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@Pavel / @Gashlycrumb
‘The Michael Jordan of Drunk Driving’ by AJJ
The Michael Jordan of drunk driving played his final game tonight.
Emburdened[sic] by his loneliness,
he wanted to feel alive;
His laziness built the pyramids
and his solitude was a knife.
The Michael Jordan of drunk driving played his final game tonight.
@somasatori I dunno, I think it’s a stupid people problem a lot more than it is a power parity problem. Drunk drivers don’t care about the speed limit.
The issue is one of power parity and stat comparison in most cases. Werewolf would not have a pvp problem most of the time without Vampire or Mage. Vampire would not have a PVP problem if people stopped playing Vampire. Mage would not have a PVP problem without Vampires and Werewolves. We need to stop making big multi-sphere games.
@Prototart said in Numetal/Retromux:
@Pavel said in Numetal/Retromux:
@hellfrog Mage is also a problem. I don’t hear much about Changeling, but I don’t play much changeling so it’s not really in my echo chamber.
Changeling can be several different kinds of problem. Think Disney adults.
do you feel like they are equal problems
@Pavel said in Numetal/Retromux:
@hellfrog Mage is also a problem. I don’t hear much about Changeling, but I don’t play much changeling so it’s not really in my echo chamber.
Changeling can be several different kinds of problem. Think Disney adults.
@hellfrog Mage is also a problem. I don’t hear much about Changeling, but I don’t play much changeling so it’s not really in my echo chamber.
To your point, though, I think large-scale antagonisms could well be a large part of the issue. At least in nWoD and CofD (which is a stupid name) the different supernatural groups don’t really care about each other all that much—because there’s no metaplot really.
is it WoD…or is it vampire/werewolf that are the real problem
Someone once told me (paraphrased) that the primary difference between maintaining OOC respect for your fellow players after a PVP/tense situation at a LARP and maintaining OOC respect and kindness towards your fellow MUSHers in the same situation is that MUSHers are not obligated to sit in a booth with each other at IHOP at 2am after we’ve finished our scenes.
Anonymity can be a real motivator in being a serious asshole towards others – which is interesting, because I’m fairly certain we’ve all known each other (or of each other) for the better part of a decade (which is perhaps also what leads to PVP situations).
That said, PVP is a difficult one. On one hand, if you explicitly prohibit PVP in a WoD environment, it takes some of the bite out of inter-sphere relations. On the other hand, allowing for a no-holds-barred environment will make the game – from examples I’ve seen – into a tedious free-for-all. I’m not sure if it’s just my perception based on the people I talk to, but I feel like interest in PVP has dropped off in the last little while.
I think the most challenging thing you can do in a the MU format is run a game that allows open pvp between players that dislike one another, are encouraged to do so because of theme, and not have it turn into an environment where players despise one another. This is compounded by staffers who do not see a point in trying, and players who enjoy the game exactly because of the environment it produces rather than in spite of it.
My own experience is that WoD is a special sort of disaster.
But Lords & Ladies is also a special sort of disaster.
Original theme is a special sort of disaster, too.
Comic books, star wars, star trek, urban fantasy, even bloody neanderthals are their own special sorts of disasters as well, and don’t get me started on Pern.
The theme of any given game tends to suggest the sorts of disasters you’ll get there. Some are pretty universal - sex pests are everywhere, as are the power-hungry who believe that might makes right - but some themes lend themselves to certain behaviours.
I’ve seen as many horrific abuses of staff power in Original Themes as I have in Urban Fantasy; having The Character Who Is The Focus Of The Story lends itself to certain behaviours, whether that character’s actually on grid or not. Unwarranted OOC viciousness? Lords and Ladies wins there, hands down, because people who just have to be the prettiest princess can’t all be the prettiest princess, and if you don’t fall over yourself to worship the one right in front of you some of them will get very upset and think it’s perfectly justified to try and destroy you whether you’re a rival or some poor sod caught in the crossfire. Still, several of the other genres aren’t that far behind. It’s just that WoD is the thread that most of us have in common and WoD is where these boards started, so WoD is the shared understanding and the shared scars.
