I've already seen a good deal of discussion both here on the forums and in-game (Over tells, mind you) regarding how roleplaying should be handled in Lusternia, which handles it in much the same way as the other IRE games, so far as I can tell.

You aren't allowed to make references to the outside world, such as 'computer', 'red sox', or '1337 H@XX0R!', because they are certainly not things your character would know. Or know how to pronounce, regarding that last one.

However we ARE allowed, as i've observed, to talk about stats, syntaxes, levels, ect. These are also things your character wouldn't know, unless some amazing group of Celestian scientists figured out how to calculate a being's entire existance though numbers. Also, we have channels of communication such as gnt, gt, ct, and market. How do you explain those from an IC perspective? Are they just 'magic'? Are we all telepaths? Also, as I mentioned, syntaxes; 'How do I learn something?' 'LEARN from ' 'Thanks!'. If you were walking down the street and suddenly someone asked you 'How do I learn?', how would you respond, eh?

So obviously we can't have a full RP environment, that would clash with too much of the game. We manage to keep things in-game, but not at all in-character in certain regards. Pure RP would consist of 4-line emotes and a total taking on of your characters point-of-view. No RP would consist of Estarra and I arguing over ct about who will win the world series. Here we have found a sort of odd middle ground that I haven't seen anywhere else.

That's just my 2 gold; any comments?

I've always been dissapointed that ZMUD and the like are considered outside acceptable talk, when they are so clearly important to being able to use your skills in the best possible way. And I don't just mean fighting. Forging(and not messing up other peopel's forgings) would be impossible without zmud.

I agree.

... With Guido, that is ...

Another thing I wished to mention is how lenient should we be with small slip ups? I've been pounced upon for mentioning 'player vs. player' combat to answer a newbie's question, for example, and whenever I am confronted by a player for this sort of thing they say they wish to make it a 'total' roleplaying environment. Well that is obviously not possible, as I said...

Well, the problem lies in the fact that it's extremely difficult to play a MUD without some kind of OOC communication. Because telling that newbie that he has to specify the amount of lessons he wants to learn from the tutor he's learning from isn't going to help him figure out the syntax for learning.

But yeah, I agree with the thing about the channels. Are they telepathic channels? And are they images or just sound? Because if they're images, emotes and the like make sense. But if they're just sound, they don't.

I think the whole point of the game is FUN!!!

If we are having fun, playing knights and wizards, pretending to have lovers and family, fighting wars, ratting or plain old cow herding! Let it be!!

RP when you can and get technical when helping the Newbies out!

Actually, in the Hartstone speaking of stats, or psuedo-OOC material is not tolerated on any public channel. The only bit that is, is syntaxes, and still you can make a syntax slightly IC. You don't have to say "TYPE GHELP SAPLINGS", you can say "See the GHELP SAPLINGS scroll and so forth".

I don't think level is OOC, I think it can be made very IC. Why, people in real life have levels of experience, sure, it's not one and two and fifty, but they don't have dragons in real life either.

The way I see shouts is uhm, people shouting really loudly. It's a world of magic, the Gods have gifted us with the ability to reach the entire world with our words, however with a heavy price on endurance. The same goes for GNT, CT, etc.

What I like about Lusternia over the other IRE muds is that they DO explain some of these things from an IC perspective. The CT and GT channels are described in the history as aetherwaves, which from what I can gather are a sort of extradimensional means of sending information, much like radio waves. Also how the typical new player is described as being an amnesiac by default, so that they can learn(make-up) more and more about their past as time goes on.

where did you find this info, ive never heard anything like that before?

The only problem I see with the amnesiac roleplay tool is that some lame RPer can simply do something completely contradictory to his/her "established" (in loose terms) RP later, and say that he/she did it because of a sudden memory. If this can actually be used for RP, and not just to provide an excuse, then I have no problem...

Mox- Well any sane rp system can be circumvented by lame fools, and I don't think this system is more susceptible to it than any other...

Azazel- Read the histories on the website! Ought to be the first thing you do before you think about making a character, in my opinion. The stuff about amnesia is in the newbie intro, don't know how you could have missed it unless you were sleepwalking.

Something funny I noticed about IRE's RP bases: There are always humans, and they are always paid tribute to by being known as very adaptable and easy to reproduce.

*peers at computer for reseting mid-reply*

Hmm heres the short version!

Total rp: attainable but not probable. You can keep almost all ooc in tells and explain things in says ICly.
Teacher says, "Learn as much as you feel you can or would like to take on at the moment."
Teacher tells you, "Help Learning: Learn # skill from teacher. Learn in increments of 5 10 or 15."
Its not hard - it just takes effort that a lot of people dont want to put in.

Channels: Like said above you can explain them as aetherwaves - much like radio waves - that people are able to pick up on. When you gain access to a new channel like GT or OT or GTS this can be explained easily by the fact that you "learn" how to pick up on these waves or something.

The Portal: This is as all rp is - always going to be one idiot in the realm who makes themselves look stupid. I find it interesting that some people claim to know their entire life. For those of you who know me this may sound hypocritical since Nepthysia know a lot about herself but then again I spent 2 IRL days just walking around the guild tower and city meditating and looking at everything to try and remember, memories recovered by little lapses or glimmers of memories when i would see and object or something that was of substance to remind me. Some people just pop out of the portal and know everything about themselvse from birth to now.

I've wondered about this as well. As others have said I don't think it is feasable to expect all communication to occur on a strictly IC basis. Some explanation does need to occur within game that involces typically OOC phrasing. It's just how it is.

As for the channels, I;ve also often wondered how they were explained without saying the gods saying 'they just exist, ok! Don't question us! >_<'.

It is all about a compromise. Just be as much ic as possible and you'll be fine. Sometimes you just need some practice to explain ooc things with ic means, though of course it is sometimes really difficult. I usually use tells then.

I really dislike the attitude some people have towards OOC-ness. I will correct someone if they are saying days or weeks or spam or the like, but rebuffing them brutally and then arguing the topic for half an hour is absolutely pathetic. There -are- minors in this game, and some of them are not MATURE enough to seperate OOC and IC (plenty of adults with the same problems, I'm sure). If they get confused, I send them a tell explaining, well one RL hour is a Lusternian day, please only call them days... it's not so hard to use a little thoughtfulness. Some of the Moondancers will know who I am referring to *grin*

not to harp on you or anything, just feeling grumpy cause of my loss of work today... anyway... Sounds to me like you accept the argument that people can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Its not my fault, it was the twinkies damnit!

*peer* some can't, and to berate them quite bluntly over guildtells is unacceptable unless your guild has quite a strict policy against it. Which the Moondancers certainly don't, we didn't against anything last I checked.

Honestly, do you want people to stay and learn, or leave because some rude b****** can't shut up and let someone with tact explain that they should stay in character?

as an ur'guard.... You learn better from harsh realities, it sticks. As a general mudder, compromise between the two is probably best, if your too nice, people don't realize how much it affects the game.