer via a desire to Roleplay. You don't need to be taught how.

You didn't need to be taught how to use WASD or Control stick to move did you? No, you didn't.

Seriously?

Well when I first encountered a game stick at the wee age of 3 when my dad brought home a brand new Atari 2600, I did in fact have no clue about its function until it was demonstrated to me. We humans have to actually experience things, learn and be taught. Our preprogrammed instinctual knowledge doesn't cover things like language, computer use, rp etiquette and conventions, what server 20 years later is unofficially tagged an rp server etc. Its just basic stuff like breathing, holding your breath underwater, pain means bad, etc, that we get preprogrammed with. All that other stuff is learned and taught to us.

[MistakeNot]

I never said you or anyone has to go out there like a missionary to convert people either. I was just saying that if someone sees a group rping and they haven't experienced it themselves before simply being exposed to it in that fashion can potentially lead to the creation of a new rper.

In a few rare cases that may be the case, but for the majority of RPers they got interested by reading about RP elsewhere (on a forum or whatever.)
Watching other people RP is very ofte quite boring, so the only ones likely to do that are the ones already interested in RP.
In other words, "exposing" people to RP is not useful as a recruiting tool.

[Kaethra]

Seriously?

Well when I first encountered a game stick at the wee age of 3 when my dad brought home a brand new Atari 2600, I did in fact have no clue about its function until it was demonstrated to me. We humans have to actually experience things, learn and be taught. Our preprogrammed instinctual knowledge doesn't cover things like language, computer use, rp etiquette and conventions, what server 20 years later is unofficially tagged an rp server etc. Its just basic stuff like breathing, holding your breath underwater, pain means bad, etc, that we get preprogrammed with. All that other stuff is learned and taught to us.

That's where you're wrong. As humans we created the control stick to serve a purpose. Just like Roleplay, no one had to teach you as a child to go out and pretend to be something when you played. You just did. Because its simple creativity. An attribute that cannot be taught, refined with discipline and practice. But cannot be taught.

[Lewtskie]

One person or group of persons, who's experiences and understandings in life, come up with the ideas for tools. And when they do, not every entity on the planet instantly knew and understood the purpose and function of said tool. When seeing a tool for the first time, you are not instantly filled with the knowledge of what it is and it's use, you need to either experience it first hand with experimentation, or be taught by being shown or told.

A child with an active imagination will often wish to play out a scene or story they have heard or experienced. A child doesn't just do, there are factors leading up to that. Likewise, other means of playing out roles or 'pretend' doesn't just come naturally. You don't instinctively know what roleplaying on the internet was, through forums or games or chats. There was a step before that leads you to it, and before that step was one before it.

I was an imaginative kid growing up, I would roleplay with my toys or whatever all the time, but I didn't just know of roleplaying in any sort of form online. I didn't know to just look either. I remember seeing the old forum RPs back when for the first time, and was fascinated by them. Never realized RPing in a game was a thing either until I played Tera once upon a time. And not being someone who actively seeks it out, but on seeing it, was interested in giving it a try.

[Kewitt]

Sorry to disagree with OP,
I love balmung being locked.
Our FC has gotten 10 New invites in the last 2 weeks.
We also have a cross world discord, Where we do cross world RAIDing with 10 didn't FC on 4 different worlds.

Also if you feel balmung is dead switch servers and you will find new players.

That use Leveling items and story skip items and can't RAID worth anything.

[Naunet]

Its not hard. You become a Roleplayer via a desire to Roleplay. You don't need to be taught how.

I just want to say... I had no idea what roleplay was when I was first introduced to it back in 2008. Heck, I didn't know what this game "World of Warcraft" was that my roommate told me about and encouraged me and my other roommate to play. I didn't even know what an MMORPG was. Without that roommate, I probably would to this day still not know, as those things simply were never on my radar. My own entry into roleplay (beyond childhood games of pretend) was very much dependent on someone going out of their way to show me.

[Riardon]

The game is limited by design. This is why we can't have large scale battles, open world content like Sieges or bosses and this is why the game is structured and fragmented in small instanced zones. I don't know why and how they did this (although I can imagine the reason) but it's the way it is now. Look what happened with Ixion fate and Odin fate back in 2.0. Or with Northern Shroud when it was populated. The game can't take many people at the same time. It wasn't designed for open world content from the beginning. They also never expected that this game will be so successful. They never expected all those people. I don't know if they can make structural upgrades to their code but it seems it's very difficult. I hope they will do something about it and start upgrading what needs to be upgraded be it code, servers, graphics engine or everything. Housing is also a victim of this whole thing. Too many limitations around for a big MMORPG like this.

[DeaconMoore]

In a few rare cases that may be the case, but for the majority of RPers they got interested by reading about RP elsewhere (on a forum or whatever.)
Watching other people RP is very ofte quite boring, so the only ones likely to do that are the ones already interested in RP.
In other words, "exposing" people to RP is not useful as a recruiting tool.

...Huh? In your very own example here someone talked about RP on a forum and a person reading about it got interested in it as a result. In other words you exposed people to what RP is, and potentially recruited them as a result...

That's where you're wrong. As humans we created the control stick to serve a purpose. Just like Roleplay, no one had to teach you as a child to go out and pretend to be something when you played. You just did. Because its simple creativity. An attribute that cannot be taught, refined with discipline and practice. But cannot be taught.

Humans did indeed create the control stick to serve a purpose. We mere humans didn't just will it into existence like all knowing gods though. It's creation by humans was the direct result of knowledge learned and taught being applied through trial and error to create the first control stick to fulfill this need for one. And after these meek creatures called humans finally created it, they then had to teach others how to use it properly and make more by teaching them.

A human child does not go out and pretend to be an indian or a cowboy without first learning what an indian or a cowboy is from somewhere. Nor do they have any idea of the interaction of said "cowboys and indians" without being exposed to knowledge from an outside source of some kind. They imitate what they see, hear and learn and it's pretty basic to that.

Now imitation and RP are related yes but that's not just what it is. Another word we humans usually use for RP is "Acting". We actually do have schools that teach this skill. Granted not every actor or actress coming out of said schools is going to win an Oscar or Academy Award, but by the same token I've borne witness to some pretty cringe worthy rp. A little more learning for some couldn't hurt.