X-Men: Retribution's November Newsletter - November 7th, 2004


This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com. To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

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Contents:
Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Site of the Month
Player Submission
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

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Paradigm Shift

I apologize that this month's newsletter is late. Between Halloween,
life, school, and other wiz-related duties, I've had to keep putting this
off. And I'm afraid even now, I don't have any real article for this
month's column here.

We do, though, have our first ever player submission a little further
along, so you'll still have plenty to read. I'd love to see more
submissions from players, either in the form of articles, letters, links,
feedback, classifieds - anything, really.

And that about does it for me this month. I'll be back in December,
perhaps with something a little more ... actual.

Thank you,
Paradigm

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New Characters This Month

The following characters have joined us during the month of October.
Please do what you can to make them feel welcome:

Brian
Ororo
Kitty
Gwen
Piotr
Bobby
Danielle

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Site of the Month

This month's site (well, more of a page, really) was submitted by Remy.

OOC Etiquette: Or, How Not to Be Annoying:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/minor_ramblings/78931.html

An interesting and useful LJ entry written about OOC etiquette.
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Player Submission

New York City is known for its living in the fast line, make or break
attitude. Often times it has been referred to chewing and spitting out
tourists and others who are unable to handle the fast life. And yet, it
does not discourage those from trying to adapt to its style and speed.
This city is both cruel and united all in one when it comes to the native
people that have lived in the city their entire life, New Yorkers.

What dubs one a real New Yorker? Well, you would have to live within the
city and its five boroughs (although often enough, Staten Island is
considered to not be a borough by those who live in the other four
boroughs), Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Those
who call themselves New Yorkers and live upstate and outside of the city?s
influence are often regarded with stares and sneers. Even they would not
be able to survive in this rat-race of a city, despite them being within
the same state limits.

New York City is my kind of city. Fast paced, mysterious, and full of
surprises. Born and raised here my entire live, I could never consider
leaving, and many other New Yorkers feel the same way. There is nothing
else like this city in the world. Even with its tragedies and flaws, this
beautiful city always seems to come out on top and bask away with glory.
Only a city like the Big Apple could recover from some of the things it
has seen in the past, especially one key tragedy in the recent past.

Dennis Leary said it best when speaking of New Yorkers. We wear the fact
that we live here like a badge on our sleeve and are damned proud of it.
Indeed, we are. This concrete jungle has been known to deter visitors for
a few key aspects. One being its quick pace. Nothing in New York City is
slow. From the yellow taxis to the dog walkers, everyone walks fast and
never straggles behind. It is something that you learn to get used to as
you walk around. There is no such thing as window shopping. It is more
like glancing into a store window as you whiz past it. There is no
sympathy for the slow. Pedestrians run like water, if there is a stone in
their path, they?ll quickly wrap around the slow object to continue at
their current speed, even if it means knocking into other pedestrians. It
is done but not looked down upon, even by the slow walker or the person
that was being knocked into.

Another down side of its quick pace is impatience. Oh how we are the most
impatient people in the world. I experienced this last night when I nearly
threw my new router out my window when trying to maintain my connection to
the game. I know that there is that saying, ?In a New York minute?; well
that is how things are here. Dare you have to wait over thirty minutes for
a pizza, the delivery man gets no tip. Many times even I have had to walk
out into the middle of an active street just to get the attention of a
passing by cab instead of waiting for one to stop by and decide to pick me
up. Wait more than five minutes for a bagel to be made in a deli in the
morning and you walk out. Of course, there is the big one which is not
daring to wait for the light to turn green in order to go, but I shall
save my road rage tirade for another time. We cannot stand waiting,
victims of instant gratification with most stores being no more than two
blocks away from our homes, our digital cable, cable speed connections,
and cabs that speed on residential streets to get to their destination in
a hurry. One thing that New Yorkers just have to deal with, despite how
slow it is and torturous, is the wait for the subway and bus. If you are
unfortunate enough to take to take a bus route that is known to be slow,
you are in trouble. I have often waited over an hour on many mornings for
the bus during blizzard-like weather on my trek to school. That is one
thing that not much can be done about.

Many visitors don?t like the overall look of the city. Of course it has
its own charm with its skyscrapers and many landmarks; I am referring to
the amount of sunlight which filters through the streets of Manhattan. Due
to the colossal buildings, the streets take on a drab blue unnatural look
to them. The exception is the surrounding area of Central Park. Many find
it depressing looking and I have often seen New York portrayed in
commercials and movies with that grayish blue tint to it. We look at it as
unique instead of depressing. Only a great city such as this one is spoken
of just for its unusual tone of light.

Ah, yes. Who can forget the lunatics of the city? The stark raving mad who
run around in gold jumpsuits and carrying Bibles that speak of the
apocalypse. Yes, there is a lot of that. Most New Yorkers do not even look
at them, and I know that sounds harsh, but it is the truth. If there is a
homeless amputee on the street with a cup for change, he is looked down as
a piece of street trash. No glances or stares are ever given. Now real
generous New Yorkers will throw them some change, but many think that they
will just use the money for liquor and drugs instead of a sandwich. I too
have fallen victim to this lack of generosity, but I have good reason. As
well as the homeless are jerks that try to make a quick buck by sitting in
a wheelchair with a cup instead of working. My sister?s friend gave such a
man some change and he tossed it into the street She was just a child at
the time and was so upset that he did that. Because of many people that
run around like that, the attitude of only caring for yourself is a lesson
learned. I will admit though, sometimes it is amusing to see a bedraggled
man on a subway car yelling about it being his home or see someone sing
and dance Christmas carols on a street corner in the middle of July.

What is a New Yorker without cursing? We are victims to the dreaded sailor
talk and we should have our mouths washed out with soap very often with
some things that come out of them. Cursing is a second nature to most New
Yorkers and I am sure that tourists' ears are bleeding by the time they
leave for having to endure the obscenities. They are a part of adding
flavor to a conversation. Businessmen, punk rock anarchists, and even
vegans within the city all share the same potty mouth syndrome. Most New
York families are raised with curses being an everyday part of life. In my
family, we?d scream ?fongul? at one another and not be upset. Of course
there are other things that we would say, but I?ll keep this clean. It is
just how New Yorkers are. Dare upset one and some of us have the talent to
yell at least three obscenities within one sentence.

Yes, New Yorkers are quite an unusual breed, and we are very proud of it.
Only people such as us could keep up with the everyday life here within
this stone fortress. I do not mean to dampen some players? spirits by my
essay above about the city and its people. I only wish to help you all
understand some of the underlying pieces of the city and the people that
live there.

- Remy?s player.

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In the Margins

Kurt maintains the lead in +salutes, now with 44. Nice work Kurt!
Brianna now trails a close second with 42.
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of November 5th: "I don't trust men in capes"
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of November 5th:
- Xavier's: 9 members
- Brotherhood: 6 members
- X-Men: 4 members
- Order of Rational Parity: 7 members
- Mutancy Investigation Bureau: 1 member
- Independent: 1 member
- No team set: 10 characters
We have 39 approved characters.
--
October birthdays: Hank on Sat Oct 21 07:57:57 1978
Caden on Sun Oct 21 02:20:44 1984
November birthdays: Kurt on Wed Nov 25 01:29:37 1987
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes. To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867. The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP. We also have our
own channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 37 logs submitted to the list in October. Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher for November!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
--
Our first RP challenge is coming to a close. Anyone with outstanding logs
should get them into the mailing list ASAP. Results will be forthcoming
shortly.

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Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say. You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition. If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
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We still haven't received any feedback on our newsletter. Please feel
free to write in and let us know what you think. Is there anything that
should be included that isn't? Do you find it useful or no?

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Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds. You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
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No classifieds submitted yet.