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Boilermg
02-11-2002, 09:23 AM
I think this topic merits its own post...

How many times have we heard this lately..."OOC someone started to yell at me for not doing this or that..."? While I have been fortunate to not have someone go OOC on me for role playing something to their liking, the amount of mentions of its occurance in all these posts is astounding to me. Is it just me or is the "Someone will yell at me OOC if I don't do this" getting to be a convenient excuse for tolerance?

If someone starts to tell you OOC that you are doing something wrong, not responding properly, or worse, criticizing your reactions or your person, report them to a StoryGuide. No one should have to play the game with the angst that someone is going to criticize their RP OOC in an IC setting. It is inappropriate bad role playing and storytelling. If anyone ever started going off on me, I would immediately file an assist and wait for the StoryGuides to intervene. There is no excuse for someone to do that and with the Story Guides there for the purpose of handling ooc conflicts, there is no reason you should put up with it. I am curious as to why so many people are?

In addition, when someone OOCly tells me that so and so is poisoned and I should role play it...I simply ignore them. Unless I find it out IC, I have no IC reason to role play it out, telling me OOC that something has happened doesn't mean a hill of beans to me. A good story teller will recognize that someone isn't picking up on their clues IC and will make adjustments to get their story across without needing to use OOC channels.

So, for those of you who are experiencing these reported OOC outbursts here are some options:

- let the player know simply that you will play your reactions how your character sees things ICly
- let the player know that if they wish to speak to you about a plot or story, they can whisper ooc, pm you or email you
- let the player know you do not appreciate their criticism and will file an assist
- file an assist stating the nature of the problem

For those of you who are the people doing the criticizing OOC you may wish to reconsider that. If your intended goals are not being met, what can you do ICly to express what you want to say, to achieve those goals? It is your responsibility to tell your story, not the other characters.

Here's hoping that the occurance of these situations will dwindle,

Meg

PS- I am in no way suggesting that if you don't like something, you should always complain to a StoryGuide. I am suggesting that you use them appropriately and don't tolerate when someone is being inappropriate OOC. Following is the job description of a StoryGuide for your convenience...StoryGuides (SGs) are available to help players with technical and other Out-Of-Character issues, freeing other StoryStaff from repetitive questions of "How do I put on clothes?" and "How do I leave my room?" They are also there to help players sort out OOC problems in the game, deal with unruly players (as opposed to unruly characters), and generally man the front lines of customer support.

Adalyn
02-11-2002, 11:21 AM
Let me say first that I second all of the above whole-heartedly.

And a few things I'd like to add to those who do criticize others OOCly. If you do not like the way somebody is RPing, and simply do not feel you will be able to play nicely with them, just leave them alone and do not RP with them. I'm sure you could come up with a good IC reason why your character avoids that character. Remember, we all pay our ten dollars a month, and I do not think anyone is doing that so they can have their RPing ideas critiqued by others, especially in such a way that I've been hearing about.

Like I tell my kids: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. :) Thank you.

Krysti

Stix
02-11-2002, 11:28 AM
Indeed, this topic does merit its own post. :)

I agree wholly with this post and I hope this brings the problem to the attention of many RPers who find themselves caught in such a problem. I have been caught in it a few times before, luckily they were easily resolved and went without any damage. :)