Look, I have made lots of noise about how silly it is to have "small towns" in Maine be filled to bursting with a thousand strip clubs, vampire hangouts, opera houses and private airports and such - not to even touch the 90% vampire/werewolf population. It's not that no one thinks that stuff is silly, it's just that I'm going to say so here instead of logging on the game and shouting it at the people who are having fun despite (or because of!) it.
Going just off the few lines you've shared, do you think he's increasing the behavior for attention? If he's home alone a lot, he might be acting out. Do you take him to dog parks or something of that nature when you get home?
@surreality said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
<raises a hand> I am a little testy because painkillers and, well, pain. Just want to note this because I may be coming off snarlier than I intend, since it's kinda hard to see straight at the moment and I'm keeping things a bit short (for me anyway).
Yeah, a little snarly for a thread you opened up for discussion. Hope you feel better!
@GangOfDolls - Aha. That does make more sense, as one scenario was at least a series of scenes/events.
@GangOfDolls said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
@Kanye-Qwest said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
@GangOfDolls said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
At least with the rape scenario, it fits sorta loosely under the premise of "plot" but this is just some PC dudes being a garbage fire in character for no apparent reason.
Wow.
Go on?
Edit To Add: You're having a reaction to this, which I get but I'm asking what's bugging you about this.
I don't think "John decided to rape Jill because John is a rapist" is any more valid of a 'plot' than "Bob is a racist dickwad so he's out in public trying to make black people feel bad about themselves", and I found it kind of shocking that you'd assert it is.
@GangOfDolls said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
At least with the rape scenario, it fits sorta loosely under the premise of "plot" but this is just some PC dudes being a garbage fire in character for no apparent reason.
Wow.
@surreality said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
@Ominous That's not quite what's set up, though. That's not the setup for rape at all, in fact. That's a full consent subject. There's a preference, too, where someone can state 'OK with it' or 'not OK with it' in advance, but it's a full consent subject that cannot be brought up around people who are explicitly not OK with it.
How is this ensured/enforced? Because I can foresee a lot of issues if, mid scene, Jane is suddenly put on the spot to say "Oh I don't want to see this or rp about it, check my +preferences".
How do you keep your game consistent if you are going to have stories that some undefined portion of your PC population just gets to say "nah, I'm going to pretend that's not going on" to? How does that actually protect people who don't want to rp those themes, if they are still going to be exposed to them and are going to have to bow out of storylines? How does it free up people who DO want to pursue those themes if they have to check with every PC that might eventually be drawn in to make sure they are ok with the subject matter?
For a sandboxy game? Sure, whatever. For a game where you are trying to tell a story and keep players from all 'spheres' involved in it, I don't think that's going to play out anywhere as cleanly as you'd hope.
ETA: perhaps I'm a cynic, but to me this seems a bit like the worst of both worlds.
@surreality said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
Which is why I feel allowing players to explore these things if they wish, but state so clearly they don't want their entire play experience to revolve around them or be reduced to them exclusively if that's how they feel about it, is not an unreasonable choice.
Okay, and how do you design a game to make that happen?
Ok 2017. Don't get any funny ideas about QEII
@Gilette said in Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.:
Anyway, as far as cultural/political/religious aspects goes... I teach history. It's probably why I take these things seriously. If you're going to set a game in the 40s, then I better see the cultural context. If you're going to set a game in the 40s and tiptoe around issues of race and gender then, hey, don't bother. Set it in modern times. One of the things that does actually aggravate me about games is when theme and 'reality' don't match up, like what @faraday points out with the exceptional becoming mainstream.
Hey you have a job. I guess that's cool.
But how about people do what the fuck they want with games they are spending their time and effort to make, and you just keep your pedantic self off them if historical inaccuracies bother you?
@ThugHeaven Everyone will forgive her next Christmas.
Double post, since we had our very own troll guest(s) last night. Awwww, it's like a MU milestone.
All I'll say is that 100% of these games are fantasy, and anyone who tells you they can't get immersed if the historical setting doesn't conform entirely to historical standards is someone I give a lot of side eye. Tweak your theme to support what you want to run stories in, because the most important thing is keeping yourself invested and having fun. Otherwise, just set up a sandbox and let people do what they want.
@Insomnia Actually to fund his local community theatre but I applaud the sentiment!
Well it's not the funny reply but no, I think Apostate tried to create a channel that already existed.
I'm guessing we had a runaway process that needed killing before the restart could complete.
It's very much regional. In Texas you will always be "dear", or "hon" or "sugar/sug". My favorite send up of this is a scene in King of the Hill (still the most accurate portrayal of Texas I have ever seen) where Dale's wife comes into a room and says "Have any of y'all sugs seen Dale?"
@Faceless Did you have a vanity summoner name, though? Like Crittlesticks, or FIDDLEINTHEMIDDLE? Because Luxe Af is real.