Best posts made by Auspice

@Arkandel said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

If your PC is going to cheat IC on another character do you feel obligated to let your partner's player know?

Yes.

Because it might be uncomfortable RP for them. They can 'opt out.' Not they can tell me I'm not allowed, but they can decide: hey, I'd rather our characters break up than continue down this path.

Gonna CALL SOMEONE OUT here, but not in a negative way, in a 'how this worked out' way. @Ghost and I had characters together on 5th World (and it was awesome; they were destructive but supportive but awesome but romantic and I honestly miss Nitrim and Cyrielle sometimes I will be totally honest). During a rough time in their relationship (when Nitrim was shutting Cyri out because he was going off doing dangerous shit and thought he was doing the right thing by not keeping her in the loop), she went and found comfort in a friend that turned into 'more than' a shoulder to cry on. I was OOCly communicative with everyone involved. The friend knew OOCly that it was just a 'fling' IC. Ghost knew, OOCly, that she was cheating.

And for all that he talks a big game now, he got anxious back then. But we're talking something that was 7 years ago so y'know what? I 100% believe he's changed and grown and gone through shit since then (I know I have!). But back then I'd totally get anxious, uncertain pages some days of 'Hey, is everything okay? She's not leaving him, is she?' They never felt CLINGY or NEEDY or like OOC BOUNDARIES were crossed, but more like weather checks. And he might feel called out right now (sorry boo), but I share this because I never felt bad responding to them.

They actually cemented my belief in being communicative is a good thing because in the end, when Nitrim found out about the cheating and they had it out, their fight was epic (esp. considering they both had POWERS) and their road back to their relationship was hard, but holy shit was good RP. I loved every minute of it. I wouldn't change it for anything. And honestly?

I don't think it would have been achieved if I hadn't communicated with everyone involved every step of the way.

Do you think you are responsible for a character whose roleplay is related to yours if your paths are to separate? In other words do you feel guilty someone else's PC might become quote/unquote unplayable because of your IC choices?

Fuck no. See above re: communication. If I communicate it and they don't work out ahead of time that it might be an issue?

Two poss. scenarios:

Me: My character is gonna murder these dudes in front of your PC.
Them: Cool, OK.
Two weeks later....
Them: I can't play my character anymore because that scarred my PC for life!

Nope. Not my fault. They had the opportunity to opt out.

C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N.

Now if someone says 'hey I'm not cool with this' and you force it on them anyway? Yeah. That's on you. Fuck you.
(But also they prob shoulda logged out and 'Bye Felicia'd your ass.)

Very closely related to the above, what if the choice that takes a PC mostly off the table is OOC? For instance if you stop being active on my PC's spouse to play an alt with Theno's PC. Do I have the moral high ground to get pissed off?

It depends? Like did you tell me? Did we talk about it? Or are you avoiding me?
Like do I get to login every day and see you on that alt? Did I page you a couple times (not advocating constant pestering here, just a page or maybe @mail) to ask 'Hey can we schedule some RP?) to only be ignored?

Because if you're ignoring me then I'mma move on and get my rocks off to someone else.

When it comes to TS what's the correct way to suggest it? Do you let the RP become more explicit until the big words come out or you get told no? Do you page the other player first and explicitly ask if they want to do it? Something else?

Eh. I'm still figuring this one out. Sometimes I will straight up page someone and be like 'yo, I think our chars are compatible' and sometimes I just see if the RP goes that way.

I have no idea which works better, tbh.

Assuming OOC consent between adult players is there anything in an IC relationship, including TS, that you consider unethical? No, I'm not going to give examples since I'm keeping this classy! But you can.

I think this is a ymmv and depends on a whole lot of things. I mean, it depends on setting, theme, the characters involved. You're talking about IC here after all. What one character considers unethical another may not, right?

So it's not a depression meal and yet... it is.

I woke up today an hour late.
I realized I hadn't showered in 3 days.
I barely got a lunch and breakfast (I eat breakfast once I get to work because if I eat in the first 2-3 hours of my day, I get sick) together.

I realized I was deep in SAD. Shit I needed to do around the apartment was going undone, etc.

So, as my workday wound down, I realized I really wanted meatballs. So I told myself: self. You need groceries. If you get groceries, you get the stuff to make meatballs. If you MAKE THE MEATBALLS, you can have them.

So I did. And it not only kept me from grazing or eating ramen or (worse) ordering delivery... it got me out of my funk enough to do some stuff around the apartment. And y'know what? I enjoyed it. I made something delicious, from scratch, without a recipe.

It wasn't easy but it was absolutely worth it. But I think it still counts.

@jennkryst said in San Francisco: Paris of the West:

Are spirit wolves, dhampir, or other fun birthing abominations available as PCs?

Pleasegodno.

Finally -- fiiiiiiinally -- had an interview yesterday after almost two months of radio silence on the dozen+ apps I send out each week. And it went really well. I vibed well with the interviewer, he really liked my answers to the questions (btw never been asked if I'm afraid of heights during an interview before but I am here for it).

And he must've felt the same because this morning, less than 24 hours later, the recruiter let me know they want to move on to the 2nd interview. That happens Monday morning and I'm already nervcited.

tbh, I kind of prefer the idea of a SW game without it revolving around the Big Names.

It was a war (it's in the name!). There were plenty of battles, things going on, etc. Rogue One was an example of that. Something major that happened, something that turned the tide in the war, and Big FC Hero Ass may have never known the people who pulled it off personally, but if they hadn't.....

FCs can and often are problematic. Both in getting and finding good players for them and getting other players to do shit that isn't just fawning over them / being convinced the only way to 'be involved' is to fishbowl 'em.

The 'MY FUN' mentality that has been thrown around of late has been, in my opinion, goddamn toxic.

Because it has turned into this systemic issue wherein people feel enabled ('BUT MY FUN') to ruin other peoples' enjoyment of a game (or the game itself) on the grounds of 'MY FUN.'

"I don't care if other people left the scene, my fun."
"So what if my concept goes against the spirit of the sphere, my fun."
"Who cares if what I'm doing is upsetting to other people, my fun."

We play games that are, by their very base concept and nature, cooperative. Yes, you should be enjoying yourself, but you come here to enjoy yourself with other people. Not at the expense of other people. If the only reason you're here is to have other people bend to your every whim or to be your audience / bit players in the show of you, you aren't playing in the spirit of the game.

When I craft plots (vs. run a one shot), I look into the background of PCs, into their sheets (if publicly viewable), into the type of scenes I've seen them enjoy in the past ("Well, Sue got really excited when we were in that investigative plot the other week versus the combat ones we're usually in...") and I try to provide hooks and things for those people along the way.

When I'm 'the leader' PC in someone else's plot, I do my damndest to not be 'the glory hog;' I mean shit, being the leader already gives you a lot to do! Your team is your responsibility! Look at them, identify who can do what and point them places! Bob, watch our asses. Jane, take point. Cathy, you're great with computers, go fuss with that one over there. I'll stand here in the middle of the pack and hopefully not be picked off by this spider dripping venom on my should- oh shit.

Seriously, I have tons of fun by working with people.

One part of the issue I've had lately is people "want" to RP, but they don't want to be responsible for any part of the generation process.

They don't want to come up with where, what, or the set.

They'll ask me if I want to RP.
"Okay."
"Where to?" or "What should we RP?"
...like you asked me. Why do I need to come up with it all now?

When I approach someone to RP, I generally try to have something in mind to RP. A goal in mind.

This is why most of us hate BaRP. It's meandering, pointless.

It's why I personally generally don't reply to the call for 'anyone wanna RP?' in OOC Lounges because 9 times out of 10 when I do, it's followed by them wanting me to come up with the where and what.

Like hey, if I have a where/what in mind, I'll put up a call for RP. If I'm responding, the onus should be on you to have those things in mind, damnit! Hell, if you have a where/what, I'll generally even set!

Just rocked a phone interview for a place in Austin. Lady is positive I'll have the 2nd (Skype) interview. She gave me a bunch of advice for it and even began going over stuff like start dates and commute details; she's personally pretty sure I'm going to land the job.

Pay rate is a bit more than I'm making now. Health insurance would be (on my end) way less (which equates to more). It actually has paid vacation. Four week's worth! It's been over a decade since I had paid vacation and actually got to use it (had a job once since with it; had a week's of general PTO, but had to use it for the flu instead).

ANYWAY. HOORAY FOR PHONE INTERVIEW.

I am personally not a fan of OOC masq. I know not everyone who has the 'You can't tell who or what my character is!' on their wiki is trying to be twee, but so many who do are that I just find it tiresome.

You know why I want to know who/what your character is? RP Hooks. It makes it easier for me to figure out reasons for us to RP.

Because jesus. fucking. christ. am I sick of spending thirty fucking minutes on channel trying to come up with how we can RP together because you're too goddamn lazy to put effort into it. 'Let's go here to RP' 'Nah, I wouldn't do that' 'How about..' 'No, that doesn't make sense for my character.'

Add in someone who is 'a mystery!' and they won't give you shit to work with.

I know on 'OOC Masq' games people are meant to just wander around the grid, but I'm not that kind of person. I don't wanna just wander or lurk.

So I see someone who is being 'sekritive!!!' and I just think they're someone who either, a) is really, really boring and can't think of anything actually interesting about their character, or b) thinks they're way more interesting than they actually are.

Telling me what faction/sphere/whatever you are gives me instant ways to hook in to your character so we can RP. People who use that info for mechanical advantages are problems.

And you know what we do with problem players? We show them the door. (Or we should.)

I'm personally tired of policies that hinder collaboration and RP made in the spirit of hindering problem players rather than just getting rid of the problem players.

I got a 100 on my final project last month.

The cyberpunk/horror story. I mean, I busted my ass on it, but...

No notes. No feedback from the instructor. Just 'This is ready for publication and you should find somewhere to submit it.'

I... wow.

@surreality said in The OOC Masquerade ?:

People have limited time for their happy fun time games, more so than when this hobby was younger -- so were most of the people in it. Being able to find like minds and characters with similar interests (even if those interests include having a conflict between the characters) via open information to get the things done that people will enjoy, and not waste their limited time bouncing off walls and being confused as a player is considerably more important than it was in the 90s. The average player's priorities have changed. This is also non-trivial, and not to be overlooked.

This is why I do not wanna waste my time spending 30-odd minutes trying to figure out why our characters would even meet up in the first place.

This is why I like wikis, why I like @faraday's RP hooks on peoples' sheets on-game/portal pages. Because I can see an interesting character with an RP hook that is super appealing and go 'Hey! We should meet up sometime!'

I got limited time. You got limited time. Now neither of us is sitting around twiddling our thumbs going 'Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh'

@Coin said in If you work hard, son, maybe someday you'll RP:

@Auspice said in If you work hard, son, maybe someday you'll RP:

@Seraphim73 said in If you work hard, son, maybe someday you'll RP:

there's very little more annoying than someone coming on RP Requests to say "Hey, anyone want to RP" and then when you say "Sure, what did you have in mind," they say "Oh, I don't know. You want to go to a bar?"

Yes, I honestly hate this v much.

Person: 'Anyone wanna RP?'
Me: 'Sure! What did you have in mind!'
Person: 'I dunno. What do you wanna do?'

...Please don't put the onus on me, Person! You tossed out the idea to RP. Gimme a hook. An idea, a place, something. This is the entire reason why I'm hesitant, sometimes, to respond to such vague queries, because these days it's become more common than not that if I reply...... I'm suddenly the one who has to come up with everything. The location. The idea. The scene set. I feel like I'm their sole source of entertainment rather than a collaborator.

Also good:

A: Anyone for RP?
B: Yeah, what did you have in mind?
A: Not sure, let me check your wiki and see if there's something that could be fun for both of us.

I mean, you don't have to have an idea right away, but be willing to put in the effort once you have full context.

Right. If someone is willing to put in the effort? Awesome. Even work with me. But how often have you had it go the following:

You: What did you have in mind?
Them: I dunno, what do you like?
You: Well, we could go to the park?
Them: Oh, no, my character wouldn't do that.
You: What about the cafe?
Them: Nah, that's not really my character's style.
You: All right, what about <local splat hangout>.
Them: I don't like going there, it gets too big.
You: Well, uh-

Times when they offer to check out your wiki, work with you (via pages, chan, whatever) on what locs might work for you both... Those are awesome. But when all they do is shoot down anything you offer because you aren't naming their Goldilocks location? BOOOOOOO.

I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A WHILE.

Ahem.
All the money was gotten together.
I have enough buffer.
I THINK.
Like let's hope gas prices don't suddenly spike over the weekend (and to be honest they could because of the eclipse oh god I hope they don't.).

I have everything packed that I can pack.
Everything is stacked in the living room to be shuffled out the door onto the truck tomorrow. And then I'll hafta clean the place (well, roommate will be back by at some point to help with that, but yaknow).

I'm in the omgnervousenergy stage. I'm ready to be on the road! Been applying to a lot of jobs in Austin and omg I have so many more prospects there than I have in two years here in Seattle. I'm feeling really good about this.

I am actually way more physically attracted to women than I am to men.
However, my long-term relationships tend to be with men.
(And I am using men/women here tho I have flirted with, interacted with, etc. those who are trans- or flexible or... but this is a 'for sake of argument' conversation so.)

And that could be for numerous reasons:
maybe it's because my early interactions re: potential dating/sexual interaction with women were really negative (the first girl I came out to as having a crush on freaked out, shunned me, and told everyone we knew in a bid to get them to shun me also, for example).
maybe it's because part of my being neuro-atypical makes it harder for me to comfortably interact with neuro-typical women (women, often, have complex social interactions and relationships and I struggle to fit into and grasp the hierarchies and structures).

I dunno. I used to fret over it and tell myself it meant I wasn't 'actually' bisexual (I've had long rants btw on why -I- use this term, why others can use pan for me, etc.), but then I look back on my path and realize that my experiences mirror so many stories I've heard from other bisexual and even lesbian women........ I'm not bi-curious, etc. Just because I haven't had some long relationship with a woman doesn't mean I'm not. Would I have one? Fuck yes, with the right woman. I've just never found her. And that doesn't make me any less bi, so I always tell those thoughts they can fuck off.

My first like, 9? 10? months of playing Teagan were kinda tumultuous. The first while was just this sort of struggle of figuring out the 'how' of it. I mean, no, it wasn't my first time on Arx but when I played Lou was right at the beginning in Alpha. Things were very different when I picked up Teagan and the learning curve was hard.

And then RL got messy at the beginning of this year with job loss and a job with shitty hours and then new job and...

...then there was the really miserable-making Gaston that nearly drove me to quit the game. Like, it sucked. Bad. I love playing Teagan, but I dreaded even logging in for fear he'd be online.

But the past month-ish? Everything has gelled. I've had some amazing RP. Things are coming together on my character. I'm working with the new Gaston on stuff for Blackram that has me really excited. Like, I feel good about things.

I cry in my sleep sometimes. And some nights, I guess, it's worse than others.

...on those nights, I am immensely grateful for my cat. She's there for me. And I don't mean in the sense of being able to wake up and cuddle her.

She wakes me up. She makes me wake up. She will lick my cheeks or nip at my ears or paw at my face until I wake up. She will purr as hard as she can. She will force me to wake up and cuddle with her until I calm down and return to a restful sleep. Then, and only then, will she go back to her usual spot at my feet.

She is an amazing, wonderful creature and I am so, so lucky to have her in my life.

15-year-old RPing vampire sex with another 15-year old: OK
15-year-old RPing vampire sex with a 45-year-old: Not OK

Educating your child on how to tell the difference and to feel safe and comfortable coming to you if the latter scenario happens: GOOD.

Being a major court case waiting to happen while trying to insist the latter is the child's fault and parents need to be OK with it: NOT GOOD.