Dancer Archive

A bit off topic but could someone explain to me why there are still "mind buff bots" set up on Wanderhome?? The oneI saweven has a guild tag so you'd think someone would tell them that times have changed. Though I guess it's possible the guild is having a big laugh about it as well.

It makes a difference if someone didn't know...or if they did know, continued doing it, and part of their enjoyment involved screwing people over.

I have no idea why the "mind" buffbots are still around. Heck, I don't know why any of the bots are still around. I can only hazard a guess that it has to do with their pride and hope that they will one day be useful again.

Ironic, that is.

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Doriana wrote:

I don't feel comfortable gauging what most people consider "unattended," but for myself I consider a character to be unattended if people get no reply from directed spatial speech (barring things like spam making you not able to tell someone s talking, the person being on ignore, that kind of thing of course).

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This brings up another question--since it seems to be essential to the definitionof an ATK entertainer that they are present and willing to communicate, would it be accurate to say that entertainers should only be played by Socializer-type players (As opposed to Achiever, Explorer, etc, as determined by the Bartle Quotient)?

It's not as if being ATK means you have to be loquacious. I'm sure it's not asking too much of achievers or explorers that they at least respond to a greeting.


Umi

To tell you the truth, I was never one for "bartle boxes." But I am not exactly sure what a "socializer" is. I do know that there are players and there are non-players. And it seems to me that the definition is rather simple. If you are at the tools of play, you are a player. If you step away from the keys, you are an unattended character and not a player.

Message Edited by PoetDancer on 06-01-2005 10:04 AM

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Ikewe wrote:

A bit off topic but could someone explain to me why there are still "mind buff bots" set up on Wanderhome??

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I've seen at least a couple on every server I've visited sincethe release of CU. I'm pretty sure they're trying to wait it out and figuring that the devs aren't going to leave us withouta "use" for long. They're waiting to see how they can exploit our professions next.

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Ikewe wrote:

A bit off topic but could someone explain to me why there are still "mind buff bots" set up on Wanderhome??

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-AurraSing- wrote:

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Doriana wrote:

I don't feel comfortable gauging what most people consider "unattended," but for myself I consider a character to be unattended if people get no reply from directed spatial speech (barring things like spam making you not able to tell someone s talking, the person being on ignore, that kind of thing of course).

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This brings up another question--since it seems to be essential to the definition of an ATK entertainer that they are present and willing to communicate, would it be accurate to say that entertainers should only be played by Socializer-type players (As opposed to Achiever, Explorer, etc, as determined by the Bartle Quotient)?

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No.

Just like any profession they should be played by whoever enjoys playing them and left alone by people who don't enjoy playing them.

Many people don't enjoy performing, which is fine. But the current system allows some of those people to say "Stupid boring, worthless profession. I'm going to leave this 2nd account here all the time because no one would ever want to play entertainer, so if I don't leave my alt here I won't be able to heal my BF or get entertainer enhancements," which is NOT fine. That attitude has been feeding into itself for 2 years now, because attitude is one of the cornerstones of entertaining -- if you go in the cantina and talk to someone who is excited about the professions and loves being there and what they're doing, you leave happy and with a positive cantina experience. If you go in and the cantina is full of people who are so bored they aren't even there, you leave feeling that cantinas are boring and worthless places where even the employees can't stand to hang around. Defintiely not a social hub where you can go to find help, groups, information and entertainment.

By the time mind buffs came around as a means of giving live people a bonus AFK peopld didn't have, everyone "knew" entertaining was boring and that no one would ever play it. But the reason why people weren't playing it wasn't because it was (or is) boring. It was attitude. It was other people saying with their actions (if not their words) "This is stupid, so I'm not even here." It was all the old launch era entertainers quitting the cantinas (if not the game), tired of being confused with an automated script, tired of everyone "knowing" that they weren't there. It was several generations of newbies who had come in found no one to answer "Hi, can you explain how this works?" or being told that it works by cut and pasting a macro and then going AFK.

So entertainer should be played by anyone who enjoys it. Anyone who can bring the right attitude that it's fun, that it's worthwhile, that all those people who aren't there are just confused and should be playing combat or crafting. But it's a hard thing to do. It's hard to justify working at telling yourself you're still having fun when the zombie next to you reminds people for the 100th time to watch it, it needs exp. It's hard to remember that the profession is fun when the 10th person this hour comes in and harrasses some ATK newbie while getting a buff from the AFKer, leaving with a free buff and a laugh. It's gone way beyond being player fixable, and it's gone way beyond the playerbase as a whole even caring or even noticing there's a problem. Because everyone knows no one plays entertainers except a few really stupid, stubborn holdouts, rights?

(For the record, I'm personally something like 70% explorer, 10% of the other 3, socializer always coming in dead last.)

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PoetDancer wrote:

To tell you the truth, I was never one for "bartle boxes." But I am not exactly sure what a "socializer" is. I do know that there are players and there are non-players. And it seems to me that the definition is rather simple. If you are at the tools of play, you are a player. If you step away from the keys, you are an unattended character and not a player.

Message Edited by PoetDancer on 06-01-2005 10:04 AM

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Exactly. Simple. Precise.

If you're there playing, then you're ATK, and you are actually, by definition, playing.

If you are not there, then you are AFK, and not playing.

That's really all there is to it.

Message Edited by Drygo on 06-01-2005 10:29 AM

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Drygo wrote:

(All this mumbo jumbo about letting people play how they want to play...well, I agree! But, that's the key point, you have to actually play. AFK is NOT playing.)

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That is exactly why only SOE can fix the problem. As long as they provide the tools as native game mechanics they clearl state that AFK is acceptable and IS playing. Until they make it impossible to do without resorting to 3rd party tools they are supporting AFK as a viable style of play. I agree that if you aren't there you aren't playing and think anything else is the stupidest argument I've ever heard; unfortunately SOE supports those really dumb arguments. Come to think of it SOE supporting dumb things is so natural I'm no longer surprised by their position!

If'n you use the WYSIWYG editor it's one of the wingdings font things. erm. I think it's - in wingdings.

I had to go through internet explorer to use the editor to set up my still messed up sig (I usually use firefox).

Yes, I know it's a little off. But that's okay, I'm a little off too.

- = hyphen in Webdings font. Type a hyphen (-), highlight it then change the font to Webdings.

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AnakinSWG wrote:

I HATE OUR FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friggin' things logged me out when I hit "submit" and I lost 30 minutes of typing about 'communties' and the Aeschyl syndrome.

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