Posts made by Alzie

@surreality No one is suggesting that the person being abused did anything wrong. Nor is anyone suggesting that the abuser is doing anything right or that they shouldn't be the ones leaving. What I am suggesting is that if you are being abused, in this medium, you have the power to stop that abuse. As I said, it's a cost value decision you yourself have to make. The fact of the matter is that if we could eliminate abusive assholes from our hobby then they wouldn't exist, because nobody wants abusive assholes. There isn't anyone out there that goes 'You know what this needs, some abusive assholes.'

The only message anyone is sending here, myself included, is that you can complain about the abuse or you can leave, because unlike those facing abuse from real people they see every day, you actually hold the power to systematically sever all ties to the abuse by doing nothing more than clicking a button.

@Surreality If you are so attached to something intangible that you would rather put up with abuse than simply move on to another intangible thing then that's another problem all together. Amusingly, every time we have these arguments people always say that it's not as simple as hitting quit. The thing is, it legitimately is. Being abused online is not the same as being abused by another person physically face to face. Those situations are heads over hands different and when you say 'It's not as simple as leaving,' then you're right it isn't. However, in the case of an intangible thing on a game represented by nothing more than a line of text, there is no excuse. It IS as simple as never connecting again. You may not want to give up your investment, maybe you feel like you're getting the short end of the stick, but that's a cost-value decision you have to make yourself. Is the investment worth more than the abuse or is avoiding the abuse worth more than the investment? Nobody can make that decision for you, but don't give me that shit about it not being as simple as clicking exit, nobody is physically abusing you, there is no legitimate reason that you can't just leave.

@Arkandel If you can't read the specific things you wrote that I quoted in my response then I think we can hang it up here.

@Misadventure Players are never helpless, especially so in games. All it takes is clicking exit.

@Arkandel said:

Would you care to bring up a specific, viable example of what you're asking? I'm not sure where you're saying. "Someone amassing an army ICly is trolling" - what does that mean? They have PC (or NPC?) followers and they are trolling OOC? Because those are irrelevant issues, if someone's disrupting the game OOC then it's staff's job to step in. If you explain further I'll try to address how I'd handle the matter within these confines.

You literally just talked about this specific situation a couple of replies up.

@Arkandel said:

I'm happy to debate points about game design but "I'm making an army of NPCs to rape every character on the grid" would quite likely fall under 'ooc trolling' and be handled by staff on that front rather than an IC one. I don't see the (rather remote) possibility as something to be particularly concerned about though.

So, as I said, 'Amassing an army of NPCs,' which is quite possible given the merits available, would be considered trolling by staff. What makes it trolling? They wouldn't be breaking rules. I thought you, as you stated, want players to be able to handle their shit and decide what should be okay and not.

@Arkandel said:

This is not a "yes game" proposal. It's not even the case in the thread's title. It's a yes first game, meaning that when staff is approached with an idea for anything - a character concept, a plot, a new faction, anything - it should be their primary inclination to say yes, and work with the player to try and iron out all the parts which need tweaking or don't work. It in no way takes from them the ability to say no if something is unworkable.

Yeah fine, but if that's what it is, then it's not a yes-first game, it's not even really a yes game proposal, it's a normal game proposal. You aren't suggesting anything new. That aside, that isn't what you're suggesting. This is completely opposite what you listed in your first post.

@Arkandel said:

1. Create a liberal, yes-first roleplaying game. If we say no it's for a really good, thematic reason.
2. In the IC setting roleplay and players decide as much as possible. Staff decides as little as possible.
3. Coopt the game to its players so they will have a reason to invest creatively in its course. Allow them to have a lasting impact.

Which you've been echoing in various forms, though mostly in this one:

Well... to me a 'yes-first game' mandates putting the players in a position where they handle their own shit. You want staff to take an active hand in telling them what's okay to roleplay about and what isn't. That's a philosophical, fundamental difference I don't know if it can be reconciled.

My point is that you are not suggesting a yes-first game. You're not even suggesting a yes game. You're not even suggesting a new concept. You're suggesting a normal game. You want control over the game because you know that people will be people. You write all these words, they sound great, it's an open world where players decide what the theme is and everyone gets what they want out of the game and that sounds amazing, but as soon as someone throws a situation in your face you don't want to deal with your response is 'We'll just staff backhand them.'

My point, in my salient terms, is you're either for player's having the agency to 'amass an army of NPCs legally through the merits' or you're against it because you view it as a form of trolling. Both of those cases mean something for the stance you're trying to champion in this thread. One means you believe in the stance you're trying to sell me on, the other means you believe in it up until the point shit might go down.

TLDR: Make your mind up. Denying people a concept that uses legal merits because you think it's trolling isn't a 'thematic' reason.

@Arkandel So, you want a yes first game then tell someone amassing an army icly is trolling. So someone calls you on that and the response is that players should have the right to decide what they feel is appropriate. Would you care to take a single stance? Either they can or can't do what they feel is acceptable icly. Either they are or aren't self policing. Sounds like it's a bad idea and you're having trouble making it sound like a good idea.

Rape aside, there is no situation in which staff can run a yes game. Your first post even says you won't be a yes game, you'll be a yes as long as I think it's okay game. When confronted with that fact you go back to player advocacy and self empowerment. When called on something that would be unfavorable you're back to being a staffer ready to say no.

@Apollonius Which? Cirno's? Or mine?

I assume yes and Already happened in that order.

Plot twist, The Cryptkeeper is in the movie, but it's M. Night Shyamalan.

Reporting from the front.

Gate second Season: Gate's second season is not disappointing. Actually it is a little, Rory only spent 3 seconds in this episode, I look forward to seeing more of Rory in future episodes, because I don't care about any of the new people. Looks like we're finally gonna get to the war phase this time around and even this episode seems to be leading up to that. Can't wait to see what happens next episode (And hopefully more of Rory).

Bubuki Buranki: The first episode was boring as fuck. Honestly. Sure there was some fighting, kids with intelligence weapons and this government organization that fights back against them, but your main character has as much personality as a piece of paper and that's a problem. Gonna give this one more episode and if it don't pick up gonna drop it. I can only handle so much whiny protagonist.

Divine Gate: Not impressed. Apparently some people got powers based on the 6 elements as per Asian mythology. If you get all 6 you can open the divine gate and have your wish come true. Honestly it was boring. It didn't hold my attention. The combat scenes weren't that great, the back story wasn't that well established and they didn't do anything in the first episode that I thought would make anyone want to continue watching the series.

Prince of Stride: Alternative: I don't normally watch these kinds of shows (Sports). I don't usually like them. However, I am going to watch this one. It was really good, the first episode. It was exciting. Which is saying something for a sports anime and me. The premise is a parkour/relee sport called stride and a high school's club reopening. I like it so far. It appears to be about the desire of 3 people to rebuild a once famous stride club.

Oshiete! Gyaruko-Chan (AKA Oshiete! Galko-Chan): This is the season's mini-series. Short 7 minute episodes that feature a teen girl in high school and her friends. She gets asked weird questions during the course of the series and it details her reactions and answers. It's hilarious. Highly recommended.

Dimension W: While it's too early to really tell, this seems ok. So a guy makes an endless power supply that runs off another dimension and collectors go and retrieve illegal versions of these power supplies. The guy who made this power supply is betrayed by the people who funded it and so he destroys it(? maybe, shit if I know, that's what it gives the impression of doing).But don't worry, there's a robot daughter.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar: Every season needs an SAO clone. Unlike SAO, this one is a lot more realistic personally. So you get dropped into the middle of a strange place and don't know what you're doing. Well now you gonna learn, but you still ain't that good. Personally, I like it. Watch it if you ever wished SAO was about the people who got stuck in ALO and weren't overpowered badasses and were just trying to get by.

Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut: I don't even. There's more of this shit? Fuck. Guy falls in bathhouse, sees girl naked, girl challenges guy to duel, girl can't beat guy, girl now loves guy. So yeah, there you go, watch it if you want. If you feel that's an unfair synopsis given the whole dragon dueling suits background, then I will just laugh, since they spent all of 5 mins in the episode.

And I'm off. Time for more.

So amusingly, on Chrome Beta for Android, the menu bar for the forum doesn't work and the login page gives forbidden. It works fine on Chrome Stable for Android.

I couldn't get into Kill la Kill's story. I usually like Kazuki's stuff, but I couldn't get into it. It even had trigger behind it, still couldn't get into it. Just didn't do it for me. That being said, having got into the new season of anime yesterday, reporting.

Active raid - Was totally not what I was expecting but i'm going to watch it. So it turns out that it's going to be more comedy and politics than I thought, but I think i'm okay with that because it's not in your face about it. I feel confident about this series just from the first episode. A series about cops that fight in exosuits while handling the politics of being cops and a spy that thinks nobody else knows she's a spy while everyone else is very aware why she's there. It's funny.

Musaigen no Phantom World - Also not what I expected, this is a lot like haruhi. Deconstructionist. Stupid. But fun. It's not going to take itself terribly serious I don't think. Though that's a little bit of a worry too. After the first episode, there's only so many meme's they can wring out of the three main characters and that does seem to be their primary driving force. The backstory here isn't mentioned because it doesn't seem to actually matter. You're kind of like 'Here's a monologue about what happened' and bam, here's some boobs bitches. Well okay t hen. Guess that earlier shit don't matter. So they can't exactly rely on the basic premise of their setting to carry this show. I wonder if they can do it.

@Cobaltasaurus It seems to be extremely hit or miss, regarding the hover over avatars to get a name.

@Bobotron I have in fact seen Air and played the VN it was based on. I preferred the VN if i'm being honest and yes, it pulled heartstrings.

@Cirno I did in fact watch that show. But it wasn't depressing. Now Clannad and Clannad Afterstory, that shit was depressing. Straight up Bawling.

@Runescryer Oh man, Yuki Yuna, that poor girl.

@Cobaltasaurus Well, let's see.

This last season was all about the school love drama and the bad ass battles. So you had...

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk - About...as you may have guessed, this guy who can beat anyone and falls in love with the girl. The back story is that he's searching for his lost sister and there are schools that fight each other. It wasn't bad. Maybe 3/5.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry - This one is about a knights school that trains magic knights. Except there's this guy who can't use magic too well, so he just gets really good at using a sword and can expend tons of magical energy in a couple seconds. Also he gets the girl, a princess. It's get dark at the end, but it's more like a play time dark. It was okay.

Heavy Object - About wars between gundams..I mean objects, totally not gundams, and how an engineer and a marine are able to blow them up because we build them with obvious structural flaws. (Who the hell builds a boat out of a triangle!? WHO!?) They both get their girls.

Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai - About a squad of exorcists at an academy that are the 35th test platoon, the worst one, who suddenly become the best one. This one was the best, he gets his harem. But no really, it wasn't bad, 4/5.

K Return of Kings - It's K. If you like K, you'll like Return of Kings, because Shiro is back, aww yeah. And more fighting, because it's K. 5/5. But if you don't like K and didn't watch the First K, then you'll give it a 2 of 5, because you won't know what the hell is going on.

Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen - Apparently there's another one of these things. It's the usual, time traveler, very confused, starts to lead a rebellion. Watch it if you like Utawarerumono, avoid if not.

Valkyrie Drive Mermaid - Holy fan service batman, but oh my god the best story you have ever seen. I know, you're thinking 'Alzie, that's like the most cliche shit ever' but holy shit is it true. It's awesome. Valkyrie Drive Mermaid hits home with its coming of age, do what you have to do to survive story.

Shinmai Maou no Testament - do you want to watch boobs and fighting? Then watch this. If not, skip it.

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru - This was surprisingly good. So an ornathologist starts hanging out with a kid after he gets a crush on her. It's pretty good. The story is deep, about how the woman lost her son and is projected onto the kid but the kid just wants her to love him and how they reconcile those feelings.

Owari no Seraph 2 - Did you watch one? No? Well don't watch this. If you did, watch this.

Noragami Aragoto - You can watch this independently of the past Noragami. It's a great show about a god that's attempting to become huge and his familiars including the girl he saved from death but in exchange she now has out of body experiences. It's cute and funny.

Lance N' Masques - Surprisingly not childish, about a guy who is trained to be a knight from birth. You will not want to watch this at the first 2 episodes, but stick with it and you will be rewarded with a surprisingly deep story about a boy struggling to overcome the expectations society puts on him due to the position his father once held when all he wants to do is protect a girl.

Hidan No Aria AA - Did you like Hidan No Aria? More importantly, did you like Aria enough to watch an entire 12 episodes dedicated to her fan girl? Watch this. Otherwise you won't get it and won't like it.

This season you have:

Active Raid - All I need to know about this is that they wear exoskeletons (So gundams, but we can't call them that) and attack things in a post-apocalyptic tokyo.

Akagami no Shirayuki 2 - Season 2 of Japanese Cinderella. Yep Yep.

Ao no Kanata - A kid wants to join the flying circus. I don't even know why i'm listing this, but it's by Gonzo so i don't think it'll be terrible.

Boku Dake ga inai machi - So this manga artist gets sent back in time to prevent deaths.

Bubuki Buranki - Kids with sentient weapons fight crime in tokyo and beyond

Dagashi Kashi - Father must convince daughter to bake chocolate not make manga

Dimension W - Watch out, the repo man is coming for your supernatural weapons

Divine Gate - Typical everyone gets superpowers and now shit isn't right anime. Basically K with a different feel.

Durarara - yep, there's another one

Fairy Tail Zero - MORE FAIRY TAIL

Gate Second Season - [heavy breathing intensifies]

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar - Supposed to be kind of like Gantz but not as bloody apparently. I'm not sure where this is going, but gantz is your guideline.

Haruchika - If you know what these novels are and ever wanted an anime of them, congrats.

Musaigen no Phantom World - So school children fight phantoms which are manifestations of our doubts and fears.

It continues to get better. I'd actually use it now. It was certainly buggy when we first started using it.

@ThatOneDude I downvoted you for bing. You should feel bad. You should feel so very bad. Bing? Seriously?!

@Cirno Someone is having a minor moment of privilege check. Don't worry, he should be back to normal soon.

The problem isn't with staff knowing what players are doing, the problem is that players attribute past experiences universally.

You can occasionally find Dahan on M*U*S*H.