Quote:
Originally posted by DoctorFun
Hi. I am new to AO and it is my first try at MMORPGs.
So I only came to find this thread almost by accident. I don't even know, due to the page count, if my post will be read or not, even if it gets bumped now.
I read through it all, and somewhere in the middle of it I remembered the time, a few years ago, when I tried for some time a couple of adult content MOOs (for those who don't know, this are text based games that share several concepts with modern games like AO). I also spent some time on 'board' RPGs like D&D.
All this bio is here for a reason :D It just came to my mind that AO IS an RPG after all. And throughout the thread there was no mention made to the usual RPG rules of IC/OOC
My point is... it is different to harass (sexually or not) IC (In Character) or OOC (Out of Character). So I think this should be taken into account. Some people may want to play an IC harassing alt and that doesn't necessarilly mean they mean to do it OOC too. By pointing this, I'm not suggesting the incidents described were not as described and felt. I am sure they were horrible experiences to the victims and I am grateful it never happened to me. Also I'll be more aware now I know it can happen and maybe detect early signs and know how to handle the situation better if it arises. But it crossed my mind that another procedure to take would be to ask the offender, and make him/her state so clearly, if they are IC or OOC. Then you can let them know OOC that you're not interested in that kind of scening, IC or OOC. Finally FC could state a rule making a banable ofense to force IC scening onto another character. With logging of /tells working, this would make a better case. And if the rule was clearly explained and advertised to all players, maybe it would help in avoiding this kind of situation.
Also, if the offender is a good role player just wanting to play an obnoxious alt, that would make them stop.
I just feel that the RPG part of AO is being underused and lost in the middle of all the battling and leveling, so some effort in this direction could also liven it up a bit.
Finally there is something else that might help in difficult situations like those described. If you have friends on, you can always try to /tell them to come to you and witness the incident, for evidence sake. And of course a little help from your friends is always welcome :)
From what I remember of this thread long ago, what people were talking about was the OOC harassment. If there is going to be IC harassment, it really should be a mutual arrangement between the involved players. This was not the case in most of the situations previously described. Therefore, it was uncalled for griefing of a player. If someone decides to IC/RP harassment, they should/would stop. These people described in the thread didn't, but got THEIR friends to harass people, too.