TS - Danger zone

[Goblin]

This topic is interesting. I mean, the old debate of TS vs FTB has always been surrounded with a certain taboo - that you can't actually get aroused from TS, or admit to it. I mean, surely there are those that don't. Absolutely certainly, some get aroused.

Personally, I see it as from outside. It's like reading an erotic story, I mean, I can get excited about one of those, I get excited about TS too sometimes, but at no point do I think of my character as a first person extension of myself. I look at it from outside, as an erotic story of two persons having an erotic scene. And it absolutely has to fit into the story in general, fit the narrative. (This assuming the game isn't a game like Shang, of course, but I never played on any of those.)

I think, like Ganymede, I might realise I might get on well with someone in RP based on their general wiki/page, and that includes the PB. I like gifs, too. Fitting gifs that shows a bit of a character's mannerisms is awesome for a good visual.

Got a problem with the perfect model type looking women though. Doesn't do much for me. Quirky, cute, actual human looking... Yeah, definitely.

[Auspice]

I'm drawn in by someone's RP.
I have a measure of face blindness, so even if I do look at your wiki, chances are I'll have forgotten it later. It's the RP, the personality, etc that draws me in.

It has happened a number of times that my character will be drawn to someone, I'll look at the wiki, and think 'ew, that's a hideous PB....oh well. They rp great.'

[Rinel]

@Goblin said in TS - Danger zone:

Got a problem with the perfect model type looking women though. Doesn't do much for me. Quirky, cute, actual human looking... Yeah, definitely.

Unfortunately, they're a lot harder to find if you have a specific look in mind. Models tend to be catalogued according to all sorts of categories.

But your point about this:

@Goblin said in TS - Danger zone:

at no point do I think of my character as a first person extension of myself

has got me thinking. I certainly don't think of Rinel (the character I can RP as relatively effortlessly these days) as an extension of myself. I certainly draw on certain aspects of myself to make her. But she is a lot braver than I am, a lot more innately confrontational, a lot less diplomatic... also, she is a religious librarian in a fantasy quasi-medieval world and I'm a lawyer in this one.

The point is that while we don't have a whole lot in common, I certainly feel what I've recently learned WoD players call "bleed"--feeling my own emotions that mirror my character's, when she's feeling strong ones. It's usually but not exclusively limited to sad scenes, but I do wonder whether my distaste for TS comes from the concern that I get too immersed in the character (and therefore would be at risk of breaking the taboo).

I wonder how many people who are into TS see it as a fully external thing vs how many experience at least in part as a personal thing.

[Pandora]

TS is not some magical alternative RP that is bound by different rules of engagement than any other type of RP, and the sentiments that people express to that effect seem to be rooted in what I would consider the negative form of slut-shaming.

If for example someone didn't TS ever, but really enjoyed combat RP to the extent that they sought it out almost exclusively, hounded other combat-leaning characters to spar as soon as they logged in, abusively trash-talked people, IC or OOC, that didn't want to fight them, started whisper campaigns alleging people were twinks or cheaters any time they lost a fight, etc - all of these behaviors would be a sign of someone being pretty damn annoying with a higher-than-acceptable level of IC/OCC crossover.

But for some reason, we treat people with this level of crossover regarding TS as monsters, while people who crossover for other reasons (combat twinks, gold hoarders, power-grabbers, etc) as mere annoyances.

It's human nature to invest at least some measure of self into roleplay characters, and being 'into' the erotic smut you're writing between two characters isn't something to be ashamed of so long as you are not casting any aspersions or leveling any expectations on the other player, same as with any other type of interpersonal RP.

[Arkandel]

This is actually not a bad segway for me to ask some questions that have been on my mind since this thread was created. I'm really curious to see what (if anything) you folks care to share your thoughts on the topic.

As a refreshed warning please stay mature about these topics and don't get confrontational or judgmental. If the material makes you uncomfortable the option to ignore the thread is at the bottom of this page.

This is specifically for generic non-Shang type MU*.

How do you guys find partners for non-vanilla kinds of relationships and especially when it comes to the more racy stuff out there? Anything from the somewhat more common "50 Shades" stuff that's relatively generally accepted to arrangements which are crimes or completely taboo in the real world - the obvious examples that I have in mind is IC rape or to incestuous relationships on games such as The Reach (or Arx) where PCs from the same families were sleeping together.

How do these conversations take place? How do you make sure the other person is okay OOC?

While we're on the topic, how (and if) do you keep them from getting out of closed door situations and reaching the grid?

Again, if you're not comfortable sharing your thoughts please don't feel pressured to do so.

[Pandora]

Segway =/= segue.

[Ganymede]

@Arkandel said in TS - Danger zone:

How do these conversations take place? How do you make sure the other person is okay OOC?

Talking about it, mostly.

I wish there were a more precise answer than that, but there isn’t.

It’s pretty simple, I’ve found.

[Pandora]

If your character hits on a character related to them, you'll discover pretty quickly whether or not they're into that sort of thing. If you come on too hard, you may find out much more vehemently than you'd like, so my advice is to keep it IC and treat it with the level of cautious exploration that such a taboo subject warrants.

Same with hardcore BDSM elements, it's fun to slowly build up to these relationships or conversations IC & again - if you come on too hard and fast from 0 to 100 on this, you'll likely find yourself on the wrong end of creep accusations because that's the nature of the beast, so treat the subject with all due caution.

Rape is harder for me to comment on. I don't like talking to people much OOC, and since most characters are not looking to be raped, it's generally an OOC desire & thus I don't have any actual experience here.

[Coin]

@Arkandel said in TS - Danger zone:

This is actually not a bad segway for me to ask some questions that have been on my mind since this thread was created. I'm really curious to see what (if anything) you folks care to share your thoughts on the topic.

As a refreshed warning please stay mature about these topics and don't get confrontational or judgmental. If the material makes you uncomfortable the option to ignore the thread is at the bottom of this page.

This is specifically for generic non-Shang type MU*.

How do you guys find partners for non-vanilla kinds of relationships and especially when it comes to the more racy stuff out there? Anything from the somewhat more common "50 Shades" stuff that's relatively generally accepted to arrangements which are crimes or completely taboo in the real world - the obvious examples that I have in mind is IC rape or to incestuous relationships on games such as The Reach (or Arx) where PCs from the same families were sleeping together.

How do these conversations take place? How do you make sure the other person is okay OOC?

While we're on the topic, how (and if) do you keep them from getting out of closed door situations and reaching the grid?

Again, if you're not comfortable sharing your thoughts please don't feel pressured to do so.

I assume that sort of thing just happens once by chance and then if you have the inclination to try something similar again you're going to go pitch it to someone whom you know has been willing in the past.

That, or people just ask. Like, I have been propositioned like, "hey, if it's not your thing, no worries, but I'm looking for someone to play my brother-slash-fuckbuddy, would you be interested?"

There's also just sometimes when you stumble into that sort of family dynamic and you kind of just either choose to go with it or not (which counts as the 'by chance' initial encounter from before, except probably with more than one person who are clearly into it).

[farfalla]

I have never intentionally looked at someone's PB and I never will.
I also don't read descs and never will. I'll check someone's sheet for basic physical factors, and probably forget those immediately anyway.

I still have a strong visual idea of what's happening, it's just based on poses rather than descs. Who cares if I'm imagining it wrong half the time. It has never once caused a problem.

[Coin]

@Coin said in TS - Danger zone:

@Arkandel said in TS - Danger zone:

This is actually not a bad segway for me to ask some questions that have been on my mind since this thread was created. I'm really curious to see what (if anything) you folks care to share your thoughts on the topic.

As a refreshed warning please stay mature about these topics and don't get confrontational or judgmental. If the material makes you uncomfortable the option to ignore the thread is at the bottom of this page.

This is specifically for generic non-Shang type MU*.

How do you guys find partners for non-vanilla kinds of relationships and especially when it comes to the more racy stuff out there? Anything from the somewhat more common "50 Shades" stuff that's relatively generally accepted to arrangements which are crimes or completely taboo in the real world - the obvious examples that I have in mind is IC rape or to incestuous relationships on games such as The Reach (or Arx) where PCs from the same families were sleeping together.

How do these conversations take place? How do you make sure the other person is okay OOC?

While we're on the topic, how (and if) do you keep them from getting out of closed door situations and reaching the grid?

Again, if you're not comfortable sharing your thoughts please don't feel pressured to do so.

I assume that sort of thing just happens once by chance and then if you have the inclination to try something similar again you're going to go pitch it to someone whom you know has been willing in the past.

That, or people just ask. Like, I have been propositioned like, "hey, if it's not your thing, no worries, but I'm looking for someone to play my brother-slash-fuckbuddy, would you be interested?"

There's also just sometimes when you stumble into that sort of family dynamic and you kind of just either choose to go with it or not (which counts as the 'by chance' initial encounter from before, except probably with more than one person who are clearly into it).

For the less taboo and more commonplace and socially acceptable kink stuff (i.e. BDSM as opposed to incest/rape) I think you just kind of play with someone and they bring it up IC and if you're down, go for it and if you're not, they'll try to force panther jizz down your throat.

I mean, or so I've heard.

[Arkandel]

@Coin I'm wondering how this is kept under IC wraps. I'd rather keep this thread away from going into OOC abuse and creepiness or it'll go south fast, but we've seen the occasional outbursts for when someone does end up complaining about it IC.

My assumption is these things happen quite more often but they're not reported by the characters, which might suggest they're unreported to avoid OOC backlash. I might be completely wrong though.

[Pandora]

@farfalla Not looking at peoples' descs is a good way to wind up whitewashing people's characters of color, to miss character disabilities, to miss someone's MAGA t-shirt, someone's neo-Nazi tattoos, someone's 'I Beat Breast Cancer' pin, and so on.

I'm not saying you have to look or care, I'm just saying descriptions aren't just there as empty fluff, a lot of meaningful character information won't come up in every single pose.

[Coin]

@Arkandel said in TS - Danger zone:

@Coin I'm wondering how this is kept under IC wraps. I'd rather keep this thread away from going into OOC abuse and creepiness or it'll go south fast, but we've seen the occasional outbursts for when someone does end up complaining about it IC.

My assumption is these things happen quite more often but they're not reported by the characters, which might suggest they're unreported to avoid OOC backlash. I might be completely wrong though.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Do you mean things like rape RP? In general, rape RP is consensual between the players and the point is the actual act and not so much the upheaval that happens after, so it's kept private, through whatever sort of reasoning or justifying or means, and no one else is informed.

IME, whenever it does turn into a huge to-do is when they were both into it and then for some reason there was an OOC falling out so one party goes and says "they raped me" IC.

I mean. Sucks that it's OOC motivated but also don't play a rapist if you don't want to deal with the possible consequences.

[saosmash]

I'm not very visual generally so pbs don't impact my play much. I only care about them when it's funny, like when there are several Jason Momoas or several Jensen Ackleses.

Generally I've only rped "the weird stuff" with people I was comfortable communication with anyways. Communication is key for healthy BDSM, so.

[Rinel]

@Pandora said in TS - Danger zone:

Not looking at peoples' descs is a good way to wind up whitewashing people's characters of color, to miss character disabilities, to miss someone's MAGA t-shirt, someone's neo-Nazi tattoos, someone's 'I Beat Breast Cancer' pin, and so on

Yeah, as someone who plays a decent number of POCs and tries to put relevant information in my description, that kind of stings to read. Rinel's description is about 150 words long, and 100 of those are devoted to in-game events that have left her face scarred and leg crippled. I mean, I pose with the cane pretty much constantly, but I guess this sort of attitude makes me feel less guilty about talking about it. Her having visible scars is important to her character. Her being crippled is important to her character. Her having brown skin is important to me--and in modern games where race matters more than it does in Arx, my character's race is very important to them. Someone calling Yvette white is gonna get punched in the face by an angry robot lady who takes her creole heritage really fucking seriously.

tl;dr this attitude is makes me more likely to shove my character's description in people's faces, which I would really prefer to avoid doing

[Salty]

@Tempest peak Jolie, yes. Current Jolie, no. Think Closer to 2000. Tomb Raider and Alexander.

[farfalla]

This isn't some moral stance about the goodness or badness of descs, I am simply saying I am never going to read them. My brain doesn't process written information that way and it's just how it's gonna be. Maybe there are people out there who have left a scene mad at me for implying something incorrect, but 99.9% of the time (on Arx, the only place I play) none of this will ever be a problem and I would guess no one has ever known that I didn't read their desc. I don't really know what to tell you, it's just ...how I play and interact with the Mu* world.

[Rinel]

@farfalla

RINEL HAS A CANE

[Jennkryst]

@farfalla I mean.... arx descs are weird. So. I GET IT.