How Much Should Characters Know?

[Dineosoar]

In my own experiences I've had characters and have met characters that have an understanding of most Cantr mechanics and yet also those who don't know the names of animals and other basic things.

What I wanna know is, where do you tend to draw the line of (possible) OOC knowledge?
Do you consider it to be OOC knowledge to know the name of an animal or how to construct things?

The way the game is set up allows you to see what kind of animal something is, who it is loyal to (even through death), the names of vehicles, what it takes to make basically everything, etc.

Part of me feels conflicted about spawning in the world and just being like hm it would take this and this specific amount of grams of materials to make... whatever. Meanwhile, another part of me wouldn't know how to advance in any sort of the way without it, especially in the case of rural living characters.

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I saw the OOC discussion, but figured this would be best as its own fresh thread. Even though I may have not delivered the question so smoothly.

[MattWithoos]

At the risk of sounding contrarian for the sake of being contrary, I didn't vote - because I didn't see my answer.

My response would be: a mix of all options and none in particular.

Everything on the wiki is perfectly acceptable for your character to know, as far as I'm aware.

The key is: how much do you want your character to know? You can play as if your character is learning it all, or already knows it all, or knows some. It's entirely up to you. You spawn as a 20 year old so it's perfectly reasonable that you already know all this.

Personally, I think it's more interesting if they learn it all over time, but I've never played like that, and I haven't met anyone who has.

[Rebma]

I have to agree with the previous post, though I myself base my character's knowledge on cue's from those around me.

You spawn as a 20 yr old who knows how to talk. So, it stands to reason that in the time you were learning language and basic skills like eating, walking, dressing yourself if you've got clothing.... that you would have picked up how to do basic tasks. I buffer this by acting sometimes as if novice and awkward skills mean my character some how missed that basic life lesson.

[Vanya]

I think players should know just the things they learn by asking others or reading it in "books" (compilation of notes). Thats much more RP-like, and actually encourages people to produce, mantain, distribute, and treasure knowledge. That would give the knowledge a TOTALLY new value and sense.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

Yea, I can't vote either. It is acceptable to know everything within the wiki/manufacturing tab/machinery pages or to know practically nothing (if potentially tedious).

Personally, I try to strike a balance on how much a character knows based on skill, complexity, rarity of the situation, and my character's general interest in a given area. It is also good to be aware of what will foster an interesting RP situation for anyone one else the character might pull in to help them learn.

Skill: If a character is good at something, it is fairly safe to imagine they will figure out how to do it on their own with little or no help.

Complexity: If it is a project/skill with many steps, components, or details that can foster an interesting learning environment between multiple characters, then maybe the character might look to another (especially if there is someone around that specializes in that area). I.E. Cooking more complex dishes than X raw food + Y fuel = better food.

Rarity: If it is not something a character has really seen/done before because it something that isn't often needed, then they might need some guidance if there is someone around to help out. I.E. A character that has never seen a motorized vehicle in their life might ask around about how to do such a thing once they've come across them.

Interest: Well, I think that speaks for itself. Not every character is interested in every subject, therefore not likely to be knowledgeable about the subjects they're not interested in. I.E. A character that is great at cooking, but has no interest in doing it doesn't know what goes into turducken pot pie because they don't -care- what goes into turducken pot pie.

Another factor could be availabilty of resources like notes that explain how to do things. Also time. How long will it take to get them to their goals if they can't find the knowledge they need? There are probably lots of things I consider when deciding a cut off for my character's knowledge that I can't think of right now (or are dependent on location).

I don't like getting my characters stuck in ruts because I can't find the information they need IG, but I don't like them being know-it-alls, either. Unless I'm playing a know-it-all specifically, and I think that character would have to be sometimes wrong or it wouldn't be interesting.

[Vanya]

Sorry, double post while I was editing.

[Joshuamonkey]

I also don't feel comfortable voting. Much is up to the player. Not knowing much at all is certainly acceptable, but you're also certainly allowed to make use of knowledge from the wiki (this knowledge is generally implicit by your characters creating things). Otherwise, how would people know what there is to be created and how? (though your character coming to these conclusions on their own can certainly be roleplayed).

I've also seen people asking older or more experienced characters to get this type of information. Since almost all of my characters are old this has been working okay for me .. But I do try to leave my characters with some ignorance for things they really don't have experience with.

[Vanya]

The thing is... We can know what can be created or done, but the things the character is able to do or craft should be limited (in my humble opinion). That way, appearing in the middle of the woods wuld turn you into a barbarian, and you depend on the knowledge of the people around you.
That way, too, the oldest character alive in the local group would be a valuable knowledge source, and having people around you being killed represents not just a loss, but a TRAGEDY!! Specially if you haven´t learned all they have to teach you. You, then, have no option other than learning and discovering things by your own way.

Oposite to that, villages and towns would represent lighthouses of knowledge in the middle of the darkness of ignorance. A library could be the most precious treasure of a community... and touching another sensible topic: PERMANENT NOTES SHOULD BE POSSIBLE OF BEING DESTROYED!!

[Ahrta]

This touches on something that bothers me and I have seen it done several times now.....

characters that are being played as basically toddlers/children.... I find it annoying at best and creepy at worst. The character is 20 years old, understanding basic concepts should not be difficult. Nor should learning basic concepts, such as eating, speaking, how to put on simple clothing, and people walking in and out of buildings.


What do I feel should be known by my newspawns? Basic understanding first of course, then depending on their spawn area and skills .... in a large town a character can be exposed to quite a lot in a very short period of time. On the otherhand a spawn in an out of the way middle of nowhere wilderness can cause one to know very little.. One of my characters only just now discovered a thing called iron.... she is 31....

[Snickie]

As a newspawn, unless it's built into the character that they don't know many things / are not book smart or lack common sense, I generally let them know enough with respect to spawning conditions that include location, people, and inherited skills. Over the years, if they don't encounter something, that knowledge is forgotten unless said character was spawned with a penchant for remembering everything (which is usually on me).

[Wolfsong]

They aren't playing children; they are playing mentally ill people.

[SekoETC]

It should be acceptable to play mentally retarded people.

If people want to know everything in the wiki, it's allowed, but it's also allowed to not know something, as long as you accept that others might not be able to give you the answers that you seek. For example in the Finnish region, many of the first characters started digging for limestone even though no one in the language group had found coal or hematite/magnetite. They knew OOCly that limestone is needed for making iron, and acted accordingly. Also, someone made a doughroller even though there was no wheat on the region. Again OOC knowledge. If you play your characters based on the strategy learned on your older characters, it leads into inconsistencies like these.

Some of my characters don't know how a radio works. I decide it based on where they spawn. If it's like Treefeather or some parts of Cantr then they know innately what it is and how it works, but if they're in other places then they're more primitive. Also I try not to know the names of animals outside my spawn island. It would be interesting if someone for example described what an elephant looks like, and someone else who has never seen an elephant would make a drawing or a statue of it, with artistic freedom.

Also it bugs me when people compare characters to cats and dogs, when most characters have never seen them ingame. Also, on some islands you shouldn't know what a horse is, whereas you might be very familiar with kiangs/camels/zebras. When you come from a certain continent and see a horse for the first type, it would make more sense if you said "that's a big zebra with no stripes".