IC effecting OOC... and Vice Versa

[LordCove]

Some people support football ( or Soccer if I have to use it) or baseball.
Some collect stamps or stick little wodden ships in big glass bottles.
Others play Online Games.
With either of the above, you are bound to get some kind of emotional attachment to your chosen preference. I personally recall seeing my brother sob like a little girl when England failed to qualify for the European cup.
It's really not that much different here.

Some of us invest a lot of time in the character's we've created here, and as it is a Roleplay world, there's no telling what could happen to your creation when you log in. Some of it could be good, some of it could be bad.
Some of it will make us laugh... and yet some of it may... just may, make us curse.

Events ingame may occur against your character, or situations may arise you really did not want to but have no control over. Tensions may rise, and you may find yourself angry, agitated or annoyed.
That is fine. And it's to be expected considering what we put into some of our characters, or how things can occur ingame.

Some of the things Im hinting at are things like:

 Deity relations - " I will not travel with this person. Leave now... or we will "make" you leave!"  ... at which point someone finds themselves kicked from a group.
Sure... it may have been RP'd fairly enough and had RP reasons to be done, but that doesn't stop the player who now finds himself alone from being mildly miffed about the whole situation.

PvP - This can vary. But often enough I've seen is when two characters dont mesh well and it comes to blows. RP'd is fine... but it usually results in said people no longer travelling with each other, refusing or being unable to join groups because their opponent is traveling in said group.
Again, fine reasons and good RP. But it still may result in one person being left out of a circle or group they were accustomed to traveling in, or once again, find themselves all alone.

Broken Relations - A change in the routine. Your IG partner may dump you... or people you used to travel and RP with frequently suddenly no longer seem to be around, or are busy doing other things. One thing with the above to remember is.... simply because you may be dating/married to a certain person Ingame, or have the most fun RPing with a certain person, does not mean you need to go to and be with that same person everytime they log in.


There are likely more I cant think of, but the above tend to leave Player's with negative feelings. That "can" be understandable and unavoidable, since RP is Roleplaying out the Good and Bad times of your Character's life.
But the important thing is to ensure that that same negativity doesn't affect you and flow back into the game.
If your angry because a certain RP situation caused X or Y to happen, caused that evil Corath to kill your character in less than two rounds, or because your InGame love ran off with the Tailor from Hempstead, and you know it's affected you, it's perhaps time to log-off, roll back your chair and remember this is a game.

We're all here to enjoy a game. If this game no longer becomes fun and annoys us... it's time to sit back and take a break, get some perspective.
And those spending their few spare hours coming here to enjoy this game, shouldn't need to deal with any form of negativity we push out because an InGame situation didn't go the way we wanted it to.

Hmm.... I've rambled quite a lot.
Basically, all I'm saying in my long-winded way is, dont let IC things effect your OOC mood... and thus let your OOC mood effect your IC mood... and so on and so forth.

[Necromancer]

I agree and I think if people get angry they should just let people know they're annoyed and say they're going to calm down, nothing like a bit of time to cool off.

[Drizzlin]

I agree with ya....and does this mean we can be friends again? *hugs*

[Necromancer]

awwww chucks *hugs* It's alright my dark elf friend, I forgive you

[Link092]

*pokes head up* Who, me? :p

[lonnarin]

Agreed on all points.  I recently took a 2 month vacation rather than ranting and exploding on a walk out and it was refreshing.  I got to go around and visit some other top servers, compare and contrast the experiences and communities, and decided that the best policy is to be active in multiple servers so that when one ticks you off, hey, just quietly slip out and play the other one.

MMORPG nerds will step on your toes, spit in your eye, kick you down below, etc. no matter what server you're on; its just a fact of life.  How you deal with that kind of behavior is key however.  No player is perfect, no team is infallable, and sometimes bad decisions or behavior lead to bad feelings and short fuses.  So when you start feeling like showing up on somebody's doorstep and putting out their lights after a crosscountry road trip, or even just blowing up on the forums, stop and think for a moment.  

A) Will this really help me in the long run?
B) Will I possibly go to jail/get the chair over this stupid incident?
C) If so, isn't that just a very sad waste of a life, to blow it all in a tantrum over a bloody video game?
D) Wouldn't blowing up just make the other guy look justified, and rally the masses to his side out of reflex?
E) Isnt the best revenge just vanishing for a while to make them think you're gone for good, and then just show up a few months later to dash all their hopes of "victory", leaving them with no other recourse than to just sit there and cry about it, since you didnt do a bloody thing wrong they could punish you over?
F) if worse comes to worst, you can always blow up later when all other options are expended.

So ask yourself these questions whenever you feel the animosity bug boiling within you, when the world starts turning red and you start ripping your shirt and foaming like the Hulk.  Damaging yourself isn't the answer.  As always, revenge is a dish best served cold, and there's no better revenge than just letting all that bad stuff just roll right off you like teflon.  Ultimately its their problem is somebody doesnt like you or sees fit to be a jerk.  This negativity will linger within them, give them heart problems, bouts of impotence and lead to a long saga of paranoid breakdowns until eventually everybody in their lives has had enough of it and excommunicates them one by one.  In the end you win because you're still here, still standing and there's not a bloody thing they can do about it without getting egg on their face for all to see.  You see, the best anger management is to remain utterly calm, and let whatever issues somebody has with you to fester and boil away to eat at their soul.  Suppress your anger, and subtly allow theirs to keep on festering.  The dark side shall consume them.

This is the invulnerability of good karma.  It was exactly what Obi Wan Kenobi meant when he told Darth Vader "Strike me down and I'll just be stronger than before."  Those who hurt others only hurt themselves in the long run.  Sooner or later they slip up, blow up, and everybody sees them for what they've become.  If its a player, less people will wind up grouping with them.  If its a GM, less people will sign up for their quests.  If its an owner, less people will donate.

Above all, people who cause animosity between others, are rude, grief others, play politics, etc... really dont have that many friends in real life, nor much of a sex life at all.  The very fact that they invest so much time and energy into making a game unenjoyable/a point of stress is living proof of that.  As I've always said, "Those who insist on persuing politics or popularity in an online RPG always lose.  The only victory they can possibly hope to achieve is 'King of the Dorks' which is as hollow a victory as 'Prettiest Ogre' or 'Nicest Smelling Bantha-Butt'."

[Link092]

Thank you for quoting star wars. You made my day.

[Lynn1020]

Thought this could use a nudge and can really only add something I learned from my own mistakes.


OOC feelings you may have about a player not only affects you but the others you play with. Everyone is not expected to like everyone but do not drag others around you in to it. It just ruins the game play everyone.  So try hard to keep those feelings to yourself and not pull other players in the middle.

We're all here to enjoy a game. If this game no longer becomes fun and annoys us... it's time to sit back and take a break, get some perspective.
And those spending their few spare hours coming here to enjoy this game, shouldn't need to deal with any form of negativity we push out because an InGame situation didn't go the way we wanted it to.

Basically, all I'm saying in my long-winded way is, dont let IC things effect your OOC mood... and thus let your OOC mood effect your IC mood... and so on and so forth.

LordCove summed it up here, and it has served me as a reminder a few times. If I start getting frustrated with things, it being OOC or IC,  I step back take a break and focus on the more important things in life.  You can not change the behavior of others, only your own.

[Dezza]

A crazy haired Gardener looks at you and opens his arms wide.

"Come one everyone! You know you want it! Group hug time! I want to feel the love."

// Cardin and those mushrooms!

[Xaltotun]

A well considered piece by all who have edited this thread (and you know there is a but coming)

but...

I also think we are missing an important point here.

• Some people go fishing to release emotions or help them relax.
• Some people go shooting (and may actually get a thrill from it).
• Some people play sport which helps them release some emotions.
• Some people watch sport and also release emotions.

I play RP games as it allows me to play characters I would NEVER be or get involved with in real life. This means I run the risk of feeling all sorts of emotions that I may not experience in my normal life. Fantastic I say, what a rush and all the from the comfort of my seat.

I get to play an evil character who can do what they want without any conscience - because it is a game. I can stand in defiance of the evil monsters to defend a villager and die bravely and heroically in the attempt - because it is a game.

And that is the point - it is a game. So as you learned people have written here, if it gets too much, stop taking it personally, chill out and step away from the keyboard, and remember,

IT IS A GAME