SE, please designate a Role Play friendly server!

[Kyri]

I know my dream of a actual RP server where even the gms would ask you to "be in character" isn't going to happen (/sadface) and no other MMO seems to wanna run like RP MuD's, but just as people would choose not to go somewhere due to RP there are many people who hear of it and decide to give it a try. People who have never really roleplayed before will indeed join to try and learn as they have in other games. I know I did. Before comming to XIV the most RP I had done was dabbling on MuD's and D&D. I originally started off in Saronia but left a week later after learning of this mysterious "Unofficial Roleplay server" and have been here since (minus a bit of dabbling in some higher populated areas to see what they were like).

So yes, some people might avoid such a thing as a unofficial RP server, but some will flock to it as well.

[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.