(08-29-2013, 11:56 AM)Lake Desire Wrote:(08-28-2013, 12:09 PM)Theodric Brandt Wrote: I don't think we actually need an official role-playing server. Both GW2 and FFXIV have launched without any and yet they still have a pretty huge and active community of role-players. I think the community is stronger for it, since if people want to role-play they need to put a bit more effort in than usual which helps to avoid stagnation.
Furthermore, an 'official' server tag is meaningless unless it's going to be enforced and I've long since resigned myself to the simple fact that no modern MMO is going to ban or punish players tormenting role-players or breaching naming conventions as such a move would be terrible for PR. Not that I mind, since most players are fine with role-players provided it isn't forced upon them or they aren't exposed to some of the darker stuff that goes on beneath the surface such as public ERP.
I played WoW off and on in beta and its first two years after launch, and I always picked the servers listed as "RP," expecting to find RPers, but never encountered any. Â I had been expecting to see people in the towns RPings, but I never made any friends in WoW nor got past level 20, so perhaps I just didn't encounter the RPers. Â But, that experience made me think people didn't pay attention to the sever labels except PvP and PvE.
WoW is unfortunately notorious for being rather 'cliquey' where the role-playing community is concerned. I played it for roughly five years and didn't have much luck myself! Hopefully FFXIV proves to be much better and people are more willing to actually venture out into the wider game world and network with people outside of their immediate social circles. So far the community looking to be very promising, luckily.