Peitho smiles, "Ok. We're going to begin to get started. Thanks for coming everyone." 

                             OOC - Seminar Room
The back of the classroom is normal, rows of desks, sized properly for adults. A college classroom, ready for a lecture. The front is raised slightly and well lit, almost like a stage.
Lending credence to the stage similarity is how it is divided, three distinct settings. The first setting starts with a backdrop of a medieval city street, similar to those in Akashat. A bench is front and centre as well as a prop of a fountain.
The second setting is a bedroom, a large bed dominating this section of the stage, but nighttables and a chest at the foot of the bed complete the illusion. The third is more exotic, a dungeon scene, shackles on the walls, racks of whips, crops and other devices in the corners.
The settings seem movable, changeable, able to accomodate any sort of lecture. 
---- << Players >> ----------------------------------------------------------
 Peitho (#719)         The Newbie Helper                                0s 
 Shadow (#971)                                                          0s 
 SorrowSayer (#2514)   Seated at Discussion group 2                    17s 
 Lime (#5106)          Green-haired girl                             1m 22 
 Savannah (#5185)      A Cheeky & Mischievious little SOB!            2m 7 
 Eloviel (#4600)       Seated at Discussion group 2                    11s 
 Avarice (#11)         Here OOCly - please ignore me                   16s 
 Lorinthal (#5051)     An elf in a cloak.                            4m 35 
 Visola (#3233)        Tall, dark and slavey                         5m 25 
 Jesamyn (#2276)                                                     5m 29 
 Allan (#2200)         Black and grey haired man.                     7m 1 
 Janice (#4465)        Young green-haired woman in revealing clothe  1m 40 
 Dermit (#4257)        Seated at Discussion group 1                    34s 
 Jabari (#2807)                                                      8m 52
---- << Exits >> ------------------------------------------------------------
 0 Out                              
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The room darkens a little as the conch takes on the power of voice.

Peitho says "I'd like to start by mentioning that I've just set the room so that no-one can speak unless I give them the conch that I'm currently holding. That's to keep things as quiet as possible."

Peitho smiles, "So, if you have a comment or a question, please page me with it and I will give you the opportunity to speak at an appropriate time."

Peitho says "This Seminar is called RP101, but it is really a discussion of roleplaying and posing and how to get the most out of playing in an online environment. I'm staff here, but I don't want you to take what I say with the stamp of staffly requirement."

Peitho says "Akashat is a flexible place that allows people to play with whatever styles they feel comfortable with. Of course, what I'm saying is the 'common' opinion among old fashioned mushers like me :)"

Peitho says "A little about me, first. I've been playing on Akashat for about 14 months now. I've been RPing in general more or less all my life, but I've been mushing for only about 10 years of that. On Akashat, as well as my staffly duties, I play Alice, Samael and Red. Some fairly different characters, who have had their share of interesting interactions. Many of you would have encountered me under at least one of those guises."

Peitho says "Obviously, since I'm running this seminar, I think I'm good :) So I'll try to give some tips, starting with some of the basics and we'll move forward. As I said, please feel free to page me with questions or if you want to add a comment"

Peitho says "To begin with, I'm assuming everyone at least has the basic tools down - say, pose (:), and @emit. If that's not the case and someone wants me to run them down briefly, please page me."

Peitho says "With that said, I'll begin with the conventions. Conventions are just that. Styles of RP posing which are 'generally agreed on'. They are they so that everyone has an idea what they are doing and so people's play flows enjoyably together."

Peitho smiles, "Sorry. Slight delay. Back now."

Peitho says "The first is that posing in present tense. It is, of course, an arguable point which is better - past or present or future. But what isn't arguable is that present is the /standard/ - it is what people pose most often and therefore, to fit in, it is what you should pose with."

Peitho says "Ie : Peitho smiles vs Peitho smiled or Peitho will smile"

Peitho says "Whether the standard is the best or not is debatable, but that's a theoretical question. We're worried about actual practice, here."

Peitho says "Any questions with that?"

Peitho says "The next area I would like to discuss is spelling and grammar. This can be somewhat controversial - I've heard players say 'If you can understand it, it is fine'. In fact, for the first while of my mushing experience, that was my opinion, as well."

Peitho pauses and rewinds a bit, "Just had a comment about how present tense can be confusing for complex strings of action or for foreign RPers. I'll comment on that, before I continue about grammar and spelling."

Peitho says "Obviously, people whose second (or third or fourth) language is English will have some difficulty with tenses, spelling and grammar issues. That doesn't mean, in my opinion, that we should not /all/ attempt to hold to the highest standards we can.. or to conform to convention. As far as the complex stream of action, yes, sometimes a future tense works better. Conventions aren't set in stone and sometimes if the pose works with the last few actions in future tense, that can be fine, too."

Peitho says "I'll show you how I tend to deal with the complex string of actions - although, as I will discuss later, a truly long and complex string is probably too much to put in one pose. After all, we need to give other players a chance to react to our actions before we know what our future actions will be."

Example Pose :

Peitho bows deeply, before turning to face the cloaked man, "I see. That is your position, is it?" Her palms turn face up as she shrugs, "Then I am wasting my time here. If there is nothing else, I will go on to my next assignment." Without waiting for an answer, she tucks the scroll back inside her tunic and turns on her heel.

Peitho smiles, "That, I think, is about as long a series of actions as I would want in a pose - because at that point, we need to hand it over to whoever is playing the cloaked man to react"

Peitho says "As mentioned to me in a comment, tense changes can be jarring, too. We're trying to make poses as smooth as possible, because we are trying to make everyone have fun - us and the other players. That's the point of the game, after all :)"

Peitho says "Any more comments before I go on to spelling and grammar?"

Peitho smiles, "Ok. Then I will go on. The next topic - which I had already started with Spelling and Grammar can be loosely wrapped up in the title 'Presentation'"

Peitho says "And that's what I want you to think about when you are RPing. Remember, the words on the screen are all the other player has to go by. That's what is making them have fun - or not have fun - playing with you. And, of course, if they have fun then they are more likely to play with you again."

Peitho says "That doesn't mean you should be /nervous/, no. This isn't supposed to be scary or tense. Just that you should be careful to do your best to present yourself in the best possible light. There are several aspects to that, grammar and spelling being the most obvious."

Peitho smiles, "Of course, I've never, ever met anyone who didn't make the occasional spelling or syntax error while posing. Ever. What I am saying is that you should make the attempt. If you know your spelling is bad, for instance, you could invest in a spell checker for your client. SimpleMu, for instance, has a registered version with a spell checker."

Peitho says "Your description, at least, should be spell checked - if you don't have a tool to do it, you can ask for help to do it - just ask someone if they spot any problems with your desc. As was just paged to me, if you have a word processor, you can cut and paste your pose (or desc) into it and use spellcheck there."

Peitho says "The second part of presentation is the content of your pose. The idea is to respond to the poses of those around you, giving people things to react to. To do that, you need to include some details. We'll go more into how to bring poses to life, but if you are constantly posing a simple 'Peitho nods' or 'Peitho smiles' you are neither reacting well to the last poses, nor giving much for other players to react to."

Peitho says "It is not necessary to write pages of poses, but I find that between 3 and 7 lines - about as long as each of these rambling paragraphs I'm giving - works in most situations. Sometimes longer is necessary, sometimes, for pacing, shorter works better."

Peitho smiles, "And sometimes you just follow the lead of the person you are playing with and end up posing books at each other :)"

Peitho says "Comments on any of those - spelling, grammar or pose length?"

Peitho smiles, "Ok. Several comments. I'll summarize - and people can smack me if I misunderstood them"

Peitho says "First of all, in some situations, a pose can, indeed be too long. In busy public places, for instance, a 20 line pose can slow down the posing cycle a great deal and can, really, run over what everyone else is doing. Everyone is an important as everyone else, OOCly at least, on Akashat and your poses should respect that."

Peitho says "Second, I was asked about using personal pronouns such as 'she' or 'you'. Pronouns should only be used if it is clear who is being addressed. I often use 'you' in one on one scenes - a personal preference of mine - because I find it helps bring it to life. However, they shouldn't be used where there are many possible 'you's :)"

Peitho says "Any comments on those comments - or did I mistate or miss anyone?"

Peitho nods, "Then I will continue"

Peitho says "The next topic is 'powerposing'. I'll start with a definition. Powerposing is including in your pose the actions of other characters or things that happen to other characters, without their consent. Akashat is a consent based game and you as a player only get to decide what happens to /your/ character."

Peitho smiles, "Obviously, if you are restating the actions of a character from their last pose, that's perfectly fine. For example : "

Harry walks over to the bar and sits down, banging his hand on the bar for a drink.



Frank, the bartender, turns around, slowly, at the sound of Frank's banging hand, "Yes?" he says slowly.

Peitho smiles, "Obviously Frank's character restated Harry's action - that's fine. What isn't fine would be something like : "

Harry walks over to the bar and sits down, banging his hand on the bar for a drink.



Frank, the bartender, turns around, slowly, at the sound of Frank's banging hand, "Yes?" he says slowly, then punches Harry in the nose, knocking him down.

Peitho smiles, "The problem isn't the violence, the problem is how the violence was posed. In Akashat, the correct way to pose that would be something like :

Harry walks over to the bar and sits down, banging his hand on the bar for a drink.



Frank, the bartender, turns around, slowly, at the sound of Frank's banging hand, "Yes?" he says slowly, then his fist flies out, heading straight for Harry's nose.

Peitho says "At which point, Harry's player can pose either :"

Harry tilts his head to one side, dodging the punch

Peitho says "or"

Harry's head snaps back as Frank punches him, then he drops to the floor like a ragdoll.

Peitho smiles, "It is Harry's player's choice. Not Frank's player."

Peitho says "Comments? Questions?"

Peitho smiles, "Ok, a few comments. First, a comment about the UberHero. This a consent-based, open chargen game and it is quite easy to end up with 10 'Mightiest Warriors in the World Who Never Lose a Fight'. That's all well and good - play what you like. But as a side note, it is much more interesting for people to interact with characters that have flaws.. and people who sometimes lose."

Peitho says "Second, NPCs. Yes, NPCs in Akashat exist and players are allowed to use them. However, as noted in 'news consent3', the guards and city property are the property of the staff and OUR consent is required to hurt them. Ie, no beating up the Abaroth guards in the Market Square or setting the stable on fire.. at least not without talking to staff!"

Peitho says "Third, if it appears that a scene with violence is going to take place, you should really discuss OOCly with the person(s) you are playing with where you want things to go and gain their consent. Not Powerposing means you respect their right to play their characters as they like, but you should really obtain consent before begin violent action in the first place."

Peitho says "Comments on the comments?"

Peitho tilts her head, still waiting

Peitho pauses, "A comment on powerposing, on consent. The comment was : I think there is such a thing as *over-consenting* though. Some long OOC discussion of play, tends to kill any spontaneity, then the play loses the excitement."

Peitho says "My response to it is as follows : You do not have to lay out what will happen - though you certainly can if you want. But a quick discussion to ask what is in and what is out is a good idea in almost every situation. It may be that the other person says 'Go ahead, do whatever you want' and that's great, that's enough discussion. But they might say, 'Well, I need to come out of here without my hair mussed' and that was info that you really need to know."

Peitho says "Second question : someone asked how you can make sure that a character stays within their IC limits in a fight scene. The simple answer is that you cannot. Akashat is a statless, diceless, consent based RP game. If you want your character to suddenly sprout horns and have the ability to fly, you can do that. Your ability to do what you want with your character is absolute, until it impacts someone else' ability to do things with theirs."

Peitho chuckles, "My addition to that answer is that if someone does things like that, you can tell them it isn't particulary fun for you.. and why. OOCly. And if you cannot come to an agreement, well, Akashat doesn't require anyone to play with anyone."

Peitho says "Comments on the comments on the comments?"

Peitho says "Ok, a question about characters who can read minds. If someone decides their character has that talent, it'll obviously only work on people who consent to it - because the 'victim's player will have to tell the mindreader what their character is thinking"

Peitho appologizes, "Phone call. Back now"

Peitho says "Does that answer that question? Any others?"

Peitho says "Or can I go on to metaposing?"

Peitho nods, "A comment - mindreading characters should make their abilities known, OOCly. Some of you may come from a place with an OOC Masquerade - the idea that secrets should be kept even OOCly. Akashat does NOT have such, because it places consent as a lot more important and consent needs information."

Peitho smiles, "Ok. Metaposing again : "

Metaposing next. Metaposing is a little more controversial - Powerposing is against the rules of Akashat. Metaposing isn't, but I know some people do it habitually.. and others tear out their hair at it. A definition, first : Metaposing is including things in a pose that the characters looking at it wouldn't normally know. For instance, the following pose contains metaposing :

Peitho saunters down the street, head held high. She's in a good mood because of winning the blue ribbon at the pie fair yesterday and is tickled because she has finally outdone her mother - that witch. She looks around with a somewhat superior look - those morons didn't win any pie fair. And she won't give them any pie.

Peitho smiles, "Count the metaposing - lots." she ticks them off on her fingers, "That she won the blue ribbon, that she is tickled because she outdid her mother, that she thinks her mother is a witch, that she thinks everyone is a moron because they didn't win and that she won't give them any pie."

Peitho says "Think about what other characters can react to - her sauntering and her head high and her apparent good mood. That's all."

Peitho says "The moron comment is particularly annoying for other players because it is an insult to their characters that they cannot respond to in character."

Peitho smiles, "To remove the metaposing I would do something like :

Peitho saunters down the street, obviously in a good mood, tickled about something. Her smile is somewhat smug and a blue ribbon pinned on her vest perhaps gives a clue why.

Peitho smiles, "Ok, some comments - some of which are very much disagreeing with me. Please remember I'm not setting myself as the arbitrator - I'm telling you what is considered good style 'in general' in the mush community at large. There are people who disagree with the dislike of metaposing. However, being aware that other people may not like it is important - ie, you do it at your own risk"

Peitho says "That said, I'll answer the questions and comments. Question first :"

Peitho says "If an expression is obvious, yes, you can use it. The pose example was : 'No.' XXXX says, her eyes wide, transparently lying."

Peitho says "I don't know anyone who would say that wasn't good style."

Peitho says "Another comment is that some players will assume that anything that is included in a pose is somehow identified on your character - either by incredibly transparent body language or even, in one case, I've seen someone pose reading a character's life history off a t-shirt after the other player posed including a summary of his character's childhood. :)"

Peitho says "Another question. If you add the words 'thinking to himself' it does not make it not a metapose. A metapose is posing things people have no way of knowing ICly - unless you have literal thought bubbles floating above your head, other characters can't tell what you are thinking"

Peitho gives Sorrowsayer the floor for a dissenting opinion. Comments still to me, please.

Peitho notes, as well, that this is running long, but that's ok. Domming101 may end up postponed, which is fine.

SorrowSayer clears his throat humbly, "Some people enjoy the reading, I do personally, but that is not my main argument. I inist that a characters thought has certain reactive properties OOC, and the clever reader can take it upon himself to ask questions Ic more effectively, or even shoot a page to see where but a a simple thought can go. A thought can be a gateway to something greater, but is definitely metaposing if not at all constructive."

SorrowSayer says, "Apoligies for the delay; Technical difficulties."

Peitho nods, "I will answer this in brief - and I don't think we'll come to a suddent agreement, but it is worth seeing all sides"

SorrowSayer says, "No, we should make a point not to easily agree. Opinion is something for ideas to blossom from; But I see your side, well, Pei. Please, go on, if you may."

Peitho says "My point is that information not available ICly has other mechanisms to transport it - +info and +finger and +kinks, for instance - and that it isn't necessary to drag all the information around with you with every pose. As well, much information can be hinted at with non-metaposing poses - emotions, certainly, reactions to certain words, stresses in voice, clothing, that sort of thing. If you want to know more about someone or are interesting in pursuing a line of discussion with someone, page them or +info them - you don't need to fill everyone's screen up with something not visible ICly that is aimed at one person."

Peitho says "If it is something guessable - for instance, if the fact that Alice was just fired as guard commander was front page news and you see her crying, I might include 'perhaps she is upset because of her recently publicized problems' - but even that is border line."

Peitho notes, "She wasn't fired, that was an example :)"

Peitho says "SorrowSayer?"

SorrowSayer agrees wholeheartedly. "Those are all constructive alternatives, and carrying around weighty information from pose to pose makes your fingers hurt. :^). I would encourage people to finger like crazy, ask questions, and let some of their timidity pass. Questions will seldom hurt, and information is the primary tool for succesful Rp and storylines."

Peitho smiles, "Ok. With that said, I think we'll go on to the next topic. Just be aware that, while Akashat doesn't enforce RP guidelines, people sometimes do :)"

SorrowSayer says, "Also, finger, and info are not always OOC knowledge, as someone pointed out to me. Perhaps specifification can cure this common assumption? Again, ask away, until that person slaps ya and tells you to go away, but most are friendly and open enough."

Peitho nods,"That's a good point, SorrowSayer. If you're interested in playing with someone, page them and say 'Hey, how about a scene? How could we meet?'"

SorrowSayer says, "Exactly; Two minds can produce something more dynamic, and more creative than one can."

Peitho says "I'm going to go on to my last topic - make poses vivid. Bringing RP to life. There's some general rules of thumb that can be suggested.



Peitho says "Any additions? I'll wait for some comments (while I dash to the restroom :) and then build a pose from scratch, showing you how my mind does it."

Peitho smiles, "Another suggestion, which I do use myself : Peitho smiles, "Ok. That said, I'll show you how I go about posing. In this hypothetical scene, I'll assume I'm playing Alice and someone has just asked her who the Prince of Satham is. The scene is in the market square and there are a number of other PCs around. That said, here's my thought processes :

Alice yawns and stretches before turning to Henri, Alice yawns and stretches before turning to Henri, "The Prince of Satham?" A laugh, "Why, Vid Satham. Probably the single most famous man in Akashat. And a real sweetie." Alice yawns and stretches before turning to Henri, "The Prince of Satham?" A laugh, "Why, Vid Satham. Probably the single most famous man in Akashat. And a real sweetie." She irritatably shoves her sword back into place from where it has slid on her belt, "Darn it. You know, you'd think they could make me a belt that actually keeps this sword in place." The armour Alice wears creaks as the Commander yawns and stretches, blinking in the sunlight before turning to Henri, "The Prince of Satham?" A laugh, "Why, Vid Satham. Probably the single most famous man in Akashat. And a real sweetie." She irritatably shoves her sword back into place from where it has shifted on her belt, "Darn it. You know, you'd think they could make me a belt that actually keeps this sword in place." A mock scowl at the chattering passerbyers, as if they were to blame for her sword not staying put.

Peitho smiles, "And I'm fairly happy with that. Seven lines, good details, things for Henri - or others - to react to. No powerposing, no metaposing, some sounds and reminders, for instance, that she is in armour. I probably wouldn't have refered to her as 'the Commander' though, until that had come up ICly, but I'm assuming it has.

Peitho says "That's more or less the process I go through, starting with something basic, adding and removing things until I am happy, then I hit enter :)"

Peitho says "Comments - either on my pose, the suggestions, or other questions?"

Peitho chuckles, "Nothing? Nothing at all?"

Peitho chuckles, "Ok, two points from someone : I think that the first sentence implies that the armour is blinking? Oh, and "irritably", not "irritatably". Sorry, I'm being a pedant."

Peitho smiles, "Yes, to both. I didn't promise perfect poses, just good, vivid poses. Spelling issues will happen, grammar niggles will too. And that's /fine/. A pose can be polished endlessly, but sometime you just have to hit enter and let it go :)"

The room brightens and speech is allowed.

Peitho says "Ok, there's a couple of options at this point. We can go to a workshop style thing whereby people can practice posing, either for comments from me or for the group at large. Alternatively, we can look at the time and see whether we want to do the next seminar now. What do people think? I've set the room so that you all can speak (though you can't use 'ooc')"

Peitho says "Votes?"

Tirsazen votes for the domming seminar

Janice is easy and fine with either.

Alifarin just arrived, but is fine with moving on.

Dermit eagerly awaits to be domminated.. I mean to watch from a safe distance.

Avarice thniks your all fools, and kicks you all in the nees, then runs away before any of you can reakt.

Peitho wishes that she could just gag Av

SorrowSayer cackles at Av.

Visola snickers at Av

SorrowSayer says, "Yuo should go on to the next seminar. The info was detailed, and easy to understand."

Jabari would prefer a quick little workshop, but seems to be outvoted so far. "I'd be willing to hold or attend a posing workshop at a later date, for those who want to practice."

Jabari points out that his previous pose was a Meta-Pose! As is this one.

Peitho nods, "Ok. I will go on, then." She chuckles, "Many OOC poses are.. and OOCly, that is jussssst fine"

Peitho nods, "As well, if you have questions, please feel free to page me /anytime/ you have questions. Well, anytime I'm onduty, at least :)"

Alifarin says, "Quick question - will a log be posted of this on the website or anything?"

Peitho says "Or ask questions on the Newbie channel. Despite its name, it isn't just for new players - it is for help for anyone"

Janice is thankful she has no 'nees'.

Peitho says "Yes, there will be logs of both seminars on the website. If your name appears and you don't want it to, please let us know."