Posts made by faraday

@Tat said in Digital Ocean for Ares:

Not forever. We're starting to hit our disk space limit - I think we're sitting at about 85%. But definitely for a good long while, and upping it isn't that big a deal.

Yeah it depends on the size of your playerbase, grid, how many scenes people share, how many images you let them upload to the wiki, etc. I ran BSGU for almost 2 years and never came close to the disk limit. And as Tat mentioned, SL has a double install for their test server, so the real disk space usage is probably closer to 60% even with all their stuff.

But even at the larger $10/month droplet size, it's on par with most traditional MU hosting plans.

Folks can PM me here or on the Ares forum (or pretty much anywhere you can find me) for an invite to the discord.

@Ghost said in Recent banning:

No longer has keys to the house even if it comes back to mind

Password reset works pretty well for that too.

I don't really get why it needs to be marked at all? If you're gonna quit a site, just... don't come back? Marking it as banned sends a weird message.

Obviously I'm kind of biased, but I think the FS3 combat system is reasonably robust. There are lots of options that give you various tactical advantages: stances, bursts, called shots, distractions, suppression, aiming, armor, vehicles... and of course the GMs can impose manual modifiers/damage and other clever tricks (akin to what @Lotherio mentioned.)

That said, combat systems, like any code, are just a tool. It's how you use them that matters. They're there to support the story, not to be the story. I've been in tons of combat scenes. The memorable ones were where there's more going on that just mowing down NPC #72. And that's tough to do when you have 15 players in a scene, just as it's tough to do much engaging storytelling when you have 15 players in a social scene. That's not really a fault of the system.

@JinShei Thanks!

@JinShei said in Serious Question About Making A MU:

There are a lot of moving parts and I have broken many of them.

Part of this is because, as mentioned, Ares is still in beta. There are many configuration items, and sometimes it's not as tolerant as it should be to improper settings. It's continually being improved, though.

But as you know (but FYI for others), most cases are easily resolved on the Discord. "I changed the foo settings and now I'm getting this weird error on app review." "Oh, it's because xyz is blank." Having detailed error logs helps a lot

@Packrat said in Serious Question About Making A MU:

You definitely need some solution to the code problem though...Something broke in it and I was too inept to get even basic commands like dice rollers and similar to function. It just sapped all impetus and things stalled out.

That's not a problem that has a solution. Trial and error is an essential part of learning any code platform. You break things, you curse a lot and eventually figure it out, you get better. That's a universal truth whether you're talking about MUSHcode or Evennia or Ares, or iPhone app development, or whatever. It's just the nature of the beast.

It helps a lot to have a supportive community. Ares has always had forums, but in the past year we also now have a Discord where it's easier to get "live" help with questions or code issues. I've heard that the Evennia IRC channel is also quite friendly.

Coding is not easy. Full stop. Becoming a proficient coder in any language/environment takes patience and persistence. But it can be done.

ETA: But just to reiterate - Ares is fully functional out of the box with several skill systems to choose from. Your particular game's vision may require custom code, but it's absolutely possible to run an Ares game without needing a coder.

@Griatch said in Serious Question About Making A MU:

But for the record, Ruby (for Ares) or Python (for something like Evennia) are languages that are simple to learn. Both are also worthwhile to know outside the hobby (unlike mush softcode which has no use outside the mush world).

I have to disagree that learning to code for Ares/Evennia is simple. The underlying language itself (Ruby/Python) is more intuitive than MUSHCode by far, but that's not all you have to learn.

There's also the MUSH-specific layer, the tools (GitHub source control gives many newbies fits just by itself), database stuff (to some extent, even though it's abstracted away), and the web framework. That's a lot of moving parts, and it can be pretty overwhelming at first.

I say that not to discourage people, but to set expectations.

I do agree that learning to code for the new gen servers pays dividends that are more transferrable to the real world. And it's definitely easier to find a buddy who knows some ruby/python than to enlist one of a dwindling number of softcoders. Also, both Evennia and Ares have coding tutorials and helpful Discord/IRC chats for support of those who do want to learn.

It definitely can be done. I just don't want to oversell how easy it is.

@Mercutio I would add to that a new branch:

Do You Have a Coder?
--> No
Are You Willing to Run with the AresMUSH code as-is? (Bearing in mind that there are several plugins available for different skill systems.)
---> Yes
Use Ares. You don't need a coder.

Though I will put out my usual disclaimer that Ares is still in Beta. It's very stable, but bugs do happen.

Making a MU comes down to several key areas:

1. Direction - the overall theme and hooks of the game. What it's about and what the players are going to do.
2. Grid
3. Code
4. Information (theme, setting, groups/factions, etc.)
5. Work

It sounds like you have 2 & 4 pretty well covered.

5 is just a matter of ensuring that you have enough help to make your vision fly. It's certainly possible to run games by yourself if your Direction is set up to support it. Multi-faction/antagonistic/heavily-plot-driven games will require more staff. So think about what you need and then recruit as necessary.

1 & 3 go hand in hand, because your direction is going to drive what code you need. A Star Wars game centered around smugglers and Hutt crime bosses can probably get by without a coded combat system. A Battlestar or Gundam game with huge battles every other week would struggle without one. What kind of game are you going for, and what type of code will it need? Then you have to ask what kind of code you're able to develop in the timeframe you want. As @mietze says, Ares comes with a lot out of the box, but it won't fit every game. If it's not the right fit for you, then you have to figure out what platform is and then secure the coder resources necessary to build the game you envision.

Good luck!

@Warma-Sheen I did not twist words, I quoted excerpts of what you said verbatim. If you cannot see how badly those things can be taken by multiple people then, to quote you again, "that's on you".

I stand by my point and see no value in debating yours.

@Warma-Sheen said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

I'm not sure why my post seemed to be taken as a direct attack on anyone.

There is a pervasive problem in this country (world?) of people challenging the validity of mental health diagnoses. Patients struggle to get doctors/family/friends/society to recognize that their problems aren't just all in their head. That they can't just snap themselves out of it without treatment (in the form of therapy and/or medication). That their diagnoses are legitimate.

Coming onto a forum about ADD talking about how "pumping people with aderall and ritalin" is bad, doctors are unethical, big pharma can't be trusted, some people with diagnoses "likely don't have it", etc. is not just unhelpful, it's harmful. This is not a matter of 'everyone's entitled to their opinions'; it's contributing to the stigma around mental health and that's a bad thing.

Nobody is saying that medication is the only answer, or even the best answer for everyone. There are all kinds of behavioral therapies available. Talking about your experience with them would be helpful. Likening ADHD treatment to lobotomies is not.

@Auspice said in Ares Users: Daily Prompts?:

even days where no scenes happen because of a lot of 'Anyone RPable?' 'Sure' 'Oh sorry I asked that an hour ago...' type hit-or-miss chatter.

What you're describing sounds a lot like the old grid-camping thing, which never really worked out that great in my personal experience. Too often you'd come on down only to find that the person's wandered AFK two hours ago, which isn't really any better than responding to an hours-old "Anybody want to RP?" on channel.

I'm not really following why syncing up via channel is a challenge though. Everyone's on the same channels, no matter whether they're on the portal or in a MU client. It sounds like the core issue is with people being available at the same time so that a response of "Anybody want to RP?" is met with "Yeah! How about X..." If that's the case, I don't quite see how having a specific RP hook will help.

@Rinel said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

The drugs for OCD and ADHD do not slow the brain down.

Exactly. In fact, the drugs for ADHD are primarily stimulants. One way I've heard it described is like the ADHD brain needs extra stimulus to focus. So instead of focusing on the boring homework, the brain is like: "oh but what about this? or this over here? or that?" The medication helps to combat that by giving the brain's neurotransmitters what they're looking for, thereby helping you focus.

These are issues with the way a brain works on a chemical and organic level. It can be measured with MRIs and stuff. Some people need meds, some people can cope without them. Just as not all diabetics need insulin. But for the ones that do, telling them it's all a big pharma conspiracy theory is nonsense.

@Rinel Probably just a problem with your configuration. If you grab the log information (from Admin->Logs on the web portal, or aresmush/game/logs on the server shell) you can PM me, or ask on the forum or discord for help. (Info/Links)

@Rinel There’s no way to do that, sorry. The main issue with that is that FS3 action skills are based around the central conflict of your game. So even within a modern time period, you could end up with wildly different action skills depending on the game’s focus. For instance my modern post apoc skills list was 90% the same as the BSG one because the focus was similar.

@Rinel said in Has anyone ever set up a server just for a small group of friends?:

Well, I already gave DigitalOcean my money, so I'm stuck for now!

Oh I'm not suggesting that you not do it, just advising of potential pitfalls based on my experience. If you can get RP schedules aligned, and/or set up "event/plot" times for folks to shoot for, and/or use async scenes, etc. - it could work. A lot of it comes down to how determined the players are to overcoming the inherent obstacles.

@Rinel From a technical standpoint, absolutely. But that slower style of play is a hard sell to many MUSHers. If all your scenes end up taking days or weeks and revolving around a central narrative (since there's only so much you can do with a handful of people), then you might be better off with Storium or Roll20 or something.

I have, yes, and I've been on a few. The main issue with a friend-sandbox MU server is that you have neither the forced regularity of a TTRPG game ("We meet every Friday at Bob's house") nor the open-world nature of a traditional MUSH (where RP is readily available), nor the "toss out a pose when you can" nature of play-by-forum. It gets hard for folks to find RP and then things peter out. They've never lasted long.

That said, it's easy enough to spin up a server and give it a try.

@surreality It's still ODD in everything I've read recently.

RP - always on my laptop. I need a real keyboard or it feels like I'm typing with one hand tied behind my back.

I do read-only stuff (logs, wiki, etc.) on my phone or tablet. Once in a blue moon I might log on to talk to someone OOC that way.