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| Obduction Backer |
Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:50 pm
Posts: 129
Location: Utah
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.shorah 
I just felt like I need to add my 2 cents, even though some of this has already been said.
***Disclaimer: The following comments are my own personal opinions, and are not intended to be objective statements that I stubbornly think everyone should agree with
I hate semantics  The whole IC=In Character vs. In Cavern thing, the idea that playing a fictional character or just basically pretending the game is real can (from one perspective) both be considered RP-ing, etc. I understand that words can be inadequate, and so often different people have different definitions of the same terms, but semantics just kind of irritate me I think we just all need to keep in mind that none of our definitions can be perfect. Instead of taking a person's individual words at face value, we need to examine their entire set of comments before trying to interpret them. Debating the semantic value of someone's words just makes this topic needlessly complicated.
I don't want to sound like I'm arguing semantics , but for my own personal clarification, I like to abandon the terms "In Character" (IC) and "Out Of Character" (OOC). "Role Playing" (RP) works fine, I think, but since the term "Character" has somewhat of an RP context, I prefer to not use it. I think of IC as "Immersive Playing" or IP, and OOC as "Game Playing" or GP. Again, just my personal terms that I use, but I kind of think that they might be helpful. Let me explain:
Immersive Play (IP) people treat Uru like it's real. They always talk about "exploring" such-and-such an Age/area, "figuring out" such-and-such a machine/area/etc., interacting with such-and-such a "person", being involved in such-and-such an "experience", and so forth. Game Play (GP) people treat Uru as a game. It's not that they NEVER approach Uru in the IP way I just described, because sometimes they certainly do (more or less depending on the person). But unlike the IP people, GP people are just as likely, if not more likely to talk about "playing" such-and-such and Age/area, "solving" such-and-such a "puzzle", interacting with such-and-such a "character" (DRC, etc.), being involved in such-and-such a "storyline", and so forth.
Those who are strictly IP people (i.e., those who want a completely realistic, Immersive experience) should be understanding if the words "play", "puzzle", "storyline", etc. slip out from time to time ; what bothers them is when they encounter GP people who freely, openly, unthinkingly, and continually use that kind of terminology, regardless of who they're around. It is this kind of action that destroys the Immersive experience that IP people desire.
I'm not suggesting that the IP perspective is inherently superior, and the GP people just need to accept that  What I AM saying is that I personally don't see the difficulty in taking a very BASIC IP approach to conversation when you're around people whose preference you're not sure of. If you're alone with a person/group of people that you know are fine with GP talk, that's great. But given that the Myst games have always been meant to be immersive by nature, I think it stands to reason that a very BASIC IP approach is a considerate "public default", as it were
If a person has a tech problem, a question about Cyan, some confusion about part of the plot, etc., or if they just feel the need to make some kind of GP comment, there shouldn't be anything wrong with them asking/speaking to someone in Uru about it; although it would be a considerate thing to bring the person aside (rather than speak openly for all in the room to hear), and perhaps speak in an ever-so-slightly hushed tone  But if a person has lots of GP questions/comments, it would be more appropriate/considerate to save them for a place where GP questions/comments are expected and encouraged (a web board, etc.).
As for discussing Real Life in Uru, I don't see any problem with it. Both the GP and the IP people are "Real Life" people from the surface; only some of the RP people are not. Since they all come from the surface, and since they are able to link to different Ages, to Relto, to the Cavern, to the Surface, and so forth, it stands to reason that sometimes they link to the Surface to go home, wherever they came from; it stands to reason that many of them have jobs, school, family life, non-Cavern-related social lives, etc., and that visiting the D'ni Cavern and the D'ni Ages is only one part of their life as a human from Earth, rather than something that consumes every waking hour of their life Even Sharper has made numerous references to Real Life/Surface events (particularly the New England Patriots ), so it's not as if we're supposed to pretend that the Surface World beyond the Cleft doesn't exist Uru happens on Earth, and it happens NOW.
Finally (I hope you've stayed with me this far ), I honestly don't know much about the RP crowd in Uru. I understand that some people, rather than make Uru a completely immersive experience, tend to take a basically IP approach, except they create and play a new character instead of being themselves--new look, new personality, new background/history, etc. But I honestly don't know anything about RP people who "create fan storylines which contain scripted events and overarching plotlines", as the initial post stated, nor about the people who take on the role of a D'ni, as was mentioned later. Could someone enlighten me on this subject?
Anyways, sorry for rambling on for so long, and for repeating (if re-wording) a lot of what has already been said, but I just felt I needed to express myself on this subject.
.chev shem
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but i suppose im happy too 
