Posts made by Auspice

Code is one.

Star Wars is something that needs code. And most of it is so out of date and no one's around to work on it.

Fires of Hope tried being a more narrow focus on just a couple planets, but it still struggled because it lacked that feel of a universe and so many of us (I absolutely include myself in this) wanna be on a ship.

The last reason is perhaps the biggest: many people wanna play Force Users. Not all but enough. Games would limit these....usually to 'applications' in theory, but in practice it always went to a staff alt or a friend of staff.

That soured many of us on SW games. I know I'm really hesitant to join them and have been for a long time. I don't wanna play somewhere that I can never play what I want. (Pern games used to have the same issue, but nowadays save for gold largely just let people have whatever they want.)

@Seraphim73 said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

@Auspice I feel called out. Accurately, but called out.

You absolutely should.
You're weird.

@faraday said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

@Auspice said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

@Goblin said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

@Auspice That'd just be to get the scene started, once people get to posing it usually rolls onward. You can introduce the 3pr after the initial set from everyone.

Hmm.
I might try this at some point and see how it pans out.

I have to say that this personally makes me squicky. Picking someone and forcing them to go first feels like the equivalent of a teacher calling on someone who hadn't raised their hands. It could potentially put someone on the spot / in an uncomfortable position, and I don't think that's good for a pretendy-funtime game environment. Also I wouldn't want to have to be in a forced 'initiative order' and keep track of when it was my turn to pose in a big scene like that. What if someone had to go to the bathroom or had a crying kid or whatnot?

Just seems like you're substituting one problem for another set of them.

That is my hesitation. It would be putting someone on the spot.

But, if as @Goblin suggested, the order is dropped after that point... the other issues that you mention aren't a thing.

@Goblin said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

@Auspice That'd just be to get the scene started, once people get to posing it usually rolls onward. You can introduce the 3pr after the initial set from everyone.

Hmm.
I might try this at some point and see how it pans out.

@faraday said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

having leaders give them some direction

I will say to this point that while I know some people take issue with having any OOC 'requirement' on leadership roles... The fact that we put a requirement on certain ranks on SGM (said ranks have the requirement to run at least 1 scene a month*) has made, from what I've witnessed so far, people more deeply consider the role. We have some really great people who have stepped up to it and are accepting that mantle of 'my character has to be a guiding force.'

*the scene can be plot or social. It's just a 'go and schedule a specific time for people to get together and RP a thing.' If one of them wants to run a plot every month: awesome. I am down for it. But if they want every month's scene to be the monthly poker night, that's totally cool too.

@peasoupling said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

but who even writes a "business description" and a "going to Walmart at 2am description" anyway?

@Seraphim73.

@saosmash said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

I used to hesitate before posing in a gmed scene due to anxiety about spotlighting but now I am old and I just pose. I've discovered that if I pose "actively" and am doing something people are more likely to also be doing something and the beginning of scenes kicks things off right away instead of standing around.

I think it is just one of those things. Somebody's gotta break the seal.

One method I've taken (to your standing around part) is, when STing, I start people in media res. And I know other STs who do the same.

For years it was the norm to start in the 'setup' stage of plot (on BSG this might be 'you're in the ready room and the alert goes off...' or 'you're all prepping for a mission and have to board the Raptor...') and people could take over an hour just to go through that.

Now I just thrust them into the midst of it.
'On the other side of the Stargate....' - because of course you're all gonna gear up, get your mission debriefing, and go through the Gate. That can be assumed. So I just fold it all into my set.

I've also been trying to be more proactive about just outright asking people 'So, are you moving on to the next area?'
I used to avoid it because I didn't want to seem like I was railroading people or cutting off someone's pose, but now I do it because it keeps people from milling around waiting for someone to 'go first.' (And if someone was working on finishing up a pose for Area A, they can fold it into their pose for Area B.)

@Derp said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

Dresses made of saran wrap...

no one should do this. your skin needs to BREATHE.

@Goblin said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

Unless there's a clear reason for someone to start, why not simply make everyone do a roll. Highest start, then the rest follow in the order of the dice.

Simple and efficient.

I'm torn on this.
On the one hand, it would get people posing.
On the other hand, I prefer a 3PR style to my STing. It keeps the scene from getting hung up on that guy who went AFK and prevents people from feeling like they'll never have a chance to respond to something first because that guy who is first in initiative gets to.

The latter can also occur in free posing because whomsoever types fastest gets the ball... but I try to prevent at least that by picking things out of peoples' poses and having them roll. I also try to mix up who gets what info (this isn't always possible, mind, but I try to always offer everyone at least one instance a scene of getting unique info).

@Tinuviel said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

@Ganymede said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

So you either think of me as fat or as fashionable as a Trump.

Not usually, just three law textbooks in a pantsuit.

Arguably, a law textbook weighs more than a toddler.

@Ganymede said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

For the record, I wear either their skins or ride their wives.

Also women in men's suits are sexy af and I selfishly want to see more.

Ahem.
I'll go over there now.

@faraday said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

@Auspice I think in large part it's just a universal 'nobody wants to raise their hand' thing, because I see the same thing in Storium. The sets are perfectly clear, and many times the characters are even doing their own thing so there's no reason not to go independently. But the silence will stretch on until finally I'm like: "FIIINE, I'll go first." Because I really don't mind doing it (it actually helps me, so I don't have to keep it in my ADD-fragile 'pending todo list' column), it just gets tiresome and self-conscious always going first.

So how can we encourage more people to be willing to go first?

I know you mentioned providing an NPC leader, but that's not always viable.

Would maybe conversing OOC about who's in charge and what their plan is help?
Or maybe paging someone to 'tap' them as the starting player?

@faraday said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

That might be part of it, sure, but I know that there have been numerous times where it's stretched on well past that mark, to the point where I'm internally thinking 'Oh FFS would someone pose please?' until someone breaks the ice. Then there's a flood at the 20-25-30 minute mark. I really do think people are waiting.

Particularly considering you can set a 10min round during combat and people stick to it pretty well.

I do get not wanting to be overeager or assume 'point.' I've had a handful of times where I have a pose set and ready to go and finally just say fuck it and hit enter.

I also once, as ST, just outright asked: hey no one's posed yet. Is the set confusing? Is there something missing? And poses began appearing after people admitted there wasn't. Maybe a blunt way to do it, but also if the set had been confusing, it would've opened the door to questions.

Part of why I'm mulling this so heavily is I'm planning a plot scene that is intended to 'drop in' on people as they go about their day to day and I'm mulling ways to streamline it. I need the players to set the scene/tone so that I can interrupt.

@bear_necessities said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

I want to wait for someone else to "dictate" the response to the GM set, etc.

I hadn't considered it this way before.

So I think what we're (I'm) finding is this:

The GM set is somewhere between a description and a scene set, but the first person to pose 'completes' the set for everyone.

@Wretched said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

@Auspice

Theory 2
People are scared of looking like they're too eager or greedy for the spotlight.

That is me.

Admittedly, when I hesitate, it's me also.

I feel like I have two reactions to scene sets:
a) I see something super cool in it that I want to reply to!
b) I'm not sure what I want to do, so I sort of hover and see what others are doing first.

When it's A, I often DO end up posing first... but while biting my nails worrying people will think I'm over-eager.
B ... might be where a lot of people are ending up, but still begs a question:

What can we (both as players and STs) do to help?

@Tempest said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

I have definitely been to plot scenes that are opened with a GM set of basically "stuff is happening in the neighborhood!" so the person who poses first in the scene is...still kind of setting the scene, since they set the tone of how/why/where/what people are meeting up to do about the GM's set.

I hadn't even thought about those kind of events, but you're absolutely right.

Would it be better to leave that sort of concept as-is? Or try to identify a PC you can ask to 'help' by setting the stage?

@Ganymede said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:

The solution? Be more pro-active by just asking upon entry: does anyone here want to set?

But I'm specifically (though I absolutely see your point) referring to plot scenes, wherein an ST has provided a scene set already.

Or do most people (I never even considered this viewpoint before!) view these as more 'descriptions' and whichever of the players poses first is scene-setting?

@Ganymede said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

I'm responding to the suggestion that a person cannot write about a particular minority's experiences because one is not part of it,

You may not feel that someone can't, but a great many people do. I have absolutely seen (on here, even!) complaints about non-<minority> players trying to write said minority's experience.

Okay, forgive the minor play on words there.

This is absolutely not targeted to anyone, as a disclaimer. Partly because I have seen it just about everywhere and just about as long as I can remember.

Why are people afraid to be the first pose in an event?

Almost every plot scene I've been in or run for the past whatever years, the first 15-20 minutes (it doesn't take this long to read a set and write a pose) is wasted in a middle school dance of silently willing someone else to be first out on the floor. Even people who are prone to 'I do all the things!,' I have noticed, are like this.

Often, once one pose has gone up, all the rest follow in a flood which tells me people were just waiting for someone to be first.

I have two theories on this, but I think they have a core conflict with one another.

Theory 1
People are uncertain what to do and want someone else to guide them.

My issue with this theory is this: it implies the ST didn't give enough detail. And maybe I don't! But I don't think that would be the case with every ST and as I said: I see this happen everywhere. Additionally, if it is the case: why aren't people asking for clarification?

Theory 2
People are scared of looking like they're too eager or greedy for the spotlight.

I also have an issue with this theory because I know plenty of people who aren't remotely a 'I DO ALL THE THINGS!' sort of person. And many of the spotlight-addicts would have, in theory, no issue leaping forward first to set the tone.

So what is the cause of it?
And what can we do to improve it, to prevent wasted time? (or alternatively: to encourage people that it's OK to be first to pose.)

One idea I have is to 'release' the set pose early (if you have a select group of people attending) and let them think about their first pose in the hours leading up to the event / ask any questions they have. Unfortunately, this won't work in every scenario (some events are all-comers, some people can't login until event start...).