IC and OOC, conflicts

Many have trouble distinguishing these two. And, sometimes it happens that these two cross. For me it´s an eternal struggle to keep these two apart. I have to in order to juggle all of Baba´s conflicts and personal relationships, and also because I want all these conflicts to live on. When the conflicts hit the ooc mark, they are usually dead and gone from the IC world and that is always sad I think.

I get confused when characters break into OOC talk when interacting with Baba. They are signalling a break in mode so to speak, and then I don´t know where I have them. Do they want to continue to interact, did they just get fed up, or what? And, when they do that - it also means I can´t go on with whatever we were doing. Baba can´t react to ooc things, so the ball they thought they sent me falls flat on the ground. For example, in a heated discussion about RQ, the character says that we are a bunch of snotty roleplayers. Baba can´t react to that, as the concept "roleplaying" do not exist in her world. If you want a complete ooc discussion on RQ, we could take it to the fairgrounds, but when you are in discussion with Baba and want to continue that, it´s much better to come up with something she can react to IC.

The word roleplaying is as much of a mode break, as mentioning Macs - or game or anything else like that.

What really pisses me off sometimes, is when a player starts doing the ooc talk, and then insists that the whole reaction is totally IC. What a load of crap. Here´s an example from Baba´s turbulent life:

Baba was rescuing Noth, and as always doing it the cautious way. To make a long story short, the fallens got pissed because they had to wait so long to get rescued. Healers flew off to get some fallens, and the fighters fell shortly after that etc.. Well, Baba was laying next to one of the pissed off fallens, and we were discussing the event. In these kind of situations, I understand that the player is the one pissed. Happens to me too. But this player used all those ooc words like playing, game etc. and signalling quite strongly that it was the player who was upset, and then later insisted it was all IC. When I , Tove, get into disagreements with other players, I usually try to get them to the fairgrounds for a long chat. To clear the air, or simply to meet and agree to disagree. I tried to get this player to the fairgrounds, but she still refused, because it was " All so IC". Yeah, right. Sentences like " I feel sorry for you because you choose to play the game this way" is of course SO very IC. Bah. Why can´t they just admit they got pissed, go to the fairgrounds and yell at me Tove, instead of hiding behind the IC wall like that. I simply loathe that. A spade is a spade is a spade..

Another who was in this incident was Yor, and Baba and Yor laid the whole matter before a third party, White Wolf. And let him judge what they did wrong and how they could have done it better etc. So even if it was in the crossing of IC/OOC , we remained in the IC world and dealt with it there. The verdict was that both Yor and Baba was wrong, and the punishment was 10 hunts together on Noth:)

A similar incident, where we choose to take it the IC route, was when Yor got pissed off when he missed a Xar´Noth, in a battle on the north beach. It was in the crossing between IC and OOC as well, as I am of course the one making decisions for Baba in these cases, and he was pissed in the RL world as well. So, what to do? Fairgrounds or? Well, he dragged Baba to court, an excellent way of doing things, as it keeps the conflict IC. The verdict was frivolous, he spent some time in jail, got a new tatoo he could show off mentioning he was a jail-bird etc.. So, even if it sometimes is a cross between IC/OOC, it´s possible to go either way. To force whatever feelings you have in the real-world, in an IC direction. Sometimes, by doing that - you can deal with your ooc emotions and get them over it, and the conflict stays in the IC world. This can of course only be done if the all the players involved are capable of doing that. Now, these happenings between Baba and Yor is part of their history together, and comes up quite often. In Baba´s reaction when she hunts with Yor for example. She now always bites her nails, hides behind trees etc if something don´t go Yor´s way, and run from the headbutts...:)

Clanlord do sometimes gets the players upset, it´s the name of the game. What is best then I think, is to acknowledge that it is indeed so, and deal with it accordingly. If you are in a conflict with another character, and you feel it gets too close - there IS actually nothing wrong in telling the player. To insist something is IC however, when it clearly is not, and to insist on doing so even when the other player is doubting, is to behave like a jerk. I only have contempt for those that lie like this. Meet the player in the fairgrounds and clear the air if any is in doubt. Keep the IC and OOC field clear.