Becoming the Masque[Comments]

[Aramara Meibi]

Hearing 'the people getting killed part' makes me roll my eyes and wish a murder didn't have to happen at every frickin' event. There's nothing wrong with RPing a good fight but are you people really so bloodthirsty that you get bored if nobody dies or sustains an injury? Honestly.

Looks like it. What should I say...it was probably good that I wasn't around at that time. Probably it's just a game among the PS players I wasn't introduced to yet: "I bet 10K I can make a stupid murder story out of everything."

Technically the murder(s) happened outside the event entirely, it was just adjacent to it that it started.

Technically I don't care what excuse people make up for their crappy in-game behavior.

I would like to make an appeal here for you not to lump the words 'stupid' and 'murder' and treat such RP dismissively. I was not there to witness the devious deeds, and so I can't speak for those who were involved, but I arrived in time for the aftermath, and with a character such as mine, the conversation that followed was one of the highlights of the ball event. But I guess RP is like Dim Sum, most will stick with the tofu potstickers, because they're safe, while others will venture out and try the ox tails and chicken feet.

We're all here to play a role, some roles, like say, a practicing Dakkruist, are not that easy to play, but a kidnapping gone wrong and the deaths that resulted create an opportunity for that role to be explored. You may be surprised to find that such a character feels she found an ally in the hero of that scene, the dwarf who died valiantly in the rescue of the distressed damsel, for his death carried meaning and honor, and was respectable, while she feels disdain towards the perpetrators, for their senseless and meaningless killing. She feels absolutely nothing for the victim, a wasted life, a wasted death.

So you see, such actions gave me an opportunity to explore and play the role of my character, while others got to play the roles of villain, victim, and hero. So, if it wasn't for this, Icerra would have just been standing in the corner, not talking to anyone, but paying attention to who fell in love with who so that she may later teach them a little lesson about loss... well, she did that too anyways

I think you guys did a great job in planning and running the event, I know it's not easy, I've done some weddings, funerals, and ceremonies as Ara, and those were difficult and stressful, and only a fraction of what you accomplished. But, I think you should take into account that you put together a three day public spectacle, and in your aim to be inclusive know that other players and their characters took it as an opportunity to act out their roles.

[Mask]

Murders/Kidnappings and such things do lose a lot of their drama potential if they are used often enough. And for me, PS has fallen long over that event horizon.

[Illysia]

OK Aiwe. here's your flowers and hearts.
<# <3...~~~:::^The first day of the Ball will be starting shortly.^:::~~~... <3 #>
I'm glad you had fun because I started having fun RPing in PS again because of RPing with you.


Warning: Wall o' text ahead - But it explains why people get their panties in a knot about the killing stuff.


Now about this death and murder RP thing... I'm not going to lie. I was not happy to hear about this little plot getting started so close to the event area and for the story to keep being to told in the area. The event was specifically supposed to be free of killing. However, I think the actual killing started away from the event and it didn't spawn any more incidents, so all's well that end's well. However...

The killing and death thing is a big issue since it actually involves far more effort to pull it off without coming off as poorly done(that meaning facepalm worthy). Also, keep in mind that playing a role means little without a story to go with it. When role playing, you aren't just playing a role, you are playing a role in a story. This story not only involves your character but also the other characters in the RP and the settings of the place you are RPing in.

The first issue is that the kidnapping happened too close to the east gate. If a citizen in the city could hear the shouting and move to act, so would the guards. There is no magical border at the gate that prevents the guards from going outside of the city to protect a citizen. The only thing that hinders the guards from acting in this case is the fact that they are static NPCs which is an OOC problem that shouldn't be RPed. The settings not only makes it clear that the guards are active, but that they aren't stupid. Pulling something like a killing or kidnapping at the east gate now makes no sense in the context of the story you are creating with your RP.

Second, killing is bad conflict resolution in Planeshift just like in real life. There are a lot of better ways to end an RP, provide a lead for follow up RPs, or prove that your character is a baddie. Also, like Mask pointed out, such things have lost their drama value due to being overdone. If something happens constantly, then it is either trivial or people get desensitized to it. Story-wise, once it happens too much there really isn't a justifiable reason for people to keep caring.

Third, if you die and then come right back, always come back, and/or die constantly you cheapen the story behind the death. The reason people react to death and that death has a sting is because of how permanent the loss is. The DR prevents you from having to completely start over if you die, but once again, the story is defined by the setting of the location. The DR is actually a vast place, as vast as yliakum, traumatic, and it is difficult to get out. It's not suppose to be like a wrong turn at Albuquerque. The fact that you can get off the DR map in 10 mins is also an OOC issue that will eventually be fixed. It's like the NPC guard thing... for now the mechanics can't match the settings but the settings shouldn't be ignored.

For those that kill a lot of people... it presents a story issue of another sort. If you kill one person then maybe no one will ever know since the DR isn't actually a day trip in settings, people shouldn't be able to come right back and then complain to you about having killed them. However, the more people you kill the more it is likely to become noticeable. More importantly, anyone that is a known, or suspected, killer would be hawked by the guards. The fact that they have no proof would mean nothing. Death is a serious offense, they would be constantly on your case to make sure you didn't kill anyone... not come to clean up the mess later. It is not likely you would be free to keep killing people and hanging around town. This would make it hard to play the character and keep the story believable so it's another RP track I would not suggest for a newer RPer.

So the real issue is less the killing and more how it kills the story. To be honest, being a villian is not so hard because you need people willing to be a victim but because of how hard it is to pull of off the story believably. Viliians that are known for good believable stories can always find someone willing to play along, even goodie characters. But no one wants to put their character at risk for something that makes them roll their eyes the second they hear it, yes I know how subjective this is but it is the underlying issue.

My advice for those that intend to do killing RPs or something that would break the law is to keep in mind that certain RP isn't actually valid in all places. Well, not without a great deal of fancy work with covering up stuff which is not the kind of thing I would suggest for a newer RPer to try. There are, however, places where you can do those same RPs with no problem. Just don't forget the settings. The settings is what allows RPers to tell a story together with some kind of continuity.

[Aramara Meibi]

Second, killing is bad conflict resolution in Planeshift just like in real life. There are a lot of better ways to end an RP, provide a lead for follow up RPs, or prove that your character is a baddie. Also, like Mask pointed out, such things have lost their drama value due to being overdone. If something happens constantly, then it is either trivial or people get desensitized to it. Story-wise, once it happens too much there really isn't a justifiable reason for people to keep caring.

Third, if you die and then come right back, always come back, and/or die constantly you cheapen the story behind the death. The reason people react to death and that death has a sting is because of how permanent the loss is. The DR prevents you from having to completely start over if you die, but once again, the story is defined by the setting of the location. The DR is actually a vast place, as vast as yliakum, traumatic, and it is difficult to get out. It's not suppose to be like a wrong turn at Albuquerque. The fact that you can get off the DR map in 10 mins is also an OOC issue that will eventually be fixed. It's like the NPC guard thing... for now the mechanics can't match the settings but the settings shouldn't be ignored.

For those that kill a lot of people... it presents a story issue of another sort. If you kill one person then maybe no one will ever know since the DR isn't actually a day trip in settings, people shouldn't be able to come right back and then complain to you about having killed them. However, the more people you kill the more it is likely to become noticeable. More importantly, anyone that is a known, or suspected, killer would be hawked by the guards. The fact that they have no proof would mean nothing. Death is a serious offense, they would be constantly on your case to make sure you didn't kill anyone... not come to clean up the mess later. It is not likely you would be free to keep killing people and hanging around town. This would make it hard to play the character and keep the story believable so it's another RP track I would not suggest for a newer RPer.

So the real issue is less the killing and more how it kills the story. To be honest, being a villian is not so hard because you need people willing to be a victim but because of how hard it is to pull of off the story believably. Viliians that are known for good believable stories can always find someone willing to play along, even goodie characters. But no one wants to put their character at risk for something that makes them roll their eyes the second they hear it, yes I know how subjective this is but it is the underlying issue.

My advice for those that intend to do killing RPs or something that would break the law is to keep in mind that certain RP isn't actually valid in all places. Well, not without a great deal of fancy work with covering up stuff which is not the kind of thing I would suggest for a newer RPer to try. There are, however, places where you can do those same RPs with no problem. Just don't forget the settings. The settings is what allows RPers to tell a story together with some kind of continuity.

so you can see why a Dakkruist would take such an offense and interest in these perpetrators, their rampant killings have cheapened death, and death is a sacred rite of passage. This, in effect, helps no one, and something must be done.

[Illysia]

Actually, that misses the point a bit, although it would be true. People shouldn't roleplay along with those actions due to the settings conflict. It should be treated as it didn't happen. In a way, settings is like an informal agreement between players to play on the same page, as it were, and ignoring the settings on death is basically a breach of that agreement.

Think of the disruption it would cause if a group of players came in RPing a cyberworld where people could jump dimensions and they jumped into Yliakum to come and modernize it... That would be a serious settings breach and would cause trouble RP wise if you tried to go along with it. You would be forced to break from settings constantly. When you RP along with settings-conflicting death RPs, it's the exact same problem.

Dakkru is a goddess and she would likely put the whammy on anyone disrespecting death... they would probably find themselves permadead on first death. But like I said earlier, OOC issue prevent these kinds of things but the lack of sufficient mechanics shouldn't be RPed due to being OOC in nature.

Going along with the settings breaking RP is the same as promoting it, because it has the exact same effect regardless of intent, and it leads to people going farther and farther away from settings due to the next person bending the story a bit more.