Thoughts on Entitlement to Interaction
To
Drindin and some others complaining about feeling "left out":
Sorry, I have to agree with Ceres and Varnevian on this one.
You cannot
force others to accept you, especially not by whining! You cannot force others to accept your character into their storyline at the drop of a hat, especially when, as you yourself admitted, their characters are not even fleeingly acquainted with your character much less friends with him.
You complain that others characters are ignoring your socially inept character, and demand someone interact with him even though he is a shy wallflower and hasn't got any friends! As if it's their fault or problem that your character is socially inept? I don't get you people. YOU control the character's personality, if you made him into a little mousy nobody, you have only yourself to blame. Play him differently.
One lesson I learned in roleplaying early on is that creating characters with disadvantages like "mortally shy" or "boorish" is not going to get you far. And the Mysterious Black-clad Stranger[tm] who just stands there glaring at people, shows no emotions and never speaks a word might look mysterious and cool as an NPC concept but frankly he sucks as a player character. How am I supposed to interact with someone when there's no hook to hang my interaction on?
True, such people do exist in real life (or in Hollywood movies). So what? Would you, in real life, expect people to flock to you in droves and fight each other for the privilege of hanging out with you if all you do is huddle in a corner or stutter and run away when they say hello?
That doesn't mean you have to play a loudmouthed party animal to get attention, especially if you the player feel you can't convincingly pull it off. But there are myriad ways of getting attention or friends. One surefire way NOT to make friends is to sit down at the bar and mutter "No-one wants to talk to me. This sucks." as I recently witnessed a newbie do, or to walk up to people who are chatting and try to intrude in their conversation by saying "Hey, man, what's up?". (Especially when you do it in netspeak.
)
You claim it's
interactive storytelling. Yes. This, however, does
not mean you are
entitled to everyone's devotion. "Interactive" means everyone has the same rights, and these rights do include saying "sorry, push off you creepy stalker" (albeit perhaps in nicer words).
All too often I have seen people shoulder their way into other players' affairs without invitation. It's annoying if you and some friends have mapped out a plotline and suddenly some total strangers jump in (in reaction to your private conversation on the other side of the virtual room) and proclaim, "Do not fear, for I, Lord Incredible, and my companion, Sister Mary Sue of Mercy, will solve your problem with a snap of our allmighty fingers! Here, take a wish spell! Aren't you happy?" No. Not if it means derailing my own storyline because a demi-god wandered by.
Part of the problem is that the ichat option was disabled that allowed players to create their own temporary rooms with whatever setting description they wanted, plus the option of only inviting or allowing certain characters in there. We don't have to discuss the reasons for that decision. It was made long ago. However, this means we're now destricted to just two freeform roleplaying rooms plus some smaller rooms like the garden which are not open all day round, and none of us can control who comes wandering through.
Try to see it from the perspective of the characters. CRT isn't Diablo Battlenet, where characters are simply stand-ins for players wanting to slay some virtual monsters and anyone's invited to tag along as long as they're high-level enough to survive. CRT and Emporium are public places for characters, not public forums for players.
Let's say it like this: If you and your friend/parent/therapist stood in the subway discussing a problem you have, what would you think if all of sudden people you've never seen before offered you their advice, unwanted help or invited themselves to come along to your house to "fix" the little quarrel between you and your friend/parent/spouse? :uh-huh: Get away from me, you meddlesome perverts!
CRT is a tavern. Or do you routinely accost strangers in bars?) I mean, yes, some people do, but then usually the words "sexual harassment" or "drunken joviality" feature in there somewhere.)
Of course, the downside is that people might stand by the sidelines seemingly unwilling to help when someone is in trouble. Eh, just like in real life, no? The thing is, in the past some of my characters did try to interfere in Other People's Problems[tm] without having been asked for assistance. I did not get a thank-you, rather the contrary, and I understand why.
I also hate it when players trying to coerce my character into dropping everything he's doing and come to the aid of their poor ailing drama queen character who just stumbled into the tavern bleeding and crying "Oh woe is me!". Especially if once the problem is dealt with another one just pops up from no-where. Stuff like that doesn't ensure my attention, just my annoyance.
Drindin, if the only story you are happy with is one that features your character and all the other poor outcasts just so that they don't have to feel "uselessly shoved aside", I'm not sure there's a solution.
---
[Note: I am posting this as "Khalas" because although that character is long retired and though I've been away from CRT for a long time, more people probably remember me under this name tag than as one of the other characters I'm sporadically playing these days.]
