So, what's wrong with emotions?

[spawnloser]

Okay, by the very fact that we all care enough to play this game, discuss the game and try to improve the game (based on our own perceptions of what needs improvement), we all carry emotion...we all care about the game, right?  Caring strongly for this game and hoping to see it improved is a good thing, right?

Keeping this in mind, when someone lets that strong emotion guide them to seek improvement or to avoid something they think is the opposite, they are impassioned...

...but we're now being told that being impassioned about something is a bad thing.  By both staff and player.

I understand that it is bad when that passion runs away with someone, but when any emotion is criticized as not being rational discussion (and I should remind people that just because someone feels emotion does not mean they have ceased to be rational), we are doing damage to the process of open discourse.  This touches in some way on what Joe was discussing in his thread asking for code instead of thought policing.  If we tell people that they must not let their emotions guide them at all, we are asking people to be analytical and rational without having any emotion, which is fine for academic writing, but does not make the best for storytelling, which is what we do here.

People make critiques of the game based on personal opinions, like and dislikes, and the emotion they get when in or out of contact with a facet of the game.  Then these same people decry others for opposing that opinion because those opposing are too emotional?  I find this a bit ironic.

Personally, I think that mindless "No, this is the way it is" "Nunh-unh, this is" (no matter how well-written or rational a post, because emotion the passion behind that rationality is what drives one to fight/argue in the first place) sort of stuff happens much too often, and stems mostly from the passion people feel for things, as well as different experiences in game by those different people.  We're never going to be able to agree on all things, as some people seem to think.  However, I also think that telling yourself that you are rational and others are not means that you're lying to yourself.  Noone playing this game is a machine.  We are all ruled by emotion.  Home Sapiens is not as rational a species as many would like to think  Let's try to recognize each others emotions without trying to attack or police them, huh?

[Onimantu]

If you're referring to any threads that have been locked recently, then I'll simply respond by stating:

In very recent history, these threads quickly degenerate once they reach a specific boiling point. During this decline IC information starts rolling out, potentially ruining the experience of playing for others.

Passion also leads to its symbolic counterpart, flames. A heated discussion on the GDB will most typically turn into rather biting commentary that is counter-productive to any discussion.

Why do these debates characteristically turn in this direction? No idea. Perhaps because people are unwilling to be convinced away from their own point of views, which is commonplace as we're all creatures who base our perceptions on our experiences more readily than on those of others. So the next time yet another thread regarding how many of X Y or Z in the world pops up, perhaps people will think constructively rather than butting heads against each other until the thread needs to be locked.

[John]

Could you give an example of a post that has emotion and is then criticized that doesn't involve any posts as gigantic as the Thought Policing thread? (I haven't read it all because its so goddamn long ).

The only recent thread I can think of that fits the criteria of your premise spawnloser, is the one where someone complained about getting stripped buck-naked. He seemed pretty passionate about not having his character screwed over to such a large degree, and he was criticized for his thoughts. But never (from what I can remember) was he criticized for being passionate about it.

[ale six]

I too don't really know what threads the OP has in mind when he wrote this... but I do think we should try and be as rational and objective as possible when we're posting, just because you get the best discussion that way. Save your passion for what's inside the game.

[sarahjc]

I don't think that Joe's request was for thought Policing, or taking emotion out of the game. It was basically to say, that if the staff is going to enforce policy, why not do it both ways. With Documentation and then follow it up with coded response to the PC's as well.

Basically, give them the written tutorial and enforce it with code. That is not to say that your PC cannot have emotional response to something. Hell, if a PC magicker wants to fall in love with a Nilazi, that's cool.. let them, but the PC's should be aware that just being with each other is painful physically and is not the norm.

If an elf wants to have the means to ride a Kank, he can.. He would just feel it in his bones that it's not what his people would expect and it is shameful to his kind.  

All a coded response would do is enforce players along the guidelines set in documentation, which are sometimes left too open for interpretation and can lead to stress between staff and players, and players amongst themselves.

As it stands currently, I don't think that anyone is trying to take emotion out of the game. But there are limits to what PC's should be doing. Without guidance early on, we can sometimes go astray on the IC path of things. And when staff steps in a bit down the road, it can feel like they are putting the kabosh on what we are doing that we feel is IC and what they feel goes against the documentation. I guess this has come to a head moreso now with the release of Higher Karma classes to the general playerbase, who may or may not be keeping to those strict guidelines.


Just my thoughts.