Posts made by Miss Demeanor

@Thenomain said:

@Bobotron said:

She has something kinda like this going on

She weighs 15 pounds? Buy a goth a sammich!

Goths don't EAT! They live off of cigarettes and ennui. And sometimes coffee/booze.

NP! It actually happened a year or so ago, but I didn't notice it until more recently when I was in Rata Sum and saw people from a rival wvw guild over at the TP NPC's. XD Asked a guildie about it and got told it was part of one of the big updates they did way back when.

Server doesn't matter anymore unless you're big into WvW. They started using 'megaservers'. Basically, anyone can be on any map from any server at any time. No more needing server transfers just to play with your friends!

I've been on GW2 from day 1. Have a guild already, but I'm always happy to run about with people, help level up, anyone looking for map completion is welcome to ask questions, run fractals or dungeons... and I can hook people up with some awesome wvw folks for those that are interested. About the only area I haven't really delved into is pvp/spvp.

Rose Red was amazing. If you liked that, you should DEFINITELY check out The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer. Its essentially the prequel to Rose Red.

They did finally start sending out the emails for the Family of Monsters package on the BtP front.

@Thenomain said:

@Sunny

(Not a robot.)

That's exactly what a ROBOT would say!!!

@Coin Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey! I resemble that remark!

@Coin I you even when we argue heatedly. Maybe moreso because we CAN and still be cool with each other. And yes, you're right.

@Jaunt The thick skin isn't about 'giving as good as you get'. Its about being able to take what's being flung at you without letting it bother you to the point you feel the need to retaliate in kind. That's just a slap-fight, and while most of us will grab the popcorn and snicker as shots are fired... its not all that productive. And we are trying to be more productive with MSB overall.

Frankly, to me, the majority of yours, Jeshin's, and crayon's posts have read like radio instructions to me. ie. they're very dry and technical and my interest wanes pretty quickly after that. If they aren't parched dissertations about something, they tend to read like the script for an ad on tv. And since I watch all my shows on Hulu, Netflix or the like to avoid commercials, I think you can see why I would tend to skip over those as well.

There's numerous threads that theorize why our little corner of the hobby seems to be dying out and what factors are affecting our community, but most of them tend to approach it from a more conversational angle than this thread does. This thread is more like... being at a lecture. Our 'genre' as you put it, is about people. The staffers, the players, the coders, and game creators... all people. So yes, you're more interesting of a topic right now.

As to MU*ing and 'customer service skills'... I am a CSR. Its what I do. Do I want to log out of my work and go... deal with more work? Not particularly. Not to mention, most customer service is about as personable as a wet mop. It tends to be scripted, with a few specific responses geared towards a particular end (getting to the next customer, keeping people sticking with your company for the least amount of actual effort, etc.).

You talk about customer service skills like there's something good about them. Here's your average set of customer service skills: Automatic deflection of fault onto the customer. Meaningless apologies to cover ineptitude. An inability to actually achieve the result sought because you lack the proper authority. Being shunted around to 3-5 different people for the same problem. Being forced into horrific wait times on any and everything because only one person knows how to actually fix half the problems.

Customer service skills already exist in nearly every MUSH I've been on. Its terrible. Its what has lead me to NOT get into any of the plots or storylines, because I don't want to have to deal with that in what little free time I have. Hell, at this point, I go out of my way to avoid contact with the vast majority of staff altogether. I'm tired of being put on hold while someone goes to look something up, then forgets that I'm on hold. I'm tired of waiting 7-10 business days for a response to a fairly simple question. I'm tired of everything being automatically my fault until I can produce some sort of proof otherwise. And I'm very tired of dealing with people who think its okay to be snarky and condescending to me because THEY have the authority and I'm just one of the poor schlubs who is the reason they have that position in the first place (ie. no players = no need for staff, or in CSR terms, no customers = no customer service representatives). Customer service exists in MU*s. And it needs to STOP.

(And no, I am not saying EVERY SINGLE staffer is like this... there are staffers that I love to pieces for how awesome they are. But the latter is definitely outweighed by the former.)

@Jaunt To toss in my own two cents once more... I understand that you've dipped a few toes into the WORA/MSB pool here and there. But that doesn't mean that you -know- us. Nearly everyone here has been rubbing elbows with one another pretty consistently for years. We've played with each other on games, poked at each other on the forums, shared ideas and thoughts and opinions. And I'm fairly confident in stating that the vast majority of us have, at some point, gone full retard on either WORA or MSB and still managed to come out on the other side intact. I'm not suggesting you be a robotic loudspeaker broadcasting the latest trends and updates for OR. I'm suggesting that you take the time and effort to really become part of the community. Learn about the people here. We have threads all over the place dedicated almost solely to sharing stuff we like or find awesome or hate or peeve on. We all had to, over time, pick up on the cues and tics of the community. That's sort of where you're at. You've lurked around here and there, you've made a couple posts, but you're still sitting at the fringes. Plenty of veterans of the community have gotten off to a bad start and had to work their way back up the ladder. The real question is whether you're willing to invest that kind of time and effort. Oh, and whether or not you can grow a thick skin. That's one thing that's pretty much a requirement around here. We snark. We flame. We yell and curse and argue. And then we generally find a common ground and move on until the next time.

None of this will happen overnight, or even in a week or two. But over time you'll find yourself just sort of... integrating into the community. Find other topics in other threads to branch out into. I realize that you and Jeshin and.. crayon (I think that's the third guy?) are all kinds of excited about your site... but if that's the ONLY thing you ever talk about eventually it'll get boring to people. We have geeks and nerds of every flavor here, chances are good you can find other threads that interest you. And other people that share those interests. At the end of the day, if you want to integrate, you can't just be 'that OR guy who only ever talks about OR'. Go forth, share your interests, connect, and leave OR/PR in this thread. I think you'll find that people here are pretty forgiving when you seem more like a person and less like an adbot. We've got coders, gamers, music-lovers, tv show followers, lawyers (hi @Ganymede!), parents, techs, and everything in between. Find some of that common ground!

I still feel fine. In fact, I refuse to accept the end of the world. This is the night that starts my weekend, dammit! Explode on Saturday or something. >.>

@Jaunt Oh I'm far from territorial protector mode. If you'll notice, I've barely posted in this thread. I don't have any real dog in the fight, I've never been to OR, I have no real interest in the types of discussions the three of you from OR say happen. But I have followed this thread, and I have noticed a pattern. Your posts and responses tend to fall into one of three categories... defensive, aggressive, or playing the 'high road' card. You seem to either blatantly disregard or are unable to process the tone of a given post (reading defensively), then immediately post back to deny nearly anything anyone says to you in an increasingly aggressive manner (posting aggressively), then finally, when the other party is ready to shake the ever living shit out of you for the previous two... you hide behind the 'context', which you're only seeing in one very small corner of the site, or suddenly 'remove' yourself from the equation (taking the high road).

There were bad first impressions made in the thread on both sides. But you are in our house. It behooves you to be the one to amends. Instead, you continue to defend your own continued poor attitude while pointing at ours and saying we're being mean.

CONTEXT: When I say you're acting like Spider, what I mean is that you say things that are designed to be irritating and obnoxious while not really stepping over the line into outright rudeness. Then, when called on it, you step back and play the wounded party who didn't do anything wrong, or 'refuses to get into a slap-fight' even though you've been taking potshots the entire time. The majority of us here have spent anywhere from the last 2-10 years dealing with someone like that on nearly every WoD MU* that's occurred in the past decade. Her name was Spider. So maybe you can see why this tactic is getting a little extra irritating now.

And finally... this is, I think, the real grain of sand that's irritating the oyster. You don't know us. You have no context for this group as a whole. Motivations, shared history, you were never part of any of that. But you still insist on sitting there and talking about how we're the ones that don't understand and don't comprehend. So yeah... we could talk. But you have to recognize that you're the guest in this house, and while Mom Or Dad (Moderators) might allow you to stay despite the attitude, nobody here is going to want to talk to you if you can't or won't adjust it.

PS. This isn't to say some of the people posting here haven't been being inflammatory or rude. There's been some pretty good mud-slinging that's happened. Nobody here is innocent. But again, you're the guest so the onus is on you.

Anyone else notice that @Jaunt pulled a Spider with the picking just enough to cause an explosion then standing back and playing the 'high road' card? Or the use of 'well-meaninged'? I gotta admit, that bugs me more than the trolling. Not a real word.

@Ganymede You had me until the snow. I moved away from the snow because I dislike the cold. XD

@Ganymede Damn, I want to live where you are. 700/mo isn't likely to get you much here other than laughed at...

@Ganymede said:

@surreality said:

@Coin Same -- but there are people who do continue to press the issue, and will use the argument that 'if you avoid me, you're cheating, because you lurve me now!'

I'm pretty sure Bryn Hartman loved Phil as well. We all know how that ended up.

TOO SOON!

@Coin Or, y'know, not crafted to be weighted in the favor of the aggressor. My issue with the social combat system isn't the players that try to equate social rolls with mind control. My issue is going into it knowing that either I or the person I'm up against, is at a huge disadvantage. Its the social equivalent of being an nWoD combat monster that only ever picks fights with people that aren't combat monsters then saying 'but they could have fought back if they wanted!' or 'but he had a chance to defend against it!'. And its not because the person even necessarily has bad stats, they just don't have the same options. Now, admittedly, GMC has made physical combat much more evened out. You have better options for combat and defending yourself. But for social combat, its like its still stuck back in nWoD. You get your Resolve, or Composure, or sometimes both. Maybe you have Iron Will. But that's it. No amount of 'good faith' playing is going to keep the system itself from being skewed.

Also, given that you can get 9-again on up to three skills with PT 2 with no real effort, but Iron Will will only grants you a bonus to your defense/resistance with the expense of a WP... its not as great as it seems. On the one side, its giving you 1-2 extra dots. On the other, you keep whatever pool you have with 8-again, and your pool is maxed out at 10, period. Now throw down on that against someone with the option of having 10-15 dice at 9-again, plus the ability to open MORE Doors with a single success. Or by taking a Condition. Or having soft leverage accepted.

Taking your 'good faith' advice, lets see how this plays out.

Ex: John wants Mary to go out with him, but Mary thinks of John as just a friend (Good Impression) and aspires to date Steve. Lets say Mary has Resolve 3, Composure 3 (which is slightly above average, I believe). That makes the total Doors 4 (3 for lower of Res/Comp and 1 for against an aspiration). John has Presence 3, Persuasion 3 with a spec in flattery and PT 2 (salesman) with the Pusher and Sympathetic merits. John has found out that Mary is having some car trouble but can't afford the repair bill. He swings by Mary's house to offer to discount her repairs by taking her car into the dealership he works at, taking on the Swooning Condition to immediately open 2 of Mary's doors. Mary is flattered by his attempt and accepts the offer even if she still intends to ultimately turn John down (good faith). She's now accepted his soft leverage and another Door is opened, and Mary now has an Excellent Impression of John. She demurs at his offer to go to a movie on Friday, but offers to have coffee with him later on because he's such a good friend (and the player is acting in good faith). Mary and John meet for coffee and John presses his advantage in the form of a Pres + Persuasion roll. Putting his flattery spec to good use, he's now rolling 7 dice at 9-again, versus Mary's Resolve + Composure. Unless Mary rolls really well and John doesn't, that last Door will open and Mary should agree to go out with John.

Three of Mary's Doors were opened without ever having to make a single roll. The aggressor was 3/4ths of the way there by giving a gift and taking on a Condition that really only benefits him. And it was all done with a build John could easily have exited chargen with. Without ever rolling a thing, John got through three Doors and moved up the Impression line. Mary, by the rules, had a whole one chance to 'defend' against John's persuasion.

Edit: Even if Mary's player called for a roll to determine if Mary would accept John's soft leverage, or declined it all together, John was still halfway to his goal without a single roll.

One of the big flags, for me, is the singular lack of defensive bonuses for Social Combat over the extensive aggressor bonuses for it. You can find a TON of social merits that will let you add modifiers, open Doors by taking a Condition, etc. Iron Will is pretty much it in terms of 'defense'. So its still very much weighted in favor of the aggressor. Sure. You can defend/resist... but since you need only a single success to move to the next stage, its not likely to do you much good.

@Coin said:

@Monogram said:

However, in the end, more original theme, sci fi that's not Firefly/SW/ST would also be a breath of fresh air.

I would love a Space Fantasy Opera setting--but really high-powered. Exalted in Space, if you will.

Pigs In SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

@TNP Take a drink whenever someone who ragequit (no really!) comes back after a time talking about how nice it was to get a break and 'how much better they are now' after having taken one.