Re: The New Ooc Room Rule

[*edmaster44]

What should be the staple of community building is the RP on this server. If you need to jerk off in the OOC Room, then why not go join a social server somewhere? My 2 cents.

OOC room is a great lube to new and mostly shy people who are perhaps intimated by the Sheer vastness of Planescape and might be too shy to log in right away. I know I've hung out in the OOC room for a bit and answered a few Questions to one or two People. Frankly i don't like that jerk off comment you said, because i think you're wrong about that on so many levels. If i wanted to Jerk off, i'd have some one else do it for me in Real life.

Oh and ..


Perfectly Said my friend.

[*Neerepha]

Posted by Scintilla Feb 26, 2017

Lady's Grace, Cutters!

As of this point forward, the OOC room will no longer be an acceptable location to loiter without a viable reason to do so. These include but are not limited to; rebuilding, helping someone rebuild, making use of NPCs, waiting for a DM port and immediately after reset. Increased activity and use of spells in single area not only creates server strain, but can be off-putting and overwhelming to those unfamiliar with the server.

With the entirety of a prolific server to explore and a richly crafted world to immerse oneself in, the reasons to remain Out of Character are few. The past and present integration of IRC and unofficial Discord hangouts cater to these aspects.

Upon logging in, please make your way to the portal as soon as you are able to do so.

First of all, you're taking for granted we all have people on Skype/Discord/Whatever. I don't. I sometimes wait for people to log in in the OOC room.
Second, this is an utterly ridiculous rule. If metagame happens, it doesn't happen because we're in the OOC room, it happens because people are behaving unfairly towards each other, and that's a matter that must be taken care of in a way that doesn't affect the entire server. I wonder, how would you watch on us 24/24 everyday, to ensure the rule will not be broken? In the same way you haven't been able to apply the rule "Do not cast spells in the OOC room", you won't be able to do this either. I have dispelled spells so many times by myself, because the room was full of sh*t.
Now, if we have to do something, is trying to have a more mature behaviour.
Also, remember that you might be flooded by parties of people talking oocly, now. Great for DMs/EMs logging in, right?

[*Leona]

I'm sort of 50-50 about this rule. While I agree the loitering part might be a bit much. I've also had times where I log on the server and instantly crash cause people have decided to spam spells in the OOC room which my PC doesn't like. That is very very annoying and I'm sure someone will say "Well you can use the no spell effects mod and it probably won't crash then." You are right, but should I have to just to log in the OOC room?

[*TheorumOfNeutrality]

I'm a fellow long-time player - and I have to say that I really don't share your fears. Problems with the OOC room have persisted as long as I can remember (particularly, people re-crashing the server with spells), and DMs usually ushered people who were loitering out into the module.

I think you're placing an excessive amount of importance on the casual conversation that goes in the OOC room. I, personally, have never formed a long-time rapport with any player through conversations there. Anyone I can claim to be acquainted with OOCly, I RP'd with first - and then usually engaged in Tell conversations. I think many other players may share my experience.

Similarly to you, I use the forums but don't use Discord. I don't feel I'm being denied the right to do anything. Mostly because I have a tendency to ambush anyone I know well with tells right as they log in! As I say this, I do not intend to demean these interactions - I've engaged in them plenty, myself. But to state that they are the "cornerstone" of the community is incorrect, and opinion masquerading as fact.

The truth is that this should have been made a rule years ago - as it has been a consistent issue for years and years now. There are a few key reasons this rule makes sense:
1. It deals with a longstanding problem with stability issues regarding people congregating in small areas for long periods of time. (See: Any event ever for evidence)
2. Not all new players are endeared by seeing a room full of people goofing off as they log in for the first time. It can aid shy players in integration with the server.
3. It will allow players who use Change Self a certain amount of OOC privacy when they log in, so they don't expose to everyone that they're a dragon or doppelganger or whatever.

With what few rules we have already, this one fits in neatly. It is not excessive, broad or sweeping. It does not inhibit anyone's ability to play or communicate what they wish. It only changes where that communication can occur.

But - perhaps there can be a middle ground. Perhaps an OOC lounge can be added to the module for the purposes of going AFK or for short bursts of casual OOC conversation. I know I'd prefer to see less OOC chatter in the Bazaar. Maybe it can forbid all forms of spellcasting or feat usage. It could include tailoring mirrors, the library and an event board. Perhaps it could be accessed from the Essence item.

Just a few ideas.

Edit: Where the hell are my applause gifs?

[*rapsam2003]

rankly i don't like that jerk off comment you said, because i think you're wrong about that on so many levels. If i wanted to Jerk off, i'd have some one else do it for me in Real life.

I think you knew what I meant. :P

I will echo TheorumOfNeutrality's comment though. The players I've built rapport with are the ones that I've had solid RP with. It's easy enough to do even a short (2 minutes) session and then send a tell saying, "Thanks for the RP" and go from there. This is a RP server, and RP should be the foundation for what we do here.

2. Not all new players are endeared by seeing a room full of people goofing off as they log in for the first time. It can aid shy players in integration with the server.

Honestly, when I was new, this was a big turnoff for me. If the OOC Room is more interesting than the server itself, there's a problem. (I don't think that's the case, but if you're new...how would you know that?) The reason I stuck around is because Planescape was always one of my favorite settings. Hell, I got into Planescape as a setting because of Baldur's Gate 2 and the companion Haer'dalis, who had a questline that mentioned Sigil. From there, I got into Planescape Torment. When I found out SCoD was a thing, I was excited as all-get-out!

The OOC Room definitely is NOT what kept me around. And seeing everyone hanging out there is, frankly, a bit odd. Every reset, we have folks there for like an hour or more.

[*Mr_Otyugh]

I can confidently start by saying that this issue doesn't touch me pretty much at all. I do not linger around actively in the OOC room all that much. That said, I do have some opinions about the topic at hand.

I also hope that we can all try to remain calm and martial our opinions. No one is going to be more agreeable the more aggressive you seem, the more likely thing to occur is to get everyone defensive about their opinions. I do understand why people are upset, but trying to demean others is only going to work into your disfavor. I mean lets be fair, none of you are even currently getting in the server to "suffer" this ruling :lol: so calm down. Yeah yeah! I'm working on that issue, don't worry! (shouldn't take long)

The whole "vacate the OOC room" theme is actually pretty much as old as the NWN2 is, I remember that happening in the first major server too. There's really mixed proofs on how much impact it has generally had. This is mostly my own observations, in its extreme form it can definitely have an impact (like everyone going VFX heavy and cast for the sake of showing off and what not), but more common is usually when the server is just starting up, that's the time you want to keep things calm and let the server properly load up everything before starting to "goof around", if server has been up for a while, then that won't really make any more impact in the starting area than it will in any other. I know I've occasionally expressed it or just cleaned up OOC room years ago, but overall it's mechanically an avoidable issue. I know an old solution to that aspect was to make OOC room use the same scripts as ethereal demiplane.

I also don't think that OOC room is actually the staple of community community building, do read on before commenting. Staple of community building is the capability to get in contact with fellow players without the need of IC pressure, something I do have a positive view about. But while the OOC room is a community building place, that area is technically what you are defending. It could technically be replaced with an OOC lounge or anything and the general point would remain the same. I am in general support that players logged in is effectively better than not. Technically that'd also bypass the issue of first impressions. *shrugs*

I'm not entirely sure if I understand the subtext correctly, but if I were to interpret my understanding it's about trying to inspire roleplay, but I'm not entirely sure this is a method that'll work.

*edit* To expand on that view actually, if the issue is that not more people are roleplaying, I'm a general believer that it indicates the issue isn't OOC room, but rather it is what's waiting for them beyond OOC room that causes them not to move in. So I think it's better to maybe come up with mutual ideas how to get people hop in. The most effective (and difficult to do) is IC ties to other characters, if there's a character you want to RP with, you sure ain't going to hang around goofing around. If there's an event waiting, again you're just going to go by and join the event.*/edit*

Anyway, as said, I'm fine either way :P but I'm not sure the general minute gain is worth the fight. There are probably better ways.

[*rapsam2003]

I guess as doom put it, the rule is so loose that I don't really understand why it needs to be a rule? Like who are the few people who spend 2-6 hours in the ooc room hurting?

Can't we just pull the few people who are doing that aside and tell them to politely not do that rather than impose confusing, vague server wide rules on the mass majority that don't do this?

If only the world worked that way... :lol:

[*Mick64]

Actually it's not "really" DM invisibility (Only DMs get that AFAIK), just invisibility that works even if you have True Seeing or such.

But the text can be removed with some 2da fiddling. I'm pretty sure simply making the ability instant works.

[*Sinlinara]

I believe that giving invisibility will not suffice as a solution unless the text is also removed. But if it's that simple then it sounds pretty okay to me.

[*Mcblight]

I am pretty sure you do not see any text of general spells or spell like abilities if you are invisible and not seen by any means. This is also the case with "spotting" cast spells with spellcraft, that if they are invisible you wont be able to tell what spell they used.

I dont have much to say to this discussion as I believe most of the things allready have been mentioned - but I can say that I believe Mick64s idea is an optimal solution for many of the problems that we are facing.

Personally, I like to stay in the OOC room for a bit. This sometimes is just ten minutes, sometimes an hour or more. There is various reasons for me to do this, but I know atleast a few others that have a tendency to stay in the OOC room. This is not because of any bad intentions towards anyone, but more often than not is it a form for mental preparation - which makes me want to speak about art!

In most perfomances, in this example acting, it is often encouraged of the actors to prepare mentally before going on the stage. How to prepare is often very different from person to person, but some examples that I have experienced varies all the way from being cheerful and almost have a party, to walk around in circles and say random things. Actors often slowly "switch" into their characters mindset while doing this, and some acts out the complete opposites of their characters - it all really comes down to what technique is the best for the artist. Everyone have their different ways to prepare themself, and simply throwing them onto the stage can be harmful for the general perfomance and the enjoyment as a whole.

While we might not be a professional performer group, we are all still part of improvisational form of acting - roleplay. I can tell that this form for "preparation" is also a valid thing for roleplay, and I do sometimes use it myself in the "OOC room" (or similar) - and I have noticed others do it too (maybe without realizing it). It is the "from everyday life personality into character quirks etc" and while it is true that some people gets into character the best by jumping right into it, as true is it that some people dont.

In short: The quality or amount of RP is not always decreased by people standing around in the OOC room, sometimes it means the quite opposite.

Generally speaking, I think we all need to accept that "if someone have a problem, it is a problem" and dont try to push away anyone as not having it if we dont feel it being a problem for ourself. This goes both ways. I think this ruling was made with the best intentions, as much as I think that everyone responding to it is doing so with their best intention. Even if we sometimes are getting heated up by various topics, we'll have to remember this: We're all part of this great community!