OOC RP Discussion - Resuscitate/Revive

[Loreli]

So, I've been doing some time wasting on Wyrmrest Accord lately and something I've noticed is the crazy amount of RP that goes on there. You cannot go anywhere in a major city without running into at least two people hanging out RPing and I've even seen a fair amount out questing in the rest of the world.

And I've been thinking to myself, I'd love to see Feathermoon like this. To my understanding it was once? I think it could be again, I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I'd love to try and contribute what I can.

Tarq and I were talking and I'd like to outline a few of the points we hit upon:

Tuesday nights are for RP in the Pig. This is how it's always been and how it should stay.

I'd love to try and pick another night to take RP OUT into Stormwind. Hit the other bars in the city, hold events (SWU charity ball for example), show people there still is an RP community on FM and that we'd love to see more. Doesn't have to be the same night every week, just when people have time.

Either starting a new channel or opening the ExileIC channel to any and all RPers we encounter. Put a note in your RSP flag, post to your IC Facebook, tumblr, realm forums, let people know there is a channel they can join and RP no matter what they may be doing in game. A way to connect with other RPers. I know this could expose us to trolls/griefers/etc. but I think that's a risk that'll have to be taken to find a quality RPers that are in hiding maybe because they don't know HOW to connect with other RPers.

I know we're all busy and some of you jerks have developed lives or some such thing in the past few months (and I respect that ) but I do feel this is something we can do by doing what we do best;

Discussion, teamwork, compassion, and having a shit ton of fun.

[Tarq]

I'm a big fan of the idea of just wandering 'round Stormwind, coming up with excuses to drop in on various places, carry on public conversations and try to draw interest. Events are neat too, but sustainability is the key - stuff we can do day-to-day.

Of course, my playtime is gonna remain limited. But I can certainly contribute when I'm around, and get the word out in other avenues as well. I'm (gulp) actually considering joining the IC Facebook thing.

[Kyraine]

It looks like the Recluse has been getting more activity lately. I've been out there a couple of times and have run into a few folks who were wandering around. It'd be a good idea to take a stroll over there on a non-Tuesday night and see what's up.

I also like the idea of opening up exile. Feathermoon doesn't have a server-wide RP channel that's actually active. And it makes questing/PvP/dungeon runs a lot more fun with an RP channel.

[Bricu]

I propose the following:

1/2 the time in the Pig: It is our home base afterall.

But the other half the time, we can hit another bar, visit other cities and be more public.

We need more motivations (mini-events, plot points, etc) for the WFR centric plots; however, these can help us connect with other like-minded Rpers.

the only concern with more public RP is that we run into less-than-like-minded RPers. Our narratives won't always jive. We can work with it, of course, but we should be aware that other players have otehr stories and may totally contradict major WFR cannon (Arthas' death date, WFR role in Wrathgate, Tarq has the best hair in the history of humanity).

One last thing: Supporting this community outside of the game is poor. Earthern Ring has the Earthern Ning site. We have had, on occasion, the Feathermoon RP Alliance and Feathermoon RP. These forums/sites died off for a number of reasons (not the least of which being competing narratives and egos). Maybe we can take a page from the Ning site and make something work to support our RP efforts?

...ps....

we could try and make large inter-guild alliances to help bring out more RP. Kinda like Guildwatch attempted to do, but with less a focus on PVP.

[Shad]

Definitely looking forward to getting some more wandering RP - I'm taking the summer off of classes, so I should have more time around once I get back from vacation next week.

I'm torn on the idea of opening up ExIC. On one hand, I'm already in two IC channels and I don't know what I'd drop to make room for another. We'd still have /guild for plotting nefarious Riderly activities like cow tipping, and it would be a nice way to be more inclusive and get the channel active. Back In The Day, there was the RP channel. Simple. It used to get a lot of action, and I never remember it getting much griefer attention despite it being mentioned on the realm forums. It's how I learned of the existence of people like that scrub Tarq.

And then there's the other hand, which would be the point at which the channel descended into warlock quibbles and other power-struggle-related cesspoolings. I don't want to see that happen to ExIC, so I'd hope we could exercise some degree of moderator ability over it. Of course, if we do that, we risk being accused of being a clique with an iron-fisted grip on Feathermoon RP (a charge which has been leveled at the Rose with some regularity lately).

If we can figure out how to moderate mostly in an IC capacity, I think it could work. For griefers, I'm pretty sure there's at least some degree of ban capability. I'm open to giving it a shot. Worst case scenario, we pick up and create ourselves a new channel that doesn't necessarily reference a five-year-dead guild, right?

As for the website idea, I'm currently the owner of the domain feathermap.com, which is reserved for a particular project on which i'm working with other shady, unnamed parties. The site (when I purchase webspace for it) could definitely be expanded to include more of the old feathermoon.net capabilities.

[Loreli]

First off, I love the discussion I'm seeing here so far.

Guild alliances are good and definitely something I'd want to look into.

As for running into non like-minded folk, or even just people who are bit 'eccentric' in their RP, I think that's a risk we need to be willing to take in order to bring more people into the fold. I'm not saying taking the bad people, but I know most of us are willing to work with people who are new to RP. Maybe we should consider ways to handle conflicting canon and dragon/vampires.

My original idea was to open a new channel and keep ExileIC a quality place for those already there and I'll stick to that idea if that's what the group wants.

Another possibility that came up may not be the best solution but is something to keep on the idea list:

We gather alts and start a new guild to contend with the Riders, in the hopes that eventually non-Riders will join and give us someone to play off of. Guild building takes time and this idea could flop REALLY easy. But its something I submit for your consideration as a way to get the ball rolling.

[Tarq]

For those who weren't around last night, a pack of Riders (what is our collective noun, anyway? A scheme of Riders?) went over to do some drinking at the Recluse. We met with mixed reactions from the crowd - some druid who I'm pretty sure is a Valsharoon alt was a total wanker about it, hilariously so - but overall I think it went well. The next step is mingling with the locals a little.

I'll have more thoughts when I stop at home for lunch.

[Tarq]

As promised, some brainin'!

On guild alliances: that's something that gets kicked around a lot without an actual definition. What do we mean by guild alliance? Just networking with other guilds to promote the RP community? Cause I think that's great. I don't want to compromise our guild's (lack of) integrity by getting into an IC alliance that wouldn't make sense; let's explore what this means and see where we can take it.

On ExileIC: it's a risk to start inviting strangers in, but honestly, these days it's mostly just Expanded Guild Chat. We have /g for that and, as noted, we can always just make a new channel that isn't named after a seven-year old mobile clusterfuck. I'm in favor of opening it up and getting familiar with the moderation tools so we can lock down trolls. The old /RP channel was a lot of fun; as Evie says, it's how a lot of us "met"!

On leaving the Pig: barring schedule fuckery, Thursdays can be my general-purpose RP day, and I'm cool using that to take our show on the road, as it were. Conversely, we can use public roleplay as way to invite people to the Pig as well. "Hey, we've got good drinks! Friendly atmosphere! Etc!" That may mean reining in the hostility of our characters when appropriate, or at least sending the subjects an OOC nudge that it's all in good fun, but we can work with that. In the meantime, the Recluse is usually a good pit stop, and we can always just wander the city and be Public Nuisances - hang at the trade fountain or the Cathedral, smoking while we flip the bird, and all that.

On elitism: this might be a whole 'nother can of worms, so I don't want to derail things too much. I will only say that over the years I have become highly skeptical towards claims of elitism, which are often tossed around as shorthand for "I want your community to cater to me!" I believe that as long as we are making an honest effort to be inclusive and have fun, we should absolutely not feel bad about having to tell people "Y'know, this RP really isn't working out for me what with you being a time-travelling cyborg/King of Ghouls/gross over-sexualized woman-child/whatever the fuck Alkyz was." It's our time and $15, and while it doesn't outweigh anyone else's, we have the right to do what we want and that includes not participating in things we don't find enjoyable.

Feathermap/website: Yes yes yes yes yes.

Better get back to work. Keep talkin', folks! I may be online tonight depending on if I decide to go get my drank on.

[Tarq]

Last thing: I'm eager to hear from people outside the guild as well, for a fresh perspective on how we can help kickstart things without coming across as douchebags!

[Kyraine]

That may mean reining in the hostility of our characters when appropriate...

Dear Kyraine, your player has a rolled up newspaper handy. Just a warning.

As for elitism, I agree. Everyone's got their own style of RP, and if someone else's doesn't mesh, there's nothing wrong with saying it doesn't work for you. My draenei paladin was the one who ran into the guy RPing as an Eredar warrior, and you know what? That doesn't work for me. If I'd chosen to go into it over the Eredar thing, it's going to end with my paladin doing his best to kill the eredar, which would have definitely put a damper on the RP that was going on at the time. And face it, IC fights with someone you don't know usually end badly. So ICly, I solved it by just ignoring it, enjoying RP, and all was good. It's my 15 bucks, but it's the other guy's too. If you want to play an Eredar, a catgirl, a sparkly vampire or whatever, have at it- but nobody's obligated to participate in RP with anyone they don't want to. I noticed he didn't speak to my paladin at all, so I'm assuming he was on the same page as me.

Seriously though, one thing I like about the folks here is that whole Don't Be A Dick philosophy. Not wanting to RP with someone you don't mesh with isn't elitist. Telling them "hey noob, you suck balls" is, but I doubt that's going to happen here.

I'll be online tonight, with booze. They have these new freezable pina colada things that look like Capri Sun drinks with booze in them. Two bucks on sale at the liquor store near my sister's house, so I figured I'd give that a try. \o/