Special applications and opportunities

[Is Friday]

The reason I got wiped was because of a player complaint accusing one of my PCs of doing X. I filed a petition about it, since my PC didn't do X. Once it was investigated it was ruled that my PC didn't actually do X, they put me back to 1 karma. Then 2 when they felt like it.

Karma points 1-2 aren't really all that hard to get, any way you look at it. All you have to do is not be a tard.

Riev:
Are you filing reports regularly? Mine take me about 15 minutes a week. I write 5-8 sentences for most reports and that's on my busy PCs. (Summarize.)

Are you accurately representing the game world in regards to social class, racial differences, culture, and clan documentation?

If you're doing both of those things you should ask for a review. If you're not doing these things, you've not given staff much grounds to bump you up. Being high karma is about representing the game world, not about doing what you want. All of the karma roles are restrictive and should be lending to the game rather than giving to you.

edit:
I'll also point out that once I filed a response to Nyr telling him "go fuck yourself". So while I don't recommend this course of action, I share this to illuminate the fact that 1.) I'm not a suck up. 2.) I've had my disagreements with staff even at 3-4 karma. 3.) Communication is only effective when you are receptive, not just yelling about your own issues.

[Harmless]

Even if my posts on karma and special apps may sound whiney, overall I am still happy with arma. I am also glad I started these threads as I have learned much about the game I wouldn't have otherwise. I dont chat with peeps about the game outside of the gdb so this is likely the only way I would have learned these things. I am thankful to all of you who helped me out.

[Riev]

Representing the game world... partially.

Communication is where I'm at fault, and I know that, actually. I used to have 3 karma, but I got drunk one night and pissed at being in "yet another leader situation where my staffers aren't able to properly oversee my playtimes" and suicided. Hey, thems the breaks.

Also I lost another one for joining a shadow board nobody wants to talk about.

I've said before though, 1 karma is really all anyone needs to "be happy". I've played a few magickers in the past, and they honestly encourage me to be even more twinky than I already am. The only reason I'd want more karma is for a very particular app I have in mind, that might not even be possible anymore with a lot of the magicker and city changes. *shrug*

Karma works, generally speaking, but even after adding some rigidity to the rules and things it represents, I still wonder just how objective "trust" can be.

[RogueGunslinger]

Wait a second, do we lose karma for reading that board? Because I'm fairly sure everyone reads that goddamn board. That would be ridiculous.

Or were you posting secrets?

[MeTekillot]

How vague.

[Adhira]

Wait a second, do we lose karma for reading that board? ...... That would be ridiculous.

[Delirium]

shadow board

[Riev]

Wait a second, do we lose karma for reading that board? Because I'm fairly sure everyone reads that goddamn board. That would be ridiculous.

Or were you posting secrets?

In specific, I was not posting secrets, but was talking very plainly about current PCs and their abilities (at least, at the time). I was so focused on "who can I fight" that I wasn't really thinking about what I was asking.

I'm pretty open about the fact that I'm on that board, I didn't change my name there and I also contribute to discussions. But I don't post actual secrets or talk about players.

[Reiloth]

RE: Shadow Boards
It's kind of like a diet.

You know when you are eating (consuming) something bad for you. I find it sad that people devote their time to the GDB rather than playing the game. I find it an ultimate atrocity that people who cannot or will not play ArmageddonMUD devote precious minutes and hours of their life on a simulacrum board discussing this 'horrible game' run by 'horrible dictator Staff' with such black and white absolutes that I can't see what's gained by contributing.

--

On the topic of special applications and roles and such...

I guess I have an exceptional track record with these kinds of things. I'm not the kind of player that only applies for special roles and finds mundane/the run of the mill boring. But also, almost all of the special applications i've applied for, i've been approved for.

I think that's because (in retrospect), the roles I applied for were within my karmic reach, and also my applications were pretty spanky! I've also been denied role applications, and a couple of times I threw inappropriate tizzies for not being picked, being the spoiled child that I am and wanting 'it all' because 'I deserve it!'. I've had my fair share of bad account notes, and also the retrospective 'hey this guy isn't that bad, let's give him a second chance' corrections.

Your best bet with getting the 'most out of this game' is:
*Communicate with Staff via Character Reports or just Taking it Seriously
*Do not communicate with players via AIM/whatever bullshit is out there now-a-days
*Play the game GREAT (Great RP Ever Always Toocoolforschool)
*Don't worry about Skills. They take care of themselves.
*It's not a big deal. Whatever you think is a big deal, it's really not that big of a deal.

[Kevo]

Your best bet with getting the 'most out of this game' is:
*Communicate with Staff via Character Reports or just Taking it Seriously
*Do not communicate with players via AIM/whatever bullshit is out there now-a-days
*Play the game GREAT (Great RP Ever Always Toocoolforschool)
*Don't worry about Skills. They take care of themselves.
*It's not a big deal. Whatever you think is a big deal, it's really not that big of a deal.

I have a decent amount of karma, and my fair share of good and bad account notes, and I'd like to point out that the above is really good advice. Especially the last part.

Re: The Shadow boards, I'm almost certain those boards are some sort of staff meta-plot to gauge player's (possibly more honest due to anonymity) feelings regarding the game and divulge some secrets about history or magic for those MUST know. That may just be an aspect of my ever present paranoia..... But I'm digressing, obviously.

I just popped in to reiterate the advice above, as I believe number one, good communication is one of the few reasons my spec apps are often approved (like 75%, but don't despair, I rarely send in spec apps) despite past immature behavior.

Also, don't lurk as much as I do. It's unseemly.

[LauraMars]

Stay on topic, guys.  I moved some posts from here to a new topic in Non Armageddon Discussion, but do we really need to discuss the evil gdb at all?  You know it feeds the trolls.

[mansa]

http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php?topic=5208.0

How OOC Talk Killed a Quest

[Riev]

http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php?topic=5208.0

How OOC Talk Killed a Quest

One time, a Jew killed Jesus. All Jews are bad.


/snarkyresponsetoaonetimeevent

I do agree with Reiloth though... Specifically "its not a big deal". Not getting picked for something just means someone else had a better idea. However, "not communicating with other people" is the dumbest suggestion, because there's no way I'm going to play an awesome storytelling game, but not talk to anyone else that plays it.

Seriously. The game is built on stories, but we're only allowed to tell the people in our lives that don't give half a shit about this text-based game what happened? My girlfriend hates this game and doesn't care at all what I'm talking about.

[icewindsong]

I was reading about mutants, and I saw the parts where an advantage, or serious disadvantage require a special application.  

What about a minor disadvantage or inconvenience?  Say a character had a tail, and you didn't want to go the route of saying she could never wear leg armor (serious disadvantage) but instead say that her leg region gets a -1 to its base armor rating (minor disadvantage) because even tailored for her the armor leaves part of her tail uncovered..?  Would it take a special app?

[James de Monet]

I'm going to hazard a guess that if you want coded changes to your character, the answer to whether that will require a special app is always going to be "yes".

[Barzalene]

There will also be a real social disadvantage. People will not look so kindly on people with tails.

[icewindsong]

Social disadvantage would be a big part of the reason for making a character like that.  I don't mean some cute furry tail with a ribbon or bell on it, but some horrible gnarled scaly appendage that is coded also to occasionally maybe trip her while she's walking.   My first character will be pretty, but a repulsive one will be fun to play too someday.

[Is Friday]

Catgirl 2: The Struggle Is Real

[manonfire]

Don't even bring that up.

[RogueGunslinger]

  I don't mean some cute furry tail with a ribbon or bell on it, but some horrible gnarled scaly appendage that is coded also to occasionally maybe trip her while she's walking.

There's no need for code for something like that when you can simply emote it happening. It would be neat, but it's not really the sort of thing staff would just whip up the code for whenever someone asks.

[icewindsong]

I guess.  I thought it would be more fun when it was a surprise to the player, too, when it happens.

[Reiloth]

If your character also happens to get shit-faced drunk all of the time, then you will definitely be tripping all over yourself.

[FantasyWriter]

Most Zalathan parents, when presented with a mutated child, would most likely either killed the child because they believed it to be cursed by magick or afraid that others would think THEY were cursed by magick.  That or sell them to the traveling circus or some eccentric slave collector.

[Beethoven]

Even as deeply-ingrained as the stigma against mutation is, I'd suspect that more than a handful of Zalanthans would swear that they would do exactly what you described and kill the infant freak, but might reconsider if actually put in that position. The parent-child bond, particularly the mother-child bond (since she has had a relationship of sorts with the child for months before its birth) is hardwired and primal, transcending reason. I suspect that a lot of Zalanthan parents, unable to slaughter their own babies, would abandon them in an alley instead, assuring themselves that the situation is out of their hands.

However, I'm inclined to think that there are many others who would be unable to do even that. I imagine that most of them would try to hide the child's mutation if possible, and if the mutation is too severe to hide, instead attempt to conceal the child's existence. Such children would almost certainly never be treated as well as any "normal" siblings, and would probably be expected to go out on their own as soon as possible, retaining only an uneasy relationship with the parents, if any.

I don't doubt that there would be Zalanthans who would smother the infant in an instant rather than be exposed to...whatever made it look that way. But I don't think that parents grudgingly raising a mutant child would be that off-the-wall.

[HavokBlue]

Unless the docs have changed significantly since or my memory is falling apart, the stigma against mutation isn't nearly as strong as some of you guys are making it out to be. Particularly in Red Storm, where they are mentioned to be more common, or Tuluk, where mutants have played a significant historical role (see: Thryzn).