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Separating IC and OOC

 
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Nycticora



Joined: 09 Feb 2013
Posts: 2277

PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:20 am    Post subject: Separating IC and OOC

Hi guys, I'd like to talk about a couple minor problems that keep coming back over and over year after year. Luckily it's something that doesn't happen much on AR compared to some other types of muds (MUSH, MOO, etc.)

Everybody knows there are several distinct types of players, many players that are almost stereotypically similar to each other. I'm going to talk about one type in particular. A player might be this type if:

    They tend to play one character at a time, exclusively
    Their preferred type of fun in AR is having 'fireside chats' with other players and making friends rather than killing or exploring
    They tend to avoid conflict and PKing when possible
    They develop very close friendships with individual characters
    They have online chats out-of-game or transfer private messages to players whose characters they are friends with in-game


This type of player tends to have a difficult time distinguishing between in-character and out-of-character conflict. This specifically becomes a problem when the character is having negative interactions in-character with others. They tend to take personal offense when someone insults their character, as if you had insulted the player instead. This is particularly common among players of heavy RP games where people play characters with families and the characters age and die, and among MUSHes and MUDs that allow relationships and sex. It's so common that it's a frequent reason for these games to die when one or more of the administrator staff is this type of player.

If you are this type of player, please keep in mind that this is a heavily roleplay-oriented game. Even among heavy PKers who tend to avoid the kinds of roleplay you might enjoy, the kinds of players who frequently post logs on Invokation, it's considered HIGHLY taboo to "out" someone's character or even your own. Even the most aggressive and offensive types of players we have value the ability of others to make a new character without any stigma from their previous successes and failures attached. They VERY rarely mean offense to you personally even when they are being absolutely vile douchebags to your character. Remember that even when someone full loots you or talks down to you that they have in-game reasons to do so. They value the fact that others see them as strong and they often cannot allow you the opportunity to quickly re-equip and attack them again. If someone in their PK range decides to become aggressive or someone in an opposing cabal logs in, and they die because they left you the means to kill them, they have failed to maintain their facade of badassery and often this irreversably compromises their entire basis for roleplaying.

When you have conflicts with other characters, you are playing the game at the highest level at which it can be played. You're engaging in what makes AR truly special. If someone insults or offends your character you are absolutely in the right to get angry and even hate theirs. But remember that the player in the seat on the other side of the Internet really is your friend, and having this kind of interaction is the most respect you can possibly be shown. In only very, very rare cases it is a real attack on the player in the seat. It's our job as immortals to pay attention to the interactions between characters and make sure they are healthy. We aggressively monitor and react to silent PK where the aggressor doesn't have a good in-character reason for the murder. We get special notices and logs of fights between characters and can watch fights invisibly. And, the immortals are all very different people with very different backgrounds and focuses. We're not all the same type of player at all. When you use the "complaing" function in-game, it is taken very seriously by all of the immortals and we do investigate and discuss every single report. If a player really is behaving inappropriately in-game, COMPLAINT, ISSUE, and NOTE TO IMMORTAL are your tools for resolution.

Please remember that immortals have put thousands of hours of actual work into the game that we love. We have the utmost respect for our players, without whom all our effort would be wasted. Without you we have nobody to man our cabals and coteries, nobody to defeat our monsters, nobody to play with.

If you are a player who feels a particular player is harassing you in game, please let us know in a NOTE TO IMMORTAL.
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