What Do You Want Out of a MU?

[Pyrephox]

@somasatori So much in there that I really love and agree with.

I’ll pull out divination as one thing to illustrate what I’d like to see more of. And that’s to think about MUs as _MUs_ rather than as tabletop. One of the reasons prophecies and divination don’t work as well online is because GMs don’t have as much control over the story with 20-30 characters as they do with 3-6. It’s very hard for a MU* staff to keep track of ‘visions’ or ‘premonitions’ much LESS ensure that those things ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

I’d love to see more effort in adapting systems that really think about how play happens in the MU* environment, and capitalizes on the things that we have available (long term play, persistent environment, help from code in rolling/mechanics) while relying less on the things which are not strengths in the MU* environment (GM attention, strong and linear narratives, PC ability to Change The World) compared to the tabletop environment.

[Roadspike]

@Pyrephox said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

I want:

Yeah, all of this. Seriously, all of this.

Your second point really sticks out as key for me – I don’t need my RP to impact the overarching metaplot (if it does, that’s great, don’t get me wrong), but I want to see the world reacting to the actions of my character and those of other players.

Also, I want to be able to play more than 8:30pm-11:30pm Pacific Time three nights per week, but that’s not a problem for the game, just for me.

[Cygnus]

@somasatori said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

having 2-4 grid rooms describing broad areas of your town or countryside, with players able to use a temproom or make their own builds feels less overwhelming than a city section of 15-20 rooms

Fallcoast started with a broad strokes grid similar to that, on a slightly larger scale. One of that game’s challenges was that as it grew, each of these broad areas were replaced with smaller groups of rooms and so individual builds had to be moved around inside to populate them accurately which then required jobs, time, and clutter on top of the usual difficulties of building a grid. Zooming in is tougher than adding new areas wholesale, so to anyone building a grid I would suggest keeping this in mind–not to mention the increased development and maintenance of larger grids.

To your point though, my preference is larger grids on an immersion level, especially once map games come into play; larger grids should always have a map to help traverse the main areas of the game, plus they’re fun and dynamic on a gameplay level if controllable. There’s also something special about dropping onto a big new grid and experiencing it for the first time. It’s overwhelming, but in a good way. There’s something uniquely retro and MU* about a cool grid on a game which we have gotten away from in recent years with the advent of discord RP servers and play by post games, but that’s another topic.

[Jumpscare]

I want open scenes. That’s really the only must-have for me. Anything else is icing on the cake.

[Arkandel]

This post is deleted!

[Arkandel]

My twenties back.

When I think of a MUSH I think of the fun I used to have, the crowds I used to play with, the themes I enjoyed.

What I am probably really expecting, though, is to still be the person I was at the time with that kind of free time in my hands, the novelty of doing this new thing, and a lack of cynicism which I likely no longer possess.

[Cygnus]

@Arkandel said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

My twenties back.

/thread lol

[Pavel]

@Arkandel said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

My twenties back.

But with all the hard lessons we’ve learned still in our minds. More free time, less subtle back pain for no reason.

[somasatori]

@Arkandel said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

My twenties back.

When I think of a MUSH I think of the fun I used to have, the crowds I used to play with, the themes I enjoyed.

What I am probably really expecting, though, is to still be the person I was at the time with that kind of free time in my hands, the novelty of doing this new thing, and a lack of cynicism which I likely no longer possess.

There’s very much a hauntological element in MUSHing for me as well. Couching a lot of my wants in a “this is what I learned” perspective doesn’t discount the nostalgia I have for games in the past. In fact, it emphasizes it: imagine if such-and-such game could be improved? Well, it can’t be improved because it’s gone, as are my twenties – and soon so shall my thirties follow.

There were some great experiences and I knew some really great people back in the day. Except for a handful of them, I have no idea how to contact them if they even had an interest in being contacted by someone they pretended to be vampires with on a text game. I recently logged into my OneDrive and did a deep dive into folders that I hadn’t looked at for a long time, as well as the old email account I used when I was first starting TR back when I prematurely announced it in like 2009, and just the creativity and energy made me wonder what happened to that person. Your comment, Ark, made me realize that’s also the underlying desire I have from a MU*.

Sorry for vibe killing with this comment lmao

Third Eye: super cool question that’ll drive engagement, what do you want out of a MU?
me:

[Pavel]

@somasatori said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

imagine if such-and-such game could be improved?

Firan, but without all the Firan in it.

[icanbeyourmuse]

Another thing I thought of:

Something to do in ‘downtime’. It is one of the things I like(d) about Firan and Arx. Some of the code I was/am like ‘Why do we need this?’ I guess I like the hybrid of MUDs and MUSHes that Arx and Firan fill(ed). It would be nice to have a semi-social and crafting system on Atharia. Or messengers for when people, due to RL/time, can’t connect for RP, messages give a lovely avenue for people to communicate in an ic method. An NPC where people can ‘ask questions’ of that gives them information about current plots. Maybe it even has a ‘generate a job if person hits on this new plot info’ aspect so staff can follow up with the player and see if they want to chase the new plot info. Even if it is just new plot info to them. Maybe a semi-limit on how long they can ‘talk’ with the NPC so they don’t ‘get everything’ right off. ATM, I just tell my players they can nudge me for RP on my NPCs even if it has no ‘game plot significance’ and is just ‘spending time with the parent’ or ‘Talking to their preferred God about nothing’, etc and I usually drop plot hooks to people in the scenes to decide if they want to look into it or not. I guess in my jibber-jabbering way I am saying I would like to see a /little/ extra code that is more about flavour/accessibility/able to generate something for people to bite on.

[Snackness]

@somasatori Upvote for Barbie

[Ashkuri]

Anymore, part of what I want out of a MU is a positive player base. People who like to cooperate instead of compete, share info and introductions and plot info, chat and have fun together, and ask openly and often for RP on the appropriate channels for doing so.

A playerbase that enjoys being on the game instead of complaining about everything they hate about the game – this is ideal for me.

[Third Eye]

@somasatori said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

me:

NGL I am America Ferrera Existential Crisis Barbie 95% of the day, and the other 5% I wish I was some form of America Ferrera.

I try not to be too seduced by nostalgia because at least for me it’s a mug’s game. I read old logs and sometimes they’re great, but also sometimes the experience was clearly better in the moment than it feels in retrospect. Sometimes I have great experiences with people I met like 8 months ago while being kinda bummed out by people I’ve known for a decade. It all sucks if you do it long enough, but also all surprises can be pleasant. IDK.

[Wizz]

@Third-Eye said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

I read old logs and sometimes they’re great, but also sometimes the experience was clearly better in the moment than it feels in retrospect.

I did not expect this sentence to resonate as much as it did, looooool.

this is why I leave OOC chatter in my logs if I have the choice, because half of the fun for me was just hanging out with a solid friend. I’ve def had a log’s sentimental value salvaged by reading our commentary when the stuff happening in the scene itself was not actually all that compelling to Future Me.

[somasatori]

@Third-Eye said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

NGL I am America Ferrera Existential Crisis Barbie 95% of the day, and the other 5% I wish I was some form of America Ferrera.

Same.

One thing I was wondering lately, given that there’s a decent amount of discontent with some games and a lot of questions about “what makes a MU*” and “what do you want” and so on, back in the 2000-2010s when that would happen there would be an explosion of new games. In the WoD and Shadowrun spaces, you had Metro, HM, and the Seattle MUSH, then attrition and ennui about those settings got players making other games (not necessarily Gold of My Own, but “ugh this again”). I think the same thing started to happen with Fallcoast and TR. Not sure if that’s going to be a thing now as a lot of the older players seem to have less energy and even less time, but there are many tools that make it relatively easy to create new games given Ares, RhostMUSH, and Evennia. The barriers to launch is much lower than before.

I say this while realizing that Ares has a very vibrant scene going on, btw. Just something I’ve kind of noticed in traversing various spaces lately.

[Pavel]

@somasatori said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

back in the 2000-2010s

Why do you hurt me so?

[somasatori]

@Pavel said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

@somasatori said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

back in the 2000-2010s

Why do you hurt me so?

[Gashlycrumb]

@Pavel said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

I want a game that realises timezones are a thing. There are people in places other than North America, and we’d like to play too. Yes, it’s hard, but I’d really like to attend events that aren’t the cast-offs from the ‘main cast.’

Eh, “I want a prominant place in the story, while playing at a time offset from the rest of the group by seventeen hours,” is an unreasonabe request, much as if I asked my table-top GM to run me on Tuesdays when the rest of the game plays on Sundays, yet somehow allow me to affect the story to the same degree as everyone else, and prevent me from feeling left out.

However, “I want a game that is played when I can attend,” is practically indistinguishable from wanting a game at all.

I think it’d be an improvement if game-runners approach the time-zone issue by identifying blocks of time where events will occur, and sticking to them. It’d reduce FOMO. Also RAMO, the Rage At Missing Out that you experience when your PC has been an active force in the plot for months but the finale is scheduled for a time that you can never play and never have, and have listed as no-go in your +finger.

This isn’t to exclude Pavel; most MUs would have a goal of multiple time-block sets. The idea would be that he could see that he can play in Purple Block, and take on the Eldritch Tinky-Winky, and that maybe sometimes he’ll be around for a Red Block event, but he should not try to spearhead the fight against the Great Po. And also know that if he consistently shows up during Purple Block’s times, he’s likely to have something to do and someone to play with.

This isn’t what I want out of a MU, exactly, it’s just a measure I think might work.

[Faraday]

@Gashlycrumb said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

Eh, “I want a prominant place in the story, while playing at a time offset from the rest of the group by seventeen hours,” is an unreasonabe request,

It may be an unreasonable thing to expect, but since this thread is just about things we want out of a game, I don’t see a problem. It’s no different than wishing you could find a TTRPG group that meets Tuesday nights.

@Gashlycrumb said in What Do You Want Out of a MU?:

I think it’d be an improvement if game-runners approach the time-zone issue by identifying blocks of time where events will occur, and sticking to them.

As a game-runner, I would hate that. I run events based on an ephemeral mix of what works for me and what makes the most sense for the players involved in a particular plotline (to avoid precisely the situation you mentioned where someone integral to a thing can’t make it). Trying to codify that into a block schedule would make me never want to run another event ever.

Which is not to say someone else can’t/shouldn’t try it; just for me personally it wouldn’t be an improvement.

RL scheduling will always be a barrier to synchronous RP. If you don’t like async and you can’t find players with compatible schedules, there’s no magic that’s going to make it work.