Sexual themes in roleplay

Derp · May 19, 2015, 4:06 PM

@Coin said:

@Derp

I would actually really like it if we could tag NSFW pages with a Category:NSFW and it would make anyone going to one of those have to go through a filter page that says, 'are you sure you want to see something NSFW?'

That would be ballz. Especially if you could opt out.

I wish games were more strict about character wiki pictures. It's like some people have no common sense when it comes to their "pb pictures" or I guess just can't play a sexpot without nearly erotic pics to support them. Sure, maybe they don't post outright nudes, but goddamn some people come close.

Would you find it more acceptable if such things were under collapsed categories, or maybe under their own subpages?

Tempest · May 19, 2015, 4:20 PM

@Derp Definitely. And I know I saw that done occasionally on The Reach, which is fine. I don't think I'm a prude, but I also don't think PB pics need to be half-nude and showing a ton of cleavage/whatever.

HelloRaptor · May 19, 2015, 5:43 PM

@Tempest
I'm not sure how things like can't or "need* come into it. You don't need a PB with blue eyes, even if your character has blue eyes. You could just mention it somewhere. But people still photoshop blue eyes onto the PB they want to use. Or whatever other details.

Presumably if they're going out of their way to use pictures, they're meant to evoke something about the character, whether it's direct appearance or a suggestion of behavior/demeanor.

Hell, people don't need a PB pic at all. Or if they do, they don't need more than one, but plenty of people (myself included) certainly seem to like having a gallery.

If you don't like sexually suggestive pictures on people's wiki pages, more power to you. I don't think that makes you a prude at all, just someone who'd prefer it was otherwise. But criticizing wiki picture choices by saying they just can't do without or that they don't need to be one way or another is pretty presumptuous.

DISCLAIMER: I once had a shirtless pb pic.

spasticgoat · May 19, 2015, 5:52 PM

@HelloRaptor said:

DISCLAIMER: I once had a shirtless pb pic.

But you're a well-known TS whore and we love you for it.

Arkandel · May 19, 2015, 5:56 PM

@HelloRaptor I used to have artwork for PBs - it seemed better to draw a likeness from a comic book for example than just a random actor or model. I had people comment on that unkindly since it seemed (apparently) odd to mix those visuals with real photographs of actual people, so I conformed to the norm. Whaaatever.

The only things I begrudge wikis for is that people use them instead of descriptions (in fact for many wiki pages there's nothing in there other than pictures and a name) and that occasionally there are these absurd - even for MUSH low standards - arguments about who has the 'right' to a likeness.

Tempest · May 19, 2015, 6:12 PM

@Arkandel said:

The only things I begrudge wikis for is that people use them instead of descriptions (in fact for many wiki pages there's nothing in there other than pictures and a name) and that occasionally there are these absurd - even for MUSH low standards - arguments about who has the 'right' to a likeness.

Strangely, I still always write descriptions myself, and usually 2-3 decent paragraphs worth, but..I rarely ever even remember to look at other people's bits, generally just using their wiki pics as a judge.

Misadventure · May 19, 2015, 6:16 PM

Next time I play somewhere, I may try out sending descs to their own window. That way they don't interrupt the flow of play and interaction, but can be easily swapped to to actually give them some attention.

Now if I can just figure out how to identify what is a desc start and a desc end.

ThatGuyThere · May 19, 2015, 7:13 PM

I tend to go with played by pics that fit the character. For example when i used an actor for a business man I only used pictures of him in a suit. Later when I used the same actor on a different game for a mechanic character I used pics from a war movie since the grubby uniform looked mechanic-y if I picked ones where rank insignia wasn't showing. So I see no problem with the scantily glad pics if it fits that character.

Misadventure · May 19, 2015, 7:15 PM

PBs make me scantily glad.

Ganymede · May 19, 2015, 7:36 PM

@Arkandel

Next time, tell them to fuck off and mind their business.

lordbelh · May 19, 2015, 7:42 PM

My general policy tends to be that as long as it's not actively hurting my fun I don't really feel the need to police these things. Anyone getting bothered by people's slutty PBs tend, in my humble opinion, to care way to much about other people's business. I fail to see how it hurts anyone at all. I can however understand a slutty PB being perfectly evocative of the actual character. I'll probably avoid said character, but I expect that just saves everybody a lot of wasted effort and time.

Arkandel · May 19, 2015, 7:49 PM

@lordbelh said:

I fail to see how it hurts anyone at all.

The scenario I can think of is the generic NSFW one where you open a browser tab in public to look at someone's PR logs or whatever and get surprise boobs instead.

lordbelh · May 19, 2015, 8:00 PM

@Arkandel I don't know where you're from, but a surprise boob isn't a big deal around here. Where it is, I'm sure clicking the X takes care of it quick enough to spare everybody too much embarrassment. Though I was thinking less about full on nudity than cleavages and butts, I don't really have a problem with that, either. Though in that case perhaps behind an NSFW tag.

Arkandel · May 19, 2015, 8:05 PM

@lordbelh I have no issues with nudity whatsoever, less so when it comes to the usually quite attractive PBs people pick.

But if I'm sitting at a subway station and decide to take a peek at people's characters to pass the time I'd rather know in advance what the likelihood of boobs is. It's not a big deal either way, but you did say you failed to see how it hurts anyone at all - this could, potentially. I guess.

Thenomain · May 19, 2015, 8:18 PM

@lordbelh said:

I don't know where you're from

This discussion is veering toward (or maybe already has broached) the question "it's okay for me, so why isn't it okay for you?" I don't have an answer for that, because the question is going to change from person to person, except for awareness of what's going on or likely to happen. Self-awareness sometimes being lax in this hobby, but this hobby is also about casual social interaction. "It hurts no one" is not a reason to not do something, just as some code that helps people's interactions is not "policing".

At least where I'm from.

Ganymede · May 19, 2015, 8:34 PM

@Arkandel said:

The scenario I can think of is the generic NSFW one where you open a browser tab in public to look at someone's PR logs or whatever and get surprise boobs instead.

The acronym "NSFW" suggests that one is at work. I can understand the concern there. I don't so much understand at Starbucks why it matters. So long as the image isn't pornographic, I'm unsure of the harm, except for one's delicate sensibilities.

In which case, fuck you. And, yes, I'm very self-aware, so I'm aware that adults need to buck the fuck up.

lordbelh · May 19, 2015, 8:46 PM

@Thenomain Self awareness can be lax, perhaps, but faux moralism, hypocrisy and hyperbole there's a lot of. If your setting is Hogwarts, I can get behind limiting the hyper-sexualized images. If your game is WoD, I lean towards the idea that the lack of awareness is more in prominence in the people setting strict taste standards than the ones putting up a TS-invitation-by-PB. And perhaps I just can't get out of my head all those times I've heard people snark about other people's wikis and PBs, and been unable to roll my eyes at the kind of slutty kink they've been up to on the side themselves. It doesn't tend to be 'what if I got caught looking at this at work?' so much as moralizing judgement by people who aughta be more aware of what kind of game they're playing.

Anyway, it's not like I put up any kind of PBs that are even remotely unclothed myself, or feel that I lose something important with wiki rules that limit that sort of thing. I just find it all very eyeroll worthy, but I accept that I might be in a minority.

Also:

@Thenomain said:

"It hurts no one" is not a reason to not do something,

More often than not, I kind of think it is.

Coin · May 19, 2015, 8:57 PM

"It hurts no one" is not a reason to not do something,

This sentence hurts my English Teaching heart.

Arkandel · May 19, 2015, 8:58 PM

@Coin said:

"It hurts no one" is not a reason to not do something,

This sentence hurts my English Teaching heart.

Mission accomplished!

Thenomain · May 19, 2015, 10:03 PM

@Thenomain said:

"It hurts no one" is not a reason to not do something,

More often than not, I kind of think it is.

Okay. No new code hurts no one, so I'll stop doing it. Not setting up a game hurts no one. Not logging in, more often than not, hurts no one. Not posting on a bboard, more often than not, hurts no one. Yet these are things we do anyway.

It doesn't take a slippery slope to see that "it hurts no one" is a horrible reason to not do something.