OOC: Addendum & Apology concerning the Open Forum
Soooo, I was a bit of a tactless nit during the Open Forum. I think we can agree on that? For which I seriously apologize to everyone I might have hurt. And, after a few days of talking it out with other people (and getting over a cold, alas, for colds don't care about online activity), I think I’ve managed to articulate what my concerns are and just wanted to post this as a more comprehensive explanation of my viewpoint, and to hopefully make up for any unintentional hurt I caused during the Open Forum.
I have hopefully managed to make my opinion clearer, and I'll do my level best do seriously better at giving everyone else’s viewpoints even consideration.
Characterization
Fandom is a pan-fandom game, and I don't think there's anyone that would disagree with the fact that it makes the characters the most important part of the game-far more than time period, or location, for instance.
I can't speak for anyone else, but to me that makes the characters by far the most interesting part of the game. I love seeing how they come to life in the game: what makes them laugh, what makes them cry, what makes them rage. I adore it when they're messy, when they're frail, when they pick up the pieces of themselves.
I love it when they deal with the struggle to acclimatize themselves to Fandom when Fandom is different from the world they're used to. Not all of their cultures and worlds in play are ones with the same values as our real world, after all. And not all characters think and feel the same way as what is politically correct for our world. That’s part of what makes them so fascinating to me. It's one of the major reasons I love the game.
All of them have different sticky points and topics and questions. People are who they are, yes. But they’re also products of their home and culture. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, anyone? I tend to view the characters like that. Fish out of water.
Extrapolation, answers drawn from their personalities, from their familial situations, from their personal problems, from their world. All of these form their views. Every character has these lines-they’re what makes them them (and amazing).
What I find helps with fleshing out my own character is to take a whole bunch of questions that might never even come up in the game. It gives me a more concrete perspective as to how my character's mind works.
Here are some of the questions I use when I'm thinking about perspective: Where do they draw the line? What do they consider right and wrong? What repels them? What fascinates them?
This is just a sampling albeit a long one of the questions I like to use:
Sexuality: Are they gay? Bi? Straight? Questioning? How would they react to being hit on by a girl? How would they react to meeting a male-to-female trans-gendered person, or a female-to-male one? How would they react if that trans-gendered person hit on them? How would it be different, to them, between a trans-gendered person hitting on them, and a non-trans-gendered person? How would they react if a trans-gendered person hit on them, and they dated, and they didn’t find out that they were trans-gendered for a few months? How would they react if a guy they dated turned out to have been using them as only a beard?
A person being okay with their friend being gay often reacts differently to different issues in the spectrum of sexuality and trust, right? There are plenty of people, I'd estimate, who are good with say, girls being lesbians, but think guys liking guys is awful-icky-gross. Is that my opinion? Seriously not. But it could be a character’s, right? And that could be interesting to explore as they overcome it.
Prejudice for being a ‘different’: How do they feel about blacks? Asians? White privilege? How do they feel about those who hate them for being a different? How do they react? Do they act out, or do they shut it up inside? A lot of people who are hated for something turn out hating something else because it makes them feel better. Are there some ‘differences’ that are more ‘acceptable’ than others? Are there mutations that gross them out? That scare them? What are they and why? How would they react if a friend had been concealing a mutation that wigged them out and suddenly showed it?
Disabled: How do they feel about the blind? The deaf? Autism? Down-syndrome? What are the differences in their opinion between someone who lost a limb in an accident, and someone who was born that way?
Yes, I… maybe spend too much time thinking about these questions. But I seriously find them fun to consider.
Abuse: What’s their stance on abuse? Emotional? Physical? Non-contact. What’s their opinion of children having to work to feed themselves, or of parents who are so out of touch with reality that they spend their days in a bottle/drug induced haze. Does their opinion differ depending on the sob story? What do they think of alcoholics? Of drug users? What’s their opinion on legalizing certain drugs? On addictions in general?
What sort of punishments do they think rapists deserve to get? Murderers? What do they consider to be a ‘good’ insanity plea? What makes their heart twist on television? What do they watch on television? What bores them? What excites them? What do they watch as a guilty pleasure? What’s their stance on the pro-choice/pro-life debate? What do they think of religions? Which ones do they like, which ones don’t they like? Why? What about agnostics? Atheism? Asexuality? On sushi, on polygamy, on monogamy, on long-term diseases, on short-term illnesses. On calling into work because they were out too late last night-would they tough it out, or call in? Soda or pop? Long hair or short?
I find that, in my experience, all of these questions are ones that everyone has an opinion on, whether it comes into play or not. Personally, I find that knowing the answers to these questions helps all of my characters attitudes show through depending on how a conversation goes even if the exact topic isn't addressed. Finding those differences is really fun for me, I like knowing what makes characters tick.
Being different makes people interesting, in my honest opinion. The same goes for characters. And the differences are more than skin deep. It’s not about powers, or special skills, or anything.
It’s about them, who they are, and their myriad of differences. That's the most important bit to me, and I think that's what I failed the most to get across during the Open Forum.
Sensitivity
You know, it looks like the general consensus from the Open Forum is that people all think that conflict is the totally fun and dandy in theory but really, I'm not seeing much of it in the game. I guess I wonder if that's because people are afraid to drum up conflict IC for fear of it being taken as an attack OOC? I'd love to see more clashes in-character, myself, but then I admit to playing at least one character who thrives on IC conflict.
I mean, it totally makes sense that people would want to get along, definitely. I'm so not saying that it doesn't, I'm just thinking that maybe, if the lines of OOC communication were open enough that it would be-nice, if we could have more conflict, and maybe even minor organic conflict that doesn't need to be double and triple checked.
To me, really, I think this because a lot of our characters are teenagers. They're people who, in my opinion, would put feet out of line, trip up, fall on their faces, offend people, give them the wrong impression, lie to them, mess with their heads. They'd also hold them while they cry, listen when they talk, and offer advice both good and bad. But they'd mess up too.
I’m not good at OOC contact. I freely and fully admit it. My preferred method of discussing things, if I feel it needs to be, is through e-mail because it lets me take a step back and keeps my (unreasonable) terror of talking to people at one-remove.
In short: I am stark raving terrified of most of you.
I am, however, around frequently, I thread fairly frequently, and I’ll play with anyone and everyone. And I just think it would be really awesome if there were more freedom for IC conflicts, however minor they might be without the chance of it causing a lot of stress on an OOC level. (Oreo theft! Use of a hairbrush that's not your character's!)
According to the Fandom High website, there are 309 characters currently being played in Fandom. Some of these are inactive, some of these are alumni, and some haven't been added yet.
309. That's a crazy awesome number, guys.
I do think that maybe, though, it's a bit unrealistic to think of a community of that size as being one where everyone gets along perfectly. Little spats and tiffs are normal with friends, with family, with co-workers-and I'd love to see a bit more of that in the game.
Polarization
I phrased it poorly during the Open Forum. I admit that and am sorry for it.
In the Forum I said there were two main trends, groups, that I had been seeing emerge. I labeled them the 'happy shiny crowd' and the 'cool and bitchy crowd'.
It's not something that was to single out characters, to make the players feel bad, or anything like that. In fact, there's characters in both groups who I deeply enjoy and read all of their threads because I love the way they've been fleshed out.
And I, yeah, seriously could have found a better way to put it. Rereading it, it didn't get across the point that I was trying, and very much failing to make. I'm definitely sorry for that, and for anyone I hurt because of it. What I meant, is that I love to see it when characters who are polarized like that still have room to grow as people, and that was what I was trying to put out there during the open forum.
And, honestly, some characters just aren't going to be angsty and traumatized-like Yakko, for instance. Prince Edward comes to mind as well. Not to mention the fact that no character, in my opinion, needs to even be angsty and traumatized to be a well done character.
Growth is through conflict whether it be small or large, difficult or relatively painless. Growth and development are important, in my opinion. People generally aren't static, you know? They grow and change, so to me, characters maybe should too.
Out of a courtesy, from trying to be nice to each other, I honestly think we've maybe gone too far the other way to the point where we're all a bit worried that all conflict has to be scripted just in case it upsets someone. I just think it'd be nice if it wasn't that bit of a worry, you know? For the small stuff.
I mean, when it all comes down to it, this is just my opinion. However, I seriously think that this is important and hope that it'll be considered as a valid point of view.
If I'm coming across as far too blunt, it’s not intentional, or out of dislike, or hate, or anything like that. It’s because I love and adore the game and want to see it flourish. I think you're all pretty awesome, really. I just also think everyone (myself included) can do better.
And I’d dearly love to see what everyone can really do.
[Open for any discussion or comments, of course. I’m at work so if I’m slow, I beg your patience, and if you’d rather contact me privately I’m reachable through PM or at Lythis_sa_Iyani at yahoo dot co dot uk. (AIM is bloooocked at work.)]
I have hopefully managed to make my opinion clearer, and I'll do my level best do seriously better at giving everyone else’s viewpoints even consideration.
Characterization
Fandom is a pan-fandom game, and I don't think there's anyone that would disagree with the fact that it makes the characters the most important part of the game-far more than time period, or location, for instance.
I can't speak for anyone else, but to me that makes the characters by far the most interesting part of the game. I love seeing how they come to life in the game: what makes them laugh, what makes them cry, what makes them rage. I adore it when they're messy, when they're frail, when they pick up the pieces of themselves.
I love it when they deal with the struggle to acclimatize themselves to Fandom when Fandom is different from the world they're used to. Not all of their cultures and worlds in play are ones with the same values as our real world, after all. And not all characters think and feel the same way as what is politically correct for our world. That’s part of what makes them so fascinating to me. It's one of the major reasons I love the game.
All of them have different sticky points and topics and questions. People are who they are, yes. But they’re also products of their home and culture. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, anyone? I tend to view the characters like that. Fish out of water.
Extrapolation, answers drawn from their personalities, from their familial situations, from their personal problems, from their world. All of these form their views. Every character has these lines-they’re what makes them them (and amazing).
What I find helps with fleshing out my own character is to take a whole bunch of questions that might never even come up in the game. It gives me a more concrete perspective as to how my character's mind works.
Here are some of the questions I use when I'm thinking about perspective: Where do they draw the line? What do they consider right and wrong? What repels them? What fascinates them?
This is just a sampling albeit a long one of the questions I like to use:
Sexuality: Are they gay? Bi? Straight? Questioning? How would they react to being hit on by a girl? How would they react to meeting a male-to-female trans-gendered person, or a female-to-male one? How would they react if that trans-gendered person hit on them? How would it be different, to them, between a trans-gendered person hitting on them, and a non-trans-gendered person? How would they react if a trans-gendered person hit on them, and they dated, and they didn’t find out that they were trans-gendered for a few months? How would they react if a guy they dated turned out to have been using them as only a beard?
A person being okay with their friend being gay often reacts differently to different issues in the spectrum of sexuality and trust, right? There are plenty of people, I'd estimate, who are good with say, girls being lesbians, but think guys liking guys is awful-icky-gross. Is that my opinion? Seriously not. But it could be a character’s, right? And that could be interesting to explore as they overcome it.
Prejudice for being a ‘different’: How do they feel about blacks? Asians? White privilege? How do they feel about those who hate them for being a different? How do they react? Do they act out, or do they shut it up inside? A lot of people who are hated for something turn out hating something else because it makes them feel better. Are there some ‘differences’ that are more ‘acceptable’ than others? Are there mutations that gross them out? That scare them? What are they and why? How would they react if a friend had been concealing a mutation that wigged them out and suddenly showed it?
Disabled: How do they feel about the blind? The deaf? Autism? Down-syndrome? What are the differences in their opinion between someone who lost a limb in an accident, and someone who was born that way?
Yes, I… maybe spend too much time thinking about these questions. But I seriously find them fun to consider.
Abuse: What’s their stance on abuse? Emotional? Physical? Non-contact. What’s their opinion of children having to work to feed themselves, or of parents who are so out of touch with reality that they spend their days in a bottle/drug induced haze. Does their opinion differ depending on the sob story? What do they think of alcoholics? Of drug users? What’s their opinion on legalizing certain drugs? On addictions in general?
What sort of punishments do they think rapists deserve to get? Murderers? What do they consider to be a ‘good’ insanity plea? What makes their heart twist on television? What do they watch on television? What bores them? What excites them? What do they watch as a guilty pleasure? What’s their stance on the pro-choice/pro-life debate? What do they think of religions? Which ones do they like, which ones don’t they like? Why? What about agnostics? Atheism? Asexuality? On sushi, on polygamy, on monogamy, on long-term diseases, on short-term illnesses. On calling into work because they were out too late last night-would they tough it out, or call in? Soda or pop? Long hair or short?
I find that, in my experience, all of these questions are ones that everyone has an opinion on, whether it comes into play or not. Personally, I find that knowing the answers to these questions helps all of my characters attitudes show through depending on how a conversation goes even if the exact topic isn't addressed. Finding those differences is really fun for me, I like knowing what makes characters tick.
Being different makes people interesting, in my honest opinion. The same goes for characters. And the differences are more than skin deep. It’s not about powers, or special skills, or anything.
It’s about them, who they are, and their myriad of differences. That's the most important bit to me, and I think that's what I failed the most to get across during the Open Forum.
Sensitivity
You know, it looks like the general consensus from the Open Forum is that people all think that conflict is the totally fun and dandy in theory but really, I'm not seeing much of it in the game. I guess I wonder if that's because people are afraid to drum up conflict IC for fear of it being taken as an attack OOC? I'd love to see more clashes in-character, myself, but then I admit to playing at least one character who thrives on IC conflict.
I mean, it totally makes sense that people would want to get along, definitely. I'm so not saying that it doesn't, I'm just thinking that maybe, if the lines of OOC communication were open enough that it would be-nice, if we could have more conflict, and maybe even minor organic conflict that doesn't need to be double and triple checked.
To me, really, I think this because a lot of our characters are teenagers. They're people who, in my opinion, would put feet out of line, trip up, fall on their faces, offend people, give them the wrong impression, lie to them, mess with their heads. They'd also hold them while they cry, listen when they talk, and offer advice both good and bad. But they'd mess up too.
I’m not good at OOC contact. I freely and fully admit it. My preferred method of discussing things, if I feel it needs to be, is through e-mail because it lets me take a step back and keeps my (unreasonable) terror of talking to people at one-remove.
In short: I am stark raving terrified of most of you.
I am, however, around frequently, I thread fairly frequently, and I’ll play with anyone and everyone. And I just think it would be really awesome if there were more freedom for IC conflicts, however minor they might be without the chance of it causing a lot of stress on an OOC level. (Oreo theft! Use of a hairbrush that's not your character's!)
According to the Fandom High website, there are 309 characters currently being played in Fandom. Some of these are inactive, some of these are alumni, and some haven't been added yet.
309. That's a crazy awesome number, guys.
I do think that maybe, though, it's a bit unrealistic to think of a community of that size as being one where everyone gets along perfectly. Little spats and tiffs are normal with friends, with family, with co-workers-and I'd love to see a bit more of that in the game.
Polarization
I phrased it poorly during the Open Forum. I admit that and am sorry for it.
In the Forum I said there were two main trends, groups, that I had been seeing emerge. I labeled them the 'happy shiny crowd' and the 'cool and bitchy crowd'.
It's not something that was to single out characters, to make the players feel bad, or anything like that. In fact, there's characters in both groups who I deeply enjoy and read all of their threads because I love the way they've been fleshed out.
And I, yeah, seriously could have found a better way to put it. Rereading it, it didn't get across the point that I was trying, and very much failing to make. I'm definitely sorry for that, and for anyone I hurt because of it. What I meant, is that I love to see it when characters who are polarized like that still have room to grow as people, and that was what I was trying to put out there during the open forum.
And, honestly, some characters just aren't going to be angsty and traumatized-like Yakko, for instance. Prince Edward comes to mind as well. Not to mention the fact that no character, in my opinion, needs to even be angsty and traumatized to be a well done character.
Growth is through conflict whether it be small or large, difficult or relatively painless. Growth and development are important, in my opinion. People generally aren't static, you know? They grow and change, so to me, characters maybe should too.
Out of a courtesy, from trying to be nice to each other, I honestly think we've maybe gone too far the other way to the point where we're all a bit worried that all conflict has to be scripted just in case it upsets someone. I just think it'd be nice if it wasn't that bit of a worry, you know? For the small stuff.
I mean, when it all comes down to it, this is just my opinion. However, I seriously think that this is important and hope that it'll be considered as a valid point of view.
If I'm coming across as far too blunt, it’s not intentional, or out of dislike, or hate, or anything like that. It’s because I love and adore the game and want to see it flourish. I think you're all pretty awesome, really. I just also think everyone (myself included) can do better.
And I’d dearly love to see what everyone can really do.
[Open for any discussion or comments, of course. I’m at work so if I’m slow, I beg your patience, and if you’d rather contact me privately I’m reachable through PM or at Lythis_sa_Iyani at yahoo dot co dot uk. (AIM is bloooocked at work.)]