Posts made by GirlCalledBlu

Because this keeps coming up:

No, The Fifth World is not reopening in a public capacity. Some old players/friends are getting together on a closed server to RP.

Thanks!

P.S. I can't for the life of me figure out how to put code in boxes that don't evaluate the forum's code. Could someone point me in that direction? I didn't see it on the editor anywhere, so I assume it might be a hidden feature! XD

And for my last trick of the night...!

Google Fonts are fabulous for font choices, and since they are web-based, they can easily be added to a wiki theme, and then used throughout the wiki to break away from the standard Serif or Sans-Serif fonts (hello, Verdana, my old friend).

First, go hog-wild on the Google Font database, and choose a font: https://fonts.google.com/

Let's go wacky, and decide to use Bungee Outline (which is a fun font, but not one I would personally use for headers).

Before you can use the font in your theme, you need to import it using @import.

Open the raw code for your theme (in Wikidot, you find this under 'Themes' in the Appearance & Behavior section, and then in the 'Custom' themes).

You might already have some features imported, either by choice or because of the theme base you are using. Regardless, you will place this import at the top of your code using this code snippet:

@import 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bungee+Outline';

This will add the font into your theme. Now, you can use the 'font-family' code to use this font anywhere in your theme. For example, let's say we're going to use Bungee Outline for our H1 (Header 1) font:

h1{
    font-family: 'Bungee Outline,' cursive;
    font-size: 175%;
    font-weight: normal;
    text-decoration: none;
}

I always add another font variable because there's a chance some people have disabled web-based fonts. If they have, the header will default to 'cursive.'

I've recently started playing with this for a Roman-themed wiki I'm developing for a friend's game. I've always loved the concept of a drop cap, but not all codebases make coding a drop cap easy. Sure, CSS has ways, but it isn't always user-friendly, and you are limited by your fonts.

Here's a way to do it that creates unique drop caps, and works nicely with most Wikidot pages. It isn't PERFECT, but it's close.

1. Using an graphic design program (Photoshop, Fireworks, GIMP), create PNG files for each alphabetic letter using the font of your choice. Keep the background transparent. Try to keep these images small. Mine are no more than 55 pixels square (click here for my drop cap library).
2. Upload your images to a library, as I have done in the above link.
3. Use the attached code at the beginning of the paragraph you want to add a drop cap, where 'L' is the letter you want to be the drop-cap (and obviously your own wiki address).

[[span]][[f<image http://ablusandbox.wdfiles.com/local--files/dropcaps/L.png]][[/span]]

This will add the drop cap. Now, it varies on how close to the top of the paragraph the drop cap sits. I'm still troubleshooting that, but this works pretty nicely as is.

Want to add just the audio of a YouTube video (without the video!) for a character playlist, soundtrack for a log, or general ambiance?

Here's a step-by-step of how to add this code to a wikidot wiki (sorry, MediaWiki folks, but I'm sure this code can also be adapted for that codebase!).

1. Create a page that will be where you store the raw source code (here's mine: http://ablusandbox.wikidot.com/musicplayer)
2. On this page, copy and paste the code provided:

[[html]]
<style type="text/css">.playerbutton{cursor:pointer;border:none;background:transparent;outline:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;}.gaf210codes_youtubebox,.preload_box{width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;visibility:hidden;position:absolute;display:inline}</style>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.youtube.com/player_api"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">function toggleButtonPlayer_aduVt(buttonobj){buttonobj.style.display="none";if(buttonobj.id=="gaf210codes-aduVt-playbutton"){document.getElementById("gaf210codes-aduVt-pausebutton").style.display="inline";}else{document.getElementById("gaf210codes-aduVt-playbutton").style.display="inline";}}/</script>
<div class="gaf210codes_youtubebox"><iframe width="250" height="250" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/{$youtubecode}?enablejsapi=1&amp;fs=0&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;controls=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" onload="gaf210codes_aduVt=new YT.Player(this)"></iframe></div>
<button type="button" class="playerbutton" id="gaf210codes-aduVt-playbutton" onclick="gaf210codes_aduVt.playVideo();toggleButtonPlayer_aduVt(this)"><img src="http://i62.tinypic.com/axnot0.jpg"></button><button type="button" class="playerbutton" id="gaf210codes-aduVt-pausebutton" onclick="gaf210codes_aduVt.pauseVideo();toggleButtonPlayer_aduVt(this)" style="display:none"><img src="http://i57.tinypic.com/2mqugw2.jpg"></button><div class="preload_box"><img src="http://i62.tinypic.com/axnot0.jpg"><img src="http://i57.tinypic.com/2mqugw2.jpg"></div>
[[/html]]

3. Using the Wikidot "Include" code, you can now attach audio-only music to pages. It will create a mini play/pause button.

[[include musicplayer
|youtubecode=!!This is the alphanumeric code attached to the YouTube video. The best way to find this code is to click 'Share' on the YouTube video's page, and copy and paste the code at the end of the shortlink.!!
]]

Here's an example of the final product: http://ablusandbox.wikidot.com/musicplayerexample

There are ways to change the button graphics, and if anyone wants information on how to do that, I can show you how. Some wiki style guides may be better suited for different color buttons.

Enjoy!

Not really answering your question, but I am curious about what Lords and Ladies games are currently out there...

So, I think the one thing I don't understand is this...

Why Hawke?

Hawke is a blank slate. He/she is up to the player in the video game to decide -- male, female, class (Mage, Rogue, Warrior). Does one person get to decide all that, and it can never be altered?

I'm always wishy-washy with FCs, even if there are a couple games where I play FCs, but Hawke as a playable character seems so... wonk to me. I mean, I played an albino mage Hawke who was anti-Chantry, but then played a dark-skinned rogue Hawke who was all about the Chantry.

Just curious about that...

EDIT: Yes, I'm repeating the question asked by @Nausicaa but I think it is a valid... issue.

@Lithium said in Where have all the crunchy games gone?:

ShadowRun

Also, I would love a ShadowRun 3ed game. Just saying.

I think the last crunchy game I was on was Knights of the Old Republic MUSH. The SAGA edition was good, and rolls and stuff mattered quite a bit, but I agree with @Lithium that there's definitely been a decline of what is referred to as crunchy games.

I've kind of wondered if it has anything to do with our aging community? (Ugh, that felt so wrong typing it, but it has been ~16 years since I started MUSHing, so I feel old...) And by that, I mean that we kind of just want to RP without the crunch? Or is that just a smaller group of us?

@Thenomain said in New Player Onboarding:

@Thenomain

Dear @GirlCalledBlu : The down vote because why? I do genuinely wonder what people take offense to.

I... didn't downvote? Or if I did, it was an accident. I was reading this on my phone and was trying to upvote, and it wasn't working, so I gave up. Nothing in your post sparked my need to downvote. Sorry!

EDIT: Went back to look, and yeah, looks like that magical downvote arrow was blue. Sorry, @Thenomain. I didn't actually find anything you said downvoteable, the mobile site just wasn't liking my attempts to upvote anything.

@Kanye-Qwest said in The Shame Game:

Carry on, my wayward sons.

Why do you earworm me??

In regards to down vote/up vote... I don't really factor in those numbers unless they get an absolute value of 5.

@Lithium Huh. Did you play A Moment in Tyme? That's the only WOT MUD I know of. (And a complete non sequitur to this conversation.)

And yes... which is why it never surprises me that the MU* community is actually quite small. It is a rather old school method of RP. But, because we're small and have been around the bend so much, I think we do make it hard for total MU newbies to enter the community. There's a lot of assumption that people know basic commands like page, who, etc.

@Lithium That's what I thought... I mean, if it wasn't for having someone who knew what they were doing, I probably would have never figured out MUs. The whole grid concept was totally weird to me after being in chatrooms and using symbols to represent where in the RP world I was currently playing.

I am very sympathetic to those who come into MU's without a guide, because I can't imagine how they figure it out. XD

Hmm...

So, two things:

1. Have you met PhudBase Web Mud? http://www.phudbase.com/webmud.php

2. I personally was brought into the MU' world by other MU'ers, so they walked me through how to get started, get a MU' client, etc... how are new people even finding MU's these days? Are people randomly coming across the concepts of MU's, or are they being introduced? Honest question, because I have no idea. I was connected to MU' after a friend who played on AOL RPGs also played on a MUSH, and he helped me get set up.

In my opinion, the shame game is mostly venting and getting out frustrations about a situation, but it is also calling people out on whatever mad mojo they are getting into or putting other people through. Whether it is punitive or rehabilitative is really up to how it is received, not how it is presented.

If someone comes onto MSB, and bitches about a game, character, or staffer, it is really up to the target or the audience of the bitching to decide whether it is punitive or rehabilitative.

Personally, I usually respond more from the rehabilitative side of the coin when I'm on the receiving end of the shame game, unless I feel like the source is false. But, I tend to be a "wants to improve" kind of person (though I admit to having my limits -- I want to improve, not bend over backwards to satisfy people, because them I'm just a schmuck).

Others tend toward the punitive side of the coin, where they take feedback, bitching, venting, and what have you as a negative attack on their person and then feel like they are being unfairly punished or targeted. This usually leads to retaliation.

This isn't solely about the receiver of the shame game either -- the audience also adds some level of response that can turn it from punitive to rehabilitative, or vice versa. For instance, someone comes on, bitches, posts a log of convo, but others come back with "Uh, you were kinda being a bitch, too," then it could be the source of the shame game that has to decide if the feedback they are getting is punitive or rehabilitative.

I think in our semi-anonymous community, we're going to vent and bitch and let out frustrations, but we obviously don't mind "name and shame." In fact, we tend to disregard complaints if they are "don't wanna name names, but" kind of complaints. We want names, we want details, because we don't want to end up in a vicious cycle with someone who isn't gonna change (and there's lots of examples of that in our community, too).

So, yeah... we play the shame game because 1) we want to get out our frustrations, 2) we want to make other people aware of certain games, players, or staffers, and 3) we do kinda hope that we don't have to see repeat behavior.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

@Trevler I am!

@Taika This is very true. I have had gloriously fresh sushi and it was amaze-balls. Like, I can't even describe it. But I have also had not fresh sushi and it was just balls.

@Ganymede and @Sunny and @Monogram

Sushi?? How about sushi?

@Bobotron Okay, neat. I'll be interested to see what you come up with!

Just throwing my definition out there...

I interpret a "sandbox" game as something more akin to the video game definition, where a familiar setting is provided, but story is primarily up to the players to generate. Staff is there to approve characters, keep the game running from a code perspective, and generally provide structure without giving much in the ways of plot.

Sandbox games are usually wide, but shallow in terms of what story is provided by staff, giving players a lot more free reign to create their own RP.

EDIT: Not saying my definition is right, but I have very little experience with sandboxing, only having dipped my toe into the concept recently on a different game. I have almost entirely operated on what is defined as "open games."