Posts made by Roz

@SG said:

Finding out a giant fuckup is not, in fact, my fault.

OH MAN I FUCKING LOVE THAT.

This argument always comes down to people who think the definition of clique is just "people who hang together and do things together" and "people who hang and do things together and also exclude other people." You can find dictionary definitions to support both readings (whether the exclusionary nature is inherently implied by the word or whether it's just about a tight-knit group).

Using properties with the Semantic Mediawiki extension also makes this really simple.

Hollow Art is great for having a ton of filters. I also have some giant PB bookmark folders of my own where I drop in actors as I encounter them on the internet, TV, and films that I think might be good faces in the future. My personal files are generally where I start off when I begin looking for a new PB, either for myself or others.

At the very least, I know of Pern games that have more than one grid that technically exist within the same world but basically function as two separate entities.

@Glitch Well now I feel like a dumb person

I'm having issues now with my reply window defaulting to being the expanded version -- and not shrinking down to the usual half-page when I click the arrow at the top. So I can no longer continue to look at text in the thread when I'm replying. This is especially obnoxious if I want to quote or reply to multiple people.

@Ghost said:

But it's true, right? We log into these games because we are seeking to be entertained. For some people that means sharing the rp experience like an improv acting troupe; that what we are trying to recreate on some level is a bunch of drama-interested playwrights writing stories together. For others it's I want to be entertained and if I'm not having fun, even if having fun means everything goes my way, then I walk.

I'd argue that people who come onto games without any sense of cooperative entertainment aren't really looking to roleplay; they're looking for other people to help them write a book.

Roleplaying is a team sport, not a solo one.

@Miss-Demeanor Sure, I've certainly bailed on group scenes because I found I just didn't have the brain to keep up that particular day. But it didn't generally follow me whining on channel about being bored in order to rattle out an invite from someone.

@Arkandel I swear to God, any time someone announces how bored they are on channel, I lose a layer of enamel on my teeth from grinding them.

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

I think the best way someone can remedy this if somebody feels like maybe this is happening to them is make an effort to RP ABOUT other people if you're in a scene, rather than themselves. Like, ask about somebody's IC job or how they feel about that thing that happened ICly or whatever. I feel like this also helps in the being inclusive thing. I don't mind people who pose less-than-perfectly, as long as they're engaging with me and not expecting it to be All About Them 100% of the time.

100% this. I always tell people that the best way to get attention is to give attention. It won't always work, because some players are pretty self-centered and don't really play off other characters well. But a good amount of players will note when others are playing about them or expressing interest in their character and will feel goodwill that tends to get returned. And the playerbase at large notices it in logs.

@Thenomain said:

The second is that all new players are introduced to the game. I want to mention the AetherMUX quiz and casual newbie channel again. They also had reccs read by other players, so everyone had a chance to see everyone saying good things about everyone else. The game did not just expect a positive atmosphere, it created one.

I am interested in learning more about this!

@Ghost said:

On @Roz @Tez and @saosmash games, they also have this neat code for looking for RP that will grab a players name that is on, a subject, a location(IIRC) and basically helps people find RP fodder. I dug that. It won't help everybody, but for the people twiddling their thumbs, it's a potential solution, which is better than nothing.

Credit where credit is due, Tat totally stole the idea for that from Schmitt on the now-closed Second Pass. She had several really neat code tools like that. (Tat did code it herself -- we didn't steal the code! We wouldn't have been able to, anyways, since we were on MOO at the time.)

Wow, that is very nice of you to say those things about my game! We -- that is, me, @Tez, @saosmash, and a few others -- have been RPing and staffing together for a long time, and we also have players who tend to follow us to our new games that we've known for a long time as well, so we're really conscious of the fact that this can be intimidating for some new players for the exact reasons you described: the feeling of coming into a party that everyone already knows each other in.

I don't tend to run into this as much as a player, because I tend to only check out games where I already know people, and I'm just not as prone to feeling that kind of stress on games in general. I've run into it as a staffer, though. You're right that you didn't chat with us about it, but we definitely have had players actually bring issues to us.

Here's what I think staff's responsibility is: do their best to make a game that is inclusive and welcoming. My co-staffers and I consider it our staff responsibility to look for a good percentage of our RP publicly and openly to balance any planned RP with friends.

You're right that a lot of this is perception. Sometimes players feel left out because they get silence when asking for RP, and they remember that and not so much the fact that other players also get silence plenty of times. Like, whenever I have a day where it's just quiet and I ask for RP multiple times over the day and no one's around or interested, I always want to be like I'M RECORDING THIS FOR NEXT TIME SOMEONE TRIES TO SAY THEY'RE THE ONLY PLAYER THIS HAPPENS TO. Because that's never the case. We've also, like -- literally made spreadsheets recording what character combos are RPing the most, and players that might get accused of being the most insular are actually playing with the widest variety of characters. Or players are frustrated at not getting RP, yet they almost never ask anyone for RP.

There's a certain extent where this is really hard to fix with a player, just because so much of it is perception-based. I mean, like -- we could share raw numbers and try to prove their perception wrong, I guess? I think sometimes when players talk to us they probably just want to be heard for half an hour, and we've done that.

But here's the truth: sometimes a player's RP is just not as well-liked by the rest of the playerbase and others just aren't as interested in RPing with them. It sucks, but that's just a fact of the hobby. Some people are more fun than others. But as staff, I can't make someone RP with a player they don't want to RP with, nor should I. That isn't my responsibility. We shouldn't punish players for RPing with who they want to RP with.

Anyways, it's a tough problem.

Um excuse me there is nothing inexplicable he has wings duh

on his feetsies

(he can't fly if he's wearing like fucking socks it's hilarious)

@Miss-Demeanor said:

FINALIZED DIVORCE PAPERS!!! Its only been two years since the ex supposedly filed them. >.>

Congrats!!!