It's something I genuinely believe is important to keep in mind, I've run into so many scenarios where people have blurred that line and it just never ends well sadly.

Im super thankful that this video was able to help you out! I totally get having the anxiety, it's something I have and still do have struggles with. I'm stoked to see more folks diving into RP regardless of the pace you move at, it has been one of the most fun experiences that i've had in MMO's for sure! I'm working on putting together some more RP focused content as well! I'm hoping to share my insight on past experiences with different niches and RP settings, so I hope those will be of help later! In the mean time, if you ever have any questions lemme know here and i'll do my best to help out! ^.^

Aaaaa thank you! I do my best to get accurate credits in the description!! X3

Aaaaaaa thank you so much! ;o;

Oh yeah I feel you there. When I first started to roleplay I felt very similar concerns as well. Over time though I became more comfortable with rolling with what I like and I personally never ran into any complications from folks. That said, aye those folks do exist, but I try not to let them bother me in those cases where it did come up. Not terribly long ago Yoshida made a comment where he mentioned that he feels like people should have the freedom to do what they want in roleplay, as long as it's not hurting anyone of course. Hearing him say that was a huge anxiety reducer when it came to stuff like scarce or rare jobs and things like that. X3 What you've mentioned I feel like would work too! Especially once you get to see ishgard in the later later expansions of the game! I for one support your Dragoon aspirations! ^.^

I'm so happy to hear that it was able to help you out so much! Thank you for supporting! X3

The Martial Arts Chef! I do love that! X3 Also agreed, it opens the door to so many Roleplay doorways!

It can definitely be intimidating when you're first starting out; things that have helped me a bit have been doing things like observing an RP venue a few times before beginning to interact yourself. As far as creating a character from scratch goes, I've actually a video on the channel here where I go over how I put my own characters together, if that could be something that may help out! Take it at your own pace, if you get rushed into it you may not like it, but with little steps it can be a super fun experience to get into RP here! I can do my best to answer any questions you may have.

Yay! Im super happy that it was able to help you out! I hope you're able to enjoy your RP adventures!! X3

I'm happy this was able to help out! I hope that you're able to enjoy the world of roleplay at your own pace X3

I'm so happy to hear this has helped! Roleplay can be intimidating to get into , but its so very fun once you do! I really want to get back into it myself once time allows!

Welcome to the Rp Lyfe! X3 It really has become a super enjoyable aspect of the game for me. I'm aiming to get back into it more often after Endwalker comes out!

@@AlienneAshford It is! I need to work on my characters back story more after watching this! You can be what ever you want and thats super fun!

Thank you kindly! X3 I have considered doing an ASMR style FFXIV video for the fun of it! Might consider that for the near future xD

Eeeeee! I'm glad this was helpful! I hope your RP adventures go fantastic!

Ascian roleplay is a fun aspect to play with! I've role played with a couple of Ascian-style characters in the past and it does give you some interesting potential to pull from! X3

Hey thank yah for that! Im glad you enjoyed! X3

Always happy to share perspectives!

FEEESH! Yeah i've really only done my Rp'ing with an MMO as the medium, i'll take it into discord sometimes, but its still centered around the MMO world. Thank you for the kind words! I hope that you can dig up some fun and more fish when you do jump into more RP things! x3

Oh yeah, that makes sense! I do enjoy the idea of having WoL companion characters! X3

I can totally understand that! It can be super intimidating at first; it def was for me. Take your time with it, dont rush yourself! Once you do get into it fully though it can be super fun! X3

If you do get back into RP I hope you enjoy it to the fullest! I came over from WoW RP as well and pretty much ran into the same hiccup that you have. And yeah! Theres a ton of great examples of races not following their naming conventions, its been so reassuring to see honestly! It always blows my mind if I see folks bashing others over small RP details, it does not happen often, but with all things its there. I like how Yoshida himself even said to play our characters the way we want to. Its awesome X3 (P.S - Eyebrowns for highlanders please T^T )

I do agree! It's very open to crafted a character from any part of the world and fairly easy to explain why they might not fit the norms of their cultures! X3

Henlo! At the present I myself have been using a mixture of the FFXIV Wiki's as well as the information from the two lore books. That said though those books can be hard to come by, So I am going to look into putting together some videos to contain that kind of information in the future! ^_^ I did a similar process as yours when making my current Viera character, pulled from some of their Icelandic culture inspirations.

@@AlienneAshford A video like that would be great! thanks for getting back to me.

@@gloomsi Not a problem! ^.^ I'll see if I can get that video pieced together over the next couple weeks!

Wishing you the best and hoping that rough feeling has passed or will pass in the near future! I ran into that myself when I first started Rp'ing back in 2006.

It's collaborative writing! Never forget!

@@Gamerkat10 Aye aye! Quite true!

Haha, yeah it was only meant to be for thumbnails at first, but became a habit! XD

I absolutely love that. The No thoughts, head empty character. XD

@@AlienneAshford one time my FCs house caught on fire when my character attempted to create a new way to metagate damage by setting himself on fire because you can't be touched if you're on fire

I do love the idea of that! There actually is a lot of potential to be had in Roleplaying a normal everyday person with a regular job! I've been wanting to make a character who's a fisher. No combat experience, just knows how to fish! X3

I totally understand that! Starting off it can be overwhelming sometimes for sure, especially if you are new to the lore. Personally I never worry about the 7th Apocalypse stuff! It's actually something I've never thought about now that I am thinking about it. I believe in RP'ing however you wish, as long as it's not hurting anyone. Having a story where your character lived in the woods and then visits the city on occasion sounds perfectly fine to me. What I would suggest is to take it one step at a time. I believe you can still have a lot of fun without knowing much about the story or lore. If you wished to be a traveling merchant, someone who lives in the woods or perhaps even someone who is new to the area and may not know much in general about it's history could be totally workable options! Working with what you do know about the world can be enough in truth! A lot of my own characters are very simple in concept and usually not super powerful hero's to start out with. Just being an adventurer trying to have fun can be great! ^_^ Sorry for the wall of text on this reply! I hope this helped a little bit!

@@AlienneAshford what wall of text :D ? yea some guy i met told me like so much stuff that i have to think of before even bothering to start rping like backstory / good/bad twerks how i survived the thing whats my intentions / work / what i wanna do / my goals/ etc. i think he/she takes rp like super srsly and does it for jears. i kinda just wanted to do some "non srs rp" for the start like there are so much emotions you can do and i was kinda wondering the rpers that were around the "rp house" were only doing the emots you can do no1 was speaking in chat ? do ppl only do like wisper rp in ff14 ? or talk in a grp ? also i watched like a girl rp for 3hours (only watched a bit) she was some maid in a caffee or somehting, looked super boring, thats not how rp is usually in ff14 right ? i played on a rp-pvp server for a while like 15 jears ago or something, i did some "casual fun rp" from time to time that was alot of fun. as far i can remember i didnt bother with stuf like backstory much, i think i just invented my backstory and stuff while i rpd. rping a female gnome warrior thats a litte dumb and dosnt know shit about the word and always annoys anyone with alot of questions and thinks she is the greatest warrior of all time was actually really fun : D i would like to do the same in ff 14 maybe, at least try it out but it seems rpers are like super srs? like the guy i talked to was like better complete the whole story before u even start so u know all the lore and stuff. but the difference is i feel like a total noob beeing overwhelmed with anything in ff14, now that im old and with that special eye disease i have witch makes it hard to read and "look straight" causes me headache almost everyday.. makes everything way harder as it should be ... wow its actually pretty sad how that fucking disease changed my life/attitude in the past 10 jears .. even fucking scared of rping now holy fuck.. sorry for qq'ing, i hope your eyes are doing well, the rest too.

@@lolleonlolable I get visual strain rather easily so I can only imagine what it's like to be in that position, can totally get that it can be de-motivating. I hope that if you're able to take it at your own pace to get back into the swing of things you may be able to enjoy it again! I would not stress too much about how others may tell you how to or how not to Rp! I figure as long as no one is hurting anybody it's more than okay to let folks RP how they want! ^_^

@@AlienneAshford yeah i think i got my backstory now, when i was like lvl 10 or so i got my first "rp glamour" and it made me look like a poor homeless, i was just sitting in some corner while afking, kinda rping a homeless. so kinda like just lived in the woods with family on thier own, bahamut killed everyone in a rain of fire, somehow survived and now a homless person living in the streets. the only thing i still need to know is when the bahamut stuff happend, like how many jears ago so i can adjust my age to it a bit. gonna be something like that :D yea and with the eyes its a bit up and down all the time but the last 3-4 weeks it was just down, maybe i tolerate the new cortison ointment better, could use a litte up now : )

I've definitely been there, even now I still sometimes struggle to initiate roleplay with folks I don't know. If i'm approached by someone else I tend to do a bit better though! Otherwise I do what you do and read through the chat until I get more comfortable.

It really does help to have multiple stories to flush out x3

Howdy there fellow Viera friend! X3 I will say that in general lore on the viera is a little scarce, even more so in the case of the male viera. But there are a couple lore things I can toss your way if they help! Viera have much longer life spans than other races, living upwards of 400-500 years old their outward appearance aging slows to a snails pace at 20 years old. Until Endwalker the male viera have lived primarily solo lives to protect their forests, but this will likely be seeing a major change with the expansion! The males have been kown to be excellent at silent assassination's of intruders . That said though, I believe if you RP them how you wish you will be alright! I enjoy the freedom of expression that RP brings! My Viera gal is going to be treading off the traditional Viera lore path herself, but she does still pull heavily from what little lore we do have.

@@AlienneAshford thank you so much! This was helpful. I suppose a silver lining with Viera is that there's a lot of freedom. FFXIV is my very first Final Fantasy game, but I'm enjoying nonetheless. I can't wait until Endwalker, and I'm loving my Red Mage so far too. Bunny boy life is coming!

@@jordiplacer9599 Im so happy it helped! Yeah that is one of the big reasons I love being a bunny, all the creative freedom! X3 FFXIV is almost my first ever final fantasy game and ive been adoring it over the years! Red Mage is SUPER FUN and it looks like its only getting better with endwalker! I can't wait. ^.^

Oooo an archeologist sounds super fun! I feel you on that though, dancing around the lore can be tricky, but it is doable! About what level are you right now?

@@AlienneAshford Well I'm lvl 60 in all base class, however I'm only à few quests beyond the end credits of ARR. I like to do every quests, including job quests, in order to have the best understanding and implication of FF. Tge SCH and MNK story were particulary interesting on past events.

Heya!! Thanks for checkin in! I can understand the awkwardness feeling. I try to not do much set up at all with Rp so I feel that! Though aye, messaging to initiate would be the best way to go from my experience. Usually ill ask if they would like to me up im the general area of black brush station for example and then our characters will bump into each other after a short wander around. Outside of that I've sent in character in game mail to arrange a meeting and that's turned out pretty fun! X3

Understandable! There is one website based hub that folks use to coordinate and find communities with which ill link! ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ Outside of that there are community discord that folks have set up and I want to say you can also find some of those on that website! I hope this helps out!

She got the zoomies

MY name is Oak, a pokemon professor. Our world is inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon! X3

Hey there! I do have a discord for roleplay resources and networking if you'd be interested! I'm unable to posts links here, but if you search for the FFXIV Roleplay Resources discord they have quite a many folks in there who you might be able to chat with or find some extra direction with! Aside from that, Garlean roleplays are absolutely out there ; though I am uncertain of where to look for them outside of those I knew of on the Crystal Data Center, I've also been quite a fan of more long term story based RP so I can understand the hit or miss nature of trying to find folks who want to jump into that sort of thing. Don't give up though! Some folks do prefer the more short form roleplay, but the more you interact the more chances arise for longer term roleplay stories! I hope that the discord will prove to be a helpful resource for your endeavor as well!

@@AlienneAshford will do thanks so much for the tips! I'll keep searching and seeking possible interactions and try searching for the discord as well :) thanks again :)

@@sheryanimefan7753 Hey no problem! Once I find the time to start getting back into RP more actively myself im going to see about putting together a roleplay resources video to help with finding communities! X3

Oh i've actually had a few friends who've Rp'd as Kitsune or Gumiho like beings. There is actually a lil bit of lore from Stormblood that can go along with that sort of thing as well! If you don't mind spoilers, look into the lore of the "Auspices" from Stormblood! X3

@@AlienneAshford Thanks! Maybe I will join the role-playing community sometime soon. =)

I can totally understand that, i'm an incredibly shy person despite being on youtube; it took me quite a while to actually get into roleplay. Take it slow and steady, don't rush it! I've found that observing the roleplays of others helped me get more comfortable with it overall.

@@AlienneAshford thanks I’ll make sure to try that :D

It is definitely a fun thing to do outside of MSQ. I will say though, I don't believe you need to have in-game emotes or a lot of play time on your character to enjoy it! If you ever need to make any 'custom emotes' as it were don't forget we can use the /em command to write up something! X3

@@AlienneAshford wait i didn’t know about the /em command

@@Aethereality Yeah its not one that really comes up when you're playing the game! X3

Yup! Basically what I do as well! Helps with context and the setting a lot I think!

Heya! I'm not all too familiar with Primal myself, however if you check out FFXIV Role-players online and check the Hydaelen Roleplay players link that pops up, they do have some networking for Primal Roleplay communities! I hope this helps!

@@AlienneAshford oh tysm!

I have thought about doing a character who IS a WoL, but just never tells anyone. XD

Howdy Omar! I would like to clarify. The separation of character and writer is quite important in my opinion, you will definitely pull inspiration from your own personality an experiences, I do that myself! That said though, the separation comes into play when it comes to your personal feelings as an individual. For example, if I am role playing my character and another character insults them while also in character, if I were to get upset about that as the writer, that would be a breech in the Character/Writer separation which is something you do not want. The same could apply to if your character has a romantic relationship (In character) and the writer begins to feel IRL attraction toward the other persons character or the writer themselves. This is another breech of the Character/writer line which you do not want. Another note, everyone is different and goes about roleplay in different ways. You could be an adult biker as mentioned in your example, but wish to role play a character who is more timid and shy. All of these things are subjective and no single person fits into the same category despite their outward appearance and I feel it's important to keep this in mind! On terms of things not mattering in roleplay on mediums such as WoW or FFXIV, I would say that likely depends on your reasonings for roleplay and how you enjoy it. Personally speaking, I feel that you do not need to have major consequences for the roleplay to matter, the process of the writing and the events that come about it are rewards in their own right I believe! ^_^ I do hope this has helped to clarify my own thoughts regarding roleplay in general!

Those definitely do exist! I've seen some advertised in the past, but I cannot remember where exactly lol!

Oh! Not at all imo. I've had self insert characters and characters that carry traits of myself in the past. You can still do that and keep a degree of separation. ^_^

Heya! If you're looking for a high population server, Balmung and Mateus appear to be the go-to. However Coeurl is a nice medium-high population world that also has a very lovely RP community that i've had some time to mingle with! Really good folks over there. ^.^

@@AlienneAshford Thanks for replying! Definitely gonna check them out. Which one would you say is the nicest balance between RP’ing & Dungeons/Raiding?

For that I would say Coeurl personally! I can't speak for the other two, but I spent a fair amount of time on Coeurl and it seemed to have a fairly nice balance to it. X3

There is actually a quite large role-play community out there! I get the ERP meme stereotype gets a lot of spotlights, but in reality, a lot of those folks are either trolls or people who aren't actually intending to roleplay.

@@AlienneAshford I dunno... I too wanted to do authentic roleplay as I came from it in wow but in PF the only social things I find are brothels and night clubs (Primal)

Ahhhh yeah the party finder can be a bit of a train wreck. If you search Hydaelen Roleplayers, they have a forum and on it directories for RP linkshells on Primal Aether & Crystal! They may be able to point you in the direction of the type of roleplay you're looking for! X3

Ah, I see. Well I am sure there are games that do have that RP-PVP that you're seeking!

I suppose one of the best ways I can word it; it's kind of like a live story telling in a way. Kind of like if you were acting in a play, you have characters that go through situations and have to Improv the progression as the roleplay goes on. Something about that really is fun to me! X3 I used to do a lot of writing, not so much these days, but it allows me to tap into that a bit!