Hm didnt there was sayed this is an Rp game?

[Hadfael]

It's easy to feel lonely when you first arrive into an unknown place. How can you meet more people? make more friends and feel the real addiction for PS?
First, you need to be comfortable with game mechanics, with what is implemented and what's not.
After reading this useful sticky and what's linked in it, it will be easier for you to find friends, in or outside a guild.
The thing is that your online time is as precious than the one of the people you meet is for them. They don't want to waste time typing all over again, what is already posted somewhere by people more competent (*Karyuu not to name her*).
Now that you know what can and can't be done ingame, you have to find pple to share the fun with you. I say you "have to" because you can not simply wait for everyone to offer you some time or help. You must consider that there is no blinking sign over you head saying "I feel lonely" and that the world is full of people having fun without having to offer help to everyone on their way.
1: avoid busy people.
People running from a fight to a trade, from training to practice, from Death to life... might have little time to spend on new friendships at this time. You might as well meet them later when they have done what seemed important for them at this time. This is also valid for people in an active conversation. Being busy reading what is said to them, answering, ... they have less time to start a conversation with you.
2: don't look like a random "player"
Others won't pay attention to you if you act or talk like a random kid who downloaded a free game. Once again, not asking n00b questions is possible once you have done some readings. Don't beg for free stuff. Most of the time you only earn what you deserve.
3: be polite
Even if your character is an evil doer, he should be able to act/talk like a civilised person in a civilised world.
Whatever you need; an advice, a direction, a hint, ... Don't simply ask your question before running away.
4: Greet people
The command in /greet. It will make your character greet his target or everyone if nothing is targeted. When there are too many people, greeting each of them will flood the chat and make your arrival more a disturbance than a pleasure. Clearing target can make you greet everyone at once.
5: Introduce yourself
Say what brings you here. If you are simply looking for friends, it's even better. Too many (see point2) are only interrested in talking when they need something. If you are not fluent in english, it's the occasion to say it, as long as you use properly a [OOC] quotation. It may look simplistic but saying "Hello, my name is X [sorry for my bad english but I am ....]" tells others a lot about you and your character. It says that you are polite, that you know about RPing, that you made the effort to talk in english, ... In other words, it says that you are someone worth talking to.
Of course if you are rather fluent, you can skip the [] part and people will still see that you are polite and RPing
6: Find people sharing your interrests.
Of course you can try to talk to everyone then find out who will become and friend and who will become a foe...But among the many people in Yliakum there are some that you can easely identify by the guildsymbols (shown in the label above the head). Looking in the guilds forums will make you familiar with the guilds you are close. No need to read about each and every guild. Some guild are created, advertised then disbanded. Therefore keeping an up to date list is almost impossible. But remembering a name when you meet a member can tell you a lot about him.
7: Give people a chance to answer you.
When you'll have a lot of friends, guildmates, tasks to do, ... You will realise that it's not easy to answer quickly to everyone. So leave people the time to read what you say, type an apropriate answer, spellcheck it then send it back to you. Even the server can from time to time add to this time
8: Don't feel ignored
If you have done all this the right way, don't be frustrated when someone in particular looks like ignoring you. There are many possible causes.
- He ignored you. Then it's not the kind of people you'll consider a friend.
- He was AFK. Who knows what can happen to a player while his char is connected? From phonecalls to door rings, we all have reasons to leave the keyboard once in a while without having to disconnect.
- He was busy. A character standing apparently idle can be very active. Chatting in private, sorting things in his backpack (inventory), reading a note (forums, irc, instant messaging, ...), who knows?
9: Don't force others.
This is valid about roleplaying, duelling, chatting, shouting, trading, and everything that implies you and another player.
The most you can do is invite people to join your activity. Each can decline for many personal reasons or accept. Leave them a choice.
10: Don't ignore others.
You are not the only one ready to make new friends. You might meet a newcomer like you or someone more skilled with time avaliable for a talk. There are nowadays a lot of friendships that were forged on the first day between newcomers who discovered the world at the same time and shared this knowledge.
11: Have fun
It's the most important part of course. And you will really find it much easier when you share the fun. So even if I started this by stating that pple can have over things to do than to offer help to everyone they meet, you can still decide to offer you help. Be sure that lost people in the death realm, wounded fighters, lonely drinkers, ... there are a lot of people that will enjoy your company.

[Araye]

Nice post Hadfael!

If you need help you must ask.  Shout (/shout help!) if necessary.  Many of us, will bend over backwards to help you.  Most of us know exactly where you're coming from.  I spent three days trying to find my way out of the Death Realm.  On the third day, I asked someone to lead me out.

Someone that is in the DR has one goal (usually), to get out.  They are usually running and aren't looking to find people to help out of the DR.

When in the plaza, we usually have something going on.  I don't just stop and talk to people I walk passed unless I know them.  That is my character, both in real life and in game.  I will stop if someone says, "I need help".  The exception is that I spend some time in the sewers, actively looking for the new, equiping them with blades.  I haven't done this in several weeks.  Maybe it's time to go back there?

The point I'm making is that most of the willing people I know, don't just see random people and go up to them and start talking.  I think that is too much to expect of the players of this game.

If you need help, just ask.  In fact, type '/buddy Araye' the next time you're online.  Then you'll know when I'm on and can help you.  Or do a '/who enlight'.  This will tell you who of my guild is online.  All of The Enlightened will help you.  Our guild was not specifically designed to help the new, but we certainly will.  There are MANY guilds who's sole purpose is to help the new.  Search the guild board for specific guilds.

Araye Bayebes
The Enlightened

[themule]

I feel I need to post this. In the last days, after creating a char and trying the client out (unfortunalety my video card is just close to the bare minimum), I've been reading through the forum.

I tell how I felt like when I just connected. I started exploring, but also tried not to talk to people, or interfer with their activity in any way. That included running away, changing direction when someone headed my way, hiding behind walls and corners. I think it's impossible to enter the world and being able to RP with others. I felt I needed someone to tell me what to do.

I also realized my ideas about RP are quite different from those expressed on the forum by most people. For example, I don't feel offended when someone talks OOC. I think that any player is perfectly able to recognize OOC talks and actions, and mix them with IC ones, while still being able to enjoy the IC part. Ever played D&D? Do players need to state "hey, i'm gonna roll dice, please note this is OOC action!" - "IC action: I'm attacking the dragon" . Of course not. No one would think the warrior got a couple of dice out of his pocket in the middle of the fight and rolled them just for fun... or that the player is attacking a dragon IRL!

The whole game (in D&D and other RPG) is about mixing IC and OOC actions and talks, and none of the player is worried about that. Also I don't see much difference when I'm RPing if I see on the screen someone saying "Hi, I'm new, how does this game look like" or "[Hi, I'm new, how does this game look like]". Really. My brain would add those brakets anyway, it's second nature, just as when the phone rings. And if there's disruption of the "IC state", I don't really see how brakets really help.

The above applies even more when I read "You are a Tester first, and player Second." Fine, but testing is an OOC activity by its nature. So I read: "we're OOC first, and IC second". Also if you know you're on a test server, your know that the game may be interrupted for any reason. I think this includes a newbie stepping by and saying hi (an issue that's striclty related to the testing nature of the server - in a final product, you may expect that newbies start in some well-defined areas, where they learn about RP). There's something wrong if you really get annoyed by the testing nature of the server, including issues with newbies and people who don't RP.

It would be easier if newbies are given a minimal common background. Say they are all from a village named "NewbieTown" (of course, find a better name...), which lies north of the spawning place. Give them directions to the main plaza. Now all they need to do is saying "Hi! I'm from NewbieTown" (or anything along the line), which is a nice IC way of saying "Hi, I'm new to the game". Players know they're gonna meet newbies there, and react accordingly (and no, that's not a good place to RP, and you know that - the so-called "evil characters" won't be a problem). Players would initiate OOC chats if they feel like to ("Do you need any help with the game?").

Note that "NewbieTown" doesn't need to be implemented at all. Just give newbies a minimal script to act upon. Maybe one day NewbieTown will be implemented, and newbies will be allowed to leave it only after displaying some RP skills. Still, 'Hi, I'm from NewbieTown" will be valid, and tell a lot about the player to the other players, while still being fully IC.  Of course, there could be more than one NewbieTown, so not everone needs to share a common background.

[Capprion]

ya know i actualy agree with some of that themule

i never really gave i much thaught but ur right in a way
but yes asking for help is for the most part the only way to get help. we cant tell if your new or just an alternate character
unless i see you wandering around the plaza for a week i might stop to see what might be goin wrong for ya

[zanzibar]

Themule, once you've been around for a while, you'll understand why OOC chatter is such a nuisance.

Unlike AD&D, video games have the mechanics built into them.

There have already been many calls for a noob town.

Avoiding people is a mistake.

[Seytra]

I must concede that I, too, fin the statement "tester first, player second" to be a bit misleading.
I think that it is supposed to mean that
- when there's a bug or some other problem, we are expected to check if it is known, and if not, report it.
- we are allowed to make use of the implementation if possible, even if it is not really IC; however, shall avoid it when currently in some RP, i.e., do it more or less privately
- we are expected to not be annoyed if the game acts up, and to know about, understand and accept the side-effects of testing, including: lack of implementation, severe breakage, server crashes, unannounced changes in behaviour, prolonged outages of parts of or the entire system, wipes, frequent and huge updates, unfinishedness of every sort, etc..

However, it does not mean that we're supposed to RP only when there's nothing else to do. It has been stated several times that we are expected to play the game as if it was finished, which includes to RP, to not exploit bugs, to not abuse the system, etc., because only this way the game can be tested properly (i.e., by simulating the final environment to it).

Obviously, the development state PS is in will force playtesters into full tester mode more often than a semi-finished game, but that's not to be confused with purely OOC testing.

The way you decide to start your PS experience depends on you, to some extent. You are expected to have read up on at least the major parts, like the overall background ("History" section on the main site). Also, you are expected to be familiar with the controls, at least in theory, by having read the player's guide.
The game does have a tutoring mode (the figure with exclamation mark that'll appear whenever you do something new for the first time) It is limited, but also tells things one may not know yet.
You are further expected to be in general agreement with PS's mindset (notably RP-basedness) and proper netiquette.

Whether you choose to first get comfourtable with the controls, possibly customising them, explore the major elements of the game and parts of the world and only then start to interact with others, or make contact even with only theoretical knowledge, thereby possibly having the additional enjoyment of exploring in company, is up to you.

I don't think that actively avoiding people is necessary if you have read up on the background first, especially since there's little additional general information to be found ingame.
However, it is preferred to have at least a basic idea of the character that you are playing (general personality / mindset), so that you can meaningfully interact with other characters.

Regarding MB: I found the crystal hunt horrible for it's utter OOC-ness. The lengths people went to in order to "win" a completely use- and mindless game showed some of the reasons why the RL world is the way it is, and served to highlight / prove necessity of some of the strict rules that PS finally has and will have. Insofar, it was, well, educating, but that's more or less all the good that can be said about it, and I'm glad it's gone. Yes, starting CB with a fighting system wasn't much better, but I'm not going to re-state the obvious.

@themule: One of the problems of undesignated OOC is that it is by far not always possible to infer the context from the text, and things can get very confusing. The reason is that, unlike in a P&P RPG, you have no means of interaction with the other player other than the text and video, none of them can show you actions, body language, or any other clues of what the other might be referring to. While "My computer is so slow!" clearly is OOC, how about "I have _no_ idea why I'm even putting up with you!"? Add to that the limited space, the long time it takes to type/read, and the possibility of lost / overlooked messages, and you'll easily see why undesignated OOC can easily lead to disruption. Now, even if the conversation were to stay nice and friendly, imagine what happens in a case of one player thinking it is IC and the other thinking it is OOC for an extended period, like an hour? For one, the RP will be completely invalid, and if the player intended to RP, then they may very well become frustrated upon finding out. Likewise, the OOC-er may easily be frustrated by realising that they've been socialising with something nonexistant (a virtual character in a game).

Then also add that in order to infer OOC-ness from the content, you must first have read at least part of the sentence, while with brackets you can skip it immediately, which in turn leaves you with more time to focus on the IC conversation (and vice-versa).

Last but not least it serves as a constant reminder that IC is encouraged and OOC is, at best, endured.

support 1280 x 960 please!

It does already. In fact, it supports more or less any resolution you could possibly want, and a lot of resolutions that you certainly don't want on top of that (like the 1280 x 96 that I once accidently set it to )!
Simply run the setup application (pssetup), select "other" (or whatever it's called) and enter the desired resolution there.

However, know that your name "Demon Lord" is not in accordance with the naming policy and will therefore get reported if you used if for your character.

[zanzibar]

We aren't just testing the programming.  We're testing and working on what it means to roleplay.  We're finding out what social capital and infrastructure is necessary for roleplaying to take place.  We're also doing things like working out the kinks in the players policy guide, and we're also helping to perfect the Game Master protocols when we step out of line.

[Phinehas]

We aren't just testing the programming.  We're testing and working on what it means to roleplay.  We're finding out what social capital and infrastructure is necessary for roleplaying to take place.  We're also doing things like working out the kinks in the players policy guide, and we're also helping to perfect the Game Master protocols when we step out of line.

Shame that no one seems to be paying us any attention, eh?

[zanzibar]

We aren't just testing the programming.  We're testing and working on what it means to roleplay.  We're finding out what social capital and infrastructure is necessary for roleplaying to take place.  We're also doing things like working out the kinks in the players policy guide, and we're also helping to perfect the Game Master protocols when we step out of line.

Shame that no one seems to be paying us any attention, eh?

Uh, what?

[themule]

Now, even if the conversation were to stay nice and friendly, imagine what happens in a case of one player thinking it is IC and the other thinking it is OOC for an extended period, like an hour? For one, the RP will be completely invalid, and if the player intended to RP, then they may very well become frustrated upon finding out. Likewise, the OOC-er may easily be frustrated by realising that they've been socialising with something nonexistant (a virtual character in a game).

Then also add that in order to infer OOC-ness from the content, you must first have read at least part of the sentence, while with brackets you can skip it immediately, which in turn leaves you with more time to focus on the IC conversation (and vice-versa).

Well, constantly misunderstanding each other? For one hour? Possible, ok, but quite unlikely. Yeah, "How are you, today" has both an IC and OCC meaning, if it's the first thing someone says. As far as I'm concerned, feel free to answer either OOC or IC or something else which is still neutral ("Fine, thank you").  Should you get it wrong, the other player has only to tell you "I meant IC" (which is clearly OCC) and that's all. And anyway, unless you (the player) live in a medieval world, I find it very unlikely the issue is not settled in the first 30 seconds of talking... the more the players/characters involved, the sooner someone will say something clearly IC or OCC.

It's only that I don't fill it disturbing if the IC experience gets interupted, I can switch easily. Don't you do the same? When you click on something, and it takes 3-5 seconds to open the graphical menu, what do you think? "damn lag" or "I must be under someone's spell that slows me down"? Our brain is accepting many, many OOC inputs, still is able to build a virtual world and a virtual mindset.

BTW, you (as forum members) are very careful in distinguishing between the "player" and the "character". Still the forum it's full of references that get it wrong (inside posts written by people who know RP, developers or authors of RP guides, and not by newcomes) and nobody really notices/cares. That's because the difference is so clear in your mind that you get it right even when it's explicitly written wrong! Which is what I mean when I say "You don't need [ ] for OOC".

Last but not least it serves as a constant reminder that IC is encouraged and OOC is, at best, endured.

This again I don't understand. When people are on stage, there are a lot of OOC talks, unless they're actually performing. 95% of the job of an actor is OOC anyway. That's why I stressed the "testing" part. As I see it, it's like preparing a huge play, with actors gathering and sharing ideas. Of course, there's room for a lot of IC action, but even that is just "testing". You can enjoy it, of course. But that's not "it". They're still building the stage, after all.

When some starter areas are done, and people leave then only after they get some experience in RP, and many details are defined, then you can say that's "it". And even then, I'm not frowing on OOC talks expecially when their purpose is improving the RPing. Just like when actors shooting a scene get interrupted by the director, and start (OOCly) talking about the scene. I really doubt De Niro prepends "this is OOC: " everytime he talks to the director... and still everyone, from actors to cameramen, know that's OOC.

Please note that I don't mean that OOC random chats should be allowed, everytime, everywhere. There's MSN for that. That's against the purpose of the game. Players spending most of the time chatting (OOCly), well, are technically keeping game resources busy for nothing. That's an abuse, and should be punished.

Also, when some RP event is on, everybody should try and keep costantly IC, leaving OOC to /tells and such. Think of turning on the "ON AIR" signal. I don't think there's one of those signals in the world that's constantly on. Again, these are only my thoughts on the matter, I don't mean to have anything changed...

*edit*

We aren't just testing the programming.  We're testing and working on what it means to roleplay.  We're finding out what social capital and infrastructure is necessary for roleplaying to take place.  We're also doing things like working out the kinks in the players policy guide, and we're also helping to perfect the Game Master protocols when we step out of line.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand which side you're supporting.
It could be mine: testing "what it means to RP" is OOC activity anyway to me. Of course you need some IC action in order to do that, but that's the instrument, not the goal. That's as long as you're "testing". Once you're "performing", that's another matter.

Think of the stage analogy. You're trying your part, when a light technician arrives and changes a lamp. Feel free to ignore him. How about a newbie popping and saying "Hi, I like this game". Is it so different, on PS? Either ignore him, or go on mixing RP to other players and OOC to the newbie... I really doubt anyone (but the newbie, maybe) would misunderstand what's happening.

Please avoid posting two or more successive posts before others have replied. Just "Modify" your last post to add new information. Thanks! --Karyuu

[zanzibar]

Acting and roleplaying are two VERY different things.

[Seytra]

@ themule: I like the stage example, because it fits very well. In fact, I've used it as well in similar contexts.
Let's get this clear: I'm not against any and all OOC. I am fully aware that OOC is indeed needed in order to clarify the ongoing RP, to set up meetings for continuation of RP, to announce logout, etc..
Likewise, PS-related things are valid in OOC as well, like verifying / working around bugs.

However, as I said, distinguishing it by brakets eases the ignoring of it by those who don't want to be bothered by it ATM or at all. Also, while it isn't necessarily hard to switch between IC and OOC, it is more pleasant to not have to do it. And of course the issue of the clogged up chat box still remains. Thus, I think there's valid reason to minimise OOC around ongoing RP.

The main difference between our views seems to be that you regard all RP happening ingame to be "practicing for a play", while I view it as "improvising a play". This is because it would make neither sense nor for much enjoyment to be constantly "practicing" for a play that will not be performed for several years to come, especially knowing that by that time, it is highly unlikely that the part you've been practicing still is in the play (and you on stage, for that matter).

You can, of course, "learn by doing", that is, building your RP expertise while RPing, but there cannot be a "practicing mode", for there is no script, it's only improvising, and will always be.

If we were to merely practise, then this would reduce us to testing the game mechanics, and therefore we would never be able to be truly IC, thus removing any and all appeal of PS, at least for me.
I view the entirety of PS as finished WRT my char's POV, and I'm going to keep that char into the final version, including every bit of the history acquired while playing PS right from my first login. If you are not going to do that, then nothing that you do, nothing that happens to your char ingame now has any meaning, and there will be no point in fleshing out your char at all if you're only going to play it when PS V 1.0 is released. Even worse, the meaninglessness of your char may propagate into other's chars histories by interaction, possibly invalidating (parts of) it, too. An example of this is if your char plays some important part in my chars life at some point, and upon PSV1.0, you re-create your char as "fresh" (=blank) char: I'll find myself unable to refer to these sections at all, thus I may retroactively be unable to explain certain actions of my char.

BTW, the example about constantly misunderstanding is not as improbable as it may seem at first glance. In fact, it has already happened to me. In one of the occasions the result could be rectified only by a PM on the forum (that particular encounter lasted for precisely 30 minutes and 13 seconds). Imagine talking about joining a guild, and you'll easily see why IC and OOC can be less than distinct context-wise.

Think of the stage analogy. You're trying your part, when a light technician arrives and changes a lamp. Feel free to ignore him. How about a newbie popping and saying "Hi, I like this game". Is it so different, on PS? Either ignore him, or go on mixing RP to other players and OOC to the newbie... I really doubt anyone (but the newbie, maybe) would misunderstand what's happening.

This case is very clear, obviously. Still, it can break the mood, especially in a tense IC situation. Worsened by the fact that you'll need to read the OOC before noticing that it's OOC: you have just wasted time, which you can't spend on IC anymore.
May be trivial once, but imagine this happening every minute. Further imagine that you're the friendly type who feels that one must respond: so you'll be wasting more time on OOC, even if just asking them to leave for the time being.
Additionally, you'll make all RPers that RP with you at that time wait, thereby wasting their time, too. Now add to this that each of them may be politely typing a response to the newbie, and while not multiplying, it does add to the time, especially when one actually starts an OOC conversation with the newbie.
The slower the pace of RP is, the less appealing it is. This slowdown arises from /tell, /group and /guildchat or any external messager as well, obviously.
It's just no fun to have to wait a minute or more for every response: reading and typing is slow enough to be cumbersome already.

[Hadfael]

The answer to "How are you?" IC and OOC can be different.
kran: How are you?
enki: I am ill
kran: Sad to hear that. One second
the kran runs away and come back 1hour later after runny across all maps killed a few mobs standing in his way...
kran: I have bought healing potions. You want one?
enki: I have a flew IRL

[zanzibar]

In roleplaying, you adopt a character and then you're thrown into a situation where you have to adopt the role of that character.  Going out of character ruins the effect.  Asking for a do-over ruins the effect.  Acting according to a prewritten script goes against what roleplaying actually is.  And so on.

[themule]

[Sorry for my late reply. I'm somehow used to forum that warn you when someone replies to you, and keep a list of threads you're on.]

@Hadfael
Well, your example is badly chosen, it's definitely hard to imagine that the player who sees the kran run away won't realize the other player is taking IC actions in response to his OCC words. A simple /tell would fix that, w/o waiting a full hour. That's an easy situation. If a player isn't able to recognize 'running away' as IC action, he lacks the basic RP skills. I agree there may be hard situations, but that's not one of them.

@zanzibar
My point was not going OOC in the middle of IC. My point was: what are [] for? I agree with all your arguments, no questions about that. It's just that all you wrote holds even if the players used [] for their OOC. Also there can be different situations. You can be in a "deep RP" chat/action or just casual RP. In "deep RP", any OCC, with [] or without, ruins the effect to some extents. More on that below.

@Seytra
Thank you for your lenghy answer. Definitely you have points. If it was up to me, I'd set up two different modes on the avatar, IC and OOC, with chatting going to two different channels. I would even turn transparency on for avatars (i'm not calling them characters or players on purpose: in IC mode, the avatar is the character, in OCC mode it's the player) in OCC mode, so that they look like "shadows" to players in IC mode, making it easier to ignore them. That would improve the experience for both RPers and newbies. If you state that players in IC mode won't hear/pay attention to you if you're OOC, newbies won't feel ignored, like they (rightfully) are now. I really understand why most people ignore "Hey where do I find a weapon"-newbies at Harnquist. But I'm not sure they (the newbies) understand. If you need to quit (OOC action, since characters aren't supposed to disappear) turn on OOC mode, say bye, and leave.

Maybe my views are biased by table-RPGs. You won't get any good game if it's the first time you gather together, unless the players are good and the Master is very good. And we have no Master on PS, most of the time. My point is that a good RP session (on table-RPGs) needs preparation, and not only skill. A lot of preparation.

I definitely agree that "improvising" is where the fun comes from. But in a table game the Master will keep players "on track", keeping the (hopefully right) balance between "improvisation" and "direction". Because in any story there must be a direction, right? So if I have to find something in your post, I don't agree on:

there cannot be a "practicing mode", for there is no script, it's only improvising, and will always be.

Without a Master, you need much more coordination among players. And that's not "improvising", it's keeping a direction. And you need OOC talk for that.

It's quite possible that, once you establish a context, and play with your usual fellows, this coordination is most implict. But that's not learning RP, it's just creating a common base to share.

I think that RP on PS could be much more that "going to from Hydlaa to Ojaveda in a RP way". Maybe now there isn't much to be achived, in game. But in my views I see PS almost fully developed, a huge world with many, many things that may be done by a group of players. Each one may be turned into a RP adventure, in the D&D sense. Not a script (with prewritten dialogs and actions) but a story (with a general direction).

Anyway I've been playing for a while now. I have no problems in using [] for my OOC. It's just that I notice that I'm doing that most of the time (ok, I tend to help newbies, and I'm still learning the game myself, so that's quite normal). Usually I group with people just to have a handy OOC private channel and not to disturb other ppl with OOC public chat. The whole point is that most of the time I end up non using [] because they're useless. I keep using them only at Harnquist or in other crowded areas, and only because there may be ppl that think they need them.

I still don't think any decent RPer needs those [] to recognize OOC. And also I don't pay much value to "forced RP", when you take a long, not natural way to do IC what you could simply do OOC in a second, expecially with it involves a newbie who has no idea of what RPing is.

As I see it, /group* /guild* even /tell are all OOC, since our characters aren't supposed to be telepathic. So, if you use them in short range, their RP meaning can be whispering. Any long range chat can only be OOC. /guildsay "Let's meet at the area" it's all OOC. I remember of a MUD that had no tell support. You had to go to a mage and buy a magical glass orb (a kind of fantasy radio device) to be able to send your words to your peer (who had to have one, too, of course). That was an attempt to make long distance tells IC.

As for guilds, they are a game mechanism, and a RP feature at the same time. It's grey area, no wonder there may be problems in keeping OOC/IC separated. Anyway players should not care much about which guild their characters choose to join, as long as it's their characters' choice (little room for OOC reasons here).