Posts made by Kestrel

@Sparks

Decent insights tbh. I appreciate them.

I plan to reread the books now that the show is done and forget it ever happened.

@Sparks That's even without diving into the fact that ...

***=Book spoilers that were not explicitly covered in the show***

@ZombieGenesis said in Game of Thrones:

IMO...

***=NSFW content***

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I think there was definitely a thought process involved as he pieced together what happened and made a conscious decision not to flame Jon and flame the throne instead. I think the dragons were much more intelligent than people gave them credit for, being much like dolphins in that regard.

No strong opinion on your/Sparks' interpretations; it's anyone's best guess and I think they're all valid and interesting. But ...

***=Spoiler***

@Arkandel said in Game of Thrones:

***=Perhaps, but then again your favorite character***

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destroyed the furniture the moment his mother wasn't around. BAD dragon.

***=Yes, but s/he did that because***

There is one thing I liked about the finale.

My favourite character survived.

***=Spoiler***

click to show

Sorry fans but Drogon is the goodest boi

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.

@Roz I would fix that but it's not letting me edit the post.

@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.

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.***

@Arkandel

Cersei is alive for precisely the same reason that Ned Stark isn't.

It's supposed to be unfair and frustrating. Indeed she is my least favourite character on the show (or rather, my favourite character to hate since Joffrey) but it's precisely because of how unscrupulous she is that she "deserves" the Throne, in a sense.

Obviously, I'm looking forward to seeing her die. That was like, #1 on my wishlist for this season. It has been #1 on my wishlist since she killed Sansa's doggo. I hope her comeuppance is brutal and cathartic.

But I mean ... she worked hard for that uncomfortable chair, as gross and unlikeable as that makes her. It's pretty on-brand for GoT to show us that life isn't fair, and political success doesn't necessarily come to the smartest/bravest and most deserving! I think she's a good villain.

@Seraphim73 fair points all in all. She's definitely no Princess Buttercup. (How Not to Do a Damsel.)

@Seraphim73 said in Game of Thrones:

@Rinel said in Game of Thrones:
***Thoughts on chivalry***

click to show

I don't know that it's misplaced Southern chivalry that made this moment so awesome, I think it's more that from almost the moment we met Jorah, the one thing he wanted to do was protect Dany (okay, one of the two things he wanted to do). So to allow him to die doing that, it was powerful. And as they mentioned in the Making Of after the episode, they did a good job of not making her a damsel in distress during those scenes, while also making it clear that he was her real defense.

***I had a totally different take on this.***

@Ganymede said in Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion:

@Kestrel

What about games that do not have a presence in your group?

If the game has no presence in the group then I assume it wouldn't end up being discussed. Why would it? If it does end up being discussed extensively, a new channel can be opened, but without knowing anything about the game and its policies, I have no way of making sure its OOC rules are enforced.

I generally believe that a game's rules exist for a reason and I'm not looking to have this community undermine those. I made this community because I wanted to see something better than what currently exists in other game discussion groups.

What repercussions are there for violating the group’s rules?

That depends on the extent and the perceived intention. Step one is generally a friendly discussion explaining why that thing was bad and asking nicely to knock it off. Step two, you can leave.

@Tinuviel said in Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion:

@Kestrel said in Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion:

Game-specific moderators do not have any moderating privs except for the specific game channel they've been assigned to.

Are these people part of the leadership hierarchy of the game(s) in question?

One of them isn't, one of them is. The reason one of them isn't is that at the time, they were the only person from that game (Sindome) to join the community, and I opened up discussion on their game specifically because they joined.

If Sindome's staff ends up joining this community I'm sure they won't mind stepping aside to let the game's staff moderate in their stead. In the meantime, that person has been doing an excellent job of advocating for the game in question and encouraging other members to get curious about checking it out.

As a heads up I'm probably not going to respond to anything that's phrased like an accusation instead of a genuine question.

The last discussion thread about this topic was not engaged in good faith, and I'd like to stick with 'fool me once'.

Couple things:

Game staff are welcome to join this server. We currently have two main moderators (me and one other person), and two game-specific moderators.

Game-specific moderators do not have any moderating privs except for the specific game channel they've been assigned to. The assumption is that they have that game's best interests at heart and are looking to create a better community for their specific game. They may want to help new players, prevent someone from using the channel to out in-game secrets, etc. If that's you, you can have complete control over how your game's channel is being run.

So if any game staff out there are concerned about this but are willing to abide by in-house rules and don't have a reputation for being part of the problem, you're welcome to join and ensure for yourself that discussion relating to your game remains positive.

@Pandora said in Intersectional MU* Community:

How will your community handle the members that don't admit to biases regarding sex, nationality, health, or income,

We don't have any members (currently) that don't admit to having these biases. We're a small bunch so far (we just hit 11 members), but everyone up until now seems to have joined with the understanding that they're imperfect and not looking to claim otherwise, but looking to do better and support each other.

but are still raging assholes? Is it still a safe space if people are snide, two-faced, or judgmental, but not based on any factors other than the other person's personality?

I mean, you know me, and I can be like this, but I ask that at least within this server people leave that at the door. No one's perfect, contentious drama happens, but this community just isn't the place for it.

We currently have the following rules for our Discord server.

Judgement in particular I'm not cool with. It's not the place for purity testing. See rule #2. People need to be able to engage conversations in good faith to be in this community. That means both listening earnestly when someone's speaking about their experiences, and being patient with people making honest mistakes. The referral system exists to try and keep out trolls and ensure this remains possible.

If people use this community as a tool to harass, manipulate, control or BS other players, they'll just be shown the door. Regardless of anything else I have no tolerance for mind-games.

What's Intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a modern, socially progressive theory that seeks to explore the ways in which sociopolitical and economic axes of power intersect to create multifaceted hierarchal structures: across the spectrums of sex, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, health, ability, income and more; and the ways in which these structures contribute to socioeconomic advantages and disadvantages. As a practice, it seeks to empower marginalised communities and their most vulnerable members — who may be disadvantaged across more than one axiom — in order to achieve a more just, safe, equal and empathic society for all.

What's this got to do with gaming?

Members of disadvantaged groups often experience harassment and discrimination online, within their recreational communities, just as they do in the real world and in more consequential settings. In attempting to socialise with strangers online, they may be met with a taxing lack of empathy regarding their real life circumstances or feel dehumanised for their identity, which can harm their ability to form relationships with other players in the hobby. This too can have an impact on one's sense of wellbeing, particularly as recreational spheres are often used as tools for escape where individuals prefer not to be exposed to negative social interactions. In a story-driven environment, this can have an impact on the kinds of stories they can or want to tell, regarding characters that they feel best represent them.

Enter the InterSect.

On the 12th of March, 2019, the InterSect was created with the aim of providing a positive, empowering community for intersectional advocates, gamers, writers, creators and roleplayers who enjoy MUDs, MUSH, RPI, play-by-post forums and other text-based, storytelling-driven online media.

You do not have to identify as a member of any marginalised group in order to take part in this community. You just have to identify with our shared humanity, and see the benefit of a group that aspires towards inclusion and empathy across the broad spectrum of human identities and experiences.

We aim to foster a more welcoming environment within the games we play and collaborative stories we write, for those most commonly targeted by harassment and identity-based dehumanisation. We help to connect players in various games with partners they can trust to be respectful and supportive, as well as offering a safer, kinder OOC hangout.

To join, you must be invited and vouched for by an existing member. We aim to expand through word of mouth referral.

If you feel this community is right for you, please send me a message on MSB. Any member of our community who feels comfortable doing so may also advertise themselves as a referral contact.

Because such communities are often targets for harassment, and the concern that bad actors may join in ill faith is well-founded, we ask for understanding if we can't yet find a community member to vouch for you, or if we can't gauge a sense of your online presence. We aim to keep the InterSect safe and worthy of its members' trust as a first priority; the more we grow over time, the more accessible we will become. We thank you for being patient with us.

@Tinuviel said in Historical MUSHes:

I find it far more common that people want to be offended, usually on behalf of others, to show that they're "not like that." Even in instances where the racism doesn't come from any RL prejudice.

I was on a D&D-inspired game a long time ago. Thematically, the denizens of whatever city we were in treated goblins poorly. Goblin walks into bar, my PC reacts poorly. Then all the other players start race-splaining to me. Goblin player was cool with it.

I've seen scenarios like this one play out a dozen times and I have to say I always find it kind of offensive when people compare prejudice against actual non-human species who per lore have literally different intellectual capabilities and temperaments, to real-life discrimination between humans whose sole difference is the melanin in their skin.

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

@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.

@Aria said in RL Anger:

@Ghost said in RL Anger:

A friend on Facebook: "White Irish immigrant slaves were treated worse than any other ethnic group in American history, and you don't see them asking for reparations..."

Really?

I mean, really?

ETA: I'm not entirely sure that I have the willpower to address that gently. I told her that Irish immigrants were indentured servitude and had rights, unlike chattel slavery, but if it turns into an argument, I dont know if I can keep Jim Halpert WTF from turning into...

This was actually a common argument used in the pre-Civil War north in order to dampen what had historically been a very strong anti-slavery sentiment among the Irish in the New World. Effectively, they were sold membership in the newly made up club of "whiteness" in order to get them to STFU and still let slavers count black people as farm equipment. **

Spoiler Alert: It worked.

Double Spoiler: This means your friend is not only spewing racist shit, she's spewing two hundred year old racist shit. At least come up with something new and exciting, like the Irish once ruled the world until the aliens came and made Barack Obama president and that's also how we got all our Civil War artifacts that didn't exist until 2008. (You didn't just imagine them in school. Those are memory plants from the aliens.)

MUFON and casual internet racism combined! Look, Ghost, I'm helping by combining all your friends' hobbies into one.

**Source: The entity of Ignatiev's "How the Irish Became White", which is incredibly fascinating but was written as a text largely used by graduate students in history programs, so it's really, really dry.

Haven't read the source you're quoting but even just the title hit me in the feels. (Your whole post did.)

What happened to the Irish people, how they 'became white', were 'sold membership into the club of whiteness', as you describe it, is something that I sense has been happening to the Jewish people for a while now.

I get really, really angry, as an ethnic Jew, Holocaust survivor-descendant, when I see Jewish people around me, especially in my own family, spouting racist stuff. How quickly we forget the harm racism has done when we're granted a temporary reprieve from being its targets.

The funny thing is my family isn't even white. Half of them are brown as a nut. I'm like, 'Where do you get your high horse? Have you looked in the mirror lately?'

But then there's people like Milo, and Michael Cohen, and Kushner, and Shapiro, and it's ... ugh. Just ugh. White supremacists are not your friends, Jewish people. They do not want you in their club. You're next.