I wanted to open dialogue on the prevalence of spying on RP in Stealth.
I have on two occasions here been in a private RP (not ERP, no shame on it I just don’t do it) discovered an audience stealthing around me. And once more in a technically “public” RP given it was in an inn.
I get that the world is open to all, and I cannot really claim privacy rights in a video game unless I use party chat, but is it generally an accepted norm for this behavior?
Spying unseen I feel is a fundamental lack of respect and courtesy for another even if not technically against Blizzard rules. I personally extend this even to taverns because doing so calls into question the integrity and safety of those hubs, though I am less concerned with the blatantly public nature of taverns than I am with stealthing up to RP partners in secluded areas of the world clearly trying to make themselves less likely to be run into.
I also don’t see people out of stealth with the same suspicion especially if they are behaving like garden variety questers.
What is everyone’s thoughts on this? Am I right to be creeped out by discovering an audience to my RP in Stealth?
Oh it’s 100% creepy and weird. Thing is, as you said, it’s a public space. As a rule of thumb you shouldn’t post anything in public that you wouldn’t be comfortable with others reading. If you don’t want others to read what you say, your best bet is to go to the garrison or form a party.
I’m not disagreeing with you, I definitely think it’s scummy behavior. There’s just nothing you can really do about it. I’ve been in situations like that and if you move the chat to party chat the person usually gets bored and goes away.
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If they’re RPing in /say then they have no reason to be upset that someone overhears them.
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In the past, I have acknowledged the stealthed players with a simple IC hello and asked them what I can help them with. Most usually turn and walk on but once in a while they participate. I find adaptability invaluable.
Cheers.
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Not everyone on RP servers are RPers. Some just like to gawk and see the world as more full and lively than other servers.
If this is another RPer stealthing to watch OOCly, it is whatever. Anything said in /say should always be presumed that someone somewhere is watching. Private RP of any kind if intended to stay private should be done in group chat, or whispers.
If done ICly I’d say there is a breach of etiquette between RPers. If peeps be peeping they should at least whisper a heads up like ‘Ayo I’m here ICly and stealthed.’ Consent to do so is a different conversation.
If you feel creeped out it’s valid in any case.
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*Rogue stealth heavy breathing. *
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It’s just going to happen. Is it creepy? Yes, yes it is. As others have said, if you are RPing in /say, unfortunately you are fair game. Yes, you might try to find a secluded spot - but there is no place in Azeroth were you can guarantee that you can be alone 100% of the time. Sometimes you are just going to wind up with an audience whether you want one or not.
Now as to the “in stealth” part of that… Yes, that would make me highly uncomfortable - even given everything that I said before. I get really uncomfortable with rping in groups anyway. The first time I noticed an unexpected audience I was a little freaked out. I’ve come to accept it as an “occupational hazard,” so to speak. There are people on the server who don’t RP at all, but they like to watch the RP that goes on around them. I’ve learned most of them mean no harm, they are just interested. Some are more subtle than others. I’ve learned not to mind them. Once up a time, I would sometimes get questions about my character and her story and what was going on. I was always flattered by that. Them being in stealth could have been a case of someone trying to be less intrusive than just standing there looking. I don’t know.
Of course there are people who will follow you hoping to catch a little ERP action for various and sundry reasons.
TLDR: Sorry - right or wrong - that’s going to happen. Usually no one means any harm.
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I think a lot of it is curiosity and thinking they are actually not being seen. lol
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Whisper the rogue in stealth and ask “can I help you?” and see if it freaks them out.
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Also this reminds me.
Way back MoP time (or maybe WoD), I played as a goblin rogue for a short stint. I didn’t really play Cata so I was exploring Tol Barad for the first time and a big Alliance guild showed up to use a building I was in for RP.
The goblin stealth animation is really funny, so I tip toed around in the upper level like I was “spying” but it was all in blah blah common and player made funny emotes jargon so it’s not like I actually understood anyone.
Then I got bored and left to keep exploring the zone.
Maybe I’m too optimistic but maybe it’s a shy socially awkward person and not always malicious.
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It’s many things. Creepy is definitely one. But because it’s a public space they’re allowed to be there, and this should go without saying but some keep forgetting that no ERP or RP you wish to be private should be out in public spaces.
That said, while I don’t mind folks lamping on RP, stealth makes it weird. An open lamp is someone watching the scene like you would on television and you have opportunity to ask them not to because you know they’re there. Most lampers I know ask permission and quite a few are even non-RPers who stumbled on the scene and want to stay awhile and listen. But a stealther makes it awkwardly clandestine even if it’s not meant to be, so icky feelings about it is valid.
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Yeah. It’s a little “odd” to be watching somebody’s RP from stealth. That takes time that I don’t have. I’d rather be swiping tankards of ale while stealthed. I couldn’t do that as a monk.
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Impolite but not illegal.
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I personally could not care less if anyone eavesdrops on my RP in stealth. I feel the same about a person watching from stealth as I do about them lamping in the open.
If they aren’t doing anything to disrupt what I’m doing or to grief me, I assume they’re just curious or intrigued. Some people don’t have a problem being acknowledged as they do this. Others might want to watch without being seen because maybe they feel embarrassed or awkward themselves to be seen just standing there. Or maybe they want to observe without the possibility of being addressed and having to engage IC.
If they’re trying to catch me doing something controversial or spicy, they’ll be sorely disappointed. Even though I don’t do that kind of RP, I wouldn’t do it in a channel visible to the public if I did. Anything I do in public channels is something I have no reasonable expectation of privacy to. I do not own any in-game space, nor would I expect others to “respect” me by leaving a space I happen to be in. I believe RPers should be able to share space and ignore each other within reason as long as public posts aren’t drowning each other out or people aren’t standing right on top of one another.
At the end of the day, it’s just RP. Watch me play pretend all you want. It’s not like someone is peering through my bedroom window while I’m changing or something.
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Being weirded out by someone watching your RP is missing an incredible opportunity to mess with them.
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A few years ago, a pvp streamer did this while streaming and tried to frame my public rp with a friend as erp to their viewers, so YMMV. I wasn’t interested in potential harassment for someone’s content farm, so I went through twitch’s report system to deal with that though I don’t think there’s much of these types around on wra these days. If at all.
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In particular the only thing that makes it cool or not cool is the simple line of like… is it PUBLIC-public RP like someone lamping in a busy hub and it just so happens they’re in stealth.
OR
Is it very clearly a smaller group or just two people that have obviously gone off to the side on their own or really out of the way and taking the Stealth approach is also obvious in the way of “the person watching the RP deliberately does not want to be seen”.
The latter case absolutely making it just a touch weird.
It just hit me like a wet brick. Do Forsaken actually have lungs and a trachea to be able to do that? If they do, how do we know it even works? Or, is it actually some dark magic mind trick to make us think we hear the heavy breathing?
You know, there’s a small but significant section of players in RP servers who are…RP-curious, I guess you might call them? They aren’t specifically RPers–either because of insecurity or effort inhibitions–but they do enjoy the atmosphere of an RP server and are interested in RP.
Sometimes, you’ll find them just observing and maybe a few of them don’t want to intrude. RP is just cooperative storytelling and sometimes the stories we tell are interesting.
Also, sometimes it’s just human curiosity to want to know what a naked Goblin and a clothed Gnome hanging out in Karazhan together are talking about.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intrigued.
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