The realm really do be mirroring the current real life political environment.
Monkey see, monkey do. Always.
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Fixed that for you.
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True but 
if you’re going to ignore someone, simply ignore them.
Putting out various messages just breeds unnecessary animosity.
Ignore and move on.
P.S I’m ignoring you!
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same here. i love reading the stories people create. Like to give an example Acrona’s character is a character that sounds like something that should belong in the lore. She/he creates their character with such passion that it almost feels real.
same here. i want to tho because horde requeres it more. Im just very anti-social ingame, and wish i was as confident as i am in the forums.
Sorry I couldn’t hear you over how loudly I ignored you first. 
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A bit of ranting there, but it has been several different guilds with more or less same experience. I can understand this dynamic a little more in situations where people have been friends for a long time before I joined, but the recent experience is with people who are more freshly connected with some more familiar OOC than others.
I did try to do the legwork, mostly it was about trying to drop hooks or finding excuses for interaction, asking people OOC for RP and so forth. First all seemed fine, and I did receive understanding and help at first, despite some disagreements. The thing was, most of characters opted for “fast connections” while it took longer for my character to settle and overcome some prejudices as well, but still… I constantly felt that there was more going on with the other active members than what I was let in on. I tried to ask for more but in some situations I was told like “only asking people will be heard” and so forth, as if I had never asked. The guild leader and officers were aware that I wanted to RP, or get same opportunities as the rest of my rank but… I suppose it’s easier to deny than even discuss it properly?
I wanted stories and still keep wanting them, but getting people engaged with whichever I’m trying to introduce through IC or OOC often seems to become an issue. I don’t like making stories all about myself and that sometimes becomes part of the issue; when someone gets too much to do and I get too little - but that usually can be solved with a proper talk. It’s usually certain people wanting to RP something -within- a guild in long run and not letting everyone willing to participate in on it, which creates this inclusion-exclusion dynamic. Say, how am I getting my character across if few people are more focused on romance, some are busy with RL and can’t be there as much, and some want to cultivate blood-ties among their chosen few. What happens if you aren’t as connected? You become an audience to their story, but never truly play a part. Or if you do play a part, you’re expected to tolerate all these hints about secrets which have been shared between others, but not with you.
This is the important part in guild or any group dynamics imho. Definitely have fun, but also be mindful that others are having fun as well. A lot of frustrations could have been avoided (from my end) if I hadn’t been hearing/seeing everyone being so close in various ways, but usually having my character being treated… well… differently. Sort of being kept at an arm’s length and confused about where it’s going to go.
This was my recent experience, joined into a guild which was -exactly- what I had been looking for theme-wise. But majority of the clique seemed to be on different wavelength than myself, at least when it comes to the question of “should you consider if playing out this dynamic is fun for everyone included or only these select few?”. With some I had even rapport and very good vibes, but I suppose in the end of the day, it’s easier to stand with the status quo than say that this individual member might have a point.
I’ve always said that I’m up for hosting events and participating events of others, if I know that there are such events coming up, or if I know that people are interested in mine. Then I could be online and prepare accordingly. But when people are often spontaneous or don’t announce anything over guild discord for example, or you can’t get your IC hooks across properly, then it creates situations where I’m likely to miss out on RP unless I watch guild RP like a hawk. There might be some things I’d very much enjoy being part of but can’t sacrifice sleep for “maybes” or I might opt to do alt-RP when it seems like nothing is going to happen - only to find out that people had a get-together on such very nights.
I agree with this statement, or at least that doing the legwork should be a mutual effort. I communicated my wish to participate OOC, but there wasn’t much communication from the others. Aside from few people, who were most understanding and supportive, when I brought these concerns up.
I never expected better treatment but equal treatment. We are all people behind the ranks but there can be many types of people behind all of those ranks.
I should clarify, that we were supposed to be allies and feel safe around one another IC, but if one new person begins to bully my character with comments which are borderline threatening for his safety and manipulative, it’s not really fun to roleplay. The character (as well as the person behind it) dismissed it later as a joke, which more would fit into the frames of “aggressive jabs disguised as jokes”. It wasn’t just once, but twice. It was also very difficult to get a proper “bounce back” at the person’s character without escalating it further. Had it been conveyed differently, or if my character had “earnt” this through his own behaviors, it would’ve been more enjoyable to RP. But it was an interaction which I couldn’t influence through my character’s behavior or words, so it felt like I was forced to RP out a situation which wasn’t welcome or desired.
There were other IC hostilities, for example a few arguments based on misguided IC assumptions - which helped that me and the other character’s roleplayer communicated through that OOC a lot, to coordinate the situation in a way that it was enjoyable for both, and didn’t become too much.
Even with strangers, even while there are IC hostilities, most of the time I’m able to get an air of “yes, this is other person’s character being hostile/rude to mine” but there is still air of role-PLAY in it. Most people still convey their character expressions in ways where it’s easy to bounce back or turn the situation around.
I don’t want people to feel sorry about me, it happened, I tried to resolve it but it ended unfairly, however, it would be nice to see that dismissal, denial and “my fun is more important than yours, shut up if you have a problem” wouldn’t be baseline response anymore in RP guilds. It wasn’t when I first started roleplaying many years ago, but something changed in attitudes of the RP community over the years.
This was mostly my experience in the end of BFA/beginning of SL. As someone who hasn’t been on the server forever but for a few xpacs by now, imagine accidently associating with a guild of someone who isn’t liked and then getting bad reputation because of association? You might not have known? Might not even your drama. You just want to have better access to RP and enrich it. I still wouldn’t know whom I should avoid and whom I shouldn’t on the server - aside from personal experiences and very very few names.
Naturally. But it would be reasonable to let the other person know why - let’s say if the other person was looking for specific things in RP, which your character couldn’t provide. It would be reasonable to say “I’m looking for different kind of RP but thanks for showing interest”. This would’ve been reasonable response for blood-ties or becoming good friends for example. I would respond in similar manner if someone asked to ERP - or unwanted romantic approach. Leaving people hanging and expecting to mindread however… it’s not very respectful or polite.
I also agree with seeing this at large.
I also agree, I love exploring other people’s characters and seeing them grow. But I also like having the opportunity to be part, or expressing parts of my character’s story and having people’s interest instead of apathy or breadcrumbs.
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It’s not hard to simply avoid people or give them a wide berth, like you said; it’s about unnecessary animosity veiled behind “hehe i rp with who i want”.
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Ah, just to clarify - since you’ve seem to have had similar issues across many guilds now, what I meant was the idea of hosting some roleplay initiatives outside of guilds? Planning small initiatives or events that would be advertised publicly for anyone to take part, if it would help you find new roleplay acquaintances that might be in a similar position that they don’t have a close-knit group of their own?
I understand the appeal of guilds for a lot of people though, to have a place where you feel you belong with opportunities of weekly, perhaps even daily, roleplay.
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In the end, it’d be a lot easier if RP just held up the basic procedure of IRL interaction.
We all have friends, who may have other friends we don’t see eye-to-eye with, or generally groups we don’t mesh with.
The odd moment we run into them, with or without mutuals, you just put on a basic smile and keep the niceties to a bare-minimum and excuse yourself. You don’t straight up assault someone you don’t like IRL.
It’s not much harder than doing that on AD or IC. No need for some big, flashy and nefarious “I IGNORE X” or loudly screeching in chat about Y group because you feel Z about them. Just keep basic niceties, excuse yourself IC if that’s the scenario you’re caught in, or say next to nothing and dip.
Going around hollering about how much you despise someone to a complete stranger without any experience with them (Whether your dislike is warranted or not) only makes you look like a 
and achieves very little besides possible support from the detractors that already share your disdain, usually publicly anyway.
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This isn’t a bad idea, although that is where I struggle more. I usually like knowing the characters (and roleplayers) a bit better than strangers, so that I could tailor my event a bit for them. Even though there might be an idea which I’d want to stay true to on the background, I suppose it’s easier for me as a DM when I have interacted with the character for a while.
There were 1-2 cases when I had an idea which I wanted to RP out, one-off event or a short chain of events, but for a reason or another, they didn’t catch much interest despite putting it out there. For one, I’m stranger to most people so it might be a determining factor. Or my ideas were “a ship which has already sailed”, and when one person comments it that way, the rest won’t even bother reading into it more. One of those was a Black Moon themed open-event, but because SL had already progressed far, people didn’t consider it relevant anymore - even if I could’ve written a based story to make it relevant. Aka, the idea was judged before it even being tried out. Another was when I had requested a few people help one of my characters with something and through that would’ve offered hook for something which, ultimately and hopefully, could have also offered something for them as well but… 
On Horde, just saying in guild chat or discords something like “Hey, would you be interested to RP this and that?” has often gotten better reception. Even if not everything had happened instantly, but I could always count on getting to RP some good stuff sooner or later - and always having fun. Alliance RP seems more of a mixed baggage with the culture of “I choose whom I RP with” taken to excess, as if it’s egoistical and with little diplomacy about it.
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Turn back time two years and the Silver Hand community was entirely cliques that only really came together on the last Sunday of every month or a Knighting ceremony.
This is what happens when you go to Stormwind.
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Let’s stop ing on a casual and readily available RP hub just because some of the RP taking place there doesn’t hold up to the “quality” that some see as a necessity for the hobby to be considered valid.
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Tbh I agree that there’s a lot of cases of people taking people’s IC attitudes towards their character and taking it OOC for no valid reason, even if said IC attitudes are 100% justifiable to the character and environment, and sometimes perceived “cliques” might be new people joining a group IC and taking an OOC slight at not being treated the same way as people who have been around for a very long time IC, at least. Not to say that actual cliques aren’t a thing in some guilds, that is. Just that the one side being presented in the OP’s post doesn’t really help create a definite who is right/wrong in this case verdict.
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To be fair, people on Orgrimmar all the time as well.
Hell, even I do it!
Okay, and…?
I’m just saying that it’s a thing that also happens. You don’t have to overly defend Stormwind when someone s on it, just because it’s the faction you happen to play! 
I’m not sure how faction has anything to do with it when I explicitly stated that it’s a matter of people looking down on something just because it doesn’t cater to their personal tastes and masking it as a matter of quality.
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Please clap
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