Hello there,

I don't really post here much, but some of you may remember me through the threads linked in my signature.

I'll stay to the spirit of brevity and get right to the point:

What is ESO missing, as far as the roleplaying community is concerned?

It's an odd question - right? I thought so too, at first. But as time went on, the question began to make sense to me, even though there were some prominent members of the roleplay community who say otherwise. "It's probably just you", or "I/We don't have this problem at all". Easy enough to say, considering a great number of those people are well-known and established in their respective guilds. And let's admit, sometimes we can get a little clique-ish when in a guild. We may even develop an 'Us vs. Them' mentality when your community is split into different groups on a megaserver where it's difficult enough to find a shard where roleplayers congregate - give a long enough timeline.

But I'm not here to rant about that. Instead, I'm here to say - at least in my opinion - what ESO currently lacks in comparison to the roleplay communities on other MMOs which are absolutely active as far as the roleplaying scene is concerned.

The difference is simple but cleverly deceptive: there are no communal hubs where strangers and friends alike can congregate.

I've been on a few MMOs in the past few years, a lot of the time my primary reason for playing one is to get immersed into the world and its lore and perhaps engage in some roleplay. Sometimes, it's a hit-and-miss, but it's there.

Now, what puzzled me about ESO is the fact that it is absolutely, positively, and indubitably immersive. We have personalities, hairstyles, costumes, player homes, an entire world to explore as of One Tamriel, and interactable furniture as of Homestead. A roleplayer would want for nothing by playing this game.

But, as far as the roleplay community is concerned, I've noticed a distinct lack of... well, let's say 'open-ness' for the lack of a better word. On the surface and with some purview of the current state of ESO, it's easy to dismiss this lack of open-ness to the fact that ZOS operates ESO on a megaserver platform. Which means there are no dedicated PvE, PvP, RP, RP-PvP servers like some other older MMOs might have.

Worse yet, said megaservers - in order to account for lag and such - break people down into different shards, which accommodate only a threshold of people at a time. When one is full, the run-off are put into another shard.

What does this mean for roleplayers? Simple: when two roleplayers want to interact, they need to be in the same shard, otherwise they won't see each other on the map they're in. Ways to mitigate it tend to be:

• Be on each other's friends list
• Be in a network/communal guild
• Be in a party with said player
• And so on

But these methods don't do well to mitigate the fact that we share our servers with people who may not be so inclined to respect, let alone participate in the roleplaying. Some may even go so far as to try and disrupt those currently engaged. Which is why being part of a guild is so appealing, as it mitigates the supposed problems posed by the megaserver system. However, the drawback of this is that it can sometimes become an 'Us vs. Them' scenario, as I mentioned above. Those in a guild are wary of those outside and, by extension, newly-invited players trying to integrate with groups.

For some roleplayers who've been around, this may be a norm that just needs to be gone through. A rite of passage, of sorts. But to those who prefer a more casual, less committed form of bonding as far as roleplayers' camaraderie is concerned, it can be a turn-off, especially when there is no objective measure as to how much time or effort a person has to put into integrating into the community he/she wishes to be part of. It's entirely subjective, and people who'd rather not make you a part of the community can certainly impose some sort of equally subjective trial of varying difficulties in order to turn you off further to the point of leaving well enough alone, or lose taste for the community altogether.

But I've rambled on long enough about the supposed pro's and con's of being in an RPer-exclusive guild.

The solution I propose is that the community at large communicate possible hubs for roleplaying all across Tamriel, so as to allow for congregation and meetings in-character among fellow roleplayers - new and old.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter and get a discussion going, as Tamriel is far too beautiful and immersive to keep the roleplay to just guilds and closed sub-communities.

Let's go out there, adventurers! Let's meet and come together, as one Tamriel!

Thank you very much.