We hear that statement quite frequently and one that often goes around the rumor mills. The problem with that statement is, 99% of the time, it is a complete misrepresentation of the situation. Most of the time, the person making that statement had some grand idea that completely disregarded Meri’s advice on how to get involved in the city, and did their own thing that completely went against what has been established for the city. There is known history and unknown history for the city that only Meri, Ancilla and myself are privy to, so we have to make sure that when someone is trying to get involved in RP in the city, they stay within what we have established, for the sake of the greater community.

If you were to join a fantasy RP setting and try to bring in a cybernetic character, you’re plans are going to get shot down very quickly. The two just don’t mix. If the “laws” of the RP that you are trying to join say that no player is allowed to fly, trying to use SL tools to fly just because SL allows it would probably get you banned from that RP.

Chi Tau, like any other RP setting, has it’s rules, its setting, its backstory. Unlike other RP sims, we don’t require you to take up an RP character, or even to be actively RPing, but we do encourage it. If you’re just coming here for the community, the sex, the music/dancing, and/or the fun, we welcome you. But if you’re also coming for the RP, we expect you to abide by the RP guidelines.

Meri is, for the lack of a better term, the game master for our RP. She knows our backstory, she knows all the threads of existing stories, she knows who is involved with what RP. She has to, because she sees the big picture, where our players are only seeing a smaller picture, by design.

There are some areas of RP in which you can just “jump into.” For example, no one is in the Coffee Shop at the moment, so you can decide to go into the coffee shop and open it for business and act as a barista employed by the Coffee Shop for an RP scene. Those are easy scenes that do not affect the greater RP landscape of the city.

But if you are coming in saying that your character is some rich mobster that has taken over Old Town, you are going to get Meri to try to help you redirect that to something that will work in the city. The problem is, so many people who have tried to this, or similar things that don’t work with what we have for the established background, just assume Meri is shutting them down. Yes, she is direct in how she addresses the RP, and sometimes (like in the case just mentioned) it has to be shut down completely. No matter what, though, Meri does try to work with people who genuinely try to get involved in the RP. Other RP sims won’t take the time, someone does something that goes against what they have established could wind up being banned. Meri, though, makes every attempt to try to help, to try to find places for you to get involved with the RP.

Another area that is a problem that leads to this statement is someone might just start something out of the blue. For example, Meri might approach someone with an idea, or be approached with an idea, and will almost always tell that person, “Please talk to me to help you to get it up and running.” Instead, that person may decide to start doing their own thing. They might change key aspects of the city landscape or backstory with their own ideas, that they haven’t cleared through Meri. They may appoint others in positions of power that are not appropriate for the city. John expresses an interest in becoming a lawyer in the city. A hypothetical example (based loosly of a real incident) Meri helps get John set up but tells him to talk to her before making any changes to the role. John decides he’s going to be a corrupt district attorney. John asks Bob to be the chief of police who is also corrupt and has an office in the slums of Chi Tau City. Meri catches wind of it and shuts it down completely, because it has extended beyond what the role was supposed to be, changed key aspects of the city, tried to appoint people into positions of power in the city, none of which was acceptable. Now, as mentioned, this is an example scenario, but it has its roots in things that have happened multiple times in the city, where Meri had a legitmate reasons to shut it down with extreme prejudice. That’s her responsibility, not John nor Bob’s responsibility.

The bottom line is, when it comes to the RP in the city, Meri is the architect. She works on it and plans it with Ancilla and me. In many cases, she knows more about the RP than Ancilla and I combined. Unlike other RP sims, we don’t require people to be in RP all the time, nor do we ban people for not inserting themselves into the RP properly. Meri might get overly frustrated at times, having to say the same things over and over again, but she does take a genuine interest in wanting to help those who genuinely want to get involved. She goes above and beyond what most would ever do. Sometimes she goes so far that she unintentionally snaps as a result. Yet despite that, no one gets banned and she still wants to help, once she’s cooled down.

So, the next time you hear someone tell you “Meri Shot Down my RP” don’t believe it. Instead tell the person to talk to Meri again, Ancilla or myself. We don’t need the rumors being spread over incorrect information.