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!
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.
@Adora Possibly?
I really don’t remember the name of the game. It was mid 2000s, though, so that’s quite possible.
I’ve only interacted with VASpider on a MU* once to my knowledge.
It was a Star Trek MUSH (I forget the game’s name) and they decided that they didn’t like my character for some reason.
What followed was my being pretty ostracized on the game and barely having any interaction with others. I just… quietly slipped away eventually.
Now, I don’t know for certain if the two things are related (VASpider hating my character and the ostracization), but given the pattern of behavior others have noted with this person… well, it is suspicious.
Of course, it could just be that my character just didn’t jive with anyone there.
@Warlander said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:
@imstillhere And let’s not forget the old ploy of non-Koras (often newbies) in Kora clique scenes being used as blaster fodder while Koras did everything important in the scene, which is at least as bad as staff alts steamrolling the low-level targets. At least the newbies had a chance of being relevant to the scene the other way.
I know this is a waaaaay old post and all, but I didn’t see it at the time. It got me thinking:
Did anyone try to just pose being a completely useless terrified clump of panic and concentrated cowardice? Y’know, really, really play up how absolutely pointless even fighting was and how they were all doomed, while cowering in a corner pissing themselves? Maybe start shouting how they all should surrender because no matter what the NPCs are SO MUCH BETTER than ANYONE on their team that the only way they can win is through sheer dumb luck?
Going way over the top might’ve really put a damper on the dinos’ parade, especially if their results were claimed to be sheer dumb luck. And you’d always have the protection of, ‘well, my character’s a panic-y coward who always believes the worst will happen in a fight… they truly believe that NO ONE stands a chance against these opponents, regardless of how many are defeated with ease.’
Neat to see a High Republic MU*!
I didn’t see mention of it on the wiki, but is there a ‘hub’ world? Basically, a planet which is meant to be the focus of the MUSH?
If not, you might want to consider having one, depending on whether you’d prefer folks focused on high level stuff (so you’d probably want one of the Core Worlds) or a more gritty focus (so some planet on the expanding Rim). Not doing so has a distinct possibility of fracturing your playerbase.
Not a criticism, but just something curious: why do you not allow droid PCs?
Over on the Arx Peeves thread, there was a discussion about players accepting IC consequences for things. This made me think about that in a less game-specific way.
In my personal experience, players tend to be okay with just about everything (including death) as long as it doesn’t hit on any specific OOC baggage and cool.
Most people I’ve encountered in such a scenario are perfectly fine with death as long as their character goes out in a memorable way. No one wants to be the scrub that is just obliterated two seconds into the fight with the Thing That Shall Not Be without being able to do anything. People DO tend to be okay with being the Gandalf who stands on the bridge, fighting the Thing That Shall Not Be and giving their friends time to defeat it or escape. Throw in a soliloquy at death-time and a lot of folks are darn near enthusiastic about their impending doom.
But over there on the thread, it was mentioned that, in someone’s else’s experience, players were unwilling to even be inconvenienced.
So I’m curious… have I just been lucky in my experience? Or is the other person an outlier? What do you, the viewers at home, think? Are you willing to kill of a character if it’s an appropriately cool death?
@MisterBoring said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:
@somasatori I think this goes for game runners over the years to a certain level as well. I’ve seen plenty of game runners and staff folks (especially on WoD stuff) that refuse to recognize other games as valid. It would be absolutely wonderful if those people had instead chosen to share ideas and stuff with each other, but instead it was all treated like finite resources.
Just spitballing here, but maybe that was because of the difficulty of finding and retaining staff? Particularly good staff? People only have so many hours in a day and with the added weight of RL, those hours might be very small indeed. So staff very much was a limited resource. You wouldn’t want to let any of those people (and their man-hours) off to another game.
This went double for coding staff since MU* code up until recently was a horrorshow.
And it might’ve spilled over into competition for playerbase as no one likes to think they’re wasting their time. Larger playerbase means more opportunities for staff to staff.
All that said, the three times I’ve lost my sanity and staffed on games, I never encountered this sense of competition. Either I was oblivious (very possible) or just lucky to get onto games where this just wasn’t a thing.
@shit-piss-love said in But Why:
Tangentially, this preference is also what has turned me off MU* over time. This could be a whole other thread but going against the grain (ie. from my perspective, providing the Conflict that makes narratives interesting) has a high chance of provoking an equal OOC reaction that gets you gatekept.
I’m not sure if it’s an OOC reaction exactly. I mean, it is, but not in the way you might think. A lot of people RP to get away from RL for a while. Having that bitchy boss or unpleasant customer right there in your fun pretendy times when you’re trying to GET AWAY from just those sorts of people will naturally lead people to avoid such a character. Particularly if you play an iconoclast and not an outright villain, this sense of exasperation can be pretty demoralizing.
It’s not that they don’t like you, they just hate dealing with your character.
There’s not much to do in this case other than make your intentions clear, just like when a scene involves something more heavy like torture. Just say outright: “My character is a hateful, bitter powergobbler who only feels good when making someone else miserable. Is it okay to have a scene of X?”
Alternatively, you can have a character who is both a villain and really likable. It’s hard to do, but when it works it’s great. Londo Mollari from Babylon 5 is a good example (which has been played to great success on MU*s).
… Man, I would kill for a good Babylon 5 MU*.
Rather than a moral imperative, could not informing people of the reasons behind their banning be a practical one?
I mean, MU*ing is a social activity. Having more people in the hobby is good as long as they are good actors. Good actors will naturally wish to improve or at least understand mistakes.
It seems counterproductive from a self-interest standpoint to just throw up your hands and declare that all people who get banned are not worth your time to even put out a “this is what you did wrong” message.
It’s a small effort that could have large dividends in the future.
I SUSPECT they might NOT BE ASKING in GOOD FAITH.
It might be a little more complicated than that. Maybe this is a case of “Stop having fun, guyz!”
Modern Wrongfun, if you will.
He doesn’t enjoy this setting, therefore NO ONE ELSE should!
@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?