Uru Live IC/OOC Standards Article

Ken Telinome · **Posted:** Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:24 am

I was glad when I saw this article appear and posted on other forums. This helps clear up a lot of confusion. Not that it changes anything I do, I did a strange mix of IC/RP/OOC. Just ask Ken about his tail while in the cavern and you'll know what I mean. Of course, right after, I'll help someone with a technical problem, which is pretty OOC. The trick is to not get so obsessed with just one way of playing. If I Am Me, then I will play in my own unique style

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Sardonicus · **Joined:** Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:06 am **Posts:** 30

The article is well written and concise.

I view the whole situation like this (if you'll allow an analogy)...

Every morning I take an express commuter bus to work. The trip generally lasts anywhere from 30-45 minutes depending on traffic. For the most part, my fellow commuters follow an unwritten, unspoken but generally accepted mode of conduct. Upon arriving at the bus shelter, everyone queues up politely. When the bus arrives, everyone boards the bus in an orderly fashion and takes a seat. During the ride, most people are immersed in the morning paper, current novel, or paperwork and some simply put on the mp3 player and close their eyes. Chatter is kept to a minimum and if someone needs to make or receive a cell phone call, it's usually limited to a quick and muffled statement like, "I'm running late. I'm on the bus and I'll be there as soon as I can." Therefore, the commute is generally quiet and comfortable. When the bus arrives at the terminal in Manhattan, everyone gets off the bus in an orderly fashion similar to deboarding an airliner; front seats first and so on to the back of the cabin. I can even take a quick nap on most days.

As I said, this is what usually happens. Occasionally, someone arrives at the bus shelter completely unaware of the adopted conventions and pushes to the head of the line when boarding, talks incessantly in a loud voice on their cell phone about their fantasy baseball league, belches, farts, gnaws on a liverwurst and onion sandwich (the stench is will make your eyes water) from a loud crinkley wrapper and generally make a nuisance of themselves until they push to the front of the bus to get off before anyone else. My personal favorites are the small groups of Women's Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society members who are on their monthly outing to Manhattan for a day of shopping and cackle in loud voices for the whole trip about Greta's gall bladder problems. Sometimes other commuters get so annoyed at the behavior that a heated argument ensues and I've even witnessed a fairly good approximation of a schoolyard shoving match. I simply turn up my mp3 player a few decibels and immerse myself in a book.

No matter where you go in life, you'll encounter some who have no regard for other people's sensibilities or comfort. It's one of the wonderful things about living in a "free" society.

I've played everything from Ultima Online to Everquest to Star Wars Galaxies to Guild Wars. I'm confident that the majority of players in this game are going to be polite, respectful and downright helpful. The Myst series attracts a different sort of gamer.

But, there will always be those people who do not fit into your preferred gaming style. It's one of the reasons that I've always avoided the more populated areas in any online game. If we are allowed to trade items in the game, you can be sure that any time you near a community center you'll hear incessant and distracting shouts of "Bahro Air Filter 5000 Guilders!" or something to that effect. The good thing about the Cavern is that I will not have to sit in an enclosed space with 56 of you to get from one point to another. I can simply get on with what I'm doing.

There will even be those people who, simply because they have a gametap account, will sign on to Uru Live and run in circles around the nearest "mysty" shouting "Sardo's got a small weiner!" over and over again. They will do it because they can. Not because they're bad or dumb, but because they're immature and bored.

Learn to tune them out. If you think the IC/OOC debate is heated, you should see some of the debates about PVP/non-PVP combat.

Owehn · **Posted:** Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:49 am

Thanks, Sardonicus.

A lot of us have gotten used to having only the "die-hards" around, and as we're a generally pleasant bunch, we're unsure of how we'll handle the behaviors you're describing. It's important, though, to remember that unless someone is explicitly breaking one of the rules (like the no-harassment rule), we'll just have to deal with it, and be our generally pleasant selves.

Ken Telinome · **Posted:** Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:41 pm

So long as a person is polite to another, I dont' think it matters what sort of style you categorize yourself as.

Tweek · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 12:11 am **Posts:** 2633

Ken Telinome wrote:

So long as a person is polite to another, I dont' think it matters what sort of style you categorize yourself as.

Exactly, which is where the problem lies, as some people aren't polite to others some are down right hostile and thats not cool.

Eleri · **Posted:** Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:54 pm

Hopefully, the hostile elements will be ignored, and quietly reported, by those who aren't, rather than letting the hostiles run the show by everyone arguing and escalating the problem.

SuperGram · **Posted:** Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:29 am

Thanks Sardonicus......Being from NYC myself I can appreciate everything you say...For many years I took the commuter bus from Staten Island to Manhattan (before the bus it was the Ferry)...and experienced much the same....Eventually I commuted to Brooklyn and that too was an experience......All good and bad....Like you say that's what makes up a free society. I think eventually most new people coming in will get the idea and many of them will love it and stay around as part of the community. I also think the hostiles will do their thing and disappear......

SG

delano · **Joined:** Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:00 am **Posts:** 399

The beauty of this game is that if you don't like something or someone you can just walk or link away. There's never an excuse for inconsiderate behaviour.

Ed Oscuro · **Posted:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:31 am

Sardonicus wrote:

There will even be those people who, simply because they have a gametap account, will sign on to Uru Live and run in circles around the nearest "mysty" shouting "Sardo's got a small weiner!" over and over again. They will do it because they can. Not because they're bad or dumb, but because they're immature and bored.

File a ticket for harassment. It's already a selectable category.

Quote:

Learn to tune them out. If you think the IC/OOC debate is heated, you should see some of the debates about PVP/non-PVP combat.

This is Myst, not Pyst! We can behave better than that, I think.

Doug Parker · **Joined:** Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:35 pm **Posts:** 710

PYST would have been even more interesting if it was done as an actual game. I know that while the Cyan folks aren't devoid of a sense of humor, something like that might be stretching it. (officially) Unofficially, they might get a chuckle out of such an age individually. It would be interesting, if such a user age was allowed. I kinda imagine that if the actual island was opened up to all the cavern visitors, that it could end up looking like that. I picture a similar thing happening at the city. (hot dog stands, water vendors, etc.)

Mowog · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 2:18 am **Posts:** 1420

Excellent comments, all. I also think that we'll be dealing with entirely new behaviors when Live comes online. Many of us are accustomed to the Until Uru situation, where most of the folks we met in the Cavern were either long-time fans, or had been invited in by long-time fans. We were there because for the most part, we were true believers in all that Uru represented. And we were serious enough about it to keep it alive for two years in spite of bugs galore, and no new content. That's how much it meant to us! Instances of griefing were truly rare.

But now Uru will be included on the same menus with all the shoot-and-slash games on GameTap, and I don't doubt that there will be instances when FPS boyz will tire of fragging their buddies and drop into Uru out of sheer boredom, just to stir things up and ruffle the feathers of all those peaceful role-players.

Too early to say, really. Some of us expressed this fear before Prologue even launched, but fortunately nothing much came of our worries. But again, GameTap will be bringing Uru out of obscurity and putting it on center stage. This is, of course, a Very Good Thing. But there will be the unavoidable overflow of players who have no interest in the history of Uru, or of the story, and have come in "just because they can." I don't see such people staying long, but if there are enough of them, it could still become an issue.

Mowog

ghaelen · **Posted:** Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:00 pm

This is a very informative thread. There is a great deal here about respecting the way everyone else might play, whether IC or OOC, or a myriad of grey C's in between.

Apparently that message of tolerance isn't getting into the Cavern itself today. So, I would also like to suggest that if you feel the need to "correct" what you see as "a slight mistake in speaking"--

Don't.

If you just can't help it -- help it anyway. Count to ten, then fifty, then one hundred. Then wait until the day is over. Then wait until tomorrow, next week, next month. There are a lot of players who know IC/OOC and simply choose one or the other, as mentioned several times above in this thread.

You yourself may not be correct or you may misunderstand, (which makes you look quite foolish) and (like correcting someone's grammar) to do it in public creates nothing but irritation. It's worse when the "transgression" is so slight to make no difference. especially if the "standard" is unclear. It's just not that necessary.

Right now the important things are not whether someone is IC or OOC, but that we are all supporting the Re-Opening of the Cavern (or Launch of this Game --whichever version you prefer). We'll have the war games instigators arriving in no time, so let's not nit-pick at each other so quickly.

vidroth · **Joined:** Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:25 am **Posts:** 869

I like the basics of this document a lot. In my experience, most Uru people bounce smoothly between IC and OOC. I haven't run into many RP players in Uru, though I have a lot of respect for them--except for the extremely pushy and snotty ones who loudly declare that everyone else is ruining the game by talking about Real Life. (Never mind that Sharper is a huge Patriots fan and has lots of RL info in his journals...) [edit: Also note that this complaining is a very, very OOC thing to do. My solution to such things, when I'm playing RP in a game, is to always treat OOC folks like they're a little bit insane, talking about their imaginary world. Gets a good laugh, and gets the point across.]

There will be plenty of mean person/people/punks/miscreants getting on Uru in the early days, but I think it will be manageable. Comparisons with existing MMO games just don't do much good. Certainly WoW is a terrible comparison--WoW players have no time (at all!) for Uru, because they are too busy raiding over and over for levels.

The community will help a lot, as will the nature of the game--there's nothing violent to accomplish, which will chase off half the miscreants, and the rest will quit when they realize the puzzles are too hard for average folks to solve without help, which they won't get unless they learn to behave civilly, and that's more trouble for them than just going back to some other game.

The only ones that will remain are the outright abusers, chasing people around with relto books, harrassing, swearing, etc., and the only fix for them is intervention by the Powers That Be, which hopefully will be in place soon if they aren't already.

Liath · **Joined:** Wed May 24, 2006 11:27 am **Posts:** 254

Talking about your Real Life in URU, doesn't have to be OOC at all, either. It's actually a lot more difficult to be OOC in URU than in most other MMOs

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D'Neile · **Joined:** Sat May 20, 2006 2:43 am **Posts:** 315

I think I will just be me. After reading two pages of this I got a headache.

Uru Live IC/OOC Standards Article

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