Best posts made by Ghost

@faraday said in Incentives for RP:

I must confess though that I've always found it weird that you need to incentivize RP at all. Like... RP is literally the point of the game. Why do I need a carrot on a stick to get people to tell stories, on a game that's about telling stories?

It's pretty baffling to me, honestly.

talking bird agrees

YES.

I'm with you here. If you're at the point where you have to try to incentivize people to be inclusive, there's kind of a bigger issue. This may be the wrong question/wrong approach to the issue/complaint.

Either way, the whole point of the hobby is to write and be creative. Most games barely use character sheets at all or the dice don't decide everything. MOST scenes don't involve dice at all. XP is fun and feels like progress is being made in a numbers way, but if it's all about the story and the writing, then XP matters not. The incentive is the creative headspace.

Fun Fact: New Pro-Wrestling show AEW (All Elite Wrestling) is going to be trying to take on the WWE and will soon have a weekly 2 hour show on TNT Network.

More Interesting Fact: AEW has signed a trans wrestler (Nyla Rose, who transitioned to female and is in the women's division) and an openly gay wrestler (Sonny Kiss, the Concrete Rose).

I would have posted this in the Wrasslin' thread but I thought some of you might find it neat that a major pro wrestling program owned by a Pakistani-American billionaire family is giving a fair nod to trans wrestlers.

Gonna note that I think my standard theory that there are 2 kinds of mushers applies here.

Mushers are either:

• People who want to creatively collaborate on writing, and use RPG systems as a backend game engine for conflict resolution
• RPG gamers who want to play RPGs, with their systems (xp, dice, tables) as the driving engine, but want collaborative writing to supplement.

You give different incentives for creative writers than you do xp-driven murder hobo TT gamers.

ETA: Some people are like "How much XP did I get for this scene? I'm saving for my SUPER MECHA ARMOR that gives me +10 missiles, and I really wanna write about how he gets it." and others are "Meh, XP is nice, but I want my follow-up scene and my creative ideas in +jobs to be looked at."

@Cupcake Yeah, WWE is taking a huge paycheck from Saudi Arabia, but female wrestlers are barred from being on the show at all (can't have them sexy, strong, athletic women on display!). So WWE was willing to take cash for a show that discriminates against the women of WWE, who have worked so hard to get where they are.

Also, I wanted to note that on first glance Sonny Kiss may be assumed to be a gimmick. Sonny is a "loud and proud" character, but it's not a caricature. From what I've seen (Instagram, interviews) that's
who Sonny Kiss is in real life: openly out, proud of his culture, doesnt give a fuck and wants to wrestle. I love him. YouTube interview with Sonny

He's also been open about his relationship with indie wrestler Killian McMurphy.

dawwwwwwwCuteCouple

AEW is absolutely gonna kill WWE.

1. Support for women and LGBTQ+ Culture
2. Unlike WWE, all employees are employees with salaries and health insurance
3. The more WWE does stuff like Saudi Arabia or fucks over a wrestler unfairly, AEW looks better.

A number of WWE wrestlers have defected, and there are rumors that a lot more are looking into getting out of their contracts to jump ship to AEW.

Back to topic.

POINT #1

The ultimate question is: "If staff can have PCs and there are dozens of non-staff PCs to play with, why would anyone focus deep, meaningful RP towards an NPC? Why not get a player to app this NPC as a PC?"

I think the answer ultimately lies in the assumption that if a player creates an NPC and requests staff to RP as the NPC, then the player may have some element of control of how the NPC behaves.

"I created this NPC to be my character's bodyguard and sometimes lover. Can I get staff to run a scene with me involving this character?"

TEN MINUTES LATER

"The NPC I created would never do that!"

In this scenario, you literally get to tell people that they're playing the character wrong, and may be able to leverage not only the IC behavior of the NPC, but also predetermine the outcome.

POINT #2

If you've been in this hobby for a while, you all know the benefits of RPing with staff, staff alts, and in staff scenes. There are benefits, including immediate benefits(xp, equipment...) to role-playing with the person who can literally type in the commands to reward you for the scene or fulfill content requests without the player having to submit a job and wait.

So, I think it's fair to say that when everyone knows the point of these games is to create a PC and mingle with the other PCs, that the real trick to getting quick and preferable responses from staff is to put yourself at the head of the pack by investing one or more staffers in your content. I think this concept goes against the spirit of these games and promotes favoritism under the guise of it being "just an NPC scene", and given the weirdly personal implications of TS that MSB never really talks about, TS with a specific staffer playing sockepuppet of said NPC is shaky territory.

The preferable approach is to role play your own NPCs as puppets who don't affect plot and if the NPC deserves a bigger role, try to find someone to play them.

And once again I'll reiterate that my opinion is that the difference between a STAFF NPC and an NPC should be no difference at all. When a staffer plays, they are off the clock. It's a level of "conflict of interest" that deserves more attention, IMO.

THE BOYS is solid, great TV.

Also: THE ORVILLE is a HULU show next season. Ixnay on the OXFay.

@Sunny said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:

@Wretched said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:

@Sunny So you don't think that having a sexual relationship with a person in power over the community that you are invested in is a detriment to the rest of the community? That it doesn't undermine trust as an impartial staffer?

Nope, because it's not actually a sexual relationship. No sex is happening.

ETA: GM's girlfriend is a thing because the girlfriend is ACTUALLY FUCKING the GM.

Perhaps I should ask Wretch's question (which I feel is fair play) in a different way:

So you don't think that having a sexual relationship engaging in the creation of sexual/OOCly stimulating content that could compromise the bias of a person in power over the community that you are invested in is a detriment to the rest of the community? That it doesn't undermine trust as an impartial staffer?

To put it bluntly, no one accuses staff who has scenes where they play catch with a football as a scene that might compromise staff bias, because (in most cases?) scenes where people throw a football around probably don't result in boners, fantasy fulfillment, or masturbation.

(IMO) On even a chemical level, the stimulation of the brain works differently in these cases, and absolutely could be used as a vehicle to getting bias benefits.

I am ALL over Matrix 4 like white on rice on a paperplate in a snowstorm being eaten by Trump's cabinet.

@Pandora said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:

What is the difference between writing good text sex and getting a staffer's love and attention, or writing good combat text and getting a staffer's love and attention, or writing good adventuring text and getting a staffer's love and attention?
This obsession with TS like it is some unholy grail of moral depravity is crazy levels of shaming.

Eh, I'm fairly sex-positive and don't care who does what. People wanna TS? Go for it. People wanna TS non-vanilla stuff? Go for it.

It's probably a better conversation for a different thread (so I won't derail here), but I think the answer to your question lies in some very unspoken opinions in the community that may be based in the opinion-holder's own little guilty secrets.

(In other words, I dont think the obsession with TS as depravity/moral issue is actual that at all. I think almost everyone is TSing, and as a byproduct of perhaps a history of securing benefit through TS, worries that IC romance may have compromised them Oocly, and jealousy related to not being chosen for IC romance over another player (or the assumption that players choose players for TS which is a wtf minefield) drive the witch hunt for TS and favoritism.)

But that's just a theory. Cheaters like to accuse of cheating.

New funny: People who write real estate descriptions are the same breed of people who write band descriptions or movie descriptions on the back of the DVD/VHS case.

A long while ago I did some writing/editing for DVD case backsides and/or slicker sheets for B-movie "boobs and blood" horror titles. It all started one day with the film producer coming to me and saying: "* We need help, we have used HOT in the last 6 or 7 descriptions and need to come up with new stuff...*"

"Jenny is a HOT college senior on a road trip..."
"Four HOT coeds lost in the woods..."
"...they summoned a HOT, deadly demon from the depths of Hell..."

And then you have when bands write their own descriptions. It's always the same shit for metal/punk bands:

"Led by the AIR RAID vocals of Jimmy Spank, the THUNDERING drum lines of Chaz McChaz, the SYMPHONIC guitar solos of brand new guitars Squeegy Jackson..."

So I'm reading these descriptions of houses on the MLS sheets my realtor is showing me and I just crack the fuck up:

"Boasts a QUAINT backyard with lots of potential..."

"Wake up in the morning directly to FRENCH DOORS and MAJESTIC VIEWS..."

So then I think, what if you put them all together?

"CERBERUS LANE is a movie about a haunted house with a bar-top kitchen and GREAT POTENTIAL FOR GUESTS. Guests such as the HEART POUNDING bass-lines by Kevin McDarkness and the SHRIEKING EAR BLEEDING VENOM of HOT vocalist Brittany Roxx. Schedule your tour today! This movie is HOT."

Also, to add. Mudstats boasts 900+ logins to MUX servers. Shang and CoH top those out right now at 377/165 bits connected, respectively. Those numbers drop sharply to 38 on Tenebrae and then trickle into the 20s until it hits single digit logins by entry 12 of 40 on the page.

Both of these put together (if you factor # of allowed alts and total numbers; right now it's 6pm in NYC.) I think shows evidence that there may not be thousands of mushers in the hobby and that attendance at games isn't all that spread out.

I mean, if Shang allows for 5 alts, and if each player had 5, that 377 comes to around 70 players total. Either way it's highly unlikely that these 377/165 numbers are individual logins.

Regardless, I think it's highly probable that the same mushers share server space regularly.

I'm getting more and more excited about Picard. So far the returning characters confirmed are:

• Jean-Luc Picard (duh)
• Will Riker(Will Troi? Diner-Troi?)
• Deanna Troi (Deanna Riker? Troi-Riker?)
• Data
• Seven of Nine/Annika Hansen
• Hugh

For some reason, it's Hugh that has me really intrigued. For those of you that aren't in the know, Hugh was a Borg drone the Enterprise crew nursed back to health. Picard originally ordered it to be euthanized. The whole episode was a morality play on whether or not a Borg should be allowed the chance to live, even if returned to the Borg (kill it so that it can't draw the Borg to you or return it to the Borg.) Hugh eventually decided that Geordie was his friend, he didnt want to leave the crew, but ultimately sacrificed his individuality to return to the Borg to protect his friend, Geordie.

It is believed that Hugh's individuality, prior to being wiped, would be witnessed by all of the Borg and perhaps result in a thought timebomb or emotional virus that could offspring a will to become individuals.

So Hugh plus Seven of Nine plus Borg in the trailer has me intrigued, because I love my Space Cenobites dearly.

@mietze You know, I remember seeing it plenty and hear about it still from time to time; the person who signs up for the Pro super quick, even if they're not equipped or involved with the PrP, so the valid people get bumped. Those, or definitely the people who dont pay attention to the content/post/details/come because a friend is in the scene/etc

I hesitate to say that maybe there's a better way, like include in the prp signup a quick one-sentence explanation of how their character would be involved. Probably wouldn't go over well though if PrP runners got to pick their players.

I think it's fair to say it would be considered respectful to pay attention and put in effort when someone runs scenes for you.

I just revealed to my team at work that the weird slightly off-colored line in our team's logo is actually a super-small font wording: #spiceworld2019

Because I put it there.

It's been there for nearly a year.

Booyah.

Edit: because FUCK THEM for not supporting the Spice Girls reunion tour. They called me weird and crazy. Who's laughing now, yah?

I think altogether the people from HorrorMu should be proud. It's always great when a new approach pays off. Lessons learned is a practice I'm all about, and like any new invention you only know if it works by reviewing the test results.

I think mushing needs new ideas. Not that every game is same old same old (that's not what I'm saying), but the more new concepts get added in like new systems, web-based auto logging, web connectivity, new clients, and (imo most important) new attempts at ways to play, the better off I think the hobby will be.

Really, MU started on old UNIX BBS systems expanded for game rules. The base technology is antiquated, but that doesnt mean that it has to stay that way. Some of the base systems and UNIX-based codebases are so old that the dust has grown dust, but I like that I'm seeing innovation. Like any hobby, it needs to adapt to the changing times either or a play style or technological level.

Really, it's hard to remember that systems like these used to be accessed in the early 90s through dial-up POTS connection limited to 2-6 users at a time. BBS were the TOR of the day, and it's cool to see that right now it's become a mostly license-free RP frontier.

Done waxing poetic. Gotta be up at 3am.

We didnt move a dresser and bed into new house (didn't put it on truck) because SisterInLaw said she wanted them. SiL and her husband make extra money getting furniture for cheap (in this case, free) and then reselling them for 50-100.

The day we arranged for them to bring the truck and pick it up, they were "already out doing garage sales and had stuff in the trailer" and wanted to see a pic of the bed.

They "dont like it" and have changed their minds on picking it up.

Bitch is SoOOoOoo in the penalty box with me right now.

Important detail: We rented a truck. We cant move it easily ourselves without spending money.

ALSO, the whole "Sitting on your nads" thing?

Getting into a car is THREAT LEVEL: MIDNIGHT for that.

For those with you that don't have that plumbing I guaran-fuckin-tee you that all of those actors from John Wick, Fast&Furious, Dukes of Hazard, TJ Hooker who have had to film rushing to get into a car or sliiiiiiiiiding across the hood of a car have absolutely sat on their junk.

You buy a house.

Your new homeowner state becomes public record.

YOU GET ON EVERY FUCKING CALL LIST KNOWN TO MANKIND

Hahaha god...why am I doing this?

ALSO: Punching a penis doesnt hurt someone with a penis. The penis is remarkably elastic. It has about the same result as punching a stress ball that will squish in then expand back to normal. The dick is mostly immune to most civilian grade blunt trauma. I mean, sure, no one wants a sledgehammer coming down on it against a concrete slab because there is skin and blood and tubing, but a slap or a punch or a roundhouse kick to it? PFFT. Whatevs. Most people with penises dont worry about their dick getting punched. Cut off? Yes. Punched? Nasomuch.

The nads behind the penis that often receive the full weight of a boot kicking the penis into the nads is what men fear.

When we jump it's not because of the penis but because it's next door neighbor don't want the collateral damage.

I'm sharing this because my SO assumed the penis feels a lot of that pain and I had to explain. Nope. It's totally designed for full-contact physical sports which is why the part that does feel the pain rides shotgun.

Technically, if one were homeless and looking to pull oneself out of poverty, a cell phone might be crucial.

The ability to use the internet to move money around and receive callbacks from job interviews might arguably be more important than a regular roof to sleep under.