RP Philosophy and You

[Dice]

I have personally assumed that a coded hood represents something very different from having your hood up against the weather. I.e., coded hood = covering your entire face with your hood in a way people just would not do if they meant good. I mean, if I wear a hoodie with my hood up, people are gonna recognize me - unless I go to some extreme lengths to hide my face.

Given all these conversations lately, though, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I should step off on that. It's a realism-based argument and maybe not the best one for RP. So I think maybe we should encourage that a hood being pulled up is more equivalent to just wearing a hood, and as such, could be due to all sorts of factors. Maybe a helpfile shift?

[Kinaed]

I generally agree with the hood thing. I find that sort of behavior to be metagaming.

Once, I had a bard dressed up in a costume going around with another bard hitting each other with wooden spoons as part of a skit. We walked into a tavern to continue our rhomp, and a pair of knights demanded we remove our hoods, etc. I told him to stuff it because he was interfering with bardic entertainment with no cause or reason for suspicion whatsoever. The knights threatened to arrest me, but ultimately didn't - and the Poet Laudate got involved and told the Earl Marshall to reign her knights in.

An equal number of times, I've walked into River Square with ten PCs there and probably fifty more NPCs, hanging out at the back of the crowd, and yet certain players immediately homed in on my character to demand the hood be lowered. Uncool.

Thematically, cloaks are like our modern coats. Hoods are like ear muffs and scarves - they're dirt common because they represent a survival purpose. People shouldn't be calling this out unless 1) there's few enough people in a given environment that a particular person would stand out and 2) there's an actual event that is in progress or just immediately happened where it is in the best interest of a knight/Reeve to be actively checking people's identities. Joe Bloggs walking down the street in winter wearing ear muffs and a scarf is not a cause for alarm or even interest today, anymore than a cloaked person walking around in this theme would be.

Another big headache is people matching the exact string of 'a plain black cloak' and instantly knowing that this one individual in the city is clearly the owner of the 'plain black cloak' that they're looking for. Or matching the string of someone's short desc to know that a mn with 'blonde hair and brown eyes' is definitely the wanted man with 'blonde hair and brown eyes'.

NOTE: All of the above stuff is against policy - IC versus OOC deduction - I just think it happens a lot and people don't know it's unacceptable or fail to report it.

What other "Gotchas" have people faced?

[Jules]

In my experience, hoods don't keep the rain and cold out of your face very well unless you're hunched over and have them pulled down pretty darn low. ^_^ But that's not really my point.

I think Kinaed more or less nailed my thinking and put a voice to some of my frustrations. Like I said, I'm actually okay with conflict, it's just the way it tends to be handled that bothers me: as a knee-jerk reaction to seeing something coded, rather than as a response to RP and my character's actual behavior. In the scenario of showing up hooded to an event with a crowd, I'd be okay if someone rpechoed their NPC squire moving around, keeping an eye out and approaching anyone who might appear suspicious, asking them to show their face, etc. It's the immediate call-outs without any real RP that get me.

So if I'm not out of line, I'll need to think of ways (suggestions welcome) to handle moments when players DO have those knee-jerk reactions to code, preferably without having to take things to an OOC level...

[Voxumo]

I kind of have to disagree with you kinaed about the hood being similar in nature to ear muffs and scarves... Because simply put those items don't hide one's face. Maybe the lower half of their face but not the entirety of it. It's similar to what Dice said, comparing it to hoodies. People generally have to go to varied lengths to actually hide their face versus just having a hood up for 'survival' purposes. Though I do agree that a person entering in with a hood up shouldn't be A)Immediately noticeable in a crowd and B) Shouldn't be immediate cause for removal of said hood. If they are acting all shady, like sitting in a corner, watching everyone a tad to closely... it might be a tad suspicious and reason for further investigation.

Truth be told I've never exactly liked the idea of hooded cloaks being able to hide your identity so well. I think if you want to hide your identity, you should have to use cloaks and masks, cloaks to hide your body and a mask to hide your face. But that's just me.

However in regards to "Gotchas" the only one I've really encountered on occasion is related to magery. I've often left a large scene, such as pyrings and events, on a mage before in order to cast a spell, and in the past I've returned only to have suspicion placed right upon me. While oocly it's bloody obviously, icly it once again goes into the vnpc range. Would one person leaving a crowd be immediately noticeable and cause for suspicion? I really don't think so.

[Leech]

I fail to report it because most of the time it'd mean retconning entire arrests -- but holy SHIT have I been the victim of the hood/cloak thing, playing mostly antagonists myself. An interesting concept, and I wouldn't want TI to copy this mechanic, but there are a few MUDs out there who have a description for your general self, and then descriptions for your bodyparts like hands, forearms, shoulders, back, etc that clothing covers up -- and when you pull a hood up it covers the hair, not the face. You'd need a mask for the face. When's the last time you tried to cover your face up with a hood and could see?

Just some considerations. Anyways:

As for guild-specific issues, I agree that we need to go easier on guilds with regard to the occasional absence, and I think we need to find more constructive ways to address the gap between expectations and reality (e.g. the expectation that there are lots of vNPC Knights but the reality that there are relatively few PC Knights).

A suggestion would be for people to actively fill those roles via RPing in vNPCs. I've actively filled in (with my emotes) actions from Troubadours, Knights, and Priests in RP before. Of course they won't be making any crucial arrests, but I definitely RP them as there when they need to be. I remember I had Naer stake somebody to the church door once in broad daylight, and rather than run off Scott free I RPed with Gavin, filling in the holes that were lack of Knight participation by RPing a circle of Knights closing in on Naer. That, of course, was the end of Naer but I went into the scene knowing it'd be his last and I was okay with that.

Because honestly, how many fucking times do you get to stake somebody who cast breathbind on you to a church door? I digress.

There was another event, totally non-combat, where the church peeps needed a priest character to do a sermon. I can't remember what the hell it was for, or why I stepped forward, but it was all describing what this vNPC priest was doing and I think I ended up holding a whole mass with the vNPC priest. Just take the leap, people. Don't worry about stuff so much.

[Pixie]

Because honestly, how many fucking times do you get to stake somebody who cast breathbind on you to a church door? I digress.

Leech always makes me pine for OOC logout quotes.

[Rabek]

Not touching most of this, but I think it's worth pointing out: Having a hood up by code means you are concealing your face. Concealing your face almost always has negative connotations unless it's the dead of winter and it's a health hazard otherwise (something a hood won't help anyway). You can probably just RP having your hood up if it's not concealing your face.

Pretty much with Dice on this one. It conceals your identity. If it doesn't, don't use the code. If it does, prepare to be treated like someone concealing their identity. Outdoors I'd probably allow for weather, but probably not indoors.

[Leech]

Back onto the original subject a bit; Leech's rules to live by:

1. Be an asshole ICly. Try not to be an asshole OOCly. (I have difficulty with this one...)

2. Don't consider attacks against your character attacks against you. They aren't. To be pertinent, cloaking: when a noble constantly asks you to lower your hood, it's probably not a personal attack. Maybe they're just super paranoid. This may sound contradictory, but if more people started to care less, it'd probably be an improvement for moods all around.

3. If you aren't having fun, it's time for a change of scene(ry). Go to different RP, with different people.

[Jules]

I prefer it when code doesn't automatically trump RP, personally. Without simply repeating the points I've already made:

If we're going to make the hooded issue about intentional concealment, then there are a number of reasons why a person might want to temporarily cover his or her face, aside from generally just wanting to keep a low profile. They could be suffering from a nasty rash or trying to hide a disfigurement. They could be trying to avoid an unwanted suitor. They could have just stepped in from the cold and are all bundled up. They could be trying to avoid a mage that's been harassing them from the shadows all week. Etc. etc.

It doesn't matter. My point is: making OOC assumptions based on code before the RP even begins and confronting a hooded person before they've even had a chance to RP what they're all about is a great way to shut down and drive away players who are trying to provide an element to the game that people have repeatedly complained is lacking.

So, here's a suggestion: emote noticing or confronting a hooded person 3-5 emotes in rather than bringing an entire tavern to an immediate screeching halt just because their face isn't visible right when they walk in. Give them a chance to set up the RP to respond to, as this is likely to lead to more enjoyment all around. Otherwise, the conflict becomes one-sided and unenjoyable.

[Dice]

I'm going to go ahead from here on out, personally, not assuming a cloaked head is anything different from having a cloak's hood up - so maybe worthy of suspicion indoors/after prolonged RP (I like that 3-5 emotes idea) but not immediately odd. The realism of differentiating between being cloak-concealed and just protecting yourself from the rain isn't, in my eyes, worth discouraging RP. Thanks for the fodder for thought, Jules/Leech!