@Arkandel If we can't be human and, you know, constructively butthurt about things in our community hobby, it will make it more difficult to speak up when we see something we know is //not right//, because we're afraid of being punished for doing the right thing and having it misconstrued.

Or worse yet, saying something to staff about a player cheating or abusing the system and finding out later that said player was in the good graces and/or a friend of staff. The anxiety then centers around being cut out from RP or the game because you're now a 'troublemaker'.

Does this encourage an environment where known friends of staff are avoided or catered to, even if they abuse the friendship with staff to do things they clearly shouldn't? Or even if they're just assholes who want their way and throw tantrums when no one else wants to play like they want to?

This is mostly hypothetical. It's the kind of questions bred from fear and previous MU* baggage, and I know I suffer from a weird kind of Firan PTSD for it.

I will state again that I do love Arx, the idea of being kicked from it scares me enough to keep all of my interactions IC from now on, and that feels wrong too. I don't know.

@auspice I worded my post very, very carefully for this very reason. I recently quit playing there and I've no intention of going back, for many of the reasons stated in these other comments and a few other things.

If you get an uncomfortable creepy feeling playing a game and it's not from the atmosphere (and I cannot tell you how badly I wanted to overlook the worrisome views on sex and the needy staff overtones of 'why doesn't anyone wanna play with me' just to play horror-themed well written adventure MU), just run. No amount of lovingly-crafted character boy-version of your teenage self is worth it. Definitely a toxic environment. I really want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it looks like that might have been too much.

@WTFE With a spoon in them! KINK-FRIENDLY!

Reading about the bans and the logs, especially with the former being so, as someone stated 'nuclear' as far as a reaction, my fear is that it's going to make players more afraid of staff than willing to reach out to them, as it has done with me. I'm legit //terrified// of saying //anything// in OOC, be they pages or public channels, that it will be taken the wrong way, presented to staff, and then held against me at some later date, no matter how great my reputation for being a helpful player is. I don't want to log into a game where I'm scared half the time that I'll do something that I think is at worse, neutral and at best, helpful, and have it taken to staff and presented as me being something I sincerely wasn't. I'm trying to trust that my previous actions and general track record will ensure that staff will talk to me first before making such a 'nuclear' decisions as banning me, but at the moment it's hard to get past all the knee-jerk reactions and rampant rumors.

I say this while I deeply love the game and in general the Arx community. I really hope things get better and don't degrade into an environment full of anxiety and fear. I love my character and I'd hate to lose him just because I was misunderstood.

@saosmash Will you pay me first? >.>

@WTFE Really don't know why they let C into Arx. He showed up and several of my friends rostered their characters for safer pastures without even giving a fuck. If a person has so foul a reputation as to garner that kind of response, that good people would rather up and leave an MU as intriguing as Arx, they are not worth that kind of fourth fifth sixth seventh chance.

First impressions - Great potential in this game, but be aware that staff can be really pushy about plot and story, even insisting that you play with specific people to further plots they want to advance; it makes it less like fun and more like you're there for the amusement of staff. There's also some strange vibes with one of the characters/players, who I think is also staff. None of us are sane here, Alice, but it stops being fun when you are whined at because staffers feel left out of RP, and if you are not careful, you, the player, will getting booted out in deference to staff, no matter who's in the wrong.
It deserves a go to be sure, but nothing sours a great story-ground like biased management and staff throwing tantrums.

Telling Someone important in your life about this cool/amazing/wonderful thing happening to you right now, and their immediate response is

"Wow. How come that never happens to me?"
or
"Yeah, haha, that won't happen to me ever because xyz."
or
"Well you're just very lucky."
or
"It won't last so enjoy it while you can."

Cool. I will stop sharing my happy with you then, it makes you feel inadequate and makes me feel like shit.

@Roz And maybe hit on you which is always nice because Aleksei is rather charming about it.

@saosmash ...there are people who don't hit on Luca?

Telling Someone important in your life about this cool/amazing/wonderful thing happening to you right now, and their immediate response is

"Wow. How come that never happens to me?"
or
"Yeah, haha, that won't happen to me ever because xyz."
or
"Well you're just very lucky."
or
"It won't last so enjoy it while you can."

Cool. I will stop sharing my happy with you then, it makes you feel inadequate and makes me feel like shit.

@auspice I worded my post very, very carefully for this very reason. I recently quit playing there and I've no intention of going back, for many of the reasons stated in these other comments and a few other things.

If you get an uncomfortable creepy feeling playing a game and it's not from the atmosphere (and I cannot tell you how badly I wanted to overlook the worrisome views on sex and the needy staff overtones of 'why doesn't anyone wanna play with me' just to play horror-themed well written adventure MU), just run. No amount of lovingly-crafted character boy-version of your teenage self is worth it. Definitely a toxic environment. I really want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it looks like that might have been too much.

First impressions - Great potential in this game, but be aware that staff can be really pushy about plot and story, even insisting that you play with specific people to further plots they want to advance; it makes it less like fun and more like you're there for the amusement of staff. There's also some strange vibes with one of the characters/players, who I think is also staff. None of us are sane here, Alice, but it stops being fun when you are whined at because staffers feel left out of RP, and if you are not careful, you, the player, will getting booted out in deference to staff, no matter who's in the wrong.
It deserves a go to be sure, but nothing sours a great story-ground like biased management and staff throwing tantrums.

I'm not familiar with BSU and I'm always interested in new games. What kind is this, if you don't mind me asking?

@WTFE With a spoon in them! KINK-FRIENDLY!

@thebird said in MU Things I Love:

Love when you actually feel engaged in a story right off the bat after making a new character. Not having to warm up to the newness, and just going for it.

Also love the legit friends you can make, after wading through all the crazy.

But there is so much damn crazy! It's worth the friendships, though, even just one solid one. I do agree.

@WTFE Really don't know why they let C into Arx. He showed up and several of my friends rostered their characters for safer pastures without even giving a fuck. If a person has so foul a reputation as to garner that kind of response, that good people would rather up and leave an MU as intriguing as Arx, they are not worth that kind of fourth fifth sixth seventh chance.

Blizzards and a stocked pantry full of food.

@Meg Have you had a relationship with staff prior to this game? A friendship, specifically.

There are times I've come across players with a notable comfort with staff has been because they know them OOC either as friends or from other, older games. It gives the impression that in order to speak with staff comfortably, there needs to be an established trust that precedes Arx. Which also makes players hesitant to speak up or out about players with that kind of established relationship.

I am not comfortable speaking to staff. It's very difficult for me to trust them. I get incredibly anxious and check and recheck everything I write to them, to the point that I will give up and stop communicating because I'm afraid I'll be taken the wrong way, and just deal with the problems or issues I encounter in the game silently or do my best to work around it.

Staff has misunderstood me more than once and when I explain myself, I'm sweating bullets worried they will just ban me because they do not like my style of play or the way I've been represented. To my knowledge, I have never interacted with them outside of Arx, in previous games. When I have the attention of staff, I get nervous, as in the past attention from staff means you've done something wrong and/or they are watching your every move, waiting for you to fuck up so they can kick you out. The banning is triggering me pretty hard; it's to the point I'm not logging in to the game much, not since last week. It seems there are no assurances that I will be able to defend myself, and staff controls all of the information given in the game as far as the reasons why. One has to query others at their own risk to find the other side, or come here when pointed to by friends.

@Misadventure That is if we aren't too afraid to speak up.