As chacusha already pointed out, there's possibilities of fanart treading quite heavily into OC territory, but if you're drawing characters within the game-world doing game-related things then it should be more than okay.
The worrisome one is fic: when does something become an OC and when is it not an OC? I'm aware that any kind of fanwork takes effort and care from the person posting it, and I'd like to be able to recognise & reward that effort even if it's only by tagging it eligible for shiny virtual points.
I also noticed you mentioned you're interested in doing fancomics, and again I think that's easier to gauge (besides the issue of how many points we should award for doing fancomics, but that's beside the point of the entire FFXI debate) because it's got art; it's easier to verify whether the character being drawn is part of the FFXI 'verse, especially since you said s/he'd be doing game-related things in the game-world.
I'm sadly not very knowledgeable about the FF MMORPGs (must brush up), but you already know my stance, really. I think canon events is one way to verify it: after all, if your player character takes part in every canon event, then it's fairly safe to say that the character is as much a part of the storyline as any of the established protagonists in other games. That's what MMORPGs are made for, anyway - you getting to be a protagonist and part of that little constructed world. Besides, as you pointed out, MMORPG worlds are usually pretty fleshed out, in no small part because they have to be, I guess, given the way MMORPGs function differently from your standard JRPG.
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The worrisome one is fic: when does something become an OC and when is it not an OC? I'm aware that any kind of fanwork takes effort and care from the person posting it, and I'd like to be able to recognise & reward that effort even if it's only by tagging it eligible for shiny virtual points.
I also noticed you mentioned you're interested in doing fancomics, and again I think that's easier to gauge (besides the issue of how many points we should award for doing fancomics, but that's beside the point of the entire FFXI debate) because it's got art; it's easier to verify whether the character being drawn is part of the FFXI 'verse, especially since you said s/he'd be doing game-related things in the game-world.
I'm sadly not very knowledgeable about the FF MMORPGs (must brush up), but you already know my stance, really. I think canon events is one way to verify it: after all, if your player character takes part in every canon event, then it's fairly safe to say that the character is as much a part of the storyline as any of the established protagonists in other games. That's what MMORPGs are made for, anyway - you getting to be a protagonist and part of that little constructed world. Besides, as you pointed out, MMORPG worlds are usually pretty fleshed out, in no small part because they have to be, I guess, given the way MMORPGs function differently from your standard JRPG.