Best posts made by DeadEmpire

@apotheosis

At this point, that is all I can add to this conversation. If you can't say something without being a bigot, it just shouldn't be said. This isn't the site for that.

I'm probably gonna regret this, but screw it. So many leave theirs, I figure maybe I'll find someone cool from way back

Past
Firan: Moyanet, Tiasha, Zhara (the last one), Deltha (The first and third one), Madika, Enigma (The last one), Leanne, and I'm sure a bunch more over the years that I've forgotten.
Star Conquest: Leila, Konoka
Arx: Lailah, Avaline, Denica
8th Sea: Andrea
Marsilikos: Madeleine
Ithir: Theleria
Current
Arx: Joslyn
Ithir: Moyanet
Gray Harbor: Maya
Stealth Updates: List current as of December 25, 2019

@arkandel said in MUSH Marriages (IC):

@ganymede said in MUSH Marriages (IC):

Seriously, I've had great relationship RP. Fun relationship RP, that didn't always become about the hawt seX0rz. I can think of a dozen folks I have such a good time with in a relationship, mostly because, I guess, I'm not clingy or needy as a player.

After a long time in the hobby I think where things usually break down is where any kind of boundary getting crossed isn't met with an immediate - mild, but clear - message that it's inappropriate. It doesn't have to be a fight or a 'breakup', but it does need to be explicitly communicated and not argued.

When it comes to some of the needier, angst-filled people in our community signals room for negotiation. So I whine at you because you're playing in a room with your alt with someone else and you try to explain yourself, the message you are sending ("hey, I'm not doing anything wrong, man") isn't the one I'm receiving ("if I make your life miserable every time you do this, you'll stop doing this, and instead only play with me"). It's because that's what I want to read, and what I want from you, yet what you want isn't a concern of mine.

The correct messaging has to be explicit. I think you are doing a good job of that, and it's something I wish more people did since it'd eliminate much of the drama. "Hey, I play alts whose RP is separate than the RP we have together. I do different things sometimes, it doesn't mean I don't like the RP we have." If there's any pushback on it, offer to figure out a way to transition out of the RP you have with that person - and if there's more pushback I'd advise to turn the offer into a mandate. Don't argue the point, just declare it; this signals your boundaries aren't up for debate.

Lines. They need to exist, and they need to be respected, else bad things can, have, and will continue to happen.

The amount of truth in this is mind boggling. I wish somebody had pointed this out to me years ago. I could have avoided a lot of drama. I've always had a hard time putting up boundaries OOC. I just wish people wouldn't keep trying to drag their RL baggage into an IC relationship.

My favorite marriage I ever had was with a political match, arranged marriage with a man that loved my character, but she hated him and resented everything he did. We had a lot of great rp out of it, and ooc we were all cool about it. Communication was key, because we were horrid to each other, but that's what RP is. It ISN'T REAL. I think far too often people forget that. I sometimes need a little reminder myself.

Okay I cannot resist.

Joslyn

My alt that I only tell close friends about

The big thing that has always kept me away from a lot of superhero MUs is that I'm just not interested in playing as Batman or other already established heroes, but an OC of my creation? I'm totally down for that, and era doesn't bother me, as long as I get to make a badass superhero lady (Boob window optional)

With me it's pretty simple and it's actually very easy to get immersed, but a few things need to happen to really draw me in. Things need to feel connected, or else it just feels like nothing matters. It's why rp rooms disconnected from any kind of larger grid just don't work for me, it makes it all feel so much less alive for day to day rp. The option to create a room for one off scenes works great for events, or prps, but a grid where people could wander through your square because they were in the neighborhood? Maybe you leave a room because you hear shouts from outside and see that a fight has broken out in a separate scene. In a system of rooms, those two scenes could never interact in such a natural and fluid way. The lack of a grid makes everything feel so much more rigid and disconnected. A well made grid can make a game spring to life for me. I think the simple approach to Arx's grid is rather perfect. To start? That's really all I need. A world that feels consistent and real.

I also need real consequences. If I charge the big bad while naked and unarmed, I shouldn't be able to just say that I don't consent to my death. Losing a character has never been easy for me, I'm an emotional person, after all, but without that risk of death, it all feels so inconsequential. I mean, if I'm not going to die anyway, what's the point of showing up to the battle? To show off? (I'll add I appreciate the approach that Arx has to PK, in that you're not likely to be ambushed and murdered for no immediately apparent reason)

A roster system I've also found helps. Gives a sense of permanence to the characters, instead of a rotating door of OCs that never stick around.

I don't know why options are a bad thing. I don't get how giving those of us that like fashion relevance is a bad thing. Lifestyle gives you those bonuses, but a fashion system gives crafters relevance, as of now people have declared expensive clothes a waste of money because it provides no coded benefit, and if you don't want to spend all this time coding your outfits, there are several crafters that can provide those for you. If you don't want to use the fashion system, than don't. I quit being a crafter myself because it wasn't how I wanted to spend my RP time, and yet I still manage to acquire tons of outfits, pre fashion system, just because I like having them.

@kitteh While I still don't agree completely, I do see what you're saying. The thing is, the barrier for entry is not nearly as bad as it could be in Firan, and the way the XP system is designed in Arx makes me feel like leveling up will be interesting for far longer than it was in Firan. When I said that the gap between newbie and dino will narrow, what I meant was, if I were to start a new character today, I would be able to more quickly acquire the skills I want and need to catch up to a dino in the sphere that I want to gain entry in. Nothing will eliminate the problem completely (and Arx definitely needs a few sinks put into place, because right now everybody is too insanely rich), but I think Arx has done a great job of making it attainable and fun to try to get yourself to the same level as the people that have been playing for twice as long as I have. So like... I hear what you're saying, but I definitely think that what we have here is way better. I'm honestly not sure what I would even change about it to make it better.

@saosmash I think I'm still in denial about George Takei

The only two MUs that I ever truly got invested in were Firan and Arx. Before Firan, I played a few games casually, and on one of those games, somebody complained to me about the systems over in Firan. It sounded like exactly my jam. It was... Not perfect, but I was there for five years, something was working! In that time, there were a few standout characters.

Moyanet Firabi/Garkansen: When I apped her, my exact train of thought was "Oh, a child character is on roster, I'd better grab her before somebody else does." And than magic was born. A spoiled commoner that thought she was a princess, but also believed she was always sick and hated dirt, she was such a pain to so many people, but I loved playing her. She grew up into a hard working woman that managed to make a lot of social progress, despite not quite doing much of anything. She was one of those characters that playing became second nature, to the point where I didn't even want her to do half the things she was doing by the end, and I was just a helpless spectator to her antics. Shame Firan closed when it did, she had been laying down the groundwork for some awesome long-term plans.

Zhara Anirik: Oh my god Zhara was awesome. I can't take credit for that. She was played for nearly a decade before I came along and plucked her from the roster for no reason other than I wanted to have a character to take to war season. The week I grabbed her, the Dawn mansion was taken over by Shamis, and in the subsequent liberation, her daughter was the only casualty. It was only a child object, sure, but I got my start playing a warrior as a grieving mother. It humanized her very quickly, and made everything moving forward have that much more weight. In the end, I was the last Zhara, and as I always liked to say, she was the warrior so badass that the only one that could kill her was herself. When given the choice of failure or death, she chose death without a second glance, charged up those steps, planted those bombs, and laughed her ass off as the enemy captured her just as the bomb exploded and buried them all under a pile of rocks and rubble. If the previous players are reading this, I hope you feel that my send off of Zhara was worthy of her legacy!

Enigma: I really wish I'd had more time to play this character, she had a lot of secrets going on but she was so much fun to play. I wound up getting outmatched socially due to a lack of time and simply not having the ability to fake social skills as well as I can now. I like to think.I'd do her more justice if I played her today, but sadly only a few months after picking her up, Firan shut its doors, and that was that.

Now. Moving on to Arx I have to say, even though I'm playing her still...

Joslyn: I made her two days after first picking up Arx. I knew so little of theme, or what I was doing or what I wanted, I just liked the wanted posting and rolled her up. In the months I've had her, she's gone in directions I never would have foreseen, and let's be honest, so much of her life has been formed around tragedy at this point (many of which aren't rather private). Really, there's so much more to her than she shows on the surface and is the most fully realized and layered take on a character that I've ever had. I'm really hoping to move her story forward, because I've some plans! Feel free to hit me up in game!

Alaric is Ferrando? Mind = Blown. I miss Ferrando, I gotta go torment him again sometime.

@roz Right, like has been said, the fashion system can be safely ignored if it's not something that interests you. There are plenty of players that want nothing to do with combat, or politics, or religion, so they can ignore those aspects of the game. The fashion system is exactly the same as that. As for people not wearing anything? Well clearly they're wearing clothes that are appropriate for their station, but are completely unremarkable. I think that's a fair way to play it.

You really like Sams, apparently

My big thing is that I do always worry about whether or not my RP is fun for other people, and if it isn't how I can improve myself. Reading this thread has been so good because it's good to see what people don't like. I know I'm not perfect but I am trying to improve at least! Honestly, if I am doing some of these things I have no idea, as a roleplayer that I'm "that person" is one of my biggest fears. I'm always striving to try to come up with something that the other person will find compelling.

Things that turn me off are the same that so many people mentioned. People that have to make everything in a scene all about them, people that make redescribe the room in their far too long poses, etc.

By far the biggest thing is when I start to get stressed out by the player OOCly. I've gotten burned quite badly in the past, and on certain occasions I will be pushed to my breaking point by drama I never wanted any part of when I just want to come here to play a character that likes to beat people up with hairpins while dressed in pretty dresses. I want all the drama to be IC and when I bring the IC drama to a player, and they give me grief about it OOCly... that's just gonna really start to kill it for me.

On the subject of the game itself, I just joined up today. It looks very promising. It's like if somebody took Firan and removed all the unsavory bits. Hopefully I'll be able to find a good place in the game.

Somebody said earlier that this game is a bit more Dino friendly than Firan, and I just wanted to add my two cents to that... Firan was ruled by dinos that nobody could touch because they would just trample all over you. I played for 5 years, and was in the top xp earners list more often than not, funneling xp from my two alts to one just to try to catch up, and I still couldn't touch them.

This is because Firan had 1 vote = 1 xp. There was no tax, and so everybody was moving along, acquiring skills at the same rate as everybody else, so it didn't matter if you started a week ago or have been playing since the beginning, you were on the same level as everybody else, and you weren't about to catch up to the dinos. Except for maybe the fact that they likely weren't really raising too many skills at the end.

Here, you have the reduced returns, which I hated at first, but have come to appreciate. I'm rarely on the top twenty here, but I'm usually only a point or two behind, so, I'll take it. The longer you're around the harder it gets to raise skills, so it'll always be possible to catch up to a dino, or at least close the gap significantly. Being around longer will always present advantages, and I think that's honestly fair enough, and here I think they've done a great job fixing most if not all of the areas that Firan fell flat in.

Although. I hope that they look to the Firan damage system for inspiration when redesigning the combat. That's easily somewhere I feel was awesomely put together, and I'm not crazy about how damage currently works, though we're still beta, so I expect there to be a lot of changes.

@seraphim73 said in Big city grids - likes and dislikes:

@sunny said in Big city grids - likes and dislikes:

I love the idea of the scenes code.

I think it should be implemented alongside a real grid, not instead of.

Yup! I love it too. And that's actually exactly what we tried to do on The Eighth Sea. We had about 30ish rooms (by the end) on the grid, but about 1/2 of them had pre-desced scene rooms that were ICly in that location that were listed below the room desc. Players were (of course) free to create their own scene rooms as well.

@faraday Yuuuuup. Totally agree. It's definitely a culture/people problem. Emblazoning "Open Scene" on open scenes is about as much as you can do from a tools perspective to help out.

For what it's worth, the lack of a grid has made it very difficult for me to get into 8th Sea, as much as I really want to! Even though what I do on Arx is check "where" and zoom over to where it looks like RP is happening, which is functionally the same as joining a scene in progress, there's the mental roadblock of it feeling more mentioned above. It's a hard one to hurdle over.

Just posting a little update. Enjoy!

Generally when I leave a game it can be because of a multitude of reasons. The most common of which being "The game doesn't hold my interest" And for that, there's nothing to be done. I maybe just wasn't in the right mindset to embrace a new setting or could be any number of reasons, there's no solution to be had there.

Toxic playerbase. If I feel like the people that I'm playing with are assholes, than why would I continue to play there? This is especially true when the games systems encourage exclusion and cliques, leaving newer players on the outside and unable to get a leg up on the other systems.

Lack of social features: While this isn't for everybody, if the game doesn't have a healthy amount of OOC interaction, it's just not going to be the place for me. Sometimes I like to know the player behind the screen, to talk and enjoy each other's company in a way that lets us connect as people.

Bad Staff: The most common reason really, is bad staff making unethical decisions, cheating or just basically treating the game like it's their own personal sandbox. And... that's pretty much it?