Just to throw my two gil into the whole "can you / should you randomly interact with others that you see being IC"... Yes, yes you should, in my opinion. It's already been stated that if you're in public, you're in public. That seems like a "period, end of discussion" sort of obvious point.Â
The main rebuttal to that, "but what if they don't have anywhere private they could go" is moot - nothing prevents them from setting up Skype, using email, or even private messages here on this forum. I know lots of people over various MMOs that I've played who do that for scenes where they really want privacy. Do you have you use your imagination 100% for the scenery, etc? Duh. Obviously. But if we're totally fair there, most people do that in-game, too. They'll emote about something going on during the scene that isn't represented by the polygons and avatars (usually because it can't be, because we can't edit the game world to suit the whims of our RP).
It's like the real world - if two people want to have a heated argument, and they do it in their home, then they're probably fine to have that argument. If they do it at a shopping mall, there's a chance that a passer-by may interject their opinion, or a possibility someone may misunderstand the context of the argument or the hostility level and things could get taken an unanticipated direction.
This unpredictability is part of the fun of RP, and it can also be a neat way to acquire some new IC friends (or antagonists).
All of this, though, does fall under the usual umbrella of "be respectful to other players OOCly". If you try to interact with them and they ask you OOCly, "Hey, I know we're out in public and everything, but we have kinda limited time and it's really important to our story that this part of it goes as-intended, could we maybe hook up for random RP another day instead of right now?", then hey, be cool to them and let them do their thing.
tl;dr - My opinion is that there's no need to ever specify you're open to walk-up RP. If you're IC in public, you're open to it. A polite OOC request for privacy should be respected, but privacy-in-public shouldn't be considered a default condition.
The main rebuttal to that, "but what if they don't have anywhere private they could go" is moot - nothing prevents them from setting up Skype, using email, or even private messages here on this forum. I know lots of people over various MMOs that I've played who do that for scenes where they really want privacy. Do you have you use your imagination 100% for the scenery, etc? Duh. Obviously. But if we're totally fair there, most people do that in-game, too. They'll emote about something going on during the scene that isn't represented by the polygons and avatars (usually because it can't be, because we can't edit the game world to suit the whims of our RP).
It's like the real world - if two people want to have a heated argument, and they do it in their home, then they're probably fine to have that argument. If they do it at a shopping mall, there's a chance that a passer-by may interject their opinion, or a possibility someone may misunderstand the context of the argument or the hostility level and things could get taken an unanticipated direction.
This unpredictability is part of the fun of RP, and it can also be a neat way to acquire some new IC friends (or antagonists).
All of this, though, does fall under the usual umbrella of "be respectful to other players OOCly". If you try to interact with them and they ask you OOCly, "Hey, I know we're out in public and everything, but we have kinda limited time and it's really important to our story that this part of it goes as-intended, could we maybe hook up for random RP another day instead of right now?", then hey, be cool to them and let them do their thing.
tl;dr - My opinion is that there's no need to ever specify you're open to walk-up RP. If you're IC in public, you're open to it. A polite OOC request for privacy should be respected, but privacy-in-public shouldn't be considered a default condition.
Lydia Lightfoot ~ The Reliquarian's Guild «Relic» ~ Lavender Beds, Ward 12, #41
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
