Best posts made by Thenomain

@Templari

The thing about cops is that they enforce the law. That's their job. I've seen it more than a few times where the player doesn't let go of this to enjoy the rest of the game. These people are like the vampires who call for torpor because someone dissed them slightly. It's not fun.

Also not fun is getting in a situation where you can't do something because one side or the other is decrying how It isn't fun for them. Well now nobody is having fun.

I don't mean to not pick on the criminal characters, because this kind of person lives everywhere, but we have a far better vocabulary to say which criminal tropes are antagonistic, and we are otherwise okay with the music pirates and prostitutes, and sometimes even the mafia and tong characters.

But here's the thing about police: Their job is to stop things from happening. I thank many of them for being in the line of fire and doing some very hard shit, but in the broader perspective, on a role playing game about the dark horrors of our world where we're playing monsters, the cop is the antagonist. Not always, sure, but eventually it will be the morally questionable against the thin blue line.

Like any antagonist group, I'd be careful with who I'd let in, until we can rephrase their role on a game to something less absolute.

@shincashay said in Um...What?:

Uh.. sometimes you just HAVE to match your shoes with your purse with your outfit and your headband.

Sure. If you're WEARING them. But if you're buying them just to say you have them?

Otherwise, be as fabulous as you can be.

@Lotherio said in Making a MU* of your own:

[let] players contribute

Emphasis mine. I think this is the key of all keys. Though I was personally disappointed when Haunted Memories locked the sphere information wiki pages from editing, I also noticed that the clarity and usefulness of that information also dropped steadily, in part because the administration gave themselves much more to do, but also because the players were no longer involved in world-building.

Hey staffers, you don't have to let players do whatever, but if they can say, "This Dairy Queen was the source of Dream Nettle Twisters," then this only adds to the depth of the world. That depth makes things a whole lot harder to keep track of, but you already have players who are keeping track of it for you and all you have to do is let the players tell you when it's causing a problem before stepping in.

It's not a utopia, but dang is it compelling.

@ganymede

Whoa there, Cowpoke, let's slow down there. The Millennials I work with are not whiners. Mostly. They're just kids. There are a lot of tattoos and woodsman beards, but I wouldn't classify almost any of them as Hipsters.

Step One: Vote.
Step Two: Figure out who to vote for based on their history.

I know that Step Two should be Step One, but as politics has become so much marketing that being able to train yourself to understand Step Two seems daunting these days, and funny thing the political parties don't seem that excited to give people critical thinking powers.

Also something that makes me angry, but more on a slow burn:

• Without critical thinking education, we are fucked.

I think the thing @Coin and really Gaiman talks about is fan interaction, fan support, fan conversation, and not fan entitlement. In the article (yes, I read the article), Gaiman and Wheedon are talking about a matter of extremes, and my take-away was that there is a point where ones investment becomes entitlement. Investment good. Entitlement bad. Fire bad, tree pretty.

@macha said in RL Anger:

I just worry about the backlash stress.

#1 reason to stop victim blaming and take people more seriously.

Looking at you, Washington DC.

I sincerely hope you get help or resolution, @Macha.

@Ganymede said in Fanbase entitlement:

@Thenomain said in Fanbase entitlement:

That's our @Ganymede, keeping the world clear of Fake Geeks.

Fake geeks? Fuck you all.

If you grew up in the 80s, you know how big Transformers were. Then there was the 90s, when it was Pokémon.

And then there's the goddamned new movies, which use the name of classic first generation Transformers.

Wearing a Nirvana t-shirt with no knowledge of their songs? Super fuck you.

You can like something without being obsessed with it, and "able to name twelve Transformers" isn't liking Transformers, that's being part of the fan base. Judging someone because they don't know as much as you do about it is accusing them of being Not A Fan, the same kind of malarkey we had kind of recently with Fake Gamer Girls. The Transformers icons are pretty damn cool so why not wear them or put them on your car?

People want to associate with things they enjoy, whether it's a sound or a look, but because they don't know every word to "All Apologies" they're not allowed to wear the band T-Shirt?

No, good sir, fuck you.

@sunny said in RL Anger:

@kanye-qwest

Stupid onions.

I’m not cooking, YOU’RE cooking!

I agree with the twitterer: It wasn’t about Kavanaugh, he used Kavanaugh as a jumping off point to the real problem.

@Karmageddon said in Fanbase entitlement:

I still believe that if someone can't name, at the very least, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come As You Are," and player's choice of "In Bloom," "Lithium," "Polly," or "Heart-Shaped Box," they are dipshits for wearing a Nirvana t-shirt.

I'm sorry, can you rephrase that? All I heard was, "I am a judgmental gatekeeper of fun." Maybe I have wasted too much of my life trying to enjoy things.

@rinel said in RL Anger:

@thenomain said in RL Anger:

Alright, fun's fun, but can we please take this to the Politics thread?

Everyone knows the personal is political, but for those without privilege, the political frequently becomes personal. There's a valid reason for anger.

Oh completely. There is legitimate concern that this is a return to the alleyway abortion clinic, and another step of turning the Office of the President into a dictator position.

I said this about the tax reform, and I’ll say that about this: We will see what happens in five years.

This doesn’t mean stop fighting. This does not wait and see. I don’t think we will know the true outcome for a while. Be angry.

I requested the move because the Political Club was having Political Discussion, and I was thinking that people were getting tired of being trolled by @Tyche. People who are upset are easier to troll, and it’s a complete jackass move to take advantage of it, but...well...yeah.

(My apologies to well meaning Republicans and/or Conservatives on this board. I’m not talking about you.)

So the Politics nerds can nerd out, and maybe we could get back to what this board is for. Venting.

@tragedyjones said in Mostly Mage, Partially Descent Mux:

@Autumn Yes they are nice, but they aren't inherently better than, say, a gun.

Explain to the police officer about your gun.

Now explain to them about how that person appeared to have spontaneously combust you have no idea. They find no GSM, no accelerants, what are they going to hold you on? The story of someone who's obviously crazy?

And then the Seers see the police report and make your life difficult.

Maybe the gun was better after all.

@ganymede

*whispering to self* Last Of Us, we will be meeting soon.

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

Everything is circumstantial.

I'm not sure this point has been adequately made. Let me try this.

Everything

is circumstantial.

The problem I see with statements like this is that people read it as meaning "I can do whatever I want as long as I can justify it." Not the way it should probably be read, and I think is a fairer interpretation, "Each situation calls for interpreting the rules in light of that situation." Similar situations are judged similarly. Situations are compared not only on their similarities, but also on their differences. It's not something you get to argue, because the similarities and differences are a matter of record

What's not a matter of record is which differences lead to what changes in the outcome. Most of us are lazy creatures doing make-believe for fun. We don't want to have to exercise the logic muscles to train ourselves for that level of objective thinking. Objective thinking isn't exactly "fun", a subjective term, but it certainly seems to make the fantastic staffers stand heads and shoulders above the crowd.

But what about the crowd? What tools can you give to the crowd to make up for the more subjective thinking that we do when we're lazy or don't want to deal with it?

I got nothin'.

A co-worker hit his head a few days back and the welt was showing really bad the other day, so I let him borrow my base to cover it up.

I've never, ever felt regret for having base in my locker at work. It's mostly for spot cover, but I feel a lot better for it.

--

I know this thread is for being fancy with makeup, but for most guys, even being willing to use makeup for cover is pretty fancy, and I felt like sharing.

@Warma-Sheen said in Leadership, Spotlight, and PCs of Staffers:

Maybe it would be better for everyone to stop making different rules for staff and players as though they were two different species and instead hold people accountable for being people.

@Ganymede, this is what I've always meant when I said "Staff are just Players with extra responsibilities." This, above, is pretty much what I meant.

Er, tangent for us Dinos.

@kanye-qwest said in The Makeup Thread:

Makeup is fun, and it can very much make you feel better about yourself. Everyone should be able to experience that, if they want to.

That's what I was getting at.

It's a pretty male-gaze thing that makeup is to make women more attractive to them.

When in reality it's the user's goal to do whatever the hell they want. Feel better, feel prettier, feel creative, feel silly.

Oh my gosh, it's just like clothes and tattoos and body-modding and...!

@Kanye-Qwest said in Social Conflict via Stats:

@Ganymede said in Social Conflict via Stats:

@Kanye-Qwest said in Social Conflict via Stats:

But this isn't an all or nothing distinction. No one is reasonable all the time, and otherwise reasonable, pleasant (OOC) people will sometimes lose their shit and get very emotional and bent out of shape during any type of conflict - social OR physical.

Speak for yourself, sir.

Well I'm not speaking for the fuckin trees, here.

Leaf us alone.

@aerianyx

Emotional and mental pain affects the body like physical pain.

The hardest part is putting yourself out there, but you're not going to hurt anyone by talking to your doctor. And the doctor gets paid for it. Win-win.

@surreality

The "ethics" file from Dark Water was something along the lines of: Treat others as adults. Expect others to treat you as an adult. Don't touch without permission. Don't do anything in public if you think it would bother someone, or at least ask. If someone in private says they're bothered, stop.

It may not be perfect (and the actual file was better refined than the above), but it was:

• Brief
• Clear
• Applied to everyone, even staff

I cannot express how many times I've seen separate "player ethics" and "staff ethics" files where staff are granted more latitude in how they can act. Or where ethics and rules are so involved and convoluted that it depends on who's enforcing it and how they decide to enforce it.

That's what I mean by "playground politics". Staff should at the very least be held to the same standards as players. But too many times they clique up and become The Untouchables, making any policy written pretty much moot.

Keep it simple. Keep it easy to enforce. And enforce it.

Five Second Review:

Aquaman

Good story, great effects, writing mediocre at best, abysmal continuity. Closest thing to a comic book I've seen in movie form. Loved it.