KitsuneShapeShifter: I just joined the game, I hope I'm not too late to have a fun time

EDIT: Thank you, everyone, for the encouragement and clarification! <3

LilCultGoat: Man, finding a RP community that's not toxic, has jobs, and schedule aligns with yours is so hard. I quit roleplaying then I couldn't find much in the game for myself

lambchop5633: I am a venue owner and its a sfw Cafe restaurant and I used to get so many roleplayers coming in and enjoying how I decorated and the menu and the events we provide. It was like a small community that we put together. Obviously now a days, people are leaving the rp community and aren't going to cafes or restaurants so I get less people coming in. I actually took a hiatus for my mental health due to multiple factors but one of those factors was I was kinda getting depressed there wasn't meaningful rp between me/staff and the patrons. I do plan to build it up again but I am kinda focused on my mental health first. So I hope one day people will join me in working at my rp sfw venue and rp like real final fantasy characters.

sara-rebekkahstormthread9337: Non-club RP still exists, but I've found it tends to be more in closed groups these days. Like my group is still very active. We have a variety of storylines, events etc. So for us RP is as good as ever. But we don't really RP in public venues, nor announce it anywhere but to our group. So unless you meet us randomly in a zone, then as an outsider you'd have no idea we exist. I know of a few other groups like ours who does the same.

DroChaku: I roleplay as as a house owner, if I don't pay my taxes (sub fee to Square) they will take my house away.

Punkadelic2112: I do think the club scene killed the roleplay community. I'm glad a lot of people enjoy it but that's barely roleplay, to be honest.

It brings a lot of people that barely interact with others and just do the bees knees and afk. And it is all you see in PF nowadays. Because it is easy. It doesn't require much thinking to be there.

So now whenever there's an actual roleplay venue, these people that are used to the clubs do not know what to do and that place closes because people do not know how to roleplay.

I used to be a roleplayer but... It's been so long since I was able to do it the way I liked. Which was visiting tavers, schools, cafes, etc and meet people. Not many places to visit anymore. It's been so long that I think I don't know how to roleplay anymore

DarthJF: I just roleplay inside my head. When I created my character I imagined him having specific personality and backstory and always imagine what he is thinking and feeling during the parts of story I'm going through. Sometimes I augment that with little gameplay choices, like toggling helmet visibility on when he's about to enter a tough fight, but turning it invisible when my char is hanging around with the scions in safe enviroment etc.

LorienInksong: I really wish it was easier to find RP outside of slice of life or nightclubs. Most of my RP comes from a clan centurio group I joined and that's been fairly fun. My hope is that the slew of modern style content is connected to the second half of Dawntrail and that we'll be moving away from it soon.

Also time for an unpopular opinion- I'm not sad to see Mare go. Saw too many turbo-boobs and weird doll face mods from the screenshots and really didn't appreciate the pressure from other RPers to instal it.

itheckinwindy: Glad I'm not the only one who thinks all the futuristic stuff is clashing with the game. Been too afraid to bring it up because my friends love it. Feels like the game is losing it's identity on many fronts...

Potato_Prophet: Good to see you creating again! I don't mind what game you talk about, I enjoy the vibe.

bendonatier: I will say there certainly are groups, and places you can go that will cater towards what you're after. It certainly got harder to find when Mare was at it's peek, but now that that buble's burst things are settling back down. We're still getting high fantasy and more medieval armors, even if it's not all we're getting, and players have been doing weekly get togethers at Buskeroon's Druthers for some proper immersive RP to say nothing about the venues that aren't night clubs.

milkytea9899: Quits roleplaying to become a Turkish coffee chugging mahjong main LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

RaikoRikimaru: I did not expect a video to be made summarizing my exact thoughts, but here we are. You saved me a lot of editing and buying a good microphone.

I've found it hitting a point where less is more and if you can get a friend group together for a storyline or two that you do RP for and play more into a tabletop format (dice/rolling not needed!) you can have a lot more meaningful fun than just doomscrolling party finder to find what's not a bathhouse.

thegneech: FFXIV had just exactly the perfect amount of SF/modern sprinkled into it... then came the back half of Dawntrail (everything's a purple neon shopping mall now) and cosmic exploration (everything else is a spacesuit now) and honestly I'm not a fan. Some steampunk/magitech sprinkled into a fantasy world was great, now we've got a cyberpunk game randomly focused on wizards and swords. Blugh.

dukedynamite3d: The rp scene in 14 has definitely gone off a cliff. You used to see people having their own adventures or entire free companies doing the same. It was about the world and the characters, now it's just imvu avatars all standing in one place with a dance mod at a "club venue." The actual rp in FFXIV used to feel like it was a main part of the game, now it's just something close knit groups do behind closed doors.

Or it's turbo degenerate erp and a bunch of female roegadyn named something like "mountainous thirdleg"

lightningfurystrike13: I roleplay someone who travels a lot and soloed a lot of adventures doing omnicrafting/gathering/classing and reutnred one day to find I had inherited the leadership of a Free Company and suddenly needed to learn how to run Sub and airships. Still not brave enough to touch the garden.

Oceanstalker: We had survived Stormblood, we may survive Dawntrail too, right? RIGHT?

k97-bb: Legendary refresh pull

RaithRapture: Can't believe I just ran across your channel. We used to RP together on Balmung years ago. Good job on your channel!

As a follow-up to your question- I've RP'd in XIV since launch. In the past year I've put in maybe 30 hours of game time and just unsubbed. The RP community has gone down hill where if you're not "horny" you're not getting RP. The club scene has taken over to a ridiculous amount.

terram685: Two thoughts:

(1) Mods are a crutch. RP is about creativity and if you rely too hard on third-party tools you are abdicating some of your creativity. It also becomes a way to exclude others who can't or won't use said tools.

(2) The deluge of real-world and sci-fi outfits is jarring and unpleasant. Doing roulettes feels more like People of Walmart than a fantasy adventure. I love sci-fi as a genre as much as I love high fantasy, but the two shouldn't mix.

It's also the inconsistency in Dawntrail We went from pre-colonial Central and South America, had short stop in the American West, and then a hard right into Oops All Cyberpunk. A whole, separate expansion with Alexandria would have been better received on my part. This could have fixed the pacing problems in Dawntrail and left plenty of room for a FFIX-flavored storyline of its own.

VashimuXIV: I still enjoy doing roleplay in XIV on the occasion, and I am a console player. If I want my glamours, I gotta go out and farm them, hahaha. That aside, I try to not have my only facet for playing XIV be just one avenue of content, because I don’t want to get burned out on that (plus the new deep dungeon has been a lot of fun). Roleplay itself is always a subjective discussion in any community when it concerns the why and how people enjoy it; whether it is someone inserting themself into a game or they are playing a character from said game - they’ll always persist in on fashion or another. MMOs, not just XIV - hell all online communities - thrive off the ability for its playerbase to personalize their experiences with it in some fashion or another. I guarantee you in the next decade you’ll still see people engaging in roleplay, be it lewd or otherwise, because for many it is a hobby and one they’ve built a presence around, or even just because they find it fun. Whatever the reason you have to still play XIV, it’s important that you continue to do what you believe is best for you.

sheriffopossum: THE QUEEN HAS RETUNRED

i actually started roleplaying for the first time earlier this year and have been loving it! originally joined my FC cause my wife joined first and i had no intention of actually rping, but i slowly warmed up to the idea of it then took the plunge when one of my fc mates asked if i'd like to rp our blorbos that we ship together and BAM, haven't looked back since UwU

am still terrified of going to venues and roleplaying with randos cause roleplaying play-by-post is wildly different than in-game (at least in my head), but for now i'm happy with where i'm at

ythiaeylenn: Honestly, I feel like the entire Mare drama blew up so much largely because of a lot of the Glamourer/Penumbra/Mare Gposers we're by far the most vocal and visible part of the community on social Media. Which is also one of the reasons why it got shutdown

GashBuss: I was so happy when my lalafell appeared in your video xD. But the most important is have fun, if you are not having fun, go play other games, maybe one day you want to come back.

MrsLittletall: Vanilla player on PC here who is happy with it. I will never fall down the side of mods, yes, we exist. I enjoy seeing what I can do with the limits of the game and I was VERY disappointed when I learned that the prettiest houses are just modded.

When it comes to RP, I know why I do all my Roleplay on Discord in text form without any schedules or anything. It's my favourite form of roleplaying. No schedules, no toxicity, no one forcing me to share mods as I can just use three paragraphes to describe my character.

serephinablossom1555: Another change in Roleplay was the fact people would gate block you if you didn't have mods. It was like we took our creativity and it was lost. One other big change was people's effort in roleplay. A Lot of communities now push or shut out others. join a group have a great character or back story and instantly your shelved by those you are trying to connect with. Not part of their inner circle tough luck you are now part of the filler. I miss the days where i could bump into someone and have those interactions, i had one guy who was in summer fords RP as a farmer all about the soil and how the crops grow. My one best advice i can give is don't fall for people saying we welcome new roleplaying people, because the chances are they most likely see you as a number and will use you as filler. If you want roleplay these days you need to know when to just drop it and walk away. There shouldn't have to be a marathon of effect for you to enjoy a creative side for another to shut you off. it's a inner circle these days and if you don't fit you will feel lonely really quick..

LunarValkyria: as somebody who has played since ARR, I have never seen an expansion received so badly. Even Stormblood which used to be considered the worst didn't have it this bad. I feel like the RP community is what is keeping the game afloat.

I'm currently playing Guild Wars 2 (money is tight and I just don't see Dawntrail worth the sub and Guild Wars 2 doesn't have a sub fee)

Oct 25 2025

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