Best posts made by Arkandel

@Sunny said in The Apology Thread:

But seriously, while I recognize that others have different approaches, I can't quite wrap my brain around it all the same. Why would anyone spend so much time with people that they aren't friends with? It's a foreign mindset to me.

A friend is someone I can rely on. By definition I can't - won't - rely on you guys even for things that are game-related let alone more serious stuff. I don't see that as diminishing the role as to differentiate it, to set boundaries for both your protection and my own.

There are folks online I confide in which is important to me. But I know, and I hope it's known as well, that things happen and they're completely forgivable in ways I wouldn't have forgiven in real life. For example solidarity and accountability matters to me a great deal in real life but far less so online; I've had people I really like flake out on me on characters we were playing together and I didn't hold it against them. In contrast to that I've had a childhood friend I had stood by when his life wasn't going so great who ghosted me completely when my own took a health-related downward turn, and I'll never look at him the same way again. An unreliable friend is not really one but online I consider everyone to be unreliable, if that makes sense.

Basically it's my expectations which are different because what unites and brings us together is a mutual sense of having fun, not a mutual showing of support. I really don't expect that much from y'all; don't be crazy, show up once in a while while I'm around and as long as we're having fun then it'll all work out splendidly. If you disappear on me it's not a big deal - our paths might cross again, it's a small world, and it's not like if we really miss playing together we don't have MSB to track each other down and go 'hey, wanna do something? where are you playing these days?'.

But although that kind of friendship is important I will return what I'm given, too. If I suggest playing together a few times and you decline but don't reciprocate later on I'll take the hint and not ask again. No harm done or insult taken but I'll share my time online with people who like spending theirs hanging out with me. I think that's fair.

@sunnyj said in The trappings of posing:

If they realize my character is doing X because they are afraid of rejection, they can then guide the scene to approach that theme, instead of assuming my character is a dick because WoD bruh!

I like these misunderstandings though! Unless it's something really subtle, in which case I can ask for an empathy-type roll and provide the information afterwards, I would love for people to mistake my character's awkwardness or insecurity for arrogance and borderline hostility or some such. It's part of the fun, because then you get the big reveal somewhere down the line when he breaks down or lets them into his head.

I guess it's the same hangup I have about OOC communication while I'm playing. I know some of y'all like this but I don't talk about my PC on channels or even over pages if I have to; it sounds like too much exposition, telling you about what he's like instead of showing you.

Also it feels a bit like bragging.

@Meg Just to be clear here.

Of course I care about people, but I am not attached (or, more realistically, I try not to be) to them.

That's mainly a defensive mechanism - it used to bug me more when people just dropped out of roleplay but it happens so much it was soon obvious either I'd adjust my way of thinking to it or I'd be bummed much of the time. It's also a practical consideration though since sometimes games begin to suck and I feel I must seek greener pastures which means leaving players I liked behind. So for example I enjoyed playing with @Sunny on KD but I felt I had good reasons for departing.

To use the real life analogy, players I MUSH with - or shoot the shit with on MSB - are kind of the equivalent of folks I meet at my local gaming store. Some I know by sight and we're nodding-buddies, others we occasionally play a game of Magic together so I know their names plus a few more things about them, and we discuss most nerdy things together.

There are also some I've been playing with for years; we have each other's phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and we're aware of each other's life situations a lot more... but it's still the hobby that brings us together. It's the difference between "a friend of mine I play games with sometimes" and "a gaming buddy I also consider a friend" if that makes more sense.

TL;DR - I like you freaks, and I'm pretty fond of some of you. But I can't and won't count on you for anything more than to play, chat and have fun - nor will I ever expect anything more from you, because I know either you or I can disappear at a moment's notice...

... and that's okay.

@faraday said in The trappings of posing:

And if someone is unfamiliar with MUSHing they're probably going around thinking: "WTF, why are all these weirdos writing everything in present tense?" because it's so uncommon in most other kinds of writing.

Yeah, I agree with that. We're really used to the way we do things - but I'm not so sure we're not in the minority, and that we're not just holding our arbitrary way of doing things as the golden standard others should be conforming to.

Yeah, this reeks of the same attitude studios had when Batman Forever bombed. "Audiences don't want superhero movies any more, we'll make something else".

Yeah, the problem wasn't what was in the movie that failed, it was that it was a crappy movie. Individual hero movies can be just as crappy, or awesome, but it's not the premise that will determine it.

@ixokai said in The trappings of posing:

@ixokai What's even worse, is when people start paging you in character, as if you were your character... it's super creepy.

Oooooh yes. It's like, boundaries, people!

The worst thing about that, for me, is that I instantly mistrust them to know the difference between IC and OOC. So if I do something against their character's interest, whether I'm right or not, I feel there's a higher chance they will take it badly.

@derp I pretty guarantee you spent more time thinking about that explanation than the showrunners did.

***=Let's protect non-book readers!***

It's stuff like this that reminds me of how quick, and far, Game of Thrones fell. It had spent 5-6 seasons of being pretty loyal to the material that it followed as the more or less number 1 show on television. It acquired a massive following, merchandise, re-watch parties. Then its showrunners infamously wanted to (and I quote here) 'subvert expectations'. Well, they did! And it died the quickest death I've ever seen a cultural phenomenon like that within a few episodes. It's barely even brought up any more other than as a cautionary tale.

It's quite possible authors like George Martin - or Robert Jordan - told a pretty good story. I wish those who adopt them actually showed more respect for it rather than try to 'fix it'.

@rizbunz said in Staff at Flashpoint Info:

PS: God I hope this is the correct place to put this message. >.>

Unless you want to flame or be flamed, it's pretty hard to go wrong putting stuff on this forum.

I really enjoyed 13 Reasons Why on Netflix.

@the_generic_one said in The trappings of posing:

I want to complain, too!

One of us! One of us!

• Breaking pose order. GTFO. This makes people rush out awful poses just so that they can have their say, and you often get one guy or girl who doesn't give a shit about the quality of their RP just spamming the scene so they can 'do all of the things'.

Notice though that doing all the things isn't mutually exclusive with observing pose order. I've seen plenty of people who obey round-robin then when it's their turn they become the Flash, rolling for stuff, talking to NPCs, healing the wounded, etc.

@faraday To add to that, I'm completely fine (and in fact wouldn't have it any other way) with an adaptation making changes - both in the story and the narrative structure - to make sure the end result is watchable.

Those are probably inevitable anyway since an author can spend pages essentially providing exposition about world-building blocks for their setting like magic, politics, history, etc, but if one tried to do that in a movie or TV series it'd be just freaking boring.

But capturing and honoring the spirit... that's essential. I am concerned the new Tolkien adaptation will be too... generic fantasy for me to enjoy.

My golden example of this going terribly wrong was Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. Of course that's really tough to adapt, I get that. But the very essence of the work is that robots are fundamentally not harmful; in fact the author wrote about what he called the Frankeinstein Complex to specifically deride it. Then what was the movie about? Killer robots. Sigh.

As @faraday said, if people feel their work can stand on its own feet then tell that story. Don't slap the label of someone else's well-loved one then do your own thing.

@ganymede Due to your profession you're likely better informed than I am, but it always seems that we're only seeing the worst of what the police have to offer - the incidents in which someone gets hurt - which can obfuscate the majority of cases where things are properly investigated and handled by officers who aren't trigger happy, racist or just morons.

What I do blame the cops for is protecting their own when they're in the wrong. That's my real beef there... instead of isolating and making damn sure their own buddies who're breaking the law get treated to its full extent, there are persistent allegations they are instead doing everything they can to keep them out of trouble.

That's a goddamn no-no.

@Ganymede Sauron, cat-shape.

@rnmissionrun said in Star Trek Discovery (Loosely):

I can guarantee you that the number of people willing to RP mundane chain-of-command stuff and RP via +reports, will be very small indeed.

Oh my god, I used to think that too, and as it turns out I was so wrong.

Game of Thrones.

... Wait, does that count as RL things?

@faraday said in Social Systems:

1. Fewer consequences.

Exactly. And that's what I feel we absolutely need robust social systems for; after all things with the most impact in a system should be the ones most clearly provisioned and accounted for, right?

How many times have jerks tried to get away with things like

• Buying up physical skills but 'faking' social ones through poses
• "if you don't play the consequences of my social skill then you'd be cheating"

etc? If this can be done right (and mind you, that's a big if) there is much to gain.

2. We're used to not rolling for social stuff. There are hundreds of micro-interactions on MUSHes in any given RP scene, and none of them are rolled. We trust players to resolve social interactions without rolls until suddenly we don't and that feels a bit insulting sometimes.

Again I quite agree. But part of the reason we don't roll is because it's either complicated or a bit PvP-y; there is never really an incentive for players to have social skills used on them. It's always a zero sum game where one person 'wins' and the other 'loses', so it's natural for the aggressor can sometimes feel like a jerk.

I feel this can be fixed. Games should be rewarding the use of social skills; I've proposed in the past for example a system where you slowly build up your nemesis - playing with characters with whom you clash more often (which registers through the use of social dice) generate more XP.

I'm not saying this is the only way mind you, but I think it has potential.

3. Players empathize too much with their characters. It's bad enough to lose, but to lose in a way that makes your character look like an incompetent idiot? That pushes peoples' buttons.

Do you think an approach like the above could work?

They just want to roll Persuasion vs Willpower and call it a day, and that's silly. The lack of shared boundaries also leads to the uncommon but very real extremes like I'm going to make one roll and force you to betray everything you believe in.

Yes, physical damage is quantifiable (there's a fixed number, after all) but social damage is not. But I'll let others chip in here.

@Pondscum But what a justice boner at the end!

@wildbaboons said in Social Systems:

Agency is the big one here. Social stuff against NPCs all day, but no, I don't care how high you rolled on your manipulation/persuasion/whatever roll. You're not going to convince my character that drowning kittens is a good idea.

I'm not saying you are right or wrong about this, but if that line of thinking is the cultural norm for a game then all social attributes are automatically devalued, since you get more bang for your buck buying physical ones (no one has ever said you can't punch them in the face no matter how high you rolled on your strength roll).

And if that's the case no one buys social stats, and people complain there are only combat monsters around. Well, there's a reason for it.

100% Greek. Although after years of first studying in England and eventually living in Canada who knows what I sound like any more.

I'm Mediterranean-white, which essentially means when people around me are bursting in the sun like vampires I'm immune to its rays.

@ghost said in Social Systems:

But it's just a damned shame that I can't RP with every single approved character and expect the same level of metagaming ethic when it comes to that kind of stuff.

I despise metagaming. It's because it has such a subtle, corrupting influence on politics - and it's nearly impossible for staff to do anything about it.

For example let's say we're in a bitter IC stalemate; I need someone to transport shipments of my produce over to the capital, and your House has all the boats, but we can't agree on a price.

Workaround: I ask a friend of mine who makes an alt (perhaps in your House, to add insult to injury, but it can be another faction with boats) and they make a cheaper deal with me.

Fuck that. And the problem is this kind of problem can't be fixed with a social system either; it would require resource management to tackle (i.e. sure, my friend can cut me that great deal, but it loses their House money, so hopefully one of the other players there goes WTF DUDE? at them).