Best posts made by Ghost

@teethteethteeth said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

When is the appropriate time to announce OOCly "I'm masturbating to this!" because I seem to get it wrong every time.

At Thanksgiving Dinner with your grandparents. Trust me.

In a MU sense? With me? Never.

I dont care if people fap to my Bodacious Harlequin Fabio-Covered Prose, but for OOC separation purposes don't want to know that you're fapping to it at all. Thatd be like calling your parents while you're jerking off and saying "Dad, I'm jerking off right now"

Because then your dad would kiiiiiiinda be like: "Uh...did something I do there just aid in an improper breach of family lines?"

Probably not the best explanation.

LordVladMcSexy made you fap. Not Ghost. That's how I like it.

I have a fidget spinner in the shape of a batarang.

I am done for.

@Arkandel Perhaps, but let's take it a little deeper.

In theory any online service that communicates with persons in the EU falls under the GDPR, even if monetary transactions aren't taking place. Per the GDPR any processor or controller of PII (personally identifying information) of EU citizens must disclose what is being collected, what is getting logged, how long it will log for, how it will be shared, and can only collect/keep as much is necessary for the service to take place.

So, in theory, since the GDPR considers IP addresses to be PII, it wouldn't be out of bounds for a citizen of the EU to demand an audit of a MU for any PII of theirs that was collected, shared, etc.

I know the topic is in regards to privacy in terms of "reading someone's poses", but between using telnet and the fact that most game runners don't even know what info is kept/collected (or whether or not that DB stolen from the old WoD game was made to make a new one) there's a chance that plenty of stuff exists in storage on these games that people may not wanto be collected.

Everyone who play these games should absolutely assume that staff, players, people snooping their connection, etc are able to read their TS, because it really is an insecure hobby with a shitload of "PII collecting gray area". Most people care a lot about policies regarding behavior/staff snooping, but tend to not think to ask about whether or not staff are aware of or have an eyeball on how their PII is controlled or TS logs are able to be read by Swedish 16 year olds with warez that were obsolete almost 15 years ago.

@shangexile said in RL Anger:

@shangexile If someone can tell me how to delete my account, I will. Can't seem to find the functionality.

• Change your password to random key-presses that you aren't paying attention to (ie. I3i38fbfjqoqoo3jebfhcui)
• then logout
• then delete the bookmark
• then lose the fucks you give.

@Wretched Well, the tech stuff I was talking about was just a reminder that technically staff snooping isn't the only privacy concern.

Much to my dislike, I think Corporate HR provides a mindset that might make a fair policy on how and when staff monitor people's MU time. I imagine it could be something like:

• If staff receives a complaint that they feel requires investigation via observation (corporatese for spying), then staff will log that they are doing so in transparency with other staff for no less than X hours/days. All non-pertinent information logged will be destroyed afterwards, and will not be shared by any players non-essential to reviewing the complaint.

Or, for short:

• Staff cant arbitrarily snoop without all staff knowing
• Staff cant snoop indefinitely
• Staff cant share what they find with MSB
• Any PII or stuff not related to the problem isn't saved to a hard drive

@kitteh what resolution are you actively seeking in this situation?

I'm not being snide when I ask this.

This is going to drag on forever and I think the best thing that both yourself and @surreality can do at this point is to either take it to private messages, or respectfully, without rude language, state what your preference for resolution is.

This:

Not this:

If @saosmash and I, or @shangexile and @surreality can find a decent resolution that puts the knives away, so can you.

@Derp Conflict of interest is such a weird concept on MUs, or at least the concept of bias and how it affects conflict of interest in ways we don't often discuss. Over the years I have seen bad staff feeding their alts (or alts of their friends) with OOC information to lubricate IC results.

Regardless, I think there's something to "snooping" being related to defending compartmentalization of information for better or worse. Kind of like how people freak out about being seen in their underwear but couldn't care less about being seen in a swimming suit that is virtually no different from underwear "because you CHOSE to be seen in that underwear".

People want to control what scenes are public knowledge because the IC content could be damaging either Oocly or ICly. People also want to control which pages are seen because they're considered (though aren't) private and they don't want their private information or potentially nasty OOC page communications getting back to the people they're talking about.

I think people like to compartmentalize who they make snide remarks or complain to others about based on the intended target of the message and worry about staff being aware of some of the stuff said. Oh, man, have I received some epic bitching about staff in pages...

@Meg

I dont care whether or not canon characters (in Mu) stick to canon so long as a small number of my biases are met:

1. Try to keep everything else to canon. I literally don't care which straight characters are now gay, or which white characters are now Asian. I just don't want to see Jedi Dr Strange who constantly breaks the 4th wall, has his own iron man suit, and was bitten by a radioactive spider.

2. FOR FUCKS SAKE MAKE IT COUNT. Don't make a gay Wolverine because you intend to just hide in some RP suite having cub, otter, and bear orgies. Make Wolverine gay because youre going to write this character turning over this new leaf in life. I wanna see him confide about it to Storm or Xavier. I wanna see how the character's psychology changes. I could give three fucks whether or not someone thinks it's a neat idea; the whole point is useless if I can't read any of it.

@hobos said in Good TV:

I thought it suffered from darkness-induced audience apathy to such an extent that it was ludicrous

Note that episode came from Sandman #6, which was published in 1989. So, with that in mind I don't feel that "audience apathy" was at play.

Back in the late 80s, Gaiman, Moorcock, and Moore were the tip of the spear in terms of writing hard-hitting content that challenged readers. I also think that Sandman #6 "24 hours" was definitely an idea that later lead to American God's.

The point behind episode 5 (and the 24 hours story) was to display just how much chaos a godlike power could unleash on a small scale. The terror of it doesn't need to be unveiled on some global, cataclysmic scale. Simply opening up people to let go of their inhibitions and no longer ignore the little impulses led to unfettered truth.

Example. It wasn't that those characters were so dishonest with themselves that by simply being honest all this edgy stuff happened. There are reasons why people don't answer their every urge, or tell a white lie, or choose against their desires. That one character ended up fucking another and then violence happens wasn't the point. The POINT was that giving into your impulses 100% means you fuck the cook, and then when you get angry you react to that, and then you react to every impulses, be it dread, relief, and it ends up becoming an inescapable quicksand. Such chaos can start out to create something beautiful and then unravel out of control, and thus the whims of a shortsighted man with godlike power spells doom for everyone he comes into contact with.

The concept of 24 hours was written at a time where Alan Moore was challenging the concept of civil rights in V for Vendetta and the deep questions of the Watchmen. Gaiman is a different breed of writer and at the time 24 hours was published it was shockingly unapologetic and unafraid to touch these themes.

@Roz Right.

It was a post about their special-needs child being exposed to potential online pedophiles that included useful "here's how to find support" advice for parents, turned quickly into a bizarre accusation about being an abusive evangelical-style parent who equates doing as they say with being loved.

Anyone who has ever been a parent knows a few key things...

1. It's best to be honest about where they don't have privacy rather than do it on the sly. If it's about contracting to safety when using the internet then it's not snooping. It's a family decision.
2. If you dont have a teen who doesn't sneak around or get into stuff they shouldn't? Congrats. You won the genetic lottery.
3. It's better to identify problems before things become criminal investigations and years of therapy

What I found neat about @buttercup 's post is that their child came to them about this stuff. God, I would have been so grateful for that because most teens dont have the experience, maturity, or legal knowledge to know how to handle this stuff. They usually get scared, hide it, get devoured by it. There have even been cases of pedophiles collecting sexually explicit content from the minor and using that as blackmail to keep them from going to their parents or the law.

The discussion about whether or not keeping an eye on your teen's online activity could inadvertently "out" them to their parents before they are ready to "out" themselves (and the topic of how parents abuse their children for choosing different sexualities than the parent would prefer) is another topic entirely.

Let THIS ONE be about protecting your kids from pedophiles in the MU/online community. Open up a SEPARATE one for the other topic, please.

So the most recent episode of Mandalorian (S3Ep4) hit me right in the feels. I'm gonna put this behind a spoiler tag, but AFTER you watch the episode (or if you don't care), check this out.

***Spoiler...orian?***

I have a hard time not being incredulous about believing that "finding out why your child is having fun roleplaying blood slut sexual TS with adults on the internet" may be taking a front seat to "immediately finding out if this is a case where they KNOW your child is a minor, are still doing it anyway, and your child is the subject of a predator's online behavior."

Even if your child is like "Oh fuck no. I tell them I'm a 22 year old law student" that needs to stop IMMEDIATELY, because it is also ethically wrong to hand wave allowing another adult to unknowingly exploit a minor

Since I've been away from MU games for over 2 years now, I've had a lot of time to reflect. So, in retrospect, my personal opinion is that I disagree with the concept that MU is at least somewhat productive because there's creativity involved.

Here's why.

I think about all of the many, many, many variations of a theme that have patterned and repeated over and over and over again ad nauseum through my time MUing. From "let's do a bar scene" to "coffee house scene" to "this a completely different character experience than my last IC relationship because this one is Reeeeece Witherspoooon and the last one was that redhead from that one show". Looking back I realize that very, VERY few people play truly unique characters (or at the very least characters indistinguishable from one another) due to lack of change in writing styles. A large number of players stick to their comfort zones, but try to use PBs and setting to make their characters unique...but when you take a really hard, honest look at the history of MU you'll find that players mostly attempt to recreate similar experiences from game to game. We all know a few players who literally have used the same PB and character names across multiple games. So the spirit of really being creative isn't so...universal.

Sometimes I feel like MU is less about actual creative writing than it is about people (myself included) who have a void to fill and "assisted creativity" helps hit that sweet spot that makes it feel less empty.

So...give or take that whole "7 hours a day" thing I ranted on about earlier, apply it to this that I've just typed out, and I think a lot of other "hobbies" are far more truly creative and far less of a time sink.

On YouTube alone you can:

• take art courses
• learn an instrument or new language
• actually try to write an actual novel

...and a good number of those will leave you with something tangible to show for the hard hours you put into it. The VTT rpg community is a LOT less creepy and a lot more welcoming, and there's some really good vibes to be found there that doesn't come with even a fourth of the social anxiety that comes from all of the gatekeepy scene queens that MU comes with.

So...in summary. I AM NOT SAYING PEOPLE R DUM FOR BEING IN THIS HOBBY, I am saying that I feel that MU can become a bit of a black hole that people disappear into, spend years feeling like they're doing something, and then ultimately have nothing but "time spent" to show for their efforts. There are a LOT of super rewarding things out there, and I highly recommend people at least supplement their MUing with some of them so that they have one leg planted in RL and a source of positive energy to draw from that isn't MU. It's much healthier, I've found.

You know what pisses me off about this conversation? It's that I've been in the hobby long enough to know there's probably at minimum ONE player reading this right now, where I'm telling them that they're a pedophile, who has KNOWINGLY TSed with a minor, who is like:

Man, go fuck yourself, Ghost. Mind your own business.

But they won't likely post that because it would provide a potential paper/audit trail that could result in them being branded a pedophile or being investigated as one.

@testament said in Review of Recent Bans:

I'm sorry. This is wrong. I have a point to try and post as little as possible, but this is morally wrong.

I'm sure they can discuss it in infinitum at that new forum

@Ominous said in What is the 'ideal' power range?:

@Ghost

I am not sure I ever encountered +warn. How did that work?

As to the central topic, I think high level play can work, but the server has to be designed for it.

+warn was basically a thing you would do when another PC was bringing things to a point of conflict. So if you were threatening a biker PC, their player would hit +warn. If you continued threatening, a GM would get called to moderate combat.

It was basically a warning of "you are choosing a course of action that could lead to PVP" and gave players the opportunity to choose an out beforehand.

I may be opinionated, but IMO IC PVP/PK is a tool/lost art that never should have been completely taken off of the table.

Post Script: I hope that players of Star Wars: Insurgency will think of this moment fondly the first time their airspeeders user harpoons and tow cables.

@Cirno Uggggggggggggh I ache for you.

Characters need to fucking die. One thing that always gets to me is the suspension of disbelief that comes from the fact that a LARGE number of mushers are willing to play actiony characters...so long as they get to decide whether or not they die, and if the risk of chardeath is up for grabs, they tend to just not get involved.

I've spent years on mushes where so-and-so has no fear doing cartwheels wearing only a thong and a bucket of chicken on their head through the combined fire of the entire Canadian JTF-2 staff, and then land in a pit of poisonous snakes filled with Yakuza-affiliated-Ninja, holding their breath through poisonous gas, and then are forced to watch Boys Don't Cry seventy-thousand times with a boxcutter well within reach should they want to commit suicide....and only take 2 bashing.

Part of why I don't tend to staff is because I would be that guy that goes "They throw a grenade at you" and require a character to suffer for the grenade explosion, even if it totally gets in the way of their current TS arc with SexyBoobiePornstarKnightNumber34.

Because that's what fucking gaming is.

EDIT: You only get the prestige of surviving all of that shit above if the risk of dying doing it exists, but if you can do this all of the time with zero fear, then you're playing a superhero game and not any other genre. Or? You get prestige for doing it and fucking dying. I swear, I always have to double check what someone means by dead when they tell me that a character died in a combat scene, because so few characters EVER die, I always assume it was a planned death and never because they went into a combat scene and suffered the consequences.

Note: You're "not harping on it" when you tie a rope to your point, stab it into something, and then drag it off to die.

That would be harpooning it.

I'll accept people complaining that admin took the downvote button away with dignity