@Misadventure said in Fear and Loathing:
This way maintains the illusion that your effort and time spent in RP matters to your power level.
Players don't like being behind, and they don't like having their work turned valueless. So we construct illusions.
I'm in a cynical mood today so I'll make a baseless assertion.
Some players don't like it when they can't leave others behind.
@Coin I was actually talking about this with a friend recently but one thing is... the definition of what conflict of interest entails tends to be pretty damn fluid, and sometimes downright unfair. I've seen staff (not just headwiz) being complained about because they ran plot for their friends, even if it wasn't metaplot or gave those PCs any particular advantage that a normal ST couldn't convey.
And the funny thing is the ways around it are just as baffling to me. For instance running those same plots as your alt - using the exact same commands - sometimes mitigates such complaints when really, all that changes is which tab you're typing from.
Anyway, that's why having a thick skin is so important though since otherwise it's easy to be worn down from being nagged at while genuinely trying to just help people have some fun, and having others go "well, why are THEY having more fun than ME?". However I'd still rely on trusted outsiders I can go to for an objective sanity check because there is always the chance I might be doing something borderline unethical and not realize it - wholesale assuming players are just being whiny bitches about it is probably going too far.
(It's irrelevant to this discussion (*) but does anyone get the feeling if @HelloRaptor could stab people over the internet we'd have an unprecedented worldwide bloodbath?)
(*) ... I think. I mean, whatever turns you people on.
@Wizz Yeah, historical accuracy is a lose/lose. Most players won't know enough, a few specialized players will know too much, and they two groups just make each other miserable.
Tolkien's work wasn't intentionally racist and it certainly had a lot of themes pointing in the opposite direction; hobbits for example were treated with extreme kindness, and showed remarkable heroism despite not being Numenorian, notably never even having been in stories at all (which for Middle Earth was a big deal).
But were there 'superhuman' races around? Fuck yeah. Just about anyone in the First Age stomped. Glorfindel and his kind were as close to demigods as it gets. Those from storied bloodlines were simply better than the rest, zero question about that.
But was some gardener from the Shire just as or even more important than the Noldor who had seen the light of the Trees? Hell yeah he was.
Money is a poor motivator for coders, not because programmers don't appreciate it, but because generally speaking if that's what they're after they can get paid way better for the amount of time they'd need to spend on a MUSH than that.
If you want a programmer they need to be enticed the old-fashioned way; befriend one, make them excited in your vision, get them involved in making something they agree would be really cool to be part of.
What might mitigate the loss is making sure that, along with the IC parts, you don't have to also suffer OOC loss.
For example in some games the character name itself is our identity. Our closest friends might now my PC, Bob died and now I'm playing Rick, but others who're not paying as close attention at a time might not. So chats, hanging out, all that other peripheral stuff might make the game feel lonelier for a while since when you're on it's not the same as before.
Then perhaps get busy creating associations again with your favorite people. You don't need to recreate the same affiliations, but coming up with good reasons to be regularly in scenes with the folks you're having the most fun with should be done right away as you design a new PC. That makes the transition much smoother and more fun than needing to carve not just a niche all over again but while missing people you like -- and who like you.
Just some ideas!
@Rook said in Visit Fallcoast, sponsored by the Fallcoast Chamber of Commerce:
Question: If staff involvement is so damned critical to the success of the game...
...why do MUDs have magnitudes more players connecting to them, having fun?
...why do MMOs find success?
Not everyone wants to roleplay; most people just want to log on and blow shit up.
On a tangent, even just the act of typing is too much for many players. I've been made fun of before in MMOs for using punctuation and ending my sentences with periods.
After conferring with my colleagues... well, you know the drill.
@Ghost No no, you'll get it sneakily through the app and XP spends, and it will be used at a strategic time with the argument that you already agreed to it, and if you don't allow it that you're playing favorites for your pet players.
For the Hog Pit specifically, please remember that the rules only forbid specific content from being posted - this means racism, misogyny, etc. It doesn't mean "you're an asshole and I hate you". Although personally I don't care for vicious personal attacks but if that's what y'all want to do with your spare time it's no business of mine moderation-wise.
My suggestion if you are offended by this sort of thing is to ask yourselves - what would Clark Kent do?
On top of it you can simply unsubscribe from the Hog Pit. It's always a good option if it gets under your skin.
@Tempest said in New Superhero Game Looking for Staff/Feedback:
A lot of this relates to a pretty simple and yet core reason for why MUs are deteriorating, IMO.
We almost never tell people 'NO'. Staff is afraid of the argument or afraid of looking like the 'bad guy' or afraid of the person running here to say how horrible they are, etc.
Assuming one agrees the hobby is deteriorating - which I think it is - I would argue that's one of the major reasons, simply because that kind of person is prevalent in so many other hobbies some of which are thriving.
But I will say no more on this as it will derail the thread.
@faraday said in Hello MSBites! Grade your administrators.:
As @surreality and @Derp pointed out, people are made to feel like crap for sport. People are driven into silence, unwilling to post. People are reluctant to even come to the forum because of its reputation. ("Wow, you're on MSB? Girl, why?!?!" is something I hear regularly.)
For dogpiling within the Hog Pit itself my advice is... don't be in it. (Generic) you don't need to opt-in, so stay out!
For having it done outside of the Hog Pit, which is a concern I often have - I want the toxicity to be contained - I'm open to suggestions. What can we do as a compromise between censorship or the appearance of clique-ism by the admins, yet keep cliques from doing their thing to their enemies of the day?
Most of the time I manage to bite my tongue and not complain about it. But if, on a thread like this, opinions are solicited about the moderation policy, I'm going to speak my opinion that the current policy is a Bad Idea for the MU community.
And you should speak your opinion, not just on a thread like this but anywhere.
As far as I'm concerned if MSB plays a significant role in the community it's by ensuring that it simply exists. MU* are islands by default; you play with Steve Rogers today and he's great, then tomorrow he's gone. How do you find them again? How do they find you? People leave the hobby then come back, they screw up and get their act straight, games open and close... but this forum is always here. I don't want anyone to feel like they don't belong, and I greatly dislike the idea someone might be aghast by the notion others frequent this place because of a reputation we have.
Yet to be honest, if we have such a reputation it is because we've earned it, by definition. All I can say in our collective defense is that there is also an upside to our existence which hopefully justifies its downsides.
@wolfs I think given how relationships in comics evolve and change to keep them fresh(-ish) over what is, in many cases, 40-50 or more years of shelf life then we can expect similar things to happen on MU*, albeit in a more accelerated fashion.
So if there's a Scott+Jean at first, and then Jean's player is retired and a new player signs up who prefers her to go with Logan then that's probably fine.
Granted I'm just enough of a purist to at least expect relationships though to go a way comics have already paved or hinted at in the past. I could be in the minority about that part though. 
@emmahsue said in Hello MSBites! Grade your administrators.:
Their interest in that stance plays a major factor, and if Ark at the top, and his team in general, are gonna burnout on trying to achieve it, then it's probably not worth the headache of the switch.
It's not the headache that I mind, it's the nitpicking. This whole thing about administrating microaggressions seems so petty that I can't get myself interested enough to even read some threads - I'm just too lazy for that (stop gasping, @Coin). If something serious like harassment happens I definitely intend to get involved, but the he-said she-said bullshit... about some random clash of personalities, not so much.
On a certain level it also bugs me that this is needed at all. You guys shouldn't need an adult in the room - there are some really intelligent people here. Many of you run games of your own, you run businesses, you're taking care of your shit. Isn't it demeaning to require a staff of three folks to make sure we're not treating each other like shit for the most inane of reasons, in a tiny hobby of text-based make-belief games almost no one even knows exist?
On another level... well, I am on MSB a lot. It's not because I'm an admin, it's because I genuinely like you all. I like the debates we have and prize the constructive threads we come up, going into depth about designing new things and reimagining old ones. Having to interrupt that to go grumble because someone (often the same person I'm engaged in a reasonable, interesting discussing elsewhere!) called another person a fuckhead is just disrupting. Not dishearting, but it takes me out of that headspace and damn... I wish I didn't have to do that.
But I do. I still don't know why, but I do.
This requires both a clear eye to self and a willingness to speak plainly on their parts. I figure they've got at least 50-75% of that down pat. (<3 Please don't kick me off MSB o ye gods amoung mortals!)
If it was someone else I'd have assumed amoung was a typo or a spelling mistake. You made me google this crap up, and - not surprisingly - it was not. You will pay for that indignity.
@ganymede said in Hello MSBites! Grade your administrators.:
From our conversations beyond the curtain, the answer is still undecided.
It's a work in progress, yes. I'm skeptical about knee-jerk reactions since things are more or less okay. We're not rushing to put out fires, we're trying to improve the forum.
Clearly, there has to be some moderation, but I think the issue is whether we are going to dip in and monitor the place with an iron fist, simply keep an eye open, as we usually do, or somewhere in between. I take Arkandel's comment to mean that we aren't going to go with the former, even if I wouldn't have a problem cracking down like ICE in El Paso.
Right. There are multiple issues with keeping track of every thread and coming down like a ton of bricks on anyone who steps over the line, starting with how tricky it is for even a single person to be consistent about the line let alone three. The time commitment is another issue, as I don't want this to become a 24/7 job for us (let alone to feel like one).
But also I don't think it's necessary. It's quite possible people here are right in that we've been too lax on moderation outside the Hog Pit and we should be more actively keeping things civil, which should be doable without nuking from orbit every time.
Regarding policy, I take Arkandel's comment to mean that forcing people to be nice to one another is beyond the scope of what we'd like to do. Grumpily commenting when there's dog-piling or shit-storming isn't the same thing, in my opinion.
Agreed. We can't fix cliques but we can point it out when we feel the dogpiling is getting out of line.
@bored In the spirit of this conversation at least can we refrain from framing it in a way that it targets another person?
Also
@bored said in Hello MSBites! Grade your administrators.:
She reacted this way to @Arkandel too, in the same discussion. I'm pretty sure you all regard him positively.
ahahah
@bored said in Hello MSBites! Grade your administrators.:
@arkandel I think it's not irrelevant to identify that some people want something much different than other people want. I think its useful to identify it and actually see how we can make it work for everyone.
Citation needed there.
That's a true fallacy - probably unintentional in your case - to try and claim which point of view is popular or not. How do you know? How can you?
And even if one was what does it mean?
@ashen-shugar said in Hello MSBites! Grade your administrators.:
Don't know if it may help, but maybe an option that requires a poster wait a full hour before posting in the same thread after their last post?
I would curse the moderator who did that to me. 
I get where you're coming from, but I think this would penalize the whole for the actions of very few. Not every MSB poster is aggressive to a fault.