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[Casiella]

So anybody in The Summit tonight got large doses of irreverence from several characters.

How far is too far? What would break your immersion, in terms of jesting and joking and such?

[Ciarente]

My corp's unofficial IC motto is 'Not just cake and panties' so I'd say, my irreverence tolerance is quite high ...

[Ulphus]

Sometimes it's "Not even panties"...

[Aria Jenneth]

Let's see ...

Well, we can justify virtually anything through our characters' views on "dementia" or however they interpret roleplayers being silly or flat-out non-roleplayers, but that's kind of a different thing from what is "immersion-breaking."

My own threshold is pretty low. As a rule, if it doesn't come across as something people would actually do (and not just occasional oddballs, exhibitionists, or attention-seekers), it breaks my immersion. I usually try to recover my immersion either by ignoring it or by reinforcing my immersion into Aria's psyche by having her react, and strongly-- typically, with sharp-tongued disdain.

[Elsebeth Rhiannon]

I haven't checked the IGS thread in question, but in general, I can take a lot of jokes and jests IC without immersion breaking. What does  break immersion though is when the jokes have heavy OOC references so that it becomes clear it is just the player trying to be clever.

[Grr]

I don't even mind it being a little immersion breaking if its clever/funny enough.  I'm here to be entertained after all and as much as the immersion is entertaining, so is a bit of irreverence.

If it's done poorly however, I turn my nose up in disgust.  Just like the recent spamming of alts on my retirement thread. 

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1422510

[Casiella]

Well, that's not quite the sort of irreverence I meant, of course. The spamming of Epitoth is one thing. On the other hand, last night, despite the really enjoyable discussion (revolving around faith, ectoplasm, and whether Vikarion has a sense of humor), I restrained myself from launching into a series of "that's what she said" retorts.

[Vikarion]

None of it was OOC, so I enjoyed it, and it was mostly playing off of character traits and the vagaries various in universe subjects, so I thought it was fine.

[Casiella]

Well, it was a little OOC. But just a little.

[Esna Pitoojee]

As long as it isn't OOC, I can't see why it would be a problem. Everyone likes a good laugh every once in a while.

[Altaen]

I don't frequent that channel, so I don't have much of a point of reference for the sort of things you're talking about, but I am former RE-AW (Cake, panties, and Vagabonds) so I'd say I'm pretty patient with small doses of silliness.
I suppose I draw the line if there is a lack of consistency. For example, if a normally very serious consummate professional starts goofing off along with the normal jokers, it endangers the suspension of disbelief.

Fortunately, all of my current corpmates have a quick wit and are quite prone to saying funny things and being risque from time to time, so even a particularly irreverent evening wouldn't be out of place.

[Elsebeth Rhiannon]

For example, if a normally very serious consummate professional starts goofing off along with the normal jokers, it endangers the suspension of disbelief.

And/or confidence that they are sober. Which can be an issue if they are currently in a battlecruiser in low sec.

I mean, just saying.

[Casiella]

Drunk podders, best podders.

[Gottii]

For what its worth, one common trait often found among a lot successful soldiers and fighter pilots and other high stress combat jobs is the ability to laugh and joke and not take oneself too seriously.  Quite often the guys who brood and are serious all the time break down physically and emotionally, cus they cant let go or find any outlet for the stress.

So goofy combat space pilots isnt exactly unrealistic to me.

[Isobel Mitar]

How far is too far? What would break your immersion, in terms of jesting and joking and such?

In general, I see little problem with IC jokes, as most characters have a sense of humour (sometimes similar, sometimes different from their players), and exploring what different characters find funny is often both interesting and entertaining.

If I have immersion problems due to jokes, it is usually because of continuous jokes that are rely on blatant OOC references (such as current politics or movie plots) in order to be funny - in essence, "IC" jokes that are in fact made by the players to other players (as opposed by the characters to other characters).