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[Saikoyu]

Honestly I would just say do your best.  Don't share anything OOC that you don't really mind everyone else knowing IC, and if you hear something OOC that you wouldn't share OOC, try not to use it. 

And if someone calls you on something saying that its OOC knowledge, take them to one side as soon as possible and talk it out. 

For Raven's example, I'd say you could still go ahead with the question, just based on what is there.  I wouldn't go ahead and say, "And I know you did it." but just the question is fine.  If the character is generally a bad person, it gets more justified. 

I usually had a similar problem where I would remember something, but not remember where I had heard it, or if I was making the whole thing up in my head, so I ended up making it part of my character being slightly absent minded and if it I menctioned something, I'd alwasy phrase it like, "So, do I know you from somewhere?" or "So, are you the one who..."  Seemed to work out okay. 

Then again, the only think I ever really used OOC channels for was seeing if anyone I knew was on.

Relax.  Breath deep, seek peace.  Have fun.  That's what I try and go with on a good day.

Bonus points for whoever IDs the "Breath deep, seek peace." one.  And a glomp.  Sorry in a mood today.

[Morwen Lagann]

I could be wrong, but the timing of the posting of the thread makes me think you're referring to some stuff we spoke about the other night, Makkal.

I don't normally have trouble with this sort of thing (in general or the specifics from the other night), personally. Do I hear a lot of stuff OOC that my character(s) wouldn't know IC? Sure, but without means or motivation to actually learn that information IC, there's no justification for doing anything about it - and that's enough for me to just go "meh, whatever" and carry on.

For example, a year ago, I knew Silas was going to be outing herself as a Sabik at her party ahead of time. Fair enough, I had been told ahead of time by Silas, but I also had read more than enough in Silas' posts on the IGS to come to the conclusion IC that Silas might be in the closet (so to speak) before he'd told me anything OOC. In this case it was just a confirmation of a suspicion Morwen had IC (and I, OOC), but while she had the means to be suspicious, she lacked the means to confirm it and any motivation to attempt confirming it, so... she didn't.

End result? Her response to Silas outing herself was literally nothing more than not being surprised.

It's a reasonably safe rule of thumb. If your character lacks the means or motivation to find out the information IC, and lacks the means or motivation to do anything about it, then you don't even need to think about it any further. Obviously, if they do have the means and motivation to do so, you should check with the other player to figure something out before doing anything.

More or less what Laria and Sai have said here.

Also, it's not necessary to leave OOC channels entirely, but you may find a better middle ground with ones that are smaller than or have less traffic than the main ones.

[Makkal]

I think the answer is "you do the best you can".

OOC knowledge is always a problem, no matter how hard you work. The very fact of you knowing something changes how your character can react.

I don't believe it's always disruptive.

Makkal recently undressed in front of Morwen despite my OOC knowing she was attracted to women. I already know how Makkal feels about nudity, whether it's common place in her culture, and what she would do in that situation. Strong background information dictates the interaction.

Every time someone swears or says something offensive in the Summit, I ask myself whether Makkal's filter kicked in, if she noticed it, and whether it changed the content of the message or just replaced it with mumbling. The only time this slows down my reply, if any, is when they're using innuendo or when it's something like Romanov where the heretical content is close enough to what's acceptable that it would likely pass.

Given the language of the Summit, I tend to have lots of practice.

It's a reasonably safe rule of thumb. If your character lacks the means or motivation to find out the information IC, and lacks the means or motivation to do anything about it, then you don't even need to think about it any further.

I am unsure as to whether I've simply phrased my problem incorrectly or whether people just don't know what advice to offer me.

I know something. Makkal does not. I feel my knowledge is tainting Makkal's responses. If I 'don't think on it further' then things will only get worse. I sometimes use specific techniques that rely on overstimulating my conscious mind, but I don't think that's what you're getting at.

[Morwen Lagann]

I think the answer is "you do the best you can".

OOC knowledge is always a problem, no matter how hard you work. The very fact of you knowing something changes how your character can react.

I don't believe it's always disruptive.

Makkal recently undressed in front of Morwen despite my OOC knowing she was attracted to women. I already know how Makkal feels about nudity, whether it's common place in her culture, and what she would do in that situation. Strong background information dictates the interaction.

I want it on the record that Morwen had zero reaction to this!

[Louella Dougans]

I try and not let OOC information affect things. It's not simple.

Some people feel the need to blurt out in the OOC channel that X is actually their alt. Which kind of ruins it intentionally. E.g. one incident, a post appeared on the IGS by character X saying Y was a Bad Person. Ok, but then Y blurted out in OOC channel that X was their alt.

That turned the whole thing from "huh, what's this about then" to "Oh, a self-promotion thing." and I wasn't interested.

There are other things that happen too.

[lallara zhuul]

To answer the OP.

Take steps to create an IC/OOC divide as a reality within the game instead of having it as an abstract concept. If it is important to you, you never read an IC blog of a person you have never met in-game, you stay out of character development parts of this forum and others like it.

Never compromise if it is important to you.

It does not mean that you should cut off all contact with the people playing with the other characters, it just means that you interact them in venues where it is just the people interacting and nothing that happens IC comes into focus.

This is pretty much what I did, which pretty much cut me off the IC interactions with the majority of the RP community.
That is why a few good OOC channels were their worth in gold when it came to enjoying the actual game.

[Makkal]

It would therefore appear that means that you should never talk OOC about your character. And indeed, if you want something to remain an IC secret, it's probably best not to share it with Channel OOC.

I'm not convinced, though. I think in many cases that the enjoyment gained from chatting about my character characters OOCly is worth the small risk of an IC "secret" getting out, and the small negative impact on other people's ability to guess. But it's not a one-size-fits-all-situations answer.

I dislike irony in my RP. Mostly.

Extrusions of any sort bother me, though I understand they're to be expected. People are human. They might not remember where they got a bit of information or they might be misreading something because of it. There are also times where PCs react to the wrong bit of OOC information, which is always interesting.

[Silas Vitalia]

I've found a good way to mitigate some of these problems is to close OOC channels when getting into an area you are going to RP in. 

It's too much brain-fu for my little pea brain sometimes to have ooc and IC open simultaneously. So if I'm active in Summit, etc, I usually minimize or close OOC, especially if I'm interacting with people in both channels.

Taking long breaks from OOC channels can also do you wonders to re-center IC emotionally, etc.

Oh, I HATE that person IC. I need to forget the lolcat they just posted in OOC and focus on what's going on IC, etc.

[Lyn Farel]

You will always have OOC bias, knowing OOC stuff or not. Since it's basically you, the player, that is simulating how your character reacts (like a puppet master), there will always be a part of how YOU reason and think in your roleplay. Be it because your character shares some things with you, or just because you asked yourself "What would my character do in that situation ?" : you can definitely put yourself into her shoes, but it will still be you asking yourself what she would do, and so, thinking about it with your own brain patterns and through your own lens as a player. So eventually, the bias is always there.

Then you can mitigate it by avoiding most OOC venues and OOC talks to prevent... spoilers. I guess it may depend on people, but I personally do not see much difference, knowing things OOC or not. In both cases I will ask myself constantly "what would my character do ?". It sure is more biased when I know something OOCly. But I don't mind much, I just choose the most logical answer, and I take RP as being like an author, not a character. I'm not my character. I do not know everything of her life. I do not know everything she knows about New Eden or the Ammatar, or whatever. I just couldn't even if I wanted. It remains partial, at best.

[Lithium Flower]

I usually prefer to strictly separate OOC information and don't give others opportunity to use it, for example, against myself. I don't give 'spoiler' or bio of my character, that should be unknown and if would be known would cause different reaction to my character instead of reaction on ICly characters deeds. Whatever information is available about my character, should be extracted only IC-ly 

I myself don't use OOC information and often ask the source. However, if information was obtained in the game, I consider it IC (ship kills, war declarations, unbraketed conversations in local, which by default I take as IC).

When I see someone abuses OOC information, I tend to call them liars (and other names) and demand to present evidences 

[Ulphus]

One of the reasons secrets leak IRL is that people just have to tell someone, anyone, about their secret. Keeping secrets, especially secrets that show how clever, connected or special you are, is hard.

Sometimes, it feels like people do reveals OOC so that they can reduce the temptation on their character to reveal it IC.

That does rather feel a bit like cheating, especially if they then get grumpy if anyone "discovers" their secret, or "guesses" correctly.

Another side of it is that most capsuleers have thousands of crew. Any secret that depends on all of them keeping their mouth shut ("we were in x region shooting at y targets" or "we met up with such-and-such in x system to transfer slaves to take home") seems to be much more reasonable for people to find out about even if the character doesn't do the big reveal IC.

[Lyn Farel]

One of the reasons secrets leak IRL is that people just have to tell someone, anyone, about their secret. Keeping secrets, especially secrets that show how clever, connected or special you are, is hard.

Sometimes, it feels like people do reveals OOC so that they can reduce the temptation on their character to reveal it IC.

That does rather feel a bit like cheating, especially if they then get grumpy if anyone "discovers" their secret, or "guesses" correctly.

Another side of it is that most capsuleers have thousands of crew. Any secret that depends on all of them keeping their mouth shut ("we were in x region shooting at y targets" or "we met up with such-and-such in x system to transfer slaves to take home") seems to be much more reasonable for people to find out about even if the character doesn't do the big reveal IC.

Yeah, that what eventually made me stopped strictly adhering to Lithium's rule recently. I am not that active these days so.. It does not feel especially ill now.

[Aria Jenneth]

For my money, the worst kind of OOC information is old OOC information, mostly because I can't always remember how I found out about it-- and how I found out is what draws the IC/OOC line.

In general, I prefer to avoid OOC knowledge. It ruins the fun of IC speculation (Aria still thinks the Jove are behind Jamyl Sarum, Tibus Heth, AND Sansha Kuvakei). It actually annoys the hell out of me how much plot-critical backstory (for instance, the Sleeper origins of DUST implants) appears to be OOC knowledge only, particularly since there are certainly IC clues available that could lead to the truth ...

... yet claiming to know what EVERYBODY knows OOC is inevitably going to come off as godmoding even if it's plausible that your character could have worked it out.

Maddening!

CCP, if you're listening, a few "shocking revelations" in the news media are in order, sooner rather than later.

[Morwen Lagann]

For my money, the worst kind of OOC information is old OOC information, mostly because I can't always remember how I found out about it-- and how I found out is what draws the IC/OOC line.

In general, I prefer to avoid OOC knowledge. It ruins the fun of IC speculation (Aria still thinks the Jove are behind Jamyl Sarum, Tibus Heth, AND Sansha Kuvakei). It actually annoys the hell out of me how much plot-critical backstory (for instance, the Sleeper origins of DUST implants) appears to be OOC knowledge only, particularly since there are certainly IC clues available that could lead to the truth ...

... yet claiming to know what EVERYBODY knows OOC is inevitably going to come off as godmoding even if it's plausible that your character could have worked it out.

Maddening!

CCP, if you're listening, a few "shocking revelations" in the news media are in order, sooner rather than later.

This is basically what Templar One did to Arek'Jaalan.

All the things we were coming closer to revealing through IC methods, were revealed through a book none of us could know about.

And so anyone coming to those conclusions would inevitably be called out as having used OOC knowledge even when they worked it out through IC means before the book even came out.

At least one person was annoyed enough by that to have left the game for a while.

[Shiori]

One of the more interesting meta plays is the nuclear disclosure option; loudly declare each and every one of your characters' secrets and plans OOCly. Then, whenever anyone tries to make an IC move against your character, or as much as the slightest untoward noise about them, howl at the horrible metagamers!

Bitter, moi? Noooo.