OOC communication reminder
Posted by Apostate on 08/20/18
Now some people often say that there's no expectation of any privacy on the internet, but I've always agreed with that. In general, we err on the side of protecting the privacy of players. Staff has no kind of dark mode or invisibility (which is why you'll see me roaming around the grid), no one can ever watch your RP in a room without your knowledge, there's no form of logging that doesn't explicitly say so, and really the only 'private' communication that staff will ever look at that other players don't have access to is messengers or black journals.
I mention this specifically because we'll never have any form of spy mechanics, since I feel they suppress RP, and people are more inclined to not RP about something if they feel it can be taken advantage of by a random third party. That kind of thing will never happen. No other PC will ever be able to see your private communications, or rp in a room without being phyiscally present, and staff will never see your private RP, only messengers or black journals, which are a way for players to give us a heads up of what's going on.
Now I mention this because if anyone ever implies to the contrary it's just not true, and certainly not without expressly giving players OOC heads up. (IE, if we were ever going to code some form of invisibility, it would have a tell oocly like a feeling of someone in the room or some such). The potential for creeping is just too high otherwise. Now, there came a situation where a player implied this, and it makes me upset, but I think that I should clarify that I find this is coming from an entire different other problem, of people talking a little too much OOCly about their RP.
In general, I'd rather people not talk OOCly about RP situations at all because it creates an uncomfortable blur and ambiguity over who knows what. In fact, this is why things like clues exist codedly, so staff has a way to prove what a character does or does not know, and why we're adding more things like that. Without that, we will always err on the side of someone not knowing something fairly, and usually hunches just are not justifiable, and in any kind of PVP situation, unless it's rock solid and there's no kind of intuitive jumps, it will never, ever be permitted. This is one area where I can be draconian on. A lot of people will assume that if something found out dishonestly ooc gets spread through the player, it'll be too far gone and let it stand. But for me, if it's not fair and is a dishonest foundation, I'd still overrule it even if it would effect a couple hundred people. So yeah don't make me do that, and definitely don't engage in ooc communication that is ever dishonest, or pressures someone where they would be tempted to be dishonest (don't ask about secrets, incriminating information, etc).
I mention this specifically because we'll never have any form of spy mechanics, since I feel they suppress RP, and people are more inclined to not RP about something if they feel it can be taken advantage of by a random third party. That kind of thing will never happen. No other PC will ever be able to see your private communications, or rp in a room without being phyiscally present, and staff will never see your private RP, only messengers or black journals, which are a way for players to give us a heads up of what's going on.
Now I mention this because if anyone ever implies to the contrary it's just not true, and certainly not without expressly giving players OOC heads up. (IE, if we were ever going to code some form of invisibility, it would have a tell oocly like a feeling of someone in the room or some such). The potential for creeping is just too high otherwise. Now, there came a situation where a player implied this, and it makes me upset, but I think that I should clarify that I find this is coming from an entire different other problem, of people talking a little too much OOCly about their RP.
In general, I'd rather people not talk OOCly about RP situations at all because it creates an uncomfortable blur and ambiguity over who knows what. In fact, this is why things like clues exist codedly, so staff has a way to prove what a character does or does not know, and why we're adding more things like that. Without that, we will always err on the side of someone not knowing something fairly, and usually hunches just are not justifiable, and in any kind of PVP situation, unless it's rock solid and there's no kind of intuitive jumps, it will never, ever be permitted. This is one area where I can be draconian on. A lot of people will assume that if something found out dishonestly ooc gets spread through the player, it'll be too far gone and let it stand. But for me, if it's not fair and is a dishonest foundation, I'd still overrule it even if it would effect a couple hundred people. So yeah don't make me do that, and definitely don't engage in ooc communication that is ever dishonest, or pressures someone where they would be tempted to be dishonest (don't ask about secrets, incriminating information, etc).