Simple Etiquette

[Imreis]

More then once I have moved to one of the more private rooms of the chat: Carpe DM or the Ahoy! Adventure, and found that others not involved or invited enter to watch. I find this slightly disturbing and annoying. If you really wish to watch what’s going on, I kindly request you ask first before rushing into the room when it has a few players in it just because you have nothing to do. Some of the reasons I ask are one, its just plan rude, and two there are people out there still on dial up (gods love you) and a lot of people in one room tends to really bog down the chat and make things slow. Please keep this in mind when you feel like hopping into one of those rooms uninvited and try to ask.

 

[Adrie]

it would be nice if people did that, but you also need to remember at the same time the rooms are sort of public as you can not set them to private.

its like when you go to the clearing and people not involved in the storyline come out and put their two cents in.

 

[Magdalene Ravel]

Well, in my opinion, things like that should be restricted more fully to those who are actually involved in said storyline. I agree that the chats are public, but it is still rude for anyone to just jump in and put their nose in where it doesn't belong. The thing that they should do is ask if they can be involved, or even ask just to watch. Their characters know nothing of what is happening, and it is much more difficult for them to keep things out of character when they are actually watching what is going down. So, just to re-state my point, I think it just makes for better etiquette for them to ask politely to be allowed to join or watch. It just makes for a better player experience for all of those around.

 

[Adrie]

but unfortantly there are those few people out there who find it to be their business no matter what. even if you ask them nicely to not interfer they still do. some people are just jerks like that and we have a few on site currently. all they want to do is cause trouble. I know I had a fight in the clearing inwhich some one followed us into that was not even part of the storyline, who tried to throw his input in, even when my character made it known ic that his help was not wanted. now him following us to the clearing was down right rude.

 

[Sienna_Rose]

People follow to the Clearing all the time - some characters just like to see fights. And, some characters still want to help (or hinder), IC, regardless of whether their help is wished. Yeah, others may think that character rude or at the very least, too nosey for their own good; but, following into the Clearing is something that can have a lot of in character reasons - the Clearing is right there, next to the tavern, anyone can wander in.

Now, following into Carpe DM or Ahoy, Adventure! is a bit different. Those rooms are settings that are determined by those within in them when they're being used. It is, as the subject line of this thread says, a point of etiquette to not do so. The setting could even be a completely different world - so, how would the other characters get there? Etc . . . So, if someone comes in uninvited while you're working on a plotline that others would not know of, politely pm - no need for name calling, anger or annoyance. There's the possibility that it's a person who doesn't read the boards, or is new to ISRP, so doesn't know the purpose of those rooms (though, Carpe DM does hold a hint in its very name; Ahoy! Adventure may sound like a sea faring room or something if someone doesn't know any better). So, patience. Try pming first. If it's truely disruptive and a major issue, and the person clearly knows what they're doing, maybe the Magi need to be involved.
Do we have a place where the intentions of those two rooms is posted clearly? I remember the naming threads, and a discussion of whether or not a DM would be required, but, what's the full purpose? And what came of the discussion of DM requirement? Maybe a description of intent as you enter, the way the other rooms have physical descriptions would help?
I like having the free setting rooms, and I imagine it must be annoying when people just show up and spy or interfere when they've no in character reason for them being there (I haven't seen that happen, personally - I'm not denying that it does, it just hasn't happened when any of my chars have been there). We can't make being polite a rule, though, it's too ambiguous, and, besides, some rude characters can be quite amusing. I think it's best just to do as this thread is doing - raise awareness.

 

[Imreis]

I wasn’t hoping to make rules or even anger anyone with the start of this thread. And thank you Seinna, the whole point of this thing was to raise some awareness about the issue. Hey, I understand if you were watching someone in the tavern and the story got interesting that you would want to see who it goes. But please, I ask kindly that you just request first. Nextly, this may sound really harsh and all, but not reading the forums is not an excuse for me. If you join the chat then you should know the rulings and things that happen here.

 

[Adrie]

Sienna the person in question to starting trouble was asked politely in a PM also. this is a person who has something against some of those involved in the storyline OOC. We don't want any crossing of OOC to IC knowledge in our storyline so what is known OOC is kept to a very few people. the person who i was about to fight in the clearing PMed me asking if I would mind talking it out OOC and working on the storyline a bit over IMs which is what we did as a result of this person following us. We went about the problem in a very polite way but were given rudeness from the person. I find it hard for some one doesn't know anything about a storyline to jump in to in 5 minutes, especially when they decide to defend a character who is the bad person of the storyline, when the said person's character is of a good alignment. Even after PMing them and letting them know blanently that they (being the chara they are trying to help) are guilty and deservingly of what is about to happen.

 

[Sienna_Rose]

Nextly, this may sound really harsh and all, but not reading the forums is not an excuse for me. If you join the chat then you should know the rulings and things that happen here.

True, we need to know the rulings, but, when rulings are made in the forums, it's a bit much to expect everyone to read every thread. Some of us have limited time on line, and we want to play, not spend hours trying to shift through the threads on the forums for possibly pertinent info. That's why we have the Beginner's Info section; and why many of us just tend to be helpful when we see someone who seems like they may be new, or may not know of a recent development.

Adrie - if you tried the polite approach, and received only rudeness, then it's time to ignore the character. If it gets too bad (ie, breaking CoC), notify a Magi. Just following along isn't a violation, so, it all depends on what's happening. Since I don't know the whole story, I'm not going to speak to the specific incident you've mentioned, as I could likely draw eroneous conclusions, which I'd rather not do. My comments are just in general.

 

[Magi_Trelian]

Okay, here's my take on this.

This is a public chat space. This means that no one needs to ask permission to lurk in any room, and that includes Carpe DM and Ahoy! Adventure, as long as the chars are merely lurking and not posting. If the actions in those rooms are too private for anyone else to even see, they're probably not supposed to be going on anyway.

Both Carpe DM and Ahoy! Adventure are to be used for specific RP-ing in locals outside of the current room settings, and are supposed to have someone who's willing to claim responsibility as (at least nominal) DM. Therefore I'd say that, true, any outside player in those rooms should ask in PMs for permission before posting, before getting involved in the play.

The other rooms, including the clearing, are fully public rooms. The fact that you're playing out a specific storyline does not counter the fact that you're playing it in front of other chars who, by their nature, may feel required to get involved. You can't have a bad guy try to kidnap a seemingly helpless victim in front of a paladin and not expect the paladin to react. This is especially true in the non-combat rooms. In the combat rooms, in the ideal, people should not join a fight without PMing those involved to get permission from both sides. Maybe the paladin lost them on the way to the clearing (which is not "just outside the tavern", but well north of town). Maybe someone else called for help and distracted him along the way. If he gets involved anyway, the combatants are allowed to ignore his actions as if not present. But in the non-combat rooms you should not directly limit involvement. And if OOC knowledge is kept limited and not shown in IC behavior, you're going to have to expect that people will defend the guy that looks like the good guy, even if the fuller storyline he's the bad guy.

After all, that should be one of the plusses of a public RP place: the realistic possibility of plans going awry because someone unexpected was in the wrong/right place at the right/wrong time, or meeting the unexpected person with just the wrong/right object/knowledge/whatever that you did/didn't need to have. Otherwise you all could be running your private storyline off in an AIM chatroom and be safely uninterrupted.

 

[Meh]

I fully agree with the Magi.. *offers applause*