It feels cozy to hang out in a crowded MU when I can't hang out with my RL friends. Feels less lonely, even if I'm not doing anything there.

I loved Rise of Skywalker. It was wonderful and fantastic, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Go see this movie if you love Star Wars!

When you finally find a game that reignites your love of MUSHing and makes you feel like a member of the community again.

By and large, I do not get immersed in games. I play very casually, almost to the point of barely being there. I don't feel a strong connection to the game and not much is lost if I walk away from it--except for when I played Arx. This surprised me, and I found myself deeply missing that universe, and comparing my experiences on Arx to other attempted games gave me a bit of a baseline for establishing what had immersed me and what did not. What I found were three major differences that, when absent, regularly broke my sense of connection to the game.

1. Do my actions matter?
2. Do the events of the world actually impact my character?
3. Does the world feel alive?

So, most games will immediately claim that they have all three of these aspects, but if it is true at all, these things usually only apply to plots, events, and scenes. Plots can hurt you. Events can impact your character. Big GM'd scenes make the world feel alive. Arx wasn't like that. I could submit little actions and put in little tasks, and without ever having to wrangle six people together for a big adventure, I could poke the world along in subtle little ways. That made me incredibly happy.

Furthermore, poking at the game via +investigate came with costs that were separate from disasters striking the land or three CR 3 assassins leaping out of dark shadows. Like a Lovecraftian investigator, the next door opened could actually contain a SAN-check encounter, just for me. Not something to be fought with a sword for XP but something to be survived for life and forbidden knowledge. That was wonderful. I truly felt like the game was moving and reacting to me. Sometimes I discovered something breathtaking. Sometimes I very nearly died because I did something stupid, without having to truck along for a six hour adventure with eight people. That's immersing.

And you know what? It absolutely is because of the little coded details. Not the functions themselves, but the form they have taken. You don't get a @mail about your success or failure, you receive a neatly folded vellum letter in the mail that makes your heart stop. You don't get a package of XP slapped onto your sheet for a job well done solving the riddle, you gain wisdom, clues, and another X appears somewhere on the Raiders of the Lost Ark-style map.

It's that presentation that made Arx so magical. People can swear all day long that my actions matter on another game, but as soon as they tell me to get some people together and run a PrP to make the change happen, the bubble bursts. When all the social role play involves drinking at a bar, talking about the last big adventure, or setting up for the next big adventure, I slowly tune out and drift into the background, immersion lost.

@surreality said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

The past handful of days have required far, far too much medication and meditation and deep-breath-calm-blue-ocean for my liking to keep the flashbacks and panic attacks under control.
It's easier when it's a case of 'this, too, shall pass'. Most things do. I've given it quite some time, but it isn't passing; it is getting worse instead.
I can't keep this up forever, and odds are good I can't keep it up much longer. There's not really an option B, though. (Well, there is, but thankfully my brain hasn't been going there anywhere near as often as it was for a few years, and that is not an easy fight, either. That option really isn't acceptable and I have gotten better about reminding myself of that. It's still going there a lot, but not more than once or twice a day, and briefly when it does, which is a huge improvement.)
This blows.

You should talk to your doctor about this as soon as possible. There are always (good) options.

I think these last few posts have firmly pushed me into the "do not enjoy" category after all.

While I get that there are a lot of slimy players who have hurt people a lot over the years, I was just posting my feelings about MUSHing. There was no need to put up a wanted poster with my face on it because someone else suggested breaking the rules.

Maybe it's just this forum, but the community seems so viciously toxic at times, and never let anything be forgotten.

I was hoping for a Shadowrunners are Superheroes theme, not 'Here's another Batman for people to fight over, and another Supergirl for people to camp.' More like...ultra street-samurai. Wildly powerful magic users. Saints Row IV stuff.

@coin said in Interest Check: Exalted 3rd ed Mu:

I disagree, but mostly because, well, I want to play Celestial Exalted.

Pretty much this. Dragonblooded sound cool as hell... But I'd really like to make a Lunar.

@Auspice ikr

@Kay Interest checked! I would prefer present, near future, or cyberpunk future (or even Mass Effect-esque), but whatever--OCs are great!

@Sunny I am so sorry.

So glad to hear from you! Thanks for the update.

@ominous said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Over the years the number of webcomics I enjoy has dwindled down due to comics wrapping up, going on hiatus, or creators suddenly poofing. Now I'm down to Order of the Stick and Kill Six Billion Demons, and nothing I look into is as good or interesting as what I've lost.

https://swordscomic.com/

It feels cozy to hang out in a crowded MU when I can't hang out with my RL friends. Feels less lonely, even if I'm not doing anything there.

@macha said in RL things I love:

I just ordered silly, fruity cheap ass wines to be delivered to my house. during my work shift.
I'm lazy and I'm going to be stupid later and drink cold wine outside in the heat, and love every second of it

That sounds lovely.

@cobalt That looks lovely! Great choice!

@cobalt said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Except just being in the building for 15 minutes made my nose and throat itch.

Ew, no.

I don't expect a huge outcry about not being able to play Abyssals. They're not Jedi. They aren't even Sith. Being an Abyssal is awful and a commitment from the lore.

@jennkryst said in Interest Check: Exalted 3rd ed Mu:

This is a lot of the reason I suggested 'just do all of creation'. Have the Blessed Isle for those who want to do Dragonblooded politics. Let the Celestials run around the threshold doing sandbox adventures... yes, with some plot, but also spread out so your Abyssals aren't pushed right up next to the Solars, and now we're in a pvp scenario.
It's how City of Hope actually manages to have semi-working antag players. By keeping them VERY SEPARATE from the white hats, who will all try to murder them instantly.
THEN AGAIN, I tend to make high conviction/low compassion characters, so even my 'non-antag' exalts are pretty damn antag when you look at them.

I would disagree because 'People have a kingdom over here and have made 2300 posts about its events in the last month' mean a lot less to me than 'the city/region/country I live in had zero posts about its events in the last month'.

@coin said in Interest Check: Exalted 3rd ed Mu:

I disagree, but mostly because, well, I want to play Celestial Exalted.

Pretty much this. Dragonblooded sound cool as hell... But I'd really like to make a Lunar.