Should You Play Your Own Game?

[Faraday]

@MisterBoring said:
I suggest this because playing a PC in a scene at the same time as one is staffing a scene can add to burnout at a faster pace.

I haven’t observed that personally, but it certainly does take more work to both GM and play in a scene. I still think it should be up to the individual staffer as to whether that’s something they like and can handle, and not something to be universally discouraged, but YMMV of course.

@Roadspike said:

@Faraday Very much appreciate the compliment, but it wasn’t always this way. I’ve been accused of spotlighting my own characters and she’s been accused of running scenes just for my characters. It’s been a learning process to get to the point where we feel comfortable running scenes that we have (or our partner has) a character in again.

You’ll never escape that kind of accusation, even on a game with a dozen staff members each keeping perfectly to their silos. Heck, I once got complaints about my character being spotlighted when the plot was run by someone else (a regular player) as a thank-you. And as @gashlycrumb also pointed out, there’s nothing inherently wrong with running plots for yourself/your friends. Staff deserves to have fun too. As long as there’s transparency and clear expectations, players can vote with their feet if they don’t like the way staffers are running plots.

[Gashlycrumb]

@Faraday said:

there’s nothing inherently wrong with running plots for yourself/your friends

I think its more inherently right. That’s what’s really wanted, isn’t it? The ideal MU experience you have a friendly RP group of gaming-friends and work plots together with GMs who are also gaming-friends.

The balancing act is the but also making it so that random gamers who find your game on MUDstats or Ares Central etc have a path to getting in on it.

[Jumpscare]

I’ve tried multiple times to be a player in Silent Heaven. I don’t want any special treatment or plot attention, so I’ve gone incognito. But inevitably I’ve been found out, whether it’s due to my writing style or a mistake on my part. And then my character gets treated differently. In my experience, it causes a behavioral amplification effect of sorts. Some people cling to my character’s words in a way that feels like they’re hoping to get in on a plot, and others suddenly disregard my character.

I’m not sure what to do to get an organic experience, or even if one is possible, haha. I’ve never been someone who craves the spotlight. I’m perfectly happy playing NPCs in support of other characters’ stories. But it also means I miss out on the day-to-day interactions.

I’m open to suggestions!

[Gashlycrumb]

@Jumpscare said:

Some people cling to my character’s words in a way that feels like they’re hoping to get in on a plot, and others suddenly disregard my character.

If you make it known (in +finger or whatever) that it’s your PC, the disregard side will probably reduce. Discovering that two personas you’ve been dealing with are one person can be off-putting and people who have that reaction are likely to withdraw some. Some people may feel that secret staff PCs serve as undercover wrongfun police who are scrutinising them rather than playing with them, and will avoid.

The cling-ons may drop off if events on the game are transparent enough that people can tell that IC connection to a staff PC isn’t a doorway to plot access. At least, it was my experience that my main PC didn’t attract that sort of thing, while people did run out to meet certain NPCs.

[howyadoin]

I am of the opinion game runners should be playing the game. Whether they need to flag their pcs or not I think depends on how much their pcs are involved in plot, and if they have authority or power as a pc that could be fudged with their staff power.

If a staffer is playing some ordinary, low-stakes pc just to stretch their legs? I don’t really care if they flag or not.

I don’t see how STs can gauge story pacing and see areas of the game that actually need work, and sort these from trivial (even if loud) complaints without playing the game.

@Jumpscare said:

I’m open to suggestions!

I don’t think you can have a truly organic experience. Going incognito in and of itself is not organic because it is a forced thing.

You can tell people up front your character is not a stepping stone or a plot lever. If you’re logged on, you’re on to chill (same as everyone else) and not there to entertain or Oprah plot hooks.

It’s fairly easy to note people who will be up your ass just because you’re an ST. Pour ice water on them.

[Roadspike]

@Jumpscare I’ve run into similar situations. I started a) having my character be wrong more often, and b) making it clear in meta-commentary when my character was blatantly, obviously wrong (not all the time they were wrong, because then it would “confirm” when they were right, but often).

This was things like, “Grey scowls about, ‘You’re all going to get in so much trouble with the Guard for this.’ They aren’t.”

People started taking what my characters said so seriously when I did this… I do it now even when I’m not staffing, and I find it amusing to do.

[Juniper]

Playing their own game makes a good gamerunner better and a bad gamerunner so much worse.

[somasatori]

Should one play any games at all?

[MisterBoring]

@somasatori Only games that will never make it as a MU. Like Unknown Armies and pretty much any PBTA game.

[Gashlycrumb]

@somasatori said:

Should one play any games at all?

Only if you do not actually expect to play.

Any expectation that a game be a game is overbearing presumption. And a personal attack.

[Selira]

christ dude

But the answer to the question for me is Yes, with a Big Caveat, and that’s that you simply will never be able to reproduce the same experience as a regular PC. Even if you somehow stay anonymous, the other elements of the game – how the systems work, what the mysteries are, the relationships between other players and the jobs they submit up to you, these will all be floating in your head all the time and will inevitably color your experience.

There is also, of course, the gulf between what you want a game to be and what it actually is to play.

If you are open about it being a staff NPC, people will expect you to have knowledge and lore and stories. If you aren’t, they’ll be bitter when they find out.

But it’s crucial anyway, whichever route you go. It’s far more important the more immersive your game is, too. An RPI needs it far more desperately than a game done mostly in async on Ares, but it’s still important wherever.