@Roz this one kind of fucked me up
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Posts
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RE: Celebrities We've Lost 2026 Edition
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RE: Arx
@L.-B.-Heuschkel I’m going to revive my Keys char. That boat she likes to steal is still around right?
I’m kidding.
Yes, it is. So don’t be kidding! XD
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RE: Arx
@L.-B.-Heuschkel I’m going to revive my Keys char. That boat she likes to steal is still around right?
I’m kidding.
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RE: Filtering player temperament through game design
To add to the PVP conversation: I’ve met more than a few players in online RP situations (forums, MUs, and similar) who prefer PVP because they aren’t getting the kind of villain / conflict they are looking for from the PVE elements (be it stuff they run themselves or stuff run by other players / staff). In one particular case they felt weirdly selfish in trying to participate in the PVE conflict of the week.
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RE: Arx
@InkGolem said:
I mean, some people revived their characters on Keys, which is a totally viable optionIt is. From our wiki, under restricted concepts:
Characters retired from other games. We realise that our theme makes it easy to recycle characters from other games, particularly contemporary or historical ones. We allow this, as long as it’s clear that the player understands they play this game now, and their past is from another, alternate timeline.
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RE: Filtering player temperament through game design
@Kestrel Competitiveness is not the only reason people might prefer a PvP game, no. But then, as long as people are not being toxic jerkasses, does it matter, from a game design point of view? It’s not the people who play nice with others that we need to worry about as admins.
Personally, I’m pretty competitive. I prefer a PvE environment, but I am unable to stop myself from looking at word counts and whatnot. And because I have a strong competitive streak, I stay the hell away from environments where I might not be able to keep it under control – for example, despite being an equestrian in real life, I have never started in a competition. Wouldn’t be fair to the horse or anyone else, having to listen to me bitch about not winning.
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RE: Filtering player temperament through game design
I don’t think that liking PvP in a creative writing game is necessarily about being competitive. At least for me it never has been. It’s about wanting tension and conflict to drive the narrative.
E.g., I play a witch, you play a witch-hunter. The goal here isn’t to “win”, it’s to use our characters’ different ideologies about magic/religion/sin to tell a story. I might enjoy being captured/interrogated/blackmailed or put on trial IC just as much as I’d enjoy getting away with it and winding up your religious character, so the goal is obviously not competitive so long as we both have a clear understanding that we are not our characters, and this is all just pretendy-fun-times.
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RE: Filtering player temperament through game design
@Kestrel said:
But I just don’t really buy into the idea that PvP/PvE inherently inspires a higher calibre of players.Higher? No. There’s nothing wrong with being competitive. Preferring PvP does not make you a lesser class of player.
Toxicity happens in any flavour of player. Some environments attract toxic people more than others, but that doesn’t mean they’re somehow less viable. It probably means they need more active moderation.
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RE: Filtering player temperament through game design
@L.-B.-Heuschkel Is there a way to filter these people out purely through game design or community design, or is it a case of finding them and plucking them out like stray hairs with the tweezers of fuckoffitude?
I strongly suspect it’s a combination of game attitude (i.e. the atmosphere you create as staff) and generous appliance of tweezers. I mean, you can’t stop people from wanting to be best/biggest/most known – and it isn’t always toxic, either. Want to have written the most words or have the largest scene count? Good, that creates activity for others on the game. Want to have fucked the most women? Not quite so great, that might just mean you’re a sex pest.
