This is something that I've been thinking about for a while now, and was highlighted recently by some recent examples of something that I think illustrate my point.

The first, kudos to Scarab, is the introduction of centaurs. While "something" was announced OOC via the forums, I really really like the use of the log board and the gechos for conveying the start of centaur season. Not only was the change announced in an IC way, but the logs actually convey useful IC information and give those who will be playing a centaur a good start on why they are here, where they came from, etc. etc.

The second, and this is something I've expressed dissatisfaction with before, is that I was looking at the facebook page today (something I try to do but don't do often as facebook is ####ing evil) and noticed that Bear is now covering dedication sphere as well. Firstly, I think that is awesome and from my limited understanding of her religion, seems to fit right in. But where is the IC explanation? Where are the gechos explaining it? Why wasn't it announced on the official forum?

Third, Skeeta. I consider this one of the best characters of all time, not because they were a great pker, or even a great rper of their own character, but rather because Skeeta helped bring the game to life in a way that I don't think any character before has ever done. The increase in IC info being distributed was fantastic. I actually got to find out things my characters cared about in-game. 9 times out of 10, this info is something I more often find out from the forums or logs or whatever.

Fourth, Cyradia/Marcatis. What happened IC, to these gods? Are they dead? From what? Are they simply gone? To where? What happens to their followers (if any)? What I'm saying is, I realize the forum drama was crazy, and people weren't really focusing on the IC stuff, but it was still an opportunity to tell a story. Maybe Marcatis (OG?) and Cyradia (CE?) do an epic throwdown god style and annihilate each other.

What I'm seeing, but probably failing to convey, is that the majority of the culture of CF exists outside of the game on forums. It seems no wonder to me then that people struggle to stay IC, or don't feel as engrossed as they might otherwise be. Even something simple like looting was essentially an IC consequence born from a change in the OOC culture of the CF community. I we, as a community, have the opportunity to push back. And while player steps can be slightly more difficult to define, I think the Imms have some easy wins to help build up the IC, in game, CF culture. Something like Scarab's posting the gechos to the log board is a good example of making the information available to those who weren't logged in (which I assume is the point of essentially the entire announcements board) but presenting it in a manner that lends itself toward in-game culture/discussion, instead of OOC forum discussion.

It has been lamented that in this day and age, keeping IC things IC is nearly impossible. Too many other forms of communication. However, there are, in my opinion (which is of course the only correct one), steps we can all take to improve our in-game culture and make it a more rich and enjoyable experience for everyone.

tl;dr Scarab is awesome. I want to see all gechos going to the log board and all major changes to game (new skills, deleted gods, etc.) have an IC explanation.