Posts made by Lemon Fox

There are really two types of character I usually play, though I could certainly branch out into something new if I found a really nice place for it.

The first type is shy, bookish, easily flustered, and really wants to help from a supporting role. Often busy or distracted and a little clueless as to the severity of whatever problem is affecting X place. This sort usually gets brought out in historical settings, though I've played a couple starship mechanics or pilots like this. Tends to be a goody-two-shoes at heart, even if she ends up in the wrong crowd.

The second type is sneaky, sassy, and confident, though she usually has a secret, big or small. I like playing spies and charming saboteurs usually in futuristic settings, but it would be neat to try one in a historical setting sometime. Usually morally ambiguous, with a sly 'It's just good business' attitude.

I try not to judge, but I tend to avoid people who are just malicious jerks IC for no good reason. Especially if they are the sort to cackle gleefully about it. I get that it's just their character, but I will probably avoid them as much as possible.

By and large, I do not get immersed in games. I play very casually, almost to the point of barely being there. I don't feel a strong connection to the game and not much is lost if I walk away from it--except for when I played Arx. This surprised me, and I found myself deeply missing that universe, and comparing my experiences on Arx to other attempted games gave me a bit of a baseline for establishing what had immersed me and what did not. What I found were three major differences that, when absent, regularly broke my sense of connection to the game.

1. Do my actions matter?
2. Do the events of the world actually impact my character?
3. Does the world feel alive?

So, most games will immediately claim that they have all three of these aspects, but if it is true at all, these things usually only apply to plots, events, and scenes. Plots can hurt you. Events can impact your character. Big GM'd scenes make the world feel alive. Arx wasn't like that. I could submit little actions and put in little tasks, and without ever having to wrangle six people together for a big adventure, I could poke the world along in subtle little ways. That made me incredibly happy.

Furthermore, poking at the game via +investigate came with costs that were separate from disasters striking the land or three CR 3 assassins leaping out of dark shadows. Like a Lovecraftian investigator, the next door opened could actually contain a SAN-check encounter, just for me. Not something to be fought with a sword for XP but something to be survived for life and forbidden knowledge. That was wonderful. I truly felt like the game was moving and reacting to me. Sometimes I discovered something breathtaking. Sometimes I very nearly died because I did something stupid, without having to truck along for a six hour adventure with eight people. That's immersing.

And you know what? It absolutely is because of the little coded details. Not the functions themselves, but the form they have taken. You don't get a @mail about your success or failure, you receive a neatly folded vellum letter in the mail that makes your heart stop. You don't get a package of XP slapped onto your sheet for a job well done solving the riddle, you gain wisdom, clues, and another X appears somewhere on the Raiders of the Lost Ark-style map.

It's that presentation that made Arx so magical. People can swear all day long that my actions matter on another game, but as soon as they tell me to get some people together and run a PrP to make the change happen, the bubble bursts. When all the social role play involves drinking at a bar, talking about the last big adventure, or setting up for the next big adventure, I slowly tune out and drift into the background, immersion lost.

I think a sponsored superhero who does it for fame and money like Booster Gold sounds really fun.

I like it when people are exciting, proactive, doing things. Bar RP is the worst, because even casual chatter should be moving our characters' stories forward in some way.

I love it when people help me develop my characters and let me help develop theirs. Lets talk about what your character cares about! Thank you for talking about what my character cares about, rather than asking if I'd like another glass of wine.

Lets tell a story! Something fun or something goofy or something dangerous and serious. Anything other than posing sipping more beverage.

Batman Beyond?

@Kay Interest checked! I would prefer present, near future, or cyberpunk future (or even Mass Effect-esque), but whatever--OCs are great!

Setting 1! Absolutely!

@apos said in What Is Missing For You?:

Yeah, if I make another game, it'll probably be that. Original universe superhero.

Maybe a world where super heroes are sponsored to fight crime? Something like Tiger and Bunny?

@apos said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I'm not above anyone humming loudly and pretending the code doesn't exist either if that's not their jam, but hopefully I can keep trying to get it more intuitive and friendly as time goes on.

I don't know if this is true for anyone else, but the biggest issue I had was trying to get retainers to work as helpers on investigations. The code there was...awkward, I guess? Everything else worked pretty well once I actually understood how it was supposed to work--support tasks took a long time for me to grasp, for example.

It might help to have a little sign or banner across the top of the site somewhere reminding people that there is an actual person on the other side of the screen. It's easy to forget that we're not just replying to a screen name with no feelings or an abstract representation of a character from a game we played at.

Just a small reminder somewhere. A little kindness can go a long way.

I honestly think I was looking for more Arx. I love social settings where there is adventure and plot that I can support, without having to actually be there on the adventure. I like the idea of owning a small trading business, and the setting doesn't really mesh very well with that, which is on me, rather than on you. I loved Staff's friendly attitude and regularly talking to players about whatever, though.

@apos said in Join Westrock Reach @ Arx!:

@brent Yeah, it is. Just use 'idle' or even nick it to @@

I used idle and never had an issue, even though I normally had to @@ when playing on other games.

ear perk

@brent Rando! You were the best king. I was Mira! I miss playing with you.

@ixokai Oh, well, in that case, I suppose the unique thing about Earth right now is Life. If this is in a universe with many planets, maybe life on Earth is especially rampant and aggressive, taking the form of Wild Magic that aggressively latches on and refuses to let go.

I would think of Earth Magic as being Earth Bending, which evolves from Construction, which evolves from Stability which evolves from Form. This would be opposed by Water Magic, which evolves from Destruction, which evolves from Mutability, which evolves from Formlessness. Air would be Movement. Fire would be Alteration.

@thenomain I like this one best.