Aug 24, 2017, 3:34 AM

@Seraphim73 said in Eliminating social stats:

@Lain said in Eliminating social stats:

Now. Onto your point: social skills aren't harder to fake. Especially if you keep it in somewhat vague terms

Here's the problem with this one... you're obviously someone who can write coherently, and has some idea about how social skills work. The concern being brought up is more for people who don't have any sense of how social skills work, and they're quite prevalent on MU*s, because it's a semi-safe way for introverts to pretend to be extroverted.

The problem many people (myself included at times) have with hard-and-fast do-or-die social combat systems is that you get the character rolling up to another character, insulting them, stating that they're out to get them, and then asking for help. Or something else utterly ridiculous that the socially awkward player (not character, player) thinks is a good idea. And the dice say, "YUP! That's a great idea! You win!" It breaks immersion for many players, especially those who DID spend the points to buff up their social defense skills/attributes/whatever, but just rolled poorly.

Yeah I hear you on that. What you're describing is over-the-top, but I don't think I'm entirely out of line to harp on about how just omitting social stats outright (to allow them to be supplanted by the OOC social skills of the player) is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Players who do crap like what you described should just be banned or otherwise incentivized to not do this. I analogize it to mental stats not because I think they're interchangeable in every way, but because just as some stranger taking a dump on your desk and then asking for a small, interest free loan of a million dollars is ridiculous and should be discarded, so is saying you'll make meth by mixing bleach and ammonia, no matter how high your character's Science/Chemistry score is.

The potential for players to emote stupid shit isn't a very compelling argument, at least not to me, to just start removing mechanics wholesale. Even if it's a recurring problem.