Best posts made by Ganymede

@Kestrel said in Separating Art From Artist:

what the fuck

Intellectuals can be very despicable people.

Let’s start with professors. Do you think that they get tenure simply by being present? No, most have had to contribute something of considerable value to their respective universities. And once they get that nugget, they often don’t give a shit about teaching the kids that spend their freedom for a piece of paper. If professionalism is about doing what you’re being paid to do? They aren’t professional.

Then there are lawyers. Oh shit, we spend entire classes teaching about professionalism. In the United States you have to pass an ethics exam. But does being professional or ethical win cases? Does it help you apply leverage to swing the best deals for your clients? Becoming partner is about what you bring to the firm in term of money, not conduct. Dressing down your staff for not doing things you are ultimately responsible for doesn’t make you a professional; it makes you a tyrant.

I highly doubt there is much difference between the US and the UK in such respect, but I could be wrong.

@reversed said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

"Still bisexual but now annoyed" is how I'm going to describe Ember on Arx from now on, because it works regardless of context or situation

Piccola's is "just annoyed." Always annoyed.

@Ghost said in The Hockey Thread:

Not sure if I believe it, but at the same time I'm willing to believe that even 13 year olds aren't immune to getting punched when throwing punches at anything Philly-related.

In my opinion, most 13 year olds deserve to be punched.

@GreenFlashlight said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

I just don't lose any sleep over it because on the list of problems I face due to my orientation, being badly represented by a few intellectually uncurious weirdos playing make-believe on a dying medium is just about the least serious threat imaginable.

And this is why I shudder when I see any East Asian PCs.

@Testament

I’d be embarrassed as fuck and be looking for another SO.

Keep your chirp down, bitch, it’s not praccy.

@surreality said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

But, yeah, I don't disagree that 'it was pretty' is the most likely reason most people go with -- it's just not everyone's reason.

I know. That's why I wrote the scene as I did. This is probably how it would have gone between us.

Ganymede: You know what you have on?
Surreality: Sure do. It's a cheongsam, also known as a qipao.
Ganymede: Why did you get it?
Surreality: Well, it looks nice, but I appreciate what the women are doing in China these days wearing them, so I wanted to make a statement in support of them.
Ganymede: Super. Now show me your kitties.

On the subject of work, something of amusement.

Annoying Opposing Counsel: Okay. I take it you want me to reach out to your expert and discuss his fees with him. Please provide me with his address, telephone number, and e-mail address.

Me: To my knowledge, the address, telephone number, and e-mail address which appear in the invoice I gave you and the e-mail at the end of this e-mail chain are accurate.

@HelloProject said in Gauging Interest:

All I want in this world is TITS.

@Seamus said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Her boyfriend at the time was demanding access to all of her accounts, they had been together for nearly 13 years.

I think we can all agree that this is horribly abusive.

You have no right to access your significant other's personal accounts. None.

Your spouse is entitled to privacy. Period.

If your spouse is not forthright about how or where they spend their time, that is an issue; however, that issue may and should be resolved in ways that does not require them to give up their privacy. It is theirs inasmuch as their body is theirs.

I wish people had more dignity than turning themselves into simpering, sniveling cowards, but here we are.

@Rinel

Thank you, Erotic Bible.

@Ghost said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

It's unfortunate and all, and it sucks when someone gets reduced to that, but I think it's more apt to rage at the people who abuse people to that degree more than get annoyed with them for being sniveling cowards and all...

I'm not sure if you understood what I was saying, but I was saying that people who invade others' privacy are sniveling cowards who we should rage at.

@faraday

I didn't understand it either.

Erin was never the best shooter or fighter. She wasn't the most stealthy or the most clever. It was her spread of abilities that made her useful, and gave her the occasional moment to shine.

Well, that and getting repeatedly injured in the groin.

@L-B-Heuschkel said in Getting into Writing:

MU* people don't start out knowing how to do these things. They learn them as they go, and the more they pay attention to trying to learn, the faster they learn. And some, indeed, give no fucks and never learn. Just like a course in creative writing in real life, really.

I'm going to have to second this.

I consider myself a professional writer. Most of what I do as a civil litigator requires me to communicate ideas in a cogent manner to convince others of the strength of my proposals. To do this often requires an ability to turn facts into an undeniable tale of events which will be interpreted in a way that is beneficial to whatever polemic I am pushing for acceptance.

This is learned. More accurately it requires a great deal of unlearning and re-learning. Worse, the practice requires me to adapt and write with several kinds of voices to persuasive effect. Rhetoricians might call it "calling to the audience"; I call it the art of the bullshit.

Every time I MUSH I try to practice "calling to the audience." Every scene has a certain mood; being able to maintain that mood without falling back into a different "evocative style" requires, in my opinion, a great deal of discipline. But the weakness in practicing on a MUSH lies in the inherent failing of improv as a way to practice comedy: you need someone else to participate with you in order to make it work as intended.

@Ghost said in Vietnam War MUSH:

I broke my 4+ month post abstinence merely to point out that I wasn't sure if people missed that he called it: "fighting charlie".

Some people still call it "the China Virus," so I guess I just tuned that shit out.

@nyctophiliac said in A Lack of Imagination:

Turns out it was my brain that was the asshole.

Maybe it wanted to hurt you just to hear you screaming its name.

@Wizz said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

Just slap a new coat of paint on a copy of Arx for Helladies and Hellords. Call it Hell-Arx, or Hlarx for short.

Also, change the resources:

• Souls
• Favors
• Lawyers

@GreenFlashlight said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

When have they not?

The most demoralizing thing to learn as you grow up is how cowardly people really are when they really have nothing to lose.

@rucket said in Sensitivity in gaming:

I mean, it could work for MUs if people were willing to put in the effort to tag events, or if Staff very clearly lay out what sorts of content players might expect on their game in a rating file. Usually when I see any sort of content warning it's just "R - Adult things may happen" or some such shit.

Here's what I think people are dancing around.

First, there could be tags or ratings for scenes to give people a heads-up on where the GM hopes to go. But having run enough scenes with enough people, I know that a GM can't truly predict what's going to happen. GMs may go into things with the best of intentions, and have it go horribly wrong.

Second, staff leaning on a rating system as a crutch can lead to mischief. For example, if I'm going into a scene which is rated NC-17 I may be ready for something like Adele Exarchopolous' and Lea Seydoux's sex scenes in Blue is the Warmest Colour, but may also have a problem with Monica Bellucci's rape in Irreversible. Creepers also seem to thrive in places which have these levels of "consent" to scenes, where they can manipulate a player into believing they have to play through something because "IC consequences" and "you knowingly entered into an NC-17 scene."

Finally, MUSHing is akin to improv and therefore requires far more collaboration than either a TT game or a movie to work. Rating systems are good when you know the end product, but that's not really the case in MUSH scenes.

I think the better policy is to have player-end preference lists that a GM should examine before they put together a scene and run it. If a player wants to dive off the deep-end, the GM can wrangle them back in by saying something like: "hey, look, what you want to do is going to run afoul of your fellow players' preferences, but if they are okay with it we can go forward; input, everyone?"

Struggle bus.

I'd love to play, I think. I would. I haven't played an alt in weeks.

But I can't. Associate is leaving the firm for better places. Work is piling up. Everyone's worried around me.

I owe taxes for the first time ever this year. I'm behind in some payments on my partnership purchase.

Just not a good time.

Considering permanent retirement.

@grayson said in MU Things I Love:

And archeologists lick rocks to find out if they're bone.

So, I'm hearing that archeologists lick rocks and bones.

No wonder they are so popular.