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How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly?


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Poll: How important is OOC level/Achievement?
You do not have permission to vote in this poll.
Not important at all.
55.56%
60 55.56%
Somewhat important.
37.04%
40 37.04%
Very important.
7.41%
8 7.41%
Total 108 vote(s) 100%
* You voted for this item. [Show Results]

How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly?
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Parvacakev
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#211
06-29-2015, 06:34 AM
My personal opinion varies on a case by case basis as well as the individual involved. If it's someone I know with a preplanned character for story? Sure. I knew a guild on WoW where someone played an antagonist who was mostly level 60 while everyone else was 85 or so but treated him like a badass. That was preplanned and agreed to be such.

If it's someone more random, walk up level 1 who tries to drag my character into an alley? I'm more inclined to be biased towards the level.

Usually I try not to let it effect my judgement as long as the ones involved are good at RPing and doing what they do. Smile

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#212
06-29-2015, 07:20 AM
(06-29-2015, 06:34 AM)Lililove Wrote: My personal opinion varies on a case by case basis as well as the individual involved. If it's someone I know with a preplanned character for story? Sure. I knew a guild on WoW where someone played an antagonist who was mostly level 60 while everyone else was 85 or so but treated him like a badass. That was preplanned and agreed to be such.

If it's someone more random, walk up level 1 who tries to drag my character into an alley? I'm more inclined to be biased towards the level.

Usually I try not to let it effect my judgement as long as the ones involved are good at RPing and doing what they do. Smile

This. ^
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#213
06-29-2015, 07:49 AM
(06-29-2015, 05:50 AM)Caspar Wrote: Whoah there gumshoe, indoor voices. XD
Lol sorry ^^; my phone formatted weirdly. Twas not my intention. (Hopefully it won't do it again).

I guess my confusion lies in the picking and choosing of OOC mechanics.  To me, if someone looks at my character and says 'lvl 50 monk.', then they should also be saying 'lvl 9 conjurer. Lvl 43 bard. Lvl 34 dragoon.'

Which forces upon me a degree of power and Mary Sueism I frankly don't want. But. .. lvl matters, right?

Additionally, I should RP that I have 2 retainers, behemoth and magitek mounts, 2 dozen minions- should I RP all the times I died while leveling?

Oh god..  are we all just zombies and Eorzea is actually an apocalyptic world? Sad
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#214
06-29-2015, 08:02 AM
(06-29-2015, 07:49 AM)Magellan Wrote:
(06-29-2015, 05:50 AM)Caspar Wrote: Whoah there gumshoe, indoor voices. XD
Lol sorry ^^; my phone formatted weirdly. Twas not my intention. (Hopefully it won't do it again).

I guess my confusion lies in the picking and choosing of OOC mechanics.  To me, if someone looks at my character and says 'lvl 50 monk.', then they should also be saying 'lvl 9 conjurer. Lvl 43 bard. Lvl 34 dragoon.'

Which forces upon me a degree of power and Mary Sueism I frankly don't want. But. .. lvl matters, right?

Additionally, I should RP that I have 2 retainers, behemoth and magitek mounts, 2 dozen minions- should I RP all the times I died while leveling?

Oh god..  are we all just zombies and Eorzea is actually an apocalyptic world? Sad

On the bright side, I have yet to find any Cazadores (thank the twelve)

All jokes aside, things like this are always going to be a problem due to how large the rp community. As I said before myself, I try to only limit myself by level and check others levels to see how how much work they have put into their characters. It alwasy going to come down to whatever mind set of the people involved after all.
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#215
06-29-2015, 08:50 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2015, 09:00 AM by Blue.)
(06-29-2015, 07:49 AM)Magellan Wrote: Should I RP all the times I died while leveling?

Oh god..  are we all just zombies and Eorzea is actually an apocalyptic world? Sad

Nitpicky Space!
The NPC by the Aetheryte in the lv1 Coming to X quest explains that we are not really dead when we lose a battle. Rather, we are on the brink of death, but our aether instead of returning to the Lifestream as per all living things Returns (HAH, get it? Return) to the aetheryte we are most attuned with (Home Point) and takes back the form of our physical body, much like we do when we cast Return IC without being incapacitated. Our body "remembers" where to return and escapes the grasp of death into the Lifestream thanks to our capacity to attune to aetherytes.

We are immortals!

No, jokes aside, we shouldn't RP it as immortality, but this is how it works In-Game. Me, I prefer to say someone found me consciousless and brought me back in town and left me at the aetheryte under care of the guards.

ON TOPIC:

I have mentioned age and career time in my first post on this thread as the things I look at the most to determine how powerful a character is versus mine, but another came to mind: gear, type of weapon and context.

To make it short, if a Machinist comes up to me in Costa del Sol and shoots me while I'm in a swimsuit, and my character is notoriously shitty at dodging (most of them are), then yeah... I won't kill my character, but I'll at the very least send the machinist a tell and warn them that this will cause a serious wound on my character and that they will have to accept the consequences of it, which range from them having to find a way to save me (or if they don't, I can have NPCs do it, it's fine), to get a bounty on their head and be wanted in the area (in that case, he shouldn't so happily stroll in Limsa Lominsa. If I catch him do it IC, he will have to deal with being chased down by the guards/possibly arrested) and so on, or to be hunted down by my other adventuring friends seeking revenge, etc. etc.

In short, if a character has all the context to overpower me, I will accept that, but they'll find out that there's consequences to be dealt with, and often times I find that a lot of B/A RPers don't want to deal with them. Which is kinda...sad.

I do have one Badass character, Jet'a, and he has had consequences to deal with his actions. The results? He's now permanently limping (he needs his staff to walk), and in one of our most recent roleplays his leg injury caused him and another person to fall down a pitch and not being able to climb back out (they had to be rescued, which was humiliating for Jet'a, but what could he do?). Not only that, but during the fall he also got an injury on his chest that during the time at the bottom of the crevasse (a few days) turned into a Very Bad infection and nearly killed him.

You can be badass and still be mortal, is all I'm saying. And as many have stated out, flaws are often the source of the most meaningful RPs.

To be an interesting, intriguing, well-written character, there needs to be something to allow the audience to relate to them. That is what the problem is with who wants their character to be "perfect". Perfect characters will never be strong, and strong characters will never be perfect, because WE (those who read, who watch, who RP) are not perfect.

"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#216
06-29-2015, 09:11 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2015, 09:12 AM by FreelanceWizard.)
(06-29-2015, 07:49 AM)Magellan Wrote: I guess my confusion lies in the picking and choosing of OOC mechanics.  To me, if someone looks at my character and says 'lvl 50 monk.', then they should also be saying 'lvl 9 conjurer. Lvl 43 bard. Lvl 34 dragoon.'

Which forces upon me a degree of power and Mary Sueism I frankly don't want. But. .. lvl matters, right?

Additionally, I should RP that I have 2 retainers, behemoth and magitek mounts, 2 dozen minions- should I RP all the times I died while leveling?

Oh god..  are we all just zombies and Eorzea is actually an apocalyptic world? Sad

We all pick and choose what OOC mechanics we follow and how much of the game's story we weave into our own; a great example is ignoring the fact that the mechanical day-night cycle is greatly accelerated. I don't know of anyone who RPs that the day in Eorzea is only 72 minutes long. It doesn't follow, in my mind, that choosing to ignore some OOC mechanics means you must also ignore all of them, nor that the converse is true. The choice isn't binary.

In the poll, I voted level "sometimes matters" for two reasons. One, it's a quick and dirty measure of power that can be applied when there's no other alternatives. When would this matter? As Lililove noted, if some random level 1 tough starts making threats against my character with no OOC discussion or prearrangement, she's simply not going to take him seriously. It's a filter, more or less, against random assertions of power. Communication, as always, is key; I have no problem with a level 1 antagonist being super-scary if we have that discussion first.

Two, for those of us who RP the progression of our characters in expertise over time, it serves as a sort of benchmark for our own character's power. I never RP my character having any real expertise in an area where she has no, or few, levels. I RP her highest level and most practiced class as where her primary combat expertise lies. For L'yhta, that's thaumaturgy. This is a personal benchmark, mind you, not a way to say that she's more powerful than other thaumaturges that are lower level than she is. Level and the abilities that come with it also give me a benchmark of the boundaries of power for a class and how they expand as a character grows.

Now, when we're talking about things like dueling and rolling, while I like a level modifier as a way of showing relative expertise between characters, I have no issue with falling back on "superhero balance logic" and saying that everyone who asserts some expertise is balanced enough that chance is the defining factor (in fact, this is the core mechanic on which the Tower's Story Engine game system operates). However, that's a courtesy I extend when we have some discussion about exactly what's going on. I'm not going to concede to flat /random in an arcanima drawing contest when the opposition RPs a Doman merchant with no magical knowledge, just as I wouldn't deign to ask for that in a sword-and-board fight with no magic involved when the fight's between L'yhta and a trained gladiator. Instead, I would just lose, since that's the correct result given the situation.

My larger point is that level, to me, does have a place in our understanding of the world. I suppose this comes from my tabletop RPG experience, where no one would RP a 15th level fighter if they wanted to be terrible in a fight, or throw 10 points in Dexterity + Brawl on a Brujah and RP that they've never thrown a punch and know nothing of combat. The mechanics of the game don't cover everything, but they do, I think, matter, at least to some degree.

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#217
06-29-2015, 09:24 AM
(06-29-2015, 09:11 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: In the poll, I voted level "sometimes matters" for two reasons. One, it's a quick and dirty measure of power that can be applied when there's no other alternatives. When would this matter? As Lililove noted, if some random level 1 tough starts making threats against my character with no OOC discussion or prearrangement, she's simply not going to take him seriously. It's a filter, more or less, against random assertions of power. Communication, as always, is key; I have no problem with a level 1 antagonist being super-scary if we have that discussion first.

...

Now, when we're talking about things like dueling and rolling, while I like a level modifier as a way of showing relative expertise between characters, I have no issue with falling back on "superhero balance logic" and saying that everyone who asserts some expertise is balanced enough that chance is the defining factor (in fact, this is the core mechanic on which the Tower's Story Engine game system operates). However, that's a courtesy I extend when we have some discussion about exactly what's going on. I'm not going to concede to flat /random in an arcanima drawing contest when the opposition RPs a Doman merchant with no magical knowledge, just as I wouldn't deign to ask for that in a sword-and-board fight with no magic involved when the fight's between L'yhta and a trained gladiator. Instead, I would just lose, since that's the correct result given the situation.

That... makes a fair bit of sense. Again, I'm the sort that doesn't tie OOC level to IC ability at all, but I can definitely see that working. Not sure how seriously to take some walk-up who is trying to attack you? Check their level! Still, I would figure the idea of some random dude coming up to punch you in the face for no reason would be a problem in and of itself. Unless it's supposed to be some situation where they mistook you for someone else... which would be a pretty funny RP situation.

I also like the idea of when to use rolls - when there's a legit amount of chance involved considering folks are on a similar level - but then that still raises the question of how you identify being on a close enough level to commit things to chance. If one ties OOC levels closely to IC power, then it would likely be those of similar levels (which I suppose is a decent enough metric to go on - those of us who don't have to rely on a lot more guesswork and communication in that regard). But even then, what level range would qualify as "similar level"? Exact levels or a range (and how much of a range if so)? At what point, if you use OOC levels as a gauge, is someone "too high above" or "too far below" your own character's "power level" to deal with on a level playing field?

Ultimately, though, I think all of this contemplation seems to regard mostly to walk-up RP with someone you don't know. If it's a friend or FC-mate or whatever that you know well enough and have spent enough time with, you might be willing to give them more of a pass when they try to present a power level that might be discordant with their actual level. Or, if it's a villain character or some other event situation that bolsters one's power above the norm (either temporarily or permanently). Am I wrong in my assumption on this?

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#218
06-29-2015, 09:46 AM
Taking a step back from this, I've sneaking suspicion most of us in this thread are talking about extreme cases. It would be discouraging to think people have a hard fast rule of 'no lower level can be powerful', but reading people's comments I do not believe this to be the case.

Just as most of us don't want to end up rping with that guy (or girl) who is Uber ultra levels of strong, despite having just arrived oocly in Eorzea, having no grasp of lore, or even what constitutes as 'strength' in this backdrop. That's just bad writing.

I wouldn't want people to use my ooc lvl to ascertain my character is a monk. They should only deduce that based off of IC look or actions. Just as I'd rather people judge my character's strength (or lack of) based off of IC actions. When I RP, I'm expecting others to react/respond/critique my writing skills/talents, not what I've done PvE, which I hold as completely separate.

To each their own I guess :0)
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#219
06-29-2015, 09:52 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2015, 10:00 AM by FreelanceWizard.)
(06-29-2015, 09:24 AM)Gegenji Wrote: That... makes a fair bit of sense. Again, I'm the sort that doesn't tie OOC level to IC ability at all, but I can definitely see that working. Not sure how seriously to take some walk-up who is trying to attack you? Check their level! Still, I would figure the idea of some random dude coming up to punch you in the face for no reason would be a problem in and of itself. Unless it's supposed to be some situation where they mistook you for someone else... which would be a pretty funny RP situation.

I also like the idea of when to use rolls - when there's a legit amount of chance involved considering folks are on a similar level - but then that still raises the question of how you identify being on a close enough level to commit things to chance. If one ties OOC levels closely to IC power, then it would likely be those of similar levels (which I suppose is a decent enough metric to go on - those of us who don't have to rely on a lot more guesswork and communication in that regard). But even then, what level range would qualify as "similar level"? Exact levels or a range (and how much of a range if so)? At what point, if you use OOC levels as a gauge, is someone "too high above" or "too far below" your own character's "power level" to deal with on a level playing field?

Ultimately, though, I think all of this contemplation seems to regard mostly to walk-up RP with someone you don't know. If it's a friend or FC-mate or whatever that you know well enough and have spent enough time with, you might be willing to give them more of a pass when they try to present a power level that might be discordant with their actual level. Or, if it's a villain character or some other event situation that bolsters one's power above the norm (either temporarily or permanently). Am I wrong in my assumption on this?

I guess I've run into enough "I made a level 1 character to try to beat up/threaten/do worse things to people" characters that I've gotten cynical about the whole thing (much like how I'm cynical about law enforcement RP). Sad If the person comes up to me and says, "Hey, I want to have my character punch yours in a mistaken identity thing" OOC, though, I'm all for that!

In terms of leaving things to chance, I give a pretty wide leeway for that. If a character's RPed as a professional mage, and they're having a magic duel with L'yhta, I'm fine with it being decided on random rolls. If they're RPing a clumsy arcanist barely able to summon, much less control, a carbuncle -- regardless of level -- then no, I'm not going to let it ride. That's sort of a non-answer, though, particularly since it's subjective and based on how people RP their characters. Smile That's where a /random modifier can come into play. I like Level x 10 myself; this puts a 20 level difference at a 20% difference in ability. The exact modifier would be to taste, though, depending on who's involved. Level x 20 is a bigger spread but lets a 50 squish a 1 trivially; Level x 50 makes level extremely important and shrinks the "plausible" spread to 20 levels.

In general, though, I agree that with people I know, I'm far more willing to let things flow in a freeform way and let people declare what they want as long as it's plausible. At events, I'll go with whatever the event organizer says the rules are -- it's their story, so I play by their rules. If the rules don't work for me, I'll just bow out. Personally, though, I don't find it exactly plausible to RP a class at level 1 as being an archmage. Backstory's great and all, but when one uses backstory to make their character instantly awesome, they eliminate an entire opportunity for character growth and struggle. I'd look askance at a member of, say, my FC making assertions like that outside of some other discussion.

Also, as a side note, I'm at least not talking about metagaming classes and levels. The "level as power" thing I said is really a function of "my character sizes up the threat presented by yours in a snap decision -- what does she think?" Think of the use of level there as the result of her making a Perception + Tactics check in a game system. She doesn't know your class, she doesn't know what you can do, but she does know a relative level of threat (again, in absence of any other discussion).

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#220
06-29-2015, 10:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2015, 10:49 AM by Dis.)
So, on giving this further thought, I have a genuine inquiry, in regards to power level versus back story versus character level. 
 
When Ninja first released, a friend of mine decided he wanted a level 50 Ninja, but he didn’t want that Ninja to be his main character, who had a fully fleshed out back story.  Instead, he opted to level up a new character, who he gave a very cursory backstory to.  We spent ten minutes sussing out that character’s story based on what bit of lore about Ninja we had, and off he went, leveling that toon.
 
Within less than two days, he’d hit 50, completed all of the MSQ, and was in full Syrcus Tower gear, thanks to my queueing with him as my main, who was at the time a White Mage. 
 
I made a character at the same time, also a Ninja.  I spent a good week working on her backstory,history, personality, character concepts. During that time I managed to level her to 30.  She’s still 30, because my FC was lacking a dedicated tank, and that meant going back to my main to level her up, because it was needed at the time. 
 
I role-played that character more than a dozen times, and always played that she was a ninja from Doma, who was sent ahead with her partner, and the pair of them had been slumming it as pugilists, trying to expand their skills and not show off the fact they had and knew more than they appeared to.  I spent a week getting her to 30, as I was working on her story.  I didn’t feel a need to rush her to max level, and still don’t, even now that she’s an Au Ra, and her story adjusted accordingly (only minor tweaking was needed). 
 
Given that my friends Ninja is/was 50, and my Ninja was only 30, but had a richer backstory and was more fleshed out as an individual, would he honestly be taken more seriously as a character, just based on his OOC level?  In comparative time spent, even though I leveled much slower, I put more cumulative work into that character, especially in role-play.  Would I then be told I hadn’t dedicated enough to her because I spent more time RPing her than I did playing her in PvE?
 
Further, Freelance, I don’t think that just a look (at someone’s character level) can be a good judge. Glioca, for example, carries herself very nonchalantly, and looking at her, people would have a hard time thinking she was a swordswoman who also used conjury to supplement herself as she fought. She’s usually in pants and a loose top, and rarely wears full plate, the closest she's come is now that she's in armor plated boots, but cloth everything else.  She looks more like a bum/pirate right now than she does a skilled paladin, but that’s precisely what her character levels say she is. 
 
Her character levels also no longer reflect that she’s more skilled in conjury than she is with sword fighting.  How would you gauge that disparity just by looking at my cumulative character levels? Would your character assume she’s a better swordswoman than anything else?  If (huge if) we got into a fight,would you decry me using conjury one-handed, as she often does, with her rune-covered sword as a kind of focus to cast? Would using more than one set of skills be considered god-moding?  At what point do we cease to look at character levels and look solely at someone's role-play skill as a gauge of how powerful they are?  Are we all just too bitter because of past experiences, and letting those experiences cloud our judgments a players, and therefore shut ourselves out of potential interactions that could be fun just because someone doesn't 'measure up' on an OOC level?
 
I’m not going for a sarcastic angle here, and apologize if anyone reads it as such, but I’m honestly curious what the answers to these questions are.  Only a little sorry for the wall of text.

(Edited for formatting because wtf forum, y u do dis to me?)

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#221
06-29-2015, 12:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2015, 12:58 PM by Roda.)
(06-29-2015, 01:36 AM)Magellan Wrote: So... for people who equate ooc level to ic experience...  do you just not have a backstory? To have a backstory seems completely arbitrary if it has nothing to do with who your character is in the here and now.


Does your character just get plopped down in the middle of Eorzea fully grown?


My current character, a Doman monk, didn't train in Eorzea. Nor will she. Her particular set of skills is completely different from Ul'dah pgl guild training, so how is level even remotely relevant? 


A characters life experience dictates their weaknesses and strengths. Not some ooc mechanic that again, can only be acknowledged via meta - gaming.
For me, typically my character is created the moment her story begins.
Sure she has a history, but I try to not make it more exciting or more impressive than what I play, because who wants to play the second most interesting point in their character's lives? I like that it leaves me lots of room for character growth than starting out as an expert.

To take your character as an example, I wouldn't find that too weird, but I'd have them start out as beginner-intermediate martial artist as they enter Eorzea and have them train at the pugilist guild under another Doman refugee as their mentor.
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#222
06-29-2015, 01:01 PM
Well, I can't speak to the level 30 versus level 50 thing, since my angle on levels mattering doesn't have much to say on that. If you have the backstory that you're a ninja and you have levels in the class, then you are what you say you are and let's go from there. I'm not going to look at the relative levels and say, "welp, you're a trainee and he's the expert, 'cause he's got 20 levels on you." In a relative way with nothing else in consideration, sure, he might be somewhat more skilled when judging by level alone. I can't stress enough how, for me at least, level is but one of several elements in determining plausibility, and it's not even the most important one.

(06-29-2015, 10:46 AM)Glioca Sargonnai Wrote: Further, Freelance, I don’t think that just a look (at someone’s character level) can be a good judge. Glioca, for example, carries herself very nonchalantly, and looking at her, people would have a hard time thinking she was a swordswoman who also used conjury to supplement herself as she fought. She’s usually in pants and a loose top, and rarely wears full plate, the closest she's come is now that she's in armor plated boots, but cloth everything else.  She looks more like a bum/pirate right now than she does a skilled paladin, but that’s precisely what her character levels say she is. 
 
Her character levels also no longer reflect that she’s more skilled in conjury than she is with sword fighting.  How would you gauge that disparity just by looking at my cumulative character levels? Would your character assume she’s a better swordswoman than anything else?  If (huge if) we got into a fight,would you decry me using conjury one-handed, as she often does, with her rune-covered sword as a kind of focus to cast? Would using more than one set of skills be considered god-moding?  At what point do we cease to look at character levels and look solely at someone's role-play skill as a gauge of how powerful they are?  Are we all just too bitter because of past experiences, and letting those experiences cloud our judgments a players, and therefore shut ourselves out of potential interactions that could be fun just because someone doesn't 'measure up' on an OOC level?

L'yhta often wears clothes that you wouldn't associate with someone of her level of power. I fully expect people to respond differently to her when she's in a hempen camise and spring skirt with no visible weapon than when she's decked out in her combat outfit, with high Allagan jewelry, a cashmere robe, and a staff that glows like a shooting star. Likewise, she reacts differently to people based on their clothes, too. Smile

Again, for me -- and I sure don't speak for anyone other than myself Smile -- the snap judgment involving character level is in the absence of any other information. If I don't know anything about your character, and we've never RPed, and the first thing you do is come up and threaten to smash L'yhta's face in, I have exactly two things I can work from to inform how she reacts: your appearance and your character level. The first is obvious and the second I finesse on the basis of "hey, she's a skilled adventurer, she can get a read on threats based on how they carry themselves." (Again, I'm excluding other sources of information, such as you emoting that you explicitly try to act less tough than you are.) If you're decked out in awesome gear and are level 50, she's going to react rather differently than if you're in hempen gear and are level 1. Note that nowhere in here does she know class or level in any way as an IC thing.

So, in the example given, L'yhta's snap judgment is going to go along the lines of, "this person is a fairly skilled combatant who's currently unarmed and unarmored." Where things go from there depend on what she's wearing and doing, her mood, and so on. It also depends on the emote, but for a person who's clearly attempting to RP and doing so within the bounds of their level, I'd generally offer at least the courtesy of an OOC tell asking what's up and where they're planning on going with this. I would presume if we were actually going to get into a fight, there'd be some OOC discussion about that first, too -- what the intended outcome is and how we plan to resolve it, for instance.

Now, again, I'm speaking of a fairly specific situation in open RP (albeit one that is sadly fairly common -- if not so much in XIV at least, since we're awesome Big Grin ). If we're talking about RP in general, it's all about plausibility. Level is but one of many factors of plausibility -- there's compatibility with lore, sensibility of story, proportionality of responses, the Three Thing Rule, how well a character concept fits together with itself, and so on. I realize not everyone includes level in their factoring of plausibility, and that's fine. Rarely do I find that it overrides other considerations, since there's usually something else wrong when it comes to plausibility when a person wants to call down meteors or instantly chop limbs off. Smile

I'm not a big fan of "how well do they RP" as the final determiner of plausibility, since I've seen some talented writers write some extremely unbalanced characters and get unhappy when they don't get to win all the time. Like I said, for me, plausibility is made up of a lot of different things. Level just happens to be one of them. So, to answer your final question, I never use role-play skill as the singular measure of the power allocable to a character, unless you're wrapping up everything I put into the plausibility bucket under that banner. Smile

Also, I want to say that I've never once in XIV actually had the situation of the low level character in starting gear getting in my face with threats and claims of superiority. That sort of behavior seems to be reserved for Certain Other MMOs, though I may just not see it as much since I don't typically RP in the big hotspots for IC reasons.

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#223
06-29-2015, 01:20 PM
Level is the best determining factor in making a snap decision, because it is all a stranger can see.  If you're going to RP combat situations with people you don't know a LOT, then you should put that time in, because while this is an RPG, it is also an MMO, and the factors simply must mix together.  To what extent varies, but it's the way of things. At least it is in my opinion.
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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#224
06-29-2015, 01:23 PM
Going to second Freelance and Tyndles on this: in absence of any experience with a fellow roleplayer and in absence of any familiarity with them or their character, appearance and level are two big factors, if not the two biggest factors, in making a snap decision or a judgment call on the fly. That's my outlook and I'm not surprised to see that a few others, at least, share it.

Put another way: if OoC I know nothing of you or your character, what you're wearing and the level of your avatar are going to be very important in how my character reacts to yours IC.

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RE: How important is OOC achievement when playing a powerful character ICly? |
#225
06-29-2015, 01:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2015, 01:41 PM by -no longer matters-.)
For text based stuff, I can deal with it, it's just story after all, not like we're going to clear content... but if someone tries to do combat with me, and aren't willing to do dice roll system with a character sheet I'm going to walk away regardless of level or achievments.

I've never been into the "text based fighting" without some sort of outside moderation (Dice or Outside moderator.) to stop god modding.

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