The definition of a battle

[Spirit Hunters]

I'm well aware that battle's don't nessisarily have to be sword on sword, sword on magic, sword on claw, etc...

I've heard of people doing battles of whit and stuff like that. I think I saw a story telling battle once too.

But does a "battle" actually have to be a conflict between two characters?

Or can it simply be two characters interacting, hostily, indifferently, or in a friendly manner, and then out of character, the better roleplayer wins?

This is mainly in regards to the Althanaversary tournament, because all the results are determined OOCly, based on writing.

But yeah. To summarize, can a battle be simple character interaction on any level, or must there be conflict?

Oh, and by the way, I don't mean this as an oppinion based question. I was looking for a Judge or two to throw an actual ruling in on this, and if anyone else wants to comment, lets hear it =)

[Cyrus the virus]

You can have such battles, yeah. It's sort of like the Adventurer's Crown tournament, I suppose.

[Zook Murnig]

Damnit, and I thought I was going to break the mold later on with a battle like that...

[Cyrus the virus]

All of our molds have been broken several times :p We have a freaking goat running around, man!

[Yamihara]

Hey, that's a good idea! I'm with you on that, Spirit Hunter!

If you're ever online or something around 3-5pm GMT, hit me with an IM! I'm usually on, unless you run into Master Raven first. :)

[Serilliant]

Back in the day when we had only two forums, one for battles and one for quests, it was customary to go to the quest forum when you had a specific idea and the battle forum when you didn't. I had many 'battles' that had nothing but chat, ended in friendship, and started a quest afterward.

Conflict tends to be a bit more interesting in the scope of fantasy writing, but if you can do something else and make it work, I would certainly praise your creativity.

[Ther]

Excellent, excellent question Spirit Hunters, thanks. Yeah, a battle can really be anything you want it to be - there's no real difference between a battle and a quest in the way you write it or what it can be about. Really, the only differences between battles and quests are EXP-related and the fact that you get a winner and a loser.