But still, they're siding with "it's probably fake, even if we aren't sure" and have decided to not suspend that staffer's authority as a safety measure to their players.
If I was a boss and an allegation of misconduct came out of one of my leaders (who was in a position of authority), if I couldn't prove otherwise my focus would be to ENSURE SAFETY and temporarily suspend someone's ability to exploit their elevated privileges.
Yikes.
Also I should note: I'm not saying everyone needs to agree with my views on TS/Romance in some cases being treated like "pseudo-dating". If you disagree? COOL. I just feel this way and thus (up until my end of mushing) marked it as something to be very very very very careful about.
@devrex This is one of the issues I had when I was mushing, and part of my decision to give it up.
Basically, I'd have work, home life, kids, etc. While all of that was going on I was in this constant state of FOMO (fear of missing out) to the point that I downloaded a MU client onto my phone and would sneak in logins while at work. I'd also do google doc writing where we used Google Docs as the space during the day when I couldn't login.
Basically, the 24/7 "something's always going on and you're missing it" state was a FOMO nightmare.
What worked best for me was just to take the "when I'm here, I'm here" approach, sign up for events when I was able, and do my best to stay relevant. Regardless, the "all the time" crowd are usually the big movers and shakers, and due to that they tend to get the most RP. I would have liked to see a MU or two in my day that was "only active during specific hours". I think that would have resonated with me. Something that was like "We open our doors at 1pm PDT and close our doors at 11pm PDT" where people login at the same time, RP, and then log out to sleep.
"NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooOooOOooooOooooooo"
@lotherio Yanno the BEST conversations I have had on this forum or with other people in the hobby have all been related to stuff like tech, ideas, games we'd like to see, how ARES works, and really just sharing COOL BRAINWAVE stuff with fellow people in the hobby. Sad I missed the boat on those ARES discussions. I probably would have dug those a lot, but I've also had plenty of them on the side with @faraday
My favorite was the guy who was this sickly, frail, bed-ridden thing, and the reason he is so sick is because of overuse of the drug that makes him powerful. When he takes the drug, he astrally projects as a ghost that shoots these badass lasers that murder everything and cause explosions, but the drug is KILLING HIM.
I may or may not have said this a while back (as in years) so I'll just say it again.
I can't help but feel like the issue is the format of the technology.
Hear me out, here. So for DECADES the format has mostly stayed the same aside from some pretty cool upgrades (Ares, Evennia), but ultimately the format is: UNIX-based text emitter where everyone sets a pose order, writes a bunch of poses in turn, and then calls it a night. Part of me feels like another 20 years could go by and the same issues would be prevalent, so my mind starts going to "out of the box" options.
Given the technology these days of APIs, better GUI interfaces, etc, maybe it's a good time to come up with a "new way of doing things". Just off of the top of my head?
I think the "Online Tabletop" industry is where all of the movement is at. For example: "WoD Nexus" is coming (via "Demiplane" at this website. With that includes the following:
So, I'm not saying "everyone move over to TTRPG or Demiplane", but perhaps within those technologies is the answer to taking THIS hobby and moving it into the 21st century.
@Groth said:
@Coin said:
@Arkandel said:
@Groth I'll help run it, but I won't head it.
You have a bad habit of getting people to hypothesize and get into an idea and then going, "but I'm not gonna be in charge!"
We've seen what happens to people who headstaff.
Truefax. Most staffers with bright eyes for their new shiny game are like...
...and then four months after opening are like...
Another idea I had or came across a while ago was to complilate a collage that encompasses the look and vibe of the character. So their face is ultimately less important to their vibe and presentation, right?
It's fun to do this anyway to get into the character design mindset.
The reason I am so excited about Mortals-only (and wouldn't be a fan of Monster PCs or former Monster PCs) is because all too often on WoD, players/characters think/write from the point of view of expertise. Even if the vampire has been a vampire a total of a fortnight (high five to myself for fitting fortnight into a sentence today!), they tend to write from the point of view of a character who gets it, or at least has some heavy handle on this strange, paranormal world.
Mortals make for different stories. They make for all of the varied responses of discovery, or how they deal with these discoveries. It's "What would my quasi-fish of a Starbucks barrista do if encountered with a vengeful, fucked up ghost?" It will allow players to make people we might pass on the street or in a club, and apply our real-life models of society, responses, pop culture, and lack of knowledge towards dealing with things that aren't supposed to exist.
Well, when you're a vampire, this is all old fucking news. Having a job, being a barrista, giving a fuck about Arby's changing the flavor of Arby's sauce...all of that is useless, old news to vampires or monster PCs.
I recently posted a blog message to friends and family about genAi...and then I realized I mentioned generating character images using Ai...and then I realized the community probably has a growing use of Ai:
For people who aren't aware how Ai (Generative Ai) works, and why regular people should be aware of it.
(Please read if you want to protect your data around Ai engines, let me put on my "IT guy" hat, and please ignore if you already knew this stuff)
Ai isn't some "intelligence" inside of a machine. It's just a "learning engine". Here's an example:
You ask a brand-new Ai engine about rocks:
You: Please explain rocks to me
Ai: What is a rock?
<you give it access to a bunch of information on rocks>
Now the Ai engine has access to that definition of a rock and can/will apply it to future references of "rock"
You: What is a rock?
Ai: (now with data) "A rock is a..."
Now just picture thousands of repeated/refined saved data on rocks over a year, questions others asked about rocks, and the engine will attempt to use all of that data to get the best response.
This is how "ChatGPT" became "racist" in 48 hours. It isn't a childlike mind that needs to learn, and it surely has no bias against race. It's just that racist USERS of the software flooded the Ai engine with racist sentences, questions, and racially-charged responses to the Ai's queries. Due to the % of racist data on the server (which the Ai has no true understanding of racism), ChatGPT thought it was giving accurate data.
So...
You: What is the best weapon to use against <race>
Ai: No data
You spend 20 minutes flooding the engine with false data related to how rocks are used to attack <race>
You: Tell me about rocks
Ai: <bunch of data about rocks> + "often used to kill <racial slur>"
++HOW IS THIS A RISK TO YOU???++
IF you are messing around with a generative Ai engine, it requires the INPUT of data to GENERATE data. It TAKES data from the user, searches for other data within the engine with similar tags, and generates a response based on what it finds.
You must FEED it prompts (you type into the bar what you're looking for), it saves that data, then returns data based on what you asked for.
if you accidentally paste private info into a GenAi engine, that data will REMAIN INSIDE OF THE ENGINE.
so if you accidentally paste your email address and password into an Ai engine, it'll remain in there. There's no guarantee it'll show up on a search about rocks, but it's in there SOMEWHERE
If you do not own the Ai engine, you cannot confirm the data is in there or can be removed. Your Uid/pass may show up in images or other GenAi searches because the data remains.
This means that, in theory, all generative Ai engines that are not properly maintained and audited may actually be hot targets for data mining. This means that if you search an Ai engine with higher classified company data into an Ai engine, that data may have just been leaked. This means that all art you make (digital or scan) and upload to an Ai engine remains in the engine for others to generate off of
So, please, consider this before entering anything personal, private, or important into a GenerativeAi engine. I suspect in less than 5 years, we may hear a lot about the GDPR, data retention on Ai engines, and Europe's "right to be forgotten", and a need for Ai engines to purge personally identifiable information stored in their databases.
The point is not to refute it, but to understand that your players past and present have these conceptions. Rushing to refute it is a defensive measure, but doesn't do anything to address the player base concerns.
@Scissors said in WebMU still in use?:
Oh well, I spoke too soon. Even though I could connect via Mushclient on a USB stick, it's still constantly disconnecting me. It looks like the corporate firewall is set to periodically shutdown telnet connections everywhere, so I may be SOL.
IT guy here. PLEASE read this.
Telnet (port23) is a hideously insecure protocol that transmits everything in clear text. Most companies these days outright block all telnet traffic to ensure that private information isn't at risk of snooping. Nothing is encrypted in telnet. Everything (everything) is readable like a keylogger: transmission of userid/password, every incoming/outgoing message, your RP, etc.
WHY PEOPLE WHO MU FROM WORK SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS
HOW TO GET AROUND THIS
...in short. You're taking your life into your own hands when using company resources (internet connection, wifi, company issued device) to MU. You're making it even worse if you're TSing or doing anything that HR would frown upon.
I know of one person who was fired at my last job for attempting to MU from work. EVEN IF YOUR BOSS SAYS IT IS OKAY, your transmitted content (or attempts to circumvent existing security) are subject to company policies. It's kind of like if your boss says it's okay that you use YouTube during the day they're expecting music videos, audio books, and sports clips, but if you start watching sex scenes on YouTube with nudity you could still get in trouble.
Note, @Fantom per my villain-based policy idea post, I have decided to pony up and will be aiming to make a villain character on Rogue, one to give protagonist characters a force to bump heads against.
Somehow this thread is reminding me of a psych study I read about, where a group of non-criminal civilians was split up into the roles of prisoner and prison guard. The study had to be stopped early because the prison guard roleplayers started to get physical with the prisoners.
I imagine on a game where the common trope for all characters being "criminal", whether it be falsely accused or not, would also naturally gravitate towards the edgy, brooding, quasi-80s punk bully loner without a cause tropes. For some reason I'm not entirely surprised to see this complaint about the game, because written into the assumed genre, even for the players who have never seen the tv show, would have to assume a degree of antisocial behavior, if even it is brooding due to being falsely accused. Then, add in the teenage trope, which on any given MU always seems to gravitate towards social bullying, underage sex, and drama-mongering.
People play a facsimile of what they identify these tropes with. Being that the grand majority of us are mistreated nerds who all sought private, non-physical-contact means of social roleplay, I wouldn't doubt we've got a whole gaggle of formerly bullied outcast types and players who feel that urge to rekindle those younger, more teenage freedoms.
I'm not a player on this game, I think that's pretty clear, but I wouldnt doubt there to be a large number of prison guards in a prison guard clique (and an IC/ooc clique) on a game with a Delinquents faction.
Are we really surprised about this? Truly?
I never played at the 100 but I got snippets of what was going on, and I'm not surprised that this happened.
Nice people or not, though, what repeatedly happens with these two is that they center all plot thru their PCs, focus the game on their characters, push against other players trying to create plot elements that don't match their design, and then close the game when it doesn't pan out their way.
When you run a game that is open to other players, you have got to accept that they won't want to center their experience around your characters. They want a stake in it, too, and when there is so much self focus, it comes across as staffers who have created a game for themselves, or a small clique, but wanted to avoid the boredom of sandbox rp to have other people to rp around, but not let those other players into prominence because the game was never made for THEM.
When you open a game to the public, you do have responsibilities to craft the environment for your players' benefit. Some part of you should take a step back and let your players have some spotlight. Everyone joining a game assumes that is why the game is open to the public in the first place; that you are looking for new players and perspectives to craft a group story/roleplaying experience.
I didn't play this game because, like some others, I had seen this mistake made multiple times by these staffers and history has repeated itself with them so many times that there was little point.
To 100 staff: Stop running games and opening mushes unless you are willing to let others craft the story and affect the metaplot. No one wants to hang around a railroad to support your characters in fulfilling your stories. This kind of behavior will contribute to souring an already dying and difficult hobby.
@tek said in The 100: The Mush:
the first time i interacted with him, he started telling me about his kinks in ooc, apropos of nothing, then started posing in second person like he assumed we were gonna get our TS on. i've never left a scene so fast.
To clarify, I wasn't insinuating that you were doing anything wrong. If he's a creeper, he's a creeper, I was just LOLing about the sudden jackknife the thread took.
@tek said in The 100: The Mush:
My character: just lost her parents, distraught
His character: "If you want to talk, I'll be in my room"
Me: goes to find him in his room for a scene. scene starts.
Him: "Btw, I'm into Dom/sub relationships." switches to second-person text
His character: starts getting handsyYeah. Not sure how else this could have been interpreted, dude.
Thats like a sneaky version of the VANDERSEXXX scene from Eurotrip.
Classy.
You know what the fifth stage of grief is?!?!?
Uncle ClownSex's Magical Leather Basement
