Best posts made by surreality

@Misadventure Check to see, perhaps, if there are any local shelters with slightly older (not ancient, just not necessarily kittens) litter-trained cats they want to adopt out in pairs.

No, really. Even cats 1-2 years old are still very young for cats, but hard to adopt out, especially in pairs.

Not only will the shelter love you, but they are past the 'kitten hyper' stage, and may not harry the older kitty as much. They also have their personalities already, and you'll have a better idea if they'll mesh well with your current kitty.

I've done this twice (two pairs over the years), and never regretted it. The two kitties I have now are actually sisters, adopted like this. Old pic but relevant cuteness:

...they are giant derpybutts and we them.

...and generally on-thread, we lost our Ancient Cat last year, in the midst of The Year From Hell.

This was Ancient Cat:

She was our puffy little snarkbomb grumpybutt. We called her my 'Overly Familiar'. That my overly familiar was a little ball of snarkitude with creepily human expressions should surprise exactly no one. We still miss her wee whiny face. (Sadly, all the pics of her being equally adorable are actual film and therefore are not handy, meh.)

@ThatGuyThere See, I don't agree with that entirely. If you're running a personal scene, and explicitly state: "this is a personal scene for me, and if others want to join in, they are welcome to do so," that isn't really indicative of someone's over all goals for the game at large. It means that, for the space of one scene, yes, you're focusing on your own character.

If that's the only kind of scene you run, or you run more of those than anything else, or even a large number of scenes like that, yes, you may have an issue -- but simply the act of running a scene for yourself and saying so up front in itself isn't really a fair indicator of the ST having a typical or problematic disinterest in collaboration, or only wanting to attention hog/just find an audience.

Note to self: you eventually need to stop giving people chances when they keep letting you down over and over and do not seem to give a fuck. At least learn to not give a fuck back.

@Gilette said in Leadership, Spotlight, and PCs of Staffers:

@Miss-Demeanor

This is precisely my thought about the difficulty of running scenes sometimes. I'm controlling the NPCs, I really shouldn't have my PC get too involved.

Here's the thing; this isn't 'too involved', this is 'involved at all' -- and the two really are functionally different, and it's a difference that comes up a lot.

This difference eliminates a lot of the examples that have come up in the thread that are pretty helpful -- for instance, having a PC run in to say, "OH MY GOD, SPACE MONKEYS ARE ATTACKING!" and then go hide under the bed. No, maybe that doesn't need to be your PC, and could be an NPC, but when it's a PC the other characters know, there are tangible benefits: they're more likely to care and get involved, and not wonder who that crazy stranger is now hiding in their bedroom... 99% of the time, this is going to be totally harmless use of 'PC is in the scene', because you're right -- their involvement is extremely limited, and, further, it serves to give other people something to do, not something to do themselves, or starring them, etc.

I'm sure there could be a corner case example of someone Doing Bad Things with a scenario like this, but that would be a corner case of what's already a corner case.

It is the difference between 'extremely limited involvement' and 'no involvement', though. For a lot of folks, they are very much not the same, and any hint of presence -- or even mention, like 'somebody should call PC to let them know why our house is a mess, it got invaded by space monkeys once we're done with this fight!' -- would be a gross violation of CoI.

@Auspice These people have no fucking idea. None. I have way too much 'walked to school in the snow uphill both ways' background with collecting shit from/through the 80s that I just can't even muster the urge to roll my eyes at such people. Spoiled little children, so help me.

I'm keen on the basic rule being more along the line of some of the limits mentioned throughout the thread -- major plots, no; pick-up scenes where everyone consents to it OOC, sure why not; personal plots labeled as such, run it by staff for approval involves some kind of gain and make sure anyone participating knows what's what going in.

Clarification on the last one there: this is more for what I'd think of for the kind of scene some games require to buy X or Y stat. I do not really care if the player wants to run through this themselves if they have a specific means that's legit to acquire the thing, rather than leaving it up to the random chance of 'whatever the ST comes up with'. Granted, I also believe that players should be allowed to use cutscenes (on a bb or wiki) for this kind of 'justification' PrP/etc. for something they are going to be paying XP for anyway. Since those scenes -- be they prose or interactive RP with or without an external ST involved -- generally have to be reviewed (and would have to be in such a case) before they're approved as qualifying for whatever it is, there's a means of catching any problems there that's easily built-in as standard, but it also makes progression a little easier and lighter on workload while giving players more options for means of pursuing their personal stories.

@Auspice said in Random links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/relationships/comments/553lxs/my_31f_husband_33m_of_4_years_doesnt_take_our/

<immediately cribs notes from this for the next time someone pushes too hard for TS and it's time to give them what they truly deserve>

...that is made entirely of bliss, joy, and a laugh I so very desperately needed.

@ixokai If you're really not comfortable flattening the creeper for the observed behavior, since he hasn't been told to stop by the person he's creeping on:

p creeper=We've received reports of unwanted sexual advances from you to another player. She was not comfortable addressing this directly with you, but we have received and reviewed her complaint. This behavior stops now. If it persists, you will be shown the door without ceremony.

It is far from a perfect answer, but it is better than being able to do nothing at all, if you're not comfortable just canning the jerk.

I am hoping we get more Jessica Jones. I was a bit saddened that 'Oh, let's make a Luke Cage!' show seemed to be one of the biggest takeaways of that one -- and we could use more female hero shows that aren't cheeseballs of sucktastic awfulness. (I'm looking at you, Supergirl... )

@Lotherio There is one time I will do this: when it is painfully apparent the person hasn't read a damned thing and just wants to be hand-held 100% of the way. It's absolutely easy for someone to miss a thing or two, but if they're asking to be told every step of a process that is clearly laid out somewhere instead of reading something that is literally right in front of them, 'read the directions' is eventually going to come up.

That moment you have such election fatigue that you see the name 'Crumpton' pass by in some local race in the incoming results, and your brain instantly goes:

Oh fuck no, they have MERGED. All hail our hermaphroditic bad hair orange tan pantsuit-wearing self-loathing mecha overlord!?

@Jennkryst It isn't a matter of whether they are able to do it or not.

The character, yes, would know how to accomplish that end. That means that if the player doesn't know how the character would accomplish that end, they need to work with the other player to find out a reasonable way that it could happen.

"My character knows how this works!" (enactor) is not justification to completely rewrite another player's character (target) and motivations; what the enactor's character actually knows in this context is the information the enactor's player needs to acquire from the target's player to accomplish their desired goal.

It is not, "My character knows how this works, so any zany notion I concoct is what is going to work!"

It is, 'my character can tell what would work, and that is what the character would choose to do to accomplish their goal'.

We know, collectively, the casual glitter blow is not going to cut off someone's arm as a causative action. (As magic, a special other thing, etc. it's not a standard attack any more.) You're hitting on something else that's important here, too: yes, you can use improvised weapons, but there's penalties and costs for doing so, and special merits/powers/etc. are required to use them effectively. (Similarly, there are special magic powers to make an absurd method work for social conflicts.)

Edit, durrrr... lost train of thought there: The difference here is that people don't get far trying to force the absurd on other players in physical conflicts without those additional special abilities or powers and so on to back up how and why, yes, that could actually happen, in mechanical form. That doesn't exist to the same extent and depth in a social system, and while people have come to an understanding that they're not going to let the absurd go without some foundations in a physical conflict for the most part, social conflicts, which have many components that are rarely accounted for at all even if there is a system in place, people try to argue for the acceptability of the absurd in social conflicts in ways that are entirely the opposite of the way they handle physical conflicts.

@ArmedCarp Their everything is dirty. The wallpaper is extra special like that to a degree that bothers me on some level (though it's a neat look).

The mirror thing isn't too unrealistic, though -- they're actually pretty dead on with that quirk. They didn't have the kinds of materials we do to make or seal them against degrading; they wouldn't get even remotely close for another 100 years or so. Typically, they would essentially rust out or tarnish, especially in hot, humid climates, and would need to be recoated/restored/etc. with some frequency.

(Font of useless knowledge, I know; every art project fills my head with some other bit of trivia I will really never, ever need again.)

@Thenomain said in Policies:

The most honest policy I've ever seen: "Don't make us care."

I adopted this one re: TS/Adult Content/etc. with the 'provided it's within the rules of the game'.

Which is basically just 'consent required, no kiddie fucking', for any place I run. If someone was violating either of those things, yeah, then it becomes staff's business. Other than that? No.

It is amazing what players sometimes expect staff to care about, and much of it comes down to gossipy crap that is not just not staff's business, but not the business of the complaining player, either, as it does not involve them. Sometimes it's not mature content! ...but usually it is. The number of 'OMG THEY NEVER LEAVE THEIR BEDROOM DO SOMETHING!!!!' and similar pages I've gotten as staff from people who have never interacted with either character, nor are involved with any faction they're in/etc. to have even the vaguest cause for concern about it, just never fails to amaze me. Nipping busybody behavior like this in the bud is, I think, a very good idea, and the more direct you are about it, the better, in the long run.

Players will still gossip amongst themselves, but the more you make clear that you do not want complaints about it without specific cause, the less likely they are to gossip about it to you. And let's be honest, the moment someone hears 'so-and-so complained to staff about Bob and Suzie never leaving their room', it's typically assumed staff's OK with gossiping about players, which is never a good impression to make on one's playerbase.

@GangOfDolls I would wait a few years, honestly, to see what the market does, even if that advice feels stymying and awful.

That is generally not a trend destined to last forever, and it would suck really hard to be paying today's price on a property that you would not be able to recoup when it does eventually drop back to the norm if/when you decide to sell.

@Lotherio said in Policies:

The one I'm on the fence about is pose courtesy. Pose order or 3pr or pose at will is more the consensus of the group in my book. The only common courtesy I like is waiting a few poses before jumping in, but don't think there needs to be policy on this either. Some folks like 'page before coming' just to see what's happening and if it all fits, but I'm more a fan of, if you're in a public place, you're in an open scene. There's tons of places to find 'private' scenes from personal rooms to TP/RP/Plot/Anything rooms.

Stuff like this you can put into a 'best practices' or a 'style guide' that's more of a resource or a reference than a rule. It's the kind of thing that can be the most helpful for newcomers to the hobby, really; just noting, 'some people prefer being asked before you join a scene in progress/some assume blah/etc.' can go a long way to simply remind people, or initially educate, that there are different preferences about such things and ultimately, whatever people agree on is what's easiest to run with.

For instance, I have a style guide thing I've been working on that addresses stuff like 'please don't use ANSI all over your poses, while some games are cool with this, we're not' and 'writing style default for the game is third person, present tense, if you want to use second person please check with your scene partner first as this can make people uncomfortable' and so on.

Still not dead.

What was a trip to the ER Friday became admitted to the hospital that night with surgery at the crack of dawn and another scheduled for the next few weeks. Then was nahhhhhhhhhhh all in one stay Because Important Reasons, moar surgery on Thursday (hopefully all the rest, but if it isn't, remaining would be super minor). And then X days of recovery.

My goal for this year: get wayyyyyyyy better at planning my time, because this is silly even for me.

I'm still looking at 'play-by-wiki' options for a project, but it's a ways out (and I'm more or less on break from dev work). It'll be a MUX, but that option will be there, in part for exactly the 'RL doesn't let me get online often lately' reasons (also finishing paused stuff, plot followups people would prefer to RP through rather than just put in a job, etc. etc. etc.).

I know she doesn't come here now, but if someone can pass along this tidbit, it'd be appreciated. (Is also something to keep in mind, y'all.)

Even if you walk away from an accident like this (thank goodness!!!) please take it easy on yourself for a few days. Please. Sometimes, a few days later, the body has a way of rebelling the moment it realizes: no longer in immediate peril and yes, this can take a few days.

Please take it easy on yourself for a while, even if you think you're OK. I've got chronic pain from not listening to this advice from a similar accident in college, and I don't want to see that happen to anybody, especially anyone around here. Please take care of yourselves. It really is important.

@Sunny I actually took a teensy tiny bit of time to try to RP. Be shocked. Also had art shows all over the place this past month. I'm back to the grindstone with it this week, though!