Posts made by Arkandel

This is the creepiest thing I've read in some time. What. The. Hell.

I too enjoyed Reno. Staff was helpful and there were regular code updates.

I didn't like the absence of metaplot so I didn't keep playing there but that's an intentional choice for the MUSH. The same thing probably holds appeal for others.

@RDC Right, I'm tired. Reading comprehension issues. Yeah, that makes sense.

@tragedyjones said:

See above - "A Season is a spherewide plot designed to impact the game and provide RP opportunities for the entire sphere, but also not last indefinitely."

Ah my bad, fair enough.

@RDC said:

I personally would like to sound a recruitment call for Bruja and Giovanni. These two bloodlines will feature heavily in the upcoming Season and will be instant reasons for you to get involved.

What's a Season in this context?

@Darinelle said:

@Arkandel - and what about staffers who don't have PCs?

Those poor souls. Why?

@Darinelle said:

And I really, really, REALLY think that if staffers want to run Characterplots for their friends, they should be able to.

Yeah, I think it's going a bit too far in not appearing to favor anyone if they couldn't run things for specific people. However that doesn't mean they won't be perceived as such anyway.

The easiest way is to simply run plots like that with their playerbit. Problem solved. Anyone who tells staff how to spend their non-staffy time can, well, stuff it.

@Thenomain said:

Your tone and your constant complaints makes me believe otherwise. Even when I've given you some suggestions for your friends, your reaction is to defend yourself about doing nothing.

As someone who is doing something, this annoys the everloving crap out of me. As you have expressed your ability to do things, but choosing not to, and still complaining that things aren't being done, I don't see how you feel that you have a leg to stand on.

Sure, some of this is inference, but seriously, dude, be the change you want to see.

Perhaps I am not communicating correctly. I'll try again.

I am not defending myself. I am (and was at the time) fully aware I was being lazy when I stopped developing for a non-telnet MU* platform once I heard someone else was doing it. That's not a defense, it's an admission. I think Glitch is crazy.

If my tone suggested making undue demands of anyone's additional time or effort I can only apologize for it, it was unintentional.

For what it's worth I think discussions such as this are part of the solution and not the problem.

It takes no amount of audacity to point out there aren't enough coders; it's simply a fact. There haven't been 'enough' ever since I first got into the hobby since being one requires two rather different sets of interests (not all coders are into MU*ing).

Storytellers are somewhat more common since what makes one - creativity and writing skills - is pretty compatible with roleplaying to begin with.

So I am not demanding anything. Conversely I've never 'demanded' more Storytellers on games I've played either whether I was actively running PrPs at the time or not. It's nice to have them, even required, so it's always appreciated when someone steps up and does it - same as coding.

My only 'demand' from people is to not be jerks. Anything else I'm simply thankful for.

Which demands, exactly, do you believe I'm making?

Oh, I know. And I agree. I shouldn't have stopped developing when ES told me Glitch had been coding his similar approach for a while but it was easier to sit back and wait for someone to do it than get my hands dirty.

@EmmahSue said:

I don't see the need to differentiate.

There is a need to differentiate. In some cases it's just how it is and in others, how it should be.

• In some games doing 'important things' requires staff approval. There are even thematic elements you literally can't use and you'll get in trouble for trying. For instance on HM for some time you couldn't use Brood in Vampire at all in PrPs - but obviously VampStaff were able to. Plus you can use a full assortment of the sphere's resources; no one will bat an eye because you brought in the Prince as staff because it fit the scene right then, but do it as a player and you might get frowny faces.

• There's an issue with documented continuity. Staff plots tend to be better respected in terms of their consequences; create a demesne in your Mage plot and it stands a much higher chance of being referenced by PCs who weren't part of the scene to begin with.

• Staff-ran plots have a theoretically higher chance of not being dumb. Remember that plot where that guy landed a freakin' UFO in the middle of Aleswich? With aliens coming out and shooting laser beams at people? Wouldn't you have facepalmed harder if it was done by someone in staff?

• Metaplot is something staff should at least be defining if not directly handling. Else it'll never be consistent (which is assuming staff composition is stable but I digress) as different players will be steering it in different directions.

And so on.

@Coin said:

@Arkandel
As far as importance? Yes. But as far as numbers? A game needs more storytellers than it needs coders.

You are probably thinking of numbers in relation to a single game, and I'm thinking of them in relation to the community.

No, there aren't enough coders. I've spoken to several people who really want to start a new game and they fail to find someone to set up and code it up for them.

So those MU never get off the ground at all, their would-be admins never have the opportunity to get them going and recruit STs then - a task far harder when you don't have a game, and won't for months to come.

@Coin said:

The best a game's staff can do is build something that is satisfying to everyone and that, at least in some way, manages to give everyone something resembling what they want.

I disagree.

A best staff can ever do is manage to have everyone dislike what they did about equally, or to have as many people like their implementation as much as possible then call it their intended demographic.

Staff that even tries to satisfy everyone will fail.

What I find fascinating (and I kinda suspected) is how we all have such very diverse expectations about having a large grid. Some of us are like me and just want the basic stuff, others won't really be satisfied without a full map-like representation. That's pretty interesting.

There's absolutely no consensus.

@Coin said:

In my opinion, this hobby needs Storytellers. Badly. Especially skilled ones who are willing to be Staff and take on the challenge of running game-wide plot.

In the order of what any game needs: Coders > STs > all. The rarity roughly corresponds to that, too.

What I want is the freedom to run plot that I find fun (which usually means 'stories I'd have enjoyed if someone else had ran them') without being burdened with being staff.

I just don't particularly enjoy my PCs being a 'staff alt'. That's an unfun label.

So any game that lets me run my stuff - with reasonable supervision, I wouldn't ask or expect carte blanche - is what I prefer.

See, one of my most sought-after systems (I had coded that on circlemUD back in the day) is to allow players to create a list of their personal hangouts. So if you do something like +hangout/add here it'll add wherever you are to that list, then any time you want to go back there you'd do +hangout/travel <#>.

That, as well as +meetme/+summon and temp rooms would be literally the only means of transportation I'd ever need.

I've played alts for years without going from A to B without +travel assuming I had a choice, so I was curious if I was being weird or if it's a common attitude.

How important is having a non-minimal grid for a game?

I'm curious to see how much it's just my preferences but other than having

1. a trivial number of public hangouts for coincidental meetings (a couple of different bars, a park, etc)

2. custom places made by players for their owned businesses

3. lockable rooms for privacy

4. a "temp room" feature so you can create just about any setting you see fit for the context of a plot or scene

having a persistent 'visitable' world seems like a complete waste to me. Streets in particular, as it's exceptionally rare that I'll walk from A to B slowly enough to stop and play with anyone standing in some random location. In fact I'd assume they are there OOC, or AFK, which is if I notice their presence at all - and if I don't just grab a +meetme/+summon to my destination anyway.

And yet some grids are pretty sizable. Is that an important feature?

@HelloRaptor said:

In a few months SHH's power curve will resemble TR's.

A few months? I dunno, I started with Gnosis 1, so just getting to 5 is going to take a full year. Even somebody who started at 3 due to being a full mage transfer is looking at 6 months minimum, and that's just to get to 5.

'A few months' seems to be understating it pretty heavily. This isn't a complaint, mind. I'm not 100% on the current system, but I don't really feel like 6 to 12 months is too long a wait for Gnosis 5.

Yeah, you're right, I was thinking of transfers. For those going from 3 to 5 (which is a reasonable and often used 'max' cutoff point for Mages, it probably varies for other spheres whose numbers I haven't crunched) it takes about half a year. And I mean in MU*ing 6 months isn't that terribly long.

For someone just starting it'll take a while, barring outside catch-up mechanisms, to get to the same place. As noted elsewhere XP isn't the limiting factor on SHH, it's the delay timers. I've put in several spends and I've made about half of what I've spent back already.