It’s quite cool and fun when people find something slightly unique or different that helps add some to the setting and lore!
But I do not understand the reason or logic behind playing something(like the scarlets for example) and then going so far away from it that it has no resemblance to it at all anymore beyond the name?
You’d think the reason the person picked to RP that in the first place was because they liked the concept of said group or thing, then why move away from it entirely?
Toss them a silver coin and thank them for their street performance, however questionable
Then leave
I think this is a good opportunity to demonstrate how the concept of what can be considered “outlandish” varies from person to person.
The most glaringly out of place thing about that image is the art style. Warcraft has a cartoony style of its own, but this anime-inspired style obviously influenced by Naoko Takeuchi with padded-out chests all over the place definitely doesn’t mesh with it and looks out of place.
I can see how this can make some people feel that everything in the image doesn’t belong in the Warcraft setting, especially this realm’s Japanophobes. In the past, I even saw some people who thought that anyone who enjoyed anything that could be described as “anime” was a nonce.
But in the end, this art style is nothing but the artist’s style. Though some people might find it distasteful for personal reasons, it has no impact on whether or not anything in the picture actually adheres to the lore or not. So let’s look past the aesthetic and at the actual content of the image.
The Scarlet Crusade are a human-only faction of extremists devoted to the Light and to the extermination of the undead and unholy, and anything that they associate with that.
Going by that definition, almost half of the characters in that image could fit in the Scarlet Crusade, with zero softening of the Scarlet Crusade’s original concept.
If you soften the concept a little and allow non-human races to join this particular branch of the Scarlet Crusade, the amount of characters who fit in shoots up. This isn’t even behaviour that is unknown on this realm, if you would like to recall guilds like the Church of the Holy Light, who accepted night elves and other races that didn’t traditionally participate in Light worship, let alone the Church.
However, there’s still a third who don’t visibly fit or who use methods that the Scarlet Crusade would consider questionable.
Loosen the concept a little further with relaxed uniform requirements and use of magic that would normally be considered unsavoury (as seen in canon with the Scarlet Onslaught), and almost every single character can fit into this branch of the Scarlet Crusade. The concept has been softened a great deal, but they can still roleplay as a bunch of extremists who despise the undead and seek to purge them from the North.
If I ran into such a guild on Argent Dawn, I’d probably raise an eyebrow and think that they value the size of their guild roster more than the integrity of their guild’s concept. It’s certainly not a guild that I would join. If I encountered them in the open world or at an event, I’d probably be okay with roleplaying with them for a little while.
The only one who I would actively back away from is the goggled night elf with the purple electric guitar. That one deviates from Warcraft lore enough that I would personally try to avoid engaging with them. Out of almost thirty characters in the picture, that’s the only one I’d qualify as “completely outlandish.”
We all have different limits but for the most part, I agree with everyone else here. When I reach my personal limit, I just bow out and disengage from roleplaying with that person.
Honestly the art style wasn’t the issue for me. It’s not to my liking, but there’s plenty of things in nerd culture that intersect with anime and manga, and I’m fairly certain I’ve seen artists on AD offer chibi style commissions from time to time.
What made it seem outlandish to me at least is just the absolute mess of concepts that seem to be permitted, and also what ultimately ended up happening to the guild which I’ll get to a little further down. While I’m personally of the belief that the Scarlet Crusade is a human-only faction, I could see them loosening up on that if it means having more sway. It’s easier to enforce a doctrine if you have more manpower, and if someone who isn’t human is willing to offer that manpower then yeah, I can see that. I still think it’s pretty out there for something like a night elf character to pledge allegience, but we do see night elven characters in the Argent Crusade so it’s arguably got some precedence.
Yeah, to me this is where it goes from plausible to outlandish. Even with the Scarlet Onslaught, they were still entirely human and (if I’m correct) brainwashed by a dreadlord , which as an aside I’m low-key surprised they didn’t reveal the final ‘boss’ of the Gilnean reclamation questline to be a dreadlord given just how many times dreadlords have manipulated the scarlet crusade - but back on topic, it’s manipulation done from the top and it’s a seperate sect of the crusade because of that. With this guild I don’t think that’s the idea, I think it’s meant to be “light supremacy, all else bad” while also permitting things which go directly against that which is silly.
Getting back to the fate of that guild - they all died IC, woke up in Eorzea (Aka critically acclaimed MMORPG FFXIV) and now just RP over there as if nothing happened, making them strange/outlandish concepts in two MMOs simoultaenously which is as impressive as it is personally baffling.
The worst part is that despite that character concept being totally out there, I also imagine they only ever play exactly one song for all eternity regardless of the situation. I bet they won’t even play Wonderwall. 
But you have raised a good point in that where we draw the line on outlandish does differ - personally I don’t think calling that guild absurd is particularly prudish or elitist, I think most folk on Argent Dawn would probably steer clear if that happened but
well, maybe not! At the very least I will say this for them, it’s been years since I learned of that guild and I still find it fascinating to bring up as an example of roleplayers taking creative liberties. As much as I’ve negatively talked about it, I don’t hate it if that makes sense.
I honestly didn’t know anything about them, I was just judging them based off of that image. But from the sound of that, it seems like they’re just a bunch of friends having fun together who don’t give a damn about the lore. In which case, good for them, sounds like they’ll keep on having fun together in their own little bubble.
I guess that the current state of Warcraft and its factions makes it easier for me to accept disparate peoples standing side by side. Elegant elves and primal monsters, nature-loving druids and technological geniuses, they fight side by side all of the time throughout the lore. I’ve had to justify it with mental gymnastics so often that I’m not so bothered by the idea of a Scarlet Crusade branch accepting non-human races and darker sorts of magic.
But there are other people who prefer to isolate all of the different fantasies and peoples that exist in Warcraft, with race-specific and class-specific guilds that focus on particular concepts and don’t like deviating from them. Some of them even seem to look at guilds with less restrictive concepts as inferior. So, I’m not shocked if these people look at a guild like this that is much more loose and are put off by it.
Chilled music stops
yo wtf
As someone who RPs many concepts from a simple traders and fiahermen, to dryads and dragons, I try not to judge people too quickly if they seem a bit odd. So long as things mesh with WoW and it’s setting it’s all gravy.
But when Geralt and pals come out of a bush, I’ll make them vanish… By using ignore and turning around.
No, I’m asking for things people have actually seen ingame and are being labeled as outlandish. I can think up stuff myself.
Thanks, that’s what I was looking for as example.
With these people(who RP other settings or characters), its usually fairly easy to ignore, but every now and then you get some who very much want to be in the spotlight(and not in a “please hate me” kinda way).
Best worst example I got is still the guild that was litterally roleplaying Dalish Elves in Astranaar and Darnassus, but not as their own bubble. They made forum posts and actively harassed players in-game who didn’t accept them as their whole idea was that they wanted the whole server to accept this because “WoW elves have no lore” so their thing was better.
I love it whenever there is loads of female characters in a guild like these, you start to get an arms-race over chest-size. The newer the member, the larger the fanart chest size.
Unless it is the guild leader of course, like Madelynne. Thanks for sharing the pic, gave me a good chuckle.
Reminds me of that old AA “Hourglass” video.
If her arms can still fit over her chest then it’s not a proper arms race.
Anyway to me the whole idea of turning a genocidal extremist faction in WoW into a waifu / sexy sims simulator seems a bit on the nose.
Hourglasses were eventually out done by the busty pears.
It’s not outlandish but all draenei who talk like “zhis” is what just instantly turns me away.
Same with obvious coomers whose dialogue, even if it is standalone good, always leads to either discussing about the act, asking you to do it with them, or fantasizing about it aloud.
Let’s take a walk shall we?
Though it’s only tangentially related to this thread, I wouldn’t mind discussing less outlandish things that are official and canonical, but that still turn us off and that we don’t want involved in our roleplay.
Though I have met some genuinely great vulpera roleplayers (shout-out to Kopt), most of my experiences with them have been negative so far, something that wasn’t helped by a negative impression of them in 8.0. I don’t understand the people who react poorly to dracthyr as something that “doesn’t fit in Warcraft,” but don’t bat an eye at vulpera.
I categorize this as the same people who used to and probably still despise Pandaren because “kung fu panda” or something.
Honestly it’s the same group of people that usually dislike both. The same sort that ceaselessly whine about how the game isn’t just humans and orcs anymore and how everything is emasculated and feminine.
AKA WoWhead’s comment section.