The Factory Floor

5:47 AM

A little frustrated here, but my motive is to discuss issues, not inflame things. I gravitated to this site with the intent of helping people construct their worlds, likely by contributing my knowledge and expertise in areas they lacked, and to hopefully receive the same from others. However, since joining, I have noticed that (and this is not just concerning my questions)

1) the general attitude of posters is condescending and largely unhelpful, with a decided bent toward a few people with a definite mental focus on pure science shutting down anyone who doesn't seem to be working on a real-world terraforming strategy.

2) the site's policies seem alright at first, but are biased against anyone with English as a second language and their strict and arbitrary enforcement shuts down anyone asking for help with any aspect of their world that is NOT raw numerical scientific in nature. Cultural insights, geographical knowledge, political structures, and many other vital portions of world/story building get no help at all and are shut down for being out of scope or too broad.

Journeyman Geek

@HAHarvey If I may ... chat's a really small subset of users

you really should be bringing this up on meta

HA Harvey

3) The over-the-top zeal with which peole seem to shoot down ideas makes me glad WB SE wasn't around to advise Roddenberry or Asimov, let alone Tolkien, or modern libraries probably wouldn't even HAVE a fiction section.

Ok, thanks. I was looking for a place to put it.

Journeyman Geek

Also

its worth considering that worldbuilding is one of those sites that has a bit of an... unusual scope

a lot of these rules might be there for a reason

Worldbuilding Meta

6:34 AM

0

Q: Taking some issues

A little frustrated here, but my motive is to discuss issues, not inflame things. I gravitated to this site with the intent of helping people construct their worlds, likely by contributing my knowledge and expertise in areas they lacked, and to hopefully receive the same from others. However, sin...

Green

1:01 PM

@JasonClyde probably. For a machine as large as the grid, it will be designed for the most common prevailing conditions, and the assumption that humans can go fix it. If that last annoying fails, then things will go very wrong. But, this problem also brings in the doomsday prophet saying the grid will fail but no one believes to it's too late.

@Shalvenay hi!

Jason Clyde

@Green I'm thinking an alternative first black rune would be one that sends everyone into sedated-level sleep when the sun goes down every night for a week. That's still really unpleasant and full of obstacles, but I'm thinking that at least wouldn't completely ruin society while still giving people the real sense that they dodged a bullet. Thoughs?

Oh, forgot to mention that some people would have an ability that makes them immune to sleep, which would mean a handful of people would have basically the whole night to themselves.

Green

@Shalvenay hi!

@JasonClyde since time is limited, what if you did a hard black run but only in a limited geographic area? The ghost rune hits small towns for a week. Small isolated incidents will provide evidence of the possibility of a bigger, wider effect later.

Jason Clyde

@Green Unfortunately that's not how the magic system works :(

Green

Ah, it's global effects only.

Jason Clyde

Yeah. Everyone gets the same rune each week, all over the world, as long as you have a brand, which everyone 13 or older has.

Green

1:13 PM

You said some people have an immunity to sleep so they get the night to themselves. What if some people are weak to a rune? Weak people sleep 18 outs a day instead of the usual 8 or 9.

This way you get your global rune application but also have some flexibility for individual variation.

Jason Clyde

I suppose, depends on what the rules are for how it affects them. The basic idea I had was "the sun needs to be up in their part of the world in order to be awake".

If I made it about actual sleep I suppose your idea could happen

But does it sound like something that society is likely to survive?

Green

@JasonClyde everyone gets more sleep for a week? There might be some accidents on the first night or two before people figure out they need to be in a safe place when the sun goes down.

Jason Clyde

Yeah, and it's definitely going to cause some problems, even for the protagonist who has the sleep immunity rune

Green

Anyone who works night shift is going to be highly disrupted when they can't get up to go to work.

Jason Clyde

True, but then since having runes is entirely about which ones you choose to keep, those people would probably have the sleep immunity rune anyway

Green

1:17 PM

Any factory that depends on the night shift is going to have problems. Large factory that must operate 24/7 are going to have a really bad time.

@JasonClyde do runes expire? You can only keep them for so long or are they permanent?

Jason Clyde

@Green Basically, you have up to 6 or 7 depending on factors I won't get into here. When you get that many, you have to pick one to be replaced by the next week's rune.

As long as it's one of the ones you want to keep, you can keep it.

Green

@JasonClyde cool, so they are permanent till replaced.

Jason Clyde

@Green Exactly.

@Green does that assumption sound right, that people who work night shifts would keep sleep immunity?

Shalvenay

1:49 PM

hey again @Green

Green

2:03 PM

@JasonClyde depends on if the rune forces sleep when the sun is down or if it's just the need to not sleep.

@JasonClyde The way you first described it, "when the sun goes down, people fall asleep". If the rune works another way then the night shift will need a different kind of immunity rune.

Jason Clyde

@Green The vigilance rune, the sleep immunity one, makes whoever has it not only not need to sleep, but also grants immunity to any magically-induced sleeping effects caused by other runes.

Green

@JasonClyde With no reduction in waking mental capacity and no need to sleep at all, ever?

Jason Clyde

@Green Correct. They're continuously well-rested and alert.

Green

ShoOOOoot! Everyone would have that rune.

Is there a rune for not needing to eat?

Jason Clyde

I mean it depends on what else is on offer, but yeah I suppose it would be pretty damned useful.

Unfortunately no there isn't, and given where I want the story to eventually go, such a rune would be particularly overpowered.

Green

2:12 PM

@JasonClyde Not needing to sleep is pretty OP. Armies with sleep immunity have no need for down-time. That's a huge buff.

And I'm out for a bit.

Jason Clyde

@Green Alright, take care!

Worldbuilding Meta

3:16 PM

0

Q: Lack of tags and mobile site problems

Why can't I crate new tags on Mobile. And why isn't there a tag about pyrokinetics in over twenty thousand question. And I noticed lack of tags before that to. Like There isn't any tag about mobile site in the meta to. I can't use some of the other features that are in the desktop site to I am ...

feature-request tags

Green

5:54 PM

@James sounds good.

Shalvenay

hey again @Green

Mephistopheles

6:39 PM

Splish splash, Modernist architecture belongs in the trash.

Nzall

7:17 PM

Someone directed me towards chat for some brainstorming on my theoretical question about a chef cooking with lasers and magnets

for context

2

Q: Is background lore considered worldbuilding or storytelling?

I'm hoping to ask a question related to a funny narrator anecdote similar to what you find in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, though with some interaction with the main character. However, I'm not entirely sure if anecdotes like that are considered worldbuilding or storytelling. In case it's re...

discussion on-topic

Relevant part:

> a chef with germophobia who does not want to have any utensils or cooking wear or surfaces to contact the food he's preparing, not even when the guests are eating it, and who does everything with lasers for cutting and magnets for manipulating the food. The question I wanted to ask is what cooking techniques he wouldn't be able to use

Jason Clyde

Is that even possible to begin with?

Second, I don't know much about the subject, but if I had to guess, if he can only cut with lasers, he can't make sushi I'm pretty sure. If you're cutting with lasers, you can't exactly handle raw meat and keep it raw.

@Nzali Don't quote me on that though.

Nzall

7:40 PM

Yeah, that's what I assume too, but I'm talking more about cooking styles for hot dishes. Like, would he be able to prepare dishes that involve heated water, or grills, or cooking the meat through

Green

9:09 PM

@Shalvenay hey!

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