GraspingVileTerror

I realize my perspective may be a bit skewed compared to the wider roleplay community here, but I think there's something to be said about what your both describing from the other side of the equation, and loops in to what I would offer up as a Favourite Tidbit of Advice: Informed Consent in all things. Given the context of the City setting itself, and the various approaches which players take in examining said setting, I think there's an onus on the player wanting their character to be impressive to articulate clearly why that character should be considered impressive in such a space. And I know that we definitely have a significant number of players who want to -be- the role they're playing, and any amount of out-of-character discussion is an intrusion on that desire, but I will continue to contend that players need to first strike an accord of what's reasonable before any healthy and respectful play may occur between them. (This probably also loops back in to part of why BaRP is so troubling for me. I like a little OOC preamble with my roleplay partners to negotiate the scene before getting "stuck in." I feel a lot more comfortable and confident knowing where the other person draws lines, whether that be in regard to themes and tone, or lore and canon, or just the narrative writing style they want to see employed.) And I do stress the "Informed" part of Informed Consent. Not to put it above the "Consent" part of the equation, as I believe both halves are equally important, but I think the majority of folks tend to focus on the Consent without reasonably addressing the necessary information to ensure the accuracy of the presumed consent.

@Katharos posted this originally, but felt pressured to remove it. I spoke with them in private, and they've given permission for me post it again. (Special thanks to the user who sent this to me while I was at work; otherwise I would have missed this fantastic post entirely!) Thank you, Katharos.

Thank you for pointing out my error, @ZemX. The "fun" in your second quote there should have been in quotation marks to emphasize that I was addressing the reports that World of Warcraft was specifically designed and developed without the leads pushing the narrative to their employees that what they were making would be "fun." It was not my intent to suggest that no players have fun with any aspect of that game, as there absolutely are. Emergent (Game)Play and Found Fun are hugely important aspects of gaming, and factors to account for while developing, even if they're notoriously difficult to predict without having a team of full-time psychologists on your dev team. My intent was to stress that, from discussions I've had at IDGA mixers with people who identified themselves as members of Blizz's team at the time, that the professional push they were given was "follow the design document, we've had psyche professionals tailor this to our fiscal plans." I was trying to say "the game was made without the devs there being told 'fun is the objective' as a change from standard industry protocol." Players will find their own fun in ANYTHING. That's the nature of fun and the nature of play. And again just reinforces that true, actual fun is subjective and personal. Folks may recall that while there was a bit of an MMO "gold rush" following Blizz's success there, it wasn't until close to the end of the decade that other publishers learnt the real source of the success was the psychological manipulation that the game was designed for. Since then, Acti-Blizz has laser-focused on that* and other publishers have pushed their studios to discover new and terrifying ways to manipulate people. When I left, it was not uncommon for a publisher to have a few people on payroll who were certified psychiatrists, rather than just one-off contract consultants. *(Remember the D3 auction house and the "don't you guys have phones" faux pas? That was a pretty big peek behind the curtain.)

On your next run, try sending a Tell like "Boop." when you drop off the present. You'll probably see more responses that way, albeit more than a few will probably be "?" or something like that. At this point you can say "Nothing to worry about. Just check your Enhancement Inventory." At that point, I think you'll see a lot more "Thank you" messages, or the "oh geez, are you sure?" (I get a LOT of those), or the occasional "Hold on, let me give it back. I don't need this." At least, that's been my experience when dropping gifts in to strangers' pockets.

I may be wrong, but I don't think we've even seen any new animations since Sunset. The few new emotes that showed up during SCoRE were made by the Legacy Devs and were already in the beta files, as I understand it. So, on top of the challenges associated with Whip animations in particular, we might not have -any- new animations for a while yet. I personally don't mind recycling animations within a single Set, though. I mean, works fine for Assault Rifle. I'm fine with in for a new Whip Set. I just know there are some players who express a very firm opinion contrary to mine in this regard. In any event, there was @Steampunkette's very interesting take on the idea a little while ago this year: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/27171-whip-melee-because-whips-are-cool/ Which, in turn, inspired my version: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/13484-eco-friendly-powerset-recycling/page/18/?tab=comments#comment-347203

Then let's just call it "splitting hairs," yeah? Would you be interested in sharing your personal experiences in regard to the proposed thread topic, @Blackbird71?

Just a reminder: "Fun" isn't the only metric by which I want people to discuss their play experiences. Enjoyment. Engagement. Retention. "Having a good time." "Being happy." Whatever you want to talk about in this vein. However you feel while playing. What the game does to make you feel that way. What other people do. Focus on the good stuff for now, please. The kinds of things you like that keep you here. And if you're here and you -don't- like it . . . well, now might also be a good time to reflect on that, and ask whether you're better off here or exploring other activities with your time. But mostly I'd like this thread to be an examination of the positive attractors.

Thanks for reminding me, @Doomguide2005! https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/22170-oldest-player-contest/

What's "AARP?" Something in the u.s.?

Not 50, yet. But getting uncomfortably close.

It's not time to go back to Meta yet. Gonna be a couple years, before then, I expect. Was there a particular reason you suggest that, though, @Glacier Peak? Were you going to be able to tell us about your personal fun too?

Nah! Don't worry, @Luminara. Your post is very insightful and appreciated. Thank you for sharing! Who knows? Maybe some of the answers from other users in this thread will also help you find some answers of your own.

It's probably a little premature of me to post this right now, and while it might come across as a little incendiary, I do think it's a topic worth discussing in this forum. Apologies in advance if things get heated in here, and standard boilerplate: Let's try to keep this civil. Please? ------- My time in the games industry really soured me to this word. It was trotted out as a justification and an excuse for harmful decisions, or made to serve narratives designed to undermine alternatives solutions to common problems. All the way from top to bottom it was bludgeoned over the heads of every employee, being wielded by publishers, managers, and execs as a whip to keep dissenting voices quiet. And even for years after Blizzard -proved- you can be monstrously successful by making something that is decidedly -not- fun, but still rake the cash in hand-over-fist with "engagement"*, "fun" was still used to silence criticism internally at every place I worked. *(I'll be honest, I don't remember if it was Blizz or someone else who started pounding that particular drum, but I digress . . . ) Meanwhile, the concept of "fun" is completely personal and subjective. Each of us enjoy different things, and even enjoy otherwise similar things in different ways. And fun is just one form of enjoyment. And it's not like the people in charge of the places I worked weren't aware of this truth. They just didn't like to hear it. They'd rather wield the "Fun Hammer" for their own ends. While I've been out for . . . shit, what? Eight years? Am I at nine yet? While I've been out for a while now, and haven't really got the same insights in to what's going on behind closed doors, I have at least noticed the public-facing discourse to be using terms like "engagement," or "retention," or "games as service" becoming more common. And, hey! Credit where credit is due; those terms are a HELLUVA lot more honest than the "fun" that was constantly thrown around willy-nilly. I've actually been pretty pleased with this community avoiding "The F-word" by and large in most discussions, but it still crops up from time to time. And there seem to be some players who post in such a way as to suggest that there is: "One True Fun" and nothing else. So, in an effort to try and dispel that myth, and encourage thoughtful examination of the game, the community, and all that we've built around ourselves here . . . I wanted to get the ball rolling on a little frank discussion about where folks draw their personal lines on things that are "fun" and "not fun," what's enjoyable, what's engaging, what keeps them around, and then ask them to consider peeling those thoughts apart, and examine them with a fine-tooth comb (if you're up for that, at least). (Full disclosure: I wanted to do some more groundwork with that research series I had started last month, but looking at my current workloads and limited free time, I think I'll just have to cut to the chase and bring this discussion up now, as-is.)

I think that would be most excellent, @CrystalDragon! Thank you for proposing a use for the Roleplay-a-Day. I know I haven't been making full use of it . . . *looks sheepish*

Or, if not disable, some way to rebind it. I certainly -like- the feature . . . I just wish I didn't trigger it accidentally so often.

Did you also test this with the non-Superior version, or how the two interact with one another?

I don't know if anyone else uses this parlance, but to build off of what @teamtr said: I've long championed the term "Natural Stopping Point" in regard to a place in a roleplay narrative that is ideal for calling things to a close in such a way as to not disrupt the overall narrative. Like the end of a chapter in a book, or the break before commercial in a slow-paced television show. Doesn't need to have a cliffhanger, but those can help if you want to pick things up again later. The term has also allowed for a bit of shorthand along the lines of "this seems like a good natural stopping point," or "do you think we can get to a natural stopping point in the next half hour?" And the best thing about it; I've very rarely ever had to explain what it was to another roleplayer. The language is preloaded to be self-explanatory in most situations.

As an attempt to get a ray of sunshine in here, and maybe move the topic toward something productive: @Super Atom, thank you for sharing that you met your spouse through this game. PvP in particular. I think it's important to focus on truths such as that one, for everyone, when we're discussing various parts of the game which hold personal importance to us.

[NPC] Rhona: All I said was, you've got no plot, no meaning, and no characters. Then she hit me! [NPC] Eliana: Man, this Shakespeare guy really knew how it was.

At least with the Death From Below and Drowning in Blood Trials you can invite while it's already in progress. I find that helps significantly.

I think an interesting, if perhaps convoluted solution, to the issue with Bases being built in such a way as to give one side a distinct advantage is that: A) No-clipping during building is disabled, so there is no building above or below the map. B) No internal teleporters. C) (and this is the kicker) the Base Builder must be able to successfully raid their own base within 1/4 of the normal allotted time for a Base Raid. If the person who built the base can't do it under test conditions, then the base isn't available for PvP until reconfigured. But also they need to find a way to fix Pet pathing in bases, or it's just a non-starter entirely.

Brutalistpunk? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

I am concerned about the implied messaging of a dragon handling a cat in an edible wrapping . . .

Another wholehearted agreement from me on this. More options is best options!

Decopunk?