I don't know how many people, especially from NA or EU that'll see this, but, y'all ever like been at the wrong place at the wrong time?
Went to go try out the world hopping on Mateus. Didn't think it'd be too bad, but everyone I know talks about how prevalent the ERPing is. I hop on there to go visit my friend and do some party stuff together.
I hop off the Aetheryte in Limsa and one of the first things I saw in the text was someone tryna ERP an NPC publicly and, at the same time, conversation where someone exclaimed they preferred 'dom roe femboys'. It was fascinating.
This gave me the brilliant idea to go rogue and split from the group to go check out Ul'Dah's Quicksand - which I am sure plenty are aware of its reputation, but I would also go to Balmung after. So I checked out Mateus' Quicksand first, and I came in, and watched one group of people actively RPing, and a few scantily clothed female PCs wandering around. Upon further examination, I found that they belonged to a 'high end brothel FC'. I was certainly learning a lot about the RP community! The RPing at Mateus was relatively tame, barring a couple instances, but the real test was Balmung.
Balmung was really crowded. I made my rounds around Balmung's Quicksand, with feelings of uncertainty. On one hand, I was half-expecting (and hoping even) to be met with this barrage of public shameless ERPing (as I had earlier upon arriving in Mateus Limsa docks - which I am now fully aware was an outlier... I think... I hope...) but I was also dreading to see how bad it - bracing for it, in fact. I was told so many horror stories of shameless ERPing and the ERPing culture that had rocked and gripped the FF14 RP community. I was bracing and expecting for the worst.
When I had done my 'patrols' around the bar, just cruising, looking for trouble. I was still in my botanist gear and I had not glamored it. I had not intended to look very attractive, yet for some reason I still expected to be hit on (which I would later find out is apparently a reportable offense...?) for I had been hit on randomly while I was just walking around in the forests of Gridania by someone much more higher lvled than I was. I was not overconfident in my PC's looks, he very much looked like the peasant Roe that just stumbled into an adventurers' bar, yet I braced for the possibility too.
Instead, I ran into a friendly Lalafell visiting from Mateus. I had accidentally made eye contact with him and he came up to me and gave me a thumbs up.
"You're doing a good job, big guy!" he greeted me with a big thumbs up.
I was trying.
I gave him a fistbump and we began to have a conversation instead about the RP community. The conversation that was had was quite nice and pleasant. He helped me understand how a lot of the RPing was done in private and though some of it does spill into public chat (it had done so a few times as we spoke), it is generally kept out of the public view. I then revealed to him how I had planned to attempt to employ 'The Pickle Gambit', something I had picked up while watching Season 9, Episode 2 of the popular semi-improv sitcom 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', where the main character uses his friend as a distraction. In order for his friend to pull off this job to distract the hotel lobby, he comes running in with a pickle jar, hamming up his supposed inability to open it, and "since everyone wants to be the pickle jar hero", it would be expected to cause a scene and a large distraction as many would stop to gawk and help attempt wrestle the lid off the pickle jar. To my amusement, he too found it amusing, and after we had bid each other farewell, I attempted to employ it in a very busy Ul'dah Quicksand on a very busy Balmung weekday evening. Look, if Postal Dude could run with it, why couldn't I? Mayhaps it was the insistence or the accessibility of Postal Dude (another PC, not just the character from the Postal video game franchise) jokes, I did not know. Regardless, the attempt to employ the pickle gambit, was unsuccessful and fruitless.
I scouted the surroundings and I found someone who, I dunno, I just felt like they were approachable? Anyway, I was afraid of actually bothering them, but I was determined to come into this whole FF RP thing with an open mind. Note: I was NOT going to RP, I was not comfortable with that, no, but I was going to ask them questions and be enlightened - so long as they were cool with it too. It felt almost like journalism to me - though I wouldn't have much of the slightest clue of what that'd actually feel like anyway - but I felt like I was going to be investigating what's up in the community and ask questions and be able to come out more learned and enlightened than I was prior. It was worth a shot.
It was about picking the right interviewee. They couldn't be obviously busy with their RPing. I don't know how to explain it, but I guess I just went with whom I felt was most approachable. She just seemed like she wasn't busy and she was just vibin' on the outskirts so I sent my msg to her in tell chat and hoped she wasn't busy - which she thankfully wasn't.
Through a very insightful and enlightening conversation with this person I came to the simple conclusion:
Yes, ERP is rampant in those parts of the data center. There ain't any denial of it. 'High end brothel FCs' are a very telling sign. However, there's plenty of normal RP that takes place too and plenty that really don't want to partake in any of that ERPing either. That part is the obvious part, but what we may not realize is that the FF RP community has been stigmatized too.
When I walked into that Mateus Quicksand RP that was going on, a female Mi'qote PC walked up to a Hrothgaran PC and simply said, "Hi" to him and he immediately, 'in-character', threatened to cut off her tail and strangle her with it. This particular individual would then be just strolling around judging, criticizing, and making fun of these poor individuals too OOC before putting it down as a waste of time before disappearing to 'go back to rolling heads in PVP'. And while they are free to do so, to some extent, it's just like, why try to ruin someone else's fun? They aren't really harming anyone and, for the most part, the 'weird' stuff that happens typically happens out of the public eye anyway. Yeah, maybe this is 'cringe' to some folks and truth be told I had my fair share of cringing at some comments, but there was no need to put-down anyone or anyone's hobby. To this community, this is a hobby, much like creative writing. To them, this is like a D&D character that had been animated to as close as life as it could be - one that had been a veteran of many significant events. They have backstories and they have aspirations - there is history behind these characters that many of them, I am sure, not only have grown attached to, but have put effort and thought into too. Coming from a D&D background and from helping a friend run his Minecraft RP server (that was an experience on its own), I was pretty prepared for the worst but I have built a tolerance and an understanding to where I can at least somewhat sympathize. I made two friends tonight and I learned a lot today.
To those that want to RP on FF14, I think this community has done a great job being inclusive and friendly towards other players. I don't typically experience any problems whilst I have been around. The RP community seems to cater to all RP needs, so you'd have no trouble finding whatever it is you are looking for. My only words of caution are: Be careful and be mindful of others. There are some really nice folks and some really odd ones - everyone is weird, let's be forreal here for a moment, but that's okay. Just have fun the way you want to. To those who find it cringe or can't understand it, its okay that you think that because some of the stuff there really is 'cringe'. But know that there is, in fact 'normal' RPing and a lot of them don't just sit around and RP all day either, they participate in raids, do quests, and whatnot just like the rest of us.
Just be chill to each other, y'all.
Much love to everyone and anyone that stumbles upon this and reads this. I just felt the need to put this somewhere and give some love to the RP community. Much love to the RPers, much love to those that just do the grind, and much love to those that enjoy the thrill of PVP too.
-Corporal Benzonatate Deimos
PS - This will probably be the only thing I put up on the Lodestone, I just really wanted to try out this blogging thing here but something contributive and interesting <3 xxx
