I find myself very reluctant to write these words. The reason for my reluctance is that I do not personally believe it is the right of one person to forcibly change another person in any way. Keeping in mind the previous statement, please understand that the following paragraphs are merely advice, as opposed to recommending a course of action. You may find reading what I've just written a little strange, but hopefully you'll understand why it's necessary after you read the rest of this.

The behavior of real people in the real world is constrained (most of the time) by what, collectively, people call 'society'. In the real world there are direct, instant, and often severe reactions to behavior that is anti-social (or anti-society/societal). In light of either getting a negative physical or verbal response to anti-social behavior, most people avoid it. I'll be clear here: People don't like getting yelled at or hit, so they're inclined to be nice most of the time. The situation in the version of reality that most of you readers call Norrath is quite different.

Norrath is not 'real'. Reality belongs to the tangible world we all sleep,eat, walk, talk and are awake in. Norrath is, let's face it, a bunch of bytes in a database of some kind. It cannot be held, touched, or felt. We perceive it through our PC's as a very large shared interactive environment. There is no physical feedback in Norrath. It's entities don't feel physical joy or physical harm. The result of this lack of physical feedback is the potential for ALOT of anti-social behavior.

As you've no doubt read, there are currently several ways to interact with other entities, (NPC or PC) within Norrath. There is the ability to speak, which would have your personal entity 'speak' text that is 'heard' within a smallish radius around you, perhaps a 60m diameter. There is also the ability to 'tell' someone something, which 'speaks' text that only a single other entity can 'hear'. Generally speaking, when entities use these two methods of communication, they tend to be civil, kind, and nice. (I'm using a EPIC number of stereotypes and generalities here, otherwise my advice would be even more long winded than it currently is) There is also the ability to /shout to everyone in your current zone. Added to this list are the /ooc or Out-Of-Character zone broadcasts, and /auction buying and selling broadcasts. If these communication mechanisms are to survive beta testing and follow into release, it is vital that everyone use proper etiquette. Currently, as of me typing this, the /auction, /ooc, and /shout are abused, in my opinion.

Perhaps a nice/good/positive example is in order. I have chosen to entertain myself in Norrath by existing as the Necromancer class. Necromancers at a low level often find it hard to purchase food and water, so they often ask another player to help them out by purchasing food and water (at a premium, usually) on their behalf. So, I, Joe Necromancer, ask Bob Warrior to buy me some food. "Bob, can you please buy me some food? These merchants won't deal with me!" response: "Sure Joe, hand me the coin, and I'll buy what you need, but I'll have to charge you an extra gold for my services". Typical conversation, typical response, no harm done. A requirement was expressed, compensation for action given, and a need satisfied. My fear, which is driving this advice article, is that when this shared virtual environment reaches the dozens of thousands of real life humans that is it's intended audience, etiquette will be the first social activity to disappear.

Another example, this time, a rude/evil/negative one. Again, I have chosen to entertain myself as Joe the Necromancer. Joe: "Bob, buy me some food!! this f***in dumb@$$ NPC won't sell me nuthin" Bob: /ignore Joe. OR Bob: /rude Joe. OR Bob: Bite me Joe! Unfortunately, Joe didn't use a lot of etiquette, and Bob's reaction, a social one, was to react as he chooses, given Bob's just a bunch of bytes in a database, sharing a very large virtual interactive environment with Joe. Bob's social response vaguely mirrors how he might react in reality. If someone walked up to you in reality, demanded you do something, swearing the entire time, and was a stranger, how would YOU react? Well, personally, I would hope they went away, and took their lack of etiquette with them. If they persisted in their anti-social behavior directly towards me, a pro-social verbal response like "Please leave me alone" or "Get away from me!" might be followed by a pro-social physical response, which I'll leave to your imagination and temperament.

In reality, Evil Bob KNOWS he's being rude. He KNOWS there are negative reactions for anti-social behavior. Variety is the spice of life, and personalities are all different, so we deal with them in reality the best we can. Norrath, however, is a different matter. I don't have to interact with Evil Bob in Norrath. /ignore Bob and he's no longer a problem for me. Good Bob in Norrath gets what he needs, Evil Bob in Norrath gets to entertain himself, alone. Good etiquette demands that YOU as an individual adapt yourself to new social structures. Norrath, and indeed, all online interactive environments have their own social structures. IRC is a good example. IRC social structure demands that everyone be nice, generally, or you don't get to talk. There is a lot of the IRC social structure in Norrath. My advice, given my current time in Norrath is this: Use Etiquette. Learn the social structure of your race in Norrath. At least TRY to be pro-social, not anti-social, and you'll experience great entertainment. If you don't, you will find yourself and the wrong end of a /ignore, and that's not entertaining.

Now at this point, the role-players are about the press the BACK button, and return to wherever they came from. My advice applies equally to ogres, trolls, and dark elves, as it does to humans, high elves, and gnomes. You can still have Troll-ish etiquette. There is a Norrath social structure for entertaining yourself as an Ogre. It may mean that when an Ogre meets a Gnome, he tries to eat him, and that would be correct etiquette for the Norrath social structure. You will be treated with respect by your fellow Ogres, and the Gnomes will be entertained. (either by being eaten, or running away in 'fear') Regardless of your race and class choice, showing etiquette doesn't mean showing human reality etiquette. It means learning the Etiquette of Norrath, and using that etiquette. "How art thou today?" may sound right for a Human Paladin, but your fellow Troll Warriors are going to beat the crap out of you for "Speakin' like a Humie!" Something more appropriate would be: "*smack* Thugthug! You awake? Let's go eat!" as a greeting. And likewise for elf wizards, very "high sounding" speech and "painfully correct" grammar may be the etiquette of choice, whereas a halfling rogue may choose to be a little more loose with his speech and conduct, as his race and class would dictate, from a purely imagined social structure point of view.

Re-read my opening paragraph. This is just advice. You don't have to follow it. But I can almost guarantee that if you do, you'll have some real fun in Norrath.