Roleplaying in Public, but not..in public?

[Unnamed Mercenary]

This is based on a false equivalency. A forum post has a totally different purpose than semi-public RP.

 

Does it? Please explain how a forum post here is at all different from an RP post made on the street in the middle of Ul'dah. How is it acceptable to randomly respond, without personal invitation to do so, to one of these, but not the other?

 

I t was touched upon by some others previously, but a forum post has a tacit understanding of being open to replies. This is literally the purpose of a forum. If the same question had been through other channels, say a direct chat or a private message, then it would be obviously clear that the text was meant for specific people to respond to.

 

Forums largely do not match up with typing text in-game, but RPC does have a perfect example of a board that does. Town Hall. And when we look at the threads in that forum, it's pretty easy to tell when and where unexpected additions to that RP scene are welcomed or not.

 

Typically [open] tagged threads are completely free for all. They're meant for anyone to join in, provided they can keep up with the flow of the thread or write their exit in if they choose to leave.

 

Then we have [closed] tagged threads which are still being RPed out in public, but aren't open to the public. I doubt the people who organized the thread would really appreciate random people posting in it. If anything, the posts would be deemed off-topic, get reported, and then be removed. If all RP happened in private, the general feeling of a community would likely die. RP would become incredibly clustered and it would be near-impossible to integrate new people who didn't already have some sort of connection. As others have also said, watching RP can be nice too, whether that's happening ICly or OOCly.

 

Then we get into the fuzzier tags which can have any range of meanings. Things like [semi-open], [semi-closed], and [ask first]. In the threads I've seen and read containing these tags, there's usually an out of character message with some context and possible means for getting involved. It usually means sending a message to someone active in the thread and asking to join in.

 

Then we have tags like [story] or [journal] which are basically the same as [closed], but often not collaborative writing to even begin with. They're typically single-person or at least single-perspective. Just like a closed tag, you wouldn't just go and start typing some response in someone else's thread that was marked clearly as not for that purpose.

 

--

 

In game though? We don't have some sure-fire way of telling other people what status a given scene is. And the context of openness varies upon when, where and who is involved. Because even if two people were RPing some romantic dinner in the Quicksand of all places, you probably wouldn't just sit down at their table and start eating their food and expect them to handle that well. Maybe some people would! Or it'd turn into a different kind of scene! But it also wouldn't be unexpected for the couple to either ignore you or to ask that you not disrupt their RP. Or maybe they'd leave, noting that the Quicksand needs to keep an eye on their disruptive patrons or something. Social boundaries aren't white and black. And just like the real world, most people aren't going to initiate communication with every single person they encounter. Sometimes there's an obvious hook. Sometimes the people are complete strangers. Players RPing have their own preferences about the do's and don'ts.

[Silmanos]

In regards to fc events people need to realize thst while they may be private it is not always possible to keep them in private channels. This is especially true for the larger fcs. As an example I was part of a fc event that exceeded thirty playes. These thirty players were then split into three separate groups to accomplish different tasks. Now because they were larger than eight they could not use party chat, and the ls was for communication between the three teams. So where does this leave them in views of those here? Some of you suggested linkshells... well no fc is going to have four linkshells and thst is a ridculous thing to even suggest. Hells I have a single slot for a fc ls, the rest are taken. So they needs must use say and emote and yet the event is still private. Of course people can still attempt to walk up,  but should be understanding and respectful. The fc of course should never get the response of 'Well if it isn't public use a different channel.'

[Dravus]

At the end of the day, not everybody is fond of showing up to events or joining a Free Company in order to be given the 'privilege' of access to some consistent role-play. There's a lot of people who prefer to simply walk up to other characters that they see out and about and try their luck.

 

Not everybody is going to have the same approach. Or the same standards. I'd politely excuse myself if I felt like someone approaching me in the game world wasn't a good fit for what I'm after.

 

At the same time, though, I've been singed enough times during my time on Balmung to realise just how difficult it can be to actually find role-play even as someone who is rather outgoing. I dread to think how much worse it is for those who are a lot more shy and reclusive but push themselves out there regardless.

 

If they're told, multiple times by multiple people that they can't join in with a scene because it's 'private' then they'll start to lose interest. I've seen many people take their leave of Balmung for that very reason. I was even tempted to do it myself rather recently, in fact.

 

Nobody is obligated to interact with anybody else, obviously - but at the same time if you truly want something to be 'private' then ensure it actually is private. There's no need to get annoyed at someone for trying to get involved with something. Be civil and polite, even if they're an unwelcome distraction. It's possible they mean no ill at all and misread the situation - or maybe they were surprised to actually find people out in the wilds for a change.

[Surilian]

At the end of the day, not everybody is fond of showing up to events or joining a Free Company in order to be given the 'privilege' of access to some consistent role-play. There's a lot of people who prefer to simply walk up to other characters that they see out and about and try their luck.

 

Not everybody is going to have the same approach. Or the same standards. I'd politely excuse myself if I felt like someone approaching me in the game world wasn't a good fit for what I'm after.

 

At the same time, though, I've been singed enough times during my time on Balmung to realise just how difficult it can be to actually find role-play even as someone who is rather outgoing. I dread to think how much worse it is for those who are a lot more shy and reclusive but push themselves out there regardless.

 

If they're told, multiple times by multiple people that they can't join in with a scene because it's 'private' then they'll start to lose interest. I've seen many people take their leave of Balmung for that very reason. I was even tempted to do it myself rather recently, in fact.

 

Nobody is obligated to interact with anybody else, obviously - but at the same time if you truly want something to be 'private' then ensure it actually is private. There's no need to get annoyed at someone for trying to get involved with something. Be civil and polite, even if they're an unwelcome distraction. It's possible they mean no ill at all and misread the situation - or maybe they were surprised to actually find people out in the wilds for a change.

 

Reading all your posts (and yes I read them all... crazy me). I agree with this and a lot of people's views. I have rped in this server a damn long time and I believe if you see it, it should be used against you BUT not everyone believes this. I for one rp a lot of illegal activity and won't shun someone running up to arrest me if that is the case. BUT not everyone sees it as this.

 

Not everyone quickly moves their rps to party which should be done if they don't want open people to run in. Though I'm running a criminal event I have 'asked' people not to ruin it for those of ill aligned but hey I won't tantrum and storm if its broken up by officers or something WAY later in the day. We have no control over anyone nor should we ask control if its not possible. (and that's why I'm trying hard to find a super far away place for the event I'm doing)

 

In the end open rp is open rp and is a invitation to all. If you don't want people jumping in, then don't say it in say chat. Do it in private or in a area you 'feel' no one would be. As such placement is very much important and all rpers should consider it.

 

Sadly not everyone does it.

[Kilieit]

I'm feeling... idk, increasingly... uncomfortable, I guess? With the

 

"If you behave in this particular way, I am ENTITLED to behave this other way towards you, and you're not allowed to complain or ask me not to."

 

You have to recognise not everyone is going to ascribe to your view on how the chat channels should be used.

 

Precedence should be given to stated preferences, not inferred ones.

 

If someone tells you, in words, that they didn't want additional input onto a given scene, then it doesn't matter how much you think they were implying that they wanted to by doing it in a certain place or in a certain chat channel, or how much you think you're entitled to participate. They've told you, in words, what the case actually is. Any misconceptions as a result of your assumptions are your own problem to deal with, regardless of how widespread those assumptions might be.

 

You're entitled to do RP in the same place, that much is true. But you aren't entitled to their time, to an IC response from them, or to remaining off their blacklist if you're belligerent about it.

[Silmanos]

I am going to have to agree with Killiet here, as this is sounding a lot more like "I am entitled to join in on all rp I see" and less about a polite and respectful way to approach things that might not always be open. In addition the responses in regards to private events run by fcs is increasingly disturbing as well. Based on everything I've read we should apparently be admonishing and ostracizing FCs that have grown to a size that makes the private channels completely unusable. Just like I said before sometimes there are times where it is impossible to keep the even secluded to these channels because of the sheer number of people attending.

 

Also in response to saying that people and FCs running these events shouldn't be rude to those trying to walk up, no one is saying that they should be or even advocating that so I don't know where this is coming from. Most FCs will politely tell people who happen upon their events and try to jump in that it is a private event but they are more than welcome to watch. I have done this countless times myself as a DM, and more often than not the people do stay and watch and enjoy doing so. The DM team I ran with received several compliments from randoms who stopped to just watch, or even new RPers who wished to sit and learn how these things go. If you get someone being rude about you trying to walk up, then yes they are indeed in the wrong. On the same token if you get told its a private affair then you should respectfully accept that. Not everything is about you shockingly enough, and this selfish attitude that EVERYTHING you see must be open to you is disturbing.

[Surilian]

I agree yes and no but sadly in the end people do whatever they wish and I have come to the mentality to always expect people to walk up. That being said my group and I were doing a nice little rp in party chat and people still walked up to us. We did nicely pm them and told them we were doing a 'scene' where the area we are at was not what you all see. Even such.. we still had people.

 

In the end. I guess I mentally gave up on politeness but I /do/ ask my members and myself ask permission before entering things. The issues is do others follow such a polite rule? No they do not.

 

So my personal rule (whether i'm right or not) - Be polite to all rpers and always /ASK/ before jumping in .. but mentally brace and expect people to jump in because not everyone has manners or etiquette. Party chat or not. I still had it happen but I just learned to accept it and not get upset. If they stay they stay even after I pm them letting them know. But I do always welcome watchers! <3 watchers.

[LiadansWhisper]

You don't really seem to understand the crux of the issue, allow me to lay it out for you:

 

You have a right to react to any visible RP.

 

You do not have a right to have your reaction acknowledged.

 

I think..maybe I missed something. But has someone argued that reactions to public RP must be acknowledged?

 

If I came across as having done so, it wasn't intentional. No one has to react to your RP, even in public.

[Kallera]

This is an interesting thread I walked in on, precisely because I had mentioned public rp as a way to expand our ls/fc and maybe get some more activity going on in game.

 

Right now our fc/ls has been in a slow period due to players getting into stormblood and leveling content. Most of our major players has gotten through, enough to roleplay events. Other than the standard bar theme, what sort of things should I consider when making roleplay scenes with say chat in mind on A non rp server?

 

Should I approach this more like a play with responses beforehand to make things fast? Or let the rp happen naturally respond in say?

[Caspar]

You don't really seem to understand the crux of the issue, allow me to lay it out for you:

 

You have a right to react to any visible RP.

 

You do not have a right to have your reaction acknowledged.

 

I think..maybe I missed something. But has someone argued that reactions to public RP must be acknowledged?

 

That seemed to me to be the premise of the OP, unless I misunderstood. The idea that it should be unacceptable to RP in public without being willing to accept others entering your scene, and that they should not need to ask permission.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

This is an interesting thread I walked in on, precisely because I had mentioned public rp as a way to expand our ls/fc and maybe get some more activity going on in game.

 

Right now our fc/ls has been in a slow period due to players getting into stormblood and leveling content.  Most of our major players has gotten through, enough to roleplay events.  Other than the standard bar theme, what sort of things should I consider when making roleplay scenes with say chat in mind on A non rp server?

 

Should I approach this more like a play with responses beforehand to make things fast?  Or let the rp happen naturally respond in say?

 

If the scene you're RPing is pretty much the only thing going on, you could probably put all of it in /say, within reason. (Like, I wouldn't suggest NSFW or ERP in /say ever, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make here.) It ultimately depends on you and your group's preferences. Are other people freely allowed to join in? Is there some sort of organization or structure to the scene? (Like a DM or a script?) Is it RP that you want other people to see, even if they aren't going to take part of it. (As many have said, sometimes just watching RP is fun or something they want to allow.)

[Kaiverta]

hey RPC,

 

I have been thinking about this quite a lot in the last few weeks. What do people dictate themselves as 'public roleplay'?

 

From my witnessing of public scenes, I personally am of the belief that anything you say and do in public should be held accountable against your character. As, it is publicly witnessable by multiple sources. However this becomes an issue for people who don't want thier 'bubble' pupped. And, creates a further issue where punishment for illegal actions (like, actual illegal actions - stealing, murder, solicitation etc) becomes negligible to the point of comedy.

 

 

Is this situation acceptable?

Player A: -emotes they are actively listening to Conversation of Characters B, C and D.-

Player B, C, D continue to have discussion about XYZ illegal deed in public that they did.

Player A: -Remembers said conversation, approaches to extort Gil for 'keeping quiet' money.-

 

Why, should all roleplay held in public forums, accessible to the majority of the public still be considered as 'private' roleplay? Does the integrity and validity of another roleplayer matter less than your own personal character or.. what? It's quite a shame, because some better examples of amazing roleplay happen when punishment and crime collide.

 

I'm just, a bit.. confused to why it is the norm to treat the Public air/places as still private despite it being public.

 

 

maybe people just say they want an immersive world.. but not actually want one.

I think an RP is always private if it is on a private 'tile' or 'area' (such as a tavern room).

I think an RP is private in a public area if only the people involved in the RP are there, but if others show up, the characters already there can choose to have their private moment, or the characters can sort of ease out of it as they were ICly interrupted (as is what happens IRL, sometimes), and either interact with the new character/s, or move on to other things.

 

I don't like being shoved out of RP in a public area, or people getting irritated with me if I post my character's entrance to a public space and they complain about it being a private RP. If you want it to continue to be private, move your characters to a less-public area. Certainly don't abuse me for trying to write with you. >.>

 

And yes, I think it is acceptable for characters to be held accountable by others if their private matters are eavesdropped on. I always check for other people coming into the area before I send my post, if I don't want people seeing it, but if people come in before I post it, then I'll edit it to be discreet and have my character noticing others around. etc.

 

It's all about mutual respect and realism (in a fantastical world, I know).

 

I was in an RP once where most of the people there were in a big battle with each other and NPCed bad guys and monsters, and other people came in and started RPing in the same area like nothing was happening, not acknowledging a thing. In that sense, refusing to acknowledge an RP already happening can make the whole scene seem weird, and the characters RPing the new scene over the already-there battle scene look disjointed from the world, and insular. Not a bad thing, it just doesn't make for cohesive RP. Some people prefer to RP with just a select few and do so, even in public places where something world-sized might be happening, and they just ignore that world event.

[Caspar]

This is an interesting thread I walked in on, precisely because I had mentioned public rp as a way to expand our ls/fc and maybe get some more activity going on in game.

 

Right now our fc/ls has been in a slow period due to players getting into stormblood and leveling content.  Most of our major players has gotten through, enough to roleplay events.  Other than the standard bar theme, what sort of things should I consider when making roleplay scenes with say chat in mind on A non rp server?

 

Should I approach this more like a play with responses beforehand to make things fast?  Or let the rp happen naturally respond in say?

 

If the scene you're RPing is pretty much the only thing going on, you could probably put all of it in /say, within reason. (Like, I wouldn't suggest NSFW or ERP in /say ever, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make here.) It ultimately depends on you and your group's preferences. Are other people freely allowed to join in? Is there some sort of organization or structure to the scene? (Like a DM or a script?) Is it RP that you want other people to see, even if they aren't going to take part of it. (As many have said, sometimes just watching RP is fun or something they want to allow.)

 

I *love* watching RP even if I'm not allowed to or unable to participate. I would be happy if it were more commonplace to have walk up friendly public RP, but even without that being an option, being able to read it is beneficial to me.

 

I'd of course be put off if I was rudely rebuffed for trying to participate in the scene, but given that I ask or try to read the mood before approaching, this isn't a problem I encounter, save for in literally one instance, and it had nothing to do with their availability or privacy.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I *love* watching RP even if I'm not allowed to or unable to participate. I would be happy if it were more commonplace to have walk up friendly public RP, but even without that being an option, being able to read it is beneficial to me.

 

I'd of course be put off if I was rudely rebuffed for trying to participate in the scene, but given that I ask or try to read the mood before approaching, this isn't a problem I encounter, save for in literally one instance, and it had nothing to do with their availability or privacy.

 

I feel the same way for the most part. Sometimes it's nice to just watch other people's RP go by. Especially if it involves people I'm thinking about RPing with. It's like getting a trial period to see if my characters would mesh with theirs and to also think of potential hooks. The same could be said in regards to people's forum posts as well.

[Es'mena]

Using the OP's example, I think it's just polite to request OOC if it's ok that your character overhears the conversation and intervenes. I think it's less about public RP and more about common courtesy. Sometimes people are using a place in game as a stand in, or they are writing something from a few days past and postdating it. There are plenty of situations that may call for no intervening - or they may completely be down for it and hoping to have someone overhear!

 

So I wouldn't judge these people too harshly if they want their privacy or not to be held accountable for what they're talking about in /s or /em. You never know their reasoning for it, and they don't really need to give one either when all is said and done.

[Crystal Chronicler]

I think people are less interested in creating an immersive world overall. Instead, they would rather create or act out a scene (like in a movie) that feels immersive. To them, walking in to this scene is like walking onto Christian Bale's set to check the lights.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I think people are less interested in creating an immersive world overall. Instead, they would rather create or act out a scene (like in a movie) that feels immersive. To them, walking in to this scene is like walking onto Christian Bale's set to check the lights.

 

This is something I kinda do myself. And kinda what I mean when I reference something "RPing a scene." While I don't necessarily have a script, there is usually a prompt or a hook that is used to start. Or for some scenes, things akin to a plot summary that is then RPed out. It's sometimes nice to RP that way than the phre-improv types of stuff that happens too. After all, we are trying to tell our characters' or others' stories from time to time. And that can occasionally mean having a set cast, like a closed forum thread or a script.

[xelliexell]

I've run a few major plot events for my LS where there are too many attendees to throw everyone into a party, as mentioned above. (I've also tried running an event in the LS channel, which is an Utter Nightmare, hoo boy.) In light of this, I try my best to pick remote locations as a setting for such things, to mitigate the confusion that would inevitably follow with someone walking up.

 

However, we've still had some randoms chance upon us during these scenes. Thankfully, they were polite and lightly inquisitive at most, and often they simply stayed and watched the scene as a quiet observer or left. Sometimes I'll send a quick OoC /tell to the person to explain that it's a major plot event for our guild, as I worry that some of our IC themes and conflicts may not jive with someone else's sense of immersion. (For example, our main antagonists are resurrected/cloned Allagans, which, while viable within the lore, may be too "out there" for a walk-up to ICly acknowledge meeting.)

 

Again, most people have been super polite when I told them what was going on OoCly. Although, on the other hand, I was also being polite towards them. There isn't really any reason to be rude. Running a huge plot event with a lot of people participating can be stressful and a lot to juggle at once, especially if you're a lone Storyteller of the scene. Still, I'd never really stonewall anyone from participating, necessarily... but being that they haven't followed the plot of our guild, I worry that they would feel inherently confused about what's going on, and also kind of weirded out, haha.

 

Edit: Of course, if we're just doing a random free social beach party or whatever, I don't think I'd mind random walk-ups joining in. Same deal if I'm playing a one-on-one scene somewhere, really. (Although sometimes it can be sad when the scene is high-feels and very personal to the characters and the mood is shattered by a random person walking up and saying hi, I generally accept that this is an occurrence that could happen in RL and don't purposefully exclude the new person because of it. I just roll with it!)

[Kieron Lohengrin]

I think people are less interested in creating an immersive world overall. Instead, they would rather create or act out a scene (like in a movie) that feels immersive. To them, walking in to this scene is like walking onto Christian Bale's set to check the lights.

 

I agree, people who throw a shitfit like Christian Bale on the set of Terminator should be taken note of. And dealt with accordingly

[Verad]

 

I agree, people who throw a shitfit like Christian Bale on the set of Terminator should be taken note of. And dealt with accordingly

 

Accordingly, how should they be dealt with? Spare no detail.