Ideally, every staff member should also be a player. However, not everyone is very active RP-wise, and that’s okay. What’s really important is that they’re active in the community, that they’re visible. Whether they RP, or prefer to hang out on chat, or are always around for questions – that’s not so important which one it is. What really moves things is that players see them, hear them, and get to know them.

Staff that is essentially faceless authority figures invite abuse and fuckery from players who don’t identify with them as fellow hobby nerds. Staff that have faces and are the next guy over – not so much. At least not from the ordinary types – there’s always the occasional malignant creep, and no amount of good PR fixes those.

Yes, because we made the game we wanted to play. If it had already existed, we’d be playing over there. But it didn’t, and now it does, so why should we be punished for making it happen?

Also Kestrel’s reasons above.

@Ashkuri THANK YOU. I am sick and tired of ProWriteAid pushing AI on me (and failing because I’m even more stubborn than it is). Checking this out right now.

Edit: Woe, it’s Mac only? I’m a windows user. Woe is me!

@Pavel As a writer, I am not the least ashamed of using ProWriteAid (which is similar to Grammarly) to catch typos and blatant grammar errors. It also offers AI spicing up services, and those I’d be ashamed of using.

@RightMeow said:

@L.-B.-Heuschkel I’m going to revive my Keys char. That boat she likes to steal is still around right?

I’m kidding.

Yes, it is. So don’t be kidding! XD

@InkGolem said:
I mean, some people revived their characters on Keys, which is a totally viable option

It is. From our wiki, under restricted concepts:

Characters retired from other games. We realise that our theme makes it easy to recycle characters from other games, particularly contemporary or historical ones. We allow this, as long as it’s clear that the player understands they play this game now, and their past is from another, alternate timeline.

@Kestrel Competitiveness is not the only reason people might prefer a PvP game, no. But then, as long as people are not being toxic jerkasses, does it matter, from a game design point of view? It’s not the people who play nice with others that we need to worry about as admins.

Personally, I’m pretty competitive. I prefer a PvE environment, but I am unable to stop myself from looking at word counts and whatnot. And because I have a strong competitive streak, I stay the hell away from environments where I might not be able to keep it under control – for example, despite being an equestrian in real life, I have never started in a competition. Wouldn’t be fair to the horse or anyone else, having to listen to me bitch about not winning.

@Kestrel said:
But I just don’t really buy into the idea that PvP/PvE inherently inspires a higher calibre of players.

Higher? No. There’s nothing wrong with being competitive. Preferring PvP does not make you a lesser class of player.

Toxicity happens in any flavour of player. Some environments attract toxic people more than others, but that doesn’t mean they’re somehow less viable. It probably means they need more active moderation.

@Pavel said:

@L.-B.-Heuschkel Is there a way to filter these people out purely through game design or community design, or is it a case of finding them and plucking them out like stray hairs with the tweezers of fuckoffitude?

I strongly suspect it’s a combination of game attitude (i.e. the atmosphere you create as staff) and generous appliance of tweezers. I mean, you can’t stop people from wanting to be best/biggest/most known – and it isn’t always toxic, either. Want to have written the most words or have the largest scene count? Good, that creates activity for others on the game. Want to have fucked the most women? Not quite so great, that might just mean you’re a sex pest.

Fighting main character syndrome seems like another kettle of fish entirely – one that cannot be solved by limiting competition. People like that will indeed find something to compete over because that’s what they’re looking for, and to hell with what anyone else thinks.

Just one thing springs to mind that I don’t think anyone else already mentioned (although I’m pre-coffee, so don’t kill me if I’m wrong): Competitiveness.

A pure PVE environment where there is little to be gained from competing against other player characters does a lot to weed out some of the more toxic aspects of PVP and competitive games. Of course, it also takes away some of the excitement, so you need to decide whether the trade-off is worth it.

@Pavel said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

they leave MUing and go on to write books or something.

Both. Both is good. (MUing is where I write all the stuff that doesn’t fit into my book-in-progress at the time).

I’m ambivalent on this.

On one side, I like to know whose house I’m visiting. On the other, people have plenty valid reasons for not leaving a trail of crumbs for stalkers and abusers to follow.

On Keys, we have no policy on the subject. It’s never been an issue that I’m aware of. But then, my handle is registered for anyone to see. Maybe it’s more the game runner than the rest of staff that needs to be recognisable. They are, after all, the person with the power to pull the plug.

@Cobalt A fair number of our players favour the 1-3 times a week playstyle for what it’s worth.

@RightMeow said in Does Anyone Even Care?:

@L-B-Heuschkel although not the original four. I’m still to this day touched to be invited. Even to be invited annually when I sigh that I miss RP.

Then let me hurry to invite you once again.

@Ashkuri said in Does Anyone Even Care?:

At this point I just plan that the ending of the next game will be me and like 7 people and that’s alright.

I’ve found that planning for a game of me and 4 turned out to be me and a hell of a lot more people – but if we someday end back at me and a handful of others, that’s fine, too. Bigger isn’t better.

Resolved now. Posting somewhere about it always solves a problem before anyone has a chance to find out what’s really wrong.

The ADHD me wants to flit from one new thing to another. The autistic in me stays until the ship sinks.

I counter-act this largely by trying to build not only a game, but also a community around that game. That way, I find it easier to stay focused and interested because I’m not only playing the game, I’m also spending time with my friends and my tribe.

We don’t have a thread here (great! no scandals!) but right now I need one so…

We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties, most likely related to some internet downage somewhere. I’m investigating. Hang tight and check back in a few hours.

@Trashcan said in RP Safari - Pacing Styles:

@bear_necessities said in RP Safari - Pacing Styles:

There are very few public games on Ares, and none of them appear to have a “live scene” culture.

Empty Night and Aegis Company both have a heavy majority of ‘traditional’ pacing scenes listed in their 10+ active scenes. There are probably others.

We have plenty people doing live scenes on Keys. It’s just not the scenes you’ll see when scanning the scene list – that space is firmly claimed by the asyncs that linger for a while.

On Keys, at least, the trick is to find the people who share your preferred style.