SCoD's cliques

[*cryptc]

I also started a new character yesterday which I will aim to never level up beyond level 6/7, and just use to show new players around, help them out in parties, and help trade some starting gear at reasonable prices...

Will probably take me a while before he's set up enough to do much good though, but hoping it will be fun :)

[*Ravel's Heart]

I also think that people tend to naturally gravitate towards those whose RP style coincides with their own. There are players who spend the bulk of their time in Sigil and people who spend only a fraction of their time there. There are those who prefer long and detailed emotes, and those who tend to be far more sparing.

Often, you will find groups of three or four friends talking together, and in many cases, you can see how one group's style differs from another's. I don't think that it is so much "cliquishness" as people finding a comfort level.

When I play as a player (on one of several accounts) I almost always play low level characters and I typically make it a point to seek out characters on Gamespy accounts I don't recognize. I do this for a lot of reasons, but "assessing for cliquishness" is definitely one of the things I do.

Those of you who know me know that I am a "long emoter". (I have been trying to cut back on the number and length of my emotes, actually.) With some groups, I feel rushed, as I am trying to get out an emote while they are ready to move on. I think that this is a matter of style rather than people wanting to exclude anyone.

Finally, I urge people to send tells to players they don't know in an effort to get to know new players. If I log on with a new character on a secret account I usually pick someone I don't know, say, "Hey! I'm new here. What's going on? What should I do?" Easily 9 times out of ten people are welcoming and inviting. If you are shy IC and OOC it will be a little harder to break into groups, but if you are willing to speak up and say, "Hi...I'm new" people are generally willing to interact.

That's been my experience anyway...both here and on other servers.

[*Biohazard89]

Personally ive never had this problem myself.

I just jumped head first in things as they come anyway so meh.

Like when i had just joined the server didnt take two minutes before i was Rping with both Mausman, Mr.O and Publicius_Cyrus.

But then again people who come in and expect to RP handed their way are going to walk away dissapointed. Nothing is free in life and you gotta work for what you want.

Maybe all they need is a bit of Motivation?

[*Spiegel1]

I have gotten complaints from two different people that have had no contact with each other as far as i know and both have said the server is a little bit cliquey. I will not be mentioning their names. Look around at your group and see if you are excluding others from the RP in the area, i am sure it is unintentionally done, I for one would like to see more people come to this server and excluding other RPers from a group is not the way to do it.

[*Black_Grove]

I noticed the cliques right away too, but I do not take it as a bad thing at all. Not every character should get along, it just isnt IC. I would rather people be worried about their characters IC feelings and reaction rather than 'teaming up to grind, yay'!

I LIKE seeing the elves that edge away from the drow in the marketplace, the snotty drow that are in town to buy slaves and dont like anyone but each other. I am glad there are guards in the city and people who resent their brutish authroity

RP is just as much about who you dont associate with as it is who you do play with. If this were an action server it wouldnt matter, but what the other people in the city think or were born as does and should matter

I Personally dont adventure with people I dont know and have talked to a few times IC... most would rather invite themselves along unasked like it was an action server rather than expecting my character to have feelings about strangers wanting to go into dangerous places with them

If someone wants to get along with lots of people, it is easy to make a personable character and be liked by most others. Asking people to slow down and RP for their friends is a much better solution than asking the others to change their RP

Like I said, I noticed the cliques too when I joined. I made friends slowly and got into the cliques that fit my character. Tell your friends to be patient and RP more often than grinding, they will find a place


J

[*Spiegel1]

I believe the problem wasnt so much that they wanted everybody to get along, it was more like one of them was ignored completely. Even negative RP is better than completely being ignored.

[*Grisome]

Tbh, I never noticed any of that myself. Coming here completely new, I had not a single issue rping with people I've never met or rp'd with before, and who were often involved in rp with others.
Sometimes it takes effort on your own part to talk to people and stuff, as you can't always expect everyone to approach you.

Maybe they're shy? And not the type to just jump right in?
Or if they were 'ignored', maybe people just didn't see the post? I know I've had to smack Artificer (and others) a couple times to scroll up and catch a post I made to him/them... but it was always out of 'Oh crap, I didn't see your post, sorry' as opposed to 'Um, I'm ignoring you, go away'. I know I've missed posts before too, myself.


Or, maybe they were just ignored. Hell, I dunno. I just never encountered it myself thus far.

[*Product of Void]

I R confused. does not take much some times.

I guess there are folks that do hang around each other, though what ever character I run they speak to them.

On almost every server I have been on random tells I have gotten from players and I help how I can.

Its VERY possible to have what Grisome said too. Or like my biggest problem is going randomly afk. For a few minutes some times. RL makes it that way, either chasing a naked 2 year old screaming "Stopping running so I can get a diaper on you". Or tending to my wife with her busted leg.

Most folks understand afk'ing, As for cliques I do not see them gaining anything extra anyone else has. Perhaps folks think they get more DM attention. Got me, my second day I had a dm wander into me, was a lot nicer then previous dm events I have suffered through on other servers. Heck a DM ran an answer if you know it event with prizes once today. Was a free for all for anyone IG, the prizes were not anything folks could not acquire through a store or a drop but it was fun and everyone could play.

tell them to do like shiv would and find what ever features the other character is most concerned about and point them out like "Hey tubby need another ale?" -to a dwarf. I am sure rp will be found. Just be a shadow dancing hafling monk so you can keep one step a head. Though I want screenies if they steal a dwarf's pants or wedgie an half-orc.

oh and if that first one does not work then next dwarf say "excuse me miss...or your a man? did not figure your beard is awful short almost thought you a gnome until I noticed the chin hair though you do have a large nose". The challenge is to see how much can be said before steam comes out the dwarfs ears and chairs get thrown around the bar. *evil grin*

[*cryptc]

I think the main reason for cliques is that now more than if this had been a server launched when the game is new, people know eachother from other servers... and people have a tendency to hang around friends when they can, these are after all people they trust and enjoy being around...

Some people I know also are gaming with their significant other, which is also a strong reason to stick together...

I haven't seen much in people purposfully excluding people, but it wouldn't surprise me if it happens now and then... isn't much to do about it other than trying to set a better example yourselves...

The server is still young too, quite possibly people will find new friends to hang with and things will even out that way as well...

[*Narkona]

Well, a few months back I started playing on Sigil and almost immediately found people to RP with, and still RP with them today. I've never witnessed anyone being blatantly ignored in RP, though at times there is so much going on that it's easy to miss out on a small comment here and there. And I'm sure we've all been in the middle of "serious" RP when a new character approaches and gets shot-down by the group, but it would be weird if these friends dropped everything to welcome a stranger with open arms. I'm sure everyone slips sometimes.

Occasionally I'll have to handle some RP and some character I'm not too familiar with (IC or OOC) might try to speak to me while I'm on my way to meet others. I may brush them off IC so I can go handle what needs to be handled, but I'd never intentionally ignore anyone without good reason, and I doubt most people would.

So nah, Sigil isn't too cliquey. Having seen other servers where cliques became a serious problem, I can safely say that Sigil is far from a dangerous amount of clique-ness. If you feel shunned, send a tell to the player you feel is ignoring you. He may be busy ooc, his character may be a jerk, or he may just want some time to RP with his friends. Can't really fault someone for that.