I was looking for something in my emails this morning, and came across one with the subject line “Oh, the drama” that was of course about RP drama and, also, 19 years old at this point.

It’s basically a TREASURE TROVE of nonsense, but I need to share my favorite line, from a player being extremely over-dramatic at me. Context is that he was VERY PARANOID that he was going to get banned, and I pointed out that Camden (my fellow co-admin at the time) had JUST told him he wasn’t in danger of being banned.

"Dylan…It’s insane not to plan for the ‘what ifs’. What if Camden gets hit by a bus?

I’m happy to say that Camden never did get hit by that bus.

@tsar I’ll play emotional support rivals with you any day

I am IN LOVE with that little chicken.

Non-specific but I’m having a lot of fun lately! Things are chill, I can find RP when I want RP, people are friendly and talented and give as much as they take.

Novel idea that a hobby is relaxing and fun, I KNOW.

@JinShei Barnaby ️

@Kestrel The only times I’ve had issues with someone, I quickly learned the other person was a known entity that others tend to avoid anyway. I think assholes have a habit of showing their true colors all on their own, and unless you’re concerned about them doing something harmful, it’s not worth worrying about.

@Third-Eye This isn’t a “last two years” thing, but as someone who MU*d a lot when I was in high school/college, and then stopped and only got back to it in the last couple of years, there’s also the shift in how LONG scenes take. Two hours used to be SO LONG and now it feels like two hours just isn’t enough time to get through most scenes. AND now most of us are adults with jobs and families and other responsibilities other than writing that psych paper between poses, so carving out more than two hours for RP can be hard!

It seems like a number of game runners are taking a harder stance about players like this. It feels like it used to be “Well, they haven’t broken the rules HERE…” and I’m seeing more and more admin instead saying “No, they aren’t welcome here to start with.” Or in this case, where maybe a rule wasn’t specifically broken but someone brought the wrong vibes and got the boot. I think it helps make games safer spaces and love to see it.

Which is also to say: I don’t know this guy, but good on the CoD staff for booting him early.

@Pavel Ahh I missed that one. I’m not trying to say I have the one correct definition here, just that if I wrote a description and said you could use it and you then used it, I wouldn’t call that plagiarism.

I see enough examples of the more blatant variety anyway that’s honestly shocking. It seems like most of us are thirty-somethings who have been RPing for 47 years and should know better than to be straight up copy/pasting other people’s work.

@Pavel I’m not aware of a prior discussion here, I was just thinking of cases like ghostwriters or the above example of Tez writing descs for friends.

Plagiarism is when you copy someone else’s writing as your own without permission, so using a desc that a friend wrote for you wouldn’t count.

I also think phrases or a particular (brief!) way of describing something usually wouldn’t count. These things tend to go in and out of style among friend groups or games and feels more like the adopted slang than ripping someone off.

Blatantly using entire descs, event descs or scene sets or backgrounds or anything else where you’ve just copied what someone else did and not citing where the writing came from? Is plagiarism, and I’d support banning anyone who did it.

I cry at scenes the way I cry at folger’s commercials: I’m moved, I’m not actually upset.

If I AM actually upset it’s time to take a break, because that doesn’t feel healthy.

@Third-Eye Did you know that Chace Crawford is nearly 40? My next alt.

@Yam JAIL

@Roz Wish I knew you when I was just getting back into the hobby. Had someone discord friend me, immediately sent me a sexual meme (not even a hello first), and I STILL just thought maybe I was a prude or they were having an awkward moment and it was fine.

Spoiler: it was not fine. It took many months and escalation to find the courage to walk away.

I think this is how a lot of these people persist in the community thought. Maybe their behavior is MOSTLY fine, maybe there are a few borderline incidents - all of which they can probably turn around and make themselves out to be the victim - and it’s hard to know exactly when or where to draw the line when it isn’t always blatant or turns out to be a series of small things over time that, actually, really add up.

When you move to Europe and expect to be relegated to the background, but instead everyone is super accommodating and just seeks you out when you’re around, offers side-scenes for social things you miss, and makes sure there are scheduled events you can still come to

@junipersky Wishing you all of the luck/good vibes! I’m sure you’d be an amazing foster parent

@helvetica I’m glad to see this, and their response. I actually had also taken a look at the game, and things like this felt icky. But it sounds like it was unintentional and the game runners are doing what they can to listen.

@Floof I loved his masterclass. But I love everything he’s ever done.

R. L. Stein’s is also accidentally hilarious? A+, do recommend.

@Cobalt I asked Neil Gaiman once (at a book signing, we weren’t just hanging out) his top piece of advice for aspiring writers, and it was “finish things.” He said I’d learn the most by forcing myself to get to the end.

He also once gave me a hug and told me everything would be okay, so I take Neil’s words as absolute truth.