@rnmissionrun said in RL things I love:
We got lucky here in Southern Maryland. They had been calling for up to 8 inches of the stuff but it all melted as soon as it hit the ground.
And yes, he can have all of mine, too.
My last winter in Laurel, I injured my back shoveling snow. I was only 18.
Fuck snow.
I'm happy Austin is back to the low 60's temp-wise. That's the shit I like.
See, I think it'd cause more BarRP, not less. And likely less if not cancel out combat altogether. Who wants to engage in combat when it might be days before you get an answer to a question from your ST before you can take your action?
I do flip coins a lot for deciding how my character is gonna react to something, but my Google Home has helped there. I spent a lot of time going 'Hey, Google, flip a coin!' 
(Which is a lot of fun tbh)
@auspice said in Alternative Formats to MU:
I don't think I've ever seen any of those handle combat. I've only seen those do social roleplay. I do GDoc RP myself and it's only ever social. And even then, sometimes scenes get dropped because 'Well, it's been a week since the last pose and we've lost the thread of this scene.'
I think moving MU*ing to such would be the killing blow for that very reason. More and more scenes taking not hours, but days for a scene. Who wants that to become the average? I don't mind it every so often during busy RL times, but I don't want my norm for RP to be 'it takes 2 weeks per scene.'
Let me add on to my own post:
I began my online roleplaying career in PBEM (play by e-mail). It was so slow, so tedious, and I lost the thread of things so often that when I found MU*s, I bailed ship without a second thought.
And in reading these ideas, I feel like I'm being asked to go back to that, just with some shiny new toys slapped on top.
What am I being given that well and truly actually enhances that experience and makes it better? What improves the story-telling? What makes the game more engaging? We're here to tell the stories of our characters in a cooperative environment. Currently, we do so in 'archaic' ways, but it's a live method that allows us to interact directly with one another (that is also, for many of us, some of the only direct interaction we get on a regular basis).
By taking it to a browser and making it asynchronous, but giving it some bells and whistles, how will we actually improve it?
Will we tell better stories?
Will we improve as writers?
Will we engage more with one another?
Or will it just be "new and improved!"
Because if all that's being advertised is New Coke, well.
I don't think I've ever seen any of those handle combat. I've only seen those do social roleplay. I do GDoc RP myself and it's only ever social. And even then, sometimes scenes get dropped because 'Well, it's been a week since the last pose and we've lost the thread of this scene.'
I think moving MU*ing to such would be the killing blow for that very reason. More and more scenes taking not hours, but days for a scene. Who wants that to become the average? I don't mind it every so often during busy RL times, but I don't want my norm for RP to be 'it takes 2 weeks per scene.'
@faraday said in Alternative Formats to MU:
@auspice said in Alternative Formats to MU:
For many people, studies are finding that multitasking is actually a bad thing. And how many of us already gripe on the regular about our RP partners taking 20, 30 minutes to pose?
I think that expecting people to stay focused on the game is unrealistic given that the nature of the medium means you have to wait for other people to pose. Even if there are only two people, it's going to take 10 minutes on average for someone to come up with a halfway decent pose. Add another person in? No. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to stand there twiddling my thumbs staring at a screen for 15-20 minutes. Multitasking is inevitable due to the genre.
But I agree with your basic principle, which is that spreading the game across two mediums is ugly. The difference is that I think the web is the medium we should be moving towards. There is nothing you can do in-game that can't be done on the web. There are many, many, many things you can't do in-game that you can do on the web. If we have to stick to only one platform, web is a no-brainer IMHO.
Except if you put the game in a browser tab? It becomes one of ten, twenty.
How am I going to remember it's there?
Fast-forward three hours, 'Hurr. Sorry guys, I lost track of the tab because I was doing other stuff. Sorry.'
But when it's a whole other entity, I can remember.
I speak from experience. I've tried some of those other 'RP' experiences (Storium? Web chat 'deals,' etc) in browsers. I forget they exist very, very quickly. I can't do web based chat at all. I reload this only when I'm bored and come back to it later on. I couldn't keep up with a scene with any expected consistency.
Disney buying Fox.
Fox owns the Alien franchise.
Xenomorphs are born of a Queen.
Thus, Xenomorphs are Disney Princesses.
@sparks said in Alternative Formats to MU:
Arx's logging of scheduled events is awesome, but only works if there's already an event scheduled. Ares' scene system is great, but I think all scenes are all public, and on some games—anything involving secrets, PvP, etc.—you don't want every scene publicly readable.
So scenes set =private are not public/posted unless you choose to do so. They do expire down the road, but it'd at least hold onto it until you (or someone else in the scene) can grab it from scene/log to save somewhere.
But any scene on AresMUSH set private can only be viewed by people in that scene (so it is an option).
@deadempire said in RL Anger:
@auspice Ok wow, that is just... I don't understand some people. How does somebody else just trying to exist comfortably make you so uncomfortable that you'd go out of your way to completely ruin their day? For such a cheap, scummy low blow like that. I hope whoever did this is found out and terminated with extreme prejudice. Fuck...
Especially for how... I mean, it's yes, a very slimy, gross, low blow. It's privileged information for you in payroll. 'Oh, I have access to this person's SSN and private information. Oh look, they used to have a bank account with us a decade~ ago and it has a different name! A <other gender> name. OH MY THIS GOES AGAINST MY PERSONAL FEELS'
and then to put that name on their paycheck when it's legally not their name? When their license, social security card, W2, etc., all show a different name? What the fuck are you protesting?
I hope the bank outs their ass so fast because fuck's sake. That's just wrong on so many levels.
@faraday said in Alternative Formats to MU:
@surreality said in Alternative Formats to MU:
@shelbeast I think that's more or less what @faraday is doing with Ares. I think.
Not exactly, but that's mostly because the overwhelming majority of MUSHers have indicated that they'd abjectly refuse to play on a game that was entirely web-based. Heck, a non-trivial number of them refuse to play on a game with a mandatory web presence at all.
Ares has tons of stuff available on the web - chargen, bbs, events, mail, combat, help, character profiles, logged and auto-cleaned scenes, admin jobs and config, and more. But the game is still principally played in a MU client. Not because it needs to be for any technical reason, but because I actually want people to play it.
So it's not just an 'age' thing.
It's a distraction level thing.
We're in an era where we have so many distractions that there are more apps coming out helping people to pare down and get shit done with fewer distractions. Email clients that take up your entire screen and focus on just the salient details so you can zero inbox. Focus writers (Q10 is my fave) so writers can get shit done without finding themselves going hither and yon and 'oh no how did I only write 200 words today?' So on and so forth.
For many people, studies are finding that multitasking is actually a bad thing. And how many of us already gripe on the regular about our RP partners taking 20, 30 minutes to pose?
Expanding into the browser, with its dozens of tabs (aka distractions) is only risking making that worse. A client, however, allows us to focus entirely on the scene. Look at the 'How Much Code is Too Much?' thread: people are saying exactly this. 'I go to the browser and it takes me out of the scene.'
It's not 'age,' it's not people being cruel or rude. It's a lot of us realizing the same thing that many companies, writers (hi!), designers, etc. are realizing. Multitasking, spreading yourself out, etc., actually detracts from the quality of output.
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.
@derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Oh look. It's 11pm.
Haven't heard anything from them yet.
I am Jack's lack of surprise.
Are you at least home from work?
Oh yeah. I did my usual commute home. It was just full of me grouching to myself and all.
They got here around 11:20. They did not bring blankets or pillows. They're lucky I have these things (despite never having guests). I dunno, man.
Upside? My brothers apparently chipped in together and bought me an InstantPot. I gotta send them thanks.
Oh look. It's 11pm.
Haven't heard anything from them yet.
I am Jack's lack of surprise.
@thenomain said in How much Code is too much Code?:
Pure logical decision making is not on my personal list
Woah woah woah
but logicbot.
@derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@Auspice, remind them who'll be choosing their nursing home.
They won't even write wills. They're supporting all 4 of my siblings who are, mind you, all over 18 (the next oldest after me will be 28 this coming year).
They should damn well know which one of their children is going to handle their estate by now.
Oh my. Your parents really should do that. Intestate succession is a fucking nightmare.
Oh. I know.
But blah blah 'we're too young for wills' blah blah bullshit.
Trust me.
I've fucking tried.
I'm sorry, no one is too young for a will. I mean, if anyone in this world relied on or gave a shit about me in the least, I'd have one. They have five kids, but no. 'We're too young to need wills.'
@derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@Auspice, remind them who'll be choosing their nursing home.
They won't even write wills. They're supporting all 4 of my siblings who are, mind you, all over 18 (the next oldest after me will be 28 this coming year).
They should damn well know which one of their children is going to handle their estate by now.
@macha said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Somewhat similar to @Auspice - if we make plans, and you say you'll let me know when you'll be here... let me know if you're NOT FUCKING COMING. resists urge to kill
It's the worst fucking feeling.
Like do I mean that fucking little to you?
Parents spent the last few days in Dallas. 3 hours away. We had plans for them to pick me up from work (at 8p) and go to dinner. Made a few weeks ago. Even picked out where to go.
I'd tentatively allowed myself to look forward to this. If only for the free dinner, ride home. Trying to be optimistic. My dad's an asshole, but I mean, they're visiting me, right? I mean, they planned this trip to visit his coworkers and Dallas and go to San Antonio, but they fit seeing me in for a few days in the middle too, right?
So in theory, you haven't seen your child for over a year. They're 3 hours away. I mean, I'd probably even leave a bit early, right? If I'm supposed to meet them at 8, I'd probably be leaving at like, 4:30p just to account for traffic and because hey: 'I haven't seen my kid in a year.'
6:15p, they call: 'So, we haven't had dinner and we'll probably decide in a little while where we want to go. We'll probably be in Austin around 11pm or so.'
...oh.
@rnmissionrun said in How much Code is too much Code?:
This is what killed my interest in 8th Sea.
Anything that forces a player out of the game in order to access information vital to successfully playing that game, is a very bad thing. Save this for when the browser has completely replaced dedicated clients.
I'm sorry it killed your interest! We're doing our best to make the wiki as well-organized as possible.
Like @Tempest said, it's easier to put it on the wiki vs. in a bunch of news files. It also is easier to keep updated, rather than going 'oh no, we updated it in one spot, but not the other!'
Is there a way the 8th Sea wiki could be better organized, maybe? I'd be happy to pass along feedback on that front to Onijegi. 