Posted by The Arcane(VIP) on December 28, 2000 at 00:43:42:
In Reply to: heh posted by Grallon on December 27, 2000 at 08:58:39:
> *************As for the Imms not caring what people do ooc. Yes, I agree with you. I make an ass of myself on a regular basis on this forum, and I would hate it if it affected how my char if I had one was treated in game. But what I am talking about is C H E A T I N G. And I DO believe the imms should take note of that. If you do not think Challen's public announcement of who he was was NOT cheating...well...then we will have to agree to disagree. What fucking public announcement? Here's how it worked. There are people I consider my friends that I knew on IRC and talked to on a regular basis. I mention to them I'm rolling a Rager wannabe, or I send them a log or two of a kickass fight I had. You've never once done this? If you know people who play CF and talk to them, not just about CF, but about random RL stuff too, you keep everything perfectly secret? I know that imms who are friendly with each other certainly usually tell each other who they're playing (even if they can just socket each other, and I'm *NOT* saying this is wrong). I never permagrouped, I never used or abused the fact that a handful (fewer than a half dozen) people knew who I was playing. And then what happens... there's a successful character, and people want to know who's playing him. People always do. So they ask around, and eventually one of my friends in whom I confided, "confides" in one of his friends on the condition that it remain secret, and this process is repeated. Keep in mind, Dhaevor was rolled at the beginning of November. Not until January did people know who played him... information takes time to circulate, and my only real mistake was deciding to tell the half dozen people in the first place. I NEVER, EVER came out and said "Look! It's me, Challen!" Not EVER. But after 2 months or so, literally every person who frequented IRC knew it by word of mouth, and once that was the case, there was no point denying it. And it sucked. People bugged me on IRC all the time about interviewing them, and then bugged me more in three cases I can think of after I rejected their applicants. I never gave any favors or anything of the sort based on the OOC connection. And then a certain dumbass slipped up and called me Challen over CB (while intoxicated, apparently), and things got worse from there. Ultimately a major factor in my deletion of the character on the eve of something cool I had planned for the village was the fact that everyone knew who I played. Oh, and what special benefits did I get? A tattoo? I got the tattoo before people knew who I was, and if you think BT would have somehow shown favoritism because of that, you're smoking crack (of course, imms would know who I was anyway... I have a very distinctive IP). Leadership? Psst... I won the Rites without losing a fight, and I doubt you'll find anyone at the time who thought I was a piss-poor choice for leader (Nullrick and Eueoniar excepted). Did I get ANY further rewards or benefits? No. Did I perhaps get more or better applicants than I would have otherwise? Maybe a few people rolled up Ragers because they knew I was the leader, I'll admit that, and I realize that's a potential negative consequence that hurts the game. But a majority of the people I inducted had been waiting since before I became leader... the backlog was just obscene. And after I deleted Dhaevor, I didn't tell people my future characters at all. And you know what? The same people who bitched and whined about how unfair it was that everyone knew Dhaevor=Challen were the same fucking ones bugging me day in and day out to tell them who I was playing. While I was playing Peroleth, I had to invent the fiction of a human necro Scarab applicant, and outright lie to my friends in order to get them and others to stop bugging me about who I play. Hell, I've had people e-mail me in recent months, out of the blue, to ask me if I'm Leika or whoever. It's ridiculous. It sucked, but I came to accept that if I wanted to play, I would have to be ultra-secretive about who I'm playing, in the same way some imms find they have to be. I realize that having everyone know who you play is bad for the game, but also, you know what, it sucks for the player, too. I can guarantee you that any chance I had as Dhaevor for any special quests or quest skills or anything of the sort were shot by the fact that the imms knew everyone knew who I was. Furthermore, I'm pretty sick of being singled out for something that happened a year ago now, when absolutely every IRC regular knows who absolutely every other IRC regular is playing, even if it's not posted on the forum or talked about in open chat. I haven't been on #carrion in 7 months now, to the day almost, and just from my occasional chats with people I still keep in touch with via ICQ, I know who's playing almost all the major heroes and cabal leaders at the moment, not that I really care. Anyway, that's my rant. I'm actually pretty anal about not mixing IC and OOC information and motives (I know I don't have a perfect track record in this regard, but I've learned from all my mistakes), and people who do so piss me off, and I'm not exactly thrilled about my name becoming synonymous for "cheating fuck" due to repetition.