Question about secret identities and other players...

[Tadir]

I was talking to one of my coworkers today. She said she was on besaid. I was like me too! We should party together! She said, yeah, but all the fucking rpers chose that as there server, so I need to move. My old roomate was an rper. the 700 lb one? remember? Yeah, she sat in her room all day pretending to be a 14 year old kitty. RPers are creepy as @#$%.

 

I was like...I'm part of the community that made that decision...

[Xzenivar]

Awesome sir, quite awesome indeed. 8-)

 

What was her reaction :lol:

[Tadir]

She went back to her desk and sent me the list of classes that was datamined and said, FFTactics Online? I responded, One can only hope.

[Verence]

Back on topic, I guess the crux of the issue here, to me at least, is this... And please don't feel I'm calling you out specifically Samus, this is more sort of my general views on the issue as a whole.

 

If you don't want people to metagame, don't tell people things they shouldn't know. Everyone who roleplays with a character whose dark secret is public knowledge OOC will be forced to constantly second-guess themselves and weigh "Wait, should my character know as much as I do?" against "Well, could they have reasonably figured this out?" If you want to keep something a secret, the best way to do it is to... well, keep it a secret. Metagaming can be unconscious too, sometimes people simply aren't thinking and something slips out that, after the fact, they go "Oh crap, my char shouldn't know that." In the interest of keeping RP genuine, I prefer not to know things my character doesn't.

 

I'm honestly hesitant to RP with any character who has a huge secret that I know OOCly but my character doesn't know ICly, because then the whole thing turns into a giant metagaming tapdance and I have the constant fear of cries of "metagamer" hanging over me if I slip up - or perhaps even make an IC discovery I feel is completely legit! It has the potential for drama and for reactions and that's just not something I want to willingly subject myself to. Part of minimizing metagaming is minimizing the opportunities for metagaming. Any RPer worth their salt can keep IC and OOC separate, but mistakes can be made, misunderstandings take place, and feelings can get hurt. It's better to build a fence at the top of a cliff than have an ambulance waiting at the bottom.

 

If you have an idea that you'd like kept secret but need input and opinions on... Well, contact friends. Send PMs. Post a thread requesting discussion PMs with a general concept. There are also scholars, LS leaders, and knowledgeable people in the community whom I'm sure would be happy to help. I guess all of this simply to say "If people shouldn't know, don't tell them."

[SamusKnight2K]

The important question however is... what if they give us male Miqo'te in the future along with an IC explanation of why they suddenly go out adventuring too)?

 

lol, this is what I've been thinking the whole time. I guess in that case, a huge RETCON would be in order.

 

That or enjoy your level 1 do-over. :lol: Either one isn't exactly going to be the best of situations, especially if SE actually does integrate them at some point. And they have claimed they want to do so, but it being SE, one can never know.

 

I'd definitely be starting from scratch again. Since there's no PvP I don't need to be too concerned about level vs actual strength IC unless said characters were to spar. Take the character out of RP for awhile until I build the level up a bit. Alternatively I might just make a different character at launch and wait until the PS3 release before I introduce a male Miqo'te to give SE time to determine if they will be adding in males or not.

 

 

Hey Samus, in case you haven't heard I got linked this by a friend of mine:

http://boards.4chan.org/v/res/73123163

 

Of note is this image:

http://images.4chan.org/v/src/1284507643386.png

 

Gratz on makin' it to /v/. You're internet famous now.

 

Ok, I'm not exactly sure what the hell you're talking about that's just dead end links to 4-chan. I don't know if you're trying to be funny or sarcastic so I'm going to give you a benefit of a doubt here.

 

Back on topic, I guess the crux of the issue here, to me at least, is this... And please don't feel I'm calling you out specifically Samus, this is more sort of my general views on the issue as a whole.

 

If you don't want people to metagame, don't tell people things they shouldn't know. Everyone who roleplays with a character whose dark secret is public knowledge OOC will be forced to constantly second-guess themselves and weigh "Wait, should my character know as much as I do?" against "Well, could they have reasonably figured this out?" If you want to keep something a secret, the best way to do it is to... well, keep it a secret. Metagaming can be unconscious too, sometimes people simply aren't thinking and something slips out that, after the fact, they go "Oh crap, my char shouldn't know that." In the interest of keeping RP genuine, I prefer not to know things my character doesn't.

 

I'm honestly hesitant to RP with any character who has a huge secret that I know OOCly but my character doesn't know ICly, because then the whole thing turns into a giant metagaming tapdance and I have the constant fear of cries of "metagamer" hanging over me if I slip up - or perhaps even make an IC discovery I feel is completely legit! It has the potential for drama and for reactions and that's just not something I want to willingly subject myself to. Part of minimizing metagaming is minimizing the opportunities for metagaming. Any RPer worth their salt can keep IC and OOC separate, but mistakes can be made, misunderstandings take place, and feelings can get hurt. It's better to build a fence at the top of a cliff than have an ambulance waiting at the bottom.

 

If you have an idea that you'd like kept secret but need input and opinions on... Well, contact friends. Send PMs. Post a thread requesting discussion PMs with a general concept. There are also scholars, LS leaders, and knowledgeable people in the community whom I'm sure would be happy to help. I guess all of this simply to say "If people shouldn't know, don't tell them."

 

I'll keep that in mind. But anyway only those who read my character bio will really know that the character's supposed to be a Miqo'te male. I only asked about it here because I wanted feedback from others on what they thought about the hidden identities and others knowing more than they should. But if keeping the info hidden even from a posted bio is recommended I'll just do that. Or I might just post two versions, one as what people see normally and another with the real info hidden as a spoiler. That way it's there, but as a player you can decide if that's info you really want to know or not.

 

EDIT: Also sorry for some of my posts throughout this thread, I was just getting a little touchy about the subject and like I had posted in the start of the thread, I have had some experiences where there was an RPer or two who insisted they knew more than they should know. Of course these same individuals had tendencies to break all RP realism by making their characters overly powered and god-like in stature. It just worried me because all my RP experience has been in tightly-knit communities and this time we've got an entire server dedicated to RP. My experiences were always laid back so withholding the individuals who did, I never ran into many problems with meta-gaming and secrets known OOC. And yea, I know, slip-ups happen. I've been victim to doing a few myself but correcting them. My issue was with those who might insist they have some way to discern all this knowledge. My bad for not clarifying it and being so vague, again sorry.

[Satisiun]

Ok' date=' I'm not exactly sure what the hell you're talking about that's just dead end links to 4-chan. I don't know if you're trying to be funny or sarcastic so I'm going to give you a benefit of a doubt here.[/quote']

 

It 404'ed, Samus. The thread was about FFXIV, and in particular men playing women characters. Someone, lord knows who, posted a screencap of your thread starter post.

 

Though no one actually responded to it, if I recall from when I was looking.

 

Edit: Just to be more clear, the thread starter didn't use the image. Someone further in did.

[SamusKnight2K]

Ok' date=' I'm not exactly sure what the hell you're talking about that's just dead end links to 4-chan. I don't know if you're trying to be funny or sarcastic so I'm going to give you a benefit of a doubt here.[/quote']

 

It 404'ed, Samus. The thread was about FFXIV, and in particular men playing women characters. Someone, lord knows who, posted a screencap of your thread starter post.

 

Though no one actually responded to it, if I recall from when I was looking.

 

Edit: Just to be more clear, the thread starter didn't use the image. Someone further in did.

Ah okay, my bad. I've never actually visited 4chan but I've always heard it's full of total idiots and the like, if someone wants to have a laugh on a sorry excuse for a forum like that at my expense, meh, no skin off my nose. I've RP'd both genders and I've been told I'm really good at doing both. Way I see it if someone does have an issue with a guy RPing a female (Why, I don't know... Women do the same.) then that's their problem. I never hide my true gender as a roleplayer. Oh and by the way in case anyone thinks otherwise, my choice of screen name was actually because I liked the name "Samus", this was before I was even aware that Aran was a woman. And ironically, I don't even LIKE Metroid...

[Chveya]

Ah okay' date=' my bad. I've never actually visited 4chan but I've always heard it's full of total idiots and the like[/quote']

 

*hijack*

 

One of the most intelligent people I know frequents a half-dozen boards over at 4chan.

 

 

Just sayin'.

 

*/hijack*

[SamusKnight2K]

Ah okay' date=' my bad. I've never actually visited 4chan but I've always heard it's full of total idiots and the like[/quote']

 

*hijack*

 

One of the most intelligent people I know frequents a half-dozen boards over at 4chan.

 

 

Just sayin'.

 

*/hijack*

 

Meh, just what I've heard. Many sites I've been to rate down 4chan so badly, it's been given a general reputation as a place where everyone talks out the wrong end, there's more porn and smut than actual discussions, and the community has the intelligence of a 3 year old. Wherever you go you'll have a few good eggs but for every good egg there's about a dozen more bad eggs. 4chan may be not so bad, it could even be just a fad to hate the place. Again it's just what I've heard. Either way I don't care about 4chan or what people really think about those who RP.

[Chveya]

Either way I don't care about 4chan or what people really think about those who RP.

 

If you say so. Awful lot of typing to insist you don't care about your blanket generalizations.

 

Carry on.

[Shamadconde]

The way I avoid accidental Metagaming or Godmod is I don't read char bios or their stories at all. That entire section down there gets the mark all posts button pushed. What I don't read I don't know and there is no chance for me to slip things in I shouldn't.

[Kashemia]

The way I avoid accidental Metagaming or Godmod is I don't read char bios or their stories at all. That entire section down there gets the mark all posts button pushed. What I don't read I don't know and there is no chance for me to slip things in I shouldn't.

 

Except the things you read here? You don't have to have read any character profiles to know that Samus' char is really a male for instance

Just saying...

 

Personally, if I played a char with a really big secret, I probably wouldn't post that any place here either... Maybe in my guildforum, but some of the fun COULD be in people actually figuring it out, and get their reaction if they OOCly realizes it. But I understand that you posted it here, Samus, since it was more of a "your ideas for how to pull this off", at least how I understood it. I still think it's a really cool idea btw.

[ArmachiA]

The way I avoid accidental Metagaming or Godmod is I don't read char bios or their stories at all. That entire section down there gets the mark all posts button pushed. What I don't read I don't know and there is no chance for me to slip things in I shouldn't.

 

 

I try not to read overly specific backgrounds when people post them, or back stories. I will read the basic stuff (Height, any tattoos that are visible, vague background info) but I try to avoid spoilers as often as possible.

[SamusKnight2K]

I've finished my bio and converted the whole secret identity thing into a spoiler so if people really want to know about it they decide for themselves. I've been fussing too much over this and realize how stupid I've been sounding (I'd blame it on stress, fretting over it all doesn't really help and with release day this close upon us I was fussing over something that should have been so easy.) and apologize for that. Now it's been finished I can focus on other things and just see how everything plays out. If someone wants to close this thread or leave it open it's up to you guys, thanks for all the feedback. At this point I think the thread served its purpose.

 

PS: About the 4chan thing, It's just what I've heard about it. I guess it just got under my skin a little that people can rag on RPers without having a full understanding and then someone had to screencap my discussion here. I got a little stubborn and didn't wanna admit it bugged me. I wanted to make a good impression on the forums here but looks like I got off to a bad start.

 

And credit for the whole male Miqo'te/Mithra thing is really owed to Niami (You all know her as Aveline.) way back during my time in FFXI. She gave me the idea for it, I've only kept up at it since then.

[Con One]

Eh, most of what you hear about 4chan concerns only the /b/ board, which enjoys living up to it's reputation. As both an /a/sshole and a fa/tg/uy, I can attest that each board has it's own personality. Don't get down on anything /v/ says, they make it a point to not like anything. It's part of their schtick.

[Asyria]

The way I avoid accidental Metagaming or Godmod is I don't read char bios or their stories at all. That entire section down there gets the mark all posts button pushed. What I don't read I don't know and there is no chance for me to slip things in I shouldn't.

 

Except the things you read here? You don't have to have read any character profiles to know that Samus' char is really a male for instance

Just saying...

 

Personally, if I played a char with a really big secret, I probably wouldn't post that any place here either... Maybe in my guildforum, but some of the fun COULD be in people actually figuring it out, and get their reaction if they OOCly realizes it. But I understand that you posted it here, Samus, since it was more of a "your ideas for how to pull this off", at least how I understood it. I still think it's a really cool idea btw.

 

 

That's pretty much I -would- do if we had more than one character slot. I'd roll one Azyria with crafting/gathering classes and one Blue Moon with Lancer and both would look identical... but the name above their heads would be different, so no one would ever assume unless deep RP was involved, and even then, I dunno.

 

However, as I have no intention of paying for that additional slot, I'm stuck telling people that I'm going with double-identity because the name above the character's head can't be changed. However, I'm sure if I did the above, it would be months before anyone would have any suspicions if ever so yeah... I don't expect anyone to realistically figure it out IC.

[Chveya]

The way I avoid accidental Metagaming or Godmod is I don't read char bios or their stories at all. That entire section down there gets the mark all posts button pushed. What I don't read I don't know and there is no chance for me to slip things in I shouldn't.

 

I do this a lot, too.

 

(Though to be perfectly honest, half of that is because once I started, I'd sit there and read all of them, like a fat kid with a box of Honey Buns, until I'd gone through every single post. >_> )

[Siben]

Eh' date=' most of what you hear about 4chan concerns only the /b/ board, which enjoys living up to it's reputation. As both an /a/sshole and a fa/tg/uy, I can attest that each board has it's own personality. Don't get down on anything /v/ says, they make it a point to not like anything. It's part of their schtick.[/quote']

 

More importantly, don't get down on anything /v/ says because /v/ doesn't even play video games they just like to sit around and bitch about how new games are nothing like old games they've never even played before to begin with.

[Tadir]

That's actually why I don't read it either. I also skip over posts in the Town Square that are in a different room than my character.

[Xzenivar]

This thread makes me want to give my character a secret identity now, only with the intent to have him suck at keeping it a secret, and being oblivious that anyone even halfway observant could tell right away who it was. :mrgreen:

 

But I dunno yet, I'll probably forget and never do so

[Chveya]

This thread makes me want to give my character a secret identity now, only with the intent to have him suck at keeping it a secret, and being oblivious that anyone even halfway observant could tell right away who it was. :mrgreen:

 

But I dunno yet, I'll probably forget and never do so

 

I will never speak to you again.