Posts made by Auspice

I'm finally, FINALLY listening through The Black Tapes (I'd only ever made it through 3 because I largely lack the attention span for podcasts) and I really love it.

@Thenomain said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Auspice said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

#1 reason I miss working from home: I get really terrible cramps and so tired I can barely function during my period.

I swear I've nearly dozed off at least half a dozen times today.

Me: I hate wearing ties at work. At least women get to wear a much wider array of—
Every Woman Ever: <glares>
Me: Yup, ties! I love ties! Tiestiestiesties!

I don't give two shits about fashion. Partly because either from ADHD or being on the spectrum, I have major issues with comfort and fabric (I have been known to get dressed and then run back to my room to change clothes because the fabric is literally rubbing me the wrong way). So my go-to outfit is jeans or yoga pants and a tank top ('fabric on fabric discomfort' is something I've tried to get people to understand for a long time so my sleeves rubbing against my shirt under my arms really really bothers me) . In cooler months, I'll add a hoodie.

But when I work in an office, I'm surrounded by all these ladies who look put together and pretty and I start to feel more and more out of place...... until I'm trying to assemble nice, business-casual-at-least outfits so I don't stand out as some hideous troll.

I wish I could get away with just 'slacks-shirt-tie' like men do. I work with someone who wears the same thing (black slacks, white button-down) every single day. No one ever bats an eye.

And it's possible no one would if I did similar as a woman, but culture and pressure and anxiety have me seeing some woman in a cute little black dress, heels, and full make-up while clearly late in her second trimester of pregnancy and my brain starts going 'oh god if she's still up to wearing HEELS and TINY CUTE DRESSES while pregnant than what do people think of me and my jeans/t-shirt combo?!'

So today I'm wearing a dress over a pair of leggings and wedges. I will strip it off the instant I get in the door at home to sink into pajamas.

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

And now I'm noticing a bunch of people at the office signed up for a shirt, but aren't participating.

hooray for 'everybody wins' mentality.

@Ganymede said in Getting Young Blood Into MU*'ing:

that we are talking about the same thing, but with different terms.

Go to 5 different companies in the same industry and none will have matching in-house terminology (be it names for things, acronyms, or whathaveyou). However, the end meaning is the same.

What WF calls a 'scrimmage,' I've always known as a stress test. I only needed it defined once and I'm good by it.

We absolutely need to let go of our need to have specific, set, absolute agreed upon terms. MUD and old school and new school are all gonna have different ways of saying the same things.

Anyone who played on Ansible will remember that their definition of 'twinking' was what most of us know as 'powerposing.' Whereas most of us know 'twinking' as playing outside your means, being OP, however you wanna describe 'This person is insisting they can do things they can't.' There's potential overlap, but they aren't 1=1. However, whenever I was playing Ansible I accepted their definition because it was their game.

We're smart cookies. We can, once made aware of the differences (my learning what 'pose queuing' meant to others is a good example!) follow the bouncing ball and pick right on up and continue. We need to stop calling everything to a halt to go 'No! That's not the term I use!'

https://www.tazachocolate.com/collections/discs/products/classic

Stone ground chocolate. I haven't actually tried any yet, but thought I'd share because it looks v. good and is kosher (I know some folks around here keep an eye out for that stuff!).

@Arkandel said in Star vs Ensemble Cast - Why Theme is Vital:

@Auspice said in Star vs Ensemble Cast - Why Theme is Vital:

@Sunny said in Star vs Ensemble Cast - Why Theme is Vital:

ETA: Luna is the best. fite me.

She's actually my favorite, too.

Years ago and not long after I had finished reading the Harry Potter books I realized that online Luna had a strong following. This was a surprise to me because I literally barely remembered the character at all.

She was v. important to girls like me who were often shunned for being 'weird' since she found her niche and people who embraced and appreciated her.

@Seraphim73 said in How important is it to be 'needed'?:

That's why I always say, "Play what you find interesting," and then follow it up by some data about what there are lots of and what there aren't many of.

This is absolutely my approach.

I also try to lean into ways they can be involved. Like right now, I admit, SGM is absolutely geared towards evening US. Paradox and I have similar schedules. As more players begin STing, it'll improve, but right now I simply can't guarantee event scenes for people outside of that.

What I could guarantee though is investigative/research roles. Players are awesome, so far, about going out to other people 'Hey we need a biology expert to look into this!'

So a player who is, say, in the UK and really looking for 'way to be involved,' I might point at a more research-based role. That way they can get into the plot, get Staff-attention via +jobs, and still have RP hooks... even if I can't guarantee them on-camera +events. But someone who can be around the same hours I am? I might point to a military PC because hey, you'll have more opportunity going on missions.

I think it's a more difficult question than anyone can really answer easily. I think the answer to 'How important is it to be needed?' is 'Kinda.'

You want to be a role that has hooks (on a game like mine, a Civilian who is an expert in astrophysics is gonna have more hooks than, say, Base Chef), but you also want to have fun. It's a tricky balance to make, but I think the first question needs to be: "What type of things do you enjoy?"

Once you know the answer to that, you can go through (maybe with Staff help!) and find what niches need be filled that match what you enjoy.

@Joyeuse said in New Face 4 New Games:

@reversed said in New Face 4 New Games:

" But I was also born without whatever lobe of the human brain causes "ah, jeez, am I staying true to Previous-Player's vision?" anxiety.

That's basically what's keeping me away from playing Roster Characters. I get hella anxiety when it comes to things like managing other people's NPCs or playing roster characters that have been played before.

I will say that Arx has rules against people trying to make you play a certain way. If you do pick up a roster and someone tries paging you all 'omg the last player wasn't like that' you can kindly tell them to fuck off.

@faraday said in Getting Young Blood Into MU*'ing:

I wholeheartedly agree with @Thenomain that you have to be careful when trying to solve social problems with code. Often you can't, but sometimes you can. "I don't know if this log has been doctored" is a common reason for staff to be suspicious in they-said situations. Ares provides anti-harassment tools that makes it easy for players to submit verified logs of abuse. But all the abuse-reporting tools in the world won't help if the staff is the one doing the abusing or turning a blind eye to it.

This amuses me because I remember you being resistant to those in-game logging options and I was a big proponent when we discussed the idea back on BSU. Not in a ha ha kind of way but in a... I guess sometimes I disagree with myself sort of way.

I don't think code is the answer, but sometimes I guess I do absolutely fight for code that will benefit people.

Shrug!

@Jaded said in General Video Game Thread:

@Auspice
I'll play it. Maybe even write a review for it.

Please do!

Absolutely just a 'I need to sulk' peeve.

Band of Skulls is having a free show in half an hour at the record store next to my bus stop and I feel too cruddy (thanks ovaries!) to go.

KFC made a Dating Simulator.

@Ganymede said in Star vs Ensemble Cast - Why Theme is Vital:

In retrospect, this is a confusing question in light of the assertion that "theme is vital." But I presume that Auspice was "typing out loud," and probably meant, within my realm of definitions: does the theme call for ensemble play or individual achievement?

You got it in one (both your whole post and this about me 'typing out loud'). I'm in, if my posting frequency while at work doesn't make it obvious, a very hyperactive day in the ADHD spectrum.

On SGM we also included a 'staff expectations' policy. It details what players can expect from staff and what staff expects of players.

Shit like 'Staff is here to have fun, too, and will have their own PCS. BUT their PCs are beholden to the same rules as players.' And'if Staff is logged into their PC but not their Staff alt, it means they are taking a break and should not be pestered about game shit' etc.

(all paraphrased) But I think such a file is important. Staff should outline what they expect from their players, but they should also showcase what players can expect from Staff.

#1 reason I miss working from home: I get really terrible cramps and so tired I can barely function during my period.

I swear I've nearly dozed off at least half a dozen times today.

@The-Sands said in Star vs Ensemble Cast - Why Theme is Vital:

@faraday The could you provide a better definition for 'Theme'? It at least seems like @Auspice's definition of Theme incorporates aspects of setting and so @Ganymede's definition doesn't quite line up with that.

I apologize if you aren't, but it feels like at this point you're nitpicking. I think the rest of us are looking at the definitions and going 'Yep, I see that; it's just a different way of phrasing how I look at it.'

Merriam-Webster, dictionary.com, and Google all phrase their definitions for a word differently, but for the most part they agree on the meaning.

One of us is putting it into raw-definition terms, another of us is putting it in situ for what it means for game development....
but at the core, I think the meaning is by and far the same (or at least readily understood)

@Snackness said in Carnival Row:

@Pyrephox My cynical suspicion is wall to wall fairy sex.

To the window to the wall
'til the glitter drop down my....

It could also be said as purpose.

If someone comes to your game and asks 'Why are our characters here? (in this setting, in this time, in this place.....)'

...what is your answer?
'They're combatants against the odds in a difficult war.'
'They're survivors of an Apocalypse.'

The question part is more for you the designer to answer.

'What if during the rise of Voldemort, the secrecy statute was shattered and wizards and muggles had to learn to coexist to fight back?'

Your actual wording for theme can be a lot of things but it's the answer to the 'what do we do?' question.

@Ganymede said in Getting Young Blood Into MU*'ing:

Making people not be assholes is not, and therefore not worth much, if any, consideration.

But it's not always people being assholes, is it?

Sometimes it's a difference in vision. This loops back into what was being discussed re: 'staff not always communicating clearly what their vision is / players not always respecting it.' How it came into a: Staff needs to be more willing to sit people down and say 'This may not be the place for you.' Because square peg into round hole is frustrating for everyone and absolutely leads to conflict.

Not every social issue on games is because of assholes.

My definition (and @Ghost sort of pointed this out but not directly) comes from the professional usage in the screenwriting (for TV, movies, video games, etc.) industry.

While it may be absolutely selfish of me to say I'd prefer it, I do absolutely recommend it. Because it is something that can be found through research of storywriting (thus, new people coming into the hobby have a higher chance of understanding it).

This makes me wish we had different forum software (something I do often) because other platforms often offer wikis/pages and we could build a glossary of things like this.