Miniseries: Bonus Conduct - Out-of-Character Manipulation

[Thomas 3014]

Bonus Conduct - Out-of-Character Manipulation

Introduction

Welcome back again, okay okay. Forgive the shortage of these, with the War Claim and a host of other things I figured a brief break would be nice. Anyhow, this one is going to be a little short given the singular topic. There isn’t a great deal of stuff to cover, but I’ll do my best to be as concise and explain as much as I possibly can. Once again, I shall bold all the important parts so anyone reading who doesn’t want to read every last word can skim over the necessary parts.

 

What is Manipulation?

So, here we go again. Oh man. To manipulate, in this definition, is to “control or influence (a person or situation) cleverly or unscrupulously”. Manipulation is considered a negative thing to do, for good reason. To control someone or a scenario is generally seen as possessive, though it entirely depends. Manipulation can be used for good, and when it comes to roleplay, being manipulative is almost a necessity in politics. However, this can only be said for things that occur in character. Manipulating someone in character for their land, their money or their resources is entirely possible and oftentimes encouraged to provide and entertaining experience.

 

Out-of-Character Manipulation

Now let’s get to the point of the post. In-Character manipulation? That’s allowed. Manipulation Out-of-Character? That is not allowed. Manipulating a real life person for anything, not just for your own aspirations in character, is disallowed, against the rules and downright wrong. Anything in roleplay should and must stay specifically in character, and anything out of character should and must stay specifically out of character. If someone does something against you out of character, you are expected to take the necessary measures to ensure that person is punished for what they have done. By this, I mean reporting them to the appropriate member of authority. (AKA Server Staff, or in severe cases the police). It should not, however, leak into your character decisions.

 

How about some examples:

 

The Scenario

Player A and Player B are having are not exactly the closest of friends. Player A and B are in a skype chat, and Player A isn’t particularly being the nicest of individuals. Player B calls A out on it, explaining their behaviour will not be tolerated and essentially sasses Player A out. Player A is upset with this, and because of that A starts to speak poorly about Player B in all kinds of chats. The scenario escalates so much so that Player A and Player B begin to rival one another Out-of-Character. Because of this, Player A decides that he wants to spite and attack Player B because of the scenarios occurring OOC. Player A then targets each of Player B’s characters, either wanting them killed or exiled, sent away to a location which will essentially make the character unplayable for Player B.

 

The Problem

This one is as simply as the others. Player A, despite the arguments and disputes with Player B, should not resort to leaking Out-of-Character into the In-Character world. This is not allowed, and essentially makes the entire situation and atmosphere unpleasant for everyone. Especially if Player A is of an influential position, and can cause sufficient damage to Player B. not only can this make Player B feel disinterested in playing their characters, it may also make them reluctant to create a character of the same type or even another character in general, out of fear of being targeted. This isn’t fair, for anyone involved.

 

The Solution

The solution here is simple. Do not leak anything Out-of-Character into In-Character. It is not allowed, and it isn’t fair for any parties involved. Simply put, the solution is to not let the two worlds cross. It causes problems, and not only can it lead to meta and powergaming, it causes disinterest and loss in motivation for anyone in the damage radius. If you are having problems with someone Out-of-Character, leave it out of character. If it reaches a point of problem, then report it to the appropriate people and allow them to handle it.

 

Under no circumstances should people be afraid of role playing or creating new character out of fear of being targeted.

 

Summary

In brief? Don’t do it. It’s easy to want to punish someone or hurt someone because of Out-of-Character stuff, and no one will blame you for wanting to do that; however, it cannot actually happen. It’s not tolerated, in any means. As I have mentioned several times so far, it’s demotivating and inappropriate to target someone just for out of character means or measures. Never do this, never. You wouldn’t like it if it is done to you, so why should you do it to others? Limiting the Roleplay experience for someone simply because they’ve ticked you off Out-of-Character not only makes no sense In-Character, but it causes mass detriment to the server and roleplaying scene as a whole.

 

But yep, all done. Cool stuff. Once again, questions, corrections. It’ll help us all.

-Tahmas (Thomas)

(Don’t be a nerd. Don’t be uninformed. Ask the questions. Do it.)

[Katiesc 130]

1 minute ago, Tahmas said:

Player B calls A out on it, explaining their behaviour will not be tolerated and essentially sasses Player A out. Player A is upset with this, and because of that A starts to speak poorly about Player B in all kinds of chats. The scenario escalates so much so that Player A and Player B begin to rival one another Out-of-Character. Because of this, Player A decides that he wants to spite and attack Player B because of the scenarios occurring OOC. Player A then targets each of Player B’s characters, either wanting them killed or exiled, sent away to a location which will essentially make the character unplayable for Player B.

 

_{*wiggles eyebrows*}

[Mr. Etan 2839]

Lotc drama in a nut shell was just covered here. I likey I likey.

 

You're doing a good job with these posts though, keep it up.

[Crowbill 491]

3 points.

[𝙻𝚞𝚟 XO 3062]

Very niiiiice

[Jonificus 2711]

18 minutes ago, Tahmas said:

Manipulation Out-of-Character? That is not allowed.

In other news, two thirds of leadership roles both minor and major are under GM investigation.

[Kaelan 1916]

10 minutes ago, Jonificus said:

In other news, two thirds of leadership roles both minor and major are under GM investigation.

Brutally honest.

 

I don't think that things are going to change because a guide is posted. It'll have to start being enforced.

[neopsychedelia 207]

this isnt basic stuff, the kind of people who this applies to most will rarely consider themselves in need of a guide

id like to imagine a guide like this will help to prevent new players from falling into it, but more often than not it depends entirely on the kind of crowd they end up with

[Runabarn 1026]

Nice thread, though sadly it'll most likely go largely unnoticed.

[KarmaDelta 968]

I'll have your babies if you want.

[The Great Mongol Khan 1091]

On 2/14/2016 at 5:59 PM, ZipZapMan said:

Brutally honest.

 

I don't think that things are going to change because a guide is posted. It'll have to start being enforced.

Don't be hypocritical now, you target everyone in Istria for what happened in character to the Falkenreath. Done it to me a fair share of times, upsetting. But that is none of my business