RPing with Everybody (or not)
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The problem there is gating plot behind a single access point. Story should not bottleneck.
let it be a challenge to you
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One of the better things I’ve seen to counteract this is what Arx did with leaders and their “voices.” A second-in-command-type person who carried all the same weight as the leader for when said leader was inactive, unattentive, unwilling or unable to deal with you, etc.
Generally, I prefer IC leadership to be a mix of staff and players (players can be the deputy personal private secretary, but the prime minster will always be staff), but if there’s a built-in fuckery-avoidance mechanism like Arx had, I’d be more amenable to player-oriented leadership.
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@sao said in RPing with Everybody (or not):
The problem there is gating plot behind a single access point. Story should not bottleneck.
This is the point. Story should not bottleneck. Players who are exclusive and RP only within their own small group invariably bottleneck the story,
Consequently, theirs is not a behavior to be encouraged. It creates work for GMs, who must create more story access points, and it frustrates players, who not only have to find the story access points, they need to find the ones that aren’t gatekept against them.
And players who endulge in that behaviour should not hold IC positions where they serve as story access points. If Squad Leader Affair refuses to take the time out from playing with his favourites, PFCs Eye and Parts, to loop in School and Property, he shouldn’t be squad leader.
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@Gashlycrumb I disagree. Players playing in small groups can’t bottleneck story if staff is attentive to how story is seeded. This is not a player problem. If your IC leadership structure has the ability to prevent OOC story access, your game is not functioning correctly.
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@sao said in RPing with Everybody (or not):
@Gashlycrumb I disagree. Players playing in small groups can’t bottleneck story if staff is attentive to how story is seeded. This is not a player problem. If your IC leadership structure has the ability to prevent OOC story access, your game is not functioning correctly.
This exactly. People playing amongst themselves CAN bottleneck story if you let it, but it’s not that hard to design the story in such a way that it doesn’t. If Anne, Bob and Cathy only like to RP amongst themselves, don’t give them the McGuffin that Dave is going to need to propel the story forward. That doesn’t mean that the ABC club can’t make their own stories, or can’t contribute to other stories in their own way.
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The other reason why you need to design plot dispersal around the possibility of things getting stuck is because sometimes players who are usually good about dispersing plot around will disappear, sometimes they’ll get RLed in various ways, sometimes they’ll just burn out or lose interest, etc. It’s not just an issue with insulated players.
And, like, if some players are clearly giving you indication that they’re not good plot vectors, you can stop giving them stuff that’s meant to be spread around. It’s okay to make judgments on which players are engaging with what you give them.
she/her | playlist
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@Roz said in RPing with Everybody (or not):
The other reason why you need to design plot dispersal around the possibility of things getting stuck is because sometimes players who are usually good about dispersing plot around will disappear, sometimes they’ll get RLed in various ways, sometimes they’ll just burn out or lose interest, etc. It’s not just an issue with insulated players.
I think the easiest way to deal with this is to have plot disperse by NPC announcements. Yes have events so the players can be there to hear it ICly in person, but after those events, also post something about it on an IC bboard with a note on which Staff member is running the plot for contact purposes. If a player isn’t able to get a scene with the people who were there at the IC event, the information is still available to them in a way that’s considered IC.
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@MisterBoring One of the tactics I’ve been working on integrating from my pre-MUSH HST time is what I dub ‘plot pages’. They live on the wiki and can be maintained by staff and players, with information that is considered public for that sphere about that plot. Historically I’ve found them really successful for getting new people caught up, making sure plot details are centralized for easy referencing, that plot tidbits are readily available to characters and players and not being lost in the shuffle , or gate kept, and serves as an easy historical reference for past events.
It’s a work in progress, but one I hope finds some success.
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@Faraday said in RPing with Everybody (or not):
This exactly. People playing amongst themselves CAN bottleneck story if you let it, but it’s not that hard to design the story in such a way that it doesn’t. If Anne, Bob and Cathy only like to RP amongst themselves, don’t give them the McGuffin that Dave is going to need to propel the story forward. That doesn’t mean that the ABC club can’t make their own stories, or can’t contribute to other stories in their own way.
Giving them the McGuffin, or the role as Squad Leader (for example) is the ‘encouragement’ I am saying they should not recieve.
If they want to make their own stories or contiribute to the other stories in their own way, then they’re not a problem and are quite welcome.
