I fear my example was brief and concentrated. The actual events I have had to use this in were much longer, and there was much more ooc explaining why the behavior they were trying to impart was not realistic to the situation, and ruining other people's fun. Most of the time, someone else would warn them first that they were being disruptive to realistic 'rules' of roleplaying. Some even went with the "This guy is insane" tactic (as said by Zanz) before I did anything. I am fair to new players who don't understand how to roleplay yet, and have guided many to become better. I use the /tell responses as a gauge to what kind of player is behind the character. If they respond politely, even asking for advice, as some of them have, their mistakes are glazed over. If the response is rude, then I know I am dealing with a troll. No mercy, no quarter. It is a waste of my time to try to incorperated their 'roleplaying' into mine. It has nothing to do with having a 'bad day'. If I am having a bad day, I don't go ingame. Nor do I allow someone who is not interested in adding to other's fun in any way make my day go bad.
Look at it this way, if it had been real. In less than five minutes, Boon would have had the entire tavern in an uproar, both IC and OOC. Cue the lame fight scene.... You have all seen it happen before. Even ignoring him would not have worked, because not everyone would have been able to hold their tongue to him. One person responding to continued, rude, and poor RP validates it, and drags in all other players.
There is an actual event this is loosely based on in the tavern (but not anything like what I wrote). The player was beginning to upset other players as well as their characters. Any /tells where met rudely, as we did not have the power to stop him. No power? I used this 'little boy' tactic, and the players shifted from starting to be pissed off, to being amused. The characters settled down as they saw it was just a boy shoing off to his elders. That is a positive in my book. Not only that, the offending player DID settle down and sat there for a while just listening to others as they continued to play their characters. The entire time, I gave him pointers on how to RP if he wanted to put down his wooden swords. He then started taking part in the RP. Was his character still rude? Of course. But it was now being played in a manner that did not upset other players, even if it did upset their characters.
Just as in real life, some people can be guided, while others need to be stomped. That is life. Roleplaying is virtual life.
Now that I have stated my side, please tell me how it would have been 'best' to deal with my fictional situation. Remember, thought, that the player in question is not one of those that likes to listen to reason, and -likes- to get other players upset. AKA: troll.
If a few trolls have to be smacked down for the greater good, so be it. I am here to roleplay and serve, not to baby-sit ‘n00bs’ (not to be confused with ‘newbies‘, who I welcome with open arms).
