Hmm. Where to begin...
Gonna spoiler it due to length.
Now, I'll certainly acknowledge that this is a valid concern, and won't dismiss it out of hand. However, I dunno if it's entirely fair to say that players don't have any agency anymore. It's not like every mission is one of strict control, and even then, I've said before that people are perfectly allowed to play the wild renegade that plays by no rules, but that other characters that are not like that would respond appropriately. Because if they don't, they are also breaking character immensely. And as long as everything stays IC, and doesn't bleed into ooc shouting (which I also am very much tired off, and wish to avoid whenever possible), I think that should be something that should be possible?
Of course, there shouldn't be IC micro down to every action every turn, but far as I see, that's not what happens most of the time. Personally, at least, I try to set guidelines or general goals, and let people fill them in themselves. But sometimes, that approach doesn't work out, such as when an Arbiter emerges and Miya is the only one with the IC knowledge of what they can do and what they have. And even then, I went against principle and posted in ooc about their crowdwire maneuvering capabilities, aka blatant meta, because the ic thing is just quick barking orders and have them followed sans question, because there was no time for big explanations IC.
Up till then, Lars was the one really leading the mission on the ground, I just let them do whatever, and choose how to tackle the soundwave problem themselves. But what was I supposed to do when the AoP appeared but to have Miya bark orders quickly due to him having to IC knowledge to outrule some of the plans that were proposed in OOC? Because discussing plans in OOC forever until you come to a conclusion, after which all the chars magically know the right answer, is blatant meta. Is that not a bad thing either? I normally try to avoid that, but here I broke my own rule cause it would've been lots of dead chars otherwise.
Thing is, what exactly is a 'hard ass commander' character supposed to do then? Just let everything be and never try to do his job (as given by the gm character)? Just break character constantly, meaning the whole char concept goes out the window? Because I already have Miya go out of char a lot of the time. Hell, Xan should have been fired from ARM/incinerated in an industrial oven several times over, but every time I search an IC excuse not to do that for OOC reasons, because he enjoys the character.
Next to that, here there aren't even real IC consequences. No pay cuts for anyone, nobody gets blacklisted from missions, nobody suddenly gets banned from team fund help. Just some angry grumbling from the overworked guy stuck in the hangar, but that's apparently completely going overboard. So what am I allowed to have him do then? Because when I don't command missions, and just go myself, some people complain Miya in his Avatar does everything and that they're bystanders at best. Hell, I'm intentionally leaving holes in my char build to ensure that, at least, he'll always need supporting characters.
Of course I don't mind if chars go off the rails, can give interesting situations, and have said as much in the past. But what, is Miya supposed to support that IC, and just leave everything be? I don't mind one bit OOC if people wanna disobey orders or defect from ARM or hold a dance party in the mess hall, as long as people are prepared to face the music IC and not drag it into OOC.
Finally, the comparison with M5 stands somewhat, but there's a but. Back then we were supposed to be the suicide squad, and lots of things were laughed away. But now, we are supposed to be a competent force that handles missions well, because the fate of the universe hangs in the balance and all that jazz. So how is a character, tasked by the gm avatar with ensuring competence and success of missions, supposed to work then? Not do his job in the slightest?
In the end, I think we should just really try to keep IC things IC, and not get OOC about it. And remember char=/=player. For example, if you asked Miya about M20 snapdragon, he'd be rather negative on several points. But if you ask me as a player, I'd say it was a fun read and exciting to follow. That's possible, right, for a char and its player to hold different opinions?
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Topic: Einsteinian Roulette: OOC and NEW PLAYER INFO (Read 2495396 times)