Absolutely. And that's how I generally prefer it. But let's not forget that I am objecting vehemently to the idea that elitism to this extent is a reasonable approach to have. It's not. The ability to persuade someone via a specific IC character wholly using text does not in any way, shape, or form indicate that they are smarter, more capable, or even a better writer. It indicates a very specific skillset.
@deadculture Investigate what? If you as a player give me no reason as a player to have my character suspect that something is up, how do you actually expect that to happen? I am bringing up lying in specific because this is where this whole thing becomes really, really problematic.
Some folks here seem to think persuasion is some mythical thing that some people are good at and others should just go away or get fucked or? The ability to communicate in text, the number of people that actually give you enough to work with to persuade someone? It is a very, very small number. I can guarantee you that nobody here (including me) is as awesome as they think they are, and NOBODY is playing with all of the information we actually would in genuine social situations. So no, people don't need to learn social skills. They need to learn specifically how to convey something in the way that PLEASES YOU SPECIFICALLY, or they don't deserve to sit at the big table.
Whatever.
@deadculture Yeah, except I'm not sure how you expect anyone to be able to pick up on whether your character is lying or not when you don't actually pose the cues that would suggest they were doing so. Of course it's way easier to get away with lying when you don't have to actually roll to back it up, you just get to lie. People tend to believe shit unless you give them a reason not to. The ability to get away with lying is actually less about how awesome of a poser someone is than you seem to think.
ETA: For the record, I play a lying character who lies, and I roll. I roll for it a LOT. Unprompted. Because I need to know how successful the character is at concealing her shit, NOT how successful I am at oocly fucking obfuscating things.
@deadculture said in Eliminating social stats:
Last second edit to add: It also defeats the purpose of playing a social game to begin with. If you can't put in a pretty turn of phrase, what the fuck are you doing?
Pretty turn of phrase is subjective. So are the circumstances surrounding social interaction. Let's not get into the fact that most people don't pose body language for a cues and the like, we don't get to hear tone, etc. It's completely unfair to say people need social skills. No, that's wrong, and you should feel bad for saying it. Let's not forget that communication takes two, and it's really hard to figure out what's going to convince your PC if you do not give me anything to work with because you are the shitty player.
I just had somebody come into my office and try to talk me into adding an international feature to their boss's phone without knowing what country he's going to. She emailed me after business hours on Friday saying it was urgent. I told her I needed the country. No response. I emailed her this morning. No response. She just came into my office to say she doesn't know but could I just add it anyway. Then gave me attitude when I said I couldn't.
I offered to add every international plan to his phone to ensure we got the right one. She didn't like that solution.
I'll play barring one of the few policy choices that make/break game for me; the setting enthuses me a great deal, and I'd certainly like playing it. Though if it's setup like the old games with tons of RL time invested...nope. 
I would also like this, if there's a way to do it.
It's stupid. Yes, it's the way it works, but it is still stupid.
I would play WoT so freaking quick. It was absolutely hands down my favorite setting to do tabletop in for years. I wasn't a huge fan of the books, but the setting omg omg omg omg omg omg I would play it.
ETA: I think this is the only setting I want more than Buffy,
I hate the new Star Wars system with a passion. They just had to be clever and gimmicky with the dice, and then had to charge an arm and a leg for said dice OR you have to buy an app for your phone. Sure, there's conversion rules, but I think they were written poorly on purpose. My tabletop group was never really able to get past the dice to even get to trying to learn the rest of the system, and I do not game with idiots.
Edited to add: in meatspace. I do not game with idiots in meatspace.
Thank you. It was as entertaining (ah ha ha ha) as I thought it would be to read. So very pretentious.
Any suggestions on where to find that rant? I poked around for it for a while and found several references to it without actually finding it. I'm curious.
@Kanye-Qwest said in RL Anger:
So I have to have foot surgery if I ever want to be able to walk, dance, run, or do yoga again without pain. BLEH
Ugh. I completely understand this and I'm sorry. I have had way too many surgeries on my foot and it suuuuucks. Long term foot pain is the worst. 
I admit I am trying to remind myself that I really do not have another game in me. It sounds fun.
No, but she had peacock feathers...not that they were covering anything...
This is a great example of 'if you don't do it the way that I do it, you've got bad motivations/are a bad player' when it's actually personal preference.
This is what I said. These are the two things that there is a difference between. This is the statement you challenged when I answered with apples and rocks. I'll work on my writing while you work on your reading comprehension, eh?
@Lain said in Eliminating social stats:
You argued that comparing mental skills to social ones is comparing "apples and rocks," and that "it's my personal preference" can be used to justify getting rid of social skills, but not mental skills.
You argued this. So while you were busy calling me an idiot, you were, in fact, being an idiot. The irony.
No. I did not. "Apples and rocks" was referring to the difference between 'you're doing it wrong' and 'I would like to try it this way'. I have not spoken to anything but you calling WRONGFUN on people who are trying to have a discussion about the sort of fun that they want to have.