Initiating RP: Staff/player interactions

[Old_Man]

The question is: how would staff like players to initiate RP with them?

I have been guilty of messaging in irc when Johon/Hans is about to do something. I am sure that this gets annoying after awhile - it would for me anyway.

Is it preferable to just repeat an action several times until it happens? Because I know from a player perspective that this can get disheartening (especially over a period of weeks or months).

I guess what I'm looking for is some sort of standard to go by, like: "yes, you may message in irc when you are about to start a piece of rp; however, only message once, and do not expect a reply"

Something like that, which could give clear guidance for both staff and player on how proper interactions are to be handled, could set a proper interaction for both sides and, I think, lead to better communication in the darkenedrealm community.

I also think it helps to dispell any preconcieved notions of how things should be handled, such as: "I already did this in game, it should already be done" or "I wrote about it in the forums, didn't you read it?" or, from the GM side, "that guy didn't do this properly. I'll just ignore him, he'll get he idea eventually."

I think with better communication and well publicized boundries in the field of initiating GM/player rp interaction we can better prevent player angst and GM burn out, and from that we can build a more enjoyable community for all.

[Satsuna [Gamemaster]]

I would suppose it varies a bit Gm to gm on how they react players and handle things. In my experience as player in Act i and II two it was better to e4expect your were being watched but not expect interaction. You can run by a forum pm, an irc pm, and leave message, but I suppose don't directly expect a reaction. Every gm is bit different or on different schedule, has work , life as well. But for the most part we all tend to watch, see you guys rping. Its discretion in actions that do take place, that makes sense. Sometimes we want to see what doing or try to figure it out and so forth.

[Old_Man]

Is the staff situation the same as it was in Act I&II? Is that the official concensus?

*takes on a game announcer voice*

Is that your final answer?

[Hale]

I don't think you'll get an official answer on this one. As Satsuna said it depends on the staffer. Sometimes I'm okay if a player PMs me or tries to notify me OOCly about some RP they're doing/want to do IG and they ask me to come help. Sometimes it really irritates me. It depends on my mood, how they ask me, and what it is they want to do.

The best way to go about it is, provided that the RP that you're trying to carry out isn't something major, would be to do some stuff in-game and then maybe write an RP post about it detailing your preparations, plans, or whatever. This way we can see that you're serious about it and not just looking for a hand-out.

Again, there's no real clear-cut answer for this as the situation is never the same. Just use common sense and respect for the staff's time and we'll be more inclined to give our time to you.

[Old_Man]

Thanks to the both of you for your time and thoughts. I hope that other players and myself will read this and adopt the suggestions that you have provided.

[Daggoth]

I will give ya some tips such as when it comes to me.

If I am not IG and a player *emotes doing something ig* in Irc I will (if I can) check it out and act accordingly.

If I'm IG and there's tons of players walking around and not doing.saying anything it's not often that I'll make something happen. I like to see players talking to NPCs and interacting with the world. If I see a player Roleplaying without anyone there they are SURE to get my attention and some lovin'.

Keep in mind...staff has hearall. A few words to an NPC or you just talking to yourself could do wonders.

[Old_Man]

That's a big tip for me, since, when other players aren't around I usually keep the RP inside Johon's head.

[Sherak]

When RequiemServ was online I used a little trick to know how many GMs/seers were IG. While [players command didn't count the GMs, RequiemServ did. Then I just subtracted the numbers.

Sometimes you could also see white space between the names in [players which meant the white space was a gm/seer.

Im guessing they'll be bugfixing this now, but I thought I'd share.