Well, if you have been in RLC more than a month or so, then you knew this post was coming.  I have been there a long time, and I have seen my share of drama.  I am even embarrassed to admit that I have been involved in some drama.  I have been really good about staying out of drama, or at least on the fringes of it, so that I do not get hurt, or hurt others.

What is drama in RLC?  How can something like a virtual 3D world create drama?  Those questions are the topic of many conversations in the RLC world.  It has been talked to death at times, and still, it happens.  And the 'why' it still happens is easy, the avatars in RLC have real people behind them.  Now lets talk about the what and how. Then, I will talk to you about how I have been able to not get involved much with it. 

Drama is when there are people being affected in a negative manner in RLC.  Feelings get hurt, bad and hurtful things are said.  And sometimes, people try to take things too far.  It is not much different than in RL.  I hope that makes sense to the people who have not yet joined the wonderful world (because it is truly a great place).  The good news is, that it is avoidable.  By avoiding it properly, it then ceases to exist in your RLC world.

Drama gets started just like it would in real life.  It is either a misunderstanding (most of the time).  It can be that two people's personalities just don't mesh well, and they argue and fight a lot.  Of course, there is the obvious one, people cheating on people. 

Misunderstanding people in RLC is easy.  You can easily take something said incorrectly.  I have done it many times, and still do.  The trick is handling it properly (more on that later).  Think about it here.  If you and I are chatting, and I say a smartass comment to something you said.  You can easily take offense to that.  And as my friends know, I make a lot of smartass remarks.  I often put my foot in my mouth.  BUT, I can still keep from getting into blowing things out of proportion.

There are a lot of personalities in RLC.  What is even more important to know, is that there are people who treat RLC as a game, and people who treat RLC as a social networking site.  I have news for you people, it is BOTH.  No matter how hard either side tries, there will always be people in there playing games, and others in there to meet other real people.  I am on the social networking side in there.  I am there to meet other people.  The two types of people just need to learn how to deal with each other.  And that is not as hard as you might think it is.  That is usually one of the biggest personality clashes in RLC.  Most other RL types of clashes are dealt with as they would be in RL.  There is not much advice I can give on other types of personality clashes.

Here is another biggie that really creates drama, cheating.  It is soooo easy to cheat on someone in RLC.  I personally have not done it, as I see it as a character flaw.  The people on there for games, well... it is a game to them, and they play it how they want.  Being accused of cheating, even when you have not, is also a problem.  That issue also needs to be addressed.

I am sure there are other ways to 'start shit' in RLC.  Since I don't really get into it anymore, I may have forgotten a few things.  But, in my mind, these are the biggest culprits.  Now comes the fun part... avoiding the drama llama.  The first thing you need to know, is what starts it.  By reading this, you are already ahead of the game.  The second thing you need to do, is not be overly sensitive to the people in RLC. There are a lot of jokesters (Myself included) in RLC.  Take things with a grain of salt.

Avoiding misunderstanding people is kind of easy.  If you don't understand, or think someone is being an ass or a bitch to you, maybe you should ask them to clarify.  Just POLITELY ask them what they mean by their comments.  A simple 'huh?'  will do most times.  If you find out that they are in fact trying to 'start shit', then you need to just not respond to them.  If things get worse, you may need to call a staff member.  To do that, you click on the 'Friends' button on the top of the screen, then click the 'Search' tab.  Select 'Staff', and click the search button.  PM a staff member explaining what is going on, and they will come help out.  Even Basic members can PM staff members.  If you still have a problem with that person (and you shouldn't), there is always the ignore feature.  Just right click on the person, and 'Add to Ignores'.

The personality thing can be a problem.  The game players are there for different reasons than the social networkers.  And can end up hurting the feelings of the social people.  My answer to this is to see if the person seems to be a game player.  If they are, just stay away from them, ignore them if you have to.  OR, don't take anything they do personally.  For the game players, all I ask is that you respect the social people, and play with the other game players.  The key here is for both types of people to respect the reasons the other group is in there for.  As long as there is a mutual respect, then a lot of drama can be avoided.

On to the cheating.  Basically, the easiest way to keep this from creating drama is to NOT DO IT.  Of course, if you don't and are accused of it, then that is a little different.  The best way to stay out of being accused of it, is to NEVER go to a room with someone to talk.  If you are in an exclusive type of relationship, you do NOT need to be heading off to a room to talk to someone.  There are plenty of places to go to have some privacy, without going to a room.  You can go to a different DIM, you can go to a room that has a small max number of people, or just PM each other.  Don't open yourself up to that hassle.

I hope that this information helps reduce the drama level in RLC.  I get a little tired of it, and I am happy too keep it out of my RLC world.  When I see it, I tend to walk away.  I hope you can do the same.

Help me in the fight to kill the Drama Llama,
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