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Roleplaying Experiment

TeshaTesha
in The Scarlattan Theatre
Hi everyone!

I would like to state here that my intention is not to create another discussion about whether OOC chat is bad or not, and I would prefer to keep that discussion in another thread, if it must be held at all. The purpose of this thread is to keep track of the experiment.

I have been thinking about an experiment I have been wanting to try, so I thought I would share it here. It involves the roleplaying scene in Achaea and OOC clans/discord/forums/skype groups. There has been a lot of discussion about the impact OOC clans/discord/forums/skype groups/whatever have on the game, and that made me curious what the game would be like with less of the influence of OOC chat. Getting rid of it completely is unrealistic and undesirable; there are definitely benefits to it, but there are drawbacks, as well.

A long time ago, I turned off all OOC clans and only interacted with people IC. This was fine, but I did it at a time where a lot of interactions were being held over OOC clans instead, so the overall experience was not much different. It just had less OOC. I am wondering what would happen if more people tuned out OOC and instead focused on interacting with fellow players IC, and that is what this experiment is meant to assess. The more people that participate in it, the stronger the effect will be. If someone asks a question on an OOC clan and does not get an answer because most people are participating, they might ask IC instead.

The goal is to minimize OOC chat. The main idea is that this would generate more interactions IC, and facilitate a richer roleplaying atmosphere.

This would be done by turning off OOC clans, not talking about Achaea-related things in discord/forums/skype groups and resisting the temptation to turn OOC clans back on/chat in discord/etc. while you are actively playing. How each and every person defines actively playing will be up to them; this is the sort of experiment that you get out what you put in, and I have no desire to try to push this on anyone who is not interested. There would be some exceptions in order to maintain help for certain things.

Here are the guidelines!

1. Post here indicating your interest in participating! Unfortunately I do not have the funds to give out incentives. Maybe @Nicola @Makarios or @Ictinus could help with that! The more people that participate, the greater the effect will be, and the more results we will have. However, please do not pressure other people to participate. Participation needs to be entirely voluntary.

2. For 1 week starting Monday, December 11th, turn off OOC chat clans, and leave them off. OOC trigger/newbie help clans are fine, those can be very beneficial to the game and from what I have seen contribute by avoiding the awkward OOC/IC breaches.

3. Do not discuss Achaea-related things in Discord/forums/etc while you are playing. I am not asking you to leave all discords or anything drastic - just keep Achaea things in Achaea. The goal is not to kill the OOC environment; the goal is to drive in-character interactions in the game.

4. Try to rely on communication channels less. Walk up to citymates to talk to them, rather than exclusively using CT/tells. Use emotes, they're fun!

5. Try to reach out and interact with people. Do not wait for interactions to come to you; generate your own content!

6. Come back to this thread and post your experiences, however you would like to. This can be when you are not playing or after the week - that is entirely up to you. This is what I would like to keep the thread for.

7. After the experiment, come back and share your thoughts on the matter. If you would like, you could choose a few questions to answer, such as: Did the game feel different compared to before? How did you feel when it ended?




To reiterate, please keep this thread focused on the experiment and the results. I hope you decide to participate. Thanks!

 i'm a rebel

Comments

  • DridenDriden
    sounds like fun. count me in

    Cooper said:
    This is one of the worst forms of special snowflake RP I've ever seen. Thanks for going to another city to do it!
  • KythraKythra
    edited November 2018
    Do we break our fingers if we post logs about this?
    Then apply mending
    then break them again
    then apply mending...
  • MinifieMinifie
    I’ve been off org based OOC channels, seems to have done wonders, but I still have ~30 achaean friends in discord, only tary and makishi from mhaldor, rest from other cities. I definitely agree with having too many OOC connections and channels can cause some wonderfully shit issues, i wouldn’t completely cut them all. 
  • AereidhnaAereidhna Dallas
    edited November 2018
    I'm in! I'm actually only in a couple OOC clans (primarily CAC for combat-related stuff, the chatty OOC clans I belong to are really inactive). My primary OOC connection comes from talking to people like Perl, Phelia, Laedha, etc. occasionally on Skype or FB (in individual conversations). I'll try to minimize that for this week and do more in-person interaction rather than CT/tells. :)
  • KerirKerir
    In! 

    I accept the challenge of actually talking with folks face to face, and using emotes. I'm terrible at that (social anxiety wuuut), but everyone in the game seems cool. 

    I welcome the challenge to have me enjoy the game more with my own actions.
  • LaedhaLaedha
    In! I'm not in ooc clans but I use discord to talk to some achaean friends. I do sometimes catch myself telling people things on discord because it's just easier and simpler, but this is a good reminder to stop. 
  • MellexoMellexo
    Ellodin said:
    add going tellsoff, setting up all your meetings through letters, and always meeting in places accessible to spies (unless it's something, say, seafaring-related)
    people actually have tells off and use letters?! that sounds pretty awesome actually

  • EllodinEllodin Hawaii
    no

    like the general population in real life, there exists greater demand for instantaneous snippets that are more fit for tells/messages instead of letters. a good number of people take a sort-of pride in not reading longer writings like news posts or books, as it is. what about when there's less of an informational incentive necessarily linked to the time spent reading? when more considered modes of communication are unusual and not the norm, the one person or few people using such methods are somewhat dismissed.

    that may not always be a conscious decision; people don't respond to letters because they won't make the time amidst all of the things that demand immediate attention and rapid responses. after all, what if it takes a more concerted effort to reply to someone? think writing a signed email with complete sentences or sending a letter to confirm a meeting at KFC instead of texting someone "omw" - after all, most interactions in achaea probably carry similar importance to (and cover similar topics as) random chatter with friends.

    but if enough people are up for playing in that style, if there are others tired of these "tell"-e-communications who wish to protest the decline of journalism and the rise of twitter as a news service, i'd be happy to oblige.
    And as he slept he dreamed a dream, and this was his dream.
  • TelinusTelinus
    Ellodin said:
    no

    like the general population in real life, there exists greater demand for instantaneous snippets that are more fit for tells/messages instead of letters. a good number of people take a sort-of pride in not reading longer writings like news posts or books, as it is. what about when there's less of an informational incentive necessarily linked to the time spent reading? when more considered modes of communication are unusual and not the norm, the one person or few people using such methods are somewhat dismissed.

    that may not always be a conscious decision; people don't respond to letters because they won't make the time amidst all of the things that demand immediate attention and rapid responses. after all, what if it takes a more concerted effort to reply to someone? think writing a signed email with complete sentences or sending a letter to confirm a meeting at KFC instead of texting someone "omw" - after all, most interactions in achaea probably carry similar importance to (and cover similar topics as) random chatter with friends.

    but if enough people are up for playing in that style, if there are others tired of these "tell"-e-communications who wish to protest the decline of journalism and the rise of twitter as a news service, i'd be happy to oblige.
    tl;dr
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