Idling all day on MU*s

[Lotherio]

@nessa said in Idling all day on MU*s:

After talking with many more people OOCly who play on MUs I came to the realization, decades ago, that most people on MUs are far more introverted than myself. They don't see activity as inherently energizing they like to feel the connectedness of the online community,

This is besides the point, but extroverted and introverted aren't at play in this. I go out and socialize, more art openings then the bars these days (booze is free at my social events), put me in a room of strangers and I'll break the ice. Digital community is still community. The bar or the movies doesn't make one more part of a community than someone who socializes on-line.

Its sounds more like you see it as a game then a group of people sharing a common interest.

[Sunny]

@lotherio said in Idling all day on MU*s:

Its sounds more like you see it as a game then a group of people sharing a common interest.

Which, I'll clarify, is FINE. It's just not the way that the bulk of people you engage with comport themselves, and the understanding of that fact is VITAL. You can co-exist in these spaces without engaging with the OOC community, but there are downsides to doing that, and those downsides are not critical flaws -- they're downsides of playing the games not as intended.

[faraday]

Everyone is clearly entitled to feel how they feel about logins. Some folks get discouraged by a small WHO list, whether or not people are RPing. Some folks get discouraged by a big WHO list where everybody is idling. There is nothing objectively wrong with either position.

What is uncool is folks saying: "Hey, you know that thing you find fun on these games? Hanging out and talking to your friends? You need to stop doing that so I can feel better about my potential to find entertainment."

The core question should be: is there RP available?

If there is, then focus on that (go play!) and don't worry about what the other people are doing with their time. If there isn't, also focus on that (try to generate some RP!) and don't worry about what the other people are doing with their time!

[mietze]

It may also help to realize that just because the people logged in are not readily accessible or out in public, doesn't mean that they aren't contributing to the game's activity. Are some people just sitting around? Sure, probably most (though people may be doing that in public as well). Are some waiting to connect with someone OOC so they can arrange deets of events, meetups, prps, ect? Yes. Esp. if they do not have large chunks of time during the day, and so need to coordinate (or even extreme slow play) during that time so they are better set up for the more active/present time that they do have. In that respect, they may be contributing "more" to the game and activity for others than someone who just hangs around in public all the time and pounces on BaRP but never runs anything for anyone or a group of folks, depending on your perspective.

People are not going to go out in public to extreme slow RP (and that's going to look like idling too) that's disrespectful to people who might wander in and people get angry about when people don't pose fast enough for their tastes as well.

I think I personally have a reaction to compulsive WHO and +where checkers because those tools have been used to harass me/track my activity by people in the past, and so a need to constantly check those things and judge people by them tends to trigger a red flag in me. I can kind of understand wanting that as a metric to judge whether or not a game is worth your time, if it is supremely important to you to have a certain percentage of unidle people or public people. I'm just not sure that even that is useful though, given how people are often very unidle just chatting about the weather and their health issues on channel while never darkening the door of a public scene, and planners may be idle for long times as they're writing up stuff/researching/otherwise actively working towards a contribution to the game.

[Carma]

This post is deleted!

[Warma Sheen]

I idle a lot, mostly because I'm just busy with life. But I like being connected in some small way to the hobby I enjoy. So even if it is only being able to read channel chat or ooc room banter, it is preferable to nothing if I'm at work or with family where I only have time to check my screen every now and then.

Even when I do have time to RP it is tenuous at best because I could be pulled away at any moment which blows... but it is the best I have so I take what I can get.

[Solstice]

I idle with screen activity flashes so that if someone catches me online and pokes me, I can have an option to respond.

I struggle with FOMO. A lot.

...And then I accidentally fall asleep with the game running and miss some invites and the cycle perpetuates.

[Lemon Fox]

It feels cozy to hang out in a crowded MU when I can't hang out with my RL friends. Feels less lonely, even if I'm not doing anything there.

[Tributary]

Sometimes I will log on while I'm working, especially if I think things are going to be slow with work.

And sometimes that doesn't work out. Work eats me. And I work from home, so I have access to all of my toys, but no time to play with them.

But I do read what I missed and try to follow up.

(I've done this on video games, too. On one contract, my boss told me he would give me a new assignment at 1 pm, so I had the morning off. So I logged onto a game, played half an hour, and then, at like 10 am, my boss was like, "HEY! I HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT NOW!" And I alt-tabbed to deal with him. And while I was dealing with him, my friend was like, "OMG, Trib died! What killed Trib?" And my spouse, who was also playing, replied, "Work. She starved to death in the base, and needs to corpse run within the base.")

[Misadventure]

People could just set up one of variety of anti-idlers and then everyone would look like they were RPing and just ignoring any attempts at engagement.

I recommend something that has a variable time between activity points.

[il-volpe]

@sunny said in Idling all day on MU*s:

(private / public weighted votes is a BAD ACTUAL IDEA but a reasonable example of what I mean)

Why?