time

The rule is if your not devoting your attention to it (ie AFK to run to the bathroom/engaged in a AIM conversation and have the window minimized/watching the download of the latest britney spears album) you should be @ooc.

If that means you find yourself going @ooc and it's interupting conversations and RP, you probablly shouldn't be playing.

But if your just a slow typer and the pose is worth it, by all means take 3-4 minutes if you need it.

If your going longer than that, please break it up.

IMOPI.

-Kevlar

IMHO, given the real-time, reactive nature of -this- MOO, where code CAN affect you (as opposed to your standard MUSH), it's best to be quick about your poses - unless you're 1-on-1 in a private to semi-private area, then you can allow yourself to monster-pose, or slow-pose, if the other person doesn't mind and has a lot of time to kill. ;)

In my experience, you CAN be doing other things while playing - I often find myself on one or two (or four!) other MU*'s while actively playing on SD sometimes - unless it gets heavy. (Though I sometimes find myself typing "draw handaxe" in the wrong window, which is sort of a pain when you're being torn to pieces by a pack of wild bobcats…I hate using roads.)

My MU* client's icon on the taskbar changes when something happens, and AIM windows blink, so that's not a problem. I just miss the smaller SIC transmissions in the mass of text or sometimes SIC the wrong person (cursed cr).

So, again, IMO, best thing to do if you're gonna be slow (but not excruciatingly slow) is to tell the other person - maybe even OOCly ask if the other person minds you long-posing (on SD, I'd say that'd be anywhere over two-three lines...most I've seen on here, is what, eight? Nine?) if you don't know how they play.

In fact, a 'longposing' or 'slow' social would be neat...something like '<OOC> %N is long-posing.' or '<OOC> %N is going to be a bit slow.' ...you know, for the lazy types.