A recommendation for something I seem to see more often...

[Armaddict]

I've been seeing, over the course of the past few months, people who are looking for some character or another in game.  They often leave posts on IC rumor boards.

But then I see them, and they log in, sit down (I assume try to contact here),  then complain about how they don't reach anyone, and log back out.

Guys.  Don't just log out the second you can't contact another PC you're looking for.  Sometimes you just have to wait until the play times coincide and you run into them.  Sometimes they may have a barrier up.

But I pretty much guarantee logging in just to contact before logging out will result in a -far- longer OOC wait for reaching them for whatever reason.

[Marauder Moe]

Generally I agree, though some times I simply have better things to do than idle in a tavern hoping some particular PC logs in.

[spawnloser]

Alternately, if you continually log in and can never reach the one person that you're looking to be hired by...perhaps you should keep in mind that you may rarely see your employer after being hired?  Finding alternate employment for your character may be a good idea.

[jstorrie]

Very, very good point. Don't get a job working for someone you never see, unless he at least has lots of minions you can hang out with.

[Lizzie]

It's a catch-22 on the other side of the coin too.

Usual scenario: new PC shows up (sometimes new player, sometimes veteran, but definitely a new PC either way). He's lookin for work, we're around to hire him, and it turns out he hardly EVER logs in during that time of day, but happened to be available to play that day. So the whole rest of the clan is around, when he was looking for work, and continues to be around during that time of RL day all week long, but HE isn't. We pass him off as dead, and then we find out he's deserted or killed off his character or retired it, with the complaint that he never got to interact with anyone from the clan.

So, if your character is looking to interact regularly with people, it helps a whole lot to make sure the people you're looking to interact with, are able to find YOU, during the times you seem to be available when they first meet you.

I can't tell you how many times I've run into that, because my playing times are mostly set during the week and on weekends. I'll meet someone in the middle of my usual play time, we'll get into some great RP, it looks like there's potential for some future plotline involvement with the PC, and then poof - gone for 5 days, and the 6th day I find out he only logs into the game, during that time, once a RL month, and just happened to have the day off from work that first day. So much for any plotline that needs even a semi-regular PC-meeting. This is especially frustrating if the other guy is your PC's boss (I retired my first character because of it) but it is also frustrating when you're running something and are relying on other people to be around to take part in things, and their characters aren't dead, just never available when they implied they were.

L. Stanson

[Agent_137]

that's my biggest issue with this game.

[Malken]

That's why I never hook up with anyone or any jobs during the weekend or holidays, heh.. People always play at different hours than they usually might during these days.. Better to wait to see their usual schedule before you commit to anything.

[Dakkon Black]

I've always wanted to see a message type function given to the way.

Being logged off is an OOC problem and becomes an IC one which it really shouldn't and is sometimes hard and annoying to explain. If you could send way's to people logged off mind, so when the came back they had a "read board" type command to look at the list of way messages sent to you while you were logged off.

I could see this making a huge impact on clans and leaders, it's exhausting to be a leader in a clan and be always always always behind in an ooc and ICly unrealistic way.

a simple example "Jeez, Sarge, you didn't know Amos got killed like, two weeks ago?"

I can see few downsides to it, if anything huge positives

[bloodfromstone]

When I had PC in charge of hiring people, I would OOC every time before I hired someone. I would tell them what times I was consistantly on and what times the clan is consistantly active, because I've been stuck in the 'off-peak player in an on-peak clan that will kill you for leaving but I loved my character to much to store' situation. Not fun. Going OOC is something we're supposed to do rarely and avoid whenever possible, but I feel this is an OOC restriction on play that is best sorted out OOC.

Granted, it's not as big of a deal when you're an on-peak player, but I found it to be more than necessary as an off-peak leader PC.

[Trenidor]

The solution I've always thought of for this kind of stuff is:

Employers should just be increadibly picky about who they employ... They could just as easily say, "hey, my clan has plenty of workers at this time, but if you can keep coming back I think I might could find an opening for you."

And then the future employee has to come back to their future employer every so often before they are proven to be 'out of the ordinary' and worthy of hire.