The WHO list can tell a grim tale sometimes.

Looking down the list of folks online, many a time you'll find the majority of connected chars either OOC or idle. For one reason or another, perhaps: AFK to get a snack/do the laundry/go on vacation, what have you. If they're OOC, perhaps they simply do not feel like committing to an RP today. But for every person covered by the reasons above, I am sure there are seven or eight who are simply sitting at their computer, waiting for something to happen or some particular char to connect.

I have been one of these people many times.

Don't forget that the MUCK is what you make it--you shouldn't be waiting for the show to start or someone else to deliver the script (unless you're in a preplanned RP/TP/MP and there is a script to follow). You're there, you're in the show, your char is awake and... doing nothing? How many times a week do you wake up and simply sit on the side of your bed, waiting for something to happen? Not frequently (I should hope). No, you've got things to do. Go to work, go to school, call up friends, do the laundry, build a perpetual motion device, do whatever it is you do. Make an agenda for your char, something he or she would do if no RP presented itself. Take the initiative. Not only will it prevent IC boredom (the reason many go OOC) but it will also give you an opportunity to enrich your char.

We can all take a lesson from a requirement usually found in H/V applications*: Name some ways you could initiate RP. What would your char do if nothing was going on (other than leave :P)? Quiet moments are a good opportunity to bring out the smaller, less obvious traits of your char. Perhaps he or she hums an old tune they know by heart when surrounded by silence? If your char has an creative streak in him or her, they whip out a few leaves of parchment and a quill and start sketching or writing, possibly? Things that otherwise might not come to the surface in normal, conversation-oriented RP can surface here to encourage RP and make your char more 'real' and interesting to RP with.

Of course, the break in the ice need not be centered around your char, like the examples above; one way I like to jumpstart at least a couple of comments would be to spoof a change in the environment. Even simple events can spark something. A stiff, cold wind suddenly flaring up, or the first drops of a coming rain shower. Most players hanging about in a quiet room are just as eager as you to have something to which their chars can react. Mention ICly something about how hot/cold it is today, or how the stars are especially bright tonight. Idle chatter about the weather is not a recent cultural development, you know. ;) One brilliant example of a change in environment I saw a couple of years ago in the Redwall library. A few chars, including Trinn, my own, were lazing about in the library. No poses, no spoofs, no room-pages, nothing. Then, out of the blue, somebody spoofed a book falling from one of the shelves, and landing on the library floor with a loud *clap*. Almost immediately, every char in the room posed a reaction, a couple of surprise, one of being wakened from sleep, and one (the spoofer, I suspect) walking over to the book to put it back... but finding the title, An Introductory Guide to Glassblowing, intriguing. He brought it back to the table, and commented on how he had always wondered how glass was made. It attracted Trinn and the rest of the room's occupants to the book, and there you had it, instant RP.

I'll take this opportunity (i.e. "new paragraph" :P) to coin a term I've used in the context of the MUCK for many years now: plateauing. Simply put, it means going a long time without meeting anyone new ICly. Staying within the same "circle" of chars, and RPing either mostly or exclusively with them. While this can be fine to an extent, don't forget about the rest of the world out there, aching to be explored. Of my four years on Redwall MUCK, I've probably spent three fourths of my time connected plateauing. Then, I'll have a one-or-two-month period that sees intense growth of my "circle" of chars Trinn knows ICly, after which it will level off into a plateau again. But the circle can shrink too; if you don't see one char for a long time or only met him or her in passing and are little more than an acquaintance, just like in real life, you can forget who that char is and how you know him or her ICly.

I've had to clean out my WF list on a couple occasions because of this. "Who the heck is and why are they in my watchfor?" I'll ask myself. Well, I can guess why--I met that char way back once, had a good RP with him or her, added him or her to my WF list, then never saw them again, either because I went back to my "circle" that they hadn't quite yet become a part of, or the simple fact that I could never catch him or her online enough to keep current. This is how plateauing occurs. Some folks you'll see online all the time, others you'd be lucky to catch in a blue moon. It's just the nature of the beast. So, if you catch someone online you haven't seen or RPed with in a long time, try and rekindle the acquaintance! You'll be providing yourself and another with RP, at the same time keeping yourself off a plateau.

By the same token, don't be afraid to RP with "strangers." We're all on the MUCK to RP and have fun (at least we should be). "Oh, I don't know that char. What if he/she is a lousy RPer or a twinker?" Well, how will he/she get better about it without RP? Practice makes perfect, and as long as your suggestions are polite and sincere, you've done your part. How that person takes it is up to them. If they're insulted, oh well. Spilled milk. As long as you're mature about the matter, you cannot do wrong by offering hints or suggestions. Apologize and move on. Sooner or later, if they meet enough folks who do this, they'll notice the pattern of reactions that their RP produces and get the hint.

One of Trinn's most memorable RPs involved mostly chars that were unknown to me. It started out quietly enough, with Trinn and one other char at Waltzer's Healing Guild. I had Trinn come through the door with an armful of firewood, drenched, spoofing the sound of a steady rain on the windows. After a few minutes of small talk, a couple of chars knocked on the door. I paged them and told them that we were RPing as if there was a rainstorm outside, then ICly let them in. They posed accordingly, describing wet clothing and commenting on how it was coming down outside. Seamless integration into the RP. After having Trinn give medical attention to one of the chars, another char burst in (slight breach of etiquette there--normally you'll want to ask before walking in on another's RP) and said that a friend of hers had gone missing in the woods. Trinn, the newcomer, and one of the first chars to arrive went out to look for this char in Mossflower Woods. Keep in mind that we're still RPing as if it were raining, so the search was made all the more interesting by adding the extra element of conflict versus nature. After a long while of having to yell over the deafening rain, slide down mudbanks, and search through wet foliage, she was found and everybody returned to the guild to dry off and rest. With this new char added to the equation, another RP popped up. The rescuee was in love with the char Trinn had healed! A long conversational RP was the result, giving Trinn an opportunity to play mediator and dispense wisdom (at least I like to think so). Chars started falling asleep, and it grew quieter again. Finally, it was just Trinn and the rescuee. After seeing to her accommodations, Trinn sat out of the way and let her sleep, but not before she had a chance to smile and say "Thank you." The entire RP took about six hours. Meals were missed. Sleep was delayed. But to see an RP come full-circle like that, with a build in action, a climax, and closure, just like a good story, you don't want to stop in the middle. I wish I'd had a log of that night, because even though I didn't know most of the others involved (I've even forgotten their names), the good RP put in by everybody made it a great experience.

Don't forget, as I said before, the MUCK is what you make it. So get out there, connect, get off your plateau, go IC, and spend some time making your own unforgettable moments.

*--Ed. note: For those who don't remember: before the more recent system of sponsorsing potential H/Vs was introduced (when there was a staff, of course), the standard procedure was for a Journeybeast H/V to post an application on the web for possible future Apprentices to complete. They varried greatly depending on the individual's standards for accepting people but often involved a series of short answer or essay questions to complete, such as the one mentioned.