Posts made by Derp

@Lotherio said in Leadership, Spotlight, and PCs of Staffers:

Folks are saying if a game is setup for the general public, but then the general public is ignored, its not really a game for the general public is it?

Are they really, though? How democratic should games be, really?

You log into a game, read its theme, read its mechanics, and decide to play there based on preconceived notions of what is already there. Someone has already determined a direction for the game, determined the kinds of themes they want to see in it, determined the kind of feel that they want for it, and then they open it up for the general public to enjoy along with them along those specific guidelines.

If a game were truly open for the general public to decide the fate of, then someone would open a mush, take a poll on what people want to play, and then build the game that way. A mush is not a democratic organization, usually. Nor really should it be, if it's going to remain true to the theme of things. Players should have some sway on the storylines being told, yes, but they shouldn't be able to take it completely into the weeds, either.

So when we talk about 'player choice', how much player choice are we talking about, here? And if their choices are so far divergent from what the staff of the game wants in the first place, why not set up a new game? More games are never bad.

@Kanye-Qwest said in Leadership, Spotlight, and PCs of Staffers:

aren't staffers usually chosen from players who have risen to/performed well in leadership positions?

That seems to have been the general position once upon a time ago, yeah. But of the two places that I've staffed at, I've been chosen staff both times by a process that (paraphrased) went something like this:

Staffer: We need staffers.
Me: Do you not have enough people?
Staffer: None that are willing to do it.
Me: ...I mean, I guess I can do it, if you don't mind? I think I've got enough knowledge to pull this off without too many hiccups.
Staffer: You're hired.

Granted, the first time I was hired, it was as a build staffer, and then my positions sort of... blossomed out from there as I saw holes that needed to be filled. But in my experience, staffers are selected because... there's nobody else that wants to do it. I think part of this is because of the sort of philosophy of penalization that the games I'm currently on seem to use. Nobody wants to do the staff work because it's demanding, and unforgiving, and in large part requires you to sacrifice your time, as well as your fun, to try and make it work, or walk the constant tightrope that starts to get headachey after a while.

So merit-based systems only really work if you have people that are still willing to do the job after they've shown they have the skills and the knowledge, which seems to be lacking on some games.

Caveat: I have epic amounts of school crap to do, and haven't read all 5 or 6 pages of replies, because a lot of it seems focused on prp's and storytellers and people generally +1'ing at length. So some of this might have already been covered and I missed it in a quick skim. Apologies.

But now, for my (probably not mainstream) opinion on this:

@GirlCalledBlu said in Leadership, Spotlight, and PCs of Staffers:

1. Staff should not play characters in positions of IC power; by default, they have OOC power because they are staffers, but abuse is always a concern when a Staffer has both OOC and IC power, and that IC power comes through their PC; if a Staff PC does end up in a leadership position, their character should be the minority (i.e. if they end up on the Senate Security Council, they should be easily outvoted by non-Staff PCs on the same council). In general though, Staff PCs should not hold IC positions of power.

I have the opposite opinion on this. I don't think that PCs should be the ones in positions of absolute authority. There are a variety of reasons for this, but at the end of the day, they really come down to two main points:

• PCs are not the ones that are, for the most part, determining the game's direction. That's staff's job. Therefore, when you have your Top Tier Dude with a vision, and that vision doesn't jive with what Bob the Prince/HIerarch/Alpha/Whatever has in mind, you end up with tension, where the story/sphere/game as a whole would have been better served by having an NPC in that position that can actively serve to help direct things the way they should be going. Having to wrangle a player with some sort of authority into line with the story, or try and follow the authority-player's logic to the point where essentially staff's story is subservient to the player's desire, creates nightmares and headaches. Especially since everyone seems to insist that these people be elected in some sort of democratic fashion, rather than vetted through staff about who's going to be the actual best to serve in that position for story needs.

• Staff are often putting in a lot of work on the game. They deserve all the same opportunities to advance their characters that everyone else does. If you don't trust the staffer's character with responsibility, then you don't actually trust the staffer with responsibility, which means... you probably shouldn't be playing there.

2. Staff can play characters on their games, and these characters can have their own story arc that is significant to the character's development as long as this story arc does not violate point #1 or take a significant role in the metaplot.

Since I disagree with the first point here, I think that my response on this one is "Staff can play too, full stop."

3. Staff can play their characters in metaplot events, as long as they are there to to participate solely as just another PC (i.e. "I'm here to blow shit up" or "I'm here to get pissant drunk and sleep under the table" [or any other variant]).

They should be able to participate as any other PC can, I think. They shouldn't be the one running the scene, of course, but they should have as much opportunity as others. All work and no real, enjoyable play makes for burnt out staffers that leave players without an actual staff.

4. When a Staffer is on their PC, they are not operating as a Staffer, but as another PC on the game. There should be a clear boundary, and the PC bits should not be used as an arm of the Staffer. If the Staffer has something to say/do, they should say/do it on their wizbit.

It's the same person. And given the nature of transparency on who plays/does what on most games, this shouldn't really be necessary. I mean, it's not a major deal, but if someone says 'knock it off and stop being a dick', then you shouldn't have to resort to a wizbit to back that up. I mean, you -can-, sure. But either way, the message got sent.

Ultimately, I think the question here is... what role should Staff PCs have on a MUSH, and how does their role differ from the roles of non-Staff PCs?

Staffers are players who stepped up to the plate and are putting in the work to keep things running, for the most part, and as such they shouldn't be penalized for doing so. While whether they should be rewarded for such is a seperate question of gaming philosophy, I don't feel like penalizing the people who try and help make things better is ever going to move us in a positive direction.

@Insomnia

sigh See? Told you. This is why you shouldn't 4am post while drinking. Sorry.

While I haven't had this happen personally, as I use Potato, I've heard enough about SimpleMu to make me question:

Why do people still use it?

I mean, I'm not trying to detract from your topic at all. I'm really not. I know that a great many people prefer it, overall, but it's a client that hasn't been supported through at least, what, two versions of windows? You can just barely get the full version without key-cracker software at this point, but people still adore this thing.

What does it have that other, supported clients like Mushclient and Potato don't have? Is it tradition, or is it some actual feature of it that just draws people to it? What can it do that others can't? The only thing I've heard so far, overall, is that spawning is simpler. But is that really worth all of the headaches that come with all the problems?

And (perhaps more importantly, and more on the point), we have a number of people that are pretty proficient in coding and interface design, being a hobby for computer nerds, after all. Why has nobody taken up the banner to make a SimpleMU replacement that adds in all of the functionality of the things they love about it?

I think that this is a good example of something that we're rooted in by tradition, even though at times it seems counterproductive to the point of being somewhat destructive. We love the things that give us trouble, but are unwilling to part with them for Reasons(TM).

Anyway, does anyone have a solution for @surreality??

P.S. (Once again, sorry for possibly detracting from your thread, but I'm a bit intoxicated and fighting with the boyfriend, and wanted to get this out on "paper" before it flew out of my head. I'll probably move it to another thread in the morning when I'm thinking more clearly.)

@TNP said in Cheap or Free Games!:

Origin redesigned their website and put up a 50% off code: origin50.

I've been wanting to pick up all the Dragon Age games, and now I can do it stupid cheap! Thank you, TNP!

So, who else is excited for Resident Evil 7?

Bigelow Cherry Vanilla, back when you could find it.

@Coin

Yeah, that's true, I did have a few facepalm moments BUT!. The face-rubbing got balanced by all the snickering I did when you did something I cheered.

You were the bestest boss.

@Coin said in Mundane Super Powers:

I can piss off anyone. Anyone.

Apparently my superpower is being immune to his superpower. I think it's cute when he's being all grrface.

@Misadventure said in The State of the Chronicles of Darkness:

@Coin said in The State of the Chronicles of Darkness:

@Misadventure said in The State of the Chronicles of Darkness:

Okay, I bought it. It had better be worth it.

Or what!

Or @Coin gets it!!!

Like @Coin will turn down free books.

Oh, wait, is that what you meant? Crap. Stupid English ambiguity.

@Vorpal said in RL Anger:

Well, I have the full picture now re; mom's cancer, and it wasn't too different from what I was expecting.
She's starting chemo today. IF she reacts favorably, the doc says that her life expectancy would be 1 to 2 years. If not, less.

She's also extremely depressed, because she is by character an extremely depressive, pessimistic person, so that's going to affect her. And the fact that my aunt, her sister, is probably going to die of cancer in a few months from now is going to hit her hard as well. She doesn't want to walk, she barely eats, and my father isn't helping because he's losing his temper when she resists.

Can we be done with 2016 already?

hugs

@DnvnQuinn

Right, but none of those mods are easy if you don't know how to code already. @Thenomain's system is probably the easiest to mod out of the box, and even that's pretty intensive.

@DnvnQuinn said in Let's talk about what makes a Mush succesful or a failure in regards to the questions presented herein.:

They guy hosting my server suggested Rhost. What has the most code I can steal?

In my limited experience, MUX has tons of code that you can steal. What's going to work for a Fallout game?

....um...

...well...

You might need a coder.

@Lithium said in RPG Percentile Mechanics:

See this right here is a problem. If I am able to throw 100 tons around without a problem, there shouldn't be any /swinginess/ when I connect. It should do an immense amount of force on impact and there shouldn't be a feel of 'anything can happen' in super hero's in my opinion. If 'anything' can happen, then what is the point of having super powers if they end up being worthless due to a swingy dice system just screwing you over all the time?

Because there's never been a comic book ark where the characters punch at each other and miss repeatedly, but nevertheless end up hitting walls, cars, lamp posts, etc...

Just because you don't connect with the target doesn't mean you don't connect with -something-. Dice are against you and you're having bad luck? Talk about some of the collateral damage that happens in the wake of that. Superhero fights are almost never neat and tidy. Look at Hancock for an example of how batshit that can get. Not connecting doesn't mean both characters are bad, either. It can just as easily signify that both characters are highly competent combatants and are totally on their freaking game today, dodging deftly and returning masterful counterstrokes that are dodged equally deftly.

Dice don't have to come up with big numbers and huge wins to make cool story.

@Vorpal said in RL Anger:

Well... metastasis.

Fuck everything.

Sorry bud.

@Griatch said in Base Code Question:

@Derp

Language famliarity is certainly a valid reason for going with a particular system. After reading that I would honestly not had commented in this thread if @faraday had not specifically asked me to clarify something.
.
Griatch

Oh no, not you. You were summoned.

To all the ones spouting about the joys of Evennia and all, that's great, but:

@Lithium said in Base Code Question:

I also have at least some experience coding in MUX so don't want to try and learn a new language right now.

^

That. Just throwing that out there.

While for the most part this looks cool, there's a line in here I think is gonna trip things up:

Kheyr is good or white, Meshki is evil or black. Using these is equivalent to deeds and influences, readily weighing on one's tally simply by making use of this mystical energy regardless of the deed being performed (using Meshki for good is still an evil act, etc.).

By this logic, then using Kheyr for evil is still a 'good' act, because it's all good power, etc.

See how that road darkens the further you look down it?

But I'd play something like this, for sure.

@silentsophia said in What would a superhero game need to be/do to bring in a new player base?:

ASSBUTTS.

You get an upvote just for the Supernatural reference.