A cousin of mine works for a famous Christian publishing house. They make a lot of different bibles. Usually people are paying for the commentary/devotionals and other shit that they stuff in there more so than the actual scriptures. You can buy an "American Patriot's Bible" from this publisher for like 40 bucks that will make you feel good with commentary and devotions about how you are a member of gods chosen land. But there are bibles for addicts, dieters, parents, boys, girls, ect.
Posts made by mietze
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RE: Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.
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RE: Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion
Also. When you open a space whether that is a group, message board, mush, ect I think most people have a vague idea of how they will handle situations in general, but the Law of People means that you are guaranteed to face all the things you did not know were a thing or thought surely never, as well as every single thing you did plan for and warn people about because the people who like to do the things that you warn people not to do tend to not think warnings apply to them and their reasons for doing those things. If they even read them in the first place.
People will abuse your space. They will use it to abuse others. They will probably do it right under your nose and you wont see it always. You will make shitty decisions sometimes. You will give the wrong people several chances and be severe with some people that probably would have learned after a serious discussion.
I do not think you can plan for every contingency nor will crafting the perfect rules mean that you will not unwittingly permit something very bad to happen or a bad actor to use the space in a way that hurts someone else.
But you can as an owner/administrator be as transparent as you can be, you can own your decisions, you can make the best decisions you can. And the participants can choose to stay or not (making their own decisions). Maybe they won't give you any quarter, and maybe they will give you more chances than you deserve.
But ultimately it IS just one space/board/social media group/playspace/whatever. Sometimes I think we build up all these superhuman expectations or frankly inappropriate levels of importance attached to a project (either for ourselves and others) and it really ends up being a self fulfilling prophecy of failure.
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RE: Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion
Ark wasn't the creator of this space. The creator did hand it over to him. He has made some changes unilaterally. So I would still say that any given space even looking here as example, it's still largely the owner that makes the decisions. Sometimes the handover works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the handover doesnt happen and a place shuts down. I think usually the users of a space believe themselves to have more power over it than they do. I wish this made all people more grateful for the space while it exists, but...yeeah.
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RE: Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion
@Pandora my birthdad and brothers live in Houma.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
There's different kinds of tensions too. I don't like usual like telenovela levels of personal conflict, though I know people that love it and that is great. One of the things I love about fantasy-type hierarchical games with political marriages is the (at least in theory) opportunity for cultural clashes, being thrown sink or swim into upholding a contract between two families that's much larger than either one's desires. Ect. I do not think that particular flavor though is one that many players really enjoy, which is fine--there are some folks out there that I've been grateful to find now and then. And there are always valid concerns with "no love in the present or expected" IC relationships, because there can be a lot of complications with them if other people are involved, and misunderstand the IC or OOC dynamic. Or if someone enters that with the expectation that things will move along to true love quickly (or ever in the scope of the game) and just figures that will happen on their timetable despite the other player warning that may not be feasible.
Same thing with family stuff, really. I love family play/tension--but I understand why that may not be great if someone really wants a safe home base. And sometimes depending on the PC I might prefer that too.
It's a complicated thing, and I really admire people who have been successful with working through that 100 percent organically with no discussion.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Ganymede I am kind of hoping to find that eventually with my PC, though the romance part is optional, if there's a right player who is interested in fleshing out something that's currently offscreen. I do really missing having a partnership in play. It's super rewarding, romantic or otherwise.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Alamias we did have a lot of real interesting people in that family didnt we?
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
I am pretty sure that the family head at the time killed him at some point when his stupidity escalated.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Alamias I don't remember his name but he was the guy who also had a vamp PC wife. They would open up scenes with them fucking each other or NPCs randomly. I remember his name was really stupid too. She actually seemed nice on her own but was just really quiet.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Auspice that thought did cross my mind. Or he was lying. He was one of the stupider players I've come across though. Yay for first day in the TR vamp sphere. Sheesh.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Auspice I once deeply offended someone by laughing when they posed penetrating someone's cervix. He named like 4 other pcs who said they loved it when a man did that. Oooookay, mister matchstick diameter cock!
Also dont go meet someone your first day on grid at the family mansion room that has a hot tub in it.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Arkandel that is where I am too but only because I have realized that they wouldn't listen even if I tried to explain why what they were doing was a bit twingy. And honestly why bother spending time where I actually get to RP, time that is precious to me, trying to convince the unconvincable for....what purpose? I wont enjoy their company, likely, and they wont enjoy mine or care about its absence.
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RE: Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion
I do think that is a significant risk for any message board. (There have been MSB word of mouth game overwhelming incidents as well, though without a specific agenda other than Hey New Shiny!)
As for creating a community of relatively safe people that doesn't turn into a major dumpster fire--I can think of two that I have experience.
The first was a chat group of a bunch of women in their 30s/40s+ at the time who enjoyed the storytelling/RP of the people that they invited (anyone was allowed to loop anyone else in). It wasn't really a discussion about the game itself but more just a friendly chat about family and personal stuff that one felt kind of weird about trying to talk about with people who weren't in the same rough phase of life. No planning of game stuff went on in there that I ever saw. But it did mean I had some contacts of non-crazy, highly relatable, highly collaborative folks that I could reach out to if I just wanted a RP scene or a connection that I knew I wouldn't have to fret over as to whether it would involve TS pressure or ick factor.
The second was something very similar but a FB group.
Both even at their most active we are taking maybe one 15-30 min slow conversation every couple of days or longer. Usually if game stuff was going to be discussed it would just be through pages on a game with an individual (for arranging RP or a bg connection or something).
I think high volume, game or complaint focused stuff tends to be very very VERY different. For a variety of reasons.
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RE: RL things I love
I got the job offer I wanted!!! Bye bye gig delivery work, hello new career.
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RE: Intersectional MU* Community - Discussion
I keep hearing off and on through the last handful of years about private channels on discord, slack, ect for people to make fun of other players, coordinate stuff across IC/OOC lines, ect. One could argue since we are a minority of people in the community we are a bit of the same, but just like all the other groups, we think that we're not or have a good reason for what we do. I think the pillowforts have always been in the muing community and likely will remain.
I also think (and have read a similar tale MANY MANY times) that while yes, there are often purposeful bad actors in them--most of the people who are on those things are bit/tertiary circle people, who just think they're joining a chatting place with people they like--and then aren't always sure of how to pull out of it when things start to go in a way that they're really not comfortable with. Or they get turned on (Before or after leaving it or speaking up). I am not going to skim through thousands of posts here, but did that not happen with a few really really bad Arx discord groups (and yes, before anyone gets upset, I know they were not sanctioned by staff)? I know of a few slack groups that I heard about after they blew up or hurt someone on various games. I think on any competitive or large game (maybe even small non competitive ones too, but I cannot say I've ever heard anything about someone discovering a whole slew of private communications in a group about them on a place that isn't) people start out by trying to set up easier/off game communication for probably good intentions, but it's not long before it can go off the rails for many people. Including people who are good people too.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@Sparks people can be so gross. But yeah, while it has gotten better about some things, there are so many people obsessed about what other people are or arent doing in their interpersonal life, real or if. Even if you kind of expect it to at some point, when someone does that it just feels so yuck.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
@surreality yeah, just saying that I think that's a different facet of being an ass. I had some lady on a fading suns game lose her shit on me about how I was stupid and racist obviously because I rped that my character was bilingual from her childhood days and how I dare rp about something that was so presumptive and incorrect. She was linguist and knew how those things worked and her kids were biracial/cultural and weren't bilingual. I wasnt playing it right.
She was an obnoxious dick. About a lot of other things apparently.
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RE: Sexuality: IC and OOC
I find it easier these days on my game to just slip off a channel or leave if there's someone there who's being obnoxious ooc. Whether that is mansplaining, just being an arrogant offputting ass or super TMI.
If it looks like it's bleeding into ICness (like someone loudly complaining IC about how stupid and useless a voluntary, social event is that they have chosen to attend) then I respond IC, which tends to make someone who was primarily using it as a passive aggressive attempt to OOCly complain either shut up or leave since they don't have any ACTUAL interest in RPing about it, or it turns into something fun and bantery if being an ass was actually just an IC thing.
Obnoxious people are obnoxious. I'm cautious about thinking anyone has an agenda per se rather than being just a selfish dick, just because accusing someone of "well of course you only play that kind of PC to promote your SJW agenda" is something that is used sometimes to silence or shame people.
I think "that guy is playing to an agenda" is as likely to mean "I don't like that type of character" as anything else. I don't automatically assume that someone playing an obnoxious bigot or mean person is playing to an agenda either. It could be that someone playing the Woke AF SJW is well aware, like someone playing a bully PC, that they are obnoxious IC. Or they're like other players of obnoxious PCs of any stripe, where they are either selfcentered or unable to be discerning of others around them enjoying the play, or well, they just like being dicks.