Now how is it that nobody has ever thought to do that before?
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?-Is shot dead before any predictable, dated and cringeworthy jokes about Japan and tentacles can be made-
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?Okay.
It's been a while since I left (even after I said I'd come back to be the attack dog. Heh, sorry about that), so my memory of why I left is foggy at best. Nonetheless, I'll give it a shot. I'll only really touch on things that you guys haven't touched on though.
- Stuff began to feel too forced. After a while, the game began to feel like everyone was just telling each other "We're having fun, aren't we. I do enjoy playing this game", and all of the real "life" of the game seemed to vanish. This could happen again if you try to hard to re-enact the good old days, so watch out for that. I remember when basically the only rule we had to have was "stay in character" and all sorts of shenanigans would arise from that. I think really, you should have a return to this and just see what happens. Not just because you're doing that to get back to the good ol' days, as that will force it, and it will collapse under its own weight like what happened a while back when you guys decided to do random shit. Deciding to do random shit defeats the idea of random shit, as the shit is not really random. It's like the difference between a monkey running around, throwing said shit everywhere, and a monkey-shit throwing machine which throws shit in a seemingly random manner, but in the end, it is a machine and follows patterns. It can never truly emulate the monkey-shit throwing experience. Sorry, I'm not explaining this point too well, but this has been a sort of stream of consciousness anyway to increase its authenticity. No offense Jam, but just looking in the FG now, it kind of feels like... you're trying to force it a bit too much for example. But again, I haven't been in the FG for a while so I might not be the best judge for how forced particular events seem.
- As an addendum to the above, a lot of the "awesome", "heartwarming", "tearjerking" etc. moments... feel fake. Really fake. This stems from the fact that a lot of it is pre-planned out and there's no real risk of failure (in the case of awesome moments), it feels... pre-programmed and unnatural (for emotional moments) and so on and so forth. This isn't just limited to the FG either. One example that comes to mind is when Sagi piloted the TARDIS. Yeah, it was cool of Sagi to do that, and it would have been hard for him... but in the end it was a pre-planned event between two players and the GM with no real risk of failure. Honestly, it kind of came across as self-congratulatory, and IMO, this is true of a lot of stuff that is on the "moments" pages. The FG's greatest strength is its spontaneity, and the ability for fun moments to rise from utter chaos.
- As an addendum to the addendum, one of the RP's greatest strength for good moments is if the GM is good, you will be able to make choices that impact on their plot, which should be interesting and entertaining, and you're never quite sure exactly what is going to happen, but it's far more coherent than the FG. Events where the outcome is determined before the event actually happens can only really be superficially entertaining.
- As an addendum to the above, a lot of the "awesome", "heartwarming", "tearjerking" etc. moments... feel fake. Really fake. This stems from the fact that a lot of it is pre-planned out and there's no real risk of failure (in the case of awesome moments), it feels... pre-programmed and unnatural (for emotional moments) and so on and so forth. This isn't just limited to the FG either. One example that comes to mind is when Sagi piloted the TARDIS. Yeah, it was cool of Sagi to do that, and it would have been hard for him... but in the end it was a pre-planned event between two players and the GM with no real risk of failure. Honestly, it kind of came across as self-congratulatory, and IMO, this is true of a lot of stuff that is on the "moments" pages. The FG's greatest strength is its spontaneity, and the ability for fun moments to rise from utter chaos.
- People are too timid, but also people take critiquing others a little too seriously. Giving constructive criticism is a very good idea (hell, I was one of the people who was originally a major part of the "discussion thread discussions") but not every little thing needs to be brought up unless it is seriously impacting on the overall enjoyment of the game. I'm not sure what is really impacting on others' enjoyment of the game due to being not in the FG though. This is just an observation that we seem to be having these discussions more and more often, even when it may not be strictly necessary.
- Romance. As a general rule, people suck at writing it, and I don't think anyone here really enjoys reading it. I have never seen romance between two characters from different R Pers end well. This is even more true when it seems that the only reason people are writing this romance is because "OMG, these characters would be so hawt together" or for shenanigans between two R Pers (I know this sounds contradictory to what I was saying before, but while shenanigans are good, they have to make sense and actually come from somewhere), or especially if it's done for fanservice. This might make me seem overly puritan or whatever again, but it really comes across poorly, makes some people uncomfortable and really, if you want to release your urges, you can do it on a porn site or something. With that said, in a good writer's hands, fanservice-y scenes could be done well, I guess, if you're progressing a character's relationship. But again, I don't think people are that good at writing romance.
Wow, that took longer than I thought it would. I'm probably missing something, but that's what came to me as I was writing.
edited 29th May '13 1:33:48 AM by pyr0h1tman8
In our heart, Mr. Ando will always be a penguin.I made a quick edit to the "don't do romance part" detailing the main reason why IMO the Cloud-Tifa relationship works.
I've noticed for instance, when others bring in Tifa, the quality of that particular writing seemed to drop.
Okay Spaz, thanks.
Thanks Badger.
In our heart, Mr. Ando will always be a penguin.I will admit that I have felt that way about many of the crowners for a while, but I did not want to burst anyone's bubble by being the grumpy old killjoy that says, "I actually didn't think it was that awesome..."
Still better than Twilight.
edited 29th May '13 1:40:25 AM by GameSpazzer
MY SOUL IS DARK BUT MY HAIR IS COLORFUL — Brahian Pokémon Alchemist![]()
Yeah, that's why I haven't said anything for a while too but hey, it's probably better that I did say it now, just so it's out there.
![]()
and
of course it is
twilight cannot hope to compare to a demon's love for mass murder
I would have used some other characters for whom it's even more appropriate, but you guys don't know them.
edited 29th May '13 1:42:32 AM by pyr0h1tman8
In our heart, Mr. Ando will always be a penguin.

I'll just leave this here.
◊
MY SOUL IS DARK BUT MY HAIR IS COLORFUL — Brahian Pokémon Alchemist