alurach wrote:A major question recently has been the ability of Homins to engage in long-distance communication.
That's a nice consistent explanation to work the chat channels into the lore. Let me share with you another, completely different idea that I once had about the chat channels and how to perceive them as part of the RP.
First off, remember the chat channels aren't really meant to be part of world of Atys. They're necesary game mechanics, one of the things where IC consistency has to give way to gameplay.
Imagine for a minute that we didn't have those channels (or telepathic abilities). That homins could only talk the way our physics allows it: in around. How would this change our gameplay? (or the lives of our characters?)
- There would be no guild chat, so if you wanted to speak with your guild members you'd have to meet them. This means all guilds would probably have frequent meetings in their guild hall.
- There would be no region chat, so if people in the region wanted to speak to eachother, they'd have to meet somewhere. Some sort of 'meeting points' would probably form in every region. Kind of like how the stables at towns already work.
- There would be no tells. If you wanted to speak with someone, you'd have to look for them. You could stop by at their appartment and hope they're home. If not, you could leave them a letter telling you'll be back then and then. Or you could go ask around and hope someone knows where they are.
- Without all of the above, arranging groups (for whatever activity) would also be a lot harder. You'd have to spent a lot of time getting into contact with people, so spontaneously getting a group together would be almost impossible. Group activities would thus have to be planned in advance.
In a realistic world, without telepathy, all of the above would be quite common activities. To truely roleplay your character, you'd have to play that way. However, it's still a game, and most of us will only play perhaps two hours per day. If we'd have to play that way, with only around chat, we'd never get much of anything done within that time. So the chat channels exist to allow us to get the most out of our gaming time.
So in this view, I see the chat channels not as part of the IC world, but rather as OOC tools to allow you, the player, to play multiple activities of your character's life at once. Even though you only play 2 hours per day, your character still exists for the full 16. The channels allow you to experience more of that time than just the 2 hours you're playing.
For example, let's say that one day I play for 2 hours. I spent those foraging in GoC. While foraging, I'm also chatting in guild chat, in GoC region chat, and in tell windows with both Alurach and Haldir. After those two hours, what did my character do? She spent two hours lounging in the guild hall chatting to the guild members there, two hours at some meeting spot in GoC conversing with the other people gathered, two hours visiting Alurach in his appartment and talking over yelk tea, two hours discussing with Haldir after bumping into him behind the stables, and then finally two hours foraging in GoC.
That's another way to see the chat channels, as a way to play 10 hours of your characters life in only 2 hours of playing time. Whereas without them you'd only be able to play 2 hours of your character's life.
The idea has it's flaws, but I rather like that it gives both a meaning to the chat channels and an explanation to what my character is doing when i'm not logged in.
