No clearly, the common denominator here is your method. Confrontational actions have produced little effect. Go use a different method or evolve your current one.
Ah, look at that, somebody who read between the lines. Good, I can continue then.
You're right. Confrontation hasn't worked. Strangely for people on the Internet, no matter how much I yell and harangue you people, you don't defend yourselves--or, at least as Abaddon has demonstrated, don't
capably defend yourselves--which speaks rather poorly of your survival instincts, but that is somewhat tangential to the point. I'd say your defense mechanism was to ignore me, but you do that regardless of what I do, so I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've tried being encouraging and helpful too. I have established at least two projects here, and in truth many more than that, to try and improve certain things, most notably historical organization and cartography. Now, I have become more stringent with rules over time, but only because they tend to be exceedingly simple, and because people exceedingly tend to
ignore them (see, we got there). So it's very clear an encouraging method doesn't work.
So if yelling, kicking, and screaming at you doesn't work, and coddling, prodding, and encouraging you doesn't work, what
does? Interesting question, isn't it? I already know the answer(s) empirically. I have for awhile now. There are two possible solutions to this.
The first answer, the trivial solution of A=0, is that nothing works at all and that you'll ignore me regardless, ostensibly because I am me (this we can deduce by the fact some of you sometimes listen to other people). Now, I have significant evidence supporting this viewpoint, but I'm going to discard it because my ego is too large to accept that fact (
FEEL FREE TO PROVE ME WRONG, I could do with the spare time deserting this place would provide me with).
The second, nontrivial solution is the one that has definite evidence empirically. The last time
I tried soliciting advice on rules I got about 6 pages of half-hearted comments (subtracting out my
own remarks) and a whole lot of bellyaching that too much thinking was involved. I've only modded a single real game for one turn. The last time
Birdjaguar asked he got 14 pages and the last time das tried it was
9 pages of more than just half-assery.
Isn't that interesting? You should be fascinated. There seems to be a clear correlation between interest and knowledge of past results.
No, I'm rather aware yelling at you doesn't work. You don't want to be given an idea and encouraged to utilize it or demeaned if you don't. You don't want to think at all unless you know you'll get something proven out of it, and even then you're loathe to do it unless you really have to. You want something shiny persuaded into your possession--not thrust or gifted into it half-formed, where you can--should--put the rest of the pieces together yourself--no, no,
persuaded. "Look what I've got, don't you want some of it?!" You want a nice big box where ugly sprawling things go in one side and nice pretty things come out the other,
and you don't want to know how it works because then you whine that it's too complex. And you want to know that the person offering it to you can actually deliver it.
There's nothing wrong with any of this. Nothing immoral or bad about it. It's just who you are. I can't judge you based on this
empirical data. But I personally find it a laughable concept. By the way, you're not allowed to judge me for thinking that either. That's the one concept of the little Culture of Nice system I will accept--reciprocity and a lack of double-standards. (And by the way, that's presumably why "
need a hug;" because I'm pointing out all the flaws in the logic train to begin with and them I'm not shamelessly flattering you with praise and caveats while I'm at it--the truth hurts. Write your own version of the truth and refute me or suck it up and deal with it.)
So, going back around to where we started, why am I bothering to continue to harass you people when all you want is to be left alone with your silliness instead of bothering to think about why things are as they are, and how they could possibly be made better? You want to remain blissfully ignorant and unaware of those possibilities and stick with the status quo. I get that.
Why do I do it? There's two reasons. The first is that on some level, I obviously care, or else I wouldn't be bothering at all. I want to see those ideas manifested--not just for me, but also for the rest of you, because there's a small but finite probability that maybe some of you will like them too, as a few among the silent majority of this conversation have confided to me. The other part is I remain an optimist that maybe some ray of this will penetrate that blissful shroud of darkness and spark a sense of curiosity, and even if it doesn't, maybe it'll prevent you from being shell-shocked later on. And who knows, there might just be a third part where I really like talking like a condescending . .. .. .. .. .. .. . to see if any of you will bother stepping up to the plate to take on any of this or back it up with more than "I agree."
Either way, it doesn't matter, because I'm working on more permanent solutions anyway. This is just a little sideshow. You don't like it? Tough. Either form a lynch mob and chase me off this forum or somehow convince Thunderfall to ban me or IP Nuke me or block me or whatever it is you want to do to get it to stop, or consider what I have to say and genuinely roll it around in your head for awhile.
Odds are pretty good I'll wind up with "tl;dr" responses but I'll continue to hold on to that small probability that given enough time in the universe that anything that can happen will.
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