Optional Realities & Project Redshift

[Chime]

Y'all need some more vitamins T, H, and C. Alternate/newer technology types in the MU* space still catering to potentially RP-involved games are relevant to my interests.

If updates come periodically... great! It's content and something to read that might inspire people to go do something. If you don't like it, don't read it. That said, each post of that sort should be framed in the form of "here's what we've done since last time:" and be a coherent forward progression. Blind repetition does no one any good, but I don't think that's the case here, is it?

@Thenomain said:

(hint: drink fresh-ground, home-brewed coffee; it's very inexpensive)

Ground fresh every morning for that pot of coffee with a standalone conical burr grinder using beans roasted in the past week taken exclusively from the Mordecofe plantation in Ethiopia. You probably haven't heard of it. * adjusts her hipster glasses and flaunts that westcoast cargopants-and-flannel chic *

Seriously though, it's really good coffee.

[surreality]

@Chime said:

Seriously though, it's really good coffee.

takes notes You sound like someone in need of a superauto, in all seriousness. The suffering I have endured in the month or so mine's been broken while I wait for the replacement is proving what a good investment it was/is, and that's no joke! (And I didn't even have one of the super fancypants ones, but it's still grind-per-cup godlike awesome.)

(There's a reason I've been way less pleasant than usual this month, and I blame the perpetual withdrawl migraine. )

[Chime]

@surreality

Damn. I swear I just wasted like a whole hour drooling over espresso machines again.

I would probably go with more of the semi-auto style if I went that way, along the lines of Breville's BES920XL. But. Those brass Pavoni machines are so pretty~

(There's a reason I've been way less pleasant than usual this month, and I blame the perpetual withdrawl migraine. )

I tried doing that-- Once. I was working in an office back then; regular university IT department stuff. After about two weeks of trying to do without any caffeine at all, a group of my co-workers cornered me before I could slip back into the safety of my undersea-crevice cubicle. They didn't say anything, but stood there, silently judging me. After an evil cackle, one of them cracked open a can of redbull or something. Not the best soft drink, and certainly no comparison to coffee-- but that smell... If I hadn't smelled it, I'd not have been seriously tempted. Once it was thrown open before me, I was lost. With great gleeful gulps I drank the thing down, then scuttled back to my cube-- screeching with furious delight at the raw power of the stuff.

It is truly the modern vitae.

Then of course there is the trip I took with some friends a few years back; we were huddled near the meager shade of a tarp to escape the harsh Mojave sun, squinting through the glare at endless miles of dusty earth and purportedly still-alive creosote bushes. As the silence stretched, my friend put his hand on my back and grinned slyly. His tongue darted out for a moment, moistening his lips as he surveyed the camp. His eyes swiveled back to me, and his grin showed far too many teeth.

"I've got something you'll like," he said. There was no doubt in his voice; he knew me far too well. He nodded, likely knowing anything I might have thought or said was superfluous. I did scowl; his self-assured dominance was wearing thin in the heat and I remain ever the skeptic. Rolling a small container into his hand, he showed me the label, then leered-- daring me to action.

"PURE ANHYDROUS CAFFEINE," it read. Well, and so. "Wow. Um. Like how do we even--" I recall not being terribly articulate, but then again I hadn't had any yet. He pulled out some ridiculously flavored bag of doritos and proceeded to coat one with the powder until it looked like a powdered donut.

"Try this." he said, leaning in closer. Him being him and me being me, I did-- but that caffeine certainly didn't hurt. My heart may have disagreed, however; I could feel it accelerating within the confines of my body, trying to escape. Soon after, my face contorted in dismay. "Auwwgh."

Miracle tho caffeine might be, it doesn't taste very good in pure form.

[surreality]

@Chime said:

@surreality

Damn. I swear I just wasted like a whole hour drooling over espresso machines again.

I would probably go with more of the semi-auto style if I went that way, along the lines of Breville's BES920XL. But. Those brass Pavoni machines are so pretty~

I had a Saeco Talea for three solid years of heavy use that was my baby until I eventually killed it. It was a trooper. We would actually bury it in the yard if we wouldn't get fined.

"Try this."

I am so dying right now, because those words are potentially the most deadly in all of the language. It makes me cackle with sheer glee... and wonder where I can get a hold of some of the stuff to add to things when it gets this dangerously dire again!

I can see it now:

"What kind of sweetner are you adding to that coffee?"
"It isn't sweetener. It's extra caffeine."

[Jaunt]

@Chime said:

Y'all need some more vitamins T, H, and C. Alternate/newer technology types in the MU* space still catering to potentially RP-involved games are relevant to my interests.

If updates come periodically... great! It's content and something to read that might inspire people to go do something. If you don't like it, don't read it. That said, each post of that sort should be framed in the form of "here's what we've done since last time:" and be a coherent forward progression. Blind repetition does no one any good, but I don't think that's the case here, is it?

Thanks for this. Couldn't agree more on all accounts, and I'm glad at least some folks understand what we were trying to do.

What we'll do, moving forward, is find a better and more discussion-oriented way of advertising new content here in the future. We haven't settled onto an exact path, but I'll let you know when we do. It'll be some sort of compromise, but we're also not going to pander to the angriest common denominator.

@WTFE and @il-volpe

I'm not on the spectrum, and I'm a social guy. I act and bartend for a living, so while I might be a living cliche of an artist, I'm also forced to constantly adapt to new social environments on a whim. MSB is not some sort of typical environment. It's not anything like other forums. Its unspoken guidelines for conduct are not typical. In fact, I find them super counter-intuitive. My asking for specifics from @EmmahSue was due to how counter-intuitive I find its unspoken social etiquette to be. It's not rule lawyering, it's an attempt to understand your community; again, you project what you want to see onto my words. It's why trying to talk to you is so often useless.

And, no matter what the history of the site and its unique style of discussion, there's just no way that I'm going to be convinced that using aggressive, insulting language to make your points is not going to muddy the actual specifics of your point and reduce the likelihood for mutual understanding. I understand the value of using that sort of language, and it's simply self-cathartic. It feels good to unload anonymously on someone else, it's why people troll the internet.

I just don't find it an appealing or particularly effective method when the goal is actual, valuable discussion.

As far as how other sites view our advertising weekly updates to content, none of them have said a single word in protest about it ... except for MSB. And we post in a lot of places.

[Thenomain]

@Jaunt said:

I just don't find it an unappealing or particularly effective method when the goal is actual, valuable discussion.

I would like to point out again that your first posts were about how you were going to use your own standards to determine if discussion was worthwhile, and worse you announced that you were purposefully antagonizing the rest.

Two thumbs up for trying to be the nice guy you say you normally are, one thumb down for still not quite being self-aware in your new environment. It's still one step forward, so let's call it progress toward, but not quite to, the moral high-ground.

Yes, I mixed my metaphors.

---

Incidentally, I consider being called different than all other communities out there a compliment.

---

(another edit) I'll have real content eventually, but for now I'm getting a crick in my neck from looking upward at all the riders on their high horses!

Irony nonwithstanding.

[SparklesTheClown]

This reminds me of what drove me to briefly be a supervillain in WORA by vomiting my personality out all over the forum.

That was my swan song.

Unfortunately I became a better person because I got bored of being me.

Is @Jaunt going to be next?

[Jaunt]

@Thenomain said:

@Jaunt said:

I just don't find it an unappealing or particularly effective method when the goal is actual, valuable discussion.
I would like to point out again that your first posts were about how you were going to use your own standards to determine if discussion was worthwhile, and worse you announced that you were purposefully antagonizing the rest.

I don't disagree with you.

@Thenomain said:

Incidentally, I consider being called different than all other communities out there a compliment.

It's not an insult; there's value in different perspectives. But it's not common sense (at least to me), either. It's not my personal preference, but I am still here, trying to work things out. It's definitely some baby-steps.

@HelloProject said:

Is @Jaunt going to be next?

Nah.

[Thenomain]

Show us on the doll where the bad gamer touched you...

[Jeshin]

Hey,

Minor update. @Jaunt has posted the updated slide text to our front page and we're looking at the feedback on changes. The only hold up is Hex (our graphic artist) having time to mock them up and kick them over to us.

Still following the thread on my free time.

[Thenomain]

@Jeshin,

I cannot find this text on the front page of your site. All I see is "October contest coming soon!".

[SparklesTheClown]

I actually went and looked at their forum. I had no idea it was a 20+ year old community (I must have looked over that on the first post), I thought it was a new thing. Poking around the forum, it seems interesting.

It's like some kind of strange anti-WORA, where people have productive discussion and are nice to each other. How in the world weren't we aware that it exists?

That said, it now makes perfect sense why people devolved into arguing.

I'm going to go drink this iced coffee now. It's the one time of year where I drink a coffee and slow my brain down a bit, to see what it feels like to be a regular person that can focus on one activity and thought at a time!

That quiet moment where you just sit there and don't think anything at all.

So weird.

[il-volpe]

@Jaunt said:

I'm not on the spectrum, and I'm a social guy.

I would have guessed as much.

My asking for specifics from @EmmahSue was due to how counter-intuitive I find its unspoken social etiquette to be. It's not rule lawyering, it's an attempt to understand your community; again, you project what you want to see onto my words. It's why trying to talk to you is so often useless.

You asked EmmahSue what the the official moderator stance is on the issue. I pointed out that thinking that there such an official stance exists is a failure to understand how the culture here works. I then proceeded to attempt to explain how it does work.

This is an attempt to be helpful.

Honestly.

From my point of view, I have simply repeatedly tried to give "don't do it that way, do it this way," tips about getting along in MUSB. You have projected, or whatever, to see them as naught but insults (or whatever it is you see that makes them so useless) in spite of them including direct descriptions of how things are and suggestions about how to deal with it.

...no way that I'm going to be convinced that using aggressive, insulting language to make your points is not going to muddy the actual specifics of your point and reduce the likelihood for mutual understanding..

I just don't find it an appealing or particularly effective method when the goal is actual, valuable discussion.

I don't think anyone here, ever in all its years and different names, has thought that the jolly vitriol was a particularly effective method for valuable discussion.

So, hey, did anybody tell you what WORA stands for? "When Online Role-playing games Attack". The board's culture is informed by its history as a place where one gets that cathartic whatfoo from bitching about the games, and about the players, and arguing.

It's how it is here, and if it genuinely bothers you, this is not the place for you. That's not bullying, any more than OR's policies about automated combat, which make OR not-the-place-for-me, are bullying.

As far as how other sites view our advertising weekly updates to content, none of them have said a single word in protest about it ...

I'm a bit surprised, but some places tolerate that sort of thing. Personally, I don't care a whit, I am just also very much not surprised that some people here do mind. If I were you I'd go for monthly or maybe fortnightly updates and see what happens.

[WTFE]

@il-volpe said:

As far as how other sites view our advertising weekly updates to content, none of them have said a single word in protest about it ...

I'm a bit surprised, but some places tolerate that sort of thing.

Some places also have "ignore thread" and "ignore user" capabilities. Just sayin'…

[Sunny]

@il-volpe said:

I don't think anyone here, ever in all its years and different names, has thought that the jolly vitriol was a particularly effective method for valuable discussion.

Yeah, no. I enjoy being able to call an asshole out as an asshole, but I don't think it's particularly productive to do so. Assholes don't generally like being called on their shit and so glom onto the fact that someone called them NAMES instead of thinking about why they were getting called an asshole in the first place.

[il-volpe]

@HelloProject Optional Realities isn't a 20 year old community, it's quite new. RPI MUDs (and their community of players) have been around about that long.

[SparklesTheClown]

@il-volpe Oh I see.

RPI MUDs are my favorite MUDs, I just have trouble determining the quality of them without sinking way too much time in. Maybe that community will be helpful.

[Jeshin]

Hey

@Thenomain

http://musoapbox.net/topic/341/optional-realities-project-redshift/728

Jaunt posted our likely changes to our front page and I was commenting on that fact and that we saw the feedback provided and that the delay is due to our graphic designer making new slides.

[SparklesTheClown]

@Thenomain said:

@Jeshin,

I cannot find this text on the front page of your site. All I see is "October contest coming soon!".

I couldn't see it at first, I had to enable OR on NoScript. See if you're blocking OR.

[WTFE]

Tell me more of how you're blocking things here, @HelloProject? If the board can't do it, maybe outside tools can!