Its an over simplification for me to say most rules I am familiar with, such as IC/OOC separation, are more strictly interpreted on Narnia MUCK than other places. In one particular interpretation I've experienced thus far, Narnia actually seems to slack a bit over my comfort zone, but I must declare its too trivial and minor to endanger my participation; I wonder, though, if mentioning it might find at least some agreement from some other players and, perhaps, lead to a common suggestion when it comes to describing characters and text output generated from the prey critters roaming about.
"Do not pose someone else's character" is a common rule to fair and balanced roleplay, which Narnian house rules generally agree with; it is bad etiquette, and indeed against the rules, for Joe's player to pose "Joe punches Frank in the face and knocks him over." Joe can pose "Joe attempts to punch Frank in the face, attempting to knock him over," but should not actually pose the attempted punch landing on Frank nor determining the side effect.
Narnia has this same rule, from what I've read, but seems to non-explicitly restrict its meaning to poses only in enforcement and application. This in-explicit "restriction on a restriction" is not new to me; in fact, it has become so common that I rarely bother to try to complain about it, but hopefully a healthy dialog might come out of it, as so many Narnia MUCK players seem to be such a high caliber over other elseMU* RPers and administrators I have encountered over the years. Again, I feel it prudent to re-emphasize whether I am in the tiny minority here over feeling slightly discomforted by this, it won't affect my opinion of Narnia MUCK.
Un-regulated exemptions from posing someone's player are readily observable, to me, in character descriptions and "mob poses" (the prey critters darting to and fro) which are rife with "You see..." and the like. To me, this is posing my character ... someone else (either a prey critter control program, or the player writing their desc containing "You") dictating what my character is doing (looking at them). It would be humorous from the prey bots running about, if it weren't so persistent and annoying (they do things along the lines of "A mouse scurries toward you from upstream, following the riverbank.") if you think about it ... no matter how many characters are in a room, each and every one has a mouse then running at each of them! Not to mention, how would that work exactly if your character is a flier in the air (how would a mouse run through the air toward a bird in the sky!?) or a swimmer (You thought Aslan was the savior!? That mouse, its running on top of water!)
Similarly, I've noticed several character descriptions describing "You see ..." This too, I don't find fully appropriate. I consider it a violation of posing someone else's character, and I can envision a number of conditions when it isn't accurate -- along with descriptions of the player describing their character as 'standing' there or other action; while that is their character and not posing someone else's, it permanently locks their characters as standing -- not walking or running or moving, never laying down, and never able to be knocked down.
To me, descriptions should /describe/ physical traits, but never ascribe actions -- certainly not on the character whose player typed "look Joe" but not even ascribing a permanent stance or action on the character's part whose player stuck such in their description. I also try to bear in mind that not every character has the same balance of senses; some characters whose players look at my character have poor vision or may even be outright blind, so I try to provide hints as to how might character might smell or sound (but giving only a general descriptor, not one permanently having my character saying something or always smelling sweet despite the possibility of sweating on a hot day or having an unpleasant encounter with a skunk). It should be up to a character's player to filter out what, from that description, their character actually perceives ... if their character is poor of sight, for instance, they can simply take the overall size and color of another player's character as a blur their character sees, etc.
As for prey bots and the like ... isn't third person the common perspective for posing, anyway (third person being "Joe says," "he says," etc.)? RP poses just don't work if everyone uses second person perspective (second person being "You see," "you say," "Joe says to you," etc.). Instead of posing as, say, "A mouse scurries toward you from upstream, following the riverbank," couldn't the prey bot instead pose something like, "A mouse scurries about, trying to avoid predators from upstream, following the riverbank?"
Again, as I mentioned, this seems to have become a lost battle to me, as so many don't even seem to be able to understand the source of my gripe, I guess perhaps because character descriptions and bots are not viewed as IC, even though it is generally considered good to react to them ICly or use them in poses, especially using the species and color of another player's character in lieu of the character's name when your character has not yet ICly learned their character's name. Even if I can get some understanding, maybe even change a few minds, I acknowledge the current prevalance of second person perspectives and action poses in character descriptions and prey bot outputs means it would probably be a big hassle to consider changing, but hopefully this thread at least encourages constructive thoughts or ideas on whether its an annoyance that might merit constructive thoughts and ideas.
but maybe something could get added. Or maybe an MOTD tip note, something like "Character @descriptions help other players interpret what their character would find using their natural balance of senses to 'look' at you, but for consistency's sake should be kept in third-person perspective as poses should always be written in third-person perspective. Never assume every player character using the look command on your character has the same balance of sight, hearing, scent or other senses; some may be completely blind or have supreme vision. Remember, also, to avoid actions in your description; do not describe yourself in your @description as standing nor in any particular posture unless you happen to be frozen from the Ice Queen's staff."
