Best Of
Re: Lusternian AMA
Back with more AMA questions!
- What is the best gift your character has received, and why?
- What makes your character the villain in someone else's story?
- If your character was listed on TV Tropes, which entries would they be listed under?
Lantra
2
Re: Timequake Tally (Mudlet)
Are you familiar with spairs, built in to Mudlet? Allows for sorted iterating of tables. Defaults to alphabetical (string), but you can provide whatever sort function you like. May be easier/better than including a whole nother package to import.
demonnic
1
MudletWTTR - see the current r/l weather in a miniconsole in Mudlet
Have you ever wanted to know what the weather was like in reality, but didn't want to look away from your fantasy life? I've got you, fam.
Someone showed me wttr.in which displays weather in neat text format. And so my first thought was of course "How do I get this in my Mudlet?"
Some have asked me.. "Why?" and to them I say... "Why not?"
It's just cool.
And MudletWTTR was born. https://github.com/demonnic/MudletWTTR/releases/tag/v1.0.0
Someone showed me wttr.in which displays weather in neat text format. And so my first thought was of course "How do I get this in my Mudlet?"
Some have asked me.. "Why?" and to them I say... "Why not?"
It's just cool.
And MudletWTTR was born. https://github.com/demonnic/MudletWTTR/releases/tag/v1.0.0
demonnic
2
Re: How do we deal with event participation?
Sapphira said:This just makes me think all the more, for once it would be so nice if it wasn't just 'Mags are doing stuff and are the bad guys as usual' and someone else got to be the scapegoat for a change.
It's somewhat difficult because Magnagora is the one org that is the most obviously "we will sacrifice anything for personal power." Other orgs are like Serenwilde and Celest (joining a villain character is pretty much out from the get-go, their entire thing is about "saving" the world, for their own definitions), or Glomdoring/Hallifax where the outcome absolutely must exceed the risk (the Glomdoring/the Collective are the most important things, more important than any individual). Putting those on the chopping block is out.
Gaudiguch is the wild card, they can basically go any way they want.
Nocht, after the Awakening of the Sea, did tell Glom that we could do anything we wanted regarding Levi. By then, however, it was obvious to many of us that what was best was that she stay locked in that healing mound forever. Xenthos never even tried to help her at all, for example.
If the admin do an open-ended "anyone can join the villain character" kind of style event, Magnagorans just seem, in general, to be the ones who would be most attracted to exploring that avenue. Not even as a "scapegoat", just by character and organizational roleplay.
Xenthos
4
Re: Logical Shadow, Piercing Light
According to Google: Peacocks/ peafowl are omnivores, which means they will eat almost anything both meat and vegetation!Esei said:I'm still laughing about him eating my origami, I really didn't know he'd do that.
The goats of the bird world.
Gurashi
5
Re: How do we deal with event participation?
Sapphira said:
As someone who was ever teetering on the idea of supporting Li, what pushed me away completely was the chain of events with the Eye. IMO, I feel like that was a juncture where Li could have showed even a shred of empathy considering some of the mirroring in her pain against Maylea's relationship with her own sister mate, and instead all we got was... grotesque, absurd amounts of narcissism and selfishness on Li's side. This was the point where Jo stopped seeing reflections of some of the good people in her life in this goddess, and could only see a mirroring of all the worst people. If it didn't take so much work to accept her on the surface level (especially with the visible propensity to lie), this "grey" might have felt less murky. I can accept that there could have been more parts to the story to earn more sympathy, but it hurts Li's angle really severely if they're basically only for the coven's eyes.What I really loved, and feel like a large part of the player base missed, is how GREY it all was. It wasn't really cut and dry Li is bad, opposing Her is good.
Jolanthe
6
Re: How do we deal with event participation?
The allure of actually getting divine interaction is ridiculously powerful, sidenote. Some of you don't know how lucky you are!Xiran said:Lantra said:I'd like to take a moment to share how we approached the Bloodtide Coven from an event design perspective.
When coming up with the concept for the Li-varili arc, something we knew we wanted to have from the very beginning was a method for players to assist her if they wanted. We discussed internally ways of accomplishing this in a way that would be satisfying for players, and what we settled on was a series of escalating events. Each one was opt-in for the players involved, and as the events went on, the actions slid more into Li-varili's overall desire for revenge.This design felt well communicated, observing as someone from the outside the coven. We did see characters that turned away at various points, or rebounded back to Bloodtide Coven. I could also see the draw of continuing to receive praise until the end.
Agreeing with Falaine above on IC consequence. There's still room to play a redemption arc if that's what's desired.
Sapphira
4
Re: How do we deal with event participation?
I'd like to take a moment to share how we approached the Bloodtide Coven from an event design perspective.
When coming up with the concept for the Li-varili arc, something we knew we wanted to have from the very beginning was a method for players to assist her if they wanted. We discussed internally ways of accomplishing this in a way that would be satisfying for players, and what we settled on was a series of escalating events. Each one was opt-in for the players involved, and as the events went on, the actions slid more into Li-varili's overall desire for revenge.
A player might be comfortable helping awaken Sister Sea, for example, but pause at breaking Li-varili out of Lantra's healing mound with Drocilla. Someone else might be comfortable doing the latter, but not be comfortable sacrificing an innocent taurian boy on the altar of Li-varili's anger, along with a beloved nereid priestess. And still more players would be comfortable doing all those things, but hesitate at imprisoning all the Elder Gods in thousands of years of torment -- or only do so once they realized it was every god, not just the ones in the awakening, that Li-v chose to betray.
We expected players to betray Li-varili throughout the Bloodtide arc, and left doors open for people to become turncoats along the way, and to reward that behavior. We also were open to players staying loyal to Li-varili the entire time and being part of her swan song, and for Li-varili to give them special attention in those final moments. We had plans in place for both situations.
You'll notice Magnagora had different reactions to Li-varili than the other orgs, and this was also by design. We knew orgs like Serenwilde and Celest were going to be more firmly against Li-varili's actions due to their inherent roleplay, but Magnagora through Drocilla's ties to Li gave us an opportunity to "condone" betrayal in a way that players didn't feel they had to go against the org per se. Even when they realized Drocilla had been ultimately betrayed, Bloodtide members could take part through the end and more or less have enjoyed the entire thoroughline of the Year Arc. In essence, Mag would be a "safe haven" if no other org was in the endgame.
Something players often sigh about in the aftermath of a Year Arc is the sense that their actions throughout the arc did not ultimately matter, and that the events would have unfolded exactly the same way if they had not participated. We worked hard this year to give a sense that every player's actions did matter, and the result was a lot of optional high stakes actions on the villain's side that -- understandably -- would invite some criticism by many orgs and players in the game. Because Li-varili's actions were always meant to culminate in the destruction of a Seal, and invite the judgment of the other Elders. Something on this level storywise would have to invite judgment from players, too. We did our best to make everything for the Bloodtide Coven consensual and clear from start to finish.
After Ascension we are likely to write a few godblogs to further expand on this topic, but there is a difference between IC actions receiving IC consequences and IC actions inviting OOC hatred. If you ever feel the latter is the case and you are being harassed to the point of being pushed to leave the game, we invite you to ISSUE yourself.
When coming up with the concept for the Li-varili arc, something we knew we wanted to have from the very beginning was a method for players to assist her if they wanted. We discussed internally ways of accomplishing this in a way that would be satisfying for players, and what we settled on was a series of escalating events. Each one was opt-in for the players involved, and as the events went on, the actions slid more into Li-varili's overall desire for revenge.
A player might be comfortable helping awaken Sister Sea, for example, but pause at breaking Li-varili out of Lantra's healing mound with Drocilla. Someone else might be comfortable doing the latter, but not be comfortable sacrificing an innocent taurian boy on the altar of Li-varili's anger, along with a beloved nereid priestess. And still more players would be comfortable doing all those things, but hesitate at imprisoning all the Elder Gods in thousands of years of torment -- or only do so once they realized it was every god, not just the ones in the awakening, that Li-v chose to betray.
We expected players to betray Li-varili throughout the Bloodtide arc, and left doors open for people to become turncoats along the way, and to reward that behavior. We also were open to players staying loyal to Li-varili the entire time and being part of her swan song, and for Li-varili to give them special attention in those final moments. We had plans in place for both situations.
You'll notice Magnagora had different reactions to Li-varili than the other orgs, and this was also by design. We knew orgs like Serenwilde and Celest were going to be more firmly against Li-varili's actions due to their inherent roleplay, but Magnagora through Drocilla's ties to Li gave us an opportunity to "condone" betrayal in a way that players didn't feel they had to go against the org per se. Even when they realized Drocilla had been ultimately betrayed, Bloodtide members could take part through the end and more or less have enjoyed the entire thoroughline of the Year Arc. In essence, Mag would be a "safe haven" if no other org was in the endgame.
Something players often sigh about in the aftermath of a Year Arc is the sense that their actions throughout the arc did not ultimately matter, and that the events would have unfolded exactly the same way if they had not participated. We worked hard this year to give a sense that every player's actions did matter, and the result was a lot of optional high stakes actions on the villain's side that -- understandably -- would invite some criticism by many orgs and players in the game. Because Li-varili's actions were always meant to culminate in the destruction of a Seal, and invite the judgment of the other Elders. Something on this level storywise would have to invite judgment from players, too. We did our best to make everything for the Bloodtide Coven consensual and clear from start to finish.
After Ascension we are likely to write a few godblogs to further expand on this topic, but there is a difference between IC actions receiving IC consequences and IC actions inviting OOC hatred. If you ever feel the latter is the case and you are being harassed to the point of being pushed to leave the game, we invite you to ISSUE yourself.
Lantra
17
Re: Missing Manse Miniatures!
That's a good question, Allixea. I cannot answer it immediately because I do not know what thought process went into that decision originally. Was there a good one or was it just "nobody would need that, right?". If I were to guess on the spot, a reason does come to mind (whether it is a good is the question). When it comes to other environments, it's possible that the limitation is intentional and meant to reinforce that while manses are flexible, they are not meant to become entire worlds but remain homes. You can create a pond in your backyard - fresh water - but not sea - salt water. You can bring in sand to make a beach or a pretend desert, plant lots of trees in the garden, etc.
Of course, players can and will describe their manses however they see fit anyway but there is a difference between supporting player choices with code solutions, and not interfering with ways they find to get what they want in spite of the code. Kind of like how we disable/rework any offensive emotes we find because we do not wish to encourage that behaviour as a game, but players can still custom emote whatever they please.
Of course, players can and will describe their manses however they see fit anyway but there is a difference between supporting player choices with code solutions, and not interfering with ways they find to get what they want in spite of the code. Kind of like how we disable/rework any offensive emotes we find because we do not wish to encourage that behaviour as a game, but players can still custom emote whatever they please.
Uilani
1
(c) Iron Realms Entertainment 2012.