Wanted to try a dialog on, assuming we could get numbers interested in RP, what can we actually do with them beyond conversations?
One of the cornerstones that we are missing is ARK, and it isn't their fault... they don't have much latitude in doing anything story or world related in the first place, and I presume ARK-Events is understaffed for actors. So we can't change gas percentages or spawn enemies/bosses dynamically or change guards...
FC is... wherever FC is. We can't expect anything even semi-official story-wise.
We can still bring stories around to PvP zones, but PvP is something that many RPers are never going to be prepared for (and with the levels of gear etc serious PvPers use it would be a joke). I ran one event that led to a chase to a small PvP zone and standoff, but that would fall apart real quick these days once word got out. I had an idea to use the WTF dungeon that no one ever uses, but that runs into the same problems.
In order to get a private zone, I think the main method would be group invites to apartment zones? We can't even lock down the Tower in Tir.
We are left with... a lot of dialog, maybe some easter egg detective-like searches (doable with enough people to play parts), escort of characters through dangerous zones, spying/secrets (which we've been trying to do with the CoT site going down), and... other ideas? I'd love to get Gridstream etc on board, but unless we have something players can actually do and interact with, there isn't much point. We aren't at critical mass, and serious RPers are not that common in almost any MMORPG without dedicated servers.