Thread: ooc cheating
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Old 05-19-2003, 11:20 AM   #18
Jazuela
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: New England
Posts: 849
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Regardless of the semantics of puppeteer vs. masks...

I knew lots of "stuff" about various plotlines in the game I play. Some of it I learned through playing one character, who died, and then had a new character who got involved from another end of the plotline.

Some of it I learned through OOC means - IMs and e-mails and the like.

But as a person who values *playing a role,* I manage to keep my characters oblivious to what I know as a player, and to what my previous characters knew when I played them. Unless of course my current character ends up presented with the same information and learns it anyway.

In fact, with one of my characters I intentionally created her to avoid having to get involved with a plotline I knew about, and characters I didn't wanna interact with - and she ended up knee deep in the middle of it anyway.

Did I use my OOC knowledge to save her? Nope. She died too - because SHE didn't know what I know about the situation. Of course there were things I didn't know either...and that made it easier for me to RP my character as unknowing.

I think that's the main point, that last thing I just wrote. Some people CAN - and do - play their characters' roles as they are intended to be played, whether or not they have outside knowledge of things. Some - cannot. Those who cannot, in my opinion, shouldn't be playing roleplay-intensive/enforced games, because they detract from the discovery of in-game information through in-game means. They detract from it for themselves and for others.

On the other hand.. I've seen a smattering of people who play their roles flawlessly, and USE the information they find out through outside sources, and manage to give the impression, while they're roleplaying, that their character is behaving exactly as they should and learning what they learn strictly through in-game means.

This last example can work wonderfully - until someone finds them out and discovers that character is a sham. That's when the game integrity falls through the big black hole and causes resentment and frustration among the rest of the player base.

So..in summary, I'd suggest that if you're going to play a game in which IC info is highly valued as a strictly in-game commodity, you do one of two things:

1) Play the game as intended and do -not- seek or offer in-game info through out-of-game means...

or

2) If you do happen to learn something that your character had no way of finding out on their own, and decide to use that information, DON'T get caught or you'll just **** off the masses and ruin it for everyone else.

You can know things out-of-game, I believe, and not let it ruin things for you or others. But with knowledge comes responsibility. If you can't handle the responsibility, steer clear of the info.
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