How's My Driving | July 2013

[ironwood]

Three months have already passed since the last HMD? You betcha! This means that it's time to kick off the fourth quarterly gamewide HMD here in Tu Shanshu! Things are getting structured a little differently this time, so read on for details.

How's My Driving?
While each and every character must have an HMD page available, we offer a gamewide HMD once every calendar quarter. This is an opportunity to get together and discuss IC interpretations and portrayals in a respectful, beneficial fashion. In a nutshell, it's a chance to see how we're doing in the grand scheme of things.

There are a few ground rules to cover off before we can start:

• Participation in the quarterly HMD is 100% optional.
  
• Be respectful, anon or not. It's a lot easier to give and receive crit if all parties are making it a discussion of it rather than an argument.
  
• IP logging is off and anonymous commenting is on. You can offer crit signed-in if you like, but the option's there.
  
• New! We ask that each concrit provided consist of one positive and one constructive bit of feedback. Bring up something that you like about that player, and in the same comment provide something that you feel they could work on. This is to help round out the feedback and provide a better experience all around.
  

That's it, that's all!

And, to make things easier, here's a handy-dandy codeset:

<big><b><i>Player Name</i></b></big> <i>Character Name:</i> <i>Canon:</i> <i>User Name:</i> <I>Focus:</i> Optional. Do you have particular concerns about your portrayal that you'd like to be the focus of crit? You can link any threads you'd like a second opinion on here. If you're looking for structural feedback, or would prefer things like grammar not be mentioned, put it here.

Comments

Mods & NPCs

[ironwood]

Tu Shanshu Mods & NPCs
Character Name: Ironwood Emperor, Alderwood Commander, Hazelwood Merchant, Eva, Tu Vishan/Asti
Canon: NPCs
User Name: ironwood, alderwood, hazelwood, wroughtiron, tuvishan
Focus:
Do you have any feedback for the way events are run? The schedule for applications? How's our admining? Are there things that you would like to see the NPCs facilitating? General feedback to the mods is always welcome and here's a handy-dandy thread to facilitate it. As always, the mod HMD is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week if you'd prefer to use that.

Additionally, our one-year anniversary discussions are coming up! This will be an opportunity to discuss things that you'd like to see added, removed, or modified here in Tu Shanshu. Do you have any particular subject that you'd like to see brought up as part of these discussions? Feel free to suggest the topic here!

Re: Mods & NPCs

[angermanaging]

This is just a generic compliment but I really love having our character limit so low, and the policy for making double activity to app in a fourth character. I think it's fantastic and hugely cuts down on character sitting, and makes everyone invested in the characters they do have in game. It really fosters an atmosphere centered more around character development, which is one of my favorite aspects of this game.

Additionally, I continue to be astounded at how much work you guys do all the time, and the most astonishing part is that you are CONSTANTLY on top of things. When you say something will be done on a certain day, it is done on that day, and you haven't deviated from that at all, period, as far as I've seen. This is especially impressive on apps. So major kudos and applause on that.

I will say that if this workload is too intense for you, you might consider taking on more regular, consistent volunteers to do mundane, non-authoritative, housekeeping tasks such as tagging entries. I know you got plenty of volunteers for that when you asked a while ago (myself included) and I encourage you to utilize that again in the future should the need arise.

Alex | Ororo Munroe & Tony Stark

[storm_warning]

Alex

Character Name: Ororo Munroe | Storm
Canon: Marvel 1610
User Name: storm_warning
Focus:
I have no particular focus this time. I acknowledge that my activity levels fluctuate at best, but I'd welcome specific feedback about that as much as I would love characterisation or other feedback.

Character Name: Tony Stark | Iron Man
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
User Name: iron_ego
Focus:
Same with Ororo. I am open and on the floor for anything that you feel I should know about the way I handle Tony in this game. <3

Re: Alex | Ororo Munroe & Tony Stark

[lostundercover]

♥: I really enjoy threading with you. You have fun and well developed characters and write them well.

°: I know you're super busy, but I would love to see more open posts if you're able! Sometimes I look for excuses to tag with you and have trouble finding them. :/ But that's.. mostly me being greedy and not a comment on your activity or anything.

roy and company! (said company is comprised of Batman, Space Captains and Ear Collectors)

[jirk]

Roy
Character Name: Bruce Wayne
Canon: DCU
User Name: cowled ✘ thread tracking ✘ anon enabled/ip off HMD
Focus: I'm always interested in hearing people's opinions on how I'm managing the duality of his nature – that being the genius/billionaire/playboy/philanthropist and 'The Goddamned Batman'. I don't believe in making Bruce infallible the way he's written in the comics, but am I venturing into the realm of too incompetent? ALL THESE CONCERNS ARE CONCERNS I HAVE. Also re: visibility. Bruce has suffered some heavy CR losses in the last couple months and he's basically gone underground as a result (as you do) so I'm concerned that he's not getting out as much as he should. Thoughts? Also: he's been in the game now for... you know, twenty-someodd days less than a year, so is he still sounding/acting/reacting like him, or have I strayed too far off the beaten path that is ye olde Batdouche?

Character Name: Aisha al-Fadhil
Canon: The Losers
User Name: emasculates ✘ thread tracking ✘anon enabled/ip off HMD
Focus: Aisha is another character that's been in the game for more than ten months now, and I'm the first to admit she's made very little in the matter of waves in that time since she's reclusive, surly and—well, a walking trigger warning for a variety of subjects. (Her HMD doubles as an opt-out post if anyone's curious). For those of you that have threaded with her, does she seem consistent? Do people find it easy to thread against her or am I not pulling my weight in the threads and relying too much on passivity? Any thoughts people have would be super appreciated.

Character Name: Jim Kirk
Canon: Star Trek XI/XII sort of.
User Name: jirk ✘ thread tracking ✘ anon enabled/ip off HMD
Focus: Whoo boy. Okay, right now I'm massively concerned that Jim's being too much of a whiner emo baby instead of the sassy Captain we all know and want to kick in the teeth love. His canonpoint is post the universe-canon 2013 video game and takes into account the also universe-canon comics to an extent, and he had Spock dump the events of Star Trek: Into Darkness in his brain (captain's orders!) and that's massively shaken his confidence. It's not exactly a character arc I've written before so I'm constantly on tenterhooks as to whether or not it's coming across decently and not overly dramatic and/or attention-whorey so if anyone has any pointers or cues about how I'm handling that I would love to hear it.

[constants]

Crit for Jim! Because he's the only one I know well enough to actually crit.

Let me just start off by saying that I had things to crit you on and then went "well I should just go check that handy dandy thread tracker and make sure my crit is valid!" And then it, you know, wasn't because you were doing all the things I thought of. Because you're just sort of flawless like that. So I'm going to start off by saying that I really love your Jim! I think right now he's really solid on being sassy and hitting on women (esp. sassy with the bit running into the bar in the thread with Spock and Castiel and then commenting about the blacksmith)(yes I did actually scan or read all the June activity posted to your thread tracker, sorry for being such a creep I swear it's all in the name of crit and love). I'm not sure if all your June activity is in there, but at least from what I noticed it looks like you might not actually be carrying through the weight of his known future enough? Certainly he'd still be all funny and stuff, but except for the log right after and the thread with Bruce, I didn't notice a lot of it coming up. Again, this might be because the post isn't up to date/complete.

I'm sorry for that giant paragraph of text! Bottom line, I really like your Jim and he's fantastic and you're fantastic! Depending on if your thread tracking post is up to date or not you might be able to add a bit more Into Darkness induced emo into his character.

[franchisepirate]

Lena
Character Name: Dread Pirate Westley
Canon: The Princess Bride
User Name: franchisepirate
Focus: Obviously tagging at a better speed! He's a new muse in terms of active play so I find myself agonizing a little more, checking and revising tags to make sure they're right and it takes way more time than it should. But I'd love thoughts on his voice so far!

[jirk]

I absolutely adore your grasp of Westley's voice. I can hear him super clearly when I read all your tags and that is so excellent? Seriously my crit would be 'WORRY LESS BECAUSE YOU'RE AWESOME'. You're engaging and fun and you go out of your way to make threads fun for other people, so loosen up and trust yourself! I've never seen you touch a character you didn't play well. <3


One thing I'd like to see a bit of is his charisma and his tendency to draw people to him. Turtle needs a pirate crew! and maybe a boat!

Ammay | Soranik Natu

[onefouroneseven]

Ammay
Character Name: Soranik Natu
Canon: DCU
User Name: onefouroneseven
Focus: I know I am not the most prompt replier, so if that is a problem for you please let me know and we can hash out details of a thread. That's all I can think of currently!

[jirk]

Having now read most of Sora's appearances, I really do love how you write her. She comes across as pitch-perfect to the canon and it's a joy and a delight to see you running with her development and forging new territory while still staying true to the source material!

I'd maybe like to see you try and put her into situations where she has to interact a little outside of her comfort zone? Sora's a character who seems to grow or flourish the best under a bit of adversity, and although the CR she has is pretty damn strong, I'd love to see if you could net her a slightly wider array of it? But that's not really crit so much as 'NEEDS MORE AMMAY IN THE WORLD' so take it as you will.

Everything else is p. much fantastic. You're an engaging player, your tags have a good balance of introspection and dialogue, and I feel like you really care and put effort into where you're taking her character. Plus, you're fabulous. /chinhands

[wingedwarrior]

Erin
Character Name: Shayera Hol
Canon: Justice League
User Name: winged
Focus: she's still a new character to me, so I'm trying to get a firm grasp on her voice. I understand if I slipped up here and there, so if you have any concerns with how I've been playing her so far, just say so!

Cass / Tarrlok & Hannibal

[disfavored]

Cass

Character Name: Tarrlok
Canon: Legend of Korra
User Name: disfavored
Focus: Anything, really. Tarrlok just found out that he's dead in his own world and is currently treading that line he was treading at the end of the series in between "huge jerk" and "not jerk", so he's going through a whole lot of development right now and I hope I'm handling that okay.

Character Name: Hannibal Lecter
Canon: Hannibal
User Name: bonvivant
Focus: Anything! This is a character I've loved for a long time and have been a little nervous about playing, because of that and because he's so iconic. He's pretty new, so there's nothing I can think of to focus on, so...yeah, anything.

Farrah | Dorian, Richard

[depicted]

Farrah
Character Name: Dorian Gray
Canon: The Confessions of Dorian Gray
User Name: depicted
Focus: I was worried about his voice slipping for a bit, hence the massive canon review. Hopefully, that fixed it. Sometimes I question if he needs to be a horrible jerk more?

Character Name: Richard of Windor
Canon: Tales of Graces
User Name: oathwalk
Focus: He's new, so I'm just breaking him in. But he's well off the beaten track for my usual character type, so I'm not sure I have the hang of him even interacting in general.

[chiot]

Chasekat
Character Name: Gavroche
Canon: Les Miserables
User Name: chiot
Focus: Trying to not tag so much so I can do tags QUICKER, but I get far too eager. There's also a few things RL that have just sprung up, so tags may be on hold for a few days while I sort it out.

Crit is MAJORLY appreciated, Gavroche's HMD is right over here!

[lostundercover]

♥: As mentioned on plurk, I love your language/word choice. I also like that you really seem to go out of your way to tag around! That's much appreciated.

°: As mentioned, the talking in circles thing sometimes. THAT'S ALL.

[dracobin]

Ireny
Character Name: Temeraire
Canon: Temeraire
User Name: dracobin
Focus: I know I struggle sometimes with Temeraire's voice--he has a fairly distinctive style of speech in the books that can only really be described as "gratuitous punctuation abuse," but is it too much? And any and all crit you can give me about how I play him is welcome!

[escarabajo]

Okay I haven't threaded with you but from what I know of canon (just the first book, sob) and from the couple of threads of yours I've read? I think you have a really great handle on Temeraire's diction. I haven't got any actual advice, though, sorry ;;

Danni | Jaime Reyes

[escarabajo]

Danni
Character Name: Jaime Reyes
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: escarabajo
Focus: No real focus here-- I mean, I'm still working on getting cast AND crosscanon CR together, but it's been a busy month and I haven't been tagging as quickly as I'd like. Apart from that I'm still fairly new, so anything would be loved <3

Li || Jack Frost & Stocking Anarchy

[wintershepherd]

Li
Character Name: Jack Frost
Canon: Rise of the Guardians
User Name: wintershepherd
Focus: The plurk meme brought up that people would like to see more of Jack's prankish side so once the event settles out, I'll make more of an effort to bring out that side of him!

Character Name: Stocking Anarchy
Canon: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
User Name: candystriped
Focus: I definitely want to get her involved with more and expand on building more CR with her, particularly if she can... actually make friends with some people. Sometimes I feel like I'm limited in getting people interested in tagging with her because of her canon (whether it be her appearance or just the general crack of a Gainax series?) so I guess... is there anything I can do to make her appeal more to other chars?

ETA: I have a full time, anon enabled HMD post linked through both their profiles if anything ever comes up when the game HMD isn't around!

[tendnottoweep]

Aubrey
Character Name: Rikki Barnes
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: withoutaworld

Character Name: Natasha Romanoff
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
User Name: tendnottoweep

Kiki and her boys

[trainwrecked]

Kiki
Character Name: Bucky Barnes
Canon: MCU
User Name: trainwrecked

Character Name: Damian Wayne
Canon: DC universe
User Name: trainwrecked

[lostundercover]

♥: You are an utter delight to play with and I really enjoy every interaction we have, even with Damian. But mostly Bucky. You play very interesting characters and develop CR in a way that feels very natural.

°: I'm a slow tagger, so it's a little hypocritical, but I would love to see you taking on a little less in order to tag a little more/quicker. I'm greedy to play with you and get bummed when I don't get to do so very often.

[sciencewhizard]

Dino
Character Name: Wally West
Canon: Young Justice
User Name: sciencewhizard
Focus: I know I'm not the most active player, and it's something I'm always trying to work on. Other than that, I would really appreciate any good crit you can give me on my writing, if you have any concerns. I don't mind if it's minor or major; I want to improve however I can. If you prefer not saying anything here, I do have an anon-enabled and screened HMD as the first post on my journal.

[definingfuture]

Tea
Character Name: Tony Stark
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: definingfuture
Focus: Nothing really specific, but if you have any concerns or comments I would love to have them. Characterization, tags, content in general... let me have it?

[lostundercover]

♥: I really appreciate you tagging around and your willingness to just jump right into whatever. I apologize for my slowness with things!

°: I'm sorry that I haven't written with you enough to leave anything constructive!

[constants]

Em
Character Name: The Archive "Ivy"
Canon: The Dresden Files
User Name: constants | permissions
Focus: I have a bunch of concerns so here are bullet points!! If you can answer any or all of these you are my hero. Also please address things that I haven't listed below!
[ CHARACTER CRIT ]
• How am I doing in terms of keeping her info modding essentially nonexistent? I am trying very hard to keep her knowledge in check as much as possible and would like feedback on how I'm doing on that front! (If at any point you think I'm doing too much on that front, please please do not hesitate to tell me! I would much rather know ASAP than let it go on. I love playing her, but I understand that she is ridiculous on knowledge and this is your fun time too.)
• She has a tendency to be very expressionless and not approachable, (especially directed at people who are canonblind) is she becoming too unapproachable?
• On the flip side, (especially directed who aren't canonblind) is she too friendly?
• I've been tossing her at a some science stuff lately, should I cut back and let other people have more opportunities on that front?
[ PLAYER CRIT ]
• My playing speed has dropped a lot with the advent of work, am I too slow? Is there a way I should shift my tagging style to accommodate this drop in speed?
• Am I putting my fingers in too many pies and/or blatantly ignoring things that I should pay attention to?
• Is my writing style too shallow or too detailed? If so how can I change it to be more accessible?

Also, I have a permanent anon enabled, IP logging off, comments screened HMD!

[angermanaging]

I THOUGHT UP CRIT FOR YOU, though it's not really criticism, more of a suggestion. If you're concerned about her being unapproachable, maybe try to intentionally insert her in situations that are outside of her comfort zone? I know we've been edging into that a little with our threads, and that's been hugely successful in getting them effective CR already, in my opinion.

So maybe attempt that elsewhere, and try to see if anyone else would be interested in cooperating with you on it. Obviously this is easier with more outgoing characters to drag her out and do things (Raimei) but you could potentially find IC motivations for her to have to get outside of her comfort zone (depowering thread with Bruce).

[takeittothemax]

Player Name Box
Character Name: Maxwell Lord
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: takeittothemax
Focus: I'm wondering if I have the balance between his jerkness and his good side done well, or if it's leaning too far towards one end of the spectrum as opposed to others. He's also at a really delicate canonpoint, i.e. before the big heel face turn, so I'm wondering if that's going well too!

Character Name: Kirei Kotomine
Canon: Fate/Zero
User Name: structuraldefect
Focus: He's brand new here, so I'm not sure if there's anything yet! But if there is, let me know!

If you'd rather take it to my private HMDs, you can! Comments are screened on request and anonymous commenting is enabled for all of them!

[apologiesmyking]

Kathrine

Character Name: Kaldur'ahm / Aqualad
Canon: Young Justice (Earth-16/DCA)
User Name: apologiesmyking | Private HMD
Focus: I'm happy for how I managed to up my activity this month, but I still feel like I could do more to get Kaldur involved in the game. My goal for this month is more cross-canon CR. He's also a quieter character who can come across rather stiff, so if he is sounding too repetitive or boring, I'd love to know so I can adjust things. Any suggestions on how to get him more involved would be great.

Character Name: Prussia
Canon: Axis Powers Hetalia
User Name: cantbewalled | Private HMD | Tagging Opt Out
Focus: He's a very rough, abrasive character when he wants to be (or when he just doesn't care not to be) and I know he's not making a lot of friends so I'm hoping to change that and tone down his...rudeness this coming month. Also if you would like me to not tag you with Prussia, just comment on his opt out post! I'm totally okay with that. I'm also concerned that I'm infodumping and shoving his..."nation-ness" on people. He's a very proud guy who has no problem telling people who he is (and has a habit of mocking other nations), but if he and/or I'm coming on too strong, please let me know and I'll scale it back. Anything else you want to suggest or note I'm open to.

Character Name: Toro Raymond
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: flamingshortshorts | Private HMD
Focus: I got a lot of castmates this month so I know that Toro's cross-canon CR building suffered as a result of it and I intend to fix that this coming month. I definitely plan on working on that more and being more timely with my tagbacks with him. I would love any input on whether or not he's coming across as too immature. Toro's kind of oblivious and naively optimistic, but I worry at times that his personality comes across too much like that of a young teenager instead of the adult he is. Anything else you may have noticed that I could work on is definitely welcome as well.

[lostundercover]

♥: I really love that you've been extremely open to developing CR and tagging around. You're a fun player to play with!

°: In our very limited interactions with Toro and Johnny, I'll admit that I got the impression that Toro was more obnoxious teenager than adult? But that might just be Johnny. He has a tendency to bring that out in people.

[dungfu]

Trap
Character Name: Amaterasu
Canon: Okami
User Name: dungfu
Focus:
- Playing a normally silent protagonist/wolf in a setting wherein there's instant translation is something very new to me so I'm still trying to balance out her silent and talky moments. She doesn't like to talk much, but it worries me that some people may not be able to make use of her body language to be able to reply properly. Should I adjust something? How easily are you guys able to follow her when she doesn't talk?

- Is she "Amaterasu" enough? Canon casts her as a character that does not act the way we see gods usually portrayed in other canons/series, but I want to know how I'm doing with her, from your first impressions and later. I understand Okami is still not a widely-known game even with the HD release, but I always welcome canonblind perspectives because they really do help.

- Other things you think apply!

[imaginate]

From that thread we had it seems to me that she tends to talk only when absolutely necessary? i.e. when other character she's talking to doesn't understand her, similar to someone speaking slowly and clearly to someone not fluent in their native tongue. If this was your intent, it's coming across perfectly fine. Maybe the only issue that might come up is that
tags could get slow and repetitive if the other character has to ask a lot of questions to work out what she means?

[traitre]

Doc
Character Name: qilby
Canon: wakfu
User Name: traitre
Focus: nothing specifically! but i do have an hmd in my journal if you'd prefer that.

[donttouch]

hallie

Character Name: rogue ( marian carlyle )
Canon: marvel 1610
User Name: donttouch

Character Name: jason grace
Canon: percy jackson / the heroes of olympus
User Name: ozones

Focus: rogue's voice has been a bit tricky for me to settle into (not the least because she's been written pretty inconsistently in canon), but i think after a few months i've gotten more solid with her. jason i sometimes worry about not providing interesting-enough tags, and have tried to work in more introspection, action and tone to his more succinct diction. other than that, have at it.

[lostundercover]

♥: Although we haven't had too many threads together, I've enjoyed them all. Rogue's voice seemed consistent and appropriate to the character when she was talking to Johnny, if that helps any.

°: It's not really crit, but I'd really like to see more of Jason. Hayley will hopefully be bothering him soon.

[zerotoawesome]

jason
Character Name: Santo Vaccarro (Rockslide)
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: zerotoawesome
Focus: I'm on hiatus until the 14th, dealing with a little burnout since I'm nowhere near as funny/energetic/dumb in real life as Santo is. I also just needed a little break because I felt like I was getting too serious or depressing with how he's been handling some in game events? Idk. Any and all crit or comments are appreciated!

[suoxi]

Cat
Character Name: Inara Serra
Canon: Firefly
User Name: suoxi

Character Name: Jane Foster
Canon: MCU
User Name: rosenbridges
Focus: FOR BOTH: I am very shaky with both, in general :| not specific i know, but there it is.

[alpha_squad_leader]

Eric
Character Name: Victor Borkowski
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: alpha_squad_leader
Focus: I'm on hiatus until the 14th to help fight a bit of burnout and hopefully recharge on Vic's usual energy and activity levels. I needed a bit of a break from Vic feeling mostly frustrated and depressed over some events. So any comments appreciated.

[lostundercover]

♥: I love Victor. I'll admit that sometimes I get a little skeptical of random comic characters, but I think you've done extremely well with him. He has a distinct voice and personality (coming from someone canon blind to that character specifically) and is fun to have some lighter chats with. I really enjoy his and Johnny's CR.

°: If you're a little burned out with him, maybe you could try putting him in situations outside of his comfort zone more? He seems like a fairly consistent character, which can be a great thing at times, but can also be really draining when those types of characters get in a negative swing. Hopefully pushing him out of his comfort zone could distract him from his moods and help develop new CR at the same time.