Find out IC

[crymerci]

my first post on the old GDB after getting an account was asking where I could get a merchant's token. I had searched every shop, gone to a center of trade and an administrative building in Allanak. Nothing.

I got told 'Ask around.' 'Find out IC.' and 'You are close' by the old hard-nosed Templar.

In the end I benifited more from not being told on the GDB and having to ask around and actually talk to people.

The above is hijacked from another thread...

I was just wondering where you draw the line with "Find out IC".  With the above example, I am guessing that the average commoner would know which people issue merchant licenses.  This isn't any specialized information or game secret here.  

Although CRW prefers the "Find out IC" answer,  I feel like he was made to play an unrealistic character who didn't know his own hometown.  Sure, he probably met some people or had some interesting experiences because of having to ask around, but at the sake of realism and common sense, IMO.

Do you think that anything not covered in the docs should be discovered ICly, or do you think there are common sense things that aren't covered but that an average citizen would know and should be told OOCly?

[Anonymous]

Is it a crime against nature if they are told something that they should know?  Depends, I guess.  Back in the days before they sent out the symbols for starting spells with magickers, you had some dicey first moments where you worked to 'discover' spells you already had.  Considering that's changed, I suppose telling a merchant how to get a token isn't bad.

I should have added, however, that the thread where I culled my tale from also included helpful suggestions of how I could go about it IC.  The old hard-nosed Templar suggested asking people where else I could get a token since the office that I had visited was all out.

And in the end, I guess I would consider the second approach more benificial.  Instead of outright telling the player how to do something, or blankly telling them to 'find out IC', telling them to 'find out IC and here's some suggestions on how you might do that' results in not only sharing your perspective on the world, something invaluable to a newcomer, but also interaction for that player.  A Good Thing(TM).

[Krath]

My opinion..I am a lot harsher than most, if it is NOT in the docs, find it out ICly. Those were some of the best times of my arm career, Figuring things out. I mean it is the same thing as real life, you appreciate things more if you attain them on your own.

[CindyLou]

I agree with Krath but also with CRW because sometimes what people take for granted becuase theyve been doing it for so long, is something a new player wouldn't know where to even start finding out ic.

So when you tell someone find out ic it helps to at least give them a general idea what direction to go to. like..if they want to know how to get out of the city say "find out ic by looking at the different room descriptions since those descriptions tell you where things are"

or something like that

[Xygax]

On "find out IC" I draw the line after everything in the documentation (which is a lot) and things that would make a player look like a madman or an idiot if they were asked IC.

That's a pretty useful subset of info.  If you find things in that second group that AREN'T in the docs, it's probably a good idea to typo them as things that SHOULD be.

-- X

[Dan]

Its also a good idea to make your character as -not- being a master at anything. Or a know-it-all if your just starting out.

[Bestatte]

A map of the docs isn't in the docs, that I've found so far.

There are links hidden within links, that you don't know exist until and unless you happen to be somewhere else. Helpfiles are great, but they don't include a LOT of the documentation.

I'd like to see a map, or tree, of the entire player-accessable website.

You can hover your mouse over each "primary" category and i'll pull down a list of the "sub" categories within it, and then branch even further if you hover your mouse over one of the subcategories.

That way if I'm looking for something combat-related..let's say, what the heck is a cistus? I know that it's some sort of weapon, which means it's combat related. So I hover "combat" which pulls down sub-menus..aha! There's one - weaponry! I pull down that one, and I get a choice of different styles of weapons, til I find whatever category a cistus belongs in.

Or how about if I'm looking to learn something questionable.. like, what is this herb for? Well I know I got it outside that little crevice, and it grows, and I'm wondering if it's edible. So I look up "flora and fauna" - then branch to "plantlife in Zanthalas" then "Plantlife in the northt" and I see that 20 different types of herbs grow in the north, and that some of them are poisonous. Aha! Now I know, it -might- be risky to try and find out if it's edible, and I"ll call on my trusty dwarf to test it for me. Then again, I might see a reference to this particular herb, because it's a common thing that most characters know about. Maybe it's a kalan fruit. I'm guessing the general population of the known world knows that kalans are edible. But if I'm a newbie I might not know that, even if my character would.

So yeah I'd like to see a tree of the website. Thanks.

[Carnage]

Here's an early Christmas present, Bestatte.

http://www.zalanthas.org/ArmDocs/Community/sitemap.html