Category: Site Reviews

Well, I think I’m a little biased on this one, so let’s go with a classic guest review:

“…surely there couldn’t be more than five people who would put up with this on a regular basis…”

Here’s the lowdown. Not from 1967, and not from someone PAID BY THE FACILITY. From someone there within the past five years.

I don’t see the big deal in trying to ban people from watching the 1967 film ‘Titicut Follies’.

Not because it wouldn’t be disturbing, but because (and if you don’t believe this, you could probably use a BSH evaluation) EVERYONE KNOWS that no matter WHAT it shows, the party line will be: “That was X years ago…things are much better now.”

And, since no movies have been made showing BSH life since ‘Titicut Follies’, almost 50 years ago, how exactly can that statement be either proved or disproved, at all, with any reliability?

Well…the only people who KNOW how things work there now (or, recently, at least) are:
1) Employees
2) Inmates…I MEAN “Patients”

Right? I mean, how can anyone deny the most incredibly BASE and SIMPLISTIC logic that makes that an inevitable fact?

So the only people that know how things work there now – and therefore the only people who have ANY credibility in saying “It’s better”, “It’s worse”, “It’s the same”, or anything else in that regard – are employees and inmates.

Since the employees are all part of the same fra(with a little ma)ternity, since the state PAYS THEIR SALARIES, since they all have a common interest in having BSH portrayed as “well-run” and “humane”…is it REALLY a stretch to say “Well…opinions from BSH employees would tend to be exaggeratedly positive, at best.”

You know…because that’s their JOBS they’re talking about. WTF do you expect?

“Yeah, this place is a sh1thole, we treat people horribly…so, where’s my next check?”

I mean, to believe you’re going to get anything CLOSE to an “objective” opinion from staff (who get paid by the state) and the state (who pays the staff…see the symbiosis?)…well, now THAT is insane.

It’s insulting any reasonable person’s intelligence to suggest that is the case, and/or to suggest they BELIEVE that is the case because “well, we told you to.”

So the QUESTION is…how do you get an accurate portrayal of the way things are, NOW (or at least, very recently), when staff has a vested incentive to make things seem better than reality and “patients” (admittedly, in the same not-insulting-your-intelligence way) a vested incentive to make things seem worse than reality?

Well, you find people that 1) USED to work there, and are willing to tell it like it really is (in their experience), and people that 2) USED to be “patients” there, are NO LONGER patients there, have been completely removed from the BSH “system”, have no great bias towards the system for exceptionally horrific personal treatment, have NO personal incentive to praise OR criticize the system, and who are willing to be honest and even-handed in their evaluation of a system they, IN FACT, experienced first-hand.

As for number 2: Hi. That would be me.

So here goes:

First, anything you see in ‘Titicut Follies’ is COMPLETELY irrelevant. That’s 1967. There is no intrinsic connection between that, and modern BSH. Don’t be upset about what happened there almost fifty years ago. Be upset over what MIGHT BE happening there NOW.

Second, any comments suggesting that BSH has “improved” or “advanced” from ‘Titicut Follies’ – made by people with a vested interest to say so – are just as COMPLETELY irrelevant. Of COURSE they’re going to say that. Doesn’t make it true or untrue…it’s the standard party line, and so such statements are utterly meaningless.

To put any weight in either as realistic evidence of “Today’s BSH” is sloppy, lazy, and ignorant at best. And, I happen to know from actually BEING THERE…just plain WRONG. IMPO, of course.

The fact is, BSH is both better and worse than shown in ‘Titicut Follies’.

Let’s look at the positives and negatives one by one:

Positives:

1) Obviously, available medications have improved. The amount of different medications, the skill at prescribing said medications, the effectiveness of said medications (since everyone isn’t just given the same tranquilizers and “hope for the best…”) is improved. I’ve seen that…it’s a fact. OVERALL, it’s a fact. Now, this – to me – is more indicative of the progress of medication therapy IN GENERAL than to any change in “philosophy” at BSH; they work with what they have, and now they have a lot more options. They would have to be colossally inept and/or malicious NOT to prescribe more effectively.

1b) In a thirty day period of observing medication prescription and dispersal, my AUTHENTIC observation was that – for the most part – patients were given at least arguably appropriate medications at at least arguably appropriate levels. Also, FOR THE MOST PART, patients’ concerns over medications were given at least SOMEWHAT of an audience and the patients’ own evaluations of their feelings were taken into SOME account.

So, from what *I* observed, as someone RIGHT THERE, this area (once you were out of ITU…see “Negatives” below) was handled fairly well, and fairly professionally.

2) Obviously, facilities visible to the casual visitor (the main grounds, the visiting room, anything of that sort) are relatively clean and well-kept. This is GOOD, I guess…but what does it really mean? Nothing. Unless you’re DUMB enough to think that “Well…the lawn looks nice, so…the cells must be nice too.” I mean…really? It’s appearance, it’s good for business since people that CAN COMPLAIN (visitors) see it; of course it looks decent. Nothing to do whatsoever with what goes on inside, for better or worse.

2b) OVERALL, in my observation, facilities were GENERALLY both in decent shape and available to MOST patients (See “ITU” below). There was space to exercise, there was space to go outside, there was a decent-sized library (good enough, at least), there was adequate space for patient size, and so on.

So, again from MY observation, facilities were adequate in terms of exercise, outside space, medical, library, etc.

There were even Church (well, large room with lots of chairs and a priest) services for those that wished to attend, and the occasional MOVIE.

All of these things: Medical, library, exercise, church services, etc… had one thing in common. They were provided by employees that were NOT guards. Make of that what you will. It seemed the general attitude of the guards (IN GENERAL…) towards all these things was indifferent tolerance. Sort of “Fine, whatever…go, don’t, whatever…just don’t fck with me and don’t fck up my schedule.”

Which, come to think of it, is a pretty reasonable attitude, given that they weren’t there to be your friend, they were there to guard you. Guard the non-guards from the patients, guard the patients from the other patients, etc…

3) Most of the “professional” staff (Doctors, Psychiatrists, and the like) behaved in a fairly professional manner.

4) SOME OF the guards behaved in a decent, professional, responsible manner. They did their jobs, and as long as you didn’t act like a pr1ck or intensely fck with them or their responsibilities, they returned the courtesy to you. Which, really, is all you could realistically ask.

Negatives:

1) Obviously, since people who end up LEAVING BSH (patients, that is) can speak freely about their OWN experiences, treatment toward those both a) EXPECTED to leave and b) EXPECTED to be coherent and at least somewhat literate would tend (IMPO) to be more civilized and less abusive. Make of that what you will.

1b) Example: I was in ITU at the same time as someone else who was extremely vocal. I HEARD what this person said, and what was said to them AND about them. I UNDERSTOOD how this person was viewed, in general, by the guards that I heard. This person was viewed as a) someone that could be safely mocked and/or ignored, b) someone whose complaints to anyone about such treatment would be ignored, c) someone that had noone on the outside advocating for them or keeping tabs on how they were treated. There was noone there that gave a sh1t, and even if there WAS, this person was too mentally ill to coherently complain, and even if they COULD it would be their word against 2+ guards. In other words, he was FCKED, and the guards knew it. And, you know, I’m sorry…I don’t like bullies. And the ones who picked on this guy…that’s all they were; bullies aren’t any better or worse with a uniform and a badge.

Now, *I* was much more coherent than this person. I was much more able to understand what was happening, to REMEMBER what was happening and repeat it to my lawyer when they eventually showed up. I was much more able to verbally defend myself from constant random insults; the only “treatment” you received in ITU was being treated to abuse. Quite frankly I didn’t give much of a sh1t what they were saying about ME, but I *DID* care that they were verbally and emotionally abusing someone who was obviously in SEVERE emotional pain and who was just as obviously UNABLE to defend themself from such abuse. So, I basically tried asking (reasonably) why they were abusing someone for no reason. And when they told me to go fck myself and kept laughing at him (and me), I just said random bullsh1t back to them whenever they said random bullsh1t to him. And, like the DUMBA$$ COWARDS they were (and most bullies are), when confronted with a non-helpless opponent, their balls shrunk and they shut the fck up. And FCK ’em. You see, I was much more able to respond coherently…I was also much more able to COMPLAIN coherently and REMEMBER to do so. So, for these reasons, I was not subject to anywhere near the amount of abuse as this other person.

2) From conversations overheard from MULTIPLE sources, including directly from people supposedly affected who seemed perfectly coherent and reasonable in their statements and explanations, the duration of one’s stay at BSH was – at least at times – not of primary concern to those in charge. All 30-Day Evaluations are equal, but some 30-Day Evaluations are more equal than others.

2b) From what I remember, and what I gathered, and what I heard, and what I pieced together from coherent information…there were some people who had been at BSH FAR longer than they should have been. Whose “evaluation” had ended, according to THE LAW in such matters, but who remained there regardless.

I’m not talking about 31 days instead of 30. I’m talking WEEKS, even MONTHS over the LEGALLY ASSIGNED time. And it seems to ME, that these people were those least able to advocate for themselves, and least able to have others advocate for them from outside BSH.

3) SOME of the “professional” staff behaved in a lazy and unprofessional manner.

4) A LOT of the guards (I can’t say what percentage, or “most”, or whatever…it’s too far back to be that precise) were just a$$holes, plain and simple. They obviously had fun making fun of/pushing around the patients, got off on their mini power trips, didn’t give a sh1t about what they were supposed to be doing, and cared a hell of a lot more about “So, what are you doing when your shift’s over?” than “So, what should I be doing now for, like…my job?”

5) This is very subjective, admittedly…and it does NOT apply to ALL “evaluators”…but consider this:

It is a FACT that MANY “patients” (myself for one) there had not been found guilty of *ANYTHING* in a court of law.

Because you are sent for an “evaluation” of your mental state does NOT (supposedly, at least) have ANYTHING to do with “guilt” or “innocence” of ANYTHING…it has to do with: “Is this person mentally competent to stand trial?”. That’s the key…STAND TRIAL. Trial. Where you go, being presumed innocent until proven guilty. You know…the criminal “justice” system.

However, let’s be real. If the case that will be brought against anyone “evaluated” will be (and I think it will) ‘State Of Massachusetts Vs. X’, do you think the State of Massachusetts wants ANYONE to be found innocent?

In other words, do you think the State of Massachusetts WANTS to bring a case against someone and LOSE? Of course not.

Now just think for yourself, but here are a few facts:

– The District Attorney/Assistant DA/Etc are State employees
– Everyone working at BSH is a State employee
– “Evaluations” that strengthen the State’s case and weaken the individual’s benefit: The State and injure: The Individual
– Generally, organizations that are on the same side tend to work together.

This has been a subjective analysis made by someone that was relatively lucky in that he wasn’t dumped there and forgotten. A lot of people with mental illness DO NOT have anyone noticing when they “vanish”, and it is therefore much easier to get away with poor treatment on such people…

Because, who the fck are they gonna complain to?

A mentally ill person, against an entire SYSTEM, with noone to help them? Complaining to…what…”internal affairs”?

Oh, yeah, that sounds really effective.

IN ALL FAIRNESS: There were many people I encountered at BSH who were NOT abusive; psychiatrists, officers, counselors, even patients who went out of their way to help those that obviously needed help.

Some. There were SOME of those people. And there were also PLENTY of people that gave exactly as much of a sh1t as they had to: namely, none.

Things are as they have been, and will be, in any place where power is curtailed only by those that wield it and where those that are subject to it have virtually no recourse.

Think about it: There most certainly ARE at least some sadistic SOB’s working there…do you really think, if one of them had a problem with a “patient” they would hesitate to toss them into ITU (solitary) until they were good and ready to let them out? Based on WHATEVER rationale they wanted to use?

Because, it would come down to this:

Noone in ITU (“patient”) sees anyone else in ITU. Therefore, each “patient” has only their word working for them…if they are even coherent enough to have THAT (therapy does NOT take place in ITU, and medications are sloppily prescribed AT BEST).

On the other hand, every guard has at least one other guard working with them.

So…if a patient says he was abused, beaten, degraded, etc…and a guard denies it, and has a partner to back their side up…who gets believed?

THINK ABOUT IT.

Now, does this mean all guards/authorities are sadists and all “patients” are poor, helpless victims? Of course not.

I saw instances where people in authority were acting perfectly reasonably and “patients” decided to insult/threaten/attack them.

But if you don’t think the opposite happens too, you’re just living in a fantasy world.

The fact is, you can be sent to ITU for the SLIGHTEST things, and once you’re there you DON’T GET OUT until they’re good and ready to let you out.

And the daily serenading of the “patients” with insults and laughter by (some of) the guards is of questionable treatment value, I think. And when “patients” get upset that they’re treated like rat sh1t? Well, they’re being uncooperative…another day in the hole.

If you get sent there, and noone outside BSH knows you were sent there (if you even have someone outside BSH that would care), you’re fcked.

THEY DON’T TELL PEOPLE. People outside have to DIRECTLY find out. Meaning they have to ASK if a person is there. And even then, from my recollection, “patients” in ITU are neither confirmed nor denied. So you can godd@mn ROT there, in some instances, if they feel like letting you.

No confirmation, no visitors, no therapy, and quite often no hope.

How, exactly, is this “Intensive Treatment”?

ITU – what a joke. There was NO therapy in ITU. ITU was BSH’s LTI-speak for “Solitary”. It consisted of being thrown into a CELL no larger (and probably smaller) than you imagine a jail cell being, with a lumpy beanbag “mattress” in the center that was relatively unstained if you were lucky. You received a threadbare “blanket” that covered maybe half your body. The lighting consisted of one bulb flickering overhead (the light from the hall was blocked by the very-reinforced door) and the occasional stream of light from the one heavily barred window VERY high in the cell. The toilet seemed to work all the time, but ODDLY the sink seemed to sometimes work, sometimes not. And noone would come in to adjust it…it simply did NOT work sometimes. Same mechanism, different result. So if you want to be really charitable you can say shoddy pipe system, and if not you can say wellllllll maybe some of the guards might have fcked with some of the inmates…PATIENTS. The food delivery system went thusly: “Here’s your *insert name of meal here*”…your responses available were “Ok/thank you/etc”, in which case the food was slid through a small horizontal hole briefly opened in the doorframe, or anything else (ranging from the extremely benign…”I just threw up I can’t look at food now” to the extremely malignant… “Fck you motherfcker!”) in which case you were marked as “Refusing Food”. That was a strike to getting out of ITU, so accepting it and then passing it right back 15 mins later was the way to go if you thought you might vomit. Otherwise, even the most polite, benign, REASONABLE response (“I just threw up, I can’t look at food, I’m sorry”) was taken EXACTLY the same way: “Patient Refused Food”.

I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what the “Guards” were there for – and they were there, always. I mean, the cell doors were THICK, REINFORCED doors…noone was “breaking out”. Basically all *I* heard the guards do was talk about their personal lives and make fun of the patients, some of whom were obviously in EXTREME mental and/or physical pain.

I’m not talking about me, either. I’m not whining because they were mean to me. I’ve been around mentally ill people. I can tell when someone is SEVERELY mentally ill – severely depressed, suicidal, etc…

I HEARD, for a FACT, at least one patient who was OBVIOUSLY, to even the most casual observer, in EXTREME pain and distress…and not only did they do NOTHING to help them AT ALL, they actually went OUT OF THEIR WAY to yell at and MAKE FUN OF them. They seemed to think it was funny.

And wow, that takes a lot of balls, huh? To have a weapon, be backed up by another guard with a weapon (at LEAST one other guard), be in a position of complete power, be separated by a reinforced, multi-locked door, and make fun of someone in the equivalent of rags, with no weapons and a supposedly compromised mentality.

I HEARD this happening. And the patient wasn’t yelling psychotic sh1t at the guards…they weren’t screaming threats, they weren’t acting like fcken psychos, they weren’t acting “dangerous”…they were screaming IN PAIN, they were asking for HELP. And the response was – from some at least – “Oh, shut up!…So, anyway, did you see the game-”

So basically, you have to bite your fcken tongue, accept the verbal abuse from the guards and the sh1t conditions, act reasonable even though you’re being treated UNREASONABLY, be very calm and pleasant…and then, maybe, you get out of ITU and into the main system.

Placement in/removal from ITU was seemingly based on the morning rounds doctor’s mood and how compliant you were.

I don’t mean he was reasonable and you screamed at him. I mean, he asked questions and if you didn’t give the proper answers (to his liking, IMPO) then they slid the little door shut and you waited til the next day for another chance at it.

Once in the main system, this is what I saw/experienced:

As in ITU, there was NO therapy. There was NO “treatment”. You were given the meds your outside psychiatrist had ALREADY prescribed for you (unless they reduced or cut them off), and that was it.

ITU “therapist” meetings were to decide: “Does he get out of ITU today or not?”. Nothing more.

Main system “therapist” meetings were extremely infrequent. You could ASK to see a therapist, but that was a request…it could very easily be denied.

And I think everyone KNEW that the therapists weren’t there to give “therapy”, because the vast majority of requests that *I* saw/heard about were about getting things done such as obtaining a form necessary to put numbers on for people you could call, getting paper to actually write on if you wanted to communicate with someone outside the facility, etc…

This whole Op-Ed piece is written pretty chaotically, but I think it gets the point(s) across.

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE AT BSH, AND YOU CARE ABOUT THEM:

Make sure they’re being treated humanely.

With occasional good role-playing. And zombies.

All of the previous caveats still apply (search for “Forgotten Kingdoms”), with the following updates:

A short list of at-least-pretty-well-played characters to hope you run into should you play:
-Areia
-Andreas
-Zethanon
Some female Cyricist who was with Zethanon
-Demitrias
-Daerin
Some female Tymoran whose name begins with “A” and was with Daerin
Some male Kelemvorite whose name begins with “C”
And the rest from before, plus a few others probably that I can’t think of or never ran into (played both Evil and Good, so not that many).

So…definitely gotten better, as far as PLAYERS go, OVERALL: Some old ones coming back that are good, that female Tempusian hands-behind-back-er nowhere to be seen, Casamir and his “single-bent-talon/clipped voice” two-trick pony act almost never there, absolutely HORRID roleplay very difficult to find (to be fair, so is GREAT roleplay, as the mean is still “mediocre”, but still, an improvement).

However…on the apples front…

Here’s what happened to a recent character from an UNKNOWN player (that is, the Imms had no idea who was playing the character, since the connection was from TMC and had TMC’s IP address, the same as everyone else that logs in from TMC…therefore, it was basically a “new player” as far as they were concerned):

Constable in the Market Center suddenly, for no reason, takes a pair of red tights and puts them on, talking about how they make him look slimming.
BUT…
A character drinks like literally 15 bottles of hard liquor, is COMPLETELY wasted, throws up repeatedly, falls down in his own puke, gets back up again, walks around covered in puke, throws up a few more times, walks RIGHT BY at least two guards, one of whose JOB is to watch for “Drunks and Hooligans” whilst covered in puke and staggering, goes a bit down the street, throws up, and collapses in a pool of his own vomit.

Reaction by guard in tavern, guard “watching” for drunks, and Constable: Nothing.

Reaction by guard, in the same room, as character THROWS UP ALL OVER A SHOPKEEPER’S FLOOR: Nothing.

I mean, he could not have been more drunk, or more covered in vomit, or staggering more…he basically did as close as you can to walking up to a guard and saying drunkenly “I’m drunk you stupid fck arrest me!!!!!” and the reaction? Nothing.

So, come on…the way the Imm’s handle NPC animation, this is JV at the administrative level as well as the play level.

I mean if you like jokes you might like it…but “staying in character???” When that’s how the people that JUDGE ROLEPLAY roleplay the NPC’s? Come on….funny, and sad. Are you JOKING me? (C. Sheen from ‘Platoon’ again).

Priceless: I KNOW an Imm was online, and did nothing to make the NPC’s AT ALL realistic, because as my character was lying on the ground ON A MAIN STREET DURING THE DAY COVERED IN VOMIT, instead of doing anything useful they made some (I’m sure handy-dandy) changes and typed “OOC: Copyover in a sec.”…”OOC: Copyover incoming.” …after seeing a question on the “Ask” channel (because they see EVERYTHING on the “Ask” channel) that basically asked, in a really nice, polite way, after waiting about 15 IRL minutes “Hey, can you come and arrest me here?”.

Was my character “trying for attention?” No. Was I “testing the Imm’s?” No. I was playing a character that was intelligent, talented, somewhat charismatic, confident…but, for a very good reason, was STARTING as inspired by drunken, hitting-on-Uhura James T. Kirk from ‘Star Trek (2009)’.

Because, you know, a character should change slightly in 10-15 years. *AHEM*

So, the plan was, in-character, he’d START like that (with a pretty decent background I must say) and then – depending on circumstances – he’d change, one way or another. You know…like characters in movies do, unless they’re directed by Ed Wood or the guy that made ‘Manos’ on a bet.

Like, how Kirk at 20 and Kirk at 35 are NOT exactly the same. Kinda makes sense, to me.

Oh…as far as the “only one account” thing goes…come on. I KNOW for a fact that at least one player has made multiple accounts, and judging from the way players come, leave for months, years…come back…come on. You’re naive if you don’t think like J. Phoenix about this (“Nobody knows what nobody knows, you know what I mean?”)

In conclusion, what FK post would be complete without a Gwain analysis, so here’s one:

I was thinking…Gwain is sort of like to FK what George F. Will from that SNL skit was to baseball: Knows EVERY SINGLE THING about the game, a virtual encyclopedia of information…but not a CLUE as to how to use that information in ANY useful way.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/george-f-wills-sports-machine/n9910

11/15/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – A great sketch displaying how sometimes people can be OVERLY intellectual.

1) I have absolutely no interest in encouraging you to become a VIP, since the ads (while mostly stupid) are brief and IMPO quite tolerable.
2) I will freely encourage you to use AdBlock Plus to stop most of the annoying ad sh1t they put on my station page.
3) I really don’t care what you rate the songs…really. So you don’t have to worry about me pretending to give a fck. I play it if I think it’s good. That’s all.
4) You will never, ever, ever hear “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town”.
5) It doesn’t suck, because it’s already succeeded.
6) THERE IS NO REASON SIX

Ok, so ‘The Inquisition: Legacy’ is moving rapidly up the TMC top 20. And probably rightfully so. Visiting recently, I found almost every player and Imm friendly, helpful, and pleasant.

The roleplay is, as with any MUD, varied. There are some people that do it very well, there are some people that do it very badly, and there are lots of people in the middle.  I would add, in TIL’s favor, that – unlike say…oh, I don’t know…FK – they actually ARE Roleplay-Intensive. Roleplaying actually IS required. You have to actually play a CHARACTER. So, at least the mediocre role-players are mediocre roleplayers PLAYING CHARACTERS as opposed to say…oh, I don’t know…mediocre roleplayers doing a hang-out chat on a MUD, with nametags required to differentiate them from one another.

So I recommend TIL. And you know me…I’m a fairly harsh critic. If you like roleplaying (and can deal with the setting, of course, which is based on Medieval Inquisition-ish times) this is pretty high on the list. It’s not ‘Armageddon’, but…it’s high up.

It’s improving, too…both codewise and player-base wise. Not that more players means they’re all BETTER…but the more there are, the greater the chance…etc.

However, I don’t think I’ve ever had a reaction, from another character, in character, that was as incredibly, mind-numbingly stupid as the following:

“”Do you have more than one string on your viol, miss Dalton?…I am no musician, but I am confident that a musical piece should have more than one note played at varying speeds.” Moxie Von Demuregan says, drumming her fingers on the table.”

This is after player writes ELEVEN PARAGRAPHS describing how the song is NOT all the same, edits them AT LEAST a dozen times, and makes them as COMPLETELY EVOCATIVE as possible.

I mean, Moxie…did you even read the descriptions? Or did you close your eyes after the first paragraph? And also…are you intentionally trying to play a completely moronic character? Because if you ARE, then…well, I stand corrected, and you’re doing brilliantly. Otherwise I just…I mean, if you’re playing a character with above-moronic intelligence, you shouldn’t play them as moronic. That’s just bad form for an RPI, RP-Enforced MUD.

AT LEAST four other people (I’m being conservative here) read the same text and said, basically, some variation of “That was absolutely beautiful”, “Words can’t describe it”, “That was Heavenly”, “Amazing”…the list goes on. Oh, and many emoted having their mouths drop open, staring in amazement, being on the verge of tears, etc. So, ummm…I think the problem here is one player has no fcken clue. I mean…there are BLIND PLAYERS on TIL that can read better than Mox.

Instead of eleven carefully-written paragaphs (the length of which player of Moxie did NOT complain about…they made it clear it was the “just one note”) I probably would have gotten a more positive reaction if I had typed the following:

“pmote plays a note.

pmote plays a different note.

pmote finish.”

EDIT, 9/8/15: To those that say: “Well, anything’s okay if it’s IC” my response is this: Any SUBJECTIVE response IC to another character is one thing…a response that ignores A SPECIFICALLY STATED FACT is another. You can’t just pretend something happened that didn’t, didn’t happen that did, or speak in gibberish in terms of your reactions to other characters, cuz you feel like it. Unless you’re playing an insane idiot.

I mean, I know music is subjective…but some things are just OBVIOUS…like, if you listen to a 5-piece band play and say you only heard one instrument…and you don’t have a hearing problem…you’re quite clearly…something.

Here’s the song I describe with ELEVEN PARAGRAPHS to get her response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc6e8NOswOg

I think you’ll notice, after the REALLY long intro (I started at around 2:23, so skip til then…Given 6 paragraphs), there appears to be a slight change in volume and sound (at 3:03, given 4 paragraphs…1 paragraph was the fading sound). Maybe that’s just me.

EDIT, 9/10/15: The volume of the call-and-response is actually a combination of the parts at 2:23 (softer) and the parts earlier beginning at 1:10 (louder, harsher), and then even louder, each(!) note(!!) more distinct(!!!) as it grows. Just FYI.

I think this is the proper response to Mox’s judgement:

Of course, this is ALL just my personal opinion and/or satire.

Ummm…judge for yourself. And play more than one note, d@mnit!

10/16/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Good clips. From movies. (housekeeping)

I do, in fact, have YEARS of experience with FK.

My characters (well, a few at least) were loved and received many compliments.

I was there when Dalvyn and Gwain played, and recently with Liora and…unfortunately, still Gwain.

I’ve known the game, very well, for many years.

I’ve seen the vast improvements in every area but one.

It is…a subjective opinion.

But…it is not one made out of bitterness. It IS my genuine opinion.

Roleplay has always been mediocre, with a few exceptions.

And it still is…there’s been no advancement whatsoever.

I’ve gone back, and back, over and over. Why? I think a current player summed it up well when they said to me OOC “It’s like crack.” You know it’s bad, and you don’t WANT to…but you just can’t help it. For me…it’s the glimmer of hope, at finding the two or three good roleplayers in the entire game.

I’d like to emphasize, also, that I have NEVER been officially asked to leave by a member of staff. And, according to their rules…they CAN do that.

All IMPO of course.

-SUBJECT RELAYING ACCURATE ACCOUNT, THOUGH SOME STATEMENTS SUBJECTIVE; NO PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES-

And now, a bit of fun (SATIRE…SATIRE…SATIRE):

Theory: FK is, in fact, the great lost work of the magnificent L.F. Dibley; an undiscovered Festering, a monumental achievement, and an unrivaled statement on the proper length, format, and content of optimum roleplay. Vis:

(3:58-4:32)

Bye FK…if there’s any relevance to TMC’s rankings regarding adherence to type (in this case, listed: “Roleplay Enforced”), you will fade and be forgotten.

10/16/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – A good clip from a great show. (housekeeping)