[MakeshiftWalrus]

With the addition of the OOC room, we've finally entered the era of being less OOC in public avenues, which is fantastic, and healthy for any role-playing medium. Players now have a dedicated area in which to go about their nonsenes, and OOC fighting, which means it no longer clogs up areas visually.

However, I think the current OOC room is failing in what it set out to accomplish, and I'll explain why:

Problem 1: Nobody Knows

Those of us who were around the days it was created know well, and fine it exists, and that we should use it for all of our shenanigans. The issue is when newer players join, and isn't told. The only reasonable way for people to find it at the moment, is word of mouth from other players, as the method of actually finding the thing slowly gets further, and further away from us. (See: The update notes it was a part of) It isn't even stated in the rules found upon the game's Wikipedia site either, meaning people might unjustly be punished simply for not knowing better.

Problem 2: Where Is It????

These are the direction we're given in the patch notes:



This isn't 100% intuitive though, considering we have a multitude of trees in the general area, and while it isn't necessarily hard to find, you might not initially be able to figure out what exactly this is supposed to mean. Here's the back of the Arena's map.




And for those of you that still don't actually know where the entrance to the OOC room is, it's located here:

 

The inside of the OOC room doesn't actually have any indication it's a room meant purely for OOC-related activities. This, I feel, is the biggest concern with those who might somehow by the stroke of a miracle stumble upon it by sheer accident. There's no on-screen prompt to tell you everything in there is out of character, and there are even things that might suggest that it isn't supposed to be.



Problem 3: Nobody Cares

As it stands, we're slowly reaching the point where more, and more people are gathering regardless of the facilities created, as made evident by the pile-incident we had a month or so ago. Amusing at it was at the time, it also proved to be a start-signal to plenty of other times where people do their goonery in public, and if the trend continues, will only lead to further apathy when it comes to the OOC room. 

Solutions:

- The rules need to be updated to promote clarity of the necessity, and use of this room. Without it, people are going to be slapped unreasonably by the GMs as has been happening ever since it was included.
- The entrance to the OOC room needs to change. Currently, it's too inconvenient to run to, and too difficult for people without the know to find, making them less likely overall to actually use it in the first place. If I could speak my own preference, there would be no physical entrance at all, and an NPC like Tarson would instead teleport you to the indicated area.
- A notice needs to show upon entering the area to immediately inform you of where you are, and that nothing in that area should, or can be considered in-character.

These are my general solutions to the issues I've presented. If anyone else has suggestions, or criticism, I'd be more than happy to hear.

[FatherCrixius]

Pretty much as you put it, and no this isn't a post to flair a topical signature.

I think a key point that goes unspoken is that the corner is branded in a really dismissive and demeaning way that people who want to just hop on and mess around feel vilified for 'detracting from RP'- defeating the spirit of the game. The corner being so far out of the way certainly does not help that, and players should not feel obligated into contributing to scenes that they want no part in. If the OOC corner becomes more pressured, as in the rest of the world becomes more IC exclusive, the corner needs to become more accessible and the players to take the game more sincerely.

OOC Shenanigans in public places largely happened due to the complete apathy the OOC corner received, I would argue it increased with it's introduction, and to be completely honest? I can only presume that it's because it is almost purposefully inconvenient, and coming from a perspective that they do not accept; It is both a cultural issue and a mechanical one.

[Xaertis]

As a newer player I nearly forgot this place existed. I read someone mention it once a couple weeks ago.

I would suggest a giant obvious button somewhere that anyone can click on to teleport you to the OOC room. However, the only way to leave the OOC room is to press the button again to teleport out, back to your previous location. This would prevent abuse, along with limiting access to the room when you're in a dungeon, or even if you're outside of town.

Or it could just be added to the quick travel menu in each town (all leading to the same OOC room). In this case there would need to be an entrance to the global OOC room in each town, so that leaving it would place you back in the town you entered from. Then you could enter manually (or use quick travel in towns), and it would become a much more obvious zone for newer players.

For the argument of "Well adding something OOC to quick travel breaks my immersion". I would then go back to my first idea of adding a unique button for OOC zone access, and only have it pop up while in town.

[Snake]

The :newplayer: is right. The two main critiques I have about the OOC room are as it follows:

-> It's WAY better fit as an IC 'fighting club' than OOC hangout, and I'd like us to get a proper OOC room to test mechanics or hang around when we're worn out of the game's IC-intensiveness, with the Statue of Memories, a Healer and a Repairer in there.
The idea of a 'hidden fight club', and the design of a secret tournament-like room is just... too good to waste on calling it the poo poo OOC corner. I swear. We could even organize IC tournaments in that area and it would be lit, solely due to its beautiful design.

Besides, we don't have anything like that in SL2 for IC anyway, it's a great addition by itself. A 'mini-Law's End' place in the Arena where serious fights happen without the intent of killing, with atleast two or three beds for 'wounded people' to be treated by other players.

-> As the dood above said. A verb that prompts a message in emote with an (omit) in the end, that says X is heading to the OOC room! (omit) or something, then teleport them to this NEW OOC CORNER that's not the actual OOC corner, but a less beautiful box with the bare minimum necessities, like healers, repairers and the statue of memories. I'd go as far as to also ask Professor Pink to be in there, to teach newbies about the many game mechanics they may not know, or Lore tidbits.