aaaalright so hear me out on this idea: A scheduled OOC day. Elaboration under the cut! There's a poll, as well. also i literally just rambled this out i'm so sorry if it's confusing/convoluted

Okay, as some older members (not even that old! like idk i'm not that old of a player imo) might remember, people...used to be a bit more uninhibited when it came to being OOC at certain times on rp characters? Whether you would view that as a good thing or a bad thing, I know for a fact it definitely helped me feel less nervous around players that I did not know on messenger (or skype.) In fact, afterwards, it made it easier for me to approach them IC!

I've noticed this isn't a thing very much anymore. Like, even during abio or rare days where it's night-time, people do tend to stick to being mostly IC. Don't get me wrong; it's kind of a good thing for avoiding confusion or misunderstanding, and it can make things like fog and night rather fun. Despite that, I also just kind of miss how much you got to know how goofy and friendly that one intimidating deer is OOC. A lot of people don't make OOC deer or stay on them for very long, and even if you do make one, you're generally stuck to interacting with certain players. I know a lot of people (myself included) who tend to just really stick to their IC pictos and rarely deviate to OOC ones, so finding fellow community members who may be OOC at the time can be a pain.

So...I was thinking, what if there was an organized event for an OOC community day? It'd start at a specific time and last 24 hours, that way hopefully everyone who wanted to participate would have at least some experience in it. A thread could be made for it and people could post if they wanted to be in it and with what characters they'd be OOC with. Players could drop a character out of the event at any time during it if they had their fill of fun OOC romping. A directory would help organize it and make sure that people who don't want to participate don't have to, and know which characters that aren't currently IC (to avoid any misunderstanding.)

I understand this could potentially seem like an unwanted burden on people who wouldn't want to be a part of it, but I feel like one day wouldn't be too much to ask for, especially if it was made convenient to avoid. It could DEFINITELY help out a lot with tightening a sense of community and lowering anxiety when it comes to interacting, and it's a chance to be able to be a huge goofball without having to check the map religiously.

Of course, this'd also be a chance to get on an OOC picto already and get to interact with even more deer from the community than usual. Imagine how lively this'd make the forest seem to those who don't participate in the community/are new players! And, who knows, maybe Auriea & Michaël would see this being planned and might change up the forest for that day.

Here's the poll! Feel free to also comment if you want to state your opinion on how you'd feel about this, or if you would help out in planning something like this (css, graphics, organization, etc.)

if this is already a thing and i somehow did not know abt it feel free to push me off a roof thanks