Taken from VirtuaPern:
In general, the MOO population looks upon angst as a ploy to attract attention to one's self. Role-play about sad, dramatic, or overly tragic situations. When over used, it becomes annoying and often frustrating to other players. Angst /cannot/ be eliminated of course, life is not a perpetually happy place and sometimes, yes... bad things happen. However, when the life of a character begins to resemble a bad soap opera that has not only fallen in ratings but is into it's 5th rerun and shoved into a bad time slot, players should consider more constructive methods of role-play.
Angst is the easiest form of attention attracting and thus commonly employed by newer players. However it can be a problem if people don't realize the implications. After a while, the MOO population begins to resemble a group of traumatized, horror filled, victims of terrible accidents, misfortunes, and all orphans for some reason. There have to be /some/ people on Pern who grew up with wholesome, happy, decently well adjusted families. And considering the Pernese practice of fostering children to ensure proper upbringing and to avoid spoiling their own progeny, the likelyhood of /most/ Pernese children having twisted, abused, or demented childhoods is relatively low.
The administration cannot force players to /not/ role-play in this manner. It is a personal decision. SO AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT UPSET OTHER PLAYERS. Most importantly, if one feels the need to resort to angst, or sometimes there /is/ a genuine opprotunity where angst is /appropriate/, do so... However, public arenas of role-play should in general be off limits. Take it to a more private setting if possible. Above all, do NOT engage in disruptive role-play when a scheduled event is being held in the public room! In other Words, if other folks are having a happy, enjoyable time, do be considerate and not turn such a situation into something that is sad and depressing, usually uncomfortable to witness. Especially public performances, such as Gathers, Concerts, Craft Fairs, etc where it may interrupt scheduled role-play.
