Best posts made by Thenomain

@Admiral

Player arbitrators based on a ratings system? (High rated arbitrators get bonus XP, low-rated ones are barred from judging)

He said he wants to get rid of clique controlled spheres, not hasten them.

@thatguythere

Except that this is not a job.

If the example that you can work with people who you don’t get along with, then that’s great and we could use more of that.

Solving this is kind of a community thing.

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Edit:

You know, Tempest, for someone who says they’re not demonizing Faraday, you are using her as the straw man for things people have been saying about Wora for over a decade. That is a little demonizing. There are a lot of things that’s could be said about the logic without saying that her defending her viewpoints counts as dominating the thread, or mentioning her at all.

You’re tired of the discussion. We get it. Breathe.

Updated this for two reasons.

1. Different wiki installs have different prefixes. Allowed easily changing the prefix from 'wiki_' to whatever.

2. The latest versions of MediaWiki messed up the ability to do case-insensitive page_title searches from the Mu*. Fixed that.

Enjoy.

I may finally get around to playing the inventor of non-lethal gadgets and goes around being non-lethal vigilante. Like a cheerful, easy-going Batman.

@bored

I’m not against people replying to something to say “I️ don’t agree”. Especially if they feel that if they don’t make their stance known then they would risk being misrepresented. This is a lot of the thread derails that I️ see.

Fucking hell, Apple. Well you get the idea. My objection is essentially telling someone that their ideas are bad and they should feel bad goes against the concept of civility that some of us would like to see more of.

Your response? Absolutely civil. Whether or not it was kind is not the point in any of this; it held consideration toward the topic and respect for Faraday as a human being, even if a human being you strongly disagree with.

Arise!

So I'm starting over in my attempt to create a single framework for who, where, and all the commands that are like who and where, like hangouts and finger. Where is who + location, hangouts is where + room information. Finger is who + player object information.

So far I have: who, where, finger, staff, duty, name, idle sweep. (I'm told the idle sweep is the most adorable idle sweep.)

I've even started adding preferences to the setup. For example, I like separating out people in 'who' who are idle for more than 2 hours. I imagine that some people don't like this idea (it's never really caught on), so there's now a single attribute to change this behavior. And because it's all on the same object, this also stops graying out people in 'who' who are idle.

Enjoy. Updates to follow.

https://github.com/thenomain/Mu--Support-Systems/blob/master/Brand New Who Where.txt

@SunnyJ said in Welcome to Fallen World MUX!:

@Thenomain The hero we need!

Just not the hero you deserve.

@ixokai said in Reasons why you quit a game...:

On the one hand, establishing what is right and good behavior is... right and good.

On the other, going heavy into [...]

And here's where need the human element. No matter what your rules, your culture starts at the top of the staff and goes all the way down. That, and anything can be used as a weapon to attack someone, or as a shield to defend yourself.

But if you're too loose with the rules, then they have no meaning.

What good starting guidelines do is establish intent, at least from my perspective. Once you can agree on intent, or have a (hopefully benevolent) dictator willing to enforce it, a lot of the rest follows.

After having coded two systems from scratch and applied them on about five different places, let me say this:

Chargen sucks.

Long ago on Wora, I said that stat setting and reading should be the first part of a stat-related game and chargen should be last. Eight years later, I'm doubling down on that. There are five things (four coded) that you need before you need chargen.

1. A way to set stats.
2. A way to read stats (includes sheet code).
3. A way to use the stats in conflict resolution (usually roll code).
4. Someone who can look at a sheet and determine that it's a valid starting character sheet.
5. A switch to flip to let this person play.

Chargen code exists because math is hard. I just went over the Shadowrun 5 chargen system and laughed my skinny white ass off.

Encoding chargen is hard, and it's the least critical part of the stat system so it could be done last. IMO, it always should be.

Otherwise, what was said before. Create objects that set things and check them. The easiest way is to verify one step of chargen before allowing the next step. Use rooms. Lock exits if they're not done with the room. Wipe work done if you leave or go backwards. Allow staff to sidestep all chargen controls so they can step in a room with someone having problems. Realize that you won't be done with chargen even after you're open.

That's the best I can do.

Manhattan: Highest percentage of punk lesbians per capita in a Pentacle assembly in the United States.

I am quite enjoying this game. I feel like the theme is just starting to click in, but I enjoy a slow burn for plots.

@ixokai

I think that it's interesting and indeed very important that the other person involved, really the person who was the victim of her passion play, said they didn't want it retconned. While I go on about how "The Game" is more important than a single player, players do make up The Game, and it must have been a hellish situation to find yourself administrating.

Finding the importance in balancing respect toward multiple people is when you can't just say "Don't Be a Dick" and when you can't go with strict policy. A mix of both can inform without demanding, and I appreciate it when people try.

@WTFE said in UX: It's time for The Talk:

@Lithium said in UX: It's time for The Talk:

As to why + commands work, not only are we A) used to them but B) Nobody starts a pose with +. So it's a lot harder to accidentally run a fucking command when just trying to RP.

This is almost certainly a retroactive explanation.

Then let me explain from history: Because @commands.

I believe the very first +command was Firelizard Mail, an object-driven messaging system from before the days of a Master Room, before user-defined attributes. It was an amazing feat of coding in a limited system, and it eventually became +mail, especially when we got Brandymail.

So we have '@dig', '@link', and all those @-commands which have to do with server-changing functions. Then you have 'page' and 'move' and 'pose' which are all user-facing server commands. Perhaps '+mail' should have been one, but we created a third category: User-created commands.

It is unarguably good UX for users of an interface to be able to do whatever makes the most logical sense to them. '+command' meant 'softcoded command' for over a decade.

In part, I've invited this discussion. '+' is silly, but it's silly nowadays, not silly then. Things change. We should change with them, but getting people to change isn't as easy as saying things are wrong. This isn't a coder issue, it's a user issue. It won't change overnight.

"QUIT IT, you moron!

Accidentally forget the opening quote and ... oh, right. Nothing happens.

... I have no idea what you're talking about here. I suppose that no, this doesn't look familiar.

@Arkandel said:

However that puts a slight onus on staff to make it clear what's yet to be determined and what's in the brainstorming or design phases, otherwise toes will get stepped on both ways.

You know, I must have edited this out because I can't find my saying this: I consider this code an attempt to have a more honest conversation between Players and Staff.

I don't intend use the word "conversation" lightly. What goes on between Players and Staff, and Staff and Staff, and Players and Players, should be an ongoing conversation. How else are you going to discover, change, and inform people to the game's culture?

The things Staff allows Players to do is just as much part of this discussion to them putting down in a news file. Moreso, even, because so much gets written down that never gets referenced again until someone needs to use it as a weapon against someone they don't like. A rule that isn't enforced isn't a rule.

Game culture is a thing that is constantly changing, so sometimes code becomes a liability or misinforms the intent, in which case it shouldn't be worked around (tons of bbposts), but altered or removed. Again, tool.

Toes will get stepped on. Like people learning a new dance, it will happen, and so we rely on the kindness of strangers, a kindness that should exist all the same. To tangent slightly, I hate it when even an old player to a game tries out a new sphere and is sneered at for not knowing the dance.

So yeah, I'm not afraid to see if I can force open this discussion further. If Staff pushes back against it, shame on them, but it is a feedback you don't get when people are just plain Dark. If Players push back, shame on them, but it informs their expectations. Get Dark out in the light and deal with it.

And no, I do not believe that planning for every eventuality, writing everything down, is ever going to work. No plan survives the first encounter with anyone who isn't thinking exactly like you.

@Rook said:

I'd be interested in a study that sees, of the people who staff somewhere, do they idle more on their staffer alt than their PC alts?

I don't think you need a study. Staff Alts idle to keep in touch. PC Alts idle for the same reason, but the potentially missed information isn't as critical.

Mind you, if anyone who goes out with friends, enjoys their weekend, come back, comes back and can't get back up to speed, something's wrong. Either the staffer isn't suitable for the speed of the game, or the game runs too fast.

In my world, a game that requires you to take its pulse more than once every few days is going too fast. We shouldn't be beholden to the biggest spaz.

Addendum: Imagine this conversation happening about the staff of a game on that game. Consider that for a moment.

Consider the response we've been seeing lately, "I wouldn't play on a game where I didn't trust the staff."

Consider the people who are still here in spite of their opinion of staff.

I'll be kicking around in my head whether or not this is a dichotomy or the situations are different enough that the people who say the former but doing the latter are pushing the bounds of their own morality. Or whether or not the ability to come to a freer commons and insult the administration of it is why Wora/Soapbox is important for the community.

@HelloProject said in UX: It's time for The Talk:

@Thenomain said in UX: It's time for The Talk:

This isn't a coder issue, it's a user issue. It won't change overnight.

Well I mean, you've gotta code it that way for users to get used to it. It has to start with coders, there's literally no other way to do it.

You mean even you have ignored the twice where I've said I had, and gave you specific ideas on how to get people to transition over?

Just to be clear: I'm on it. Faraday is on it. Evennia is on it. This isn't just preaching to the choir, it's preaching to the Pope.

@Auspice said in Fallen World 2.0:

I am the only standard Auspice.

You are certainly our Standard Reference Auspice.

Many games have an ethics or behavior document.

Any game worth its salt has a theme/setting document.

This is where a warning goes.

This is where expectations of players and an introduction to basic communication goes.

Where there are gaps, it is staff’s job to educate.

If there is misunderstanding, staff should look first at what they could do better and decide if the onus is upon them or if they have taken reasonable steps.

(For example, a 20 page document may be too long...@surreality. Just saying.)

I am starting, in my old age, to feel that there is something wrong if we have to keep reminding people not only that it’s okay to talk to others, but how to do so. The former? WoD and Firan have beat people down for so long that it’s understandable. The latter? I have no idea. I don’t think it’s staff’s duty to teach people how to be decent human beings, but a reminder with light examples isn’t onerous so I think each game should at least touch on it, respectfully as possible.

@insomnia

It is a good way to see what people think and maybe get some volunteers. Trying and failing is one hundred times better than being told to not try at all. Just because most games die in the conception phase doesn’t mean that the conception should never take place. It certainly is the best time for a game to die, but goddamn how many people remember being kids and just making things up?

Making Things Up is fun as hell! This isn’t time wasted; it’s time enjoyed.

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That said, I would have to be hard pressed to play a superhero game. I just don’t get the allure. What about Genosha (which I had to look up) is exciting for a setting?

@auspice said in Code systems that make it easier to get on with the business of roleplaying:

@ashen-shugar said in Code systems that make it easier to get on with the business of roleplaying:

This is a hard animal to do as the only 'real' weather code that's publically available is Keren's weather system. Which is out dated, cumbersome, and coded like vomit. Did I mention the vomit? The buckets of horrible vomit?

This is the thing that makes me sad. I'd love to see a good weather code someday, but I'm also aware what a bitch it is.

Hey, @Sparks, remember when you, I, and Larryghost were talking about this, and I was designing code that kept track of ground wetness and snow evaporation rate? I understand if you didn’t, because it was an insanely long time ago now, but I keep wanting to get back to that.

But here’s the thing about weather code: It’s simulationist. You are pushed into it being snowy right now for no other reason than some bit of code randomly told you so. Same thing with day or night. These are things that people are far more likely to ignore. Even the day is merely a default; if someone says a scene happened last week and everyone agrees, then it happened last week. Hell, start a scene at 2pm and next thing you know it’s midnight but only 3 hours have passed in game.

A more advanced weather system might be fun for the coder, but I doubt it would enhance gameplay.

@jeshin

I'd rather give the money to the Evennia team to get someone on board to make the system more accessible to learn, even if that person is Tehom. I'm ready to tear Evennia apart but I'm still very nervous at all the layers I don't understand to start getting into the layers that I do.

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edit: I'm not slamming anyone; consider this clumsy constructive criticism. Learning Evennia is not a matter of learning Python. Eventually it is, but you've got to get to it first. And learn how it works.

If you want to find something that is much, much, MUUUUCH easier to pick up and learn, try Ares (even though it's Ruby) or MUCK (even though it's Fortran).