As I've become more active in the Den, and have become interested in getting my character(s) into more active plot lines, one thing that I've started noticing is a trait that, to me, seems...well, ridiculous.

Now some of you know me, and know that sometimes I push perhaps a little bit too much of my own real life background into an expectancy of realism IC, and if that's the case then someone please say so..but I'm certain there are others out there who strongly agree with me on this.

Last night in the TT there was a very brief, but well played shootout. I won't bring up names of all involved, but cheers to those who were playing the scene, it was a great round of RP.

However, as is the exception in all shootouts, there were those not involved and were merely bystanders, and these were the people that troubled me.

When bullets start flying it is indeed a natural human reaction to seek cover, to hide, to run, to get the hell out of the way. I really don't care how psychotic a person is, there is still the natural human instinct of survival. If a person is so incapable of sensing such a concept, then chances are they have long-since been diagnosed and spend their days heavily medicated in a psychiatric ward/facility.

In most shoot outs I've seen, there are of course questions that arise among those involved, but for bystanders I think there needs to be some questions as well.

As has been discussed in this thread before, character immersion is a wonderful thing and can heighten a playing experience...while I understand that sometimes there is immaturity involved in those doing the shootings and it can interrupt a fun scene, there is still the fact that, IC, people are shooting and since a lot of people have this magic ability to jump around and only get grazed, bullets are flying aimlessly around while bystanders are casually sitting there, watching, and making fun of what's going on or pulling lighthearted jokes about the situation.

Maybe I've only seen bad examples of shootouts, who knows, I don't care for them to begin with as it just ruins the RP for the next few days/weeks while the character recovers, but if its going to happen it would be nice to see a touch of realism.

Like I said, this could just be me blowing something out of proportion, but I would like to see, for once, a shootout occur and the crowd around actually scatter, call 911, seek cover....or do something other than sit there and giggle.