Posts made by mietze

I think it’s helpful for staff (and even STs) to let players know what they’d like to see, because there can really be a huge variance across games and even STs.

For example:

*Are requests/inquiries and pitches for IC doings welcome for ic “news” stories on games? I’ve played on good mushes where it was enthusiastically welcomed, never responded to either negatively or positively, met with pretty harsh ooc don’t waste my time commentary, and also where it was expected but not said explicitly anywhere, so staff was frustrated that “nobody was interested” when in fact people didn’t know it was welcome.

*Is the wiki ic (open for even stranger players to have a conversation about connections)? I have seen it both ways on good places.

*is there a fleshed out how to make a request (not a +help +request, but....more like “we want you to pitch the specific way you are hunting for info/tracking the beast/researching the artifact/reverse engineering the alien tech, how you’re approaching it and your proposed rolls.)

*does staff/st acknowledge a mail or request in a polite and timely manner (even if they can’t answer right away, but just to let the person know it’s being looked at?)

*are people encouraged to give positive feedback and complements for a neat way of approaching things or something especially enjoyable?

I think a lot of times people have a certain perception that everyone knows what to do to show their interest, and I’ve found mush to mush it can be a lot different. Being an excited player and putting in inquiries or asking questions and being brushed aside rudely and/or hearing staff talk about how “nobody” does anything proactive when your job or mail has been sitting unresponded to for a week is pretty disheartening too. Sometimes people are happy to give another nudge or keep poking, sometimes they’re not!

I think one of the annoying but ignore-at-your-peril issues of a smallish fan base for a system is the fact that you’re going to have to deal with people still salty/smarting over wrongs real or perceived from all other mushes of that kind previous. And they are all going to be on there together and they will all know who’s who!

I was not new to FS before Star Crusade (avid player tabletop and PBEM) but as a fresh face to whom a variety of opposing people vented to, folks were still ranting/resentful/holding onto grudges/transferring suspicions from like...10 years before.

I think every system has this problem obviously, but WoD has enough larger fan base that you don’t have like 90 percent of the people affected. I’ve seen it on the old SR places too since my god the ooc dramas that caused the various spinoffs were epic.

But anyway. I think any new FS place is going to have to deal with a certain amount of people who are going to flip their shit if they perceive that “oh this is like SC/Vargo/the one before” because a lot of players won’t let old grudges go. For some reason you can’t spit on a FS place without hitting a lawyer or someone with a grad degree in esoteric history, which doesn’t help.

I totally miss that community though!

I would put Fading Suns, Battlestar, and Firefly squarely in that category and all have enjoyed long and devoted followings in mushdom.

I am a parent of 3 teens who are very involved in online gaming, and who are obnoxious in the way teens are--as a result there's a group of about 20ish high schoolers that I have at my house or who roam around freely between several houses that I'm very familiar with, and I've known most of these kids since they were in jr high if not before that.

There are varying levels of parental supervision involved--but none of these guys would want to make the police show up at someone's door for "fun". Again, that's just a very specific subset of kids who frankly probably have more than just overinvestment in a game going on. Have they heard of it yes. I've overheard them talking about it in a "wow, what a sick fucker" sort of way.

Have I had to have conversations with them when I felt the trashtalking was getting out of hand or veering into insults that I wasn't sure they even knew what it meant? Yes. (And most of the time they had no idea). Have we had to have discussions about some of the memes that they repeat, and what they mean? Yeah. Young teens often do not have the background/life experience to realize some of the more subtle racism or misogyny that's there--and that people will judge them for, being rightly upset.

But doing something that is a no brainer for causing harm--like sending a group of armed people to the door of someone you only know through a game....that's not something, again, that most people even teens are going to do.

Get themselves killed by doing stupid shit like street surfing/diving headfirst into shallow water/other reckless stunts to themselves behavior? Yes. Kill people by inattentive driving? Yes.

Spending time sending a SWAT team to someone's door? That's beyond impulsivity there. I think the reason why it isn't cracked down on more is not that people think kids are just being kids, but because trying to deal with that sort of thing that crosses international or state borders is super complicated and many local agencies don't even know how to cope/where to start.

Honestly this applies to almost any group with people in it. Ask anyone who has been in leadership on a volunteer org, even with members who are friends and that you’ve known for years, and then you see what happens behind the scenes or to you when you have to say no to a proposal/item/expense/want that they are super invested in.

Honestly, we are humanity, why would we be better than it?

I do think we are a much nicer online group as a whole (meaning the mushing community, not necessarily a specific board community) than many.

@lithium all of the stuff I listed in the original post happened within the mushing community, and in fact was sometimes disclosed on snark site ideations. Bragged about even. But just like now, I don’t believe it was cool to most people who read it. But it has happened. I would be shocked if sexual assault hasn’t happened. I know there have been allegations of abusers picking up vulnerable partners via mushing.

I mean it happens and it will wherever there is a stronger sense of intimacy due to chatting or whatever or a pinpoint focus that can’t hapoen in daily life.

But! I am long in the tooth enough to remember this being famous in other groups too—SCA, live action LARPing, radio chats, etc.

@thenomain

I agree. I also think the level of horribleness that you have to be at to SWAT someone in the first place is extreme. Normal people don’t do that, not even spoiled brats.

Just like normal people don’t go around shooting people of the gender they’re attracted to because they can’t get a date and feel like they’re owed one.

Normal people however pissed off they may be, don’t call in a false CPS report.

Normal people don’t try to hire hitmen to bump off a mom of a child who made the team their kid wanted to be on, so that the other child will drop out out of grief and their own kid might have another shot at getting that spot.

Normal people however financially in dire straights don’t kill all of their children and then themselves, or subject their child to horrific pain and suffering claiming they’re sick just to get money out of people.

And yet some people do this, have always tried to do this—and I believe the people suceptible to lying/violence/abusive behaviors will probably find a way to do it.

It’s not that we don’t have these people in our community—we do. But the vast majority here just like in real life and pretty normal.

Also, Internet romances and hookups and scamming have been going on for a long time, ever since the internet became more publicly accessible. Before that pen pal romances and hookups were a thing (including serial killers using that as a way to scam people out of money. Even in the 1800s!

I don’t think this is a kids these days problem. And most teens these days are a little more savvy (albeit teenagers) than people my age (40s) are/we’re even if generationally we look down on them as entitled.

It’s a comfort thing to think kids these days are just dumbasses but I can guarantee you the people who get scammed and ripped of the most are not the teens and twenty somethings.

It’s been a long time since I was personally invested enough to be around hardcore people. But I do know of the following occupancies that have happened in the last 10 years:

3 people who have had CPS called on them, necessitating a visit (Which is always stressful regardless of whether or not it’s founded).

2 people who had their SOs contacted via social media.

1 person who had their place of employment targeted.

Numbers being given out for nuisance texts and the like.

So it can be a concern. This is crossover outsidevthe community. There have been many instances within the community of people attempting to ruin player reputations (arguably the most valuable thing you as a player have), posting of RL info and pictures without permission, etc.

It’s truly awful and nerve wracking to feel stalked, even if that person is a stranger and probably will never physically harm you. I’m lucky to live in a state that takes it seriously and to have friends with many contacts to help me wade through the difficulty of getting protection when someone’s primary way of stalking you is through online means. It’s unbelievably stressful. And this is just some dude that I met once as a teenager. So there is no sense of having been vulnerable(as many of us are on games/exploring rp) like their would be for someone who has this happen with a musher contact.

I think mushers are nicer than the average online community, but the bad ones are truly vile and can do a lot of damage.

I wish people would not discount how horrible it can be, when you are a target.

Finding out tomorrow or the next day if/to what extent my heart got damaged as a secondary effect to the flu I had months ago, as well as a check to make sure pneumonia has cleared up. This year’s flu is no joke.

Yeah I’m going to be annoying and say all of that honestly really depends.

Usually capitalization and punctuation and basic spelling are important to me in a regular play partner, but I have met people whom I love to death and they bend that stuff regularly. And I won’t not play with someone who doesn’t.

Pose order also greatly depends on who/how many. I’m a fan of 3-per (or 2-per in a 3 person scene), unless it needs to be structured (like a q&a or informational setting). It’s hard for me to focus in large strict pose order scenes esp with very very slow folks and also in rapid fire chaos...but if I have to pick I’d rather the more flexible moving the scene forward. I’m a slow poser (even with preloading) but I’d rather be the one accommodating and truncating or fixing my poses to fit in the rhythm of the scene than making people lose their steam waiting for me.

My only big pet peeves are passive aggressive meta posing and out of synch tense. One turns me off from wanting to play with the player, the other is super distracting.

I have patience for a mix of styles, lengths, speed, etc. with the right folks it just falls into rhythm and it’s so lovely. If it’s not, then at least I tried things out.

This is for non-plot rp. For plot scenes, my patience level narrows—I expect people to be timely (esp if an exception to group # has been made for them) and considerate to other players, and I expect them to have read other people’s and the ST’s poses. In a large social scene that’s a bonus because it can be overwhelming. But if you’re taking up ST time and attention when it could have gone elsewhere, be attentive and considerate yourself please.

Wonton wrapper mini lasagnas (made in muffin tins). Eldest is having a really sucky day so he requested this.

Watching a single “coach” manage 19 3-4 year olds and try to teach basketball skills.

I helped but over extended myself (pneumonia sucks) so back to bed for me.

But it was adorable and hilarious.

@saosmash I have contacts in WA state and can ask around. Any particular county or area (because we have huge ass counties) Feel free to PM rather than disclose here.

@zobi I personally would omit the cheese unless it was those cheese crisp things but that sounds good to me! I may be guilty of buying a bag of croutons just to eat as a snack though.

@apu said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

@thenomain said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

My core problem with WoD is the players play the monsters, but rarely monstrously. What in Mars is a threat to Werewolves, Vampires and Mages?

Could be a number of anything, if one's creative enough and willing to put some thought and time into it. Aliens is the first thing that comes to mind, but what about a disease that hits the supers, requiring them to work for a cure.

Well, I suppose alien viruses/bacteria/environmental hazards are less of a concern for vampires and high level
Mages (Werewolves get the shaft for sure there)...it might be interesting to explore (or deal with the aftermath of earlier NPC first contacts) what happens the first time vitae is given to an alien plant/creature. What happens to the spiritual world once you leave the planet, is the new one totally hostile/alien as well? Do the same reality rules that effect what you can/can’t/get hurt by by doing something magey that would be out of place with earth physics or environment be negated/amplified/have new implications when you are off planet and in space? Do the advantages your powers gave you on earth lessen in some circumstances with a lower g environment or when relative time passes differently due to space travel?

It could be really interesting. But I’m pretty sure a large scale open WoD in space would just turn into space prostitues and the like.

Homemade chex mix!

@miss-demeanor
In my observance it’s less about “I know best” and more about “I don’t want to deal with it.”

Hell, I have even had other staff tell me I was wrong and/or The Worst Ever, without even bothering to read the job in question because what the player said happened (rather than actual documented on the job evidence) must be true because that was their friend they’d known forever and I must be wrong because that friend said so. Voice for the voiceless and all that.

I do think that staff often have a hard time apologizing or acknowledging when they have behaved poorly or made a decision that was incorrect/hasty/avoidant, etc.

But there’s always plenty of people to tell you are wrong. About everything. Including your unspoken thoughts and intent.