How do you limit An Arresting Skinner?

This thread was OK.  But I want some specific examples.

How have you limited or seen limited this Skinner move?

when you remove a piece of clothing, your own or someone else’s, no one who can see you can do anything but watch. You command their absolute attention. If you choose, you can exempt individual people, by name

(Also, is it psychic mind control or just being hot-hot?)

Through trial and error.

When the player learns that psychically manipulating people and taking advantage of them results in those people wanting to murder them, they stop. Don't make the "frozen" people be in love with the skinner; that's not the move. It's not a seduce and it's not a hypnotize. No, they KNOW that what they're doing isn't natural and the MC should tell her about how she can see that in their eyes.

In our game, the male skinner used this on a noble woman (our setting was drifted) to distract her. But she KNOWS what's going on, the way we play it. She knows she should have looked away and she knows she's being held there by how supernaturally hot he was, but she can't look away. How does that make her feel, after? She HATED him before. The MC talked at length about how she felt the need to shower. And her threat type jumped to 11, I'm sure.

As to it being psychic or hot-hot, it's pretty psychic. It can be hot-hot in a lot of situations, but the first time some one who is really pissed off at the skinner makes a move toward the skinner and the skinner starts to slowly drop his jacket and unbutton his shirt, it'll jump to supernatural. At least for us. I'm sure you can explain it other ways.

I don't limit it.

Limiting the abilities of the PCs is not my job as MC.

If the player totally abuses it, it's psychic mind control. Like, if the player always uses it to paralyze dudes in a fight so another PC can kill everybody without much trouble? Yeah, totally psychic.

If the player uses it so everybody in a crowd sees the character and knows who that character is afterwards, it's hot-hot. Like, the super-hot chick walks into the bar and when she takes off her coat to hand to the maistro-d, everybody gets her image burned onto their retinas? Yeah, hot-hot.

If everybody stares because the character's pulling flaming, melting clothes off after being totally torched by the dude with the flamethrower and becoming a walking bonfire? Yeah, that's FUCKING HOT-HOT-HOT, baby.

The way I have seen the move limited in play: the player taking it agrees not to use it to shit all over the fun of the other players by constantly mind-controlling their characters with it. That seems to work fine.

Limiting the abilities of the PCs is not my job as MC.

John, making Apocalypse World seem real and making the PC's lives interesting is your job.  No overlap or impact?

Nope.

I'm a fan of the Skinner. I'm all, "I cannot WAIT to see your powers in play. It's gonna be awesome."

I'm a fan, like I'm a fan of Superman. "Fly around the world in two seconds! That's cool!" I'm not sitting there with my arms crossed, scoffing. "Pff. Super speed is way too powerful. It's so boring." That's not being a fan, is it?

When someone chooses the Skinner, right then, I get on board. I'm on their side. What they choose to do with their powers and moves -- that's what I'm there to see. I'm cheering them on.

In addition to that, I make the world seem real and I make the lives of the PCs not boring. There's no conflict there.

what harper said. huzzah

What about the move "Artful & gracious" with SWORDMASTERY? I mean, can it be used to attack people like in the Asian movies - all with the outcome "has to give a gift" meaning hold over (any)weapon (any) enemy got before the move? Even NOT TO really AHRM anyone - just to GO THROUGH them... See eome kung-fu movie, where the hero goues through enemies, taking their weapons - and after that all are ALIVE (and even not hurted)... It is more SKINNER move then Battlebabe (or even Gunlugger), not?!

If it *does* have to be limited, I would call it 'using/starting another move'.

Like, if a Skinner used it as a distraction to an NPC that they (or another PC) are gonna shank - I might say that's acting under fire to not  break the spell, or go aggro/seize by force since a fight is starting.

I don't limit it.

Limiting the abilities of the PCs is not my job as MC.

This. Entirely this.

I get the impression (on various boards) that people don't respond well when I liken AW tropes to movie tropes.  L:->  But for me, this is another example of how AW mimics movie reality, not "real" reality.  I don't find it necessary to consider the Skinner's power supernatural, because my group and I are creating something that flows rather like a movie.  When that moment comes, and that sexy leading character is hit by those perfect blue lights and the soundtrack is awesome and the perfect body is being revealed, the plot may be in the middle of a fire or a fight scene, but for ten to thirty seconds all the camera sees - and therefore all we are looking at - is the Skinner.

In a moment we may find out that while that scene was going on, some of the other characters were doing things.  So the next few player moves are like tiny "flashbacks" just going back a few seconds or minutes.  That's cool, because those other characters weren't watching the Skinner scene.  They were busy.

Personally, I am a fan of the Skinner who never exempts their fellow PCs from the move's effect. Let's all have a moment together, people.

I wouldn't limit it, either.

On the other hand, there's no roll (hence no experience) in this power, so after a while your Skinner will notice s/he's lagging behind the others if this is all s/he does.

I get the impression (on various boards) that people don't respond well when I liken AW tropes to movie tropes.  L:->  But for me, this is another example of how AW mimics movie reality, not "real" reality.  I don't find it necessary to consider the Skinner's power supernatural, because my group and I are creating something that flows rather like a movie.  When that moment comes, and that sexy leading character is hit by those perfect blue lights and the soundtrack is awesome and the perfect body is being revealed, the plot may be in the middle of a fire or a fight scene, but for ten to thirty seconds all the camera sees - and therefore all we are looking at - is the Skinner.

I think you've hit on a key point here.

We see things like this in movies all the time. The smokin' hot protagonist drops the shoulder of their blouse, and everyone's eyes are pinned to that little patch of bare skin. The camera is pinned to it. Our shot goes medium-close, and all we see is the curve of their neck, the shadow of the clavicle. Reverse shot to the antagonist, nostrils flared, pupils dilated, lip glistening with just the smallest dot of unrestrained saliva. Shot retreats to medium distance, and we're suddenly surprised that one of the protagonist's teammates has somehow been next to the antagonist the whole time, and slits their throat!

It's a pretty common move for the world to narrow down to "our attention", and then be shocked that other parts of the world continued to move when our attention is broken - much like someone riding into a wall that *they* should have seen, but our camera didn't. It would seem like a comic trope, but we see its equivalent in action all of the time. And it's awesome.

What about the move "Artful & gracious" with SWORDMASTERY? I mean, can it be used to attack people like in the Asian movies - all with the outcome "has to give a gift" meaning hold over (any) weapon (any) enemy got before the move? Even NOT TO really HARM anyone - just to GO THROUGH them... See some kung-fu movie, where the hero goues through enemies, taking their weapons - and after that all are ALIVE (and even not hurted)... It is more SKINNER move then Battlebabe (or even Gunlugger), not?!

I know, thah my question was more about Skinner ART (not "An Arresting Skinner"), but still I would like to know opinions of the othesr (I will put this q. also into discussion about Skinner - playbook focus...)