Tagging at the end of your post

Added : 9th June 2010

This is a shortened article I've written for OngoingWorlds, to see article in full click here.

There might be many different words in different PBEM games for what I’m writing this article about, but in Blue Dwarf we've always called it “tagging”. The word comes from the game you play as a kid called “tag” where one person has to chase everyone else, and “tags” them (or we also used to say “tig”). The other person would then be “it” and responsible for catching and tagging someone else. The person who was “it” was the sole person who could move the game on.

So it’s this thinking why we use the word “tag” on the end of our posts, to signify that it’s another person’s turn to continue the game.

Tag another member

When you’ve finished writing your post, you might want a specific member to continue the story. Either you’ve left it on a cliffhanger that only that character can continue, or you’ve discussed in person (or by email, msn etc) about where you’re both going to take the storyline. So if you have a certain person in mind to continue the story, make sure you tag them at the end of your post. For example tagging I’ve seen is usually written at the bottom of your post like this:

<Tag Andy!>

Or because the comment is Out Of Character then you might do this:

<OOC – Tag Andy!>

So you’ve clearly specified who it is that you intend to continue this story. Of course this isn’t mandatory, and anyone can really join in. This might be considered rude, as you might be treading on the toes of someone else’s planned story, but in a game like Blue Dwarf the story might not go in the direction you wanted it to anyway, be prepared to be flexible!

Tag anyone

You might not want to tag anyone in particular, but want to make it clear that you want someone (anyone) to continue your story from where you left it. In this case they might write:

<OOC – Tag>

This isn’t always necessary because in this kind of game, it should be possible for anyone to continue anyone else’s story. But sometimes people might be posting a series of posts about their character and aren’t yet ready to allow another member to continue. If members are doing this they’ll usually write:

<OOC – To be continued>

Which means you probably shouldn’t jump in and hijack their story. Just wait for them to post the second part, and then you can continue their story.

Tagging with a message

Really, this comes under the realm of creating OOC messages, but also applies here. If you want to tag another member to continue your story, it might be handy to give them an idea of what to do.

So for example:

<OOC – Tag Andy! Can you stop the volcano from destroying us all?>

Good tags come after good cliffhangers

The way you end your post is very important to what someone will post next. It might be a good idea to use a cliffhanger at the end, so that it gives the person who will follow you something to write about. There’s usually two ways that this cliffhanger could work:

Put your character in immediate danger. Your character will then need rescuing as soon as possible, and it’s up to any character to come to their rescue. Write a tag at the end of your post for anyone to continue, or if there’s a certain character that is nearby, tag them!
Here’s an example where Billy is your character, and you want someone to come save him:

<OOC – Tag! Efof is hanging onto the edge of a cliff. Someone please save him!>

Put someone else’s character in a situation they have to get out of. This could be immediate danger, or an embarrassing situation, or just some unfinished dialogue that you want them to finish off. For example:

<Tag Andy, can you kill the Hymenoptera before it gets to the Cargo Deck?>

This is a shortened article I've written for the OngoingWorlds blog, to see article in full click here.

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