[OnyxFlame]

1. People who take 4 lines to emote something that could've been said in 6 words. (As a side note, I detest those long, badly-written stories people will occasionally come up with, thinking it makes them cool or something.)

2. People who rp every little twitch and sneeze. Some things IMO just aren't important enough to RP. My motto is, RP the things that might make a difference, not EVERYTHING.

3. People that think if you DON'T use 4 line emotes or RP every little twitch and sneeze, that you don't know how to RP at all. If a simple pre-coded emote such as smile serves my purposes, I'm not gonna go to all the effort of typing something out just to look cool. Deal with it.

4. This has been said before, but it can't be stressed enough. People who are either so clueless about RP, or who like bending the rules to their own purposes so much that they can't separate IC/OOC actions properly.

[Realedazed]

Originally Posted by (Tamaterelian @ Mar. 04 2004,02<!--emo&[img http://www.topmudsites.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif[/img])] Originally Posted by 3 "IC" tells. *sigh* Though I suppose it might be a matter of "high" fantasy, I personally have a hard time considering that in a world where magic (or psionics or miracles or...) is pervasive, nobody comes up with a communication spell (or equivalent). It's fantasy's cellphone. So I'm a bit at a loss as to why it's a peeve - and I've seen the idea of IC tells knocked in places besides here. As long as it has a logical reason for existing, though, I'd guess it would do more to support the idea of a persistent RP world than detract from it. Can anyone enlighten me as to why it might be otherwise?

I never consider "tells" IC.  Some people consider everything not on the OOC channel as IC, which I think is wierd.  But to each their own, I guess.

Well I have a few more pet-peeves to add.

In Non-permadeath, Role-Play mandatory MUDs:

- The super heroic character that will race into ANY type of danger, because "he'll just come back"

-People who break character to complain about loosing a level due to dying.  Then complain even more about how much experience they to level back up.

-Pking, just because you can - with zero RP.

-and I think that's it. Since most of my others have been covered.

[KaVir]

Originally Posted by I never consider "tells" IC.

So if you were playing a mud with a telepath class, or a futuristic mud with mobile phones (or "cell phones", or "handy's", or whatever you call them in your country), you would simply treat the "tells" as OOC?

Tells are the universal OOC channel for -most- muds. I know in a few (particularily Arm) that tells are merely a variant of sayto, and thus are IC, but there are other OOC channels that for all purposes, are tells.

Your point makes little sense, if you're using one of hte afformentioned means of communication, then it would be IC. But tells are something different entirely and have no IC restraints except where reasonable.

[Realedazed]

I deleted my post. Nyril pretty much said the same thing as I did.

[Realedazed]

SOrry for the double post. I'm not sure how I did it.

[KaVir]

Originally Posted by Tells are the universal OOC channel for -most- muds.

Tells are simply a means of sending a message to another player in the mud.  Whether or not they are OOC depends entirely on the mud and implementation in question.

Originally Posted by Your point makes little sense, if you're using one of hte afformentioned means of communication, then it would be IC.

And that was my very point.  A 'tell' can be IC or OOC and - like many of the points raised here - how appropriate it is to a roleplaying mud depends entirely on the theme of that mud.

Thus going back to the 'telepathy' example I gave previously: In a high-fantasy mud where the player classes all possessed powerful telepathic skills, even a stock 'tell' command could very reasonably be considered IC.

And even if you want to try a really tacky argument like claiming that the definition of 'tell' is 'an OOC message' (which it isn't), I think I should point out that the original poster specifically stated '"IC" tells'.

[Raeven]

I know that in my mud we can easily tell the difference between an IC tell and a OOC tell. I mean, - XXX tells you, "Might you assist me in finding a place as to where I can purchase a well crafted sword?" -  It isn't hard to tell this is an IC tell compared to - XXX tells you, "dude, ya wanna help me find a neat sword?" - In my mud if the tell is IC it is usually interpreted as a note/letter that has been given to you.  
So IC tells aren't bad RP, they can be used for very good RP if you use them right.

                   --  Raevan.

[Geras]

back to the "IC" tells, by tells i mean the tell command that everyone gets, not some psion skill. If it makes sense for some class/race/group of people to be telepathic, fine. But tells aren't a skill, and they don't require any magical ability whatsoever. The magic-hating warrior/barbarian can still use these "IC".

The issue isnt with differentiating between IC tells and OOC tells, its that the tell itself makes no sense - that you can communicate with anyone, anywhere, regardless of any other factors. That does not make sense, especially since you can't tell someone when they're logged of, but ICly they'd still be around... and sleeping can't account for 100% of your OOC time.

Don't split hairs with me on this "implementation" stuff, because honestly, you know what I meant. If it's actually represented as a skill, then it's a psion/mage/whatever skill, not a tell. We've all played a stock mud here at least once, so we all know what i mean by tells. The kind where you type tell XXX <message> and there is no "tell" under prac/skills/slist/whatever.

[KaVir]

Originally Posted by The issue isnt with differentiating between IC tells and OOC tells, its that the tell itself makes no sense - that you can communicate with anyone, anywhere, regardless of any other factors.

You're still over-generalising.  What is wrong with these scenarios, for example?

Scenario 1: Standard medieval/fantasy setting.

> tell bubba hi there, how's it going?
You scribble down a note to Bubba which says 'hi there, how's it going?'.
You take a carrier pidgeon from the cage across your back and tie the note to its foot.
The pidgeon springs from your shoulder and flies off.

Scenario 2: Standard medieval/fantasy setting (based on Raeven's post).

> tell bubba hi there, how's it going?
You scribble down a note to Bubba which says 'hi there, how's it going?'.
You pass the note to a nearby messenger boy along with a copper coin.
The boy runs off through the crowd.

Scenario 3: Fantasy setting where PCs all possess telepathic powers.

> tell bubba hi there, how's it going?
You send a telepathic message to Bubba saying 'hi there, how's it going?'

Scenario 4: Modern day setting.

> tell bubba hi there, how's it going?
You send Bubba an SMS on your mobile phone which says 'hi there, how's it going?'

Scenario 5: Futuristic setting.

> tell bubba hi there, how's it going?
You send Bubba a message through your cybernetic modem, asking 'hi there, how's it going?'

Originally Posted by That does not make sense, especially since you can't tell someone when they're logged of, but ICly they'd still be around... and sleeping can't account for 100% of your OOC time.

That's a different problem entirely, and one which relates to numerous aspects of the mud.  It can be handled reasonably well with tells, although parts of the game are not as easy.

[Jazuela]

I've never played a "stock game" that had a OOC command called "tell", and had no idea what you folks were talking about. The only game I've ever played that had -any- command called "tell" is Armageddon. The tell command there lets you address a specific person when you're talking to them in the same room.

Sitting on the couch beside him, the red-haired girl tells the green-eyed man, "It's good to see you again, uncle!"

That is the -only- tell I have experience with.

As for global OOC chat channels, yeah I agree. Since the thread is asking about RP pet peeves, and not non-RP pet peeves, I think global OOC chat channels totally distract and detract from RP. We have an OOC command that sends your message to the room you're in. It's distracting, but it's currently the only way a new player can get help in the game from other players.

Some of us have been pushing for OOC to be directable, so when the newbie asks.. OOC I'm not sure what to do next, can someone help me?.. whoever answers can ooc (red-haired) Yeah..let's go somewhere else so I can help you.. and the only person who would see the OOC response is the red-haired guy.

[Raeven]

Well, I know in my MUD if you really want to RP hardcore and not be interuppted by any globals, then you can just turn off the any OOC globals. Be it the question channel, the music channel, grat channel, or just the standard OOC, they can all be turned off. Can't you guys' channels be turned off? If not then I pity you. *shrug*

[Jazuela]

We don't have global channels, and therefore have no need to turn them off. It's a RP-intensive, RP-enforced, RP-hardcore game. Global channels have no place in the game, and so we don't have them.

The OOC command is seen only in the room where the person is using it. It's not too distracting most of the time, but can be annoying if a newbie who hasn't spent 20 minutes reading the main documentation shows up asking where he can get eq or how does he lvl.

[Rytorth]

I've come up with a few pet peeves of my own..

1) People who do stupid things and then bitch about the concequences after.
I mean, how difficult is it to realize that if you walk into the Sarlaac's mouth/insult or attack an Imperial trooper/insult or annoy a Hutt/annoy Vader or other Sith you're in Deep Trouble™.
And the sad thing is...there are people who've walked into the Sarlacc and then bitched that they got eaten and asked to be brought back. It's only happened twice that I know of, but each time the Admin - and the playerbase - have all said that, since the PC who got gobbled didn't pay attention to the room descs, they don't get the right to be brought back.

2) People who try and make their char the prettiest/strongest/handsomest/etc whatever.
People. We can not all be pretty or strong or smart or brave. It'd be nice if we could be - but we can't, in real life. So why do you think things would be much different in a MU*?
Besides, it's more interesting to play a char with flaws; perfection is boring.

3) People who assume that just because no PCs are around, no one at all is there.
Generally, I find that people like this come from a Hack-'n-Slash MU* where, if there wasn't any player in the room with them, it would hold true that there was no one at all in the room besides them.
On RP MU* this is not true. NPCs are everywhere. And even if they aren't in the room with you - and odds are that they will be, normally - they're still somewhere nearby a lot of the time. You can't just walk into an apartment and pick up the stuff there without the cops getting called by a neighbour.
And yet...everytime one of these guys gets caught in the act, they say "But there wasn't anyone there!"
Think, bucko. What are the odds in Real Life that you'd be able to walk into a store and just take the cashbox or whatever you want without getting in trouble for it sooner or later? That's right; pretty low.
So why the bleepin' blue blazes do you assume that in an RP MU* things would be any different? I mean...if you're out in space on an abandoned ship, it's reasonable to assume you're the only one there. Or if you're in the wild or something. But in a city? Fergeddit!

4) People who use OOC info IC'ly or try and do that.
If there's no way at all for someone to know something IC'ly, even if the player knows it, then the player shouldn't RP the char as knowing it.

5) Twinks and powergamers in general.
You are not Superman. You cannot kill at a hundred paces with the glare of your eyes alone; you can be killed; and the odds of you being able to throw people through solid steel walls are very low (unless, of course, you're of a race that has the strength to do so). And you cannot kill people before they have time to react - or at least very, very rarely can you.

6) Inconsistancy in general.
Pick a storyline. Stick to it. Do not deviate from this storyline, even if a hundred flying monkies come into your house and threaten unspeakable things unless you do so.
Don't for sanity's sake, waver between saying your parents were killed by an assassin and saying they were kidnapped and you never saw them again. Not that this has actually ever happened to me or anyone that I know of.
But still..

7) People who try and go against the theme and/or canon.
You are not God, where the MU* is concerned. Only the Head Admin is the god. Only they get to say what the theme is.
Therefore, you have no excuse to run around as a serial killer if your race is IC'ly very, very pacifistic (unless your char goes nuts, in which case you're the exception not the rule). If you do in fact do this, don't be surprised when the Admin smack you down as hard as they friggin' can. Or even just not approve your app.
Yes, being original is good. But stay within canon, please.

8) People who try and be Mary Sue/Marty Stu.
You know the person. The one who's a poster child for all the cliched items on any Admin's list of what not to approve.
The orphan who has a dozen stories for how her parents vanished. The pirate who never misses a shot or fails to seduce a woman. The Good Guy who always, always, always wins (in his mind) - and complains when he doesn't.
Please, if you're one of these people, take thyself to a therapist and get help. You can't always be perfect, IC'ly or otherwise. whether it's perfectly helpless or tragic, perfectly sexy, or perfectly...perfect. People won't believe it - and sooner or later, they'll get ticked and shun you as best they can. And I honestly don't blame them.

9) PCs who don't participate when you try and get an RP plot going.
Maybe this happens to every Admin sooner or later. But there's only so much one can do before you have to get the players actually participating rather than just reacting.
And when they don't, the plot collapses like a dirt wall in a torrential downpour.

10) People who bitch about the lack of RP when they have IC means of going and interacting with others.
Okay, there's a few of these people at my home MU*. One or two of them are on the wanted list IC'ly so they don't want to go out and risk their hides.
What, you want us to bring the RP to you? This is not take-out-and-delivery! You must put in a minimum of effort to get RP - meaning you have to haul yourself out of whatever hole you're hiding in and take the chance that, yes, a bounty hunter will see you and capture you. But if you aren't willing to make that effort, then stop your whining already.

And looking back over this, it sounds more rant-y than I meant it to..

[Fifi]

The people who should be arrested for aggravated melodrama. You know the ones. EVERYTHING happens to them. All the time. They’re like that woman in the silent movies who gets tied to the tracks. EVERY WEEK.

It is important that players take responsibility for making things happen. And tension and conflict are good. But sheesh! Camille! Wear a sweater for goodness sake. They are dying of plague and they’ve been robbed and they’re about to give birth, and they want you to stop your political intrigue and machinations to comfort them because their lover left them for another man/woman/orc/pair of earplugs.

It’s not that they’re rping too much. It’s that instead of rping with you, they’re rping at you. And it’s annoying.