Let's talk about [OOC] messages

[Yonio]

◆ INTRODUCTION ◆​

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PREFACE
This is probably one of the several posts I make to have some more insight into what you guys think about a specific aspect of SRP/RPH. I'll say this now and probably repeat it in all of the posts I make with this sort of format.

These posts aim to have a civilized conversation and provide interesting points of view in regards to some subjects in the community from a healthy standpoint. Keep in mind that if you wish to have your own take on this format, you should be mindful of the topics you choose, as specific themes may not be suitable or will inevitably result in answers that do not meet the rules of the SRP forums (which will ultimately lead to the thread's deletion).

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DISCLAIMER
This disclaimer will be included in every single post that I make relating to this format. I do not intend to instigate drama or inflict any damage towards any specific individuals, nor defame them in any way, shape or form. These posts aim to provide feedback to the community and staff to strive for a healthier community.

Any attempts at trying to instigate drama against a specific individual or group from a negatively and subjective point of view will result in an immediate staff report, and the reply's subsequent deletion. It is important to upkeep this attitude, as a heavy influx of rule-breaking replies may result in the post being locked or deleted, which is not what I intend with these little community posts.

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◆ Let's talk about... OOC messages ◆​

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I'm guessing that most of you have already noticed how OOC doesn't have the best reputation in terms of what people usually post. I will not quote any specific messages, although I will refer to them at times in this post. The SRP community currently has to deal with a lot of players who think it is funny to post inappropriate or out-of-pocket messages in OOC. These messages range from "lewd" posts directed towards their friends, or rage-bait comments that use cringe as a way to get a reaction from the community.

This behavior is honestly quite concerning, considering that the main demographics of SchoolRP ranges from 13-18 (this is an estimation of the people I've met throughout my 5 years in the community. This may not be fully accurate, but it is clear that there are minors playing the server). I've been in VCs with friends over the age of 18 who have been utterly disgusted by some of these messages, so imagine how someone who's not as "mature" might react to these actions.

If you're reading this and you've sent one of these comments at some point, don't feel guilty for this, at least not too much. We all commit mistakes and do cringy stuff in an attempt to gain the attention of the community and be more popular. However, doing this will not only risk you getting warned, but also getting a bad reputation that'll make people think that you're a weirdo and that you shouldn't be around them, not to mention the fact that it'll also lower your chances to get in factions, teams, families, friend groups, etc.

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Now... what do you guys think? Remember, reply objectively and avoid any sort of aggressive or instigating behavior!​

 

[Popo]

It's fantastic that this has finally been brought to light. Personally, I find some messages and remarks humorous, and don't take as much offense at them; that's just a difference in age and maturity and a result of the communities I have grown up in. The target audience for SchoolRP is mostly children and young people, not negating the fact that adults are also able to play on the server. Nevertheless, it's important for people to realize that their messages in [OOC] have the potential to impact the behaviour of other people, particularly those who are young and have a propensity to "build" their personalities from the bottom up in order to fit in with this community. In addition, a new player may perceive a message as offensive or "inappropriate" and decide to leave the server as a result of it.

To deter this kind of behavior, it is necessary that those who decide to post messages similar to these be muted or at the very least given an extremely clear warning. I know it might be funny for some, but sadly, not everyone sees it that way. It's better to keep your behavior private or confined to a friend group that has accepted your sense of humor, as not everyone can get used to it when it's open to the entire server. Everyone has to be aware of their actions, as they can affect a lot of people in a negative manner.

 

[kustomzero]

Honestly OOC should just be removed. SRP is a roleplay focused server. Back in the good ole days roleplay was the huge focus on the server people rarely spoke OOCly. I wish that old SRP could be brought back.. nowadays it just feels like at least half of the server wants to hop on and only speak in OOC or in LOOC rather than roleplaying. But that's my opinion and my observation on this. Good points were def mentioned in this from you, Yonio. Kudos to that.

 

[frutigo]

Thank goodness this was brought up.
Now, this is just my opinion but I kinda think instead of OOC, discord and f msgs could be used more often.. I see some VILE stuff on there. Yes, some of them had made me laugh but some of them are down right disturbing. (Talking about sensitive topics.....) Honestly, I wish there was some kind of mute button or you can block the messages from that specific person.. ya get what Im saying??

id be fine with ooc being taken down either way.

 

[gold fish]

I seriously hate some of the things people say in ooc. It disgusts me and downright makes me upset when people join in and chain onto those disgusting posts. i love ooc it can be so silly and fun at times but some people deserve to have that privilege taken away

 

[gold fish]

Thank goodness this was brought up.
Now, this is just my opinion but I kinda think instead of OOC, discord and f msgs could be used more often.. I see some VILE stuff on there. Yes, some of them had made me laugh but some of them are down right disturbing. (Talking about sensitive topics.....) Honestly, I wish there was some kind of mute button or you can block the messages from that specific person.. ya get what Im saying??

id be fine with ooc being taken down either way.

There used to be a /ooc command to turn it off but it's not workinf right now. But specific personal blocking would be nice...

 

[maraa]

its worse when people give those types of comments a reaction, like.. that's what they're looking for. And people always always give them said reaction

 

[Ruin]

Honestly the only thing that can be suggested is to ignore, report & move on.
If /ooc is broken rn devs shld fix it as soon as possible, during that (and after) just report those making lewd/inappropiate comments.

freedom of speech until it crosses the line.

 

[Foto]

/f messages are also broken for a lot of people.
I know I myself have made a few out of pocket OOC messages, but I've tried to not do anything too disturbing or lewd, I just try to be silly. There have been times where I've looked at OOC and just.. didn't want ooc anymore. It's got to the point where I now use advancedchatmod to filter out OOC to a separate chat tab bc some ppl can't behave

 

[Vexosphere]

Honestly OOC should just be removed. SRP is a roleplay focused server. Back in the good ole days roleplay was the huge focus on the server people rarely spoke OOCly. I wish that old SRP could be brought back.. nowadays it just feels like at least half of the server wants to hop on and only speak in OOC or in LOOC rather than roleplaying. But that's my opinion and my observation on this. Good points were def mentioned in this from you, Yonio. Kudos to that.

Sometimes OOC is useful; Staff can inform players about for example.. server restarts or something like that. I agree with you, but not completely. I’d keep it only for Staff members.

 

[kettlesip]

It might be nice if people can get time limited muted in ooc after several warnings, many games do something similar such as league of legends, and competitive games owned by valve before the person im question ends up getting disintegrated (banned)

 

[Gunna!]

OOC messages be funny as fuck when the player count peaks but then you got Jeremiah saying saying his character likes thick latinas so he does too, like my brother we didn’t ask, poeple be saying anything nowadays and I used to be one of them now it’s just straight goonery booferney and tomfoolery that’s why we got it in a separate tab I don’t even know if it’s fixed or not

 

[_ImHere4You_]

I agree with all of the previous points, some people find humour in those out of pocket posts - even if their disturbing. THOUGH i wouldnt like it to be limited to only staff members ,, One of the best families I joined (The Marie Family) and the kick start of my entire SRP journey was because I asked OOCly and DrainingFeeling replied in ooc.

OOC is about communication, there's BOUND to be people misusing it, our goal is to not eliminate all OOCly communication in the server, it's to limit and educate people of how their posts can effect others!

 

[Miamorchito]

Yeah. It is funny to some extent, I will say that. However, sometimes, the OOC chat goes a little too far. I should say that I am involved in some shena****ns when it comes to OOC from time to time, of course, trying not to cross that line. And I would have to say that from at least my experience, most of those out-of-pocket comments would actually be coming from the younger ages.

I also completely disagree with the removal of OOC chat. I have never encountered a roleplay game where people just decide to ignore roleplay entirely and just focus on talking out of character. Things like that did not even happen when I was on other roleplay servers with many more people. Maybe it is something about SRP, but I am too uninformed in that regard to give an appropriate answer.

The only real solution that I could suggest that would be less drastic and more effective is just to ignore the people. Discouraging them is evidently not enough since incidents like this continue to happen, so the best solution for the community would be to continue and reduce the outreach of the comments. Hopefully, that would, at the very least, reduce the frequency of such messages. Maybe, if we consider much harsher outcomes, it would also be a good thing to make such warnings public in OOC; things like X player has been warned for inappropriate messages will also help, to some extent, reduce said frequency.