Best posts made by Warma Sheen

I don't think there's anything wrong with recycling characters so long as you own everything that comes with that. If people remember your recycled character and don't want anything more to do with them, you might find your RP limited. But that's on you. If you're cool with that, why not? You don't owe anything to anyone.

I have reused characters before if I feel like there is still story to tell with them. If that's where you get your enjoyment, do what makes you happy. I haven't played a MU* for quite some time and if I did come back, I'm probably going to recycle a character I'm familiar with to get back into things more easily.

You do you. Have fun and don't overthink it.

I was pretty harsh about the show, but since last week, I think I've changed my opinion a little.

***=Having had some time removed from the episode that really pissed people off...***

@tinuviel Depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go...

@Tirit said in What Would it Take to Repair the Community?:

People take things wrong, or too serious, or various other things. Instead of just playing a game.

I'm probably repeating myself more than a few times over the last couple weeks, but it isn't just "playing a game" to many people. It is so many things to so many different people.

A good step in repairing "the community" is recognizing that this isn't just one community. Its a lot of different communities all using the same medium, and usually, the same game. That is going to have very obvious difficulties. A good step is getting everyone on the same page so they understand what site they are on and what that site is intended to be about.

@Ghost said in All Our Heroes:

there should be no OOC angst.

And yet there always is. And it always comes back to the same thing. Some people will use any means necessary to win the MU and that includes using ooc as a tool/weapon.

You have to get rid of the root of the problem, not just hope the problem suddenly decides to become reasonable.

@insomniac7809 said in Fandom and entitlement:

I don't believe this has anything to do with what works best for the story, as opposed to being too chickenshit to acknowledge a gay relationship in text rather than subtext.

This. Except what you call 'chickenshit' the execs call 'good business', like @Ghost said previously. If the last 3 years has shown anything, it is that hate is not extinct in the world. At all. Even a little bit. There are still many racists, bigots, and all manner of adjacent haters, all of whom are consumers. And not just in Western countries. There are plenty of movie dollars to be made all over the world, many of whom are no where near as "inclusive" as the US.

Trading smaller cash returns for openly acknowledging potentially scandalous text in a movie isn't good business. Even in Hollywood. Its sucks. But that's the world we live in.

I think what people are referring to revolves mainly around plots and scenes - not what happens in between. What happens there is just based on what a player enjoys. Some people love to TS. Some never do. That kind of thing. In my experience, my best downtime RP is influenced by the scenes I've had recently and the plotlines I'm involved in.

Rather than carefree downtime scenes with a character that appears to be nearly invincible, there's a very different feel from a character that might not be alive the next day who has lost more than a few friends doing what they do. Or there should at least be a continuity of character. Maybe they are carefree because they might not be alive the next day. But regardless this Hunter idea should be a different feel than typical WoD games. (Without consideration of the Compacts - that point might be very valid.)

And if a player doesn't relate the character and the theme, can you really do anything about that? The staff's responsibility is to create (and reinforce) the theme of the game. I remember one game where the staff would give us friendly reminders about the constant threat our sphere was supposed to feel. Then every scene we'd go into we'd thrash the NPC enemies into the ground without hardly a scratch to anyone. Hard to feel a constant threat when you've never known anyone who has been anything but mildly annoyed in scenes.

However, when there was a PVP situation and two sides of players were near blows and someone had been killed, everything suddenly got serious and real. Because the threat was real (or at least perceived to be). People really felt like they might get killed. That was much more of a feel of the theme were supposed to be experiencing. But people couldn't handle it and it became all OOC tension instead of the great RP that it was (could have been) generating.

All of that to say: Players are players. The players are usually going to do what they want, but the actual theme of the game can reinforce that and help your game be where you want it to be.

@hobos You don't have to pretend to be someone else. You can still be you. You just distance yourself from your past by not announcing yourself as having played X, Y, or Z characters. It isn't that foreign of a concept.

I've done it. It wasn't that difficult for me. People did not like my style of playing when I first started. I changed my views and moved forward without having to worry about the people with the torches and pitchforks who thought I was a horrible human person because I had a different perspective on how funtimes game should be played years and years ago.

But regardless of all that, I definitely prefer an outlet that encourages people to change for the better and grow.

@ominous said in The Desired Experience:

Nope. Disagree entirely. For your premise to be correct games like Dune, Twilight Imperium, Cosmic Encounter, 1830, Republic of Rome, etc. where you play as the head of factions, stellar empires, or robber barons should all suck, since no one is playing the little people. They're fucking great board games. Now take that and add fluff and roleplaying. Done.

Those are good board games, I'm sure. I've only played two, and not very often. But the experience of a MU* is vastly different than that of a boardgame. Boardgames discount internal politics completely, as well as cross-factional politics, which provide huge amounts of intrigue and excitement in RP. Those are just some of the many vast differences that make MUs far more interesting than simple boardgames - which is why MUs last for years and board games last minutes. A three year long boardgame of any of those would get boring quickly and turn to torture shortly thereafter.

What you look for in a MU* and what you look for in a board game are usually very, very different.

I don't think too much will change based on what is happening now. The number of people who are out of work who view this time as a vacation rather than being very, very concerned is pretty sickening. Check back in a month when things get even worse.

Actually, even then I don't think things will change. I don't have much faith in people. Rich people will continue to get richer by exploiting poorer people. Poorer people will continue to let themselves be exploited and live on razor thin margins without a safety net.

I can't help but think that another Vampire game is going to be more of the same that everyone has already abandoned. They'll be high interest in something new, then that will fade away to stagnation as everyone realizes they'd already done this all before - and they barely enjoyed it the first three times.

The varied opinions in what a "hunter" is or is supposed to be automatically gives you a variety of interactions and play styles right from the start. Are you recruited to fight the monsters in the night with well funded armories and cataloged knowledge or did you just run into something you shouldn't have and have turned to survival mode from what you know is out there now? Then there is everything in between.

Every other Hunter game has been tucked away inside a multisphere game only to be overshadowed by the power of the other spheres, which is why they've mostly been under represented, but it is the same reason you see the lack of 'darkness' in the WoD MU*s that have been out there.

Go with Hunter. You'll have plenty of variety, a lot of new RP, a darker game setting and something with consequences.

Interesting topic this has fallen to on this particular board.

I'm black. I got into RP through reading comic books when I was young and being enticed to try D&D from the ads in the comic books, usually at the back I think.

And while I hesitate to share many of my opinions on the topic, I will say that I don't have any other black friends who know I MU* or RP who don't also do it themselves. Any black RPers I know I met through showing up to RPing events - conventions, tabletops, etc. And not one of them would I put into a social situation with other black people. They would be completely out of place.

This just isn't a popular hobby. Quite the opposite. It will quickly make you unpopular. So I hide it. Like a deep dark secret. You wouldn't look at me and guess I RP. Probably one of the last things you'd guess. But I don't tell a soul about it.

But I love it and just because I won't tell anyone about it doesn't mean I don't love doing it. So I do. As far as characters go, I almost always play black characters. But it seems to me, and this is just wild presumption, that I see a great percentage of black characters than there are black players on a game.

There's no point to any of this except to give purely speculative observations from a black RPer.

I want to feel her passing for what it should be, for the awesome woman she was, but I can't because all I can do is worry about the politics that are gonna swirl up around it.
JFC

@Cirno said:

If, in actuality, we must hide MU* ing because normal people will think we're weird, that's a bullshit reason, because conforming and trying to be normal is a nonsense objective. We're not all a hivemind. We're allowed to be different and unique, surprisingly enough.

If you believe we're allowed to be different and unique, then it seems a little ironic to condemn someone else's reasoning because it doesn't conform to yours, doesn't it

@Cirno said:

And that brings me to my next point: is MU* ing such a terrible thing that it must be kept under wraps? Is it as bad as being a pedophile? Because that is the inference being made here.

Not even a little bit. You're taking an open and honest conversation and using hyperbole to pander to your own point of view.

So forgetting about race for a second... Our hobby isn't socially flattering. I don't think I have to argue that point. Hiding it because normal people will think I'm weird isn't a 'bullshit reason' as you say. Its a calculated move to allow me to have a greater number of quality social interactions, which I prefer immensely to being up front about what I do in my spare time. There's near zero benefit to telling someone I RP. While there's a great deal of benefit to NOT telling someone I RP. A basic cost/benefit analysis of that scenario tells us that doing anything other than keeping my hobby to myself is a "nonsense objective".

Please keep in mind is that everyone is different. You seem to push that point when arguing your own point of view, but forget it completely in any other context. The quality of my social interactions might be far outside of your experience. When I go out downtown at night and hit the bars and clubs with friends and I talk to people, RP isn't being brought up. The friends I'm with aren't bringing it up. And at the end of my night, I'm very happy with that decision. Universally. I've never had a night where I said to myself 'man, I really wish I would have told that extremely attractive woman that I like to play D&D'. Never. Not a single time in over a decade.

You are definitely welcome to your opinions on the subject matter, but I would guess that your lifestyle isn't similar to mine. In your situations and social encounters, you might not lose anything at all by telling people all your freaky proclivities. Your social ceiling might be such that it wouldn't really matter what you say to the people that would actually engage with you socially, being in "Fringe Society" and whatnot. So you do as you want. I won't judge you either way. But please don't be so myopic to think that fitting in socially is a ridiculous notion for everyone. And don't be so insulting to say that wanting to present ones self as we prefer to be seen is a bullshit reason for doing anything.

It was a good conversation up to this point. It was interesting to read other people's stories and experiences. But I think we can all do without the value judgements.

@Aria I love this show. But I disagree that the show is trash. Most of the plots and storylines are trash - the Leviathans being my least favorite, yes. However, I think the writing is actually better than people give it credit for. It leans into the bad dialogue and overused tropes to reuse things in new and unexpected ways. And, of course, the last 10 or so seasons are very different from the first 2-3.

But where they've really shined is making likable main characters and supporting characters and that's what has kept it around as long as they have. That's why longtime fans of the show are fans. Over time, you grow to love these two brothers whereas if you only sat down for a handful of episodes you'd likely pass on it.

Unfortunately for the producers, it is also the main reason their multiple attempts at spinoffs (3?) have repeatedly failed. People don't love Supernatural as a TV show. They love Sam and Dean (and Cass!). No one wants anything to do with a Supernatural show without Sam and Dean. And in the same vein, if you don't like Sam and Dean (probably because of some undiagnosed mental issue!) you won't like Supernatural.

From all appearances, it is a formula they blundered into - then keenly took advantage of when they recognized that people responded to it in order to last 15 seasons (US network 20~ episode seasons, not these pidly 6-10 newfangled seasons so many shows are doing now). That's no fluke. If you can connect with that thing that they do so well, then you're lucky enough to have 300+ episodes of a fun show to savor. If not, you won't miss much anyway. I, however, will miss it when it is gone.

I thought it was a MUD and had no interest. Didn't even bother reading on. Now that I realize it is a MUSH I am very interested.

@Cirno said:

I dunno, man.

No, you really don't know.

You rambled on and on about nothing relevant because of one phrase that kind of sounds like something you've heard of before from something you read one time on the interwebs? From the over exaggerations, the jumping to baseless conclusions, your eagerness to look down on people who aren't like you, contradicting yourself, a string of prejudices and biases, and a compulsive need to put other people down, it is clear why you have trouble in "normal society", which supports my point. Someone like that would immediately turn off anyone of quality, male or female, potential partner or potential friend. So being open about the fact that you RP is just beating a dead horse.

@Thenomain said:

Besides, are you going to have a continued relationship with someone you hide your hobbies from? If you're just in it for "dat ass", it's not going to come up anyway.

If I'm in a continued relationship, its different. I tend to know when she's into me enough that knowing about my RP isn't going to hurt the relationship. At that point, if a girl is into she's into you and RP is just a minor quirk - so long as you don't let it get into the way of your time with her. If you're blowing off spending time with her to RP, then it will become a much bigger issue.

But I rarely do that, which is fine with me. I've never dated a girl I liked spending time with less than RPing, generally. Almost all of my RP now is online and I can get in plenty from work. So it works out great for everyone involved. In the rare occasions old friends get a tabletop game together, just saying I'm gonna be hanging out with friends generally does the trick. As far as I can remember, I've never really had to say exactly what I'll be doing. Usually after I'll get questions about what I did, but 'gaming' usually does the trick since when I am hanging out with the friends I have now, video games is actually what we normally do. Every now and then a tabletop night with other friends will get thrown in and gets lost in the shuffle...

Instead of THAT guy, here is some others that are probably more deserving of remembrance...

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30907010/ex-nfl-wr-vincent-jackson-found-dead-florida-age-38

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9526154/nicki-minaj-dad-robert-maraj-dead-killed

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/us/texas-animal-freeze-trnd/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/world/dinosaur-extinction-comet-study-scn/index.html

I think when you have a sex-MU* like this one, there's nothing wrong with specializing in a specific type of sexual experience. You know what you get and what to expect.