The Top Five Things to Know About OOC Conflicts
- Log your chat. This can be done in your Options menu, simply by toggling "log chat" to enabled. Please note that is not a global setting and must be enabled for each separate character. Logs of your play session will automatically be saved to your hard drive. You will find them saved in...
Program Files -> City of Heroes -> Logs -> Game
The chatlogs will be saved as text documents with the date of the log as the title. Chatlogs are your best defense against conflicts and can show exactly what happened during a roleplay session. Never, ever edit chatlogs except to highlight relevant portions. An edited chatlog will not be as useful in a conflict because you may be accused of re-writing history. Learn more about chatlogging here. - Communicate OOC with your partner(s). Even if you think your intentions are clear, sending a /tell to your RP partner asking for permission to continue a scene, or to clarify that you are not your character can solve problems before they even start. Particularly abrasive characters will do themselves a world of good to remind other players that your actions should not be interpreted as OOC hostility.
- The first time something happens, speak to the person who did it. The second time something happens, speak to the Student Council. This is a pretty simple rule and it applies to almost anything that annoys, irks, offends or bugs you. If a player does a thing that gets to you, you owe them the courtesy of telling them so directly. Ask them why they did it, ask them to stop, tell them it bothered you-- do whatever is applicable to the situation, but speak your mind to the person. If the behavior continues, go to the Student Council.
- Don't feed a Troll. If you are singled out in game for harassment, or if these forums themselves are actively trolled by someone with a beef, please don't give them the satisfaction of responding. Simply put the jerk in Atlas Park on /ignore and please let the SG officers handle troll posts on the forums. Engaging these sorts of people, even if you think you can discredit them, is what they want. They want you to pay attention to them and they want you to get mad because it gets them off. Ignoring them will frustrate them and they will lose interest in hassling you.
- Learn to walk away and come back later. Everyone flies off the handle now and then because it's nearly impossible to avoid, but do your best. When something really angers you OOC, count to ten and breathe deep, or even log off and take a little break. On the forums, I always suggest people try to refrain from making an angry post for 24 hours. It makes a big difference, it really does-- getting angry, and demonstrating that you are obviously angry, usually just makes a situation worse. It is almost always better to walk away and return when you're calm. That way, you can talk about the problem with a clearer view-- and sometimes, you will come to realize that there wasn't a problem in the first place.
