Some Thoughts On Character Interaction

[Smoothcoffee]

As we all play together in Clok's world, it's easy to get swept up in our own storylines, creating and living through experiences independent of others. That's part of what makes the game so immersive. However, it's been brought to my attention that some players are struggling to feel included in the larger narrative.
I personally only caught the last year of OG Clok, then played again from 2022-2024 in Cogg, so I definitely understand what it's like to step into an established world with others' storylines and feel unsure of where and even if I fit. I've noticed, and others have shared, that at times, newer players' ideas, opinions, or attempts to get involved have been dismissed, shut down, or ignored by more seasoned players.
I know how easy it is to slip into familiar storylines and roleplay with the same small group, and I completely respect the desire to stay true to your character's arc. But at the same time, it's important to recognize that newer players and their stories matter too. Even if a character hasn't been through the same level of hardship as others, their backstories may be filled with challenges and experiences that are unimaginable to our characters.
A little effort to include others in roleplay, even in small ways, can go a long way. I just hope we can all keep that in mind, even as we work to actively slay EVIL, or survive this insane winter.
Your introverted coffee cup, Tessa

[Rias]

Good things to think about, for sure. For anyone playing a more gruff or grumpy or standoffish character, it can make a huge difference to send a quick tell to a new face you've just interacted with letting them know that it's just your character that's a bit rough around the edges, and OOCly welcome them to the game or something along those lines.

From the GM side, it can be easy for us to end up leaning on characters we already know to try and get events kicked off or atmospheric scripts noticed and people talking about goings-on. We'll try to make an extra conscious effort to rope in the newer or quieter players and help them feel informed and involved!

[Smoothcoffee]

I know this will be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for reading and the response. :)

[Ninetales16]

as someone who is playing a more quiet hcaracter, I htink sending tells to people sometimes is very helpful and I have not done it enough times because I felt that I would influence that person's opinion of me or the character.
both the topic and response are very appreciated, from my point of view. I feel like I would have so much to say on this, but I do not know how to word things properly and feel anxious speaking my mind, so will just say thank you once again :D

[artus]

It goes both ways. New players, feel free to get in with us. Old players, don't forget to have fun with everyone. No one can initiate deep rp with you when all you do is walk around and do your stuff or talk to that one ic friend of yours and no one else, no?
I do understand the shiness and rp introversion though, or the wanting to keep to yourself, which is fine. We have that moment. I do it all the time!
A reminder to give new people a welcome is good to keep in mind. Thank you for that. I may as well apply it more myself. I usually don't send random tells to random people, but in this case I think it's useful.

[Rannveig]

Thanks for putting this out there, Coffee. I'm in a weird spot of probably looking seasoned and cool to new players, but looking new to some old(er) players, but I've definitely felt dismissed/shut down/ignored at times on both CLOK and COGG. It's a sucky feeling. Well, part of it's probably my own problem because I am an introverted person who plays introverted characters, but yeah. I was hearing about that a while back during the reboot, too.

When I was playing more actively recently, I was trying to include some newer characters and players where I could, or to at least make them feel heard by my character. Hopefully I succeeded in that. I'll try to keep it up when I'm active again. If your character's not too rough around the edges, it can be really small things like sporadically engaging in ESP conversations or making little comments while you're browsing the market to kind of just acknowledge that someone else is in the room with you. (When there's unfamiliar people involved, obviously, if the goal is making new players feel acknowledged.) You never know if that new player has something great to bring to the table until you invite them to the table, right?

And thanks to those of you who also do your best to be inclusive.

[RoyceArty]

Hey there!

It makes me *really* happy to see people care about this, since it felt like I had to go the extra mile to stay on par and get some fun out of it. I chose to take the healthier approach and calmly wait for life OOC to get more stable (however many months it might take) before putting in the hours IC.

Where I don't mind as much about inclusiveness (though I care about it a great deal) as I can always be doing another one of my hobbies on the meantime, it frustrates me because I know it's a dealbreaker for some of my friends. The kind of dealbreaker that makes them leave the game feeling way worse than when they came in.

I also want to offer my two cents the conversation with this random thought: perhaps, to new players, the new character cycle from everyone else stands as one of their biggest obstacles paired with this very topic. If they get a plot going for anything long-term but the characters involved slowly become shelved, it can be somewhat demotivating maybe?

Again, thank you fellows for bringing topics like these to the table! Stay healthy and drink water often.

[Xanthe]

I think it's a great idea to bring up. Kudos!

I know my character is pretty standoffish, if not grumpy. But ways I try to include newer players is by asking if they need anything or offering little ways to help. I know that doesn't bring them into a big story line, but hopefully it makes them feel seen even a tiny bit.
I am really liking all these new faces and colors. It's amazing the diversity Clok has and all the personalities our different characters have.
I also appreciate people that include my character. She -will- socialize, believe it or not. But I will make a bit more of an effort to include newer characters myself, and I'll try to get creative about it.

[Mirazia]

I am in an odd, in-the-middle place with this. I will charge into anything as a GM, as an NPC, random scripts or other with no issues, but I actually struggle getting my characters involved in things. Perhaps it's embarrassment at my own RP abilities or a feeling of inadequacy when I see other fantastic characters out there, but recently I have been diving in. I have found many characters and players out there that will involve others, both old and new, and I love to see it both from the GM side and from a player side. Spidercat, I will shout you out hard here because even as your antagonist, I have seen you several times engage with near everyone you see, either in person or over ESP.

For all players I would suggest you step outside of your comfort zone a little. Step into another character's story. Whilst I do understand some people have felt dismissed/shut down/ignored by the more senior players, I've also seen those same players avoid or shut down others trying to interact with them. Perhaps they are not yet settled into the mechanics or lore of the game and are unsure where to start or, like me, perhaps get intimidated when seeing the beautiful flowing emotes of others. But I will say... just using SAY and SOCIALS are perfectly fine! We have all started somewhere.

As a GM, like Rias said, I will endeavor to sweep more people into my events, though things I've done recently require people to keep their eyes on the road and travel off the beaten path!

[Smoothcoffee]

I really appreciate and love all the responses! I know that when I decided to post something, I wasn't sure what response I would get. I'm grateful to the kindness that we offer to each other, and I hope this serves as a reassurance to those players feeling a bit out of the loop.

[Dean]

I'm a newer player, having been around for about four months or so, and I've run into the full spectrum of welcoming- and outright anti-newbie behaviors, on both an IC and OOC level. I will say - it's considerably worse on an OOC level, in the time I've been here, to the point that I just mute all the OOC channels in the terminal and only interact with them through Discord.

IC interactions have been unfailingly welcoming, though the burden of initiation has been about 95% on me. Now, I mostly do my own thing; I like exploring the game world, uncovering weird places, strange monsters, and cool secrets mostly on my own. There has never been a lack of opportunities to log in and find something fun to do, and I've always been able to find someone willing to answer questions and share tips. Weirdly, this has been Corvites more often than not! There have been a few instances of what felt like "punching down" by certain characters, but they've for one reason or another stopped doing that or left the game, so that was a temporary thing that I only mention for completeness' sake.

In the process of going around, doing my own thing, I run into people who are also doing their own thing, or I ask around and talk to people to ask who might know something my character wants to know and I go seek them out specifically. My character is very goal-oriented; he isn't the type of person to sit around in the tavern all day complaining about how cold it is or how much snow there is outside, which is, from what I can tell, a time-honored Shadgardian pastime (even outside a mighty winter). These interactions are fun, engaging, and - if the RPA is any indication - fun and engaging for the other person as well.

The folks I've enjoyed scenes with have been largely open to OOC communication, through tells or Discord, and that's where I've had entirely-positive OOC interactions with the community, because as it turns out people that are friendly and helpful IC tend to also be friendly and helpful OOC (who'd have thunk) and have been able to get answers to questions the game doesn't really explain at all, learn about the OOC history of the game, and do a bit of catching-up information-wise to the folks who have been here for a decade and know everything about everything from two games combined.

The point I'm getting to, here, is - if I want to have a meaningful scene, the onus of initiation is on me. I'm used to that. That's normal, in my mind. I do my own thing, and if that thing means I want to talk to you, I'm just going to go do that. That can be really intimidating for some people, though; maybe it's their first MUD, maybe they're out of their element in a community they don't know anyone in, maybe they're concerned about etiquette and don't want to rub people the wrong way - I get past all that by being willing to throw myself into it headfirst and risk making an ass of myself in the process, because I'd rather take that step and blunder than do nothing. So, some consideration for that might be in order; if someone isn't approaching you, they may simply lack the confidence to break the ice.

By that same token - maybe don't judge people harshly for not going out of their way to RP with your character or in the way you prefer to play? I don't like hearing about "<X person> doesn't roleplay" - type comments in OOC venues from people that haven't taken a meaningful step toward actually interacting with someone. Food for thought, thinner-skinned people might not stick around after hearing that; I just shrug and choose not to roleplay with those people, given apparent willingness to judge someone without so much as a conversation.