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An Arx Peeve Thread
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Mostly I feel like people just have really different cultural expectations about Discord and I’m sometimes uncomfortable with an unspoken expectation that I be present on it rather than the game. I worked with a staffer who had VASTLY DIFFERENT OOC boundaries regarding it and it made me really uncomfortable, though the headwiz eventually created a standard I was OK with. This feels like a thing that’s going to become more prevalent rather than less as time goes on, though. Especially with more tools for game/Discord integration.
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@Tez said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
@Third-Eye said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
@Herja said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
The boundary I use is that if I am logged in to the game, I am available for questions whether those are requests or pages (which I might tell someone to request instead). If I am not logged in, then I am not available.
This is SO IMPORTANT TO ME and it’s one of the things that makes me feel really squiggly about the normalization of pinging people on Discord, since you’re never technically ‘logged off’.
THIS IS BAD. DON’T PING PEOPLE ON DISCORD FOR STAFF THINGS. STOP IT.
I mean if you want to, @Testament, that’s your choice and with smaller games it’s less of an issue, maybe. I’ve totally used Discord as the communication medium of choice on private games. I’m on a game doing that right now!!
But when people start doing that on a one-off, holy fuck, do my alarms and sirens go off and I want to build walls around people. LEAVE THEM ALONE HOLY FUCK.
Yeah. Even as a player, I’ve had to tell people - people I like! - that look, I try to keep game stuff ON THE GAME, and please don’t reach out to me on Discord about game stuff if I’m not logged on, or whatever. Usually, if I’m not logged on a game, there’s a reason for it!
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@Testament said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
By no means am I trying to present myself as substitute consoler. But I do know that sometimes people just want to talk at someone. Maybe because I know what it’s like to be absolutely isolated with only your own thoughts. Or maybe because I myself have problems talking with people or hell, making friends. I dunno, maybe my opinion will change once or even if it happens more.
Oh, no. I totally get where you’re coming from. I also really don’t mind doing this for players a lot of the time.
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@farfalla said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
@Tez I can barely fathom paging a staffer. I would die before I sent a discord message to one.
Edit: Oh wait. I actually did once, fk. When my stalker showed up on Arx and there was no staff on. Sorry to staffer I discorded. Gonna go discord them to apologize.
Stalker showing up warranted the 911 ping, so if anyone holds it against you, they are jerks.
It’s like when someone texts you with 'call me it’s important and you think somebody died, but they just want to ask what is for dinner. Totally different, and one is valid.
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@farfalla It can be draining.
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So there’s like 3 Thrax war events all lined up next week. Not that I have any desire to participate in 2 of the 3 but one does wonder 3 in a 7 day period might be a bit much.
I’m having to pull out support for one group of people because I have to see to my own area, and that kinda feels like I’m leaving people hangin’ but it’s not like I really have much of a choice either.
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@Rucket said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
So there’s like 3 Thrax war events all lined up next week. Not that I have any desire to participate in 2 of the 3 but one does wonder 3 in a 7 day period might be a bit much.
I’m having to pull out support for one group of people because I have to see to my own area, and that kinda feels like I’m leaving people hangin’ but it’s not like I really have much of a choice either.
There’s a lot of people on the game so I kind of feel like the idea that people will probably need to pick 1 of 3 to participate in is probably by design/part of the point. The IC reality is that characters would have to choose their battles.
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That is exactly the point. Going forward, a lot more of the story on Arx is going to be about what your character chooses since we are making it impossible to do everything by design. Those choices, to me, are the interesting part of the story.
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@Rucket said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
So there’s like 3 Thrax war events all lined up next week. Not that I have any desire to participate in 2 of the 3 but one does wonder 3 in a 7 day period might be a bit much.
I’m having to pull out support for one group of people because I have to see to my own area, and that kinda feels like I’m leaving people hangin’ but it’s not like I really have much of a choice either.
Two of the three are player STed plots, so they schedule pretty much whenever the STs are able to do so. And yeah, it’s generally to give people a wide variety of plot to jump into and to also create scenarios where you’re choosing.
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I mean, I don’t have the desire to participate in every one of the scenes that get pulled up, but I guess it would be nice to feel like things can be mentally digested/RPd about as well.
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There will be plenty of downtime after if things follow along previous patterns. It is good to have these bursts imo because it does make people have to prioritize and choose. A lot of the pivotal story event bursts are like that in my observation. But the RP fodder is present now, and will be for quite some time after, even after the spotlight turns elsewhere, at least in my experience.
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If multiple battles are happening in a short period of time off in Thrax somewhere (Idk I assume, I haven’t been paying attention), people in Arx wouldn’t hear about them until all of them were over, anyway.
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As already mentioned, we do want to get folks to have to make choices on where and what they throw their efforts behind. That’s going to be an adjustment (and a big adjustment in some cases), because I think until recently a lot of people have felt obligated - either because their PC holds certain leadership positions, or just because they don’t want to miss out - to try to get in on and keep up with everything going on. This hasn’t ever really been possible, but I think it’s much more noticeable now.
The staff GM’d war scenes are being fairly spaced out, what you’re seeing is a plethora of PRPs related to it, which is a continuation of what was largely started with Bastion, where various player STs take on chunks of the plot itself with staff oversight. By design, this allows for more scenes, but it can feel pretty overwhelming if you’re approaching it from the angle of ‘I’ve got to keep up with all of this or else I’ll miss out/not know things my PC needs to know’.
I know going all Hakuna Matata with my advice is probably not very helpful, but I do think it will shake out and feel a bit more manageable as things go on.
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I hope everyone has fun with the Mourning Isles events! I just wish I could go to one.
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@Evilgrayson Nothing has popped up in your time zone?
I draw things! http://www.mahaldoodles.com
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@crawfish Nothing I can see.
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@crawfish Being in the same timezone as them, sadly not.
8pm server = 1am UK
There may be others that are private that start earlier, but looking over the events calendar those are the ones that I found.
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Before the civil war, events specific to the isles were incredibly sparse. A few STs ran events now and again, but unless you were part of their core group or had connections to other fealties, you were stuck with parties on the grid.
The civil war is an incredible opportunity for a metric ton of roleplay. That is good. Full stop. Not seizing this opportunity is a crazy concept to me.
Realistically, the civil war STs have deadlines. Some stories are going to require multiple events. Those events need to be done within a specific period of time. STs are coordinating dates and times to prevent significant overlap.
I am also 100% with staff on this one. War requires commitments. You can’t be everywhere at once. You are going to win and lose. You could potentially strain some IC relationships based upon the decisions you make for your house. But that’s okay! It’s good roleplay.
This is easily the most fun I’ve had in Arx in 2 years.
Source, for the sake of disclosure and potential bias: am Mourning Isles ST.
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@Anhedonia said in An Arx Peeve Thread:
Before the civil war, events specific to the isles were incredibly sparse. A few STs ran events now and again, but unless you were part of their core group or had connections to other fealties, you were stuck with parties on the grid.
My best suggestion is if you want a story in the Mourning Isles, and aren’t sure how to get started, is to ask for a player storyteller on the PRP board, or straight up ask a player storyteller if they have time (stlist/st), especially if you have an idea of what it is you want to do. That last part is key as it helps us as GMs build stories for you. Hunting pirates? Awesome! Discovering some new island? Great! Wanting to fight evil forces? You got it!
Some of us might be a bit overwhelmed, but we’re happy to help find someone who can help you. You do not need an org’s permission to have a story in that area. You can just run with it. Right now we’re waiting for the new PRP submission guidelines, but you could start talking to STs to get things lined up for when those become open.
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