I just love that he called @Cobalt a “loose canon”, like she’s an 80s action movie cop.

“You’re a loose canon, Cobalt! Any more PRPs and the Mayor will be up my ass with a microscope! I need some Tums!”

@Jenn said in Neitherlands:

@STD

My guess, if I had to make one… It was probably because that person would rather rob a grave and eat remains than have an internship with head-staff’s NPC. But like. This is nothing more than speculation.

I know that at least in the TV show based on the books on which the games were made… Fae (which dead NPC mom was) are often targeted by human magicians. So that they can powder the bones and snort them as like, magical cocaine and mana. That is my guess.

I find these two statements to be hilarious. The idea that a player is so desperate to avoid interaction with the headwiz they would rather grind the bones of a dead NPC and snort it like magical cocaine in the vain hope that some of the magical MacGuffins will ooze off onto them tickles my funny bone in ways that are probably illegal in 48 states.

@Polk said in JKER Temporarily Banned Discussion Thread:

Bad faith posting is generally worthy of some sort of administrative action.

I’ve no dog in this hunt (and haven’t even read the thread in question), and this might be a slight tangent, but…

The impression I had was that folk here generally assume bad faith unless they personally know the person making the post. At the very least, people sure to seem to assume bad faith about anyone who comes here to defend whatever game is currently being castigated. Many times that attitude ends up being warranted, I concede that, but it is still something about this forum that really bothers me. There are accusations of bad faith in this very thread discussing bad faith! It’s recursive bad faith! Bad faith all the way down!

Now, of course, individuals are free to assume whatever vile motivations others have, but I guess I just want… confirmation? Clarification? Not sure what the right word is here…on what counts as Administratively-actionable bad faith. Clearly those defending games aren’t considered so by the admins, even if most of the vox populi sure do seem to.

@Tez said in JKER Temporarily Banned Discussion Thread:

Last night, I thought maybe that we might want to have a discussion on this as a community to see if there are additional guidelines or rules that we need to put in place. (See? Over-legislate.) This morning I think that probably I just need to be more willing to act. I take the hands-off approach to heart, so much so that Pavel teases me about it, but I don’t know! I would like to hear from you guys on this. Please do continue to discuss.

This is… honestly difficult. On one hand, the more you put rules into place, the more likely someone will be able to rule-lawyer through them. Tightening the grip ironically makes more starsystems bad actors slip through your fingers. On the other hand, there’s definitely a chilling effect if the rules aren’t clarified, so everyone knows what to expect. It’s a delicate balance, and I don’t know if anyone has ever managed to strike it.

I suppose, fundamentally, I’d err on the side of less rules. After all, if you already don’t trust the admins here to be reasonable with judgement calls, then you shouldn’t be here at all.

I hope this is the appropriate place for this.

The setting and idea seem interesting, but there’s a big sticking point in the Policies section: a requirement for an Ares handle.

Why is this so? If you want to identify specific players and make sure they are keeping in line with the alt policy, would not IP addresses be more full proof? I know I shudder in revulsion at the idea of the whole Ares handle thing (surely I can’t be the only one?) and it won’t keep anyone who is a problem from just creating a new one, right?

It’s also a point that the Ares website states explicitly that:
“Handles are an optional OOC identity…”

So making it a requirement to play on your game is directly in conflict with the stated goal of the handle in the first place.

Why is this policy there?

Encountering and reconnecting with an awesome player who you knew 19+ years ago on a completely different genre of MU*.

It just seems like complete fantastic serendipity.

And then playing with them and discovering that not only are they just as good as you remember, but are actually better. Their RP has improved!

@icanbeyourmuse said in Macha Awareness (And Unappreciation) thread:

@Cobalt They likely are just going to use it as a way to show you are a ‘horrible person’ since that seems to be what they have decided about everyone here.

Isn’t that the same here? With the majority assuming bad faith of anyone who tries to explain or defend themselves? I mean, there is a substantive difference in that, at least here, the admin won’t ban someone for having a differing opinion from them, but the same attitude pervades.

@Cobalt Don’t bother engaging them. The only winning move is not to play.

@bear_necessities said in Macha Awareness (And Unappreciation) thread:

I also know that Ruiz prefers to keep their communication off-game and will frequently defer to Discord as a method of communicating.

Okay, that… is a huge red flag to me. Asking to communicate off game has never ended well in my experience.

I don’t trigger easily, but that is definitely something that as soon as it’s suggested it’s “Shields up! Red Alert!”

@Serafine said in Neitherlands:

@Meg What’s my motivation?

Not looking like an asshat.

State what you mean clearly. Pontificating with obtuse hyperbole and metaphors does not make you sound more intelligent. It makes you sound like an asshat.

Look, I’ll make it easy for you: Do you claim that @inuki blamed @Jenn for her medical problems?

Choose one:
YES/NO

Thank you so much for the response, @Raeras.

I’m definitely glad to see it’s one of the policies that you’re not married to, since the language involved (“You will only receive one warning”) seemed to indicate it was a hardline stance.

I think, in my mind, it stems from issues with troublemakers and bad actors in the past and the idea that knowing who you’re playing with from the jump has some kind of…I can’t think of the right word but it can put people at ease? If that makes sense.

This might be redundant now that you’ve reconsidered the policy, but I’ll make a comment about this anyway as a sort of reference for the future.

I’ve never seen an attempt like this actually benefit the victims of bad actors or troublemakers; it is always the opposite. Since bad actors and troublemakers will be happy to circumvent any attempt at linking the person to the character, but those who follow the rules will be inexorably linked, this means that the only ones who benefit from such a system are those bad actors and troublemakers who can identify and target previous victims or those they have grudges against while remaining anonymous themselves. Yeah, their behavior will eventually tell, but you’re putting your other players at risk until that happens. It’s a recipe for disaster and I’ve seen it happen every. Single. Time.

This sort of thing (among others) is why I have a pretty staunch no-outside-game contact or link-to-player policy and also why I take pains to compartmentalize and isolate every game I play. Maybe I’m a weird freak for doing this, but it has helped me navigate the shoals of MU*ing pretty peacefully ever since I enacted this personal policy of mine.

So I hope this illuminates why some would have a huge problem with this policy should you consider it again in the future.

Thanks again for the response! It’s great to see a game runner responding so well!

@De-Villefort said in Concordia Thread:

Why would anyone want to go back to that? That’s not a fantasy, it’s a nightmare.

Yeah! I mean, that’s like people wanting to play in a cyberpunk dystopia where the Earth is dead and everything is run by corrupt government, megacorps, and crime syndicates!

Who would EVER want to do that?

… Seriously, dude? Seriously. You can’t think of why anyone would want to play in anything other than a bright and happy utopia with no conflict or challenge?

Encountering and reconnecting with an awesome player who you knew 19+ years ago on a completely different genre of MU*.

It just seems like complete fantastic serendipity.

And then playing with them and discovering that not only are they just as good as you remember, but are actually better. Their RP has improved!

@Muscle-Car Big McLargeHuge!

@Roz

@Aria

Wow.

This is one MU* crazy I’ve been able to avoid even rumors of. It’s like hearing about a cryptid.

I sometimes wonder how I have being in the hobby for so long, but only had the lightest brushes with most of the notorious sorts. Is it luck or do I not present the vibe Bad Actors are looking for? Either way, I am grateful.

@allthecookies said in MU Peeves Thread:

Jill guest still making the rounds!

@Aria said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Buttercup said in MU Peeves Thread:

What if Jill actually is one of the aliens, desperate to connect with humanity? But sadly all they know of human culture is volleyball and high school sports physicals.

… Dare I ask, who is this Jill the Guest?

@Pyrephox said in Episodic Games & ‘Down Time’:

I could see being more chill with a longer downtime if it was like - the ‘episodes’ were missions into alien territory, and then the ‘downtime’ was being back at home base, having access to all the NPCs and your character’s life to pursue.

So, basically… X-Com MUSH?

@GF said in MU Peeves Thread:

@STD You are really kind of making me want to play a manic pixie dream mama. But I suppose that’s really just Mary Poppins, isn’t it?

There are many ways to play such a concept. One of my favorite Changeling characters was a Seelie Redcap babysitter who specialized in problem children. One night with her and they WOULD eat their vegetables. Terror, properly applied, could be a force for good!

Just ignore the life-long psychological trauma that results.

@mietze said in MU Peeves Thread:

yes, it was very much a case of ignoring that in favor of picking out the flavors for the magical babies and yes not reading the theme/source material.

No, I don’t really understand the appeal, but there are things I like that other people are like lol what. But at least usually they’re things in the lore/source that fascinated me while being boring/horrifying to others!

Eh, that’s fair enough. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Though I get the feeling that these magic babies were foist on others’ RP as a sort of accessory that one was expected to coo and awe over. I mean, a character can ignore or disparage a Treasure, but who would do the same to a wee babe who is just overflowing with Glamour! PRAISE ME FOR BEING KNOCKED UP!

@Jennkryst said in MU Peeves Thread:

@STD Oh its weirder than that. Changeling do not age while they are in the Dreaming and/or Freeholds. So it is totally possible your Kinain child has grown older than you.

Yeah, that’s true. I think I vaguely remember something like that being mentioned in either the Changeling mainbook or maybe one of Kith books (Sidhe, maybe? They have a much more… ethereal understanding of time as it is).

They can learn Arts and Realms, too, and since they are immune to cold iron, why not make faerie bargains with them to help fite the bad things?

Heh. Logical, I suppose. Though I would think there is a huge danger of them running in horror from the Things in the Dreaming and becoming Dauntain.

… incidentally, this could also be why Changelings hook up with Kinain, to have a ‘real’ parent around while they are out playing pretend with the others.

That’s… actually a good point. Foist the maintence of the Glamour machine off on someone who “isn’t as important” and go about your Changeling way.

Or, if you want to look at it in a less Unseelie way, Commoners do the ‘village to raise a child’ approach, and Nobles do Lords and Ladies ‘have the help raise the child for me’ thing.

Less Unseelie, perhaps, but certainly still shady as fuck.

Changelings are kinda jerks. A lot of people fail to understand that Changelings – and the Fae they come from – are alien MONSTERS who simply don’t think like humans. Humanity didn’t develop Banality just to be assholes; the Fae of old horrifically abused their powers (though one could make the claim that they didn’t have the free will to be anything other than their natures) and humanity responded by trying to force the chaotic nature of these creatures into some semblance of orderly understanding.

That orderly understanding just got tighter and tighter as the ages passed.

In short: Humanity did nothing wrong!

@mietze said in MU Peeves Thread:

There was a specific subgroup of folks on owod changeling places that loved to have magical twins, but after a few games that wasn’t enough so magical triplets started to happen. I never saw it pushed past that into higher higher order multiples clearly no one was hardcore enough.

This… is so strange to me. I think I recall that in the oWoD Changeling book it specifically mentions that Changelings having kids tends to be terrible.

Some Changelings think that having kids just gets them these effortless Glamour production machines, but in reality what generally happens is that the parents have to give up their own dreams to take care of the kid. So most Changelings who have kids end up quickly becoming Grumps or outright falling to the Mists.

Either that, or they get a visit from Child Protective Services and suddenly have to deal with the entirety of Banal bureaucracy landing on their heads. And that, in turn, might invite the notice of less savory Prodigals.

Basically, taking care of kids is really, really difficult and a responsibility you can’t shirk without inviting ever greater scrutiny and headaches.

But I guess those folks who engaged in magical multiple births just ignored the consequences.

@SpaceKhomeini said in Royal Paynes:

I recall this particular character was a Technocracy Void Engineer who had a habit of arranging sexual relationships on the game, often across opposing PVP faction lines (which he’d also leverage IC’ly to “win” in conflict scenarios –
The worst part to all this was he did successfully gain IC intelligence on a bunch of different people in the grid that he did exploit). Anyway I won’t go into the dirty details beyond the fact that supposedly in at least one scenario, a cheese log was used as an adult toy in a scene.

@Cobalt said in How dangerous is VASpider?:

@STD said in How dangerous is VASpider?:

@Third-Eye said in How dangerous is VASpider?:

Might’ve been Gamma One? Which I think was the Anomaly successor. It wasn’t a game I stuck on but it is the only place I can say I played with VASpider. I was very idle so it was not an interesting experience, but I do remember they played an Engineering character.

It might’ve been Gamma One, then. I do remember VASpider played an Engineer.

I played Ivy, the new generation of Long-Term Medical Hologram that the Jupiter Station Holographic Research Institute swore would never, ever develop sapience, we promise totally.

Gamma One.

I vaguely remember Ivy, and I can tell you it wasn’t all because of Spider but a lot because Rapier didn’t like the way the character was played. Why he approved it when he didn’t like it is beyond me, but Rapier had Ideas about how things would go and he’d make your life miserable if you didn’t do things his way ask @Tributary .

Huh.

That’s entirely new information for me. I had no idea that any of Staff had any problem with the character. I made sure to run it by staff before I even went for the charbit and ask if the idea would fly. Staff seemed quite helpful and enthusiastic about the character if my vague memories are in any way accurate.

Mind you, I think I mostly dealt with Starfleet, so maybe that was the reason?

Still, though, it baffles me that Rapier wanted people to be telepathic and just discern his desires without actually talking to anyone.

Do you happen to recall what it was about Ivy that Rapier didn’t like?

As for Spider playing there, they played under the radar for a while and then it came to light and because Rapier refused to remove them from the game it broke his long term OOC/RL friendship with Starfleet (an ex of Spider), and in turn broke my friendship with him as well as I fed into what Rapier would say to justify choosing Spider over Starfleet.

Interesting. I was completely oblivious to any of this.

@Third-Eye said in How dangerous is VASpider?:

Might’ve been Gamma One? Which I think was the Anomaly successor. It wasn’t a game I stuck on but it is the only place I can say I played with VASpider. I was very idle so it was not an interesting experience, but I do remember they played an Engineering character.

It might’ve been Gamma One, then. I do remember VASpider played an Engineer.

I played Ivy, the new generation of Long-Term Medical Hologram that the Jupiter Station Holographic Research Institute swore would never, ever develop sapience, we promise totally.