Twinking in RP MU*

[Arkandel]

@Coin

I think even more so than people not understanding games like MU* are by definition social since they involve group activities the problem is players don't want to understand not everyone plays the same game the same way.

I don't think that can be underestimated as a factor. Sometimes we're stuck in groupthink mode and it's a tough as hell issue to distance yourself from. I try to keep things in perspective - when HR for instance protested that my peeve about that 'Life Two' thing was unreasonable I did my best to take a step back. Was I just being an asshole? (I decided otherwise but who knows, I'm biased).

The same way... look at threads right here on MSB. Someone makes the implicit assumption that if you care about your stats you're not there to play a character. You yourself like social dice in certain situations where others frown on the practice. Some people play mostly relationships and TS scenes while for others TS itself is wrong.

We still find a way to detest each other's playstyle, consciously or otherwise, and look at our own preferences as what ought to the universal standard.

And that's over the same game. The same rules and mechanics taken from the same source material. Now take into account all those other MU* with different goals, themes, rules...

[Thenomain]

@Ganymede said:

Paying a constant amount of XP for a discrete gain is a fine idea, but it is contrary to real-life observation.

Which is why I'm hoping to see reasonable learning times. Yeah, XP vs Learning Times discussion leads down many distracting rabbit holes, but in tabletop, you have a control of XP awards that you don't online.

[Coin]

@Arkandel, what?

I was referring entirely to the point at which you find yourself in an IC group with friends who are either busy or idle. For example, I recently made a werewolf pack about six months or so ago on The Reach. But after playing for maybe a month (at the most) regularly, the following happened:

1. One player went on their honeymoon, leaving the game for an extended period;
2. Another has health issues that make it very hard for them to be consistently around;
3. Another two got touched by drama in another sphere and lost their desire to RP for a while;
4. Another never finished their character at all;
5. Two others felt like nothing was happening, so they hardly log on;
6. Another stopped logging on and idled out;
7. I myself ended up trying to find others to RP with, which is hard when your central theme is Pack play.

It doesn't help when people really want to participate but aren't willing to be pro-active, requiring others to constantly motivate them, which is what I run into over and over and over and over.

[Three-Eyed Crow]

I just figure people who need me to motivate them don't actually really want to participate. They just kinda want to participate, maybe, some time. Which is fine, but it's not my responsibility. I've stopped worrying about it (which is weirdly hard, at least for me). It's not my job to cat-herd you if you're not into something, even though I'd be perfectly happy if you end up really wanting to at some point. Pro-activity goes hand-in-hand with really wanting to do anything, for me.

This is totally different than actual unavailability due to RL or health or whatever. That's just life.

[Coin]

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

This is totally different than actual unavailability due to RL or health or whatever. That's just life.

Yes, but they compound each other.

[mietze]

Maybe the difference is "really wanting to participate" (which I now read as "happy to be entertained and to be involved") vs. "wanting/capable to put in the work to keep things dynamic and active." They're two very different things. I think most people really want to participate. The number of people willing to put in the real work involved are very few.

These days I'm always happy to participate but leery of joining up with a group where there is not at least 1 other person who's willing to put in the work OOCly.

[Coin]

@mietze said:

Maybe the difference is "really wanting to participate" (which I now read as "happy to be entertained and to be involved") vs. "wanting/capable to put in the work to keep things dynamic and active." They're two very different things. I think most people really want to participate. The number of people willing to put in the real work involved are very few.

These days I'm always happy to participate but leery of joining up with a group where there is not at least 1 other person who's willing to put in the work OOCly.

I'm getting to the same point, yeah.

[Arkandel]

I've heard (and sorta agree with) both sides of this. The "we should get people involved" and the "people should take responsibility for themselves" mindsets are both right.

What it comes down to IMHO is that some people are just good at creating stories (by which I don't only mean 'running PrPs', although I've found one is a subset of the other). Others are good at joining stories.

It peeves me sometimes when people do neither though and simply play cardboard characters to embody some mechanical or thematic Mary Sue concept.

Facilitate or join, dammit.

[mietze]

I have no expectations for a player base at large but when I join a small group (like a pack) I feel more responsibility and ownership, and I prefer it if others do as well instead of just being there to partake. We all have times like that but it gets old if one person has to carry things all the time, you know?

[Arkandel]

Oh, all too well. My PCs routinely end up being left out from what their cabals/coteries are doing in my PrPs, then I need to make up IC reasons why they weren't there for them. Bah!

[mietze]

Yep. It's why I try to make sure there's at least 1 other person who at least professes interest in sharing STing now! There are people who are just fine with taking on all of it, but I find I enjoy getting to play with everyone (including any regular STs) on their PCs, in addition to STing, though I do very much enjoy the latter.

[Darinelle]

I accidentally had this happen to me, where a couple of the people I regularly RP with surprise me with STing and then we take turns STing for each other. We don't really discuss it when it happens but honestly it's pretty freaking incredible to me. Very much outside the norm, but I like it - and the players who do this can pretty much ask for any STing from me that they want (and are likely to get surprised with STing too). It makes for a lot of fun.

[Coin]

I will run plots for anyone that asks and knows what they want. It's just sometimes very hard to stay motivated to do that when my own character has absolutely nothing to do.

[JinShei]

Timezones are a bugger - the European and Australian players suffer from the whole "There is only one other person in my time zone on this game" and so many games have only US Staffers as well. I end up quitting games because - although the desire is there - the rest of the game runs in US time, and I am either at work or asleep. A "nobody's fault but it blows" situation.

[Bristled Thistle]

Yeah, as a first shift EST-player, I have all kinds of problems finding rp. I've been enjoying Kingsmouth lately because it's mostly GMTers and Ozzies, so their times sync better with mine.

[JinShei]

@Bristled-Thistle said:

Yeah, as a first shift EST-player, I have all kinds of problems finding rp. I've been enjoying Kingsmouth lately because it's mostly GMTers and Ozzies, so their times sync better with mine.

Really? mantra I do not need another mush, I do not need...

I think we've been lucky on Darkspires too - we have a mix, although to get them all for a plot I need to get up early on a day off <whine>

[Bennie]

Time Zones wouldn't be a problem if there was a way to recruit more people. I feel like MUSH has the people. The people are out there. They are just not logged into the same spaces. There's more than enough people in any given timezone. They just need congregation.

What we need is like the Online Database Of Gaming Times for people to add themselves to and for you to be able to PM one another to come on over and join such-and-such game, where a growing community of YYY-1 is coming together.

[JinShei]

@Bennie said:

Time Zones wouldn't be a problem if there was a way to recruit more people. I feel like MUSH has the people. The people are out there. They are just not logged into the same spaces. There's more than enough people in any given timezone. They just need congregation.

What we need is like the Online Database Of Gaming Times for people to add themselves to and for you to be able to PM one another to come on over and join such-and-such game, where a growing community of YYY-1 is coming together.

Absolutely - tastes are another dividing factor. I tried nWoD, and WoD and I fled

[Bristled Thistle]

@JinShei said:

Really? mantra I do not need another mush, I do not need...

If you have that many, what's one more in the big scheme of things? Maybe it's something you'd really enjoy...

[JinShei]

@Bristled-Thistle said:

@JinShei said:

Really? mantra I do not need another mush, I do not need...

If you have that many, what's one more in the big scheme of things? Maybe it's something you'd really enjoy...

Evil. Evil.

Cobalt and Chime already tempted me back to Anita Blake this week.