I also don’t know the context beyond this thread and I’m going to take the thread as it reads. However, I’m going to drop my opinion. You don’t have to agree, but I feel the need to state it.

We don’t apologize for racism or anything in that vein.

The person who read the statement as antisemitic does not then go back and apologize when it was said ‘as an accident’. We don’t do that. Something was said. It might have been taken out of context, but something was said.

What we do is the person who said it learns not to say that again. We realize they are not racist (for this reason). We understand that knowledge was gained on how to speak and handle situations going forward.

We, again, do not apologize for pointing something out even if it was said accidentally. Just like we don’t apologize when someone gets offended when the speaker was “only joking”. It’s a boundary and we respect that. It doesn’t mean the speaker is the evil, but it does mean e need to reflect on the power of our words (both good and bad) and we move forward in understanding.

Asking for an apology or thinking that one should be made does not sit well with me and so I’m just giving my opinion on what I’ve read on this thread.

I tend to be (I hope) rather nice, understanding and malleable as a player. I tend to yes and for the most part. Which is how one of my chars got married in a pub on a quasi-maybe-date. It leads to some great RP. I also try to go towards the funny and just see what happens.

That said.

I have also played a very arrogant full of himself asshole. He was a great character to play, but he also had money and power behind him so it made him more than a little insufferable. I would OOC disclaimer that as the pilot of my char, I could come up with a reason for him to be there. I can’t guarantee it’s going to be enjoyable for a few different reasons. I was also willing to tone down or full send the jerkfaceness depending on the OOC person and I did check in a lot, BUT the char was designed a certain way. If you weren’t part of his chosen few, you weren’t worthy of air in his eyes. I still had amazing RP and one of his IC best friends started as one of his nemesis at the beginning. It means I can see the ‘my guy’ as also writing for the the story line and where/how your char fits into the story.

I have done all the types of applications. I tend to think Garou MUSH back in the day was pretty intense. Also, I’m old and losing my sanity, so I could be completely wrong about this.

I prefer short and to the game play for me. Partly, because if I have to keep re-writing or altering, I start to lose my enjoyment because the ‘getting there’ already feels like a lot of work. If I have to wait for approval, my desire to play starts to decrease as well. That’s probably my ADHD.

I hate stats because math. Also, I’m never sure how the game leans in direction and most are vague if I ask. I do like writing backstories because I just tend to prattle on (like now).

In conclusion - the way that gets me to start writing interactive stories with other the quickest. I also have a love for roster as it’s ready made especially if I’m coming onto a game as a new person without connections.

@Kestrel I’ve said this before and I stand by it. Anyone who has had that betrayed feeling. Not just saying but truly feeling it; it is the worst heartbreak that has ever been felt on different levels.

I’m sorry you are going through that.

@Pavel You were once young? (sorry)

I don’t have a strong feeling about them one way or another. I remember back on Metro (I’m old, okay?) if you had super hearing you could listen to what was happening at table talk. I learned so much stuff and some stuff I wish I could un-learn.

I appreciated it when on Arx I was walking around in a mask at the blood moon giving people their futures and their destinies. I mean sure I was making them up on the spot when they failed their dice game with me, but it was private to their table to share or not share, but the room knew I was bartering secrets for futures.

I think that rp standards is a personal thing. It might hurt me if you are constantly spelling all the words wrong, but I try to be understanding.

I think rp standard is less game directed and more scene directed. I have problems keeping up with rapid fire but I can do it. I’m a multi paragraph person. That’s not everyone’s happiness. I try to fit my standard to the story flow of my co-writer.

While I will always be a grid girl. I’m old. I like my back in my day sort of MU*. I do understand the benefits of web planned scenes too. Especially as we are busy people. We don’t have to type:

ooc - RightMeow stepped away, but they will be back

or hide in private rooms and hear:

OMG RightMeow is always in a TS scene (not that it matters if I want to be as a grown adult). Or RightMeow is not very inclusive.

When I’m really not RPing. I’m idling with random OOC chatter or we are both waiting on a pose 1 an hour or something until we tie up dinner, etc.

Also in web scenes people cannot run away from my massively long and chaos filled scene sets where I will purple prose you to death, I may fall, I may set the place on fire on accident, I might faint across someone’s lap on a dare… you know… normal things. Normal… right?

But I also like just wandering the grid to open places and discovering people and places and things. So… I guess don’t yuck a yum and time is short, enjoy your hobbies how you want?

@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.

I think that staff is overworked by staffing.

It’s been a loooooooong time since I staffed a game. Mainly, because if you asked me to I’d laugh hysterically and log off. I may or may not be back. I have feelings about admin’ing now. LOL

There is not a fix all. I think it has to do with growth of game and trying to include everyone. I think at heart staff WANTS to include everyone and wants to see their stories play out. It’s just not enough hours in the day and then the guilt of not including others. Which leads to the you aren’t doing good enough. Which leads to imposter syndrome. Which leads to you have so many things to do that you just can’t figure out what to do. Which leads to decision paralysis as the decisions that need to be made are coming at a daily if not hourly basis. Which then leads to why bother. Which then leads to leaving.

This could be a week, a month, a year, but it’s the lack of understanding that staff are also people with some spicy brain stuff and brain weasels happening too. They sometimes don’t feel liked on their games either or included. Sometimes too backgrounds to not be too foreground, which they also have to think about how that looks to the general masses that don’t KNOW them.

I think it’s just staff stuff is overworked stuff. Unless you are lucky to find that person that adores an aspect and wants to do it because it’s their happy place. Most are just pulling short straws on who has to run which plot or cover which area, etc.

Just my thoughts. As I said, I run from staffing now so maybe this isn’t it at all.

Hi, my name is RightMeow and I hyper focus.

I have done both. I have stayed until a game is done, the doors are closed and people are dismissed. I have also wandered away. I wish there was some magical reason that I left places or didn’t even start them when I looked into them. I think a lot has to do with time. When I first started, I was working from home. I had time. I didn’t have as many obligations as I do now. Now, I went back to school. I am in management with odd hours to fill gaps. I am investing in people around me far more and investing in a game sometimes just feels tiring.

Previous games I have left reasons (not games they didn’t do anything wrong).

I didn’t feel connected to the story line. I felt like it was done in a way that I couldn’t break into it, but only certain people could. They were quested out and only X number could quest out on it. No bad vibes to the people, for sanity one has to lock down the number - but then they progressed and I felt not so progressed and then lost on how to get into it without seeming like a pest.

The game closed while I was on my annual holiday hiatus (I work retail management - I’m barely eating and sleeping let alone hobby-ing).

I adored the people I was playing with, but the game runners had a very very very specific vision in their heads about how the game should be run and how characters should act. It felt more like a novel than an interactive performance. It was also locked to 1:1 time and you had to achieve certain things in age, experience, etc that a young rostered char would take RL years to even break into. It was disheartening, but while there was story - I could overlook it. Then all the people I was writing stories with left.

However, that said. I do try to stay around until I can’t (I even check in at Arx from time to time). This also shadows who I am as a fundamental person though. I have a hard time giving up on people and always thinking they changed, etc. So that is more who I am then the game I’ve hyperfocused and locked in on.

Leaving just tends to be that I respect they can run the game how they see fit and I respect myself to know when it won’t work out for me. — although, I adore and miss writing stories with you. Even when someone gives dark visions of my poor teddy bear being ripped apart like a monster. (haha)

I think another struggle for me is the platform. I feel with Ares, it’s hard for me to ‘walk the grid’ and come across organic random RP. It’s scheduled and it’s strange for me (I’m old) to ask to join as I still sort of view them as private scenes and I tend to respect people want to play with their people.

I think that GM’s are people.

Life is messy and complicated and nothing ever goes to plan on most days. It’s part of living life. It doesn’t mean it’s also not fun and not grand.

When it comes to staff and GM, it always feels like it’s a them vs us player mentality that I’ve never loved. I tend to be relatively nice, understanding, and laid back. I adore writing stories. However, I’m not everyone’s cup of tea.

That’s okay. A staff member shouldn’t be made to feel they have to ‘deal’ with me if I zap their energy. A GM shouldn’t feel they have to include me. I would like a heads up if possible so I don’t keep trying to get involved in it (awkward). I’ll learn if they don’t though I got brain weasels for days.

As a player, I can also be flaky. My RL is hectic and my schedule borders on insanity that changes. I love those that have been understanding with me over the years. Hell there were deaths, births, relationship endings, etc that we have all gone through.

I think (and maybe I’m off track - it happens a lot) that you never know what the people on the other side of the screen is going through. I think the whole MU* environment is a lot better if we just show a bit more compassion. In the end, it ain’t all that deep. It’s just a game. Sure we love it. Sure we get emotionally invested from time to time, but at the end of the day. It’s a game. It’s a hobby we share. We should remember that staff (and players) are fitting this hobby into their very messy, very full, very inconvenient lives.

If a game is going somewhere you don’t like, leave. It’s the rule of the internet that there will be another X in X amount of time if you just wait. Or you can be the one to set up the new and improved X thing. I guess, I just feel like no on owes me their time and energy if they don’t want to give it and I likewise don’t owe anyone mine.

Life is complicated. Eat cake – or something.

I would not play nor get paid to be on the game. As a person who has done a lot of retail and dealt with enough people and opinions around money - it’s a hard no.

I’m not going to yuck another’s yum, but my RL money for bills has enough people trying the, “I pay your salary, you will do what I say” mentality. I don’t want it in my hobby free time.

Just my two cents.

Also, this is not a peeve. I don’t actually have a MU peeve. This is a MU sad sorta. To me.

I have been playing in this hobby longer than some of you have been alive (that’s sad on a different level for me) and I think this year I’ve decided to step away from it.

There is no drama. There is no hard feelings. My life just doesn’t fit around it anymore. As well as play not being available to keep me invested. This is NOT a gripe. It’s my ADHD brain that wanders and fills my time if not occupied. I’m just a little sad to think my MU* time might be just done. I know it will always be there to come back to and I’m sure I’ll lurk on this site because I have a sick fascination with it. It’s just hard to put into words. Like … oh… but that oh holds so much.

That said. I got to spend the last year or so catching back up with people that I haven’t spoken to in years. I got to hear how their RL lives are going and see how their story telling (and mine) have changed. I got to get giddy running into people that do actually cross my mind from time to time. So I’m pretty excited about that and if I have RPed with you this last year. I have ENJOYED it. If I have paged you, I feel HONORED to catch up and I feel undeserving to those that got excited to meet back up with me.

No matter our differences and our opinions and sometimes our toxic rightness, I appreciate the people of this community.

I’m just in my feels about this realization and I’m just sharing to people who might understand (my RL people are not MU* people).

So in conclusion to my brain dump you all!

I feel like we need a 2026 one now.

I also think it’s important if it hasn’t been said, that YOU are having fun in the scene too. While it’s great to run things for other people, if it feels like work, you aren’t enjoying it. That’s going to come across in the writing dynamic. If you are also having fun and they are having fun, then we have chef kiss magic.

@junipersky

There was even a book series about it.

I figure that everyone is just settling back into their RL routines after the holidays, not to mention re-figuring out time for their hobbies too.

I normally ask a lot of questions. If you’ve ever played with me, most of my chars ask endless questions. It’s the best way to engage with others and to have them flesh out their characters.

I rarely feel the need to win and OOCly cackle madly when the dice do NOT favor me. I try to be funny, but temper it to match the tone of the RP. I don’t mind failing.

I’m also a pure minion of chaos. This means, I’ll randomly decide things. No one can come up with an idea. I draw them to an area and decide surprise whatever. This normally is a what the actual eff. example I’ll swoon on a person to bring them into the scene. I try to keep an eye out for who doesn’t seem to be as engaged as others and ask them specific questions or include them. (Side note: I do this in life too).

When someone is excited to try to do a thing, instead of saying ‘my character wouldn’t do that’, I either come up with a reason WHY my char would do that. If I cannot for some reason, I direct them to a player/character I know WOULD do the thing.

I view all my RP as coming in to write a story that I don’t even know the ending of and I’m here to see how it flows. However, if people aren’t engaging and having fun, well then, I wouldn’t have anything to write.

I put other.

I adore failing my dice rolls and I don’t need to be the main character all the time. However, I also am a real life person that (like most of us) have some trauma that I would like to avoid in my game play.

So I’m all for it, but if the theme is going to be really dark. Please check with me first, then we game on. Also, like others, I want it to make sense. Don’t do something just to do something. If it makes sense, I’m all in. If a random house falls on me and someone takes my shoes, it better further some cause or character development.