Cantr II Discussion Forum

Sometimes I speak in OOC. Just a few words, trying to be helpful or clarify something. I can be a critical person myself, and yet I don't think I write OOC very often or too much.

3 times now over the time I've played, people have told me that I should not have spoken OOC. Maybe the same person on different characters. They have done so quite rudely, in my opinion. On every occasion, I feel like I am being spoken down at, like I am being told I'm stupid, in many more words than I had used in my own OOC message. 2 of those times, I felt I needed to justify myself so the person accusing me would not think I am brainless. In response, I get the same kind of emotionless backchat, telling me I am wrong and I should only speak OOC in emergencies.

I know. I feel stupid enough after every OOC message I send in the spur of the moment, as I look back at my message and think "Oh dear, I was trying to help but they might not need it, that means someone might have a go at me for writing one OOC message.

If you disagree with my OOC message, can't you just ignore it instead of having a go at me? If we are limiting our OOC in order to prevent any disruption, then honestly, the stuck-up responses I am getting to my OOC disrupts things far more than my original message. It makes me want to avoid certain characters, because I feel that the people sitting behind them will now look down their nose at my character, and I'll not be able to enjoy spending time with them. I'm even tempted to quit because of how hypocritical their response to my OOC is.

I think it is best to speak in whispers OOC messages to one character. Everywhere there are hypocrites, but not all are hypocrites.

I tend to ignore OOC messages myself. Generally I don't appreciate them, and wish people would contact PD instead. Like you said however, if you don't like it just ignore it.

First, I think quitting because of something so small would be a waste, assuming that you still like the rest of Cantr Even though I don't know you so well, I'm sure we would rather have you around than having you leave

Second, I can be quite annoyed by people OOC'ing, sometimes (though I don't think I ever OOC'ly "corrected" someone), but sometimes it does have a use, I agree. I also think correcting others is very easy to be more annoying and disturbing of gameplay, than a single OOC message. I think that also is a thing various people have different opinions about, just like regular RP. Still there are a few things I really despise OOC'ing about, the main one being this:

- someone is just rping, something, whatever, in the town square, and, for the sake of example, needs to drive home from work. Now, I know a few chars that, even though what they were doing is not even that intensive, and people really wouldn't miss them for that half-hour, they OOC to tell "oh, gotta go drive home, brb". Ugh. It's a game where people know you might be gone for a while in between, i don't need to know that, I can just assume that. It happens -all- the time.
I mean, if you're in some intensive gameplay with one or two other chars, and you need to leave for some time, suddenly, then okay, I can get it that you'd want to whisper that to them, but besides that, don't .

</rant>

I do have one tip: If you have something OOC to say, and it's not necessarily meant for everyone, more as a help for a certain char, it's usually considered better to whisper the message, instead of saying it out loud, that's less disruptive.

I hope my rambling made any sense

No, I probably won't quit because of it. I do like the rest of Cantr but everyone knows there are tedious times and I could be doing things in the real world instead.

For some reason I don't tend to mind the "driving home brb" messages so much, even though they are pointless and on one of my characters where there are only 3 of us in the town, I have said a couple of times (OOC: it's fine we will carry on whenever, don't ever worry about breaks)

I tend to not whisper OOC because of my opinion on whispering. The other characters don't know it's an OOC whisper, so I feel like it's coming across that my character has something to say to the other character that I wouldn't want anyone else to hear, and people would assume that the two characters have a closer relationship than they actually do. That's a whole different story though, I think how often a player chooses to whisper can often affect their position in the ingame social structure, as other characters will look up to them and want to be 'in the loop'.

Even so, I'll probably just stubbornly never OOC again. Call me 'touchy' or whatever, but I can't deal with people being stuck up towards me and accusing me of being disruptive when I'm just trying to help everyone enjoy the game. I'd think differently about it if OOC annoyed me too, but I must play a bit more casually than others. Not that I write really pointless ones like "brb" or anything.

That is actually for the best, most likely. If you are among people who appreciate such updates, you will likely notice this. Don't let jerks affect you too much, there's more where that came from and it's always best to ignore it. They hold no power over you unless you give them it.

I think the main issue she's trying to get at is not the fact that she can't talk OOC, but it's rather the attitude she gets when the certain someone tells her to stop. I've seen it too, some people don't politely tell them that OOC is prohibited unless it's an emergency or something that can be said in whisper, they do it rudely, in a snobbish fashion, like "I'm higher and mightier than thou, so STFU". This I find appalling.

So, moral of the story, people should keep OOC to whisper. But if you see someone typing in OOC for everyone to see, even if they are just being helpful, it's just civil to tell them they shouldn't be doing that in a polite manner, not making them feel stupid or like they're worth less than dirt compared to you. And usually, it's very easy to figure out exactly who the player is that does it no matter what character they are, because the unfriendliness rolls off them in waves. And even after they've reprimanded you OOC, their attitude towards your characters change as well, becoming bland and nonchalant.

This is just from what I've seen really, only once was it directed at me, but I've seen it happen to others. Sure OOC is annoying, but that is no excuse for being obnoxiously rude.

Good discussion. When I first started I was a bit more liberal in my use of OOC in game and really tried to cut down on it.

What I try to do now is to more or less hint IC if I can and only use OOC to explain if I do something that my character wouldnt normally do.

Instead of "OOC I can't go with you I have a character there already"

I say "I'll stay here I'd probably just sleep the entire time if I went" and maybe include a wink or something.

Hard to say with a lot of OOC messages though without knowing the situation. I tend to not mind them as much as some so long as its helpful but we could do without so much of the "I'm at work or my phone died" type stuff.

I, personally, hate OOC whispers, because it raises suspicions for my chars when I see it. It'd be nice if you could send a whisper but it'd be labeled something like "Rau OOC's to Newspawn Joe". Not even a "You see". Putting them in their own type of event would also allow people to filter them out of the event log if they're not being OOC'd to.

Might lead to abuse if you convey IC messages through them, but I can think of about three workarounds if anybody cares.

When I was new, I appreciated all the help I got. I realised there were ways to state OOC things in an IC way after a time. I learned to do this myself and continue to use this in teaching, but at times, an OOC message is best. New players usually really do find it useful and are happy with it.

I had one occasion recently, the player was a weak roleplayer (not that I am great myself, just saying as I see it) and I thought they were new as it looked like they were struggling to play. In fact, they didn't want or need my help and were rude about it. This did hurt my feelings as I was trying to be nice, but on reflection, I realised that I would resent it if I was trying to pull off a particular type of new character and it came off poorly in another's eyes. I let it go. Said player was also what I label as a 'purist'. I'm not one and am much more tolerant of OOC, playing styles that lend to OOC or non-cantr coments etc. I have found some purists think we should all be like them.

So, my message is, this is a game, relax, do your best to enjoy it, find your own balance and comfort zones and let the rest all go. You can't please us all as we all want different things so please yourself in the style you want to play. If you like helping others and are generous enough to do so and help the game out by helping new players, more credit to you.

PS: Cuddles may be right about PD wanting to reduce and restrict OOC messages, but I believe that have a place in the game.

Some people tend to take others "helpful" ooc's and "clarifying" ooc's as rude and more of an "you should do this my way" sort of thing instead. Or a I'm better than you so you should listen to how this would be better. I for one personally don't care for the "helpful" ooc's. If I or someone else want help, they'll ask for it. Unsolicited help is not always appreciated and sometimes comes off as rude itself. CDLS explain best the way you should proceed with people who need "help".

Honestly, you can't always tell the difference if someone is new or just sounds dumb. Should people just ignore all those characters? Or take the risk?

SekoETC wrote:Should people just ignore all those characters? Or take the risk?

Contact the Players Department with such concerns so we can see if they need help, so that we can then help them IF they are in fact needing it. If players want to be helpful, that is the way to do it.