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Old 08-26-2004, 07:19 AM   #3
Jazuela
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: New England
Posts: 849
Jazuela will become famous soon enoughJazuela will become famous soon enough
1)What I want to know is if the Imms of these games find the boards useful and if so for what things do they find them useful for?

I'm not an IMM. From a player's perspective though they're very useful. The general populace of Arm is illiterate. All part of the oppression thing. These boards are meant to be things your character would have overheard in passing (or announced loudly by a town crier or agent of the Templarate etc. etc. etc.)..it's to let people know the kinds of things they -would- have overheard in passing. Things like - a vile magicker casting some evil spell on a noble's aide in the middle of the upscale bar. Or the city's primary rental agent announcing that the new apartment building is now available for occupancy. Or a new law passed by the Templarate that all mounts in the city must be branded with Tektolnes' symbol on their butts. Or even...a few hushed whispers mingled with snickers and giggles about how the Chosen Lord of the noble house was seen in a compromising position with a desert elf in the middle of Main Street.


2)Also I would like to know if boards are ever abused and how one would deal with that issue as well?

Yes it can be abused, though usually the abuse is unintentional. New players might overlook the fact that it's meant to be a "gossip" thing - verbal, not written. And they might post the post as though it was meant to be read, not overheard. Sometimes the difference is subtle, sometimes blaringly obvious. There are other instances of "abuse" as well, but the staff is pretty good at deleting posts as needed. A simple "wish" to the staff is usually enough.

3)Oh and in your opinion do message/rumour boards replace Bards?

Not in Arm. Bards aren't town criers. They're storytellers. A post on the rumor board will only be 1-3 paragraphs long in most cases. A bard can take a single sentence and turn it into 30 real-life minutes of entertainment.

4) Can they be useful in enhancing roleplaying?

Absolutely, no doubt about it. If my character the southern spy for Tek's Templars heads north and sits quietly in the local dive, she -would- get to overhear the local dirt. Even if there aren't any PCs around at that time of day to talk about it, there are NPCs and virtual people coming in and out at all hours of the day. Eventually she'd hear -something- interesting to report back to her boss in Allanak. This gives the spy the opportunity.

The rumor boards are meant to carry the messages (in most cases) of the virtual population of the world, since only PCs and IMM-animated NPCs are capable of it otherwise. We get to "feel" just that little bit more, like there are other people populating the world our characters live in - even if what they're gossiping about isn't anything we care about. And when it is something we care about. so much the better!
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