Apparently I was playing earlier versions of the game that were more prone to failures.
Maybe. Might I suggest that you are protesting a bit much, then? Because, from all the evidence I can see -- anecdotal, experiential, and circumstantial -- everyone on BSG playing FS3's new edition seem to be having no problems at all.
Like, I literally kicked the crap out of someone in Pyramid over whom I had a 2-dice edge. Blanked him on opposed rolls, so the score ended up being 5-0.
@Thenomain said in FS3:
To complicate the statistical issue, a perception check: The "I'm Failing Too Much" is an ongoing issue, possibly due to confirmation bias.
See, @WTFE is going on about failing too often, and yet I have yet to fail a roll, even in PvP. So, I mean, something has to be wrong.
@Arkandel said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
They're trying to be respectful (which is why they didn't develop KotE in-house after all) which might mean many things. I wouldn't be shocked if the financial impact of doing so crossed their mind as well.
That KotE wasn't developed in-house meant little to me. The entire Year of the Lotus crap was ... well, crap. That it probably sank their operation doesn't make me sympathetic.
I'm not going to lie: when I started playing V:tM, I looked up a lot of what seemed to be White Wolf's inspiration. And, for me, that was the interesting part of it: discussing "Alamut" and its place in Christian mythology is an interesting exercise. But, here's the thing: I was uneducated about a topic, learned about it, and became educated (or at least conversant). That's part of the fun about gameplay, I guess. For me, at least.
So, we're going back to the Middle East, a place that was probably chosen less for its location as the oft-presumed "cradle of civilization" and more "because this is where we started" or "their governments are less likely to be offended by some game company making up shit about their past culture." That makes sense to me.
But, as you point out: it's lazy. Which is what makes it, for me, uninteresting and boring.
And to suggest that White Wolf has tried to be respectful is almost laughable after the shit-show that was the Year of the Lotus. Or the Nunnehi. Or the Tzimisce. But I give it a pass because it's a game.
@Bobotron said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
I will say, looking at it from my end, this isn't a new vampire game; it's building on top of Masquerade's foundations, so they have to use that backdrop. We'll have to see how well they treat the evolution from there, since all we have is little tidbits.
True, that may be intent. If so, then I'm disappointed because I've outgrown that genre.
@Bobotron said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
OK, I see where you're coming from. Thank you for articulating that. Personally, I don't read it that way, but I'm also looking at it from the lens of Masquerade's lore and where a lot of the 'ancient vampire conflict' happens/happened. But I can see where you're coming from with it.
I hope you don't think I'm being personally critical of you; I'm not. I'm just lamenting what I see as very lazy game design.
Most of us were probably exposed to V:tM around our teen years. We are now getting on in age, and are generally more aware of the world as a whole. So, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that V:tM's storyline will similarly mature. And this does not seem to be the case.
One of the things that the New World of Darkness did well is unshackle the Vampire Myth. Whereas V:tM clung to Mesopotamian roots for vampires, V:tR did not. V:tR embraced (sorry, pun) the idea of vampires just emerging, with different characteristics and powers based on their areas and without tortured explanations as to "how did Euro-Asian vampires end up in that part of the world?".
There are many cultures that arose in ancient times. Couldn't they have used some of those? Of course not. Why bother drawing upon the proliferation of information the Internet Age has brought us? Nah, let's go back to clinging to old, outdated, interminably-overwrought origin stories.
@Bobotron said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
But okay. Nothing that's been said paints the Middle East in any light other than 'there's fighting and shit going on here'. I'm genuinely curious what paints that picture to you.
"There's fighting and shit" occurs all over the world. In China, there is the government-driven oppression of Uygurs. In Myanmar, there is the oppression of the Rohingyas. In the Central African Republican, there is the oppression of the Fulas. And this is just the violent oppression of Muslims.
What about the Russian crackdown on homosexuals? What about the structural violence in India against the poor and underprivileged?
But when it comes to "fighting and shit," White Wolf goes and picks the low-hanging fruit. Because the ongoing media sub-text is: all the violence in the world occurs in or stems from what happens in the Middle East.
The World of Darkness' prior take -- that the United States is the breeding ground for Sabbat dissidence -- is a far-livelier and interesting take on the eternal struggle.
So, yeah. Orientalism. Right there: alive, well, and uninspiring.
@Bobotron said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
I will say, my one REAL criticism of the new direction is the art direction.
Their art has never been exceptional.
To me, the biggest problem is what they've revealed about the metaplot. Looks and smells like orientalist bullshit to me.
Much as I love White Wolf, they have really driven their franchise and brand into the ground.
@Bobotron said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
The situatation seems to be the Sabbat dabbled in the Middle East, playing all sides, and that this meddling kicked off the 2nd Inquisition, which in turn led to a night in Berlin in which careless Berlin Anarchs had messages intercepted by this Inquisition, leading to the catastrophic events of last Friday night here and the eventual expulsion of Anarchs from the Camarilla and its setup as a "closed room", a secret society you have to be invited into.
This sounds really lame, right from the start.
Yeah, and when you only roll once in a blue moon, the effects are amplified. Nobody playing tabletop bats an eye when their awesome archer misses a shot. It's expected. But do the same on a MU* and ZOMG it's the end of the world. I've often wondered if a radically different system would fit MU*s better - something like Amber's diceless system or a point-based system where you get to choose how to spend your luck or whatnot.
One of the things I learned from FS3 is that you can have a robust combat system with simplistic rolling. I'm on my fourth edition of my system, and I intend to pare down the system even more than what you've done, and I still think I can make it work.
@Bobotron said in Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Info:
- Werewolf: "Gaia is dying of fever." Impergium is "back on the table"
Apparently, Gaia just needs more cowbell.
I hope that they burn Changeling: the Dreaming to the ground. And this is coming from someone who's run these games a lot. It needs to go. ***It really needs to go ***.
@faraday said in BSG: Unification:
Re: Scheduling... yeah that's a totally fair assessment. Later evening EST is our peak activity time (we have a lot of PST people), and it's what fits best with my schedule personally. But I don't think EST folks are completely SOL. Most events start around 9pm and run 2 hours, which seems to be the happy middle ground between EST and PST. And as you said, players are empowered and encouraged to run their own events whenever suits them.
2 hours to complete a combat scene? What the heck?
Dude, I'm used to 4+ hour scenes. For 3 people. Throwing down against NPCs.
Like, a 2-hour combat scene is fantastic.
I was part of a scouting mission with @Auspice, and it took a lot longer than that. Didn't mind one bit either.
@Arkandel said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
Staff... get distracted. They have a ton of shit to do, from +jobs to running plot. It's easy - it's been proven easy, historically - to overlook things happening right under their noses. That shapes the perception of their role over time, which combined with the fact certain vulnerable players don't want to bring attention to themselves by speaking out too aggressively (what if they are judged? or told they are the problem? both have happened, by the way) they let things slide.
I want to hook on this for just a second.
Don't mistake negligently overlooking an issue with deliberately avoiding it. As I said before, most of us plug in to have fun, not deal with problems between people. That requires a certain kind of psychotic asshole: one that likely practices the art of law and bullshittery in equal amounts.
Let's take the restaurant analogy back. You are the GM, maybe even the owner. The sous-chef is getting lippy with the head chef. Some of the tables haven't been waited on. And there's some guy wearing no pants jerking himself off while purring obscenely at a table of ladies. Which problem do you address first?
The same applies to games. If there is a player-player problem or player-staff problem, you should deal with that first. Especially if it comes down to this guy is making advances to me via page, please make him stop.
Nobody knows about your stiffy unless you act like a dick about it.
A million teenage boys and a million awkward "walking to the blackboard" moments contradict what you say about no one noticing a man's unintentional stiffy.
@Arkandel said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
A question we need to look at though is... are such things getting reported or do those who could, or should, simply take their losses and stop logging on instead?
I have doubts whether there will ever be a policy or code that would dissuade someone from cutting-and-running instead of confronting a problem. We play these games for fun, not to be harassed or to get into an internet argument with someone. If people choose to stop logging on, that is their choice and there is nothing I can think of to stop them.
Whatever the cause may be - insecurity, staff in general being perceived as not being sympathetic, not knowing if you won't be judged or told you're too sensitive... whatever it is, my concern is it might be taking a toll. And that maybe making it as easy as typing "+complain Arkandel" knowing no one will ask any questions right at first unless there are more similar complaints might at least help get some feedback.
Take it from a staff perspective. Typing "+complaint Thenomain" to ping me that @Thenomain has done something to upset you doesn't really tell me what he did. Without details, I don't know if he: harassed you on channel; paged you with salacious details of his sex life; sent you a dick-pic via Skype to your account that he inexplicably got from you; or was generally being a poopie-head. The code therefore is completely useless to staff, who cannot reasonably be expected to take action.
But staff (in general) have often been terrible about handling these things, requiring too much evidence before they do a thing, or not thinking what your problem is is enough or... whatever.
I get that, but there is nothing that your proposed code will do to address that.
Sure, this particular guy playing the numbers by paging every female around was too overt and got dealt with but others might do it slightly more subtly, and they're not as easy.
Look, if someone makes you feel uncomfortable and I happen to be staff on your game, tell me. If it's sexual, definitely tell me. I may have a high tolerance for people who randomly page me with "your PB is super-hawt!", but that doesn't mean anyone else should have to feel anxious about being on my game.
@Arkandel said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
Alright, that's fair enough. Do you think though that tracking down general misbehavior isn't worth/fair to track? What I'm attempting to eliminate here is people flying just under the radar; those somewhat minor things that might make playing a game unpleasant to someone, perhaps to the point where they stop logging on but where each trasgression isn't significant enough to report on its own, still take a toll.
The issue isn't whether a transgression is significant or not. That depends on the complainant. Failure to file a complaint means that staff may not notice what's going on. It's important to put in a complaint. I'd make this very clear. If something bugs you, report it. I don't give a shit how small it is.
Staff ought to look into each of these, seriously. It helps staff figure out the OOC dynamics they otherwise would not be able to track without a player-alt. People that complain a lot about tiny, miniscule things should get a sit-down; they should not be ignored because their frivolity saps staff of its available time. But those "under-the-radar" things? A quick chat with staff can make a player stop that shit real fast, if they want to remain on the game.
Sidenote: no one is fucking interested in your sex-related rant by page, and that to me is something I would report. Because that's how Rex/Sovereign and other "predators" get started. (I put that in quotations because he's the sort of stupid predator that gets shot apart real fast.)
@Arkandel said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
I misspoke, I didn't mean anonymous to staff, but silent to the target. I.e. if you complain about me I won't be informed of the fact (although I suppose the 'creep counter' might be visible to me if it starts climbing above minimal levels, to act a warning for me to smarten up - people are getting creeped out by my behavior).
I have a smaller issue with that, but it has to do with staff reaction. If staff immediately and actually investigates every incident, the issue is minimal (it conflicts with a personal moral). If staff allows these complaints to accumulate, then it is unfair for a target to have to fend off 6 complaints at the same time, all of which may have occurred at different times for different reasons (this is kitchen-sinking).
I had a student ask me, for the first time in my (admittedly short) career why the save icon in Word was a strange symbol.
Tell them it represents a jerry can, the kind that used to be on the back of Jeeps, and that the symbol/shape was chosen because it means "in case your work goes up in flames."
@Arkandel said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
Do you think something like an anti-vote system might help? A sort of "this person creeped me a bit OOC just now" anonymous, silent vote, if you will.
I don't see how what you're proposing is any different that crafting a @mail to staff generally.
I am against the idea of anonymous complaints where the conduct complained of is a serious problem. It makes investigating the allegations very difficult.
@surreality said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
I will explain why it seems like common sense to me -- which is, in part, why all of my files are ninety miles long. When people see a new what, generally, they're going to want to know why. And that's fair. I would want to know what the rationale was for something new or different that I hadn't encountered before.
Do your thing. Just as an aside, though: no one likes reading legislative history.
@surreality said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
It's not actually that I don't think there should be any risks in MUing -- mostly because that's impossible, pie-in-the-sky idealism. The RL scenario you describe demonstrates why.
Just because a goal seems impossible doesn't mean we can't strive towards it.
I think that if there are reasonable, simple steps we can take to minimize the risks that exist, they are worth exploring.
Then do so. Justifying your reasons for doing so isn't necessary, nor is admonishing anyone for deciding not to do so. If there's one thing I've learned from the "more open" era of debating MUs on forums, it is that stating your intentions and following through is more productive than trying to coerce anyone else to agree with your rationale. I've wasted a pretty hour trying to explain why flat-gain XP and XP caps are beneficial, and others have run with those ideas years after.
Do your thing.