Skill Progression and Starting Levels

[RogueGunslinger]

Sorry if I wandered off topic. I got lost and then sidetracked in the discussion a bit.

[Dalmeth]

I tend to find hordes of people who can't let go of a task until they succeed to be far more in line with a harsh, desert world than a bunch of people who get up at dawn and go to sleep at night.  One seems like a horde of desperate, struggling individuals and the other seems like a straight analog to an idealized modern life.  

And that idealized modern life does not exist in the game itself, which is the great flaw in this notion.  To follow this idea, there have to be people who are simply playing their own delusion and not interacting with other characters.

I don't think the biological need for sleep and the neurological processes that occur while sleeping are the result of modernity, so I disagree with you.

But if you want to play the struggling individual who can't let go of a task until they succeed you're more than free to do so. We do ask that you don't do it to an unrealistic degree (sparring/crafting/casting/foraging for multiple IG days straight for example) but if you want to portray someone who stays up for days on end huffing spice to stave off the exhaustion while they hammer away obsessively towards a goal like a dwarf with a focus I think that's a perfectly valid character concept to roll with.

A. There are many times people work for extended periods with no sleep or so little sleep it ceases to matter, and I said an ideal modern life.  In reality, people's sleep schedules can be fluid.  A person can run back to back shifts and spend thirty to forty hours on their feet.

B. In the game, a day lasts an hour.  Roleplaying these natural cycles is a problem when what you're doing has to be interrupted so regularly.  I understand this is a gray area, but it is a gray area.  The notion is either unenforceable except in genuinely extreme cases or so stringent as to cripple.

[Saellyn]

A day lasts an hour and a half. There are nine cycles in the game, from dawn, early morning, late morning, high sun, early afternoon, late afternoon, dusk, late at night, before dawn.

[Jave]

A. There are many times people work for extended periods with no sleep or so little sleep it ceases to matter, and I said an ideal modern life.  In reality, people's sleep schedules can be fluid.  A person can run back to back shifts and spend thirty to forty hours on their feet. 

B. In the game, a day lasts an hour.  Roleplaying these natural cycles is a problem when what you're doing has to be interrupted so regularly.  I understand this is a gray area, but it is a gray area.  The notion is either unenforceable except in genuinely extreme cases or so stringent as to cripple.

I agree that role playing thru the passage of time is a grey area. My own personal rule of thumb is that I don't pay much attention to it when I'm RP'ing with another person in a social setting, but a bit more attention to it when I'm training a skill.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough though, I never meant to imply that strict adherence to the game's time dilation was a rule. It's not. Extreme examples like casting for multiple IG days straight will earn you a talking to but one IG day is 1.5 RL hours. If you're sitting there using the cast command for over 3 hours straight, you are past the grey area. FAQ9 covers this in the help files.

You are also, for what it's worth, not actually improving your character's skills any faster when you use your time this way because of the anti-spam training measures built into the game.

But as I said earlier, if you want to portray a character who is obsessively driven and hammering away at a task for days before exhaustion catches up with them that's perfectly fine. Role play away.

[AdamBlue]

The last skill you used before you log out has a 1/200,000 chance of increasing while you're logged off for at least an hour.

Teach time you do not receive the skill up, the chance is doubled.

1/100,000
1/50,000
1/25,000
1/12,500
1/6,250
ect

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

I like starting with the lowest wisdom possible at bottom novice skills. I need the challenge, and being able to forage a single pearl must be the result of ages of hard work to get that good.

[Saellyn]

A. There are many times people work for extended periods with no sleep or so little sleep it ceases to matter, and I said an ideal modern life.  In reality, people's sleep schedules can be fluid.  A person can run back to back shifts and spend thirty to forty hours on their feet. 

B. In the game, a day lasts an hour.  Roleplaying these natural cycles is a problem when what you're doing has to be interrupted so regularly.  I understand this is a gray area, but it is a gray area.  The notion is either unenforceable except in genuinely extreme cases or so stringent as to cripple.

But as I said earlier, if you want to portray a character who is obsessively driven and hammering away at a task for days before exhaustion catches up with them that's perfectly fine. Role play away.

So a dwarf!