Posts made by Derp

@HelloProject said in UX: It's time for The Talk:

@Rook I feel like most players would know what they're adding together though. Like, even though I'm shit-tier at WoD, I generally know what my stuff is even if I don't usually remember all the numbers.

Is it usually the reverse and I'm just weird?

edit: Also you mean in most WoD MUSHes.

So, like... I'm still not sure what you're wanting here. You seem to be asking for a lack of complexity, but what I'm seeing is that generally you don't want to have to go look up stats and stuff.

But that's not what these command systems are -for-. These games aren't being created so that you never have to buy / read the books and can just do the thing. They're not video games. They're tools so that people who have already read the books and know the source material can come together and play online.

How would it be different at a tabletop if you didn't remember that striking looks 2 gives you a +1, and Striking Looks 4 gives you a +2? You'd still have to go look those things up. These coded systems are in place basically to help you use what you should already know. For a roll command ,the simplest version would be +roll stuff, and then if you have 9-again or whatever you count those and +roll stuff again, until you're done rolling. We do create some shortcuts to make it faster, but those shortcuts don't negate your need for the materials. Most games out there specifically say that you need to both own and be familiar with the materials presented. And that's not just WoD. That's DnD. Pathfinder. Exalted. Superhero games. Whatever. If they're using custom material, they still pretty much insist that you be familiar with the material.

So is your idea of 'simplicity' such that you... won't ever have to go look in a book again? Because that's pretty much not gonna happen. Ever. We can try and streamline the tools out there to let you put stuff in faster, but no system can ever negate entirely the need for the human brain.

I think @Apocalycious might be your best bet there.

@Groth said in UX: It's time for The Talk:

It's complicated because your average MUSH is actually a bunch of nested systems written in a programming language that was designed in order to be storable as a single string while the core commands are all hardcoded.

This. @HelloProject, you keep talking about 'things could be simpler', but honestly? I don't even know what that means in this context. I keep seeing in my head this idea that you want to just type in, "Computer, add a knife to my inventory, give it a +2 damage rating, make it one size level bigger because I'm a giant, and set a note on it that it was a gift from my girlfrirend'. MU doesn't come equipped with Siri, nor is its engine star-trek-esque.

Code creates commands that are either complex or numerous. There is no in between. If you have a system that needs to do five things (not necessarily at the same time), then you end up with either five commands, or one command that can do between 1 and 5 things depending on its syntax, which makes it complicated. (And either way, those five things require documentation).

Nor can you easily have one command that does more than one thing (unless, as above, it has a complex syntax). A command with a simple syntax will do precisely one thing. A MU will not understand the difference between 'add knife' for an inventory command or 'add boobs' for a desc command unless you literally tell it where every possible word would apply, or make it different for every room its used in.

So what exactly are you looking for when you say 'things could be simpler'? Because at the end of the day, I tend to go with "It really can't be."

Edit: Corrected some pre-coffee grammar booboos.

@HelloProject said in MSB MU*?:

@Thenomain

I don't think the purpose of a chat hangout is necessarily to carry on extended discussion of forum stuff (though that would obviously happen), and more just chilling out when not having extended discussion of forum stuff.

I also think it has the potential to allow people to interact with each other in a way that adds a more real-time human element, perhaps enhancing forum interaction by having people more casually interact in a way that isn't a carefully considered forum post.

Discord would be way easier to set up for this than a MU.

The demand is real! Especially if you're gonna do that split-screen retroactive spawn thing.

@Coin said in Spawns and How You Use Them:

I'd love to have access to Atlantis, but I don't have a Mac. Maybe a version for Windows? No? Okay.

This too.

@Sparks said in Spawns and How You Use Them:

So, one thing I've been considering is making spawns less 'concrete', so you can stick them together to view everything or retroactively turn them on and alter scrollback, etc. It sounds to me like that could work nicely for you, so that you could turn off spawns when in 'heads down', and have everything slip into a single thing, but turn it back on with a single click when done Heads Down Mode.

So, I don't use Atlantis (because I don't have a Mac, and I'm pretty sure that it's Mac-only, yes), so I guess take this with a grain of salt, but: Personally, I've always hated spawns because they create a new window that I have to pay attention to.

But if we could combine two of the options mentioned above -- have it just go to the other half of the screen (maybe a little checkbox or something?) and have it pull all that stuff retroactively (another little checkbox maybe?) I'd probably actually use them, because that sounds like a hella nice feature to have.

@Auspice said in Date Thenomain:

@Thenomain said in Date Thenomain:

... What?

@Catsmeow has taken a vested interest in your sex life.

I mean, let's be fair, someone had to.

@Auspice said in Date Thenomain:

penile bragging

To be fair, they did say 'massive genitalia'. Could go either way.

@Ghost said in Date Thenomain:

I have massive genitalia, too! a full collection of x-men comics, work in the IT field, and have a semi-stable job. Now, I'm not into guys, but I can guarantee a post hookup high five, beer and wings, and Predator on BluRay. Maybe Predator 2. Because Busey.

Also, by massive genitalia, I mean I didn't specify that I have a lion's penis.

When I get in there, I don't let go.

If he turns you down, holla my way.

Because damn, son. Dat tweed.

@Thenomain said in Upcoming Changes:

I understand that @EmmahSue makes bank on writing those short summaries of movies that you see. For porn.

If you could send me an application for that, that'd be great...

The Force Unleashed has a mobile version that's pretty fun.. You move your finger around in different patters for different force powers.

Beyond that, if you can increase your mouse sensitivity, you could always go the way of Elder Scrolls. Keeping things squarely in the middle and navigating with the keyboard is easy enough, and it's a good time waster.

Prey, too. I've fallen in love with that game. It's hella fun.

One thing that is always going to be particularly troublesome, at least in my opinion, is the fact that you're not really looking to accurately portray culture, in many of these settings. You're collecting a series of tropes in order to tell a story. And tropes by their very nature are stereotypical. It's hard to the point of being insanely difficult to learn enough about a culture to accurately portray them, so many people are going to go with the shortcut version. And in the current age, it's so easy to offend people of those cultures by playing into tropes that it's basically a tinderbox.

But the thing is, it doesn't just apply to POC. Tropes apply to -everyone-. Everything from your sleazy italian mafioso to your Basic White Girl guzzling pumpkin spice starbucks in Ugg boots. Nobody plays MU's for realism, they play it for stories, and those stories require a certain amount of bending of the rules. Homelessness, mental illness, etc, are all common trope fodder, and can be easily offensive too, and yet we have entire game systems that treat these things as a collection of shorthand tropes.

So where do we take a step back and say 'there is a line we have to draw between authentic portrayal for the sake of not offending anyone and realizing that it's just a story'?

Second sounds cooler.

@Paris, on Fallcoast I'm Enki/Heka.

@Paris said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:

@HelloProject said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:

I also like to think that there's no fucking way these people wouldn't get dragged for doing that shit in the modern era.

Having had a really unpleasant run-in with an extremely homophobic staffer in the last year or so, which resulted in several other staff becoming pretty unpleasant, and the resulting OOC retaliation and ostracism, I can assure you that people still get away with that kind of shit.

You and I don't always agree on things, but in this case, that is a super shitty thing to have happen. I refuse to accept homophobic OOC bullshit at any level, and that is one of the things that I will absolutely make sure stops, one way or another. It's 2017, that sort of attitude is bullshit in the highest.

@Misadventure said in Fate's Harvest BETA Live (Full Open Soon):

Perhaps a wiki page with links to the changes made? Perhaps with a sentence pointing out where/what topic it will be under?

That would be the Kiths page, under game systems.

Aldo available in game as +kith/ref.

http://fatesharvest.com/w/Category:System

Most of our stuff is organized fairly coherently. It is also available in the game itself under our extensive +ref system.

To be clear here: I don't think anyone is attaching me, though I do appreciate @Surreality for saying that. It's refreshing.

To be clear on another thing: Yes, the entire staff of Fate's Harvest is listening. We are aware of the feelings, we're in active discussion on the matter, and we take your concerns seriously.

What we are doubling down on is this: We are not going to remove a player before they have presented themselves as a problem on that game. This goes against the spirit of things that the Game Owner wants to see become canon there. So no amount of outcry is going to get us to magically remove the player before she has done so.

However, that doesn't mean that we aren't doing something. We've already shifted course a bit in light of these things, and continue to discuss ways to try and help handle the situation in a way that protects us and all of our players, both present and potential. While we haven't come to any solid conclusions yet, you're being heard. We just won't take the (in our opinion, drastic) measure of removing a player from the game before they present themselves as a problem. I know that this leaves some people disappointed, but that's just the way it is.

And on that note: We invite anyone who sees something shady going on to let us know. Staff can't be everywhere all the time, as players have pointed out, but the players also have to communicate with the staff if something suspicious is going down (beyond 'this person is present'). If you see something, say something. Preferably with some kind of log so that we can see it too.

One interesting thing about the game: logging is pretty heavy on most players' to-do lists. If you want to do more than the standard one xp a week, logs must be submitted. Pretty much everyone is aware of that, and scenes get logged pretty diligently, so logging is already in our nature. And we do read them.

So, as constructively as possible: We know. We hear you. We'll take action if it even starts to look like a problem. But so far, it doesn't look anything like that. If that changes, we'll be on it. Trust.

@Thenomain said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:

Mind you, the court of popular opinion is not a recognized legal system.

@Rook said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:

Wait, what? In MUdom? Oh yes it is. It is how we operate. It is what most MUs are all about, outside of theme!

Yeah. Pretty much this. This entire thread exists because there is a consensus in the court of popular opinion about how problem players should be dealt with, or even who constitutes problem players. I mean, nevermind the fact that some games have rules written in, meant to enforce ethical staffing, that prevents anyone from receiving a scarlet letter based on reputation. The fact that some games haven't taken immediate action against a player who hasn't done anything to earn it on that game is enough to spark an outcry. Look at the last 24 hours on this forum and the no-less-than-3 threads that this topic is being talked about currently.

And that's what I mean by 'it is unwinnable'. If you try and use your own rules, you run up against the Court of Popular Opinion, and if you cave to peer pressure, the idea of using blanket rules becomes pretty meaningless because you're already singling out players from the getgo.