There was a lot going on in this thread and I have my own opinions, but I tend to keep those to myself these days, for a variety of reasons. Though I'm not just posting for a completely useless reason. I did think of something while I was reading the thread. On the topic of a "getting yelled at by superiors" scene, what I'm hearing is that there's a lot of not-fun things about playing it out, but there's also a lot of not-fun things about having it happen off-screen. So, if I'm correct, the ideal solution would be one that does both of the following:
- Does not require players on either side of it to sit through a long lecture
- Provide undeniable proof, possibly to the whole game, that the proper IC discipline was indeed applied so that the player cannot reasonably expect not to roleplay as though the dressing down never happened
The mention of staff being brought in is a good one, I think. IC insubordination, particularly if it's random or "done for shiggles", can affect the quality of a game overall. I think it does need to be brought to staff's attention that a particular character is being insubordinate in certain ways, if for no other reason than to make staff aware of the situation so they won't be surprised by what comes next.
!! BEFORE I GO ON, PLEASE NOTE, I DO NOT THINK MINE IS A PERFECT SOLUTION !!
However, as is often the case where compromise is concerned, not everyone gets everything they want. But I think that IN SOME SITUATIONS, it can provide a reasonable solution. Mileages are always going to vary from situation to situation. And there's no such thing as a "perfect solution for every problem" where something as complicated as human social interactions are concerned.
With that out of the way, my suggestion? Since a dressing down type scene tends to lean towards being one person simply making a soliloquy at a mostly-silent second person (or more), if it's agreed to offscreen it, post the dressing down on a bulletin board, perhaps a Cutscenes board. That way, not only is it technically "played out", the player(s) whose character(s) was/were dressed down knows exactly what consequences were levied. Furthermore, EVERYONE ON THE GAME knows that consequences were had. Thus everyone's on the same page.
That said, one could note that doing it that way is unfair, because sole responsibility for the lecture comes from the players whose character is delivering the lecture. To offset this, the player who delivers the lecture might be able to gloss over and give only the "high points" (or low points, as the case may be) of his/her lecture, and merely narrate from a third-person perspective what actions were taken.
So instead of having to improvise an R. Lee Ermey style dressing down, the player can simply choose to say something like "<Commander> pulled <Character> into his/her office to discuss their actions on their last mission. S/He was very disappointed in <Character's> lack of discipline and forethought. As punishment <Commander> has ordered <Character> to <punishment>."
There's a bunch of problems with this suggestion, I know. Like I said, I'm not saying it's perfect, I'm not saying it's 100% fair and just, I'm not saying that it's going to be the best solution for EVERY situation. I'm just offering it as a possible solution for SOME of the problems with the "getting yelled at" scenes.