@Ganymede This (as the public-facing prefs list), a list of 'consent required' subject matter, +warn (to advise of consequences before someone proceeds/continues with something that would have negative consequences for them), plot/story content labeling, and 'staff will enforce consequences as appropriate to the game world in consultation with the affected player(s) if necessary' is what I personally advocate and would use.
@Ganymede said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:
WoD games used to have things like +rpprefs which would alert others to what RP you want your PC to engage in. Maybe that's all we can do insofar as "personal agency" in setting your personal boundaries for others not to cross. If there were a clear policy along the lines of "set your prefs and respect others' prefs" I would certainly get behind it. And since we have done it before, we aren't re-inventing the wheel.
@Derp said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:
you have basically been equally refusing to engage in discourse and just telling people that if they don't agree with you they're bad and wrong
Citation please. Actual direct quote required. Not 'what you're reading into things', not what you assume are my motives or reasoning. Find where I said this 'throughout the whole conversation' and quote this endless stream of repetitive commentary.
@Derp said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:
Which is exactly how I feel about this entire topic.
Then stop participating in it.
What this topic is about is right there on the tin, after all. Why are you here discussing it if it's not for you?
Is the complexity of the problem becoming clearer to you?
@Derp said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:
@Ghost said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:
CITING NOT LIKING GUNS
Except that this concept does not require citing a reason. No questions asked, remember?
A minority of example ideas do this. Many more have been suggested that do not, so this is really disingenuous, man, you're better than this. Come on already with this nonsense.
If (generic) you see no value in any of this, don't employ any of it.
There's no reason to keep repeating how much you don't like it at this point; nothing new is being added with each repetition. It's unnecessary to the extent that it's starting to seem like an attempt to silence folks who do have an interest in the discussion, and it's getting irritating.
It is not making the case for 'respectful communication between well-intentioned individuals is the best way to work things out and reach a positive outcome', that's for dang sure.
@Ganymede Hey, at least we haven't overtly have someone say 'clearly these people are not actual adults' or 'these people don't belong in the hobby' despite various people insinuating either or both. I'm counting us lucky there.
Experience has shown me, also, that having staff eyes on a potential area of OOC conflict from the jump is not a bad idea.
I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have communicated with one or more players in a straightforward, honest, and unambiguous fashion and come to friendly agreement all parties seem entirely comfortable with only to find it ignored, pushed anyway, characterized as gods-know-what nonsense, or otherwise turned on its head by a dishonest broker.
Wait, when did the notion of these commands being 'use is required in place of direct communication' come up? Because I haven't seen a single person suggest anything of the kind.
@Lotherio I think Echoes is using some of the stuff I wrote up about consent subjects. They've tweaked it a lot, but if you want an example of what I'm talking about, peek here:
@Lotherio I have a few concerns with this approach, but they're no more problematic IMO than any of the other solutions.
The main one is identifying 'adult content'. In the US at least, almost any level of violence can make it in under a PG or PG-13, while anything involving naked parts or the use of more than one instance of the word 'fuck' in a scene* would push it over the limit. Drug use, casual non-graphic discussion of sex, etc. could be issues, or they may not be. You'd basically need to find a way of describing your specific standard for a non-adult scene, since I don't think a film rating approach necessarily works here in a way that would leave everyone on the same page.
The second is just 'there are games that this would work on better than others', but that's a giant 'duh', really.
The big one -- and the first one is pretty big in terms of 'could be a potential nightmare to manage' -- is actually the peer pressure factor. If nine people in the room want the dance party to turn into a mosh pit, and the tenth isn't down for that? Unless there's a seriously important reason for #10 to be there (they're performing the music, they're the bouncer, etc.), there's a lot of pressure on #10 to play along or leave. Personally, I feel in such cases that #10 should leave (barring special circumstances as above) and let the others have their fun, but the other downside of the coin it's possible for one person to hold a whole room hostage with this. Neither of these issues are trivial ones, and there are jerks who will engage in either end of this particular jerkiness in order to manipulate outcomes or out of simple selfishness.
I think a carve-out of 'opt-in only' subject matter is the way to go here, and it isn't too far off from what some places have dipped a toe in for years. The ever-popular (hurk) rape policy is a good example of this one, which is commonly 'don't involve anyone in this on any level whatsoever unless they opt-in'.
I've advocated for a long while about a selection of subjects that would be treated in the same fashion. In part, this is because it's a lot easier to define a list of 'these things require an opt-in' than create an all-purpose list.
Will there always be that asshole that pulls some shit that isn't on the list, and then you have to go add it to the list? Yup, the ingenuity of idiots is one of the true constants of the universe; that's to be expected and is easily addressed with a 'don't be that jackass that makes us add to this list' tacked onto the top/bottom/in flashing scrolling marquee/whatever else.
@eye8urcake Not enough hugs in the world, but sending as many as I can manage in spirit. Holy yeesh.
Cold Skin - Wonderfully creepy.
Annihilation - Wasn't expecting much, and was very pleasantly surprised.
The Room -- Not the 'so bad it's funny' one. Dark fantasy with a horror angle.
One question posed in the film is oddly apt for the hobby. Namely, 'if you could have anything you wanted within a contained space, but never have it outside of there... what happens then?'
Good. Oddly relevant. Worth the hour and a half.
@Pandora My main concern is that -- while it's private on the player level?
I have encountered one too many staff members over time that would, with access to such a list, behave in what I could call a questionable manner at best.
It's bad enough that, in this day and age in the hobby, we still have people who think it's OK to page people with presumptive commentary when two people are alone in a room on +where, when arguably they could be doing absolutely anything in there.
Confirmation that two characters are, indeed, sometimes boning? Nnnnnngh.
I like the intent there, and I wish I could say I'm comfortable enough with the community to call it the positive I know it clearly aims to be. If (collective) we were better folks universally, or got rid of the people who abuse this kind of information? It'd be awesome.
...that is amusingly useful. I mean, maybe not that one specifically, but dang, costumers should be celebrating like whoa.
Because the other thread reminded me... this is the year of blankets, aka 'I will probably end up with carpal tunnel because I love my family'.
In between, to save myself from the monotony, there are various small things and experiments that are probably needlessly complex or tedious or bonkers. (@Scorn knows what I'm talking about here.)
From least insane to most, those are...
The travel/car trip/waiting room spiral:
The proof of concept before I have to dye things that's going to take forever omg (complete with cat hair already! <grumble>
Gradient experiment #1: using four strands of embroidery sewing thread (not floss) to slowly build out gradients based on the colors from the hand-dyed border thread:
Gradient experiment #2: color shift test with 2 strands of the same thread as above, proof I want to go insane or blind, apparently.
Lighter for scale in all of the above. Apparently my pile of handy pennies for scale went and fucked off somewhere. 
@icanbeyourmuse said in First Annual MSB Secret Santa:
Alas, if I had the money I would. I am scrambling to figure out how afford Christmas for my family. The not working for half a year makes money hard. Stupid getting hurt.
This. What we made from the art shows this year had to be reinvested in supplies for next year's business, because it wasn't much. We don't even presently have enough to cover the dyes we need, since 'it's time to do more dye work' finally came around again. 
(And there's a worldwide issue re: turquoise/cyan dyes, which... it's a primary for color mixing, so that's fun.)
Even the fam got 'uh, people are getting blankets this year, call it a protest/hail mary that global warming doesn't render them irrelevant before I'm finished'.
@tek It's not as bad as the super popular Roman sauce/spice/flavoring thing made of rotting, fermented fish, at least?
My sleep-deprived 'why wasn't I asleep hours ago' brain just went: 'just think, though! They could have had wicks at the top and been roving scented candles at parties!'
Yep, time for bed.
@tek said in Random funny:
Is it sad I remembered the perfumed wax theory from costume history classes? Because I feel like it is, somehow.
Though NOW I'm wondering -- since they mention 'full heads of hair' -- if it was something people who didn't shave down and wear wigs did specifically, perhaps.
SO MANY QUESTIONS NOW.
I still have this cold/flu/whatever the fuck it is, since Thanksgiving.
I should really go to the doc. I also need to get more or less everything refilled/renewed for the year. I know I should go to the doctor, I know.
I am still dragging my feet, because it's likely I'll need to borrow a car from the folks or snag a ride from them, since the odds of getting an appointment on one of the days my husband is home are apparently on par with winning Powerball.
My father is simply not allowed to know if I'm ever sick. He decides 'when Dee is sick' == 'time to be a controlling, verbally (and sometimes financially) abusive, vicious asshole because she doesn't have the energy to fight back'.
I swear, this is how I'm going to end up dead some day.