Dancer Archive
Thread: Who Buffs Whom?
We say that we buff, but I am confused. Because I do not know how you can buff anyone. For that matter, I don't know how I can buff anyone. Because no matter how much we try and kid ourselves that we somehow give buffs, we can give NOTHING if the other player does not /watch us. NOT A THING.
So what do we really "do" that is so valuable, dancers? We simply do an authorization. An /invite or a /setperform. A silly thing that causes all sorts of headache in all manner of ways. And to prove how silly it is, we have master level characters parked in cantinas 24/7 who think nothing of this authorization. Indeed, I was never empowered by getting the command to /setperform and group buff. I was nerfed. Because I can only buff a maximum of 20 players at one time instead of 50. Moreover, I got after the latest buffing rules a new sort of request that I never heard before. The four word statement that strikes fear into the heart of even the most hardened dancer:
"Can u buff me?"
And this is rather silly, no? Because I cannot buff them. THEY MUST BUFF THEMSELVES BY /WATCHING ME. What they want is the /invite or the /setperform. But it is still up to them to /watch. And the reason why many live players hate buffing these days, or see it as work rather than fun is because we have to somehow take responsibility for something that was never our responsibility, and never can be. Instead of just going to any cantina and enjoying the experience for what it was with whomever was there, players now had to somehow "convince" an entertainer to simply do a formality. To turn a half of an experience into a full experience....whatever that means. And its true. All the convincing they need do is a few credits. Maybe a lot of credits. But what was never clear to me is why pay me anything at all if they are not amused? And moreover, what sort of incentive do I or any other dancer have to be amusing if we are paid before we even get a chance to amuse them at all?
Because they don't pay you for you to /setperform on them to gain amusement. They pay you to /setperform on them to GET IT RIGHT. And to tell you the truth, dancers,I resented the fact that it was upon me to take responsibility for something that is beyond my control. And I don't think there is one dancer out there that hasn't had a buff go bad because of something they had no control over happening, like the player not /watching when they were supposed to, or walking away before the buff is fully applied. But from their perspecive, and even from ours, it became our fault by default. Because the buffing authorization gave everyone the notion that we were the givers, and if what we gave was not good, it was because we never took the time to coach them through it, or we did not do the things we needed on our end. And it caused resentment, mistrust, and animosity. And for what? Just a mere few keystrokes to make our performance somehow "more valuable" that it would be if we did not?
I resent the fact that SOE saw fit to load up this class with so many complexities that I never even had to worry about when I started about a year ago. Because I never went into this thing to sell buffs. How can I when there is so much that I cannot control in the buffing process? I went into this thing to be entertaining, and I can more than compete on that level with a bot. What I can't compete with is to sell authorizations. Because bots can give away more authorizations than I can.
Becauseone of the reasons buffbots are so convenient is that they do away with the formality of the authorization and just drone away, letting the patrons /watch them and buff themselves. But with us, there is always confusion. Confusion as to what our role in this exchange really is, and confusion as to how valuable an authorization really is. How much this thing we really "give" is really worth.
But the mere example of buffbots shows us that /setperform and /invite are worthless. In fact, /setperform and /invite are actually live entertainer nerfs. Because it limits our ability to be amusing due to the fact that we have to spend most of the time reassuring the patron that they will get their buff if they follow our instructions. It forces us into trying to "get it right" as opposed to letting the patron him or herself to get it right by simply /watching.
The combat players always say that buffs are scarce. And I used to think this was hogwash until I started thinking about it. BUT THEY ARE RIGHT. Buffs are more scarce under the current buffing system. And they are scarce because there is a whole other layer of complexity on top of the old system. Players now not only have to go to the cantina. Players must now seek a dancer that will authorize them. The problem is, authorizing someone puts them in a de-facto position of culpability if something goes wrong in the ankward and unwieldy system.
So I say eliminate /setperform and the group buff. Make it so all a patron need do is /watch. Our plight will not get any worse, and it may in fact get better. Let's take away the thing that makes buffbots beneficent, take away their need to spam instructions while we are at it, and make it so players tip us because they want to, not because they feel they have to.
Message Edited by PoetDancer on 07-20-2004 10:57 PM
I only give patronage to ATK Dancers/Musicians.. I chat with them as they do it, offer then buffs if I'm on my Doc... And I always try to tip lucratively. What people don't really realize that not everyone in the game is out to be an uber l33t n00bz0r pwner. I'm here because I enjoy being with other people. That's what the Entertainer professions are all about. Even though I'm not an ent anymore... I gotta say, I feel for ya.
Sorry to hear that happened to ya Sirii. It's sad that you have to put up with this crap.
)
Amida_Enterprises wrote:
I will néver accept responsibilitys for another person's actions, if I'd do that I'd grow depressive mighty quick and that's just not worth it! All an entertainer can do is her/his best , don't settle for anything less and be glad to be tipped at all..
/agree Amida
/setperform isn't a burden. Customer's watch but then we have to flourish our little hearts out to buff. They can watch anytime, I decide if they get a buff or not. I'm sorry but I will never ever agree with this line of thinking poet. I buff them. I control who gets buffs and who doesn't. Payment is usually required for said buff. Most folks are really ok with that. I don't think just anyone that walks up and /watches me deserves a buff. Its bad enough he can syphon healing off me but I've really grown past that because I have the buff.
If you really really don't like it, you have the choice to just not buff. Don't participate, tell them you don't approve of it and entertain how you want to. I really don't think most dancers share your point of view on the buffing process being a burden that we cannot control. I will agree that I wish it was more stable buffing one person to the next - but I really wish a lot of things for the dancer profession.
I still think a little GUI interface for buffs is the best solution. Make it a clickable act rather than a macro-able act. But I'm just sounding like a broken record now.
PoetDancer wrote:
No, I really don't like it Goldy. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with it. It is part of the profession, and as such, part of the things I have to do to be an effective dancer. I just wish there was some way where I did not have to constantly type in /setperform or group in order to make sure that someone who is /watching me can get a buff off of me. Because if such an option were available, I'd use it in a heartbeat. I truly, truly have no problem with allowing any person who visits my cantina to get a buff off of me without my consent. In fact, it frees up my concern about giving the consent, and allows me to be lighthearted and amusing.
See, I do have a problem with that. What you're proposing here, while it does take away any responsibility from us, it also means that we have no control whatsoever to make an income. This is not at all going to help us. Nobody's going to pay us for this. It's going to work just the same as healing. People will come in, watch, and leave, and give no payment. I'm not here to be used. I'm here to make a living. And, /setperform and the /group'ing gives us some degree of control over our financial well being.
I understand that you don't care about any of that. To that I would say, don't participate in it. Go dance, go entertain, don't buff if you don't want to. You can absolutely achieve your goals without participating in the buffing process. But, please, do NOT advocate taking awaywhat littletools to make us viable economically.There are a lot of reasons I dance. One of which is toentertain. But, I want this profession to be just like every other profession in that we havea meansof control to make money.
Now, Ihave read many, many of your posts. And, I suspect your response to me about what I said would be something along the lines of "entertain, interact" and you will get tips! WhatI would say to that is that I think it's great that you are one of the very few entertainers who are able to do thatand make tons of credits. I really do. But, the fact of the matter is, you are one of maybe5% of entertainersout there who are able to do this. Isuspect the percentage is even lower (perhaps 1%). And, under yourvision of dancer we are still relying on the goodness of others in order to make a living. We have no "needed" service in the galaxy. Ibelieve that wedeserve and should have a "needed" service as part of our profession. That service is buffing. Don't advocate taking that away from me. I don't want to be "used" as a buffer without my consent. I don't want to be a buffbot. I want to be looked upon as someone providing a valuable service, and get paid for it--just like every other profession.
What don't I get, Reachwind? Passive healing and buffing went on before, it is going on now, and I think it is going to continue...with or without more steps todiscourage it. One thing I know for certain is that we had it a lot better before the current buffing rules, and we had more fun as well. If it doesn't change, I'lllive with the current system. Yes, I buff, and I'll buff under the current rules as long as the current rules remain in effect. Sometimes I enjoy it. Often times, I get a lot of apprehention that I have to "break through" in order to get these characters to lighten up and put their trust in my instructions. And to tell you the truth, I have oftentimes discovered that my patrons are more apprehensive about the process that I am. Not because I am a bad buffer, but because they simply do not know what this whole experience is worth, and are at a loss as to how to accomodate a live buffer while he or she does the work. Getting a /setperform is kind of like getting a followspot to shine on an audience member at a play. It gives the impression that the audience member is supposed to do "something" for the production staff, but what? Moreover, I think this current system limits my potential in the following ways:
1) The current system limits how many people we can buff at one time. Because right now, I can only buff twenty people (19 in a group, and 1 with /setperform). What if 25 people walk in? Or 50? There are some on these boards who do not think our class should act like waitstaff, but isn't this what this system promotes? "I have an open space at dancer #3! I have a space opening at dancer #1 in 3 minutes!" I see this as a limitation on my effectiveness. I want to be able to buff like I am able to heal BF and mind wounds: to as many people as are at the cantina. I cannot do this under the current system.
2) The current system tears groups apart. Because in order to groupbuff, we may need to /disband. I'd rather keep the groups intact.
3) The current system makes one visual performance have unequal value. Because I create combinations. But why is it a beautiful orchestration is to one player who sees it merely a BF healer, while another player seeing the same dance gets an enhancement? Shouldn't a dance be a dance? Why does the same dance count for one thing, but not another? Simply because of some silly authorization? Seems unrealistic to me.
4) There are plenty of safeguards a dancer may give to prevent unauthorized use, like /deny, or simply walking away from the venue. Maybe to find another venue with players that will appreciate the your presence. But with /setperform and the /join buff in effect, players feel shorted if they simply leave with their BF metres zeroed out. I would argue that the culture of the servers does not tip BF healing as much as they used to because leaving a cantina with "only" one's BF metre leveled out to zero is not the best one may hope for. Now, if characters do not leave with a buff, they feel as if someone should have tried harder to give them the buff. But what is it really that we are supposed to give other than an authorization that makes us do things we might not otherwise do? Like /disband from our entertainer groups? Or /setperform on an exclusive one and thereby deny all of the others? Why should we have to make these decisions at all when all it would take is to allow /setperform on an unlimited number of patrons? Why is it that I cannot give the patrons all I have to give them in terms of the game mechanics without making decisions that are really not all that fun for me, AND the patrons that have to wait it out until I can "get to them?"
But all of these things does not equal this last point on why the current buffing rules are detrimental to my success...
5) The current system gives buffbots a viable thing to "give." And what do they give? Simply an authorization. A macroed /join command. Something that they give freely to whoever wants it for the purposes of making the same boring performance count for more than ours in terms of what it gives. And they become a "self-serve" station in the process. A place where combat characters can do their part and get what they want their cantina service to give them. Which in many ways was always their responsibility anyway. Because we have always had unattended entertainers. But only after the current buffing rules were implemented did they become "buffbots." And why are they buffbots now? Because they do not place /join or /setperform in as high of esteem as we do here. They simply dispense with the formality that we cling so hard to. In many ways, they also give peace of mind to the audience. And I'm not saying that this is right or wrong, but its something I have never allowed myself to consider until now. Because they are never confused as to what the expectation may be on the other end with a buffbot.
But buffbots are boring. This I know for a fact. But players really are not in a position to care about the boring nature of the bot when they have more pressing issues, like where they can go to get a full cantina experience. I want to give them the full cantina experience. But if I just go around typing /join or /setperforming out of the blue, they are thinking to themselves, "why is she doing this? Is there some alterior motive? Does she want to do this so I can watch only to have her stop when it is only 24% and 30 minutes to hurt me? Then I'll be screwed, because this buffing thing cannot be undone once I start /watching. So I'd better play it safe, and go to the buffbot so I can take control of my own buff" I want to make these players as comfortable with me as they are with bots. Unfortunately, that cannot happen as long as the buffing process is a virtual "tap dance" between two players that may not have any reason to trust eachother. I also want to take the tools buffbots use to manipulate the playerbase away from them. Like a macroed /join list, or even a macroed /invite command. Take the only limited resource away from the bot so they cannot give it away freely anymore. Then, the bot isn't doing anything all that special, and it will be exposed for how boring and worthless it really is. Which will give live players the chance to go to the cantina and give something that is really valuable. Something that is best enjoyed when the current pressing issues of the moment do not loom as large in a player's mind. An immersive, live performance from somebody that makes it his or her business to be creative, fun, and amusing.
Buffbots have flourished (no pun intended) in this current safeguarded system. And the reason they do is because the current buffing system plays right in their hands. They can time the /flourishes to an exacting science so as to buff as many people as possible. They can issue commands via spatial or /groupchat with uncanny precision and clarity at the exact moment a patron should /watch, /stopwatch, and /disband. They automatically give an authorization to have a /watch give everything they have to give. And they cut through the complexity so that patrons do not have to worry about getting the things they want from their cantina stay. They do this and get big, BIG credits from players who are appreciative--not because any effort was made on their behalf--but that there is something out there that reaffirms that /watch still gets you the things one goes to the cantinato get. But they are BORING. I cannot help but think that players would like what we have better. But how can they enjoy what we have to offer them if they are worried about other things other than enjoying our performance?
And I am not saying this is right that this is happening, but it is something that we are suffering under currently. Should I not buff at all? That's like a Master Armoursmith not making composite armour because he doesn't like the looks. I'll deal with the current system. But I cannot help but think that my effort to do the things I do would be a lot more effective if I was not limited in the ways the current buffing system limits me.
Message Edited by PoetDancer on 07-21-200409:44 PM
Message Edited by PoetDancer on 07-21-2004 09:45 PM
Message Edited by PoetDancer on 07-22-2004 11:23 AM