[Paragon Chat] Roleplaying!

[Shadeknight]

Just gonna make a quick topic. Who would be interested in roleplaying within the wonderous Paragon Chat?

Obviously all in the open until they can get private instances working (I think that's one of the down the line things? IDK)

[Antipode]

[Message removed by user]

[Vr2Lrose]

so far VirtueRP is the only rp channal
The  is also VirtueServer its active but its not rp related.
virtueunited and Virtue only have 1-2 people in them.

There should be a way (if there isnt) for owners of a channal to delete thier channel
  otherwize we are going to have 500+ dead channals before long.

[Shadeknight]

We've made Roleplay as a new channel. It's better for global RP since we're all on one server now.

[MWRuger]

I'm interested. It may take me a while to be able to react quickly enough though. I got slapped by somebody for telling a bad pun, which was ok, but by the time I found the proper emote it would have looked weird.

Luckily, Mr. Atomic Fire Skull is an animated adamantium skeleton infused with atomic fire so getting slapped is more dangerous for the slapper than him. Plus he has no nerve endings so he doesn't get the "feels" like others do.

[gammagirl]

Ooo... I'll join the RP channel next time I log in. I've been so busy with my costumes and such I haven't paid attention

[Shadeknight]

Heh.

Once things are settled in a bit better and we have more to use/do (I.E Bases, mission maps/private instances), I think the RP community could really bloom -

But yeah, for now? Hop into Roleplay channel! We don't bite.

[FloatingFatMan]

We don't bite.

I do! (on request)

[AlaikaBalta]

I'd love to join in, but I have no idea how I can join a new channel in PC. XD

[gammagirl]

I do! (on request)

How you doing?...

[FloatingFatMan]

How you doing?...

I'm great, just sharpening my teeth!

[FloatingFatMan]

Something that's been bugging me recently and I feel should be brought up, and that's the world we RP in.

Back in live, the US and EU RPers were quite different breeds of fish.. As I understood it, US players tended to RP in small groups and there wasn't a lot of interaction between you; you had no "shared world" RP, just small bubbles for groups of folks.  Whereas we in the EU, on the Union server, had a shared world for the most part (there are always exceptions), that we tried hard to keep consistent and generally agreed among ourselves that stuff one group did would usually have happened for other groups as well.  This let us do such large RP events as the Requiem War, or the events surrounding the awakening of Mot, with scores of people taking part and posting fiction and artwork etc to go along with the plot.

Now, since PC's launch, I've been seeing several folks talking about the "vanishing", or that the city is empty of crime, or citizens, or other things like that, all relating to the game's close down.  When this gets mixed in with other folks who, like me, are RPing as if nothing at all has changed, it becomes extremely jarring and forces me to either say something ICly, or ignore it, and I don't like ignoring people as that's rude.

So, I think some kind of consensus really does need to be reached here.  I don't want to force my view of things on people, and I don't want their views forced on me, so I think that in the long run, it might be best if, when you're in public locations such as Pocket D, folks not mention the last 2.5 years at all. That way the whole problem is avoided and clashes don't happen.  If you want to RP they happened, or didn't, just keep that to between like minded players in less public places.

What do folks think?

[Shadeknight]

I go with a 3 year gap almost, but everything is kinda still going on. Without the Battalion, Dimensionless, and True Rikti that is.

But I agree, let's leave the 'oh no ones doing criminal activity' etc outside of the D at the very least.

[LaughingAlex]

I like to go with a "temporal freeze" on the dimension rather than like, destroyed or anything, and had been for some time.  So I have been roleplaying it as the dimension is still "healing" as the reason why the zones are especially empty, as my main character is a hyper-advanced robot that detects that.  My character had been observing the dimension from another for a...particularly long time(to her perspective, due to the 'shelter' dimension's time flow being very different).

The reason I've chosen to roleplay it as that ever since the shutdown was because there was no way the game itself could remain shut down forever.  Paragon chat to me is just the beginning.

[Vr2Lrose]

My story  was  similar, that there were some  magical storms 3 years back  due to some portalcorp experiment and/or incarnates over tapping the natural lay lines. and they evacuated and quarantined the  paragon/isles/prae areas and most people either hopped a portal/space ship/ ect...or  drove over to Michigan (Champs is set in Michigan)

And at this point the  multidimentional/temporal laylines are restabalizing and maybe dj zero has  done some  power dampening while the city stablizes so people can get back in but powers are not what they used to be. so people can do flashy aura stuff and simple combat but cant really blast... much like it always was in Pocket D.

so if something doesnt work...blame Zero!

[FloatingFatMan]

And to me, the daily life of heroing in Paragon City has continued, just as it always has, for the last 2.5 years...

This is why I think it's best if we just don't mention it when in public areas; there's too much disparity for it to be workable in groups of more than 1 unless everyone's in the same boat.

[Zortel]

I'm just trying to keep it a bit indeterminate when bringing up stuff that has happened between then and now, in game. A little fudge keeps the gears turning, or something.

And when I buy fudge, I buy Zortel-brand Vague Vanilla Fudge!

(On another note, would it be cool if I brought back the ol' IC Story Thread from CoH roleplay forums, a place to post little bits of fiction that may not need their own thread?)

[FloatingFatMan]

(On another note, would it be cool if I brought back the ol' IC Story Thread from CoH roleplay forums, a place to post little bits of fiction that may not need their own thread?)

Perhaps a "Unionverse IC Fiction" thread for those wishing to RP in a shared world where there was no closedown, and a "Virtueverse IC Fiction" thread for those preferring "Island" style RP where they are unaffected, and do not affect, others?

* FloatingFatMan bets we can't agree on that. :p

[Zortel]

Perhaps a "Unionverse IC Fiction" thread for those wishing to RP in a shared world where there was no closedown, and a "Virtueverse IC Fiction" thread for those preferring "Island" style RP where they are unaffected, and do not affect, others?

What about tagging posts in an IC storythread with ((Unionverse)), rather than having two separate threads?

Really I just want to get my writing on again and get to grips with some characters. Slowly the memories are coming back to me of them after many gathered dust, but...

[FloatingFatMan]

That works for me! Get writing, girl! I need to get on with some, too!

[Vr2Lrose]

im fine with it haveing never been shut down,  my character was prittymuch over in mishigan (champ online) most of the time, and icly she had access to interdimentional travel I followed one of my coalition buddies.  so weather it closed  or not weather CO is same universe or not its pritty easy to
glaze over those details.

Though i think its still fun to blame zero for lack of powers. and generally some sort of "storm" or threat of a "storm"  be it magical or mundane is a good reason why a lot of random people would move  physically or dimentionally all at one timeish, Typically some stay behind to help with general repairs.

its possible some people got timelocked without the entire city being frozen like if they had been in ouraburus. it was such chaos im sure a lot of characters and civilians didnt know what was going on icly

[gammagirl]

I think maybe we need to make a list of issues we need to agree on and then knock them out one by one... like...

1. Did time stop or go on as normal?
2. Have people vanished or we just pretend they're still there?
3. Have our powers vanished or we just pretend they're still there?
Etc...

[FloatingFatMan]

I think maybe we need to make a list of issues we need to agree on and then knock them out one by one... like...

1. Did time stop or go on as normal?
2. Have people vanished or we just pretend they're still there?
3. Have our powers vanished or we just pretend they're still there?
Etc...

Well, for me it's simple.

1.  No
2.  No
3.  No. Still godlike. :p

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

Well, for me it's simple.

1.  No
2.  No
3.  No. Still godlike. :p

So your answer is...
Did time stop? No
Go on? No
People vanished? No
Still there? No
Powers gone? No
Still there? No (Still godlike.)
Basically...

[Captain Electric]

LOL

I took the opposite tactic when people around CO, TSW or DCUO would make claims about how the shutdown had affected their fictional characters--a non-fictional event, mind you, which had nothing to do with lore the writing team at Paragon Studios had planned. Still, people can do anything they like with their own character lore. And telling people they shouldn't talk about years of their characters lives around me sounded a bit too Big Brother for my tastes and so I will never do that to you. Many of my characters are likely to express unbridled curiosity and ask lots and lots of questions about what did happen to yours. So no offense, Fatman, but if anyone ever replies with "I bet you're fun at parties"... I warned you!

So my answer was "yes". Every time.

Whatever you say happened, yes, it happened. I believe you. Somehow, owing to some complicated techno-babble that I can't possibly [be bothered to] explain [without god modding you like an arrogant rascal], everybody's right about their characters, albeit not necessarily right about mine or anyone else's. Which isn't so different from how we've always had to roleplay in super hero MMOs. In this grand--and let's admit it, bat$#&@ crazy--tapestry, it wouldn't be the first time that the steering wheel was yanked in ten different directions at once.

Now, I would encourage a Unionite thread where they can try to hash out some agreements. But afterward, unless they do a lot of ignoring, they will still all find themselves in a wider, wilder world, with jarring differences. Embrace these internal inconsistencies, for they might as well be the pillars that give our world consistency. If that sounds like crazy talk, welcome to Primal Earth--all Googolplex of them.

I'm not even going to get into what happened or didn't happen with my characters; there were hundreds of thousands of players over the years, over a dozen shards, each with lore that contained multiverses and probably millions of characters altogether. Somewhere within that tapestry existed my roster--like a speck.

Also,

One of things i miss most is my whimsically named PB, general incompetence. With his battlecry of "I know what I'm doing!" he only achieved 30 levels of making villains look bad before the shutdown.
NPC: "I heard the Council museum heist was foiled by general incompetence!"

lol'd at your signature.

[LaughingAlex]

LOL

I took the opposite tactic when people around CO, TSW or DCUO would make claims about how the shutdown had affected their fictional characters--a non-fictional event, mind you, which had nothing to do with lore the writing team at Paragon Studios had planned. Still, people can do anything they like with their own character lore. And telling people they shouldn't talk about years of their characters lives around me sounded a bit too Big Brother for my tastes and so I will never do that to you. Many of my characters are likely to express unbridled curiosity and ask lots and lots of questions about what did happen to yours. So no offense, Fatman, but if anyone ever replies with "I bet you're fun at parties"... I warned you!

So my answer was "yes". Every time.

Whatever you say happened, yes, it happened. I believe you. Somehow, owing to some complicated techno-babble that I can't possibly [be bothered to] explain [without god modding you like an arrogant rascal], everybody's right about their characters, albeit not necessarily right about mine or anyone else's. Which isn't so different from how we've always had to roleplay in super hero MMOs. In this grand--and let's admit it, bat$#&@ crazy--tapestry, it wouldn't be the first time that the steering wheel was yanked in ten different directions at once.

Now, I would encourage a Unionite thread where they can try to hash out some agreements. But afterward, unless they do a lot of ignoring, they will still all find themselves in a wider, wilder world, with jarring differences. Embrace these internal inconsistencies, for they might as well be the pillars that give our world consistency. If that sounds like crazy talk, welcome to Primal Earth--all Googolplex of them.

I'm not even going to get into what happened or didn't happen with my characters; there were hundreds of thousands of players over the years, over a dozen shards, each with lore that contained multiverses and probably millions of characters altogether. Somewhere within that tapestry existed my roster--like a speck.

Also,

lol'd at your signature.

^This.

It all boils down to perspective of things, one could say that different characters have differing perspectives even.  Hell, I sometimes even have characters of my own call my other characters liars behind their backs.....or just disprove some things some characters say.  Like for example, one character of mine will claim victories that are not possible within reason, another will flat out say that while said character did win, it was far from perfect.

[Vr2Lrose]

Exactly characters can SAY anything they want they may even believe what they say doesnt mean its what actually happened. I also often have my characters  conflict with eachother. its fun.

[AudreyWinter]

I apologize if this sounds snarky, but it's time I spoke up.

I don't think calling for a unified backstory is going to work. There will always be some people who don't agree with the fundamental premise of your shared narrative. For example, I choose to incorporate the shutdown as a major continuity event for all my characters. Universal and multiversal mega-events are common enough in comics that I see no reason that I should have to pretend nothing happened. If other people want to say nothing changed and ignore the past 2.5 years, that's their prerogative, but as for me and mine, this section of the multiverse collapsed because of a combination of factors and now something has happened to restabilize it, but with all the different Paragon Cities combined into one.

What you could do is get together a bunch of folks who do like the shared narrative, develop the continuity and give it a name. Those who want to use it could put a tag in their profiles that says, "This character uses the XYZ Continuity for roleplay purposes." Then those who choose to use the narrative can easily find others who do as well. The rest of us can cheerfully ignore it.

[FloatingFatMan]

^ And this is why I suggested that, in the interests of fostering amity and not godmodding folks, that we just don't mention the closedown, which was meta anyway, in public places.

It's the route that generates least number of problems.

[AudreyWinter]

^ And this is why I suggested that, in the interests of fostering amity and not godmodding folks, that we just don't mention the closedown, which was meta anyway, in public places.

It's the route that generates least number of problems.

Except it doesn't. It creates a problem for people like me who choose not to ignore the shutdown, for example, who would have to censor themselves in public because they wouldn't know who was around. That's only easier for people who wish to ignore the event, not for everyone. I'm certainly not saying you have to acknowledge the event if you don't wish to, far from. But my characters aren't going to stop talking about it, because for them, it happened.

I apologize if I'm coming off as hostile. I really don't intend to be. I just don't think that plan is at all viable. I would really recommend doing something that's opt-in rather than opt-out; setting up a shared continuity that folks can join in and use could be a heck of a lot of fun, and it doesn't try to silence people like me who prefer something else.

[FloatingFatMan]

In a public area such as Pocket D, it's not really possible for people to have different shared timelines.  It's either everyone agrees on one thing, or you get a jumble of things happening.

Hence why I suggest to just not really talk about it unless there are mostly like minded folks around. People are free, obviously, to do as they wish though.

[Captain Electric]

In a public area such as Pocket D, it's not really possible for people to have different shared timelines.

I respectfully disagree. And normally I'd leave it at that (or more likely not comment at all--I've already posted what I think), except that...

It's either everyone agrees on one thing, or you get a jumble of things happening.

...In your very next breath, you admit that a jumble of things happening (and of course having happened) is possible, though presumably not the outcome you prefer. Now let me tell you something about people and what you can expect from their characters...

Hence why I suggest to just not really talk about it unless there are mostly like minded folks around. People are free, obviously, to do as they wish though.

It's a shame that you mention that emboldened part last and with resignation. Because after 2.5 years, you can expect people to want to share their different experiences with each other and remark on their disparity--and accept their disparity, thus granting each other legitimacy and acceptance, with or within earshot of your roster and your sensibilities. It is up to you, or you and any like-minded players, how to resolve whatever conflict that this presents you with. But ultimately it is a conflict of your own making, and the classic POV that, "What I hear offends me, and is thus offensive, and is thus better muted," will not go over well in this community unless it is something truly despicable. Players playing their characters does not fit that description, most notably in a world where many heroes and villains played with causality daily.

People will want to tell their stories. Including over a beer. In Pocket D. I hope you can find a way to feel happy, not resigned, to see them doing so. For some of them it might be downright therapy. In any case, in a big community all on one server, an issue like this will never get resolved by the telling of one story. The only way to do that is with your own server and your own continuity or rules. I admire what Unionverse accomplished, and your roster's POV and mine have enough similarity that I would put characters there. But Paragon Chat and future projects will have the less-nuanced goal of bringing fifteen servers of players together.

[FloatingFatMan]

You're awfully good at reading a load of non-existent subtext into a short sentence. Do you practice or does it come naturally?

Or to put it another way if you don't get what I mean. Put words into your OWN mouth, not mine. I have no subtext in my post.

All I'm suggesting is that people try to avoid causing conflict in a public area. If you don't want to do that, that's your choice.  People can either ignore the disparity, presume the person is from another dimension, or is a nutbar like one guy last night (or many other options, obviously).

[AudreyWinter]

Whoa, easy there, CE. Step back, take a breath. Let's not assume malice here. I don't agree with FFM's proposal either, but we spent a good time chatting in the D last night and nothing blew up. He's (-checks -- crap, not yet-) -- er, he will be on my friends list as soon as I remember to do so. Just because we disagree rather fundamentally on the issue of what, exactly, happened and what characters should be doing/saying about it is no reason to start pointing fingers. We can all get through this without any blood being drawn.

[FloatingFatMan]

Exactly. It was just a suggestion, nothing more. If people don't want to do it, that's absolutely fine, it was just a suggestion after all.  I'm not going to go cry into my beer over it, I'm not going to have a tantrum over it, and I'm not going to have a go at people for saying things they're not saying, over it.

My posts say what they say, nothing more. I don't hide things in subtexts and resent when people try to put words into my mouth. If something bears saying, I say it.

[Shadowe]

Exactly. It was just a suggestion, nothing more. If people don't want to do it, that's absolutely fine, it was just a suggestion after all.  I'm not going to go cry into my beer over it, I'm not going to have a tantrum over it, and I'm not going to have a go at people for saying things they're not saying, over it.

My posts say what they say, nothing more. I don't hide things in subtexts and resent when people try to put words into my mouth. If something bears saying, I say it.

To others: I've known FFM for 9 years, and I consider him a friend. He really doesn't do subtext. If he sees bull, he'll call bull. He can be overbearing, opinionated, and forthright, but he is never one to shy away from what he wants to say. Whether you choose to accept what he says is up to you, and he will also never hold your opinions against you (though he might try to persuade you of how wrong you are).

To FFM: Unfortunately I think you're onto a losing battle. I think the best bet is to go with "something happened", which for some people means there's missing time, and for others time carried on, and deal with character interactions case-by-case. Yep, it'll suck for people whose characters like to "fix" things, but it'll be less wearing on the nerves - and you and I are both old enough to not want to get wound up more than we absolutely have to.

[cat4hurricane]

How do you join this server, the only one I have is the one with everyone on it.

[Shadeknight]

There's no seperate server. o_O

We're all on the saaame one.

[FloatingFatMan]

To FFM: Unfortunately I think you're onto a losing battle. I think the best bet is to go with "something happened", which for some people means there's missing time, and for others time carried on, and deal with character interactions case-by-case. Yep, it'll suck for people whose characters like to "fix" things, but it'll be less wearing on the nerves - and you and I are both old enough to not want to get wound up more than we absolutely have to.

Already have, mate.  It's not something I feel strongly enough about to dig my heels in over.

[FloatingFatMan]

I'll tell you what IS really annoying about RPing with our American friends though...

The bloody time difference!!

[Shadeknight]

Pfft. American time zones best zones

[LaughingAlex]

Alright alright alright.  Everyone stop, really.

Firstly, no one can really dictate the actions of others, really thats terrible roleplaying, we all know that.  Hell some of us know what that looks like taken to stereotype bad anime levels in CO.

Secondly, again, perspective matters.  Nothing stops someone from telling their own side of the story, and what has happened to them varies from person to person.  To some, the paragon city we go into in paragon chat is a new dimension thats identical to the old, to others, it's a temporally frozen place healing, to others it's the same dimension coming back to life and restoring itself.  All of those and others are FINE.  Because it's based on a different perspective.

No need to fight over this anyone.

[LaughingAlex]

And for the record, one reason so many people love the fire and ice book series, is because it's the perspectives of the characters that matters as much as whats actually happening and you don't always get the full truth of things happening.  Some characters lie, even.  It helps fuel the positive kinds of drama behind good story telling.

[Vr2Lrose]

I do not think  anyone  is trying to change other people's characters I think  some people are hoping  for an explanation to  be declared as "cannon"   for people who want a semi official story. 

this doesn't  force  everyone to use the "cannon"  story-line  especially in a world where cross dimensional transfers,  time/space travel  magic  super science  and pocket dimensions are all commonplace. people are free to make up their own version of events but some people really like "cannon" to fall back on or at least try to make their own version make sense with.

[FloatingFatMan]

Alright alright alright.  Stop everyone, really.

Firstly, no one can really dictate the actions of others, really thats terrible roleplaying, we all know that.  Hell some of us know what that looks like taken to stereotype bad anime levels in CO.

suggestion
noun
1.
an idea or plan put forward for consideration.
"here are some suggestions for tackling the problem"
synonyms:   proposal, proposition, motion, submission, recommendation;


No one is trying to force anyone to do anything. If you think they are, well, that's your issue.

[LaughingAlex]

suggestion
noun
1.
an idea or plan put forward for consideration.
"here are some suggestions for tackling the problem"
synonyms:   proposal, proposition, motion, submission, recommendation;


No one is trying to force anyone to do anything. If you think they are, well, that's your issue.

Wasn't suggesting that people were doing that floatingfatman.

[FloatingFatMan]

Wasn't suggesting that people were doing that floatingfatman.

No, you flat out stated it.

[Shadeknight]

Guuuuuuysssssssss.

pls. stop.

[Captain Electric]

Forgot I posted here. Wow lots of drama over some criticism.

So what did Pocket D look like this past weekend? I had a lot of weekend plans and wasn't able to get on. I would hope that when we're arguing at each other about the D, we're at least doing it over a packed interdimensional nightclub, not DJ Zero's bingo hall at last call.

[FloatingFatMan]

Aside from one dip who seemed to enjoyed shouting profanities every couple of seconds and being a complete douchenozzle to almost everyone, it was fine.

[Acanous]

My own main, Acanous, is a planeswalking keeper of reality with extradimensional senses. He is unaffected by temporal rearrangement (Like retcons) and "Sees" things (like the missing people) because most of him is outside of the dimension, and he carries a thin film of not-this-dimension with him. So if he mentions it, feel free to correct him.

In virute, this actually meant I was more active in open world RP than isolated groups. My other characters don't share this ability, or the causes for it.

[Rejolt]

I've remade my main in DCUO, CO, TSW and SWTOR. Her genetic code gets around...

[Vr2Lrose]

i ve remade my mains on TOR, WOW, Archeage, CO, STO, Neocron, WOD java chats, IRC ffrp, a doctor who amino.

but in my ic resoning my guild was based around an interdimentional portalship and we were friendly with 3-4 timelords and 1 super sayans.  so I could easilly play into anyone elses story ic.

[LaughingAlex]

No, you flat out stated it.

Where in "Firstly, no one can really dictate the actions of others, really thats terrible roleplaying, we all know that.  Hell some of us know what that looks like taken to stereotype bad anime levels in CO." did I say that any of you were doing that right here?

Secondly, here, where am I suggesting anyone is doing anything? 

"Secondly, again, perspective matters.  Nothing stops someone from telling their own side of the story, and what has happened to them varies from person to person.  To some, the paragon city we go into in paragon chat is a new dimension thats identical to the old, to others, it's a temporally frozen place healing, to others it's the same dimension coming back to life and restoring itself.  All of those and others are FINE.  Because it's based on a different perspective." ?

The last part?  Yeah I felt some people were fighting here, perhaps I misread.  Honestly I'm utterly annoyed someone would misread what I was saying here.

I only said, at the last sentence, no need to fight over anything here.

[Captain Electric]

My own main, Acanous, is a planeswalking keeper of reality with extradimensional senses. He is unaffected by temporal rearrangement (Like retcons) and "Sees" things (like the missing people) because most of him is outside of the dimension, and he carries a thin film of not-this-dimension with him. So if he mentions it, feel free to correct him.

In virute, this actually meant I was more active in open world RP than isolated groups. My other characters don't share this ability, or the causes for it.

My namesake character has a similar ability, as do several parallels of him. Some NPC characters in the game had this ability too. Montague Castanella "...has a unique ability. He is unaffected by temporal shifts. Somehow, his brain can perceive alterations within a timeline." Of course he didn't realize he had this ability until Ouroboros--who also have the ability to detect such shifts, merges, divergences--arrived and started adjusting the timeline.

And that, really I suppose, is why I was earlier trying (apparently in vain) to say that there really was never a "problem" here to begin with. The City of Heroes time stream is a malleable thing, and your character's perspective (as opposed to someone else's) might not depend on truth or lies at all, but simply who's done which content or who hasn't. So other player-characters having experienced a causality or causalities different from yours is in no way god modding, which was one of the mole hills put forth up-thread.

If it were god modding, some of the City of Heroes lore would not even have been possible, particularly with regard to Ouroboros and whether or not your characters or someone else's had done all of the arcs there. Furthermore, Pocket D's lore places it in its own space and DJ Zero commands doorways to many other realities, as mentioned in Zero's Redcap arc. On top of this, a lot of players had really zany ideas about the experiences of their characters and where those experiences placed them on the world stage--it wasn't exactly the kind of game that discouraged that.

I'll say this more diplomatically. I really never saw the problem here, or at least, I don't see any circumstances that didn't already exist in some form prior to the shutdown. Our ability to imaginatively reconcile our creative differences is what makes us better at sharing public (and imaginary) spaces. When you're dealing with MMO pretendy fun realms, there are some imperfections that come with the package and we're fortunate that City of Heroes has a kind of built-in plot gimmick to smooth them out. The compromises we have to make to help that along aren't tremendous like they might be in other shared RP spaces. Everyone has a lot of space to tell their own story alongside others, and so I don't think I'd ever agree to any suggestion that implied players should limit themselves creatively in a beloved public space. I don't believe their creative expression is problematic in the least, and so I don't agree that the suggested limits above would be doing it better.

[Captain Electric]

Also: bear in mind, lacking any artificial creative barriers and unnecessary self-censorship, like-minded groups will emerge more naturally (such as characters realizing they're from the same or similar worlds). That's an interesting dynamic. It's always more interesting when you take the roleplay where it goes naturally. That can only occur in a shared space where player-characters are at least open to hearing each other's diverse tales. Believing them or not is an IC thing, but players shouldn't censor their characters any more than it would be in the character's personality to (Edit: Within the TOS, of course ). Players should feel free to express themselves, and, like I point out above, I see no reason why that should cause grief for others around them. The gimmick is there to support suspension of disbelief between alternate realities if you pay attention to the lore, and Pocket D sits right at the center of that gimmick. It always has. It's not some bar down the street, and was never written to be.

[Centershock]

Also: bear in mind, lacking any artificial creative barriers and unnecessary self-censorship, like-minded groups will emerge more naturally (such as characters realizing they're from the same or similar worlds). That's an interesting dynamic. It's always more interesting when you take the roleplay where it goes naturally. That can only occur in a shared space where player-characters are at least open to hearing each other's diverse tales. Believing them or not is an IC thing, but players shouldn't censor their characters any more than it would be in the character's personality to (Edit: Within the TOS, of course ). Players should feel free to express themselves, and, like I point out above, I see no reason why that should cause grief for others around them. The gimmick is there to support suspension of disbelief between alternate realities if you pay attention to the lore, and Pocket D sits right at the center of that gimmick. It always has. It's not some bar down the street, and was never written to be.

^ This, right here.

I've been in and out of Paragon Chat and I've purposefully made it so that my characters left Paragon City before shutdown so they could have some kind of life elsewhere. Now that we have an outlet for this, they can slowly come back and at least see what has happened. So I guess you can count me in among those in which time actually passed by. They were just elsewhere.

And honestly, inter-dimensional threads and universes joining together is a common comic book trope/plot device. It is done at some point (/stares at DC Comics) and it's perfectly acceptable. At least I think it's perfectly acceptable. So we should all feel free to have our characters talk about it (what happened in their 'universe' per say). I believe it makes for great roleplay.

[Lycantropus]

In this case I'd go with the "all of it is true" mindset.

If time passed for the character, it did. If there was something that happened to their world, it did. If someone's character is now 'powerless' because of the dimensional shift, then it happened, and if this is the universe your character was always in and nothing has happened and still have all your powers... why not?

To me, at least, I could easily brush it aside as "Wow, something serious went down in some other dimensions. Glad it didn't happen to mine!" or "Wow, something crazy happened in other dimensions too?!" Some people referred to switching servers as 'dimensional hopping' (and as I had Lyc's on different servers, they had different powersets and slightly different backgrounds...)

Instead of being 'distracted' by it, why not try and incorporate it into roleplay?

Serious Swan is friends with Duck of Delights. They played together on the same server back in the day... they come here. SS wants to roleplay that the world ended, there was darkness, and now she appeared here, no idea why. DD wants to ignore that ever happened, so this is their world and nothing has changed. When they meet, they know each other, but quickly realize they aren't the same friends from the same dimension, even though they're exactly alike.

So many RP opportunities for discussing what they think happened to their respective friends from their dimensions, and where they may be... finding their friendship again, and if it's the same even though technically neither of them are different from the ones they knew. (maybe it'll give them opportunities to change little aspects of their character that they may have decided they didn't like, but didn't want to change at the time)

Putting together the pieces as to what happened to whom could be a big server-wide RP event in and of itself. I never did much of the Pocket D style of roleplay back in the day, but it sounds like a lot of collaborative storytelling... This could be another angle to explore.

*shrug* could be fun.

Lyc~

[FloatingFatMan]

And then you get 2 folks with wildly different stories, both from Primal Earth.

[AudreyWinter]

And then you get 2 folks with wildly different stories, both from Primal Earth.

I think where we disagree is that you see this as a problem, where I, at least, see it as standard operating procedure.

[Captain Electric]

And then you get 2 folks with wildly different stories, both from Primal Earth.

Or as Wolverine would say, just another Tuesday in Pocket D, bub.

[Zombie Hustler]

Or as Wolverine would say, just another Tuesday in Pocket D, bub.

Yes. If it isn't a problem for Wolverine to be in multiple places simultaneously in his own universe, then this, too, shall pass.

[General Idiot]

And then you get 2 folks with wildly different stories, both from Primal Earth.

And how many Primal Earths are there? Sixteen, at last count. Seventeen, if you count this separately from the original live servers.
Alternately, time travel shenanigans could've happened. Or any other of a pile of different reasons two people from the same place originally might have different stories.

[Shadeknight]

I'm going to plug here, as this may be of interest to people.

http://bit.ly/1gRbBOF

I'll have a proper thread up this weekend.

[AudreyWinter]

Here's my take on it. Feel free to ignore me -- most do.

It was a combination of things that ultimately led to this portion of the multiverse collapsing in on itself. The constant tunnelling of Portal Corporation and other groups and individuals riddled the fabric of the multiverse with weak points. The upswing in Incarnate activity, the approach of the Battalion, the scheming (and, in fact, the defeat) of Emperor Cole -- all of it pushed, pulled and tore at reality.

The death of Statesman was the beginning of the end. It sent a shockwave through the local multiverse, and the weakened fabric simply could not hold any longer. It began to unravel. Reality started to fall apart. Fraying from the edges inward, it closed in on Paragon City in multiple parallel universes. Those who saw it coming fled, taking what and whom they could with them. Those who did not see, or refused to acknowledge the coming darkness, barely had time to notice anything was wrong on that final night. Reality tore completely, spilling countless souls into utter void. Sentient minds had no way to conceptualize the experience. All went dark. The multiverse flowed around the sudden hole where the Paragon Cities had been.

Those who escaped had varying experiences depending on the method and timing of their escape. Some remembered everything. Others insisted Paragon City was just down the highway and that nothing had happened. Life went on for all of them.

A timeless time later, though, somewhere in the void... a power took hold. Scattered scraps, memories and souls began to gravitate together. Bound by their likeness they merged. Paragon City -- a Paragon City fused from the many, E pluribus unum -- burst into being in the middle of the void, and the souls who had been spilled into the emptiness awoke once more.

Most of them had no idea anything had happened. One moment bled into the next for them. But others who had escaped the "end" returned with experiences of their own. Some speak now of a terrible collapse. Others speak of time passing in other places. Yet others speak as if none of that makes any sense to them. They are all true.

Paragon City lives.

[Shadeknight]

I like that take on it, Audrey.

[gammagirl]

That one is pretty awesome

[Lycantropus]

And then you get 2 folks with wildly different stories, both from Primal Earth.

And in the 2 to 15 other folks that say the same thing, with wildly different stories from their own "Primal Earth" they quickly realize they aren't the first ones to label themselves "Primal Earth"

The 'spirit' of such Online Co-Op roleplay, I think... through lack of experience (though discussing the concept with my son who does), is accepting each other's truths and incorporating them into the 'mutual story each person is telling' to each other. Okay, that means there's more than one 'Primal Earth' at least to them. There's no 'rule' saying that any given 'Primal Earth's' claim to the title makes it any more or less so.

@AudryWinter, that's a great suggestion, and play as much a role as anything else. If folks are 'freeform' RP'ing then I would think a high degree of flexibility in at least this regard should trump individual viewpoints (even if it's 'true' to that character) in much the same way in tabletop dice-rolling games allow for a player to come back in with someone who should be totally untrustworthy being accepted into the group because their previous character died for some reason.

(more within my realm of experience) More than once in my tabletop games, there's a nasty 'suspension of disbelief' because everyone knows it's a player re-integrating into the group because their previous character died because of bad decisions or bad combat rolls, but accept it because spending X amount of game sessions of that player's character gaining the trust of the group would ultimately detract from the overall story, or there'd be no reasonable logic to accept the character in the first place... again, this is all the players working together to get back to the story, rather than dither over details.

'Everything is true' or 'accepting at face value' to move the story along to the actual point is a mechanic used by writers and storytellers to progress the actual 'meat' of a story and has probably been used since before written words.

I also think it honors the vision of the City story-wise. There was a lot of great 'meta' to draw from, but even the Dev's official news and short story compilations included alternate reality folks.

...at the end of the day, if the multitude of views irritate you, express it through your character. Many realities just suffered an apocalypse and its survivors are now on your doorstep, some resembling friends you knew (and disappeared suddenly, but these seem to be just like them... or not... GO!)

(and looking at the clock I realize I REALLY need to go to bed!)

Don't look at it as a break in immersion, look at it as a chance to explore something different from your character's point of view.

Lyc~

[Mistress Bloodwrath]

Yeah.... I'm up for RP, once I get everything situated here.

However, I will be one of those players whose characters will insist that nothing happened. At all. And as for CO? That's just Earth 2, while this is Earth 1. Same characters, but slightly different in each game.

[Eventine01]

I think where we disagree is that you see this as a problem, where I, at least, see it as standard operating procedure.

This.

The essence here is the same thing as how things worked prior to City of Heroes shutting down. Everyone will have their take, ICly, OOCly, whatever. Not everyone's takes will get along.

However, if you're telling someone outright, OOCly, that their take is wrong, that player and character is not obligated to RP with you. Just like when the game was still running, everyone has to work to make themselves and their characters desirable to RP with, because RP is a voluntary thing. You cannot force a player or character to RP with you. You can only persuade them.

Naturally, SGs will emerge where like-minded people will agree on some sort of canon. That's already happened with some people. But there's no way you're going to be able to boss everyone around and tell them "do THIS or else," or you'll just convince them to avoid you and ignore you, if not persuade them to leave the community altogether.

TL;DR, be flexible and roll with the blows.

[FloatingFatMan]

No one is trying to tell anyone else what to do, it was merely a suggestion that we attempt to come up with some kind of mutually agreed consensus, or just not mention it at all. A suggestion that has passed now as people are just getting on with things and winging it as they come.

[mdlittle]

Well...,

 - The problem with 'mutual consensus' is that with some characters (like gravity controllers, teleporters, phase shifters, time manipulators or those who can tap into other dimensional energies like the nether realm) mutual consensus really isn't a factor that's inherent in their equations. It's kind of hard to nail down consensus with characters who can, quite literally, sidestep the whole issue. With that said, it's quite possible for x amount of time to have actually passed...for them, but no immediate change is noticed by the others. One of my characters would most certainly feel that x amount of time has passed, but then again...he's a dimension hoping wizard, so it's not unheard of that some spell-slinger returns with tales so far-fetched, it's simpler to just consider them slightly addled to completely insane. Needless to say, this is why he's not overwhelmingly social...

"If only you have seen what I have seen..." 

[FloatingFatMan]

The mutual consensus was for players, not characters, but it really doesn't matter any more.

[santander1]

I do! (on request)

You would.  ^_^

 (Hi there)

[Lord Nightmare]

My personal take is that of a legendarily amazing campaign from ADnD known as THE APOCALYPSE STONE.

The gist is that the players, no matter their true intentions, basically take the seed of existence from its resting place which has the same effect as removing the toothpick from the Cheeseburger of Reality. No one but the Gods, the one who contracted them to do this, and the players know exactly what caused the end of times and the players race to retrieve the Stone and return it to its rightful place. However, you always get there too late and the planes of existence have spread apart so much that the prime material plane (IE: Earth) suffers and is utterly destroyed.

For Primal Earth, our version of "The Stone" could be less a physical object and more of an event or being. The events of "Who Will Die" are a perfect candidate and could actually be our catalyst. Events that SHOULD NOT have happened did happen, and so the powers that be and the universe itself had to do the unthinkable and reset back to a time before this occurred. As it geared up to do this monumental feat, portals stopped working, any communications between other dimensions ceased to be, people were trapped with no idea what was going on and what to do, and so the material worlds began undergoing a cataclysm of biblical proportions. Old Testament, real "Wrath of God" type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!!!!

And in the final moments, the world just stops. Frozen in time. Praetoria, Primal Earth, Croatoa, Pocket D, Ouroboros.. all are just stuck as they were. The universe prepares, it slowly works things back to before things went bad, and does what it can to prevent this from happening.

And that's where we come in. We've reset back to before that godforsaken Obelisk was found, and it has ceased to be. Everyone goes on with their normal lives, as if nothing had happened. But some feel this strange sensation, an inability to shake the idea that yesterday wasn't how they remember.

[Hazukichan]

No one is trying to tell anyone else what to do, it was merely a suggestion that we attempt to come up with some kind of mutually agreed consensus, or just not mention it at all. A suggestion that has passed now as people are just getting on with things and winging it as they come.

I will admit I only read the first and last posts in this thread, but I still think your initial suggestion has merit. The world is simply more interesting if we infer that people are still going about their lives and getting into peril, heroes still have things to do and evildoers of all the good old flavors to thwart. I've been playing it mostly that way -perhaps with a mysterious lull in things around the launch of ParaChat, but since then it seems to have narratively picked up again- and it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me to go "welp, the city's all empty and nothing's going on... so uh... that's boring" when we could be collaboratively imagining and portraying virtually anything, from minor scuffles with ganger punks to excessively epic galactic-level crises... which was always kind of this game's strength on the RP field, no?

So I would suggest we who find this notion appealing, do indeed go on and enjoy the game and its roleplay-scape that way; if others disagree and insist on being very loud about it, then we can move elsewhere in the world, or ask them if there's some reasonable compromise to be made, or -if there is a critical difference in opinion and conduct compatibility- ignorelist them rather than argue and both get upset and/or bother all of the other people present. I try not to overuse ignore -it's a powerful tool, and so demands responsibility- but better to use it than endure persistent person-to-person friction and potential loss of motivation to come online any more at all, I think? I mean, two people who don't see each other might still contribute to the overall community in their own ways.

[Nyghtshade]

Here's my take on it. Feel free to ignore me -- most do.

It was a combination of things that ultimately led to this portion of the multiverse collapsing in on itself. The constant tunnelling of Portal Corporation and other groups and individuals riddled the fabric of the multiverse with weak points. The upswing in Incarnate activity, the approach of the Battalion, the scheming (and, in fact, the defeat) of Emperor Cole -- all of it pushed, pulled and tore at reality.

The death of Statesman was the beginning of the end. It sent a shockwave through the local multiverse, and the weakened fabric simply could not hold any longer. It began to unravel. Reality started to fall apart. Fraying from the edges inward, it closed in on Paragon City in multiple parallel universes. Those who saw it coming fled, taking what and whom they could with them. Those who did not see, or refused to acknowledge the coming darkness, barely had time to notice anything was wrong on that final night. Reality tore completely, spilling countless souls into utter void. Sentient minds had no way to conceptualize the experience. All went dark. The multiverse flowed around the sudden hole where the Paragon Cities had been.

Those who escaped had varying experiences depending on the method and timing of their escape. Some remembered everything. Others insisted Paragon City was just down the highway and that nothing had happened. Life went on for all of them.

A timeless time later, though, somewhere in the void... a power took hold. Scattered scraps, memories and souls began to gravitate together. Bound by their likeness they merged. Paragon City -- a Paragon City fused from the many, E pluribus unum -- burst into being in the middle of the void, and the souls who had been spilled into the emptiness awoke once more.

Most of them had no idea anything had happened. One moment bled into the next for them. But others who had escaped the "end" returned with experiences of their own. Some speak now of a terrible collapse. Others speak of time passing in other places. Yet others speak as if none of that makes any sense to them. They are all true.

Paragon City lives.

And some few rode it out in Pocket D, drinks in hand.  No unraveling universe could best DJ Zero.