Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?
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@Tinuviel To each their own opinion; I'm sure not everyone agrees with my every point, but it appears 38 voters feel that some shades of my point of view may be accurate.
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
@Ghost I'll refrain from making a joke about the lack of trust I have in voters...
Are there problems with hostility and stupidity in the MUing community? Yes, absolutely. Not in my personal experience, but if I were any more laid back about MUing I'd be doing it horizontally. This forum is an exceptionally poor metric with which to measure the MUing community. We are not, at all, representative of the average MUer. We're not even really representative of our MUing selves when we're here.
Remembering negatives is an intrinsic part of being alive. Remembering bad things keeps you safe from future bad things, while remembering happy things doesn't. So it's a part of our make up. Simply because we talk more about bad things than good things does not mean that there are more bad things than good.
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I would be intrigued to see a breakdown, with numbers and percentages and such, of where particular posters were most active. I would be very intrigued.
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@Three-Eyed-Crow Why so?
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@Three-Eyed-Crow I don't think that would tell you much without the context of post contents.
Most of my posts are in the Hog Pit. But most of those posts are being snide or sarcastic which wouldn't be evident based solely on statistics.
He/Him
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I do think that if the posts were filtered out for being positive/just gifs/off-topic rambling, that the skewing of "omg you people are so negative!" would be lessened considerably. But the venting is always going to be higher than the yippyskippy, I'm sure.
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I love this hobby when you find a PC or a group of PCs who just vibe on your RP style or story preferences and a certain kind of narrative magic takes over. The creative high for that is what I think a lot of people chase.
And why we put up with so much terrible behavior and poorly socialized players because the high when it happens makes all of that not necessarily worth it but... easy to ignore or tolerate.
For me, the pitfalls are all about real life. I got a real life jobby job that likes to make me travel in often far, often exhausting ways with no predictable cycle. I love my job to be clear (most of the time) but it doesn't owe to a lot of regularity. So, I have to find games that can work with players who can't be on all the time. And that is not the majority of games, and that's when I don't love this hobby very much - the exile like feelings are magnified by negative experiences with staffers and players and poorly run games.
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@Ghost said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
Okay so my delivery was cheesy, but I think the sheer number of posts dedicated to complaining and breaking people down compared to the number of posts related to loving the hobby or working together is telling.
I think it's important to ponder it.
Others have said it but I'll through in an old Marine adage:
A bitching Marine is a happy Marine.
It's when they're silent that command worries.
Complaining is hoping someone listens and addresses the mild issue, but still on board with the course regardless.
Far less is mutiny and discord. Even those City of Hope ones are like this royally sucks, but I still play there cause x, y, z, ...
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@Three-Eyed-Crow said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
I would be intrigued to see a breakdown, with numbers and percentages and such, of where particular posters were most active. I would be very intrigued.
@Tinuviel said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
@Three-Eyed-Crow I don't think that would tell you much without the context of post contents.
Most of my posts are in the Hog Pit. But most of those posts are being snide or sarcastic which wouldn't be evident based solely on statistics.
@mietze said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
I do think that if the posts were filtered out for being positive/just gifs/off-topic rambling, that the skewing of "omg you people are so negative!" would be lessened considerably. But the venting is always going to be higher than the yippyskippy, I'm sure.
Yeah. I mean, half of my posts are this type of post, and then like a whole bunch are just me saying "yikes x#" and getting way too many upvotes for it.
(Don't stop upvoting it. I love it. It feeds my soul. FEEEEEEEEEED MEEEEEEEEEEEEE.)
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@Ghost said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
And while those boards have 3.2k(etc) posts, I think my overall point stands. As cathartic as bitching and venting may be, I feel that negativity reigns and that those particular boards are a symptom of a bigger issue.
This is a natural consequence of who is motivated to post and by what.
The constructive boards, debates about the nature of gaming, even analysis of TV shows - those take time and thought as well as a certain frame of mind. If nothing else I think it's pretty impressive we have had thousands of contributions for them as it is.
But the Hogpit is easy. People get on there when they are pissed off - which makes them super high motivated to get whatever they have to say off their collective chests - or someone else has already had something mean to say which they can rant about, offer their +1 or drop some F-bombs.
I don't much care for that noise but it's part of the hobby, too. At least it's happening where everyone can see it rather than over pages and behind people's backs. Either way I certainly don't think it's what the hobby is about, since if I did I wouldn't be part of it.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel @Lotherio Right. I get why people post to complaint boards, and I also get the concept that "if you get mad, it means you care". A good amount of what goes on there isn't bitching, though. IMO It's probably better described as "One bitching post, and then 30 follow up posts dissecting the intentions, reputation, or delivery of said bitch, and then people show up to attack people who attack friends or use it as an opportunity to fuck with people they dont like."
I guess where my head is at is that I'm not questioning the wisdom or existence of negativity, but am just saying I think how some people in this hobby have chosen to manifest it is a problem.
A wise person recently told me that they felt that MSB isn't a reflection of the mushing community as a whole. I think they were right to say that. I think some people try to use it constructively where others use it as a sort of path off of school grounds where they can bully people walking home from school without it being a bannable offense.
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
@Ghost said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
A wise person recently told me that they felt that MSB isn't a reflection of the mushing community as a whole.
I don't think it's a representation of it. I don't think MSB speaks for the community as a whole. But a reflection? Perhaps, depending on how much the louder voices take over the conversation.
When it comes down to it some folks here have thousands of posts to their names (ahem) and others don't, so volume certainly matters.
But the real question is... does it matter? Does any of this matter as long as you, personally, as an individual, are having fun?
If this place was a utopia and you were miserable playing on your particular MU* of choice or if the hobby was in a shitty place but your game (or circle of friends, or clique, or whatever) was a blast then does what other people do or feel outside your sphere of influence or even awareness really need to impact your gameplay?
We're not being entertained based on the average person's fun intake. We get what we get.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel I think thats a healthy approach.
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I also think that with 51 votes saying they're happy and 46 saying either an outright NO or "somewhere in between", that there's a lot of people who aren't exactly comfortable and/or might be feel comfortable being vocal about it.
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
I read that inquiry as not where posters were active on the forum, so much as active on games.
Different games and genres all have their own potential pitfalls/etc., so this can be very relevant to the over all experience someone has.
Plenty of us stick to one genre, system, or a fairly small range. (I do horror but no L&L, I only do WoD, I only do purely consent-based games, etc.)
Oh fucking well.
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@Ghost said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
I also think that with 51 votes saying they're happy and 46 saying either an outright NO or "somewhere in between", that there's a lot of people who aren't exactly comfortable and/or might be feel comfortable being vocal about it.
You're pretty insistent on pushing people into saying the hobby is bad/unfun which is... sort of going to make people feel like it's bad/unfun because it's like 'yeah there's this guy who just spouts a lot of negativity over there'. Self fulfilling prophecy yo.
Where's your boom gif now?!
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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Yeah, 100% correct, I'm definitely not talking about "MSB: the Hobby", I am talking about the hobby we are talking about on the forum, which is mushing.
I'm tempted to ask the same question about MSB because I'm a (removing word for male genitalia; I typed it, so I'm calling myself out, but I did at least catch it), but I don't see a valuable conversation coming out of that. This? Yah.
Also: I RP with like, 2-3 other MSB folks on the regular. I have a "regular" roleplay circle of like 10 people I play with OFTEN, and WAY more than that that I interact with semi-regularly (a scene every week or two depending on what's going on).
The number of people who post on MSB (or even read here) are dwarfed by the number of people who do not post on MSB on one single game.
This place isn't anything beyond a discussion board. It's not a window, it's not an indication, it's not a reflection. You would have to have even a significant minority of mushers participating here for that to be true, and we don't. We are completely irrelevant as a community to the larger mushing community. Participating here matters very, very, very, very, very, very, very little (if anything) EVEN in the scope of the mushing community, let alone mattering in the real world.
Giving it any sort of weight or acting like it's any sort of canary in a coal mine is nonsense.
ETA: Seriously. MOST mushers haven't even HEARD of this place.
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@Auspice said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
@Ghost said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
I also think that with 51 votes saying they're happy and 46 saying either an outright NO or "somewhere in between", that there's a lot of people who aren't exactly comfortable and/or might be feel comfortable being vocal about it.
You're pretty insistent on pushing people into saying the hobby is bad/unfun which is... sort of going to make people feel like it's bad/unfun because it's like 'yeah there's this guy who just spouts a lot of negativity over there'. Self fulfilling prophecy yo.
Where's your boom gif now?!
Dont make me post the gif again, damn it. You goad me with your honeyed words and heroin taunts.
Srsly, tho? I swear I'm not trying to cram some point into a jar. I'm just saying: "Hey, there's clearly people who are unhappy on some level, so let's start talking about how we can be better."
I just hate to see this 46 people poll go entirely ignored without some attempt at forward movement.
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
@Sunny said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:
ETA: Seriously. MOST mushers haven't even HEARD of this place.
How are you judging that? Most MUSHers I know of have. There are 67 pages of user accounts here (granted many ancient/dup/throwaway) compared to a rather paltry number of MUSHes out there (even granting that page is not a comprehensive list). How many MUSH players do you think there are?
If you're talking general MU* players including MUDs/RPIs/etc. I would agree. But MUSHes? Sorry, not sold on your hypothesis there.
This is the only active MUSH community forum I'm aware of, so like it or not IMHO it is a reflection of "the MUSH community".
