(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

Hi, folks.

Just a friendly reminder here in the hopes of helping maximize your Milliways RP experience, namely:

OOC communication is just as important as IC communication. Maybe even more so.

Haven't we all had days where it felt as if we were watching a completely different channel from our RP partner? Sometimes that can be cool. Heck, a lot of the time it can be cool. If you're going to scene with somebody, and it's going to involve particularly tense or important emotional impact, it's important to be sure that you're both on the same page. It's common courtesy to make sure on an OOC level that your RP partner is okay with bad stuff happening ICly, instead of just slinging around threats, menacing behavior, or violent acts ICly. Some characters are inevitably going to be prone to threats and menacing and whatnot. People who tag their posts should be aware of what they're getting into when they do. But when you tag someone else with the intent of your character being menacing, threatening, or potentially violent, you need to get the go-ahead OOCly first. That means email, or AIM, or private message via Livejournal.

I'm going to repeat that, to make sure everyone's clear: if you are going to tag someone with the intent of scaring them ICly, squicking them out, threatening them, or provoking them to violence- or other stuff of that nature- you need to get their permission OOCly first. People will often be more than happy to play along, but this is a shared game space. People need to feel free to RP without constantly having to worry about what you might do to their characters without their consent.

So: remember, folks. OOC communication = IC fun times, even if the fun times are scary as hell. OOC lack of communication = bad, bad mojo.

Comments

[mr-v-and-mr-c.livejournal.com]

Right you are.

And if you don't like horror or angst or whatever is going on, just say so.

(Oh, by the way--I tagged your last EP, care to do that?)

[gone_byebye]

(Oh, by the way--I tagged your last EP, care to do that?)

Yes, I saw, and no, I don't.

[gone_byebye]

And if you don't like horror or angst or whatever is going on, just say so.

This would be the problem. This is not a horror game, or an angst game. This is a shared space. People should not have to say that they don't like it. They should be asked if they want to get into it before it starts rather than have to justify not wanting it inflicted on them.

[mr-v-and-mr-c.livejournal.com]

True. But some people have different ideas about where that line starts, and so on.

[gone_byebye]

This is not a point to be argued in public. I'm taking this communication private.

[vivien]

Maeve, do you bother to find out about that line by asking people how they feel as you are threading? I am thinking not. You aren't on AIM where we can see you and chat easily, you don't use a personal livejournal in the back room which is more than a little off-putting, and you are taciturn even when we have e-mail exchanges.

Now, I e-mailed you early on, trying to get to know who you were before I played with you, because I am going to be blunt (again). I'm not interested in participating in horror and angst with creepy Croup and Vandemar for the lulz without knowing what is going to happen next. I am interested in plotting and writing some interesting stories with you, the person doing the writing. I am not willing to be in any kind of threading situation in which my character is threatened without having a rapport with the mun and some trust going on. It is all kinds of no fun for me, even if it's a fun experience for you. I have a feeling that most of the other players here feel similarly.

As always, I am available to talk via e-mail, if you want to.

[the_croupier]

Thank you for posting about this, Cam. It's a crucial point that cannot be stated often enough. Asking before a confrontation happens is just showing courtesy to your fellow muns, and insurance that both parties are getting what they want out of a given thread.

(And I say this as a mun whose pups are perfectly willing to go head-to-head with almost anyone in the bar--but only if the circumstances warrant it and only when it's IC.)

I would add another point: in a game involving multiple, and sometimes competing, fandoms, that OOC contact is the only way for the two muns to negotiate a resolution that respects both canons. Many of the pups in the game are the sort that, according to their respective canons, are not going to lose a confrontation. In a thread where two pups like that are facing each other down, something has to give, and the only way that can happen is if the muns are talking outside the thread itself.

This is a fact even for muns who have known each other for years. But it's especially important for muns who do not know each other well at all.

[agonistes]

Yes. This. 100%. Thank you, Rick.

[campkilkare]

Absolutely.

[tinylegacies.livejournal.com]

This, most definitely.

[bcgphoenix]

As the mun of a nasty SOB who's gotten into his fair share of confrontations: HEAR, HEAR.

[aberration]

Hey, this is kind of random, but do you mind if I e-mail you about something? I just don't want to bug you if you're busy or whatever.

[bcgphoenix]

Don't mind at all! E-mail away.

[ceitfianna]

Seconds as a mun of a pup who at one point got into a lot of fights.

Talking to people is good, you make friends and the RP ends up being better and deeper since both of you are aware of the same issues.

Also not everyone thinks alike which is part of the reason I'm here, I want to learn new ways of looking at things.

[mm_madb]

As the mun of a recently retired Lovecraftian god who managed (as far as I know) to avoid pissing any players off (and if I did, I am truly sorry and it was purely by accident, I never attempted to do so a'purpose) while playing him, I strongly agree.

(Again. If you are a player whom I pissed off while playing Nyarlathotep, I apologize deeply and from the bottom of my heart.)

[leeshajoy.livejournal.com]

I have occasionally been lax on this particular point, and I apologize for that. Thanks for reminding us all!

[chanter1944]

Ooh, very much agreed with the general concensus. :) Thanks, Rick and Camwyn both. *gets back onto AIM*

[yakalskovich]

**agrees as well, and finally applies for back room membership with mun journal -- this one**

[genarti]

This indeed. Yes.

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU.

[notapoodle.livejournal.com]

My only addition to this is that OOC communication is a two way thing. It's all well and good saying 'omg you did so and so without asking first', but that can very easily be solved by a simple ooc notice along the lines of 'I'm not too comfortable with this tag, any chance we could change it somehow?'. People seem to be forgetting this, and then throwing a hissy fit over certain things, I'm noticing.. Not all of us have exactly the same boundaries, so sometimes people don't think to ask something ooc just because it seems like a reasonable enough action considering the way the thread is going.

And if muns don't have AIM or email (I know for a fact that AIM sometimes has it's off days for me, and I don't use email), then OOC communication can very, very easily still be done along the lines of a small ooc note on the bottom of your tags, or by way of the LJ messaging system.

OOC communication is definitely a yes, and I say thank yoooou for this reminder to us all, because I know pretty much all of us have probably been guilty of being slack every now and then, so maybe less of the finger pointing, and more of the apologetic nodding. :P

[mr-v-and-mr-c.livejournal.com]

THANK you!

[notapoodle.livejournal.com]

<3!

[bythatmuch.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

Don't assume that IC actions will get your OOC points across, guys.

[notapoodle.livejournal.com]

Amen to that. IC doesn't equal OOC, anyway you look at it.

[viridian.livejournal.com]

Word. As someone who has been willing to do almost anything another player suggested (within reason), OOC communication is a good thing. It sets people at ease to get to know the mun a bit OOCly and talk about things before inflicting whatever sort of pretendy funtime goodness or badness you've got in mind for your pups.

And honestly, once you develop a close rapport with several muns OOCly, chances are there will be less of the having to ask and more of the trusting each other to let things flow where they may. There are a good few people in this game that I trust entirely to throw whatever they like at me, but we've been playing together for years. It takes time to develop that, and communication never hurt anyone. (And I've actually played in a game where OOC conversation was discouraged, to maintain a certain level of illusion. It was weird and dramariffic. :/)

That said: communication goes two ways -- if you find you don't like the direction a thread has taken, don't feel bad about asking the other person to retag and maybe go another way with the interaction. ♥