Okay, so I have a question for you guys.
It pertains to a one-shot I participated in months ago. Some time last year, maybe? I've been thinking about it today.

What constitutes disruptive play in Paranoia?
You know, the game where everybody plays cloned troubleshooters in the Alpha Complex. The game where everybody is vying to backstab one another in order to curry favor with the insane computer that runs the place. The game where everybody is also a part of a secret organization with secret goals at cross purposes with those of other players. This is that game where missions may start with orders to fix a soda machine and end with a plasma-cannon shootout with some kind of cult of soda-worshippers.

What would you call disruptive 'that-guy' behavior in Paranoia?

It's been a while, but I still have to wonder who was off-base in that game session.
It didn't help that the GM was supposed to give everybody one card with a secret affiliation, but I got two while another guy got one. I didn't know if the GM did that on purpose to screw with us or if it was an accident. I figured it was the former since I had heard a lot about Paranoia and was expecting that kind of trickery, but as it turns out the GM legitimately did make a mistake. So here I was tying my brain in knots to try and figure out how to complete these two mutually exclusive secret objectives while this other guy didn't even realize we were supposed to have secret objectives.
On top of that, there was this other guy in the group who had never even heard of Paranoia before and didn't understand the idea of a roleplaying game where everyone was actually supposed to double-cross one another. He was one of those 'leader' types who expected everyone else to follow his orders so the team could complete the mission. The game's premise seemed lost on him.

So anyway, I played the game the way I understood it was supposed to be played as it was described to me by the GM.
I didn't do anything repulsive, mind you, like raping women or whipping my dick out of the table.
I did commit suicide to escape from a room I thought I was trapped in (incidentally, the doors opened a couple of minutes later).
I did shoot at other troubleshooters in my team both to knock them out of the running so I could get that promotion and to satisfy the objectives of both of the secret organizations I was in (it's been a while, but I remember I had to protect this guy that the other members of my team were trying to kill.) I did also shoot at the other guys for trying to execute some unarmed women they were accusing of being traitors (because I was going to shoot at them for some reason sooner or later anyway, so I may as well have a sympathetic reason for it, right?)
Sounds like a good time, right?

But I think I ended up getting a reputation as a 'that guy' because of that game. I don't want to say "I was only doing what my character would do!" I did, however, play the game according to the stated premise as it was explained to me by the GM (and unfortunately, it seems the other players either did not receive that communication or did not comprehend it.) I received some really frosty treatment at subsequent game sessions with this group.

Anyway, where do you draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior in a game like Paranoia where players sort of are expected to dick one another over?
And if there's anyone reading this who was present at that game session and wants to clue me in on how insufferable I was being, then please do so.
Thanks.

Quote from: Cave Bear;914205But I think I ended up getting a reputation as a 'that guy' because of that game. I don't want to say "I was only doing what my character would do!" I did, however, play the game according to the stated premise as it was explained to me by the GM (and unfortunately, it seems the other players either did not receive that communication or did not comprehend it.) I received some really frosty treatment at subsequent game sessions with this group.

Paranoia is a pretty meta experience. My fondest memory is when our GM gave us all vials of acid to throw on a target specified by our faction. And it was always the same character! We laughed so hard when someone would throw acid on the poor guy for some seemingly random reason or another. That's not the kind of experience that would fly in, I daresay, any other RPG. But we all had a blast.

It would be easier if we could talk to the other players, of course, but from your description, I'm tempted to think that the other players weren't expecting a Paranoia experience.

I think one of the major reasons Paranoia exists is to be a sort of cathartic side game where both the players and GM can and will do things that would be considered bad form in most other RPGs. Not rape or baby-eating or the like, but backstabbing, deviousness, dirty tricks. Or at least that's how we approached it back in the 80's when it first came out.

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;914210I think one of the major reasons Paranoia exists is to be a sort of cathartic side game where both the players and GM can and will do things that would be considered bad form in most other RPGs. Not rape or baby-eating or the like, but backstabbing, deviousness, dirty tricks. Or at least that's how we approached it back in the 80's when it first came out.

See, that's the impression I was working from as well.
I think the key thing is that it is a cathartic side game with guys you regularly play with in another game.

Maybe the trouble is that I was a new guy to this gaming club (and a new guy to the city at that; this was my first game in Madison, WI USA after living in Korea for five years.) This was the first experience these guys had gaming with me so rather than serving as an amusing ice breaker with these people it instead colored their perceptions of how I would play in all other games.

Don't worry, Cave Bear. It sounds like you were the only one present who "Got" the game. The whole problem could have been avoided if the GM had done a little one-minute spiel at the beginning: "Now, for those of you who have never played Paranoia before, this game is very different from other RPGs...". Also, it sounds like some of those players had pretty long and thick sticks stuck far up uncomfortable areas of their lower digestive tracts.

Quote from: Cave Bear;914205What constitutes disruptive play in Paranoia?

As far as in-game behavior goes, I question whether such a thing even exists.

Quote from: Cave Bear;914205It didn't help that the GM was supposed to give everybody one card with a secret affiliation, but I got two while another guy got one.

I haven't touched Paranoia in many years, but I'm pretty sure there was a possibility for a character to belong to one secret society and an infiltrator in another secret society, in which case they would be getting missions from both of them, usually with the goal of succeeding at their real secret society's objective while also sabotaging the other objective (and keeping up the appearance that they're trying their best to succeed at it, of course).

Quote from: Cave Bear;914205So here I was tying my brain in knots to try and figure out how to complete these two mutually exclusive secret objectives

Yep, that sounds like classic Paranoia, all right!

Even in something like Paranoia I can see someone, hearing its reputation, and taking it all a bit too far... kinda like the new guy at the orgy who doesn't realize there's still some rules/etiquette to be observed.
Sometimes it's not what you do but how you do it. I've seen people backstab others in regular RPGs where it seemed completely fine and in-character, but other times where it just came off a being a dick for the sake of being a dick.

LOL! That sounds like a perfect storm, and an unintended set-up for confusion and upset. The way you described it, t actually sounds interesting and fun from an outside perspective, at least. But it sounds to me like you did just what you should have, and the GM dropped the ball by not explaining what was going on, at least after the game was over. The player who had no mission and the player who didn't know what Paranoia was, got to have interesting introductions to the game, but everyone really needs to be debriefed so that it's not just a bad unintentional practical joke that many people don't know what to think except that you're a jerk. That part sucks until it gets explained to them. Is the GM afraid to admit mistakes in public?

Knowing the explanation though, it sounds like a pretty good game of Paranoia... although it could just suck for some of the players if they don't get it at all and try to apply some other RPG mode rather than roleplaying it in an interesting way. I could see setting up a game where you don't tell all the players it's Paranoia and don't give all of them Paranoia missions, but I would fill in their setup with something else, rather than torture them with expecting they are playing something that really won't work in a bad way.

Your description to me sounds like Paranoia being played as intended.

Granted, it was fun for the most part. Overall I think the GM did a great job, but the other players (the stick-up-his-ass-guy in particular) seemed to take it personally.
Some of the guys seemed to anticipate the same behaviors I brought to Paranoia in other games.

I think I've also recounted a story on here about a Call of Cthulhu one-shot with the same group.
The GM from the Paranoia game was one of the players in that, and he was cool. I particularly liked the scene where his character and mine payed a visit to a travel agent posing as a married couple so we could steal some information regarding the plane itinerary of an NPC we were supposed to be looking for.
That was a funny scene.
The other guys from the Paranoia game were also there though. Those guys kept talking over me whenever I tried to do anything. The GM was ignoring me. It got to the point where I had to pass the GM notes with my character's actions on them just to do simple things like search an office for clues. I was constantly belittled, one guy called me a "pushover" and a "doormat" (I don't believe I called anybody any mean names like that, not even in good nature.) They made fun of my pronunciation of Shub-Niggurath (I always thought you were supposed to emphasize the 'shub' and the 'gur', as in SHUB-niGURath; these guys emphasized the 'nig' as in Shub-NIGurATH. Wouldn't have bothered me so much if Captain Nazi in the group didn't relish the opportunity to say the words 'nigger' and 'negroid' so much. I thought Madison, WI people were supposed to be SJW's?*)
Point is, I kind of felt the other guys had it in for me and I wonder if the Paranoia game had anything to do it. Maybe if their first experience gaming with me was something more conventional my presence in the group would be better received.

*I could be mixing this part up with another episode.

Quote from: Cave Bear;914301They made fun of my pronunciation of Shub-Niggurath...

With Great Old Ones and Outer Gods proper pronunciation is very important.

Quote from: Cave Bear;914301I always thought you were supposed to emphasize the 'shub' and the 'gur', as in SHUB-niGURath

That pretty much how I've always pronounced it. SHOOB-ni-GOO-rath. Not sure why.

Yeah, some of these people sound pretty annoying... though having Players use impolite racial terms in '20s era CoC games usually doesn't bother me if it's not too overdone.

Quote from: Simlasa;914307That pretty much how I've always pronounced it. SHOOB-ni-GOO-rath. Not sure why.

Yeah, some of these people sound pretty annoying... though having Players use impolite racial terms in '20s era CoC games usually doesn't bother me if it's not too overdone.

I like SHOOB. I may use that.

I can handle impolite racial terms in character, and in private spaces like a living room. It's a bit harder when we're playing in a library and I have to worry about black guys walking through and overhearing that shit. We just had a huge riot in Milwaukee recently with people there calling for race wars in the suburbs. I don't want to end up with my charred torso being dragged through the streets with a chain around my neck because some loud, aryan-looking jerk couldn't keep it down in the library.

Quote from: Cave Bear;914308I can handle impolite racial terms in character, and in private spaces like a living room. It's a bit harder when we're playing in a library and I have to worry about black guys walking through and overhearing that shit.

Yeah, I don't play in public areas... there's a LOT of talk in RPGs that can be misinterpreted. In High School some of the Players in my game were overheard discussing in-character stuff and someone thought they were planning a murder.
The game I run online (early modern Europe) has a witchhunter PC who is a bit nutty about 'The Jews'.

Quote from: Simlasa;914310Yeah, I don't play in public areas... there's a LOT of talk in RPGs that can be misinterpreted. In High School some of the Players in my game were overheard discussing in-character stuff and someone thought they were planning a murder.
The game I run online (early modern Europe) has a witchhunter PC who is a bit nutty about 'The Jews'.

I liked playing in public areas in Korea since most people couldn't understand what we were saying anyway, or could just dismiss us as weird foreigners and just carry on.
Some of the best games I've ever played in and run have been in bars.
But see, you kind of have to play in public places in East Asia since you don't exactly have enough living space in your typical officetel apartment to set up a big dining room table.
But in the USA public play is neither necessary nor advisable. But we have this big gaming group in Madison, WI for that anyway.