Re: RP Conventions

Using universe/region for OOC feels like a bad idea, because I doubt many of us are reading it. And if I have an OOC question, I'd rather ask you and not some random power-leveller who reads those channels.

And I agree with Victoria, that I don't really get the big fuss about this. I'm never really bothered about OOC as long as it's bracketed. I suppose it's about immersion - some people want to immerse really deeply in their character's life, so for them anything that's not part of it is detrimental to the experience. As a narrativist puppeteer type I don't really care, personally, even if half of our chat is OOC/metagaming.

That said, I'll go along with this telepathy thing as Darkhawk explained it.

Re: RP Conventions

Well, as I said, I'm ok with OOC inside (()) and doing what we can to limit it/hide it away in /tell if possible. That does work for me. I might have gotten a bit carried away due to my passion for this, but as long as this is combined with a sensible magical communication system, I'm fine. I just need an IC explanation as to how we can use the /tell, /team and /guild channels.

If people are ok with the magical communication system, we can try to develop that ingame. I also tend to agree with Ahnion that a 1-200 level range is a bit too much, and I do understand what Wheri says about it too. So how about we tweak it so everyone can be satisfied with it, and then say we have a solution?

OOC in brackets, hidden away in /tell if only to one other. A magical communication system we RP establishing now . And then we just go with it, no fuss and all smile  That works for me.

Re: RP Conventions

Regarding the Magical communication system skill values that Darkhawk gave, I'd suggest that while the concept is good, the numbers could be a bit high. The system as it is would mean that nobody who isn't a magician and not just a magical dabbler could communicate effectively IC. Given that this is what a large number of the people posting here seem to want, this may be acceptable to people. But personally, I'd split 1-50 into 1-20 and 21-50, and move the catagories down one step.

The main concerns regarding this seem to be that many people are, strange as it seems, having trouble separating what their character perceives and what they perceive. In Seed, everything you saw on the screen was visible to your character as well. In other games, this is not the case. A lot of posts seem to imply that people think that anyone who uses something your character doesn't have is ruining the RP experience for everyone.

I don't find this to be the case. I can filter what I see on the screen into what my character perceives without difficulty. But then, I'm a veteran pen-and-paper RPGer who's used to translating notes on a sheet of paper and the results of a dice throw into a game world inside my head. So using the "Radar" around the compass and telling myself that my character in the game is just hearing the sounds of their movement or following the creature's tracks is second nature to me. I fail to see how this mindset can't apply to everything in game, as long as we're not talking about game stats or real-world events around the campfire.

Are there people who feel violently opposed to this point of view?

Re: RP Conventions

The point of the magical communication thing isn't so much about separating what your character knows and what you know as a player. It's about giving our characters a way to communicate over a distance. Many people don't want anything their character doesn't know affect the characters actions in any way. Thus, without an IC communication system, you couldn't for example find out where the RP is. For this, the magical communication thing is a decent solution.

(Personally, I don't mind using OOC information to guide what happens in-game, as long as it's done for the improvement of the story and not for personal advantage. For instance, if I as a player know my character's rival is online at a certain location, I might log in and go to that location, because that causes an interesting conflict situation.)

Last edited by Kryigerof (2006-10-08 20:52:17)

Re: RP Conventions

Since there are questions about it, I'll do a small summary of the opinions I've found expressed concerning OOC.

First (because we were first to mention it, as we tend to be) there are people like myself, who for one reason or other has trouble filtering OOC out and/or want to get very 'deep' into our character. We like to keep in-character and talk as such as much as possible and often do our best to completely ignore OOC if it can be done.

Then, there are people like Tantavalist, who process OOC into IC and still stay in character. A useful trait, undoubtedly. It seems people of this category prefers having some OOC to simplify game-play.

Third, there are people who just play their character, as Kryigerof so well put it, as a "puppet". For these people, OOC is probably just as wanted and useful as for the former category.

Fourth, we have people who only arbitrarily consider their character's role and plays it all by ear, from situation to situation. These people most often seem to like OOC a lot, to the point where it becomes a cause in itself and a part of the game that they appreciate. In this category are most roleplayers I've met in other MMOGs. I think we have a couple in our gang as well.


Now, the issue isn't that one of these are more right than any other. The issue is to find a way for all four categories to play well together. In Seed this was easy. There were no OOC channels and everything had an IC explanation. I would say Darkhawk's proposition, as it looks now, should give space for all the different play styles. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

http://ahnion.centralen.net/temp/signature-Seed-community-2.gif

Re: RP Conventions

>>In answer to Wheri: Hmm... well, the issue here is limitation to a degree. If everyone just had telepathic abilities, there would be little use in talking at all.

I didn't mean exactly that. First, not telepathic abilities, but empathic. No direct thought-sending or reading. Everyone is somehow attuned to Atys, the sap and other Homins. With these Homins, you can share your emotions. Telepathy (As in thought-sending) means the Homin is attuned to Atys all too well, and is probably a great magician or will one day become one. Types of empathy, as I said before, vary from Homin to Homin, and are always your decision.
I can keep describing this, but I think I'll just confuse you more.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: RP Conventions

This is becoming more complicated, when people tries to find how we do the communication. Notting has changed after Seed, we just have more channels, that's all. We have all kind of players in our communuty, from hard core roleplayers to pure OOC players. We did have these same players and playing styles in Seed too.

SIMPLE QUESTION:

Is there anyone who wants to talk OOC in /around /tell /guild /team channels without using (( )) for ooc talking ?

Re: RP Conventions

>>Is there anyone who wants to talk OOC in /around /tell /guild /team channels without using (( )) for ooc talking?
I can live with that.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: RP Conventions

Wheri wrote:

>>In answer to Wheri: Hmm... well, the issue here is limitation to a degree. If everyone just had telepathic abilities, there would be little use in talking at all.

I didn't mean exactly that. First, not telepathic abilities, but empathic. No direct thought-sending or reading. Everyone is somehow attuned to Atys, the sap and other Homins. With these Homins, you can share your emotions. Telepathy (As in thought-sending) means the Homin is attuned to Atys all too well, and is probably a great magician or will one day become one. Types of empathy, as I said before, vary from Homin to Homin, and are always your decision.
I can keep describing this, but I think I'll just confuse you more.

( No, I don't think you'll confuse me more. I live in a permanent state of confusion but it's rather impervious to outside influence. wink )

Hm. I definitely see your point, though I am in favour of some level of restriction based on how good a magician your character is. I also see how limitation is not as necessary if actual telepathy is restricted to epic magicians. I can't help but think that this is pretty similar to the other suggestion, with the difficulty scale eased off. I think both ideas are great though, and I'm happy with either.



And Victoria, if this group/community reverted to using unbracketed OOC liberally in /say (/around), I would most likely quit.


[Edit: End quote ended up in the wrong place.]

http://ahnion.centralen.net/temp/signature-Seed-community-2.gif

Re: RP Conventions

Let's say, not necessarily a magician: prospectors too use a method of attuning to Atys to find the materials they seek and bring them to the surface, so this way of communication is quite open to them too.

Also, from now on I will roleplay a slight empathy in Wheri, pretty limited ("The beast is scared! Don't kill it!", "It's in pain!"), but enough to explain his pacifism and unwilling to kill things. Maybe someone should adopt it too?

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: RP Conventions

I can buy the idea, that your skills in magic could affect your aptitude for ´sending´ images, emotions or thoughts to another homin. But when it comes to Darkhawks scale I think we should see it, not as actual rules - more like guidelines (to quote from Pirates...;)).

Besides other factors could have an influence as well: how close you are to the person you communicate with, your state of mind, how strongly you feel that which you try to send etc.
As long as it doesnt limit the roleplay its ok with me.

And I must say that I really like the idea that you can send various tidbits of feelings, impressions etc. to another character. It opens up a lot of possibilities for the RP.

Finally ill say, that it is my impression, that every member of this community is able to use this feature responsibly - without it evolving into walkietalkie-OOC- lets-take-down-this-überboss kinda thing... :mrgreen:


Its gonna be fun!

Re: RP Conventions

No need to worry about the latter. We'll never be able to take down any ueber boss in our current pace wink

Re: RP Conventions

Oh you will, Darkhawk. With all the grinding you're doing wink

Re: RP Conventions

Another topic to discuss: the in-game forum. As I see it, it's pretty much information available to all guildmembers, wether it is written somewhere or spread by word or whatever. Thus, I think it should be used for all kinds of announcements, but not for discussions - much like the TAU terminals in You-Know-What.

The big question is, should it be kept as IC as possible, or are some OOC remarks be possible (I.e, in case of crafting lists, quality and grade of items and so on)?

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: RP Conventions

Well, before thinking about that Wheri, I was thinking. We already have a forum, here. Shouldn't we use that one instead of the ingame one, also to draw people? Or would you argue the opposite?

Re: RP Conventions

I wouldn't. But for some things it would be better to use the in-game one. Crafting lists are an example - it's not always good for our hunters to alt-tab between the game and the forum just to see what items you or I need. Also, important announcements (Like meetings) should be posted both on the in-game forum and the community forum. As I said, a lot like TAU terminals.

Last edited by Wheri (2006-11-19 09:34:14)

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: RP Conventions

I'd say, as with other things, put OOC in (( )), no matter if it is an entire letter or not. Avoid the use of brackets when possible, but do use it when needed. So, for this. Yes, post a list of materials you want for example, and be as creative as you like (I.e. bracket the whole letter, or bracket just the cold, hard material quality level numbers. For example).

And maybe only use the ingame forum for things that are convenient to use there and not on our forum, and make duplicate posts whenever possible. Several reasons for that. One is that our forums will stay, but the games might not, and I'd like to see what we've been doing in games I was fond of smile Ah, also the more practical reason that you can't be sure who sees what where, and having more than one forum leads to more splitup and confusion.

Well, not that big an issue really. Do as you think best? smile

The next issue I'll bring up has taken a lot of discussion in the past though. Let's see what it'll do now.

Re: RP Conventions

We've formed our guild, The Seeds of Atys, at long last.

So there's a meta thing to decide now in regards to the communication system.

So far, we've been playing with us being unable to communicate in a direct telepathic form with others. Also, Kendrus, Artash and I at least, have been using the system I proposed, but with Ahnions level changes, i.e. when you reach level 75 in magic, you can begin communicating  in thoughts, and when you have below 25 in magic, you can barely transmit your feelings, and have no real control.

Now, this worked well enough for now. Of course, new roleplayers who join might get frustrated with this, but in the end, it's up to each person to decide how he or she communicates, and we are of course the only ones with this system. It's made us unique and does contain some RP in itself - however, it is much harder to do and maintain, it requires some dedication.

Now, we have a guild channel too. The question then becomes - do we follow our system from before, i.e. only feelings and images until the homin reaches lvl 75, or do we say that the guild link is some sort of existing thing, that we are given, or which is activated, once we create a guild? I believe that's what some other roleplaying guilds have done. Something about linking the Seed in you with the other members. Of course it's a meta-description of something that doesn't exactly makes sense, but that's not the real point. I can't find a link to the description of this, but if Emaelle's player sees this, I think she can elaborate?

Anyway, what do you think? Easier communication in guild channels, or still wait for lvl. 75 for that, and otherwise keep on with the images/feelings?

Ultimately, it'll be up to each player of course, and new roleplayers joining can't be expected to adhere to our system (at least I think it should be voluntary, as it can feel quite restrictive if you don't like it), but what is the general feeling about this now?

As for my own view, I've been content with our communication system. It's been fun to stand apart a little, even when it's hard to explain why you can't reply to someone contacting you IC. That leads to RP too though. If we adhere to this on the guild chat, it'll take some time before many are speaking in it, as opposed to projecting feelings and images. This might frustrate some, but those would probably not follow our communication system anyway. There's both advantages and disadvantages as usual. Our chars might not bond IC in quite the same social way as others do, but they'd be forced to meet up ingame and be creative with their communication. I still think that's interesting to explore, especially if you can actually communicate with thoughts around lvl. 75 or simply if you feel that's best for your individual char, at any time.

Ah, this turned out into a semi-ramble wink Still, let's decide this somewhat quickly, I need to prepare a text about our guild (for your aproval before going public with it of course).

Re: RP Conventions

Having suddenly telepathic abilities just because we have formed a guild (and decided on the colors of our coat of arms *grins*) seems silly to me. That being said, I see no reason why the members of a guild could not, over time, develop a bond that would allow easier communication.

As I mentioned earlier I think the ability to communicate mentally (be it feelings or words) could depend on both the skills of the sender, the physical distance to the receiving homin, the strength of the emotion or thought, as well as how close the sender and receiver are too each other on a personal level. Communication between close friends, lovers, blood relatives, and fellow guildmembers ought to be easier than between complete strangers.

The guidelines of skill level in magic (20 for control, 75 for words) are ok to me. But Im gonna break them as needed if its in favour of good roleplay.

I would imagine that even a skilled magician could loose control with his emotional outbursts if he is aggitated enough, or that an unskilled homin could project a feeling or sense of warning to his closest friend from across a distance.

So basically what Im saying is that we should continue with our present ways.

Last edited by Frakel (2006-11-20 01:07:58)

Re: RP Conventions

I mostly agree with Frakel, with the addition of one thing: the more two Homins have in common and the closer their relations are, the better they can communicate. Experience in this communication helps too, as well as any activity that has something to do with Sap (Namely magic and material prospection).

As for the guild channel, I'd say that it adds another thing "in common" for it's members, and generally makes it a lot easier to "talk" telepathically. Those who have experience in telepathy will find they can communicate with the entire guild almost effortlessly, and those otherwise limited to simple feelings and images will be able to project thoughts (Although that may still be hard for them).

Something like that.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: RP Conventions

I mostly agree as well. Even if it is a bit restricting. And yes I have played it as not solely depending on magic but also on relation and the like.

I certainly don't think there is any reason the guild-channel should be much different at present. I don't know if it would be harder or easier to use the guild-channel.
For one your relationship with guildmates would make it easier.
The fact that you are sending to several people could make it harder (as there are more) or easier (as you are broadcasting instead of focusing on one individual).

-Miho

Re: RP Conventions

And Ill just add that being ´restricted´ to sending images or feelings instead of words is in fact enabling for the RP.

Re: RP Conventions

Ok, I'm glad that's what you think really. You're not taking the easy route out, hehe.

So we'll continue as before, modified a little to what each of us thinks about the lose rules we have in place.

Re: RP Conventions

*sticks his head in*

I agree with Frakel, with Wheri's addition. It's the sensible choice, as far as I can see.

http://ahnion.centralen.net/temp/signature-Seed-community-2.gif

Re: RP Conventions

greetings

I hope you dont mind me adding a few comments to this thread smile

there have been various thoughts on the main forum about our communication abilities, such as this one.

As you may know all homins carry a nanoseed, it links us to Atys and allows for the higher powers to resurrect us at their altars. Normally indestructible however in recent times the Tryker governor Stil Wyler was assassinated and his seed damaged by a Goo weapon (this was a RP event ingame of which there are many)

It is held that these seeds link all homins on Atys and enable us to communicate.

just an idea if you go with 2) smile

region channel should be if not in character then at least concerning Ryzom and not that other land - i have had many good conversations in character using it, but of course you cannot expect all to adhere to this. If people are talking about RL overly then simply asking them to stop, or calling the CSR can help. There are sadly a few people who belong on everyones ignore list and that makes our world a much nicer place.

Universe is a help channel rather than chat, and as such is 100% OOC.

I look forward to meeting some of you soon.

rushin

Last edited by rushin (2006-12-13 02:41:17)