Best posts made by Auspice

I also don't feel comfortable when someone has a disability for their character and they always have an 'escape' written in (is wheelchair bound, but can walk sometimes, is blind, but can see shapes and light now and then... etc.) that always comes into play when it's... convenient.

The blind character somehow has a high Alertness and for 'visual' type Alertness rolls (because I could see it being factored as a sound/smell thing!) they explain it as 'oh it's that one time they can see something!' or for that wheelchair bound char, in a combat scene or something, they're able to walk! They fight for that scene and go back to their wheelchair after (or worse: crumple to the ground and need everyone's help for an extra-dramatic post-fight scene).

Like I see these characters sometimes where the disability is a 'prop' for social RP and it's just handwaved away during plot/combat scenes. That's why I get uncomfortable about the rise in use. When you have a disability, it is always there. And I know 'fun' comes into play, too, but... it's almost insulting that it's just cast aside when it's convenient and brought back into play when it's fun again.

But I guess that plays into what @silverfox said: to me, the people doing things that way aren't being respectful.

@faraday said in Good or New Movies Review:

@Ghost said in Good or New Movies Review:

Nope, at least not "kid like" kids. It's just a shame to see Disney pushing the button hardcore on all of these characters that aren't their flagship characters. A good Pixar-type Mickey and the Gang movie might be fun.

As @Derp mentioned, they push those characters a lot for the preschool-age crowd. There are multiple TV shows, TV movies, toys, music -- oh dear lord the Christmas music; I'm going on ten years now of listening to Goofy singing White Christmas every year... trust me, Mickey and the Gang are alive and well I am surprised they haven't tried a full theatrical release though.

because nothing will ever compare to the perfection that is A Goofy Movie

There is a teeny tiny part of me wondering how much plot I've missed out on over the years because I've never flirted with / tried to bang an NPC.

So I'm gonna vent for a minute.

The amount of complaining I have seen in the past year towards Faraday is some bullshit. Some sexist bullshit, in fact.

I have heard so many layers of people demanding she develop certain things for Ares in some goddamn entitled ways.

Guess what: you aren't paying her.
She develops Ares on her own time, at her own pace, for free.
She releases it for free.

She doesn't have to include anything she doesn't want to. She doesn't have to justify herself. And yeah, she is blunt and brusque sometimes, but also: she doesn't have to fucking say anything other than 'I don't want to' when telling you why.

Jesus Christ I have had multiple people privately PM me to whine that they were told 'I don't want to' by Faraday as a reason to not add something and they didn't like it.

So?

Should she write up an emotional, empathetic, multi-paragraph reasoning? If it was Tehom or Ashen telling you 'Nah, I don't want to add that' would you feel the same? Or would go go 'cool, brah, thanks for listening.'

I promise you, Fara and I have butted heads more than a few times (we fought, big time, over the addition of page reporting back when BSU was open and Ares was still a baby... and people have probably seen a couple of our arguments in the Ares Discord), but I have never sat there thinking 'How dare she say it THAT way.

She's never been insulting. She's never been rude. She's just been blunt.

She doesn't owe anyone an explanation for why she's doing things, goddamnit. Until you are paying her for her work, she can design and release Ares however she damn well pleases.

@Sunny said in How to Escape the OOC Game:

@Auspice said in How to Escape the OOC Game:

But at the same time: I'm dealing with my shit. I'm there to support my closest friends. I don't have the capacity for everyone else's, too. So if you (general you) come to me wanting to go on about a bad situation....my advice will generally be: gtfo that situation. Walk away. What's best for your mental health is usually just to leave. And also btw to stop trying to drag me in because it ain't my circus damnit.

3. If trusted individual who can be relied upon to be truthful tells you that it is indeed a problem, take a deep breath and go to staff.

To be perfectly frank, I feel like a lot of people around here may not be receiving the level of honesty they think they are. Especially if everyone around here is as anxious as it appears.

Being honest with someone - truly honest - is terrifying. Because you fear they'll lash out. They'll get angry. They'll resent you. So either you say placating things (aka what you think they want to hear) or you hold your tongue altogether. I have a tendency to fall into the latter with people I don't trust and/or don't know very well.

But if someone really is your friend, they'll handle you telling them you're being an idiot or that you've taken something too far. I think @Tinuviel revels in calling me an idiot, to be honest. Yes, they might sulk over it a bit (after all no one really enjoys being called out), but the key word here is handle.

But if all of your friends always agree with everything you do....chances are they aren't being honest with you. No one is perfect. We pretend to be vampires on the internet for fuck's sake. We are some twisted mother fuckers.

The #1 takeaway, IMO:

Some kids only need a 'hey champ, if you ever need to talk about anything you see online, lemme know'
Other kids need the computer in the public room and close monitoring.

Only their parent will know which is best for their child.

When I was a teenager and had begun dating, my mother was very... hands off in the 'be safe' department. She assumed I was having sex, but she very much didn't want to talk about it.

After all, my 'sex talk' was simply her stopping in the room one day, looking at me, and going: 'You know how to find stuff at the library, right?'

Fast forward a number of years and I'm dating and all I've been told is 'If you're having sex, just don't let your father find out.'

So there I am one day, on the computer, minding my own business and my mother comes storming up to me. She is furious.

'You know I don't care what you do but the least you can do is not leave things around where your brothers can find them!'

I am flummoxed. I have no idea what she's talking about. I have less than an idea. This is absolutely out of the blue, even for her and her short fuse.

Suddenly, she slams her hand down on the table and reveals...

what appears to be the world's tiniest condom.

'I found THIS on the floor downstairs. Your BROTHERS were playing with it. I expect you to be more responsible!'

For a minute, I'm stunned. I'm caught between the absurdity of the situation and my utter anxiety from being yelled at. The 'oh holy god what is going on.' But finally the absurdity wins out and I begin laughing.

She's thrown off by the laughing and just demands to know WHY I'm laughing. I get up and walk out of the room with her yelling at my back, demanding to know why I'm walking away.

I return with the first aid kit. Specifically, I return with the box of finger cots from the first aid kit and set them in front of her. And if you've never seen a finger cot, well, they look like tiny condoms.

'Mom, I'd be worried if I was dating someone who needed a condom that small.'

She just stared at them for a moment and stormed off in silence. She didn't speak to me for the rest of the day.

...I suppose this isn't about my embarrassment, but having your mother scream at you about what she assumes is a condom is p horrifying. It was also one of the first times I managed to actually find my voice (as it were) to stand up to her when I was a teenager.

Being told your poses are making someone laugh hard enough to get stared at is the highest praise.

And also fills me with warm fuzzies.

Here's the thing regarding original theme sci-fi (and why I'm reluctant to use my setting):

People are lazy.

At least with an existing IP, most of your incoming players will know it and those that don't have the plethora of knowledgeable players to help or can be told what episodes are 'musts' to get the feel for it. Like BSG? You can watch it all, sure, or just the mini-series.

I don't know how often @Seraphim73 and Co had to tell people on 5th World that just because there was nobility didn't mean it wasn't still a very futuristic setting. That yes there's CCTV everywhere. Yes, you grew up surrounded by tech; computers and similar devices are not 'foreign' to you. Etc, etc. All things clearly defined on the website, but enough players were too lazy to read/learn that you had to frequently stop RP to be like 'uh, this is wildly out of theme and it's kinda fucking up everyone else's immersion.'

I tried helping someone else with an original sci-fi game a few years ago. Never got off the ground because so many potential players were turned off by the amount of reading/learning required.

A lot of us love OT Sci-Fi, but there's also so fucking many people out there who won't pay a lick of attention to your setting while also throwing tantrums when people try to correct them.

As someone who has been barely keeping her apartment from getting worse let alone actually cleaning it lately... I needed these. Maybe you do too.

I imagine those people are unable to grasp the difference between providing hooks and atmosphere. Atmosphere gives a sense of what's going on around 'you' and things to latch into if you want.

But when Sir Priss is having a meltdown for the thousandth time in the middle of the room, that's not atmosphere. That's not something engaging.

It's draining. And it brings what the rest of you were doing to a grinding halt.

When the Class Clown has run in and fallen on her ass on a huge mess that wasn't there because she ignored the set pose that said that the place is freshly cleaned (and went 'HEE HEE JUST ROLL WITH IT!' when you tried to correct her OOC), it's not fun! and different!, it's negating what the rest of you had been doing and partaking in as a proverbial team.

I don't care how well-written it was. It's bad team and coop-writing. I'll take an engaging two-line pose that acknowledges that we're all in this together over a well-crafted eight-line pose that gives no fucks about me as a person and my enjoyment of the game. Because that's what those people are truly saying: I don't care about you or your enjoyment of this game. I only care about the attention you give me.

Friends, country men, lend me your...
...wait I remember how that goes. Please don't throw ears at me.

ANYWAY. Arkandel approached me to ask if I'd help out on the administrative side. Mostly in regards to thread management (splitting things off to the Pit when necessary, etc.), though there may be times of stepping in if things get a bit too heated elsewhere.

If you need something admin-side and Ark isn't around, feel free to reach out to me.

One of the things my imgur secret santa sent me was this cake mold that had a bee and honeycomb pattern. And seeing as honey cake is traditional for New Years...

It's not the best cake for showing the details, but it's the best cake for the theme.

Update the First:

There is now a Game Dev Category. There are specific outlined Rules of Engagement.

Enjoy.

Double-posting.
Deal.

The company just contacted me. They have a couple other candidates further along in the process, but they're interested enough in me that they want to push me along, too.

So I'm being given Stage 3 (the test) now, rather than after my 2nd phone interview on Friday.