Posts made by Ghost

@Thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

@Auspice said in General Video Game Thread:

@Thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Why haven't people been crowing about Divinity more? I've been playing this with @EmmahSue and the level of consideration and interaction of bits of plot and environment is amazing, and chasing one plot can get anyone involved in five others.

I can't wait to start Divinity 2 with friends.

Because it's almost never on sale?

But when it is, it's the best isometric CRPG I've played since Planescape:Torment. No joke.

This is, hands down, 100% accurate.

Divinity is the shit.

@juke I think this is a very reasonable approach.

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.

@Sunny said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:

Yesterday. Sorted down to 'mush' only. This is simultaneous connections. Given not every person logs in every day...

And this is ONLY the games that mudstats monitors.

ETA: This 'secret treasure trove of data' is mudstats.com

No offense, but this is a little bit misleading. Those graphs don't contain details on how concentrated that some "1600" logins is.

If you go to browse, you can sort games by server type and population. When you do that, you learn that 1600-or-so logins includes over 550 of them at PenDes, followed behind by 2 Heroes/Multiverse games in the 70s, and then quickly becomes a whole lot of games in the 20s trickling down to the games with 0 logins.

Goddamn Porn, right?

There's a data center where I live that hosts the web servers, database servers, etc for Pornhub. We call it "The House that Porn Built" because it was pretty much overnight that they went from a quaint little colo to a multi-million dollar data center with employees getting free tickets to the Las Vegas porn conventions and the yearly pornography awards ceremony.

Anyway, that number is skewed heavily by hundreds of logins for a game that allows simulated pedophilia. The simulated pedophilia game is killin it.

-the gif goes here. In spirit.

@Auspice @Ganymede I mean, it's pretty and whimsical, but it just feels like an over-hyped cell phone game to me:

• Seasonal progression "subscription" for 1,000 microtransaction currency that works as a secondary progress bar filled with cosmetics.
• Loot boxes
• No environment to explore independently. In Monster Hunter you could roam the maps to farm mats, etc. In this one you cannot simply decide to explore.
• Gameplay is: You queue for a 4 person PvE dungeon that is a small map to explore and 1 bad monster. No real PvE little monsters. Just the one. When that monster is dead, you get your rewards and are returned to town. (Estimated play time: 10 minutes or so)
• Where you can turn in quests and open loot boxes, upgrade items, and...not much else at this time, and then...
• ...queue up again to fight another 4-vs-1 monster on a smallish map to get XP and mats...then return to town.

It just feels small to me, and it feels like a microtransaction trap; like a cell phone game that has been ported to PC/console.

Afterthought: I'm kinda starting to feel that unless it's a Japanese game company or CD Projekt Red (maybe Bethesda and some indies) that pricing plan > quality.

Anyone playing Dauntless?

Someone recommended it to me because it's cross-platform. It's...not bad, but TBH it's coming across to me as a "highly repetitive Fortnite-styled overgrown microtransaction cell phone game version of Monster Hunter: World".

I mean...does Dauntless currently go anywhere beyond running around a town then queueing up for a hunt (on a small map) and then returning to town? Wash, rinse, repeat?

@Auspice said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:

@Ghost said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:

I also think that with 51 votes saying they're happy and 46 saying either an outright NO or "somewhere in between", that there's a lot of people who aren't exactly comfortable and/or might be feel comfortable being vocal about it.

You're pretty insistent on pushing people into saying the hobby is bad/unfun which is... sort of going to make people feel like it's bad/unfun because it's like 'yeah there's this guy who just spouts a lot of negativity over there'. Self fulfilling prophecy yo.

Where's your boom gif now?!

Dont make me post the gif again, damn it. You goad me with your honeyed words and heroin taunts.

Srsly, tho? I swear I'm not trying to cram some point into a jar. I'm just saying: "Hey, there's clearly people who are unhappy on some level, so let's start talking about how we can be better."

I just hate to see this 46 people poll go entirely ignored without some attempt at forward movement.

(Disclaimer: I know going into writing this that it won't be popular with some personalities. However, for some people this might be good advice. If you're not attempting to fix the problem, then you're just complaining about it, so I'm offering a potential solution. This is on 'Mildly Constructive' so insulting responses are both unwelcome and will aid in validating this point)

Do you feel like you're caught up in an OOC ball of yarn you can't escape?

Are you tired of whatever potentially inaccurate reputation other opinionated players have applied to your persona?

Are you tired of players obsessing over who is who and want to get out of that cycle of behavior?

Do you just wanna role-play in peace without people trying to weigh/judge who they think you are?

Here's how:

Step 1: Stop using your MSB handle now. Create a new email address. Stop associating wiki logins with any known MSB handles or old nicknames. Delete any playlist entries and don't start new ones. Step one to getting out is understanding that people cannot easily track you, don't really know you, and if they cannot prove who you are, you can be who you are in peace.

Step 2: Let go of Hog Pit issues. With your newly created "persona", getting into furballs on the Hog Pit will result in your typical wording being scrutinized. Fuck it. Let it go. OR don't let it go and continue, because you followed step 1 and your new charbit is clean (but I recommend letting go of the hog pit type negativity).

Step 3: People will inevitably try to figure out who you are. They'll associate PBs to you. They will ask you where you've played. They will try to figure out which state youre in. Don't bite that hook. I'm going to provide you with a thing you can copy and paste to sidestep this:

"Sorry, I don't give personal information like that out, but would love to have fun and RP!"

(^COPY/PASTE THAT. BOOKMARK THIS)

SIDEBAR: I have had dozens of conversations with various MSB personalities, both popular and reviled, who have said that they're going to start using this method. So always be nice, because when you use this above script, you could very well be some kind of reviled MSB villain OR a super popular person who just wants to RP in peace.

SIDEBAR 2: The above statement may or may not be true. But it could be. The person who says this may be your friend and an excellent RPer!!! Everyone who uses this method could be anyone.

SIDEBAR 3: Fact: The majority of people who have told me that they're going to start doing this are the nice ones.

STEP 4: Don't be an asshole. Be nice! You're there for RP and wanna be a part of a collective of RPers! Protect your escape identity by being what everyone wants: a low-drama and fun person to write scenes with who doesn't creep on people.

Disclaimer: This was written by one of the 4 people who utilize this account for posting purposes. Or I have MPD. Or I don't. Or I might! Or I'm actually the person you think is Ghost. Or I'm not. Or I'm ghost's SO. Or I lost my cell phone and this was written by the guy down the street at the Circle K who looks like an Iranian Steve Harvey.

Have a nice day. This is my one and only post in this thread. Do what you will.

I also think that with 51 votes saying they're happy and 46 saying either an outright NO or "somewhere in between", that there's a lot of people who aren't exactly comfortable and/or might be feel comfortable being vocal about it.

@Auspice said in Not even sure what to title this, but here goes..:

@Ghost said in Not even sure what to title this, but here goes..:

@Auspice Temptation. Resisting. Intensifies.

Surely you have others in your repertoire.

A few.

Like this one.

@Auspice Temptation. Resisting. Intensifies.

@faraday Right. It's one of two approaches and I'm not saying it's wrong. Trying to promote positive social communication and a means to keep the actual bad people (abusive players, stalkers) identified is totally noble.

I will say, though, I think the beauty of my suggested anonymous approach lies in a few key points:

• If you're nice and role-play fair, everyone wins
• It exits you from the negative social networking game
• (key) if people are unwilling to role play with you (someone who just wants to be nice and have fun!) without personal information or a resume of who you are on every game ever, then those people have effectively become the torch-bearer for everything they claim to hate about mushing. (IC/OOC blending, exclusive behavior, etc)
• it takes away mean people's ability to target you as a person. They may still target your charbit, but then doing so can be tracked as a matter of off-site bullying and taken up with staff as a complaint.

Am I gonna post the gif?

Yup.

God, that trial episode was epic. The nod to Only Lovers Left Alive was epic.

Seriously, @Kitty-Kat here's watcha do.

1. Create a login on a game
2. Don't go "HEY EVERYONE ITS ME RED QUEEN AKA LILITH AKA THAT PERSON YOU THINK IS POLARIZING"
3. If someone asks you where you've played or who you are in RL/MSB, say (quote me on this if you need to): "I'm sorry, I don't share personal information with players. I am 100% up for fun, though!"

(in fact, now that I've posted this on MSB, literally everyone can assume it isnt you who is saying it, because if you copy/paste this line verbatim, it could be that anyone else coming by the thread chose to use it.)

4. Be nice to people

@Coin said in Not even sure what to title this, but here goes..:

@Ghost said in Not even sure what to title this, but here goes..:

(Ghost voice)

SSSSTooooop iiiidentifyyyyiiing yourrrselffffff on gaaameessssssss

Alllllways juuuuust be youuuur chaaaracter naaaaaame

lol, wow, Ares is feeling directly attacked right now, I bet. >.>

Arrrrresssss issss the gooooood offff waaaaaar and weeeeelcomes attaaaaacks.

@Arkandel I think thats a healthy approach.

(Ghost voice)

SSSSTooooop iiiidentifyyyyiiing yourrrselffffff on gaaameessssssss

Alllllways juuuuust be youuuur chaaaracter naaaaaame

@Arkandel @Lotherio Right. I get why people post to complaint boards, and I also get the concept that "if you get mad, it means you care". A good amount of what goes on there isn't bitching, though. IMO It's probably better described as "One bitching post, and then 30 follow up posts dissecting the intentions, reputation, or delivery of said bitch, and then people show up to attack people who attack friends or use it as an opportunity to fuck with people they dont like."

I guess where my head is at is that I'm not questioning the wisdom or existence of negativity, but am just saying I think how some people in this hobby have chosen to manifest it is a problem.

A wise person recently told me that they felt that MSB isn't a reflection of the mushing community as a whole. I think they were right to say that. I think some people try to use it constructively where others use it as a sort of path off of school grounds where they can bully people walking home from school without it being a bannable offense.

@Three-Eyed-Crow Why so?

@Tinuviel To each their own opinion; I'm sure not everyone agrees with my every point, but it appears 38 voters feel that some shades of my point of view may be accurate.