I am considering being a DM on there but I am worried about wokies.
Has anyone tried the site yet?
So I just visited this site, and frankly I've always found the concept of a paid DM quite retarded.
However I also believe in natural selection and this seems like a way to make money pretty "easy." At least if the system you're running doesn't suck ass through a stray.
That said it seems 5e and PF2 are mainly the advertised sort of games there, so I'm going to say half of everyone there will be fairly left leaning.
I have nothing but the blind guess that maybe if you pick a more based/less Woke system folks might self-select somewhat? IDK.
A mainstream site, with paid DM's, and hyper-focused on D&D5e and Pathfinder 2e?
My thoughts are at the 0:22 mark.
Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 22, 2023, 03:10:02 PM
I am considering being a DM on there but I am worried about wokies.
Has anyone tried the site yet?
I mean dude, can you stream this. I want to see the point where you have the autist pull his N card on you because he can't handle the depiction of the wife of the woodsman because he has a micropenis and it hurts his self image because he can never get a wife. And you then have to retcon it to just the woodsman and his dog and then you have another autist who is deathly afriad of dogs due to her 3rd grade private school bringing in a beagle and the beagle wouldn't lick her hand because she smelled of unwashed hippie.
Did you even bother to read the Code of Conduct? You will need a conduct warning for everything you put in the game. You will have to pull whatever content your players want you to pull. You are not a DM, you are the players bitch, a paid bitch to do exactly what they tell you do for a small amount of money. You will be taking your hobby and turning it into a job for people who will not respect nor like your game rules. They are going to expect Matt Mercer level of voice acting and plot armor.
Also don't forget as a DM you are going to have to list your pronouns, and you are going to have to play the pronoun game with your players as well.
I say go for it, but dude, what are you going to do when you are running a campaign set for 6 players and 2 have signed up for the session. They are not normal gamers, they won't follow a schedule and you will have to run the adventure for the two players, hell probably playing NPC's as well to keep the group up.
You can look at their safety team who will respond immediately anyone is made to feel uncomfortable. It reads like a truth and reconciliation council right out of Harvard.
https://startplaying.helpscoutdocs.com/article/32-code-of-conduct
I guess you could compare it to the alternatives to figure out opportunity costs? I guess there's those pay to play Reddit subreddits, Camp Dragon Online (I'd assume mostly D&D?), and Roll20 paid game posting? Probably notably less Woke restrictions for some of those, though IDK how profitable those all are.
Quote from: KindaMeh on December 22, 2023, 11:25:58 PM
I have nothing but the blind guess that maybe if you pick a more based/less Woke system folks might self-select somewhat? IDK.
I was just on there and did that very thing. Everyone has pronouns unless you look up the OSR stuff. Then they seem to be a little more normal.
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on December 23, 2023, 12:54:40 AM
Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 22, 2023, 03:10:02 PM
I am considering being a DM on there but I am worried about wokies.
Has anyone tried the site yet?
I mean dude, can you stream this. I want to see the point where you have the autist pull his N card on you because he can't handle the depiction of the wife of the woodsman because he has a micropenis and it hurts his self image because he can never get a wife. And you then have to retcon it to just the woodsman and his dog and then you have another autist who is deathly afriad of dogs due to her 3rd grade private school bringing in a beagle and the beagle wouldn't lick her hand because she smelled of unwashed hippie.
Did you even bother to read the Code of Conduct? You will need a conduct warning for everything you put in the game. You will have to pull whatever content your players want you to pull. You are not a DM, you are the players bitch, a paid bitch to do exactly what they tell you do for a small amount of money. You will be taking your hobby and turning it into a job for people who will not respect nor like your game rules. They are going to expect Matt Mercer level of voice acting and plot armor.
Also don't forget as a DM you are going to have to list your pronouns, and you are going to have to play the pronoun game with your players as well.
I say go for it, but dude, what are you going to do when you are running a campaign set for 6 players and 2 have signed up for the session. They are not normal gamers, they won't follow a schedule and you will have to run the adventure for the two players, hell probably playing NPC's as well to keep the group up.
You can look at their safety team who will respond immediately anyone is made to feel uncomfortable. It reads like a truth and reconciliation council right out of Harvard.
https://startplaying.helpscoutdocs.com/article/32-code-of-conduct
I did not yet read the code of conduct. (just read it) Ugh!
What the fuck are safety tools?
Either way, your response is hilarious.
You've probably already looked them up at this point, but basically safety tools are systematized or gamified methods by which players veto what they deem to be objectionable content or otherwise directly make demands upon the game for their own comfort. I'm not really a fan of this sort of thing, and think most folks can just talk things out and agree to trust their dm, but some big ones you might already know of or encounter:
1. Session Zero, in which the group as a whole including the players decides what the general expectations for the game are. Part of the assumption is that a social contract is forged, and the dm must stay roughly within the bounds of what was originally expressed and agreed upon.
2. Lines and Veils, which players can update at any time to either keep stuff out of the campaign (lines), or have it take place with minimal description/offscreen (veils).
3. X-cards, which when played signal an end to the scene and potentially disturbing content. As well as the dm having to speak to the player(s) in question and reevaluate how best not to disturb or offend them.
Stuff like that, I guess, though I'm by no means an expert, since I don't like or trust this stuff, but this is by no means everything or even close to it in terms of possibilities.
Quote from: KindaMeh on December 23, 2023, 03:22:31 AM
You've probably already looked them up at this point, but basically safety tools are systematized or gamified methods by which players veto what they deem to be objectionable content or otherwise directly make demands upon the game for their own comfort. I'm not really a fan of this sort of thing, and think most folks can just talk things out and agree to trust their dm, but some big ones you might already know of or encounter:
1. Session Zero, in which the group as a whole including the players decides what the general expectations for the game are. Part of the assumption is that a social contract is forged, and the dm must stay roughly within the bounds of what was originally expressed and agreed upon.
2. Lines and Veils, which players can update at any time to either keep stuff out of the campaign (lines), or have it take place with minimal description/offscreen (veils).
3. X-cards, which when played signal an end to the scene and potentially disturbing content. As well as the dm having to speak to the player(s) in question and reevaluate how best not to disturb or offend them.
Stuff like that, I guess, though I'm by no means an expert, since I don't like or trust this stuff, but this is by no means everything or even close to it in terms of possibilities.
Yeah... I've been reading up on them. Truly bizarre.
Did people just totally forget how to interact with other people? Or is this a sort of virtue signal that doesn't actually ever come up?
I can't imagine needing something like this. It seems really, really weird.
In a good group that trusts and jives well with its dm, it's basically a non-factor. Apart from the effort required to set all that shit up at the start. In the hands of a problem player, or if there's internal strife, these things can plausibly be weaponized, I guess. This is just what I've heard. The only one I've ever experienced was a pseudo-session-zero group brainstorming thingy.
Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 23, 2023, 02:59:23 AMWhat the fuck are safety tools?
(https://media.tenor.com/AcyisVuZyvoAAAAC/my-child-oh-my-child.gif)
Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 23, 2023, 03:30:11 AM
I can't imagine needing something like this. It seems really, really weird.
Some would say "mentally ill" even.
Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 23, 2023, 03:30:11 AM
Yeah... I've been reading up on them. Truly bizarre.
Did people just totally forget how to interact with other people? Or is this a sort of virtue signal that doesn't actually ever come up?
I can't imagine needing something like this. It seems really, really weird.
The X-card and the Consent in Gaming contract are both items from the kink community. The X-card specifically is from a woman is into pretty rough BDSM play and ported this over from her "nocturnal activities" that she uses to keep from ending up in jail over a hospitalization (or worse) of a playmate.
Quote from: BadApple on December 23, 2023, 07:35:12 AM
The X-card and the Consent in Gaming contract are both items from the kink community. The X-card specifically is from a woman is into pretty rough BDSM play and ported this over from her "nocturnal activities" that she uses to keep from ending up in jail over a hospitalization (or worse) of a playmate.
Got some links for this assertion? Because having witnessed plenty of "rough BDSM play" myself, the idea of someone stopping to "play a card" during a BDSM scene sounds entirely unrealistic to me. (And, just as in gaming, more generally handled with, you know, words.)
Quote from: Zalman on December 23, 2023, 07:47:02 AM
Quote from: BadApple on December 23, 2023, 07:35:12 AM
The X-card and the Consent in Gaming contract are both items from the kink community. The X-card specifically is from a woman is into pretty rough BDSM play and ported this over from her "nocturnal activities" that she uses to keep from ending up in jail over a hospitalization (or worse) of a playmate.
Got some links for this assertion? Because having witnessed plenty of "rough BDSM play" myself, the idea of someone stopping to "play a card" during a BDSM scene sounds entirely unrealistic to me. (And, just as in gaming, more generally handled with, you know, words.)
Not cards specifically but non verbal signals, specifically where gagging is a part of the play. The woman who introduced it said as much pretty clearly.
Quote from: BadApple on December 23, 2023, 07:50:28 AM
Not cards specifically but non verbal signals, specifically where gagging is a part of the play. The woman who introduced it said as much pretty clearly.
I don't know who this "woman who introduced it is", and my web searches about the X-card tell me it was "invented" by a man named John.
Sure, in BDSM there are silent safewords. Because players are, as you point out,
literally bound and gagged. And when the safeword is used, it means stop play entirely. There's no direction or discussion (for obvious reasons).
Some woman may have gotten the idea of a silent safeword from BDSM, but as far as I've seen the X-card doesn't even closely resemble its use.
And of course, TTRPG players already have the option of leaving the scene whenever they want because they aren't tied to the chair in the first place. Literally. With rope.
The problem with paid DM'ing from that site, its going to be rather difficult to reject players. When I first started DM'ing online during the "Chyna" Syndrome, I was using D&D Beyond for players. One guy I was interviewing with wouldn't talk over chat and then I saw the furry icon for his character. Then it hit me, oh fuck the guy is a trans furry, I'm not DM'ing that mess. Blocked him as soon as I got him off chat. I'm not going to introduce that thing to my party when I have a real life friend and his kid playing. They do have safety cards however they will be one way. If you state you don't do hook ups in the game, let alone role play them, the company would likely give you a strike for being a bad role player. I could see their support goblins stating "Lighten up dude, FuryDickSlayer069 just wanted you to roll play some analingus, hell we do on our lunch breaks at HQ, you get one strike for this".
Quote from: Zalman on December 23, 2023, 10:16:02 AM
Quote from: BadApple on December 23, 2023, 07:50:28 AM
Not cards specifically but non verbal signals, specifically where gagging is a part of the play. The woman who introduced it said as much pretty clearly.
I don't know who this "woman who introduced it is", and my web searches about the X-card tell me it was "invented" by a man named John.
Sure, in BDSM there are silent safewords. Because players are, as you point out, literally bound and gagged. And when the safeword is used, it means stop play entirely. There's no direction or discussion (for obvious reasons).
Some woman may have gotten the idea of a silent safeword from BDSM, but as far as I've seen the X-card doesn't even closely resemble its use.
And of course, TTRPG players already have the option of leaving the scene whenever they want because they aren't tied to the chair in the first place. Literally. With rope.
I can't find it now but there was an article on one of the geek culture news websites praising the X-card and where it came from.
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on December 23, 2023, 12:54:40 AM
Quote from: Captain_Pazuzu on December 22, 2023, 03:10:02 PM
I am considering being a DM on there but I am worried about wokies.
Has anyone tried the site yet?
I mean dude, can you stream this. I want to see the point where you have the autist pull his N card on you because he can't handle the depiction of the wife of the woodsman because he has a micropenis and it hurts his self image because he can never get a wife. And you then have to retcon it to just the woodsman and his dog and then you have another autist who is deathly afriad of dogs due to her 3rd grade private school bringing in a beagle and the beagle wouldn't lick her hand because she smelled of unwashed hippie.
Did you even bother to read the Code of Conduct? You will need a conduct warning for everything you put in the game. You will have to pull whatever content your players want you to pull. You are not a DM, you are the players bitch, a paid bitch to do exactly what they tell you do for a small amount of money. You will be taking your hobby and turning it into a job for people who will not respect nor like your game rules. They are going to expect Matt Mercer level of voice acting and plot armor.
Also don't forget as a DM you are going to have to list your pronouns, and you are going to have to play the pronoun game with your players as well.
I say go for it, but dude, what are you going to do when you are running a campaign set for 6 players and 2 have signed up for the session. They are not normal gamers, they won't follow a schedule and you will have to run the adventure for the two players, hell probably playing NPC's as well to keep the group up.
You can look at their safety team who will respond immediately anyone is made to feel uncomfortable. It reads like a truth and reconciliation council right out of Harvard.
https://startplaying.helpscoutdocs.com/article/32-code-of-conduct
To be fair, you can use the weapons of your enemy against them. For example, take their rule that:
Quote
Respect other participants and use the pronouns they ask you to use when referring to them.
Well, what if you decide that your pronoun is trump4president? Anyone who had sense of humour enough to play after reading that would probably make a good player, regardless of politics, even if they use neo-pronouns themselves. The ones who retreat to their safe space? They've self-selected themselves out of your game.
Of course, you might get complaints. But then you just point out that the site's rules explicitly require
everyone to respect your pronouns. Ask the company to give strikes against everyone who complained about you, because
they're the bigots.
Quote from: Krazz on December 23, 2023, 12:17:45 PM
To be fair, you can use the weapons of your enemy against them. For example, take their rule that:
Quote
Respect other participants and use the pronouns they ask you to use when referring to them.
Well, what if you decide that your pronoun is trump4president? Anyone who had sense of humour enough to play after reading that would probably make a good player, regardless of politics, even if they use neo-pronouns themselves. The ones who retreat to their safe space? They've self-selected themselves out of your game.
Of course, you might get complaints. But then you just point out that the site's rules explicitly require everyone to respect your pronouns. Ask the company to give strikes against everyone who complained about you, because they're the bigots.
Stealing this for if I make the insane decision to use this site and run a game there.
I tried using it. I don't know about the players because I never actually got that far. It's seems to be one of the few places with a surplus of GMs and games on offer. There are tons of games with 0-1 slots filled of 6-7. I couldn't get enough players to run a free one-shot for 5e in two weeks. It took hours for the game to fill up when I posted it on Roll20. There does seem to be a pretty heavy emphasis on safety tools, pronouns and being LGBTQwifipassword friendly whatever that even means.
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on December 23, 2023, 10:41:04 AM
The problem with paid DM'ing from that site, its going to be rather difficult to reject players. When I first started DM'ing online during the "Chyna" Syndrome, I was using D&D Beyond for players. One guy I was interviewing with wouldn't talk over chat and then I saw the furry icon for his character. Then it hit me, oh fuck the guy is a trans furry, I'm not DM'ing that mess. Blocked him as soon as I got him off chat. I'm not going to introduce that thing to my party when I have a real life friend and his kid playing. They do have safety cards however they will be one way. If you state you don't do hook ups in the game, let alone role play them, the company would likely give you a strike for being a bad role player. I could see their support goblins stating "Lighten up dude, FuryDickSlayer069 just wanted you to roll play some analingus, hell we do on our lunch breaks at HQ, you get one strike for this".
The ability to select players is something I was specifically worried about. The only control mechanism I see is that you can make your game listing hidden. But I'm not sure exactly how hidden it would be.
But the ability to cull or rate players seem a must have.
Quote from: Krazz on December 23, 2023, 12:17:45 PM
To be fair, you can use the weapons of your enemy against them. For example, take their rule that:
Quote
Respect other participants and use the pronouns they ask you to use when referring to them.
Well, what if you decide that your pronoun is trump4president? Anyone who had sense of humour enough to play after reading that would probably make a good player, regardless of politics, even if they use neo-pronouns themselves. The ones who retreat to their safe space? They've self-selected themselves out of your game.
Of course, you might get complaints. But then you just point out that the site's rules explicitly require everyone to respect your pronouns. Ask the company to give strikes against everyone who complained about you, because they're the bigots.
I Like how the 2e Players manual says it for DnD:
Quote
"A Note About Pronouns
The male pronoun (he, him, his) is used exclusively throughout the second edition of the AD&D game rules. We hope this won't be construed by anyone to be an attempt to exclude females from the game or imply their exclusion. Centuries of use have neutered the male pronoun. In written material it Is clear, concise, and familiar. Nothing else is, "
I mean that alone addresses Pronouns and causes wokies heads to explode. ;D
One of the few games I played in my adult life was from there. At least two players joined that seemed to want to play just to derail the game but we were running a free game so I imagine that doesnt happen as much on paid games. There was one chick that would not show up and do something I forget that seems like she was here just to derail the game. There was a trans bronie that that I think just wanted to show off how weird he is. Like we are in the underdark and we come upon a a duergar Captive Ice thri kreen and this thri kreen will wander off separately from the party all the time just to be a contrarian. Special snowflake personified
I browsed a few games posted there and the lists of content warnings and "safety" tools are long. This tells me that the place caters to a perpetually online fearful breed of people. Do people really need a content warning for "snakes"? Like these people are so out of touch with real life they need to be warned in advance about an animal that may appear in an imaginary game? God help them if they go to a social event and someone mentions snakes in conversation or if they go for a walk in the hills and actually see a real snake. I would call them children but that's an insult to children.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 27, 2023, 01:39:22 PM...or if they go for a walk in the hills...
Touching grass is their greatest fear, and I've yet to see a Climate Activist that hasn't spent their entire life in a city.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 27, 2023, 01:39:22 PM...and actually see a real snake.
They just need to look at their 'friends,' or in a mirror.