When posting on the forums, are we IC or OOC?

[zanzibar]

I'm dead certain that all posts on the forum, except for certain ones made in the Roleplaying forum, are considered to be out of character.  I'm having a discussion with someone right now though who's claiming that when he makes his posts, he makes them as his character, (and therefore others shouldn't be bothered if he says something that's a bit off).  I know, personally, I see the forums as entirely out of character and I treat all posts as if they are being made by a real person.  Are there many people out there who disagree with me?

This seems obvious to me but I thought I'd make a thread about it to drive the point home.

[Nurahk]

With the few exceptions, yes, Forums are OOC.

Bar the In-game roleplay thread, everything is OOC unless stated otherwise.

[Phinehas]

Zanzibar, you might as well just tell them it's me we're discussing. Not like I'm going to care.

[bilbous]

Ah yes, nothing like taking a private conversation public eh?

As far as I am concerned I am bilbous and bilbous is me. In-game or out only the reality I have to deal with is different. bilbous the characters reality is far different than bilbous the poster's, of course. Of course then there is me the person completely unrelated to PS. Certainly when posting on the internet I modify my mannerisms, character if you will, to suit the place where my post will appear. Here I don't use expletives that need deleting as I would in a more ephemeral setting. Therefor I have identified three character frames of reference and there are a few more below. Which is me? They all are.

As far as I am concerned I am Alts Name Here and Alts Name Here is me. In-game or out (well in game only really) only the reality I have to deal with is different.

Oh and I have a sock puppet that has never posted on the forums and will never be a character, that is me too.

[Nikodemus]

For me it is only importand to keep in mind whats OOC, IC and difference beatwen them, when posting about in-game ideas and understanding of this whats happening there.
If someone post as character from game, I don't care at all, it doesn't change much.

[bilbous]

Can we get a ruling from the judges here please:
Is [IC | OOC] [in | out]  of [Character | Context]?

[zanzibar]

By "In Character", I mean acting and reacting to things as if you were the character you play with in the game.  By out of character, I mean more or less behaving like a real person - likely the person you are, but I guess there are allowances for "context" and medium.

[Kalika]

hm....i tend to react as both my character and myself...

im not a very good rper in the fact that i completely made my character different me, we both share a lot of the same characteristics and so i tend to do the same things with my char that i would do in real life..shes sort of like a sister or favorite pet

but Kalika also happens to be much more patient than i am, and in the forums i try and excersize that.. like if someone really pisses me i try not to be rude back, though i ahve slipped quite a few times

i guess my point is that i try and take both my real self and my virtual self qualities for the forums, responding depending on the context and nature of the question

Kalika shrugs and feels like she just was babbling

[zorbels]

I am both, but I will put ------> [IC] <--- beside something I am writing in character, this way it causes no confusion.

[Peacer]

Depends... although If i were posting IC i would clarify

@kalika: not rubbish :>

[bilbous]

As far as character goes, I really don't see how we can be other than ourselves. It may be that in playing a character we exaggerate one or more aspects of our personality but very few people can play something completely alien to themselves.

[Garile]

IC or OOC.

hmm well obviously IC on the forums would be a different IC then what it would mean in the game.

Thinking about it my posts are normally OOC mostly, but I do react like how my character would sometimes. Useally to put a bit of humor in a post I guess. Also becuase these forums are an extention of PS and about PS it's hard to not act like your character at all at times. Someone who isn't affected at all is probably not really roleplaying.

So guess the answer is that the character and the real person mix a little and think that is the case with a lot of people who post here knowing people know them for their character ingame.

[Sangwa]

I treat the forums as OOC. However I sometimes spice it up with semi-IC bits. I add the semi because Sangwa wouldn't speak OOC (since he's the character.)

Anyway, when I do so I usually paint it in a visible way, as these are actions or words pertaining to Sangwa's behaviour and usually targeted to people who would understand them.

I would have to disagree with Garile though. Some of my posts aren't affected by my character at all. This one, and those where I am trying to discuss something of an OOC nature, like alginment systems on PS, most guild discussion posts, etc.

[Idoru]

id love to see someone post in the Bugs area with a fully IC post 

[Kiirani]

I think the forums are somewhere in between :/ Not much that happens here is canon, but I wouldn't be surprised to find people acting more like their characters than themselves where it is(n't in)appropriate.. IC personality with OOC knowledge, perhaps?