Sorry I can’t hear you over this delicious ghost martini, Moroes makes a killer cocktail!
I will go to Duskwood and camp all of your quest essential NPCs, okay?!
Living in another world.
I only speak for myself but I think a common reason we’re all grown adults (or getting there, no disrespect meant to the younglings) playing pretend is because the real world sucks, and we’re basically transplanting ourselves into another world.
Also just because the events are coffee shops and tea houses doesn’t mean there’s no heavily fantasy involved in those events. When’s the last time you just casually lounged around a INSERT COFFEE SHOP HERE for a few hours, striking up conversation with literal strangers who were quite open with sharing their life stories with you?
But most importantly, they’re probably the safest style of roleplay for a lot of people. A transitory space where people aren’t required to remain but also doesn’t feel weird to just run up to randos on the street corner asking if they know about elves.
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I don’t have an all-male-staffed maid cafe in my podunk Ohio town.
So naturally I, being a man of taste, will spend my days in Eorzea how I please.
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Generally, they’re easier to run is one thing. Things that are multi layered like a storyline RP can be very very difficult to run, or things that have to do with conflict.
First off, when it comes to casual events there are a lot of good things in regards to this. It can help people build their RP skills and socialize your character into making some friends. And a lot of people put these sort of events on because for them, rp is more about a sort of…Sims way of playing it. It creates a sense of normalcy in the universe of having things like cafes, parties and tea houses. A lot people like the slice of life take on things, family RP or casual RP.
As well as this, sometimes these events can give platforms to unique guilds. Guilds that focus on performance or story telling, or hosting games to give out prizes to increase community connection. So, yeah, its mostly because its an easier concept and not everyone has the patience for big scale or serious focused events. But in doing so, it does do a lot of good.
Now…does that mean it can’t get a little old? Yeah. Not saying people shouldn’t host events like this, theres a lot of unique things you can do with social related things, but sometimes they are really the majority of public RP.
Because unfortunately, when you have events that are focused more on serious topics or story, you have a larger chance at issues. When you’re deaing with in-game politics, things can get OOCly argumentive very fast. Everyone wants to be the star speaker on the topic at hand, opinions can clash and peoples perception on story can make others upset. If combat is involved, you’ll have to deal with endless questions of people not understanding the rules, needing to re-explain rules, needing to boundaries and dos or donts. People can meta-game, god-mod and so forth. You also have to plan a lot more for things that are more story driven. Or at the very least have an outline.
It’s faaaaaaaar easier for people to just design a poster, make a menu, and choose a location for a social gathering than it is to get deep into a heavy into story.
Because another key factor is, not everyone is going to be as passionate about story telling as perhaps you or myself. Most people don’t expand really on the creative writing aspect of RP. A mystery event requires you to know how to structure a mystery. Political intrigue needs to have some stakes that make the risk fun and full of tension. And that can be really hard. Really really hard.
A good example is, with the theater troupe guild I particpate with its very hard to get new recruits because people would rather sit in an audience and watch the show, than be in it. Not that it’s bad, but its a lot of work and coordination to put shows on and most people don’t think they have it in them to do it (which I can assure you, you likely do!!!)
So, thats a bit on that…
Edit: I highly recommend looking at the links Tamani provided!
Because there ARE plenty of non-casual type events that are very fun. You just have to really look, because sometimes these things can be overlooked. I also recommend looking into Warcraft Conquest!! It’s a mostly MG based collab effort with WRA involved too at times. They put a lot of hard work into week long campaigns that have several events each day based around the campaign story all DMed by one or two people. As well as Discord vehicle battles as well as the choice to do none of it and stay back at the base and perhaps particpate in the unique base event like a sudden attack to protect supplies or simply laying soldiers to rest. So you just gotta look out for stuff, sometimes things are not always advertised. So…maybe go to some of those casual events, and you might meet some people doing other things!!
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Mostly time, OP.
Most of my experience in adventure or themed events with set rules is that they top out at about two hours before people get restless. Even well-run campaigns get very tiring when dealing with waiting for your turn. Anything above the two hour mark typically means any individual player has spent a long time with nothing for them to personally do, which leads to them being restless and waiting to leave.
Shops and whatnot, on the other hand, don’t have a timeframe, don’t have turns or rulesets, and allows players to work with others that match their own pace of conversation/typing. It’s not just easier to run, but it’s much easier to also play.
Of course, it would be nice to see more themed casual sessions: crafter union meetings, adventurer meet-ups, trade halls, etc. But even then, those tend to lose a certain appeal without a longer-term storyline set up, which will almost certainly lead into the aforementioned “timed” sessions. Plus they can be harder for new players to join into if they feel like they’re trying to get in right in the middle of an established story.
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So many others have said what I would say, and probably far better than I could.
I just know in my own experience I prefer action-based RP events with a close-knit group. There’s less pressure to write something quickly to keep others from waiting, less pressure to get everything perfect so you don’t feel like people are judging you. Basically your friends are more forgiving, usually. Also, you have a better idea of people’s personal boundaries, so you can tailor your experience. You know when you can push the envelope and when it’s best left alone. It also gives you the opportunity to make the lore work for you.
With larger groups it’s easier to play it safe so everyone has a good time and no one feels put out, which is probably why the big server events tend to be social and freeform in nature.
As someone who does quite a bit of advertising for various RP events, there’s something else I’ve noticed: it doesn’t matter how amazing or well run or unique your event is if people don’t know about it. And people who are more socially inclined are often better at getting the word out about their events- and since they and their social circles tend to be more socially inclined- they’re more likely to spread the word about social-style server events.
I help here and there where I can, but even I have my limits.