[When do you speak OOC?]

[Kangold D]

When do you speak Out of character (OOC)?

If you take your ques from what happens around Hydlaa Plaza and the tavern you might speak OOC every chance you can get. The following is a typical conversation among players near Harnquist the smithy:

Player 1: This is a fine sword, aye, but I would not pay you such a high price for it.
Player 2: [Dude, you couldn't even make that sword, lol! Pay me!]
Player 3: [Fail!!! He's trying to finance the price of a guild hall with his craft sales.]
Player 1: You will thank me when you can slay the greatest beasts and most dangerous cutthroats with this fine weapon.
Player 2: It's a good sword [but you got serious issues if you think anyone will fork over that much money. Get real.]
Player 3: [Total fail!]

Player 1 speaks in character (IC) and manages to convey her thoughts with ease. But, player 2 and 3 have no idea how to respond IC to the first player, or worse, they do but are too lazy to try. This sort of scenario is so common in PlaneShift that Main chat can look like an IRC channel full of bored people instead of a fanatsy role-play world of immersion.

Wait--- I hear a complaint!

We're allowed to speak OOC as long as we bracket the text! What are you, some kind of RP police??

It is true, the role-play guidelines state that players can speak out of character if they use brackets around OOC statements. So, I guess those of us who enjoy a world fully immersed in the fantasy settings are out of luck.

I have a fanatsy solution: black-robed GMs walk around the game silently observing player interaction in public and if a player insists on polluting Main chat with OOC spam he or she loses all tria. The OOC spam problem would disappear in a week if we had the Black Robes patroling the streets and forests. But, that ain't never gonna happen, lol. I'd apply so fast to be one if ever it did, though!

[enderandrew]

I try to keep all OOC chatter to Tells and Guild channels.  If I have something I have to say OOC to a person, I try not to say it publicly.

[Akkaido Kivikar]

Why can't the hardcore RPers just ignore bracketed text?

Seriously, there's a happy medium provided by the bracketed text. There are times when maximum enjoyment comes from a laugh through OOC text. Policing the bracketers is just over the top. OOC text out of brackets is enough to police.. that is going against RP directly and can be policed, but you must understand alot of our players don't quite understand the policies.

It is enough to ask it be put in brackets. Running around in black robes penalising players will just cause larger amounts of players to leave.

[Sen]

Hmmm, why didn't we have this thread while the server was down?

* Sen goes to get himself some popcorn

[zanzibar]

Why can't the hardcore RPers just ignore bracketed text?

Because even if it's in brackets, it still shows up in my chat window.

(And I'm not a hardcore RPer, but I still get annoyed by it.  Brackets don't make it OK - it's still disruptive.  Brackets are there so that you can say OOC things in open chat when you really, really need to.  But people abuse the rule so that they can send OOC chat in the open chat constantly.  It's not as bad when it's by Harnquist or some place where new players are often found, although I don't like it there either.  But people are doing it all the time in the taverns these days, and it really takes away from the RP environment and atmosphere.  Or perhaps I'm just showing my planeshift-age...)

[Bamko]

Well, I think I am known as not being a hardcore RP-er... though I enjoy it...

but my 2 tria.

I agree.  We even had the Rp covenant.  Bracketed OOC chat in main was, as I understand it, for very few things.  Helping  newb who has not found the /tell tab, or multiple newbs who do not knwo yet how to use the group function, for example.

My solution (not really mine, but the one I favor, and I thought was supposed to be THE solution): If you really REALLY want to OOC chat, (Or do a very wordy intrusive RP that you want to keep within your group {"hey, don't ruin our RP by joining it!"}) then group up with your freinds and talk about the final four, Laz0rsw0rds, or whatever, in Groupchat.  I think you will find most of the inane chatters won't do that, becuase even they know their chatter is, well, Inane.

Sure, if a newb needs help, then a little OOC is acceptable, IMO, but no reason player 2 and 3 could not have kept their [comments] IC.  "hmm, it is a decent sword, but I do not believe anyone who knows the value of their tria would pay that much for it.  Perhaps y ou can find someone who is more easily parted with their tria..." for example.  Not really that different, and not that hard.

You do not have to speak in makeshift scottish-shakespearean accent (thanks a lot JRR Tolkien) to RP, IMO, since the accent is foriegn to Yliakum, but why not at least try a little to keep within settings?

Oh, and I DO Ignore the brackted text in main tab, meaning I do not reply to it unless it is a newb, I wont even respond to it.  How about a wish request?  "To have an option setting to not show bracketed text in the main tab, at all?  Just so most of us could ignore the chatter without having to have it intrude on our RP?"

Trouble is, then Newbs would be harder to help, esp if someone "helps" them by telling them to turn it on (off?) or if it is off in default...

Or, people could follow the covenant and just keep it to a minimum. 

oh well.  My 2 tria.

[zanzibar]

I think a lot of people don't understand that the players who like to roleplay also engage in OOC chat - they just typically do it in group chat and guild chat, and sometimes in tells (although you have to be careful about that).

I think a lot of people are afraid to speak up when someone else is being disruptive.  I'm not saying there's a silent majority or anything weird like that, but I think people are afraid of being labeled as "roleplay nazis" just because they want to enjoy the game the way the game is meant to be enjoyed.

[Akkaido Kivikar]

Yeah, but there's a fine line to be drawn as far as the enjoyment of yourself and the enjoyment of others.

Remember, newbs tend to say "yes" to things without reading it, and to tell them to get lost because they're not RPing "correctly" can and will lead to the tarnishing of the good name of the game.

[Bamko]

No idea what aspect of who's post you are saying "yeah" to.  Sorry, maybe monday morning fog...

if you meant my post, I think I addressed that, so maybe you mean someone elses post?

I think OOC chat in main tab should be seen as the equivalent of wearing your boot on your head and trying to hold the sharp end of the sword.. Something to gently teach to the newbs, and to mock (in group, tell, or guildchat, or IC in maintab) for others.  But you need to be sure. 

how to be sure not a newb?  Simple.  Explain it to them patiently, answer their questions, help them out, and explain OOC and IC and tabs... then, if they still do it, they are a N00B and not a newb.

At that point, a petition, poking a gm, or even just refusing to help them with anything and ignore them, is fine by me.

[Bguy]

A solution to the newb problem would be to expand the tutorial. I think that tell, group, and guild chat should be explained before the tutorial is over so they can get the ooc help they need without haveing to ask in main chat where it might be ignored (especially if there is an option to not view ooc comments in the main tab). Make newbs more intellegent. We can't expect all of them to read the whole guide before entering the game.

[Donari Tyndale]

Have a nice chat with the persons talking OOC all the time and explain them what they are doing wrong in your eyes. Works most of the time. Instead of complaining here you could have spent your time helping those people

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

I blame professional mmorpg creators for distorting the meaning of rpg.

I really don't know if there is anything to be done dev-side to accommodate rpers on this one.

Do you want a global chat tab?

[Kangold D]

[Thoss]

Do you want a global chat tab?

would a chat tab titled 'rp' parked right next to the 'main' chat tab be feasible or desired?

starting to sound kind of handy while i'm sitting here thinking about it....

then, any OOC or bracketed talk could shift to 'main' and one could put the smack down on any OOC/brackets in the 'rp' tab...

or would that open up the ol' can-o-worms?

[Kangold D]

Do you want a global chat tab?

would a chat tab titled 'rp' parked right next to the 'main' chat tab be feasible or desired?

starting to sound kind of handy while i'm sitting here thinking about it....

then, any OOC or bracketed talk could shift to 'main' and one could put the smack down on any OOC/brackets in the 'rp' tab...

or would that open up the ol' can-o-worms?

My first reaction to that idea is, great! But wait, won't that encourage people to speak OOC more often? Maybe, it won't affect role-players if that does happen as long as the two kinds of chat stay in their respective chat boxes but I would never want to encourage OOC communications, there is another whole server for that. An interesting idea, though. I will have to ponder it RP-style.