Mage: the Ascension Online
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RPI (roleplay intensive) games are basically 'always IC'. If you're logged in, people can interact with you. Coded actions are considered roleplayed actions (i.e, if I walk into a room and use the 'punch' command on @Arkandel and don't emote about it, I'm still ICly punching Arkandel). Limited in-game OOC communication, usually just a 'help' channel, a local OOC command, and something to communicate with staff. Out of game they usually have forums with user, not character, based identities.
MUDs and MUSHes are two sides of the same coin! I'd just take 'social MUD' to mean 'code heavy RP game', but @Streetwitch may have their own idea about what it is.
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Correct. RPIs take their RP very seriously. No OOC channels. No planning scenes ahead of time. No or very limited +where functionality to find RP. Some do solo RP, like writing poses while in an empty room hunting mobs. No +who and names are hidden (You only see a shortdesc or whatever name you have assigned to that PC). I like a lot of elements of RPIs, but the hatred of OOC channels really stumps me.
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As someone who used to play on RPIs and MOOs, I can say that OOC channels don't help those sort of games at all. Many of them can be very PvP oriented, and having OOC channels only helps with the breeding of OOC cliques (Or at the very least, exposing them) and ruining immersion and all that jazz.
Games I've played on that added OOC channels saw a sharp drop in player activity afterwards. Players could hang out and chat OOCly instead of hitting the grid and looking for interaction that way.
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@Admiral That succinctly explains the mindset then. I could see why they would want to avoid the channels in that case.
