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ValguarneraMon 19-Mar-01 03:16 PM
Member since 04th Mar 2003
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#4, "What channels are in character? What channels are out of character?"


          

There's been some confusion on this lately, so I'd thought I write up a brief summary.

Generally speaking, you can go an entire character's life without using an Out of Character means of communication. The two major exceptions to this are:

1) The newbie channel. The newbie channel was explicitly designed to allow a forum for people to learn the commands for the game, which is very difficult to do while staying in your role. For example, your character knows how to fill a canteen with water from a fountain, but the player might not know to try "fill canteen". It would be very silly to ask this in character (let alone answer), so the newbie channel acts as a buffer here. Note that this is why we discourage asking directions or finding groups on the newbie channel- these are things that are easy to accomplish via the preferred In Character means.

2) Bugs, rules violations, and other things that cannot be explained in character. These are best accomplished with the "pray" channel for major bugs or any rules violation, and the "bug" command for minor bugs. All prays reach the ears of immortals even if no immortal is on at the time, and valid prayers of this kind will be addressed by the first free immortal of the necessary level. We do our best to maintain a level playing field here on CF, so please report any problems of this kind as soon as possible.

3) Notes to "immortal" about bugs or rules violations. This is a good way to report a bug as well, as it allows you to document the problem.

Everything else can be done in character. Note that the "tell" command is an In Character channel, unless an Immortal tells you otherwise. Generally, if you converse with a visible Immortal, they will respond as their character would. I get tells asking for help finding mobs that carry lots of gold, looking for directions to Seantryn, how to cure poison, etc. Generally, I might bounce this to pray or the immortal channel, and reply In Character. (Liches are notoriously unhelpful, of course.) Why not just help? Because then it's hard for me to teach the difference between Valguarnera the Scion Lich, and Valguarnera the Helpful Immortal. I cut some slack to people who are clearly very new at the game, but in general I try to err on the side of staying in role at all possible times.

Think of it from your character's point of view: If you needed directions to Seantryn, would you ask a mysterious undead being? Or Joe, a nearby adventurer? All of the examples I gave above (which happened) are perfectly good questions to ask your fellow players, and it builds opportunities for roleplay along the way.

From the pen of:
valguarnera@carrionfields.com">Valguarnera Trisseptia

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

  

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