GMs want to get in on the player character experience

[Rias]

Some of the GMs - myself in particular - want to get in more on the player character experience side, and just general enjoyment of playing the game. I won't speak for the other GMs, but it's been a long while since I've actually played my game(s) in earnest. I'll run around a little at times on my PC, but I don't have much interaction with others or the world, beyond some basic mechanical grind and some rare very light RP. While some might think that's a good thing and that GMs should just stick to GMing, I would disagree for a number of reasons:

- GMs should enjoy actually playing the game they GM for. It's a huge motivator and way to maintain interest in the game overall.
- Playing the game as a PC helps the GMs maintain a more realistic perspective of how the game actually feels to play as a player.
- Playing the game as a PC is a great source of inspiration for working on things that would feel awesome to experience as a player. Nothing inspires development of cool stuff quite like experiencing situations that make you think "oh man, it would be so cool if my character could ..."
- GMs should be able to just kick back and have fun sometimes!

I talked with the other GMs, and a number of us have decided we want to whip up some characters and get a fresh experience with the game. This will NOT include any kind of special privilege or anything - the GMs will be playing strictly as player characters on separate non-GM accounts. No exclusive guilds or classes, no privileged or unique faction standings. We want to be transparent about how we're going about this, and the fact that we're doing it at all.

I thought it would be good to get some kind of IC group established so we have a foundation for our characters sticking together and frequently grouping up. We also thought it would be awesome to get some of you folks in on it! How fun would it be to have a consistent big old group that gets together to RP, cull Lost Lands baddies like infested and nethrim and bandits, and just generally kind of hang out?

So, would any of you folks be interested in helping us out and joining us? I think it'd be great to have some kind of Company to hold us all together. Fairly basic in purpose, nothing especially focused or niche, no particular affiliations or creeds, just some kind of like Lost Lands Adventuring Company. A group who go out and explore, cull the numberless hordes of monsters, provide each other with various services, generally support one another through the trials of Lost Lands life, sing and drink together, whatever! Not that it couldn't ever develop organically into something with more purpose or direction over time, but starting out fairly broad and basic would be ideal for inclusion purposes.

One important thing though - we (the GMs) don't want to be leading or running anything. We just want to be tagging along as members of the group, taking a break from CLOK-related positions of responsibility while on these characters so we can just play. So, one of you non-GMs would have to take up the mantle of leadership! Maybe form a small council of leaders beyond the founder if that's more your style - it would be less pressure on any one individual.

Anyone feeling this? Any further ideas on the subject? I really don't want to end up with a group that gives off sketchy "Cool GM Characters Only, No Non-GMs Allowed" vibes.

[artus]

I'm definitely in for this. I can see some concerns regarding gm perks blah blah blah because it's been abused before on so many other muds, but I don't really see it happening here especially when you guys are transparent about it. It's a game everyone should enjoy. What fun is it there when all you can do is code code code and grind? Na man, jump in and have fun!

I may not be doing much these days aside from semi-passive, still at the keyboard light grinding due to massive ooc distractions and upcoming job preparation (oh yes, I did get a life and a job finally) all around but I'm in whenever I can and would love to see gms take some gm time off to join the silly crowd. Rias, you in particular should just stop scaring us with some invasions and be the one invated.:p Just kidding though.

Love yall. Sorry for being somewhat absent ic btw.

Ps. Forgot to mention; there's definitely one major merit for doing this too. If there are bugs or problems player talk about, gms can also get first hand experience with said bugs/problems and know if it is or is not quite so on player's perspective. Sometimes you just don't see stuff when you work on things on paper. Only until you start using what you work on can you feel it. I was running some background loop on my own soundpack and found a gap in one of the loops and just had to come back and add to this post. Welcome to player experience, everyone.

[Gorth]

Idea is good. Large scale going out to adventure and kill stuff might be a problem sometimes, with skill disparities, but who knows. That's fun sometimes, too.

[Zeldryn]

I, for one, would be fracking honored.

May I suggest.. The Lost Legion as a working name? I do know a certain enterprising islander who would be just so fond of walking around with his own band of sellswords.

Do let me know if you might be interested in his leadership. He's down to clown however it goes.

In all seriousness though-- I'm so glad to see the enthusiasm and the excitement from the staff side. I say anything we can do as players to help you guys vibe with the experience like we do is worthwhile! If there's anything I can do, i'm happy to, as always.

[Squeak]

Down with it.

I'll throw in with Z and add that if he wants a hand, I'm happy to help get something going. Assuming people actually want to play with my little gruff, ass-ish, hunter.

[Smoothcoffee]

Two things!

1. As a person with GM experience consisting of a significant portion of my life, I am completely on board with GMs getting to enjoy playing their game. It's really important for people to connect to the work they've put so much time and effort behind in ways of playing, not just creating for it. I highly encourage you all do this, have fun, stir up some trouble, and basically jump in with both feet. I'm really excited and happy for you to finally enjoy the work you've given us to enjoy and create so many memories surrounding for the past several years.
2. I AM ALL IN! I'm so excited for some good old camaraderie!

[Ninetales16]

I am very, very excited to see this developing into a thing we all can enjoy together as players, regardless of any position or status. I am extremely happy and really hope everyone will have a good time!
I, for one, would be supremely touched if I would only intersect with this company, in the first place, let alone joining it. i'm honestly feeling that it would be kind of a daunting task, and quite complicated to manage for my character for various reasons. so, if my character would intersect with this merry group of people sometime, I would be very, very happy!
This seriously gives me a very, very good vibe. I will return to the game soon-ish, after this short break I am having.
Have fun. enjoy the lost lands, but don't let yourselves get lost in them! :)

[Adresin]

I love this!

I'm not sure if Alia would necessarily join, it would depend on how it turns out IC. However if allowed that doesn't mean she wouldn't participate in some nethrim cleansing with a group, that'd be fun!

That said, I want to say that I 100% support GMs enjoying the game with their own PCs. Like others, I've seen this abused horribly, with admin using their non admin characters to mess with people then use admin run NPCs to get them out of trouble, nonsense like that. Or admin PCs leading everything and not giving the non admin people a chance to do anything. HOwever, I don't see that happening here. I love the transparency, and like SC said, it's very important for admin to actually experience the game they create or help run. I was admin on a different game, including coding, and there's nothing like experiencing things to spark ideas or realize frustrations. It's also a good feeling to find a problem and go oh! Hey, I can fix that real quick. Besides, I'd love to have a chance to rp with the GMs, assuming I haven't already and just don't know it. Fun times! And yes, you deserve a chance to just kick back and enjoy yourself too! So I'm totally in support of this and excited about it.

[verel]

Definitely excited about this. Nice to know the GM's are wanting to actually play the game and honestly I was under the impression that most of them already did play.

But hey, a group of adventurers sounds like my type of thing. My main character will probably be all in on this. It'd be good for RP purposes and will give us all a decent shot at getting some great IC work done.

Enjoy playing Clok! Y'all work hard enough on it that I'm sorta surprised none of the GM's have considered playing the game.

[Mirazia]

Some of us do play! But it's been some time since I personally have had a fresh player experience so I am certainly one of the GMs on board with this idea, to try something new and step out of my comfort zone of usual character tropes.

No idea what that will be yet, but I'm excited!

[ydia]

I'm okay with GMs playing their own game. However, there is already a company that sounds sort of like what Tandor tried to start in game. I have a document in my portfolio about it. I don't see Ydia joining any company until she sees how they go, but it will be interesting to see what happens. Tandor's idea was to map out the world and have adventures with the company.