The Case Aganast roleplaying as the Warrior of Light

[Morningstar1337]

Alright, here I try to discuss the reasons why I think RPing as the WoL (at least ingame) is usually considered taboo. Bear in mind that I'm not involved with any RP communities, nor am I an expert on the topic, so any corrections and discussion on this would be appreciated.

Let's start with the not quite as obvious. The Warrior of Light & Darkness is the protagonist of the story. I argue that one of the points of an RP is being the hero of their own story, one that isn’t crafted by the writers of the game’s.

Now for the real meat of the post. Ahem, I'm also arguing that the other point of an RP is to usually to "live" as part of the relatively mundane world and put simply, the Warrior of Light is too detached from that as they are currently one of a kind in many respects.

1. Let’s start with the Job Crystals. I’m willing to argue that having even a single Job Crystal is a mark of someone special, and that while there can be work arounds for RP characters to have one (Hidden acolyte, theft, an Abin Sur scenario), they are still powerful relics containing ancient forbidden knowledge. Roleplaying as a Black Mage means having to contend with the population of Thanalan not trusting you, roleplaying as an Astrologian means having to explain why Sharlayan didn’t put a hit out on you, etc. But again, workarounds exist. And one might not be seen as a problem by the RP communities. However there is another wrinkle here. The WoLis also capable of mastering multiple if not all Jobs. The Shadowbringers Trailer already established him to be able to use the Soul Crystals of BRD, WAR, DRG, MNK, SAM and DRK. And theJobs are not only esoteric, most of them are usually built on years if not decades of learning, even with a Soul Crystal, and the WoL can master them all.
   • For those of you wanting to point out the RPers with multiple 80s, let me remind you that not everything the player does with that character is canon to their RP
   • The Crafting and Gathering side of things also deserves a mention, despite the standardized gameplay (Fisher notwithstanding), they usually require different skill sets. Blacksmith, Goldsmith and Armorer all work with metals yes, but the metals they work with and how they do so are vastly different. Likewise there is a difference between striking a vein of ore in the middle of a cave or cavern and going “haha Saw go timberrrr” or cutting up plants. Yet again the WoL can use all of these skill sets. Grated this is probably a case where one of the DoL/H could be taken as a hobby in tandem with the Job.
2. Moving onm I must address something, retcons. AFAIK in 1.0-3.0 there were mentions of multiple Warriors of Light, contemporary to the shard of Azem. But since then mention of these supposedly myriad paragons are fewer and farther in between,until the point where the role is ultimately one of a kind and any other claimants to it are either assumed dead inhabitants or another dimension, or both in the case of Ardbert and co.
3. Now with that said. Let’s talk about the Echo. We had recently established that it is not gifted to us by Hydaelyn, but instead something innate that enables us to even hear her.,this on top of the existing benefits of being immune to tempering and one superpower chosen at random (the PC’s is basically Cypher from the X-men without the computer language aspect). This isn’t public knowledge yet (I’ll get to that later), so its not as much of a problem. And just because you can avoid being a husk possessed by a primal doesn't mean you are capable of slaying it, only that you are slightly more likely to. It will take some skill with a weapon or magic to finish the job. But the issue is that it's still a rare ability regardless.
4. Now then. Location, location, location. The Warrior of Light has been to many places beyond the scope of normal adventurers. Places that are usually blocked off,sealed or otherwise inaccessible more mundane folk. (kinda throws a wrench into the "RPs in dungeons" stereotype :P) Among which are…
   • A sacred burial grounds of Dragons, as well as what lies beyond that.
   • Several hard to access Allagan ruins, including the Crystal Tower (well warded), Azys Lla (ditto) and Dalamud (which has the issue of getting tempered by Bahamut for everyone else)
   • An entire alternate universe
   • A recreation of a primordial universe within said alternate universe
   • An undersea palace and village accessible only by those that can breathe underwater (not a common skill)
   • The largest church in Ishgard that is usually inaccessible to the smallfolk bar certain occasions
   • The Void (actually another alternate dimension)
   • A Cyberspace in the Interdimensional Rift
   • An island that was recently emerged and warped by the Lifestream
   • And a gauntlet in the Azim Steppe that is usually done alone.
5. The WoL is also well connected compared to normal adventurers. Think about it, the head of a large tech firm, multiple heads of state, powerful or legendary warriors and monsters. And of course the entirety of the First. Show me someone who lives next door and has claimed to meet celebrities or traveled to other worlds and I’ll show you a chuuni or a liar. See the problem there? And a fair amount of the people they meet tend to revere them.

All of this means that the Warrior of Light is a power fantasy. Which is not always the cup of tea of Roleplayers, but they are also a few steps removed from outright godhood. Which is a problem for people playing with others. And also an issue when writing about said characters. Superman works because people were willing to explore what a godlike individual living among mortals would be like, and how to craft tension despite that (hint: it involves green rocks and exploiting his love for others by hurting them), but that is also because the comics industry by nature if able to writers with the requisite amount of skill needed to make them work, the people that would be seen as the 10% under Sturgeons’ Law (though even that is debatable). In contrast when dealing with amatuer writers onthe internet, you get everything including the 90% who would inevitably fail to do such a problematic premise justice.

Which brings me to the final point, RP is a collaborative effort not everyone is willing to go along with some arrogant jerk’s power fantasy. Not everyone wants to RP as demigods and not everyone wants to be seen as this special paragon who people of moral fiber unanimously loves, has access to the secrets of the universe and can more easily get you an audience with Nanamo. As such you have to consider others’ feelings in the manner and that means you have to avoid archetypes that warp the RP around you.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I appreciate any insight into the matter from RPers.

[redheadturk]

Sorry, I like my power fantasy. lol. My WoL is a WoL for roleplay purposes outside the game [I don't generally rp in game so it doesn't much apply anyway there.] Out of game, WoL rp is actually relatively common [twitter/tumblr/etc.]

[MistakeNot]

Many good points there, but I think the real reason roleplaying as the WoL is discouraged is much simpler:
* You obviously cannot have everyone (in the RP community) roleplaying as the Warrior of Light - that would wreak havok with the canon.
* If only one person, or at most a few, get to RP as the WoL or their close companions, then who would that be? Expecting such a loosely organised community as the RP community to be able to agree on that is really out of the question.
* So the easiest solution is to have nobody RPing as the WoL: Solves a whole lot of problems.

[Morningstar1337]

Many good points there, but I think the real reason roleplaying as the WoL is discouraged is much simpler:
* You obviously cannot have everyone (in the RP community) roleplaying as the Warrior of Light - that would wreak havok with the canon.
* If only one person, or at most a few, get to RP as the WoL or their close companions, then who would that be? Expecting such a loosely organised community as the RP community to be able to agree on that is really out of the question.
* So the easiest solution is to have nobody RPing as the WoL: Solves a whole lot of problems.

I already addressed that in the OP namely the "too one of a kind bit" as well as the bit on retcons.

But yeah in hindsight, it does seem like the mostly likely reason, Occams's razor and all.

[redheadturk]

Many good points there, but I think the real reason roleplaying as the WoL is discouraged is much simpler:
* You obviously cannot have everyone (in the RP community) roleplaying as the Warrior of Light - that would wreak havok with the canon.
* If only one person, or at most a few, get to RP as the WoL or their close companions, then who would that be? Expecting such a loosely organised community as the RP community to be able to agree on that is really out of the question.
* So the easiest solution is to have nobody RPing as the WoL: Solves a whole lot of problems.

Otherwise this, though, yeah, in game at least. As I said above, out of game [twitter/tumblr/discord] this rule really does not apply because everyone's WoLs usually have their own cliques they rp with.

[MistakeNot]

I already addressed that in the OP namely the "too one of a kind bit" as well as the bit on retcons.

But yeah in hindsight, it does seem like the mostly likely reason, Hanlon's razor and all.

For the WoL case, yes.

However, the points you bring up touches on certain other character concepts that are typically discouraged within the RP community
* Overly powerful characters, or characters with who have lots of jobs unlocked. (Unlocked in-character that is. Nobody cares how many jobs you have unlocked out of character)
* Characters with close ties to any of the NPCs in the game

Of course, if it is just a few persons doing all the RP within their own circle, they can RP as whatever they agree upon without anyone outside objecting or caring.

[linayar]

Counterpoint: Shadowbringers affirms that multiple WoLs exist.

As for being the WoL, even the story allows for multiple interpretations. Which city did the WoL start their adventures? Was the WoL present in Eorzea before the Calamity? What job(s) did the WoL learn? Etc.

So if you want to RP as a (or even the) WoL, and other people also want to RP as a WoL, just make sure your stories allign. Maybe each of the Scion brought along a WoL, so there were multiple all along. (It gets trickier with Azem's portion, but meh, you could get creative with that too.)

As for being overpowered, the key is relative power. If everyone has the same power level, then that's fine. If one person is doing all the work because they're that powerful and the other people are like the unused TRUST who join after the duty is over, then what's the point?

[Gameovers]

There's ways to do it honestly. This game has shown over many adventures that there's been many WoL. In my head and my canon I am the WoL of many. My WoL has a very different story then yours or theirs and hell even the main plot of the game itself. The key thing to remember is you can RP the WoL who kills primals and saves the day as often as you like within your group of friends and have it not effect anything really. It's not like you're rping with the entire game all the time anyway. The difference is noone is rping the ACTUAL main character of the game's plot. I think that's where the issues come into play. But long as people are making their own canon that's not the main game's one it's fine. Sides have you been to Ul'dah quicksands? There's like a million chats happening at once. And most people rp within parties so long as everyone in that group agrees you're good.

Not saying you don't bring up good points because they are, and are VERY good points on how not to make an OP character who isn't fun to RP with. Good Ted talk.

[Astrus]

[...]
Moving onm I must address something, retcons. AFAIK in 1.0-3.0 there were mentions of multiple Warriors of Light, contemporary to the shard of Azem. But since then mention of these supposedly myriad paragons are fewer and farther in between,until the point where the role is ultimately one of a kind and any other claimants to it are either assumed dead inhabitants or another dimension, or both in the case of Ardbert and co.
[...]

As far as my understanding of things goes (note that I am not into RP in this game) there's two kinds of Warriors of Light here.

The original Warriors of Light, the adventurers present at the battle of Carteneau, so essentially characters from 1.0.
Nobody can recall what they looked like, the only thing left in people's recollection are these shining figures - hence the name. As far as I recall of the game touching on the matter the identity of these Warriors of Light has faded into obscurity, and nobody* has made a claim of being one of them.
*except for the tie in to the second kind of WoL as a legacy character, where after finishing 2.0 Minfilia recalls your involvement in the events of 1.0 through her Echo

The Warrior of Light, as in the protagonist of the game starting with ARR.
The adventurer who picks up the mantle of the Warriors of Light of old and, in the process of saving the world time and again, is granted the moniker Warrior of Light because they're a big damn hero.

There have been multiple of the legendary Warriors of Light, this has never been retconned, it's just that pretty much nobody knows what became of them after the calamity.
There's only ever the one contemporary Warrior of Light, the protagonist. (Who may or may not be one of the Warriors of Light of legend as well because the game will twist its lore to conform to your choices just like it does with your starting city and other things.)
As far as the Source goes anyway. Events on the First have shown that all the shards may have their own contemporary Warriors of Light but as far as RP goes saying you are the WoL from a shard that is as of yet unexplored by the game's lore holds just as many issues as roleplaying as the WoL.
There might be some wriggle room here for roleplaying as a 1.0 adventurer who was teleported 5 years into the future (but is not the new WoL) but that's a concept I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. Not for public/ad-hoc RP anyway. In a private RP group anything the members can agree on goes, naturally.

[Gothicshark]

long time RP'er here, although the last few years I've kind of stopped, although I still enjoy the immersive feeling of the RP community.

Ohhh Kayyy, good post, a couple of spoilers in it, FYI some people haven't done 5.3, 5.0, or even 4.0 content yet, just remember when making these kinds of posts, would a new player ie in the last year, without boosts have seen this content. Because the headline will attract new players who happen to be RP players, in fact, I can guarantee it.

on to your points and you make a lot of good ones that the RP community, in many MMORPGs have figured out.

First important bit:

Now for the real meat of the post. Ahem, I'm also arguing that the other point of an RP is to usually to "live" as part of the relatively mundane world and put simply, the Warrior of Light is too detached from that as they are currently one of a kind in many respects.

Many Role players do this, they RP as a Fisherperson, a botanist, or like Marielle I RP her as a Mage (a well-studied mage, and master of the arcane arts.), in this game, I've been apart of an RP Sky Pirates FC way back in Heaven's Ward, and frankly, I've kind of kept that RP as her core income earning profession. I do not RP her as THE WOL, but she was there counted amount the number of Warrior's of Light during the fall of Dalamud. But the game lore kind of stated that almost every adventurer was there as a WOL, but only the cinematic trailer dude is THE WOL. Which is why I make sure to make the distinction, was Marielle there to witness the 7th calamity, yes, although in character like everyone else she has foggy memories of it. At the same time, she has been called to fight alongside The Warrior of Light, as I will RP being one of 4, one of 8, and one of twenty-four adventurers to do a thing. A thing which only those with the Echo could do, this isn't a power fantasy, but it does explain her having weapons and gear showing which can only be gotten from some raids or dungeons. It's also why she always has the Black mage Soul Stone equipped. She won't admit out loud she's a Black Mage, but RP wise I play her as having learned the art and gotten the stone. I don't RP her as a summoner or Scholar, but she is a skilled arcanist and can summon a Carbuncle, and she is technically a Scholar of all Magic. She is also skilled with a sword, and bow, as her family raised her to have those skills. Which is how I can explain Red Mage, without her being explicitly one. She knows Black, White, Arcane, and is aware of Red. She also grew up as an Elezen in Ul'dah, which factors into RP a whole lot, her parents left Ishgard to avoid the inquisition, as she had an Uncle who was a Dragon Worshiper. So instead of the default Duskwight back story, I went with the Ishgard angle.