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[Becquerel]

I always kind of figured that zone fights were basically OOC in a way because they don't follow along with your character's main storyline (if that's how you want it, that's what I do). My rules are that main RP happens in the villages and you can only have one main thing going on with that, while side RPs could be done in the zones/dwellings and you can do several things at the same time.

[KayentaMoenkopi]

Seeing as this is an Etiquette announcement, Just off the bat it sounds way too insulting and egotistical to be a welcome to SL advertisement.

I will read the rest later. At first glance, I do not support this. There is little to attract and welcome someone to do anything but leave with the feeling they had dodged a bullet by not joining a gaming community that supports such rhetoric.

[Warren]

Kinda agree with Kay, at least the beginning half of it makes people here sound like real arrogant assholes. I'd suggest rewording it big time to get rid of the whole 'play ball exactly like this or get out' feel of it.

[Ѕhadow]

TL;DR

[Eric]

This thread therefore, is created to compile and put together all of the rules of SL, so that we may put them in a public viewing place, all in one place, for the enrichment of all of the newcomers and veterans alike.

This was my original mission. Making it feel extremely welcoming or heartwarming was not on my mind when I wrote it, that's why it comes off the way it does. Rather than a "welcome to SL" advertisement, it was supposed to tell it like it is to some extent (at least from what I know) when it comes to how things run around here.

 There are some groups of people on here who do not get along at all because of differing views on RP, and as such, finding and choosing which one you like is crucial to enjoying the game. Otherwise, yeah, you might as well dodge a bullet and not come here, because that's the way it is around here unless you start your own guild. This all from what I as a player know, and as we all know, online experiences are variable for everyone.

If a "welcome to SL" is what we want, I fear someone else with more experience welcoming new players will have to step in on that one, because I do not want to overly sugarcoat to newcomers about what to expect when they first show up (or veil from old-timers and returning old-timers about how things have been going around here).

... I'd suggest rewording it big time to get rid of the whole 'play ball exactly like this or get out' feel of it.

At it's core, isn't that kind of the point of making this in the first place? As I repeated several times, who you RP with pretty much determines your experience here; I've been around here long enough to know that this is not necessarily false, especially for folks trying to get into hardcore right off the bat. From what I see anyways, you are not going to make it anywhere by doing just your own thing, because even the relatively casual players on here have standards (even if they are far more lax).

I always kind of figured that zone fights were basically OOC in a way because they don't follow along with your character's main storyline (if that's how you want it, that's what I do). My rules are that main RP happens in the villages and you can only have one main thing going on with that, while side RPs could be done in the zones/dwellings and you can do several things at the same time.

Interesting, kind of like having separate smaller events happening at the same time sort of thing?

TL;DR

Come on Shadow, I know you can do it. Remember, the pea train can only go to your tummy if you open your tunny. 

[Warren]

Not at all the point. There's a major difference between telling people to leave if they don't play exactly as told, and giving them incentive/encouragement to at least try in case someone does want to do more than just loiter around or talk to people.

[Eric]

Not at all the point. There's a major difference between telling people to leave if they don't play exactly as told, and giving them incentive/encouragement to at least try in case someone does want to do more than just loiter around or talk to people.

So what's really missing here are the rewards for actually putting the effort into going through the pipes huh? The princess isn't in this first castle huh?

Well, what kind of incentives would a newcomer want when they have no prior investment in SL or its players?

[KayentaMoenkopi]

How about a friendly welcoming atmosphere where some sign that you didn't have to be here since the big bang means you can still have fun and do things? Who wants to join another site where if you are made to feel like you were not in on the beta phase its a lost cause before you even get started?

[Eric]

How about a friendly welcoming atmosphere where some sign that you didn't have to be here since the big bang means you can still have fun and do things? Who wants to join another site where if you are made to feel like you were not in on the beta phase its a lost cause before you even get started?

What kind of sign do you think would both get the point across and not be a blatant lie? Newcomers are not generally treated like antique RPers because they are not antique RPers. This is a pretty general sentiment all across the site, though how prevalent is group dependent. Unless there is a specific place where this welcoming atmosphere can be found without the date bias, I don't see what's wrong with the "find your niche? approach.

[Becquerel]

Interesting, kind of like having separate smaller events happening at the same time sort of thing?

Basically, yeah. Mainly because when I first got here, I realized how big of a problem 'RP locking' was. So, I just said screw it and made my own rules because being RP locked is boring.

And as for the thing about new people, I always try my hardest to send a PM out to the new people I see to welcome them to this game while offering to help them out (either RP-wise or gameplay wise).

[Rusaku]

I have read, and re-read Eric's post, and I am still behind it.

If you make SL out to be this happy-go-lucky site that everyone can co-exist, you are going to be lying to everyone who joins in the future. SL is a cesspool of ill informed, improvident, neanderthals who will attack you on the most personal levels they know how in order to get what they want, when they want.

In short, you play ball or leave.

That's why I agree with how Eric put it. I see his post as a nudge in the right direction, telling newcomers that this is a harsh environment and without finding your niche, you may end up becoming discouraged and leave.     


Now, on the other hand I have figured out the next approach that needs to be taken for this topic.

From my point of view, I read this exert as the OOC side of Rp. The things you as a person need to think about and look for in this game to enjoy the story you build with others. I think we need to try and write it from the IC perspective now.

We should address all of those special little rules that we have sprouted up that make no sense in the cannon.

For example, entering and exiting villages. A newcomer might have no idea that the Wikia is around to list the 666 different defenses each village sports, so the first time they try and walk into Kiri they get butt slammed by Pms voiding them because they didn't fight the sand worms that litter the Senju grand forests of Kumogakure.

Other things we should mention would be things that are not normally considered by the vets because we have been around for so long.

Things like how many actions summons and clones get. Or just the number of actions in general. I may be wrong but I don't think this thread covers things like that for them.

But yeah I think Eirc's post was a very good introduction to how the rest of their miserable SL lives are going to be, but now we need to address how the RP mechanics work.       

[Warren]

@Rusaku

That's your opinion mind you. Personally I acknowledge there's a sadly numerous population of assholes on here, yet there's also far more nice people than many realize as well.

So rather than being all 'this place sucks, we all suck, you're going to be hated so you might as well not even bother'

We could instead be more 'there's all kinds of people here, some are inevitably going to be more to your liking than others but don't lose hope, be persistent and you will find people you can play, have fun, and perhaps even make friends with'

Shorter and simpler put; don't lie and sugarcoat it, instead tell it how it is. SL has its problems, but its by no means a worthless shit hole.

[Eric]

... Shorter and simpler put; don't lie and sugarcoat it, instead tell it how it is. SL has its problems, but its by no means a worthless shit hole.

It's no worthless shit hole, but it can be rough around here, even for people who have been here for a month. And I don't know where the "this place suck, we all suck, you're going to be hated so you might as well not even bother" from except maybe:

Either way, you need to find a group that you want to fit in with, because, for lack of sugar-coating, if you don't have anyone to interact with on this site and can't find someone to interact with, then you might as well spend your time somewhere else.

Which is just speaking the truth. This place is absolute shit for a lone ranger who has no one to RP with let alone talk to.

...but now we need to address how the RP mechanics work.

Where would you even start with that? Each RP group has slightly different rules, even if there are some general ones (no auto-entry into villages that are not your own except in special circumstances). Most of the RP rules that I know of are mostly followed by medium to hardcore players, which makes up most of the forum population, but not the SL population.

We could instead be more 'there's all kinds of people here, some are inevitably going to be more to your liking than others but don't lose hope, be persistent and you will find people you can play, have fun, and perhaps even make friends with'

So open with that as a hook rather than just getting into the nitty gritty of it? I mean, I did include some of that in the second part regarding zoning at the least now that I look over it again.

[Becquerel]

Where would you even start with that? Each RP group has slightly different rules, even if there are some general ones (no auto-entry into villages that are not your own except in special circumstances). Most of the RP rules that I know of are mostly followed by medium to hardcore players, which makes up most of the forum population, but not the SL population.

That no auto-entry thing is something I didn't know about when I first joined. One of my first RP posts involved me leaving a building from within a village. How else are you supposed to get started if you don't 'auto-entry' from somewhere?

And for the whole Lone Ranger thing, sometimes it's not actually by choice. When I first started playing, even when I tried to interact with the 'regulars' I got no response back. I was just flat out ignored. Then I decided to move from Konoha to Suna because they seemed more active and I was still ignored for a little while. I didn't actually start getting involved in more RP until that event happened in Suna where it fought off Jhen Mohran. I had some activity when I was in Amegakure, but I was mainly ignored for the most part. I also started talking to people through the PM system, but it was almost always me making first contact. I think one of the only times I had someone message me first was when they were asking me to join the clan Halloween Town. Batou also PM'd me for a fight, which was actually pretty fun.

It's tough being new here and feeling like you're not welcome. There's been several times where I've almost called it quits because of all the BS that happens here and on the forums. Also, that personal attacking stuff just because you disagree with someone else is pretty low. It's mainly just people using their position in this game to tell other people to not play with you, basically.

[Warren]

Yet now look at you, had all kinds of interactions after my event, now leading teostra rescue with several people involved, otokage, et cetera >> indeed it is all so very terrible with nothing good about it at all.