Bored to death

[jmordetsky]

Hi all....

In the past I've played very independent characters...

Now I have a char whose joined a clan and has a bunch of rules to follow. As a result I find myself alone in the city. What is one to do? I can't leave and lets say I can't enter the one place where there is normally folks to RP with.

Honestly, what do other people do when they are stuck without anyone to RP with or AI to interact with? hunt etc?

Sometimes breaking rules not only gives you people to interact with, but is
and offers more RP in itself. The art of making a disguise, or getting a new
cloak, or finding side streets around public throughfares, and then if you
get caught, conflict RP. There is actually alot of other stuff. Taverns, take
up a job as a preformer in the bazaar or something....

I dont know.

[crymerci]

I would ask your PC superior or clan leader to give you standing orders or a schedule of tasks to keep you busy. If you can't reach that person, I would try emailing your clan imm.

As for your off-duty times, I would think there is more than one place where PCs might hang out. Also, you could get a hobby-a craft, collecting something, drinking, gambling, etc.

[Swordsman]

Just my take:

Whatever you do, don't start playing your PC unrealistically (like going out to hunt alone because you're OOCly bored). It's better (IMO) to just log out if you're really stuck for something to do. I'm not saying you're thinking about this, just that this is what seems to come up as a first option when most people get bored.

As crymerci said, get in touch OOCly with your clan leader/imm to ask for advice or alternate activities. No one expects everyone to be a brilliant solo RPer, or for everyone to absolutely love solo RP, but in this game I think you should expect that you'll have to do some solo RP some of the time (unless you're really lucky and always play at peak times or whatever).

On top of all of that, there's (IMO) a tonne of stuff you can do. Flesh out your PC's background story (i.e., the bits before you actually started playing him/her as a PC). Think seriously about the types of things your PC would realistically do given his/her current life situation. Faced with rules, some people might rebel, some might obey, some might just get drunk ... Tied to this is other game-related stuff like reading the docs, or even writing docs/stories to contribute to the game.

Swordsman

[Angela Christine]

An option between logging out and going wild, is to go into a semi-IC standby mode.  I've done this with characters who are in clans, when no one from the clan seems to be around.  If you just log out, then 2 minutes later someone from your clan can log in, find no one online, and then they log out too.  Later you log back in, see that there is still no one from your clan around (although several may have logged in and out since your last visit) so you log out again or do something foolish.  People go where the people are.

If I have nothing better to do, I'll sometimes put my character where they are supposed to be and set their ldesc to show they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.  Then I read, watch TV, or do something in another window.  When it works, my character is there as an anchor for the clan, so the next person to log on sees they are not all alone and hang around, the person after finds 2 people logged on, and so on.  When it fails, I wander off to make a sandwich or forget I'm still logged into the game altogether, so the next person to log on tries to talk to me then gets frustrated and leaves before I notice they were there.   :oops:  But usually I notice right away.  

I'm not claiming this is great RP.  Setting your ldesc to say something like "is here, cleaning the latrines" isn't as good as actually emoting out the activity.  I think it is sometimes a little better than logging out though, because it leaves you available for group RP.  Just keep an eye on the window.   :wink:

AC

[Master Z]

I think AC's scheme is fair game; I certainly have done it. The only really bad thing that could happen is if you did it too much, or did it unless one or two specific people were on or something. If you can think of something better to do in game, you probably should, but tastefully it can be handy on occation.

[Callisto]

You and I are in the same boat Jmordetsky as we're in the same clan with the same sort of restrictions if I guess right. I'm inclined to agree that not being allowed in 'that' place is a huge pain in the ass, since there is minimal interaction in-clan due to everyone having odd playing times and there is never a shortage of characters in that nice little place we aren't allowed to go.

Sucks even worse for me since my character gets left out of just about all clan stuff due to IC reasons. Soon those reasons will suffer a horrible, horrible death and ... err... moving on.

Its difficult but there are some things you can do to pass the time. Like AC said, you can set your long description and just throw an emote in every so often while you wait, check out some online comics or check the GDB, reviewing the games documentation is always a good idea, too.

When I get bored and have free time, my character checks out the local shops and does a little window shopping. It isn't a blast, but it passes the time and offers something to solo-RP about, plus you never know, you might run into someone with the same problem finding people to RP with.

Worse comes to worse - break the rules, unless your character is the goodie goodie type who wouldn't ever do that. I mean lets face it.. if the leaders aren't around to role-play with you, then it isn't very likely they will be around to give you shit, either, right?

Just stick to it, soon enough a lot of the rules and boring stuff will be over with... if not, e-mail your clan admin and work something out. If that fails, just get out of the clan and do something else. If you aren't having fun then theres not point in hanging around.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Being in the Byn up north really sucks doesn't it? Not being...uhm...well, never mind.

:lol:

Ok, that was wrong. I agree with the above posters and employ the change ldesc command regularly. Then I work on my own projects until tomeone comes along. I also solo-RP a bit.

Well, good luck.

[jmordetsky]

Thanks all. I feel a little bit better about it now, and about setting my ldesc and just hanging in another window....

[Rindan]

I would personally encourage you to NOT start suddenly breaking rules because you are bored.  It pretty much will assure your characters demise at some point, and I have a feeling in the end you won't find it very worthwhile.  Generally most of those rules are in for your own safety and are more often then not just common sense.

What I would suggest is explore your character's personality more.  If you want to take risks, take worthwhile risks that are rewarding.  Brag too loudly, get into a bar fight, pick on someone smaller then you.  Don't go look for trouble you can't handle, like a Templar, noble, or someone who can step on you, but don't be afraid of voicing your opinion about what you think that half breed next to you smells like.  If that is not in your personality, figure out what is.  There is plenty of trouble to be had without breaking rules, and I can almost always promise that this sort of trouble is far more interesting then getting killed by a group of gith or poisoned by an elf.

Even if you are not the type to make a scene due to your IC personality, don't be bashful about using your OOC control of fate to stir up some trouble.  Spill a drink on a kadian merchant's silks.  ICly you might never do such a thing on purpose, but you can OOCly force yourself to have that accident.  There are a lot of ways to use the control you have over your character's fate to stir up a little fun.

[spawnloser]

Something people noted but didn't elaborate on is that you are probably not playing a slave, meaning that you have times that you are on-duty and times that you are off-duty.  During those off-duty times, your character can go do whatever the F they wanna.  Granted, they may have been forbidden by their superiors to go somewhere...but you have other options.  Don't think you have to stand at the compound picking your nose all day.

[Plazgoth]

For those who wish to set the ldesc and idle, I suggest making an alarm function for your client. That way when someone tries to interact with you your client will warn you. I currenlty have an alarm function which blares out a really loud and annoying sound when -any- new text is sent by the mud. I use it when I need to go afk for a few minutes, bathroom or phone. I guess I am one of those paranoid bastards that think that as soon as I go afk there will be an attempt on my life or something else bad will happen. This is not good for places where there are room emotes or other things which you do not care about , but you can tailor the alarm to fit your needs, maybe only when someone speaks to you, or only when somoen actualy enters the area where your character is.

[X-D]

Alarm function..aka trigger, Yup, got em, and I also have done the change ldesc and idle till somebody, or in one or two cases, something came by...probobly provided by an imm as bored as I was... :wink:

[John]

Even if you are not the type to make a scene due to your IC personality, don't be bashful about using your OOC control of fate to stir up some trouble.

This is actually a fun thing to do. Although I tend to do it the other way, where I cause VNPCs to cause trouble for me. Takes longer because I have to emote for both the VNPCs and myself, but it's a lot of fun. The only trick is trying to find a realistic way for a VPNC to start causing trouble.

[Cenghiz]

Go on... Go to where you're forbidden and die. I'm waiting in one of the forbidden places. I won't mercy you, and will drop your head near the gates of your clan.

Heh... OK OK... was joking... But be sure that if location X is forbidden, it means in location X there are a lot of aggie badass NPC's. For example, for Byn, it's 'rynth with a lot of NPC badass burglars and also the PC ones. And also a newbie Bynner wouldn't be able to afford enough armor to protect himself from vicious beetle bites. It's not a good idea to play the rulebreaker. And if your character isn't a ranger (I once had a Bynner ranger, he didn't care so much about the "no desert" rule IC, but even he was afraid of going out of the gates.) or halfelf, I don't know what motives he'll have to break the rules.

So let Britney Spears wander in forbidden areas, you'll be safe in your clan.

[naatok]

My advice is for your PC to drink....heavily.  If it isn't illegal, spice it up to.  Turn your character into a sickly, depraved chemically dependent loser!

Then hang around the local swill hall and oogle the females (or males, depending on toolbox and preference).  Emote some drool or disgusting scatalogical activities until your PC manages to annoy someone enough to make life interesting!

The swill-headed, spiced mercenary slouches on a barstool, massaging his crotch and oogling passing females.

Or find something your PC can do until other clanmembers log in.
What do YOU do when you're bored and there's no TV or movies, no car and no books you haven't read or magazines without all the pages stuck together?  Think!

Huh?

That's right!  Think!  Your pc should be thinking about all sorts of things!  The baudy show in the tavern from last week, the sexy bardess who brings your character to tears with her songs of unrequitted love.  The last battle your PC was in...or other harrowing experience.  That loser in the bunk next to you who snores all friggin' night, keeping your PC awake so s/he's bleary-eyed for morning formation.

There are all sorts of things to think about in Zalanthas!

Besides, its entertaining for the staffers who might be paying attention!   :twisted:

[Fedaykin]

Rather than repost a copy of my thoughts on boredom in this thread which I didn't see initially, I'll just point you to topic http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2799 which contains my somewhat lengthy notions on the subject if you missed it but are interested.