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The Ignorance Class


erosskye

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Ahoy my friends.  Here we step back up to our desks and have a nice sit down on some fairly uncomfortable chairs, whilst checking your rucksacks to make sure you have brought the correct materials to this class.  The first thing your going need is your eyes less you may have some difficulty engaging in what im currently typing.  Secondly I need you to throw away your pride and elite-ery; for that is the main cause for this class.

 

The topic we are going to work on is attempting to eliminating character Ignorance.  I use this word in a weird fashion because its not ignorance like you would think; (I hate WoW because only fat people in their moms basement play it).  For this is ignorance of a subject and then using your ignorance to be blatantly mean about it.  I come saying ignorance as in; (You can clearly see me standing here but you continue talking to  your blonde friends as if I am not).

 

So how do we approach this subject?  First we can look at some points brought up in other posts made by other roleplayers around the gaming universe.  Our first post comes to us from cybersoldier1981 -link-

 

"Don't ignore someone just because you don't like their character. Harassment and things of that nature being the exception... people tend to ignore someone just because they're playing something they don't like. This game has a stupid chat-ban system, so there's no real reason to completely mute someone for 24 hours because you don't like what they play or how they reacted to you. Deal with it, if you don't acknowledge someone chances are they will just go away."

 

Now the game mechanics talked about in this post are from another game.  But none the less our biggest point is brought across in a fairly blunt way.  Just because you dont like someones character or them in ooc frankly; does not mean that you should exclude them from the story.

 

-We are a community of roleplayers.  A community is nothing without the people who want to roleplay.  If fellow roleplayers start to ignore each other it will no longer have a community feel. The sad souls that are being ignored will begin to leave causing the community to lose players and become weaker over time.-

 

With that out of the way we can begin investigating smaller issues that fall under the majors.

 

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The Person Being Ignored

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Is there a reason I am being ignored? 

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If you dont know the answer -->  "It's always a good rule of thumb to politely ask before jumping into what seems to be a storyline RP group. People don't mean to ignore but if what they are doing is part of the character's plot, they might not be able to work a 'walk-up' character in. A polite whisper to someone in the group usually won't be ignored." -footnote-

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"Don't be afraid to join in"

If you see some people already roleplaying, don't be afraid to try joining them! Sometimes people may ignore you, which makes it a lot harder to try again, but keep in mind that most people won't ignore you. And those that do are probably either AFK or it's for an in-character reason

 

Sometimes people just miss that chat, too. If you're ignored once, try again, and they might reply. If they still don't, then just move on and try RPing somewhere else. It happens to everyone once in a while - it's not nice, but you shouldn't give up just because it happened once." -footnote-

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"Don't worry about your backstory"

Coming up with a backstory can be hard, especially if you're new to roleplaying. It might be best to start off with a simple character and slowly start to put together a history as you play it. You really don't need to start with anything in-depth, just a basic idea of the type of character. Most people develop their characters over time. It might be a good idea to keep a notepad beside you while you roleplay. If you come up with something you want to add to your character's backstory, or your character says something important, you can write it down so you remember it.

 

It's okay if you think your story is a bit lore-breaking at first - as you get more knowledgeable with the lore, you could go back and correct it.

 

You don't really need much lore knowledge to begin with. However, you might find it useful or interesting to take a look at the background lore of the race you're playing, at least." -footnote-

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Have Fun!

The most important thing is having fun!  This is still a game and roleplaying is not real life.  Its what we do in our free time to escape reality and enjoy the amazing worlds that can only exist in our mind.  We come together to share our character experiences, to share our stories to each other, gain ideas from each other to help the stories grow, and play together to help enrich the detail of the story world.

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Not quite sure how this article reads but thats my attempt at getting the ideas across!  Class may now discuss the topic and hopefully the community will be better for it! :bouncy:

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I find that when I have trouble coming up with a backstory, brainstorming with other players helps a ton. Experienced RPers can also give advice on what 'traps' to avoid - things that normally cause drama in RP, like something being too OP or going overboard with the past traumas in a group that mostly does casual, light-hearted RP, for instance. Plus, talking to people about your character can help get them interested in them, so it never hurts to try. If you're new, try to be open to criticism, though, and if you're a veteran, try not to be rude just because you've seen that concept done dozens of times. The newbie likely hasn't.

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I finally got online and found this. It was a good read! Covers a lot of the issues I tend to bump into (although bumping into them is a bit of an understatement) but it's nice to see them discussed here.

 

Being ignored is, more often than not, the reason why I avoided RP for a year or so. Sometimes it was just to avoid the embarrassment - When I finally get over the initial panic mode and approach some RPers, it could often be the case of "We're not actually RPing here, it's a different area of X zone" or "Sorry, private RP" - It kind of shoots me in the face, for lack of a better description. People can accuse me of being thin-skinned or whatever, but my past experiences with RP left me a little bit dejected. Eventually it just lead to me idling around particular areas, setting my RP flag to "looking for contact" and hoping that someone would approach -me- for a change.

 

More often than not I find I'm the one reaching out to newer people - Breaking my own character a little, as usually they wouldn't go there. Some people just click into a group with very few issues - Others, like myself, panic too much. "What do they really think of me?" "They've been around for so long, what if my RP doesn't meet their standards?" etc, etc.

 

Part of my own problem is that I've been in guilds like this before. Someone will approach them, and there will be an incoming bitchfest in the guild chat.

 

Apparently, you're not allowed to RP if you don't have the same/a well-known guild tag over your head.

 

So now I just panic over whether or not they're judging me in their guild channel. Kind of sad, really... I should tell myself to man up and deal with it - Unfortunately it's not that easy.

 

I'd at least like to say (before I rant off-topic again, sorry Eross! I keep derailing) that it should, to some extent, work both ways. People should approach, yes. At the very least, move within emote range and do something - Whether it's sitting nearby to mind their own business or to outright ask the group what's going on. It helps to twist the character a little bit to make things work. Korin is quite introverted, but he has particular character quirks that can make him jump out of his shell within seconds.

 

On the other hand, the people being approached should at least -try- to reach out to the person who approached. I know - Realistically, if you're talking to a group of friends, you'd probably ignore the stranger who just sat nearby and started doing his own thing. It just seems to be the way things work these days - I'm not much different. 

 

That's just the point I want to throw out there, though. Yes, we approachees need to take the plunge and hope for the best. I came to this game by myself so I didn't even have anyone to fall back on if I happened to get rejected. I'm just glad I -did- man up and try to get myself involved instead of idling and eventually quitting the game because I couldn't bring myself to join in.

But the people being approached need to make an effort too. Don't just ignore people when they walk up to you! Keep an eye out for emotes on their part. Even just shooting a glance in their direction shows that you're at least acknowledging them - Giving them the go-ahead to try speaking to your characters properly. As I'm often on the "Doesn't have a pre-formed group, needs to approach people" side of things, I can honestly say that just being acknowledged when I approach - Even if the character doesn't directly interact with me - Is a huge confidence boost.

 

Did I wall of text rant again? Sorry! :C

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Ah Korin, I've been on both sides in the past. It's nerve wracking to approach someone, on one hand, and if you're busy RPing with someone else, it's difficult to tear yourself away. I do however go out of my way to respond to newcomers and have even stretched Rinh's character a bit (with the IC reason that her partner is always nagging her to be nicer) and had her approach the ones sitting by themselves, hoping someone will notice them.

 

I agree that sometimes you have to do things you wouldn't normally do in real life so people without OOC connections can join the RP. I'm not averse to arranging things beforehand and coming up with an IC reason for it. Maybe that's not hardcore, I don't know, but I've been left out in the cold myself in the past so I know there needs to be effort on both sides if we want new RPers to feel welcome. Besides, RPing solely with your circle of friends can get stale over time and new blood will spice things up!

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I've loved reading these thus far (read your other thread as well just never posted). I've seen first hand group who are in say rp'ing out just flat out ignore someone. It made me feel a bit sorry for the one being ignored. If you are rp'ing in say, personally my thought is you are inviting people to try and join you. Might be just my thoughts though.

 

The free company group I help run, all of our rp's are in say. We've had a few people just join us at random. ^^ it's quite easy to adjust and it can add a new flair to whatever is going on.

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If you are rp'ing in say, personally my thought is you are inviting people to try and join you. Might be just my thoughts though.

 

At the very least, you're leaving the door open for them to do so. I generally do all of my RP in /say and I'm always, always open for others to join in. That said, I'm not always the fastest typist, so please don't assume that the lack of an emote in 5 seconds or less is me ignoring you. Give me a moment and I'll respond to you, I promise!

 

To the larger topic (and not directed at anyone in this thread :) ), I'll take the OP's post and go one step further and more, well, fiery. If you RP in /say in a reasonably public location, then you are opening the door for other people to join in. If you don't want to do that, then your RP needs to be done in private -- a reasonably private location and preferably in /party, /ls, or something else. Anything else is rude to your fellow RPers and is bad RP. Furthermore, if you ever intentionally ignore another RPer who's trying to interact with you without an extremely compelling reason (i.e., they're harassing you OOC), you're a bad RPer. There is no situation where it's acceptable to outright ignore another player who's trying to RP with you, nor one where it's okay to run your private, pre-scripted scene where no one else is welcome in front of a "live studio audience." Doing either is arrogant, elitist, and harmful to the RP community as a whole.

 

Sorry to rant, but RPers ignoring each other strikes a nerve with me.

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A tip on generating RP if you're having trouble finding it....be a crazy person.

 

No, I don't mean RP a crazy person, I mean essentially talk to yourself. RP by yourself in crowded areas.

 

I've had conversations with NPCs in shops before or comment on what you're doing there. My miqo'te in Limsa was doing the fishing quest, went to the market, found the vendor and I typed things like "Let's see....pill bugs...pill bugs. Ah, here we go!"

 

You can still come up short, but occasionally it's enough to start conversation with another RPer. :D

 

 

On the topic of ignoring others....hell, if you HAVE to ignore them.....ignore them IC and RP it. Emote that you look at them dismissively and return to your conversation, look to them and politely state "this is a private conversation, friend." Don't just "sorry, private RP" and dismiss them.

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I totally totally agree with what you said about backstory and lore. If you know that you aren't the type to care about lore for your characters story and you don't want to look up anything on it. I also recommend not using what you would perceive as lore for your character. Meaning that there is absolutely nothing wrong with your character not knowing a damn thing about their culture icly. Too many times I've seen rpers who really don't care about lore try to push up on a lore abiding roleplayer and try to basically "shoot the shit" and rp with them and have a conversation about lore.

 

Well look at it like this. As much as you may not want a lore Nazi bothering you with lore details, the "lore Nazi" does not want someone "pushing up on them" who doesn't have a clue about the lore of the race that they want to play. If you don't really care, then act like it icly too. A lot of lore abiding players really put in a lot of time care and details in their character that they wish to share with someone else, or even to teach someone else, its a bit immersion breaking when a person of the same said race does not have a clue about what they are talking about when it comes to lore in an ic conversation. It would be no different from your standard Tolkien elf who comes over, is colored green and has a conversation with Legolas about being from the moon. Now a true lore abiding roleplayer is going to look at Mr Green elf like they are insane, but some rpers will look at this as "what the hell man at least learn about your character's race".

 

Now many would reply with the standard "so don't rp with them". I don't like doing this as I am not in this frame of mind. But keep in mind that just because its not important to -you- it doesn't mean that its not important to someone else. Especially when people want to really have a detailed character that represents the lore. If you don't know it or don't care its better to act like your character doesn't either and come up with a reason for it.

 

Respect goes both ways *winks*. Want folk to respect your fifteen dollars and the right to play how you want? Respect theirs too.

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