One of the things that constantly amazes me about my job is how hard it is to get the concept of a "receipt" across to people. No, it is not order forms, invoices, or packing slips. No, you can't just stamp 'paid' on an invoice to prove that you paid.
I have a whole word document I send to people to explain what I look for and they still send me packing slips.
@kay said in Heroic Sacrifice:
Seems like a pretty good solution would be to give more reward for failure than success. We learn more from failure. Give more XP to reflect the experience earned.
If there is a built in reward for something, people will eventually have a pavlovian response.
That said, having your character die or otherwise effectively taken out of play, that is a more difficult issue. That's not failure but that you don't get to develop that character's story further. The only two ways I see to make that easier for players is to either somehow make it a fitting end for the character or have a game like Paranoia or Kult where you KNOW your character is going to be short lived and the goal is to have as much fun as possible before the inevitable end. But that also means players will be much less invested in those same PCs and typically makes for more beer and pretzels type RP than anything with depth. Ymmv.
Right, maybe take automatically earned XP or XP through +vote away and instead have people earn XP only when they suffer a setback of some sort? For example, WoD's negative conditions give XP to a character. Maybe you could also create some sort of command that lets two (or more) players certify who lost on a contested roll and then gives that player an XP point.
Not dead yet, and hopefully not for a while, but the news is reporting that George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized.
@wretched I really personally dislike timers on XP spending. The main reason for me is that I am one of those few players who is not motivated by XP. I couldn't tell you how much unused XP I have on any single character at the moment. I wouldn't even be in the right ballpark. I don't know if it's under 10 or over 100. I suspect it's more likely to be over 100, just based on how long it's been since I thought about XP, but I couldn't say for certain.
Because of this lackadaisical approach to XP about once every 4-5 months, I realize, "I need to spend some of this stuff!" And so, yes, I will end up jumping skills several at once, but typically I only do this with stuff I've been rping about for a long time and fits my character. But I can't spend XP this way in a timer system.
In a timer system, I need to be much more active in my monitoring of XP. I end up being more focused on XP than otherwise. Look, you'll always get people hyper focused on their pretend points, but I don't think you want to create an atmosphere that heightens it. I think you want to downplay it.
If you don't want people progressing too quickly, don't have a lot of XP floating around, but don't use artificial limits on XP spends.
@bobotron said in Class/Society Systems, WoD:
A lot of this is represented in how Status is written up in the NWoD 1e core blue book. You buy it as Status (Thing), and it gives examples of dots representing clout in a way that I feel gets glossed over. I think it's a good starting point to work from.
Yeah, I think I'd much rather see status better implemented in games before complicated new mechanics are created.
@derp said in Class/Society Systems, WoD:
Oh, I totally agree. I was just telling @Surreality that I think timers and justifications need to be a thing. Growth in certain areas just should not happen quickly, nor happen out of the blue. I personally believe that it was something of a mistake moving away from such to start with, and would LOVE to see a game where they are a thing again, if for no other reason than to make it feel like more organic growth.
Timers and justifications add a level of bureaucracy to XP gain/spending that many people have said they dislike. If you want to make character growth more natural and slower, you can do this by just lowering the amount of XP that's out there and how quickly it can be gained. This will also be frustrating to some players, yes, but lower-XP games have other advantages as well. One of their best advantages is that they force players to choose niches and so players have to work together to make any meaningful contribution to the game.
I hate ending phone calls. Especially business phone calls. It's five minutes of, "Yes, it was so great hearing from you! I definitely want to continue this discussion. I'm so glad you reached out! I'll look forward to seeing that info."
Can we, like, just hang up already?
@scissors said in Buttercup's Playlist:
@buttercup said in Buttercup's Playlist:
I gave up thought as I just couldn't find any RP and I'm generally too shy to start page-begging!
Fate's Harvest is kinda not easy to find RP still. I have tried parking myself in public for a couple of days with no bites, and even asking on channel doesn't generally yield
many responses. I have taken to poking some folks randomly and made some small progress that way, but it sure is a steep slope.
It took me a long time to get going on Fate's Harvest. I had a char there for 3-4 months before I felt established. Now that I have my group, and am involved in things, it's really my favorite game at the moment, but I can fully believe that people are struggling on it, because I did for a long time.
I just don't think it's a Fate's Harvest specific problem. Part of the problem on Fate's Harvest and on most MU's is that when I look at +where and I see all these people in places, I don't know who they are, what that thing is where they are, if that place is public and accessible to me, and, if they are someplace public, why I would interact with them. I've said it before and I'll say it again. MU's need a better way than using a grid or +wantrp to hook up people who are looking for RP.
That being said, I do think the game would probably benefit from restricting alts and forcing people to focus on one or two chars, but that's entirely an opinion and I don't make policy for the game, nor will probably ever be in a position to do so.
Some people know that I have a medically fragile niece. Last week, after a lingering cold, she was admitted to the hospital because she was having issues keeping her O2 saturation levels up. It turns out the cold had turned into pneumonia.
So .. yeah, she'll be in the hospital for a bit more now, and when she comes home again, it'll be back on oxygen.
Pretty sure that Tinuvial's connection matches mine, sitting here in the suburbs of a decent-sized U.S. city. Why yes, I do have Comcast, why do you ask?
Went into my evaluation this morning with a stack of papers, research, and proof to justify asking for a 15% raise. Never had to use it - Boss offered 15% out of the gate. Obviously we both agreed I was underpaid.
Late to the boat here, but I'm finally watching Season 1 of Jessica Jones. I've avoided it because of my general distaste for the superhero genre, but this is good! It's nicely gritty and the use of powers seem to be nicely muted and the threats seem to actually be threatening. Overall, I'm digging the whole film noir vibe.
Now, if only Jessica could stop using her powers whenever she gets angry. It looks so fake and is so ridiculous, it just pulls me out of it ever time.
It always amazes me that people under 30 know next to nothing about technology.
My Current List:
Long Form
Adam Ruins Everything - Long form interviews with the experts featured on the show
Hardcore History - LONG podcasts that go in depth into various periods and people in history. A recent "blitz edition" podcast was 6 hours. Be prepared!
Dan Carlin's Common Sense - Political podcast by the Hardcore History host, currently in a bit of hiatus due to, well, you know, while he processes.
Ezra Klein - Long interviews with whoever Ezra Klein wants to interview.
Politics
The Weeds - Podcast from Vox, goes in-depth into the data surrounding the issues.
AEI Banter - From conservative thinktank AEI, if you're interested in classical, non-reactionary conservative thought, it's pretty decent.
538 - From the Website. Focuses on statistics and polls.
Slate's Political Gabfest - General political discussion. Tends to be very even-handed, even if it does lean left.
What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law - 99% Invisible guy interviews a constitutional law professor about what's happening in the headlines.
Slow Burn: A Podcast About Watergate - Things just don't change, do they
TV
West Wing Weekly - Rewatch of the show, featuring interviews with cast members and experts in the issues that the show discussed
Watching Dead - A podcast by two guys watching the Walking Dead and are Done. I don't watch anymore, but still like to hear them rip the show to shreds.
Game of Thrones Podcast - Breaks down the episodes.
Religion
Phil Vischer - Three Evangelicals discuss current events, why Christian art sucks, why pop culture isn't bad, and the current state of Evangelicalism.
Relevant - If Christianity Today is the magazine that all the Baby Boom/Graham era Evangelicals read, Relevant is the magazine that all their children are reading. If you want to know where Evangelicalism is going and what the next generation of leaders think, and if you suspect you might not be getting that from the news (you're not), this is the podcast to listen to.
Culture
Reply All - Podcast on the Internet and the culture surrounding the internet. Yes-Yes-No is always hilarious.
This American Life - Classic. Does it need an explanation?
Crimetown - In depth storytelling about the corruption and crime in Providence, RI
Science Vs. - Australian host breaks down scientific studies on hot issues, so that you don't have to.
Misc
Judge John Hodgman - Comedy podcast where John Hodgman handles disputes between multiple parties. Everyone should know both established law and what is and is not a sandwich.
99% Invisible - Short form podcast about design and the stories behind design. Absolutely fascinating.
Intelligence Squared - Debates on a variety of topics.
Heavyweight - Jonathan Goldstein (from This American Life) tries to help people work through their issues and their relationships with varying success. Some of the most moving things I've ever listened to.
Both of those look better than the Wrinkle in Time adaptation, which makes me cringe every time I see a trailer.
Added my Descent CG - Sam. I like her. She's worlds away from Cerise's optimism.
@arkandel I was thinking of adding an option like: Game does not use XP, Game does not have a grid, etc. So people on games that don't use that system can opt out, but still force the choice for people from games that do use the system.
@tat said in MU* Activity Survey 2018 - DRAFT:
A few thoughts:
- One question seems to assume that 'in public places on the grid' means available for RP, but keep in mind when crunching numbers that there are games for which this is not the culture, and where people are pretty much never out in public unless RPing.
- Your 'low XP or high XP' question ignores games with no XP or no system at all.
- Your 'PvE or PvP' question ignores games with neither (I might add 'social' as an option).
- How is a non-WoD game meant to answer the single sphere vs multi-sphere question? Are you really asking about factions?
- What is the different between a political game and a plot driven game? What if the plots are political?
- Really every question should have a 'NA' or 'other' option. I've run several games with no '+request' system, and one with a system that no one ever used really. Your questions about how information is disseminated are also likely to turn up some other weird options.
- Consider adding additional terminology for 'temp rooms', especially with the advent of Faraday's scene system.
I'll certainly use this feedback, but my fear with adding a N/A option is that, say, you'll get someone from a game that uses XP, and they'll scoff at both options and choose N/A. When you're trying to identify trends, you really want to force a choice, even if that choice isn't perfect. However, I think that I can probably word a third choice to avoid that. I'll work on it.
@lotherio said in MU* Activity Survey 2018 - DRAFT:
What I'd like to know is, removing identifying information as indicated, how often staff and player perspective differentiates for MU*s submitted (assuming staff and players submit for the same places).
I'm also really interested in seeing how that differs.
@thenomain said in MU* Activity Survey 2018 - DRAFT:
"Approximate average percentage of players engaged in RP at any point."
I don't know how to determine this. I could code a system to guess, but from a perception standpoint, how does anyone decide this?
Right. This is absolutely 100% perception. What does the person think is going on. There's no way to actually measure it, but I don't think it's necessary. I'm willing to bet that players and staff's perception of activity is pretty darn close to accurate.
@seraphim73 said in MU* Activity Survey 2018 - DRAFT:
Is the idea that people would take the survey multiple times, once for each game they want to "report" on?
Yes, and multiple people could provide info for the same game.
Also, in the game type, some pretty common ones are missing, including Star Wars, Star Trek, BSG, and Game of Thrones in particular (maybe just 'established Fantasy' and 'established Sci-Fi').
Thanks! This is an area where I knew I was weak!
