Etiquette
From Wiki
Etiquette is an important facet of MUXing. It's not necessarily the most important thing to learn, but it can certainly help you to get used to MUXing in general. I'll try to go over some of the basic concepts and ideas in this guide. Remember, however, that there are just that, guidelines; everyone has their own posing and roleplaying style and it's fairly rude to judge people based on theirs.
That said, let's review some of the most common 'don'ts' in roleplaying.
Contents |
Don't Be an OOC Jerk
There's a distinct and definite seperation between OOC, Out of Character and IC, In Character. A person who is a fun, laid-back individual OOCly can play the most horrific monster ICly and still be realistic. In fact, many more people will roleplay with someone who they know is friendly OOCly no matter what their character is.
This essentially means don't do things OOCly that you wouldn't do in Real Life. Don't be creepy. Don't insult people. Don't follow people around uninvited. Don't harass people on ANY level without their consent (and this rule, broken, can result in siteban). Don't eavesdrop and don't be petty or envious of others. We're all adults here, so act like one.
In the same vein, not everyone holds the same views OOCly. People might be Democrat, Republican, or anything in between. People might be Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist or nothing. There are people playing from a multitude of different countries. While it's perfectly fine to get into intelligent, civil conversations, resorting to insults or hurtful behavior will result in warning and, eventually, siteban. Come on, folks. Nobody wants a siteban.
Also in this section is 'don't bug people'. You don't have to like or get along with everyone you meet - but if someone doesn't want to talk to you and they say that, then respect their wishes and don't talk or interact with them. If you infringe on someone else's comfort then you are harassing them. If you get angry, cool off. Be more laid back. Chill the hell out. Take a break.
Also, if you are using the @emit or \\ commands, please put your name or some other identifying marker in there so people know it's yours. Never, ever spoof someone else (as in pretend that it's them @emitting) or you will lose your @emitting priveledges. It's A Bad Thing.
And remember people, page is OOC. There's no way to talk to someone remotely in an IC method. If you need to contact them, use @mail.
Don't just walk in on people Houses are private. Scenes are private. Always ask if people are in a private scene before barging in on them. Don't just walk into people's houses and expect them to want to roleplay with you -- expect instead to get a big fat +boot back out on the street. Even if two people are in public, ask them politely if you can interfere if you want to interfere. Do not just barge in on people's roleplay without their permission. If you log in and people are scening in the room, be polite and move out. It's not a difficult thing.
Don't be an IRCer
No offense to IRC, of course, but KushielMUX is not the place for smileys/emoticons in poses, 1337speak, TYPING IN ALL CAPS, or a lack of basic punctuation and grammar. Please put periods at the ends of your sentences and capitalize things. Come on, the shift key is right under the enter key, it's not hard to press it from time to time. Of course, some people don't have English as a first language, so try to be at a little respectful of other people too.
In general, one-line poses are considered quite bad form. One or two sentences is hardly a pose at all and smacks of lack of effort and laziness. If it's a fast, terse scene with multiple people than such a thing is certainly forgiveable, but there's no excuse to have tiny poses in a regular scene. People are here to tell a story, not lob single lines back and forth between each other. Description and effort are key to having fun. This goes, too, with writing @descs -- longer is often considered better.
And for Elua's sake, don't use "lol" or "rofl" in a pose. Gahh! This is a story, not a chatroom!
Don't Powergame/Powerpose
This is the worst crime one can commit, but thankfully even the newest players usually understand how not to do it. Essentially, a powerpose is when you, in your pose, force other people to act or behave a certain way. Some examples:
"Julie walks into the saloon and everyone stops and stares at her beauty."
This is an easy, obvious example of a fairly short powerpose at its most basic level. Never, ever force other players - even if you're not directly mentioning them - to do anything in a pose. This is somewhat less strict when it comes to posing as NPCs in the area-- people tend to forgive if someone poses as the NPCs reacting but it's still considered mildly rude. Nobody should be posing as NPC reactions unless it's the person who owns the room or someone 'in charge' of a scene or event.
This also applies in descriptions, either on a character or in a room. Never, ever use 'you' in a description or describe what people are feeling or 'as your eyes travel down', and so on -- a description is just that, a description of whatever it is a person is looking at. It shouldn't have actions in it either; 'Julie turns to give you a smile' in Julie's description would be a definite no-no.
Something even worse is forcing someone to pose when you're in one-on-one conflict with them. For example, in a fight scene let's say someone poses 'John smashes Franklin in the face with his elbow, sending him sprawling on the ground.' This is a powerpose. You should ALWAYS simply pose the action and have the other person respond to it in their own pose. That last one would be a million times better if it were 'John tries to smash Franklin in the face with his elbow, attempting to send him sprawling on the ground.' Then Franklin could respond by sprawling, or evading, or whatnot. Never powerpose. You'll just make people irritated and frustrated at you.
Don't Metapose/Thoughtpose
This isn't nearly as rude as the previous, but some people can still be annoyed at it, and for good reason. A thoughtpose is, essentially, a pose that describes what the person is thinking or feeling but has nothing really to respond to or gives information that's unnecessary. For an example: "Franklin doesn't think John's got any good ideas so he doesn't answer." is a mild thoughtpose. Unless your characters are psychic then it shouldn't be possible to read a chracter's thoughts.
However, there are caveats when it comes to this as well -- adding a bit of flavor to a pose via what a character is thinking or feeling can be a definite good thing. It's when this behavior gets to be overwhelming or common where there's a problem. Action poses by themselves can be dry and boring if it's nothing but '<person> goes here and sits down. <person> says this. <person> sits some more and waits for an answer.' So there should be a good balance between actions and thoughts/emotions. Something like 'Franklin adopts a cynical expression; obviously he doesn't think John's got any good ideas. He doesn't answer.' is an excellent replacement for the earlier example.
Don't be impatient in a scene
In large scenes, often people will wait until everyone has posed before posing themselves -- if there's 3 to 5 people or so, it can often be handy to create a 'pose order' so that everyone knows who's gone before them so they can give everyone an equal chance of responding. In much larger scenes it can get quite difficult to figure out who's going when, so usually people will take a specific reference pose and just always go after it -- basically, anyone who's directly interacting with you you can wait for, otherwise you can pose whenever you want.
It's considered polite to mention that you're busy or otherwise doing something during a scene so people aren't waiting around for 20 minutes for you to pose only for you to come back and say you were gone to the store or something. If you are idling out in a scene, always hit @afk so people know you are away from the keyboard. Then hit @ic when you come back.
And last but not least:
Don't Be Immature
Something so simple, yet is the hardest, at times, to deal with. Be mature! Don't be petty with people or quibble over pointless things. We are all here to have fun, so don't ruin the fun of others with lameness. No name-calling, keep the arguing to a bare minimum, and don't get upset over stupid things. If you have a problem there are tons of different things you can do to ensure you don't have a problem anymore. It's really quite simple. Be mature! Grow up!
In any of these cases, try to use common sense. If you wouldn't do it in real life, don't do it in the MUX. Be as laid back as you can be. Try not to let things annoy you. Use your brain and have fun with people. These people should be your friends, not people to have conflicts or problems with. Try to roleplay with people but don't get mad if they don't want to roleplay with you. Shit happens. Live with it.
