@Ghost said in Ethical Question:
IS IT ETHICAL to join a bunch of MUs and embed yourself in roleplay with people who don't like you as a means to repair your relationship with them by being cool with them...and then later reveal it was you all along?
Generally, I don't find myself in such ethical quandaries because I have neither the time nor the inclination to try and convince people who don't like me that I am likeable.
@Ghost said in Telnet Safety:
NEVER give your address, phone, banking, fullname, general location, business information, etc
over pages/chat in MU even if you trust the person because THE DANGER ISNT YOUR FRIEND, BUT THE SERVICE/PROTOCOL YOU ARE USING.
Fixed that for you.
You nerd.
To me, using AI to play a game that relies on writing makes about as much sense as watching gamers on YouTube play.
Like, okay, I can understand why you would be entertained, but I find it immeasurably boring watching others have fun that I could be having.
On an unrelated sidenote, I also hate watching golf. Also, I don't have time to play with myself.
I was reading a lot of Shakespeare at the time, while also studying gender identity back in the late 90s.
For PCs, I like to pick mundane names, none of which would seem unusual. I have a fondness for names with Goidelic roots.
@faraday said in The Case Against Real PBs:
I see no good answer.
This is usually the case when matters relate to personal tastes.
@Ghost said in Stranger Danger?:
Do you have issues finding/maintaining RP with players once they find out you're not open to IC-relationship stuff? That was always kind of my issue: I was able to find a lot of available RP, but people would suddenly have "electrical storm" or "rl emergency" or "sorry gotta go" when it was established I wasn't into TS/relationship RP with the person.
I don't have this issue either. Frankly, I prefer RPing with folks who take a similar position. I'm not against romance or sexual RP, but I RP from work a lot, and that's not the sort of RP I'd like when I'm trying to negotiate a seven-figure deal by email.
@Misadventure said in Stranger Danger?:
Know, learn or guess what your personally vulnerable roleplay topics are.
Don't do RP thats personally vulnerable.
Don't give out personal details like names, locations, job title.
Don't share any social media, it's a network of places for you and others to make security mistakes.
These four points are always good to follow.
I thought I had made friends over my past 25+ years of doing this, but I misjudged how firm many of those friendships were.
Last suggestion:
It's okay to let it all go.
And I have.
Not a podcast, but a YouTube streamer who I play with on Liberation. Really cool person who would love subscribers to their gaming videos.
@faraday said in When communication is too long to read ...:
Of course in an ideal world they "should" take the initiative of solving the problem themselves, but there can be many factors - shame, anxious avoidance, fear of reprisal, overwhelm paralysis, just to name a few - that may make it difficult for someone to reach out for help.
As the parent of a ND person, I do remind them that others won't know their needs unless they speak up. Thankfully, they do. Sometimes, in inappropriate loud ways, but, hey, they are young, and they've got some time.
@Misadventure said in When communication is too long to read ...:
Person ignores messages over a certain length as boring. No matter how important the content might be. Think co-workers defining a task or similar.
Person must be able to be communicated with, they work in this kind of field. Yet, a bullet point list might be seen as too long and boring.
Person sounds like an asshole to me.
If your particular neurodivergence makes it difficult, if not impossible, to read large amounts of text, then asking someone to trim it down seems to be the appropriate remedy. For example:
"Thank you for sending that message, but I am afraid there was too much in there for me to parse out. Can you succinctly sum up the situation so I can digest it and give you an appropriate response?"
Telling people that you're bored when reading what they have written is how an asshole would explain things.
"That was too long, so I was bored and didn't read it. Try again."
Also, I believe the party receiving the communication has the responsibility to ask for clarity.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
I'm gonna leave this alone, but next time I'd respect you attacked the idea. I'll keep the rest to myself.
I did.
You wrote:
... my litmus test is "is it wrong to use a 'real' person's image (ex: Facebook, your RL girlfriend, or someone's mom) as a PB?" and if the answer is yes, then for the same reasons it's wrong to use celebrities, too.
I wrote:
There's no harm in using a picture in public domain
You provided an example and asked the following question:
DO YOU TELL << CELEBRITY >> THAT YOU HAVE USED << THEIR >> LIKENESS AND IMAGE IN LINE WITH A SEXUALIZED SLASH-FIC SCENE WITH ANOTHER PLAYER WHO HAS A RL KINK FOR HER?
I replied:
Of course not. I don't express my sexual desires to people I don't really know.
Then you asked, of another person (I think):
Would it affect your life at all if someone you didn't know admitted to masturbating to pictures of you?
To which I wrote:
No.
You asked another question:
What if they told you not only did they do kink-stuff using your likeness, but simulated a "relationship" with another person who was also gratified by your image?
To which I wrote:
Not at all. To each their own kinks? I might even be flattered.
I'm not sure how I can more directly answer the questions and ideas you've posed.
All that said, you are entitled to feel the way you do. My first response best sums up my feelings:
I think we're past the point of needing to justify our likes and dislikes, so this really reads to me like an attempt to shame.
In other words, you don't need to explain why you don't like real PBs to be used in wikis.
Some people would be horrified if they knew someone used their likeness for fap material; others are probably well aware that their likeness is used for fap material (I'm looking at you, Lea Seydoux). I fall towards the latter side, clearly, but it's a matter of personal opinion and taste.
To paraphrase my partner, we're all catfish looking for catfish who know they are catfishing ... so we're all a little bit creepy, in a self-aware and self-indulgent way.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
don't mince fuckin words with long paragraphs trying to act like making an insult about your opinion of my ego and stating that I seem unable to accept an addiction as some worldly statement about everyone but it just happens to include me. You're playing around with attacks on a specific person's emotional center as well as playing armchair addiction advice to a specific stranger. You really think that's appropriate and/or responsible?
If this is your takeaway, then I'll take ownership for being unclear and misleading. Let me break down what I said a little better (hopefully).
@Ganymede said in The Case Against Real PBs:
You may feel that tall and above things, but I think that's due to your pedestal of self-righteousness.
I think you're acting self-righteous. I'm not the only one. I don't think you're taking umbrage to this part, though. I could be wrong.
We've both participated actively in the hobby. And if we liken it to a vice like an addiction, the first step to actual recovery is to admit that you will always be an addict.
I said that if we are going to liken participation in this hobby to a vice, like an addiction, then admitting that one will always be an addict is an important step to recovery. I say this from personal experience as an addict: breaking addictions is damn hard to do, but the first step is reminding yourself that you will always be an addict as a reminder that you can always lose control.
I didn't say you are an addict; I have no idea if you are or ever have been. But if you are, then I apologize. It's a day-to-day struggle; I get it. Addictions suck like cancer.
If you disagree with the premise of likening participation in this hobby to a vice, then this entire comment falls apart like wet drywall.
I think you're just as much of a creepy weirdo as the rest of us, no matter how long you've spent outside of the hobby. The difference between us is that I accept this, but you apparently do not.
I still think we're all creepy weirdos, but that's a personal opinion that I'm comfortable with.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Now, gross analysis of other people's mental diagnoses may be the tits on that other forum (aka the same place that talked shit about you for months for not following their mutual bargaining directives when ownership changed), but here... it's against the rules. Probably because it could be truly damaging to complete strangers; perhaps even to the point of being dangerous.
The reasons for this forum taking the stance are well-documented. As for "mutual bargaining directives," I have no idea what they may have been going on about. The only "mutual bargaining" I can recall is someone -- I can't recall if it was Tributary? -- wanting to make sure that the Hog Pit was accessible here, or that links from the Hog Pit here was linkable over there -- something like that. And it's not really "mutual bargaining" if I'm not asking for anything; to my recollection, I've asked nothing from BMD's administrators, except for having them tell me if there's some sort of creeper going around to keep an eye open for. Anyhow, if shit's not working, no one's informed me about it.
If the folks over on BMD have an issue with anything over here, they can pretty DM me here. I know a handful of them have my personal email address. I can also be reached via Discord. I mostly just keep the lights on here.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
You may think I'm an asshole, but you're also the one who helped pen the policies about direct personal attacks soooooo
I'll walk it back if or when the admins ask me to; I don't tell them what to do. I still have a hat because I am occasionally called upon to do shit as the site owner.
I don't think you're an asshole; if I did, I would have said so. I actually still keep fond memories of you. What I think is that you don't think your shit stinks any more just because you have separated yourself from playing the game, even if you come by and visit for whatever reason. I cannot say why you feel the need to cast judgment against folks who aren't doing things that cause any direct harm to you or yours, but you clearly do.
What I'm saying is that you're one of us. If that's a personal attack that is against the rules, so be it. I wonder what it is that keeps you coming back.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Alright, let's test this.
Honestly, it's easier when you can present your position more succinctly. I have, like, ten posts to read and respond to. And you deserve a fair response.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Let's say you use Sporty Spice (the best spice btw) as a PB and roleplay out an artful ts scene that just happens to include both your RL kinks and the kinks of the partner. This may or may not involve "chair gratification" by yourself or the other, which may or may not be admitted to.
Now, you're at dinner and someone brings a friend. It's Sporty Spice herself.
DO YOU TELL SPORTY SPICE THAT YOU HAVE USED HER LIKENESS AND IMAGE IN LINE WITH A SEXUALIZED SLASH-FIC SCENE WITH ANOTHER PLAYER WHO HAS A RL KINK FOR HER?
Of course not. I don't express my sexual desires to people I don't really know. That doesn't mean I don't have them, and it certainly doesn't mean mine are wrong or creepy.
... if the answer is no, I'm pretty sure that line of thinking will end in "...because it would embarrass me and come across as creepy."
Well, of course it would. Do you approach everyone you have a sexual desire for or fantasy about and confess it? I doubt that you do, but I wouldn't fault you for keeping it to yourself.
But going back to the first question, no, there's no harm in what you're proposing. There's no harm to Sporty Spice because they have no knowledge; there's no harm to me to keep my fan-fic making to myself; and there's no shame in keeping your private thoughts to yourself. My lack of shame may repulse you, but I can live with that and have no obligation to convince you of its rationality.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Would it affect your life at all if someone you didn't know admitted to masturbating to pictures of you?
No.
What if they told you not only did they do kink-stuff using your likeness, but simulated a "relationship" with another person who was also gratified by your image?
Not at all. To each their own kinks? I might even be flattered.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Maybe it's just me and I've been away from this shit long enough to step back from a 10,000 foot level and analyze how fucking weird this community can be.
You may feel that tall and above things, but I think that's due to your pedestal of self-righteousness. We've both participated actively in the hobby. And if we liken it to a vice like an addiction, the first step to actual recovery is to admit that you will always be an addict. I think you're just as much of a creepy weirdo as the rest of us, no matter how long you've spent outside of the hobby. The difference between us is that I accept this, but you apparently do not.
@Misadventure said in The Case Against Real PBs:
So far got lots of disagree but not much reasoning shared about the question put out there.
This may be because, as I wrote earlier, I think we're all old enough that we don't feel the need to demand that others change our minds on things which, although we believe are well-reasoned, ultimately are matters of opinion.
I can love and respect someone, and still find their opinion on things to be silly. There's no harm in using a picture in public domain, and so long as I am not financially-benefitting from its use a plaintiff cannot maintain a legal claim.
I think that if there is an issue with underage PBs, then that issue is distinct and separate from what Ghost brought up.
@Ghost said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Putting it all together in my head, I now see why I didn't like PBs to begin with, and it's not me being some old man shaking a cane at those darned kids.
I think we're past the point of needing to justify our likes and dislikes, so this really reads to me like an attempt to shame.
If you don't like PBs, then don't use them. Stay off the wiki entirely, and don't look other folks up. Kind of simple fix if it is truly upsetting.
I use wikis to figure out who I want to RP with, and my decision isn't based on what PBs they use.
@Macha said in Instead of necro-ing a thread..:
Mysteries of the abandoned you say... Hmm.
Indeed.
I mean, it's a TLC or History Channel show, so it's got some annoying commentary and breaks for commercials, but it is getting me to look up these locations in Wikipedia for additional info, and that's really cool.