Posts made by mietze

Are there girls there?!?

Lonnie is so much fun.

I'm sure in many cases it is all about the sex, but I've found that "household" RP can be very rewarding but requires just as much maintenance/care as a good motley/coterie/ect.

I have been lucky in that even though for the most part while playing a ghoul I have had slutty domitors (whether or not this was known to me ICly or OOCly has been highly variable) for whatever reason I have almost always gotten on very well with the other thralls/ghouls. To the point one time where I think we pissed off the regnant because he kind of became secondary. (But I'm not sure what he expected not spending much time developing further RP ties/relationship while chasing more tail, while we were waiting around so decided to...you know...actually RP with each other, run things for each other, have fun in nonsexytimes ways which can be more bonding as a group really. I think it took us a couple of weeks to notice that he'd not logged in for awhile.)

However, I have seen some really craptastic drama go down in other groups. Especially if the "leader" doesn't bother to outline expectations/realities very clearly, or they do things against the way they said they would. (For example, if it was agreed at the outset that all members of the "household" get a say in adding someone new to the stable, and she or he decides just this one time to admit this other person who's very nice to them but is a real asshole drama queen/king to everyone else behind the leader's back, ect.)

So if someone did not want to share in a pick-up/strangers situation, I can understand that. I have seen non sexual groups totally destroyed by the admittance of one drama hound.

I actually with the right people prefer a household/stable, to be honest. I don't have a huge amount of time and my timezone seems off kilter with the east-coast centric playbase at a lot of places. I do not like hoverers or hovering. If I get along with someone well enough to consider playing a ghoul with them, then chances are I will like other people that they enjoy the RP styles of, so if they can loop in more people for me to play with (or vice versa!) that I already know are compatible with someone else I enjoy, then why not?

It only becomes a problem of time (if someone has very little time, divvying it up with folks who don't share well with others would not be my first choice) or personality (sadly, there are a minority of people who really are nasty to people who they perceive as OOC competition, no matter how untrue that is).

I don't think there's anything wrong with twinks. It's like the same people who come up with spreadsheets of how many things to craft and sell on the auction house on an MMO to make the maxiumum gold. Not my deal, and I will listen politely and nod when they fondle their spreadsheets and want to show me and I'll be supportive or whatever.

I don't think having a presence of 1 and RPing yourself as a social god is twinking--I think that's cheating. It's why I like social dice, not to open that can of worms. There are people with twinkilicious +sheets who RP very well their chance die pool in every social grace, or being fumblefingered at other things. Not the same thing, IMO.

I mercilessly tease my twinky friends (Kiiiiiish-oooo! Gesundheit!) and then bribe them to tell me how to maximize my XP. I may or may not follow all of their recommendations, but they're handy to have around at times.

I have a little more empathy for alt privacy now that I finally experienced alt-stalking in a way that was extremely stressful and felt very violating.

I have always respected alt-privacy because I've always known people who that was important to. But I can see how one bad experience would really affect things. My own was pretty...not nice.

In my experience those who use alt privacy for cheating are very few and far compared to alt privacy bringing some peace of mind to others that want to have it.

I think the number of folks who are open with casual gaming folks has been very consistent over the 20+ years I've been MUSHing. There's more avenues towards it now, but I don't know, even when I was starting out--I went to visit folks, talked on the phone with local people and sometimes not-local people, there were kind of rudamentary chat programs and OOC chat was always an option. There's just more platforms today.

I think it's more a personality thing than a culture shift. I am one of the few people I know who uses my real name in skype, ect. I'm not in a profession where this could damage me. I am a big people person, so that's part of it. I respect folks who are not that way, and don't pressure (I don't think). If you are in town, I'd love to take you to lunch. But that's not just with online stuff for me, I mean I'm just that sort of person anyway, if friend/family of friends are in my town I'm happy to show them the sights or invite them to dinner or whatever too.

I have derived some benefit from this on MUSHes though, because I have met a great many people in RL that I did not really care for much online, and getting to know them over a beer and some card games at the local tavern or just getting some face to face interaction gave me a feeling for them outside of our personality conflict on the mush, and in most cases while I still would not choose them as a primary RP partner, I enjoyed my OOC interactions with them from then on out.

Once I left my (very southern) household and got out from my parents' thumb many moons ago I threw out all my makeup and pantyhose and I think I can count on both hands the number of times I've worn makeup in the last 15 years, and on one hand the times I've worn pantyhose in the last 23. (Yes, I'm sure you all really wanted to know that, sorry). I don't know my elbows from my ass in makeup application, and I probably should learn some since I'm like old and shit and could actually probably use it now maybe. I never learned how to do it because I would only do mascara and a little powder and lie to my mother about having my makeup on.

But now I have a 13 year old, who stole all my makeup that had been idling in my bathroom drawer for like 10 years and used it up in 2 months, and who has rolled her eyes at me and insisted on doing my eyeliner and shadow for me so that "it will actually look good." Now all I need is for her to figure out how to use a hot iron for hair (preferably not by experimenting on mine) and I might actually look presentable one of these days.

I admire knitting and crochet a great deal, but every time I've tried to learn them I end up wanting to stab someone (or myself) with the needles and hanging myself with the yarn in frustration so I don't go there anymore. I like naughty cross stitch patterns (https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/subversive-cross-stitch) and I can actually do that stuff without violence. I love to cook. But like crafty stuff that other moms do I mean I'm just a hopeless cause.

So imma just stick to cooking, pottery, and massage. I just barter for cool shit like scarves and stuff amongst friends. It's amazing what you can trade an hour long massage for!!

I agree, it would be nice to break out of the cops vs. criminals mindset. Whether it's PC or NPC cops though I think that naturally people gravitate towards some kind of LE "antagonists" when it comes to crime. I do think gang vs. gang or even scrambling for power within a larger group (not necessarily PvP, but like...the small time ring wants to make a bid for power in the larger organization against NPCs) is more interesting.

However, unless you make a sphere very focused (like, here are the 4 organizations to which you can belong, ect) I think you will still run into the problem of Crime folks being naturally a little more separated, a lot of outliers, and a need for some of the groups to make their own fun outside of staff attention. Maybe that could be done with some expectations of PC faction heads? Though that's not a for sure solution either.

No, the policy is quite clear, everyone must consent to it. Including the cops. Everyone must be willing to negotiate the fun. Including the criminals. I play a cop PC, I have had to fend off people who wanted pretty much to be able to do whatever they wanted while I was required to nerf my PC's skills so that they could have fun without consequence. That's not fun for me.

The cop PCs have a clear understanding of the policy--a lot of times the people who want to involve them do not, because the first thing that is asked is "You can't do anything to me, right?" After awhile, the expectation of keystone copdom simply is not fun. And most of the time the people that end up asking for that aren't interested in a 3rd party running and NPC cop where that's possible w/o compromising anyone's IC. I know because I've offered and been declined many times.

The disconnect seems to be during the "Before you engage in PvP of this nature all parties must consent to the risks and possibilities and all must compromise so that fun is had by all." Instead, IME as a cop PC, the conversation tends to go more along the lines of "I'm going to do whatever I want, you get to watch, but you better not do anything to impact my PC more than a slap on the wrists. What, you don't want to do that with your PC? You are denying me the opportunity to RP my PC." That's just as obnoxious as some Dudley Do Right who wants to investigate everything that shows up on the media board so they can go after the PCs involved. Though I have had really fun experiences too, when people are willing to talk it out. It's just that they seem to be in short supply, and it only takes a few times of someone being kind of obnoxious to you for most people to think, "You know, I think unless I know this person I'd rather not risk it."

Oh, I do remember a few times another PC wanted to sic the PC cops on a 3rd party PC who did something to them, and did not seem to get why the PC cops were reluctant to do that without talking to that 3rd party so that they weren't in violation of the separation policy. Like, we had one person get really belligerent about it. It's not that doing that in and of itself was the problem, but any PC cop responding would need to be sure that it was desired by the PC who did the crime, and it was not clear that they knew that the person who'd agreed to a bit of crime RP with them was going to turn around and try to involve the cop PCs to do things to them.

Not sure why a policy of communication first is such a problem, but it certainly can be.

Transparency re: IC things:

*Documentation and archives
*Any metaplot should be documented both in plan and as you go along summary on a staff board or forum that does not idle out so that when you have staff turnover you do not have a black hole of memory because someone "kept it all in their head"

Transparency re: OOC stuff:

*Yes, all parties of a complaint should be made aware of who/the nature of it. Person to person, not through a vague Some People bboard post.
*All complaints documented and archived including those that are found to be unfounded/unactionable
*All parties should be informed of the specific resolution.
*Agreed that some disciplinary actions, such as banning, should be posted to the sphere/game at large. The basic complaint, the fact that it was found actionable, and the length of time for the ban. These actions should be posted to an active staff forum that does not expire as well, so that there is a running documented "ticker" for such things so that people do not have to dig up stuff out of the archives every time and so that when there is staff changeover someone can tell at a glance how many actions a player has had made against them.
*I also happen to think that OOC discipline for OOC reason should be tied to the player, not to the PC. Someone with ten million alts should still only get 3 strikes for the same behavior before it escalates to the next level. The problem is the person, not the PC.

Aside from Shadowrun games, the only crime interaction I've had on a MUSH is at TR.

In my observation, there are a couple of unique problems with keeping "crime sphere" PCs occupied:

*As someone mentioned upthread, there is an not-insubstantial number of very individual/loner people who have no OOC inclination or IC motivation to band together. This makes PrPing and ST difficult if those people are not go getters and willing to take turn running their own prps and events for each other. Which tend to lead to:

*I've noticed a lot of crime PCs really seem resentful towards LEO PCs for not providing them with RP (normally in the form of here, you try and catch me and I'll get away since I think your stats/abilities can't possibly trump mine). They see cop PCs have events and such, and I wonder if maybe they assume it's staff driven, so it fuels some feelings of unfairness there?

As an example, the cops on TR tend to run slice of life things for each other. Going after NPCs, because it's less stress. You don't have to worry about someone saying that they're good with whatever outcome and then freaking out on you. You don't have to worry about someone pulling a punch at shooting at you. You don't have to worry about the inevitable ripple effects on all sides from PvP action. Now, there are a lot of people who want to RP that they're a cop but who never show for events or express interest in getting involved beyond channels and faction membership (I'd say those are like the loner criminal folks who want to use it as a justification for skills/livelihood but may or may not be really interested in RPing out 'the life), but I think you're more likely to have folks who want to RP being a cop with other people doing the same in the law sphere than folks willing to interact with strangers similarly in the crime sphere. I don't think everyone is like that, but that's just my observation as someone who has had both types of PCs.

So I think crime folks are even more dependent on making their own fun than law folks are. (and both groups kind of historically have needed to very much be willing to make their own fun rather than wait around for staff support). I don't know a good way around that because of the nature of criminal PCs. They're so much more highly individualized than, say, a police officer. The police officer in theory can be ordered to do something, they have a reason to work with at least 1 other person, ect. I don't know that criminal PCs outside of organized crime or small playgroups have a reason to do that. They have even more of a reason to shrug off any staff plot with a "So?" than most sphere folks, and even if there is a big bad sphere meta plot thing going down there are always more people than not who are of the "So?" variety. (This is not bad or good, IMO, just an observation).

I was getting pretty good at tea bowls on the wheel (my hand building is okay but I do not have a great deal of patience) before I cut back way a lot to go back to school and then spawning took me right out. I think I'd be better at it now that my tactile sensitivity and pressure sense is a hell of a lot better (thanks, massage school!) Unfortuantely I tend to fuck up all my best thrown pieces in the firing process, but I have so much fun with it it doesn't matter.

I love raku because you have very very little personal control of the outcome. Also it's fun to set things on fire and toss glowing hot pots into sawdust and then into water buckets, and then peel off the slip like eggshells. Crazy fun. But it often means if it looks good it looks really good otherwise it's total crap. And you cannot have attachment to the pieces because you never know if they're going to explode or look like shit or what.

Unfortunately the process means that most of the stuff is decorative, unless you coat it afterwards. I do have a tea bowl that I use old school (over time the small cracks in the piece are stained and add to the beauty imo) as in just rinsing it out every time, no sugar or milk, just plain tea. I don't like the look of the pieces that are protective coated afterwards, personally.

Anyway, here's my favorite piece ever even though the bowl shape ain't all that: http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s349/zschantrea/raku1_zpscf18f798.jpg

The black is from the smoke from the newspaper shreds/sawdust/other combustibles. The white part is because it's been covered in slip before it was fired, but as it dries and also during the process the slip will crack in spots. Once it's been fired/put in the burn buckets/plunged into water, then you crack open the slip and peel it like an egg and you get cool stuff or fugly stuff. It's a flat finish.

This is not the only way you can fire, there are some raku glazes too that are little more glossy. Those were fun to experiment with (you still get the neat crackle markings, but the finish is glossy/glazed looking and it can have some cool effects). I made a teeny thing to experiment with that, and here's one of my favorite results, even though the edge chipped and it's a little wonky:

http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s349/zschantrea/Rakufireaug11045.jpg and http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s349/zschantrea/Rakufireaug11046.jpg

Here's a video of the process used to make the little cup thing (I did my bigger bowl at a later date). Normally I have 4-5 pieces go in to every firing, I'm lucky if I get 1 or 2 out of any batch that I like enough to keep. It's just the nature of the beast. But the video shows why it's so goddamn fucking fun.

http://vid510.photobucket.com/albums/s349/zschantrea/rakufire_zpsrveo3pv8.mp4

Don't know if it qualifies as crafty, but I do wheel pottery and fire raku style. Though in fairness I have not done so in over a year due to pregnancy/noob crap. I am itching to get back into the studio though.

I forgot I played on MedNights too, but it was before/after the era that most people here seem to be talking about. I played a sidhe married to a garou (yes, any place that allowed us to app in something like that probably isn't a good place to begin with). It was mostly dead, and most of the folks I remember interacting with didn't have a good grasp of the game mechanics.

I only met one werewolf during my time there (I stuck mostly to Ling interactions) and his deed name was Wind Over the Throne, which made me LOL with childish glee OOCly. I thought he was kidding at first but he wasn't and didn't seem to get the joke. The other thing I remember is someone wanting to construct chimerical catapults and drag them through the normal streets in front of everyone but who didn't seem to get why this would not be a viable option. It was pretty fun while it lasted. I don't remember anyone (or my) name at that place though.

I too would love a mortal-focused place with the supers as NPC antagonists.

I really enjoy non-masque breaking RP, especially as a mortal, but I've given up on the idea that most people like that as well or want to do it. It's just fun for me in the way that knowing the ending to The Sixth Sense before seeing the movie made me enjoy it probably 10 times as much as I would have otherwise. What can I say, I'm strange that way.

The one set in New Orleans. Don't remember the name!

Former PCs:
Nocturnis, Sakura Saito @ Shadowrun Seattle
Milla @ Shadowrun Detroit
Chai, Niccola, Galatea @ TCbTT
Arianwyn @ A2A
Jade @ Metro 2.0
Samina, Naima, Verity @ Star Crusade
Nanette @ Mystic Krewe
Kostas @ Battlestar Orion
Enyo @ Battlestar Deimos
Gloria @ CoFaB
Fremont (Staffer), Ariadne, May @ TR
Nathalie @ RfK
Toni @ Eldritch
Zoya @ Reno
Oriane @ Kushiel's Debut
Thanos @ Battlestar Orion 2.0 (In my defense, I don't read comics, so I had no fucking clue of who Thanos was and this PC predated the movie, I just thought the name as a last name sounded cool)
Toni @ BITN
Shit, some really cool Baddacelli sister I made with @Carytid on...Fallcoast? It's going to bug me I can't remember that name.

I played on Aether, some WoT place, and a handful of SW places too, but I can't for the life of me remember PC names for any of those. Ancient history. I think I only remember my SR pcs because they were my first ever MUSH PCs.

Current PCs:
Ouida and Nurie @ Arx
Toni @ Chontio