First off, this:
That doesn't answer the question Lou originally posed though, Simulacra modification, allowed, or are some sort of filters in place that force your appearance to be human?
Is a rephrasing of this
could you clarify something about teh "what is the summit?"
was some kind of kerfuffle about the nature of video/cameras.
Some people said that a camera shows the pilot. Other people were all doing weird stuff with appearing as virtual 3d rabbits and stuff.
Nothing in the MOTD suggests virtual stuff is possible, only cameras and such.
Don't presume to state whether or not my question was answered. That wasn't my question anyway.
Yes, it very clearly was your question. That is exactly the same thing you asked just phrased differently.
The channel MOTD does not state much about things:
[17:38:09] EVE System > Channel MOTD: ((For Out of Character discussion, join the 'OOC' channel. No 'bracketing' please. Remember, The Summit is not a place, it is a comms channel. As such, threatening bodily harm to fellow logged-in users may get you laughed at.))
"It is a comms channel", is all that's in the MOTD. All the description and stuff doesn't matter if it only appears here on Backstage.
That is something entirely offpoint. If you feel you can just ignore what Graelyn and the other moderators say about how the summit is because its listed here and not in the MOTD, then thats a personal thing to be brought up with with them and if they decide to add it into the MOTD.
So, Rek was trolling, someone said something that denied the existence of the troll comments, and people are now complaining that "A chronicle says I can do this!", so they can troll some more. I am not exactly impressed by this.
Rek's actions were entirely in character, and entirely within the realms of fiction. Just because you don't like the way someone RPs, doesn't automatically make it trolling. Also
blocking, which is at the end of the day, what Synthia did there, is not a good way to express a problem with someone's RP. There were plenty of IC ways to take issue with that RP, and if it was really that big of a problem, something could have been said OOC, instead, Synthia ICly simply denied the possibility of the event at all, which is basically the definition of blocking
This is what I read, first hand.
[ 2012.09.15 21:29:13 ] Louella Dougans > oh, people trolling summit again, eh?
[ 2012.09.15 21:29:21 ] Louella Dougans > meh
[ 2012.09.15 21:29:26 ] Shiroh Yatamii > Not as such
[ 2012.09.15 21:30:24 ] Shiroh Yatamii > I did a VR-like emote whereby Shiroh changed his appearance. Synthetic Cultist was like "No, there's no video aspect. Is text only". Which doesn't appear to be the case, as everyone does visual emotes.
[ 2012.09.15 21:30:38 ] Shiroh Yatamii > Tried discussing it in here with her, was ignored. *shrugs*
This is what I've been shown.
[ 2012.09.15 21:20:10 ] Saede Riordan > When did the summit stop having a video component as an established IC fact?
[ 2012.09.15 21:20:20 ] Shiroh Yatamii > Right? I have to call BS on that Synthia
[ 2012.09.15 21:20:38 ] Shiroh Yatamii > People quite regularly emote things as though there was a video aspect.
saying "I call BS" doesn't count as "tried discussion" as far as I was aware. Not surprised it was ignored.
Now, lets get that one more time with the entire contents of the channel instead of just cherry picking certain lines:
[ 2012.09.15 21:20:09 ] Saede Riordan > When did the summit stop having a video component as an established IC fact?
[ 2012.09.15 21:20:21 ] Shiroh Yatamii > Right? I have to call BS on that Synthia
[ 2012.09.15 21:20:38 ] Shiroh Yatamii > People quite regularly emote things as though there was a video aspect.
[ 2012.09.15 21:21:00 ] Garret Stormin > There's always been a video aspect.
[ 2012.09.15 21:21:11 ] Garret Stormin > Now, it was always an option, you could not show your feed if you didn't want to.
[ 2012.09.15 21:21:14 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > I always thought there was too
[ 2012.09.15 21:21:15 ] Garret Stormin > But it's always been there.
[ 2012.09.15 21:22:13 ] Garret Stormin > Oh! Right, back to this.
[ 2012.09.15 21:22:13 ] Shiroh Yatamii > So...there we go. A little odd to say "No there isn't" IC when it's pretty well-established. I would have called it out IC but I couldn't think of any way to draw attention to it without going OOC
[ 2012.09.15 21:22:29 ] Garret Stormin > /emote smacks Ama upside the head with a pillow.
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:01 ] Louella Dougans > o/
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:07 ] Garret Stormin > Hallo.
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:08 ] Samuel Ourias > Hello Louella.
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:08 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > /emote sits down and has a cry.
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:21 ] Garret Stormin > /emote sits down with her and pats her back.
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:29 ] Louella Dougans > sup?
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:39 ] Carlani Hudson > Lou \o/
[ 2012.09.15 21:23:50 ] Louella Dougans > me \o/
[ 2012.09.15 21:24:23 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > /emote punches Garret.
[ 2012.09.15 21:24:24 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > Meany.
[ 2012.09.15 21:24:37 ] Garret Stormin > /emote hits her with the pillow again.
[ 2012.09.15 21:25:13 ] Louella Dougans > hows things carlani ?
[ 2012.09.15 21:25:18 ] Carlani Hudson > Pretty well, really
[ 2012.09.15 21:25:37 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > /emote weeps louder.
[ 2012.09.15 21:25:48 ] Carlani Hudson > What about you ?
[ 2012.09.15 21:26:03 ] Louella Dougans > eh, alright
[ 2012.09.15 21:26:45 ] Carlani Hudson > \o/ ?
[ 2012.09.15 21:27:25 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > /emote lies on Louella's lap.
[ 2012.09.15 21:27:31 ] Louella Dougans >
[ 2012.09.15 21:27:34 ] Garret Stormin > /emote is left out again.
[ 2012.09.15 21:27:37 ] Garret Stormin > /emote rolls around in the snow.
[ 2012.09.15 21:27:57 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > Lou seems like she would be good at snuggles.
[ 2012.09.15 21:28:18 ] Louella Dougans > o:
[ 2012.09.15 21:28:24 ] Carlani Hudson > /emote snuggles Lou !
[ 2012.09.15 21:29:14 ] Louella Dougans > oh, people trolling summit again, eh?
[ 2012.09.15 21:29:21 ] Louella Dougans > meh
[ 2012.09.15 21:29:26 ] Shiroh Yatamii > Not as such
[ 2012.09.15 21:30:24 ] Shiroh Yatamii > I did a VR-like emote whereby Shiroh changed his appearance. Synthetic Cultist was like "No, there's no video aspect. Is text only". Which doesn't appear to be the case, as everyone does visual emotes.
[ 2012.09.15 21:30:38 ] Shiroh Yatamii > Tried discussing it in here with her, was ignored. *shrugs*
[ 2012.09.15 21:32:14 ] Stitcher > everyone emotes in that channel. *everyone*
[ 2012.09.15 21:32:29 ] Stitcher > including, I must point out, synth/val/connie/etc
[ 2012.09.15 21:32:44 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > Well
[ 2012.09.15 21:33:06 ] Amaitiyana Maranam > This community wouldn't be what it is without a bit of rampant hypocracy.
IN any case, what Synthetic Cultist said:
[ 2012.09.15 21:17:33 ] Synthetic Cultist > the summit is a text channel, and does not show any simulacra.
Is arguably true.
Because the summit is subjective. You cannot compel anyone to see a rabbit if you emote being a rabbit. or Whatever.
And now we have a full page of people arguing they should be allowed to do whatever kind of whatever, and the MOTD is unchanged.
What the discussion is about is what should be allowed to constitute the shared reality of the summit. If we decide that people can't manipulate their image into a rabbit, then so be it. But if you want to actually be able to interact with other people, you need to be able to agree upon what is true and possible in the universe and what is not. If we start down the road of 'your RP isn't real because I disagree with it' then you can easily say that Ava Starfire isn't a shaman, Tiberious Thessalonia is not Sansha, and you are not a space nun. The point of RPing is to establish an objective reality for our characters to interact with each other inside of. If you cannot come up with an acceptable shared reality, then you cannot RP.
The summit is a public channel, people will say all sorts of things in there that do not, and cannot have any basis in fact game mechanically. While Evelyn Meiyi claims she is talking to her accountant, what she actually is doing is sitting at a desk somewhere playing an MMO, and we know that. There is an instinctive awareness that it is just a game, and in order to accept anything that is said there, requires the wilful suspension of disbelief. If people start poking holes in that, then all possibility of RP falls apart, and it devolves into a he said she said pissing match.
So no, I'm not arguing to be able to be allowed to do whatever kind of whatever, if it is decided that modifying ones appearance should not be allowed, then that becomes a rule, and we abide it. I would just like to know what is and what is not allowed in order to better everyone's shared reality.