On Extreme Role-playing Within XIV

[Wyssahtyn]

I think a problem with a lot of people's roleplay is that they can't separate themselves from their character. Rather, the character isn't a unique entity, it is them (the player) in the game world. Where they bring their real life ideologies, and feelings, into the game; they tend to take their roleplay personally, which can lead to heated exchanges. Granted, on the other side people can also take extreme role playing too far, and hide behind that as "just roleplay" as well, not going to say that doesn't happen.

This is a better detailed post on the issues of XIV's RP scene.

[Floortank]

The assumption is that people simply pick such characters to be 'edgy', that simply isn't the case in my experience.

Nobody becomes a murderer when they decide to join the Dark Brotherhood in an Elder Scrolls game. Or if they choose to role-play a mercenary for hire in FFXIV.

Nobody becomes a thief when they decide to join the Thieves Guild in an Elder Scrolls game. Or if they choose to portray role-play a pickpocket in FFXIV.

For many, role-play is about becoming a character that is a realistic part of the game world. That may mean that the character is, in some ways, imperfect or flawed.

Don't be obtuse. All roleplaying is a wish fulfilment. It's right there in the name. Role. Playing.

I want to be a big ol' racist is a choice, sure. But don't expect people to understand it or accept it.

You will find that most ideas in RP, whether they are controversial or not, tend to end up divisive. Maybe start smaller and try your best not to be misunderstood.

[Theodric]

Don't be obtuse. All roleplaying is a wish fulfilment. It's right there in the name. Role. Playing.

I want to be a big ol' racist is a choice, sure. But don't expect people to understand it or accept it.

You will find that most ideas in RP, whether they are controversial or not, tend to end up divisive. Maybe start smaller and try your best not to be misunderstood.

You may see role-play as mere wish fulfilment but that isn't the case across the board. Many people enjoy playing complicated characters with deeper issues to overcome. Or they want to play an antagonist/anti-hero because they have genuine stakes at play in the narrative compared to the protagonists who stand to lose very little by comparison.

I think that you are making an awful lot of assumptions. For starters, where did I say that my character is racist? He's perfectly open to working with people who aren't of Garlemald on a case by case basis.

I don't know why I'd need to 'start smaller', either. I've been role-playing for years with no issues across a number of MMO's. FFXIV just happens to have a particularly high number of unhinged role-players who cannot separate the character from the role-player. I'm not going to avoid role-playing something that interests me to appease the overly delicate and often spitefully hypocritical sensibilities of those with a perpetual chip atop their shoulders.

I'd also note, that the game itself has players from all over the world. As such, expecting everyone to have the exact same interests and abide by the exact same opinions/stances is something I find to be rather strange. Each to their own, but if two role-players do not seem like a good fit for one another they do not need to interact and can part ways in a civil manner.

In my experience, however, there's a number of individuals who go out of their way to attack anyone who dares role-play to 'wrong' type of character. Simply role-playing a Garlean, regardless of background or alignment, is enough for some to receive death threats. I know people who play Garlean defectors who have received such unfortunate treatment.

It's just a fun hobby at the end of the day. I also think that it isn't anybody's responsibility to entertain the unreasonable expectations and limitations that some seek to impose upon everybody else.

[FusiaRain]

So you want to pretend to be edgy and get away with the things you can't say in person.

Don't.

You realize the purpose of being online is to feed your inner darkness. So you dont use it irl...

Also it's annoying calling things edgy.

If someone says they have never wished harm or punch someone in the face. Even be cruel they are a lier.

Also honestly they should get it out online were its all fantasy.

Personally I dont care I say what I want in real life and online. If people dont it like thats their problem. Better to be honest than a lier pretender and having regrets.

[Izscha]

So you want to pretend to be edgy and get away with the things you can't say in person.

Don't.

Me good u bad

[Lauront]

So you want to pretend to be edgy and get away with the things you can't say in person.

Don't.

And I am sure if we were to scour through your own RP history, we'd find things along those lines which certain people would consider "edgy" or "don't go there, sweetie" - including your character engaging in slaughter, for example - something I very much doubt you'd do or be able to get away with IRL for the most part, irrespective of the context.

At the end of the day, I'll RP whatever takes my fancy, whether some regard it as "edgy" or not, or whether they'd rather stick to sanitised RP that deliberately precludes elements present in the setting and therefore available to RP. Good thing we can choose whether to interact or not.

It's too real, and it's not controlled. If you're RPing a character that would be considered bad IRL, and they never get a come uppence then it doesn't sit right with people today.

Like, think about the movie Django: Unchained. Great movie with insanely racist characters. As bad as it gets though, all of the bad people get killed in the end.

Compare and contrast with No Country for Old Men. A film that's said to be great, but its ending bothers a lot of people(myself included), because the bad guy doesn't really get a come uppence, and all of the good guys are either defeated or killed.

RP in XIV is a deeply curated experience. People already have so many hang ups for even the simplest of things. There's also RP characters that don't even fit the setting, really. I think that's why most people do ERP, too. There's not a lot of commitment and such.

I can't say it bothers me in the same way. Different strokes for different folks, until it morphs into preaching what I can or can't RP or opinions on how that "reflects" on me as a person, or what I "should" or "shouldn't" like RP-wise. This game is particularly unusual in having a vocal minority so fixated on being "wholesome" (while also going on crusades some might term "toxic" against anyone with a diverging set of preferences...) In other games, I like the ability to play out whatever takes my fantasy on a given day and not worry whether it triggers some individuals fixated on moral crusades. In a XIV context, if I were RPing, I just wouldn't interact with such individuals, who cannot separate fiction from reality.

Have not read the thread, but I am sure it comes down to people take RP actions against their character as personal attacks. This community seems to think their character is a reflection of their own self. We have had countless threads that support this notion, in short we have a snowflake community that is why.

Yeah, but does a garlean or ascian make as much gil?

The game also has to allow said roleplay to actually take place, but yeah, that's for sure what it's about for me: to have my character feel like a realistic part of the game world. I think a problem with a lot of people's roleplay is that they can't separate themselves from their character. Rather, the character isn't a unique entity, it is them (the player) in the game world. Where they bring their real life ideologies, and feelings, into the game; they tend to take their roleplay personally, which can lead to heated exchanges. Granted, on the other side people can also take extreme role playing too far, and hide behind that as "just roleplay" as well, not going to say that doesn't happen.

Either way, I prefer to stick with the sort of "light roleplay" I do in RPGs, and not really bother doing it with strangers over the internet, but when I do do that sort of "light roleplay" my character alignments range from lawful to chaotics, good, neutral, or evil. Sometimes changing over the course of the story. It can be refreshing to play a game with a character of a different perspective. I just wish more games would allow for that sort of freedom of choice.

Exactly right and agreed.

[Floortank]

And I am sure if we were to scour through your own RP history, we'd find things along those lines which certain people would consider "edgy" or "don't go there, sweetie" - including your character engaging in slaughter, for example - something I very much doubt you'd do or be able to get away with IRL for the most part, irrespective of the context.

At the end of the day, I'll RP whatever takes my fancy, whether some regard it as "edgy" or not, or whether they'd rather stick to sanitised RP that deliberately precludes elements present in the setting and therefore available to RP. Good thing we can choose whether to interact or not.

I mean, duh. If you think "don't roleplay" was the point of my message, man I hope I never get stuck RPing with you.

[Lauront]

It also does require you to unnaturally feel like you and your character are the same to feel offended by it as well. I mean, I have yet to feel offended when a Garlean calls me "EORZEAN SAVAGE!!!1!" during the story, can't see why it would be any different in Roleplay, especially since you can talk back to players.

Then again, I used to roleplay in WoW and let me tell you, almost every nightborne, blood, void and night elves tended to be prettyyyyyy elvish levels of xenophobic.

Indeed, and that sort of RP in WoW was fun and manifested across a number of different races in its own way. It added depth to the RP as you were able to play out the conflicts in the setting on a more individual level.

Personally, I think it's way too far and even tiring to even THINK about this idea of "if you're someone who RPs as hating lalas then you're racist irl" I just. I'm so tired. It's both a joke and insult. Like please do not put a lalafell hater on the same level as someone who would gun me down simply for breathing, do not insult me like that. If you can't comprehend why even insinuating that someone pretending to be racist against made up characters is awful, I don't know what to tell you other than you're apparently extremely sheltered and perhaps are consuming way too much fiction. Please read about reality sometimes too. The two will never compare, it'll never be the same, you will never be the leader of morality that you think you are attempting to pull that self indulgent little trick.

^This.

I mean, duh. If you think "don't roleplay" was the point of my message, man I hope I never get stuck RPing with you.

No, I understood your message - you tried reducing the OP's motives in the sort of RP they're after to little more than wanting to be edgy for its own sake. Had your point been phrased as "it won't land well with everyone, so try finding likeminded people to do it with" I might have agreed. Same with the idea that there are good and bad ways of doing it. With that said, rest assured, there is zero risk of us ever RPing, as Crystal is not exactly my destination of choice.

[KizuyaKatogami]

So you want to pretend to be edgy and get away with the things you can't say in person.

Don't.

Isn’t this online interaction in a nutshell? People saying things they would never say or do irl lmao.

[PredatoryCatgirl]

I'd like to say here that this game has a perfect example of how a fundamentally good person can have some seriously fucked up views: Gauis van Baelsar. Gaius is basically a heroic man who had the misfortune of being born into a nation run by villains. He wants to help people, and Garlemald tells him that the best way he can help the weakest among us is to rule them and show them the error of their savage ways. In Gaius's mind, conquering Eorzea was saving its backwards people from themselves. Gaius isn't a racist because he's evil or full of hate, he's a racist because he has no idea how to not be one. He's a racist because everyone he's ever trusted and learned from is a racist, and now its as natural as breathing to him.