World of Warcraft®

This post has been tumbling around in my mind for quite awhile now. It's going to be a long one, and I have a quick tl;dr at the bottom.

Recent events have made it even more relevant to start a conversation about CRZ and what it means to the overall RP community.

I think we need to have a space to talk about how we can implement CRZ to our advantage, as well as talking about creating boundaries and rules of conduct.

To me, CRZ presents a great opportunity to RP with new and interesting people you would otherwise never meet, but when realms intersect, it might not mesh well.

For example, my guild, Feathers of Iron runs a weekly tavern night out of Booty Bay. This is a CRZ zone, and I've had quite a few wonderful interactions with people from other servers. CRZ has provided us with new customers, and I think that's wonderful.

However, recently another guild had the same idea and started to run a tavern out of the same space. This came as quite a shock to us, to see people taking the space we had been using for many years.

Fortunately, we were able to work everything out and find a way to share the space. I'd like to thank Klarese from WrA for being so open and communicative. :D

Though my experience with CRZ and sharing space has gone well, I can see conflicts arising when people are trying to use the same space. I've seen this happen when people are from the same server, and I can only imagine confrontation with someone from another server may tend to be worse, as they are seen as "outsiders."

So I think what we need a few things to happen.

1) a discussion about how CRZ interaction should work (etiquette, standard procedures for initating)

2) A list of CRZ- accessible events and occasions to share with the overall RP community. I've made a list to start, seen here http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/16953835379

I'd appreciate responses from people giving specific event times, or general locations where people RP that is open to CRZ.

For example, a guild that frequently RPs in a certain location in Darnassus or Ironforge and would love to RP with people from other servers.

3) A list of individuals who are open to CRZ RP as they wander throughout the world. We can share character descriptions, as MRP and other addons don't function cross server. Perhaps people could swap Btags? It would be nice to know there are people who want to interact with you, even if they are from another server.

4) I'm not so sure about this, but a list of spaces that people are using that are open to CRZ, not exactly "laying claim," but letting people know that they use a certain space. I think this is the post difficult part and the most likely to cause drama, but I think it's better to have a place to communicate about sharing spaces -before- a situation occurs. I advise people to be respectful and reasonable. Yes, it's unfortunate that the world is now open to so many guilds and people vying for the same spaces, but I think if people are open minded we can all work out reasonable ways to enjoy the same space.

5) World-meshing. So, if we want to CRZ RP, we have to consider the fact that each server has it's own "lore" or fanon that has been created overtime by the efforts of individual players. For example, on Cenarion Circle we have a guild that has been RPing as the Stormwind Watch for many years. If someone from another server RPs as a member of the Stormwind Watch, it would be strange for them not to know any of the higher ranking officers. I'm thinking if might be a good thing to have a run down of the lore from each server to make it easier to interact with each other, so people who want to CRZ RP can have enough general knowledge for things not to be strange.

I know that CRZ has had its irritations, but I am really hopeful that it can be far more positive than negative. I think it's a great thing for different RP servers to be able to interact with each other, and I think we can build great things together. In order to do this, we need to have open and respectful communication.

I am not suggesting anyone be forced to RP with people from other servers, because as I said, there are some lore-meshing problems. I am simply suggesting we have resources and discussion for the people who want to.

TL;DR

We should talk about how to go about interacting with RPers from other server in CRZ zones and how to share CRZ'd zones. Event list here http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/16953835379

I agree!! This would be an epic idea that needs to be worked on, and yet I am surprised there's not a listing of CRZ RP in this sub forum. My being from Emerald Dream to which I do like in a lot of ways has been without it's draw backs, but I will certainly share this with my guild in the coming days ahead, thanks for bringing this up!

Something I would like to note regarding things such as Stormwind guard guilds and other such organizations,

The best way I have found around the whole "why don't I know you?" bits is just to consider it another section. Another battalion, branch, or whatever you wish to call it. This makes it so these groups can interact still and not feel odd or like they have to bend reality and also makes the world seem just a little bit bigger.

Where there's a will, there's a way to do it. While there are many stories that have been made on all the rp servers, together our community is smaller than what we might think and we can all benefit from trying to accept eachother in that it makes things fuller, more diverse. I am entirely for working on this in order to help rp grow.

Thank you both for your responses. As far as getting a list together, I think I will make another post here, reserving subsequent posts, then posting to each connected server and editing my WET post with the responses I get.

This forum is very active, which has the downside of pushing other topics down the list, but I feel bumping my post when I make an update would be appropriate. I could request a sticky, but I think it's unlikely that I will get it.

Any input is appreciated.

While the WoW forums offer a lot, I'm almost thinking something like an einjin forum could be useful to the multi-server rp community in order to help plan and show events and organize things by rper interests since server forums can be so convoluted with every sort of topic being in one space.

That's a good idea Hen, I hadn't thought about that. Thank you :)

If individuals are willing to get in touch with me, The Shadow Hall of Farstriders tries to post public events, usually that we host, on our main page of TheShadowHall.org. I could easily start adding others to the list since CRZ would enable us to attend. It, obviously, isn't a primary solution but offers up something at a quick glance.

That's excellent, Ura! Thank you! I will take a look. :)

I'm still wondering if we might benefit from having an actual forum so that it would offer a glance at a neutral setting and be a bit easier to keep up at the top with multiple people able to edit it. Might also help with guild listing a bit more too and character profiles.

The threads are marvelous ideas! But they can only last as long as one person and rest solely on one person's shoulders.

Yes, that's true. The only problem is getting people to use the site. And what to name it, hmm. :P

Speaking of actual forums, does anyone know of active outside forums that would be good to connect with?

04/09/2015 01:56 PMPosted by Zaranae

Yes, that's true. The only problem is getting people to use the site. And what to name it, hmm. :P

Speaking of actual forums, does anyone know of active outside forums that would be good to connect with?

Yes. To be honest, any attempts at anything really have this same issue. Also, I'd been trying to look for something that already fit the bill, but there are no forums about for wow rp except the old Wyrmrest Accord ones that have fallen into ghost town status last I checked.

Yeah, I was thinking it would be better to use an existing forum. Someone suggested the Cenarion Circle outside forum that already has some character profiles from the server and has a nice interface for posting and looking up characters.

You can check it out here: http://cenarion-circle.org/

It would be, but not if it's a server's forum. The Wyrmrest Accord forum wouldn't be useful for this situation either. It's awkward as a person from another server, even with permission, to use another server's forums.

Edit: To clarify what I mean, I think I was thinking of GW2 RPers, Nexus Rpers, and TESO RP when I suggested this. I really like the forum! And it's nice to have something that's established! But it has to be established for all as equally as possible and because the game didn't start with CRZ, that doesn't seem to be out there.

Edit2!: I've been wanting to learn how to mess with enjin forum making as I've never looked at it (for a little side-project). I'll play around with it and if peeps like the product, it can be used! If not, no big. Will be done by the weekend.

Yes, it would be a little lopsided on the representation, but I think having something established would be preferable. To clarify, I meant that the domain name could be changed and the layout changed to be a forum like GW2 RPers and the like. But I'd still have to bring this up with those who actually run the forum, so maybe it's a moot point. :P

Thank you for taking the time to try and make the forum. I don't know much about web design, myself, but I'm willing to help you out anyway I can.

Oh! Yes, I completely agree with that! I'm not good with the stuff myself. I just didn't realize it was possible to change things like the website domain.

Alright! So, I started work on a forum but a friend of mine disliked the enjin forum idea so she decided to give me some help programming and organizing in order to get to work on a website I've been working on off and on but have done little on because of my lack of programming knowledge! The website idea helps with community building, so while it will take a bit longer, something is on the way.

For RP!

If anyone out there has extensive knowledge in drupal, I'd love the assistance in learning. Feel free to friend me!

Thanks wonderful, Hen! Thank you so much for doing all that work! If there's anyway I can help you out, let me know (besides having extensive knowledge... cause I don't :P )

Also, I'm a derp, and I forgot to put the event list here. Here it is

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/16953835379

I've got seven events on there currently and more to come, so take a look :D

Zaranae is an old friend of mine and it's pretty great seeing many servers old and new reach out to one another to get some great and meaningful RP in!

Update on the event list: thirteen events so far, and growing! Keep them coming!

I've been able to contact event hosts and get approval to put events on the list, but that doesn't mean that cross realm people will actually go.

A major problem is that while the forums are useful, only a small percentage of people actually uses them, so this isn't reaching everyone.

What I think is necessary is for communication to happen in game, in all of the servers.

The events are a good catalyst. If people go and have good experiences, they can share that with others, encouraging them to participate.

What I would really like is for people to advocate for CRZ in their communities, which means we need a lot of help, a lot of people on the ground.

If you are interested in helping spread CRZ, please contact me. My btag is yonykins#1884.

I am considering making new threads on this topic, but I don't want to be spamming. Should I make new topics on every server forum looking for advocates? Just a new forum on WET? Or just keep this discussion on this thread?

I would greatly appreciate any opinions or advice, Thank you!