Just leave an option to specify 'negotiable' and not just 'yes' or 'no' to a +prefs system, because me setting my prefs to allowing 'dark themes' on WoD games led to me getting rapey (physical and mental) stuff sprung on me by players AND staff, and then backlash when I expressed reservations ooc.
Apparently negotiating this so both parties are ok with it is a novel concept.
It's not like there's an epidemic of 'tide pod challenge' or 'bird box challenge' stuff so much as the kids just trolling stodgy alarmist media and stories, who react by freaking out more. Folks did the same with 'may as well drink bleach' and other silly stuff like that-- joking about doing the stupid thing because present society is dumb and self-destructive memes are a way to cope. Yes, there are a couple idiots who will actually do the thing because they don't grasp nuance, but it's not a thing. It's just a meme.
I'm too old to be cool and even I know this.
@Thenomain said in Emotional separation from fictional content:
I will absolutely play on a game where I don't trust the staff when I don't need the staff to have meaningful gameplay, which is 90% of everywhere. I know how to do this, have gone through this hobby with people who know how to do this, and am happy to be with people I enjoy regardless of staff.
What people like @Paris usually mean is that they won't play on a game where staff cannot be trusted to be adults, to handle a complicated situation fairly or honestly. Not saying you don't mean exactly what you said, Paris, but there are plenty of people who aren't so rigid in where they will play if they get a chance to play in relative peace.
You're correct. If you're a player who's fine with that hanging over you, obviously do as you like.
I find that I eventually get burned. I went against my own policy of avoiding games where I had strong reservations about staff, figuring that enough time had passed, let byegones be byegones, but no, same shit, different game. When I realised that a staffer's homophobic threats against me would be defended or justified (despite logs), because other abusive behavior from them towards others was being defended (despite logs), I bailed. Nothing had changed, I was wrong to assume that it had.
So, I will never again play on a game where I can't trust staff, edit shame on me for flouting my own rule. I'm glad that you've made it work, though.
But as a staffer, I also get frustrated when players refuse to come forward when they have been abused, because they have been burned elsewhere, because they don't want to be labeled a problem, because staff elsewhere would rather cover for other staff, whatever, etc. All not coming forward does is leave these folks free to keep targeting others. That is part of why I say, 'don't play somewhere if you don't trust staff.' It makes our jobs harder.
I am never invisible, even in a city where to be a freak is to be invisible in a sea of other freaks.
I swear to god I almost started asking rando asshats, who decided to stop and stare yesterday at me as I tried to do my groceries, if they wanted me to do a trick? Because having my way repeatedly blocked by slack-jawed assholes is pretty annoying.
I'm just some disabled dude in a wheelchair and a leather jacket, really not on the weirdo priority list. I even asked Bot if I looked sicker than usual or something and she's like, 'Not more than usual, but there's been a weird creepy vibe out here all morning.'
We were in our old neighborhood doing errands. I am used to being approached/accosted/grabbed/whatever and I always have been, but the stopping-staring-blocking my way was kinda new and getting REALLY disconcerting, like half the folks out there were zombies.
They're still the norm on WoD games, in my opinion, and is presently why I only RP on my own game. If I was healthier, I'd be more adventurous, but I'm tired. I'll put in the time and work (building, helping players, making sure jobs are done on time) on a game where I know it's appreciated.
@gangofdolls I have to keep a really tight rein on carbs (because of my diabetes), or else I get extreme binge cravings, and there's enough flour even in sugar-free stuff that it's just better to keep it out of the house. 
Ghost, you're advocating for a player (edit: AND STAFFER) who, for over a decade, has done to others the kind of bullshit that was done to you. In some cases, she did worse.
@ganymede Yeah. @_@ Textured soy/vegetable protein means I have to opt out of a lot of stuff, soy protein in general means I have to avoid almost all of the 'boost/glucerna/etc' drinks available for diabetics, especially in combo with several classes of artificial sweeteners I can't handle either-- I found ONE that's whey-based and has stevia. (Edit: ALL of the prepackaged disabled-friendly meal services use it as an extender in every dish, so that's out too.)
I really don't like this dietary restriction stuff, it makes me feel like I look finicky or fussy when in reality I actually liked tofu and ate it regularly before I became sensitive to it.
To keep this post to theme, I really do like my instant pot (again) even though meal prep for it can be tiring. The chicken tikka masala turned out great and I can use the sauce for paneer tikka , too. I really should just make up a big mess of sauce and freeze it in individual bags to pour over stuff.
It's been a super lifesaver since tourist season is terrible right now (and I suspect the shutdown is affecting spending) and so being able to eat healthy, tasty cheap meals while we're otherwise broke has made the thing already pay for itself despite having been purchased on January 1.
If you know that a player is, er,
dogging a lot of players behind their back, especially if they are in ic conflict or the rumor-monger is staff, that is itself a big flag about their believability.
@ganymede said in RL things I love:
My dad is going to be 80 this year. I still want to make meatballs with him just one more time.
T_T my heart
I'd like to get a lot of kitchen accessories, as money improves. I'll always prefer to eat out, but I like eating well when we don't. I used to love spending hours in the kitchen before my back broke.
Pretty much the above post verbatim, yeah.
The singer is the big guy with the mohawk. Very atmospheric.
@Miss-Demeanor said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:
There's a reason that people have left the hobby after run-ins with her.
Or the posse she likes to assemble. Someone I know quit MUSHing entirely because of how that bunch harassed and hounded them off a game, OOC and IC, and then harangued them on offsite sites (including personal journals, which they had to make private) for close to a year afterward. Staff, of course, looked the other way.
I quit for a few years over that, came back when I was bored of being in bed from chemo. I was told I had a few months to live, so my give a fuck meter got recalibrated.
Anti-vaxxers made me real nervous when I was immunocompromised.
@Z-01 said in MU and Alternate Channels:
@surreality said in MU and Alternate Channels:
@Meg I think in the case you had specifically, I'd call it too few staffers available rather than laziness, but there are some times I've seen lazy as the cause. Sadly, sometimes 'too many' staff creates the same problem, since no one is sure who has the responsibility to do this, so you have lower tier staffers afraid to say anything without approval from on high, and upper tier ones thinking the lower tier staff will handle it.
Sometimes, things really are so black and white there's no conversation to be had. ('Is VASpider/Rex/Jeurg', for instance, at least to me. <cough>)
This can be a pretty complex issue in my experience. One of the biggest reasons I've personally seen that an investigative or preventative conversation might just not happen, or not happen in a timely manner, is that the person who needs to be talked to will inevitably emotionally exhaust you in the course of the conversation. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes not, and people just aren't very understanding of it when you try to draw boundaries with these people because it's easy to portray it as just clubbing whoever you're trying to handle.
You deal with that enough times and you stop wanting to try to engage people like this if you can avoid it.
You just kind of do it anyway, and make sure there's at least a second person on staff to handle it if it's either on a day that you can't, or it involves you, so you shouldn't. It's just an inevitable part of staffing anything, from a shop to a mush to whatever.
The shutdown is a serious pain. We're now having to do without a phone plan, and I'm hoping we don't lose anything else.
@Derp said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:
@Paris said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:
@HelloProject said in A Constructive Thread About People We Might Not Like:
I also like to think that there's no fucking way these people wouldn't get dragged for doing that shit in the modern era.
Having had a really unpleasant run-in with an extremely homophobic staffer in the last year or so, which resulted in several other staff becoming pretty unpleasant, and the resulting OOC retaliation and ostracism, I can assure you that people still get away with that kind of shit.
You and I don't always agree on things, but in this case, that is a super shitty thing to have happen. I refuse to accept homophobic OOC bullshit at any level, and that is one of the things that I will absolutely make sure stops, one way or another. It's 2017, that sort of attitude is bullshit in the highest.
I'm glad to hear it. I don't mind disagreeing, either; even if our differences might be very sharp, you don't strike me as a bad person.
I'm not sure who you were on Fallcoast, so I figure our differences are mostly just here.
Also, if any of you (god forbid) get cancer, you may be eligible to get the mega booster shots they give you after every infusion to try to keep your immune system numbers up. I got vaccinated against every kind of plague imaginable.
This is similar to the shots they give to bone marrow donors to stimulate cells (it might actually be the same, I don't remember). It was expensive and the bone pain is spectacularly excruciating (I was in much more pain from these than the chemo ever caused-- that was mostly just hair loss, fatigue and severe nausea). But my immune system never got to the point where I had to miss an infusion, and I seemed to not really get anything at all flu-wise for about a year after.
As soon as the effect dropped off, though, I caught every single flu and cold known to man and was sick for six months straight. But I imagine I won't need a booster for anything for at least a decade.
I and Botulism co-run our game. We often disagree, but generally come to a decent compromise, and we respect each other and ultimately want what's best for the game. We are SOs, which can be problematic, but we have been together long enough (21 years), in difficult enough circumstances (we are both severely disabled and without a rl support network) that we're used to keeping shit real to survive.
We take input from from our staffers, especially headstaff, and sometimes agree and disagree. We value what they say, whether we agree or not; and even polite disagreements often result in a valuable perspective.
Ultimately things are Botulism's and my call, but we are better for Encore, Luxor, Bellagio, Sands, and the others' input. Even when we've disagreed it's spurred alternate ideas. Sometimes we go with their opinions even when we disagree, because no one is always right.
Everyone wants the game to succeed and be fun for folks. You can achieve that, or at least try your damndest, without it being about ego.
We've only been open a few months and who knows about the long haul, but I'm satisfied with the calibre of the staff and players. If people stay who they are, and I stay on top of keeping things analysed and efficient, we might be ok.
My personal concern is less theme (though I do have a vision and I and Botulism and Luxor discuss that, I let Bot and Lux deal more directly with that-- that said, Bot and I both worked out game and changeling theme) and more directing and being a sounding board for the people who shape the game. I don't run a sphere. I check in with those who do and do what I can to help them, as a different perspective. I look for patterns. When something stalls, it's my job to get things moving. When folks are frustrated, it's my job to try to resolve the issue. I try to keep the whole of the game in mind. I think that's crucial for a headstaffer who delegates. I guess I'm kind of a manager.
@tinuviel No. I've lived with folks who were bipolar, and it was so much more than that. x.x