I thought I would finally just go ahead and address this one. It's been something I've been a long time in waiting to poke at, and I think I finally have the words to put to this, so here's my go.
We don't communicate very well. We players have a tendency to get irate or entitled, or snippy, or just plain mad. I'm not innocent, I'm just addressing it. I think this is a bad trend for us as a community. We do this, and then the DM's have a hard time communicating with us in return.
The cycle goes like this with no inherant role as to who started it all:
I don't really thing this is a good way for us to communicate, and if we do keep things up this way nothing will get done about it. So what I'd like to propose are a few measures:
1) Read your post before you post it. Yes, I know that you're probably going to point to any post I've written on my phone and laugh at me for saying this, but hear me out. If you're making a post in a debate, or when you're angry, or when you disagree with someone then finish it. Once you've finished it, tab out and do something else for a bit and then read it. If after a few minutes to a half hour the post doesn't seem inflammatory then it's probably constructive, or at least not a rage post made for the purpose of ranting at people. I've done this with some of my own posts and I've found that tabbing back into game and then re-reading a post later helps me a lot.
2) We should start an OOC channel - either a php based IRC type chat, or a chat room that can be linked to the forums without having to use skype so that you don't need to be added to someone's contact list to get into the channel. The reason for this is so that the community can interact with each other out of game and sort of see each other separate from their characters. We have a tendency to box people into our perceptions of them, and as such a lot of us might judge people based on their characters. Knowing a person out of character is a good way to remind yourself that you're just dealing with another person, even if you simply agree with or don't like them.
Anyway that's a short post and I have more ideas regarding the subject somewhere. But I would mainly like to use this post for the purpose of discussion of communication among the community. Learning to communicate better takes communication too, so I hope this conversation helps.
_________________ Gerald Edmund Discord: Metal Viking Guy #5433
DC taxation is theft!
Last edited by bobofwestoregonusa on Wed, May 20 2015, 20:27 PM, edited 1 time in total.
2) We should start an OOC channel - either a php based IRC type chat, or a chat room that can be linked to the forums without having to use skype so that you don't need to be added to someone's contact list to get into the channel. The reason for this is so that the community can interact with each other out of game and sort of see each other separate from their characters. We have a tendency to box people into our perceptions of them, and as such a lot of us might judge people based on their characters. Knowing a person out of character is a good way to remind yourself that you're just dealing with another person, even if you simply agree with or don't like them.
I recommend raidcall. They give you a free server that they host themselves. It's basically like Teamspeak or Vent, but free and with a really nice interface.
Anywho, getting angry about anything in this game is pretty pointless. Getting angry on the forums is even more pointless, since we're all here to pretty much do the same thing: play on Amia. We're all here to have fun, and probably escape from RL for just a bit.
Bearing that in mind, someone having a strong, differing opinion from one's own shouldn't be too big a deal, since they're both just differing opinions on how to have fun.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. After all the years I've been here, the best thing I've learned is it's all about respect. For yourself, and your fellow Amians. Respect each other, and everything gets along swimmingly.
I wholely recommend this. I've used this for several of my online communities and it really does help not only bonding but also getting to know each other.
If people like the idea, I'm more than happy to set up a server.
_________________
"Operating in the border between light and darkness, shadowdancers are nimble artists of deception. They are mysterious and unknown, never completely trusted but always inducing wonder when met"
A chat room would be nice, but a voice-chat room would be annoying IMO. I know, that makes me old... but I'm not the only old person here I'm sure. I've always been surprised there wasn't an official chatroom. Relying on personal skypes just reinforces the cliques that happen here.
A chat room would be nice, but a voice-chat room would be annoying IMO. I know, that makes me old... but I'm not the only old person here I'm sure. I've always been surprised there wasn't an official chatroom. Relying on personal skypes just reinforces the cliques that happen here.
You can have text-only chat rooms alongside voice ones in Raidcall, Cas.
_________________
"Operating in the border between light and darkness, shadowdancers are nimble artists of deception. They are mysterious and unknown, never completely trusted but always inducing wonder when met"
Okay. Still just voicing (heh) my concern about voice chat rooms. If people have the ability to activate voice chat and text chat all in the same room, the voice chat part is annoying. Every time I turn the volume off, so it doesn't interfere with my music or bother my roommates, which makes me miss any vocal responses, or if I can't turn that part off I won't use the room. In a community focused around a 10+ year old text based game, somehow I don't think I'm alone in that assessment.
I do agree Cas, one concern I have about voice chat is, as has flared up in the past on a few occasions, people have actually opted to Party hunt exclusively via voice chat, which turns it in to an incredibly OOC thing to do.
_________________
"Operating in the border between light and darkness, shadowdancers are nimble artists of deception. They are mysterious and unknown, never completely trusted but always inducing wonder when met"
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Location: The downeaster "Alexa"
It would be nice to have voice chat as an option. Sometimes it's difficult to tell someone's tone through text and that leads to subtle misunderstandings or assumptions that a lot of our miscommunication stems from. So while it doesn't have to be the standard, I would greatly appreciate having the avenue to actually speak to another player or DM.
_________________
You think Magic is your ally... but you merely adopted the Art. He was born in it. Molded by it. Sometimes, an angel is simply a devil with better intentions.
But seriously. We are a very small community with a huge learning curve that is pretty much required to endure in order to get involved in the story lines. Anything that aids in communication is a help to the game. A simple change in attitude helps. An OOC channel would probably help too.
On the attitude side of things, let's remember that not only are the people here actual people that we are interacting with, but they are an actual person that is in a very small group of role-players in a VAST internet of role-players. It would be nice to be nice to each other OOC every once in a while.
Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia [GMT +10]
Casvenx wrote:
A chat room would be nice, but a voice-chat room would be annoying IMO. I know, that makes me old... but I'm not the only old person here I'm sure. I've always been surprised there wasn't an official chatroom. Relying on personal skypes just reinforces the cliques that happen here.
This. Though I think we do have a chat in the sidebar, Amia Chat? But the link doesn't seem to work for me, hrmm.
Casvenx wrote:
A chat room would be nice, but a voice-chat room would be annoying IMO. I know, that makes me old... but I'm not the only old person here I'm sure. I've always been surprised there wasn't an official chatroom. Relying on personal skypes just reinforces the cliques that happen here.
Voice? Nah... rather not. Text chat room is great.
Other servers I played on had IRC channels, but... they were rarely used, however, the dozen or so that used it were tight as a result.
I'd love to see Amia form as a community like that. It makes for better roleplay, more trust in others and their actions and helps move storylines along.
We may all be the Lead Actor in our own show, but we're supposed to be supporting actors in everyone else's too.
The reason I would prefer not to use skype for this sort of thing is because it would require us, again, to invite people we already have on our contact lists. And something browser based would allow access to the people entirely uninterested in downloading any social media apps. IRC chats are best for this purpose because it allows us to use it without registration.
_________________ Gerald Edmund Discord: Metal Viking Guy #5433
The reason I would prefer not to use skype for this sort of thing is because it would require us, again, to invite people we already have on our contact lists. And something browser based would allow access to the people entirely uninterested in downloading any social media apps. IRC chats are best for this purpose because it allows us to use it without registration.
Plus Skype can be utterly annoying if you have a big enough group chat and it never stops pinging you about it. Even with sound turned off it can be extremely terrible.
This is the new rizon IRC link for interactive web chat, I think? I connected just fine.
Any rate, if a DM can modify PaladinOfSune's post, we will have IRC again. Not sure how often it was used in the past, but eh, at least there can be nobody saying we don't have one.
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