Asking for input and then ignoring it..shyeah.

This is not an unlimited democracy. Translation: if I dont like your vote I reserve the right to ignore it.

Hands in favor of democratizing this debocle???

:raises hand:

You're making a fool of yourself. Calm down.

Two Cents...

I think people are overreacting here. Present your grievances with civility. Overload is valid in his argument, but he needs to stand down with the insults.

Jager and I have propoed an ACTUAL Vote. This is to be in a new topic in this sub forum. These votes are to be counted.

Agreed. We DO need to see where the majority lies. And we need to do it with a modicum of respect towards all involved.

AMEN Overload.

If you are too sensitive, then don't read any further. I am going to piss off some, and make others laugh.

Why not create a storyboard called. 'Imagine your own fantasy character and write stories about him/her' and be done with it. Why even base it in an Aberrant universe at all? If it is all about scripted stories, why even write a character. Do a story and write in whatever powers are appropropriate for the tale. You don't need an aberrant setting or NPrime to do that.

Overload: They don't want rules. They want a place where they can post short collaborative stories that are based in the Aberrant universe. They don't want XP, or dots, or the ugly spectre of random chance. It might interfere with the perfectly planned structure of their fictions. Why should they mess up a perfect love scene, with a botched roll. Afterall, unless it is perfect, it's not worth doing (sarc).

I am a little flabbergasted that a role playing GAME, is being made into a place where people just role play with their perfectly scripted stories. If you don't want to write something that strokes the egoes of all involved, then you will have to write on your own. BAH! And come to a consensus? Since when did ten people come to an agreement on anything. Someone has to be alienated.

I think taking the game aspect out of it, is a cop-out. It takes a mature adult games, and turns it into a child's fairytale world where everyone is happy. Makes me want to puke. I don't write to stroke my ego and make myself feel better. Masturbation does that, and it takes a lot less time and effort.

ROFL!

Neither actually. As for your post; we've been there, we've done that. It's for that reason my reaction is basically studied ambivalence.

It's all good between us WR but eventually the rubber has to meet the road.

While you are kssing White Rats ass dont forget to wipe the puke off your blouse.

This is it? How sad.

This is in response to the recent spate of flames and rampant idiocy.

I find it odd that two, perhaps three people are posting with claims of fascism, insults, and ridiculously exaggerated and blatantly inflammatory statements regarding the sinister schemes of what is apparently an elitist cabal of forum-goers who want nothing more than to stamp out fun, camaraderie, and the interactive and exciting elements of the RPG around which these forums are based.

(Longest sentence I've ever written.)

Either your meds are in short supply, or you've been taking the ones without your names on the label, because you sound utterly ridiculous. Why, oh why, would any credence be lent to your opinions or thoughts when you cannot present them civilly or rationally?

You aren't helping your cause.

I emphasized that because it seems to be a point that's repeatedly overlooked. If you disagree with what's being done or discussed, that's fine- we all have input to share about our preferences, and we all have our own styles of play. (Yes, I said "play," because while I agree that larger story arcs should be outlined ahead of time- I've witnessed a lot of train-wreck fics in my time here- certain elements of cooperative stories can and should involve dice and statistics as means of resolving matters and introducing an element of chance, a risk of failure weighted against potential success.)

There is a balance that needs to be struck between absolute free-form storytelling (which requires no rules) and the other extreme, gaming as statistical manipulation (which requires no story.) I have never considered NPrime as solely a storytelling forum, or as merely a gaming community, but an engaging blend of both worlds in which players and authors unite to create tales that appeal to a broad spectrum of participants and observers.

We're human, and we're all flawed, so naturally our attempts to entertain ourselves (and others) in this medium aren't always successful. We're going to argue, and we're going to disagree, and, yes, we're going to flame. If we cannot behave like rational beings and discuss our differences with some semblance of civility, however, no progress will ever be made and we cannot hope to achieve anything as a group.

You want a rational discussion and say something like this. It is a great way to fan the flames of rational discourse. Personal insults like this are very unbecoming. People should be able disagree without becoming disagreeable. Unless of course, I am the one who disagrees.

Yes, personal insults are very unbecoming. You're quite right, and I admit completely that I spoke out of frustration.

I notice, however, that you've made no effort to curtail anyone else's excesses in this regard, or drawn attention to them. Curious.

Children Please! You will be separated if you can't learn to share and play nice!

I dislike intensely people who seem to desire nothing more than to instigate and encourage dissent, and I see no reason not to call them out on it. I'm rapidly losing my patience with this entire affair, to be completely honest, because of the behaviors of 2-3 people who insist on making this as difficult and painful as possible for everyone involved.

I can only hope that, in the actual discussions about issues relevant to the new era/section, cooler heads will prevail.

Hang in there Velvet. Please? I'll see it through if you will.

We suggest retaining a sense of humor about the whole affair.

It's important, for maintaining the all important fun factor, not to take things too seriously

Really. It's a game. Even if it's writing, it's writing about...a game. The dissent is dissent about...a game.

If these were the worst problems in the world, we'd be living in -paradise-.

We humbly suggest that the best replies to any comments are replies that keep the essential frivolity of this endeavor firmly in mind.

I've no intention of dropping out, but thank you for the concern, honestly. I'm just a bit frustrated, as no doubt others are. Tomorrow's another day, and with luck, rationality will be restored.

Jumper is a good movie, btw. I do hope that tomorrow we can have that discussion that was called for before things blew up. I'm going to bed. Play nice and for those who don't like the proposal. Put forth your arguments as to what you do want, and do it without the venom. If you do, they will be listened to. Then perhaps we can start moving forward again instead of backwards.

Actually, White Rat, I think you've inadvertently nailed the point of this particular proposal. You may not like it, which is your right, but you might at least acknowledge that it does have a point.

Some of us on the board enjoy writing stories set in the Aberrant universe. Constructing characters, interacting those characters with the characters of others, and collaboratively creating stories with them. The fewer rules that get in our way in the process, the better. Yes, to a certain point, these setting rules are trying to decrease the random element and make it less of a game. Because, precisely as you put it, what's the fun of having a brilliant love scene or a particularly satisfying fight spoiled by the random roll of a die?

You may not like it, and you may not enjoy it, and that's fine. Don't participate in it. But for people who come to the 2018 board to tell stories, this proposal has both a point and a purpose. And it succeeds quite well, if not perfectly, at accomplishing the purpose.

Have a modification that will stay within that purpose? Speak up. Otherwise, go back to your game and let us tell our stories.

I'm frustrated too. I also worry about this whole affair imploding. I am also guilty of inciting this conflagration.

Yes, it may look like I'm taking sides, and maybe I am. What I see are two groups. Both want to make sure certain things happen. If that is the reality, how do we make both sides happy?

Things that are NOT constructive to a solution:

-Ramming what we want past others
-Dismissing others' concerns as paranoid rantings?
-Playing the victim
-Implying that dissent is wrong. (even instigating it- people are entitled to advocate for their positions)

Things conducive to an argument.

-Empathy for opposing concerns
-Understanding that you are dealing with other people's characters
-playing devil's advocate.
-give and take

From what I have seen, Overload is reacting to what he sees as a threat to the way he envisions the Aberrant game. I share his apprehension. He became even more threatened by what I saw as condescention and casual dismissal of his concerns. When you did that, what did you expect his rection to be? Sheepish acceptance?

Everyone needs to calm doen and try to put themselves into everyone elses' shoes.

It's not his concerns I take issue with, but rather his methods of expressing them. There's a civil way to describe one's problems, and then there's the way he's gone about it so far. I have simply attempted to point out to him that however justified he (or you, or anyone else) may feel in his anger/frustration, he's not helping his case by using homophobic slurs and deliberately inflammatory comments. It's the attitude with which his arguments have been presented that is causing them to be dismissed, as far as I can tell (at least, from my perspective), and not the arguments themselves. Any salient point that may have been made is quickly lost in a torrent of invective.

Others who've disagreed with various points of the proposal do not seem to have had this difficulty, which is why I've mentioned in more than one post addressed to him that the way he's gone about things is not helping him or the points he's trying to get across, but is in fact accomplishing the opposite.

In any case, I hope everyone will take a long, deep breath and calm down so that we can make some headway on the issues themselves instead of dealing with personal spats and verbal sparring.

Quit speaking for me fucktard, when you generalize don't include me in your bullshit.

So I'm curious. When all the flaming and insults and everything else are done where do you think you guys are going to be? This is a community. We write here together. You, Overload, Jager, you guys keep chiming up with your insults and dragging Nova through the dirt, when all she is doing is trying to spark a new idea or try and take something in a new direction, and we'll see where you end up.

I'll tell you. When/If this gets off the ground you'll be sitting in a corner together cold and alone, because no one will want to associate with you after the shit you pulled. The three of you will be stuck writing fictions that no one wants to be a part of because of how you acted in the beginning. I've been reading some of the stuff guys, and if it makes me post something about playing nice then chances are someone went a little overboard somewhere.

I'm not about to tell you cannot say something, or even to whom you can say it. Hell, insult away for all I care. I'll stand behind your right to speak your mind, but remember that what's said is said. After all this has died down you are still responsible for every insult, every attack on her character, and every slanderous thing that has came through in your posts.

It'll get lonely awfully quick in that corner guys, but you won't be alone, you'll have each other. When you get done with your circle jerk though be sure and wipe the stains off your shirts.

Aren't you taking this a little too personally. I was attacking their methodology, not them as persons. I didn't make a personal insult; only mocked the vision that I believed they had for the new forum. From my perspective, that was what I saw as their wishes?

You want me to get abusive, slanderous, and insulting, I can do that- more that you could ever imagine. But I like to keep my heated disagreements within the realm of ideas and arguments. Even mocking an idea or belief of mine is fine. I am an adult-I can handle it. That is fair game.

Overload stepped over the bounds by getting personal, just as you did. But Overload and Jager never threatened others with exile from the community for disagreeing with them. Do you really think you have that kind of power? Do you understand that in doing so, the entire community suffers? You will be stuck doing fictions with a small group as well. The forum will fracture into tribes, neither side willing to work with the other, or even try to understand one another. That kind of scenario is suicide for a forum like this.

I'll say it again: Don't take it personally.

As far as this multi-thread flame war/rant is concerned, I do take it personally.

There was absolutely no call for Overload to use the dirty, underhanded, and quite frankly immature tactics he used. He has lost my respect and at this point I no longer care whether he had a valid point or not.

As I was reading all of this I was reminded of one of the reasons I left oh so many times in the past. I come here to interact, enjoy and relax. I don't find reading these types of immature and emotionally unstable postings enjoyable or relaxing. All Overload has managed to accomplish, regarding myself, is this I will do everything in my power to make sure I never interact with him if at all possible.

I was refering to those who were attacking her outright. If it hasn't been you, don't sweat it.