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Comic Games Are Fun!
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@Roz said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
…probably doesn’t feel great to receive, but I don’t see an issue with the actual sentiment? It reads to me like “this particular concept would require particular time and investment from staff to work through to reach something that fits the balance of the game as it exists right now, and if we’re going to do that, we want it to be with a player who has more history on the game.”
I just wanted to butt in here to say that, like-- while there might be SOME validity to this sentiment on other kinds of games, the sort of comic book free-for-all which Heroes Assembled is just is not one of them.
‘You can’t play this character because you aren’t active enough’ makes sense in the context of someone wanting to play a vampire noble on a WOD game, or the head of a great house on Arx, or one of eight available FCs on a Star Wars game where FCs function more as quest givers and narrative support than PCs in their own right… but this is not in any way one of those games. This is a game where Prototart or ANY OTHER PLAYER, including brand new ones; including ones who cannot manage more than two garbled lines about how awesome they and they alone are per pose; including people who will or already do log in expressly to do one scene/month with a single other buddy then log out for the next 21/28 days to skirt activity rules could grab:
- Franklin Richards (superpowers: can do anything)
- Blue Marvel (superpowers: Superman, only with anti-matter powers and no kryptonite)
- Carnage (superpowers: completely irredeemable murderous sociopath with body horror knife bullshit)
- Ikaris (superpowers: Superman, only for some reason he also teleports and has the organic supercomputer the New Gods use which, itself, confers a ton of EXTRA abilities; no weaknesses except radion, which is extremely rare, and ‘running out of energy after a few hours of being Superman’)
- Spiral (superpowers: interdimensional teleportation, witchcraft, and bodymodding; completely nuts; no weaknesses)
- Black Adam (superpowers: Superman; no weaknesses except for, I guess, ‘saying his own name’; antisocial with a god complex)
- Exodus (superpowers: omega-level telekinesis, which means his is more powerful than any non-omega-grade telekinetic’s could ever possibly be; telepathy, teleportation, energy vampirism; yet another villain)
from the game’s roster and have them approved inside of about two minutes without having to submit a single word of any kind of application. ‘This particular concept doesn’t work for our game’ is one thing, and it’s perfectly valid; ‘this particular concept would require time and effort from our staff to suit game balance and we do not want to expend it because you are not active enough’ is ludicrous to the point of insult. It’s a hurdle that simply does not exist for anyone else on the game, and wouldn’t (by rights; Chaucer/Halicron has absolutely tried to decree who 'tart can and cannot play based on his own estimation of what’s right for her, which is why there is a genuine question as to what she, specifically, is allowed to app, as her experience shows that the answer is apparently not the same for her as it is for anyone else) exist for Prototart had she just grabbed a roster character; in fact, she only attempted to write up the character she did because the one she WANTED (Selene (superpowers: telepathic immortal vampire witch who has credibly fronted as a goddess; irredeemable sociopath; zero weaknesses)) is, in fact, currently held by a person who… logs in once every 28 days to do exactly one scene with the same one-two people which does nothing to generate or move RP for anyone else.
There’s nothing to protect, no effort required on behalf of staff beyond what is required to read an app: game balance simply is not a thing on a fully consent-based superhero game which includes fully powered Kryptonians, Green Lanterns, Jean Grey as the White Phoenix of the Crown, Dr. Doom, and characters like those listed above as fully playable, immediately accessible options; the truth of it is that a Spoiler who simply did not want to sell anything for anyone is equally as capable of ruining a scene with twinky behavior as any ‘overpowered’ character. There ARE games which make a conscious effort to ratchet down character power levels across the board, preferring a lower powered environment, and while there are places in the news files which suggest players ‘don’t app at the height of their powers’ to ‘preserve a sense of growth’ (paraphrased) there is no overarching ethos of trying to maintain a more modest power scale for the entire game; neither the staff nor the majority of players seem to have taken that idea to heart at all, here.
So.
All that said: for someone to submit an app for a character they’re interested in at least ATTEMPTING to play – a villain character, which the game has relatively few of – with a detailed explanation of what she means to do, proof of her reaching out to other players to coordinate with them, and how she means to work the character in a way which limits her ostensibly high power level; receive an enthusiastic concept approval; then a day later be told that actually, no, the character is just too powerful and would somehow unbalance a game full of characters heroic and villainous alike who are similar to or vastly beyond what she is capable of… it’s a bizarre whiplash to say the least. For a staffer to arbitrarily decide that this is the antisocial villain character who’s so antisocial and villainous that someone who clearly has a plan for how to play her and with who is not capable of doing so is bizarre. To try and frame these things as the result of Prototart not being interested in enough in sustaining the game through RP is bizarre. To suggest that she’d present a uniquely heightened degree of investment from the staff is bizarre.
To do these things immediately after a player had the temerity to question the judgment of a man who has a history of condescending to others and trying to force them to follow his idea of what ‘good roleplaying’ is, well. It’s hardly the rudest, least polite thing which has ever happened in MU*ing, or which has been posted on a WORA-like forum even, but it’s pretty inappropriate; it is pretty clearly not the act of an objective, unbiased actor who deserves the benefit of the doubt. It’s blatant nonsense to anyone who is familiar with how games in this particular circuit operate, and indicative of Heroes Assembled’s inability to define, then consistently apply standards to its apping process.
Prototart’s someone who takes no shit from anyone and is happy to call out what she sees as bullshit in turn; she has an acid tongue and prestige levels in holding grudges. She is also a creative and generous player who deserves better than to be talked down to by someone whose idea of compelling roleplay is ‘what if The Wasp was a pillhead sociopath who thought it’d be a cool idea to fight crime by getting into the illegal drug trade’ in the course of an already-questionable app denial.
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Rena said everything I would have - in fact, she said many things I’ve repeatedly said in this very thread - but, really, thank you for explaining what this situation involving someone I have known for a decade is actually about. Total blonde moment, el oh el, you know how bitches get, smile emoji.
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So the game is shit, run by people who are shit, and played (not exclusively) by people who are shit.
Why d’you wanna play there, again?
He/Him. Opinions and views are solely my own unless specifically stated otherwise.
BE AN ADULT -
@Pavel Why do people play shitty WoD, Star Wars, or any other game in this hobby?
Because there aren’t any better options, their friends are there, and they intend to avoid as much of the shittiness as possible. This is not remotely unique.
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@renaveleigh Of course it’s not unique, nor did my question imply that it was. It’s still an important question for one to think about when this much hassle comes from simply trying to take a character from a roster.
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Honestly the three big issues with HA are thus:
The cult of Vorpal, who is a piece of shit asshole who drove my good friend from the game for the crime of saying ‘Maybe don’t be toxic about shipping comic book characters?’ regarding that group’s apparently vile hatred of Beast Boy x Raven.
Chaucer in general, who is a shithead asshole AND a bad writer with terrible ideas about how things should work all the while being a condescending fuckwad.
Finally, somehow the least egregious of the three being the fact that NOTHING HAPPENS. There’s no metaplot, there’s capped scenes run for cliques and groups and if you’re not in on them fuck you, drink coffee with randos to keep your character.
(Edited 'cause I typoed Vorpal)
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<Questions> Chaucer says, “This all circles back to one of the core concepts in the game, how ‘harmony’ works and how the mortal soul is the purest force of creation. It takes a soul to make a soul. Elf lords have fallen in love with mortals and if they love, and are loved in return, a soul can come from that. This is how you end up with demigods and half-fae and all those other interesting permutations. Also the unasked question is, ‘what becomes of a half-blood that never knows love’ and I am sure that’s how you end up making Old Gods, but I might save that for a story arc.”
would you ever guess that this is a Marvel/DC superhero game
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@Prototart “What becomes of a half-blood that never knows love” is maybe the yikesiest sentence I’ve read.
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@GF Sounds like <Censored because I don’t support TERFS, but you know who I’m talking about>
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oh, hi
ok, short story:
some people I know were like, “you should join us on HAM”
i was like, “yeah they’ll ban me within twelve hours, it’s entirely The Chaucer Show now”
some people I know are like, “oh you’re being paranoid”
i was like, “well, maybe it’ll be funny”anyway,
Shakespeare (S) pages: Hey there. See from your IP that you’re the player who went by ProtoTart. There was past acrimony, including issues from games that predate HAM, that came up last time. Ending with you deciding to leave. I think that clean break was the right call for everyone. It’s a game and pastime and should be fun for all. Given the longstanding feelings I think a repeat is likely enough we’d best stick with that call and all move on our separate ways. So going to go ahead and formalize it on our part. Wish you well wherever the future takes you.
[21:12] Idle message sent to Shakespeare.
You are politely shown to the door.
Thank you for visiting.
Please return soon.
*********** D I S C O N N E C T E D *********** -
@Prototart Guess that means there’s plenty of time for Exalted shenaniganz?
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@Prototart said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
You are politely shown to the door.
Thank you for visiting.
Please return soon.Someone needs to work on this message. I’m getting mixed signals.
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@Jennkryst There’s an Exalted game?
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Admittedly, the wiki could use a makeover, and the character list could use an update (a bunch of them aren’t on +census… and +census has folks not on the wiki, I think)
But! It is totally there, and I totally have semi-regular arguments about how the chargen is dumb and I hate it, while they mostly tolerate my presence. FOR NOW.
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Huh. I never thought there’d be such a thing. Thanks, you two.
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@junipersky said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
@Prototart said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
You are politely shown to the door.
Thank you for visiting.
Please return soon.Someone needs to work on this message. I’m getting mixed signals.
“Please leave immediately. We love you.”
I think it’s pretty clear!
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@Pavel said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
So the game is shit, run by people who are shit, and played (not exclusively) by people who are shit.
Why d’you wanna play there, again?
I wish we had a gentler way of saying this.
Quitting a game is HARD. If you’re the kind of person who’s on a lot, having that window there, talking to people, thinking about the game, working on your character(s), playing, it becomes a part of your life.
Leaving a game leaves a gigantic hole in your life. It’s a loss. And I’m pretty sure it on some level works psychologically like any other loss.
So I wish there was a very, very gentle way to suggest that a person quit a game, that doesn’t come off cold and a little condescending. Because I’ve done that, and I hate how I sound when I say it.
I’ve managed to do it, quit a game. And it’s hard. It hurts.
But in the end it’s often the right thing, if a game has soured.
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@Polk said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
So I wish there was a very, very gentle way to suggest that a person quit a game, that doesn’t come off cold and a little condescending. Because I’ve done that, and I hate how I sound when I say it.
Polk pages: Don’t contact me in nay way. GEt out of my life.
If only there were a better way. /sarcasm
You giant, performative, insincere phony.
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@Polk said in Comic Games Are Fun!:
And I’m pretty sure it on some level works psychologically like any other loss.
I imagine it’s similar to leaving an abusive relationship. It doesn’t really matter what we say or how we say it, it’s entirely up to the person involved.
That said, sometimes a splash of cold water helps. Sometimes it doesn’t.
