Staff Bits Linking Handles
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Every single time I discovered that a staffer was behind an unmarked player character I felt a sense of violation. I felt like players were automatically presumed to be guilty of something so bad it mandated a system to allow them to be spied upon. Distrust as a default.
I absolutely believe staff deserve to play on the game they help run. I absolutely also believe that they are to be held to a higher standard that should not make them afraid to reveal who they are. If they want to play without that pressure they can go to other games or they can find other outlets or just become a regular player. Nobody forced them to be staff.
Please consider my remarks in light of the notoriously OOC masq-heavy WoD games which make up nearly all of my MUSH experience. And thank you to nearly all staff of the games I’ve been on, because the majority of them were open about these things and their hard work and trust made the fun for me and countless others possible.
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It was a few years ago so I’ll refrain and avoid the drama. I’ve only just started talking and not lurking!
Game didn’t last long. I honestly can’t remember the actual name though I could probably find it with some poking around.
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@MisterBoring said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
@InkGolem said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
I think it absolutely should be considered best practice for staff bits to have an Ares handle linked.
I agree. How would you see this translate into non-Ares games?
Require staff list their characters in a +finger note, minimum… for extra chaos (as a joke), link to a BMD playlist featuring every character they have ever played.
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@Yam said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
Out of curiosity I’m wondering if folk have ever had the opposite reaction of ‘ah him that motherfucker what a tool’, like maybe ‘ah him i love his themes/style/atmosphere i will check it out’.
Everything Darwin and @Wuff. They’re the two that immediately jump to mind, but there’s probably others.
Mummy Pun? MUMMY PUN!
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@Jennkryst said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
@Yam said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
Out of curiosity I’m wondering if folk have ever had the opposite reaction of ‘ah him that motherfucker what a tool’, like maybe ‘ah him i love his themes/style/atmosphere i will check it out’.
Everything Darwin and @Wuff. They’re the two that immediately jump to mind, but there’s probably others.
I’m pretty certain I’ve elicited both reactions.
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@tsar said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
@bear_necessities said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
ETA: I would also play anything @tsar made so long as it’s Janitor: the MUSH. I’m still waiting @tsar
We were janitors once!! And you threw it all away!!!
…wasn’t that literally the job
sorry I have nothing to contribute, I just couldn’t leave that one be.
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@Wizz said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
…wasn’t that literally the job
Cleaners mistake art work for rubbish, throw it out
More on topic and on the subject of staff bits and associating them with characters, I tend not to mind so much but I also typically only really invest my emotional energy in places that are run by people I already trust. If I’m on a Faraday game, for instance, I already have a rough idea of what I can expect from Faraday as far as professionalism, ethics, and so forth. So I don’t tend to worry so much if she decides to spend her downtime playing Ensign Fuggedaboudit rather than her ‘public’ character of Corporal Wordsmith.
What I do hate is when staff have characters in positions of authority. NPCs are a different thing, they’re storytelling tools, but if your personal player character is in a position of authority and you are in a position of OOC authority, I do look upon that with askance. So I can understand expanding that level of suspicion/distrust to staff in a more general sense and becoming frustrated or feeling violated when staff aren’t 100% transparent about everything all of the time.
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@Pavel said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:
NPCs are a different thing, they’re storytelling tools, but if your personal player character is in a position of authority and you are in a position of OOC authority, I do look upon that with askance.
I can understand being wary of that. Heaven knows there have been enough staff shenanigans through the years to warrant such skepticism. But I’ve also been on games where staff PCs were in authority positions and it worked out just fine. I’ve done it myself, though I usually avoid it.
It all depends on the staffer, so I agree it’s nice when you know staff’s reputation. I just prefer if the default “trust-o-meter” is at neutral for someone without an OOC rep rather than “OMG they must have something to hide”.
I still see all of it as kinda separate from Ares player handles. Everyone knew me as Faraday on MUs (from staff char names) looooong before player handles existed. Even on games where staff had wacky themed names, I’d still announce myself in my +finger. And we’ve had alt tracking systems for forever (I already mentioned the auxiliary alt tracker mechanism baked into Ares).
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Once, I staffed under a guy at a superhero game who had his alts in his finger UNTIL he was told that it was a pretty bad look for the head admin of the game to sit in the OOC Lounge and pick petty arguments with players on his alts. After that, he no longer ever publicized his alts.
I don’t think there’s ever a good excuse for staff to not disclose who their alts are, even on pure consent games. It just leaves too much room for shitty behavior.
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@renaveleigh would have been too much to ask to just not pick petty fights with players, huh?
