A lack in the RP department

I am a new member to the guild and i am exited to be here but, i immediately noticed the lack in RP in this guild. In fact in would not even refer to it as a role playing guild; I see it more as one open minded to role play. Often when playing i will ask what kinds of RP are available currently in the guild and every time, my fellow guild members do the same thing and head for the ship. Though this ship of role-play is a nice start, it does not count as true role play, nor does it meet my personal role playing requirements. I think we should eliminate the IC guild and make the default chat for "Blue Skooma Co." in character. I think that role play should always be active no matter what is going on in the guild. Trading, questing, and above all PVP should always be in character. If we were to join the field of PVP in one specific campaign, and capture a fortress for the guild, i'm sure that no role-play would be better than actually defending our keep to protect our king (gm) and make our guild name known. Role play with no preset story line, no dialog to be followed, no limits to what your character can do (that you cannot push), this is the true meaning of being in character. These changes are not to discourage OOC interaction. A simple double parenthesis wouldn't stop a constant flow of OOC chat. I hope these problems will be discussed; and i hope that i can help improve this guild in any way i can.

Well there are a number of things I would say:

First, this should probably be posted in the officer forums so that the officers know it's a complaint or request for change rather than in the Forum RP forums which are here for, well, Forum RP.

Second, you're right, you're new. This is most definitely an RP guild, but we need to be specific here. This is not, nor, from my understanding, has it ever been intended as a Heavy RP guild. What you describe, a guild that is ALWAYS in Character and Everything they do is about RP is a Heavy RP guild (or hardcore RP if you prefer) BSC is more of a light-medium RP guild. Generally we have a few small RP storylines going on that people can join in on (see the forums to find some of those) and we also have our overarching guild storyline. If you need more than that, that's on you; get together a cadre of members and just never be out of character. But we don't want to force people who like the light-medium range (like myself) to deal with heavy RP all the time.

Third, if you want guild chat to always be RP, then only chat in the IC guild and use your chat settings to mute the non-RP guild unless you need/want to know what's going on, that's why it was made. If you don't like having two guilds that way, I don't know what to tell you. :)

Fourth, I'm sorry you haven't felt that your, how did you put it, "personal role-play requirements" haven't been met, but as you said, you're new. Maybe try to find if you can find a way to fit in, see if other people want to join in on your idea before jumping to such conclusions. There are a lot of good folks here who would be willing to help you out.

Fifth, And finally, sorry that so soon after joining you're not happy. I hope you go on from here to have a wonderful day, and I sincerely hope that you find a niche in the guild that satisfies your needs.

I don't think Servus Imperii could have said it better. I've been w/ BSC for about a month and a half and so far I'm very happy to be a member.

BSC FO LIFE!!!

Thanka Shere (<-- Totally saying that like Gambit in my head.)

Everyone is heading to the ship right now because it's part of the main story. We're using a storyline to explain why we are switching locations. Once we are at the new area, you will see a lot more RP'ing in different place. Like in Woodhearth it was usually at Five Claws, the mansion or the docks. You had little groups set up everywhere. I always see people RP'ing when I'm online. It's rare that I can't find someone to RP with. Just ask in chat when you're online and 9 times out of 10 someone will be willing to set up a spot somewhere to RP.

I hope you stick around and see what the guild has to offer. It's a lot of fun and some really great people here.

Everything thus far in response to the OP has been spot on. We want to encourage RP as much as we can, and thus far there has not been much trouble with this. The IC guild was made so that we can even RP without needing to travel to each other when needed. It is still relatively new so we are still finding our "niche" in using the IC guild.

The main guild is always OOC because, as said, the guild is not a hardcore RP guild, more a medium RP guild.

Also, from my own experience, leaving a place for OOC (the main guild chat) encourages people to use OOC less during actual RP, while not discouraging guild participation when people are not in the mood to RP. My own personal feelings are for this way as preference. While I love the guild rp, and mostly only still play this game for the RP with this guild, I do not want to be forced to ALWAYS play in character.

I am glad you have raised your concerns, we value feedback from members and try to accommodate as many people as we can always changing and adapting to the general needs of the guild.

The IC chat channel was created exactly for that reason. A vote was made a while back asking our members what they wanted for GC - it was a resounding OOC. So the Guild Master kept GC as OOC and created In Character so people had this available also for those who never like leaving character. No one uses it other than for out-of-area supplementary RP , so it is more an RP tool. But it is there to be used by RPrs anyway they choose. It is now open to having any member invite any person to that, so if you have Heavy RP characters in other guilds and wish to stay connected IC , you can.

I fyou need an invite to the IC chat because you haven't had one, then let me @Tryynity know.

I say this with all my heart, this Guild wants for nothing IMHO in the area of RP, the GM lets you do pretty much anything you want, so if you see a lack start something yourself. IF you want to be IC all the time - be it, no one will stop you or harass you.

We are fluid and mainly unscripted, but recently there has been a little bit because the guild needs facilitated a lot of change, which happened via RP storyline. This wll be settling down once we arrive in Sren'Ja. We encourage people to start their own - subplots that link in to the main storyline.

RP happens anyway the members want it to happen. Be the change you want to see :) and those that want that will follow your lead.

RP shouldn't be a job. It is a hobby. Something people enjoy doing when the mood strikes them. Having played in communities before where it was an absolute requirement to all interaction I can tell you this: People get burned out. It is nice to have the option to go do "something else" for awhile if one is not in the mood for social interaction. (Mind you I spent 16 years in that community quite happily.)

OOC interaction in guild chat creates and strengthens bonds amongst guild members. It personalizes it in a way that also helps police the populace. People are less likely to be assholes to someone who they have had conversations with OOC. You learn things about the players. You gain friendships. You are able to share ideas and interests more easily. Without these bonds, bad things begin to happen. Drama starts quickly. The line between IC and OOC becomes fuzzy sometimes and there are arguments. It can even resort to griefing. Why not? It's not like you really know the person behind the character, so what's the harm...right? *shakes head*

I think, and granted this is opinion only just as any other post on a forum, it is a bit quick to come onto a forum of a new guild and immediately begin telling people "how to improve." Your ideas of how things should be may not follow the same ideals of the members or, even more importantly, the leadership.

I have been RPing for longer than a lot of folks I see online these days. I have been in both heavy, strict RP environments and light to medium RP ones and they ALL have their worth. But I also have experience in watching these communities grow, sustain, and eventually fail. In the past 20 years I have been doing this, since the early days of Ultima Online and even before in MUDs...there has been no greater threat or enemy to RP than the elitist attitude.

"I think" is all well and good. And everyone has absolute right to their opinions of how they would like to roleplay or what they would like to see within their roleplay community. Just be sure that when you share these with others that you do it with a healthy dose of respect.

Full immersion is just one branch of RP. Not everyone wishes to have that level of depth. Usually because the real world requires a lot of attention as well. People go to work, have a long day...come home and just want to relax and do something that's fun for them. When you start making these like that mandatory and adding such strict rules...those who do not have the interest in that kind of thing tend to start hiding from their fellow guild mates. Making alternate characters no one knows about just so they can have some quiet time. Eventually, they stop logging in all together.

I find it much better to accept all forms of RP and engage in the kind that suits one's particular tastes.

If this were a job, we would all be actors in Hollywood. And the paychecks would be rich indeed.

Alas...the only payment I get for my participation is enjoyment and friendships. Which is just fine in my book.

I honestly don't think there's anything more to be said on this topic other than to point out that you can't expect to hit the ground running with every rp guild you join. As Lucrezia stated, we're hanging out on the boat for the most part because as is, in the guild story, we're stuck on the boat until we land in Reaper's March. I know this is ESO, and you can teleport with way shrines and such to travel around, but that would completely defeat the purpose of rp if all we did was teleport to Reapers.

Members are encouraged, highly in fact as we would rather have members creating their own rp storylines than have the officers attempting to entertain the masses on their own accord. If you have ideas, feel free to post them in the forums, otherwise, you're just going to sit there wishing there were more to do and complaining in the forums about how little there is to do. It would also help if you held off complaining until you've been in the guild for more than a day and a half so you could actually see what the guild is up to. Check the calendar, attend a few events, and then see how you like the guild. Don't base your opinion on just two days in the guild when one of those days happens to be a day when we're holding an officer meeting and not actually focusing on role-play. :/

* Went ahead and moved this to the "Feedback and Complaints" forum, as it is not an rp and did not belong in the rp thread

Bumping this back onto the recent posts list after noticing it was removed from the list when I moved it to the feedback forum.

Would also like to add that it would help you make your point more if you'd fix your character sheet. As it is, the way your character sheet is done gives the impression that you don't really care at all, and while that's obviously not the reality of it, given that you've posted feedback, it would help take you a little more seriously as a role-player. Not to say that we don't take your feedback serious, but try to see how it looks from our end when someone who can't be bothered to make a character sheet wants to complain about the rp section of the guild. You're more likely to get a loan from the bank if you dress for the appointment rather than walk in wearing a torn shirt and flip flops.

Someone in the guild was telling people about how the ship story line is not guild related and the guild members don't have much to do with it. I felt disconnected from the RP in the guild instantaneously. These story lines seem distant to me, and irrelevant. I cannot change the fact that we are on the ship; this story line is not malleable nor is it interactive. I feel as if one guy types in what happened next in the story then we go somewhere else and pretend to be sick, eat more cookies, and play the lute. I assume nothing actually happened in game that forced us onto this ship; i bet some guild member said "oh their looking for us onto the ship" when really nothing was happening, this role play almost seems IC; its as if Alkosh is pretending himself. I was excited when i first heard about the guild because the advertisement in the zone chat basically insured me that this guild had some heavy role play going on. I am sorry to be so misinformed but i would most definitely like to see an improvement in guild role play even if this guild is "light-medium RP".

That is why we have the Guild Storyline it records everything that has happened via RP so new people can read and catch up. Take time to read it, or sit in on a few RPs first - my character watched for many RPs before he linked himself instantly. In reality how often to you start a new job, school, or move to a new town whatever and instantly fit in and know everything.

Please fix your character sheet very soon, or I will seriously consider this is nothing more than just a troll attempting to upset a very happy guild.

If I am getting the wrong impression tell me, I have already had reports of you griping in GC please talk with an officer like myself @Tryynity about your concerns. Bitching is definitely not tolerated. Thank you for your respect and maturity in this matter.

He's a troll sent to annoy our members. Thank you to everyone that helped me get to the bottom of this. I'm very happy that no one left because of this trolls actions and instead informed officers. :)

Light-medium-heavy - who gives a flip, anyway?

You can RP as much as you want!

Ok there you have it!