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

[wallcrawler]

Saint
Character Name: Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Canon: Spectacular Spider-Man (Animated)
User Name: wallcrawler
Focus: Any and all, though any input on whether or not I'm doing a good enough job keeping Spidey's voice distinct from Livewire's would be a plus. Since they both get kind of snarky and informal.

Character Name: Livewire
Canon: Superman: The Animated Series
User Name: shockjock
Focus: See above! Also, definitely hoping for more crit with her, since I'm still fairly rusty with her.

[jirk]

This is just a general observation from the time we've played, but I notice you tend to target a very specific type of CR with Peter in particular, aimed at teenaged girls? It always has a slight current of ship-pushing, even if you're careful about it, but I've noticed a tendency to come into completely unrelated conversations (on plurk or what-have-you) to bring up teenaged girl characters that Peter has CR with or that you've expressed an interest in him having CR with, and I think it's potentially making people uncomfortable, especially since I've noticed you have a tendency to drop threads with characters who don't fit that demographic, which can lead people to think you're really only after that specific sort of CR. Just something to be cognizant of, maybe?

I've also noticed that your replies don't tend to be very dynamic, or give people a lot to reply to. I'm not sure if this is a time constraint issue on your end, or a matter of you not being particularly invested in certain threads, but I do think you might find your threads end up a little more fulfilling if you conveyed the thought or consideration you put into writing them - maybe include body language if it's a succinct verbal reply, just so people have the cues there to reply to. I know that the thought is there, because your characters are always really well fleshed out, but it can sometimes be harder for other people to recognize or see.

That said, I really enjoy Livewire's diction and how she presents herself. I feel like you've got a good grasp on her motivations and I love the fact that she's basically got Jim half-convinced she's a more sympathetic figure than Superman.

[wallcrawler]

It's less ship-pushing, and more...age-pushing, I guess? Like I try to hit people in the teenage range, and it's usually girls. I think Jaime and Bart are actually some of the only ones I haven't hit yet from the age group (and some of hte TMNT cast, though I'm also not sure if I ever tagged YJ!Robin), and I think that's just because I've missed their intros. I'm actually really aware of it and nervous about it as it is, so I'll definitely try to pay more attention to it, I guess? Since I am definitely not ship-pushing, just trying to keep him most focused on his own age range and anybody science-related who shows up.

As for the dynamic-ness, I'll try to work on it. It's probably just something simple on my end (e.g., thinking an action can be assumed when it shouldn't be), but I'll see what I can do. I don't know if I'll make any progress with body language things though, considering how poor I am at reading it myself, I'm not sure if I'd be able to really write it in any useful fashion.

Also that's because Livewire's a lying manipulative little radio troll << ... she's the one I need to figure out body language for the most though, considering she's incredibly flirtatious at the best of times, and I haven't got a freaking clue how I'm doing in that regard, but it's definitely going to come up when she meets anyone in person.

[wallcrawler]

*also I'm hoping I have the thread dropping thing handled now, since I switched everything over to GMail and have a system set up now to keep track of what I've actually replied to and what still needs to be hit.

Before I'd make the mistake of reading the notif in Outlook, taking a look at the post, then going off and forgetting I hadn't replied yet and losing track of the thread. I'm still tracking down threads I've lost, with Spidey and Livewire both :\

(Speaking of: Anybody I owe a tag to, seriously, DO NOT hesitate to poke me about it. I probably lost it, and no I don't care how old it is)