Photoshop ticket

Ever dreamt of designing your own t-shirts and selling them on Amazon? Welcome to the world of Amazon Merch! But before you fire up Photoshop, there's a crucial step: finding a profitable niche. A niche with strong demand and low competition is the golden ticket to t-shirt success.
Here's how to identify those goldmines:
1. Listen to the Crowd:

• Trending Topics: What's hot on social media? News outlets? Popular culture is a great source of inspiration. Think funny memes, seasonal events, or movie references.
• Evergreen Niches: Some niches like sports teams, hobbies, or professions (think "cat lady") always have a steady audience.

2. Leverage the Power of Tools:
There are tools designed to help you discover hidden gems. Ecomhunt, for example, tracks trending products across various platforms. But for laser focus on t-shirt niches, check out EcomStal.
What Makes EcomStal Different?
EcomStal dives deep into Amazon's marketplace specifically for t-shirt designs. It analyzes best-selling merch products and identifies niches with high sales volume and low competition. This lets you see what's already working and find gaps in the market.
Here's how EcomStal can help you:

• Discover Profitable Niches: Find niches with a proven track record of sales, ensuring you're not creating designs for a ghost town.
• Low Competition: Identify niches with fewer sellers, increasing your chances of getting noticed by potential buyers.
• Keyword Research: EcomStal helps you identify relevant keywords for your designs, boosting their discoverability in Amazon searches.

Remember, a great niche is a sweet spot between popularity and competition. EcomStal can be your secret weapon to find that perfect balance and launch your Amazon Merch t-shirt business to success!
Now it's your turn! Share your favorite t-shirt niche ideas in the comments below!

Hello everyone, good day,
(if you don't want to read this wall of text and just want to help me find a way for what I think it is the solution, skip to the last line.)
I bought the Razer Naga V2 HyperSpeed in January 2024 and the problems started to occur in the first few days, I having multiple problems and they depend on which version of Synapse I am using,
I used Synapse 3 in the first month of use and had the following problems:
the LMB is having completely two opposite problems, random double oand triple clicks and also missing clicks, for example, I move the mouse and click on something but nothing happens, sometimes I double click a word in a line of text but it selects the whole line instead, sometimes I make a single click but it makes double clicks, now here is the terrible part that is annoying me the most especially in photoshop, Arduino programming and even in gaming, if I click the LMB and hold it sometimes it makes double or even triple clicks, I knew that because I tested it in MS word and Windows text editor and also on websites, if I hold the LMB down on a line of text it sometimes selects 1 word or the whole piece of text, in websites it selects everything including the photos.
now Synapse beta problems:
I then clean uninstalled Synapse 3 and installed the new Synapse beta, the LMB worked just fine, no clicks problems at all but I got problems with the 12 side buttons, I already have key assignments profiles saved on razor cloud in Synapse 3, when I install Synapse beta it asks me to login before I can use it and it downloads the saved profiles automatically, now the problem is that I'm seeing the correct names of the profiles but all of them have the exact same key assignments, and they're assigned in a way that I have never used,
after I tried lots of ways to solve the problem I found that changing a single button or all of the 12 side buttons, deleting a profile or all of the profiles didn't work simply because Synapse beta is undoing all my changes after restarting Synapse beta or my PC, and when I create a new profile it creates a copy of the old profiles and it doesn't let me change them and the new profile I've created just disappear after restart.
I contacted Razor support a month after I bought the mouse, I followed their instructions for almost another month until I almost teared down my face from frustration and the feel of being fooled, tons of nonsense requests to do on my computer and another two different computers while trying their methods, they requested to screenshot every single step I did and upload the screenshots with replies to the support ticket which was a tedious job because their support website accepts a limited file size and I had to resize the screenshots and balance between size and quality so they can see what the heck I'm doing, they asked me to find and upload system files that even Google couldn't find anything related to their names not even close but I made sure to follow the support team instructions and report back until I got fed up and decided to not reply anymore because I ran out of civilized replies which I think this is what they wanted in first place.
what I've done so far:
1- tried the mouse on 3 different computers 2 are running on windows 10 and the other on 11.
2- tried many different batteries brands including rechargeable.
3- the software/firmware of the mouse and the wireless receiver, windows and drivers are always up-to-date.
4- clean uninstalled and fresh installed both Synapse 3 and beta tons of times and on three different computers.
5- clean deep system files, debugging and tried lots of Windows CMD commands as the support team requested and I sent them the files, also tried the mouse in safe mode.
6- tried the mouse on many different softwares including photoshop, old version of AutoCAD, Arduino programming, games and MS office, same problems all the time.
7- the mouse never fell down or got damaged and it's 1 meter from the wireless receiver.
one thing I have noticed that I asked them to delete my saved buttons assignments on Razor cloud because I thought maybe it would work if I fresh installed Synapse beta and create new assignments instead of letting Synapse beta to download the old ones from the cloud and mess with them, but they ignored my requests they didn't even mention them in their replies which is strange.
I checked my Razor account but I couldn't find an option to delete my saved profiles and I can't create a new razor account because I have other products registered on my existing account.
now its almost 4 months since they closed my support ticked because I stopped replying and now I have things to do on photoshop and some video editing but I don't know how to fix this problem, I'm currently using Synapse 3 and the mouse is doing double/triple and missing clicks randomly, sometimes it happens few times in 5 minutes and sometimes once in 15 minutes.
what I think it is the best and fast solution is that to delete the saved button assignments on Razor cloud and install Synapse beta since it is not making LMB problems, if you have any idea on how to do that please tell me how, much appreciated.

As a professional with premium skills in various software and internet skills, I will assist in all virtual and administrative tasks, aiming for your ultimate goal and shooting your business higher for greater achievements.
Over the past 4 years, I assisted individuals and business owners be more productive by taking time-consuming tasks off their hands.
I can provide quality services of:

• Data Entry
• Proofreading/Editing
• Graphic Design (Canva and Photoshop)
• Project Management (Asana, Trello, Monday)
• Web Research
• Website Update
• E-commerce Product Listing (eBay. Shopify, Facebook Marketplace)
• Typing
• Handling Emails
• Social Media Management
• Ecommerce Store Support
• Entering Data to Websites
• Customer Support via Email, Ticket Handling, Chat

Rate: 5 USD per Hour.

As a professional with premium skills in various software and internet skills, I will assist in all virtual and administrative tasks, aiming for your ultimate goal and shooting your business higher for greater achievements.
Over the past 4 years, I assisted individuals and business owners be more productive by taking time-consuming tasks off their hands.
I can provide quality services of:

• Data Entry
• Proofreading/Editing
• Graphic Design (Canva and Photoshop)
• Project Management (Asana, Trello, Monday)
• Web Research
• Website Update
• E-commerce Product Listing (eBay. Shopify, Facebook Marketplace)
• Typing
• Handling Emails
• Social Media Management
• Ecommerce Store Support
• Entering Data to Websites
• Customer Support via Email, Ticket Handling, Chat

Rate: 5 USD per Hour.

As a professional with premium skills in various software and internet skills, I will assist in all virtual and administrative tasks, aiming for your ultimate goal and shooting your business higher for greater achievements.
Over the past 4 years, I assisted individuals and business owners be more productive by taking time-consuming tasks off their hands.
I can provide quality services of:

• Data Entry
• Proofreading/Editing
• Graphic Design (Canva and Photoshop)
• Project Management (Asana, Trello, Monday)
• Web Research
• Website Update
• E-commerce Product Listing (eBay. Shopify, Facebook Marketplace)
• Typing
• Handling Emails
• Social Media Management
• Ecommerce Store Support
• Entering Data to Websites
• Customer Support via Email, Ticket Handling, Chat

Rate: 5 USD per Hour.

As a professional with premium skills in various software and internet skills, I will assist in all virtual and administrative tasks, aiming for your ultimate goal and shooting your business higher for greater achievements.
Over the past 4 years, I assisted individuals and business owners be more productive by taking time-consuming tasks off their hands.
I can provide quality services of:

• Data Entry
• Proofreading/Editing
• Graphic Design (Canva and Photoshop)
• Project Management (Asana, Trello, Monday)
• Web Research
• Website Update
• E-commerce Product Listing (eBay. Shopify, Facebook Marketplace)
• Typing
• Handling Emails
• Social Media Management
• Ecommerce Store Support
• Entering Data to Websites
• Customer Support via Email, Ticket Handling, Chat

Rate: 5 USD per Hour.

As a professional with premium skills in various software and internet skills, I will assist in all virtual and administrative tasks, aiming for your ultimate goal and shooting your business higher for greater achievements.
Over the past 4 years, I assisted individuals and business owners be more productive by taking time-consuming tasks off their hands.
I can provide quality services of:

• Data Entry
• Proofreading/Editing
• Graphic Design (Canva and Photoshop)
• Project Management (Asana, Trello, Monday)
• Web Research
• Website Update
• E-commerce Product Listing (eBay. Shopify, Facebook Marketplace)
• Typing
• Handling Emails
• Social Media Management
• Ecommerce Store Support
• Entering Data to Websites
• Customer Support via Email, Ticket Handling, Chat

Rate: 5 USD per Hour.

I been dealing with stress for way too long, and has evolved into anxiety, and further into depression. Since last year I have developed panic attacks, my daily life routines since way before changed for the worst and has taken a toll in my health, both mentally and physically.
If from Venezuela which is in a very bad state, I moved later to the USA for a better life and opportunities, came as a student studied for many years and my family came a bit after me. My parents started their greencard process I couldn't join them cuz at the time i was 21, and I was treated as an adult in the US. I had to wait for one of them to get it so they can request me, and there was a waiting time of 6 years before I could apply. . . During that time I was unable to leave the country, since relationships with Venezuela and the US ended I couldn't update my passport, and it was not going to be easy to get a visa if I leave, so the danger of leaving was not having a guarantee that I could return. During that time I lost 2 friends to murder, my grandparents to old age, and I wasn't able to be there for them or see them for the last time. This also ruined a lot of relationships for me, I couldn't move freely so a lot of my partners left because of my situation, I can't be mad at them because I understood. Getting work was also though, the first few years after I graduated from my first Degree, I was able to find a job and work, but that didn't last long. It seems you can only get a work permit as a student per level of degree. And I was nowhere near the time for me to be able to apply for the green card yet and get a work permit through it, so I studied 2 more careers after, I worked my ass off with trying to get scholarships, recommendation letters, and try to get the best scores possible, and my parents helped me with paying the tuition. I was very grateful but. . . it also made me feel like a parasite, and I still do.
Queue 2018 I was able to finally apply and that helped my mood better, queue 2020, and I got the letter for the interview, it was during Covid Season in October, I went to the interview and the lady I could tell she was racist and wanted me out. . . A lot of red flags happened during that interview. The short version is that she was confused and worried because I was in the US for about 10 years. Queue the next year may I got a letter saying "green card denied" why? because according to them I didn't submit the med exam, which is a lie she didn't want to accept it. My lawyer at the time I called them and told them i need help, they said let's do it, but also they went on vacation before finishing helping me.
Had to rush find a new one because I had 30 days to either leave the country or apply again. The new lawyer said to apply for a reopening of the case. . . Let's say after 2 years that didn't go well either and was denied . . . I been able to stay thanks to something called the TPS. . . but getting work with that hasn't been easy, since it only last 1 year and I have to renew it, and no job would hire me cuz the amount of time I'm allowed to work is less than most contracts.
During this entire time I been having panic attacks, stress build up, depression, thoughts of suicide, and it only got worst over time, I stopped showering for months, brushing my teethes, eating unhealthy foods, 1 or twice a day, staying up, not working until the last day of delivery. . . staying up for 2 day straight sometime. . . lie to my clients, friends, family, not exercising, and being in danger of getting diabetes.
Last year I had to update my equipment to work, so I bought a PC from a online store i had bough from before, when I finally got it. It was having issues, couldn't figure out why, queue december I asked for help from them, they said if I wanted to get it repair I had to send it but I had to pay for the delivery and insurance myself, it was gonna cost me 600$. . . I try to see hwat was happening. . . short story it was the processor, it wasn't damaged but the part itself was too new and no thing was working with it, The company i bought wouldn't do trades, and neither the manufactorer. . .
During that time I found comfort with my dog had him for almost 10 years, and he would keep me company and try to help me calm down. . . But. . . he started limping one day and wouldn't recover when we took him to the Vet we found out he had Cancer on the femur and there was no treatment. . . the only thing we could do was give him the best life possible while he is still lived. . . but during the 1 week after the visit, the cancer got worst to the point he couldn't walk and didn't want to eat anymore. . . we had to put him down later.
That hit way to hard and with everything else going on, I was too close on jumping off a window head first. . .
But I decided I somehow found the strength . . . to try again I was able to sell the part on Ebay, because for my needs I couldn't use it but maybe someone else could. . . got a buyer after a few days, after they receive the part they faked damage on the part using photoshop. . .and were demanding a refund. I reported to ebay explained in detail what happened and how it's fake. Then requested a return of the part from ebay suggestion so it would help me on my case. . . a week later I got a package, I recorded myself and took pictures while opening got a piece of cardboard instead of the part. I told ebay what happened and sent pictures, and wrote an affidavit.
The day after they ruled in favor of the buyer, of course i requested to appeal, and reported it to the FBI Internet Crime unit, FTC and BBB. Called Ebay back to let them know I did that. That night after I got 3 more emails saying "we are sorry here is your money back, but we are still giving the buyer his refund" they didn't want to admit they allowed fraud.
I was able to fix my pc later and been able to work. . . but not without challenges. . . Adobe took away my adobe license, because it was already on 2 other PCs apparently. . . and I couldn't deactivate it. They wouldn't help me and said they couldn't do anything about it. . .my only option was to subscribe. Instead i had to search for alternatives. . . I was able to find some but it took a week off work to be able too.
To help myself, i started a weight loss program, adopted a puppy, and one night I said I feel I'm getting better. Just so later the next day I got ransomware on discord. . .
I fell victim for a scam. . . I should have seen it coming, someone was talking through a friend discord and was asking me to test a game, I trusted it cuz my friend was an artist and he also was working on games before. . . But when I downloaded the game a lot of messages on my PC were warning me that something happened, the scamer sent me pics of the info on my pc including name of it, email of the account and phone number, changed the language to turkish and wrote through my account on the chat saying "Give me 50USD on steam card and I'll leave you alone" I panicked. . . I pretended I was gonna do it while I tried to change the password and kick him out using the kick option from all devices except the one I had. . . It wouldn't allow me to change the password. . . While I still pretended I messaged Discord through tickets, and then Discord Support on Twitter, I was begging, the was getting into a panic attack I was hyper ventilating, i called 911 was for help. . . they told me to report it on the FBI Internet Crime Unit. . . but they only do through reports. . . While I waited on Discord I was playing time on the scammer. . . it was 20 min-30 min, there was no reply I had to eliminate my friend list and leave every server I was in, plus unlink any and everything discord was linked to. I deleted the files and restarted the PC but he still had access to my account it. . . I knew because I asked "you still ahve access? just curious" he replied through my account. . .
even with Malwarebytes to find the files and delete them. . . he still already had access. I had. . . to pay him 100$ Usd on Steam Gift cards and left me alone. . . i was lucky in that sense. . . but after that I started the delete account option that I was finally able to do it. . .
I begged, discord so many times through so many messages. . . . to get no answers. Until 20 hours later. . . to tell me "we can't do anything because of security reasons we can't access your account". . . I no longer have access to that account, and I removed my email and phone from there. . . I also received an email saying "suspicious activity on your account" meaning he probably disabled the delete account function and still have a hold on it. . . .
This year has been the worst so far of my life. . . and a lot of other things piled on top of it has been happening, whenever I felt happy there was something happening reminded me my life is not going anywhere. . . I been trying to help my family, but I can't even help myself. . . I been trying to get a life on my own, but the country says no you can't. . .
I don't know what else to do. . . I tried psychologist but they are horrible. . . one told me "jesus love u" and the other one "if you cant control it why you care?" and another said "if you like her asked her to comeback", that one made the thing worst and she blocked me . . . and stopped being my friend.
I'm honestly feeling like now every time anything happens my mental health just deteriorates far worst. . . and I'm afraid is going to reach the point where. . . sooner or later I'll just kill myself. . .

So a long time bestie of mine is a huge fan supporter of my new podcast (DDRL DEBBIE DIAZ REPORTING LIVE) career (shameless plug) and goes out of her way to help do any marketing, exposure, collabs etc etc for the podcast … which I’m thankful for appreciate her and I do tell her this as well all the time. So in the mix of her guerrilla marketing tactics she’s stumbled across a contact that unbeknownst to her and I…ends up being a pretty big celebrity (so I think ) and has a very successful podcast as well. Her and I must live under the same rock because neither of us knew who he was but yet everyone we asked does idk… anyways
I know you’re thinking what’s the issue here … well after the wiki and google searches on the history of this celeb…. I just don’t feed into shit like this like she does … i look at all breeds of people the same regardless celeb or not but as much as I want to believe in her Willy Wonka found golden ticket connection… I’m a logical thinker and scams are always fresh luring, alongside the catfishers and now AI or Bots are trained to respond for us on everything like DMs and emails …
. So I crushed her bubble after few days of her telling me of the back and forth flirty interaction she’s having with this ‘celeb’… like they’re all sudden online cyber dating or attempting to and she told me fuck off and that I’m just jealous of her connection !!! But am I an asshole for crushing her fairy tale relationship brewing thoughts because her efforts originally were for the purpose of booking guests on my podcast has now turned into a hopeless Romantic thinking this poser celeb is gonna marry her one day now smh
It’s awkward now and we haven’t spoke much past week at all like basic bitch text messages not like normal. But she’s told me she originally did some digging on this celeb and found somewhere a link to his TELEGRAM tag & she sent the first intro message to him & he responded like the next day and they been back and forth since but how can I prove that he is a catfish or fake to her ? His responses seem too AI yet they’re random and he does have the blue check mark circle next to his name but any hacker can photoshop that as well nowadays can’t they ?? but am I an asshole for crushing her now celeb crush relationship fantasies or am I just being logical ???…asking for a friend lol

I just want to thank this forum for confirming my suspicion that I was dealing with a scam. I'm quite new to these advanced scams; while I understand phishing and spamming, this one was a sophisticated and well-executed scam by a professional who could easily deceive an unsuspecting person.
Here’s what happened: A girl matched with me on Bumble and was verified. She asked to move the conversation to WhatsApp and then deleted her Bumble profile and messages afterward (Suspicion #1).
Our conversation flowed well, and we even had two phone calls (Legit #1). She mentioned she was an accountant at a firm in London and lived in SoHo. I checked the company name, and it existed (Legit #2). However, when I searched for her on LinkedIn, I found no record of her, only a locked Facebook account and a normal Instagram account (Suspicion #2).
Then, the main red flag appeared: she started talking about investing and making money through short-term option trading (Suspicion #3). She offered to teach me, but I declined politely as I’m not into investing. She became somewhat forceful and sent a picture of herself with the word "bye," indicating she didn’t want to continue. That’s when I turned to this forum and found others with similar experiences and storylines. It all made sense, so I blocked her without hesitation and avoided being scammed. Thank you again for existing!
There was one part that almost convinced me she was legitimate: she claimed she was flying to my country in July and sent a ticket confirmation with her name and payment details. Everything looked legit with British Airways, and the price matched when I checked. However, when I entered her name and booking reference, there was no match. She had probably done an excellent job photoshopping the ticket details.
So, this was indeed a very advanced scam, and I’m grateful to this forum for helping me recognize and avoid it.

About Me: I am currently working as a Production Technology Analyst with over a decade of experience in IT Support, specializing in first-level troubleshooting and resolving hardware/software-related issues using various ticketing tools. Experience in handling customer inquiries and issues through inbound calls, particularly in a Broadband tech support environment. I am passionate about using my skills to innovate IT processes and contribute to the growth of your company.
Professional Experience:

1. Production Technology Analyst:
   • Monitor and check Windows/UNIX Server filesystem/CPU/memory/reboot/host down alerts.
   • Conduct first-level troubleshooting and apply necessary checking/resolution.
   • Provide insights on addressing common issues and reducing alert volumes.
2. Tech Support for Broadband Account:
   • Handled inbound calls, troubleshooting connectivity issues.
   • Managed customer inquiries and billing disputes.
3. Customer Service:
   • Delivered quality customer service, applied phone ethics, and responded to client queries accurately.
4. Graphic Design:
   • Designed marketing materials such as brochures, ID cards, and parking cards.
5. Web Design:
   • Developed websites using HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.
   • Used Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash for website layout and design.

Additional Skills:

• Proficient in using Google Sheets used for inventory tracking/monitoring and report generation.
• Experience in data entry of public records/invoices and digital conversion of documents/books.
• Managed social media accounts to increase engagement and visibility.

I am eager to bring my extensive IT support and administrative skills to your organization. I thrive in collaborative environments and committed to continuous improvement and innovation. Send me a message and let's discuss on how I can contribute to your team's success.
Linkedin Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/jone-autor-190311227
OLJ Profile: https://www.onlinejobs.ph/jobseekers/info/3445555
Email Address: [jone_autor@yahoo.com](mailto:jone_autor@yahoo.com)

About Me: I am currently working as a Production Technology Analyst with over a decade of experience in IT Support, specializing in first-level troubleshooting and resolving hardware/software-related issues using various ticketing tools. Experience in handling customer inquiries and issues through inbound calls, particularly in a Broadband tech support environment. I am passionate about using my skills to innovate IT processes and contribute to the growth of your company.
Professional Experience:

1. Production Technology Analyst:
   • Monitor and check Windows/UNIX Server filesystem/CPU/memory/reboot/host down alerts.
   • Conduct first-level troubleshooting and apply necessary checking/resolution.
   • Provide insights on addressing common issues and reducing alert volumes.
2. Tech Support for Broadband Account:
   • Handled inbound calls, troubleshooting connectivity issues.
   • Managed customer inquiries and billing disputes.
3. Customer Service:
   • Delivered quality customer service, applied phone ethics, and responded to client queries accurately.
4. Graphic Design:
   • Designed marketing materials such as brochures, ID cards, and parking cards.
5. Web Design:
   • Developed websites using HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.
   • Used Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash for website layout and design.

Additional Skills:

• Proficient in using Google Sheets used for inventory tracking/monitoring and report generation.
• Experience in data entry of public records/invoices and digital conversion of documents/books.
• Managed social media accounts to increase engagement and visibility.

I am eager to bring my extensive IT support and administrative skills to your organization. I thrive in collaborative environments and committed to continuous improvement and innovation. Send me a message and let's discuss on how I can contribute to your team's success.
Linkedin Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/jone-autor-190311227
OLJ Profile: https://www.onlinejobs.ph/jobseekers/info/3445555
Email Address: [jone_autor@yahoo.com](mailto:jone_autor@yahoo.com)

My wife and I went on a special trip and for our anniversary I want to make a momento frame of all of our tickets (train, plane, and ferry) and photos from the trip but the issue is I forgot to keep the actual paper boarding pass from the trip. Does anyone know where I can find a real template of one online so I can remake it in photoshop or something? Preferably delta airlines or United airlines

My wife and I went on a special trip and for our anniversary I want to make a momento frame of all of our tickets (train, plane, and ferry) and photos from the trip but the issue is I forgot to keep the actual paper boarding pass from the trip. Does anyone know where I can find a real template of one online so I can remake it in photoshop or something?

My wife and I went on a special trip and for our anniversary I want to make a momento frame of all of our tickets (train, plane, and ferry) and photos from the trip but the issue is I forgot to keep the actual paper boarding pass from the trip. Does anyone know where I can find a real template of one online so I can remake it in photoshop or something? Specially United Airlines or Delta

My wife and I went on a special trip and for our anniversary I want to make a momento frame of all of our tickets (train, plane, and ferry) and photos from the trip but the issue is I forgot to keep the actual paper boarding pass from the trip. Does anyone know where I can find a real template of one online so I can remake it in photoshop or something?

I wanted to warn people about a scam that seemed to be pretty prevalent at Imola this year. A few months ago, I bought 2 tickets on StubHub for the GP in the Rivazza 1 grandstand. I received the tickets about a month before, two equivalent looking tickets with the right names and everything, but they were for Acque Minerali 5. I was fine with that.
Yesterday, at the ticket check for the grandstand, we were refused entry and told that we were given one adult ticket, and one for an under 12 year old. It seems the seller had photoshopped the tickets to look equivalent, and only the scanner showed that one was for a child. The staff seemed very aware of this scam occurring to multiple people who'd bought tickets on StubHub, and told us the only way to resolve the problem was to walk 20ish minutes each way to get another adult ticket for €260. Since we had not used TicketOne to buy the original tickets, they were very disinterested in helping.
We ended up buying a second ticket and were able to see the race, and I've gone back to StubHub to work on a refund and will pursue this with the credit card company if they don't make it right. However, I'd recommend extreme caution buying tickets from StubHub for Italian GPs and probably just buying through TicketOne. We met numerous people affected by the same scam who'd bought on StubHub.

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/IcemanEx54
GM Locked Me Out Of Interacting With Other Players Because I Got Confused
Originally posted to rpghorrorstories
TRIGGER WARNING: manipulation, controlling behavior, sexism
Original Post March 6, 2024
I'm a player in a tabletop RPG campaign and I just wanted to vent about this session. The GM uses a "rules light" homebrew system and it's his homebrew world as well. He's been doing this campaign for years now, but I just joined through a mutual friend after another player left recently.
When I joined the campaign, the GM had told me he wanted me to be from a particular country as a prince, and since it was his homebrewed world, I went with it. The country I'm a prince of is a massive empire that has conquered many lands. I wanted to be a morally good character so I made up a backstory where my prince had a secret romance with a commoner so it gave me more empathy and understanding than my other royal peers would have. Then in session 1, he had the commoner immediately break up with me since the players were all leaving the city session 1.
Several sessions later, there is a carnival being hosted in the empire and all the players are attending. The players split up and my part began with my character watching as a mentally handicap child was put in the dunk tank and was being dunked against his will. So I had my character help the child and stop the game (This isn't relevant to the larger story but I thought it was really weird). Then I am told I have to go to the "main stage" which is just a strip club seemingly. And of course, walking around topless serving drinks is my character's commoner love interest that I made in session 0. The GM laughs a bit and comments, "Isn't it funny? Look at what your ex has to do without you." I have my character give her the shirt off his back and we go to the outskirts of the carnival to find a quiet place to talk, but then the carnival was ambushed by some enemies as arrows and fire rained down on the parade.
Suddenly, my character and his ex are teleported back to the main stage and the GM starts jumping back and forth between all the player characters asking what we want to do without any sort of initiative and if we don't respond quickly enough he skips to another player. I ask, "What direction are the arrows coming from?" GM, "You can't tell". "Which direction to the palace?" I ask. "You don't know," he tells me. I'm honestly genuinely confused about what to do here and my mind goes blank, but then the GM has my bodyguard (a Brienne of Tarth type) tell me to follow her so I do. As he cuts back and forth, another player loses his mom in the chaos, I tell GM, "I want to help him find his mom." "You can't see him" GM tells me. Then I ended up surrounded by 12 ambushers in the "Pleasure Gardens". GM asked what I would do. I say since the carnival is burning, I look for a piece of wood on fire and since it's the pleasure gardens maybe there's some oil I can spill and light on fire to separate myself, my bodyguard, and ex who are all with me from the ambushers. He tells me there's no oil and then I'm held down by the men. I tried to escape, but he says I failed (he just did a dice roll behind his screen and didn't tell me the results). I am then hogtied by the ambushers with my bodyguard and ex and thrown in a cart. Meanwhile, the other two players have stolen a cart and are escaping. I try to do a goofy wave as my character is tied up towards my companions and he just says, the carts never pass each other so the other players don't see you. Before the session ends he tells me my bodyguard is dead.
After the session, I think my body language showed I was a bit bummed. So GM pipes in, "You want to know why you failed that encounter?" He proceeded to tell me it was because I followed my bodyguard and there was no way a woman could have protected me and I needed to make the choice instead. Some of the other players chimed in and said it was surprising my bodyguard failed since in the lore she was a 20-year veteran who survived "The Great War". The GM keeps defending his choice. Then he started making self-deprecating jokes about how he just sucks then and he's the worst GM ever until the other players all reassure him it's fine. I kind of just sat there shell-shocked.
His system reduces dice rolls to a rarity and he does them all himself as a "way to keep tension". I'm honestly more about hanging out with my friends than judging the quality of any campaign or system but this was my first "combat" of any sort in the campaign and I just felt so helpless in this system and it was frustrating. Plus there are no insight or persuasion rolls, just what the GM claims "my character would know" and "how his NPCs would act". So I'm not sure how I was supposed to handle this encounter. Being a GM myself, I thought he was using my bodyguard character to get me back on track, but I thought wrong. I honestly wouldn't have minded if he was just railroading me for a plot point, but him trying to manipulate me and saying his hands were tied when he essentially locked me out of interacting with the other players for the rest of the session is what bothers me the most.
Edit: Changed gaslighting to manipulating since I was using the term wrong and don't want to dilute it's meaning.
Update: GM Defends Style And Told Me He Owns My Character March 20, 2024
This is an update from my post a couple of weeks ago.
One of my friends in the group reached out to me and asked me to not leave the group. He told me there were only 2 sessions left and asked me to stick around as a favor to him. I told him I'd reach out to GM and see if we could get on the same page. So I texted the GM and told him I wanted to talk because I had some concerns after the way everything went down last session. He was down and we talked on the phone a couple of days later. To my surprise, the first thing he did was profusely apologize. I hadn't been responding in our group chat, partly because I was mad and partly because my partner had a death in her family. I guess me not responding caused him to dwell on the last session a bunch. He said he was going to retcon my bodyguard's death and keep her alive. I even told him that the treatment of women in the campaign was bad and that it was making the story worse, he told me that it is something that he can work on being better about too. I was surprised, but all this gave me a lot of optimism for this conversation.
I was honest and I told him that his homebrew system is very difficult for me since I don't have a character sheet. So my character doesn't have abilities, he doesn't level up, and I can't do things like roll investigate or perception rolls which makes it hard for me to make informed decisions. I told him it makes me very risk adverse because I don't have things like HP to even know if I'm in danger. He responded to this by telling me I shouldn't worry about that because his GM style rewards me if I roleplay well enough. He went on to say he hates systems with things like perception rolls because that's "Not how real life works".
I also lamented the fact that I also don't get to interact with the other players much. I didn't mention this in my first post, but he plays with all of us in a Discord call but he only plays with us one at a time, and the two of us who aren't playing are expected to listen and record notable quotes for his notes. He'll switch between characters where each player gets 2-3 "scenes" in a 3 hour session. He has our characters all spread out across the country Game of Thrones style and I've only gotten to play with another player in 2 sessions so far. This was also why that carnival scene was so frustrating because all 3 players were finally in the same place and we were trying to find each other and he just kept saying, "You don't see them".
He told me that he doesn't do party-based adventures because you can't get character growth that way. I pushed back and said I've seen awesome character growth in traditional DnD style games in the past, it just depends on the group. I also said he's just making things harder for himself by trying to run three campaigns instead of one. And if we don't have character sheets and aren't in a party then this is all more dramatic improv than a tabletop RPG.
He responded by saying his way is better because it creates a real story and that I should be happy because he made me the main character. (I guess that is what me being the prince means?) He then went on a rant about how much he loves the game world he created and he's very grateful that our characters brought it to life. But then he says that since it's his world, he feels like he owns our characters now and that after the campaign he wants us all to sign off on him using the characters to write books and a screenplay. And if we don't he'll just change their names and do it anyway. He then thanks me and tells me that this campaign is the main thing that has been stopping him from self-harm and going to dark places. Then he says he has to go and he rushes to hang up before I can say anything else.
I'm dumbfounded after that rapid-fire series of bombshells. I've known since the first few sessions that this was barely a TTRPG, but I got to hang out with my friends so I didn't care what it was. It was nice to hang out with old friends a couple times each month. Then the story got weird, and there was so much misogyny, and then I had the horrible session that caused my original post. Then in this conversation, he throws up even more red flags that I'm not blind to, but he is also planting a seed that he may harm himself without the campaign which is not something I want on my conscience. I'm just exhausted at this point.
TLDR: GM says that abilities and parties make TTRPGs worse and he wants to use our characters to write books/movies after the campaign because he owns them since we're playing in his world. He says he may fall back to self-harm without the campaign, making me feel guilty for wanting to leave.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
ShitThroughAGoose

Any update to this?

OOP

I ended up doing one more session for the finale. There was some drama during that session and when I mentioned that I didn't want to play in the next season of the campaign. I wasn't sure if I wanted to post about it again. I might still, but I think I want to take some time and reflect on everything.

Final Update May 11, 2024
[Final Update] Moving On From My Toxic DM And Losing A Friend In The Process
This will hopefully be my last post on this sub for a long time, but I’ve been using this place to vent about my toxic situation for a while so I figured I might as well post how everything concluded and what happened when I left. I’m going to reflect on everything and recap the important parts so no one has to read 3 posts.
It all started when I decided to start DMing to keep in touch with some college friends after graduation. During my first campaign, one of the players, Pirate, asked if his friend, Colorado, could join. I didn't really know Colorado, but I figured, "the more, the merrier."
Colorado had some issues early on, giving unsolicited advice to everyone on how to play and viewing newer or shy players as “side characters”. However, he frequently missed sessions, only showing up for less than half of them for the first few years so nothing came to a head early on. Then, Colorado decided he wanted to bring back his tabletop campaign from his college days and started trying to recruit players after my sessions. Pirate suggested I join the campaign, promising that Colorado was a better DM than player. Since I had been the Forever DM up to that point, I agreed to give it a go.
I created a character who was part of the royal family but enjoyed interacting with commoners in the slums, even having a secret girlfriend from that background. After that, Colorado also started hitting me up to help with the campaign. I ended up photoshopping character art for a bunch of his NPCs and I even drew his world map for him. I didn't mind doing it, as I do that kind of stuff for fun.
For our first session, Colorado had already created character sheets for us based on our backstories, but only he could see them. Colorado would also roll all the dice himself so “all we had to focus on is roleplaying”. We played one on one in different "scenes" that could last around 30 minutes to an hour each. We usually had around 2 to 4 scenes per session, depending on what Colorado thought was important. During the game, Colorado asked us to write down quotes from him and the other players when it wasn't our turn.
I had to wait for well over an hour before I could finally play. My first session was on rails. I mostly just had to repeat after Colorado during a ceremony. Afterwards, I got to sneak out of the castle and meet with my commoner girlfriend, but Colorado immediately had her break up with me. Then I was told that I had to leave the city. I was essentially locked out of my hanging out in the slums and commoner girlfriend subplots. NPCs generally disliked my morally good character, especially my sister who was depicted as purely evil towards me. Despite my efforts to mend the relationship, she never changed her mind and Colorado never rolled any dice to determine that. Later Colorado revealed to me the character was based on his ex-girlfriend, who was originally intended to be the player character from my country before they broke up.
Eventually, I finally got to interact with another player, Soldier, who I had really good chemistry with and we had a really fun scene. Which Colorado exclaimed, “See! This is why I keep you apart. It makes these moments so much more epic!” But I’m just thinking that if we were in a party, every session could be this epic.
Then Colorado got busy. He went to some alternative medicine nature retreat and didn’t pay his rent the whole time he was gone so he got evicted. At that point, the campaign went on hiatus as people got busy and Colorado was couch hopping. It was during that time I considered the campaign over and made my first post because I thought it fit the sub. Then a year after the last session, Colorado started trying to organize the group to do 3 more sessions to finish the campaign. I just ghosted the group chat for a while, but Pirate’s roommate is a player in the campaign I DM so Pirate started hopping on the call asking me to come back for the finale. Pirate told me that it would be different this time because all of our characters were going to meet up for the finale and he really wanted to play with me. I naively agreed to give the game a second chance.
The first of those three sessions led to this post and this follow up.
[TLDR - I never got to meet up with the other characters. Colorado made my ex a stripper and I was captured by invaders with no dice rolls to prevent it. I had a conversation with him about my concerns after the last session. He apologized and agreed to make changes saying he needed the campaign for his mental health.]
Colorado decided to have a single super finale session, which I reluctantly attended because of sunk cost fallacy. I was imprisoned, beaten and whipped, separated from my girlfriend and recently resurrected bodyguard. A deus-ex ninja offered to help me escape, but I wanted to save all the prisoners. So I helped the commoners escape with the ninja before saving my girlfriend. My bodyguard got captured, but I made sure my girlfriend escaped and then I went to save my bodyguard because I wasn’t letting her die after she just got resurrected. I tried to find my bodyguard but every door was locked and I was forced into a long one on one fight with a guard that would make John Carpenter blush. I lost the fight due to an unknown -2 modifier on my fighting rolls, leading to my re-imprisonment.
Pirate tried to board a boat to reach my location, but was unsuccessful. Colorado informed him that the sailors refused to let him on the ship because they didn't like his tone. Fortunately, Soldier saved me and we agreed to stop the big bad and rescue my bodyguard together. With a squad of Soldier's peers, we pursued the big bad into the woods. Without any rolls, all the other soldiers were sniped by archers.
Finally, the two of us reached the clearing where the big bad and his followers were. We were outnumbered about 30-2. My bodyguard and the other commoners were tied to a tree. Soldier was the same race as the villain so he approached while I stayed hidden. He delivered an awesome passionate speech against the big bad's actions saying that it wasn’t what their ancestors would want. I’m sitting there waiting and hoping for a persuasion roll… and nothing. Colorado says the big bad doesn’t change his mind and he sets the tree on fire, causing my bodyguard and the commoners to burn to death. Soldier and I retreated into the woods to end the campaign.
Pirate was supposed to have a scene after us, but he fell asleep because it was past 1am. Colorado kept trying to call Pirate on the phone. I joke, “Hey, we’re old now, being up past midnight isn’t as easy as it used to.” To which Colorado replies, “I just thought Pirate had more respect for me than this.” The Discord call becomes quiet and after Colorado starts focusing on Soldier and I. He wants to know why we’re not discussing the ending more. I remarked that it was a bit of a downer and I’m tired. Then Colorado starts spiraling, saying that RPGs are just another medium that he failed at just like film and music. HE STARTS CRYING and hangs up from the Discord call. Soldier and I stayed on and had a short “That was awkward” conversation. I don’t know Soldier well so I didn’t say much about my grievances with the campaign and eventually we ended up just talking about Baldur’s Gate 3 for an hour.
The next day, I wake up to a barrage of texts from Colorado apologizing, mansplaining how hard it is to be a DM as if I’ve never done it myself. He then starts sending me messages with all his ideas for my character in the next season and how he promises I’ll have more freedom next time. I wouldn’t understand, but he NEEDED to do the prison sequence and my bodyguard to die for my character growth, but next season will be different. I tell him I’m not doing another season. Colorado replies saying that he thought I’d say that because Pirate (who was apparently not sleeping) told him Soldier and I were bitching about the campaign after the session. Colorado said that once I get over it, we can start talking about season 3. I reaffirmed my stance. Then Colorado texts me one last time and asks if I’ll still make his maps and character art even if I don’t play. I said no again.
It's been two months since I last heard from Colorado or Pirate. We used to play games and talk about pro wrestling all the time, but now there's been no contact. A lot of the comments on my posts helped me realize I was prioritizing Colorado’s mental health over my own and I felt like it was my responsibility to support his campaign because he constantly referenced how important it was to his mental health. Intentional or not, he preyed upon my empathy. I’m not his Giving Tree and I shouldn’t be left a stump for a campaign where he doesn’t even want us to affect the world.
I sometimes worry Pirate is going through a similar situation to me, but for a longer period of time. Pirate introduced me to Colorado, and he's really loyal to him. I think that slowed down my exit from the group because I trusted Pirate to be my friend as well. I remember opening up to Pirate about a panic attack I had while Colorado was spiraling one day, and he just shrugged it off as me being dramatic. It's frustrating. I want both of them to be happy, but I can't make that happen for them, especially if it comes at the expense of my own well-being.
I ended up venting to some of my irl friends and they really supported and listened to me which is why I didn’t feel a need to vent here. I learned a lot about what not to do when DMing from this campaign and it made me reevaluate my approach to playing RPGs. Now I'm in a group with my irl friends and it's a blast. I can relax and just have fun playing again.
TLDR - I started DMing to stay connected with college friends who were scattered across the country. One player, Pirate, introduced me to Colorado, who eventually took over as the DM. Colorado had some unconventional methods, such as not using character sheets and controlling all the dice rolls. The game became focused on his storyline and my character had limited agency. Despite this, I gave the campaign a second chance. In the final session, things went poorly, and Colorado had a breakdown. Despite his apologies and promises for the next season, I decided not to continue playing. I have not heard from Colorado or Pirate since. I now play with my real-life friends and it's much more enjoyable.
RELEVANT COMMENTS/ADDED INFO
TicketPrestigious

Glad you're doing better. That does sound like quite a toxic situation.
If I've understood it right, the stuff with Pirate 'falling asleep' but actually listening in to you and Soldier talking feels like a massive red flag to me. I understand worrying about him since you were/felt like you were friends, but if he's enabling Colorado with that sort of stuff then it's probably best to move on.

OOP

Yeah even the best case would be that Pirate woke up after Colorado left the call and just overheard Soldier and me talking without us realizing because his mic was muted and we assumed he had passed out and then he snitched after which is still a bad look tbh. I had been distancing myself from Pirate since he invalidated my panic attack prior to this. It's just hard to be vulnerable with someone again after that.

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

Alright get your marshmallows and gather around the campfire folks, I’d like to share some important UC Davis history from when I was a student (2014-2018)! You all are benefitting from the struggle of our time back then!
Former students feel free to share some as well!

1. One time there was a massive clusterfuck campus-wide event that happened when Smartsite crashed. Finals were cancelled for literally thousands of students. The finals for 2 of my classes were cancelled and I was able to pass both classes without taking finals and that was hands down the best quarter of my time at UCD. Apparently UCD was no longer renewing their contract with the company in charge of smartsite so the company decided to be petty and didn’t even try to attempt to fix the massive system error from what I was told. To this day, I believe the otters in the arboretum chewed through the wires and did something to sabotage the system in favor of the student since thousands of us kept typing “Swim on Otto” on a social media post. It truly works everyone!

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1. One time UCD had to release a campus-wide broadcast stating that the viewpoints of the students do not represent the university at large. This was in response to Chance the Rapper deciding to come and perform a concert at our school for free. One student posted a viral post and told all the non-Black students that they needed to hand over their front row tickets to all the Black students because they weren’t Black, couldn’t fully relate to Chance, and couldn’t identify with the struggle of being Black. Racial tensions were wild at that time due to this. Was crazy. Like there were thousands of people and over 14k comments within a couple hours of people just being overtly racist to one another. Chance heard about it and cancelled due to us being politically correct as he stated.

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1. The infamous Gary May “Fuck them kids” memes lmao. So there was one time when everything was on fire, various fire departments were putting in double overtime combating the various wildfires in the surrounding areas and the air quality was extremely poor. Like the literal clouds turned orange and the sun was blocked somewhat due to how bad it was and if you walked outside, you would literally be covered in ash and embers from the air. UCD decided to close the campus down for like 2 days to “protect the students” or whatever. Then Gary made the decision to reopen in the midst of it. There was public backlash not only from thousands of students but from the Davis community at large. Then came the viral “fuck them kids” memes with photos of him photoshopped in news interviews about UCD students. If I remember, he closed the school down for a couple more days in response to the backlash lmao! We all cheered for a well need break from lectures and classes!

———

1. Dumpling Gate Scandal. So there was a freshman girl in the dorms who became well known for making and selling dumplings to students. She was known as “Dumpling Girl”. This one dude ordered 40 dumplings from her and then ghosted her after she made them. She exposed him and started throwing shade. He became known as “Flake Boy”. He responded and started throwing shade back at her and mentioned the dumplings at Four Seasons Chinese restaurant were much better! They were going at it back and forth and hundreds of students were instigating them on. Was wild! Four Seasons got a lot of business after that though 😭

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1. Pepper spray incident. This was before my time but there were student protestors at the quad who refused to leave the quad and they were subsequently pepper sprayed by the campus Police. The school was sued for $1 million and each student who was pepper sprayed was granted $30,000 from the settlement. I believe campus police learned from that incident which is why they are currently allowing the Palestine encampment to go on right now.