For me, it’s seeing the headache from OOC drama that staff are forced to deal with.

Like, it’s not enough that you need to code/update/write for a game, and generate excitement with players even when you yourself are drained from RL and don’t even feel like RPing, but you HAVE TO because otherwise you are letting down your players (to be clear, you’re not, but this is the mindset), and all of the other sacrifices you have to make for a game to run well.

But you also have to moderate fights on the junior high school level of maturity like “this character flirted with my IC boyfriend and so now I have to find a way to convince other players that she’s awful so people stop RPing with her”.

I just want to write compelling stories for players, and not have to be navigate cliques, OOC drama, mental health issues, etc.

So I stick to just writing up plotlines and running them as a player, and every once in a while inspiration hits for a campaign and I run it for 3-4 friends on Discord. That scratches my itch.

But yeah, dealing with the amped up drama of a bunch of people who never have to face the repercussion of what they do because the other people involved are on the other side of a keyboard? Not my circus, not my monkeys.

@IoleRae said in Bannings:

Not talking about it further, but I have to say: thanks guys. A+++ community response, very helpful, much appreciated, I am feeling safer instead of worse things again. You guys really are great.

Yeah. Starting to see why y’all keep the guard up now. Prior question answered.

Crazy shit, though. Who puts that much effort into trying to pull this? Yikes.

@Prototart said in Comic Games Are Fun!:

After about 24 hours with no response:

You paged Shakespeare with ‘Please let me know when you’re available to speak.’
Idle message from Shakespeare: Currently idle, please try again later!
Shakespeare (S) pages: I’m in my final day of prepping for a coding interview tomorrow, I won’t be able to deal with much mush stuff until after it’s done.
Shakespeare (S) pages: Reminds me I need to put my idle back up.
You paged Shakespeare with ‘So, I’ll speak to you on the day after tomorrow, then? Or would you prefer I just not, and all this goes away until the next time he explodes on someone?’
Shakespeare (S) pages: I made time yesterday to get a response to you so you weren’t waiting longer to hear anything. I don’t have time now. After my interview tomorrow I’ll look at what you’ve sent and we can discuss it.
You paged Shakespeare with ‘Works for me.’

so, it’s going great!

Just to be clear - someone who is literally prepping for a job interview took time out of their job prep to write a fairly extensive response to you (in order that you didn’t wait too long on a response), and is now politely asking you to wait a day more until after said job interview for follow-up, on an issue involving a game that is not really time sensitive as there are no deadlines for you resolving your character issue?

I get that the response from the other staff person was not super professional, and the situation itself is frustrating.

But it sounds like this Shakespeare person went above and beyond at first, and honestly did more than I probably would if I were a staffer at a game and I was worried about something in my professional career.

Isn’t almost every motto “RL comes first” ?

A game using The Magicians IP - a world of magic users with competing agenda, and oh wait there’s a fantasy land we can dip into.

I’m not sure if one has ever been attempted (I feel like there was probably at least an ATTEMPT at everything at some point), but I’d play the heck out of that.

A nerd RPing as a nerd who gets to nerd out about his nerd thing being real is TIGHT.

@Herja said in MU Peeves Thread:

I love big crowd scenes. I love one-on-one scenes. I am terrible in middle-sized group scenes because in RP, I either want a lot to react to (thanks, ADHD) or I want to dig deep into what makes the other PC tick. Mid-sized scenes that seem to dissolve into the RP equivalent of small talk, unless we are actively doing something, just lose me entirely.

So much this. If I’m interacting in a crowd with one or two people, great.

But I cannot follow a group of three or more with threaded conversations that run over ten poses or so without feeling like my pose is just a bullet list of reactions to four different PCs saying something.

To John, he says "…

He agrees with Jane. "…

“…” James gets the stink-eye.

@Solstice said in What stops you from running a game?:

I know my limitations. I can augment other peoples stories, but I fall on my face with creating or driving my own creations.

Forever an editor, not a writer.

It’s like a Quentin Tarantino script doctor. I can’t write a script, but I can add punchy lines.

For me, it’s adding a plot twist.

Them: “I want the Barbarian Princess to go and try to convince the village to defeat the Evil Baron.”

Me: “What if the bartender is the Evil Baron’s bastard son and no one knew, and he harbors resentment and knows where the Baron’s secret tryst estate it?”

Invite me to your brainstorming sessions, but don’t ask me to start.

@hellfrog said in MU Peeves Thread:

The idea of ‘running people off of games’.

I dunno, I definitely have seen this sort of behavior. Usually it’s due to a past interaction, but I’ve seen folks come and join a game and then heard people say “Oh this is THAT person from THIS game and they did THAT thing that time”.

Legacies live for a long time in the MU world, and for all of the players that there are it’s a very small community. Odds are when you are interacting with someone now you probably interacted with them some other place and some other time, and unless they were a pernicious person OOCly it shouldn’t usually matter.

But I can tell you 100% I have seen people do this. I’ve seen games ban RP partners of players because the other player got banned, and so that person was banned “just in case”. That’s not great staffing, and I’m not saying it happens a lot, but it does happen.

The idea of deciding you don’t like someone ‘for no reason’.

You’re definitely right on this. People don’t just randomly decide to dislike someone, so if someone doesn’t like you, it’s because of something you did, and it’s best to just move along. Too often I see people feel like everyone has to like them so when they find that one person who doesn’t, for whatever reason, they end up like John Cusack in High Fidelity wanting to do an autopsy on the interaction and find a way to change their mind.

Like, dude, I just don’t like the way you used bemused or nonplussed in the totally wrong way, but now you’re really pissing me off paging me and asking me why 10 times. Go play with someone else.

@Meg said in Bannings:

@schrodingerscig This all happened two months ago.

In regards to Macha, someone asked? And Macha herself was bringing it up in DMs to strangers?

There’s a few examples throughout the thread. But reading back I saw someone get scolded for asking questions that somehow was taken as bait, so I guess it’s not worth enumerating. I get a good enough sense reading the multiple accounts about these people being brought up.

Was really just a musing about why people are talking about things that happened 10 or so years ago, is all. It seems (at least to me) that there is a ton of finger pointing all around, from a clique, at a clique, near a clique, at a clique that doesn’t exist, etc.

I’m not sure what the value is of all of it, I guess. But maybe I shouldn’t go chasing threads about Bannings and just stick to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used to.

@Prototart said in Comic Games Are Fun!:

@schrodingerscig

Glorified internet chat rooms always come last. It’s not remotely time sensitive, I just find that “made time” line frustrating - like, what? That just rubs me the wrong way. Nobody talked to me, I responded to a job and 24 hours later, when there wasn’t a reply, I asked about it.

The issue is a staffer using the Royal voice to insult and demean me as a representative of the entire game.

100%. And with this added context, it does sound like that’s the problem.

It just seemed like you were upset at the one person going above and beyond to try to make things better, too. And IMO he seemed to really be empathetic.

Although if he’s also ignoring systemic bad behavior, all the platitudes to the player don’t help.

Sorry for butting in there.

@Prototart said in Comic Games Are Fun!:

@schrodingerscig

Glorified internet chat rooms always come last. It’s not remotely time sensitive, I just find that “made time” line frustrating - like, what? That just rubs me the wrong way. Nobody talked to me, I responded to a job and 24 hours later, when there wasn’t a reply, I asked about it.

The issue is a staffer using the Royal voice to insult and demean me as a representative of the entire game.

100%. And with this added context, it does sound like that’s the problem.

It just seemed like you were upset at the one person going above and beyond to try to make things better, too. And IMO he seemed to really be empathetic.

Although if he’s also ignoring systemic bad behavior, all the platitudes to the player don’t help.

Sorry for butting in there.

@Prototart said in Comic Games Are Fun!:

After about 24 hours with no response:

You paged Shakespeare with ‘Please let me know when you’re available to speak.’
Idle message from Shakespeare: Currently idle, please try again later!
Shakespeare (S) pages: I’m in my final day of prepping for a coding interview tomorrow, I won’t be able to deal with much mush stuff until after it’s done.
Shakespeare (S) pages: Reminds me I need to put my idle back up.
You paged Shakespeare with ‘So, I’ll speak to you on the day after tomorrow, then? Or would you prefer I just not, and all this goes away until the next time he explodes on someone?’
Shakespeare (S) pages: I made time yesterday to get a response to you so you weren’t waiting longer to hear anything. I don’t have time now. After my interview tomorrow I’ll look at what you’ve sent and we can discuss it.
You paged Shakespeare with ‘Works for me.’

so, it’s going great!

Just to be clear - someone who is literally prepping for a job interview took time out of their job prep to write a fairly extensive response to you (in order that you didn’t wait too long on a response), and is now politely asking you to wait a day more until after said job interview for follow-up, on an issue involving a game that is not really time sensitive as there are no deadlines for you resolving your character issue?

I get that the response from the other staff person was not super professional, and the situation itself is frustrating.

But it sounds like this Shakespeare person went above and beyond at first, and honestly did more than I probably would if I were a staffer at a game and I was worried about something in my professional career.

Isn’t almost every motto “RL comes first” ?

@IoleRae said in Bannings:

Not talking about it further, but I have to say: thanks guys. A+++ community response, very helpful, much appreciated, I am feeling safer instead of worse things again. You guys really are great.

Yeah. Starting to see why y’all keep the guard up now. Prior question answered.

Crazy shit, though. Who puts that much effort into trying to pull this? Yikes.

@IoleRae said in Bannings:

@schrodingerscig said in Bannings:

Was really just a musing about why people are talking about things that happened 10 or so years ago, is all. It seems (at least to me) that there is a ton of finger pointing all around, from a clique, at a clique, near a clique, at a clique that doesn’t exist, etc.

Could you point me to an example – a quote would be preferred – of where something from ten years ago was mentioned without the context of “it is also happening right now or happened within the last six months”? I am not attempting to be aggressive or rude or scold, I am genuinely asking for you to point at what you are talking about.

Otherwise, the answer to your question is still: because it’s not just ten years ago, it started ten years ago, and continues in the ‘right now’. That’s the answer to your question.

I was responding to a prior comment while you were offering your response, but because I hit submit it appears as if it came after yours. I’m not fast enough to keep up with these conversations.

I guess really my fundamental question was “why does all of it get brought up in the first place” not so much “why is it justifiable to talk about”, but it’s too hard not to conflate the two and I can’t type fast enough to have my response to one comment appear above the two or three other responses talking about other points.

My apologies for bringing it up at all, I’ll just go back to lurking. Safer that way.

@Meg said in Bannings:

@schrodingerscig This all happened two months ago.

In regards to Macha, someone asked? And Macha herself was bringing it up in DMs to strangers?

There’s a few examples throughout the thread. But reading back I saw someone get scolded for asking questions that somehow was taken as bait, so I guess it’s not worth enumerating. I get a good enough sense reading the multiple accounts about these people being brought up.

Was really just a musing about why people are talking about things that happened 10 or so years ago, is all. It seems (at least to me) that there is a ton of finger pointing all around, from a clique, at a clique, near a clique, at a clique that doesn’t exist, etc.

I’m not sure what the value is of all of it, I guess. But maybe I shouldn’t go chasing threads about Bannings and just stick to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used to.

What I don’t understand is why we keep hearing again and again about how certain people did a thing to someone five years ago or ten years ago and how that makes them an awful person today.

Like, I get that some people did some super weird things, and were manipulative, etc. And maybe they haven’t grown out of it, and maybe they have. But if they aren’t actively doing stuff to you, why would you be actively trashing them on here?

Not aimed at a particular person or group because this seems fairly common (and I see the same people doing it that are themselves a target of it, so it’s kind of one big circle that I don’t understand).

It seems like grudges last forever to hear people talk about them.

EDIT: Sorry, this was meant as a general reply to the thread, not to a specific person. Didn’t realize there was a reply and a “reply as a topic” drop down.

@hellfrog said in MU Peeves Thread:

@schrodingerscig said in MU Peeves Thread:

@hellfrog said in MU Peeves Thread:

The idea of ‘running people off of games’.
The staffing example is weird and awk but I’m curious - how does this translate to ‘running someone off a game’? Remembering past interactions sure, it’s the active part of the accusation that always boggles me.

What actions do these people take that causes someone to leave a game? Are you just talking about getting them banned?

My objection is to the idea that disliking someone or not wanting to interact with them is actively trying to make them leave a place.

I think I just misinterpreted what you were saying. I don’t understand the idea that not RPing with someone == running someone off the game, but I guess that’s what you were referring to. It must be something specific I haven’t encountered before.

I thought you were talking about someone actively trying to get someone to leave a game, versus a player perceiving things weird and feeling unwelcome. Certainly, in the context of your comment, that’s definitely that isn’t done, but that someone chooses to have done to them.

A game using The Magicians IP - a world of magic users with competing agenda, and oh wait there’s a fantasy land we can dip into.

I’m not sure if one has ever been attempted (I feel like there was probably at least an ATTEMPT at everything at some point), but I’d play the heck out of that.

A nerd RPing as a nerd who gets to nerd out about his nerd thing being real is TIGHT.

@Solstice said in What stops you from running a game?:

I know my limitations. I can augment other peoples stories, but I fall on my face with creating or driving my own creations.

Forever an editor, not a writer.

It’s like a Quentin Tarantino script doctor. I can’t write a script, but I can add punchy lines.

For me, it’s adding a plot twist.

Them: “I want the Barbarian Princess to go and try to convince the village to defeat the Evil Baron.”

Me: “What if the bartender is the Evil Baron’s bastard son and no one knew, and he harbors resentment and knows where the Baron’s secret tryst estate it?”

Invite me to your brainstorming sessions, but don’t ask me to start.

@Herja said in MU Peeves Thread:

I love big crowd scenes. I love one-on-one scenes. I am terrible in middle-sized group scenes because in RP, I either want a lot to react to (thanks, ADHD) or I want to dig deep into what makes the other PC tick. Mid-sized scenes that seem to dissolve into the RP equivalent of small talk, unless we are actively doing something, just lose me entirely.

So much this. If I’m interacting in a crowd with one or two people, great.

But I cannot follow a group of three or more with threaded conversations that run over ten poses or so without feeling like my pose is just a bullet list of reactions to four different PCs saying something.

To John, he says "…

He agrees with Jane. "…

“…” James gets the stink-eye.