Odd Costume Designs

[James Gillen]

Re: Odd Costume Designes

 

. . . Just don't hope to be able to mimic the powers' SFX' date=' that's all.[/quote']

 

No... "Enormous Scrotum Power" might be too gross even for me.

 

JG

[Doc Shocker]

Re: Odd Costume Designs

 

A reporting system for the jerks and other abusers should largely alleviate the problem. Not entirely' date=' of course, but volunteer policing does wonders. [/quote']

 

 

I agree, but who decides what's offensive? Say, for example, I am playing a practitioner of Asatru and another player finds some of the trappings offensive to their belief system. What then?

 

Certainly, somebody with a "Flipped Bird" logo should probably be reported. While I don't find that image offensive I can understand why some folks would. Especially parents that let their younger children play.

 

I think a wide (MUCH larger selection that available in CoX) variety of pre-drawn logos/emblems is the only way to go.

 

Unfortunately.

[StGrimblefig]

Re: Odd Costume Designs

 

I don't think that jerks or immature people are any more or less common in MMOs than elsewhere. It's not a problem of frequency so much as it is of social mechanisms. If someone is a jerk at, say, your in-person tabletop RPG session, you can automatically adjust the problem by excluding him from your social network in the future. You have the means of "quality control" directly in your hands.

 

In an MMO, or any other online community, you don't have that. Peoples' behavior is divorced from the consequences of that behavior, and as a result jerks are more problematic. You can't just boot them from the game. In an ideal world an MMO company would have thousands of people on staff patrolling for and correcting negative, community-harming behaviors, but as we all know this isn't an ideal world. (And of course, such power could just as easily be abused.) So we just gotta take the good with the bad, ignore the jerks as best we can, and have some fun.

 

As was stated in John Gabriel's Greater Internet <>-wad Theory:

 

Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total <>-wad

 

That being said, I have been lucky enough to be involved in some very good pick-up groups in CoH (and some awful ones). It seems to me that the more mature the player is away from the game, the more likely it is that they will be nice inside the game.

 

 

Obligatory On-Topic Reference:

Cloaks (different from capes) with big, funky collars, so my mystic alter-ego will look like a master of mysterious powers, rather than just another hero who just happens to get his powers from magical sources.

[Steve Long]

Re: Odd Costume Designs

 

I have been lucky enough to be involved in some very good pick-up groups in CoH (and some awful ones).

 

Oh, same here with WoW. Made some excellent online friends through PuGs. Also been in some truly horrendous ones.

[TygerLily]

Re: Odd Costume Designs

 

A reporting system for the jerks and other abusers should largely alleviate the problem. Not entirely' date=' of course, but volunteer policing does wonders. [/quote']

 

I agree, but who decides what's offensive? Say, for example, I am playing a practitioner of Asatru and another player finds some of the trappings offensive to their belief system. What then?

 

Certainly, somebody with a "Flipped Bird" logo should probably be reported. While I don't find that image offensive I can understand why some folks would. Especially parents that let their younger children play.

 

I think a wide (MUCH larger selection that available in CoX) variety of pre-drawn logos/emblems is the only way to go.

 

Unfortunately.

 

I agree that the volunteer policing works. From the experience I have seen, the judging of offensive is two-fold. If a player is reported as offensive or for abuse, the first thing the game should do is flag the character internally for someone to review the situation. Based on the abuse report, a person (Mod for example) should be able to determine if the reporting person is overly sensitive or if the player is truly offensive to the general public. If the Mod does not feel the player is overly offensive enough to take action immediately, then the flag stays, and if the player receives multiple reports then the 2nd fold of the situation comes in and the Mod would have to take action at some break point.

[James Gillen]

Re: Odd Costume Designs

 

Oh' date=' same here with WoW. Made some excellent online friends through PuGs. Also been in some truly horrendous ones.[/quote']

 

The randomness makes up for the fact that you can't roll dice.

 

JG