So what does it do...

[OSOK]

... to keep IC stories and experiences from being shared OOC?  And I don't mean this as a rhetorical question.  I say this because, as a new player, I'd love to discuss what I've learned with others, etc.  Maybe I just need to find the niche for the roleplaying aspect... not sure.

In any case, do you guys think it would grow the community if this were to happen?  to openly speak about our stories ingame, even mentioning our ingame names?  if not, why?

[Harmless]

If for no other reason, I want to keep things as is because it has been that way for twenty years, the community is growing, and there have been many threads on it discussing why it should stay that way.

If you want to share ic info, start with helper chat, where I believe it is allowed.

[QuillDipper]

Because A. Sometimes secrets are revealed that can affect things, even years after their time.

B. Its a lot easier to care/hate a new character, not knowing anything about their previous characters.

C. Some people aren't capable of separating IC and OOC info, which is bad for obvious reasons.

I prefer nothing being shared. It keeps the game's history full of mystery, and part of the splendor of it for me is how something can be happening that I have absolutely no control/knowledge of. It makes the world alive.

[Kismetic]

Welcome back, jkotter

Edit for refine the jokes

[BleakOne]

I like the 'find out IC' thing. It makes the game feel much more exciting and mysterious.

The game would be a lot more boring if I knew the spell lineups of various guilds, knew the caps for all skills, and knew all the secrets of the Known.

[ShaLeah]

Here's why. Some people cannot stop themselves from using OOC information to benefit their IC stance.

For example: You play a devious underhanded social climbing merchant. Through your life you have some people who think you're their friend. They die. You were in the same clan and they PM you how much you rocked and did you really love them. You find out the person is actually you friend in rl! Omg! You start discussing shit, ohh this was cool, ohhh that was cool, what do you mean you didn't love me and we're using me?! YOU murdered me?!
Suddenly their new character is the instigator to shit that happens to you.
Or you innocently only go salting because you know that raider isn't logged on.
Or you flee (insert city here) because you heard from a friend on IM that your boss is gonna kill you.
Or you die and know playing a Salarri so you make one.
And then there's the magickal process of discovery. When you as a player are like whoa, you can do THAT?! That's totally gone when you have someone telling you that X N + R = Z

I think most of us have friends that play this. I know who I can discuss shit with that won't affect their roleplay. I know who I can't.

[Patuk]

I think the ban on sharing IC info is one of the few things keeping Armageddon and the gdb into something even more cliquish and horrifying. One need only look at what happens to every IRE MUD ever to see what things can devolve into.

[OSOK]

Ok, all that makes a lot of sense, especially the carrying over info from character to character.

I think I'll limit my sharing of experiences to friends I make ingame, and go from there.  Thanks all!

[valeria]

My short answer is that sharing things IC can absolutely ruin ongoing plots.  For you, for the person you share with, for the people around you.  It's naive to believe that knowing something you wouldn't otherwise know will not affect the way that you play, even if it's just in small ways.

[BleakOne]

Ok, all that makes a lot of sense, especially the carrying over info from character to character.

I think I'll limit my sharing of experiences to friends I make ingame, and go from there.  Thanks all!

ICly telling stories and recounting experiences of your current character is a helluva a lot of fun for all people involved. 

[Scarecrow]

Sharing of IC info, even month old, on an OOC format, is a very bad idea. IMO it harms the MUD community of that game because people grudge when they know who was who, it allows people to make veiled criticisms and ill-spirited comments about other players and their characters, and ruins sekrit plots and happenings. One of the absolute best things about Arm's GDB, is no IC info is shared here. IMO, IC info being used on OOC format can kill a MUD, or reduce it to a snarky clique fest.
Just my two sids.

[Saellyn]

There was a story a staff member posted once. The shorthand goes like this:

Staff member: Dwarven Sorcerer who achieves a Doppleganger spell (staff added I believe) to mimic a person.
Kills a guy, or the guy dies, and begins to pretend to be that person to ruin his name.

Person A (the dead guy) tells Person B (his friend) that he's dead.

Person B (his friend) spreads around that the Doppleganger is actually a fake and his friend is actually dead, without ever actually seeing him dead.

Plotline is ruined.

[Harmless]

OOCly spreading rumors about who's playing who and what they're doing now is just about the worst thing you can do.

OOCly sharing stories about old, old PCs without saying who played them, discussing the characters themselves, in the pure context of what those characters were doing, is tolerable at best.

[Nyr]

This is something we've thought about for a while and we've had a lot of discussion about this staff-side recently.  One compromise we are willing to make is to have an area specifically for moderated discussion about original submissions. 

That subforum is available here.  In short, if you want to discuss stuff your character did, you should submit an original submission once that tool is up and running again...and in the meantime, you can work on your own original submissions for when the tool is ready to go.  As discussion continues on original submission work selected by staff, we'll see how everyone handles it and hopefully loosen up some of the restrictions there.

[Nyr]

An important note here is that we absolutely want IC stories to be shared:  via original submissions.  We also want them to be discussed via that subforum.  There are going to be things that can't be shared until the plot in question is finished and staff deem it appropriate to discuss.

[Saellyn]

An important note here is that we absolutely want IC stories to be shared:  via original submissions.  We also want them to be discussed via that subforum.  There are going to be things that can't be shared until the plot in question is finished and staff deem it appropriate to discuss.

And to give some more support, there are some things that just cannot be shared no longer how long it's been.

Let's say there was a big cave somewhere way out in the middle of nowhere, that gave you a boost to all your stats for like 3 ig days, and you posted a log related to that including exactly how you got there. That would ruin a HUGE part of the game that people need to discover on their own. That's why telling stories and such about stuff that happens in game is moderated so heavily - this game is built on secrets and trust, and spilling those secrets hurts the game by ruining the fun of discovery for some.

[original]

I have been playing since 2000 and I remember when this happened and the admin posted about it. That's when I realized just how important it is to keep ic info ic, that ruined an amazing plotline for everyone involved.

There was a story a staff member posted once. The shorthand goes like this:

Staff member: Dwarven Sorcerer who achieves a Doppleganger spell (staff added I believe) to mimic a person.
Kills a guy, or the guy dies, and begins to pretend to be that person to ruin his name.

Person A (the dead guy) tells Person B (his friend) that he's dead.

Person B (his friend) spreads around that the Doppleganger is actually a fake and his friend is actually dead, without ever actually seeing him dead.

Plotline is ruined.