Roleplay "Rules of Engagement"

[Sabrelon]

So, lately in game I've been experiencing something that has progressively bugged me more and more each time it's happened:

There will be situations in character where I'll ask a question, emote, or just direct a tell at someone in particular, only to be entirely ignored. Not like, ICly ignored, where it's clear the other individual is ignoring me, but I won't get an answer, a response, or even a social in response.

I don't mind the occasional dismissal or non-response if the room is spammy, or you're in conversation with another person and it wouldn't be realistic to just outright speak to the other character, but it's extremely frustrating when you're stuck sitting there and you don't know if the server ate your emote or you're just getting ignored.

Beyond just outright saying this (because seriously guys, it makes me straight up not want to RP with certain characters at all, period), I want to know what kinds of ways people like to go about interacting with other characters in social scenes.

There is definitely no "right" way to role-play, but there are different styles that people enjoy, and I want to know which ones you expect, or like to see.

[likui]

Some players I know have been experiencing a lot of lag lately. It's possible you ran into them at the wrong time.

Other players, myself included, have frequent irl distractions (e.g., phone calls, people at home interrupting, emergencies, etc.). Usually, I will make a brief ooc note to those present, like "Afk, sorry" or "be back in 5 mins", but I've had people walk in right after I post it and immediately try to get a response from me.

Another problem I experience is people who emote and leave before I complete my response. Sometimes my emotes are quite long, edited multiple times or require me to look up some obscure Middle Earth-pertinent factoid (e.g., the names of crossbow parts, the geography of the local area, or the unique trades and resources of my character's home town) in fear of making a small error and getting called out for it.

[Sabrelon]

Some players I know have been experiencing a lot of lag lately. It's possible you ran into them at the wrong time. Other players, myself included, have frequent irl distractions (e.g., phone calls, people at home interrupting, emergencies, etc.). Usually, I will make a brief ooc note to those present, like "Afk, sorry" or "be back in 5 mins", but I've had people walk in right after I post it and immediately try to get a response from me.

Yeah, that's totally reasonable, seeing the lag as an issue. I've seen situations in RPI's before where whole emotes/tells don't show to anyone besides yourself, so for a bit I figured this might be happening.

In all honesty, it's not a problem at all if it's clear there's some issues going on and someone's lagging. But, it's consistent enough, and the immediate emotes to other people are quick enough to make it clear that it isn't just lag.

[ThinkTwice]

I've always been a huge fan of carrying several, ongoing conversations. It strains realism a little bit, but it's worth it for exactly what you're talking about. If me and PC A are having an intense conversation, I'd still like to strike up conversation with PC B, to keep him from being bored to tears. The argument that it's a little unrealistic, while accurate I suppose, seems a little weak on the realism vs playability scale.

[Sabrelon]

I've always been a huge fan of carrying several, ongoing conversations. It strains realism a little bit, but it's worth it for exactly what you're talking about. If me and PC A are having an intense conversation, I'd still like to strike up conversation with PC B, to keep him from being bored to tears. The argument that it's a little unrealistic, while accurate I suppose, seems a little weak on the realism vs playability scale.

I'm generally in the same boat, depending on the circumstances. It feels awkward to have multiple conversations with people at once as I like to roleplay my character in relation to the room around him, but when it boils down to it, it's definitely more important to figure out a way to get people involved than it is to be realistic about it.

I'm a big fan of round-robin style roleplay, which is generally what it defaults to. I'd rather take a minute or two to type up an emote than rapid-fire send out tells to people, but each person prefers different things, and both can be just as descriptive.

[Real]

I'm very much the opposite.

I really prefer to keep it to one conversation at a time. It's just personal taste really but I find it kills any sense of scene when I'm posing in various ways and having various expressions in relation to different topics. I can converse with multiple people, sure, but I can't portray if I'm multitasking.

To add, I don't do emotes involving every single person in the room very often, even if someone walks in mid-talk. But if someone directly ~'s my character I definitely won't ignore them. I get the feeling that some people want you to just pluck them off the curb. I'm not the person that does that.

I will agree though, there are some individuals that take "our characters are in conflict" as "let's never RP and I'll avoid you and ignore your presence on this game". And some who are more "I don't know your PC so let's never RP and I'll ignore your presence..."

[EltanimRas]

I play on a relatively small screen (a netbook), and I miss emotes far more often than I'd like. Parenthetical emotes targeting my PC are especially easy for me to miss, since they're not colored.

If there's absolutely no IC reaction at all -- and you can tell the player isn't afk or lagged out -- I'd say consider either repeating yourself IC (speaking up, walking closer, waving) or just resubmitting your original pose with a (repost) tag. Whichever makes the most sense for the scene you're in.

[Oblivion]

That was one thing that always kind of messed with me in human sphere (good or evil) social setting (or tavern sitting) roleplay. Was the fact that people would have conversations with folks scattered all around the room.

I would frequently observe the social butterflies trying emoting to john, George, and jerry along the bar about one topic, and then flirt with sally who's sitting at a table alone before discussing tactics with timmy and tom trooper who are having drinks at yet another table. All with their own 'laughs' 'frowns' 'considering' 'shocked' 'winking' 'emphatically' 'coyly' 'jokingly' etc etc expressions and inflections.

To me I would always imagine some cracked out schitzo looking around the room constantly, eyes wide and features always twitching between smiles/frowns and near breakdown crying while hands gesticulated without any seeming conscious control.

I think these situations rise from people not wanting to make others feel 'left out' of the roleplay. But I would like to put out there that you don't have to do this to 'include' others. Even something along the lines of :

Blah Blah seems to be in conversation with x, y, and z so doesn't catch a's attempt at getting their attention from behind them at the time.

Is perfectly acceptable. It still acknowledges the fact that you as a -player- saw their attempt even if the character didn't and opens the door for the unnoticed to either try again by approaching or being louder, or looking for another individual to chat with.


Of course things are easier in the orc side since it's perfectly in character to emote blatantly ignoring someone just to irritate them heh, even if they are right beside you.

[likui]

If there's absolutely no IC reaction at all -- and you can tell the player isn't afk or lagged out -- I'd say consider either repeating yourself IC (speaking up, walking closer, waving) or just resubmitting your original pose with a (repost) tag. Whichever makes the most sense for the scene you're in.

I react the same way, mainly to let the other player know I'm still there and patiently waiting for his/her response. If a very long moment has passed then I'll emote things happening "simultaneously" in the room, e.g., a bird perching on a nearby tree as it chirps, patrons laughing at a table in a corner of the room, the distant shouts of children playing, etc.

[MrDvAnt]

Multiple conversations - I do the same thing sometimes, but I try not to.

Just like in real life, if two people are talking and third wants to participate, they should join the current conversation rather than trying to start their own.

[EltanimRas]

A thought on speed-walking:

Sometimes it's necessary. Fine, I understand. I do it myself, occasionally. But let's please either just do it -- no emote, no apologies, no confusion -- or not. Or if we want to throw out a quick emote, let's make it an obvious speedwalking "rushes past, looking neither left nor right" one.

Let's don't throw out the sort of emote that makes people think we're going to wait for a response and then spam off.

[BleedingEdge]

say Usually when people walk in on me and ask something I'll fire off a quick Hello and then proceed to answer. I do think the afk command should add an (AFK) to the character whether it breaks immersion or not. And sorry if I'm one of the offenders on the no response. Sometimes I get distracted by the chat spam or the forums and don't notice if something is directed at me.

[ThinkTwice]

When I go AFK, I put it in a pmote string.