Author Topic: So I ran across something kind of funny today. (Read 834 times)

Anonymous · « **on:** April 22, 2005, 09:51:01 am »

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The most important thing to remember in a roleplaying environment is courtesy and respect. Even if you do not feel respect for a player, he/she should still be treated that way. Players should always use care when dealing with other players. Remember, behind that character that you may hate is a human being with very real feelings that can be hurt by thoughtless comments.

This is even more important to remember in a online medium because there is no tone of voice to tell the player on the other end how you meant it. They cannot hear laughter in your voice to know that a comment was not meant to be serious. They cannot hear your sarcasm. All they have is what you wrote on the screen on their own intelligence to interpret your comments with. Frequently this can lead to misunderstandings but if we always strive to treat each other with courtesy then we can minimize those kinds of disagreements.

It is also important to remember that the player behind the screen may be nothing like the character they are portraying. The most bloodthirsty slitch on the grid could be played by a complete sweetheart so do not let your anger at a character spill over into your dealings with the player.

Those of us who are no longer "newbies" need to remember patience and think back to when we were new to playing the game and how we just wanted someone to show us the rules so we could stop making fools of ourselves. At the same time newbies need to remember that they are new and that they probably don't know half of what the more experienced players do. They should accept help graciously and not constantly pester people with the same questions over and over. If you are going to ask people to help you, the courteous thing to do is make a concerted effort to learn so that you one day no longer have to ask and can turn around and repay the favor by showing some other newbie the ropes and providing a good RP environment.

No one likes to be told how they should RP, whether that be being told how to pose, or how your character should act, or how you should behave OOC, but in order for us to get along together and tell good stories together there have to be certain standards of how to behave. Again, patience is a good rule of thumb. Do not keep asking just because your partner is a little slow in typing. Do not write monster poses with no regard to the things that people might want to respond to. Do not try to force other people to behave in a way that is convenient for your character through OOC means. Their character may not be a nice person. This is RolePlaying after all.

Another point of etiquette which may not seem like courtesy at first but really is, watch your spelling and grammar unless you are intentionally mistyping to represent a brogue or other speech defect. It is a online medium where all we have to judge each other on is the words that are put on the screen. If those words are sloppy, through poor spelling, lack of capitalization, or lack of grammar, it tends to reflect badly on the player who typed it. Now we've all had those days when we couldn't spell right to save our lives or when the keyboard was sticking, but it is easy to tell the difference between someone who is having an off day and someone who just doesn't care. Do not be the latter. It makes RPing with you hard at the best and painful at the worst. At the same time, some people may not be native speakers of the English language and these may be honest mistakes so before you write someone off, take the time to check.

Which leads into my next point. Don't make assumptions. Do not project your own motives onto what other people do. What would have been a biting comment coming from you might have been entirely innocent coming from someone else. If you think the other guy is being unfair, talk to him about it. Do not assume how another person is going to react IC and pose accordingly because they may react completely different from what you expected.

In short, remember how you would want to be treated and act accordingly. And if you don't mind people treating you badly, remember that other people do mind being treated that way. Your character being a jerk is no excuse for you being one. Treat others with kindness and respect and you will see the same come back to you and you will be a better RPer for it.

So what's funny? I found that in a couple of random forums today.
So what's funny? It was written around 1995.
So what's funny? I wrote it.
So what's funny? I dunno. Just weird to see someone quoting something you wrote for some random MUSH ten years ago used in a modern discussion. It's like deja vu all over again.

Anyway, yeah. It all still applies. Haha. Of course, I'm not the RP elitist that I was back then, so... Yeah.

Ketamininja · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2005, 10:24:27 am »

I love it when things like that happen.

Kosila · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2005, 01:01:32 pm »

That's awesome! Itâ€™s a good read and a valuable lesson for everyone.

Anonymous · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2005, 01:21:52 pm »

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Your character being a jerk is no excuse for you being one. Treat others with kindness and respect and you will see the same come back to you and you will be a better RPer for it.

Ratio you are a genious I am convinced of it

I love those two sentences, my favorite part of the whole thing...sums it all up.

Anonymous · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2005, 04:32:49 pm »

Woop De Doo

likwidtek · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2005, 05:09:34 pm »

Ratio, that's awesome. You are a brilliant writer and I wish we could get everyone in the game to think this way. Did you by chance find that in the MXO forums? If not, I would really like to see you post that.

Who know's we might turn around just one griefer.

By the way... are you ok? Haven't seen you around. I hope everythign is good. Feel free to PM me.