@Auspice It sounds like you're on top of it and I'm sorry you're experiencing this. It does sound a lot like something that happened to my sister almost kind of suddenly a year ago. Turned out, she had developed GERD (hitting your 30s is the best). I thought it just gave you constant heartburn but apparently in some people it sets off asthma attacks where none were before.
I dunno if this is helpful but thought I'd mention as it was one of those 'wait really?' moments.
Science is weird.
For Me, This Is Where I Stand:
Source Code: If it's on a public git or is marked expressly open source, it's fair game but its also good manners to credit the dev. As many of the tools that exist in games now are improvements off the source to either work in the game code structure or just work for how you want it, it's always nice to show off your work but credit the originating dev as well. That said if its not open source, don't use it without permission.
Wiki Code: If its something very signature, ask and credit. If its basic code that you can find on any number of public resources, then it's fair game. I don't think there's particularly anything wrong with taking basic code that's open source and changing it your needs, especially if the signature holder doesn't want to share but I would avoid putting yourself in a situation where it appears you just c/p'ed the code.
Plots & Rules: A lot of plots or rules are version of retread from another game or idea. There are fresh takes on ideas but there are not that many new ideas under the sun at some point when it comes to story and most rule sets on games are not re-inventing the wheel. That said, it's not cool to copy and run plot verbatim without permission.
Flagrant Plagiarism In General: Open source doesn't really fit into this dynamic because the whole point of open source is that you put the code out there for general public use. You basically give up control as to what happens next but the social contract with it is the person taking isn't a total garbage fire with it. Wholesale stealing of entire wikis, characters, closed source code and flatfiles - don't be that guy..
I work with a lot of Slavic people at my job. I enjoy this. I especially enjoy the Polish lady whom, if you so much as sneeze at your desk, stalks you all over the office until she all but physically picks you up and places you on the sidewalk to make you go home. You must stay away for 3 days at minimum. Do not try to come back.
Ilu Madeizja. You're doing God's work.
I think its fine as long as players don't cross streams. If they do, then maybe make it clear that they will have to make a choice about which alt gets to go to further events and which one has to stay home and wash their hair.
An apology isn't for the person who fucked up, to make them feel better or undo what happened. That's not the point. The apology is for the person who was on the receiving end of the consequences of someone else's behavior but there's merit in someone making an attempt.
When people fuck up, they should apologize. They don't as much they should, which is a shame. But just because someone apologizes doesn't mean the receiver has to accept. I would rather the door be left open to people who are making an attempt for the benefit of the person receiving with the understanding that no one has to say 'thanks, I accept' on the other side.
Oh yep, I see what you mean.
I don't see them as unrelated but they do need discernment. My intention behind 'don't be a dick' vs. more explicit do/don't is that 'don't be a dick' is a more subjective proposition. There are some people who genuinely don't see some behavior as inflammatory or are so literal in their method of operating on games that unless it isn't explicitly stated that you can't do 'a thing', they reason that its a tacit allowance to do 'a thing'.
I generally concept burning down a game as the sort of thing that happens with intention, after some point. It's rare in my experience that someone trips headlong into polarizing a community possessing no intention to cause any sort of damage. I can't be certain that it hasn't happened ever but I wouldn't classify that as a majority happening. And burning down a game is often a multi-factor destructive swath that involves some combination of making oneself so utterly socially toxic and administratively unwanted and rule breaking that there's almost no way this can't be on purpose. And I qualify being stunningly self-sabotaging as a willful act and therefore 'on purpose'.
But I mean people who reach that level of game detonation are so variable in their actions per local game conditions but so steadfast in their reliability to do so that lays the groundwork to getting to that point but much like Justice Stewart's threshold test for obscenity: most rational people know it when they see it.
I find this sort of thing sticky but sometimes necessary.
I'll be honest that in the scenario that if I were to run my game (this is staggeringly levels of unlikely) there are people exclusively by reputation that I would politely turn away. This list is maybe 2 people long and entirely likely obvious as to who they may be. While they may be as people not entirely garbage, their penchant for burning down games is entirely more than I would want to take on.
It gets a little more murky when people ban and pre-ban each other based on petty differences of opinion and pedestrian dick moves, because you don't necessarily want to open the door to normalizing bringing a chemical weapon to a slap fight.
But then I guess, in that case it becomes a 'vote with your feet' proposition for the other people playing. Pre-banning players for petty cause is a red flag about how the game administration will likely go and go forward, good luck and god speed to you if you want to keep playing there.
I prefer very clear policies, even at the risk of going overboard on the overly specific because it sets clear, non-subjective expectations. Example:
'Don't be a dick on +channels' v. 'Disruptive behavior and hate or harassing speech/subjects will not be welcome on channels.'
I also prefer clear policies on how you intend to discipline players who violate things. Example:
'First Offense: Written Warning
Second Offense: 7 day temporary ban
Third Offense: You will be excused from playing here permanently'
Would this happen to be Dark Spires?
This is the only game where I've seen this policy but there may be other places. The reason that I was told when I wondered about it is the game owner is personally affected by this issue to some extent (I don't know/didn't ask for specifics) and often finds that people who play mental illness tend to play it as unhinged crazy or socially maladjusted, that it borders on offensive stereotype or is just entirely unpleasant to have to RP with.
But it makes sense that other games would ban these concepts, as well.
Telltale games on phones have been for me a mostly crashy, twitchy affair. I have an iPhone CE (or whatever the one the 6 is that's crammed into a 5 shell) so yeah, seconding that you get it through Steam.
Uhhh.... okay?
I was referring to someone else's use of the word 'dogpile' in this thread. I read what you wrote, what others wrote, and shared a thought I had about the general thing of it.
My only real concern with the dog pile is that it unintentionally shoots in the face the spirit of what's trying to occur here.
Which is, people trying their best to account for past weaknesses of character or personal failings.
There are ways to apologize properly but often the circumstances that allow for that have to be optimal. In the case of things that happened online and especially a long time ago on a game, the ability to find the people involved is probably slim to none unless you're still in contact with them and chances are, you've already hashed out the issue enough to continue speaking to one another.
Or one hopes.
Will people be bad actors? Sometimes.
Will people use this as a way to preen? Sometimes probably from time to time.
Will people use language that's imprecise in their fumbling attempt to apologize? Yes.
But I maintain that the spirit vs. the letter of the law of what's trying to occur here is perhaps more important than the crafts of verse. Sure, yes, its fine to take issue but I would also consider being generous in spirit enough lest you scare someone off who intends to use this forum to make amends or privately contact someone to make an attempt.
@tangent said:
@GangOfDolls LaX till I die flashes signs
Your icon. I understand so many things now.
@mushered said in Tracking Alts on Dynamic IPs:
I meant it like 'mushered' as in mushered out. The question was with regards to cheating. On our game, you are not allowed to share items, there are credit restrictions, in game money and other things. There is also the issue of people being turds as many pointed out. After years of mushered-ing and staffing, you would be surprised the strange things you catch people doing. Being able to link ip addresses to charbits has been an thing as long as I can remember. Of course, I don't think dynamic stuff was even around when I started.
This sounds a lot like the challenges Cybersphere faced at one point or another and its one of the longer running games out there in general.
Often ferreting out these issues are like playing wack-a-mole and its a huge resource burn in terms of staff time, patience, and sanity. It also often doesn't do wonders for staff/player relations.
While I'm not a huge fan of alts in games (which I realize is a bit of a contradiction), if its going to exist @Chime 's self-reporting information I think is important and hugely sanity saving.
My questions/suggestions are:
COIs/Cheating around IG Money: CS had a problem with this in the past and still may but I haven't staffed there in quite some time. Instead of rooting out constant cheating, we just restricted offending player's access to the financial systems. It didn't lock them out of the game but did make it much more difficult to launder money through alts. If they still insisted on doing it, we took away their financial resources to their PCs. Harsh but they still had IC ways of getting by and the time out from being able to transact was not forever-ever. It just basically put their credstick in a corner for x days. If they still didn't get the message, then we parted ways with them as a player. Why not consider coded ways to respond to financial fuckery in the game, when you have evidence of it happen?
Graduated PC concepts: Most people who want to cheat via alt don't generally put a lot of developmental time into making these alts. They have a specific use for the alt and all other details are a barrier to getting IG to do the thing, faster. Accepting that some people are just going to make thrash alts to cheats, we put emphasis on better rewards for fully fleshed out concepts that would require time and dedication to play. A high tier character concept would start with more money, better starting equipment, a job, etc. on the understanding that they'd be putting a minimum amount of daily or weekly effort into the role. If they ghosted, then we put the PC into cold storage so they were off grid and had no access to game resources until they returned. A lower tier character would start with little to nothing, so even if they were 'cheating' in an alt scenario there wasn't much damage that could be done to the game economy, etc.
A friend forwarded this kickstarter link my way today for Bluebeard's Bride, developed by Whitney “Strix” Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson. It's a horror RPG/twist on a fairy tale and I thought it might appeal to some looking for something new and interesting in the horror RPG genre.
Project/Premise Blurb:
The Bluebeard fairy tale is simple enough: A young bride is wed to an ugly, but powerful man with a blue beard. On their wedding night he must attend to other urgent matters. He gives her the keys to every room, inviting her to explore… but one room in his house is forbidden. The bride eventually falls prey to her curiosity and opens it, discovering the gruesome sight of former brides who had been murdered... evidence that reveals her husband to be a killer of women.
When you play Bluebeard’s Bride, you aren’t repeating the dark events of that morbid tale. You’re following the skeleton of that story to tell a new one covered in your own bloody fingerprints. The Bride’s story is unpredictable and engaging, leading her down a dark path to an unknown future. Your fate, the terrible contents of the final room, may not yet be fixed, but every step you take moves you closer to your doom.
I don't know any of the game developers, personally. I just thought it was a pretty neat concept that could be pretty fun and some here would find intriguing. ETA: Also as a lady gamer, I like to support lady gamer projects.
Full Kickstarter info, including a lot more about the game mechanics here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1921129910/bluebeards-bride
@Lotherio said in Historical Mu* - Looking for interested Staff:
Aside from XP ,,, the ones making the effort to play the game, the ones politicking, the ones making alliances, the ones conflicting over the resources will make gains by affecting the direction of the story and meta. They will shape the story of the mush itself. They will contribute to its growth and direction.
I guess my concerns are:
In these type of power dynamics, there's only so many people who can be at the top tier. The whole reason nobles exist is they have vast resource bases and every one below them trickles down. By that system, the number of people at this level of authority has to be small or the whole system supporting it collapses. So, how do you propose to reward players who will not be in the highest seats of authority in the game - which is going to be most of them?
This sounds like a time sink, which is great if you have it but there are a lot of good players that between jobs, spouses, kids, and all the obligations therein can't necessarily be on every night or every weekend. Is the game going to structure so these folks will have something to do or will focus mainly on the people who can be on a lot? I ask because there's a lot of good players out there that I think get overlooked and left behind because of the time demands a lot of games put on people. I would appreciate a game that makes the time factors less of a high bar for entry and participation.
@Thenomain Oh this.... this is kind of sexy.
To each their own, but I find the character generation for Shadowrun a high bar for entry into a lot of games. I find it teeth pulling levels of tedious.
So, I'd play just about any version of Shadowrun as long as the CG wasn't like trying to do your income taxes in long form while blind folded.
I noted that NPC kids are a thing, which often becomes an issue when people use their NPC children to be assholes in various ways.
This includes:
NPC children being supernaturally capable and able to put the zap on PCs without consent or any good story reason to do this - i.e. just cause chaos because.
NPC children being used to insult/grief PCs. And by this I don't mean a kid having a tantrum or being a little obnoxious, I mean more like the player using them as a form of passive aggressive metaposed hostility towards another PC they don't like.
NPC children just being fucking annoying- posing them in ways that pull focus and entirely derail a scene.
NPC children as conflict shields. Taking your children to a scene where your PC might get bootpartied by storyline or other PCs as a way of trying to avoid IC consequences or outcomes.
All these things should go without saying but there are enough players who have done this on other games with their NPC offspring that I feel that these things need be said provided that these are things that you think are a no-go.
ETA: NPC children committing violence or illegal activity because your PC would never but That Little Homicidal Scamp just can't help himself when he gets around knives....