@bear_necessities said in Is this hobby on it's last legs?:
Firan had a similiar sized playerbase.
To be fair, Firan had all kinds of coded/creep bizarre to it that made it more a product of the Shang/PenDes crowd than the "lit-rpg" crowd. Arx is the first non-wod/non-kink game in a while to organically draw in more than, what, 60 unique ips?
The mudstats numbers are a bit misleading because it doesnt take alts into account.
@faraday said in Is this hobby on it's last legs?:
@Ghost said in Is this hobby on it's last legs?:
With 90% of the playerbase being consumers (as opposed to producers) and regular talks about how hard it can be to "sell" someone on the hobby, I think it's fairly realistic to assume that there will not likely be a torch-passing to some following generation of future coders/game owners once the current 10% of producers ages out, get old, or turns to dust.
You seem to be assuming that there's no way to make it easier to be a producer, or to make it easier to 'sell' someone on the hobby. I would argue that the development of new platforms like Ares and Evennia have the potential to change both of these foundational assumptions.
Will they? Only time will tell.
I think that from within the hobby there's definitely a desire to promote it, and I don't think you're wrong that time will tell. I just think that there are some logical places where I find it to be likely that the platform won't pass this current "generation" of players.
Logically excluding one's current love for the hobby...
Even if hardware can be used to make spinning up a server easier, MU existed in the 80s/90s because there were no MMORPGs or services like Roll20/FG. What's left is a number of die-hards who have been doing it since then, 2-3 people who were coding back then, and yourself and maybe 1 other who are coding games using something other than an antiquated code base that they know how to modify but dont understand the actual guts of the code.
So I figure, what, the average age of the "coder" in the hobby is currently somewhere between 35-50, and the average player age is sitting somewhere around 35-45?
Not trying to attack the hobby, I'm just sharing where I think it's highly probably that the "average age" will continue to go up, where the # of people willing to own/run/code games will remain the same. A couple of new players trickle in here and a few of them may stay, but unless there's some kind of cultural boom where "retro unix-based BBS systems reappropriated into online real-time pseudo-novelist slash rpg" becomes a fad, I see 10 years from now it's still gonna be the same people.
In the end, I feel it's logical to assume that when THIS crowd and the MUDder crowd dont have a younger generation to pass the torch down to, the speakeasy factor of places like PenDes will be the main core of people running server games (and attracting high numbers) like these (look at the numbers difference; it's already happening).
Point in case: Mudstats
Filter by 30 day average. Furry, Shang, PenDes are all pulling in numbers in the 500-600 range. Then some MUDs. This crowd doesnt appear until Arx/CoH show up around 125. Then more MUDs and Furry games until Heroes Assemble clocks in at 90. The 30-day average quickly hangs to between 20-40 shortly thereafter, which tells me two things:
Anyway, time will tell and thanks for coming to my TED talk apparently. Holy shit I typed one out, here.
This hobby is continued and maintained by the same playerbase that has been involved for over 10-20 years and the same "coders/game developers" that have been coding for the last 10-25 years.
With 90% of the playerbase being consumers (as opposed to producers) and regular talks about how hard it can be to "sell" someone on the hobby, I think it's fairly realistic to assume that there will not likely be a torch-passing to some following generation of future coders/game owners once the current 10% of producers ages out, get old, or turns to dust.
But I'm pretty sure Shang and pedo havens like PenDes will thrive because they're speakeasies.
Favorite thing at work: VS Code.
Worst thing at work: VS Code
Love the script editing, but hate using it for SCM
I wonder how they'll do it. I mean in terms of the special effects. Then again Disney has deep pockets and if they gave it the Mandalorian treatment...
I'm curious about the height thing. Maslany is 5'4".
So how about them ps5 preorders, yeah?
@Ganymede said in General Video Game Thread:
@Cassite said in General Video Game Thread:
Then the gameplay. And the cruddy female representation. Euugh.
Yeah, you're right there.
But dudes with car was still pretty fun.
And the game was beautiful to look at.
FF: Road Trip got me to tear up at the end. The end story was wonderful.
@GreenFlashlight said in Good TV:
My feelings on Hawk are complex. I think he's a great character with a well-done arc, and I understand and believe what he's going through, but I also have no sympathy for him because he knows he's terrible and he actively chooses to continue being terrible every day.
I think that's altogether the point.
Johnny Lawrence was THE chief "bully" of 1980s cinema. Now, in Cobra Kai, we see that Johnny wants more from life but under Kreese couldn't see the forest from the trees and it damaged his life. Hawk was like Johnny, a scrawny kid who was bullied and turned into essentially a violent gang member, but his motivation as a bully (like Johnny) is fear-based. Strike first before they hurt you.
So Hawk is an echo of Johnny in teenage years, thus making the viewer see Hawk through the eyes they saw Johnny in through the 80s, then compare to Johnny now, and then say "Oh come on, Eli, Demetri is your best friend. Don't do this!"
It's good writing, because good TV writers don't write characters who make good decisions; they write characters who will make the audience scream and yell and point at the TV like kids watching Dora the Explorer trying to get her to look under the rock for the banana.
Miguel and Robby are Daniel/Johnny from 2 perspectives (or alternative paths)
Hawk and Tory are Johnny from his old perspective
Demetri is Daniel LaRusso from his old perspective
@Auspice I'll also add that the cheesy "hawk screech" sounds always get a chuckle out of me, and is a good way to remind the viewer that it's just a show.
At least it's not a POC character in that position.
Tut-tut mon frere, Eli Moskowitz appears to descend from the Israelites.
Sounds like wading into dangerous territory if you ask me.
Hawk is the best. #changemymind
Hawk IS a great character for all kinds of reasons, up to and including being a perfect example as to how a sweet, bullied kid can become the worst of the worst, which I've seen happen so much.
They'll need to introduce more antagonists before they consider a "redemption arc" for Hawk, but I'd be down to see more Eli/Demetri bromance.
@GreenFlashlight How dare you sir; this show is 100% Gen X pandering.
Agreed. It's 100% Gen-X pandering.
Cobra Kai isn't GREAT, it's clearly not Citizen Kane, but it's fun and I'm enjoying it, which is what I think they were shooting for. I'm on-board for season 3, especially after that foreshadowing in the last 30 minutes of season 2.
I'm particularly fond of Johnny, but mostly because IRL I have a good friend who is a cop who is the same age and build as Johnny, only he has brown hair. CopGuy is kind of a local hero to us. He loves 80's metal and has belts in 3 different martial arts and has a Captain America soul. So watching Johnny fight reminds me of the time I got to see my friend test for his 2nd or 3rd black belt. If Johnny Lawrence keeps on track to being a better man, it might just end up scary how much he reminds me of my friend.
No bullshit: I watched as my CopBud was blindfolded and attacked by his sensei in a bunch of different holds. While he was blindfolded, the sensei motioned silently to another student to attack from a different angle. My friend ended up getting out of it by twisting and counter-locking both attackers. RightGuy was dragged left, LeftGuy was dragged right. They crashed into each other and stumbled out of the hold. Was sooooo cool.
I love that whether or not a character is a protagonist and antagonist isn't as important as their own character threads. There's really only 1 pure antagonist on the show, and that's going to be prevalent in season 3.
@Wizz Admittedly, those were a part of my wish list back in the day. I think those would be great options.
I saw that all of Reno 911 is on CBS All-Access (which I have while watching Lower Decks, Picard, Discovery, etc)
Observation: This stuff was hilarious in the early 2000s but now when I watch these cops jump a dude in a Slurpee costume for throwing their litter back into the police car ("*Turn the cameras off; dont record this.") it's awkward as fuck.
(Note: It's not funny in any fashion but what was generally accepted humor 15 years ago isn't the same these days)
I heard Reno 911 is on that Quibi channel with new stuff. Does anyone know if they're addressing all of this police state/abuse stuff or is it more of the same?
@Auspice I think being unable to tell lies and never asking direct questions would be fun and challenging to write, especially with a varied audience.
@Wizz said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
I'm not sure that I do love it anymore. The books have had sentimental value to me because I grew up with them, but how I feel about them as an adult has changed a lot, and especially in the light of the author's views that I personally find hateful a lot of that fondness for them has dried up.
Also, I dunno, I wouldn't exactly compare a former fandom to a former religion. But if I'd gotten a bible verse or a cross, just speaking for myself I'd probably feel pretty strongly about altering or removing them too when I became an atheist.
Tattoo person here (I have 5+, friends with 30+, friends with tattoo artists).
The likelihood that any given tattoo won't ever be associated with something else is definitely not 0%. A comedian I saw had a joke about a guy who got his favorite band's logo tattooed on his arm...
Here's the hard reality...
@reversed said in Spitballing for a supers Mush:
If anything, instituting changes to "the usual" that might make "the same 20-30 players" not want to jump on board instantly sounds like a positive move to me.
It could be! I have my own personal opinions on repetitiveness that I gained over the years that aren't really conducive to the topic, but change is never an inherently BAD thing.
I think an "Original Theme" game could be really great, to be honest. Doing so would nix the following "traps" that could free the game up to be something really special.
Advice: MUers are habitual.
SuperMUs are a double-edged sword.
ON THE PLUS SIDE:
ON THE DOWNSIDE:
By all means, make whatever game you want, but in my experience the built-in crowd of 20-30 players who habitually play SuperMU games will not necessarily join a SuperMU game if it means learning a new system, not getting their OC, etc. Point in case; you're already being asked why Rhost and not Ares.
@GangOfDolls Not disagreeing. Seems like bait to get into politics, which if I read last page of responses correctly, turned into just that.
I broke my 4+ month post abstinence merely to point out that I wasn't sure if people missed that he called it: "fighting charlie".