How's My Driving | January 2014

[ironwood]

WELCOME WELCOME, THE QUARTER QUELL HAS ARRIV-- wait a minute, wrong script. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! It's that time of the (new) year again! Read on for the details of this, the newest of our quarterly HMDs.

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

[ironwood]

MODS
Character Name: Eshai, Evandau, Evastelei, Asti, Lieuen and Malicant.
Canon: NPCS
User Name: ironwood, alderwood, wroughtiron, tuvishan and hazelwood (also malicant because oops, forgot that one)
Focus: This can also be used for a general crit in terms of plot or game maintenance/mechanics or anything else you've noticed and would like to discuss in a public forum. Alternately, our MOD HMD is always open and available. As this HMD coincides with the approximate date we would be putting up an event HMD for both Eshai's murder and the turtle hatchlings that advanced our metaplot in the month of December, this is the place to submit feedback in lieu of an individual post.

[lostundercover]

In a similar vein as what I said to Cass, I'm really glad that the Hannibal plot is turning out okay, but disappointed with its organization.

This was an awesome plot. I rarely sign up for my characters to be attacked or murdered and was really looking forward to this as a cool thing (which it was!) and was especially looking forward to the fallout of that. The Emperor being murdered was something that upset me in terms of feeling unheard, as I expressed before, but which was a really freaking awesome plot in the game itself. You reassured me and I was excited again.

Except then, from my perspective, a similar situation occurred. Communication suffered and no one seemed entirely to know what was going on with the plot or even who to talk to to figure that out. As Cass's plot, this mainly falls to Cass. But when concerns were expressed, I admit I was hoping to see more mod involvement.

If Eve hadn't mentioned what was intended to be a secret plot, the whole thing would have been resolved without Brandy or I (Tony and Hayley being the two murdered). What's more upsetting to me, however, is that in Brandy and I trying to reassert ourselves, we then quasi snatched the rug out from under the feet of Al and Lee, who had a fleshed out plot that they were super excited for. They thought they were talking to all the right people and taking all the right steps. Only, that's what Brandy and I thought too and neither of us really knew about the other. To my knowledge, the end result is at least a few of the involved feeling a little disappointed but understanding of why it is how it is, rather than some people being stoked and others being upset, and I feel like better communication and more transparency might have helped that.

I think, a month from now, this plot will be remembered as awesome. Because it was. It was a great idea and involved a ton of hard work from a great number of people, but especially from you two and Eve. I'm posting this because, as Alex said, I should talk to who I think can gain the most and I'm hoping that my being open and honest may help improve future plots.

Alex | Jackson "Jax" Teller

[sonofsamcro]

Alex
Character Name: Jackson "Jax" Teller
Canon: Sons of Anarchy
User Name: sonofsamcro
Focus:
Do you feel that his visibility is appropriate to the character? Feedback about his diction and reactions are definitely cool. Overall thoughts are cool too. You may notice that Ororo's not on this list and that's because I've got an app in with the potential to switch her out, but she'll be going out of my roster regardless.

Resources: Network Threads | Log Threads

[jirk]

Roy
Character Name: Bruce Wayne
Canon: DCU
User Name: cowled | private HMD
Focus: Bruce has been in the game for a year and a half at this point, and as always my biggest concern is becoming too divergent from canon. Any thoughts or feedback on whether or not I'm making the transition between someone to whom Batman is the necessary identity to whom Bruce Wayne has the better use/impact would be appreciated!

Character Name: Jim Kirk
Canon: Star Trek: AOS
User Name: jirk | private HMD
Focus: Anything, really. Jim's done a lot of growing up in the last eight months, and I'd like to make sure he's on a believable track and I haven't taken too many liberties with character development in terms of his personal growth or that of his CR, and that he's still recognizable as himself.

Character Name: James Kidd
Canon: Asscreed IV: Pirates.
User Name: aread | private HMD
Focus: Kidd's brand new and I haven't done much with them yet, but if anyone's noted anything off in what little I've done I'd appreciate hearing about it.



As always, I'm glad to accept crit in basically any form so you can also hit me up via PM to any of the above journals or via plurk or e-mail.

[angermanaging]

Chel

Character Name: Bruce Banner
Canon: MCU
User Name: angermanaging
Focus: Oh man, I'm always doing a million things with Bruce and I love input on how they're being received. I'm deviating from strict Edward Norton interpretation to try to integrate some of the Avengers characterization, and some touches of 616, but it's such a balancing act, and if anyone else has thoughts, I'd appreciate them.

Character Name: Willow Rosenberg
Canon: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer
User Name: guiltapalooza
Focus: I'm always wondering if I'm playing her to her canon point accurately (post series, no comics). But input in general is always good!

As an overall note, I'm working actively on two things I've previously received advice over: 1. Tagging threads evenly, without bias to certain threads over others, so no one gets left behind; and 2. Not overthinking my threads, so they come more quickly and are perhaps shorter. Let me know if you have any feedback on how I'm doing with that.

[andaway]

Honestly I wasn’t going to say anything because in a plot so big it’s impossible to keep everyone happy but I saw you raised your concerns about it and I thought I’d do the same so next time a situation like this arises it’s solved to everyone’s satisfaction. Also let me apologize for a) how late this is, and b) having a hard time explanining things like this in my third language without being missleading, so if something I say isn’t clear do point it out.

Also please don’t take it personaly, I’m telling you this in your thread because you, Brandy and Kate were the ones with the singing voice in the plotting plurks and I already told Kate these things privately. Consider this something I had to say to both you and Brandy.

The Hannibal plot was solved so everyone had a little to do and that’s fine, it’s what we agreeded to... but I must say the general feeling Lee and I got was that our involved was being handwaved, dismissed or outright ignored. I’m not talking about actual roles in the plot, since basically what Lois and Clark ended up doing was, in general terms, what we had outlined in the plot. But you have to understand that, from out point of view, we went from finally having some kind of involvement in a plot where both of our characters had been affected yet hadn’t been allowed to react (Hannibal hurt Lois, and used Clark’s powers) to basically... feeling like we were being used so others could thread what they really want to.

In Kate’s words you guys quasi snatched the rug from under our feet. I understand all of you wanted some kind of closure for your characters, but I’d have appreciated a little more tact.

What it comes in the end is that we had the plot outlined with everyone that was involved in Eshai’s murder and had the permissions required from the mods. We were extremely careful to make sure Sharon got to deal with Hannibal in the end and we even offered to wait until Sharon had already known who the culprit was. Then, when you guys expressed discomfort at how the plot would turn out (which I understand, keeping it as some sort of surprise made us more excited but it backfired in the end and I will take the full blame for that) we were more than happy to plot stuff out alongide the victims. Even in the middle of family celebrations I did my best to plot and be a link to you guys and Lee.

And we both felt completely dismissed. (I say we knowingly because Lee and I both have had to calm the other down at different points of this plotting, we felt so disregarded and ignored.)

Lois was treated like some object that had somehow gotten in the way, when she’s a very skilled investigative reporter who had Sharon’s trust and had joined the investigations. She didn’t just stumble into him by mere luck, and I can certify Lee had spent a lot of time reading over Hannibal’s interactions with people to make sure Lois had the best angle for the ‘interview’ to investigate him. Clark has been investigating the murders for months himself, and even Sharon herself noted she was following Superman’s steps regarding the metahuman side of the investigations... and you guys made it seem like he was the delivery guy from A to B, then C. And we were completely cut off from any of the fallout, because Hayley-Tony-Bruce always got priority (at least that’s the feeling I got from the plurks at least). If Kate hadn’t noticed how upset I was and asked me what was wrong the suggestion for Lois to be the one to make the post wouldn’t have been made.

Honestly? If after Sharon had gotten Hannibal you guys had suggested this and played it out I would have been fine with it. It’s not the plot I have problems with. What I’m asking is a little more consideration for people’s feelings.

[justlittle]

Chris
Character Name: Bean
Canon: Enderverse
User Name: justlittle
Focus: I'm worried that my period of inactivity has led to Bean being OOC lately.

Character Name: Miles Morales
Canon: Marvel 1610
User Name: spiderkid
Focus: Anything, really.

[una_persson]

Karin
Character Name: Una Persson
Canon: Moorcock Multiverse
User Name: una_persson | HMD post
Focus: Anything? I've kind of been throwing her at a variety of plots and CR just to see what sticks, and I have a half-assed player plot regarding time travel that I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do it yet. (The fact that she can't take more than one person with her doesn't help—and taking anyone at all is stretching her mechanics a bit.) Any thoughts, comments, etc. are welcome.

Character Name: Lord Henry Wotton
Canon: Picture/Confessions of Dorian Gray
User Name: epigrammatical | HMD post
Focus: He's been through a lot of changes lately and had what basically amounts to a major depression recently. He's kind of on an upswing now, and I'm trying to make that happen. I'd like to know if his development makes sense, that sort of thing.

General Note: Between being extremely busy for the last two months and experiencing a certain malaise with regard to RP, I know my activity's been spotty. Sorry about that. I'm trying to find something that'll kick up my energy level with both of my characters, and hopefully I'll hit on something soon.

[hulkintraining]

Player Name Rea
Character Name: Teddy Altman
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: hulkintraining
Focus: First, I'd like to apologize for being so very slow to tag these days. Other then that, I can't think of any particular thing. But if anyone has any suggestions or questions any of my characterization for any reason I'd like to hear them.

[softlycall]

Elle
Character Name: Anne Bonny
Canon: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
User Name: softlycall
Focus: She's a very new muse, and one with fewer canon resources or certainties than I'm usually comfortable with. Therefore! I expect to mess up or be inconsistent for a while, but pointing it out will help me iron her character out more quickly. Other than general concrit, which is intensely welcome, I'd like to know if I need to leave off or change her accent for comprehension's sake. Is it helping or hindering? Also, if there are any parts of her reactions or general behaviour that seem incongruous.

I also have a permanent HMD with anon and comment screening enabled if you'd prefer to use that.

[sonofsamcro]

I have been tagging you for all of five days, so disclaimer that my feedback is not based on long-time exposure and nor is it based on heavy Anne exposure, as she's only just appeared in my playthrough of the game.

I'm seeing good consistency with the diction and tone throughout the threads in her post, and you seem to be spreading the tagging out rather than focusing on one thread to the exclusion of all else. The reason I mention that is that I've seen players that do that in the past and it can make others feel left out, so it's something that I, as a player, tend to pay attention to.

Short and sweet of it is that I think you're doing fantastic and, if anything, I encourage you to have more faith in yourself and your portrayal of Anne, because it's beautiful.

[myownbestfriend]

Carolyn
Character Name: Namorita Prentiss
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: littlecousin
Focus: My activity has been awful during the holidays, and I'm likely to not be as present as I'd like for the rest of the winter, but there's nothing I can really do about that besides be careful not to overcommit and consequently flake out, which I did in November/December and am on guard about for the next few months.

Also I'd be curious to know if people think I'm playing her too naive. She's not stupid or even truly naive; despite the fact she's very fluent in English, she didn't come to the surface until she was 14 and therefore has minimal cultural grounding, so she doesn't understand the reasons behind things people take for granted and/or applies Stupid Underwater Rome logic to situations where Atlantean tradition or perspective is of no use. That could easily tip over into Cloud Cuckoo Lander territory, though. I'm not sure where the line is myself.

Character Name: Emma Frost
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: myownbestfriend
Focus: She's brand new. I can't possibly have fucked up yet. :P

[backinakidflash]

Marie
Character Name: Bart Allen
Canon: DC comics
User Name: backinakidflash

Character Name: Julio Richter
Canon: Marvel comics
User Name: fuckcable

[manofiron]

Brandy
Character Name: Tony Stark
Canon: MCU
User Name: manofiron
Focus: Anything, really. If you have any thoughts or questions on anything about the way I play Tony, please let me know! I really appreciate feedback.

[gameplaying]

laura
Character Name: Loki
Canon: mcu
User Name: gameplaying
Focus: Nothing particularly comes to mind! I'm open to any/all crit; I'm aware that the holiday season has had me being slow (although I'm aware that I need to stop over-thinking replies so that they're quicker, particularly for anything that isn't commentspam), but outside of that, I'll just mention that I'm still getting back into the swing of playing Loki. Playing him with The Dark World canon is a touch different to playing him post-Avengers, so I'm trying to hit the balance of his various personality traits and what he (chooses to) outwardly display(s).

[asouthron]

Claire
Character Name: Leonard McCoy
Canon: Star Trek AOS
User Name: asouthron
Focus: Uhhh the usual! I haven't canon reviewed him in awhile and I am a little worried his dialogue is slipping. Also! Let me know if I've messed up any medical/doctorness in any of my threads.

Character Name: Kotetsu Kaburagi
Canon: Tiger & Bunny
User Name: oyaji
Focus: I've dropped the ball on him a lot lately. He should be a lot more outgoing in his obnoxiousness, but I just got busy. Still! Let me know how you feel! I struggle a lot with his dialogue as well since I use his Japanese VA as inspiration.

[(Anonymous)]

I think your McCoy is pretty good, however, I've noticed that when you post (both posts and logs) you tend to drop threads that are not part of your already existing CR pretty quickly, sometimes only tagging once before dropping the thread completely. This has been my experience in trying to tag you a few times and I think it might be something to keep in mind and improve on.

[backwordscompatible]

HINA

Character Name: Zatanna Zatara
Canon: Young Justice
User Name: backwordscompatible
Focus: None that I can particularly think of at this time. She's easily the most involved character, so I'd like to think her voice and storyline are the most fluid, since there's so much constantly going on with her.

Character Name: Midii Une
Canon: Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
User Name: unetrustworthy
Focus: CR Opportunities. Midii is extremely introverted and very reserved when it comes to new people, but I hope I've managed to get her in with enough reasonably close CR that I can show off more sides of her. The way I write her has evidence in her limited canon, but because of said limited canon, she does occasionally feel like an OC, so I'm often curious as to how people find her development. Does she come off as a strong character? Does she make sense? Is she interesting to read/tag?

Character Name: Aya
Canon: Green Lantern: The Animated Series
User Name: looksfine
Focus: Aya is easily the most shaky of the three. I haven't played her non-evil version in a long time, and am still trying to find that balance between sweet young girl full of curiosity and wonder at everything Life, and the seasoned warrior who won't take crap from anybody who tries to take advantage of her supposed naivete. Who also just happens to be a living robot. It's not easy, but I'm working on it tag by tag.

Al | Superman & Frank Zhang

[andaway]

Al
Character Name: Clark Kent | Superman
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: andaway | HMD in his journal
Focus: Has he been visible enough? Have his plots made sense? Al you aren't American what are you even doing playing Clark motherfucking Kent?

Character Name: Frank Zhang
Canon: Percy Jackson: HoH
User Name: iguanasolution
Focus: Is he boring? OOC? I do need to canon review...

Also feel free to mention English fails, I think I've let it slide too much lately.

Re: Al | Superman & Frank Zhang

[flamingshortshorts]

You were hiatus for some time, which I think definitely influenced Clark's visibility, but overall I think you've been doing a good job of balancing Superman being out and about and Clark being involved in the game and its plots. I would like to see Frank around more since I think when you really get into Clark's plots he slides to the back. He seems to be a really quiet guy in comparison, but I think he's really cool and would love to see him doing things and being more involved. Not sure if I have any suggestions on how to do that myself, but he's like a baby superhero in training and I can't wait to see more done with how that progresses!

Now as for your English fails, it's something we've discussed about you slip into being more formal at times and while you're right it's been more often recently, you caught it yourself and took steps to fix it. I've noticed changes in my tags with Frank and with Clark since then and I think as long as you're aware and read your tags to think if maybe they're too formal for the situation before posting them, you'll do just fine.

Kate → Costigan, Hayley Stark, Peeta Mellark

[hijackedbread]

Kate
Character Name: Billy Costigan
Canon: The Departed
User Name: lostundercover
Focus: I know I haven't been as proactive and involved with him as I should be. Open to any feedback.

Character Name: Hayley Stark
Canon: Hard Candy
User Name: everylittlegirl
Focus: I'm happy to explain why she attacked Superman and lied about it afterwards if anyone wants to teal deer. Otherwise open to feedback.

Character Name: Peeta Mellark
Canon: Hunger Games
User Name: hijackedbread
Focus: None/Any.

[unobtainableredemption]

Kaitie
Character Name: Mark Grayson
Canon: Invincible
User Name: shorttempered | Private HMD
Focus: I think I'm doing okay with him, but sometimes I wonder about my personal ability to keep a thread going. I feel like sometimes I rely too heavily on the other person, though I am trying to fix this.

Character Name: John Colby
Canon: Chew
User Name: fdaterminator | Private HMD
Focus: His voice is really shaky, so anything you might have, please let me know!

Character Name: Kaine (Parker)
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: unobtainableredemption | Private HMD
Focus: Same as with Mark. Also, sometimes I'm unsure if his internal monologue comes out the way the way I hear it in my head. It's something I have trouble with in general, and the problem with Kaine (as opposed to Mark or Colby) is that what he says and what he thinks are usually two different things. He is his own worst judge of character, and I'm attempting to portray that in the brackets. If anyone has any crit here, I'd very much appreciate it.

Additionally, please let me know of anything else you might see/would like to point out in general.

[crabmunicator]

Nabi
Character Name: Karkat Vantas
Canon: Homestuck
User Name: crabmunicator
Focus: Anything you feel is appropriate. I haven't done a whole lot with him yet, still kind of finding a niche for him here, but if you have comments I'm here to read them.

[doc_holi]

Lina

Character Name: Dr. Holiday
Canon: Generator Rex
User Name: doc_holi | HMD
Focus: I realize that I'm quite slow with her and don't get her involved with as much stuff as I should, really. I would really like to know if you guys enjoy playing with her and, also, your thoughts on her recent nanite thing. Also, as always, are my tags difficult to reply to? Do you find a ton of typos with me? Am I just annoying in general? Let me know!

Character Name: Gabriel
Canon: Supernatural
User Name: casaerotica13 | HMD
Focus: I've been wanting some constructive feedback on him since I've picked him up. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback (which I'm incredibly thankful for), but he's still a new muse for me, despite how much I enjoy playing him. Do you think he's as IC as possible? Am I doing him justice? Should he be doing more or less in game? Also, the usual, are my tags difficult to reply to? Do you find a ton of typos with me? Am I just annoying in general?

Anything that's on your minds, please don't hesitate to let me know. Anon is welcome.

[jackdaws]

Candace
Character Name: Edward Kenway
Canon: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
User Name: jackdaws | Private HMD
Focus: Brand new muse and I'm also new to the game, so any and all feedback would be helpful! Voice, tone, general characterisation, anything. I haven't done much yet with Christmas and the new year rolling around, and it doesn't help that I've played for a long time in a relatively small game with a relaxed tagging speed. But hopefully by the end of this month I'll have gotten the ball rolling.

[baniichan]

Jansen
Character Name: Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Canon: Tiger & Bunny
User Name: baniichan | Private HMD
Focus: I'm open to whatever, but any comments about how I'm doing with building crosscanon CR while staying IC would be really appreciated. This guy doesn't really interact with people willy-nilly, so I'm always trying to think of reasons for him to talk to people, hahah.

[definingfuture]

Tea
Character Name: Tony Stark
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: definingfuture
Focus: I'm always concerned about getting in the proper balance of smart, ridiculous, nice, and arrogant with him. He's got a lot of things going on at once and I feel he should, but I know that can end up slowing me down or get in the way of my execution. Also, I'm not a comics expert, so comics experts, if you noticed something I need to be aware of, please let me know. I'm moving toward making him more pushy as he gains momentum, so if anyone has noticed anything wrong with that, I'd love input.

Character Name: Gentarou Kisaragi
Canon: Kamen Rider Fourze
User Name: friendstime
Focus: Nice guys are so not my usual area, so I want to know if I'm screwing this up. I haven't gotten him out as much, but that's mostly been because December has been a train wreck for me as far as time. I'm resolved to get on point from here on! But if you think I could improve things, please let me know. :D

[unconchonable]

Zorn
Character Name: Eridan Ampora
Canon:Homestuck
User Name: unconchonable
Focus:
Hopefully I'm doing an alright job with balancing Eridan being a terrible douchebag, and him still being a kid. One from a messed up society who believes in the twisted standards that there of, but also not exactly a total monster because of it. I guess I just hope I've been doing alright with making him not some one-trick pony, and giving him proper depth without betraying the terribleness of his character too much. If there's anything else you'd like to remark on, though, feel free to! I am open to all crit and am eager to hear any concerns regarding him.

[disfavored]

Cass

Character Name: Hannibal Lecter
Canon: Hannibal
User Name: bonvivant
Focus: The Emperor murder plot happened so there's that, but anything, really.

Character Name: Tarrlok
Canon: Legend of Korra
User Name: disfavored
Focus: Open to anything here!

[lostundercover]

While I'm glad to see the Hannibal murder plot resolving successfully, I admit that I was kind of disappointed with the progression of it. The initial murder had such potential for awesome twists and turns! Then things became a bit convoluted and weren't communicated super well. When I reached out to you in plurk and PM, you were awesome about answering. Don't get me wrong on that.

My concern is more.. For example, you mentioned putting up a plotting post or some other way to get everyone involved on the same page about the plot and asked that I wait because you were working with the mods on something (which I assume was the Emperor's assassination). No plotting post came out and I didn't hear more on it. It wasn't until Eve mentioned it that I even knew it was potentially being resolved without Hayley and Tony's involvement, which would have been upsetting to me as a player whose character was so deeply affected by the plot.

This was an awesome plot and it was super cool to see such a large impact resulting from it. I would just consider, in future, trying to be more proactive in your communication and making sure to include everyone so that more people can enjoy it to its fullest extent! c:

[modernized]

Marion
Character Name: Terry McGinnis
Canon: Batman Beyond/DC Animated
User Name: modernized
Focus: Terry is still a new character to me in terms of playing him, so really I would appreciate any input. If I had to pick out a main concern it would be dialogue writing and mindset. Is he coming off too lax and casual or is it the opposite? Does he not seem smart enough or is he too perceptive? I also hope I'm getting across that he's still relatively new to the superhero scene (he's only been Batman for two years for the record).

tldr COME AT ME im open to all comments and discussion.