Traveler Game Design Politics

[MrUkpyr]

I just got done reading the topic "FFE Spinward Marches map (not MGT!)"

I don't give a flying rat's fecile exit location about what Marc did here or someone else did there.

I don't give a dingo's kidney about what happened with this playtest problem or that playtest shenanigan.

I want to share ideas about Traveller with other people who play the game.

If you want to drag your game design politics onto this forum, then how about naming your subject to include the fact that the thread is about game design politics.


If you don't like the fact that a small world has a heavy atmosphere, then in YOUR Traveller Universe you can change it.

It doesn't affect plot nor roleplay, because the game isn't about how big the world is or how "scientifically accurate" the atmosphere is. It's about the characters and how they react to the situations they are in.

PLEASE - *please* - leave your game design politics where they belong. Someplace else.

Thank you.

 

[EDG]

Alternatively: Don't read it.

Seriously, I don't get why people think they are forced to read everything, and that they can tell people to stop posting stuff if something shows up that they don't care about. Don't waste your time reading it if it doesn't interest you - problem solved.

It doesn't matter whether it's about the behind-the-scenes politics (and there is a lot of it in Traveller, that's just how it is) or about the science or trade rules, or gun stats or anything. All of that (even the politics) is up for discussion because it is relevant to some members of the community, and as long as that's the case (and unless an admin says otherwise) then it's up for discussion by those who are. If you don't like it, nobody's forcing you to read it.

And you or anyone else sure don't have any authority to tell anybody what kind of detail should be relevant to the games that they play either. I don't really care about equipment stats, but I don't say "you shouldn't be interested in the detail of how Battle Dress works, the game's not about that, just do what you like".

And absolutely nobody is stopping you from posting new material about the stuff you want to see - that's a lot more constructive than complaining about stuff you don't want to see but that others are interested in.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Don't waste your time reading it if it doesn't interest you

For those people who are not psionic, they can not determine if a post is worth reading until after it has been read. Unless, as was requested, the post topic accurately describes the content. In this case, only the original poster must be psionic, knowing what additional posters will add to the thread.

To MrUkpyr, the thread topic does say 'FFE' and 'not MGT'. In MHO, you were warned.

 

[MrUkpyr]

Don't waste your time reading it if it doesn't interest you

SNIP :: To MrUkpyr, the thread topic does say 'FFE' and 'not MGT'. In MHO, you were warned.

Actually, the thread says that it is about the FFE Spinward Marches Map. Now the discussion of corrected UWPs - that is on topic.

*But* the discussion about whether person Xs feedback was used or not, about whether person Y was unfairly treated by someone else, or whether person Z should have received credit for something or not (last example from a prev thread) is simply not on topic.

 

[EDG]

*But* the discussion about whether person Xs feedback was used or not, about whether person Y was unfairly treated by someone else, or whether person Z should have received credit for something or not (last example from a prev thread) is simply not on topic.

And that really isn't your problem. Threads wander around all over the place, it happens all the time. When it diverges from your interests, just stop reading it.

Really, you're a grown adult - if something's not of interest to you anymore then I'm sure you are capable of deciding for yourself to stop reading it and finding something more in line with your interests.

And more to the point, as I said, you really don't have any authority to tell people what they can or can't talk about.

 

[rust]

If you don't like the fact that a small world has a heavy atmosphere, then in YOUR Traveller Universe you can change it.

True, but then we could just as well stop to discuss any rules at all, be-
cause for our Traveller universes we can always change them.

It doesn't affect plot nor roleplay, because the game isn't about how big the world is or how "scientifically accurate" the atmosphere is. It's about the characters and how they react to the situations they are in.

This may well be true for the way you play the game, but it is not true
for the way our group does it - there an obvious implausibility can well
ruin the suspension of disbelief, and thereby the game's fun.

I see your point and understand what you mean, but at the same time
I feel you are going a bit far by telling others what to discuss and what
not, based upon what you don't give what part of some kind of animal
for. :wink:

 

[BP]

Uhm...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I thought - from the topic description - that this was a thread about Traveller Game Design Politics...

If the title had been 'Identify Traveller Game Design Politics', or some such, I could have saved some time

(Of course, then I wouldn't have had this great idea for an AI computer program for forum reading...)

 

[EDG]

Don't waste your time reading it if it doesn't interest you

For those people who are not psionic, they can not determine if a post is worth reading until after it has been read.

True, but they don't have to read every single post in the thread before they decide that

Unless, as was requested, the post topic accurately describes the content. In this case, only the original poster must be psionic, knowing what additional posters will add to the thread.

That too

Plus, it's completely unreasonable to expect people to retitle their threads every time the thread wanders.

 

[Dave Chase]

Of course the only sure way to control what is posted, is make your own site and moderate 24/7.

Otherwise, sorry.

Also, some individuals like knowing the back story and history of how things came to be.

Not the actual words and such of the bitching but that bitching or positive things were actually done and in general how.

Dave Chase

 

[BP]

Of course the only sure way to control what is posted, is make your own site and moderate 24/7.

Speaking of moderation... :wink:

since I typically curse enough (alas, even in multiple languages) that a sailor might want to leave the room, I personnally have to make a very sincere effort to keep fowl language out of my posts - as I know these are Open Forums that youngsters can enjoy.

On the plus side, it can also be stress relieving to come up with age appropriate descriptions to replace those colorful metaphors - such as 'don't give a flying rat's fecile exit location' - and truth be told, they are probably more enjoyable to read (even if one doesn't relate to the statement).

While in some cases one person's curse word can be another's vocabulary (female canine, donkey) - with a few more creative words, confusion can easily be avoided.

(..dingo's kidney? Must be a cultural thing! )

 

[EDG]

(..dingo's kidney? Must be a cultural thing! )

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, actually

http://dragonwritingprompts.blogsome.com/wikipedias-list-of-fictional-expletives/#wp_D

Dingo Kidneys - from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, as in "Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best- selling book Well That About Wraps It Up For God." Also used in the second Hitchhiker's book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe when Ford Prefect tells the one-year-landed-on-prehistoric-Earth Golgafrinchams "...It doesn't matter a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys what you do." (Referring to them planning to burn down all the forest to increase the value of leaves as currency.)

 

[BP]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, actually

D'oh (smacks head)

(Has an English/Aussie connotation to me - wild dog and urine related perhaps?)

Thanks EDG - and that links a keeper!

 

[MrUkpyr]

The point I am making with this post is that the vast majority of *players* neither need nor even want to know about all the back-room politics and happenings that are going on or have gone on in the past.

Most of us want to discuss the *game*.

Using the FFE Spinward Marches map as the example, most of us want to know if the UWPs match what is in MGT's Spinward Marches book. If they don't match, what are the differences and how useful will it be for us who are playing MGTraveller. Are the PDFs clear and clean?


And in response to the ones saying "you don't have to read all the post", sadly the only way to know if there are usefull comments about something is to read the posts.

 

[EDG]

Most of us want to discuss the *game*.

So discuss it. What's stopping you?

Using the FFE Spinward Marches map as the example, most of us want to know if the UWPs match what is in MGT's Spinward Marches book. If they don't match, what are the differences and how useful will it be for us who are playing MGTraveller. Are the PDFs clear and clean?

Right, and you know from that thread that they don't match. And you can download a preview the product on DTRPG to see what they're like. All the information is there.

And in response to the ones saying "you don't have to read all the post", sadly the only way to know if there are usefull comments about something is to read the posts.

So read them, and ignore the ones that aren't relevant. Where's the problem?

 

[Vile]

Let me see, an internet forum where posters only post useful (to any particular reader) and succinct information in easily-searchable bite-size threads?

Interesting concept, there - let me know when you find one! :lol: