News 5 16 - Gibberish, OOC behavior, and roleplaying bonuses

NEWS article 5-16:

Dateline 2/5/2001: GIBBERISH, OOC BEHAVIOR, AND ROLEPLAYING BONUSES

DragonRealms prides itself on being a high quality multiplayer roleplaying game. As such, it is sometimes necessary to define what "roleplaying" means, and to take certain steps to guard the environment. In general, if a player is having a private conversation with another player, they can discuss anything they want, regardless of whether it's "in character" or not. If there's a very "out of character" (OOC) discussion going on in a public or high traffic area though, it may be necessary to ask the participants to move their conversation to whispers. Some more information on this can be found by reading POLICY 3.

When it becomes necessary to discuss OOC things, such as to teach someone how to engage in combat, the "etiquette" of DragonRealms normally asks that the out-of-character discussion of stats, numbers, and verbs take place in whispers. To speak such things "out loud" is referred to in an in-character way as "speaking gibberish." There are some generally accepted "roleplaying" ways of discussing certain concepts though. To see some recommended terms, type EXP RP HELP.

Here are some examples of OOC language, and how you might say it better in an "in-character" way: "I'm logging off" --> "I'm retiring for the day." "My ISP is slow today so I'm having trouble typing commands" --> "Sorry, my mind is wandering, pardon me if I seem a bit slow today." "I need to gain 2 more points in intelligence," --> "I need to study two more multiplication tables," "I need to go 'cause my sister called me on the phone" --> "I am receiving a call from another world, please excuse me," "This backpack has a really cool look verb," --> "Look at the elaborate embroidery on my backpack," and so forth. With a little thought and creativity, it's possible to come up with IC ways of discussing pretty much any subject.

Staying in-character can be to your advantage! GameMasters are continually scanning the game to look for places where they can bestow roleplaying bonuses on good roleplayers. If you receive a bonus, it will mean an immediate boost in experience, plus a multiplier which will enhance all of your experience gain for the next few hours. The higher the bonus, the higher the multiplier, and the longer it will last. Because there are so many thousands of players in DragonRealms though, and not very many GameMasters, the chances of your own roleplay being observed on any particular day are small. And if during the minute or two that a GM does observe you, you exhibit some blatantly OOC behavior (such as saying, "Hey, what'd you think of the football game last night?"), then the GM will probably just quickly move on to the next random player. So it's to your advantage to stay In-Character (IC) as much as possible, in order to improve your chances of receiving a bonus!

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