Lift some restrictions on OOC in IC for IRL issues.

[NamelessFairy]

So I'm going to bring up two things that fall under the title that I think it would be beneficial to discuss and potentially consider, currently OOC in IC is only allowed for teaching players game mechanics, but I think there are some other use cases where it should be allowed.

1: "AFK", I think AFK should be removed from the word filter, we have an IC equivalent term "SSD" however this is already borderline OOC in its use-case and is very unfriendly terminology to new players. While AFK might be immersion damaging I think its important to remember that there are players behind the characters who may not have the ability or opportunity to roleplay going AFK if they need to leave their computer in a hurry or the current roleplay situation doesn't allow for it. I think its fine for a player to basically say that their character is not active for a moment while they take care of IRL business without having to roleplay it, the only alternatives to this are "SSD" which isn't much better or just leaving your computer and letting the players who interact with you figure it out for themself which could end up being a worse option.

2: Explaining IRL technical issues, sometimes, your game crashes or you get disconnected. I think explaining this to people once you get back as long as its done briefly should be fine, I've been impacted by this one myself recently and its really tough to walk on eggshells around rule 3 to request that the person you were talking to needs to repeat what they said because you were disconnected for the duration. It also opens up the opportunity for fixes to be suggested, for example if a player is experiencing a repeat crashing issue, the existing rule 3 exemption could be used to tell them to update byond.

Which neither of these are ideal for good roleplay both are things that cannot be avoided, there is a player behind the character your talking to and sometimes that player needs to make OOC information known to ensure that the roleplay can continue smoothly after it.

[Farquaar]

I'm pretty sure this is already allowed, isn't it? Otherwise I've been breaking the rules every time I teach a newbie how to cook by saying "click on the burger and then click on the griddle" or "don't right click on that stack of ingredients or your game might crash"

[Agux909]

I'm pretty sure this is already allowed, isn't it? Otherwise I've been breaking the rules every time I teach a newbie how to cook by saying "click on the burger and then click on the griddle" or "don't right click on that stack of ingredients or your game might crash"

Yes those are allowed, but OP specifically refers to being able to use the term "AFK" ICly, and being able to use OOC terminology such as "Sorry I dced what were you saying?"

I agree with these being allowed, it's more convenient and less of a pain to everybody involved if these sort of things can be quickly explained succintly for what they are, without being worried of getting bwoinked, and to avoid missunderstandings. Specially for new players.

[NamelessFairy]

I'm pretty sure this is already allowed, isn't it? Otherwise I've been breaking the rules every time I teach a newbie how to cook by saying "click on the burger and then click on the griddle" or "don't right click on that stack of ingredients or your game might crash"

Your correct in both of these being allowed but they're the only allowed exception. The two things I'm advocated thing is "AFK a sec" if your doorbell just rang or "internet went down, can you repeat the last 2 minutes" and nothing more than that.

[TheLoLSwat]

admins should encourage atleast the bare minimum of immersion preservation, like saying "A meteor hit my space router" or "im going to meditate on some space taco bell that i am going to order when we get back, one second" if you have nothing else

[dragomagol]

admins should encourage atleast the bare minimum of immersion preservation, like saying "A meteor hit my space router" or "im going to meditate on some space taco bell that i am going to order when we get back, one second" if you have nothing else

Agree; when I DC by accident I just let them know my brain shut off/zoned out. I would prefer not to lift this any further.

[Itseasytosee2me]

admins should encourage atleast the bare minimum of immersion preservation, like saying "A meteor hit my space router" or "im going to meditate on some space taco bell that i am going to order when we get back, one second" if you have nothing else

The green haired baton lady is right

[JusticeGoat]

Not sure i have ever seen someone bwoinked for saying they needed to go afk to deal with something

[Cobby]

The premise is a bit weird, if you can no longer rp then you only need to say something like "got to go sorry" and then pop in the nearest locker and smash the close button. Thats vague enough to get the point from an OOC way while not being blatant in IC.

If you plan on coming back and playing, I dont see why you dont have the time to explain you went AFK in a way that makes it blatant. "Sorry I had to step away for a bit, but im back now" or "Sorry was lost in thought" should be perfectly alright. The filter is there to police you without the naughty stigma/record of having an admin give you a note over the ordeal, if someone trips it (unless someone was silly enough to autonote for people tripping it) by saying AFK its not really a big deal. Personally I think SSD is dumb because its pretty much just a 1:1 word for AFK but acceptable because someone wrote on some lore page that it was ok to say as everyone knows its only use is to be synonymous with AFK. Saying things like "lost in thought" or "had to step away" at least seems like plausible things someone would say.

The person does not need to know you had to pickup your taco bell order or anything like that, if you are that pressed let them know in discord or something post-round. I dont think I have ever ran into the problem where me having to step away for a few seconds but coming back REQUIRED me to flat out say I was AFK.

[CMDR_Gungnir]

admins should encourage atleast the bare minimum of immersion preservation, like saying "A meteor hit my space router" or "im going to meditate on some space taco bell that i am going to order when we get back, one second" if you have nothing else

Agree; when I DC by accident I just let them know my brain shut off/zoned out. I would prefer not to lift this any further.

[cedarbridge]

It doesn't take a lot of creativity to make up an excuse for why you stared off into space for 10 minutes.

Also, considering "space lag" is a thing I've heard used unironically millions of times I'd say standards are pretty low for technicalities.

[Drag]

It's really not that hard to just say "sorry Space lag owned me/ My brain froze". People already know what you're talking about anyways. I don't think the restriction needs changed

[cedarbridge]

"I was trying to remember how I did this last."
"Sorry, I was lost in thought a moment."
"I'm just really feeling sluggish today."

[Epicgamer545]

This really isn’t needed. I already can explain some OOC stuff in IC whenever I want, and I usually just ignore the fact that I’m breaking character. It’s already proper to break character to help someone out, no?

But still, it’s super easy to just make up a IC excuse to how things, oocly, work. “I need to step out” is better than “I gtg srry”

[TheLoLSwat]

This really isn’t needed. I already can explain some OOC stuff in IC whenever I want, and I usually just ignore the fact that I’m breaking character. It’s already proper to break character to help someone out, no?

But still, it’s super easy to just make up a IC excuse to how things, oocly, work. “I need to step out” is better than “I gtg srry”

This, and what admin would actually look at a situation where you break character in good faith and leave a note unless the note mentions good faith

[spookuni]

We're not going to lift any of the OOC in IC restrictions.
There are a multitude of ways to communicate IC that either you need to step away from the computer for a moment, or communicate after the fact that you were away for a moment and missed something.

We are not a no-roleplay server, and basic steps towards preserving the fiction that characters exist in a world and aren't just avatars of their players are necessary to maintain that fiction at all. We give a pass for OOC in IC when teaching new players because veiling communication with a new player who isn't already familiar with the game is unhelpful at best, but for established players we do expect that saying you need to take a nap or that you spaced out for a moment isn't that hard of an ask.

Spook: No change to policy
Rave: No change to policy.
San: No change to policy.
Misdoubtful: No change to policy.