Events and scenes don’t always have to be huge affairs. It’s okay to limit the number of people or break a huge event into different areas or parts so it’s more manageable for not only the GM/ST but also the players. As someone who finds it harder to focus when scenes become 6+, half of my energy is spent on worrying that I may have accidentally missed someone in my pose. Also, I’m afraid of dragging down the pace having to respond to 7 other poses as well.

Which leads to my second item, pacing. Try to keep the scene moving, even if you have to be a bit direct. Some may disagree but if each round is taking one hour to run, then there is less opportunities for players to act or react because people get tired after a few hours.

@MisterBoring said in Brainstorming Game Ideas:

@Jupiter said in Brainstorming Game Ideas:

The idea that I keep circling around is a CK3/Vampire styled game in an original setting; where, instead of using +vote as XP-generation, it’d be activity based. XP is generated by spending blood and dice-rolling in Staff-run activities.

Players would try to acquire swarths of territory to fund their own rise and the rise of loyal vassals.

But, again, I don’t know how popular of an idea that would be; text-based gamers are notoriously anti-change.

My thought on this would be that a lot of people still in the hobby are very PVP-shy, even when the narrative should result in two PCs fighting to a terminal conclusion. I think you could do this and have fun with it, but you need to accept that you’re probably not going to have more players than the average multiplayer game of CK3 anyway.

The more time you have spent in this hobby, the more you realize how cooperative everything is and needs to be to create a successful and fun story. This includes PvP which makes it incredibly challenging, one not everyone is either capable of or willing to put the effort into. I’m not saying that as a slight but it takes a lot of communication, trust, and mental energy. PvP in RP, unlike in other games, isn’t about a player winning or losing. To win, all players involved have to enjoy the experience and accept the results.

@Third-Eye said in Brainstorming Game Ideas:

@Ashkuri said in Brainstorming Game Ideas:

IMO you can’t build for “what people want.” You can’t even build for what your friends might like, because even the closest of us don’t always like the same things. You can only build what you personally love, and that personal enthusiasm makes the work less “hell.”

The only thing that will motivate someone to create and put the hard work into starting a game long-term is to build what YOU want, to some degree with no eye toward whether it might be popular or not. That doesn’t mean ignoring advice, though frankly sometimes it does.

This I fully agree with. My view on game creation and game creators is that they should be creating the game for themselves, that is the root. They are writing their own, grand story with a large vision for that story. The creator then hires trusted individuals, staff, to help create that story with them either through more world building, coding, or management.

Then, players are invited to help with the writing and make their story become more alive. This invitation, is a privilege, not a right. It’s like inviting a guest into your home for a party you are hosting. Players should be people who you want helping you build your story and your world.

@MisterBoring Apologies, but because of rising inflation, I have gone completely paperless. You can refer to my geocities site for all the necessary information for my chargen application. Thank you.

Years ago, I used to be all about using MUSH Client and doing stuff in game. But after playing on a few Ares games, I was fully converted over to web based. A lot more flexibility with web based and the visual presentation was a lot easier to work with.

@MisterBoring Horror MU was like this when I played it, PCs will die or be maimed. Bad things will happen. Was quite a bit of fun.

@hellfrog said in Other People:

that’s probably not fun for EVERYONE but it does work.

That part is probably one of the key issues is that fun is not the same for everyone. Part of the collaboration of having fun together is also to identify what is fun for you and also the other person. The more that Venn diagram overlaps, the higher the chance of fun happening, though it still requires efforts from both parties. That’s why communication is incredibly important, even if it can be hard.

@RightMeow The chance I had to RP with you in the past was a lot of fun. What I’ve come to learn is that the paths we choose are usually not right or wrong, since none of us have a crystal ball that can predict the future. If you feel it is the right path, then embrace it fully because you never know where it will take you. You also don’t know if it may eventually lead you back to MUs again in the future.

I know at one point I thought I had stepped away and I did for a bit of time, but surprisingly I found my way back. So I definitely wish you the best on where you choose to go and I’m sure if you choose to return, there will be people who welcome you back.

@Dreampipe said in Other People:

@Roz 5’9" character over 30 years old. Playing on the hardest difficulty.

30 is the new 20.

@Lemon-Fox If your friend/RP group on AoA have fun together and they also know that the staff are predators/psychos, it’s easier for you guys to find a new game to play on that doesn’t have toxic waste of a staff base. New Ares games are popping up, there are still existing ones that have been running for a while.

If you move with your friends, it may be easier to ease into a new game since you already have people to play with instead of having to put feelers out for newfriends which could take time. It may take a little bit of shopping around before finding a new comfy place to settle down with but I would say that it’s worth it.

@Ashkuri I welcome bad stuff happening to my characters but with a caveat.

It has to make sense to the story and to the character. Either something happening in the story that caused the bad stuff to my character or my character’s actions caused the bad stuff to happen. Also, preferably, the bad stuff either leads to character development or plot development, not just for the sake of bad stuff happening because nothing is going on and we’re bored. Meaning that as a player, I can have my character react to it over time.

@Yam Maybe it’s selfish of me but I personally just don’t worry about it when I RP. When I RP, it’s to relax and have fun. If the person I am RPing with is fun and his or her character connects with mine, that’s great and I want more. If their RP style, pose style, or writing doesn’t connect? That’s a shame but there are other people to RP with, I’m not going to think any less of them or worry that they are using AI. It’s not like I’m paying for a service and getting scammed by AI. It is what it is.

Ignorance is bliss for me.

As the others said, it’s better to focus on having a behavior filter than a pre-made list. Lists can easily be bypassed with new handles or none at all.

The focus should be on problematic behaviors that range from the worst that we’ve all seen in this hobby which should be an instant zero-tolerance banning if found true to behaviors that game runners personally find troublesome. As a game runner, you are basically inviting someone to your space, like a home. Hosts should be proper hosts but guests should also be on their best behaviors as they are guests. If one turns out to be a sex pest or an asshole, just show them the door before your other guests, guests you like and want attending, are soured by the experience and leave.

The more experience you have in this hobby and as a game runner, the more complex and detailed that filter will become. And it is your list, not someone else’s, since it is your game. The list may be similar to other lists but it is still yours, it doesn’t have to be a copy since your game is not a copy.

Seems like it was a major post backfire on Warma-Sheen’s part as it started as a complaint about the game itself.

@Yam said in Banning Bad, Actually?:

@Faraday Do you recall ol’ OnceWas?

Minus one Michelin star for “unclear help file” work.

If a system is supposed to work a specific way, say it is supposed to work that way. If it isn’t, update a file or something, maybe?

This was basically enough to get him banned. This person was freshly new. This is the most hair trigger case I can think of. He was immediately shown the door, although he was sure to kinda’ buckle down on his stance. Mild, probably, but no one wanted to deal with it.

I’m unclear of what your threshold is, as I recall you were not very approving of this behavior.

That is, of course, just half of the story since we do not know Ada’s accounts. We don’t know if Ada has had past interactions with the player before or someone else have already spoken to about this player before. From one telling, it appears to be just be an one-off encounter but it’s only one telling.

Unless I missed Ada’s explanation and not just one log that was provided stating that was it.

@bear_necessities said in Banning Bad, Actually?:

@Yam we don’t ban enough. Coming off a recent game where I had vibes that another player was a notorious creeper and was doing Weird Shit that maybe wasn’t “bannable” per policy but definitely would’ve gotten them booted if it was my game, I think we should ban liberally and often.

I’m in full agreement that we don’t ban enough and definitely not enough warnings are given. Dealing with problem players takes up unnecessary energy and sanity from staff, energy that can be focused more on the other players that are having fun and enriching the story the game runner is putting together.

To me, playing on a game is a privilege, one that could and should be revoked if a player starts becoming a problem. It can be nice of the staff take extra time to sit that player down and explain to them that they are becoming an issue, but that is definitely optional and up to staff. If that player showed potential to be a fun RPer and being able to change for the better, certainly have that sit down, see how they react. If it seems like it will take too much stress and effort to try, just show them the door. There’s no right or wrong option there.

Some of the problem players seem to have an entitlement attitude, where they feel that they are the main character of the game and they deserve most of the attention, get to make the most decisions, get the most stuff, etc. Instead, players are just playing characters that are working together through their IC actions to build up the story that is being crafted, they are not there to have their character “win the game” at the expense of regardless of others. I know that in the past, before I had gotten a little older and had more MUing experience under my belt, I’ve look back at certain games, I realize, ‘Wow, I was an such an asshole.’

What would qualify as power over a person? Or is it just different interpretations on what power over a space and power over a player is?

I would think that banning a player they do not want on their game is power over a player in their space since they are removing the player from the game against their will.

Enforcing ICA = ICC would be power over the player too because even if the player disagrees with the judgement, admin is the judge and their safe is final. This could even result in the player losing their character against their will.

@Lemon-Fox You shouldn’t be discouraged for trying to make the best out of a challenging situation. Despite the odds being stacked against you, you had fun with your friends for a good period of time and that’s important. Being revealed the truth will only make it easier for you make that hard decision to leave and dedicate your energy elsewhere. Life is just a series of experiences and this was one of them, sounds like you made newfriends in this hobby which is a huge plus so that is definitely something worth celebrating.

A mecha game. I’m excited and I need to clone myself to make more free time.

@dvoraen Is Among Us as fun to play as it is to watch people play?