[OOC] General

[-ProcrastinatingSpazz-]

I had a weird dream the other night
All I remember is that it was a run down village
And there were various creatures with me
One was a two headed thing, one like a dinosaur and one scary with these big horns
And there was this really big thing too, and one second it was that, and the next he was a human
And I was like "WHOA, HOW'D YOU DO THAT?"
And he said, "Oh? I can shift, see?" and he pulled a long blue tail from his pants. xD
Then someone woke me up

 

[-ProcrastinatingSpazz-]

The Green Mile makes me sad.

As does the guild's slowness.

 

[99th Fallen]

It's cause of the holidays and finals
Things will pick up
Maybe we need a s**t ton of new members to play with ;D  

[-ProcrastinatingSpazz-]

LOLOLOL
I love your avatar xDD

BUT YEAH
No one's following the requirements to enter
And/or they just fail

 

[Nadindel]

Hmm...
a recent one I had was being invited to some sort of ball or a late prom or something like that.
It's the one dream I can recall for over a year.

It was hosted at a small convention center in the first-floor lobby theater.
It was a formal event, there was great music, I saw most of my old school friends and even a girl I liked back in the day asked me out for a dance.
Only, after a while, I started to feel extremely disoriented.
The room spun and people started dropping dead, their bodies rendered lifeless in an instant.
I was called out to the ceiling and dragged up there and I saw I was in a high-rise building.
Screams rose up from the lower floor and the whole event was in disarray.
People had gone mad, their psyche's broken from some invisible force.
They ran around, clutching their heads and screaming like madmen and proceeding to kill themselves through some fashion or another.
All of my friends were among these, each dying in a different way.
At the center of the room, I saw a towering figure.
It seemed mummified, yet living...
Rotting, leathery skin pulled tight over bones and shriveled muscle, a cruel and spiked crown in his head.
It wore the robes of a noble long dead, color weathered away and silk weathered to shreds.
There was a faint and pulsating red light at the center of the pool of darkness that resided in the eyelids where the organ had long since given to decay.
It walked towards me, a staff of black glass in its hand shaped in an indescribably wicked shape, stopping just short and speaking in a soft, purring and haunting voice,
"Prosperity is only momentary, your happiness fleeting.
Power is trivial and knowledge forgettable.
I am the true ruler of this realm.
No king has ever been outside my dominion, and no will strong enough to overcome me.
Noble and peasant bow before me eventually and none can escape this inevitability.
Good things come to those who serve;
nightmares beyond your mortal comprehension await those who resist.
Your time is soon to come, and I say to you:
Memento Mori.
Remember death, for death remembers you."

As I said...
My subconscious is one crazy ********>  

[99th Fallen]

Thank you xD
& if they can't read then they shouldn't join haha.
Maybe we should make a Guild Thread for in the forums
Weed some people out from the giant population of Gaians
Find people who can form sentences and such  

[Forever Grey]

If they do pass, it's a plus for me if their characters had a relatively normal childhood.

I'm tired of:

Dead Family.
Abused.
Emotionally unstable.
Had no friends and nobody would hug them.
Were considered a freak

The list goes on, but I see a lot of woe is me characters everywhere. DX  

[99th Fallen]

MY character's pretty perky
Not so much the terrible life kind
I mean sure
God hated him for being gay
Exiled him from heaven
But he's been dealing rather well
Demon boyfriend and all, he's happy
Throwing it in heaven's face and what not xD
But I agree
Wayyy to many pity characters

OR MY LEAST FAVORITE----->
Those people who make their characters so badass
I pawn you so easily, mwahahahahaha
I really hate those
& I've seen at least 3 new members make em  

[Nadindel]

I usually go for the pleasant history, since I agree, I get really tired of the "oh, woe is me!" complex every character seems to have.
But, I wanted Varon to be a monster right down from his conception.
Lucien, however, has had a normal life as far as he knows.
Unfortunately for him, I felt like screwing up his history by tying him down with Varon's as well.
I'm just cruel that way.
>=3

Edit:
I have a mix, usually...
Varon's the first character I've made that is actually fit to fight.
Lucien couldn't make it very far.
He's too much of a generalist.
A jack of all trades, master of none.

 

[Forever Grey]

Yeah! Some optimism is very much welcomed.

Characters should become badass, why bother developing them if they're at the top already? That's just my opinion though.  

[99th Fallen]

Fit to fight characters are fine
I always make sure mine can handle their own a little at least xD
But like Grey said
To become badass, you should work for it
Not just be here and start running around saying your characters like
So tough
& hates everyone
&& could destroy anyone they please
It's just depressing in my opinion  

[-ProcrastinatingSpazz-]

My characters have sad pasts, usually. xDDD
It's more fun for me to play and there's more to go off
But some you couldn't tell from their personality
And my 'badass' guy definitely has some developing to do > 3>

 

[Celestial Lullaby]

Joy is badass when she's sniping..
If you get close to her, she's pretty much screwed.

She's Ria-born, though, and nothing has ever happened to her, though she gets carried up in some of her mom's sad history..
but it's justifiable. And I made Celeste like six years ago. So some less-than-parr character history is granted.

I like having characters with semi-sad pasts, but who are pretty much completely over it. No flashbacks or temporary insanity. I prefer to make their history shape their personality, but not be affected by it in the present.

Like, Joy is actually about 10, while she has the body and mental capacity of a 17 year-old. This causes some grief because she doesn't have the life experience to deal with a lot of the situations she's pushed in to and it makes her driven to become independent.

Another of my characters had an extremely poor family. Her mother whored herself, her father spent it on alcohol and ended up beating her mom, and her brothers just bummed their life away. For a while she tried to hold it all together, and then just got up and left. As a consequence she never forms any real attachment to people because she never really learned how. She's also a bit insane, and really badass.

Celestial started out really screwed up, but over the three or four years I RPed with her, I worked out most of her kinks. So now she's normal-ish.

 

[Elpinoine]

It's called the "Mary Sue/Gary Stu" syndrome. Welcome to Gaia. Lol.

Personally for me, it's okay if a character has a sad past, but its the way in which the roleplayer performs as that character. It is easy to let a sad past overwhelm a character, quickly divulging into self-centered emo territory.

Many roleplayers make the mistake of improperly analyzing the way someone may act in these situations. One example that comes to mind is when abused characters are very open about the abuse. Looking at psychological studies (and doing a little research), one can find that victims of abuse have trouble speaking about what happened. The trauma is usually so severe that they bury it. Thus when we have characters within Ria who run around with their abuse stories proudly on their shoulders, I get a little peeved.

I suppose the most important thing for me is that people put effort into their characters. This doesn't necessarily mean having a long profile. Remember quantity does not always equal quality. That's a lot of what DP and I are trying to instill over at the dojo. You shouldn't make a character on a whim, and more importantly, you should see your characters as an evolving exercise in writing. Those who work with their characters outside of a roleplay, usually have the better characters. Simple activities such as replying to prompts in character, and learning how your character may react is important. It not only gives you some "exercise" for your writing muscles, but it also helps you get to know your character.

As mentioned before, research is important as well. You should have clear goals in mind for your characters as they progress through the storyworld (in this case Ria). Just like actors, it is expected that we make our characters believable. If your character is a chemist, you best do some research on chemistry so you can at least attempt to believably come across as one. Explore how your characters thoughts and interests may affect them and their views on life. Read up on various subject areas and gain a deeper knowledge of that in which you are trying to portray. Who knows, you may get involved enough that you find yourself able to name your character's favorite novels.

Oh my, it seems I have rambled! I suppose I should take this productive energy and head over to the dojo. ^_^  

[99th Fallen]

All the wordsssssss
My poor brain can't handle it xD
But I read it and understand all the points made
So now I will disappear
Gotta reply to my other RP
Be back shortly ;D