Just curious

[Vivian]

I've a question, what do your characters do while you're not online playing them?  Odds are they've got to be doing something.  I mean they will continue to 'live' in the game world while you're not on the other end of a computer screen playing them.  Every character whether you're a simple miner, or the high ranking nobles dont just cease to be, simply because you're not playing them in the game, right?  

    So, my question is this: When does the assumption cross over into OOC?

     I mean if your character has a relationship with another character and you rarely see them in game, is it ok for you to leave it to the assumption that the two see and speak to eachother regularly?  What if you have an employer and you need to get them some urgent information and you never see them in game, would it be ok to tell them by other means instead of on the mud?  Or say that your character is a hard core army-type person, but its just no fun to roleplay your sentry duty day in and day out, or roleplay cleaning the barracks, etc.  What if you never see your superior officers in game to report to them? Can those things be assumed? Is it ok to assume that your characters are actually working/sleeping/having relations/'take the kids to the pool'/etc. while you're not online?

    There are some muds that allow you to assume certain things while you're not in game, ie: sentry duty, cleaning house/barracks, doing your character's job, etc.  Also if you have an employer/love in game, they can assume that the two talk regularly so messages, among other things, can get through if the players are rarely in game at the same time.  Of course, the latter of the two is always emailed to the staff and stuffs like that.  

Just curious.   :?
   

    Anyhow, what do you guys think?

[Anael]

When it comes to the character's job, yes, I assume he's doing just what he's supposed to be doing. If there is a reason why he wouldn't do his duties when he's supposed to, I make sure to email the clan Imms (providing the PC's clanned, obviously). If he has a relationship with a NPC/vNPC, I'd do just the same. It's a bit trickier with PCs, though, because they can always do something totally unexpected while you're gone. IMHO, this is one of the situations when -some- OOC contact might be necessary. I don't know, though. And I'd love to know the staff opinion.

[bloodfromstone]

I always assume my characters have been doing their duties and the little tasks that they're presented with. Bigger things, like presenting reports and stuff, I try to leave for when I can play them out fully.

[Yokunama]

     I mean if your character has a relationship with another character and you rarely see them in game, is it ok for you to leave it to the assumption that the two see and speak to eachother regularly?  What if you have an employer and you need to get them some urgent information and you never see them in game, would it be ok to tell them by other means instead of on the mud?  Or say that your character is a hard core army-type person, but its just no fun to roleplay your sentry duty day in and day out, or roleplay cleaning the barracks, etc.  What if you never see your superior officers in game to report to them? Can those things be assumed? Is it ok to assume that your characters are actually working/sleeping/having relations/'take the kids to the pool'/etc. while you're not online?

Responding to underlined text.

Some of those things you mentioned concerning one or more people will require some OOC cooperation as well. Email and Mudmail would be the two best ways to discuss and work out a reasonable solution. If you have their account on messenger a service, feel free to try that as well.

Speaking from experience, let us say you were not, by any means, able to encounter your superiors online. Over time, you and your character will lose the connection to the group you were affiliated with.

[Edit] I know its a bit off topic, but I just felt like it should be noted.

[HardCarbon]

     I mean if your character has a relationship with another character and you rarely see them in game, is it ok for you to leave it to the assumption that the two see and speak to eachother regularly?  What if you have an employer and you need to get them some urgent information and you never see them in game, would it be ok to tell them by other means instead of on the mud?  Or say that your character is a hard core army-type person, but its just no fun to roleplay your sentry duty day in and day out, or roleplay cleaning the barracks, etc.  What if you never see your superior officers in game to report to them? Can those things be assumed? Is it ok to assume that your characters are actually working/sleeping/having relations/'take the kids to the pool'/etc. while you're not online?

Responding to underlined text.

Some of those things you mentioned concerning one or more people will require some OOC cooperation as well. Email and Mudmail would be the two best ways to discuss and work out a reasonable solution. If you have their account on messenger a service, feel free to try that as well.

Speaking from experience, let us say you were not, by any means, able to encounter your superiors online. Over time, you and your character will lose the connection to the group you were affiliated with.

[Edit] I know its a bit off topic, but I just felt like it should be noted.

 A problem I had.. for some things I was told  I HAD to speak to an officer about... saving that I had never met one... ((and in the end...  never did))

[Qetesh]

Your PC would do the same things that they would do on line, off line. Their life norms would continue while you are not playing them.

As for things like non-sinking play times with superiors and other relations, you can mail your clan imm's or the mud for things that are time sensitive or if you need some direction.  You can also use your Clan rumor boards as well as your clan's GDB boards to keep up to date on events and keep others up to date as well.

[Marauder Moe]

On a semi-related note, lets say two PC lovers were living together, or at least had a serious relationship where ICly they'd see eachother just about every day (even though, of course, the players wouldn't).  Then, one of the PCs dies secretly.  Is it alright to drop an OOC note to your PCs lover saying that he/she hasn't been seen in a while?  Or maybe it should be done through the immortals?  Seems like a tricky situation.

[da mitey warrior]

I ususally play it that my characters do a more boring version of their IC job while I'm offline.  If I'm my character is a guard or soldier it might be guard duty, or if my character is a servant it might be cleaning or whatever.  Just give your character all the uncoded menial tasks while you're offline so you can complain about them with out actually having to do them.  

With regards to other PCs I usually take what happens in game and extend it to offline activity.  If I see a PC who's a coworker or relative every day then I consider our characters to be seeing eachother every day.  If they don't log in for a few days or play sporatically or in different hours than I do then I play it that they don't see eachother for various reasons.  Most clans are big enough that it makes some sense.  

If you have to pass a message on and never see the PC online you could always try the in-game IC board for your clan.

[Yokunama]

On a semi-related note, lets say two PC lovers were living together, or at least had a serious relationship where ICly they'd see eachother just about every day (even though, of course, the players wouldn't).  Then, one of the PCs dies secretly.  Is it alright to drop an OOC note to your PCs lover saying that he/she hasn't been seen in a while?  Or maybe it should be done through the immortals?  Seems like a tricky situation.

You could tell them OOCly about your characters death. Mind you, this acton is not encouraged by the majority of the roleplaying community.

If it so happens that you did, the other player must keep roleplaying as if nothing happened. Their character would more likely, later on, get worried and make assumptions of your character's departure to the sands. Those are just some actions most characters take, when a certain person goes missing for a while.

[joyofdiscord]

I definitely would NOT resort to OOC communication to send urgent information to someone you don't see online much.  This takes away the chance for other characters to spy on you and get the information.  Now, if worse comes to worse, perhaps you might take the chance to tell a clan NPC the information, then email the clan imms so they can animate the NPCs to tell your superior.

IMO, the best way to handle these sort of matters is not to get in highly involved relationships with characters you never run into in-game.  There's no good solution to handling IC matters with chars you don't see IC.  If your char wants to take on a lover, or work for someone, I think it's a good idea to make sure it's someone you're going to run into at least once a RL week.

[Anael]

On a semi-related note, lets say two PC lovers were living together, or at least had a serious relationship where ICly they'd see eachother just about every day (even though, of course, the players wouldn't). Then, one of the PCs dies secretly. Is it alright to drop an OOC note to your PCs lover saying that he/she hasn't been seen in a while? Or maybe it should be done through the immortals? Seems like a tricky situation.

Yes, I think that sort of stuff should go through the Imms.

Edited to add: When I said there might be some OOC communication between the players needed, I meant more like... setting up meeting times and deciding whether they'd spend time together or not. Eventually set up some 'borders' for roleplaying the relationship (not everyone likes mudsex, after all). Anything 'deeper' and more IC than that should be done in-game, IMO.

[Yokunama]

I definitely would NOT resort to OOC communication to send urgent information to someone you don't see online much.  This takes away the chance for other characters to spy on you and get the information.  Now, if worse comes to worse, perhaps you might take the chance to tell a clan NPC the information, then email the clan imms so they can animate the NPCs to tell your superior.

IMO, the best way to handle these sort of matters is not to get in highly involved relationships with characters you never run into in-game.  There's no good solution to handling IC matters with chars you don't see IC.  If your char wants to take on a lover, or work for someone, I think it's a good idea to make sure it's someone you're going to run into at least once a RL week.

Responding to underlined text.

I'm aware that we have people who have different ideas about dealing with such a situation. It was just a helpful suggestion.

[Edit] Underlined the addressed text

[Whira's Luck]

It's not just a suggestion, actually. You should not be discussing deaths, clan sensitive information or (dare I say) even setting up meeting times in any IM client. It smacks of, and quickly can degrade to "Help! My pc is being attacked! I need you to log in quick!"

A better way to handle information you need to pass along in-game and not having access to your superior/lover/whatever, is to send a polite email to your clan imm or the mud account explaining the situation in detail. "My PC lives with his/her pc lover and they see each other all the time on a regular basis but in actuality, our playtimes mesh at odd intervals so I can go for a week without meeting up with them in the game. My PC was eaten by a gith, while I was alone out hunting, and they would definately have noticed their absence after a few days. If appropriate, could you please find a way to make it clear to Bob, my lover, that our house has been empty for days and my things remain untouched?" would be something appropriate to send.

Not going into specifics, but you can ruin many things by spilling things like death into the open. As a case in point, since it's an excellent post, I'd like to refer you to this link:  http://www.armageddon.org/HyperNews/get/general-archive1996/7.html

Which hopefully should illustrate why telling someone you died is bad.

[Yokunama]

It's not just a suggestion, actually. You should not be discussing deaths, clan sensitive information or (dare I say) even setting up meeting times in any IM client. It smacks of, and quickly can degrade to "Help! My pc is being attacked! I need you to log in quick!"

A better way to handle information you need to pass along in-game and not having access to your superior/lover/whatever, is to send a polite email to your clan imm or the mud account explaining the situation in detail. "My PC lives with his/her pc lover and they see each other all the time on a regular basis but in actuality, our playtimes mesh at odd intervals so I can go for a week without meeting up with them in the game. My PC was eaten by a gith, while I was alone out hunting, and they would definately have noticed their absence after a few days. If appropriate, could you please find a way to make it clear to Bob, my lover, that our house has been empty for days and my things remain untouched?" would be something appropriate to send.

Not going into specifics, but you can ruin many things by spilling things like death into the open. As a case in point, since it's an excellent post, I'd like to refer you to this link:  http://www.armageddon.org/HyperNews/get/general-archive1996/7.html

Which hopefully should illustrate why telling someone you died is bad.

Actually, I did not mention that it was ok nor encourge people to exchange such character information.

I was talking about something dealing with the ways some people deal with something I brough out that a bit off-topic in the very first post.

You could tell them OOCly about your characters death. Mind you, this acton is not encouraged by the majority of the roleplaying community.

[Vivian]

Well, the advice so far has been helpful, thanks you guys.    However my situation is a bit more complicated than what's been touched on.  I don't have a clan board, or a clan specific GDB.  Also, I didn't really have a choice on my employer, it just sort of happened. :oops: So, what would you guys do in this situation?  

Cuz I'm kinda at a loss here.  :-p  Hehe.

[Whira's Luck]

The best thing to do would be to either mail the mud@ginka.armageddon.org, outlying the situation and possibly asking for advice, outside of hoping to catch whoever you need to in-game.

Also, if you do manage to catch them in the game, it's perfectly acceptable to take them aside and OOC your regular playing times to hopefully meet up together more often.

Unfortunately, sometimes you need to roll with the punches, and yeah, it really sucks when someone you're relying on either never logs in or you end up missing each other for weeks. As someone else said, though, the best thing to do is get involved with people you tend to be around routinely, since you'll worry about these things a lot less.

[Anonymous]

Putting spam as a reply is an interesting new approach.

[jstorrie]

You could tell them OOCly about your characters death. Mind you, this acton is not encouraged by the majority of the roleplaying community.

You should absolutely not tell anyone OOCly about any character's death. If you have OOCly discussed with another player that your two characters spend a lot of time together - a married couple, or something extremely connected like that - while logged out, the most you should ever say is 'my character hasn't been doing that any more.' Don't OOCly give other players information that their characters don't have in-game. That just puts them in an awkward position.

[Nyard]

That was a nice story, the one written by Thanas.  Man, I was reading it, thinking, "Wow, this is exactly why I love Armageddon MUD.  So many possibilities!", but then those people ruined it by giving away OOC information.  So, after reading that, I definitely agree that you should do your best to keep OOC information to yourself.  Kudos to Thanas for a fun (and, dare I say it..?  Educational!) story.