Things to Think About When Your Character Has to Be Gone

[𝐊𝐀𝐓 ᴀᴋᴀ 𝓡𝓮𝓭 𝓥𝓲𝓹𝓮𝓻]

Real life happens.  Unavoidable, undeniable.   When it does,  your character is MIA. 

Keep in mind, while YOU may not be able to do much in the way of RP, that doesn't mean other people will just stop playing to wait for you.  Their characters are going to continue on living their every day lives.  Time is going to move forward.  (And in Tamriel, it goes forward 4x faster than our time.)

For those who are worried about the exact specifications Tamriel time wise, about how long your character is away if you have to be away, please don't.   There is really no need.  If you are away for a week, it's easy to just say your character was gone for a week.  No need to nickle and dime the exact dates any further than that, in this case.  If you WANT to, power to you.  HERE is a link to the Tamriel calendar.  However, for the ease of understanding, just lump OOC time away as IC time away.

Generally, when you aren't online, your character is not there.   Simple.  See HERE for clarification.  However, some people may want to go a step further to have their character off doing something while they are unable to get online to play.  This gives others in your character's life a 'reason' why your character may be out of touch, other than simply being unable to wake, and gives you the chance to add some more history and flavor to your character's life.

If you choose to go that route,  you need to cover a few bases before you (and your character) go... and then a few more once you/your character returns.

If something happens out of your control - say your computer blows up, or you get banned from ESO, or something like that, you still have the ability to lay some quick groundwork to cover where your character has (suddenly) gone so that all those people in your character's life know what's happened.

Reasons Why A Character May Be Away

Some IC reasons include (but are not limited to):

- Alternate work has called them away for however long.  The alternate work could be one of the guilds, maybe a faction related thing, maybe a personal friend related thing.  Could be a great story opportunity here.

- Illness.  To whatever degree, if someone isn't well, good reason to be MIA.

- Emergency.  Could be anything, but be prepared to come up with what the emergency was.

- Vacation.  Not all disappearances have to be bad!  Maybe they just wanted some time away.

- Portal malfunction.  Maybe your char got zapped somewhere else?

- Off to get a special mount or item.

Many, many possible excuses are out there to choose from to explain why your character is suddenly away (or not so suddenly).  Be sure to choose a reason you are able to back up believably- and remember, this will become part of your character's story line/history.  So you may wanna make it good.  Have fun with it!

Leaving Word

Unless your character is a ghost in ESO, then your character likely has friends/acquaintances that are going to wonder where they have gone to.

If your character is the responsible, thoughtful sort, they will have let those people know they were going away. For whatever reason.  That means having to let their friends know somehow.  Be it telling them directly, or leaving them a letter.  Letter can be sent via in game mail (remember to include the date!) or even use the site.

Pretend that you are going away on a trip in RL.  What would you say to a friend and or family member to let them know where you were going and why.  Help use that insight when writing letter/s for your character.

What's Happening While They Are Away?

If you have time while you are away, utilize the site.  Create a diary for your character to chronicle what might be happening to them.  You can have all sorts of fun with it.  Writing diary entries will help fluff up your character and add additional color and spice.

Perhaps your character is away- but not AWAY.... Meaning, maybe you can't get into the game, but you really still want to keep them as active as possible.  Use the site.  Simply create and or join some RP threads with friends to keep interaction going.

Maybe you haven't time while gone to write much on the site at all.... That's alright.  Might be a nice idea however to keep notes every so often about what may be happening to your character, so that when you do have time to write, you will have things to build upon and share with others when you are able to post again.

Not able to get in game, or onto the site very easily (possibly you are somewhere where no computers are available and all you may have is your phone.)  Trying to type out long stories and such from a phone can be enough to make a person crazy.  At such times, taking a moment to 'send a post card' may be your best bet.  Sending a post card means just sending a few short words to someone, letting them know how you are and when you might be back.

Example:  Hey Jane, still pretty busy.  Hope to be home in a week. -Joe.

People text more than that in the run of a day.  But that simple little note to send to someone will help keep the RP going and help keep character ties strong.

Coming Back/ Being Back

So you're able to get back into game again, onto the site, whatever.  You're able to POST (somewhere) again and be active.

Once more, draw on real life experience.  After you've been away a long time (or a short time) there may be people who would love to know that you're back safe and sound.  Take a few minutes to send out a letter.  Via the site or in game.

Doing such is common courtesy, right?  Let's people know you care about and respect them.

Not following this list leaves your character open to be ill received should they return.  Such can be painful for a character who is otherwise a kind/thoughtful person, viewed as reliable and trustworthy.  

In the end, just remember, it's not just you/your character's life that will be affected by an absence.   Following these suggestions will help make it easier on everyone involved.

Related:  Respecting Yours- And Other Peoples' Characters

[𝐊𝐀𝐓 ᴀᴋᴀ 𝓡𝓮𝓭 𝓥𝓲𝓹𝓮𝓻]

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