I'm, personally, of the mindset that OOC achievement =/= IC capability. Does it help with immersion to be level capped and decked out in shiny, character-appropriate gear? Absolutely. Is it necessary in order to demonstrate your character is competent in what they say they do? No. For me, that's all about the other player's portrayal of the character and whether or not it convinces me of their knowledge and experience.Â
I've encountered a plethora of "highly skilled ______" who I've rolled my eyes at in the past, but it was never because of what I saw when my cursor hovered over their character-- it was because of poor writing, shoddy character development, and usually a clear impression that they weren't writing a powerful character for a good reason, but were just doing so for the power trip. Frankly, I've rolled my eyes at just about as many level-capped characters for this reason as I have low-level characters.
That said, I've actually seen some fairly nasty behavior from both sides of this argument-- as much from the "Well, I won't take you seriously unless you're level capped" camp as from the "I'm level 25 and playing a 40+ old war veteran with boatloads of experience" side. I've seen level-capped characters break the laws of lore and existence, bordering on godmodding behavior, in games while fighting lower level characters. I've seen level capped characters pick fights with low-level characters only to refuse to partake in IC combat unless the in game duel mechanics were used. Why? Because they were a higher level and/or better geared and were, apparently, out to prove something.
If you can substantiate your character's IC achievements with OOC mechanics, then that's awesome. When I see someone who's obviously very progressed into a game, who has clearly put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into achieving what they have, I am absolutely impressed and, on an OOC level, I'm probably bowing down to them at my keyboard. But not everyone has that kind of time to devote to games. Some people play these games exclusively for RP and thus either only level in order to supplement that RP, or don't level much at all. Heck, there have been games in the past for me where I never hit level cap at all but played the thing for years. Why? Because I wound up hating the game mechanics themselves but found myself pulled into the RP scene enough that I stuck around just for that. I just don't find it fair to tell people who may have limited time or even capability that they have not earned the right to play an experienced character, despite whatever storytelling capabilities they might bring to the table.
In the end though, if someone's trying to lord their "all-powerfulness" over another character -- be it imaginary or substantiated in mechanics--- their game progression or level is irrelevant, if you ask me. Someone who's issuing OOC threats regarding their character's "particular set of skills" (~ Liam Neeson) or are trying to shoehorn their alleged badassery into RP will be just as obnoxious at level 60 as they would be at level 5.
I've encountered a plethora of "highly skilled ______" who I've rolled my eyes at in the past, but it was never because of what I saw when my cursor hovered over their character-- it was because of poor writing, shoddy character development, and usually a clear impression that they weren't writing a powerful character for a good reason, but were just doing so for the power trip. Frankly, I've rolled my eyes at just about as many level-capped characters for this reason as I have low-level characters.
That said, I've actually seen some fairly nasty behavior from both sides of this argument-- as much from the "Well, I won't take you seriously unless you're level capped" camp as from the "I'm level 25 and playing a 40+ old war veteran with boatloads of experience" side. I've seen level-capped characters break the laws of lore and existence, bordering on godmodding behavior, in games while fighting lower level characters. I've seen level capped characters pick fights with low-level characters only to refuse to partake in IC combat unless the in game duel mechanics were used. Why? Because they were a higher level and/or better geared and were, apparently, out to prove something.
If you can substantiate your character's IC achievements with OOC mechanics, then that's awesome. When I see someone who's obviously very progressed into a game, who has clearly put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into achieving what they have, I am absolutely impressed and, on an OOC level, I'm probably bowing down to them at my keyboard. But not everyone has that kind of time to devote to games. Some people play these games exclusively for RP and thus either only level in order to supplement that RP, or don't level much at all. Heck, there have been games in the past for me where I never hit level cap at all but played the thing for years. Why? Because I wound up hating the game mechanics themselves but found myself pulled into the RP scene enough that I stuck around just for that. I just don't find it fair to tell people who may have limited time or even capability that they have not earned the right to play an experienced character, despite whatever storytelling capabilities they might bring to the table.
In the end though, if someone's trying to lord their "all-powerfulness" over another character -- be it imaginary or substantiated in mechanics--- their game progression or level is irrelevant, if you ask me. Someone who's issuing OOC threats regarding their character's "particular set of skills" (~ Liam Neeson) or are trying to shoehorn their alleged badassery into RP will be just as obnoxious at level 60 as they would be at level 5.
![[Image: mO8aEaH.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/mO8aEaH.jpg)
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