Staff Bits Linking Handles

Pavel

@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.

Faraday

@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).

renaveleigh

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.

chorus

@renaveleigh would have been too much to ask to just not pick petty fights with players, huh?

Prototart

@chorus said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

@renaveleigh would have been too much to ask to just not pick petty fights with players, huh?

for the kind of people who tend to run superhero games, yes, that is way too much to ask or expect or even to hope for

(tend to, coin is cool)

dvoraen

@Ashkuri said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

In my opinion, if you hate me then it’s best you’re able to identify me and the game I run. I don’t want people on my game that hate me. You don’t want to be on my game if you hate me!

I understand that some unlinked staff may feel differently, for privacy reasons, or for whatever reasons, that is their choice. But for me personally, healthier ecosystem all around if people can go “ah, him, that motherfucker, what a tool” and steer clear.

I think this basically sums it up for me here. The real-world comparison that came to mind to me is: “ok but who owns the business?” “You don’t need to know.” when it comes to staff privacy and not knowing who they are. It’s not a perfect comparison, but along that line of thinking. “How do I know you’re not Asshat X running YetAnotherThemeGame?” “Don’t worry about it.”

Juniper

Everyone except me should link their handles.

InkGolem

@dvoraen

This is exactly the point I’m making. If I am going to putting in the time and effort in a game, I want to know whose house I’m in.

Faraday

@dvoraen said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

“ok but who owns the business?” “You don’t need to know.”

I view it more as: “Who owns this business?” “No clue. <shrug>”

Which is honestly how I feel about most businesses. Most places do not plaster their owner’s identity on their front door, and most patrons just don’t care.

There’s nothing wrong with caring. By all means, give your business to a place that you’re not comfortable with. I just reject the notion that not advertising your OOC identity is some kind of shady practice.

Yam

I figure the handle being prominent, right after the name on all channels with every message has probably shifted the expectations a bit, as opposed to an alt list tucked into a finger.

Third Eye

Believe you me everybody still knew who the staff alts were before handles most of the time.

I guess this is why I find the subterfuge Neon engaged in so silly, in addition to being a red flag. People are gonna find out 90% of the time.

ham

@Faraday I think there’s a pretty big difference between a business you go to for a few minutes to an hour at a time, and a hobby where you may spend a significant amount of your leisure time.

MUSHing isn’t a business. It is an extremely niche hobby that new people rarely find. Most if not all of us have had intensely negative experiences with one or more players, some of which even extend to RL doxxing and stalking.

I don’t think that means everyone in it needs to be completely transparent about who they are at all times, but comparing a MUSH gamerunner to a business owner is not very apt imo.

Faraday

@ham I didn’t start the business owner analogy, I was responding to a previous comment. Any kind of RL analogy is going to be flawed because once you meet the people in person you can be like: “Oh no, not Harvey again. I’m out.”

You’re never going to get that same 1-1 correspondence in an online system. What we’ve been talking about is whether staff OWES people that same level of transparency.

I think being transparent is a good way to build trust. I think being cautious around staffers you don’t know is reasonable. I just don’t think “they have no handle therefore they have something to hide” is appropriate or fair. YMMV.

Yam

@Third-Eye said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

People are gonna find out 90% of the time.

Yeah, they will eventually, it’s hard to really “hide” here. But the discussion has brought up examples of players unknowingly interacting with staff characters and feeling a certain way about it. They’re talking about that sliver of time when people don’t know.

Eventually people will pair person to character. We have a personality fingerprint that’s hard to smudge, at least long term.

But clearly some folk didn’t sign up for hidden staff characters, where it might take a little while to actually pair staff to character. It got paired, clearly! They know now. But they didn’t. And that was the issue.

Pavel

@Yam said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

I figure the handle being prominent, right after the name on all channels with every message has probably shifted the expectations a bit, as opposed to an alt list tucked into a finger.

Ares isn’t the be all and end all, it’s one system among many and the others don’t have a handle with history attached.

Yam

@Pavel This makes me want to run a poll to see how many folk are actively RPing on Ares games right now vs anything else.

dvoraen

@ham Yeah, it was not a perfect comparison I made, but even in the business world your reputation can precede you as to who will want to do business with you. (I can think of an example here, but that is tangential.)

I did insinuate some bad faith with the made-up dialogue, true, but it was more to illustrate the point where if something comes up with the metaphorical business dealing and I get cagey answers about who is managing and/or owning it…

Jennkryst

@Yam said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

We have a personality fingerprint that’s hard to smudge,

Wot?

I feel attacked.

hellfrog

for someone infamous, hiding would mean actually changing the behaviors they became known for, AND not being weirdly preoccupied with their former characters/reps.

I feel like it’s possible, but we’ve never seen it happen.

Pavel

@hellfrog said in Staff Bits Linking Handles:

I feel like it’s possible, but we’ve never seen it happen.

I think that the people on the scale we’re talking about would have to have something fundamental to themselves or their lives change for such an evolution to happen. And that would likely coincide with their interests changing to the point that they leave MUing and go on to write books or something.