Best posts made by Auspice

@krmbm said in Gray Harbor Discussion:

so we're just cutting off people with limbs cutoff for now.

@arkandel said in Good or New Movies Review:

@kanye-qwest said in Good or New Movies Review:

@auspice Gotta confess, this trailer was p boring. I'm concerned about this movie because it's SO MANY characters. I'll see it. But so far, so meh.

GASP how dare you. I got chills.

The real reason Cap showed up late in the trailer.

@Arkandel said in Disabilities and Mental Illness as Character Traits:

@Auspice The thing is though there are legitimate fantasy tropes based on disabilities that are overcome. The blind archer, old and frail martial artist, slow-witted but massive warrior are pretty standard ideas.

Yes, but they work around the disability.
The disability isn't just magically suspended put of convenience.

The blind archer still has a handicap and someone utilizing a lot of noise can overcome him (some of Daredevil's enemies in Marvel have done exactly this and he is so far beyond mortal Ken, but he still has limitations!).

@jaded said in Good or New Movies Review:

@arkandel
Yeah I felt the level of excitement for the Avenger's trailer I wish I had for the Starwars trailer.

I am excited for booooooth.

I've just crossed that threshold, I think.

Enough shit sucks in my life that goddamnit, I'm just gonna let myself enjoy things. I'mma enjoy Star Wars.
I'mma enjoy Infinity War.

My little inner nerd child is getting to see all this stuff come to life with this plethora of amazing technology and I'm just going to savor it.
(And try to beat back my inner scriptwriter with a stick because that's really where I do get nitpicky, but considering the inner scriptwriter was just in love with how well-written Civil War was? I'm very, very optimistic about Infinity War.)

What we are discussing is something that game designers discuss when they approach a new game. What designers discuss when they work on updating interfaces on cellphones or Facebook or YouTube. This isn't 'just' a tool.

This is a meeting between psychology, game theory, and user interface (UX) design. It's a meeting of three branches. There have been so many books written on this topic and none of them are 'the' final word. Because there is no perfect answer. Because there is no 'one size fits all.'

The best you can do is find something that works well and try to adapt it as best you can for 'most.' That's really where we're at right now.

People vastly smarter and more capable than any of us spend their entire career trying to answer these questions and the best they have, really, is 'we're still working on it.'

@juke said in Incentives for RP:

For the thing I'm working on, I've been looking at ways to reward people who ST for other people...with plot that's run for them. Because, speaking as someone who loves to ST...sometimes, you'd really just like to get embroiled in a plot mystery that you don't hold all of the cards to, for once.

How to do this in a sane way, without burning out staff responsible for doing that (in the event you wind up with a glorious abundance of players STing for other players), is an important question. It's possible that a player may not even like the plot that gets run for them, because in MU*ing the one universal truth is that you can't please everyone...but I think communicating with the player about the kinds of things they want/enjoy solves a lot of that.

I've always liked games where fun little mcguffins were part of storytelling and plot, too. Objects or information that did stuff.

Getting people to run plot is one of those things that has been long evading me. It's like the majority of people who MU are actively repulsed by the idea of running plots for other people at this point in time.

A lot of their religious pressure fell off the last time I let them take me to their church a handful of years ago.

As luck would have it, their Southern Baptist preacher decided his sermon that week was on SEXUAL SIN and of course his concept of SEXUAL SIN was homosexuality. And my parents went from pre-service and "oh we can't wait for you to meet him! We've told him how proud we are of you and and and..." (really? your daughter who works a full time job rather than 'raises a family' and is openly bisexual and lived in sin before marriage and...?) ....

I spent the whole service taking notes on every single passage in the bible that contradicted his entire sermon. My mother noticed.

We scurried right on out of there.

They have not pressured me on religion nor tried to get me to go to any church services with them since.

They know how I am. My father still opens his damn mouth sometimes.

@surreality said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:

Bluntly: the primary reason I am against staff-NPCs engaging in TS is not because I think sex and romance can't be important elements of a story.

It's because players should have equal access to the NPC (per whatever generic guidelines are in place, for instance, if it's a faction NPC, anyone in the faction can request a scene with them, etc.) re: whatever services/offers that NPC makes to players of their rank/status/affiliation/whatever.

Not real keen on the notion of people grousing that Joe got laid, so he shouldn't be denied some hawt staff-NPC TS, as Joe's equal whatever. That's a whole world of nope.

I mean, if the TS is part of the questline and everyone can join the questline and TS the NPC then hey, go for it. Then it would be just like a video game and everyone can be the Titular Character.

But MUs aren't Mass Effect or Dragon Age or...

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

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

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

My aunt is on one of her anti-vax tears on Facebook today and I'm in a shit mood --

Signs of adult-onset autism:

• Lack of empathy.
• Problems taking steps to start a conversation.
• Difficulty understanding their listener's perspective.
• Preoccupation with certain topics.
• A need for sameness and routines.

You just described the Republican base.

As much as I may argue when I am on here... when I am not, I don't really think about you lot. And as @Ghost-like (love you, man) a response that may be, it is one that comes from the philosophy I've been trying to adopt on life. I place my values in important places. (Important to me, personally, that is.)

I play on games I enjoy. If I stop enjoying them, I leave. And while this has caused me to step away from games I wish I could enjoy (really, I wanted to get into that Altered Carbon game so bad but I just wasn't jiving with it so it just wasn't for me, y'know?), it's been for the best. I'm happier, the people around me are happier. I find I'm engaging in my play in a more joyful, present fashion.

Are there people I miss playing with because we simply aren't on the same games right now? Yes, a resounding hell yes. But our day will come again, I know it. I wouldn't want them or me to play on a game that makes us unhappy 'just because' it's a place to play together. That way lies frustration (and worse).

Well.

Apparently I can pull off the 'hoodie under leather jacket' look.

So there's that in my life.

Everyone is terrible and everything is bad.

OK. This one legit belongs in Anger.

RL friends of mine. Trans*. Name legally changed, etc. Works for a bank that is, supposedly, LGBTQ-friendly. They've been with the bank since high school and had an account there back then (this is relevant) that they closed in their early-twenties (a few years before getting this job).

They got their first check.

With their deadname.

They can't even cash this check because it is no longer legally their name.

They have not a single goddamn thing on record with their employment under their deadname. Nothing. No, some asshole in payroll managed to find their deadname on this old account they had back in HS with the bank and used that on their paycheck.

Thankfully, HR is on my friend's side and pissed also and not just making excuses, but holy fucking shit.

Can't post at length but I will say: lord I hate when I have to be that person who is posing out as someone walks in.

It happened recently. I'd told the scene I was leaving after the next round to go to bed. Then someone who has been wanting to RP with me for a bit (and we hadn't yet been able to make it happen) logged in and came to the scene.

I had to tell her how sorry I was and yes we'd still totally RP soon, but damn if I didn't fret over 'I really hope she doesn't think I'm avoiding her because I know it could look that way...'

So I think that's something to keep in mind: both sides of that equation come with anxiety.

@Trix said in Sexuality: IC and OOC:

Gawd! It's the first thing I DO when I come home. Never considered doing it in a game, but makes SO much sense. Boob sweat is real.

The perk to living alone is I can start stripping as soon as the front door closes.

I just shed clothes on the way to the bedroom then get in pjs.

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

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

But then I'd have had their shit in my apartment.

I really just wanted that stuff gone. And the free lunch.

...I'll do a lot for a free meal ok

Orrrr... craigslist what they won't take, and use the money to take yourself out for a meal. It's the same as them giving you money for the meal, but with 100% less abuse.

(Alternately, tell them that's the plan and watch how fast they get their asses over there)

That is def. a plan. I'll have to keep that in mind for future similar situations.

I had to stop listening to audiobooks to sleep because I got conditioned to where any even-toned speaking would make me drowsy. I’ve only recently been able to listen to podcasts.

@thenomain said in Random links:

@shelbeast said in Random links:

@insomnia Fine. You can buy me a chocolate butthole, then.

If someone has had their butthole bleached, would you use white chocolate?

I'm asking for a friend.

White chocolate is a lie.

so, no.