OOC, brackets and a shortcut

[DaveG]

An /ooc command is a horrible idea.  It does the exact opposite of what we\'re trying to do.  Making OOC text look different doesn\'t do anything.  It just masks OOC with a different color, or (), when it shouldn\'t be encouraged.  OOC chat should not exist in public areas, with the possible exception of pure OOC conversations regarding the game itself, normally started in front of Harnquist.  (pretty much the only valid OOC is talking about the game itself, a bug etc.)

The only people who would ever use such a command are the ones who already use ().  The () also drives me nuts, too.  It\'s often a combination of people taking things too seriously, and people being hypocrites.  Just don\'t have OOC chat everywhere.  That\'s the ONLY solution.  A separate channel a la help (that isn\'t shown in \'all\') might be good for certain things, but then again that\'s what IRC is for.

(We will be debating on how/if to implement this soon, btw.)

[Sangwa]

I\'d rather have the hypocrite people wasting their breath on a seperate tab then filling the RP with tagged text. I do think that\'s more confortable for the less hypocritical people.
Truth is we can\'t avoid OOC chat. Players do need to contact each other for clarification, information or even to exchange pleasantries. We are social beings, after all.

DaveG, abolishing OOC tagging (and chat) would be a ridiculous step. That would contribute to a lack of seperation between IC and OOC and would further the presence of hypocritic actions and overly serious reactions.

[Palin.Majere]

I vote against ooc chat done in irc, i wish to limit that to a minimum.

Of course you should not need to talk ooc in game but, hey, real life is different from ideal.

I rarely use ooc but trying to communicate ooc concept by converting them into in character speech is almost as bad for me that pure occ talk.

[Karyuu]

Originally posted by Palin.Majere
I vote against ooc chat done in irc, i wish to limit that to a minimum.

Why? :P That makes no sense - is there a reason players should avoid Out-Of-Character conversations on chat applications outside of PlaneShift?

[goland]

The more difficult it is to designate something as OOC, the more people won\'t bother and will just type it as regular text.

OOC text should count towards spamming and if someone speaks in OOC too many times in a short period time they should be muted temporarily.

Any long OOC chats should be done through IRC IMO.  Short OOC convos through /tells.  If more than one person needs to hear your OOC message then an OOC text modifier should be used.

That\'s how I feel.

[DaveG]

Originally posted by Sangwa
DaveG, abolishing OOC tagging (and chat) would be a ridiculous step.

I know, that\'s kind of the point.  This is a problem without a perfect solution.

Keep OOC chat to a minimum, and after that...

[Waylander]

Hmmm;

Everybody is fine with group chat of OOC right?

Why not just allow people to be part of several different groups (Only the first will be a \"full\" group with all the benefits that comes with being in a group)


I know this is similar to the ooc tab but, it is probably also the only realistic solution.

There will always be OOC chat, just keep it out of the \"Chat\" tab.

[Karyuu]

If OOC chat is forced into the regular chat window, it can be monitored. The amount of it can be monitored. I think anything else invites it and sanctifies it.

[Waylander]

I think people are looking at OOC chat in the wrong way.

Having OOC chat out of the chat window gives us the ability to see how much people actualy do Roleplay...little chat when not idle, little Roleplay.

Also OOC chat isn\'t a bad thing, it is often very necessary \"What, are you diving to my left or right\" see.

And having OOC chat in the regular window obstructs RP, once people see it there there is a large chance they will just start an OOC conversation.

[Palin.Majere]

Originally posted by Karyuu
Why? That makes no sense - is there a reason players should avoid Out-Of-Character conversations on chat applications outside of PlaneShift?

For the same reason you would not have a dedicated ooc channel in game: limiting ooc talk as much as possible. Of course you can\'t stop anyone doing it (as much as you can\'t stop anyone using Skype or Teamspeak for that matter).

Having people a way to do a bit of ooc can save a lot of ooc outside it. Having played a number of MUDs and a few mmorpg I think that other channels of ooc communication are just as bad as having ooc in play and as much ruins role play.

Of course you can always not use irc (or instant messengers, or... you got the point ) but then it\'s the same of ignoring of shutting off the ooc channel if it existed in the game.

It occurs to me that maybe we see ooc as different things. I mean with \"ooc\" something out of character but still about the game. With the rest (your life, job, or friends) of course is none of my business