Freedom of RP.

[Wraygun]

Right! I do have this small thing that I think should be brought up to attention; namely, the freedom of roleplay. Right now, I'm RPing as a character of mine who goes by the tagline of VICTOR-4, and he's an i1. Now, whenever something happens that I find somewhat funny, I always type out a /me snickers!

This character is carried over from another community, and snickering every now and then is a habit of his, and I used to do it in comical situatios. Here's an example:

I'm not spamming this 24/7, nor am I annoying people with it constantly; I know that there are some other units (QUICK-1 for example, who admitted himself doing it) who use this action in order to meme around. However, I do not meme around with this and I take my role-play very seriously and I do not see this as right to just receive a reprimand in LOOC about it. It's a character of mine with his habits, and as long as it does not disrupt the roleplay of others, I see it perfectly fine to display him in this very manner.

There is some additional context to these screenshots as well: here, I am being told by an admin, who uses the name "Edward Perez" to stop doing and how much of a meme the /me snickers! has become and where I am being specifically told to not do this.




I'm not here to meme around, and I am certainly sure this doesn't fall under the category of "minging". I'd also like to point out that he tried to respawn my char, yet he got the wrong unit, namely ROLLER-6.

Edit: This picture was removed by Goose for security measures.


I just felt that this should be addressed, considering the freedom of roleplay Willard offers:

Once again, that I am not here to minge, nor am I here to disrupt the roleplay of the other persons; I also do not recall anyone getting annoyed at me because of this, nor do I remember people complaining about it.

 

[Gr4Ss]

IMHO the issue here is not that you are doing it, but how. Just doing '/me snickers!' really doesn't come across as any high-level quality of roleplay, especially to people who may not be as familiar with your character as you. Hence you were pointed out in LOOC that just doing a '/me snickers!' is maybe a bit of sub-par roleplay and used as a meme. It doesn't say you cannot do it or that you are using it to meme around, it just points out that others are using it that way and you could try to be more creative than just '/me snickers!'. Especially as you are also doing /w for chat and then a single /me (which has yell-range visibility) to emote - for 90% of the people this will come out of context.

There are a million and one ways you can emote this with more than one word. Even including your previous or next reply into your /me already helps to glue your /me into your conversation. Also consider a /mec (same range as whisper) for these kind of emotes rather than a /me.

So (again in my opinion), the admin here was right to point out to you how they perceived your /me and suggest to try to be better since other CP's are taking your example the wrong way. It is not an official warning or any blemish on your record, just feedback on your roleplay and how it is perceived.

Freedom of roleplay includes a provision for us to maintain quality, do keep that in mind as well. It is not a blanket permission to say 'ic is ic' or 'it is my character so I can choose to portray it as a meme'.

 

[Bodger]

I don't think anyone has complained about it, I just think this staff member doesn't like seeing a Snickers! pop up in chat when they're walking/flying around.

Also I don't see what else you could do, it's a simple act. Maybe switch up the word? chortles! or giggles!

 

[Wraygun]

w. Just doing '/me snickers!' really doesn't come across as any high-level quality of roleplay,

Now, I'm not here to argue about what is considered a high-level of role-play (since the context matters as well) and admittedly, this /me is a little too simple. That was the 'beauty' in this; it's simplicity and I don't really expect anyone to agree on this one. Still, I get what you mean nonetheless; writing is subjective, at times and not everyone perceives everything the same way.

 

[Gr4Ss]

Now, I'm not here to argue about what is considered a high-level of role-play (since the context matters as well) and admittedly, this /me is a little too simple. That was the 'beauty' in this; it's simplicity and I don't really expect anyone to agree on this one. Still, I get what you mean nonetheless; writing is subjective, at times and not everyone perceives everything the same way.

It is true that we may have a difference of opinion on this. Just in general I have come to associate very short /me's with very new RP'ers who have limited experience in expressing their character's body language. Not always the correct assumption, but usually it is.

There is already one very easy fix here (or well, two small ones): '/mec snickers, "Obviously not!"' rather than a /w with the text and a /me with the emote. It immediately makes it clear you are using it to express body language during a conversation. From there you can easily add in more detail, express some other actions/body language or change things up.

If you find your character doing stuff like this often, it is also useful to look up some alternative ways to express it. Re-using the same thing as a running-gag makes it very open to also look meme'ish. Have a look at e.g. https://www.wattpad.com/555084657-writing-tips-smile-laugh-alternatives (first thing to come up with a quick google search) - there are a million ways to express specific ways of laughing and some are similar enough that it doesn't hurt to change between them and avoid repetitiveness.

 

[Maroon]

That staff member is being needlessly condescending. I've watched your roleplay and it's been nothing less than superb.

I just think this staff member doesn't like seeing a Snickers! pop up in chat when they're walking/flying around.

Players shouldn't be told off just because they annoy one of us. Wraygun hasn't been disruptive or breaking immersion. One shouldn't need to write a 2 paragraph sentence describing how they chuckle. Enforcing arbitrary and ridiculous writing standards is beneath us.

 

[Goose]

Edit; After rereading this with the context I have now, I can understand Seb's position. This manner will be looked into further.

 

[Superdoober]

Hello, my excuse if you have felt that I've attempted to stop your way of expressing your character's emotion.

I've seen many people doing it and even a group of people doing a type of chain by repeating the same /me and pass it along and in no way is that minging. They are still roleplaying it and that is okay, it might be meme'ish but that's all. My approach could have been improved but don't take it as a threat/warning, I do though keep my opinion with it being irritating but don't take it as
"I'm a staff and if I see this as annoying I will use my power on you to stop"

It was more of a heads up as I went to be a CP, I've been told to not have exactly a silly/meme'ish behavior and it is the leader's responsibility if they do happen to see it as a bad thing. I wanted to honestly just pass it as a tap on your shoulder and that's it.

I hope this response isn't too much of a poor one, but I'm giving my perspective on what I was exactly thinking and what was my intention.
And listen, even if you did it again. I wouldn't warn you for such a thing, this is more with the lead and their perspective on this, I felt it was worth just notify you as I fear others might complain about how cp is "behaving silly"

(Oh and my typos was going chaotic, sorry about that. I just woke up)

 

[Superdoober]

Hello, my excuse if you have felt that I've attempted to stop your way of expressing your character's emotion.

I've seen many people doing it and even a group of people doing a type of chain by repeating the same /me and pass it along and in no way is that minging. They are still roleplaying it and that is okay, it might be meme'ish but that's all. My approach could have been improved but don't take it as a threat/warning, I do though keep my opinion with it being irritating but don't take it as
"I'm a staff and if I see this as annoying I will use my power on you to stop"

It was more of a heads up as I went to be a CP, I've been told to not have exactly a silly/meme'ish behavior and it is the leader's responsibility if they do happen to see it as a bad thing. I wanted to honestly just pass it as a tap on your shoulder and that's it.

I hope this response isn't too much of a poor one, but I'm giving my perspective on what I was exactly thinking and what was my intention.
And listen, even if you did it again. I wouldn't warn you for such a thing, this is more with the lead and their perspective on this, I felt it was worth just notify you as I fear others might complain about how cp is "behaving silly"

Oh and a note, I don't understand who gave you those logs with me speaking in staff chat but I believe this is very inappropriate as I wasn't exactly approaching you with this statement, and its of more of a personal view on things.
If anything, this is honestly making me feel extremely uncomfortable knowing that someone screenshotted my personal talk in the staff chat when it is against our policy to screenshot our staff chat.