Dancing in Mos Tera

[Hashum]

I dotn mind policing S&V night. I do however guarentee that the socialites and non S&V types arnt gonna like it though.

Fact is that everyone has a dark side...and if you dont wanna play in that realm or atteast attempt to discover it, then your social Rp nights of fun are gonna be limited to Fridays and non villanous events.

Maybe we just need to start our own villanous event. Maybe while the women are all out at the Roba on Friday nights or something we set up a secret underground mafia family. Every week we can have some sort of event planned like when Michael took out the two guys at the italian food place in the Godfather.

Or we could just use it to further Zannon's ME project someone. They were tossing around a crime lord idea. Maybe we can create an weekly even around that, for the really seedier side.

[Novall]

I dotn mind policing S&V night. I do however guarentee that the socialites and non S&V types arnt gonna like it though.

Fact is that everyone has a dark side...and if you dont wanna play in that realm or atteast attempt to discover it, then your social Rp nights of fun are gonna be limited to Fridays and non villanous events.

Maybe we just need to start our own villanous event. Maybe while the women are all out at the Roba on Friday nights or something we set up a secret underground mafia family. Every week we can have some sort of event planned like when Michael took out the two guys at the italian food place in the Godfather.

Or we could just use it to further Zannon's ME project someone. They were tossing around a crime lord idea. Maybe we can create an weekly even around that, for the really seedier side.

Chal did place a new cantina in Nocturnus at the stronghold lastnight Maybe I can convince her to let us be nefarious in it

Yes, we are missing a true-life crime lord. If we definately had something of that nature...I think more of the seedier RP elements would liven up.

[Hashum]

I dotn mind policing S&V night. I do however guarentee that the socialites and non S&V types arnt gonna like it though.

Fact is that everyone has a dark side...and if you dont wanna play in that realm or atteast attempt to discover it, then your social Rp nights of fun are gonna be limited to Fridays and non villanous events.

Maybe we just need to start our own villanous event. Maybe while the women are all out at the Roba on Friday nights or something we set up a secret underground mafia family. Every week we can have some sort of event planned like when Michael took out the two guys at the italian food place in the Godfather.

Or we could just use it to further Zannon's ME project someone. They were tossing around a crime lord idea. Maybe we can create an weekly even around that, for the really seedier side.

Chal did place a new cantina in Nocturnus at the stronghold lastnight Maybe I can convince her to let us be nefarious in it

She'll be at the Roba anyway, or S&V she'll never know. Make it that much riskier. There's always that threat that she could come home early and take all of our heads off.

[Isleh]

Maybe its just me then. I've always thought S&V was supposed to be where people would be a little worried to take their eye off the guy in the corner.

I fully agree it should be.. but as you pointed it.. its hard to be afraid of the dancers. Some s&v nights they are the only ones that show up! Perhaps we should all rethink how we go to S&V and have a do over...

I'm sorry. but if you leave S&V because it's not the way you want it, then who's to blame? We all play off one another. If you want S&V to have "watch you back" atmosphere, then come and make it so.

The dancers and muscians sometimes outnumber the crowd. Iago tried to take breaks last time but maybe we should rotate the dancers and musicians. Let us come on stage and do sets like in RL and spend the other time RPing in the crowd and trying to get them to run up their bar tab buying us drinks so Lady Valarian can sell more booze

[Sai'nu]

lol. 2 years in Korea and I think Isleh just summed up what the hired girls over there were doing using an in game example. "You buy me drink?" says the dancer hired by Lady Valarian. (dancer checks chronometer to make sure she only spends about 5mins with each drink per person). Heh, and you don't want to know what else went on. That's S and V alright.

[Novall]

Maybe its just me then. I've always thought S&V was supposed to be where people would be a little worried to take their eye off the guy in the corner.

I fully agree it should be.. but as you pointed it.. its hard to be afraid of the dancers. Some s&v nights they are the only ones that show up! Perhaps we should all rethink how we go to S&V and have a do over...

I'm sorry. but if you leave S&V because it's not the way you want it, then who's to blame? We all play off one another. If you want S&V to have "watch you back" atmosphere, then come and make it so.

The dancers and muscians sometimes outnumber the crowd. Iago tried to take breaks last time but maybe we should rotate the dancers and musicians. Let us come on stage and do sets like in RL and spend the other time RPing in the crowd and trying to get them to run up their bar tab buying us drinks so Lady Valarian can sell more booze

Good idea Isleh. I dont however feel the blame is on anyone but more so that we've let it really fall from the theme it was intended to be.

[Zannon]

Yeah...Like I said in my original post, I'm not placing blame, just trying to figure out if my efforts are best spent doing something else in game.

[Iri]

For my toon, Iri is just getting off of a tour of the Outer Rim, so he is fairly use to playing in run down dives. I mean, his battle droid isn't called Bouncer for nothing. However I might have missed the mood of the event and I apologize if I did. I'm new...I'll get it eventually. :-D

[Ekade]

So, by this rationale, all dancers are two-dimensional characters that only dance and flirt?

I don't see how you arrived at that based on what I said.

You yourself are a rebel and a fencer, but is that not a part of who your character is?

It is a part of who my character is. You need to be close to her to know that. Not everything about Ekade is visible on the surface.

Why would Ekade need protection? She can probably kick my butt in the game.

As far as the matter of protection, the likelihood of someone wanted to be my bodyguard full time is not really feasible from an RP persective. It would be fun for about a day, then they would get bored. You have to balance what is "real" with what is practical and possible in this medium (more on that later).

Maybe Ekade would go to the Despot to spread the word of the Goddess and to gather information for the Rebellion. Maybe she's watching one of her sister's backs while she does business there.

Maybe she is.. I talk about the Goddess a good deal at S&V, in fact at that venue more than any other. I am not sure if you have seen any of that, but I think the RP surrounding that has been very good.

I don't know, I just know when I show up there, I have an agenda and a reason and I think everyone could make it that much more fun if we all played that way. Have we all become so set in our routine that we can't truely roleplay?

I do too. It is not always an active agenda. Sometimes I am there to be a "passive" and react to the RP of other people. People need an audience for their RP and that role is very important. In regards to "truely roleplay".. such a thing is not that easy to do in this medium. So many things happen that you have to sacrifice a bit of "realism" in order for your character to particiapate in the world.

Would Ekade want a temple to be built in Nocturnus? No. It would make more sense to build one somewhere safer. She would not put her sisters in harms way like that. Quite honestly, pirates have no use for religion.

Debating RP logic is pointless in that, because it is all BS anyways, you can easily justify anything you want.

I'm a traditional pencil and paper RPer, and I see SWG as being a great surrogate for that. We have the tools and the ability, now we just need the desire.

I dunno if this is making any sense and I hope I'm not offending anyone. I just want to know that what we're doing here is the best and most fun it can be. I'm not asking anyone to change the way they like to play, just to look at how they can make it better for themselves and everyone around them.

I am too. We are still learning how to roleplay in this environment. I honestly don't mind the criticism because I know it is in the spirit of making things batter. Any time I have questions about how to do things, PnP us usually the place that has the best answers.

[Isleh]

I fully agree it should be.. but as you pointed it.. its hard to be afraid of the dancers. Some s&v nights they are the only ones that show up! Perhaps we should all rethink how we go to S&V and have a do over...

I'm sorry. but if you leave S&V because it's not the way you want it, then who's to blame? We all play off one another. If you want S&V to have "watch you back" atmosphere, then come and make it so.

The dancers and muscians sometimes outnumber the crowd. Iago tried to take breaks last time but maybe we should rotate the dancers and musicians. Let us come on stage and do sets like in RL and spend the other time RPing in the crowd and trying to get them to run up their bar tab buying us drinks so Lady Valarian can sell more booze

Good idea Isleh. I dont however feel the blame is on anyone but more so that we've let it really fall from the theme it was intended to be.

I just don't want to see S&V abandoned and just overreacted.

This touched a nerve. There was a post on the SOE Dancers forums stating that it was just a bunch of squabbling and it was destructive and counterproductive. And it was true. There was a lack of a friendly community feel and people were leaving.

I pointed out that, when the community is suffering, the the most destructive and counterproductive thing you can do is leave it and I think that this applies to S&V.

If S&V lacks the seediness you (and the rest of us) are looking for, then creating another event and going elsewhere isn't going to help S&V night. It'll just spread out the S&V thinner.

I think the phrase is 'Catch 22'. Also, Ekade's critical mass theory applies here. The underground element isn't well represented as S&V so the underground element does not come to S&V.

So for now on, I expect your worst possible behavior while I try to drain your bank account.

[Ekade]

I can not speak for everyone, but when I picked up SWG I looked forward to fighting and going to dangerous places. Some of us play for other reasons. I think this event is way off balance because we have a stage that is filled with more dancers than there are people to watch them.

Whose fault is that? The Entertainers are the most dedicated bunch when it comes to attending RP events. This is partially because our profession had very little value in game.. unless you consider reducing an arbitrary number called "Battle Fatigue" a useful ability. Truth be told, we live for social events. It is what makes the sacrifice in skill points worth it.

There is no reason for Ekade to go to S&V. Not unless Ekade is willing to go for reasons like the ones Zannon stated above. This is not Roba night, rather quite the opposite. To be honest the band and dancers should be far fewer in number and they should have a body guard.

Well, I will be sure to consult Zannon then on where my character would and would not go.

So.. how do we reduce the band and dancers? Should the event GM tap some of them on the shoulder and tell them to go home? "I'm sorry isleh, we have too many dancers, go do something else, you are ruining that Scum and Villany feel."

I would like to see more of the people who are usually entertainers come for other reasons. Just my opinion.

Why just the entertainers? Why not everyone else too? I am failing to see the connection with the mood of the event to the presence of entertainers. If you want, next time we won't even go on stage. (People will be screaming.. last week Kirt walked in during our break and said, "Where the hell are the dancers?!")

[Zannon]

The point of my post was to get some direction and state what I was seeing happening to S & V. I don't want to waste time if there isn't an interest in S&V having some scum and villany at it or if it's going to be moved to another location or cut short. I'm logging a lot of hours decorating locations for what I want to do in ME and I don't want to continue if it's a moot point.

Let's not try to turn this into a pissing match by taking it all too personally.

[Seret Sajet]

Wow I'd really like to throw some insight in here but I'm tapped out today.

I'll just say this: I go to have fun in a large group of people and what happens happens.

We can't expect to orchestrate something so large. Part of the fun of S&V night is anything can happen.

I'll see ya there next week. Dancers, Smugglers, Scum and Not-quite-scum.... I love ya all!

[Isleh]

Well, I will be sure to consult Zannon then on where my character would and would not go.

So.. how do we reduce the band and dancers? Should the event GM tap some of them on the shoulder and tell them to go home? "I'm sorry isleh, we have too many dancers, go do something else, you are ruining that Scum and Villany feel."

Ekade, Lets talke to Iago and the other dancers next S&V and see if we can rotate the dancers & musicians in sets. It'll let us mingle and RP and perserve the "feel".

[Ekade]

I honestly think that in the SW universe, pretty dancers probably have it kinda sucky. If you're just a pretty dancer, you have to dance in gritty, gross cantinas. You have to put up with drunks, spice fiends. You might do spice yourself. It's a dangerous life putting up with drunks and druggies and living off tips from strangers.

Oh yeah.. Ekade knows this all too well. She started as a dancer in Mos Eisley and knows the scene. I am kinda getting the feeling that some of you think I am not playing Ekade in character. If that is the case, then you do not know Ekade or her history (though I admittedly do "stretch" things a bit to allow myself to participate. Hunting Gorax and flying a starfighter to be just a couple examples of that). I would encourage you to get to know her.

In the SW universe, you've got to have something else besides the dancing because you're going to find yourself in some crappy situations and dealing with some crappy people. Grabby alien hands, etcetera. Dancers aren't respected in the classic SW trilogy. If you get to diva, that's another thing. You need something else in your professional pocket to be able to say hey, respect me. Most of our ent professionals have that. It just needs to be played up more.

I am not sure how to take this. It sounds like you are unhappy with the entertainers and their RP. Would successful dancers perform at Lady Valarian's party? You could argue either way. Does she hire the desperate, strung-out types or the established and well known performers?

In the case of the Despot, you're there on Lady Valarian's ticket. Same kinda thing on Jabba, but not quite so much. You're going to get harrassed, but you at least have your posse of the band and the other dancers.

Oh, I expect to be harassed. That is partially why I am there.. To give the scum someone to be scummy to.