Best posts made by Kestrel

First World Problems, but I'm frustrated by how much I still like Joss Whedon and how much his creations have irrevocably influenced me despite ... everything.

@Lithium said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I am in shape, it's a perfectly valid shape.

Also: Life is a terminal condition, nobody makes it out alive.

Also also: Congratulations on getting in a more socially acceptable shape.

Also also also: I need a pool, my knees can't take extended walking/running.

@mietze said in Tyche Banned:

If someone ever creates a constructive only forum community for MUSH land, where civil discourse is enforced with moderation, I would happily participate. I do think that's a lot harder than a lot of people appreciate, which is why to my knowledge it hasn't happened yet, and when/if it does I hope people will be appreciative.

I run a pro-intersectional MU* Discord server with these rules.

It does not have a no politics or no religion rule because the personal is political and what most people consider political tends to vary based on how far ahead we are as a society; I prefer a no racist politics rule because anything else, including "no politics", only benefits those with privilege and silences those without.

It's just a MU* server but I and most (if not all) participants in that server have been harassed too often based on our sexual/gender identities and more across the MU* community for it to be a topic we can simply ignore. The server was created as a direct response to predatory harassment occurring on a game I was playing with friends at the time, which staff dismissed and ignored.

I may be biased but I happen to think it's one of the nicest places on the internet.

If after reading the rules that interests anyone, message me.

@arkandel said in Heroic Sacrifice:

@kestrel said in Heroic Sacrifice:

So the question becomes, as a game creator, how do you tackle this? How do you encourage your playerbase to step back a little from their need to play heroes? From their need to avoid obstacles, reject risks/stakes, and inhibit progression or complexity in a story?

Start with rewarding failure. Not many games do this; in fact nearly none do.

I quite like the idea that failure would reward you (literally experience, or something similar), but success would cost you. Winning would have to be earned, ideally through a consecutive series of sacrifices made not just by you, but by other players throughout the story.

So for example that guy whose character was tragically killed in an important battle, their sacrifice paved the way to your success. In this way it becomes not just personal, but social, and cultivates a player culture where taking hits means you're helping the group, the story, and get kudos for doing so.

@bobotron said in Good TV:

Second best season premiere so far, after the Mountain Men introduction.

Aww, look how cute Octavia looks in this gif. I bet that in her spare time she likes chasing butterflies or something.

@Pandora said in Tyche Banned:

Don't act like I didn't cover that sort of situation in my post, it's disingenuous & that's only if I'm being generous about your intentions.

Considering the specific context of the post you were responding to, ditto, brah.

@peasoupling said in What Is Missing For You?:

The first things that come to mind are Westworld

ftfy

(I would play this.)

@Quinn said in RL Anger:

@kestrel How Jews Became White Folks by Karen Brodkin is a great read if you're interested in that subject.

Oh my god there's an actual book about this.

Thank you, added to the list.

@Ghost said in What Would it Take to Repair the Community?:

@Kestrel said in What Would it Take to Repair the Community?:

I'm a person who's been paying attention to the discussion on both of these boards and over on @Ghost's Reddit thread

Oh that's riiiiiiiiight I'd almost forgotten.

After that thread was necro for 3 weeks or so Kestrel decided to "check in" and throw barbs on that because things must have been boring.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

That's what's going on here and I don't think it's constructive at all.

Yeah I liked how you implied my throwaway troll comment makes me part of some secret cabal or that I've bullied you personally, even though literally the only conflict we've ever had on these boards was:

1. When you decided to persistently attack the creators of the 100 MUSH and everyone posting their support for the game on their ad thread, even though to my knowledge you didn't even play it, over some ancient beef with how they ran their last game.
2. When I advertised a pro-intersectional MU* community.
3. When you wanted to cast doubt on Azazello being exactly who everyone says he is.

Each of these conflicts being initiated by you, most of which I did not respond to.

Bruh if these boards have a bullying problem, you are it.

@arkandel said in Let's talk about TS.:

@kestrel said in Let's talk about TS.:

In my experience I'm almost alone in this within the MU* community (or maybe alone in being honest about this?) but most of my RL partners have been fully aware of my text-hobby and would consider TS cheating.

What you probably never want to do is be on the flipside of that.

In the late 90s I had an IC relationship with someone's RL wife who was also playing on the MUD, and he was having TS as well... until his regular partner dumped his character. Things went poorly after that, and in fact it was one of the few instances of real drama I ever encountered. This was beyond my control, and it's even arguable communication wouldn't have helped as by the time anyone (including my own IC partner) was aware there was a problem it was too late to resolve it or salvage a lot of ongoing RP which ended up having to be basically scrapped.

On every occasion when someone disrespected my request (e.g. attempted to initiate sexy stuff after I'd specifically said I wasn't cool with that), it was abundantly clear that they had serious mental health issues and that I should avoid engaging with them regardless, so I wasn't sorry to cut them loose.

What I don't want to communicate is stuff that should be self-evident.

For example there's no such thing as OOC exclusivity, jealousy, any of that. Basically if these things need to be explained then there really won't be a need for them to.

Even my time (and not just for TS) is my own, within limits; sure, if I suddenly stop playing for two weeks I should let people know, but I don't want to explain myself about not logging on one night when I was tired or went to bed early.

All of what you're describing here is something that should be on them, not you. That's what I'm tryna say.

You didn't do anything wrong by e-banging someone's wife. She (and her husband) did something wrong by not communicating properly between themselves and declaring their own boundaries to you.

As you say, communication probably wouldn't have helped — on your side. Because you already did your part; the problem was that they didn't do theirs.

Because I respect my RL partners, I communicate to my RP partners upfront that I'm in a committed relationship IRL and don't want to do anything to jeopardise that, including TS. So I do my part.

And that's all you can do: your part. It certainly helps to ask the other person where their comfort zone lies, but anything beyond that (e.g., them not being honest) isn't your concern.

@surreality said in The 100: The Mush:

@faraday Pretty much, yes. No one should be forced to play baseball if they only like basketball.

They shouldn't, however, turn every game on the playground into a basketball game, or anyone not keen on playing basketball is apt to leave the playground, and rightly so.

But this goes both ways.

If I tell you that I'm an antagonistic player — or if you just look at my character wiki/+finger and you see a big red flashing neon sign that says, 'antagonistic character' in the form of roleplay hooks like 'edgy' and 'broody', please don't, as an avid basketball player / warm-fuzzy TSer, come over to my baseball pitch to accuse me of being a horrible person for not wanting to come play basketball. Which by the way, happens all the time.

Basketball players and I have no beef. I might invite them over for a game or throw a baseball at them one time, and if they don't hit back, I'll shrug and go find someone else to play with. But I have encountered really entitled goody-type players who seem to get really offended by the fact that I don't want to change my character to cater to their fantasy. I come with a warning label, OK? Don't be the guy who orders a pizza from Dominos and then complains that the crust had gluten in it.

tl;dr: Everyone needs to learn to just be more accepting and find their niche because no style is better than the other, it's all just preferences. Live and let live.

Also, know what the theme of the game you're getting into is.

Insurance companies trying to find excuses not to pay and just making it as difficult as possible for you to collect.

@Coin said in The 100: The Mush:

#sorrynotsorry

That was a very insincere apology.

@Coin is a jerk.

Discuss.

Wow last episode was so fucking bad.

And I legit don't think I've ever said a GoT episode was bad before, but ... ‍️

***=This feels like fanfiction.***

I know the 100 MUSH is 100% over, but I just saw the Season 4 trailer and needed a place to share my excitement with other nerds who would understand.

cue rabid screaming.

@Arkandel

I like this theory.

***=Expounded thoughts on this possible ending.***

Side note, not a spoiler, I really enjoy Euron Greyjoy's actor. I feel sort of bad for him. He picked the wrong Queen.

It's a real shame that the producers weren't able to finance the budget for an eighth season, but I'm glad the show ended on a high note with the season seven finale.