I was discussing this with another Blades GM, but I thought I would ask the G+ community.
How natural, especially with newer players, is the switch between player chat and character chat?
I’ve ran a few sessions where there has been some confusion between the two or mixed signals/communication about if this was an in character or a player/gm conversation.
Is this flow natural for your groups? Do you have tips or go-to ways to differentiate when needed?
I remember a friend of the Stafnord Gaming group, who would hang out but not play. She actually started watching us carefully, because this issue fascinated her. We seemed to flow back and forth, and it was obvious to us when were IC or OOC. Some of us were clearer to read than others. I think we were eventually the subjects of a paper for her psych or communications class.
Obviously, very stylized speech helps. Accents, change in pitch, posture, in-game phrases. If the comm problems seem to originate from one player, perhaps they can come up with some affect or other to provide a cue to indicate IIC.
I recently heard a story from a group that basically referred to themselves (their real selves, the players) in the third person during games. So Linda, who plays the character Skulk, might say “This is a terrible plan. You’re idiots and we’re all going to die. Linda thinks this is hilarious, though, and we should totally do it!”
The invocation of a player name instead of a character name creates a clear mark between reality and fiction. And it fits with the standard “ask the character not the player” advice you see a lot of these days. “Skulk what do YOU do?” rather than “Linda, what does Skulk do?”
That said, especially with people new to RPGs, it’s important to remember that it’s okay to pause the action briefly to make sure there are no hurt feelings. Thinking everyone at the table is insulting you is going to hurt a player’s immersion a lot more than a brief interruption.