@Tapewyrm I vaguely remember seeing the name! But I barely remember yesterday so things 20-ish years ago are fuzzy. I don't have a ton of time these days to play (new job, much adulting) but I'll try to swing by on the weekend. It's cool that you all are trying to revive it. Tolkien is still a huge love of mine.
@Tapewyrm Yep, I was Helle in Dale, too. I've had versions of this name for long enough to feel super old about it. Is it the same address as always, or have you all started up a new server?
@Tapewyrm I used to, as well. I was in Amon Thranduil mostly, as Aranellome and Hellaia. God, that was a long time ago.
Edited to add, I'm RL friends with player of Orosul still, too, though he doesn't MU anymore. And I still have contact with Gilgurth-player as well, not sure if he MUs anymore.
Depending on the scene/story, one of my core goals is to focus on helping the character evolve (or possibly devolve) by providing them with (hopefully) difficult choices to make.
This is a two-parter, inspired by my curiosity.
First part is, how did you come up with your username? What's the story behind it? I guess, what's your origin story?
Second question, I've noticed a lot of us repeat character names. Do you? How did you choose it? How do you choose character names, in general? What inspires you?
I think most people know my username used to be vulgarkitten (I've heard some people think that's supposed to be a secret - it's not). I got it from an ex boyfriend IRL when I was trying to come up with something funny. He told me I should just pick two things I liked and smash them together. Thus, swearing and cats.
I changed my username to Hella to reflect moving away from that place in my life and back to what felt better to me. Hella is a spin on my minecraft username and what all my SMP friends call me, and have called me for 10+ years. For me, it's just a happier, better fit.
As for MU character names, I think the one I'm most (in)famous for is Catriona. I used it for years and years on Road to Amber, and then again on The Reach after the previous player gave it up. I chose it because I think it's a pretty name, simple as that. Also, I love that it shortens to 'Cat'. I'm a big fan of names that have convenient short forms (see: Monique 'Mo'). I think, though, that Catriona was the only name I ever reused a bunch across multiple MUs. The others have just been names that I thought were pretty and inspired me to build characters around them.
That's my story. What's yours?
@faraday said in Stranger Danger?:
Where I've landed after all these years:
- I stick to friendly co-op games.
- I don't do PVP or TS.
- I enforce firm boundaries on IC relationships. (Though even that has proved exhausting enough that I am now leery of romantic RP with anyone I don't already know and trust OOCly.)
- I'm choosy about the games I play on - usually either my own or ones from people I trust.
I feel bad that you've had such horrible experiences, though, because I have made several life-long friends through MUSHing. Not just "oh they RP well so it's fun to play a game with them" but true friends. Yes, we must be cautious and sensible with any interactions on the internet, but I don't think we need to be so paranoid that we cut ourselves off from meaningful interaction.
All of the above, though one slight alteration. I enforce firm boundaries, period. IC, OOC, all the boundaries, everywhere. And if there's even the slightest hint of a red flag, I just say so and move on. It has led to a world of difference for me, and I can genuinely say the friends I've made, I feel honoured to have made.
@Derp said in I owe a lot of people some apologies.:
You say this and then you end up with Dirty My Little Pony. Careful what you wish for.
No, please.
@faraday said in I owe a lot of people some apologies.:
That's not to say my games are happy unicorn utopias
... okay, but could you make a happy unicorn utopia game, pls? Asking for a friend.
@faraday said in I owe a lot of people some apologies.:
@Tapewyrm It largely depends on where you play. Good people still exist. I've been on games that were pretty chill. This is not to discount Ghost's experiences, which are wholly valid, but I think we run in different game circles and have had very different experiences.
I concur with Faraday. There are definitely still good people/games out there. For the past year-plus, I've been somewhere that has been amazing, with people who are some of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of playing with/knowing. They're out there. And when you find them? It's worth the rest.
Just checked my heartbeat! 75bpm, still seemingly alive. Welcome 
@Ghost said in Bring back the Hog Pit:
But...and this is an important but...if the Hog Pit ever reopens and the floodgates open, letting the people who haven't had regular targets for a while now back at their old hunting ground, you can pretty much guarantee 10 more years of that behavior being normalized.
Can we just avoid fanning flames? Let others do what they're doing, and we can just do what we're doing without constantly calling back to the rift and categorizing some people as bad/evil? It's the same behavior, but from our side. Now, you're punching at them. You can make good points without doing that. I've seen you do it.
Maybe instead of a Hog Pit, we could establish a Log Pit, and we just post links to logs from scenes we've really loved being in. I'm only half joking.
@faraday said in The Case Against Real PBs:
Your points are often valid, but are presented in such an antagonistic manner that they get lost. People just end up reacting to the flames. So no, I don't feel that's constructive from a forum standpoint
I agree with this. There are some good points in what is presented, but they get buried under the antagonism, which is not restricted to just Ghost's posts. This whole thread has been a good representation of the general issue, which is that there's some interesting content and discussion that could happen, if it wasn't overshadowed. I've never thought about the issue of using celebrity PBs or not before and those posting in this thread have made some really good points that have helped me give the matter more consideration. I still don't know where I fall on the issue but it was helpful to read the various stances posed here.
I could rewatch Legend of Vox Machina, Derry Girls, Schitts Creek and Ted Lasso infinity number of times. Highly recommend.
This is a bit of a niche thing and you'll probably only get it if you're into Minecraft and watch Hermitcraft, BUT the creator of Decked Out, TangoTek, came into my twitch stream while I was playing his game! He's basically a celebrity in the Minecraft community and I'm flying so high right now 
@ZombieGenesis said in Observation:
@reimesu My group had a blast with City of Mist. We used it to emulate a more straight-up superhero game. We did modify things a bit, used 3 themes instead of 4, and they were customized by the player instead of having strict themes. So a player could have "Alien Physiology" as a theme with related tags within it.
We're starting up some Savage Worlds stuff now. I'm running Rifts and another player is going to start up a Savage Worlds Pathfinder campaign. We're pretty psyched.
This is the campaign I'm in right now with my group and it's engaging AF. I've been told we're doing Runelords? But I'm not allowed to look it up because Spoilers!
@hobos said in Observation:
I haven't been able to play much either for the past year. When I try to play anywhere, my attempts always capsize too quickly due to my lack of playtime, and I wouldn't have anything to post about even if I wanted to.
But if I wanted to post right now, and had things to post about, but wasn't posting because I felt sad that I might be outed... that'd feel worse for me, hypothetically, than it would feel for anyone missing out on my potential posts.
And I do know how that feels. I have experienced refraining from posting not only because I'm worried about outing myself, but outing someone else as well.
Still, posting about things that interest you and may peripherally lead to being tracked-down is not the same as directly outing yourself as a persona non grata. I'm confident that anyone could track me down if they wanted to and it wouldn't be difficult. My suggestion (not demand) was less for my own entertainment value than it was for community/individual health.
It's okay, I got what you meant. You're all good. Knowing you more personally, I think I probably have the benefit of a better understanding. You are a legit good person.
I'm not sure the quiet is solely an outcome of the split in communities and the decrease of people active here. I think that contributes to it, but there have been a number of times where I've had something I'd love to post about but actively refrained because of the anxiety of people "tracking me down". I've been happily playing somewhere for over a year now and it's been the best experience I've ever had MUing, with the most supportive people I've ever met. And the thought of bringing the kind of vitriol people have laid at my feet to their doorstep definitely holds me back a lot of the time. Because while I know I likely won't have vitriolic responses to my posts, I also know that the forum is visible to all eyes and people will do what people will do outside of it. It's a deterrent that feels pretty unsolvable, save for the most generalized of posts.
@Ganymede said in Nightlife RPG vs CoD:
Unfortunately, I'm old. Life interferes.
I feel this so much. I'm lucky if I get out a couple of poses a night, these days.
@Devrex could just be my newness to TTRPG but I find rolling a new character much harder there than chargen on a MUSH. Most MU chargens handhold the whole way through and you have MU staff to help you out if you're stuck. Whereas with TTRPG (at least the one I'm doing), you have to constantly refer to the rules book and there's So Much Math. Pretty much nothing is automated. You have your DM to help you out, true, but I don't find it nearly as easy.
That said, TTRPG feels 'easier'. I'm not sure if I can quantify that yet. But the actual RP part of it feels like less effort to me, somehow.
