@faraday Yeah I'm not dissing Ares, I'm frustrated that forum-culture seems to seep into a lot of Ares games. I'm fine if a scene takes 3 days to a week to finish. I'm fine if poses take hours. I start losing all my enthusiasm if it takes more than a month to do one scene.
@Ghost said in Observation:
@ZombieGenesis I actually looked up startplayinggames and have had pretty good success finding inexpensive GMs of quality games so far, and might throw my hat into running games for a little side cash.
My docket right now consists of V5 Vampire, Aliens, Walking Dead, Secret World (when I get it), and the new marvel rpg. I was also in on the kickstarter for Alchemy and that looks like it'll be a super sweet vtt for running streamed games.
What I learned about StartPlaying is it's hard to get players if you're not doing D&D or Pathfinder, and if you're not running pre-published adventures. Very weird to me as to me running a pre-published takes less creativity and skill than writing your own, but that's what people are paying for.
I recommend you mute/ignore/block whichever person this could ever be about that surely isn't me.
Given you falsely accused me of insulting you when I was scrupulously polite to you, did not apologize for blatantly telling me to fuck off, did not apologize for your graphic language, did not apologize for making false accusations and casting aspersions on darn near everyone here, and are giggle-dancing all over the place as you continue stirring the pot, I do believe I, for one, am going to go right ahead and take this most excellent advice.
Bless your heart, @Ghost.
@icanbeyourmuse LOL, trust, all mages are not super powerful. As my mage shakes off the effects of a month of magical botches over minor cantrip-style stuff. Also got reduced to hamburger meat.
Many players are pleasant, but WoD is a huge, popular theme. Attracting a larger population means attracting more people who selfishly do not care about anyone's experience other than their own, is all.
I wouldn't put rosters on any game, because I've seen those same continuity issues play out everywhere, regardless of the theme. I never played on Arx, and maybe it and Thundergulch will be the exceptions that prove the rule, but I've seen it just result in broken stories and screwy continuity across a multitude of other games that have tried it. Nice idea to try to round out character types people don't think to play, maybe, looks great on paper, messed up in practice. Might be better served to provide a concept list: here are some neat concepts we've thought of that you are welcome to use as a starting point for your character, and that we'd love to see played.
Dev's Jambalaya
Chicken, cut up into pieces. Basically just use a package of boneless skinless cause I'm lazy.
Flour, in the amount of "as much as you end up needing."
Butter. Also in the amount of "as much as you end up needing."
1 onion, chopped
Chopped Celery - 1 to 5 ribs depending on your feelings about celery
Garlic
Chopped Bell Pepper - bout half. Green.
2 cups Rice
Sausage - I like tasso, if you can't find it, andouille, you can't find that, a spicy sausage will do
2 Beers
2.5 cups water
Seasoning: You can go with straight up salt n' pepper, or you can go with a Tony Chacheres or a Slap Yer Mama
Mis en place makes your life way easier.
You do not need a fancy pot. Any big pot with a lid will do. Must have a good lid.
Open the first beer. Take a swig. That's your cookin' beer.
Coat cut chicken with flour. This is basically helping you cheat your way out of having to make a roux. Roux is a PITA. Season it up.
Toss butter into the pot. Fry up the chicken. When it's brown, set it aside.
Throw more butter in there.
Throw the veggies in there. Sauté and sweat them until the smell makes you happy.
Rice. Water. 2nd beer. Into the pot.
Put the lid on. Make sure it's a clear lid you can see. If you open the lid to check your rice you'll ruin the rice. The amount of time this will take to cook is "awhile." It has never been precise, not one time when I've done it. You're looking for little holes in the rice and little bubbles to sort of issue out of the holes like geysers and the moment when it looks like almost all the rest of the liquid has cooked out. If it looks like it's still watery or wet give it more time. I think the amount of time it takes depends weirdly on the beer you use, but don't quote me on that. If you're feeling impatient, sip your cooking beer.
Throw more seasoning on upon serving, to taste.
This doesn't give you a brown or yellow jambalaya, so don't worry about all that. It does give you a cheap, easy, filling, and tasty jambalaya.
@faraday Well yeah, I never said it was an inherently terrible idea. 
I'm having trouble understanding how it might create a better experience or how you would avoid another player completely jumping the shark with a character or even the entire story, but I mean, I'm very "You do you and have fun" by nature. If by design you absolutely don't want anyone ever keeping control of a character then yeah, 24 hours is the right call.
@macha I also suffer with migraines and pretty severe depression, and I'd say...call the doc cause either you'll get an adjustment you need, or you'll get the reassurance you need that this might be an expected side effect for a few days and either way you take one more fork out of yourself by getting the answer.
@derp @carma Or to know that there were even things that could be done to do that in the first place, which...I did not, until roughly 6 seconds ago. I've met blind players, I just thought they had an assistive hardware device of some form that took care of this. I mean I'm glad I know better now, but it def. wasn't maliciousness that kept me from doing anything special in that direction on games I launched. Just ignorance and...barely being able to remember how to stick someone else's code in the box to begin with, let alone knowing there might be additional features required so everyone who wanted to play, could.
I don't know that the Ares crowd is nicer per se; I agree with @Derp when he points out the codebase doesn't make for an experience that's all rainbows and butterflies or necessarily even always changes the people being dealt with.
I think it does make launching a game more accessible to new potential game runners who would not have been able to do it before, opening up additional options and opportunities.
I also think the format makes everything much more transparent, which in turn cuts down on the amount of tomfoolery that goes down. Which could feel like a big breath of fresh air like the one @Artemis describes if you're used to places with fewer safeguards.
@Ganymede Definitely no shade intended on anyone who still does, or who can manage their time better than I can manage my time when I'm involved. There are definitely times I miss it or wonder if I could find the balance.
@kumakun These are really gorgeous!
@Derp @Tirit IDK, Kiddo (age 21) is basically doing what we do, text based, just not on the same platforms. And sometimes they do rando voice scenes while playing some other game that are akin to MU* social scenes.
IDK where he finds his RP partners (possibly Discord?), and all their conventions seem to be a little different, but he'd also rather spork out his eyes than RP with someone my age (45) or anyone in the vicinity of being my age, and has stated that knowing a game was full of parent-age people would be a great reason to stay off it as far as he is concerned. Every generation finds its own path, I guess!
I hate asking for help but...I'm going to post this here anyway. Thanks for reading.
@ganymede LOL oh oh oh got it now. 
You can make a lawyer joke, that doesn't mean it's not going to go over my head sometimes!
@Macha Read the first one, skimmed the second. In both, all I saw was two characters making questionable choices, which characters are allowed to do.
We don't expect characters to interact with story like they would react to situations RL, thus why I don't run up and down the streets with a gun rescuing various kidnap victims or whatever.
I see nothing that wouldn't be bog standard drama generation on half-a-dozen PG-14 television shows. I'm not getting SA off this. Do I think it's ethical or wise to cuddle with someone in bed IRL when one of them is drunk or high? I mean...no, even if it's a good friend who (probably) won't mind. Do I think it makes sense to tar and feather you for writing fiction about someone who did? Also no.
I am getting a lot of two characters who need rehab and some counseling. And it seemed like, based on the logs alone, both players were having a blast with this content. They are certainly two very long scenes. I'm not inclined to judge you for them.
@Misadventure Congrats indeed! And now please excuse me, I need to go spend some money on Thirsty Sword Lesbians.
@runescryer I think whether or not it can work depends largely on what kind of support you have in place for that person.
Clear, written policies with a clear rubric for when certain things will be awarded, clear guidance and help on how to get and launch RP...the more crystal-clear the policies, the better this would go. And anything that looks vague should be tightened up.
@derp and I were talking about this last night. Say you have Tier slots for different characters.
Vague: Top Tier characters must foster RP in their spheres.
Specific, crystal clear: Top Tier characters must run 3 PRP scenes per month for that they do not participate in personally. This may be for any sphere as long as you're making RP for the game. Those PRPs must create RP for at least 3-5 people per session and at least two of them must have entirely different participants. RL happens, so you get a 30 day grace period. If you can't uphold your obligations you will be asked to step down from the Top Tier role and will lose all the benefits, even if this means putting this character on hiatus and being invited to app a Bottom Tier character. Top Tier characters may be reactivated after running 5 PRPs.
Then when the ombudsman/player relations guy gets:
"@Derp was totally mean to me! He dropped me from my tier role unfairly!"
Well now there's something to investigate and something to work with.
"Hey Derp, unhappy player ran his 3 PRP scenes last week, did you spot that? They appear to be within the bounds of the policy you wrote, man, is there something else going on?"
Or...
"Hey, I see that you tried to run your 3 PRPs but that third one had three of the same players from the first two so you're not in policy yet. Do you think you can run one that meets the criteria in the next week? This has never happened before, seems like a mistake. If so I'll ask Derp if you can have some more time."
Or...
"Dude you're way past your grace period. The policy clearly states you lose the character in this circumstance. I'm not going to Derp with this. Go run your 5 PRPs, and put in your requests to get your character back, same as anyone else."
If the policy isn't clear the Ombudsman themself has no leg to stand on other than gut, what seems fair, their own feelings towards player/other staff, etc., and you end right back up at square one.
@il-volpe He said he branches out, and he does.
As it happens, @Derp was the one who approached me back when we met, not the other way around, even though of the two of us I'm typically the more gregarious one getting out there with a larger number of people.
He very clearly had a process, one that included reading some of my logs and asking other people he trusted about their experiences with me, but he did reach out. Characterizing it as if he just never ever ever meets anyone new is a misrepresentation.
Economy of energy and time is definitely a thing.