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    Posts made by Arkandel

    • RE: The Desired Experience

      One of the fundamental issues with MU*ing has to do with getting everyone on the same page. In short - it's impossible.

      People want different experiences. They have different levels of familiarity with the source material and are after different things. Their expectations, thus, are also different.

      Take a Lord of the Rings setting. I might go in as a big Tolkien nerd and expect something beautiful and lyrical. Others might see it as a D&D adventure; they want to slice and dice some Orcs. For some it might be that they want it to be more L&L, play some politics, see if Gondor will finally atone for Westfold.

      This isn't made any easier for the fact there isn't just one Storyteller/GM/DM around but several and they will also offer different points of view based on their own preferences.

      In my opinion the true answer is this: For small sub-groups of people there is potential for such a thing as a shared desired experience. For larger groups expectations need to be managed and compromises made.

      In other words - I'd advise folks to find and surround themselves with people who want about the same stuff they do as much as possible. When they venture outside of that circle though their results may vary - sometimes pleasantly.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Forum wonk

      This thread has been derailed more than the average thread gets derailed.

      posted in Announcements
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Movie / TV / Streaming Peeves or Whatever

      My (spoiler-free) thoughts on Eternals.

      It was... a lot of movie for a movie. It's possible that modern-day TV, as well as the way films had been structured in the past where characters were set up in one then payoffs and arc resolutions were delivered in another, has skewed my expectations.

      But there were 10 brand-new characters in one sitting. That meant some got a lot of screen time and some received less, but also that I simply knew - and cared about some more than others. I definitely wanted to know more about some of the 'secondary' Eternals, especially when they portrayed chemistry between them very convincingly or hinted at personal history that we're not exposed to.

      I really felt this could/should have been a Disney series. Give us the chance to know these people. Like... I feel I spent more time with Aunt May in Spider-man, and cared about her relationship with Happy, than I did about some of the ones in Eternals.

      But otherwise this was a good movie. I liked it. The scope was excellent. It portrayed characters who had depth and agency, and whose - sometimes very difficult, deeply moral - choices put them in a sympathetic light no matter their actions.

      Kumail Nanjiani legitimately lifted the movie in several spots when it needed a laugh. The guy is funny. Angelina Jolie is a movie star and it showed whenever she was given a chance to steal a scene. And I'd definitely be interested in watching a sequel.

      Also: The film was apparently banned in certain countries because of a kiss between two men. It's still important that Disney did that without blinking though. The movie didn't either glorify or shy away from it; it felt organic, and fit in the flow of its narrative.

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Recipes and Shit

      @grayson If you look in the Hog Pit you will find the rest of the ingredients.

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Forum wonk

      @testament For the record the specs aren't that high! MSB runs on 20 GB storage and 4 GB RAM (which is our bottleneck - thanks Redis).

      Even the CPU is probably almost irrelevant.

      posted in Announcements
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Forum wonk

      @testament Sure! It really is up to Gany.

      The DB dump contains everything on the forum, including private messages, and it could be used to spawn clones of MSB (even though why someone would want to do that is beyond me 🙂 ).

      I can only give it to whoever I'm asked to, especially since once it leaves my custody I can no longer control who else might also get a copy.

      posted in Announcements
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

      @too-old-for-this I agree. The key factors here (for me, and I assume for many of us) is convenience and time. Anything that takes me more than 5 minutes to get ready is too long, and 10+ minutes borders on comical.

      I need sides that I can fit within the window meat is getting cooked, while I'm looking after chores like setting the table, emptying the dishwasher, etc.

      It'll be easier once I'm bulking again since rice is far more convenient to buy and prepare.

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

      @derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

      Frozen veggies, bruh. You just weigh and mix or eyeball and mix or just throw the whole bag in a skillet. Whatev.

      I used to do this. I probably should again. It was just... the variety was considerably less than what I can get out of a salad bag, since most of the frozen food ones have like a couple of veggies in there. How many carrots + broccoli + cauliflower variations can a guy eat! Maybe the next one has beans in it, plot twist!

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

      @too-old-for-this My usual issue is with the sides. Meat is easy - you buy it from a butcher or in a box and it's just... it. You buy a package containing 552 grams of chicken breast, well, that's what you get.

      But I really don't like chopping and mixing veggies. Making sure some of it doesn't go bad before others do. Mixing it up and portioning it out. I'm happy to pay a premium to get a sensible salad out of a bag, I just want to know what the hell is in it. 🙂

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

      All the ways companies have of obfuscating nutritional information for no obvious reason.

      A 500 grams yogurt container will be labeled with how many calories/protein/etc it has per 75 grams. The one next to it will also have a label with that information... but it's per 125 grams. So you can't even compare them to each other. Would it be too much to list the macros for the whole thing?

      Bagged salad kits will tell you the macros including the dressing (which is inside each bag but in a sealed, separate container). Would it be too much to list that separately?

      That's without even accounting for marketing or legal tricks such as advertising as 'low-carb' or 'light' products which are more sugar-packed than the average candy bar. And don't get me started on 'natural'.

      <grumblegrumble>

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Critters!

      I can't prove it but my cat knows somehow when I grab a compostable bag from under the sink to replace the one in the cat litter, and he races me up the stairs to get in there and pee before I do so.

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Paying for a MU*?

      @tinuviel said in Paying for a MU*?:

      Yes, you can ban them, refund them, whatever...

      I really think the issue here is that you can ban them. There's no half-sane staff who will look at a toxic player and worry about the $5 they threw into the tip jar two months earlier.

      The risk is when you, as a staff member, decide that someone is not toxic but then someone else throws the money accusation in your face.

      Did you sell out for $5, you terrible person?

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Forum wonk

      @derp said in Forum wonk:

      I mean, it looks like just following basic instructions, so. I mean, if you just need someone to do it, then I can do that.

      If everything works and no further investigation is needed then yes!

      Ultimately if Gany is comfortable with it I can provide a DB dump to test things out in a test site.

      posted in Announcements
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Paying for a MU*?

      @pyrephox I dunno. I'm just iterating what I posted before, but paying a MU* coder is the equivalent of a professional, skilled chef volunteering at a soup kitchen who is given a tip jar.

      Financially it just makes little sense for the time investment. Either they are doing it because it's fun and they enjoy it or the compensation from it is... not a lot for someone with that skillset.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Dead Celebrities 2021 Edition

      @too-old-for-this said in Dead Celebrities 2021 Edition:

      FUCK! I loved Dean Stockwell.... he was in so much of my life...

      Do you think these folks know they made a difference? I don't mean the A-listers who have tangible evidence that they had an impact, a fan base, etc... but the characters actors, the key elements in somewhat niche but beloved shows - do they know their work meant something significant to others?

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Forum wonk

      @derp said in Forum wonk:

      Seems like if we're going to try to preserve/archive things and not lose any data, figuring out a way to migrate the DB from Redis to Mongo is the way to go.

      Not the only way to go.

      For example I posted a link above with instructions to migrate nodeBB's database from Redis to another platform for free.

      The cost in that scenario is not money but someone's time.

      posted in Announcements
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Paying for a MU*?

      @pyrephox What would that game's advantage be over, say, Shang? What problem does it solve (other than $20/month for hosting fees) or what features would be expected that current games don't have, regardless of theme?

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Paying for a MU*?

      The other factor is... as a ST, builder or general admin the price for my services is kinda vague. Some might say it's 0. Some might put the tag higher (minimum wage? less? more?). How much is it worth it to build a setting? Write wiki snipets to set up theme? Organize a PrP?

      And then there is coding.

      Let me put it in very simple terms. We can't afford to pay coders what they are worth in the marketplace. Even with crowdfunding paying a decent programmer to put 100+ hours is... expensive.

      So either it's agreed upon that they do it because it's fun or well, we're kinda insulting them by throwing a couple of bucks their way.

      The only cost that sorta maybe makes sense is paying for hosting.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Paying for a MU*?

      @testament You can't trust anything a lawyer says, duh.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
    • RE: Forum wonk

      Hmm. Also I just found this:

      https://meta.discourse.org/t/importing-migrating-nodebb-mongodb-to-discourse/126553

      There may be options. But they still require someone to step up and help Gany from a technical standpoint.

      Be the change you want in the world!

      posted in Announcements
      Arkandel
      Arkandel
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