What would it take to convince you to change a plot?

[Ignacius]

 

I will concede there are some RPers that I am aware of who are in this quagmire or just recently went through it which is why it's fresh in my mind, and yeah, they're not friends anymore. Its really sad.

 

Be lucky it's sad; these can be scary.  The last really big implosion tried to torpedo my IRL marriage.  My wife learned a LOT about recognizing bleed early that day.  Luckily, we keep chatlogs.

[Diskwrite]

I've certainly seen (and experienced the fallout of) that sort of bleed. But in my experience, the real problem happens when someone tries to change the IC situation for OOC reasons- and not all parties are on the same OOC page.

 

If all parties are in agreement OOC about what they want out of the situation, then is there a problem?

 

Different styles can create this kind of conflict themselves, because the players aren't in agreement on what they want out of it and how they approach IC interaction.

[SaintEaon]

If it dies icly, I'm not sure what the problem is? You don't have to execute your storyline with those people specifically. Everyone needs to be on board. This is how things turned out, and if you're dissatisfied with the result, maybe try a simlar plot later with different collaborators or next time include flexibility so as to be able to accommodate different styles and disparate rp goals as the need arises.

 

There is no problem, just making sure.

 

Then I figure everything is cool. The impression I was getting was you were concerned of leaving someone out or being unable to coordinate the two players together so that everyone is happy. Which is a legitimate concern for any considerate player and not at all an issue of bleed without some pretty severe stretches of the imagination, in my opinion.

 

I wouldn't say the situations I had in mind were due to bleed but just bad communication and some people being stubborn. Not everyone is as reasonable as everyone here and if you do end up being the middle man, the older RPer in the provided examples, or the newer RPer what do you do in those responses and I think we can safely conclude that:

 

If you're the older RPer, don't change your story to meet the other two, but if you can do something and it keep to your character you should do it.

 

If you're the middle ground you shouldn't cut out your older friends/other stories for a new one especially if it damages or lessens their experience. You shouldn't change your character's attitudes either, but if the older or newer RPer do something significant that would affect your character, even if it wasn't in the original plan you should react to it. 

 

And if you're the newer RPer, it might suck you maybe didn't know what you signed on for, but if there's some old history coming around you want no part in, you've got the least to lose don't stick around and cause drama. That said you can't ignore that history because its not something you like or thought would happen either. RPers are connected, a lot of what we do in game affects a LOT of other people, you can't just dictate what does and doesn't happen based on your feelings, and if you do, you're a bad RPer.

[Caspar]

If it dies icly, I'm not sure what the problem is? You don't have to execute your storyline with those people specifically. Everyone needs to be on board. This is how things turned out, and if you're dissatisfied with the result, maybe try a simlar plot later with different collaborators or next time include flexibility so as to be able to accommodate different styles and disparate rp goals as the need arises.

 

There is no problem, just making sure.

 

Then I figure everything is cool. The impression I was getting was you were concerned of leaving someone out or being unable to coordinate the two players together so that everyone is happy. Which is a legitimate concern for any considerate player and not at all an issue of bleed without some pretty severe stretches of the imagination, in my opinion.

 

I wouldn't say the situations I had in mind were due to bleed but just bad communication and some people being stubborn. Not everyone is as reasonable as everyone here and if you do end up being the middle man, the older RPer in the provided examples, or the newer RPer what do you do in those responses and I think we can safely conclude that:

 

If you're the older RPer, don't change your story to meet the other two, but if you can do something and it keep to your character you should do it.

 

If you're the middle ground you shouldn't cut out your older friends/other stories for a new one especially if it damages or lessens their experience. You shouldn't change your character's attitudes either, but if the older or newer RPer do something significant that would affect your character, even if it wasn't in the original plan you should react to it. 

 

And if you're the newer RPer, it might suck you maybe didn't know what you signed on for, but if there's some old history coming around you want no part in, you've got the least to lose don't stick around and cause drama. That said you can't ignore that history because its not something you like or thought would happen either. RPers are connected, a lot of what we do in game affects a LOT of other people, you can't just dictate what does and doesn't happen based on your feelings, and if you do, you're a bad RPer.

I'm pretty pessimistic and even I think the bleed fear is really stifling. There's a huge difference to me between being sad a cool opportunity was lost and being mad your character didn't get to do something. If a person is a mature adult, disappointment and ill-feeling fades. For those who have a weak grip on reality, the issue is a lot more volatile. But yes I do think in these situations, you've already sort of have a good thing going, and it sucks for the person joining late, but ideally you have enough flex room to include their story. I definitely think just ret-conning it is not something you should do on a whim, just for example, because you're salty things didn't progress in a way you wanted to.

[Cavistus]

Well, it wouldn't really take me much to change the plot because the plot is always changing. That's kind of the thing about RP; it's all improv--or at least, it should be in my opinion. This has happened a few times in the past couple months for Allister, and I kinda just rolled with it. It's roleplay, it's meant to be fun.

 

I agree with Ignacius about taking extra care to look out for OOC bleed. I've become a bit more cautious recently because of a similar situation. Someone's character developed a crush on Allister; her crush apparently bled OOC and I didn't even notice until it was too late.

 

Long story short, it was nuclear and couldn't have blown up any worse than it did.

 

So yeah, be /really/ careful. Far too many players seem to incorporate OOC feelings into IC and vice versa, and it can seriously damage people if left to fester unchecked or overlooked.

[Larson]

For instance suppose you're deciding to take a character in a newer direction, the status quo's been the same for awhile and you meet some new RPers and start making a plot with them. At some point something happens, it could be from your old RP having some change, it could be something new you learn (be it true or false ICly), how big would it have to be in order to make you change your new plot and plans?

I guess it's as easy as asking me the same question IRL. The answer is "life". Life happens, makes changes, and suddenly plans you had don't seem to be the best idea anymore. It's a bad idea to try to steer yourself toward a goal when everything else is telling you there is something better.

[Jean L]

Honestly, I'm really laid back when it comes to changing stuff. As long as people aren't forcing me to change something about my character I'm pretty open to changing plots.