That's a self-fulfilling prophecy though. Behaving in a defensive and hostile manner is a great way to cause people to react in kind.
I'd never accept "I had a crappy childhood" as an excuse for behaving in an antagonistic way toward people who haven't actually done anything wrong to you yet, or have not threatened you. Sure, I have empathy for people who have a less-than-ideal life experiences and I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but too many people claim a lack of control over their own behaviour and personality and demeanor because of their past. That's easier than working on becoming a better person, I guess.
The world does have bad people, but if you go around assuming that any given person is bad based on no evidence whatsoever, then that's the world you'll experience.
This is why I bring my Ronway Gauger everywhere I go. It gives me the percentage of how in tune an individual is with the way of the Ronway. It lets me know who to avoid because of their un-Ronwayism.
Well, I didn't even mention common sense until Reckless did. And personally, I find their criticisms of Brad Talton and Level 99 Games to be somewhat insulting and, given how unprovoked and unrelated to the thread topic they were, incredibly rude.
As it happens, the majority of rules questions about Battlecon are asked on the boardgamegeek forums, not the Level 99 forums. This is obviously something beyond Brad's control. Now, I don't believe the specific question Reckless is concerned with was asked on those forums or on any forums other than this one, but it does lead me to wonder why they didn't just ask it themselves.
Well since you play games with me regularly (and therefore don't avoid me that much, does that mean I score highly on the Ronwayism scale? If so, that scares me.
My apologies then. I will never again refer to "common sense" on this board. Personally, it seems that that leads to Policitcal Correctness.
What doesn't make sense to me is that a question is asked, the answer given is not the answer that was hoped for, and so the question is asked again. Maybe with some little twist to make it even less of a corner case and somewhere closer to "the average player will never see it happen".
Sometimes it's something as simple as approaching a new game and being unsure about it. I don't know of any other games that operate like BattleCon, so I'm not going to go off of Chess or Magic or Poker rules for how to play the game if I have a rulebook for BattleCon. The same goes for Sentinels. Thankfully, my questions are typically answered either through the Sentinels rulebook or forum. BattleCon? Maybe. If I get lucky. And I typically get an immediate answer on these forums rather than a patronizing, exasperated "Ok, people, for the last time, THIS is how this mechanic works!" commen like I've experienced with BattleCon.
I don't like the attitude, but I've seen it often enough in reality. People do get tired of answering the same question over and over. To the extent that "this is the last time!" and, if it is game related, often resulting in me no longer wasting my time with them or their products.
Yeah, agreed. I always approach new people expecting them to be nice, and the majority of people respond to me positively. Modelling works, as long as you don't approach it with an "I'll be nice to them so I get the most benefit I can from this situation" attitude. My social skills are not the best, but I manage not to antagonise people constantly wherever I go.
For someone with my generally antisocial, introverted nature, I approach all social interactions as transactions - I pay as little of my mental energy as possible in order to "purchase" beneficial reactions from others, in order for me to derive more happiness from the interaction than I would by staying home by myself.
Well, you're going to have to learn to knock that off and be nice, 'cause you've caused a lot of stress around here. Most everyone around here is perfectly nice and friendly. If you can be nice, we're happy to spend time with you. If you can't, then the transaction isn't working out in our favor either and you should probably go find another place to hang out online, not to put too fine a point on it...
My intention was never to be insulting, and if I was then I apologize. It's true that I was reticent to ask about whether to hide my hand or not after I asked them about Juto's counters. The remark (from a prominent playtester who was not associated with Level 99 games) was exasperated, frustrated, and tired of the question being asked. Brad later clarified (politely and with no malice) that it was in fact an error he needed to address, but it was after he cited an inaccurate ruling. I'm not saying this to be insulting or hurtful, but it was factually an inaccurate ruling.
That being said I love BattleCon, I loved playtesting, and I love Brad's dedication to creating an awesome game and making his customers happy. I've heard a lot of good things about BoardGameGeek, and I'll have to remember to access their forums the next time I have a question that the site doesn't answer. I agree that my question could've been answered if I had asked it, but after my experience clarifying Juto's text I had no desire to ask any other questions. I had searched for an answer before signing up on their forums, was unsuccessful, and questioned the mechanic in relation to a Devastation playtest hero. It is just very disheartening when you do your best to inform yourself before asking others and you get an exasperated reaction.
If I seemed to get defensive with you, Katsue, I also apologize. The nuance you explained makes sense, and I understand that a lot of people grasped the concept on their own, but my group was genuinely stumped by it and would've greatly benefitted from it being mentioned specifically in the rulebook. My example here was to explain my fondness for this forum and this community in relation to the BattleCon playtest community. I love BattleCon, and Brad is awesome, and I'll continue to chime in whenever I have any relevant playtesting data for Level 99 Games. I just appreciate this forum and how prompt Greater Than Games is at answering any ruling questions. The SotM rulebook certainly omits some incredibly relevant data, but I've always found a quick answer with a google search or forum perusal from the GtG team in a matter of minutes. I've just never had that kind of luck with BattleCon. I'll be sure to visit BGG's BattleCon forum next time I have an issue!
I am not trying to pick on you here, but one of these days you are going to have to face the very cold and hard truth that everything about you, from the way you communicate to others to how you proccess and internalize outside input, is in your control. That can be a very scary thing, I know it. And it is so easy to shrug things off, throw your hands up say "I give up, this has nothing to do with me". But the reality is that youare in total control whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, and the thought of all that extra personal responsibility is shutting you down and will eventually cripple your ability to form meaningful interpersonal relationships with others, online and in person. I can see it in just about every post you make.
I do not say that from a place of a superiority or to lecture, but as one peer to another who has gone through this very thing himself. I won't be shy about it, but I have struggled with severe depression for the vast majority of my waking life. I thought there were a lot of things about my life and about me that were just too far gone to even be worth the effort. Other people didn't like me or "get" me? Out of my control. Lonliness? Poor hygene? Motivation? Money? Not in my hands. Nothing I could do.
Doesn't that feel powerless? Don't you despise that feeling? I did. I despised myself for feeling that way when everyone around me seemed to have that one thing I lacked. Thats what my despression did to me. It took my control.
I do not mean to insinuate that what I went through is similar to you, nor do I have any intent to marginalize your life experiences in any way. But damnit, I wish I had someone look me straight in the eyes years ago and tell me that I absolutley have a choice. That I have total rein over every aspect of my life. That I did not need to feel powerless or scared of the world around me.
I am so sorry everyone for going that far off topic. Please excuse me.
Don't be sorry, that was good. I had a different experience. Back in high school, I took a look around at the people who I admired and tried to figure out what it was about them that I wished I had more of. They were usually funny, confident, and comfortable in many situations. So I reasoned that if I wanted to be like that, it would require practice. So I started pretending I was actually like that. 30 years later, I am actually mostly like that, and am (depending on who you ask) a reasonably well-adjusted, happy adult.
So I'll echo Foote - it's absolutely within your power to be the kind of person you want to be.
I accept your apology, and I'd like to apologise myself for being a bit brusque. I had a bad week, and my temper was a little short.
There are actually two forums on boardgamegeek, the Devastation and the War forum, (well, there's the Strikers forum as well, but that only contains one thread). And for some bizarre reason they're not linked.
I haven't read the thread (does that ever stop anyone from posting their opinion?) but I would totally use the "Ignore this user's post" if it was implemented. I would be happy too if instead we only got "Ignore Envisioner's posts".
I'm glad to see that we are, by and large, capable of acting as well-adjusted adults in here. It says a lot about a community that can apologise for having a bad week and move on. I love to see that.
Let's have more of that.
Personal attacks, on the other hand? Let's have less of those. Kthxbye.
Right on. I accept your apology as well. Hopefully they'll be fully linked after the hard copies are released. I just can't wait to play with the Legacy Promo!
Also, to be on topic, I read the online gameplay rules before I received the original SotM first edition about two years ago. I've been shuffling the decks before each of our games ever since. For better or worse, as many of my real world friends on this forum will admit. I seem to have terrible luck when shuffling any deck…
Yes, I do despise that feeling, but I refuse to simply "take soma" and stop feeling bad, when nothing about the external world has changed to improve my situation. Money woes are indeed not my fault, because nobody will give me a job. People's persistent ability to misinterpret every word I say is also not my fault; I phrase my statements as best I can, and beyond that it's out of my hands. Everything else is others trying to get me to accept blame for what is actually THEM falling down on their responsibilities (such as the greedy corporate CEO refusing to hire more workers and instead making excuses about the "labor market"), and I refuse to be treated that way. The world needs to change, and I'd rather be the one loudly complaining about its current state, even if he never accomplishes anything by it, than the one who shrugs and just takes care of himself. I believe in taking a stand for what's right, and as far as I can see, what's right in the world we have currently is kicking a whole lot of people's asses, because they completely deserve it and will never stop being Evil (for lack of a better word) if not forced to. The fact that I lack the power to personally kick every such ass, worldwide, is just one more external factor responsible for my misery.