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FreelanceWizard · **07-24-2013, 02:16 PM**

My rule of thumb is, "if you're in public, your RP is public, and others are welcome to join in." Certainly, that's how I play it; if I don't want the possibility of random RPers engaging with me, I won't RP in public. And no, sitting in a public locale and using /party doesn't count as being private. I don't feel that anyone needs to ask permission before engaging with people talking in a public location.

It's important that we as RPers promote this point of view on our servers, because otherwise, people start thinking it's okay to exclude people from public RP -- and that, quite possibly faster than anything else, fires up the accusations of cliquishness and an exclusionary environment. Then, as the RPers so accused "circle the wagons," so to speak, and restrict their RP further to just those they know, they actually create the very situation of which they've been accused. (I'm sure WoW players are intimately familiar with this, since it happened on most, if not all, of their large RP servers.)

Let's not do this.

<soapbox>
So -- to everyone out there -- if you want your RP to be private, do not do it in public. If you RP in the open, you're giving an implicit invitation to others to join in. Think of other people responding IC as the IC Consequence of your IC Action to talk in the open.
</soapbox>

To the OP: if you see me around in public, please feel free to come up and start talking, even if I'm already RPing with someone else. That's part of the fun of RP. I would assume most other RPers would be the same way. There's no need to ask permission first.

EDIT: As others have noticed, there's in public and then there's, well, private in a public area (quasi-private?). Smile

This is not an exhortation to go find RPers anywhere in the entire world; chances are, if someone's gone somewhere off the beaten path that's difficult to easily stumble upon, even if it's not a private instance, and are using /party, they're intending to be private. In that case, an OOC tell is warranted. Both the people trying to be private and those wanting to engage should use their best judgment -- clearly communicating a desire for privacy can require some finesse. Smile

Gideon Aryeh · **07-24-2013, 02:46 PM**

(07-24-2013, 02:16 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: My rule of thumb is, "if you're in public, your RP is public, and others are welcome to join in." Certainly, that's how I play it; if I don't want the possibility of random RPers engaging with me, I won't RP in public. And no, sitting in a public locale and using /party doesn't count as being private. I don't feel that anyone needs to ask permission before engaging with people talking in a public location.

It's important that we as RPers promote this point of view on our servers, because otherwise, people start thinking it's okay to exclude people from public RP -- and that, quite possibly faster than anything else, fires up the accusations of cliquishness and an exclusionary environment. Then, as the RPers so accused "circle the wagons," so to speak, and restrict their RP further to just those they know, they actually create the very situation of which they've been accused. (I'm sure WoW players are intimately familiar with this, since it happened on most, if not all, of their large RP servers.)

Let's not do this.

<soapbox>
So -- to everyone out there -- if you want your RP to be private, do not do it in public. If you RP in the open, you're giving an implicit invitation to others to join in. Think of other people responding IC as the IC Consequence of your IC Action to talk in the open.
</soapbox>

To the OP: if you see me around in public, please feel free to come up and start talking, even if I'm already RPing with someone else. That's part of the fun of RP. I would assume most other RPers would be the same way. There's no need to ask permission first.

EDIT: As others have noticed, there's in public and then there's, well, private in a public area (quasi-private?). This is not an exhortation to go find RPers anywhere in the entire world; chances are, if someone's gone somewhere off the beaten path that's difficult to easily stumble upon, even if it's not a private instance, and are using /party, they're intending to be private. In that case, an OOC tell is warranted. Both the people trying to be private and those wanting to engage should use their best judgment -- clearly communicating a desire for privacy can require some finesse.

Amen

Naunet · **07-24-2013, 04:37 PM**

I'm with FreelanceWizard on this for the most part. If I'm RPing outside of party chat (which is 99% of the time), then it means we want to be heard. However, I will apply a slight caveat to this in that roleplayers wanting to poke into a scene should be aware of the setting currently being RPed. For example, in TERA there is a hall of rooms in one of the main cities (Velika) that a bunch of us have adopted as the go-to location for a friend's character's medical clinic. When we're roleplaying there, we're pretending to be inside a multi-room building; however to an outside observer, it just looks like we're roleplaying out in the open. It's not like we have much choice - there aren't a lot of places in the world where we can pretend to have a clinic. When someone approaches us, we gently and politely let them know where the front door to the clinic is; usually they oblige. But basically the lesson here is to be aware when you want to push into a scene - the RPers you're watching may not be exactly matching the location to the scene they're acting out.

Myxie Tryxle · **07-24-2013, 05:11 PM**

My friends and I play a tabletop game called Fiasco that has an interesting take on the notion of a scene. It's a short game, designed to take just a few hours and result in generally terrible outcomes for all the characters involved. Here's how it works:

You take turns going clockwise around the table with each player making a choice about what type of scene they would like to play. You have two options as the primary: choice of scenery or choice of outcome. If you choose the scenery, the primary gets to set up what sort of scene you want to have and which characters, locations, and other plot points are involved, but everyone else gets to decide the outcome. If you choose outcome, the primary has no input into what sort of scene their character is thrown into but reserves the right to choose how the scene ends for his or her character. Whichever option the primary doesn't choose is then determined by the rest of the group. It should be noted that the outcome is held in reserve and doesn't need to be stated before the scene starts. In fact it is encouraged that you don't state the outcome at the outset of the scene. You can play the scene halfway through, see which way the winds are blowing, then decide the most logical outcome or even invoke an unexpected change in the character's fortunes. Also, the notion of success or failure with unforeseen consequences is encouraged.

While I'm not sure if any of this would be applicable to Final Fantasy roleplay, you may enjoy trying Fiasco out to get a feel for a system where the scenes are the core mechanic. It's a quick game as well. Every time I've played it, it's been hilarious and terrible (the good kind of terrible), and it only takes about two hours for four players.

FreelanceWizard · **07-24-2013, 05:57 PM**

(07-24-2013, 04:37 PM)Naunet Wrote: However, I will apply a slight caveat to this in that roleplayers wanting to poke into a scene should be aware of the setting currently being RPed. (...) But basically the lesson here is to be aware when you want to push into a scene - the RPers you're watching may not be exactly matching the location to the scene they're acting out.

That's a good point. If a group of RPers are in some esoteric but still public place -- in XIV, let's say the tavern in Outer La Noscea on the other side of the ferry -- and you see them RPing publicly but it doesn't seem to make any sense, a tell to ask what's up is probably warranted before you start interacting. Smile

This doesn't mean the group in the location has any claim or authority over it, but they were there doing their RP first, so being especially (one might say "overly") considerate is wise.

That said, if a group of RPers wants to change a scene's setting, they should probably use the most esoteric and off the beaten path place they can find, IMO. In CoH, before we had supergroup bases, we'd use the tops of very tall buildings in the corners of the zones as our "bases." This let us change the scene in a persistent way without having to worry about people accidentally stumbling upon us and getting confused.

I know this next part is really nitpicky, but indulge me. It always rubs me the wrong way when people talk about "poking in," "pushing into," or even "crashing" a scene, in addition to the "disrupting" and "intruding" terms the OP's evidently run into. It comes off -- to me, anyway, but possibly new players too -- as new participants being an unwanted imposition on those already RPing. I'd gently suggest that us more experienced types might use more inclusive language ("joining a scene," "starting your RP," etc.) to not come off as, well, cliquish.

Eva · **07-25-2013, 02:01 AM**

As a point of note this happened with Everwatch. Â While we would have liked to have Free Company housing as it is set up for ARR, it wasn't there. Â We had "set up shop" in the area above the Adders Nest. Â Most of the members of this LS and those who associated with us recognized that this was intended to be regarded as a multi-level facility with segmented rooms. Â We did often conduct RP in /say and we did deal with griefers from time to time (even though most folks were just in there to collect their quest rewards or w/e and be on their way).

I also think that there are some things where an "instance" needs to be established. Â Like to use an example we couldn't be in the Mavanix mansion, but some of us would RP in the Sacrarium and treated it as such. Â Another RPer might have arrived and noticed some RPers probably talking (usually in /party for something like this) but there would need to be made some sort of explanation quickly that the characters involved weren't actually in the Sacrarium but using it as a sort of placeholder for more private RP.

I don't have anything against either style as long as it's communicated quickly and effectively. Â If I come upon some RPers from another group and someone tells me they're not actually there but in someone's private estate to which I wouldn't have access, I'm happy to mozy along on my way and possibly retcon whatever greeting I might have offered. Â This is along a similar vein to more casual RPers who are in "OOC mode" because they're doing progression stuff or their character is supposed to be ICly in an infirmary with a broken leg, etc.

The bottom line here is communication. Â And we might also be a little bit away from the topic of the OP but I think it's an interesting discussion.

To address the point of the OP, when setting up a specific scene I try not to think of any specific outcome. Â Characters themselves will determine that. Â I like to give a general direction and nudge folks in that direction, but if it goes completely haywire or another way that's cool too. Â Being able to react gracefully to the behaviors of other characters that you might not expect, or the arrival of new characters, or whatever oddities may come - I think that's what being a "living character" is all about. Â So that's kind of what I would urge. Â Not necessarily to go at it with no plan or concern for the outcome, but to allow that direction to be changed, and to allow the characters themselves to push and pull at that as they will and transform the experience from something amorphous into... well, whatever they (and you together!) transform it into. Â ^^

God I can't wait to get back into it in ARR~ Â Heart

Martiallais · **07-25-2013, 09:43 AM**

(07-25-2013, 02:01 AM)Eva Wrote: To address the point of the OP, when setting up a specific scene I try not to think of any specific outcome. Â Characters themselves will determine that. Â I like to give a general direction and nudge folks in that direction, but if it goes completely haywire or another way that's cool too. Â Being able to react gracefully to the behaviors of other characters that you might not expect, or the arrival of new characters, or whatever oddities may come - I think that's what being a "living character" is all about. Â So that's kind of what I would urge. Â Not necessarily to go at it with no plan or concern for the outcome, but to allow that direction to be changed, and to allow the characters themselves to push and pull at that as they will and transform the experience from something amorphous into... well, whatever they (and you together!) transform it into. Â ^^

You said it better than I could, thanks. Smile

In a way, I view running an event or a storyline/arc as being very similar to DM'ing a game or acting as the storyteller. Sure you can have a very loose outline, but always, always be prepared for players to do things you don't expect and be able to think/react on the fly to allow things to take their natural course....because no one really likes being railroaded.

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