[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Noah Amuel]

Goss,

Asking myself that question I can say I haven't been giving as much to the site as I was quite capable of doing. I’ve witnessed firsthand the benevolent souls of the site, especially in Syliras where new players always need to be incorporated into the community. When I first joined last year my first thread was with two veteran players. I took a leap and privately messaged them to join their thread and was welcomed warmly.

That initial reaction was what made me fall in love with the community. That love prevails, and I’ve paid forward the favors of those two veteran players. I’ve helped new players get into the flows of RP, helped them navigate the thickness of the lore, and have even aided in the arcs of their characters, both veteran and non. That was, however, in the past. Lately I have not been as helpful. I’ve even gone as far as to categorize myself as deadweight almost. I want to go back to that, and your post has helped me recognize the joy I had from giving.

That is what post-by-post RP is after all: giving more than you are taking. Be it giving to propel the story, to propel a character – even if it’s at the detriment of your own character. Selflessness is valued highly on sites like this one and I hope that it continues to remain as such. The community is wonderful. If everyone could practice the basis of your introductory post then it will continue to be wonderful, to be awesome.

[Estrellir Konrath]

That is an interesting question, one that immediately got me thinking. Thank you for bringing it up.

What do I give to others? Like Valerius, I've tried to post more open threads recently - they're useful in a new city with new PCs because I often can't decide who to contact for a thread. That way it's left up to chance who my PC meets which is probably the most beautiful thing about open threads. I'm planning to post one in Lhavit soon.

And what else? Yes, I've made graphics for others before (and am considering taking it up again), but that is only a small way of giving compared to all the beautiful things we can do with words.

I think the most exciting thing that can happen to a PC is getting close to another PC. There are just so many who leave after a few posts because they get bored with their character or if they have a great concept, maybe they get busy irl. That's why it feels like such a rare and good thing to me to form and develop an ic relationship with another PC - writing several threads together instead of just one or two. And I like to think that's what I can give - constant activity has been and still is hard for me sometimes, but I guess that's why I enjoy developing friendships or even rivalries over multiple threads and seasons so much. I really try and finish my threads with others nowadays! So more of those are always appreciated - and of course I'm prepared to help develop other PCs in return so everyone gets to enjoy the outcome.

But of course, there's always more to do.

[Achenar]

I'm one of those people with a few torture-oriented threads. I definitely wanted to do more than just that but at the time my focus was how my PC would grow out of his pain and how he deals with it. I definitely want to explore more than just that. Torture is nice for character development but not when it's a consistent thing over and over.

So I think it'd be beneficial to focus on something more. Intrigue, exploration, social threads. I severely lack threads where my PC is helping others towards a particular goal, and to help them grow. I also lack more light-hearted threads. I used to enjoy threads with some comic relief aspect of them and sorely miss rping that type of style. So I think redirecting my efforts to that would make for better rp experience overall.

And like Valerius mentioned there's not many open threads, I agree. I never used to do open threads, I couldn't remember the last time I did one, but it seems to be a great way to get people to join and to experience new players. I considered myself as this stagnant weight that refused to budge on anything but one single rp partner. But from what I've seen there can be fun and excitement by having a myriad of personalities. I've never been much of a selfless writer, which is why I think I had so much trouble being consistent. But the statistics don't lie. Self-driven players get the most bang for their buck, I think that's how the saying goes. They drive plots, they attract players, they give back. And that's something to aspire to.

[Prophet]

As always, Goss, well said.

I certainly feel the need to do more for other PCs with my own character after reading that scrap. There's so many interesting ways it can be applied. The sheer fact of showing appreciation to one another will not only open new doors of creativity but it will make our community strong.

[Ricky Maze]

What do I have to contribute? That's a question definitely to ponder on. Off hand I want to believe I can offer chances, opportunities to help bring a growth in other characters, to bring something inspiring to fruition so that everyone else may enjoy. Yet when I think of that part of me actually feels kind of selfish for it honestly, and deep down I know there's gotta be more than just those few justified reasons.

I think, or what I would like to think, is that by putting myself out there more with my character I can make something genuine. I want to build and put together something I feel better than just a good or even great story, deep down what I truly want is to enjoy something others share the same value in. Its one thing to strive for being the best or gunning for glory, or simply settling with the more finer things you find in a fantasy world. What's been the challenge for me is trying to put out there the effort, but over the years its been modestly refined. Hands down I know I want to bring out the best in everyone, to cause others to feel and even by some means relate to the characters that are found here. To meet that just seems like the greatest gift I could ever hope to give unto others here.

[Pulren Marsh]

I really love Mizahar. It is probably my number one hobby and has been so for many years and i hope it will continue to be so. I'm a Grader, which we are getting more of all the time, which is also cool. Let's get more of them! If you think you can do it, I highly recommend it. I'm slower than dirt, but I have done about 20 maybe, so that's something. 20 that would still be covered in dust. I am GSTing for Firenze. I know some of us GST and this is one of the biggest things, in my opinion, that you can do to help your fellow players push their plots. Anyone can do it too, just fill out the application, have it approved by a DS and boom. The DS of an area isn't held down by this plot but the player is still getting their plot points done. This is a win win for everyone.

Also, I have an open thread in Nyka now for the first of the year event in the calendar. while it has turned into some bros talking in my bachelor pad, I left it open and posted in the OOC thread if anyone wanted to use the thread for their own experience with the Aperture. Nyka is slow so it's different, maybe, but the spirit is still there. It's not hard to reach out and especially to use the calendar events as prompts to move your regional and city stuff along.

As far as violence and torture, I have to admit, i like writing violence. I call it 'action' but lots of times, it is definitely violence. If I could get people to spar with me , I could do that. Or I can do exercise or running threads. I just enjoy writing combat or action oriented threads above all. I make that clear in the registry each season and all of my partners have either been on board or if not, we just talk about it off screen. That's a big way to make everyone happy and include everyone. PM the people, AIM them, whatever. Talk to everyone in your registry, say hi, see what they are into. It's not going to click with everybody, but you might easily find new friends and branch out. Mizahar is a living world and it can have long term effects for your PC to make friends who travel.

[Khara]

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I've been trying to give some thought to how I would answer this since I've been rather absent from the site lately. I've read through a few of the answers here already and feel like some of them have offered up some good insight on things I need to start doing once I knock the rust off.

Overall, however, I feel like what I've given the site is my time, my energy, and my creativity. I loved the small atmosphere of the city I used to write in - Wind Reach had a small player base and it was easy to get to know everyone and participate with them and try to help push along any ideas they had while working on your own at the same time. I think that's something I've always tried to strive for - make sure that any threads I create with others aren't simply self-serving while they tag along at a loss for what to do. I've always seen Miz set up for this sort of thing, really. Dual job threads, shared experiences, lores, etc... everything adds to a player's character.

I guess at the end of the day swift replies are the most encouraging. I know I love it when I get one of those e-mails that lets me know a thread I've subscribed to has a new post in it. Hopefully I can return the favor that a lot of writers have bestowed upon me during my time here.
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[Gossamer]

A Wee Little Rant
A good one is overdue right?

It's getting out of control. I saw it first a few years ago and now its rampant like an invasive species having moved in and out competed a gorgeous native that was in no way shape or form prepared to deal with the harshness of the invader. What is it? It's colorcoding dialog.

Huh?

Oh come on. You've seen it. Some PC has this beautiful box code and then in harsh garish colors at the top or bottom is some sort of index of dialog colors. One for thoughts, one for outspoken, one for this language, one for that language, and one for say an Akalak's dark brother. Oh? They have NPCs? Some of them of course. It's goddamn fucking ridiculous.

But why Goss? Why is it ridiculous?

Way back when we used to utilize our written language to indicate dialog changes such as:

"What the hell are these people doing?" Goss thought to herself.

You know what I'm talking about... back when writers were writers and not color coders like electricians labeling different types of wires (black for ground... etc). Frankly, I don't even want to READ posts that have multiple colors in them like that. I saw one the other day that had more than 10 color code changes for 10 npcs that weren't even belonging to that PC. It's gotten completely out of hand and why? I'll tell you why. Writer's here have gotten lazy. They eyebleed others out. And its just not cool.

Do you know I don't even color/bold/italics my text anymore when I post dialog? Do you know why? Some readers are so lazy they don't even read the PC actions but instead skip around and see what the PC said to determine their responses. This happens in quest threads and group threads heavily. And when they do that they MISS actions and its blatant in their responses to posts. I think its personally embarrassing to them when they do. Like... "Shame on you for skimming just because you're so eager to get to where YOU get to post that you don't read what OTHERS post." Yea. That's what I always think. So I haven't bolded my dialog in ages.

The color changes are distracting, garish in most cases, and uncalled for. Why not be less lazy and write so that people know who's speaking instead of color coding things? It really is distracting, unnecessary, and hugely hugely lazy.

[Ricky Maze]

I'll admit I started it a while back because I found it easier to work with at the time, reading your post about it now though I can agree it has been another form of lazy writing for me. I never would've thought it's result would lead up to others just skimming posts, and to think someone could really try using 10 different color codings? I've literally had issues trying to arrange just two half the time, so I kinda find that a little ridiculous to even attempt. I've digressed from my point though, your post has given food for thought here. So you can bet I'm going to refrain from color coding with dialogue in future posts.

[Nivel]

I actually stopped colour coding because I got lazy, just seemed like unnecessary work for me.
I don't mind when people colour code as long as they also read more than just dialogue. It is a pet peeve of mine when people continuously miss actions. I had a quest where it was clear someone was only reading the other persons post and would only respond to my actions if the other person did. It made me wonder if they didn't like me or something but I assume they just wanted to get their post out quickly since we were under pressure.