Ok... I understand realism. I'm a writer. Not really professionally - I suppose I use the term lightly, but I've been to a
lot of courses and seminars, I've been hanging around writing forums since I was 11, and I've submitted stories to magazines and such and gotten paid substantial amounts of money for them.
And I can tell you, no matter who you ask, or what guide you read the NUMBER ONE thing that effects realism are
characters. Setting is always at least the second, if not third. I've also taken a few psychology courses, including '
Psychology of Speculative Fiction' in DCU, which explicitly states that people identify best with
people, NOT the background.
Don't get me wrong, the idea of world-building is very important, but you could have the most detailed, beautiful world ever, and if the characters are bland, monotonous or uninvolving, it'll completely destroy all your hard work. Likewise, if you have a vague, or completely unbelievable world, but some great, classic characters, the movie/book/roleplay/piece of writing will still be loved (They used the example of Star Wars - the first three were great because of the timeless characters of Yoda, Darth Vader, Leia, etc., but the most recent three were less-liked because the focus shifted more to world-building and social commentary than cool characters)
(And by the way, Garile, I was just joking about the n00b-hating thing. Just
trying to keep it light-hearted
)
Now, Seytra...
You might find it pedantic, but I prefer my RP valid. And if I have to interact with someone who claims a pet that isn't supposed to be one, like a purple cow, then my RP will become invalid. I want my RP to be future-compatible, because anything that I may RP now could end up becoming the important turning point in the life of my, or someone elses char. Now, if this were invalidated retroactively by clashing with the settings in the future, then that char would never have had that turning point, therefore any and all RP including and after that point would be invalid. Not only the one char, but also that of anyone who meaningfully interacted with that char afterwards. So if you RP outside the settings, or something that isn't likely to become part of the settings, then I cannot RP with you, simply in order to protect my RP. And you should do the same.
This in fact makes it equivalent to the spaceships. More subtle, but just as destructive.
A good RPer/writer can 'validate' anything creatively and believably. There's hundreds of devices you can use to change any situation to what you want it to be. In fact, it's the mark of a
bad writer to leave things all straightened out and perfect. People like wrinkles and twists. If you're on a mission to do something, you don't want it to go perfectly. If you go outside the realms of what is considered by some of the more fussy people to be 'invalid by a factor of 1.23', there's always a way to bring it back.
Taking the purple cow... It could be a spirit, the strange form of an unknown god (there's plenty in Yliakum, and the other worlds), a hallucination (magic, poisons, insanity... Planeshift has it all. This could be a brilliant twist to your character. Classic of horror movies), a magical entity created by a mage's imagination (unless we start governing what your character is allowed to imagine and create), a fugitive hiding in a disguise, a secret weapon developed by the military, whatever.
You see, even if it starts out as something, doesn't mean it has to actually
be something. Your character won't be 'ruined' at all. There's always a way to write something off, you just have to be creative.
Important. As I tried to express nicely, being "fictional" or "nonexistant" is absolutely irrelevant, and does in no way mean that anyone other than those in charge (which isn't you, nor me, nor anyone other than the devs) may change it.
There's nothing to even change yet. Just a very vague description. You don't even
have any rules to be pedantic over... Yet you're
still worried about people strictly following something that probably won't be around for another year. Why bother getting all worked up?
Not the majority, but some. And if we were to give even the impression of an OK, then that number will rise dramatically, and that is absolutely not acceptable. So yeah, it's highly relevant.
It's not acceptable? What exactly are you talking about not being acceptable? Where are these
rules no
commandments that are "absolutely not acceptable" to break? They don't exist, and not even the GMs care if people make purple cows at this point. It's the
definition of not relevant, because not only have I never met a real-life pet being RPed in PS, but I've never seen anything telling us we cant. The only thing I
have seen, is GMs and devs not being bothered, and references being made everywhere to horses and cows and birds and rats and snakes.
And that means...? That anything that doesn't crash the server is free-for-all? I think not.
Huh? No, it means that everybody's worried about not falling through invisible holes in the floor and dying, or spontaneously crashing mid-RP, and that the devs are busy fixing it. Nobody has time nor energy to worry whether we should say 'cat' or '<insert future term for cat-like thing here>'
It's perfectly valid. Once there are such threads, you have not only common sense, as it is now, but you also have hard, matter-of-fact proof to show them. It makes a hell of a difference if you can point someone to an official thread compared to trying to convince them that what they're doing doesn't make sense. OTOH, it helps those who are not lazy to avoid any problems right from the start.
Like I said; Nobody'll remember all this. It'll get to the point where RPs are seriously slowed down, or even burst into massive arguments, because people all have their massive compendiums of things that are allowed at the ready, and need to look-up three different things every time they say something. No doubt if you're worried about animals, you'll be worried about other things too.
Odd, I found it helpful. In fact, it made me consider PS in the first place, as I like good RP, and that isn't possible without a setting that's being enforced.
Enforcing a setting, and enforcing a bible-sized book of things you can and cant do are two very different things. I'm all for talking in-character all the time. And I'm all for keeping things realistic and medieval. What I
don't want, is have to constantly worry about little things that could easily be glossed over or ignored if people don't like it anyway. The difference is the freedom to have fun. (Assuming you don't find being limited by pedantics fun)
I must say that I don't think that that newbie you described is the intended audience for PS, and I feel that I'm not alone with that opinion. Contrary to what you seem to be thinking, noone in PS has the need to have lots of players. We want good RPers, nothing else. There are many many games that'll take in anyone with internet access. PS is not one of them; it much prefers quality over quantity.
Don't think I'm being arrogant or condescending by constantly bringing this up (hehe), but I've gotten compliments on my writing style from well-known published authors, both in person and over the internet. I'd consider myself a
good RPer, or if not good, then at least someone who's worthy of playing Planescape. I'd also probably be considered a newbie, having been playing for just over a week. And I can tell you, If I'd seen a bunch of 'Must-read' guides telling me exactly how to do
my characters, I would have gone back to Gaia or one of the other Role-playing sites.
Don't get me wrong, I love Planeshift, and I love the community, and I
like the setting, but it's bad enough that we're confined so much by the limiting mechanics and content, without further being limited by limitations that aren't even in place yet.
Anyway, I'm bored now.
You know my opinion, for whatever it's worth. You can do what you like, but I'll only care if a dev/mod/GM says that what I'm doing is disruptive. Personally, I'm going to use my own judgement, and should something conflict with future regulations, I'll find a creative way to fix it. If you're that opposed to it, you don't have to RP with me, or anyone else who isn't content to wait to be told what to do. You might find the pool of decent RPers dwindling further, but whatever makes you happy...
'Twas nice debating with you though. You're pretty good... you've got an interesting style. Dismissive of the other person's arguments, yet still manages to tear into them... I'm taking notes
