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Old 02-06-2004, 04:17 PM   #1
Realedazed
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I was playing on my usual MUD today . During a rather interesting scene some players did some things, that made me think "That really gets on my nerves - why in heck do people do that?"

Here's my list:

*Players  treating typos as IC speech. - Well, since these are text based games, typos are bound to happen.  Although I try to type slow, and read over my words before I hit enter. Some peoples fingers are a tad bit faster than their brains.  I"m just talking about a typo every so often, but if make a mistake with every other word you type, you may have a tiny problem.

*Players using tells to advertise.- This one is new to me.  I started playing this game that is fairly new. The other players ranted and raved about it on the OOC channel and on games sites, etc.  So, I"m actually in the game and I get a tell from other player "Vote for XXXMud!"  or "Tell your friends about XXXMud!"  How annoying is that?

*Too much use of color. I like color as much as the next gal, but too much can give me a headache.  I don't mind color as emphasis on a word in a room or character  description, but when every letter in every word in your description is a different color, you are going a little far.

*Ask around IC!.- This one is just an annoyance to me. But it seems like in some games, you try to find out some info like where is Lord's Soandso's Keep, or what's so special about a glowing bone necklace. The only answer from some folks is "Find out IC!". While sometimes this is good for interaction and such. Half the time its a completely lost newbie asking. Or, sometimes it may be something that the character should already know, and would silly for asking.

What about everyone else?
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Old 02-06-2004, 05:31 PM   #2
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Some of my RPing pet peeves...
Regarding Realedazed's reference to the whole "Find out IC!" stuff - totally with you on that, though I'd use completely different examples. The examples you mentioned, I would definitely prefer to find out IC.

If I know that something can -easily- be found out IC, and that the "something" is an IC something (as opposed to ooc syntax, or stat info, or that kind of thing) I would hope the player at least -tried- to find out IC before asking for OOC help. If they're not even trying to find out IC, they get no sympathy from me. If they did try, and failed, then rather than tell them the answer, I would probably help guide them in the direction that would lead to their discovering the answer for themselves.

Such as - "You can "talk" to the shopkeeper, and he often has information about the kinds of things you're looking for." or "You found that thing on the west side of town, but if you look in other parts of town you'll find references to it that will help."

Telling someone "Find out IC" is useless and annoying. But giving someone the answers to IC info in an OOC way is not going to help the player learn and won't inspire them to find their own way. The compromise - guiding them to IC resources so they can find out for themselves without going crazy in the attempt - seems the answer here.

Another RP pet peeve - F-Me PCs. Man are there not enough of those types already? Some people just make ya wonder if the only reason they show up in the game is to play the one-handed-typing game. Even if they aren't..well jeez, if that's all you know how to RP, people are going to conclude that you're on the prowl. And maybe some people like that. I don't.
Just keep them sticky fingers at your crotch and away the heck from me, please.

Another RP pet peeve - people who don't even attempt to take their surroundings into consideration. Example:
It is night. Sue is at the bar. The room description says it's a HUGE bar, always crowded at night, and the bar is up against the southern wall.
Joe walks in from the entrance at the north wall, all the way across the room from this huge, crowded bar. Immediately upon entering, Joe whispers something to Sue, without any emotes, socials, nothing. Just - walk in, whisper. BOOM.

And I gotta wonder - how did this guy get all the way across the room, see that Sue, who was facing the opposite wall and therefore had her back turned to him, was who he wanted to talk to, and do all this in less than a single second upon entering?

I mean - even just a momentary pause, with maybe a "emote looks around and heads to the bar" is enough to satisfy. In an RP game, there's no reason to -not- at least remind yourself that the room descriptions exist for a reason, and take them into consideration.
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Old 02-06-2004, 05:34 PM   #3
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I'd agree with you on treating typos as IC speech. Though I know where I play there are a few with accents. Anyway, the logic I understand for treating typos as IC has to do with the concept that we don't all speak perfectly. I've been known to pose 'character seens to struggle as he says, "blah" if I feel the need to go into that territory. I speak English daily (being in the US) and while I might cut myself off mid-word at times, saying my typos are suddenly IC is like saying that if I take a long time to respond to you because I'm a slow typer that my characters are all really slow.


I haven't experienced the advertising via tells.

Too much color, I can deal with a bit of color but I've never dealt with too much.

The Ask Around IC! Part I'm split about, like you probably are, Dazed. On one hand, I'm with you if it's something like 'where is the tavern I see everyone hanging out at?' While generating RP could be interesting for that, on the other hand, if there's no one around it kind of sucks. Public knowledge is something I'm more willing to not say that. If someone who's character is military asks 'what does this kind of gun do?' and it's rather common, there isn't an issue in answering. Where I would have a problem at is more sensitive info. Like 'When are the bad guys going in invade?' Generally I follow the rule of IC/OOC separation.

My own peeves?
*Slow posers who spend time chatting. I have no problem if you take your sweet time RPing, but if I see you haven't done anything for the 10 minutes it's been your turn to pose and you've been idle for 20 seconds or something and I see you chatting on public channels, I won't be real happy. That's disrespectful to those you're RPing with. If you want to chat, that's ok, but keep in mind you are RPing with others and the chatting can usually wait.

*Too much OOC chatter: While OOC chatter can be ok when it's just OOC friends RPing, it gets really annoying when there are 6 people there and there is constant OOC: Player waves. OOC: Waves back, and on and on for half a screen. If you want to chat between emotes/poses, use some other means to talk that doesn't spam all of us.

*People who always are idle, IC, and never seem to RP. These are worse than those who chat and RP and slow everyone else up. These are people that you try to RP with and they're like 'I'm idle/AFK.' A one time thing: No problem, things happen. If it's consistant, it just puts me in a bad mood.

*People who are extremely cliquish. A clique is cool, it's reliable RP for some people and it gets over the 'getting to know you' with everyone. However, some take it way too far, and only RP with those people. They hide away from any other interaction, and if they are out RPing with friends in a public area, you might as well not be there, because the acknowledgement is nonexistant.

*The above point goes into my next. Those who don't acknowledge other characters in any way at all. Perhaps your character won't interact with another for whatever reason. That's just fine. However, if they try to RP sitting/being somewhere and you don't even bother acknowledging it irritates me. If I pose 'Bob is sitting at a table near the door.' I don't expect everyone to talk to me, what I think would be nice is if someone might pose 'Bill walks into the building, past Bob as he heads elsewhere.' Sure, Bill isn't really interacting, that's fine, but he is acknowledging I am there, and existant, and that's good.

I don't come across these too often, but those are some of my personal issues that just grate on me.
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Old 02-06-2004, 06:50 PM   #4
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Jazeula:
*applause* I was hoping I wasn't the only person who got annoyed by that. It's so easy to pick those people out, too, and usually its the same couple people behind all of the characters. No matter what race/class/guild/align whatever their character is, they're always described as being some kind of Playboy centerfold. Anytime I see anything in a desc about supple breasts or long legs or swaying hips, I get tweaked out.


The ask around IC bit: It depends on the person and situation and what they're asking for, really. I have no problem telling someone where a place to RP or a newbie shop or a basic teacher is, if they're trying to get adjusted to the game. But I wouldn't want to give someone directions to the Hidden Keep of Hardtofindness, or tell them who teaches the Kill Everyone In One Word spell. Those things definitely should be kept IC.


My personal pet peeve: RP drama queens. These are the people who've decided their character has some sort of supernatural powers, or has found some kind of great power, or is the only person who can save the world from Tragedy X, or is just somehow more special and significant than the rest of the players in some way. It gets annoying when these people invent their own plotline to make their character some kind of hero. It gets really annoying when they start RPing this plotline out in their clique, and excluding anyone else from even knowing what's going on. And when the IMMstaff starts sanctioning these kinds of things and lending weight to the whole thing, people on the outside tend to feel less favored. That sort of RP drives me away from a MUD faster than anything else.
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Old 02-06-2004, 07:55 PM   #5
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#1. Theme Brushoff

What I hate is when theme for a race is utterly ignored and a wild story made up for why you can totally disreguard what the makers of the game have spent hours, if not months, writing.

Example:

Player 1: I can play this race any way I want, the theme is just there if you 'want' to use it! I can kill if I very well like!
Player 2: But your race is pacifistic.
Player 1: Oh, well, he was raised by <warrior race> and so fights alot!


#2. The Giver-Upper

A barbarian or some such mean fighting character comes up and attacks someone. The someone tries to fight back for a few moments but the barbarian is much more skilled. The player will then give up, and lie down, or turn their back on the slayer, yawning or doing some other such thing to show their contempt. Now tell me you would sit down and be still and silent as a sword is dividing your organs from their blood supply or your beating beaten to a bloody pulp by a club?


#3. NPC Slaying

In various MUDs that claim to be mandatory RP they will still allow the consistent abuse and slaughter of NPC's that represent a living sentient. Your character should not be able in any way to know the difference. In real life do we have manikens walking about that look, feel, and seem real in every way possible except for an extended conversation deficiency?


As for the mention of 'find out IC'. I believe in that whole heartedly. If its something you could only find out IC, then if your really into RP, how would you be able to find it out? If you went into New York for the first time what special ability would allow you to find a McDonalds several miles away without prior knowledge of its direction or even existence? I was told 'find out ic' when i played my MUD for the first time and excepted it because it made sense. Those who aren't mature enough to except it can just stay out of the game.

*prepares himself to be flamed viciously*
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Old 02-06-2004, 08:42 PM   #6
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Well, now that I think of it, my examples for "Find out ICly"  aren't that good.  But when I say that is my pet peeve, I'm talking about the ones who never even try to help and that's their only answer.  Most of the time, I think its ok to talk OOCly if its something a character *should* know.

For example, there's a race called the Avaians. All Avaians start out in the game as full adults as they have just passed there coming of age ritual.  OOCly a player asks about this riltual. Asking ICly would make this character look dumb and clueless, when it something that all peoples of that races should be familiar with.
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Old 02-06-2004, 09:07 PM   #7
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Old 02-06-2004, 10:27 PM   #8
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*nods*

I agree with all of that. People who whine about IC concequences should not be playing, IMO.
Think about it: you go up to Jabba the Hutt and insult him ten ways from Friday. Do you honestly believe that he'll just sit there and take it?
Get real; he'll have you flayed fifteen ways from Friday for it or worse.

As for "Ask IC'ly!"...if it's something that they could find out easily ICly, I'll tell them - or at least hint at it. But otherwise I'll try and steer them towards asking people IC'ly.
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Old 02-06-2004, 11:33 PM   #9
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1) Drama queens. Ohhh yes. The ones who'll blub some harrowing back story to any stranger in a pub. Now, I don't know what sort of pubs you visit, but if you were to do that in my local, you wouldn't get sympathy, you'd get the police in.

2) Anybody whose character has sapphire or emerald eyes. Please, please, please, just come up with something new? Same applies to anyone decsribing themselves using the word "pert" or "sensual". Please, both hands on the keyboard, lads.

3) Superman syndrome. Typical of drama queens, they'll have some harrowing back story, so if challenged, they can say, "oh, but I do have flaws, look, I hate my father for throwing me out when I was sixteen, but I'm better now", then go on to be good at everything they rp doing. And I mean everything. They'll be good dancers, acrobats, fighters, diplomats, they'll be a bloody brain surgeon/rocket scientist and prize-winning football player, and all without breaking a sweat. Honestly, people, being bad at things can be fun!

4) People who don't take the time to do even some basic research into the background they choose. For example if playing a pirate, I'd go out and look a few things up, and not just rely on my drooling over Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean as a suitable research technique, enjoyable thought it is.

5) The word slightly. Please don't use it. There are so many other words to use.

6) The word "okay", used in a fantasy setting. It just really throws me off, as though they'd said "railway" or "radio".

7) Unnecessary spammage of OOC info. "XXX tells you: I've got 1000 hp and a hitroll of 32!". Well, bully for them. Please don't tell me, I don't want to know info about the mechanics of your character. Worse yet, to do so IC, with the numbers. A slightly less wanky way to do it is to be a little more vague, "I am very good at using daggers", instead of "my dagger skill is 100%!"

8) People who use notes/messengers/whatever other system there is in order to blatantly make up plot, which really couldn't have happened, shouldn't have happened, or worse yet, implies your own character was involved as well. There are RP message boards for that kind of thing. If you can't realistically do it IC, don't send notes about it. Allow failure, which can't be done in notes. Goes back to Superman syndrome, above.
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Old 02-06-2004, 11:41 PM   #10
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Ah, in the case of the ritual, yes, they should be told... though not over public channels. In my MUD info like that is just given to them by a private message by one of the Eternals or they are told to ring for a mentor. The reason for this is that though he may should know about it, the rest of the players shouldn't neccessarily.

And that thing about body builder men and playboy type woman characters... I'm so sick of that i could puke. While my MUD was down i tried a mush where you played animal creatures that had been risen up to sentience by their human masters... the masters killed themselves off so the animals took over... everyone was either a cat, weasel or fox person with rather... extensive descriptions about their, err, mammary glands. And none of them wore anything but skimpies. I was a little annoyed with this, since the theme of the game sounded great so i made a character thats ancestors before being genetically manipulated from gooseneck barnacles. I had great fun with it but finally one of the creators of the game asked me why in the *blink* I'd want to play a gooseneck barnacle... and made me get rid of it. I found out later that it was soemthing called a 'furry mush' and all it was for was people who wanted to make out using animal bodies. I pretty much ended that game in disgust.
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Old 02-07-2004, 10:15 AM   #11
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Oh, and what about those Mu*s that don't have permadeath...(this is a great one)...and the character's just reincarnate over and over in the morgue or whatever. Ok and so a character dies (all his/her equipment stays whereever he/she dies likely), and then they lost their stuff in a room full of aggros and they start complaining and whining to the staff!! That is a great one. RP mud here folks...

Overall pet peeves...."RP Enforced" muds with a Hack-N-Slash attitude...right
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Old 02-07-2004, 10:15 AM   #12
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*cringes* at the tought of naked furries...

*cringes* at the thought of naked gooseneck barnacles...
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Old 02-07-2004, 11:45 AM   #13
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Oh! that's another one of my pet-peeves.  A RP mandatory MUD that's basically a hack and slash. Sometimes I don't have a problem with them, but from my past experiences with them, I found that there's more mob-hunting/level-gaining/PKing than RP.

Also, I think its wierd when people come to RP muds and -not- RP. There way one guy on the MUD I used to play who didn't like RP, yet he was -always- in the game hacking and slashing. He made no effort what so ever to even try to RP and made it know how much he didn't want to.
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Old 02-07-2004, 12:03 PM   #14
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The IC/OOC thing:

In an RP mud IC and OOC must be separated. If they are not the totall RP environment get polluted and your ability to stay in character gets compromised. Using OOC knowledge ICly is the worst. If there was no way your character could ever know that then they don't. I have helped out countless newbies and we even have an area in the game where you can interact OOCly to help out new players (ie. demonstratin IC actions, items, etc.) without being a distraction to those trying to RP. If a newbie has a question about the game mechanics, stats, etc. I help them out. If they ask about the IC aspects of the game like, "Where can I get the 'Sword of Power'?" then I tell them thats IC info and I'm not allowed to give it out. That is often followed up with an explaination about why OOC and IC info needs to be separated and how you can tell.

My peeves:

*Correcting a mispelled word with a cough then repeating that word. We all make typos, if we knew what you meant with it leave it alone. If its spoken speech we heard the sounds not the spelling anyway.

*F-off attitude. Come on now, there HAS to be someone who actually has a fear of something or someone else. Why does every character you run across always seem like they are invincible and they don't care if anyone threatens them?

*Super Powers. Unless you're a cat your eyes can't glow (then its only the appearance of a glow). Beams of light can't shoot out of your eyes. The list can go on and ong but leave the super powers at home. How embarrassing is it when you the "super" powerful one gets beat down by the guy that looks like a beggar.

*I'm so pretty. I have nothing against wanting to live out your fantasies and being a built beautifully sculpted person...but come on now. Eveyone has radiant blue/green eyes, long flowing hair, fair blemish free skin (thats right not ONE single blemish anywhere), and the body of a Greek god/goddess. I applaud those who build flaws into their descriptions or just make a normal (depending on race) one.

*Back to the OOC/IC stuff. When someone asks in game about OOC stats. This drives me nuts. How many of you have ever been asked "What level are you?" or "What's your hitroll?" Wether its in a tell or worse asked ICly its just annoying. Knowing that information give you an advantage over me, but more so its breaks the RP setting. It now seems like we're describing a piece of harware instead of a "real" being.

** The bigest one ** I realize that we get multiple multiple reincarnations when we die (at least on the mud I play) but please please please take your death at least somewhat seriously. I cannot stand when I hear someone say "Oh man, I just died...yeah it sucked, it took me five minutes to get back to that mob to finish it off" YOU JUST DIED!!! Shouldn't you be at home recovering? Or better yet, why would you immediately after gaining the gift of new life from the gods risk it again with no thought? Single-death muds don't have this problem, cause when you die you're gone, but if you get killed for some stupid reason (or computer freezing so you can't flee) its gets really annoying real quick. If you think you wouldn't do "this" and currently play a single-death mud I encourage you to play a mult-death one. We'll see how easily you type "delete char" after you die.

I think thats it for now, thought it may seem there are a lot of things I don't like, there are infinitely more that I do enjoy. If I tried to post all the features I enjoy I would run out of posting space.
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Old 02-07-2004, 02:49 PM   #15
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Old 02-07-2004, 06:42 PM   #16
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Heh, I usually RP completely sinister and malicious characters. And typically they *at least* have a very evil demeanor, if not having a completely twisted appearance due to the evil that flows within them (I do play other types as well, but I just keep coming back to the nasty guy). So, typically my characters are *not* that attractive...yet I have had no problem (in RP) attracting the opposite sex (in game of course)...*shrug*. Not everyone has to have the perfect physical appearance *nods sagely*

I think most of us have the same peeves. Interesting isn't it.
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Old 02-07-2004, 08:22 PM   #17
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Old 02-07-2004, 09:16 PM   #18
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Hmm, i think ya'll pretty much captured it all there.

F-me anything, imms, players, imm players, *barf* Im not a hormonal teen looking for my first wet dream so just uh..go away. Heh.


Inconsistancy. Man that ****es me off. If im standing there and suddenly something COMPLETELY off the wall happens with a plot, a character or whatever. Yech! Im not talking about months of character development leading up to the fact, im talkin'...Hi! I think ill do a 360 now cause im bored and i have no where else to go but a ****ed off psycho or a melodramatic crying victim of society...every time i make a character..... Yuck:P



Then there is called what is called in the circle "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" Syndrome. People decide to just screw all background and any RP base given as a means to an end so they can get what they want. Bleh. My advice is, take that website and give it a nice scrubdown and update. Cause if that's totally not what you read about, your falling victim right now to the syndrome, players or imms at fault, it don't matter that kills a mud dead. Baby steps, as one coder i knew told me, muds go in baby steps. Smartest thing he ever said.


Off the top of my head thats about it Have fun people, its what recreation is about
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Old 02-07-2004, 09:18 PM   #19
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Old 02-09-2004, 03:36 AM   #20
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I'd think that gooseneck barnacles might do rather well on a furry considering certain aspects of their anatomy....*cough*
Anyway, my pet peeves. They aren't all very reasonable, but that's why they're pet peeves.
-doing things twice. You see this especially with sitting/standing and enter/exiting. The person does the regular command and then emotes it all fancy. I just read it and think, 'Twins!'
-combining simple emotes into one big emote. I think an emote should only be long if it is descriptive. Too often I see something like 'So and so picks up the glass, swirls the wine around, takes a long gulp, and wipes off his mouth on his sleeve.' That's like four actions. It should be four emotes.
-drow.
-characters with totally uninteresting personalities and complex backstories.
-that girl...you know, she usually has red hair, and either green or violet eyes, is very slender, but with big boobs. She's very sweet natured and gentle, a natural healer. Oh, and there are two men in love with her, and they are bitter enemies--a terribly emotional situation which causes her to shed many an artful tear. You know that girl. There's like 5 on every mud.
-characters of a race or from an area/culture/dimension or having powers that are not part of the game.
-people who call me rp-snob (or worse) for refusing to accept their extra-dimensional backstory and mystical powers.
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