Hello folks,

When @EmmahSue asked me to take over MSB in what seems like yesterday but was actually a long time ago I was still very much involved in the hobby and spent a fair bit of time on this forum.

However that hasn't been the case for a long time. I haven't played on a MUSH in almost two years and even when I did it wasn't for long. I still occasionally post here but MSB requires better than that; it requires someone who can do the community justice and pay this place the attention that it deserves. It was a fun run, but it's reached its end for me.

@Ganymede has made the foolhardy decision to take MSB. From now on the law-bot is in charge. Please offer congratulations and/or condolences as you see fit.

Many of you have been advocating for changes to our policies I have been reluctant to make so perhaps this will serve as a new beginning in that regard as well. Either way, I have every confidence Gany will knock it out of the park.

I'll continue to stick around to support MSB mainly in a support capacity until I fade into the sunset or perhaps find a game that makes me active again - who knows!

Again, thank you everyone.

MSB, meet Sylvanas, second of her name.

Yeah so she's a yet another foster failure. In fact this household has yet to experience a foster success. Apparently once in there's no getting out.

What sealed her fate is how well that motherfucker fit in with the other critters. Especially with Winnie, the little hyperactive dog I was a bit worried about - they fucking love each other. They sleep together, basically entwined like long-lost siblings.

It took her a week to win everyone over. Gus, my older cat hissed at her once. Now they play all night long. Ruby, my old dog doesn't care for cats (usually he just ignores them completely, even Gus); but he's nuzzled Sylvie in front of my shocked eyes at least once.

What the fuck. Eh, whatever. She can stay I GUESS. But damn she eats like she's been starving her whole life (all of like, eight weeks). She eats her food, the adult cat food, the dog food, treats. She's making me do the cat litter constantly which I think it's on purpose.

@Admiral Yeah, please don't promote genocide on MSB.

I wanted to clarify something here folks, and I think it might warrant its own thread. I'll cherry pick one post although it's not really about that one quote but generally speaking moving forward.

@shelbeast said in Fear and Loathing (Official Thread):

@auspice I think that, maybe, if someone other than someone gushing all the time about the game (indicating a clear bias), had made that call...

I would have made the exact same call. @Auspice has my full support in this, not that she needs it. It's in the forum rules - we don't go into in-depth discussion, particularly negative discussion, on ad threads.

Please remember two things:

1. We don't moderate on MSB, but we do try to make sure threads fit their categories. Since this one was moving into a more controversial direction it was split up into a different section of the site where it can be discussed at any length. @Auspice did her job.

2. The vast majority of the posters here asked us to maintain a more civil attitude and keep things on-topic. That's what we are trying to do. You can't have it both ways, guys.

Conversely, forum administrators can have any opinion about anything at all, just like everyone else. We don't censor, we don't edit or delete posts, but we do have thoughts of our own. In my case mostly dumb ones, but we do have them!

Thanks for reading!

Please welcome, sympathized with, offer condolences, shame and revere @mietze who has agreed to help us keep the madness somewhat contained by becoming an MSB administrator.

Your well-being is not expendable, your presence on a game is.

I didn't always realize this and I hadn't always enforced that on myself, and I should have. But the power to leave when the cons of being on a MU* outweigh the positives is essential.

Nothing excuses it. I firmly believe that now. Not 'but I still have friends there...', certainly not 'but I've already invested so much time in it...', or even 'if this one person finally leaves...'if that person finally understands...' .

If I stop having fun I leave. That's it.

Also leaving shouldn't be a statement aimed to be leverage. Don't expect people to follow you ("If you're my friend why are you still on <X>?" - it's because they might still be having fun, dummy), don't hold your breath for the game to suffer because you're gone (and if you do, please examine your motives).

And for the love of Cthulhu don't make any last-second melodramatic motions, long posts or bridge-burning to signal your exit. Inform any actual friends or regular partners you're going or how to reach you if they want to, then make a graceful exit.

@auspice Not MSB-specific, but if anyone tried to give me limitations about what I can or can't do outside of their game, I would explain very carefully where exactly they can shove it, and walk away.

Zero tolerance for doxxing. Account banned.

If he returns please flag him and we'll take measures. If posts remain with RL information on them please let us know and we'll delete those, too.

Locking this thread.

@Ghost One of the main reasons MSB exists is to create a persistent identity for people to associate with and hopefully create lasting relationships independent of transient things like characters on individual games.

So boo.

McCarty et all

@greenflashlight

I didn't know them, but I am sorry for your loss.

@Ganymede Sauron, cat-shape.

@faraday said in MUers in the news?:

Is this really something we need to expend our energy caring about or policing?

The funny thing in this scenario, specifically in Westeros, is we have an excellent example of how it played out.

King Robert's children were all illegitimate, borne of incest between Cersei and Jaime. While Ned Stark was investigating he had to delve deep into the royal genealogy to figure out what descendants 'should' look like. This is a clear indication that as a norm, such doubts weren't being cast.

So should there be energy expended on this? I'd say no. I guess there's some kind of argument to be made if too many characters are of an unexpected race since it'd skew the expected demographics, but a probably better way of addressing that is to give bonuses of some sort to incentivize new PCs adhering to those characteristics.

@Macha The way (well, one way) for to make that kind of stance defensible is if it's also applied to factors other than race.

What I mean by it is the issue wouldn't be racism. Westeros doesn't have that particular problem (it has so many others!). The issue is legitimacy; is Bob actually Joe and Jane's biological son or did Jane uh, mingle?

So if staff enforce this kind of doubt universally, so that each noble family has a rather specific range of 'looks' it can have, then I suppose I could understand it a bit better. Did anyone tell Bob's player he can't play the character because Joe and Jane are canonically blue-eyed blondes but he's desc'ed as a green-eyed and dark-haired dude? Is he aware that should he play that concept anyway there will be some PCs/NPCs who crack jokes about him being a bastard?

If that is not an ongoing thing then neither should be skin pigmentation.

To be honest I never understood the 'purity' angle unless there's a technical, universal reason that it simply can't happen.

For example: If you run an Anne Rice MUSH and you choose that in your setting, due to supernatural reasons, vampires can't have sex ("it won't go up, Cap'n!") then I can't play my vampire gettin' it up anyway. If I did so it'd go against a hard rule (sorry...) that makes no sense to violate. So staff would be justified in telling me that no, I can't do that in RP - there are physical limitations of the universe involved that my character can't supersede.

However even in fantasy realms unless there are similar universal physical limitations in place, people... mingle. Sure, most people in Dorne might look a certain way but even so I'm sure some of them ran into an Asian- or black- or whatever-looking fella/gal at a bar one night and had some fun. Nine months later, look, a kid who doesn't look like the archetypical Dorne person! That youngster might be part of a minority, sure, but why care about that so much in the context of a game that you wouldn't even allow it as a playable concept? It doesn't make sense.

@faraday "<Journalist discovers Shangrila>".

@Ganymede

@faraday Oh agreed on the UI. I am just shocked at the quality of the art folks are creating despite of it.

I think as these tools improve with time we'll be seeing some awesome portraits.

That said, the uncanny valley will probably be a factor for a long time though unless they are a bit cartoony to avoid it.

@Macha It's your grief, not theirs. That doesn't mean they don't have your best interests in mind; in fact they quite likely do.

But no one is in your head but you.

Sometimes it's easier to have another dog around. I personally found it a comfort to cuddle the puppy we had adopted a year before Daphne left, after she was gone. Other people simply never get a dog again, but instead volunteer at shelters to walk and play with doggos instead - an invaluable service in itself - without committing their hearts again.

There's no 'right' or 'wrong'. Do what feels appropriate. No one else's opinion matters nearly as much as yours.

@faraday Have you seen https://www.artbreeder.com/ yet?

There's also a subreddit for it, and some of those people do incredible work. There's a Harry Potter-verse set of posts which are just amazing, in my opinion.