Channel Issues – A Simple Solution

Since there seems to be no end to the interpretation of the very vague PG-13 rule, I propose the following:

1) Walldo, while I do know that you posted your thoughts on the PG-13 rule for the RPC to read, posting a specific help file with the specific ideas on what is appropriate and inappropriate for OOC would be greatly appreciated by the playerbase. Lumping a vague PG-13 rule leaving it open to the interpretation of anyone reading it only serves to cause more strife between people who have different ideas about what is and isn’t PG-13.

2) Implement a Bitch-type channel. This would be a completely OOC room where anything goes (save for anything that would break IC/OOC rules). If someone doesn’t like what’s said in this channel, they can simply shut it off and return to the clean OOC channel. The RPC/Immortal "Silence" command would affect this channel as well.

The biggest thing for me right now is number 1. I know there was no end to the debate and bitching about it during my last term, and there is still a fair share about it right now. Us lowly mortals would like to have a bone thrown to us please.

There is never going to be a separate OOC channel for bitching/complaining/being vulgar/Hapans/RP-centric players/take your pick. Ever.

How can we possibly come up with a specific helpfile for what "PG13" means? I’m sure the playerbase would love it but it really isn’t that feasible, and I really don’t think it is as hard a concept as people make it out to be. Don’t be blatantly offensive. Don’t be overly foul in your language. Despite how people might complain, this is nothing new. It is how OOC has been for as long as I’ve been playing.

I understand the policy about OOC might be vague, but that is why the policing element of it allows leeway. The enforcement policy is to warn players on the RPC channel that they are being over the line and to stop. This is what the RPC is told. This specific post has been up for the last 2-3 RPC terms and has existed in one form or another for a while as far as I can remember:

[quote:97i2x9y6]
There are two main things to keep in mind when it comes to policing OOC: The
PG13 policy and Rule 14.

1) LotJ maintains a PG-13 environment. This is a bit harder to police and
regulate, but you need to trust your best judgement (and/or refer to your
fellow RPC or the immortals). Overly rude, crude or offensive conversations
should be stopped.

2) Insulting, disrespecting or outright ridiculing current/former players is
not tolerated and falls under Rule 14. Even if two friends are insulting each
other, it sets a bad impression for new players that we don’t want to support.

So what happens if someone is doing something inappropriate on OOC?

1) Approach the player on RPC whenever possible. It is important to not gang up
on a player (only 1 RPC should talk to them). Just a simple ‘hey, what you said
was over the line, please stop’ should hopefully be enough in most cases.

2) If a player continues to be a problem (on OOC or RPC) let the imms know

3) If they persist on OOC, try to silence first, do not just rely on turning
OOC off. You can silence accounts using silence @<account name>. Setooc should
be considered a very last resort for real pain-in-the-ass players or real
widespread asshattery. It is better to silence 5 players for being jerks on OOC
than to punish 45 players for the sins of a few.

4) Please always let an immortal know about incidents, so that they can post an
account comment. First step should be to report it on Councilnet. If no imms
are around, post a note at 31 and/or email PR@. It is important that we know
who was silenced and why!
[/quote:97i2x9y6]

I’m not outright refusing your point #1 and i’d love to see some player discussion on the matter, I just want to make my views on the matter known.

I guess the main point is why isn’t that an ingame helpfile instead of a post for the RPC messageboard?

The problem with content control, is that it is a slippery slope.

BUT a helpfile that states a ‘ooc code of conduct’ would be nice. Of course I want our OOC channel to be relatively censor free, but I think if we could just have some examples of what grounds are okay and what aren’t would definitely help the challenged. For instance, we could go as simple as ‘keep this PG-13’ or as specific as ‘don’t make gay jokes.’

Personally, I think our OOc channel gets a little ridiculous( that usually results in immortals/rpc turning off OOC) and it is frustrating, because I really enjoy our OOC channel. My solution would be to create a ‘ooc code of conduct’ that has a set of pretty loose rules that explain how we are all suppose to act in our community. Currently our "help ooc" only explains to not discuss IC things, it does not go into what kind of behavior is acceptable. I think this should be fixed; I’m not asking for a detailed line by line saying that I can’t say gay jokes on gay friday, but a general overview on how our community expects each other to act would be helpful so that we can police each other on our behavior.

If we had a document that set the expectations of our behavior on OCC, I think we could start policing each other. (or at least it looks good on paper)