Role Playing
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Role-play is basically writing and acting a believable role in a particular setting, much like characters from a movie or television show. Role-play is seeing the world through the eyes of your character rather than yourself.
When one is actively role-playing, they are considered in character (IC). When talking about real life, game mechanics, and so on, one is considered out of character (OOC).
For an in-depth guide to role-playing in regards to MMOs, please refer to the guide, How To Role Play - A Beginner's Guide
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The Four Classes of Role Playing
Role-playing can be divided into four classes: light, casual, moderate, and heavy. These are by no means the full spectrum and many role-players fall somewhere in between certain categories.
- The Light Role Player
- The Casual Role Player
- The Moderate Role Player
- The Heavy Role Player
The Freelance Role Player
Freelance role-players, while not a "class" of RP, deserve mentioning as well. The term "freelance" refers to the role-players not affiliated with a particular RP group.
Etiquette
These are not considered "rules" but rather guides. Different linkshells may have slightly different stances on some of this material.
God Mode
God mode is the act of making one's character beyond that of the norm in a way that promotes invincibility, immortality, extreme influence, or unnatural powers that interfere with the natural laws of Hydaelyn.
Meet our exemplars, AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, or APM, and UnfortunateGuy, or UG. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about them.
- Example 1: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan wiggles his pinky finger, causing a flaming crack to open under UnfortunateGuy's feet and convey him directly to a fiery death at the planet's core.
(APM is clearly god-moding. There is simply no means within the game for any player character to do that under any circumstances. And what if the world doesn't actually *have* a flaming core?)
- Example 2: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan gestures with his right thumb, causing a bolt of lightning to strike UnfortunateGuy and fry him to a crisp.
(Still god mode. APM may very well be a Conjurer capable of tossing lightning bolts around, but UG might very well have survived the blast, depending upon how tough he is, or how resistant he is to lightning. Or maybe UG does, in fact, have tremendously fast reflexes that might allow him to dodge the bolt!)
- Example 3: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan raises an eyebrow, causing everyone within ten yards to think that UnfortunateGuy has stinky feet.
(Yep, godmode again. APM cannot dictate what other people think or feel. Whether or not UG's feet actually do stink is, of course, another matter entirely.)
- Example 4: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan waggles his fingers, causing a bolt of lightning to streak forth in UnfortunateGuy's direction.
(Not godmode! At least, not if APM can actually toss a Thunder spell.)
Metagaming
Metagaming refers to knowing something Out-of-Character (OOC) and applying it as In-Character (IC) knowledge without any logical explanation. When stories are posted on the forums, they are all considered OOC knowledge unless somehow specified otherwise (such as newspaper clippings). This applies to other OOC sources as well. Don't use OOC tools to gain IC knowledge.
- Example 1: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, having never consulted an alchemist or alchemical text in his life, spends the afternoon before the castle raid mixing together a large batch of sulfur and saltpeter. "This oughtta blow a hole in the castle wall!"
(Clearly metagaming. Out-of-Character, APM obviously knows how to make gunpowder. But, even assuming that sulfur, saltpeter, and gunpowder even *exist* In-Character, there is no way that APM would know that mixing them together would do anything, much less how much of each ingredient to use.)
- Example 2: AbsurdlyPowerfulMan, faced with the prospect of raiding an imposing castle, visits the Alchemist's Guild to acquire a few healing draughts. There, he sees an old man demonstrate his new invention, "fire-sand", a black powder that explodes when exposed to fire! Intrigued, AbsurdlyPowerfulMan purchases a large sack of the "fire-sand" from the old man. "This oughtta blow a hole in the castle wall!"
(Not metagaming! OOC, APM still knows what gunpowder is, but his *character* doesn't have any idea... until he happens to see the stuff in action at the Alchemist's Guild! Let's hope he has the good sense to stand well clear of any open flames between here and the castle...)
- Example 3: UnfortunateGuy's player posts on the FFXIV RPC forums a bit of his character's background, including a secret place he has underneath a warehouse in town. Later that day, UnfortunateGuy's character opens the secret door behind the haybales, to find AbsurdlyPowerfulGuy waiting for him, sword at the ready!
(Metagaming. The only reason APG's player knows about the secret place is because UG posted on the forums about it! APG's character has no way of knowing about it, much less getting there *ahead* of him to set up an ambush.)
Role-Play Coalition for FFXIV
The Role-Play Coalition is a group of role-players for the Final Fantasy XIV universe. It consists of various RP linkshells, supporters of RP, and freelance RPers.
Role-Play Server for FFXIV
In FFXIV, the RPC's vote has named Besaid as the unofficial RP server.
Lindblum is the "overflow" RP server. This means if Besaid ever becomes overpopulated, this is the other server to go to until another solution is worked out.
This does not mean that RP will only be found on Besaid. Various light RP elements will no doubt be found on any of the game's servers, along with other RP groups who may want to push forward on their own. However, the vast majority of role-players will be found on the Role-Play Coalition's home choice due to the abundance of differing RP linkshells and styles. In addition, there will be more RP immersion on this server due to various interactions and large-scale events such as the "Epic" and "Eorzean Olympics."