@Testament totally unrelated to this nonsense, but I was just thinking about you the other day and am glad to know you’re still kicking around.

TY for poking your head out.

@Faraday said in AI PBs:

But there’s a big difference between “I understand the harm that Amazon does but I still choose to use it because (reasons, which may even be wholly justified given your personal situation)” and “I don’t get why everyone keeps saying Amazon is a big deal; it really does no harm when I order from them; people are just overreacting.”

There’s also a big difference between “I don’t purchase things from Amazon” and “I feel that people who purchase things from Amazon are enabling corruption and exploitation.”

And I think that’s why you have people responding the way they are. The upstream problem is Midjourney, but there’s a sense in this thread that players who use it are somehow to blame for that corruption.

people with AI PBs : steal from artists :: people who shop on Amazon : run a sweatshop

Midjourney : steals from artists :: Amazon : runs a sweatshop

It may not be intentional, but that’s how it comes across, and why I personally felt the need to defend my use of image generators.

I’m not a bad person! I just can’t do art and get bored!

Edit to add - @sao enmeshed is a great way to put it. They’re so everywhere that even actively trying to avoid them doesn’t always work.

@Tez ooooh! Thank you for the tip! Added to the knowledge bank.

It’s a jungle out here. (get it??? cuz the Amazon is like a jungle and the company is called…)

@Faraday said in AI PBs:

If you want to boycott Amazon…

I do this. It was a huge inconvenience at first, as it’s really hard to find anything for sale online not through Amazon. Like, I’ve even bought things off Etsy that turned out to just be repackaged Amazon stuff.

I don’t judge MUSHers who still use AWS or bought their keyboard off Amazon just because I choose not to engage with that company. Not everyone can or should make the same choices I do.

@Faraday said in AI PBs:

We can each choose what causes are important to us.

And how we engage with people who align differently.

@lordbelh said in AI PBs:

I’m more comfortable using an AI generated image than the image of a real person who didn’t in any way agree to be used in that way.

I’m not sure I’m more comfortable, but you touch on why I really waffle on the whole “we’re still using someone else’s copyrighted work.”

Something like 15 years ago, I took two copyrighted images of Ben Affleck and Ray Stevenson and clipped them together (very badly) so it looks like they’re kissing. I don’t think either of them would have consented to the existence of this image, and now one of them is dead, so he definitely can’t.

Today, I’d ask Midjourney to create the same image and it’d probably take about the same amount of time and probably create close to the same image I did.

I know that people are going to insist that using MJ is more exploitative of artists because it was trained on artists’ work without consent, etc., but Ben Affleck and Ray Stevenson are also artists, and I never paid them for their likenesses; the photographer who took the pictures I snipped and clipped is an artist, and I never paid them for their work; nor the websites I right-clicked to take the hosted art from to begin with…

I dunno. It feels like a weird hill for MUSHers to want to die on. It’s a writing hobby.

@Third-Eye said in AI PBs:

I can’t make myself care.

+1

I like this site for idle scrolling: https://eternal-lust.tumblr.com/fcdirectory

• Address: pern.gaslightswitch.com port 4201
• Portal: https://pern.gaslightswitch.com/

We have a few people looking to play Impression on-camera, so we’ll be running a hatching in August, with events kicking off in earnest on the 29th of June.

It’s a good time to join if you’ve ever wanted to play Candidacy, Impression and weyrlinghood as a character arc. Our “process” is low-key, so you won’t need to write an app or jump through any hoops. Just create a character, sign up to Impress, and go about your regular RP.

We also have a few big story moments coming up in July, so it’s a good time to join if you’ve ever wanted to play Pern regardless of Candidacy.

@Roz said in World Tone / Feeling:

But we did make some pretty big changes over the years, both in regards to regaining magic in the setting and in pretty notable cultural shifts, such as restoring the Lost Gods to the Faith and all the plots surrounding thralldom in the Mourning Isles.

I’m curious if you can share any specific examples of player actions driving this. (NB: I don’t know if you were staff on Arx. I think no? But I am looking for player perspectives if people have them.) Was this something players started and staff facilitated? Was it part of the metaplot plan all along and waiting for players to engage with it? Genuinely curious.

@Tez Thanks for the examples. I love the idea of the visual look of the game matching the story and the temporary room descs.

@Roadspike Those are good conceptual examples. Can you share any specific examples from the perspective of you, as a player?

@Jumpscare Also thanks! I appreciate the examples. I’d be really curious to hear about it from the player side - not “they” but “us.”

Admittedly, as a player, this isn’t something that drives my RP (I don’t want my character to be the star of a plot; it makes me feel uncomfortable), but I do have an example to share of how I think it was done well.

On Horror 2, everything we did affected the apartment complex. We were really in charge of the scenery (other than Brett doing his Kool-Aid Man charge through the wall, but that just set the stage imo). Doors remained locked or unlocked, monsters directly responded to PC actions, and the tension of the story was at least partially predicated on the worry that the fellow PCs would do something dumb and get us all killed.

To bring this long post full circle: this is the world tone/feeling that I also prefer. I thrive in D A R K settings where the world seems bleak and the last glimmer of hope is dying right before our eyes… but it’s ultimately about a setting that creates a good backdrop for character interactions.

I want a world where I can have my Bar RP without actually having to set foot in a bar. We can talk about what happened in the last scene (“Me and @Pyrephox’s PC got into a fight 'cause that’s how we ROLL.”) while moving into the next one (…KB explains while painting a smiley on the ICBM she plans to use to retaliate.) without ever having to stop for exposition.

tl;dr thank you for the examples! Please keep them coming!

@Roadspike said in World Tone / Feeling:

if the world is dark, I want to be able to make positive change (even if it’s small); if the world is bright, I want there to be a little grittiness to it as well.

People seem to be saying this a lot, so I’m kinda curious what “touch the world” mean in terms of MUSH gameplay.

Can you share some concrete examples from a player perspective of what this looks like on a MUSH?

I know a lot of us have run games over the years and probably think we’ve done this from an admin perspective, but I’d love to hear some player-side examples of this in effect on a MUSH.

I’m much more of a storyTELLER than storyPLAYER, and I’d love to be better at making stories responsive.

@dvoraen said in General Video Game Thread:

I need to know what everyone who has finished Clair Obscur — Expedition 33 felt about the story right meow.

(No spoilers. FEELINGS ONLY.)

I had a lot.

33/10 story.

I loved it. I had to walk away and compose myself before I could finish it, because it’s really hard to hit that perfect parry when the tears stream.

Again, thanks for the recommendation, @dvoraen

@Tez said in Ot The Real, Gorilla Nems Ban Thread:

I hate knowing that admitting this makes them happy.

I doubt anything makes folks like that particularly happy. Gleeful, maybe, but enh. I get gleeful over petty shit all the time, and it makes me about as “happy” as a bite of peanut brittle. Pride brings me happiness. I’m guessing this person doesn’t know that feeling, and that’s why they’re settling for pettily gleeful. Hopefully, they find something that teaches them the difference someday.

Happy Pride Month, everyone!

I know the resume-post usually means nothing but… I’m a data analyst who’s spent the last several years on a project examining incoming customer surveys alongside operational KPIs. When this topic opened, I cringed but thought it’d be fine FOR FUN.

It might be interesting. But that’s not the same as insightful.

So please read any interpretation of the results with about as much gravity as you would a personality quiz: FUN but not REAL.

Just checking my understanding: current plan is automating creation/login via a “tour” command, with a customizable config for autogenerated names? Seems like a good solution to me.

Will it both create and login a new user with a single button press? As @Tez mentioned, the easier the better. I think people will balk at the idea of creating a character AND logging in just to chat (they already do), but if it does all that at once, then cool.

@dvoraen TY for posting this recommendation. I was on the fence about paying for a new game, but you tipped the scales and I bought it a few days ago.

I have not finished it. I am going to!!

But I was playing last night, having a grand time. The gameplay is fun, the scenery is gorgeous, the characters and voice acting are spot on, the universe is intriguing. I’m super loving this! I’ve hit my stride! Each party member has a fun mechanic, I love the synergy of the fight mechanics and how I customized my team to work together and then–

I had to take a wee break after an emotional gut-punch (I’m sure y’all can guess~).

Will tap back in once I get to the end - which, to be clear, the beautifully sad story has only made me more afraid and excited to uncover. I hope it keeps being this devastating.

@Third-Eye said in AI Megathread:

wade through data and do pattern-recognition, but that’s not atm a money-maker for anyone.

This is what I do for a living.

@InkGolem said in AI Megathread:

If it enhances the experience for your scene partner, I don’t think there is any harm.

I’m not even going to try to touch the ethics of how AI are trained. That’s just too much cognitive dissonance for a Tuesday morning.

Instead I’ll just note…

I’m here to play with YOU.
YOU are going to YES-AND with me.
YOU are going to surprise me.
YOU are going to give me feels.

LLMs have never given me feels.*

Please be considerate if you’re going to “enhance your experience” with AI and consider warning your RP partners. Some of us would rather play with raw, unedited prose than the sanitized Han-shoots-first version that ChatGPT thinks is more palatable.

Thank you.

*Other than the time DeepSeek said, “I am what happens when you try to carve God out of the wood of your own hunger,” and I was like “well we’re all fucked now.” Those were some feels. But not the ones I’m going for when I MUSH.

@RedRocket Andor is the only one of the series recommend to a skeptic. The others have some good moments, but Andor breaks the mold.

There are points in the first season where I ugly cry (“one way out” iykyk), and the end of this week’s three episode drop had me crying and cheering out loud. The whole show is just very well executed.

It is dark and romantic and scary and hopeful.

@Ominous Duels were the one thing on the list that didn’t strike me as “Bar RP” (social fluff).

attend balls
gossip amongst themselves
participate in duels
attend events to showcase their brilliance to the royal family
and plot against one another

Just strikes me as more of a case in point as to how difficult it can be to actually come up with what will people DO.

I think we’re talking about different things at this point. What counts as Bar RP in an L&L setting is not the discussion I was trying to have.

@Ominous I realize we’re talking about a game that doesn’t exist. And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for staff to facilitate social fluff.

Just that 4/5 of these sound like the L&L equivalent of Bar RP: “attend balls, gossip amongst themselves, participate in duels, attend events to showcase their brilliance to the royal family, and plot against one another”