Given the short-term nature of each story, even without the crazy pace of this first one, I'm not seeing this game being a good fit for once-a-week players. Especially since those once-a-week scenes can, as mentioned, get big.
@botulism That's totally fair. Nothing says you have to cater to everyone. It can help, though, to make that clear in the welcome files to set expectations and avoid people wandering off in disappointment.
@faraday Agreed. There's a number of things I'm updating between stories.
Update: Here's the new policy.
Please understand that because of the short-term nature of the stories, this game moves quicker than most and is not a good fit for players who can only RP once a week or so. The following are our rules on activity, idling, and absence:
If you inform The Director that you cannot be on for however long, your Archetype WILL be held for you. RL happens, we got your back. Everything below relates to NOT informing her of your absence.
An Archetype that is taken but does not go IC within one (1) RL week of opening day (just logging on doesn't matter) will be recycled.
An Archetype that goes more than 14 days without RPing (just logging on doesn't matter) will be recycled.
Again, tell us if you're unable to play. We'll understand and hold your spot.
Now that I've shed my name and become an archetype again following the death of my character (Jonas) and my SCs, I am so excited for metaplot in the Facility and gearing up for the next story.
The current story has been imperfect, certainly, but it would be hard to deny how unique and entertaining playing on this MU is. After all, this was only our first one; the test bed, if you will. Now we as players know what to expect and how to prepare for it, and likewise the staff has learned lessons that will enhance the experience going forward.
The defining moment for me was rolling an ungodly critical success on the attempt to hack us up a way to reach the outside world. The result was unintended by TD but she rolled with the punches and readily steered the story in a new direction.
That says a lot to me about the collaborative nature of the storytelling environment we find ourselves in here, and I like what I'm hearing.
Now in my mind, there's validity to the view that some roles didn't translate well into heavy participation in this story. If you didn't have an official 'job' on the island on the Wellson payroll and were just an attendee of the festival, there was an uphill battle to become involved and important. My particular role was destined to a moment in the spotlight simply by virtue of that role's narrow and rare skillset, but this wasn't the case for all. TD acknowledges this and I'm excited to see how she addresses it in the next story. With what I've seen so far, I have every confidence in the outcome.
I'm just blown away by how amazing it is to be really pretty excited to have died. Like what? Can we just talk about that for a second? Reading logs at work like YES I DIED, can't wait to log on!
Hating haters and their hate since a year that neither rhymes nor alliterates
I was really relieved that you and The Visionary felt that way. Because when that scene happened and we (myself, Capitalist, and Penitent) realized you two were also in the trailer... we had a moment of "oh shit" because of the huge effect the actions would have on you guys.
The fact that you both were excited to get to react to it and make your decision was pretty awesome. 
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
@auspice If we can all get on board with what the unique vision and aspects of this game are -- and I think for the most part we're all there -- I think we can have a really great time building something singular and buzzworthy together.
In the elseMUs of my activity the weight of my decisions has drastic import for other players. Everything I do has to be properly mindful of the downstream effects and carefully vetted for soundness and unforeseen consequences. Being able to engage in something different and really surrender to the sense of a temporary character whose most meaningful part in a story might very well be their death... it's actually very freeing.
We're all there together with a focus on playing in this moment right now, rather than hoarding resources or carefully politicing for a long life and a powerful position. It's a fascinating change of pace, and it keeps me coming back because I think I'll value being able to say I was part of this.
I stand by my statement in another thread.
This is some wave of the future shit we are on.
It was imperfect. Messy. Confusing. But it's been incredibly active. The short stories and constant waves of new information kept my character active. There is always something to talk about, discuss, plan or whatnot.
If I had one issue, it would be this sort of pressure to be there or you'll miss something important. But this could be my hangup more than a game complaint. I'm about to leave town just as the story is coming to a close and I'm salty. (Even though, I probably won't miss it. Still. I might.)
But the story isn't even The End! I'm already brewing the next version of The Confidant and I am totally psyched to keep on.
Am I the baddie?
Yes. Always yes.
All I'm going to say here is that obvious surreality alt is obvious without me having to name her to the folks (all two of you!) who love me, and doubtless doubly so to those who hate me.
This game got me off my ass, out of my rut, active somewhere again, and looking forward to seeing what happens with genuine optimism.
That is not something I thought I would actually be able to say, ever. I would gush at length, but in all sincerity, that sums it up. I don't have higher praise for anything than that.
@auspice said in Horror MUX:
Also, we have had our first PC death!
It is almost fitting it was The Penitent. It was very exciting. I stayed up too late. But I did not expect that KILL SCENE to hit my screen when it did.
There are a few people who have to be consulted today (due to being offline, but in range of the events) about how things might roll out for their characters, so there may be more deaths in the fallout.
Shit, meet fan.
But really, I am loving this concept. I've always wanted an episodic game where things can shift around. We have so many MU*s now that don't even make it a year because peoples' attention span doesn't last. I think this may be the perfect answer.
My most enjoyable PC death ever! Madison will be missed!
@goldfish said in Horror MUX:
I stand by my statement in another thread.
This is some wave of the future shit we are on.
It was imperfect. Messy. Confusing. But it's been incredibly active. The short stories and constant waves of new information kept my character active. There is always something to talk about, discuss, plan or whatnot.
If I had one issue, it would be this sort of pressure to be there or you'll miss something important. But this could be my hangup more than a game complaint. I'm about to leave town just as the story is coming to a close and I'm salty. (Even though, I probably won't miss it. Still. I might.)
But the story isn't even The End! I'm already brewing the next version of The Confidant and I am totally psyched to keep on.
I can certainly relate to feeling like missing out and needing a lot of activity to really get involved, and with my time zone and working 9-5 and work being pretty damn busy the last couple of weeks, it was hard to feel relevant. Plus my character was just the money behind the event investing in the tech, in the end I don't feel like Madison did much -- her contributions to the story weren't the biggest, but there were some, for sure.
But as you say it's not The End, and we're all learning as we go on this. It can only get better!
@Livia I was only around on and off as things were kicking off, but there's one thing I noticed that was pretty awesome: a lot of the moving parts fit together well in ways I haven't typically seen elsewhere, and that means that things we'd typically consider to be smaller actions fed the greater whole in cause and effect chains that have been impressive as hell to watch unravel. It also means that none of those actions are unimportant to the story, which makes them not small at all.
Also, people have been trying off the wall, wacky, truly horror movie stuff. There are super-flashlight 'proton packs'! Disco balls as force multipliers! Fort Starbucks. Truly zany things in the vein of "so crazy it just might work". Sometimes it works, sometimes it explodes (literally or figuratively). That has been a lot of fun, and I say this as one of the people who actually exploded.
I had fun exploding, MSB.
I wish I could find a way to make that show up in gigantic letters, I really do.
I was one of the folks who wasn't even awake RL when people exploded, let alone in the scene. I want people to reflect on this for a moment in all seriousness: if this happened on most games, we would be thirty pages into screaming about it by now.
Instead, the people who exploded while offline are cheering and happy and excited about it as players.
Just let that sink in.
Hello, sea change.
Oh fucking well.
@surreality Oh heck yeah. I'm not complaining, and those little actions had some huge results down the line. Or if I am complaining, it's only about being overwhelmed at times. Which has already been addressed, and is not just the game. When that KILL SCENE notification suddenly came up I laughed and laughed and then had to get everyone to pause so I could drive home and login in glee.
@livia You've gotta love, "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!"
@surreality Preach!
I realized that something special was happening when I was making coffee this morning and pleasantly wondering to myself: "What are his last words going to be?"
Like...what the hell? I've never, ever been so excited to possibly die in a game. Usually it's all fraught and upsetting (There was an incident years ago on HM with a player death. It wasn't even mine....it's like gamer's PTSD) Instead, I'm just ready to move forward.
Not to mention the half hour I spent picking out new pics for my PB because I have decided to keep the PB but change the main pic from story to story. All because the upcoming roles were posted. Supporting characters are brewing too. AND AND AND it's my first Sci-Fi setting.
And I haven't even taken my boy to The Facility yet. There's all that too. It's like a constant creativity machine.
@surreality said in Horror MUX:
Hello, sea change.
I'm genuinely happy that people are having fun and I applaud the staff for providing a different experience that's resonating with some folks. But... it only becomes a sea change if it catches on with the majority of MUSHers. I really don't see that happening. There are too many unique factors at play here with the setting - the revolving archetypes (so death isn't permanent), the short stories, etc.
People didn't care too much about their characters in TGG or Paranoia dying either, but neither of those really caught on for the majority of the MUSH/TTRPG population.
The change I hope this drives is more game-runners being willing to ignore the "that'll never work" / "we tried that once in 1999 and it failed" naysayers and be willing to take a chance on something different. Even if that "different" doesn't include everyone or lead to a massive WHO list.
One of the things I find amusing is that Conrad and I discussed a lot of possible outcomes and situations for whether Maata or Conrad died first. Or how it definitely could not be Maata and Madison both dying before Conrad did (which is why I tried to give Madison one of my bonuses to save her in the explosion!).
We deliberated on how yes, it would be important that they were present for each other's death if/when it happened.
How the other would react and process it. What they would be like in the aftermath.
We never once considered that they'd die at the same time.
@botulism I am very glad folks are enjoying this. Mad props!
So in prep for the next story, the following Archetypes are open and can be customized by way of PB & gender. Roles are already posted, but backstories & surnames have not been yet.
The Analyst
The Athlete
The Caregiver
The Crusader
The Explorer
The Lover
The Scientist
The Rogue
The Thrill-Seeker
Roles are here:
http://horrormu.com/index.php/Roles
How to play:
http://horrormu.com/index.php/Play
(More or less: Login, talk to someone on Staff, they can help you get setup.)
I keep being tempted, because I've always been interested in episodic MU*ing, and Aliens rock, but totally no time at all.
Given the short-term nature of each story, even without the crazy pace of this first one, I'm not seeing this game being a good fit for once-a-week players. Especially since those once-a-week scenes can, as mentioned, get big.
