SE, please designate a Role Play friendly server!

[Mychael]

In many ways, that kind of would be the best case scenario - not least because it would completely neutralise the risk of future roleplayers being mislead by past news pieces about Besaid and the roleplayers being there.

If SE chooses Option 2, which I hope they do, there will be no need to change anything, one would hope. I seriously doubt Besaid will be merging into a smaller server, and if they take the idea of creating new server names, there will be no Besaid to accidentally choose; it might confuse a new player until they do another Google search, but it won't be the end of the world.

In any case, I'm going to stick with (and reiterate) what I said before, that there are not yet enough RPers to make a server. While I understand you are not asking for a dedicated server, I still believe that the general population would choose to avoid a server that SE even joked about as the RP server. Not because they're afraid of you or angered by you (though some are), but simply because they're afraid they'll feel out of place.

It could be said that you feel out of place right now, and I'm sure at least some of you do. However, I think several of you have vastly overestimated the number of people who actually oppose you, which I can understand. People who are indifferent won't make a point to tell you their indifference; however, those with problems are more than happy to bring them up. And something that is good about this 4-2 hybrid plan that we've heard of is that these players who absolute cannot bear another day with you are able to move away. No one is going in blind; they'll know where to avoid as soon as SE announces the new Merge outline, and the RP community decides their home. Believe me, those that actually dislike you enough to dampen your experience will be looking out for the server to avoid. Just look at the "tell me where not to go" posts--this applies to your decision regardless of whether you make it or SE makes it for you. And then, someone has already made the point that the only changes to the rules would/could be naming policies; harassment is already an offense in XIV, and if someone is bothering you about your playstyle, I'm sure a GM would be happy to assist you whether it was an official RP server or not.

Though it's of course based solely off my opinions and predictions, I think the ideal world for you would be a world split between RP-friendly casual players and RPers. If SE announces an RP-friendly server, however, the casual playerbase will fear that there will be such a minority of people for them to play with, they'll never try it out long enough to feel otherwise.

As to the assertion that people would be more likely to see the "simple edit to HTML," if someone is not going to notice the decision posted to the RPC and these forums, or hear from a fellow RPer, there's a very good chance they wouldn't know about the official announcement, either. The risk of isolating the RPers to their own server is greater than the risk of losing one or two people who do not have the drive to locate the new RP server.

[FilthyDisco]

Yes, please, send all the weird role-players to a specific server.

[Kyri]

Yes, please, send all the weird role-players to a specific server.

I take great pride in my weirdness, thank you

[OskarHelvig]

I can't even believe people are still arguing against RP friendly servers in the year 2012, when every MMO has it. That' so... quaint.

[Rhomagus]

I can't even believe people are still arguing against RP friendly servers in the year 2012, when every MMO has it. That' so... quaint.

Welcome to the Final Fantasy XIV official forums. I swear there are people that will argue that the number one represents a greater mathematical value than one. It takes too much work than it's worth to convince a lot of folks here. Even if it's in their own best interests.

[Rowyne]

I'll point once again to successful mainstream MMORPG's which already have roleplay servers: I know damn well World of Warcraft and Everquest 2 don't have such a rule on their RP servers nor any parts of their End User License Agreement or Terms of Service specific to those servers. Largely because they realise it'd be a stupid idea and put off the vast majority of people would even be interested in playing on a roleplay server.

EDIT:
Curiously, and some research later, it seems WoW does in fact have rules specifically for it's RP servers. However, the point above stands - the rules merely allow GM's to replace improbable character names and penalise players who harass roleplayers for their chosen way of playing. FF XIV's rules actually contain similar, if somewhat more general clauses already, although targetted character names are either copyrighted or rude. They do not let 'butt hurt' roleplayers demand GM action for any perceived lack of in-character behaviour. I'll have to double-check if the same is true of EQ2 after all.

And again, I would reinforce: we are not asking for any server-specific rules.

As an avid roleplayer in World of Warcraft for four years, perhaps I can soothe some concerns here.

I played on Scarlet Crusade, one of WoW's 17 officially designated RP servers.

There are a couple guidelines for RP servers in WoW, but they honestly aren't really much different than regular servers (in fact, as you stated, they're not all that different from some of FFXIV's rules). Naming conventions is one. One misconception about RP servers is that people are expected to name their characters something super serious. Not at all. I see all kinds of silly names on RP servers nowadays, so I'd say you can probably name your character pretty much whatever you want anymore within reason (heck, my husband had a gnome named Phabulass for years and was never asked to change it). You will only run into problems if you choose a name that is vulgar, offensive, celebrity-owned or copyrighted (a guildie of mine named his char Lukeskywalker and was forced into a name change). Another is not harassing those who roleplay. Well, I don't want to see harassment on any server for any reason, so I don't see the problem there, either. Regular chat is the norm. I've never seen anyone get bent out of shape for people talking OOC (out of character). Again, not everyone who plays on a RP server is a RPer nor are they required to be, so you are not expected to walk around IC (in character), you are just merely expected to respect those who do.

In short, those rules are really just common courtesy guidelines and something you don't even notice. And I don't think anyone here is asking for a specific RP server ruleset in FFXIV so our non-roleplay friends will feel just as welcome as they ever did.

In EQ2, Antonia Bayle is the designated RP server. It has and always is the most popular server, and at one time was always the leader for Server-wide Firsts for raid content...which, by the way, among those guilds that was doing it was a huge RP guild. Currently, most requests for transfers go to AB. Unfortunately, most of the raid guilds have toppled in the server, so there's only a handful of guilds, and while they're close to beating everything, the smaller servers with the hard core raid guilds are in the lead.

I don't know how anyone got the idea a RP server is exclusively RP-Only and the like, considering that there is no other game out there where people think this. RPers are harmless, anyways, as long as they don't RP in public chats. We have our own channels and guilds, so the only time you'd see us would be in the game's natural social scenes.

That sounds similar to my experience in WoW (at least on Scarlet Crusade). There were many things that were no different than playing on a regular server. People busily ran around town, getting ready for PvE raids and PvP battlegrounds. They talked normally (out of character). People made Chuck Norris jokes in general chat. But what you found to be different was the lack of trolling. If people roleplayed in a public place they weren't ostracized for it (usually they would take it to a more out of the way place so as not to disturb others, anyway). No one ever expected you to roleplay (in fact, some people weren't RPers, they just liked the atmosphere), but if you did, it was welcome. The community was generally more mature and helpful.

We like to raid, we like gear and shineys and to progress through epic story just as much as any other hardcore raider. Back in the day, everyone who was anyone was in a raiding guild, and they stood around in Ironforge showing off their raiding gear. But we also occasionally like to sit around, drink some ale, and tell the tales of how we got it.

[XStruckX]

Now...I know what role-playing is and what it means to the community I guess. My question is arent we all role playing anyways? Maybe I am not in tune with the "RP community" enough to see a need for an "official role playing server". What really goes on in these servers that everyone is so PRO segregation. Maybe not complete segregation but like the person above me has all this PRO-RP stuff in signature, kinda makes me think I'm missing the point? Could someone attempt to enlighten me a to why RP'ers require their own server or at least why people think "RP'ers" need their own server.
Last time I checked we were all playing a Role-Playing game. Arent we all role-playing?

[DexterityJones]

Not sure why everyone hates on you RP'ers so much.. Hope you get your recognized server.

[PeaceWalker]

Now...I know what role-playing is and what it means to the community I guess. My question is arent we all role playing anyways? Maybe I am not in tune with the "RP community" enough to see a need for an "official role playing server". What really goes on in these servers that everyone is so PRO segregation. Maybe not complete segregation but like the person above me has all this PRO-RP stuff in signature, kinda makes me think I'm missing the point? Could someone attempt to enlighten me a to why RP'ers require their own server or at least why people think "RP'ers" need their own server.
Last time I checked we were all playing a Role-Playing game. Arent we all role-playing?

This...I want to know as well.

[Rhomagus]

Now...I know what role-playing is and what it means to the community I guess. My question is arent we all role playing anyways? Maybe I am not in tune with the "RP community" enough to see a need for an "official role playing server". What really goes on in these servers that everyone is so PRO segregation. Maybe not complete segregation but like the person above me has all this PRO-RP stuff in signature, kinda makes me think I'm missing the point? Could someone attempt to enlighten me a to why RP'ers require their own server or at least why people think "RP'ers" need their own server.
Last time I checked we were all playing a Role-Playing game. Arent we all role-playing?

This...I want to know as well.

Not that I would expect you to find this as it's in the middle of the thread, but I made a post earlier dealing with this.

MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online, not Role Playing Game. RPG stands for Role Playing Game. You can have an MMO that is not a Role Playing Game. You can also have a Role Playing Game that is not an MMO. Role Player, as used in this thread, denotes a sub sect of gamer who actively engages with others to create their own storylines in game and "act" them out through chat and gameplay.

Role Player, as used in this thread, does not designate anyone who decides to play a game in which they control an avatar. While that may be a true statement, the specific concept being used here is much more specific than that.

Here's a link to the post so that you can discern the context, as I was informing and correcting another person's post at the time.

The current use of RPG as a genre reference has been used in several different ways that has little to do with the actual acronym itself, but since it is still referencing a genre of games there is no hindrance in communication. The idea is conveyed successfully so there is no need to further specify.

RPG as a genre

In the current gaming era reviewers will often cite that a certain game has RPG elements. This is a very broad term that sometimes has nothing to do with the actual words "Role Playing". An RPG element could be an experience points system, allocating resources to particular stats, or a behind the scenes "dice" roll that determines a successful action or not. These would be game mechanics that have been closely associated to Role Playing Games, but to say that they are Role Playing mechanics would be incorrect.

Role Playing in any game with a story

Assuming a role or controlling an avatar in a video game would also be considered role playing. When you control Mario in Super Mario Bros., you are controlling a character that plays a role (the protaganist) who is tasked with completing an objective (saving the princess). There's little interaction that you can do to actually affect the events in the story. You either have a win scenario (where you save the princess) or a lose scenario (where you fail to save the princess). There is still a background behind the characters seen on screen.

Non RPGs

Games that don't involve role play would be games like pong or tetris. Later iterations not withstanding. These games are much more abstract in concept and don't require a story as a mechanic in order to play. The player controls a bar to bounce a dot between another bar or manipulates geometric shapes to fit in a certain way. No story is needed.

Role Playing as an act

The act of Role Playing can be more of a focal point in table top RPG's like Dungeons and Dragons where a GM (Game Master) will create a scenario and the players will have to interact with the GM in order to play through the scenario. The player takes on a role and the rules could be much more open than, say, in Super Mario Bros. where there are only two outcomes (saving or not saving). Depending on the GM, the scenario may be put in complete control of the players as they develop their own stories based on the scenario given by the GM. As there are very few limits to human creativity, success and failure outcomes are significantly more numerous than they are in a tightly controlled scenario. In this type of role playing the person develops the story for their character. This focuses much more on the "Role Playing" aspect of the acronym RPG. This is how Role Playing, is being referenced in this thread.

Role Playing, in this instance, not only transcends video games but also games themselves. Thesbians would be considered role players. To an even further extent, Shakespeare turned us all into role players when he claimed "All the World's a stage". Some philosophers have run with the concept as well.