I am not a Fairy Godmother who can wave a wand and immediately cease all hostilities.

@TAO, take responsibility for your members, even if they are your friends. Leaders should not play favorites, especially when kids with low self-esteem are involved. If you cannot handle running a guild, don't make one.

I hope that you find some solace in knowing that some of the TAO founders have stepped aside, no longer claiming ownership or futilely attempting to run it.

So, maybe you should keep the sensitive topics to yourselves... Or at least warn other people before diving into traumatic shit that you know not everyone is comfortable with. Because every time I roleplay with you, it's like walking through a lovely field of tall grass and sunflowers, but it's FILLED WITH FRIGGIN SNAKES.

I will agree with you 100% on a few things here.   There are those of us who have been RPing together for a couple years now, and we're very comfortable with each other.  We know what *we* like in our RPs, and we know what boundaries not to cross for *us.*  So it doesn't always occur to us that other people might not like the heavier topics.  Quite often we do tend to keep to ourselves, simply because we don't always like fluff n' stuff RPs.  There is a reason that we're often to be found on rooftops or in dungeons and sewers.  (And it isn't just the kickass graphic glitches or the thrill of taunting the GM-guards to 'port us out.)

Let me ask you something though.  How many times have you ever heard someone come up to one of us and say "Hey man, I'd love to RP with you, but I'm really not up for dark and creepy tonight.  Could we go a bit lighter, maybe?"  I've never heard it myself.  But I'd like to think I'm at least marginally considerate enough that if someone asked me nicely/politely/at least without sarcasm-ly I'd at least think about it. 

What I do see happening a lot is someone walks up, in the middle of an already on-going, and typically serious, conversation and tosses out a random greeting or comment, without pausing to listen to what is happening.  Now, a new player?  (And in these situations, you can pretty easily tell if someone is new...)  For them, my character will usually deadpan, stare at them like their nutters and ask them, albeit reluctantly, if they need help with something. 

This is where players like Zalya and Mariana are leagues above and beyond me with sending /tells and talking to the players, trying to make sure they know it's not personal, only IC, and being all-around friendly.  I'm shy.  I don't like sending strangers /tells.  I don't really even like to approach characters I don't know the players of.  Deep down, I'm still that little girl in pigtails who got pushed down on the playground and sat in the sand crying until her mommy picked her up.  But I am at least willing to try and reach out to someone to make sure they aren't upset by it. 

Back to the above... I'm not a big fan of established characters walking up obliviously into things and not reacting ICly.  I suppose I expect a bit more from them.  Some players, like Elrbye (I know I butchered that spelling. Where are you, you giant hulking menki?!  You know you want a cuddle!), Sacho,  and Monala are just amazing at walking up, giving a realistic greeting/intro, and then observing and jumping in with the reaction.  I give them mad props for going with the flow. 

So yeah, all of that to say... what Volki and Illysia said just now?  Nice, polite, not accusatory, or abrasive.  THAT type of comment or request?  Yeah, you say that, and I'm more than willing to tone my RP down to play around you.  I have no problems compromising so that everyone can have fun.  And I'm pretty sure that the rest of the dark and gritty crowd (aside from Rigwyn, who we all know couldn't get his mind out of the creepy-scary-gutter :p ) would be willing to tone things down on our main scaries, or use more jovial alts for the benefit of all, at least occasionally.  No, we're not going to all start using the organic hemp wash ( Ven, wink-wink-nudge-nudge) and switching to vegans (that means you, Ikon), but we're not unreasonable.  You will always catch more flies with honey-scented flypaper, and being nice about it makes us more inclined to be accommodating.   

Now then, I have a menki to shave, a diaboli to snatch the dreds off and two klyros to turn into a matching pair of boots.  Toodles!

You could barter with them too - offering your vouch in exchange for their service to you. Ie... "Noob, go to X, Y, Z, and earn me a glyph and I'll help relive you of your Noobginity".  You would be helping them get cemented into the game too.

Oh please, oh please, let this be instituted?  I would dearly love to help relieve Rigwyn of his false noobginity. 

And on a slightly more serious note.  It's nothing but illegitimate hypocrisy to launch into an unrelated attack on someone's preference of RP.  You don't see "people like us" running about insisting that everyone participate in our RPs.  Wanna know why?  Because we actually DO have some consideration for the other players in the game.  We send them /tells to check up on them (kudos Zalya).  We use out-of-the-way locations for a lot of the more intense RPs (kudos Zalya, Mariana, Travosh, Rigwyn, Thidin, Marsuveus, Taya, Karnath, Eonwind, the list goes on and on and on...)  And when issues are presented respectfully, and discussed, we compromise (i.e. previous arcs involving dead bodies/zombies/crime in the city have all been modified). 

You know what you don't see?  You don't see people just maturely choosing not to participate in the RPs that they find offensive, without someone feeling the need to try and censor the entire community because they want to throw a tea party for Barney, Tinky-Winky, Winnie-the-Pooh and everyone else that wants to sit at the kiddie table.  To all the people who DO handle this type of thing maturely, you have my deepest and profoundest respect.  To the whiners? Time to take a good look in the mirror.  Saying "You shouldn't RP Situation X because it offends/bothers/disturbs/interrupts/etc/etc/etc my favorite type of RP" is complete and utter rivnak dung. 

One: What makes you think you have the right to tell another person what they can or cannot do, if it doesn't fall outside the rules of PS?

Guess what?  You don't. You don't have that power, you don't have that right.  And there's one hell of a big difference between ASKING someone to move to a different location, or to not involve you in something you don't like and TELLING them they shouldn't be able to express themselves or that they should change their entire RP style.

Two: Why is it acceptable for you to try and make other people conform to your idea of fun RP? 

Guess what? It's not.  It's hypocritical.  You wouldn't like it if someone said you had to RP in their angsty/fussy/dark RP.   I happen to despise mundane tavern-talk RPs.  I only find them remotely tolerable if there is a character there that has an interesting personality.  But that doesn't give me the right to come here and say that everyone who does that type of RP is not creative enough to come up with something more fun that suits MY taste, or that they should try to bring more spice to their RPs.  Which would be why you've never seen me insul t the players who prefer that type of RP.  I let them do their own thing. 

Three:  Why can't you whiny people have enough common courtesy to extend to others the same rights that are extended to you?

There are so many wonderful people in this community who are amazing Rpers, and who don't come on here just to whine, but the few who do? Yeah, you ruin the game for others.  I've watched countless RPs get shut down, or OOCly cancelled because someone whined about how it infringed upon their personal rights.  Ugh. Get over yourselves.  How many decent RPers are you going to have to run off before you learn how to play nice in the sandbox? 

A figure shrouded in a dark sapphire blue cloak approaches the message board.  It bears a farming axe in one hand, a bag that drips a steady splatter of viscous red liquid in the other.  The figure pauses before the message board, pulling a disembodied head from the bag.  From the looks of the matted hair and dirt caked over the ears, it's probably a less than reputable being.  Though the expression of terror in the glazed eyes, and the way the mouth is frozen in a silent scream seems to indicate that it did not die in the most pleasant of ways. 

The figure seems to have at least some decency, in that it merely uses the back of the axe to skewer the head to the board with a nail through the ear.  Once satisfied that it will not fall, the cloaked being pulls a length of parchment from it's cloak and stuffs one end of it into the head's mouth.  The trailing end of the paper has a scrawled note upon it that reads simply:

"You have taken something of mine.  I will take it back.  For every scream you hear, I will bask in the symphonies of your anguish.  For every drop of blood spilt, I will bathe in your deaths a thousand times over.  For every whimper and plea you utter, I will crush your bones and grind them into the meal that feeds this level.  Your tears will replenish the rain, and I will sleep once more in peace, cocooned in the skin flayed from your flesh. 

You have seven days."

The message delivered, the figure merely melts away into the night. 

Sorry guys, I've been a tentative at best for the event, but it being the holidays, my family has demanded requested my presence in pa-ta-sa the next state over.  I won't be able to attend.  Good luck with everything and I hope y'all have fun!

Yeeeeeeeshe, LigH.  I really hope you didn't mean that the way it sounded.  Evi is one of my favorite characters in the game.  She's got significant mobility and depth to her, and is just all around very nicely made.   
and its funneh to watch her flail with teh menfolk hit on her

Have I told you lately how much I LOVE the way you've been doing the scales, Mari?  Cause I do.  Putting just a few here and there on the picture does wonders for giving it the impression of scaling, without having to "clutter" the whole body with them.  I might just have to try it myself! 

She's amazing Boni.  Really, she is.  I love how the coloration fades out and how the details in the shading are just lovely.    (i know, such technical terms >.< )