Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo

[Krautistanian]

@Polk Oh, yeah. Annoyed MU* wise that I basically lost two places within the same week, but well.

If anyone cares, since the thread got posted there are four newbies, Kora, and… that’s it for active people. Something like 10 players left or were banned. So… net negative.

[GF]

But hey, who cares how many players you got as long as the ones you have are part of your harem, right?

[Das Auto]

@Krautistanian said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

Something like 10 players left or were banned.

I can confirm that the number of people that left or were banned as a result of this is at least 27.

[SpilledBeanz]

This should be more than enough evidence for mu* staff to take this shit seriously. To take people’s desire to play in a healthy sandbox, where they are treated as human beings first, and WHO padding second, seriously.

As of a couple minutes ago aoa had roughly 26 actual players connected (actual players, not just alt count).

Star Wars MUSH had roughly 15 (again, actual players, not alt count).

This is WEEKS later, that this shift in games has been sustained. SW Mush is an ancient game with semi-functional systems and an antiquated grid. It’s an imperfect and troublesome site, from the point of view of it being a coded mush.

What it does have is a staff that has shown they actually give a shit, and understand what it means to caretake a community. AoA has lost about 40%, on average, of its players. And realistically about 75% of its active storytellers. All because its staff refused to take sexual harassment seriously.

SW1 deserves all the attention it is getting. A game’s coded systems don’t matter if that game’s culture is poisonous. And a game’s age and partial functioning can be forgiven if staff try their hardest to make it a welcoming place where people are treated well.

[Pavel]

@SpilledBeanz said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

Star Wars MUSH had roughly 15 (again, actual players, not alt count).

Jesus, that game’s still going??

[Third Eye]

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

Jesus, that game’s still going??

This is my thought every time somebody posts how long these SW MUs have existed. Glimpse into a different world.

[Anony Mouse]

@SqeakyClean said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

Pulling out all the stops to retain/bring in new players. Even though all these types of rewards were suggested a million times by people such as myself and others. Only to be ignored, brushed aside, or hee-hawed at.

Yes. Very much yes. For years now, even suggesting that plot-runners get something for their efforts, or suggesting rewards for players in plots (even just looting the bad guys), has been absolute heresy to Cujo. If you even thought anyone should be running events for anything other than the satisfaction of telling a good story (or just +noms from all attendees, like Aryn/Sumi/Poe and Hadrix/Reverberate), you deserved to be cast out into utter darkness, with all the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How things change when people start abandoning your game because you actively support sex pests. Well, most sex pests.

@SqeakyClean said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I was always running up against Hads stuff anyways like you were (which were org specific mind you… except for those select few people they decided to let come on the down-low).

While the sexual harassment thing going public is recent, Reverberate has been on staff for a few years now. One of his first actions as staff was to have some Hutt, who apparently ran the long-dead Hutt faction, ban the Array Consortium from Nar Shaddaa for not supporting the Hutts against their enemies (who were enemies for maybe 30 seconds).

The action was IC, but the IC reasons were pure bullshit. Supposely it was because the AC didn’t fire up their flagship (a Guardian-class light cruiser) and try to fight off an FO Star Destroyer that bombarded and destroyed Corestar Spaceport in the space equivalent of a drive-by shooting (yes, this actually happened: the First Order destroyed a starport to kill one smuggler, and in the end they didn’t even get him). The problems with this are that a) the Hutts were allies with the First Order at the time, despite how little sense that ever made ICly, b) the Hutts themselves never fired a shot at that same Star Destroyer despite having their own warship in orbit at the time, and c) this was years IRL after that ill-considered bombardment.

The real reason: The Array Consortium was competition for the Koras in signing on new PCs fresh out of chargen. New fish wouldn’t know about the Koras’ horrible reputation ICly or OOCly, and would be more likely to sign on with them and give them +noms for bad events (and possibly be harassed by Hadrix). Get the AC off Nar Shaddaa, they’re a lot less of competition.

I ran into Adhar Gann and his group several times, and they struck me as a good bunch. Adhar really gave a damn about his players and their characters and supported their efforts until RL landed on him, hard. Well, that and the vicious gossip Aryn and Hadrix were always spreading about him. OOC (and occasionally IC) backstabbing is something neither one has ever had a problem with, if you’re a bother for them in any way.

@SpilledBeanz said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

This should be more than enough evidence for mu* staff to take this shit seriously. To take people’s desire to play in a healthy sandbox, where they are treated as human beings first, and WHO padding second, seriously.

Evidence or no evidence, AoA’s staff will never take this seriously, aside from banning people who publicly speak up about it. The poisonous staff culture is too deep-set at this point. Even if it wasn’t, Cujo is far too self-absorbed to care what people think about the people who keep his WHO list stable. He’s put 20+ years of ego into AoA and it’s sticking around, no matter how bad it gets.

(EDIT: An adjustment to terminology.)

[Anony Mouse]

While we’re on the subject of fine print:

@Krautistanian said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

Pay out is negotiable if you have an idea that you get staff-approval from.

Translation: You have to get approval from Cujo to run any scene for any payment. Anybody he doesn’t like, don’t bother. And even if you do get approval, that’s no guarantee of the payment you wanted, or payment at all.

@Krautistanian said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

First time in 5 years they offer anything for running.

Closer to six years. Shortly after the Episode VII reboot, they did offer stuff to players and GMs for events. This didn’t last beyond a couple months because it involved a lot of effort on staff’s part.

Also, the rewards generally weren’t worth it. I ran into a few players who did some scavenging on Jakku and dug up an old Imperial assault shuttle that took an engine hit and augered in before it could make its troop drop. Their net reward was one Tier 1-2 mod each and one nothing-special blaster pistol.

The shuttle in question carried a complement of pilot, copilot, and 12 Imperial Stormtroopers. Standard equipment for Stormies includes a relatively good set of armor, a utility belt full of fun toys, an E-11 rifle, and a blaster pistol as sidearm. Out of all that, you’d think at least one rifle and more than one pistol would’ve survived in working (or at least repairable) shape! But then again, Cujo didn’t like the player who ran the event. At least one group involved in a similar event received decent weapons for running and attending.

The player herself said frankly that she left because of constantly being treated like shit by staff, despite trying to encourage and provide activity on their game.

So… some things never change. Not until staff gets desperate. Even then, they’ll still treat non-pets like shit.

[Anony Mouse]

@SqeakyClean said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I was always running up against Hads stuff anyways like you were (which were org specific mind you… except for those select few people they decided to let come on the down-low).

The Clique protects The Clique. But for a while, they did try to bring in other people purely for the +noms. For example:

===================< 21: RP Recruit / Group Ads - 137 >====================
Message: 21/137 Posted Author
The New Republic wants you! Feb 24 2021 Jessika Pava

The New Republic wants you!

Player characters are important in the game. They’re an investment of time and dedication. They’re not mere cannon fodder. They exist to tell the story in the long-term. Unfortunately, that also leads to a situation where there’s usually no death! Failure is infrequent, and often player characters escape odds just like the canon characters of the movies do.

Have you ever wanted to get in on the story of a war faction, but never wanted to dedicate the time, suffer from the restrictions, or sacrifice the alt slot to do so? The New Republic is offering you a chance to get in on the action with no strings attached.

So, what are we looking for? Cannon fodder! We’ve got troops and starfighters and capital ships that sit around doing nothing! NPCs ripe for the picking! The New Republic is offering anyone the chance to come play an NPC during our events, where death is likely! The best part is that you get all the noms and experience for the character of your choice!

If you see a New Republic event up on the events board being run by Poe Dameron, Jessika Pava, Rose Tico, or Aryn Cortess, please feel free to reach out to the GM of the scene and inquire about playing an NPC! In the coming future, we’re also looking at running events entirely based around NPCs, which means everyone can die and failure could be imminent! This also provides people without the character archetype or sheet to come try out and enjoy combat without having to spend experience they don’t want to.
------------------------------< +bbread 21/137 >------------------------------
=================<* New Republic - 3: Republic <OOC> - 12 *>=================
Message: NR3/12 Posted Author
NPCs in events. Feb 24 2021 Jessika Pava

We’re starting an initiative where we’re inviting other players outside of the New Republic to come and play NPCs in the events using the NPC assets that we have. If you’re interested in allowing individuals to come to your events, please let me know so that I can add your name to the post that’s been put up on Board 21. Thanks!
------------------------------< +bbread NR3/12 >------------------------------

Small problem with the quote command aside, that was one way they tried to get around the faction-specific ban on non-faction characters. One has to wonder if attendance for Poe’s/Aryn’s/Sumi’s events had dropped so low that they felt this was necessary. At any rate, no change in Aryn’s behavior was necessary: She could continue to disregard the efforts of every non-Clique player and just have nameless NPCs shoot at them every round. I have no doubt that was a requirement for the policy.

For anybody who doesn’t know The Clique, Jessika was the Resistance/Republic FC alt of a player who has an alt in every one of Aryn’s faction-specific groups. She’s not hard to recognize, as she’s usually only there to RP with Poe/Aryn/Sumi. She virtually ignores everyone else. I’m pretty sure she was Tahni in the Jedi. And that annoying Human Replica Droid of the Koras’, who was destroyed multiple times and always somehow managed to download herself into the CPU of some nearby mundane object to preserve her memories and personality (and most importantly, attribute and skill levels). Though why anybody’d want to keep a personality that murderously abhorrent is beyond me. Another mystery is where they kept getting HRD bodies for this twinky character to inhabit; they’re supposed to be vanishingly rare.

But in CujoWorld, I guess anything’s possible if you kiss the ass of the person kissing Cujo’s ass the most.

[Pavel]

@Anony-Mouse said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

The Clique protects The Clique.

I’ll note that this particular phrase (The Clique) has a more… historic meaning around these parts.

Though I wonder how many of us left are old enough to remember.

[Jennkryst]

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

@Anony-Mouse said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

The Clique protects The Clique.

I’ll note that this particular phrase (The Clique) has a more… historic meaning around these parts.

Though I wonder how many of us left are old enough to remember.

It hasn’t even been a year since we, THE CLIQUE OF MEAN GIRL BULLIES, got ran off of ZeSoapBox.

… or is there a different clique I now need to join?

[Pavel]

@Jennkryst said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

@Anony-Mouse said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

The Clique protects The Clique.

I’ll note that this particular phrase (The Clique) has a more… historic meaning around these parts.

Though I wonder how many of us left are old enough to remember.

It hasn’t even been a year since we, THE CLIQUE OF MEAN GIRL BULLIES, got ran off of ZeSoapBox.

… or is there a different clique I now need to join?

I had another one in mind.

[Jennkryst]

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I had another one in mind.

Elfbians on Shadowrun games?

[Pavel]

@Jennkryst said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I had another one in mind.

Elfbians on Shadowrun games?

No. The majority of The Clique have seemed to move on from MUing, so I’ll not name them. Suffice to say, there was a group roaming around the internet somehow worse than people who demand Mummy everywhere.

[Popes]

@Anony-Mouse said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

How things change when people start abandoning your game because you actively support perverts. Well, most perverts.

This is not most perverts! This is my stand. My line in the sand. Being a pervert does not make you a sex pest. I am a pervert. I like the spicy typing and getting weird. I also always make sure that my partner is into it and comfortable and knows they can walk away at any time with no consequences or hard feelings.

Sex pests do none of these and are the bane of this hobby.

[GF]

@Popes said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

@Anony-Mouse said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

How things change when people start abandoning your game because you actively support perverts. Well, most perverts.

This is not most perverts! This is my stand. My line in the sand. Being a pervert does not make you a sex pest. I am a pervert. I like the spicy typing and getting weird. I also always make sure that my partner is into it and comfortable and knows they can walk away at any time with no consequences or hard feelings.

Sex pests do none of these and are the bane of this hobby.

I get what you’re saying but I feel like this might not be the venue to try to reclaim the word “perverts.”

[hellfrog]

@Popes you’re valid, reclaim it

[Anony Mouse]

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I’ll note that this particular phrase (The Clique) has a more… historic meaning around these parts.
Though I wonder how many of us left are old enough to remember.

A sad fact of MUSHing is that there will always be more cliques, with the usual troubles they entail.

It’s important to note that RP groups will naturally develop, just people who are comfortable playing together and mostly share a schedule. It’s only when they try to keep everybody else away (unless there are material benefits from having them around, as in this particular case on AoA) that they turn into the dreaded RP Clique.

@Popes said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

This is not most perverts! This is my stand. My line in the sand. Being a pervert does not make you a sex pest.

Good point, and you have my apologies. I’ll adjust the language of my post. It’s true that sex pests are perverts, but perverts may not necessarily be sex pests.

[Wizz]

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

@Anony-Mouse said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

The Clique protects The Clique.

I’ll note that this particular phrase (The Clique) has a more… historic meaning around these parts.

Though I wonder how many of us left are old enough to remember.

[Testament]

@Popes said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I like the spicy typing and getting weird.

For this sentence alone you have my respect.