Best posts made by mietze

It does not matter if you RP something you've actually lived, there is almost always going to be someone happy to lecture you about how unrealistic it is. Sometimes its because their own experience is different, sometimes they just feel extremely empowered by their PhD in Wikipedia.

I am trying to think of a single type of play where this hasn't happened, and I cant really name one, since people will argue to death over differently interpreted minutiae in pure fantasy worlds, or need to tie it into the same RL histories.

I think if someone's RP is just terrible, it's more likely people will just avoid them. If someone takes it upon themselves to go all out lecture/"I shall educate you how to RP this right" mode without even asking questions or finding out more (and especially if they seek to do it publicly first) tbh most of the time at least they're full of shit. I can think of a few exceptions but they're very rare in what I have seen.

I'm too old for a jetpack. I would not mind a flying recliner chair though. I have had dreams about that before.

There are and have been historical games set in horrific time periods, though usually they have some degree of sanitizing or go alt-history to avoid some misunderstandings of what is desired on the game.

I think a game like this would appeal to a very limited player base, but there would be people out there that might go for it. You would have to be very clear about what kind of show you'd be running though. In my experience on military -esque games you need to get clear boundaries of what to expect as far as ic structure, any handwaving of RL culture that is probably going to happen, if its going to be heavily personal story based vs battle scenes and mini strategy game, ect. Because a mix of very different expectations in that regard blows up real quick due to the people it attracts.

@arkandel i loved being a teller, mostly because I really like office equipment (and working at a bank you get to play with a lot of equipment plus I had my own stamps and doing safe deposit boxes never got old) but honestly yeah, at least now when someone has a screaming, stomping, paper throwing tantrums (a weekly or more event at the bank) usually they're fine after a hug or I can help by giving them playdough or letting them hang out and be my special task buddy. Also they're a lot cuter, funnier, and they just wear their damn masks like they are supposed to. Yes, even the 3 year olds. (Since it is a montessori school the ages in my class range from almost 3 to 6)

I have only played on a couple of ares games, but it was all over the map. I tend to gravitate towards real time for scenes with people I don't know or first time scenes. Beyond that I find that if all things are usual I like to at least have a couple of poses a day. But for awhile when I am at the worst trough in my depression I have been grateful for people willing to deal even slower or who wanted slower, because it allowed me to enjoy what I love even if my energy is super low.

The one thing I find worrying is when a slow scene seems like it might be fading, but there's no clear indication and the poses seem to hint otherwise but it just stops. I worry that the other person is bored of my play or doesn't like the scene but doesn't want to be the one to wrap. But i think ending a scene can sometimes be challenging even in real time, so its not surprising that it does this in slower ones.

I do find that I do not hold concurrent time overlap well (for some reason significant time differences, like flashbacks into older history, ect, are perfectly fine and easy for me to keep in my head). So if a slower scene is now eclipsed by the actual mush events moving forward to make it obsolete i find it exceptionally difficult to stay engaged.

That seems to happen more on Ares games than elsewhere in my limited observation, because of the ease and medium lending itself to people engaging in multiple paces of scenes taking place in the same time period, and for whatever reason my brain can't cope.

After a very hard day at work, I ordered pho delivery. It came without the broth.

I guess what I would say is maybe instead of assuming, when you are on a web based or mixed scene it's probably easier to come to agreement at the start, post that in the scene or explicitly tag it, update as necessary. Probably easier and quicker than the alternative. It should be OK to ask instead of guess.

And yes for many people the timeliness is a draw, it is for me too sometimes. With people whom I really enjoy rping with i don't really care if it's slow. There are some folks out there that like to rp with me when I can't be fast too, and I'm very grateful that as long as things are disclosed I can in part not feel 100 percent like a collosal waste of their time and annoy them with the need for reassurance (it still happens).

For a lot of people ooc masque and discovery were huge draws. Now even in genres where that used to be the norm, it's not. Did some people quit mushing over it? I'm sure they did. Did other people stick around longer when they wouldn't have with strict masque? Yes.

There will always be people who never darken slow scenes, and that should be okay. There are people for whom mushing will again be accessible because of them too, though. That also should be okay.

But getting in the habit of communicating what you're looking for on pacing is a good thing, imo, even if its uncomfortable at first.

Instant Pot Tomato-Coconut Soup

Uhhh...out of respect for Gany's desires...ummmm
Big Juicy Coconuts Get Me Wet Soup

1 can (14oz) full-fat coconut milk
1 can (14oz) canned tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon brown sugar/raw sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Use saute setting, and saute onions and garlic with a little drizzle of coconut or olive oil until softened. Add everything else, put lid on and cook on high/soup setting for 5 minutes. Let it natural release for at least 10 minutes. Use immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. I personally think paneer tastes fantastic in this. If I put it in, I sautee the paneer first, then remove, then do the onions/garlic and follow the recipe until after the immersion blending and then I add in the paneer.

You can do it on the stovetop, just more or less follow the same steps, but cook until tomatoes burst and then continue following the recipe.

No more than it is now.

If people can adapt to no ooc masquerade and having wikis, various versions of rules, and now non-"live" scenes, more open sheet games, ect...

I mean will some people throw tantrums and some even quit, sure?

But of course people would adapt. Would it bring in a ton of new people I do not think so.

@ganymede I blame them. All of the gig platforms rely on deceptive practices towards clients and workers (tip and how people get paid obfuscation, allowing for 2-3 days for tips to be changed/revoked while not compensating worker when the original tip is part of the wage presented to the worker before they take that order) and predatory behavior towards workers. They've been caught again and again; get busted with a lawsuit and fines, lay low and then creep up with the same offenses because the $$$ is immense, for them.

Putting drivers and customers in danger with known problem customers/drivers. Lying about insurance status as far as on the job injuries or accidents, ect. Its pretty sad. People shit on Amazon and it is a shitty company don't get me wrong, but I know that they blacklist clients who assault or harass drivers (instacart will not), when I got in a fender bender on the clock their insurance paid, while they did steal tips as well (I recently got a surprise payout from them of the amount they stole from me and I haven't driven for them in like 4 years), you were also paid up front for your time.

I have received 3 oops sorry we stole from you payout from Instacart when I still drove for them that totalled almost $3000. There was a local customer who would come to the door jacking off if he saw it was a female driver, and they refused to blacklist that customer and kicked the driver who eventually filed a police report rather than just a problem customer report off the platform. They refused to blacklist a customer who let out their aggressive dogs twice on me (and many others, but I wrote down the complete address the second time and screenshotted the GPS map so I could refuse his deliveries from then on--instacart at that time obfuscated addresses but would show a modified map on offered jobs; you'd only get the address after you accepted and dropping the job after accepting would lock you out of the platform for awhile).

Customers suck too, but most of these gig companies suck even more.

Small space-limited up to 15-20 player (with no alts) Fading Suns game here, concentrating less on the L&L noble politics and more on exploring a new system (so the prequel before the L&L stuff starts in earnest). Just do not have the energy or the know how to code the system. I pretty much just want to tell stories.

Maybe at some point i will have the energy to continue learning code/thinking about adaptations but for right now realistically its not in the cards.

@ganymede when the first round of shenanigans with instacart hit the news almost all of my regulars started tipping me in cash. I was asked by other people quite a bit and was honest about educating them. So knowledge can guide behaviors. This was years before the pandemic, but most of my customers were elderly or moms of lots of little kids or needed assistance as far as not being able to carry bunches of groceries from the car to the door, ect.

But there are still issues like people not knowing that by choosing "delivery" from their grocery store app they're actually using instacart even though they thought that they were avoiding a gig thing and supporting a job with benefits, ect. Theres still a lot of deceptive stuff (personally I think if a grocery delivery is "powered by" instacart it should be all over/change the appearance of the app to the instacart logo instead of grocery store logo.)

I don't think you can stop people from playing OOC games, really. There will always, always be people who do that. And to be honest, because most people thankfully don't really want to go through MUSHing with the attitude of "you're a liar unless I can prove you're not" there will always be folks who are able to do that sort of thing. (I just think it's far more problematic to automatically assume everyone's a liar OOC when it comes to game culture. ) The worst of it doesn't usually involve outright cheating anyway, though usually that's how folks get caught when they get too lazy or convoluted in who they've told what when OOCly.

I agree with lordbelh that it's actually pretty important to allow for PCs to lie/cheat /ICly/ though. People don't like that either really, but it's a valid thing in game. I think the negative stuff tends to happen when people extend it OOC or keep it all OOC. Which you aren't going to prevent with code. So I don't see a reason to cut off a valid avenue of RP for the small minority of OOC gameplayers; it's not like it's not obvious via other venues after awhile. I think we tend to do a little too much legislating to the exception and closing down things because of the few bad apples, when there are other ways to sanction/remove that behavior that don't take away from others using a valid IC strategy.

I work in a private school that has a toddler and preschool program in addition to K-12. Despite masking requirements for all students 3 years old and up, and requirement that all staff and admin be vaccinated we had to shut down the high school and middle school classes, plus 3 others this week to quarentine. We are now out of subs (admin are filling in for classes in addition to all available subs on deck).

The part of the school i work in is the preschool and we know that we will not close unless we don't have the staffing because that is in essence daycare. Every day it is running the gauntlet because we have people attempting to bring sick kids in, using the DoH loophole that allows non symptomatic people even in the same household as someone quarentined to not be quarentined if there's a test to stay program (we have one but will run out of test supplies next tuesday).

Its a stressful time. I wish people were more appreciative that the staff are here and continue to come despite the danger to ourselves which is what people have screamed they want from daycare providers and schools but alas it is a constant stream of bitching about the inevitable closing that people anticipate. I could not take one particular parent's continual stream of conspiracy light complaining (when i know they are a stay at home parent anyway so their family wouldn't lose income anyway if we and their public school older students had to deal with a closure). So when she started in on her conversational bullshit (which i understand is not personal to me and is her own anxiety but I have enough of my own without dealing with her vomiting on me about my profession and other workers/teachers) i told her that if we close its likely because either the lead or i or both are actually ill with the virus and too many of the other staff are ill or out of commission to not step in to fill our vacancies. It shut her up.

I wish people could maybe be a little kinder to the people who are directly providing services to them. But I don't think we are culturally capable of that anymore.

I don't know, with the people I choose to rp with on a regular basis, they all are already doing that (portraying flaws). Maybe because I don't find RP that fun with perfectly perfect PCs, so I don't end up playing with them much outside of ginormous scenes.

It can be a bit of a balance though. My ideal is someone who has a PC with flaws, who RPs them, but who is /also/ capable of give and take and noticing/playing off others' flaws too. Because there are some people who are so in love with their broken PC that sometimes they become very self centered as far as needing that to be the focus of all scenes you have with them. (The If Only People Bothered to Unwrap My Awesome PC but Instead They're Bothering Me With Their Own Stuff people--I bet everyone has experienced that too.)

I don't know if you need a flag for that, so much as just observe. You'll learn a lot about what people are capable of handling and if they'll be fun by seeing their reactions to /others/ in a scene, how they handle others' reactions, and how they respond to your flaws or showing weakness (To me, arrogance, rudeness. ect is a weakness too, I'm not talking about Somebody Rescue Me here. )

Someone who can give and take frailty/flaw/danger is awesome. Someone who only wants you to be the audience for their character development usually ends up being boring/a lot of work.

Tagalongs and samoas! I've not tried any of the new ones tho.

I think it's very helpful when people are polite and at least make an attempt to be reciprocal when it comes to the askers/open scene initiators, if they participate and enjoyed themselves.

It is possible for mush-extroverted players to feel burnt out on it after awhile, and sometimes it's not even easier for them to keep asking and asking and asking and showing up and showing up and showing up than it is for for anyone else. It can be kind of a depressing, lonely place--even if one understands and accepts that the reciprocity is never going to be strong.

So honestly, player to player encouragement when people are trying to initiate play is nice, even if the person isn't available to do it right then.

I'm a freak who in general enjoys being middle aged most of the time tbh. And I'm really looking forward to my 50s and 60s though I'm not there yet.

But im annoyed by 2 things that I'm pretty sure are age related.

One, my night driving vision is utterly shit which is a big bummer.

But also I'm wondering how the fuck did i multitask in mmos so effortlessly when I was in my 20s and early 30s? These days I can do things in my mmo. Or I can read chat in it. Or I can listen. Trying to do 2 or 3 of those things is not something my brain can handle anymore.

I used to care a lot, but now honestly I don't. I am exceptionally unlikely to even look at your character object anyway (got it trained out of me by a place that broadcast who was looking at who to the entire room). So put what you want me to see on your wiki!

People descing their pc in their poses used to irritate me, but thanks to aforementioned PUBLIC BROADCAST LOOK place, I got used to and appreciated people doing that there, so that no longer annoys me.

I tend to have minds-eye pictures in my head of the PCs that i interact with anyway, and sometimes they do not match up with the PB. As that person won't ever know that, I think that people should do what make THEM happy in writing up the desc or wiki for their own PC, not so much trying to make other people happy.

It has finally happened, we have a positive case of covid in my class that we know about. So that means everyone gets tested every day tomorrow and Friday (next week is midwinter break). Literally half the class is not coming tomorrow. Which is simultaneously less stressful while also still being highly stressful because...you know, covid in a situation where there's high contact.

Sorry to everyone I am struggling to keep up with, these last couple of weeks have been crazy stressful at work and blargh.

I really hope I'm not going to be sick over my break.