Sharing stats

[Myk]

I figure people can access a lot of that data by simply having a Telepath Appraise your character, so I do not actively hide it. You can’t really hide it unless you stay so low beneath the radar that nobody knows you exist to even think about Appraising you.

I, on the other hand, tend to Appraise everyone with Myk because he’s a nosey little poo. If he knows you exist, even just having passed you by on the streets, he’s probably Appraised you.

It does bother me, however, that the only way to know if your RPing partner is breaking the rules of cannon is to Appraise them. After all, we are pretty much left to police these infractions ourselves (or you could bring it up to a Mod and make them Appraise and police, but I wonder how many people are going to bring their concerns to a Mod).

I would encourage everyone to reveal their stats and powers, in the very least their RP powers so we can be better at making sure that things aren’t getting out of hand. In saying that, I wouldn’t seek to make it compulsory to share your data with people either. If you want to believe it’s your private data, then I won’t force you to break that illusion. >.>

[Caligrace]

Like Myk's player said, there is really absolutely no reason to hide it. Anyone with appraise could take a peek, and I know that there actually used to be people that would appraise anyone they came across on grid or saw on the forums just for fun.

Even without that, I'd share mine willingly. Stat wise, it helps for people with more knowledge of the game to help you choose the right set up so you're not floundering in the city. It also shows how much you are progressing - and some just like to show them off to show how 'big' they've gotten. RP power wise, I show them because I like to warn people what they are getting into. Caligrace only mortal aura and healthy complexion, and I tagged that in her signature line so anyone that wrote with her would know that she passes as a human, not a vampire. Everyone else, all anyone has to do is ask if they can't find the information on their own. :)

[Doc]

I respectfully disagree.

Doc plays things close to his chest. He doesn't share information with just anyone. If you want to know something about him .. ask him (it is one way to start an rp). He was will most likely tell you, 'you are nosy and go the F*** away.' But he is a ******** like that.

However on the strategy side.. *I* dont share Doc's stats.. because I want people to wonder what he is capable of. I do not want him to be an open book. Players who know things about a character, are too apt to take that knowledge IC, whether they mean to or not. Doc has a relic that lets him know when and who is appraising him. So.. When someone knows something about him; I know whether it is legit or not. IF Doc hasnt been appraised by that character, and Doc has NOT told that character.. then it one of two things 1. Player made an ic/ ooc slip.. or 2. The character has been talking about Doc to a third party. He does on alert.

On the grid and RP side of things, when Doc is appraised, Doc goes on alert. He knows something is up, and that someone messing in his business. He tends to frown on that.

On the RP powers.. Even if the character sheet says he has the power.. Doc may not have finished 'mastering the power' for his use yet. Example: He has the rp to be able to eat and drink like a human. But for Doc.. its not easy. He still gets queasy and its a struggle to hold it down. But he is working on it. So even the the sheet says he has the power.. He doesn't yet. The story inst there yet.

In Grid Powers. He may have the power on the character sheet.. but again, he may not be proficient with it yet. He may still be struggling with mastering it. He may be only 10% accuracy.. is that enough to say its a legit power he would use at the drop of a hat?

In regard to things that should be visible to the other characters that have never rp'd with Doc before, I do tell them. Things that are easily noticeable Like his permanent fangs .. are in the dialogue of his character sheet. However, Because he has permanent fangs, that why he usually has a closed-lipped smirk or grin.

And the last reason I disagree.. is because I like MY CHARACTERS to find out things via interaction with the characters themselves. I dont want you (global you.. not specific you) to tell me about your character.. I want Doc or Wilson or Maddra to discover that on their own. It makes the characters more real to me as a player.. when everything that I know is from In-characters interaction.

edit for typos

[River]

I respectfully disagree.

Doc plays things close to his chest. He doesn't share information with just anyone. If you want to know something about him .. ask him (it is one way to start an rp). He was will most likely tell you, 'you are nosy and go the F*** away.' But he is a ******** like that.

In the IC setting, no, my characters do not willingly give out their information to just anyone. They'll give 'progress' reports or talk to someone about something if asked, but generally, everything IC is found out through roleplay.

However on the strategy side.. *I* dont share Doc's stats.. because I want people to wonder what he is capable of. I do not want him to be an open book. Players who know things about a character, are too apt to take that knowledge IC, whether they mean to or not. Doc has a relic that lets him know when and who is appraising him. So.. When someone knows something about him; I know whether it is legit or not. IF Doc hasnt been appraised by that character, and Doc has NOT told that character.. then it one of two things 1. Player made an ic/ ooc slip.. or 2. The character has been talking about Doc to a third party. He does on alert.

I agree with this point, however, it's pretty much moot. I'd rather know if it's legit or if someone is just stalking my character. The thing is, they don't have to wonder. They can simply appraise. Even with the relic, that doesn't stop the player from saying 'Oh, hey, there's Doc. He has mastered every little thing there is! He can kick my ***.' So, even though it does have the potential to be crossing, nothing is really stopping them from knowing what your character is capable of with or without your consent/help. Either way, the knowledge is out there OOC.

On the RP powers.. Even if the character sheet says he has the power.. Doc may not have finished 'mastering the power' for his use yet. Example: He has the rp to be able to eat and drink like a human. But for Doc.. its not easy. He still gets queasy and its a struggle to hold it down. But he is working on it. So even the the sheet says he has the power.. He doesn't yet. The story inst there yet.

In Grid Powers. He may have the power on the character sheet.. but again, he may not be proficient with it yet. He may still be struggling with mastering it. He may be only 10% accuracy.. is that enough to say its a legit power he would use at the drop of a hat?

This I do agree on. However, there is a way around it. Instead of just listing your powers in a straight line, flesh them out. Put a story behind them on your CS. Why does this particular character have this power? Have they mastered it? Do they like it? Do they hate it? When do they use it? How do they use it? This, of course, is for people who like to put their things in CS. I prefer to have them all listed out and explained, though I haven't gotten around to it myself yet. It helps me keep track of things, and it helps give the players an insight to who they are writing with.

In regard to things that should be visible to the other characters that have never rp'd with Doc before, I do tell them. Things that are easily noticeable Like his permanent fangs .. are in the dialogue of his character sheet. However, Because he has permanent fangs, that why he usually has a closed-lipped smirk or grin.

And the last reason I disagree.. is because I like MY CHARACTERS to find out things via interaction with the characters themselves. I dont want you (global you.. not specific you) to tell me about your character.. I want Doc or Wilson or Maddra to discover that on their own. It makes the characters more real to me as a player.. when everything that I know is from In-characters interaction.

Your characters will still find things out on their own. Just because YOU [general] have the knowledge OOC, doens't mean that your characters do. Again, I just like to know things about a character. I like to read the character sheets and think 'Wow, they're interesting. I can't wait to read more about them.' Again, it's just player preference, and every point you make I do understand and I do respect. It's interesting to see how others think of these types of situations. Now I know that Doc and Doc's player would rather be surprised by what River has lurking in that little brain of hers!

With all of this said, I'll go ahead and state: I don't appraise unless asked for an IC reason. I don't care that much about stats, and if I want information on them - I'll ask OOC because it's usually just to compare another same pathed vampire to mine for help. I don't think that appraise -should- be used for purely OOC reasons without the permission of the player being looked at.

Edited because I apparently erased points while trying to fix quote tags. >.<;

[Doc]

Your characters will still find things out on their own. Just because YOU [general] have the knowledge OOC, doens't mean that your characters do. Again, I just like to know things about a character. I like to read the character sheets and think 'Wow, they're interesting. I can't wait to read more about them.' Again, it's just player preference, and every point you make I do understand and I do respect. It's interesting to see how others think of these types of situations. Now I know that Doc and Doc's player would rather be surprised by what River has lurking in that little brain of hers!

The older I get.. the more the little detail things like 'how I learned this' information gets lost. I do have a book that i keep notes in. But I dont always know what is going to come up.. or be an issue, later. So for me.. if I learn everything from an IC point-of-view - its all ic knowledge.

A side effect from ic interaction only.. is Doc develops his own personal reaction to a new character.

For example, if I know a new characters back story.. I may subconsciously let it affect how Doc reacts in a given circumstance. Let's say there is Babypirebob causing a scene in a bar that is owned by a friend of Doc. Doc's reaction, would be to go up to him.. tell him to stfu and leave; and if he doesn't.. he would shoot him.

However, if oocly I know babypirebob is Vel's kid.. Doc probably wouldn't shoot him. Therefore I let ooc knowledge dictate ic actions. I personally do not like that when it happens; and I have caught myself doing that. So for me.. best if I don't know.

I personally like that stats and things are ?'s if I look at one. It helps keep me honest. :)

[Whit]

I like to know just enough about a character to understand how to set up a scene. I have a hard time explaining my characters to begin with, mainly because I try to make them as realistic as possible, and no person can be easily summed up in a few words. So I find when I try to describe my characters, I have some difficulty, and it leads to a lot of misconception as to what my character is like, or their motivations. I've also noticed, like Doc-player mentioned, people will modify how a character acts around mine if they have certain types of information.

If I share anything, it's usually the very surface level of a character, what a person is likely to run into until their character begins to chip away at what makes mine tick. So I get not wanting to reveal a whole lot of details, I just don't happen to think that stats say a lot about a character. Telling someone my character's got a 20 in Intelligence does't really say anything at all about him. It's like looking at someone wearing an Iron Man shirt and thinking "You know, maybe they're a nerd." when in reality they maybe got it as a gift. Understanding a character with any real depth is always going to come from RP, and usually has very little, in my experience, to do how skilled a character is at mechanics.

[Pi dArtois]

Yeah, I share everything because I'm not that suspicious, and I don't care that much about what it is people think they know or do know. Nor do I assume immediately people are going to use information incorrectly, because the short answer is, I rarely RP with people I know aren't straight up.

So that clears the field pretty quickly of people I know aren't trustworthy. All people get a chance, but once i know of their dodgy *** online character/game play I tend to leave them to play their own game and hive off to play mine. Life is too short to work through someone else's inability to be an honourable protagonist in my character's storyline nor should their actions actively impact how I play and I can make choices about that myself.

My character stats are just a minor part of what makes up Pi. The largest part of her motivations are defined completely and utterly by me and what I want to do with her.

[Every]

Both for me, sometimes for help and other times when planning things, mostly when I'm just wanting a second opinion on where I'm going to put a level. RP power and curse wise, it's generally easier to focus on one curse and want to develop it more into my character. Some of my characters have no idea what the hell is going on with them, others are slowly realizing it.

But, there's also the line between IC and OOC - I share it mostly out of character, and most of my characters find it uncomfortable for others to poke around in their heads with appraisal.

[Alexandrea]

I figure people can access a lot of that data by simply having a Telepath Appraise your character, so I do not actively hide it. You can’t really hide it unless you stay so low beneath the radar that nobody knows you exist to even think about Appraising you.

I, on the other hand, tend to Appraise everyone with Myk because he’s a nosey little poo. If he knows you exist, even just having passed you by on the streets, he’s probably Appraised you.

It does bother me, however, that the only way to know if your RPing partner is breaking the rules of cannon is to Appraise them. After all, we are pretty much left to police these infractions ourselves (or you could bring it up to a Mod and make them Appraise and police, but I wonder how many people are going to bring their concerns to a Mod).

I would encourage everyone to reveal their stats and powers, in the very least their RP powers so we can be better at making sure that things aren’t getting out of hand. In saying that, I wouldn’t seek to make it compulsory to share your data with people either. If you want to believe it’s your private data, then I won’t force you to break that illusion. >.>

All that with chips and salsa.

I just bumped this thread http://www.mooncalfstudios.com/pathofth ... 98&t=19775 that the PO is deleted but it's a great idea that perhaps we could start up again?

That being said, worrying about players that cut corners in rp or use ooc info ic is pointless. Some will do it no matter what. You post in one place your plans ic, someone sees it with an alt, before you know it everyone knows it ic and is plotting against your charry. (example) It happens. Just part of the game I guess and it's not anything anyone can prove.

So don't worry about policing others, just police your self. At the end of the day it's your self you have to live with. What goes around DOES come around. It's a bit on the slow side at times but it'll get there, lol. ;)

[Bjorn]

The whole reason I brought it up is because I've been on the receiving end of meta-gaming, which has led to some uncomfortable situations and creative limitations, even when it wasn't maliciously intended. Sharing is a double-edged sword, because on one end it helps you create plots, but on the other narrows your field of vision. As Doc's player said, it's not inherently a conscious act either. You can shoot yourself in the foot without even meaning to. And I'm not going to give a loaded gun to other players.

In light of this discussion, I guess I've come to the realisation that this character sheet is more for my own reference than for someone else's. I can share it with those whose characters have particular roles to play in my character's development, wherein the information will come in handy for story planning and character / relationship development, but offering stats up to anybody else is not necessarily in my best interest.

I mean, Bjorn wouldn't be open about a lot of things outside of his closest circle, so I shouldn't have to be either, especially when there is a loophole for characters to get that information. Given appraisal being a thing in the game (which as a player to a telepath character, I probably should go look that up... ehehe), a character could figure his stats out, either by curiosity or necessity, and deal with whatever IC consequences that elicits. I guess it'd be difficult to ascertain whether the motivations to use appraisal were purely IC, but that's a can of worms I'm not opening.

In any case, this has all been very enlightening. I'm sure my thoughts on the subject will change depending on the circumstances I find myself in, but keeping a tight reign on things now allows me to loosen up later on, rather than scramble to get control of reigns if I just let it go now. As Azraeth's player pointed out, it's a matter of comfort, ey.