Order Server Suggestion

[neva]

This is just a minor suggestion and one I know talking to a few other players I've come to realize.

Not many even know the rules on Order Server, we do have special rules, but how many people honestly know these rules? How many players who come onto the server know of the name policy, and the other policies that follow along with it?

This is just a suggestion, but is there away that when people go to create a character on the Order server, that within the login itself, it can pull up the rules documents, and until they scroll down to the bottom and click on "agree", they can't create a character there?

I know this probably sounds kind rude or mean, but lets face it, if players don't know the rules, then its hard to call them down for it, and at least this way they can't say, "What rules?" because they will get smacked in the face with it the instant they make a character.
I don't know if I speak alone on this or not, but the Order server has a strong roleplay base, we are very devoted to Istaria as well, and what I suggest is not something to push out players, but away to keep our community strong and away to give insight to those who are new who want to come play with us.

I love to see new players, I love the fact this game is getting bigger (or so it seems), but what are rules, if players don't even know them?
And if they don't know them, then how can you enforce them?

[awdz]

Nice suggestion. There's been some debate about what roleplay really means and where it is required; clarity helps.

As a rule of thumb, I go with the "keep it in Istaria" concept - anything in character and questions/comments about Istaria game mechanics are OK, but questions/discussion about other games or real life stuff are taboo except in designated areas. I'm not sure what the official stance is.

[neva]

Nice suggestion. There's been some debate about what roleplay really means and where it is required; clarity helps.

As a rule of thumb, I go with the "keep it in Istaria" concept - anything in character and questions/comments about Istaria game mechanics are OK, but questions/discussion about other games or real life stuff are taboo except in designated areas. I'm not sure what the official stance is.

From what I recall from the rules, Anything dealing with Sports, News, real life events are suppose to be kept off the Public Channels, unless specified for that or player created for it.
Also things like short hand type (lol, rofl, wtf) and (o-O ^^ ) are also suppose to be kept off public channels.

The sad thing is too..
The rules for Order are not even That long. Its very short compared to some rules I've seen for RP servers. So, there really isn't an excuse for people to Not read them.

[Dhalin]

I think we should more clearly clarify where exactly RP is supposed to be, and where it is not supposed to be, and what notations exactly should be used.

I'm under the impression that Marketplace is an OOC channel, I've never, ever seen anyone actively roleplay in there, and more often than naught, Marketplace usually ends up being "General OOC" with some trade-based chatter here and there.

Dragon, I always thought was supposed to be an RP channel, but I don't see much RP in there these days; I assume RP must be happening somewhere else. As to the /say channel, I dunno. I assume that's IC? Not sure. I see peeps RPing in NT now and then (though I wish they wouldn't hang around the Shrine/Consigner/etc area due to lag issues, and the fact it takes nearly twice as long to load up at the NT Shrine as it does anywhere else, but oh well).

I think once we have these rules set, there ought to be some kind of... in-game thing that is only found on the Order Shard, that one sees either right before, or right after the creation of their character, that explains the shard, and what is expected of those who go there.

[Dracaena]

The rules have been posted in the Order forums easily found, and have been since this conversation came up at shard merger.

http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=8784


I have recently noticed on the character list on launcher that the start new character shard list now includes what type of shard it is. Not sure how much more they can really do with the launcher. I suppose they could spell things out more in paragraph 7 of the EULA but I doubt the ones you are upset about read the EULA anyway. Personally I vote for fixing the darn cache stealing gremlins for XP folks.



Dracaena

[Dhalin]

Arrrrrgh.

.PDF!?

Could someone please copy that to HTML?

That's probably half of the problem there. With all of the problems, viruses, trojans, etc associated with Flash and Reader, I refuse to mess with .pdf, and I have all Flash and Javascript turned off as much as possible, with copious use of NoScript.

If it is pure-text, there is absolutely no reason to put it in .pdf format.

You could get that in a lot less filespace used, if you were to use .rtf or .txt, or better yet, .html.

[neva]

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcv3hb6k_48d2xhn4d4&uid= <-- How about that for you. Straight out of the play.istaria.com area

I have always figured, unless stated otherwise, all channels are IC. The exception to this being areas for assistance and help.

Market Place at one time was also dealt with IC, not sure when people got off that track.

However, being posted here on the forums isn't, sadly, going to do anyone any good, because then the question balls down to -
How many players who are on Order, actually come the forums and even look at the Order server forum?

That is why I am suggesting it just be right in the face. You can't ignore it, you can't be ignorant of it, and its right there in your sights when you go to create a character.

[Dhalin]

That _is_ better indeed.

Kinda vague, but yet keeps true to the shard, I suppose. I think they should allow one public channel for OOC talk, though, IMO, but that's just me I guess. *shrugs*

[Nyoko]

I have to agree. I would have to say I have been a bit disappointed lately, so much that I sometimes don't want to play because of these basic rules being broken. And they are not that hard. Something needs to be done, if people stop having fun.

In fact, lately I've seen more OOC then IC and its saddenning. When a channel says specifically Roleplay and only out of character is being done, I don't know, it just doesn't set right.

Anyway, I think this is a good suggestion, just to make sure people do know there are rules and can't plee ignorant. You can say, well you clicked agree didn't you?

Just my two coppers.

[Dhalin]

*nods* Yeah if the channel specifically says it is for RP, then yeah, OOC should be a no-no, 'cept for explanations/RP aids, etc.

[awdz]

May be it would help to create an "OOC" chat for order like there is a "Roleplay" chat for chaos. Then it would be clear which channel is intended to allow out-of-character discussions. I thought the "General" chat was supposed to serve that purpose, NOT Marketplace.

[Knossos]

I do note that much of the chat in Order Shard public channels should be conducted in private channels and thus is public channel "spam".

Knossos

[Dhalin]

May be it would help to create an "OOC" chat for order like there is a "Roleplay" chat for chaos. Then it would be clear which channel is intended to allow out-of-character discussions. I thought the "General" chat was supposed to serve that purpose, NOT Marketplace.

Hmm, I used to lurk around in General, and there used to be discussion there, but I think it waned, and since not many seemingly go there (last I checked, anyways), they took it to Marketplace instead.

I guess, Marketplace kinda seems like a combination of Marketplace and General nowadays...

[Shian]

Oh Drulkar not this again *checks watch* Hmm.. you're actually late for this one. AND out of order! The pattern is supposed to be:

Month 3:
-RP slowly gets good
Month 4:
-Players nitpick the good RP and saying the RP is too serious and should not be in public channels.
Month 5:
-Bad RP ensues
Month 6:
-Players scream at the bad RP
Month 7:
-Players stop RPing because they are too afraid to RP and channels are quiet and empty
Month 8:
-Players start making small talk/OOC chatter
Month 9:
-RP slowly starts up again and gets good

Friends we are on month 7 not 6, therefore the current complaint should be: "Why is nobody talking?" Try to keep up.

(Not everyone RPs the same way you do.)

Dragon channel is empty of RP because of this exact complaint. Everyone RPs in Roleplay now or private channels.

Honestly there are days where I've considered turning off all the channels because no matter what I do, whether I help someone out on a quest or attempt to get back into RP, there will be someone to ***** about what I'm doing. *snorts*

If you want an example, just the other day Ainura and I attempted to RP together in Dragon. (Mind you, I have not RPed in over a year because of this nonsense!) No less than three people decided they wanted to remind us that dragon was not really RP anymore and we should move to the overstuffed RP channel.

[neva]

Oh Drulkar not this again *checks watch* Hmm.. you're actually late for this one. AND out of order! The pattern is supposed to be:

Month 3:
-RP slowly gets good
Month 4:
-Players nitpick the good RP and saying the RP is too serious and should not be in public channels.
Month 5:
-Bad RP ensues
Month 6:
-Players scream at the bad RP
Month 7:
-Players stop RPing because they are too afraid to RP and channels are quiet and empty
Month 8:
-Players start making small talk/OOC chatter
Month 9:
-RP slowly starts up again and gets good

Friends we are on month 7 not 6, therefore the current complaint should be: "Why is nobody talking?" Try to keep up.

(Not everyone RPs the same way you do.)

Dragon channel is empty of RP because of this exact complaint. Everyone RPs in Roleplay now or private channels.

Honestly there are days where I've considered turning off all the channels because no matter what I do, whether I help someone out on a quest or attempt to get back into RP, there will be someone to ***** about what I'm doing. *snorts*

If you want an example, just the other day Ainura and I attempted to RP together in Dragon. (Mind you, I have not RPed in over a year because of this nonsense!) No less than three people decided they wanted to remind us that dragon was not really RP anymore and we should move to the overstuffed RP channel.

Honestly, Dragon is RP far as I am concerned. All channels, unless stated otherwise on Order are RP channels.
General, I think may be the only one who is not suppose to be RP stuck, and is meant of OOC.

Far as I am concerned, if it is a RP server, everything is to be expected to be RP unless stated otherwise and if you are not sure, you should always ask -
(( Is it ok if we talk OOC here? ))

Not hard, I've been on enough RP enforced areas to know this, so I am sorry to hear you got told this Shian, and this is kinda why I am trying to put a foot down on it and trying to get the means to back it up.
If we are the community are to help enforce the rules, and again, the rules need to be known up front, and it states clearly that all channels are RP, unless stated otherwise.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Oh Drulkar not this again *checks watch* Hmm.. you're actually late for this one. AND out of order! The pattern is supposed to be:

Month 3:
-RP slowly gets good
Month 4:
-Players nitpick the good RP and saying the RP is too serious and should not be in public channels.
Month 5:
-Bad RP ensues
Month 6:
-Players scream at the bad RP
Month 7:
-Players stop RPing because they are too afraid to RP and channels are quiet and empty
Month 8:
-Players start making small talk/OOC chatter
Month 9:
-RP slowly starts up again and gets good

Friends we are on month 7 not 6, therefore the current complaint should be: "Why is nobody talking?" Try to keep up.

(Not everyone RPs the same way you do.)

Dragon channel is empty of RP because of this exact complaint. Everyone RPs in Roleplay now or private channels.

Honestly there are days where I've considered turning off all the channels because no matter what I do, whether I help someone out on a quest or attempt to get back into RP, there will be someone to ***** about what I'm doing. *snorts*

If you want an example, just the other day Ainura and I attempted to RP together in Dragon. (Mind you, I have not RPed in over a year because of this nonsense!) No less than three people decided they wanted to remind us that dragon was not really RP anymore and we should move to the overstuffed RP channel.

Feel free to ask me, Shian, and I'd RP with you : )
Everyone has a style of RP. We can choose to interact with it, or not. The problem, there, is some barking at others because they don't like how they do.
I'd see no problem to RP on Dragon Chat, unless there is something a bit darker, like blood,...
We can't make everyone like our RP, Shian, just let the one who **** about yours where he is.
I'd say these three people haven't the right to forbid or grant the RP on Dragon Channel.
That is what I think.

[Dhalin]

Feel free to ask me, Shian, and I'd RP with you : )
Everyone has a style of RP. We can choose to interact with it, or not. The problem, there, is some barking at others because they don't like how they do.
I'd see no problem to RP on Dragon Chat, unless there is something a bit darker, like blood,...
We can't make everyone like our RP, Shian, just let the one who **** about yours where he is.
I'd say these three people haven't the right to forbid or grant the RP on Dragon Channel.
That is what I think.

I agree.

If they don't like it, that's their tough *beeeeep*.

Ignore these three people who do this crap. If they don't like it, _they_ can leave Dragon channel. You're not breaking any rules by RPing there, let them complain.

[Phillip]

The 3 people...are they the same f-tards who used to play as kittens?

[Thicklesip]

Ooh! Is this the thread to list all the things people do in chats that annoy us?! *gets out the grocery list*

I've personally given up on anyone ever doing what I want. People will provide OOC advice to newbies in Role-Play and rebuff my attempts to ask them to please go to New Player, where it belongs. One little clique will take over Role-Play for an hour or three with OOC chatter and in-jokes. If someone attempts to RP anything more controversial than white bread, everything will grind to a halt as half the people involved will start OOCly howling about how their toes have been stepped on. I shouldn't even bother mentioning how Istarian lore will be defiled and disrespected at every turn.

Playing on Order, for good or for ill, has been an incredible crash course in (re)learning to grit my teeth and tolerate people that, in a larger community, I would do everything in my power to avoid and ignore. You don't have that luxury here, unless being a total pariah doesn't bother you. (It would annoy me greatly. I find it easier to suck it up so that down the road I won't discover I need a Shiny Bauble of Hardtoobtanium and that I've already burned bridges with everyone who could help me get one.)

Basically? Order almost mimics the population of a small real-life community, except we've apparently self-selected for the most delicate flowers of the role-player crop. You can't quite get away with just avoiding the people you dislike, as you'd be able to in larger groups, and it's the internet so there's a hefty dose of people feeling ENTITLED to not having to deal with annoyance.

(To those keeping score, that would be expectations wildly differing from reality.)

Frankly I'm kind of impressed that we hold it together as well as we do-- I keep having new players gush about how NICE and HELPFUL we are. Which, after all, is pretty true-- even the prickliest pear on Order has the sense to know that they should be polite, or at least invisible, to strangers. It's once everyone gets acquainted and ferrets out all the personality clashes that the problems start up.


In other news, I'm not a big fan of pie, but I LOVE oatmeal cookies. Oh man, those are good.

[Tcei]

Very well said Thicklesip. When it comes to new players, we seem to have an awsome sense of being very nice and friendly, but at some point it flips.

As far as dragon/marketplace/ect I seem to recall it being officially stated that all the public channels (minus RolePlay) are all ooc, however, they have been taken over as unofficially rp (or at least rp friendly), dragon especially, as these tended to be the heaviest populated channels. Local channels, such as /say are considered rp, this is generaly universal throughout all games tho.

Im ok with lore streching, but have never been a big fan of outright lore breaking. If it doesnt exsist in the lore then how can you possibly expect me to believe you? Alot of this extends from a players need to create a "unique" character, and the belief that this is only possible by creating something that cannot exist in the game, such as an extradiminsional-vampire-demon-princess-from another world- who's the offspring of two legendary characters in the lore who probably couldnt physicly have children even if they were in love-and doesnt even look remotely like them. I wish I could find a post from an old rp group I was once a member of that detailed how you could make a unique character without being impossible in the wold/lore breaking.
*gets off soapbox*