Using OOC (Out of Character) knowledge IC (in character) is against the rules. It is best to illustrate this concept through examples.
NAMES ARE FOR THE PLAYER - NOT THE CHARACTER
The names the game provides and that you the player read are for you, the player. Unless an object is branded, has a name on it when you look at it, or is a common item (like a pair of pants), your character won't know what it is. The game needs to provide a name for things so your character can interact with them, but that doesn't mean your character knows the name In Character.
NOT KNOWING CHARACTER NAMES
A character you've never met before walks into a room: JoeBaka walks in from the west.
You to [JoeBaka]: Hey Joe!
YOU the player know the name JoeBaka but your character does not, unless that character has been told the name, or JoeBaka is wearing a name tag or something. Do not assume your character knows another characters name. On top of your character not knowing the name, it is dangerous because JoeBaka might have never told ANYONE that his name was Joe. He might go by Alex in-game. You do not know a characters name just because you see it on the screen.
PHOTOGRAPH NAMES ARE NOT IC
Unless otherwise specified when you look at a photo, the NAME of the photograph is OOC info. If you have a 'photograph of JoeBaka' you do not know that the person in the photo is JoeBaka unless your character recognizes them as JoeBaka.
NOT KNOWING ROOM NAMES
This goes for room names as well. a 'photograph of WA - 102' is a photo of an apartment. Unless you actively know this specific apartment because your character lived there or has spent a lot of time there, your character doesn't know it.
If you wake up in a strange place after having been kidnapped and you see 'The Drome - Basement', your first inclination might be to jump on the SIC and shout for everyone to hear that you are locked up in the Drome Basement. However, if your character has never been to that room, how do they know where they are? The names of things are indicators OOCly for your reference, not for your character to utilize in character.
NOT KNOWING OBJECT NAMES
This goes for objects you encounter in the game as well. You may see an 'explosive detonator' and be like 'OH SHIT YEAH' but your character just sees a plastic stick with a button. You should not assume that because you see the name of something, you know what it is. A 'SIC Triangulator' may seem obvious to you the player, but your character would need to examine it, maybe attempt to use it, and still, might not be able to identify what it is.
MAVs
A 'mav' is when you send IC info on OOC channels (or OOC info on IC channels). This happens if say, you meant to use 'cc' to send a private SIC to your in-game friend and by accident, you typed 'xooc' and send that message to all of OOC-Chat.
It can also happen when someone is talking to the admin via 'xhelp' and they accidentally use an IC command like 'cm'.
This sucks and can be embarrassing. However, if someone does this you are NOT to use that information in character. Ignore it. Wipe it from your mind if you can.
AMBIENT POPULATION
There are over 65 million people in the city and that means it's quite crowded. If you are standing on a street, regardless of if there are other player characters or non-player characters in the room, you are not alone. You are basically never alone if you are out in public or not in a secure private area. There are always people around even if the game only represents them with the ambient population messages you see on some outdoor areas.
Do not ignore the ambient population. Do not say 'I was alone' when you were on a crowded street. Do not assume that committing a crime when no PC or NPC characters were around meant you were not seen.
THE CROWDED BAR CONUNDRUM
Do not walk into a crowded bar and immediately spot and recognize the person you are looking for. It's just poor form. Enter then emote or pose looking around, make your way through the bar, spot the person you are looking for, nod to them, approach them, make sure it's the person you are looking for-- all the things you would do when walking into a place like this in real life.
You can take this approach and apply it to a variety of situations-- it's not just for crowded bars. It adds ambience to the game and reduces small worlding and metagaming.
This ideal isn't in place to prevent you from finding who you are looking for but rather to get you to RP your character not having God-vision and just knowing where everyone in a crowded room is just because you the player can scan a list of character names instead of having to actively look around the room.
DESCRIPTIONS
When you look at a player you see their name (OOC info) and their short description (IC info). The short description is a good way to describe a character if asked to by someone else, and your character didn't have a chance to get a good look at them.
You are responsible for looking at characters and gathering enough information to be able to identify them again in the future. If you do not or cannot describe a character after meeting them, you do not and cannot recognize them the next time you meet them just because you recognize their name. Characters can be disguised, wearing different clothing, have different hair styling, and even impersonate other characters to a degree. Make sure you are taking the time to get to know the locations, objects, and characters around you, or resign yourself to not recognizing any of them In Character.
COMMUNICATING OOCLY
Talking to other players OOCly about IC events is strictly against the @rules. Do not do it or you will be suspended. Using OOC info ICly in cases like this (via off game chats, or local OOC, or global OOC or real life) is terrible for the game and cheating.
The only exception to this is our War Stories rule. See: 'help war-stories'
WHEN IN DOUBT - ASK
When you are in doubt as to if your character would/could/should know something that you may have put together OOCly-- use xhelp to ask an admin if they think it's kosher.
SEE ALSO: help disguise help war-stories help ooc-discussions *Last Updated: 03/01/23 by Fengshui*
