Rest assured, it is.
First a little background...
In the last few weeks I've received quite a few PMs and one formal complaint all very similar in detail. Though they cover varying roleplays and characters, the basic problem remains the same:
Disagreements with Faith Managers leading to IC and OOC dissent which in some cases is bordering on harassment.
Now before everyone takes up arms against me and posts to accuse me of interfering in their play or of being ignorant of their character's background/roleplay... let's see if we can agree on a few things first.
1) Your Faith Manager (FM) is the voice of your church or God in the realms.
You may despise them ICly or even dislike them OOCly, but by virtue of their roleplay and desire to contribute to the game they have been given the position and deserve at least a little IC respect and OOC consideration.
If you have issues with their behaviour, contact their deity via PM or the complaints addy if there is no deity player. Under no circumstances should another player be approached OOCly and told that they are wrong, should change their decision or that they are a bad Faith Manager.
If an FM gives IC advice or direction or issues a request characters are welcome to disagree or debate the matter - ICly.
Your character is of course equally free to ignore the request; whine about the FM in tells; or actively raise dissent against them. So long as they are prepared to accept the IC consequences of that action.
It's interesting to note, that those FMs who try the hardest to stick with canon dogma or the instructions their deity gives them are the ones who are suffering the most. The conclusion being, dont create waves if you want a quiet life.
I personally feel that on a roleplay MUD this goes completely against the point of having an IC faithing system. The Forgotten Realms setting is one in which Gods take an active part in day to day life. If we wanted it otherwise we would automate all faiths and leave you all to it.
In closing, can I ask that we all try to emphasise OOC consideration in our dealings with other characters and quit all of the OOC backbiting around IC actions.ii) There are consequences to being of a certain race or faith
While I appreciate that adventurers are the exception to the norm, there are basic truths to many races that should not be ignored, This is also true of a number of faiths.
Faith Managers of racial deities bear a heavy burden in this respect and should not be brought to task for accepting these restrictions.
For others, if these consequences are inconvenient to your character or yourself, then it's probably best to not play these races or join these faiths.
I would like to offer my apreciation to the players who have worked hard to embrace this kind of roleplay and accepted the consequences of their race, be it half-orc or elf. I would then like to point out to those who have kicked up such a fuss - especially OOCly - that you are actually belittling their efforts.
