I did say it was an extreme example. But it's not far off from one example that actually happened while I was on the DM team. I have several, more moderate examples that have actually happened, but I can't post them publically as that would border on violation of forum rules.cosmic ray wrote:An in-setting character choosing where to go within the setting is light-years away from someone using elements from outside the setting.
Are we comparing a human who decides to go and stay in Sshamath (or really anywhere else at his own risk) to someone who wants to bring jedi or Harry Potter into the Forgotten Realms?
But lets make up one instead that is "within the setting". Say someone is playing a vhaerunite drow, seeking to do evil activity on the surface, because that's what vhaerunites do. But he is absolutely terrible at covering your tracks and all the evil he does just end up happening in populated areas or otherwise witnessed. Maybe some of his victims even escape to tell the tale. He is ridiculously sloppy and lazy (whether as a character or a player, doesn't really matter, the people he RPs with will perceive it as the character being sloppy). But the character is built specifically to win PvP and the player is mechanically skilled enough to practically win all 1 on 1 fights, and even often fights with worse odds.
Indeed, the player may just have made this character specifically to PvP on the surface as a drow because the current KoS rules are going to make it happen. The vhaerunite backstory is done just enough to have IC reason. To stay just outside what would otherwise count as griefing.
What happens then, when this sloppy menace becomes a known menace? Players hunt him down, they find him and kill him with overwhelming force. Then the next day he's back. And again. And again. But he has been acting in somewhat populated areas, where even NPCs should get concerned. On the Trade Way close to the towns, for instance. So maybe it would make sense for the NPCs to recognise him and start hunting him.
And then comes the biggest problem to my mind. The PCs are spreading rumours about this menace, and the character has operated in areas where NPCs will most likely start to recognise him. Then he walks by the guards outside the Silver Rose like nothing ever happened. Or past the guards of Gullykin. With no consequences because there are only so many DMs and they can't always be online and available to cater to this one player. So other players see this character over and over, walking past NPC guards who by all rights should at the very least try to detain him on-sight.
Or lets just forget that whole scenario entirely and go with an open, even benevolent drow wandering the surface sometimes close to NPCs who would have some kind of reaction.
Both of these are going to get immersion breaking for the rest of the player base. Because they know it doesn't fit with the setting. They know it is ignoring NPCs (which is part of the rules as well, so you could say that's already covered).
If we are playing on this server, we are agreeing to play within a setting. And in order for that setting to be consistent, it needs to have rules to limit the ways people can create contradictions. And this is why I find it so disrespectful towards the rest of the playerbase when people so often try hard to find loopholes in the rules to get their way. All digging for loopholes does is show that you're an arse and give more work to the staff to cover up those loopholes.
Anyways, that was a bit of a rant. TL;DR: You can easily break immersion whilst staying "within the setting".
I must reiterate that I don't actually entirely agree with these rules. But I totally understand them. It isn't the best way to safeguard immersion, but it is the easiest. If you have better such safeguards that are even remotely as easy, I'm sure the DM team would love the input.
Not to sound like a cynic (though I am one at times), but this is unfortunately somewhat naïve. I can tell you from DM experience that even the people who often advocate respect and maturity in threads like these (I'm not suggesting you, by the way - others) often quite severely fails at those parts themselves.lilani wrote:It's the whole OOC rules that is entirely unnecessary, they should be the same as interacting with any other evil player - i.e. Based on respect and maturity.
