Best posts made by Ganymede

@hobos said in The Pack Discussion:

I think more games could benefit from clearly-delineated xcard systems. Then you wouldn't have a situation like this where a manipulator could potentially later pretend they didn't consent, in order to get someone else in trouble and attempt to misplace blame. Everything could be in some xcard log and simple to know. Not that it's helpful for the situation right now, but that's what I'm taking away.

I like this idea, but I don't think it helps on MUSHes.

There are many reasons why people play along with scenes which end up disturbing or triggering them. For a generation growing up online, I believe newer players are more likely to succumb to 'social pressure' to continue a role-playing scene because 'that's just what you do'. Old shits like me couldn't give two shits about it, but I earnestly believe my online sensibilities are different than those of younger or more recent players.

I've role-played through similar scenes before. Fuck, I grew up playing on Tartarus. I've had rough TS scenes end up becoming character defining (not saying that it was a great way to do it, but here we are). So I'm not going to say people are wrong for engaging in this sort of RP with players they don't know well. But I will say that there are consequences with this kind of RP, so it's probably wise to seriously consider your RP partners. I can say, with some certainty, that this sort of questionable RP happened all the damn time, but it's not a problem because none of the players involved complained.

@auspice

That person is a non-lawyer, and it shows.

As Derp mentioned, the person is referring to what lawyers call an "adhesion contract." A contract of adhesion is one where there has been no meaningful negotiation or opportunity to refuse the terms. The problem with raising it as a defense is that the terms at issue must be considered "unconscionable," and there has to be some evidence that the party challenging the terms did not have a meaningful opportunity to negotiate.

Convincing a court to not enforce a term in an adhesion contract is an uphill climb. If you executed the contract, the presumption is that you agreed to all of its terms. The party challenging the terms bears the burden of proving that the terms are objectively "unconscionable."

Good luck with that.

No sane, practicing lawyer dives in with that defense at the fore. Those that do will get blown out of the water. In the context of lending, that kind of defense hardly ever works, and a bank has a legal team that will take a claimant to the mat every damn day.

@kitteh

I don't think what you want is unreasonable, but what Faraday said, word for word, is correct and accurate.

FS3 isn't very good if you want to go from novice to expert in 6 months. At least, that's your and Faraday's opinion. You can go from Fair to Great in 7 months, if I'm not mistaken, in skills, while bumping an attribute during the same period is possible. That's +3 dice to what was once, what, a 4 or 5 dice pool? That's not bad. Trash Panda has become a very-violent Trash Panda in her lifespan as a result.

And you do have an issue with progression, right? Specifically, you have an issue with how slow the progression is in FS3. This is a reasonable issue to have, but if you do have that issue, then nothing I said in response was incorrect either.

As Faraday said, this is built into the system. It is, if you want to call it so, a system flaw. If you run your own game with FS3 (which I might do, later), then you can change this by halving the time between XP raises and increasing how much XP you get every week, etc. I don't think that'd be too difficult.

So, maybe I am misreading things, because I don't see an pejorative invective in pointing out a system's limitations, as written. All the more reason to, as said in a different thread, re-configure an RPG to satisfy a particular game's needs.

@Macha said in Ruiz:

I have no idea what DARVO even stands for, but you go on and do you.

Apparently, it means "deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender." It's the sort of term that pops up often at Title IX hearings.

As for the 'homophobic shit'. As someone who is part of that group, I have seen is used fairly often by those of the LGBTQ+ community. Including on the Pack wiki page, for a business open to all identities and sexualities.

To me, this is sort of like the black community using the n-word. I don't use the term because it is meant to insinuate that LGBTQ+ members have some sort of illegal or unspoken agenda with the aim of taking over communities, like a criminal organization. I think this is a harmful term to play around with loosely.

@wizz said in Good or New Movies Review:

It still seems to me like a lot of work over something that really shouldn't matter that much, but last I checked I'm not Emperor of America so it's cool.

What?

Outta mah house, bitch.

(I agree with this, and would probably be equally as judge-y if someone lost their freakin' minds over it too. Still, in the interests of avoiding unnecessary bickering and seething, it seems the courteous thing would be just to hold on for a little while longer. Then we can tear each other to ribbons.)

Like, some people act like they just got interrupted mid-coitus or something over spoilers, and that's just kind of a ridiculous way to be.

Frankly, reflecting on my sexual and TS history, I would probably gladly embrace a mid-coitus interruption now and again. These days, sex scenes on screen are more like Tulip Fever when I would vastly prefer more Blue is the Warmest Color. (Actually, more Lea Seydoux in general would be great, thank you.)

@faraday said in What's missing in MUSHdom?:

Why is it so horrible to just assume that they're doing the boring eating/sleeping/avoiding-starvation stuff off-camera?

It depends on the nature of the game.

A vampire must drink blood to survive. This is part of the horror of their condition. You take that out, and you gut a very viable and core plot element, if you're playing in the World of Darkness. Vampires use their powers of persuasion and knowledge of politics to protect their feeding territories, which are necessary to hide their existences.

This is a huge flaw in many of the Vampire games I've played on.

If you're running a post-apocalyptic game, survival is kind of important. Why overlook the struggle to survive by making food and water an after thought? You may not need to force people into a harvest mini-game, but threatening the PCs' collective existence should be part-and-parcel to how the game works. If not, then, again, I think you're missing a chunk of a game that could yield interesting RP situations.

And, in my experience, this is exactly what is missing from many of the games that peter out.

For a BSG game? It's not important because that's not the thrust of the game; BSG:U was about war stories from the front. For a L&L game? It's not important because that's not the thrust of the game; Fifth Kingdom was about questing and defending the countryside from invasion. Even for another World of Darkness splat like Werewolf, it's not important because that's not the thrust of the game.

Whatever resources one chooses to have in the system depends on the game.

For The Last of Us? Junk for weapons; food; water; alcohol; fuel; anything like that. Horizon Zero Dawn? Food; water; wood; usable metal. Mass Effect? E-0; weapons; medical supplies; drugs; AI; anything that could be traded.

So, it's not always about food. It could just be that, to gain influence and status on the game, you need to deliver 5 tons of Vanadium to a neighboring system. Unfortunately, along the way, these Batarian raiders intercept your ship ...

@jibberthehut

Fuck dogs.

But, on top of that, fuck people with dogs.

Moreso, fuck people who have unreasonable expectations of others around their dogs.

I will kick it in the snout if it charges at me because you didn't bother to train it to be anything more than a yappy fur-rat.

Keep that filth away from me, thank you.

@faraday said in MUSH Marriages (IC):

@Ganymede is my hero.

Well, you are my hero, so this definitely works out.

@arkandel said in MUSH Marriages (IC):

That was definitely not my intention. I think you are very clear in the way that you interact with people in that you draw lines to make clear where things stand, so that they know if they are getting crossed.

I know. I was being tongue-in-cheek.

Seriously, I've had great relationship RP. Fun relationship RP, that didn't always become about the hawt seX0rz. I can think of a dozen folks I have such a good time with in a relationship, mostly because, I guess, I'm not clingy or needy as a player.

Funny, though, that I can see how my MUSH relationships mirror my own at home. My partner and I are professionals who see each other for, like, a couple of hours a day. She gives me my space to play video games, and it gives her space to read her fan-fiction and do online shopping. And when we come together, we have stories to tell, laughs to share, and get into general mushiness that help remind each other as to why we have stayed together for 12+ years.

Wistfully, I miss just about every PC relationship I've lost over the past two years, but times move on. From Daithi's awkward love triangle to Trash Panda's manic connection with Kyle, I'm reminded constantly as to what enjoyable social RP can be like.

But, yeah. Like any RL relationship, set clear boundaries where applicable and don't budge. The worthy suitors and lovers will come by and enjoy the living shit out of you because, lo, you're being an adult in adult situations.

@admiral said in RL Anger:

However, given the microscope black leaders have been under throughout the history of the US and the glee the white supremacists (alt right) show when one is caught red-handed if I was sexually harassed by Morgan Freeman I probably wouldn't report it.

That's your choice, and I understand why, but it was that same silence that covered up decades of Cosby's raping.

There are plenty of pillars of the black community. Where I live, black Americans turn to LeBron James, John Legend, and Dave Chappelle. There are many people that still prop up the community well.

Morgan Freeman is just one man.

In my opinion, the only reasonable thing to do now is turn the spotlight against white men. And, believe me, the number of white men that have been called out for sexual harassment far outweighs the number of upstanding pillars of the black community.

@kestrel said in Heroic Sacrifice:

What would incentivise you to let your character be killed or seriously harmed in some way, such as being blinded or losing a limb?

For many, you have to make the incentive greater than the loss. You can't minimize the loss without altering your objective, which is to have people accept really bad things happening to their character. So, you have to give a reward that's really good, if you want to appeal to gamers. I don't think you'll have problems with people more interested in playing their characters than playing "the game."

Under what circumstances would you not be mad at someone whose character just royally screwed yours over?

This is entirely dependent on the player. Some gamers understand that it's part of the game to be betrayed; some writers can't stand the idea of "unscripted" events happening to their protagonists.

@VulgarKitten said:

Thank you for your brilliant observation and critique about how to fix my mental issues, and for your dismissive, superior attitude.

The converse: if you don't believe that my advice will help fix your issues, then please avoid telling me as I'm conditioned to suggest solutions when people bring problems.

Not accusing you of foisting your problems on others, but I work in a field where people do this. And then, they don't listen to me or others when we're really trying to help them.

@apos said in Heroic Sacrifice:

OOC environment is the #1 reason very chill, story focused players aren't on more games. If someone is just looking to collaborate and tell stories with other people and only invested in RP, what do you think they do when they log into the game and their first experience is seeing someone be a dipshit in an ooc room? They are gone immediately.

Quoted for truth.

@saosmash said in Heroic Sacrifice:

Is there any player alive who is truly 100% chill?

I can say, without hyperbole, that I have never lost my shit as a PC on a game.

Catch me outside? How bow dat.

@Roz said:

There's also a problem with not being able to listen to someone's venting without trying to solve it.

I don't solve other people's problems unless I'm paid to do it. What I do is think of solutions to problems. What I'm being asked to do is to sit there, listen, and not be myself, which is a problem-solver.

The other thing I do when people vent at me is to laugh at them. Laughter is my mechanism of coping with an uncomfortable situation. What I'm uncomfortable with is knowing that, no matter what I say or how plausible or feasible my solutions may or may not be, you are unlikely to take that advice.

When it comes to relationships, my usual response is: "the common denominator of your shitty relationships is you." And then I laugh. And if the other person doesn't laugh, chances are we're not friends and never were.

There's at least two people on here who are intimately familiar with Toronto.

Toronto's probably a better choice, in my opinion, and not from a bias. There's greater diversity in Toronto than, let's say, Vancouver or Montreal. There are strong Indian, Greek, Caribbean, Chinese, and Russian communities in the area.

I would highly suggest taking Toronto. There's so very much to exploit as a setting.

@Misadventure said:

Peeve: Friend gets married. Friend buys house with no support from spouse. Spouse is same seniority in same field with same pay. They divorce. House is underwater. Spouse wants to sell house to be given money.

Marriages are like partnerships. If you invest everything, be prepared for your partner to abscond with at least half on a whim.

@auspice said in Purple Prose Desc Challenges:

• Take a song.
• Desc a person using lyrics from that song.
• Embed them into the desc whatever, whichever way you want.
• The more creative you get, the better.

Her dress could cause a scandal. She looks like the sort of woman a fraternity couldn't handle. The kind of woman whose gyrations mesmerize. The kind of woman whose gaze could buy a soul. The kind of woman that haunts all of the wrong parts of town, where the ne'er-do-wells bang and deal.

Ketosis.

I'm down 14 pounds in just under a month. If I lose one more pound by the end of this month, I will have hit my self-imposed goal.

I also have not lost a shred of lifting capacity in the process. I was seriously carrying a lot more fat than I thought.

And I didn't have to give up my loved ones: bacon; sausage; cheese; fatty foods; etc.

@lisse24 said in Character 'types':

More important than anything else, if I'm going to stick with a character for a long time, they have to feel real and solid to me.

I concur with this, and feel the same way.

I find that I drift away from characters where I don't get the chance to have them feel real and solid.

It doesn't matter their background or who they are. What matters is the situations I get them into, where I can slip into them and be them, success or not.

@arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

It's because "most valuable" is such an ambiguous term. They should have really called it "best" player.

Without LeBron, the Cavs are nothing. Without Harden, the Rockets are nothing. To their teams, they both are their most valuable players.

LeBron's numbers are simply better across the board than Harden. LeBron got farther into the playoffs. Sure, he didn't give the Warriors much of a challenge, but Harden had Chris Paul with him. LeBron is the better player.

So, LeBron is the better player, and the most valuable one on his team, and arguably the most valuable player to the fucking league based on his level of play.

Being tired of voting for the same dude is a stupid reason to ignore statistics, results, and what everyone fucking knows to be true.

@arkandel said in Let's talk about TS.:

Yes, a lot of the answers above will (and should) essentially be "communicate well". But since our community isn't exactly renown for our skills in that area, and since the topic itself is pretty sensitive we might benefit from going into some detail here and share our thoughts.

I think this is a poor presumption, from personal experience.

Maybe I'm lucky? Maybe I'm good. I have not had a problem with TS-partners in almost 15 years. I've had TS with folks here that are considered bad eggs, even. The best partners are the ones that communicate well, but everyone that I have had experiences with have communicated very well with me.

And I have had TS with a lot of people here.

So, let's not presume our partners are incapable of communicating well.

On this topic, though, I believe that safety is the most important issue. To that end, boundaries are important, and the most important is the boundary between OOC and IC. Make your own rules, stand firm, and never, ever compromise on that.