[the_logos]

I'm excited to announce that Achaea made two new hires this week: A pair of Assistant Producers for Roleplay in Achaea. This is the first time that we've had paid staff dedicated completely to enhancing the roleplaying environment (as opposed to it being part of a larger job description) and 2007 promises to be a great year as a result!

Their job descriptions read:

"As Assistant Producer for Roleplay, you will help to ensure the continuous flow and evolution of the roleplay and storylines within the world of Achaea, in order to promote overall game dynamism and the immersive appeal of a changing environment open to influence via interaction.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: working with other staff and volunteers to prepare and carry out roleplay story scenarios; extemporaneous roleplayed interaction with the playerbase; assisting in the continuous development of a cohesive world background, history, and mythos; and content creation, such as writing scripts, summaries, or promotional material for roleplay events."

Congratulations to those who were hired, both of whom started as players, then devoted their time as volunteer admins/Gods before getting hired: Ourania, Goddess of the Moon, and Valnurana, Goddess of Dreams!

[Malifax]

I don't know what level of role-play you're looking for, but...

I logged into Achaea yesterday to try it out and found the half a dozen communication channels to be pretty diruptive as far a suspension of disbelief. It wasn't at all clear to me whether the channels were meant  to be OOC or or IC, or if some were OOC and some IC, and if the latter were true then which ones were which.

I thought I had my answer after hearing some of the fairly OOC questions and discussion taking place on the "newbie channel."  When someone started talking about the increased influx of "serpents this month" and "Is it because we were upgraded or somethitg?" and on for a bit. I was pretty sure. So I asked a question on the newbie channel, "Are the help files available on the web?" A player answered, and then I received a message from either Romeo or Juliet, I forget which, that I was insane and should check the help file regarding such. So I checked the help file and discovered my error, which kind of confused me in light of the things I'd seen bandied on the channels before. The presence of unexplained "guides," Shakespearian or not, seemed pretty OOC to me in and of themselves. Who are they? Why are they here? What is their place in this world? How do they fit IC'ly?

Anyway, since the topic is RP in Achaea, I thought I'd throw out my first impression in this vein. I'll probably go back and play Achaea some more. I like role-play but I play different games for different reasons. Unlike some people, I don't believe that just because a game isn't a "RPI"  it isn't any good.  

[Baram]

The way it normally goes in IRE games is that the newbie channel is there for asking OOC questions that relate to the game(exactly like yours), but not for talking about football games. Clans(which you are not automatically in any, they are optional) can be OOC if the owners of it want it to be so. Any other channel is purely IC. At least that's how it used to be when I was there, and I don't see why it would have changed.

Oh, and guides are purely OOC. Those are actually other players that volunteer to help out new players, sounds like whomever spoke with you made a mistake. The other purely OOC ones are administrators(they would show up in white on WHO, as guides show up in yellow), but generally you'll only see them if you have an issue that needs to be resolved.

[Richter]

While the guides are ooc, I've always thought that a namechange was in order, -especially- since if you showed up in the game with something like that, you'd be jumped on by players and gods alike instantly.

Lusternia has Bobbins, Spindle, and Skein, and none of them are ooc.

(I was also going to point out how strange the names were (since they all relate to sewing), but after two years of playing, I figured out the significance of the names while posting this... doh!

[Ilkidarios]

Hopefully these new staff will deal with a lot of OOC chatter I heard, just on the streets of cities, that kept me away from IRE MUDs in the first place.

[cratylus]

What chatter was this?

-Crat
http://lpmuds.net/

[Bethaene]

It is very gratifying to see IRE taking the initiative with their oldest product in this particular way. It shows that attention is not only given to the newly designed products, but it also shows that the older products are just as important.

[Ilkidarios]

Originally Posted by (cratylus @ Jan. 10 2007,10:11) What chatter was this? -Crat http://lpmuds.net/

When I attempted to play last, I was walking down the street in the desert city, the name escapes me right now.

Anyways, a player who was of "Outstanding Character" was sitting there in a very busy intersection with some of his friends having a discussion about high school classes, really turned me away from the game.

I might give it another go, I'm not sure.  Hopefully they've taken care of some of these issues.

[Bethaene]

Don't go to Achaea.com. Come to Lusternia. We have cookies...

[DagdaMor]

Originally Posted by (Ilkidarios @ Jan. 13 2007,8:45) When I attempted to play last, I was walking down the street in the desert city, the name escapes me right now. Anyways, a player who was of "Outstanding Character" was sitting there in a very busy intersection with some of his friends having a discussion about high school classes, really turned me away from the game. I might give it another go, I'm not sure. Hopefully they've taken care of some of these issues.

Just to clarify everyone starts as an "Outstanding Character" and acting outside of that gets it reduced. Its much easier to start at the top and punish than it is to objectively reward good roleplay. So everyone is given the benefit of the doubt until they prove otherwise. Having said this though, you will see that sort of behaviour in Achaea all the time, its such a massive player base that its very difficult to control, and Achaea isn't an RP Enforced game. The other IRE games are aimed at the roleplayers more, and its easier to do cope with because of the smaller playerbases.

[Malifax]

Then I'm confused why "Juliet" called me down for asking on the newb channel if the help files were on the website. It seems just as "insane" to me to have these "guides" sitting around messaging "newbies" (openly using the term) and asking if they need help. If you aren't gonna offer an immersive atmosphere, don't demand that people stay strictly IC, especially if you aren't gonna be consistent about it.

[Ilkidarios]

Originally Posted by (DagdaMor @ Jan. 17 2007,06:45) Just to clarify everyone starts as an "Outstanding Character" and acting outside of that gets it reduced.

Well, I'm not sure how often this individual did it, because he seemed to have been around for a long time.

Originally Posted by and Achaea isn't an RP Enforced game

Yeah.. but.. but... but.. then I can't contribute to this thread saying that I saw out-of-character actions if you go ahead and.. and... say it's not an RP enforced game... yeah.