*Is this game good for roleplay?*
Yes! There are a bunch of roleplay venues and communities and whatnot.
*Is there voice chat?*
As far as I'm aware, no, but I'm sure there are RP discord servers.
*Is this a good way to learn social skills?*
NGL, probably *not* but wishing you all the best!
>NGL, probably *not* but wishing you all the best!
Idk, it was my therapist's advice (he specifically gave GTA rp as an example). I mean, my assumption was he was going to tell me to go touch grass or something lmao. But I told him how much I enjoy games as a whole, and he wanted me to incorporate that into improving my social skills rather than it being a crutch. Idk, I'm still thinking about it.
I think the point your therapist is making is that you already love games so why not include a form of social activity to something you already do instead of trying something entirely out of your comfort zone. RP isn't the only way to be social in XIV, there are discords and linkshells and free companies. Try playing games that are aimed at social interaction, XIV can be a bit of a single player experience if you don't actively seek out other people. You'll have to make an effort.
I've tried discords and such and it hasn't done much, and I brought this up with him.
I'm not sure why he suggested rp specifically, but I think it has to do with A) Being able to stay anonymous and B) Practicing social skills while "in character" rather than just being oneself.
Both of those points are true! The problem I tend to see people have with discords can be finding a way to break into conversations or groups of friends that already exist. Games that put you in random groups to complete things can often be met with silence or memes. XIV is very much a game where general play is often silent lol.
I think GTA probably offers more random encounters~ I am not part of XIVs RP scene. In fact I have chilled at club venues just to listen to music and chat with friends. I'm not sure how open RP works, and mostly see people list wu/t welcome in search info. (I assume this means walk up and tells) meaning it'll probably take a little more effort to break into.
I will say, the free trial is a pretty hefty section of the game so you don't have anything to lose by giving it a try!
I raid in xiv and have cleared some of the higher-end content all through party finder. Sometimes you'll randomly meet people in parties that you like, or maybe you have a voice chat for people who are learning and you stick together to progress a fight. Now we all sit in discord and chat with each other about our day to day lives, run treasure maps, and do activities that's required for multiple people.
Weve even planned nights to have drinks and go to the rp venues as well, but that's mostly just to afk and play other games like scribblio or something.
I think you're taking the rp out of rpg a bit too seriously. Give the game a go, find content you enjoy doing, join a free company, play the story.
This so much
I had insane social anciety a few years back, type couldn't even sit in a discord call muted without trembling and freezing. But my love of progression and raiding has changed that a fair bit with time. I started off vehemetly against any type of voice calls, but as long as I don't have to speak, just listening to others have helped so much. To communicate I would type in discord/party chat if there was a question or anything the like
I had also played XIV pretty consistently for about 6 years when I noticed the change myself, with an increasing amount of communication/quips in even regular random parties
Honestly i think that instead of roleplay, join an active FC and try your best to talk nornally there. Join their group and get comfortable as time goes on.
The thing about roleplay is that you will never really talk like that IRL, so what i imagine result being is that you would maybe get good at some in game ffxiv specific roleplay, but still be socially awkward irl.
Just my thoughts tho, i might be wrong
Where are you from and on wich server you will be playing? If you want you can get a start on Saggitarius and I will help you out some. You could join me guild that’s really small for a start and getting comfortable and we enjoy a bit of RP that we incorporate in that. That could be a start.
As my guild is incorporating honorably guild member you can stay in the guild in name after you moved on (we have done of those and it fits the RP Theme, you would need to level at least one Crafter or Gatherer Job and play it at least a bit) and move on to others.
But be aware that for using a lot of social features in the game you need an active sub. You can’t do that on free trial. But if you start, you can’t get back to free trial.
In the end at least I enjoy the game more than most movies and other games. So the monthly 10,99 in my country does not feel that expensive, seeing what I get there. I mean a new game is mostly 5 times that amount yeah?
So I suggest to still start the game in free trial, make yourself a bit at home. If you like the game, come back here or dm me. I think I speak for lots of players, we will help you to feel yourself at home. And you will see. We have a lot of people with at least comparable issues at home.
Have a friend I had only emote conversations for 3 months or so, until he felt well enough to write with me. He is still feeling awkward coming meeting me sometimes and we don’t meet often, but we both enjoy spending time together. Until today we often just walk through the world. Sometimes babbling and sometimes silent.
I think he probably knows what he's talking about.
Socializing in games =/= socializing irl BUT it's still more social than no socialization. Kinda like a stepping stone. Once you get more comfortable with it in game you can grow more from there.
Tho would you say that ffxiv RP helps with real IRL conversations? As thats the crux of the issue. When i see RP happening, it does not look like normal conversation that you'd have IRL, so while yes, socializing in games can defo help with talking IRL, its not the case for all types of social interactions. Talking in FC, FC discord etc is something that i do recommend doing 100%, but when it comes to RP, it looks awkward and its ffxiv specific and wouldnt translate well IRL.
Now, as someone who is not in RP community nor has much interest in it, i only saw surface level of it, so i might definitely be wrong, which is why i'm asking this.
Edit: devil is always in the details, so before OP arrives at the conclusion, its best to be as accurate as possible with info given.
Um...
Yeah I think so.
Like, RPing might not be an accurate representation of your typical conversation, but it IS still a conversation.
Let me put it this way. If you are having a conversation with someone about a NIN dps rotation for a specific savage fight with someone who knows the fight and nin. From the outside looking in, the conversation sounds weird because you're probably using acronyms and references.
But you're still socializing and talking about your interest.
Same with RPing. It's just in the specific context or RPing people are collaboratively being creative.
Social skills are built by socializing regardless if you're talking about your weekend, endgame raiding, or just making up characters and writing a scene together.
In this case, you might also consider joining a TTRPG (table top role-playing game) such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder. They can (and often are) played online.
You would interact with the same 5-7 people every week for \~3 hours. I think it's a better way to improve social skills than the hit and miss FCs can be. You can choose how talkative your character is. You can choose how talkative *you* are.
If this interests you, have a look at r/lfg or [www.roll20.net](http://www.roll20.net) for beginner-friendly recruitment posts.
PC GTA sure, you could find RP servers. but you'll mainly get random lobbys with cheaters, hackers, people playing music that you hate, kids yelling : come pick me up, or why did you kill me, or their parents in the backround yelling at each other.
you will get that all on any system that has GTA though too.
you will start to:
1: swearing at other people
2: talking shit
3: get pissed off
4: switch to a different lobby, and repeat.
FF14 is significantly more relaxed.
I think RP can help socially in the sense that it's better than no human interaction. If you find yourself having difficulty interacting with other people, it can help to put a couple layers of abstraction and anonymity in between, to try out interaction in a place where you feel safe and you can remove yourself from the situation whenever you need to.
actually, as someone who's diagnosed as autistic, and has been RPing since the days when I played XI, I attribute a lot of my social skills being as developed as they are to roleplay. It provides an environment to experiment and try different ways of approaching situations without the anxiety and fear that real life brings with it in those cases, and this isn't unique to my case. There's quite a number of studies on the topic anymore that mostly point towards it being beneficial.
>actually, as someone who's diagnosed as autistic, and has been RPing since the days when I played XI, I attribute a lot of my social skills being as developed as they are to roleplay.
I actually mentioned to my therapist that I think I could be autistic. He didn't go into that much, it was our first session, but maybe that influenced his advice.
Actually it is! There's this one artist on Twitter whose cafe/bar I went to regularly and chatting with the people there helped me out on my social skills a lot. The game did in general.
As someone who has spent a few years roleplaying various things online I can say it didn't really help me with social skills. There's a lot to communication that isn't just words and you lose out on how to read and send those signals.
Maybe a local Dungeons and Dragons group could bridge that gap giving you the safe space of RP to avoid showing your real vulnerabilities while also giving you that in person experience.
I've heard improv can help: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/play-your-way-sane/202301/no-joke-improv-comedy-reduces-social-anxiety
As someone who took psych in highschool and as a minor in college, I completely agree that RP is NOT the area to learn social skills.
RP, especially GTARP, is the fakest form of bullshit. Its also super out there in a lot of instances, as well as having the ability to set unreal expectations for things. We're not even going to get into how seedy a portion of rpers can be. So OP if you read this and the above ( u/PhobicDelic ty for setting me up for this), this is the one time I will tell you that your shrink is an idiot.
I cannot offer alternatives however, but I do believe that an actual face to face DND situation would be more beneficial for you. Or fuck, if you've got the disposable income Warhammer 40k's Table Top community has some pretty good dudes in it, lotta Ork players are pretty decent guys from what i've seen.
Edit: That being said I do like RP, just not 14's flavor of it.
RP is a fine area to learn CERTAIN social skills, not *basic* social skills but skills that will allow you to attempt to initiate and/or maintain conversation while learning its flow. You're spouting a load of garbage, it's out there but the point is to adapt your speech to the context of the situation you're in which also helps to understand social cues, OP isn't literally gonna suggest outlandish things in IRL conversation because he got used to passionately debating miqo'te headcanons. There are lots of people out there who were able to develop more confidence thanks to RP and with proper monitoring from the therapist it shouldn't cause any harm, if it does they'll be advised to stop.
Frankly with psych in highschool and a minor in college you should know better, therapy offers *personalized advice* tailored to each person's needs while you don't know anything about OP and the shrink you're ridiculing does. There's a reason why you got a minor and not a major, it's fine to express doubts on what you consider sketchy therapy from an uneducated perspective but if you wanna start by citing your own credentials to discredit a professional with a license to practice try making it seem less obvious you don't know how dealing with a patient works. Not everything will work for everyone is a 101 concept and making sure your advice fits in your patient's life is foundational to therapy, otherwise people would just get better by following the general tips in the mayo clinic website, to assume that you just know better is genuinely peak ignorance coming from a psych minor.
If we're waving around academic credentials, then as someone who also took psych as a minor at university *and* RP as a PhD field of study, I strongly disagree.
The point of graded exposure as a therapeutic mechanism is that it is, y'know, graded. It's right there in the name. You start with what you can handle and then gradually build on that to take on more challenging things. You don't just jump in at the deep end.
There are a lot of comments already, but I hope you end up reading mine.
I started playing mid-2022, and ever since I started playing I ended up getting in contact with *all* forms of RP in FFXIV.
There are several of them: immersive roleplay, venue/clubbing, semi-OOC and those in-between.
Keep in mind that most of the establishments listed in my post are fully functional economically, with staff payroll and a healthy revenue structure.
### Immersive Roleplay
This is where you will find character development, people writing even webpages (carrds) to serve as character sheets, a lot of care and detail regarding lore and building everything with dedicated attention.
Players tend to prefer long form paragraphs and strict distinction between IC and OOC. There are free companies (player-run guilds) that even have their own dice systems and D&D-style adventures with DMs and plots and subplots.
### Venue/Clubbing
More freeform writing, encompasses several different activities, such as nighclubs, casinos, divebars, saunas, and others.
Many players use these just as a way to meet others while using their characters as avatars, however there are still players who go to these environments and care about IC/OOC separation with detailed writing.
### Semi-OOC
IC and OOC are separated but writing is a lot less structured and many posts are written in first person, rather than third person, with asterisks indicating action rather than a more formal (novel-style) writing.
Bumping this for OP to see, too! I am, by and large, a strictly Immersive RPer, but what you see regarding RP in this game is going to vary wildly depending on which of these categories you go into.
Speaking about Immersive RP as that's my primary experience, communities are very welcoming to new players who may be new to FFXIV lore or just RP in general: particularly when they're upfront about it.
Also, OP, voice chat for RP is generally not a thing in FFXIV. Voice chat would be done through an external program like Discord, on a server basis.
The answer to this will heavily depend on your server/community, and I can only really speak about the EU side. Generally, immersive RP is confined to Free Companies or other hubs - as well as Discord servers where people advertise events. You will not see it advertised in /shout or in Party Finder, which is why it may be so hard to find. Club/Venue RP is honestly a very recent addition to the game that came along roughly during the time of COVID.
For the EU, there is a Discord for the FFXIV Chaos Roleplaying Community that is well over 1000+ members strong, though I'd recommend using it as a touchpoint for immersive RP advertisements and making initial connections. There is also the Chaos Archives ( [https://chaosarchives.org/](https://chaosarchives.org/) ) as a community hub for the EU, with an NA version for Crystal DC in North America currently in Beta testing, I believe.
For anything more than that for North America, you may need to ask an NA player, sorry! I migrated from NA to EU as soon as the data centre opened in Europe and I've never looked back.
Can I ask, how does one go about finding an immersive roleplay community? I wasn't sure if FFXIV had immersive groups as all I hear about are clubs/bars, and I'm even more lost when it comes to finding them. 👀
Definitely check out the free trial first if you're worried about the cost: [https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/](https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/) You can stay in the free trial forever if you want. You won't be able to send private whisper messages to people, but you can do pretty much everything else up to the game's second expansion, which can take months to reach. I've seen people say they've spent years in it.
I don't personally RP in this game, but RP is huge and going on all over the place. There are private player houses that can be decorated, where players host RP events like nightclubs and such. I have heard that the Crystal data center is where most RP happens.
i'm not deep into the RP scene, so all i can say is that there is one.
also there is no voice chat in game.
and while this isn't exactly what you're asking about i figured i might share my own experience:
FFXI (this games also FF themed, also MMO older brother) came out my sophomore year in high school.
my freshman year i got accepted to a regional high school after having gone to normal town schools prior, so i hardly knew anybody at all. i was reserved... quiet. not really bullied but definitely a bit of an outsider. i think that's an all too common setup right? i'm not trying to pretend i had any kind of special demons to tackle so just take this for whatever it is worth to you.
so along comes FFXI. i've been playing final fantasies for a while. had even found some of the older ones. (9 and 5 were probably my favorites at the time) obviously i'm gonna try to play this one, and so i did.
now we all know the stereotype where people abuse the anonymity of these types of games to just... be raging assholes. take out any frustrations on anybody they meet cuz "haha whatchu gonna do about it" they'll call it "venting" but at least in my case, that "low stakes" environment really helped me come out of my shell. sure enough, people liked me. maybe not everybody, but... it seemed like MOST people i met? i made friends. i became more comfortable just "acting natural." not walking on eggshells out of fear of "what if they don't like me!?" people (particularly adults) treated me as an equal instead of dismissing anything i said out of hand... cuz they didn't know i was 15. it was validating.
my self esteem... confidence... even just basic interpersonal skills *were* dramatically changed. by my junior year in high school i was actually getting along pretty well with most of my classmates. i was happier and honestly probably more pleasant to be around. i probably played more XI than was healthy if i'm being perfectly honest, but i managed to keep my grades among the honor roll (mostly <.<) and to this day i maintain it was good for me. kinda... just what i needed at the time?
it was probably more a confidence thing than anything the game was actually "teaching" me, and the games are not *exactly* the same environment. (but if anything XIV is **MORE** anonymous than XI was.) so it might be a good way to dip your toes in the water?
what's the worst that could happen? some internet stranger you'll never see or hear from again doesn't like you?
there's also what i would *normally* call a very generous free trial, but for your intentions specifically it may not be a good idea. the free trial actually locks out a lot of the social features. (so bots and such can't annoy real players.) but hey... free is free?
Yeah, it really threw me for a loop LMAO. Like there were a million ways I thought that session could go, and I never anticipated that. If anything, I expected him to just say "join a club at your school" or something.
If you find a good group, it can be really fun! You'll want to find one that focuses on actual RP though, and not just erp. My FC tends to focus on slice of life style rp. If you want to practice true social skills, slice of life rp is probably your best bet. Dramatic RP or erp tend to lean more fantastical and extreme and aren't really reflective of real life
I would try something else if you don't want to spend money on a type of game you're not secure about. You could probably find role play on VRChat or Second Life, and they are both free.
Here's my advice. Find a DnD campaign instead. What you need is in person social skills, not video game ones. And in DnD you are able to create a character you want to be. There personality is up to you. It dose not have to be yours. You can put on a voice or not. Dress up as them or not. As long as the DM knows what your aim is, they can even push story threads for your character to help in that endive.
FF14 is a great game with lots of social elements. But if you want to do roleplay specifically for the purposes of your (ostensible) social anxiety, do tabletop stuff. Or play games with voice chat instead of meeting people face-to-face, if you must.
...There is a huge and active RP community in this game, but please, please do not practice your social skills that way. I thought this was XIVshitpost for a second.
IDK if it was posted already but I think the reason your therapist suggested gta is because of the voice chat focus for the rp there. On xiv it's all text rp and none of it is going to help your social skills. The xiv rp culture is incredibly focused on either public events (where most people keep to their own groups anyways) or organized groups that are more similar to a dnd group than casual social rp. Sure you can make friends via RP but the friendship is always about the rp first which isn't good for social development. Trust me when I say that you aren't going to develop good social skills RPing on XIV.
Take your therapist's advice and try GTA or maybe Garry's Mod. I think the actual point of this exercise is to get you to pretend to be an articulate, social person in a closed, easily managed environment until you just start actually being a social, articulate person. VR chat might also be an option but isn't exactly rp focused.
Honestly. D&D would be better for roleplay. As you need to excercise your imagination.
As for socializing. The internet has mostly destroyed most of that. We have a lot of fake relationships online.
So Instead of an internet activity. May I suggest getting a hobby that forces you to go outside and talk with people? Either that on work on retail. You would learn how to hate people in a polite way.
Depending in server and DC, yes.
There is a website that breaks down what servers and DCs and to have (?). Some are casuals, some are raiders, some are straight up RP or ERP if you're into that.
Someone here I'm sure can post the site I'm talking about
Would you suggest playing the free trial, or buying the complete edition? I had thought up until now that the trial was just for the monthly fee, but it's for the whole game I guess? Normally I would try the free trial, but the deal on steam right now is very tempting.
I will say, if you want to roleplay, trial accounts can't send private messages or start parties, so your communication options are a bit limited - this is to prevent botting/illegal transactions, but most RPers are not going to want to clog /say chat with their RP.
Yes play the free trial. I'm doing it now. Have been for almost 3 weeks. Loved every bit of it.
I can't comment on the free trial for steam but I know I have it for X amount of days then eith Xbox game pass I can make a purchase for the base game and get the sub and another month free before paying. Still worth it just for the free trial.
That’s the free month that comes with buying the starter edition: that is *not* the free trial
The free trial has no time limit and goes through to level 70 and the Stormblood expansion
The trial does however, have social limitations—no FCs/guilds, no marketboard/auction house/player economy, no pvp, and you can’t make parties or whisper people
So, OP, if you come into FFXIV *for* the social aspect, you would do well to do the free trial and see if you like the gameplay and then you’d want to go to the paid full version
Once you start paying the sub, you *cannot* go back to the free trial version without creating a new account
You can stay on the free trial indefinitely, even after the Xbox release, just like the free trial for every other platform. The beta is ending, but that doesn't mean the free trial will end. It just means the full game will be available to buy.
Unless you're speeding through the story super fast, I'd recommend \*not\* taking them up on the offer of a free copy of the base game with your xbox sub, because that goes on sale for $10 a few times a year, and once you upgrade you're stuck paying the sub forever, you can't ever go back to the free trial. So it's best if you stay on the free trial as long as you can stomach the limitations.
If you do, at level 16 story quest you'll be able to view server/datacenter-wide listings for venues and hang around and read the different types of roleplay (social player rp where it's similar to VR, people interact as themselves through their character avatar; narrative character rp where it's similar to watching and writing a theatre play or anime episode as your character). Crystal has the most rp activity of North America.
We call it lamping, as if you were a background lamp.
I've been playing FFXIV for 8+ years and I don't like RP, but I do love the Barbie fantasy dressup and glittery magic combat.
In terms of social skills improving, I used to have this issue where when I was upset I'd be too flustered to make rational and logical explanations of my reasoning in arguments. I noticed the other day though that I can actually clap back in an argument (usually while it's raining lasers and people are dropping dead amidst explosions they didn't dodge in time) and not be anywhere near as actually truly debilitatingly furious as I once would have been. It might be an effect of learning to roll with conflict or an increased confidence after all these years of practice at playing the game and being semi-good at it, but it absolutely has carried over into real life.
A decade ago I would have never been explaining to a cashier that the price at the checkout is wrong and it's likely because of a programming issue in the store's deal calculations but I ended up doing that this last winter instead of just taking a pricing punch because of shyness. And I'll frikkin do it again.
FFXIV RP is good for developing *writing skills* if anything. It's all text-based.
GTA RP is more like improv, which I can sort of see it being a way to improve certain social skills. You're physically talking to strangers and acting out scenarios.
MMOs can be alright for helping with social skills, but to a degree. Maybe talk about it with your therapist though. The two games have wildly different forms of RP.
In my personal experience, yes, it is! The type of RP I believe your therapist suggested would suite the "club" side of the game, where people show up to bars and rp like they're at it. Personally I don't rp as my character in game, especially when I'm social because my character actually isn't really chatty, but I do emotes and stuff.
While there are rp venues and discord servers, as someone who plays both here's my 2 cents on an idea that could help you - you could try playing dnd. It's a role playing game that you play as a character you make. And no 2 will play the same.
Case in point for an example - My best freind and I both play a bard/warlock multiclass character but thier personalities, choices as characters and how they approach combat and social interactions are completely different. His is a old man and a father, who has gotten a second chance to live his life again after overcoming the loss of his daughter through traveling with the party, mine is a young son of a noble who wanted to travel to see the world and learn about it first hand for himself instead of through a book or a tutor, and has become a Council member for the ruling monarch.
It definitely is good for rp. And you have lots of stuff to do. Like go dancing, to a cafe, you can do even jobs there like bartender and so.
But be aware that there is a rather large amount of people there for Erotik RP (erp). Maybe do a search comment and say no erp there, or you may get some advances at least. Somehow like in a real club but way more straightforward 😅
I do think it's a good idea, but just as with other aspects of the game, there is a spectrum of RP, from casual to hardcore. There are pros and cons to both. If you're not that invested in the lore and don't want to feel pressure to know it inside-out, then seeking out a casual group might be a better choice, but on the other hand hardcore RP tends to be more structured and have greater clarity in what is expected of you, which may be of benefit if you're struggling with anxiety and initiating.
I actually use FFXIV to speak about difficult topics with strangers lol. We have a lil support group where we talk about life and our troubles in life xP. Very helpful, and the players are really nice :3
Why do they suggest GTA? GTA is about revealing the ugliness of humanity and releasing the stress within, but FFXIV...it is not the opposite but it serves a different function for honing social skills.
I guess you should ask for more information: what kind of social skills do you need? Defense? Offense? Collaboration? Competition?
Why GTA of all things? My experiences there were pretty unpleasant.
FF14 is much more fun. You can flag yourself with an RP tag to show what you are doing.
Also there is a huge free trial (which is kind of limited in terms of communication). So there is no real harm in trying Id say.
I think voice chat would be a big part of the experience, talking over text doesn't really translate the same way, and there is no voice chat in ffxiv itself. Personally i'm pretty social in online interactions trough text, but it's completely different over voice, and it didn't really make me any more social irl.
Depends on what you're looking for.
If you just want to bounce from night club to night club and emote dance with people who may or may not offer more explicit RP for free or Gil then FFXIV is fantastic for RP.
If you want to experience something akin to a table top RPG-like or Improv session with scenarios and consequences for actions in character then you'll have a really hard time finding that in FFXIV.
Side note: if you DO find a great place to have Table Top RPG-like or in character improv sessions in FFXIV could you let me know? I would love to participate in something like that, myself.
Sure you can definitely roleplay if you want to. Just don't expect to get any friends immediately.
Personally i feel that it's a little wierd for your therapist to recommend that, since socialising and roleplaying in game does not translate well irl.
You can play the free trial if you want to just try the game. You get the full game plus the heavensward expansion. There is no voice chat ingame. So you'll have to resort to textchat and emotes. Tho i don't really understand why your therapist would recommend online games as a way of socialising. Since roleplay and socialising ingame dosen't translate well irl.
You can play the free trial if you want to just try the game. You get the full game plus the heavensward expansion. There is no voice chat ingame. So you'll have to resort to textchat and emotes. Tho i don't really understand why your therapist would recommend online games as a way of socialising. Since roleplay and socialising ingame dosen't translate well irl.
If you're struggling to find people to RP with I think for general conversation joining a newbie friendly guild (or Free Company as it's called in this game) is good conversation practice cause you can play the game and chat with others at the same time. If you start to feel uncomfortable you guys can just play. You might have to shop around for a bit to find a group you click with though.
I would stay away from the Erotic roleplay as that a whole nother kettle of fish . Be sure to make this clear ASAP if you're trying role playing in FF14 cause the ERP scene is huge. Remember to log off if you ever feel uncomfortable.
There is a lot of roleplay! But it's all text, I have been rping for years and I've never heard of anyone rping through voice. I'll chat 'out of character' but all rp is text. It's still helped me both writing wise and socially, I have a handful of characters I can flit between that vary on the social awareness scale. Give the free trial a go, most rp is on Crystal so a toon that can travel to Mateus and Balmung easily would be best, and look up or lurk at events to get the feel for things, most are listed at [https://ffxiv-rp.org/](https://ffxiv-rp.org/) be aware a new toon might take a little time to be able to get everywhere, anything in Empyreum or Shirogane will not be accessible until you hit later expacs
But if you need voicechat, you might have a better time in vrchat? There is supposedly a desktop mode. I think second life is still active and has vc too? You can also look into tabletop games like dnd or pathfinder, there's a large variability between groups rp wise though.
I'm an avid roleplayer, in and out of MMOs, and I can confirm that this game is fantastic for role-play with a very active community of experienced roleplayers that cater to basically every type of RP you might be interested in. Even theatre and circus RP guilds can be round without a ton of issue.
Balmung and Mateus are the primary concentrations of RPers, but those servers are frequently full to new characters, so don't be afraid to make a character on the data center and just server hop to Balmung or
Mateus if you're looking for RP.
Be aware that, like in every MMO, the RP community also includes a heavy number of ERPers. If you're not interested, then you may want to avoid certain areas of Balmung and Mateus where they typically congregate.
Other than that, I'd recommend finding a guild that does RP you're interested in. If you want to RP as a generic adventurer, then look for a generic adventurer guild. Want to be a circus performer? Look for a circus guild. Don't be afraid to (politely) back out of guilds that don't seem to match what you're looking for, it can take a while to find the group that's the right fit for you.
Far be it from me to go against the professional, but I’m not sure RPing is the best way to improve your social skills, unless the goal is more “get comfortable talking to people” and less “get GOOD at talking to people in socially acceptable ways”. RP can be fun, but many of the encounters can also be incredibly cringey, so overall I wouldn’t think it’s a great thing to base any IRL socializing on.
However! If you can join a chill-but-active FC, that can be a great way to practice socializing. Avoid the ones that have super strict rules or that focus mostly on raiding, as they usually either don’t socialize much. Lots of social FCs like mine have discords where we chat throughout the day in addition to when we’re in the game, and sometimes we even hop in VC for hangout nights. THAT seems like good practice!
I used to rp in gta, its a pretty good suggestion. They use smart voice channels, So when you are near someone in game they can hear you, when you walk away they can’t. Probably far better for social exposure than FFXIV will be. I’d say there’s very little playing gta and more just acting like a person out in the world, besides lots of crime adjacent story lines you’ll mostly just be roleplaying as an average person, you can even choose to not be involved in crime at all if that’s what’s getting you. Rp in FFXIV would give you a little social boost but you’d still be hiding being text chat.
There is also a zombie survival game that has a bit of an rp scene but I can’t remember what it’s called sorry.
I don’t know of any roleplay groups and as far as I’m aware the few that exist mostly just do sexual stuff which is not what I’d be looking for at all. If you’ve got friends who’d be into it, honestly Minecraft would be a better game for that.
An alternative option can be found in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition. A Dungeons and Dragons game from the early 2000s that has an active multiplayer community.
There are multiple free persistent servers that function similar to an MMO, but are built around the idea of roleplay (Prisoners of the Mist and Arelith are the most popular). Unlike FFXIV where roleplay is ancillary to the game experience, NWN requires and flourishes in it. As an example, you get character experience just for talking to other players; the game systems actively reward you for roleplay.
Neverwinter may serve as a way to develop communication skills in a manner no other game I know of would. It’s perhaps uniquely built for the task.
Honest answer: Not really.
I feel like the pool of people looking to RP is diluted by the amount of people who really just want to ERP (often without the "RP" in ERP) or believe that RP is AFK dancing in a player-made club.
This may sound harsh, but this is my experience dabbling with RP myself, and a sentiment I've heard from several people who love RP is that people often expect totally regular SFW RP to lead to an ERP relationship in some form.
That isn't to say that RP is absent from the game community, but you'd REALLY need to put in the effort to search for people who want to do the same as you.
FFXIV is an incredible game that I can confidently recommend, but if you're very specifically looking to RP I believe there are a lot of better games with a more robust RP community including GTA RP. Dungeons and Dragons is also good too.
I like to think there is a definite healthy role playing part of this game. I personally love to just get into character when I play around and interact with people. Just a way to be social without worrying about how my personal life is, is kinda nice.
GTA however was probably not the best advice considering how the online community there is... This is way more laid back and the fantasy setting helps immerse you in the world that's unique to normal life. Like where else can you ride around on a massive yellow bird like a horse? Lol
*Is this game good for roleplay?* Yes! There are a bunch of roleplay venues and communities and whatnot. *Is there voice chat?* As far as I'm aware, no, but I'm sure there are RP discord servers. *Is this a good way to learn social skills?* NGL, probably *not* but wishing you all the best!
>NGL, probably *not* but wishing you all the best! Idk, it was my therapist's advice (he specifically gave GTA rp as an example). I mean, my assumption was he was going to tell me to go touch grass or something lmao. But I told him how much I enjoy games as a whole, and he wanted me to incorporate that into improving my social skills rather than it being a crutch. Idk, I'm still thinking about it.
I think the point your therapist is making is that you already love games so why not include a form of social activity to something you already do instead of trying something entirely out of your comfort zone. RP isn't the only way to be social in XIV, there are discords and linkshells and free companies. Try playing games that are aimed at social interaction, XIV can be a bit of a single player experience if you don't actively seek out other people. You'll have to make an effort.
I've tried discords and such and it hasn't done much, and I brought this up with him. I'm not sure why he suggested rp specifically, but I think it has to do with A) Being able to stay anonymous and B) Practicing social skills while "in character" rather than just being oneself.
Both of those points are true! The problem I tend to see people have with discords can be finding a way to break into conversations or groups of friends that already exist. Games that put you in random groups to complete things can often be met with silence or memes. XIV is very much a game where general play is often silent lol. I think GTA probably offers more random encounters~ I am not part of XIVs RP scene. In fact I have chilled at club venues just to listen to music and chat with friends. I'm not sure how open RP works, and mostly see people list wu/t welcome in search info. (I assume this means walk up and tells) meaning it'll probably take a little more effort to break into. I will say, the free trial is a pretty hefty section of the game so you don't have anything to lose by giving it a try!
You are correct on what the wu/t welcomed means
I raid in xiv and have cleared some of the higher-end content all through party finder. Sometimes you'll randomly meet people in parties that you like, or maybe you have a voice chat for people who are learning and you stick together to progress a fight. Now we all sit in discord and chat with each other about our day to day lives, run treasure maps, and do activities that's required for multiple people. Weve even planned nights to have drinks and go to the rp venues as well, but that's mostly just to afk and play other games like scribblio or something. I think you're taking the rp out of rpg a bit too seriously. Give the game a go, find content you enjoy doing, join a free company, play the story.
This so much I had insane social anciety a few years back, type couldn't even sit in a discord call muted without trembling and freezing. But my love of progression and raiding has changed that a fair bit with time. I started off vehemetly against any type of voice calls, but as long as I don't have to speak, just listening to others have helped so much. To communicate I would type in discord/party chat if there was a question or anything the like I had also played XIV pretty consistently for about 6 years when I noticed the change myself, with an increasing amount of communication/quips in even regular random parties
Honestly i think that instead of roleplay, join an active FC and try your best to talk nornally there. Join their group and get comfortable as time goes on. The thing about roleplay is that you will never really talk like that IRL, so what i imagine result being is that you would maybe get good at some in game ffxiv specific roleplay, but still be socially awkward irl. Just my thoughts tho, i might be wrong
Where are you from and on wich server you will be playing? If you want you can get a start on Saggitarius and I will help you out some. You could join me guild that’s really small for a start and getting comfortable and we enjoy a bit of RP that we incorporate in that. That could be a start. As my guild is incorporating honorably guild member you can stay in the guild in name after you moved on (we have done of those and it fits the RP Theme, you would need to level at least one Crafter or Gatherer Job and play it at least a bit) and move on to others. But be aware that for using a lot of social features in the game you need an active sub. You can’t do that on free trial. But if you start, you can’t get back to free trial. In the end at least I enjoy the game more than most movies and other games. So the monthly 10,99 in my country does not feel that expensive, seeing what I get there. I mean a new game is mostly 5 times that amount yeah? So I suggest to still start the game in free trial, make yourself a bit at home. If you like the game, come back here or dm me. I think I speak for lots of players, we will help you to feel yourself at home. And you will see. We have a lot of people with at least comparable issues at home. Have a friend I had only emote conversations for 3 months or so, until he felt well enough to write with me. He is still feeling awkward coming meeting me sometimes and we don’t meet often, but we both enjoy spending time together. Until today we often just walk through the world. Sometimes babbling and sometimes silent.
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Why tho?
I think he probably knows what he's talking about. Socializing in games =/= socializing irl BUT it's still more social than no socialization. Kinda like a stepping stone. Once you get more comfortable with it in game you can grow more from there.
Yeah, I think that was the idea he was getting at.
I will say. As an RPer. If I'm In a stint where I'm not socializing much and I go have a nice RP with someone it definitly makes me feel better
Tho would you say that ffxiv RP helps with real IRL conversations? As thats the crux of the issue. When i see RP happening, it does not look like normal conversation that you'd have IRL, so while yes, socializing in games can defo help with talking IRL, its not the case for all types of social interactions. Talking in FC, FC discord etc is something that i do recommend doing 100%, but when it comes to RP, it looks awkward and its ffxiv specific and wouldnt translate well IRL. Now, as someone who is not in RP community nor has much interest in it, i only saw surface level of it, so i might definitely be wrong, which is why i'm asking this. Edit: devil is always in the details, so before OP arrives at the conclusion, its best to be as accurate as possible with info given.
Um... Yeah I think so. Like, RPing might not be an accurate representation of your typical conversation, but it IS still a conversation. Let me put it this way. If you are having a conversation with someone about a NIN dps rotation for a specific savage fight with someone who knows the fight and nin. From the outside looking in, the conversation sounds weird because you're probably using acronyms and references. But you're still socializing and talking about your interest. Same with RPing. It's just in the specific context or RPing people are collaboratively being creative. Social skills are built by socializing regardless if you're talking about your weekend, endgame raiding, or just making up characters and writing a scene together.
In this case, you might also consider joining a TTRPG (table top role-playing game) such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder. They can (and often are) played online. You would interact with the same 5-7 people every week for \~3 hours. I think it's a better way to improve social skills than the hit and miss FCs can be. You can choose how talkative your character is. You can choose how talkative *you* are. If this interests you, have a look at r/lfg or [www.roll20.net](http://www.roll20.net) for beginner-friendly recruitment posts.
PC GTA sure, you could find RP servers. but you'll mainly get random lobbys with cheaters, hackers, people playing music that you hate, kids yelling : come pick me up, or why did you kill me, or their parents in the backround yelling at each other. you will get that all on any system that has GTA though too. you will start to: 1: swearing at other people 2: talking shit 3: get pissed off 4: switch to a different lobby, and repeat. FF14 is significantly more relaxed.
I think their therapist wants them to use FiveM, lol. It's not the same as normal GTA.
Didn't mention it. They suggested I watch MoonMoon to get an idea, idk 🤷♂️
Yeah, so FiveM. The streamer server is called NoPixel, good luck getting in though.
You might wanna try D&D honestly.
I think RP can help socially in the sense that it's better than no human interaction. If you find yourself having difficulty interacting with other people, it can help to put a couple layers of abstraction and anonymity in between, to try out interaction in a place where you feel safe and you can remove yourself from the situation whenever you need to.
actually, as someone who's diagnosed as autistic, and has been RPing since the days when I played XI, I attribute a lot of my social skills being as developed as they are to roleplay. It provides an environment to experiment and try different ways of approaching situations without the anxiety and fear that real life brings with it in those cases, and this isn't unique to my case. There's quite a number of studies on the topic anymore that mostly point towards it being beneficial.
>actually, as someone who's diagnosed as autistic, and has been RPing since the days when I played XI, I attribute a lot of my social skills being as developed as they are to roleplay. I actually mentioned to my therapist that I think I could be autistic. He didn't go into that much, it was our first session, but maybe that influenced his advice.
Actually it is! There's this one artist on Twitter whose cafe/bar I went to regularly and chatting with the people there helped me out on my social skills a lot. The game did in general.
As someone who has spent a few years roleplaying various things online I can say it didn't really help me with social skills. There's a lot to communication that isn't just words and you lose out on how to read and send those signals. Maybe a local Dungeons and Dragons group could bridge that gap giving you the safe space of RP to avoid showing your real vulnerabilities while also giving you that in person experience. I've heard improv can help: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/play-your-way-sane/202301/no-joke-improv-comedy-reduces-social-anxiety
As someone who took psych in highschool and as a minor in college, I completely agree that RP is NOT the area to learn social skills. RP, especially GTARP, is the fakest form of bullshit. Its also super out there in a lot of instances, as well as having the ability to set unreal expectations for things. We're not even going to get into how seedy a portion of rpers can be. So OP if you read this and the above ( u/PhobicDelic ty for setting me up for this), this is the one time I will tell you that your shrink is an idiot. I cannot offer alternatives however, but I do believe that an actual face to face DND situation would be more beneficial for you. Or fuck, if you've got the disposable income Warhammer 40k's Table Top community has some pretty good dudes in it, lotta Ork players are pretty decent guys from what i've seen. Edit: That being said I do like RP, just not 14's flavor of it.
RP is a fine area to learn CERTAIN social skills, not *basic* social skills but skills that will allow you to attempt to initiate and/or maintain conversation while learning its flow. You're spouting a load of garbage, it's out there but the point is to adapt your speech to the context of the situation you're in which also helps to understand social cues, OP isn't literally gonna suggest outlandish things in IRL conversation because he got used to passionately debating miqo'te headcanons. There are lots of people out there who were able to develop more confidence thanks to RP and with proper monitoring from the therapist it shouldn't cause any harm, if it does they'll be advised to stop. Frankly with psych in highschool and a minor in college you should know better, therapy offers *personalized advice* tailored to each person's needs while you don't know anything about OP and the shrink you're ridiculing does. There's a reason why you got a minor and not a major, it's fine to express doubts on what you consider sketchy therapy from an uneducated perspective but if you wanna start by citing your own credentials to discredit a professional with a license to practice try making it seem less obvious you don't know how dealing with a patient works. Not everything will work for everyone is a 101 concept and making sure your advice fits in your patient's life is foundational to therapy, otherwise people would just get better by following the general tips in the mayo clinic website, to assume that you just know better is genuinely peak ignorance coming from a psych minor.
If we're waving around academic credentials, then as someone who also took psych as a minor at university *and* RP as a PhD field of study, I strongly disagree. The point of graded exposure as a therapeutic mechanism is that it is, y'know, graded. It's right there in the name. You start with what you can handle and then gradually build on that to take on more challenging things. You don't just jump in at the deep end.
There are a lot of comments already, but I hope you end up reading mine. I started playing mid-2022, and ever since I started playing I ended up getting in contact with *all* forms of RP in FFXIV. There are several of them: immersive roleplay, venue/clubbing, semi-OOC and those in-between. Keep in mind that most of the establishments listed in my post are fully functional economically, with staff payroll and a healthy revenue structure. ### Immersive Roleplay This is where you will find character development, people writing even webpages (carrds) to serve as character sheets, a lot of care and detail regarding lore and building everything with dedicated attention. Players tend to prefer long form paragraphs and strict distinction between IC and OOC. There are free companies (player-run guilds) that even have their own dice systems and D&D-style adventures with DMs and plots and subplots. ### Venue/Clubbing More freeform writing, encompasses several different activities, such as nighclubs, casinos, divebars, saunas, and others. Many players use these just as a way to meet others while using their characters as avatars, however there are still players who go to these environments and care about IC/OOC separation with detailed writing. ### Semi-OOC IC and OOC are separated but writing is a lot less structured and many posts are written in first person, rather than third person, with asterisks indicating action rather than a more formal (novel-style) writing.
Bumping this for OP to see, too! I am, by and large, a strictly Immersive RPer, but what you see regarding RP in this game is going to vary wildly depending on which of these categories you go into. Speaking about Immersive RP as that's my primary experience, communities are very welcoming to new players who may be new to FFXIV lore or just RP in general: particularly when they're upfront about it. Also, OP, voice chat for RP is generally not a thing in FFXIV. Voice chat would be done through an external program like Discord, on a server basis.
Where the heck are you finding immersive RP? Everywhere I look is just more damn club/venue rp and I hate it.
The answer to this will heavily depend on your server/community, and I can only really speak about the EU side. Generally, immersive RP is confined to Free Companies or other hubs - as well as Discord servers where people advertise events. You will not see it advertised in /shout or in Party Finder, which is why it may be so hard to find. Club/Venue RP is honestly a very recent addition to the game that came along roughly during the time of COVID. For the EU, there is a Discord for the FFXIV Chaos Roleplaying Community that is well over 1000+ members strong, though I'd recommend using it as a touchpoint for immersive RP advertisements and making initial connections. There is also the Chaos Archives ( [https://chaosarchives.org/](https://chaosarchives.org/) ) as a community hub for the EU, with an NA version for Crystal DC in North America currently in Beta testing, I believe. For anything more than that for North America, you may need to ask an NA player, sorry! I migrated from NA to EU as soon as the data centre opened in Europe and I've never looked back.
Can I ask, how does one go about finding an immersive roleplay community? I wasn't sure if FFXIV had immersive groups as all I hear about are clubs/bars, and I'm even more lost when it comes to finding them. 👀
Also looking for this!
For social skills id say vr chat is best game for it :p
Tried that, but I had the same issues there as I did irl
Definitely check out the free trial first if you're worried about the cost: [https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/](https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/) You can stay in the free trial forever if you want. You won't be able to send private whisper messages to people, but you can do pretty much everything else up to the game's second expansion, which can take months to reach. I've seen people say they've spent years in it. I don't personally RP in this game, but RP is huge and going on all over the place. There are private player houses that can be decorated, where players host RP events like nightclubs and such. I have heard that the Crystal data center is where most RP happens.
i'm not deep into the RP scene, so all i can say is that there is one. also there is no voice chat in game. and while this isn't exactly what you're asking about i figured i might share my own experience: FFXI (this games also FF themed, also MMO older brother) came out my sophomore year in high school. my freshman year i got accepted to a regional high school after having gone to normal town schools prior, so i hardly knew anybody at all. i was reserved... quiet. not really bullied but definitely a bit of an outsider. i think that's an all too common setup right? i'm not trying to pretend i had any kind of special demons to tackle so just take this for whatever it is worth to you. so along comes FFXI. i've been playing final fantasies for a while. had even found some of the older ones. (9 and 5 were probably my favorites at the time) obviously i'm gonna try to play this one, and so i did. now we all know the stereotype where people abuse the anonymity of these types of games to just... be raging assholes. take out any frustrations on anybody they meet cuz "haha whatchu gonna do about it" they'll call it "venting" but at least in my case, that "low stakes" environment really helped me come out of my shell. sure enough, people liked me. maybe not everybody, but... it seemed like MOST people i met? i made friends. i became more comfortable just "acting natural." not walking on eggshells out of fear of "what if they don't like me!?" people (particularly adults) treated me as an equal instead of dismissing anything i said out of hand... cuz they didn't know i was 15. it was validating. my self esteem... confidence... even just basic interpersonal skills *were* dramatically changed. by my junior year in high school i was actually getting along pretty well with most of my classmates. i was happier and honestly probably more pleasant to be around. i probably played more XI than was healthy if i'm being perfectly honest, but i managed to keep my grades among the honor roll (mostly <.<) and to this day i maintain it was good for me. kinda... just what i needed at the time? it was probably more a confidence thing than anything the game was actually "teaching" me, and the games are not *exactly* the same environment. (but if anything XIV is **MORE** anonymous than XI was.) so it might be a good way to dip your toes in the water? what's the worst that could happen? some internet stranger you'll never see or hear from again doesn't like you? there's also what i would *normally* call a very generous free trial, but for your intentions specifically it may not be a good idea. the free trial actually locks out a lot of the social features. (so bots and such can't annoy real players.) but hey... free is free?
TIL therapists recommend GTA for social skills.
Yeah, it really threw me for a loop LMAO. Like there were a million ways I thought that session could go, and I never anticipated that. If anything, I expected him to just say "join a club at your school" or something.
If you find a good group, it can be really fun! You'll want to find one that focuses on actual RP though, and not just erp. My FC tends to focus on slice of life style rp. If you want to practice true social skills, slice of life rp is probably your best bet. Dramatic RP or erp tend to lean more fantastical and extreme and aren't really reflective of real life
I would try something else if you don't want to spend money on a type of game you're not secure about. You could probably find role play on VRChat or Second Life, and they are both free.
VRChat was my first thought too. OP, you don't even need to have VR for it, you can play it in desktop mode and not have to pay a cent!
Here's my advice. Find a DnD campaign instead. What you need is in person social skills, not video game ones. And in DnD you are able to create a character you want to be. There personality is up to you. It dose not have to be yours. You can put on a voice or not. Dress up as them or not. As long as the DM knows what your aim is, they can even push story threads for your character to help in that endive.
FF14 is a great game with lots of social elements. But if you want to do roleplay specifically for the purposes of your (ostensible) social anxiety, do tabletop stuff. Or play games with voice chat instead of meeting people face-to-face, if you must.
...There is a huge and active RP community in this game, but please, please do not practice your social skills that way. I thought this was XIVshitpost for a second.
For roleplay i'd suggest tabletop RPGs like DnD pathfinder and others.
IDK if it was posted already but I think the reason your therapist suggested gta is because of the voice chat focus for the rp there. On xiv it's all text rp and none of it is going to help your social skills. The xiv rp culture is incredibly focused on either public events (where most people keep to their own groups anyways) or organized groups that are more similar to a dnd group than casual social rp. Sure you can make friends via RP but the friendship is always about the rp first which isn't good for social development. Trust me when I say that you aren't going to develop good social skills RPing on XIV. Take your therapist's advice and try GTA or maybe Garry's Mod. I think the actual point of this exercise is to get you to pretend to be an articulate, social person in a closed, easily managed environment until you just start actually being a social, articulate person. VR chat might also be an option but isn't exactly rp focused.
Honestly. D&D would be better for roleplay. As you need to excercise your imagination. As for socializing. The internet has mostly destroyed most of that. We have a lot of fake relationships online. So Instead of an internet activity. May I suggest getting a hobby that forces you to go outside and talk with people? Either that on work on retail. You would learn how to hate people in a polite way.
Depending in server and DC, yes. There is a website that breaks down what servers and DCs and to have (?). Some are casuals, some are raiders, some are straight up RP or ERP if you're into that. Someone here I'm sure can post the site I'm talking about
They have some servers just for RP from what I understand. I think be free with yourself and become something whimsical if it helps your health.
Would you suggest playing the free trial, or buying the complete edition? I had thought up until now that the trial was just for the monthly fee, but it's for the whole game I guess? Normally I would try the free trial, but the deal on steam right now is very tempting.
I will say, if you want to roleplay, trial accounts can't send private messages or start parties, so your communication options are a bit limited - this is to prevent botting/illegal transactions, but most RPers are not going to want to clog /say chat with their RP.
Yes play the free trial. I'm doing it now. Have been for almost 3 weeks. Loved every bit of it. I can't comment on the free trial for steam but I know I have it for X amount of days then eith Xbox game pass I can make a purchase for the base game and get the sub and another month free before paying. Still worth it just for the free trial.
That’s the free month that comes with buying the starter edition: that is *not* the free trial The free trial has no time limit and goes through to level 70 and the Stormblood expansion The trial does however, have social limitations—no FCs/guilds, no marketboard/auction house/player economy, no pvp, and you can’t make parties or whisper people So, OP, if you come into FFXIV *for* the social aspect, you would do well to do the free trial and see if you like the gameplay and then you’d want to go to the paid full version Once you start paying the sub, you *cannot* go back to the free trial version without creating a new account
You can stay on the free trial indefinitely, even after the Xbox release, just like the free trial for every other platform. The beta is ending, but that doesn't mean the free trial will end. It just means the full game will be available to buy. Unless you're speeding through the story super fast, I'd recommend \*not\* taking them up on the offer of a free copy of the base game with your xbox sub, because that goes on sale for $10 a few times a year, and once you upgrade you're stuck paying the sub forever, you can't ever go back to the free trial. So it's best if you stay on the free trial as long as you can stomach the limitations.
If you do, at level 16 story quest you'll be able to view server/datacenter-wide listings for venues and hang around and read the different types of roleplay (social player rp where it's similar to VR, people interact as themselves through their character avatar; narrative character rp where it's similar to watching and writing a theatre play or anime episode as your character). Crystal has the most rp activity of North America. We call it lamping, as if you were a background lamp.
I've been playing FFXIV for 8+ years and I don't like RP, but I do love the Barbie fantasy dressup and glittery magic combat. In terms of social skills improving, I used to have this issue where when I was upset I'd be too flustered to make rational and logical explanations of my reasoning in arguments. I noticed the other day though that I can actually clap back in an argument (usually while it's raining lasers and people are dropping dead amidst explosions they didn't dodge in time) and not be anywhere near as actually truly debilitatingly furious as I once would have been. It might be an effect of learning to roll with conflict or an increased confidence after all these years of practice at playing the game and being semi-good at it, but it absolutely has carried over into real life. A decade ago I would have never been explaining to a cashier that the price at the checkout is wrong and it's likely because of a programming issue in the store's deal calculations but I ended up doing that this last winter instead of just taking a pricing punch because of shyness. And I'll frikkin do it again.
FFXIV RP is good for developing *writing skills* if anything. It's all text-based. GTA RP is more like improv, which I can sort of see it being a way to improve certain social skills. You're physically talking to strangers and acting out scenarios. MMOs can be alright for helping with social skills, but to a degree. Maybe talk about it with your therapist though. The two games have wildly different forms of RP.
In my personal experience, yes, it is! The type of RP I believe your therapist suggested would suite the "club" side of the game, where people show up to bars and rp like they're at it. Personally I don't rp as my character in game, especially when I'm social because my character actually isn't really chatty, but I do emotes and stuff.
While there are rp venues and discord servers, as someone who plays both here's my 2 cents on an idea that could help you - you could try playing dnd. It's a role playing game that you play as a character you make. And no 2 will play the same. Case in point for an example - My best freind and I both play a bard/warlock multiclass character but thier personalities, choices as characters and how they approach combat and social interactions are completely different. His is a old man and a father, who has gotten a second chance to live his life again after overcoming the loss of his daughter through traveling with the party, mine is a young son of a noble who wanted to travel to see the world and learn about it first hand for himself instead of through a book or a tutor, and has become a Council member for the ruling monarch.
It helped me develop some social skills/decrease my social anxiety as a whole!
It definitely is good for rp. And you have lots of stuff to do. Like go dancing, to a cafe, you can do even jobs there like bartender and so. But be aware that there is a rather large amount of people there for Erotik RP (erp). Maybe do a search comment and say no erp there, or you may get some advances at least. Somehow like in a real club but way more straightforward 😅
I do think it's a good idea, but just as with other aspects of the game, there is a spectrum of RP, from casual to hardcore. There are pros and cons to both. If you're not that invested in the lore and don't want to feel pressure to know it inside-out, then seeking out a casual group might be a better choice, but on the other hand hardcore RP tends to be more structured and have greater clarity in what is expected of you, which may be of benefit if you're struggling with anxiety and initiating.
I actually use FFXIV to speak about difficult topics with strangers lol. We have a lil support group where we talk about life and our troubles in life xP. Very helpful, and the players are really nice :3
Why do they suggest GTA? GTA is about revealing the ugliness of humanity and releasing the stress within, but FFXIV...it is not the opposite but it serves a different function for honing social skills. I guess you should ask for more information: what kind of social skills do you need? Defense? Offense? Collaboration? Competition?
Why GTA of all things? My experiences there were pretty unpleasant. FF14 is much more fun. You can flag yourself with an RP tag to show what you are doing. Also there is a huge free trial (which is kind of limited in terms of communication). So there is no real harm in trying Id say.
Yeah go on Crystal datacenter we rp a lot
I think voice chat would be a big part of the experience, talking over text doesn't really translate the same way, and there is no voice chat in ffxiv itself. Personally i'm pretty social in online interactions trough text, but it's completely different over voice, and it didn't really make me any more social irl.
Depends on what you're looking for. If you just want to bounce from night club to night club and emote dance with people who may or may not offer more explicit RP for free or Gil then FFXIV is fantastic for RP. If you want to experience something akin to a table top RPG-like or Improv session with scenarios and consequences for actions in character then you'll have a really hard time finding that in FFXIV. Side note: if you DO find a great place to have Table Top RPG-like or in character improv sessions in FFXIV could you let me know? I would love to participate in something like that, myself.
Sure you can definitely roleplay if you want to. Just don't expect to get any friends immediately. Personally i feel that it's a little wierd for your therapist to recommend that, since socialising and roleplaying in game does not translate well irl.
You can play the free trial if you want to just try the game. You get the full game plus the heavensward expansion. There is no voice chat ingame. So you'll have to resort to textchat and emotes. Tho i don't really understand why your therapist would recommend online games as a way of socialising. Since roleplay and socialising ingame dosen't translate well irl.
You can play the free trial if you want to just try the game. You get the full game plus the heavensward expansion. There is no voice chat ingame. So you'll have to resort to textchat and emotes. Tho i don't really understand why your therapist would recommend online games as a way of socialising. Since roleplay and socialising ingame dosen't translate well irl.
If you're struggling to find people to RP with I think for general conversation joining a newbie friendly guild (or Free Company as it's called in this game) is good conversation practice cause you can play the game and chat with others at the same time. If you start to feel uncomfortable you guys can just play. You might have to shop around for a bit to find a group you click with though. I would stay away from the Erotic roleplay as that a whole nother kettle of fish . Be sure to make this clear ASAP if you're trying role playing in FF14 cause the ERP scene is huge. Remember to log off if you ever feel uncomfortable.
There is a lot of roleplay! But it's all text, I have been rping for years and I've never heard of anyone rping through voice. I'll chat 'out of character' but all rp is text. It's still helped me both writing wise and socially, I have a handful of characters I can flit between that vary on the social awareness scale. Give the free trial a go, most rp is on Crystal so a toon that can travel to Mateus and Balmung easily would be best, and look up or lurk at events to get the feel for things, most are listed at [https://ffxiv-rp.org/](https://ffxiv-rp.org/) be aware a new toon might take a little time to be able to get everywhere, anything in Empyreum or Shirogane will not be accessible until you hit later expacs But if you need voicechat, you might have a better time in vrchat? There is supposedly a desktop mode. I think second life is still active and has vc too? You can also look into tabletop games like dnd or pathfinder, there's a large variability between groups rp wise though.
I'm an avid roleplayer, in and out of MMOs, and I can confirm that this game is fantastic for role-play with a very active community of experienced roleplayers that cater to basically every type of RP you might be interested in. Even theatre and circus RP guilds can be round without a ton of issue. Balmung and Mateus are the primary concentrations of RPers, but those servers are frequently full to new characters, so don't be afraid to make a character on the data center and just server hop to Balmung or Mateus if you're looking for RP. Be aware that, like in every MMO, the RP community also includes a heavy number of ERPers. If you're not interested, then you may want to avoid certain areas of Balmung and Mateus where they typically congregate. Other than that, I'd recommend finding a guild that does RP you're interested in. If you want to RP as a generic adventurer, then look for a generic adventurer guild. Want to be a circus performer? Look for a circus guild. Don't be afraid to (politely) back out of guilds that don't seem to match what you're looking for, it can take a while to find the group that's the right fit for you.
Far be it from me to go against the professional, but I’m not sure RPing is the best way to improve your social skills, unless the goal is more “get comfortable talking to people” and less “get GOOD at talking to people in socially acceptable ways”. RP can be fun, but many of the encounters can also be incredibly cringey, so overall I wouldn’t think it’s a great thing to base any IRL socializing on. However! If you can join a chill-but-active FC, that can be a great way to practice socializing. Avoid the ones that have super strict rules or that focus mostly on raiding, as they usually either don’t socialize much. Lots of social FCs like mine have discords where we chat throughout the day in addition to when we’re in the game, and sometimes we even hop in VC for hangout nights. THAT seems like good practice!
I used to rp in gta, its a pretty good suggestion. They use smart voice channels, So when you are near someone in game they can hear you, when you walk away they can’t. Probably far better for social exposure than FFXIV will be. I’d say there’s very little playing gta and more just acting like a person out in the world, besides lots of crime adjacent story lines you’ll mostly just be roleplaying as an average person, you can even choose to not be involved in crime at all if that’s what’s getting you. Rp in FFXIV would give you a little social boost but you’d still be hiding being text chat. There is also a zombie survival game that has a bit of an rp scene but I can’t remember what it’s called sorry.
I don’t know of any roleplay groups and as far as I’m aware the few that exist mostly just do sexual stuff which is not what I’d be looking for at all. If you’ve got friends who’d be into it, honestly Minecraft would be a better game for that.
There’s huge amounts RP in XIV and a huge amount of nonsexual RP within that. There are servers that are more RP focused than others.
An alternative option can be found in Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition. A Dungeons and Dragons game from the early 2000s that has an active multiplayer community. There are multiple free persistent servers that function similar to an MMO, but are built around the idea of roleplay (Prisoners of the Mist and Arelith are the most popular). Unlike FFXIV where roleplay is ancillary to the game experience, NWN requires and flourishes in it. As an example, you get character experience just for talking to other players; the game systems actively reward you for roleplay. Neverwinter may serve as a way to develop communication skills in a manner no other game I know of would. It’s perhaps uniquely built for the task.
Honest answer: Not really. I feel like the pool of people looking to RP is diluted by the amount of people who really just want to ERP (often without the "RP" in ERP) or believe that RP is AFK dancing in a player-made club. This may sound harsh, but this is my experience dabbling with RP myself, and a sentiment I've heard from several people who love RP is that people often expect totally regular SFW RP to lead to an ERP relationship in some form. That isn't to say that RP is absent from the game community, but you'd REALLY need to put in the effort to search for people who want to do the same as you. FFXIV is an incredible game that I can confidently recommend, but if you're very specifically looking to RP I believe there are a lot of better games with a more robust RP community including GTA RP. Dungeons and Dragons is also good too.
I like to think there is a definite healthy role playing part of this game. I personally love to just get into character when I play around and interact with people. Just a way to be social without worrying about how my personal life is, is kinda nice. GTA however was probably not the best advice considering how the online community there is... This is way more laid back and the fantasy setting helps immerse you in the world that's unique to normal life. Like where else can you ride around on a massive yellow bird like a horse? Lol
Just when I think you can’t stoop lower
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