114: Midgar is Burning

[Leigh Alexander]

Midgar is Burning

"Then, a funny thing began to happen: As their personifications of beloved characters became more absolute, they rarely spoke out-of-character at all. Those one- or two-word action descriptors became increasingly elaborate. ... In real life, they were mostly teenagers and young adults, up all night on their PCs. But online, in a chat room called Seventh Heaven Bar, they were Tifa, Cloud and Barrett, together again."

What happens when the game ends, but the fantasy lives on? Leigh Alexander looks at the Final Fantasy Role Play movement.

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[ralahinn1 [deprecated]]

I think it's so sad to see a board such as the Shinra board die like it looks like the one posted in the article is dieing. The board owners should have just turned it off instead of letting the bots take over

 

[Bongo Bill]

So many words, so little content.

I'm being too hard on them, I'm sure.

 

[WilyWombat]

It's really fascinating to see what people do with the tools that are available. And the evolution of that micro society matches similar situations I have witnessed, from SCA groups to MMO guilds to rock bands. So many things are generated out of passion, its no wonder that they cannot last forever. As a veteran 'passionista', I usually know, while I am in the moment, that it is transitory and should be treasured while it is happening, it won't be around forever. Adds a bittersweet note, but makes me pay attention and try harder in the meantime.

 

[Darkpen]

oh my, I was wondering why this article was compelling to read. Good stuff, Leigh.

As for myself, for a few short years, I was amidst not the AOL chatrooms, but instead, the IRC. It was there where there were true macros and calculation systems being used, some so elaborate and detailed, actual RPG battles could be held, with number generations, move lists, health, magic, and turns. Sure, there was no "role playing" outside of our internet personas, but it certainly was fun.

The group I was part of was called #BOTVGH, short for "Battle of the video-game heroes." They had a website and everything, where people wrote what was essentially script-style fanfic of video game characters. Personally? It was boring as hell to read. I was more fascinated with the chatroom itself, and the personalities within. Eventually, near the end of middle school or so, I got banned, so eh. Had a great time, though. Was an interesting introduction to the internet, full of scapegoats, drama, and ostracization.

I think that world is gone now. There are remnants found through google, but it seems like it died around 2004.

 

[Leigh Alexander]

Oh, thank you, Darkpen.

Interesting to hear there were things like that on IRC, too. It's funny; males and females generally had distinctly different approaches to the experience. It's worth noting that there was an equal population of males and females, and the girls were the ones writing the elaborate stories and drawing the fanart, and the boys were the ones organizing the guilds and coming up with all of the structures. Not a hard-and-fast, but generally, that's how it happened.

But yeah, the drama. I've not seen anything like it since.

 

[Darkpen]

I think you can find drama anywhere there are people who are passionate and far too deep in. Its true though, I think girls are more inclined to write stories and make fanart, though the boys do too. I remember back when I tried to write fan fiction, I came across a female fan fiction writer, and while I never actually read the entirety of her Gundam Wing work (despite hosting them on my site), I admired her for it.

 

[RDI Panther [deprecated]]

By 2007 - nearly a decade after the release of the game that started it all...

Interesting article about Final Fantasy, but you seem to allude to Final Fantasy being the catalyst for FFRP on AOL.

Actually, it started a lot earlier than 1997. FFRP on AOL originated with the Red Dragon Inn, a part of the Free Form Gaming Forum, and continues to exist both on and off of AOL to this day. Granted, like most things on AOL, it is not what it once was. (and actually the RDI pre-dates AOL to late 80s and QLink).

Google "red dragon inn ffrp" and you'll find lots of sites still keeping such FFRP alive.

 

[WPennypacker [deprecated]]

Wow...

I had no idea that kinda thing went on, thats actually very odd. I mean, FF7 is special to me, its the reason I chose to get into the games industry, but I really don't understand how people are able to do that to themselves.

Very interesting story, Leigh.

 

[True Seven [deprecated]]

Sadly enough, Leigh, or should I say; [email protected], your story is obtuse.

It is a sad excuse, due to the main factor; you fail to mention your OWN role in all these events. Including, that you were one of the members of these groups, and that you were within the sub-group of one of these groups, of the most racially biggoted, and harrassing members. You were what you wanted to call a veteran roleplayer, but instead, you and your cohorts were tyrants to AOL. You were racist, you were sexist, you harrased people for their age, their weight, their sex, their orientation, their skin color. You were amongst the worse that the FFRP community had to offer, Leigh, and many people will never forgot that. Next time you choose to write something; use some originality, and don't sugar coat it.

Oh, and wasn't that barmaid that Zack Forrester (now known as Fair, due to the correction via Advent Children) your character? We all KNOW you did your fair share of love making.

- Fin.

 

[Leigh Alexander]

It would be rather odd to write about it if I'd never had experience with it, wouldn't it?

 

[Ehzoterik [deprecated]]

This article is littered with inaccuracies and false information. In addition to what Panther said above, it should be made known that FFRP does not stand for Final Fantasy role-playing, but for free-form role-playing.

Get your facts straight and try doing a little research.

 

[sayaka]

I think you did well with this, Leigh. It's kind of hard to squish 10 years of RP history into a three-page article, but you covered some of the facts. Made me giggle more than a few times.

Ehzo, in the context of this article, FFRP does stand for "Final Fantasy RP." It's not a matter of researching the facts, it's that she's chosen to use it to reference Final Fantasy, not free-form. Had the article been about AOL RP in general, it would've maybe been more appropriate to define it as free-form, but given the content...

 

[RDI Panther [deprecated]]

"Then, a funny thing began to happen: As their personifications of beloved characters became more absolute, they rarely spoke out-of-character at all. Those one- or two-word action descriptors became increasingly elaborate."

This style of play, Free Form Role-Play, or FFRP, had been taking place on AOL for 4-5 years before this Final Fantasy version came about.

A passage such as

"Thus, Final Fantasy VII roleplay on AOL - usually referred to simply as "FFRP" - was born. It started innocuously enough as an extension on somewhat common chat behavior: the interspersion of action-based descriptors with chat text."

could lead the reader that know what the true origin of FFRP to believe the author is trying to say that Final Fantasy was the start of FFRP. The term is still widely in use, that is where some 'reasearch of the facts' may have help make for a clearer presentation.

 

[Kage Frost [deprecated]]

While "FFRP" does refer to free form roleplay it is ALSO the usual term we used for final fantasy role play, and is still used to this day to describe our "game" except when someone decides to not be lazy and throw a 7 in the middle of the acronym. It's pretty silly to point any of that out though..but RDI RP is pretty silly in the first place.

I liked the article. As a player in that ten year game it made me laugh and at the same time kinda sad. I don't see it ever having another growth spurt with the advances of MMORPG's such as Warcraft but it was fun while it lasted.. and still kinda fun when I do pop in for a cameo once in a blue moon.

 

[RDI Panther [deprecated]]

"While "FFRP" does refer to free form roleplay it is ALSO the usual term we used for final fantasy role play,"

I don't dispute that.

And why is it "silly" to point out a clarification of the term FFRP, which started before "your Final Fantasy version", and from all accounts continues on much more prevelant than your version of it? Despite the growth of MMORPG's, FFRP (free form role-play) sites continue to grow, both in number of sites and players.

If this had been in a strictly Final Fantasy publication or site... there would be no need for such clarification, but since it's in a general RP situation, isn't it prudent for the article to verify claims such as being "first on AOL"? Final Fantasy wasn't even the first game to have free form play on AOL either, Vampire The Masqurade was huge on AOL by 1994-95.

course, the way things travel on the net, maybe this did appear in a FF based area to start with, in which case it's pretty much a wash, but would be an example of how things should be checked to make sure they fit the intended audience.

 

[Trent Mercy [deprecated]]

And this is exactly why everyone needs to stay far, far away from AOL role-playing. Thanks for proving Leigh's point, Panther!

And Kid -- good job.

 

[helping]

Leigh Alexander, fair play. An amusing read discussing a side of the internet I haven't had any exposure to and, despite issues brought up on the comments which I am by no means expecting you to elaborate on, it was moderately informative. A good effort, I look forward to other articles which may or may not come.

Here we see a classic example of someone carrying a grudge for no reason for way too long. I'm pretty sure no one cares about what you're saying, and you're only doing so because you either feel you have something to prove or have some sort of vendetta against the writer and want to try to debase their opinions and make them look bad. This is where I tell you to grow up, but considering how long ago this probably all happened, I wouldn't be surprised if you had indeed grown up, but not matured.

Leigh Alexander's involvement with the topic at hand is of grand importance, especially if True Seven's claims regarding her behaviour are accurate. It challenges the validity of her position to discuss it under the admittedly-assumed guise of impartiality (although I don't think it unfair to assume, given the tone throughout) and the credibility of the article. There are people who "care" about True Seven's input (myself firmly included, I am quite intrigued) and there are people who do still "care" about the issue, otherwise this article wouldn't exist. You, on the other hand, seem to have 'some sort of vendetta against [True Seven] and want to try to debase their opinions' by demeaning their input and, peculiarly enough, them.

In fact, considering your unnecessarily spirited but strangely indirect defence of Leigh Alexander, I'm curious whether you were involved with the FFRP community. At least, I have to assume so otherwise you're just commenting pointlessly. That's called 'trolling', isn't it?

 

[sayaka]

FFRP DRAMA COMES TO THE ESCAPIST WOOO! WOOO!!!