How do you deal with... MIA's discussion

[Hellblazer]

Well it's a strange one but here it goes.

Have you ever been in a situation where one of your character was involved with an other one that suddenly disappeared for over a RL year?

I'd like to see opinions and what people did when they were in this situation. how did they rp it? did they wait?


//oh and I guess this would be better in the role playing section, if a GM could switch it at their leisure, it would be appreciated.

[Carillon]

Thread moved at player's request

[Script Wrecked]

Did the character disappear, or the player? Not necessarily the same thing.

Of course, in the player's absence, the character could not actually appear in-game, but that doesn't mean the character wasn't about.

Regards,

Script Wrecked.

[Hellblazer]

Well for the sake of this discussion, let's say both did without any kind of word.

[Lord of the Forest]

Oooh I can give you an example! .... Or at least I think I can. Just take Dor and Jacc. Both are hardly seen around anymore due to busy lives of their players. As they are related (the chars!) it is pretty simple to tell others why they disappeared all of a sudden.
1. Family
2. Dor busy with the Wolfswood Ranger Corps
3. Jacc running around the Woods (White Wolf of Folian)
4. Both are taking their time off, enjoying the long walk in the woods somewhere on Layonara.

There are several reasons why one disappeared all of a sudden IG. It pretty much depends on the character. Do you know said char well? It could be the other char hails from a farmers family and his father died so he had to take his place for the time being.

And ditto to what Script already said. Even adventurers have other things to do than just being out on adventures. Some have families, are occupied, ecetera, ecetera

Back when Jacc and Dor still had their toddlers around we simply said one was taking care of Lythar and Lysira when only one was around for some time.

Dor's friends know she is usually busy with the Corps and therefore tell others if one asks where she might be that she is with the Corps. Some expedition or whatever.

It is easy to RP out if your char knows the other well

Just my two cents...

[Hellblazer]

thanks for your imput.

Okay, so in your case, you waited and are still waiting.


Any others?

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

With Marcus working 12 hour shifts and with a family ... his time is quite limited nowadays ... I rp that he is helping out his church.  And for times when I am quite busy (Another shot coming up this NASCAR Wknd) Jil says she's been busy with her Orphanage.

[Lynn1020]

I think you have to be very careful to what you rp they are doing so that you are not forcing things on their character. So make it simple....

They are off doing what ever it is they do.. it could be from visiting family, retired from adventuring or just don't bring it up at all unless someone ask you where they are. Most are understanding and won't push it.


This happened with Emie, but most knew the player had left Layo so it wasn't really brought up.  But I also talked with the player making sure it was okay with him that I still use the character in the RP I do with Emie and in her journal entry for things I have planned for her.  

But if you are not in contact with the player then keep it simple and don't make a big deal out of it. Players come and go.

[Honora]

When Mikey vanished (player left Layo) Honora RP'd it that he had simply gone off adventuring and not returned.  Leaves the door open for the player should they come back.

[ystrday]

When Renji disappeared and found out the player really was not going to come back, I RPed a shift in my characters dress and behavior. To this day, even though its been years and years IG that she's casted a fireball at anyone *coughs* that is what people remember.

And it took her devoted loving husband to bring out the gentler side of Tegan. *grins* Now she asks before she casts anything at him.

[Acacea]

It is utterly dependent on the character - it's irrelevant if other people's characters chose to wait or not. If the player gave you a head's up and said whether or not the character was to be RPed as sometimes still around (or disappeared), that gives you something to base it off of. If they just disappeared, well... not much you can do about it IC. Your character may swear up and down to themselves that they'll wait, but just like in RL, whether or not that actually occurs depends on character and circumstance.

Pretty much everyone that has ever been very close to Acacea has left at one point or another, save Jennara, through either perming or player leaving. Adopted grandfather "died" (player left), some friendships disappeared (flaky but fun player always disappearing and reappearing), Cole permed, Chongo left (an example of an agreement to roleplay that a character is still in contact even if he is not played), Tribs has been absent for enormous spans of time, Eld is gone, Plen is gone, etc. In some cases I'm still talking to the player OOC and agree to not RP them as dead or missing (like Triba and Abiorn), but I'm only willing to go so far in terms of roleplayed presence because of the inability to roleplay with them at all if they're long gone. In other cases, they've just disappeared and Acacea wonders the same as I wonder, if she thinks about it at all. Which she might not.

It's true that time is a little quirky in her head, so even people that have been gone for decades tend to be greeted as though they left off in mid-sentence, but she doesn't really consciously "wait" for anyone, and simply put the thought would not occur to her. Others have waited on her, rarely with good results.

I try to never speak for the actions of characters not my own, but it depends on your relationship to the player.

[Hellblazer]

Thanks for all of your imput, I am just wondering how long you gave those players a chance to be back if you didn't know if they would or not?

[Acacea]

That's what I mean, I guess. "I" don't give them any length of time. She just reacts to absence as it occurs - 2 months or 40 years. There's no stopwatch on my end, or the end of most players... your character can't know if they are coming back. And Layo time goes by much faster than RL, so the years start stacking pretty fast.

[Hellblazer]

Sorry Acacea you were typing when I replied, i didn't see your post, reading it now.
 
 
 edits:
 
 Alright, al red up. It's a good point about the time laps IG vs RL, that I never really took into consideration before. I guess it's more an incomfort of what is fair toward the player vs the offset of their RL and not knowing if they will ever come back.

[Gunther]

Gunther vanishes for years at a time.  I think his record so far is 9 IG years.  He just gets lost a lot.  He's not too bright and just wanders off occasionally.  Curiously, between his incurable athletes foot, distrust of bathing and all other hygiene related rituals, not too many people form lasting relationships with Gunther.  Sad, really.

[merlin34baseball]

It also goes the other way as well. I have an increadibly low amount of playtime due to RL issues, and my son started playing so when we play I have to play a character different than the one I usually would. The character I usually play has tight bonds with several other characters. Sometime I feel bad that there are other characters who are basically... oh hold because Chaynce isn't around... I wish there was more I could do, but I can't neglect RL to play alot anymore.

Its not that I don't want to play it's that I can't, and as I said before it bothers me sometimes that I am adversly effecting another character because of my abbsence. I guess I just assume that Chaynce is off killing giants and stops by home everyonce in a while for pie! And that's how Daniella and Chaynce deal with it. I guess we have it earsier than someone simply disappearing.