Posts made by Coin

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

It's largely cultural. Players played on a game that used Wikidot/Mediawiki and so got used to the Wikidot/Mediawiki syntax/quirks/positives/negatives, and so used it themselves when they started their own game. Much like codebases, chalking stuff like this up to anything but the comfort of the user who runs the website is probably just quibbling over really minor pluses/minuses.

I have no explanation for people who use Wikia, though.

There is no explanation for wikia.

Actually, I think UU used wikia. It was fine, honestly. Or maybe the new wiki we switched to early on wasn't wikia? I don't remember.

@HelloRaptor
I'm not saying those instances aren't true, either. I definitely remember it. But more often than not, when actually discussed, they're near by.

I know in the DCAU they're further away, as per World's Finest.

@HelloRaptor said:

Don't really like what they'r e doing with Gotham/Metropolis in terms of them being immediately adjacent to one another now. I realize they're both modeled after New York(ish) but ennnnh. I always preferred to think of them more like New York (Metropolis) / Boston (Gotham).

I don't have a problem with the palette or tone, though. Batman and Superman have both taken that tone before (hell, Batman has lived in it for decades at a time), as have some of the retreads of their direct conflicts, so it works for me.

Keep in mind that I'm a heathen who not only loved pretty much everything about Man of Steel, but thought the end with Zod was basically epic and spot on. It wasn't the first time Superman had killed someone, not even the first time he'd killed Zod, so people griping about that always seemed way off base to me.

Yeah.

Though Metropolis and Gotham, whenever they have been given actual locations in the DC Universe, have been twin cities on opposite sides of the Delaware.

From some quotes from the early days, in tone, Gotham is supposed to be "New York/Chicago by night" while Metropolis is the same, but by day.

@Misadventure said:

I'm pretty sure you are the only Geist Sphere Lead I worked for. Anyhow neither of us remember the meat of the conversation, so ...

carry on!!!

No. It was @Arkandel. You're just remembering a different interpretation of the plot.

I didn't run that at all. I set up the new Underworld sectors.

@Faceless said:

1. Have an ending in mind. It doesn't have to be the ending that you eventually come to, but it helps me in planning out a plot. A scenario like a scene in a movie. How did the Terminator end up in that foundry at the end of Terminator 2? Fill in the blanks to that ending and you've established some milestones for a story. None of these milestones may ever be used but you've at least given yourself the general outline of what you'd like the players to pursue.

2. Use the rules. The books have rules. Use the rules. Knowing the rules of the game both helps inspire some sense of confidence in the storyteller as someone who knows what they're doing, and further makes it possible to help teach those who don't have gold medals in Rules 101. Don't know a rule? Looks like an opportunity to learn something new. There isn't a rule? Make something up that makes sense on the fly. Don't bog down your story mid-scene to get an answer, come back to it later and find an answer from staff or someone else who may know where you can find the rule. Also don't be afraid to take advice from a player who may know a rule. On the flipside, don't be the rules lawyer player who disrupts a scene because you want to show how obnoxiously super-smart you are.

3. Get to know other players on your game. I don't mean that you have to tell Joe all about your wife, kids, cat named Sally, or your used condom collection. What I do mean is that the more of a visible presence you are on channels and joining in on the general banter, the more likely it is that people are going to feel comfortable approaching you later in pages to ask about the possibility of running a plot. They say one of the reasons the dog barks at the mailman so much is because he can see him, but not interact with him. He's an anomaly in the dog's territory. So don't be afraid to let the other players smell your hand. Some players may want to smell more though, so be careful.

4. Be willing to accept people outside your clique. It's great to run things for your friends, but MUSHing at this point is social networking. The more you reach out to or otherwise make your stories available to people you normally don't have frequent contact with, the more you network. Networking is good.

5. Run what you're going to have fun running. As has been mentioned previously in the lists of other posters, most players don't know what they want. So run what you're going to enjoy. If you build it, the players will come.

6. Give the players options. Fight, talk, run, drop a piano on the villain, whatever it is. Options let the players know that they have control over their destiny. Even if they walk their characters into a possible death, they made a choice.

7. For the participants out there: don't just offer up the canned "thanks, it was fun" at the end of a plot, event, scene, or whatever. If it was fun, please inform me in a @mail, pages, or right then why it was fun. What did you enjoy? If I get the "thanks, it was fun" and nothing else at the end of something I tend to believe that they're just being polite and something didn't suit their tastes. What could I work on? I'm not asking for an exhaustive review, but give me something to help tailor things going forward for you and others. Was my pacing great but content felt hard to grasp? Was my content awesome but the pacing felt like a crawl? Did I make the common mistake of shooting for Mystery and ending up in Confusing? So storytellers, don't take constructive feedback as an attack.

It's certainly not an exhaustive list, but it's a few of the things that I had spring to mind first.

This is pretty awesome and I am likely to steal it for Eldritch's stoytelling guidelines. Thanks.

@Miss-Demeanor said:

@Coin Dude, if I get haunted by Dick Van Patten, I will have SO MANY questions for him!

But he won't answer them. And that will be how he haunts you.

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

@Coin
Oh, I'm sure that's part of it. Though I feel like I see it with newer, younger players as well in ways I didn't used to. It (whatever it is) feels more cultural than anything I can measure in hours or Other Shit To Do. I don't know. It may well be just part of my continuing morph into Old Grump Who Yells at Clouds and growing hatred for The Children, which is always continuing apace.

A lot of the time, people who are younger and have started recently will emulate the way people are already doing things. It's a bummer.

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

What I've wondered about lately, probably more than I wonder about any MUSH-related thing, is if this is actually getting worse. I swear, five years ago it was not as hard as it is today to find people who do shit to play with, and I don't feel like it's strictly a matter of more activity/more games back in the day. Or maybe my rose-colored nostalgia glasses are just getting bigger. I don't know. It frustrates me more than anything else about this hobby.

It is, a little bit. But also remember: most of us are just plain getting older. I know I'm a lot less energetic than I was six or seven years ago about this stuff, and I have a lot more going on. And other people have spouses now, and children, and...

Being tired happens, and it happens a lot more the older you get. And the difference is a noticeable one even between your early twenties and early thirties.

@Miss-Demeanor said:

@Coin I missed it in all the bs about some dead gorilla!

All I know is that if you get haunted by the ghost of Van Patten, it'll be because you missed that one post on MSB.

Shame on you. SHAME.

@Miss-Demeanor said:

Oh shit! How did I miss Dick Van Patten dying?!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/entertainment/feat-dick-van-patten-dies-obit/index.html

@Silver mentioned it 20 days ago in this thread!

@RoguePotato said:

The game is about RP. There's not really anyone on the game right now that are simply looking to win PVP fights.

I'm sorry if thats the game you want, but its not this game.

There is an available dice +roll system, but its just basic dice.

Again, I'm sorry if you wanted a serious Stat Focused Super hero game. I'm sure there is one out there.

Okay, now you're being obtuse.

She wants to know how players are supposed to exemplify and describe their powers and skills, whether it's description-based, with some sort of numerical value system, or otherwise. She did not say she wanted a "Stat Focused Game" or a game wherein people are looking to win PvP fights (and she did not say that AT ALL AT ANY POINT).

Between her reading into your snark and asking questions vaguely, and you actually living up to it (or reading into what she wants and being insulting about it), it's like you can't have a conversation wherein information is exchanged.

Jeez. Fucking read for comprehension, guys.

@Misadventure said:

No, actually I was giving the posters a chance to you know, describe there game instead of spending how many posts failing to do so then being insulting. NO, not all super hero games use descriptive traits, and those that do use a variety of approaches (descriptive, or by examples).

Nice top see the snark is strong. Guess you only want people who already play super hero trait based games, and who know exactly how hard or not your app process is. Ever heard of people complaining about having to write and rewrite and rewrite paragraphs to describe a common and well known trait of a FC (let alone a OC, good luck there), on MOST HERO GAMES, until a staffers particular view of the character, or you as a player of that character, Are met?

Everybody who plays comic-fu and most who don't are aware that trait based super hero games are famous for being difficult this way.

Whoa. Chill out a little. I did not read the level of snark that you are reading, apparently. And you came on super strong with your demands for more information.

So maybe chill out a bit. Yeesh.

@Arkandel said:

See, my concern is more on the PrP side. Staff often feels obligated to run significant things through +events to give everyone access to them and that's fine, but I don't labor under the same limitation - which is by design, it's one of the reasons I'm not staffing, other than the obvious fact no one would want me to.

So as a ST my priority is to entertain my friends. I don't need to give everyone a shot at the goodies, which means coincidentally they will be the guys who rescue the Prince's cat from a tree and end up fighting pirate kings.

What I'm wondering about is if this is unfair and to what extent, since there's a very OOC factor which heavily influences IC affairs - what @Coin experiences as the perception of "staff friends are getting stuff" which is usually skewed, I view as the perception of "the ST's friends got stuff", which is pretty accurate.

I don't know. No, i don't think it's unfair. Storytellers will run things for the people they want to or feel comfortable running things. It doesn't feel right to say it's "unfair" because those people have friends willing to run stuff.

Maybe it's unfair in the same way life is unfair, but it's not unfair in the way you're asking, at least, IMO.

It's also almost always "unfair" until you're getting it and others aren't, at which point it's "well, it's not our fault".

So no, I don't think it's unfair. Our hobby is roleplaying online. If you want to do that you find the people who will roleplay with you, that you get along with, and that will facilitate the story you want to tell. You certainly have no right to complain because another player is running things for other people but not for you. At least, not as far as I'm concerned.

Especially if when someone like @Ganymede offers to run stuff on channel and you sit there staring and don't say "yes please I would [ALL THIS STUFF]!" Proactivity will get you so much more than passivity.

ETA: This becomes more of an issue if staff is only willing to give Storyteller A a chance to run certain plots, but not Storyteller B. Some level of discretion is often advised, though.

There are some really bad storytellers out there.

@Glitch said:

@Coin said:

I don't think it's unfair, provided everyone had more or less the same chance/opportunity without counting in their own actions or limitations.

If I give everyone the same chance "I am running plots Wednesdays and Sundays" and those plots lead to things such as the ones mentioned above, it's not my fault if you can't make those days because of your life/job/preferences/kids/whatever. It's not. No matter how much people want me to bend, I also have a life, and the days I am willing and able to run things are those days.

It isn't your fault, but as a game admin, it is certainly your responsibility. You'd have a lot more leeway to assert the above as just another player, but you're not.

ETA: That isn't to say you must change the days you offer plot, but addressing the problem, rather than brushing it off as something you're not willing to "bend" on, is definitely something I think is your responsibility.

I agree. Which is why I am willing to give storytellers the ability to run important things and whatnot. But in my experience a lot (not most, not all, not any specific number, just a lot) of the people who complain are then completely unwilling to actually put forth the effort to find an alternative that sidesteps their own obstacles. And I have little patience for someone who complains about a lack of something and then does nothing to acquire it when they're given the possibility to create their own alternative.

I don't think it's unfair, provided everyone had more or less the same chance/opportunity without counting in their own actions or limitations.

If I give everyone the same chance "I am running plots Wednesdays and Sundays" and those plots lead to things such as the ones mentioned above, it's not my fault if you can't make those days because of your life/job/preferences/kids/whatever. It's not. No matter how much people want me to bend, I also have a life, and the days I am willing and able to run things are those days.

Likewise, if suddenly someone gets something from me (in my capacity as staff) and everyone is wondering "gee, how did that person do that, they must be a STAFF FRIEND"... chances are actually much more likely that they opened a +job, or paged me, or something, and asked "hey can I aim for [this]" and I said, "that sounds cool, let's try it!" or even someone putting in an interesting job and me going, "that sounds cool, let's see if I can spin it into a plot!"

But if the players can't make events, don't ask, and don't publicize ideas that interest me and engage me as a storyteller, then what am I supposed to do? Is it unfair that I'm not willing to bend over backwards? I, personally, don't think so.

Now, if they got someone else who was willing to run it and I was unwilling to even speak to that person about details, logistics, and theme re: whatever they wanted (sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it isn't), that would be heinously unfair and inappropriate within our social context.

@WTFE said:

The bodybuilder in his natural habitat is a wonder to behold.

Hooooooooolyyyyyyyyy sheeeeeeeeet.

@VulgarKitten said:

@HelloRaptor Taaaaaakes sooooooo looooooooong

Keep your knickers on or take them off, but don't perpetuate the CamLife!

@Arkandel said:

Superman vs Batman

I... I keep throwing money at the screen... nothing happens.

Nerd.

@Gingerlily said:

I mean, theoretically, because now she is ignoring me to watch Peppa Pig, but I ASKED her if she wanted to go outside to the park.

Luuuuuuulz.

@Gingerlily said:

My RL peeve/anger is that they've been selling school supplies for like two weeks already. I've only been on summer break for two weeks. I don't want to see the pencils and the crayons yet. I know, sales, get the good bargain first, but NO.

I know some teachers say "The summers off is a myth, we work all year round, conferences, blah, etc" and that is very valid for some, and I did attend a state conference and am working (leisurely) at two online classes for credit, but no. It's a summer off. It is noon and I am in yoga wear but have not decided if I want to do yoga yet. Love me, hate me, think I am the savior of the future or a mooch off of your precious tax dollars, I get it, I've heard it all. But I am on vacation, so Target, put the pencils BACK until August. Nobody wants to see that. Nobody wants a backpack or a schoolbox. LEAVE US BE.

I always like to point out that the "summer vacation" is also just plain fucking necessary. I get it, your office job is tedious and is slowly driving you crazy. But believe me, it has absolutely nothing on dealing with children or adolescence for nine to ten months straight.