WhereRP - IC or OOC?

[Kinaed]

Some places are marked public - you can't turn whereRP off if you're in them. Some places are private. You can't turn whereRP on when you're in them.

In my mind if you have whereRP on, you're inviting people to RP with you, provided they have a reason to either seek you out (and know where you are) or to be wherever it is that they're going (it fits the character to be there, even flimsily).

In general, my feeling is that if it's a public place, and WhereRP cannot be turned off, everyone, at all times, has a right to say their character could routinely be there. In places where it's private, I'd assume that the person going there would generally have to have a reason to go join someone's RP, but I'd probably err on saying that if they are going, they probably should have a reason/excuse at hand, and as an RP game, I'd like to think that we'd be fairly loose about those excuses and happy to have people join us because it creates RP and opportunity.

This is my opinion, but I want to see what everyone else thinks before I make it an actual policy. Is there something fundamentally wrong with my point of view? Things to refine? When would you be on RP and explicitly NOT want someone to come RP with you?

To note: I think that your character knowing anyone is where they are using whereRP is an inappropriate use of WhereRP. Unless you have something else to ICly tell you.

[Jei]

I think if you have whererp on, be it because you're in a forced whererp on room, or because you have it on, then you're inviting people to come and rp with you. IIRC there's a prompt option that allows you to tell whether or not you have whererp on. I think if you are in a private situation, in a private room and don't want to be found, turn whererp off. If you have it on, I feel like that's sending out a signal that 'hey, I'm here, I'd like to RP with you, come find me, and you can just make up whatever excuse you like as to how we bumped into each other'.

But that's just my opinion, I dunno.

[Estelle]

IMO is it an invitation, but should not be made equivalent to IC knowledge either.

ie Someone has been kidnapped, and you see someone's whererp on in The Pit (brotherhood room). That is not an acceptable way for your char to 'find out' that that person was kidnapped by the thieves, or lying in The Pit, etc.

However, let's say you see someone's RP on in the Madison Hospital, and your char has a reason to be around there on occasion. Doesn't hurt to 'go looking for a doctor/patient etc' and 'bump' into them IMO.

[Callista]

I voted somewhere in between, and here's why:

From the helpfile:

The whererp command lists those rooms which have people in them with the
RP command toggled to "on" - that is, they are available for RP. It will
list even those where only one person is, because it indicates they are
looking for RP. Note that this information is OOC, and that you should
only go where your character would have an IC reason to go.

Can't agree more. I think that its ooc information (if I see people hanging out in the hospital, I might make a point to log my medic char on in case they need treatment, or because there's some relevant rp in the area. if she's across town, its not like she would know that there's someone sitting in triage waiting).

I think that's the PURPOSE of the command. You have it on because you are rping, and inviting further rp. Otherwise, how would any of us bump into each other, because I really doubt people are going to just randomly start circling Lithmore on the offchance they bump into someone. You are looking for rp, you hit whererp to see where people are, and go. "Hey, there's 4 people in the theater, there might be a party or something, let me check it out!".

IC reasons can tend to be a little flimsy at times - citing the above example, I'm not the only one who wanders into the triage room when rp is there. Yes, people show up who have no medical knowledge, no connection to those injured, and no reason whatsoever to do so. You can either oocly complain about it, or icly work with it. Responses may range from greeting them warmly and inviting them in, emoting that you are ignoring their presence, or icly trying to throw them out, and anywhere in between, and depending on the chars, all would be valid in different situations.

In summary -- ooc info, sure, but for encouraging ic interaction.

[Kinaed]

I agree with Estelle - it is definitely not okay to "learn" anything ICly from WhereRP.

I think everyone else is pretty much in agreement on WhereRP being an invitation and that excuses to show should exist (flimsy or not). If the excuse is there, and WhereRP is on, it's okay. If the excuse isn't there, then it's probably not appropriate to use WhereRP to show up. And, once again, OOC in the sense that it doesn't teach you anything, you cannot use it to put 1 and 1 to get 2 ICly, and so forth.

I was considering making a policy help file on it, but I'll probably just update the command to be a little more explicit.

[registerednuisance]

"In my mind if you have whereRP on, you're inviting people to RP with you, provided they have a reason to either seek you out (and know where you are) or to be wherever it is that they're going (it fits the character to be there, even flimsily)."


Precisely where I feel. Don't go find a kidnapping victim based on whererp.