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Old 03-12-2008, 10:04 PM   #12
Disillusionist
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 83
Disillusionist will become famous soon enough
Re: Dealing with RP Attention Hogs

I love freshly dead threads. They are the most susceptible to my necro-posting habit.

I guess I don't make a huge distinction between plot/NPC-chasers and RPhogs.
Both suffer from center-of-attention-deficit disorder in some form or other.

It's a tightrope walk for admins, I imagine. Partly, you want to reward diligence, character ingenuity and decent RP, giving the benefit of the doubt where possible that it's a character rather than a player trait.

If you have multi-characters for a single account, it's a little easier to distinguish, since every character from a perpetually attention-starved player will behave similarly. "I have entered the room. All kneel, or stop what you are doing, as I ejaculate this scene unto you. I am certain it is more important than what you are doing, as it has now the impeccable virtue of my presence. You're welcome." Exeunt, stage left.
Whaddayagonnado?

Often, I've simply wondered what would happen if an NPC (presuming the interrupted scene has staff involved) said, simply enough, "Try not to talk with your mouth open." And just as easily, I imagine said character doing anything at all possible to make sure the largest text blocks or overtly interruptive actions are theirs, even if their mouth is closed. Oh, wait, I haven't imagined it, I've lived it.

Mostly, the consequences should come IC. I mean, people like that are -annoying-. Treat them as their actions merit. Players can often curb such behavior, over time.

The last thing an admin should do is reward the behavior. A minimal RPA sends a message. If you withhold the RPA, the character may even try harder to snatch that spotlight. Something that runs counter-intuitive in my experience is simply having some plots seek out those that don't seek them first.

I love examples.
In this one, most of the playerbase was in a single location for a staff-hosted event, very similar to a chess tournament. Such a player/character, arriving late, during a game match in which such spam as three paragraphs of comically blathering attention-suction can literally scroll the match player's board off the screen, and did what was typical. Burst into the room with an obviously pre-typed speech, perhaps a page and a half of scroll, and spewed it. It was humorous, no doubt, but disruptive IC and for OOC reasons.
There were several staff-run characters present, and their IC reaction was negligible, although at least four of them had not only the authority to put an end to it, but one might even argue an obligation to do so.

What would you do?
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