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

[wrathfulkhan]

Zed
Character Name: Gene Khan
Canon: Iron Man: Armored Adventures
User Name: wrathfulkhan
Focus: I know I haven't been around a lot, because RL has been kicking my rear, but - how'm I doing with this guy? He's supposed to be a Lawful Evil arrogant manipulative douche with the capacity for cold-blooded murder and a "look out for number one" mentality, but at the same time, he is also an incredibly messed up teenage boy who's been told since he was wee that his destiny is to conquer the world. How am I doing on that balance? Is he semi-evil? Is he quasi-evil? Is he the margarine of evil? Is he the Diet Coke of evil? (Just one calorie! Not evil enough!)

Thoughts? :V

[wingedwarrior]

erin
Character Name: shayera hol
Canon: justice league
User Name: wingedwarrior
Focus: aside from bumping up my activity and actually tagging things actively like i used to, there's not much focus for me.

[strategisch]

Otter

Character Name: Armin Arlert
Canon: Attack on Titan
User Name: strategich

Focus: FINALLY I'M NOT LATE TO SOMETHING.

I worry sometimes that I'm playing Armin too boring or samey, because I'd say about half the posts I respond only get a handful of replies, and then just stop... Lately, my posts with him don't get much reply either.

So there's obviously something I'm doing wrong, but I'm not exactly sure what. I'm trying to keep him as IC as possible, but maybe I should break out of staying so strictly to canon in order to get more interest, or employ other aspects of his personality more often.

Also, I don't socialize much, so I realize people not knowing who I am doesn't help either. Of course I don't blame others in this respect, it's something I chose to do myself, but it's kind of a bummer, I think it reduces my opportunities a bit.

Please, don't worry about replying if you have any idea about what I might be doing wrong. I can take it! I'd rather get criticism, improve, and get more interest in the long run, than not get it because someone wants to spare my feelings or something.

EDIT: You can also comment anon with no IP logging on Armin's personal HMD. didn't know you have to enable that

[bolthead]

As someone who never makes open posts, I don't have much advice to give but try tagging around CR memes more? I know for me the meme is just as much about forming concrete plans as it is getting an idea of whose posts to pay attention to, especially since I'm usually full up on threads and therefore end up tagging only people I either already have CR with or that I know have expressed interest in getting CR with me. (It's kind of a bad habit I need to break.)

I think that'd also help with the lack of socializing mentioned. I don't think it's at all a bad thing but I've seen plurk used pretty heavily for plotting sometimes so you'll probably have to be a bit more proactive if you want to get Armin more out there, whether it be commenting to CR memes or PMing players you'd like to do things with.

I'm not sure if that'll help or not but for what it's worth I've had fun tagging Armin thus far.

[sushihouse]

Jake
Character Name: Rioichi Cooper
Canon: Sly Cooper
User Name: sushihouse | private HMD
Focus: hhhh trying to not be so slow now that the holidays are wrapping up, but besides that! I'd appreciate any advice or helpful thoughts concerning his dialogue. For example, does he sound like an older guy that is polite, reserved, and dignified in an old-fashioned sort of way? The only really noticeable speech quirk he possesses is the tendency to bust out proverbs here and there, and as he's a rather stoic guy in canon (which means there's a relatively small sampling of dialogue to draw upon and check myself against), it's something of a challenge to make sure I don't accidentally have him sound more "modern" than is accurate.

tl;dr he has a subtle personality + comes from feudal Japan and that I worry that those aspects of his character might not be properly reflected in his speech the way I'm writing him now.

[denyamenti]

Li

Character Name: Jack Frost
Canon: Rise of the Guardians
User Name: wintershepherd
Focus: December was a rough month for Jack so he's been kind of withdrawn and mopey. HOWEVER I hope I'm not making it too over the top and I offer an olive branch in the form of me shaping it into an upcoming plot wherein I will tackle his memories and lack thereof. (But seriously, if it's annoying for his CR please tell me.)

Character Name: Stocking Anarchy
Canon: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
User Name: candystriped
Focus: I.... have nothing. She's fun and trollish and I don't have any problems with her voice itself, but I just cannot for the life of me actually get her involved in anything substantial. ;~; I would love suggestions on that front. ALSO I know that she's bitchy and abrasive, but I do find that she has double the amount of dropped threads that my other characters do combined. It sometimes makes accumulating CR within 4 comments a little tricky if she didn't make a post in a given month. So I'm definitely looking for some feedback as to how to give people more to respond to with her, or at the very least to put out a humble request that if she DOES offend your character to the point where they just wouldn't respond, if that could be noted as like [ X hangs up on her ] so I know the thread is finished.

Character Name: Yami no Bakura
Canon: Yuugiou
User Name: denyamenti
Focus: Sweet saltine crackers I missed playing him. He is providing a wonderful counterpoint to my other chars because I can play him with both personas. When he wants to play nice, he pretends to be Ryou. When he wants to snark as himself, he texts as Shen. This log is him starting to make inroads on summoning using the Ring here on Tu Vishan so there will be other shadowy things cropping up in the future that will eventually culminate in a reveal that "Ryou" isn't real. (Or, not this Bakura. Another Bakura. Figure that one out.) THAT BEING SAID I know there are some canon-savvy players here and I'd love any kind of insight as to whether I'm making him IC in the circumstance of finding himself in a body of his own and all.

ETA: I also have an anon-enabled, unscreened collective HMD POST at my musebox if you prefer to comment there.

[laylaknowsstuff]

Shea
Character Name: Éponine Thénardier
Canon: Les Misérables
User Name: jondrette | private hmd
Focus: Any and all.

Character Name: Elizabeth Comstock
Canon: BioShock: Infinite
User Name: beunbroken | private hmd
Focus: Shoot. Anything?

Character Name: Layla Miller
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: laylaknowsstuff | private hmd
Focus: how am I doing with her voice, and driving her without her "knowing stuff" anymore, I guess. She's the hardest of my muses here to deal with, as she's not really too great with small-talk.

[lookedtothestars]

July
Character Name: Jor-El
Canon: Man of Steel
User Name: lookedtothestars

Character Name: Bianca Reyes
Canon: Blue Beetle |Preboot DCU
User Name: asoothingvoice

Character Name: May "Mayday" Parker, AKA Spider-girl
Canon: MC2/Earth-982
User Name: daughteroftheoriginal

Focus: None, this time.

[imaginate]

Zee
Character Name: Kyle Rayner
Canon: DCU
User Name: imaginate
Focus: Kyle's been in-game for a year and he remains my loudest and steadiest character here. I'd like to know if he's still recognisable while remaining true to his character growth here; as his serious and dorky sides are a delicate balancing act. He's a perceptive person by nature and I hope that's not verging on godmode for anybody.

Character Name: Monet Saint-Croix
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: superieure
Focus: She's a brand new muse and this is my first time playing a character of this outward type. Her dialogue is finicky for me, because a. she's very sharp-witted, and b. she's not speaking English most of the time. Canon also doesn't really show her interacting at length with people she doesn't have particularly strong positive or negative feelings towards, and she's highly insular by nature so I hope she's been getting out enough, as she's been very proactive in-game and getting involved in plot quite frequently.

I have private HMDs on both journals if that's a preferred venue. OOCly I've been very busy with school, so if I've been lagging on threads or uncommunicative that's probably why.

[(Anonymous)]

HMDs aren't for unabashed praise, but you are one of the most considerate rp partners I've ever played with and one of the easiest to tag back. Being a HUGE Fan of the Lanterns you're spot on! I just worry you have too much on your plate.

[watcheslanterns]

AmyJack
Character Name: Rapunzel
Canon: Tangled
User Name: watcheslanterns
Focus: My biggest concern about Rapunzel is balancing her nativity, excitement over new things, and her stubbornness. I fear I might lean too much on one aspect of her when she's really so much more than that. If you've noticed I'm heavy on one facet of her personality and neglectful of others, let me know please.

Character Name: Darcy Lewis
Canon: MCU ; Thor
User Name: 6collegecredits
Focus: I'm still getting her settled here so I haven't stumbled across anything I'm too concerned about yet, but feel free to let me know if she seems off at all.

[sophos]

Tomato
Character Name: Annabeth Chase
Canon: Heroes of Olympus
User Name: sophos | journal hmd
Focus: Hahaha wow Annabeth has been around for like a year and a half now, and she'd been through quite a lot (both turtle related and canon related), alternating between hermiting and being all over the place for various reasons. But if anything does ever seem off, gimme yo thoughts.

[explosivepenetrators]

Dino
Character Name: Peter Quill
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: explosivepenetrators

[depicted]

Farrah
Character Name: Dorian Gray
Canon: The Confessions of Dorian Gray
User Name: depicted

[agentx13]

Eve
Character Name: Sharon Carter
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: agentx13
Focus: I know she can be abrasive, and also know that not everyone is familiar with her. So if you want to vent or pick over things or demand explanations or... say other stuff, feel free.

Character Name: Donna Noble
Canon: Doctor Who
User Name: hasthreefingers
Focus: IS SHE OKAY? ARE YOU OKAY? DO YOU LIKE GINGERS OR DO THEY SCARE YOU?

[lostundercover]

I wanted to say THANK YOU so much for all your hard work on the Hannibal plot, and especially for your willingness to be flexible with everything as far as that's concerned.

I'm really enjoying Sharon and Costigan's quasi-negative CR and look forward to seeing how it continues.

[bolthead]

Val
Character Name: Barry Allen
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: bolthead | hmd post
Focus: Nothing really? I did get feedback last time about getting him out there and while I haven't done that as much as I'd have liked, it's still one of my priorities. Otherwise I feel surprisingly comfortable with him, but as always feedback is appreciated!

Character Name: Scott Lang
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: langsyne | hmd post
Focus: I feel like his tags are getting really generic, largely because I haven't canon reviewed in ages and I completely dropped the ball with him this last month. Also Cassie showed up in September and that kind of did a 180 on his personality which might have seemed sudden because I was terrible at putting more introspection into his tags at the time.

[browbeater]

Raina
Character Name: Mako
Canon: Legend of Korra
User Name: firethepolice

Character Name: Ellie
Canon: The Last of Us
User Name: mightythinice

Focus: My focus, really, is more on OOC communication. If you do have a problem with my portrayals of my characters, absolutely let me know! But I think a greater point of concern for me is my OOC attitude and how available/open I am to plotting.

Thanks.

[alphatar]

I think your only problem is that you're ruining my life. I cannot stop thinking about Korra's CR with Mako because your portrayal of him is just incredible~

OOC communication's biggest problem is we aren't telepathically linked. Yup.

[afirewithfashion]

Player Name Jenry
Character Name: Cinna
Canon: the hunger games
User Name:Focus: just general, though since I've taken some liberties with Cinna's post Catching Fire experience, I'm very open to conceit on that and his current mental state.

[bonjourguignon]

Kit
Character Name: Bossuet.
Canon: Les Miserables.
User Name: bonjourguignon
Focus: Bossuet is pretty new to the game, and I'm still feeling his personality out a bit. Really, any focus of feedback works for me as a result, so let 'er rip! :) (Also, personal HMD post goes here~)

Kiki | Damian Wayne, MCU Bucky, Cassie Lang

[trainwrecked]

Kiki
Character Name: Damian Wayne
Canon: DCU (preboot)
User Name: demon_brat

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

Character Name: Cassie Lang
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: werethatgood

[(Anonymous)]

For a while now I’ve been noticing that you seem to tag certain people (generally close CR) at a much faster pace than the rest of your tags, and while I think that’s something we all do from time to time, and it makes sense that some tags come more easily, it’s become something of a discouragement for those tagging you who don’t fall into that category. There are times when a couple of threads in your posts will have boomerang threads, while the other threads remain untouched for quite a while.

It’s easy to get discouraged at pursuing CR when someone sees that happening often enough. I think your characters are great and that we could have potentially very interesting CR which is why with this happening often enough I felt like it was worth mentioning. : )

[spideyfanone]

Siobhan
Character Name: Kurt Waggoner
Canon: Marvel 209
User Name: spideyfanone
Focus: Kurt and I are both new to the game, so all critique is certainly welcomed. I do worry a little about playing an obscure, weird canon AU who appeared in a total of twenty issues or so with necessary headcanon (and, uh, patching of inconsistencies in canon). I definitely understand he'd be hard to crit, so all attempts even if they're just whether you like him are appreciated.

[andallbite]

anais
Character Name: Eren Yeager
Canon: Attack on Titan
User Name: andallbite
Focus: Hmm... I guess characterization stuff, more or less? Heck, I'm okay with nitpicking about my writing ability/style, too. I know I haven't gotten around much but I'm attempting to try to fix that. But if there's something you feel like I should know, I'm totally open to anything.

[bolthead]

No real crit since I only loosely know SnK but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed Eren's and Armin's landfall thread. I've seen a lot of players only play out his loud yelly side and tbh that's kind of what turned me off Eren in the manga so reading that thread and getting to see Eren's other aspects was really refreshing. (:

[animosus]

Michele
Character Name: Hal Jordan
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: animosus
Focus: I've been on hiatus for most of previous month and fighting off burn out before that so I am aware activity has slipped a little

[bolthead]

not real crit but my grammar nazi side wants to speak up - it's "should have" and not "should of"

otherwise I enjoy the fact that you're always willing to do silly things with Hal!

[dow]

EM
Character Name: Spock
Canon: Star Trek: AOS
User Name: dow
Focus: I'm always very conscious of not over-involving Spock in too many mundane activities, largely because he doesn't concern himself with them in canon and we see him vaunting a constant professionalism throughout. In the mid-January Player Plot I'll have him organize a group and delegate important jobs around it, so hopefully this will prove a good counter-balance to all the slice-of-life conversations/dealings he has. Spock is a very recognisable character and wherever possible, if applicable, I like to refer to TOS canon to bulk up his interactions, so please do let me know if you think there is an area in which I can improve with him or that I've missed.

[(Anonymous)]

First, from what I have read of Spock so far, I want to commend you on your impressive vocabulary and use of techno-jargon. The fact that I have to go back and reread half of what Spock says at times before realizing that it all makes perfect sense shows me you have a phenomenal grasp of the English language, to be able to convey exactly what Spock is attempting to argue in a very Spock-like way.

THAT SAID, there is one area that I have noticed to be a less than positive aspect of your portrayal. It's something that is actually hard for me to put into words, so I apologize if any of this comes off as confusing or requires further explanation:

While Spock is, indeed, a very logical and borderline emotionally repressed person at times, there have been several instances in-game in which his reactions to the events around him do not coincide with the Spock I remember from the movies. A lot of his public inquiries (some of which should probably be better left to private conversations, either in person or under heavy encryption) have been made on posts that have nothing to do with what he is asking, and while you do make a point to emphasize that the tangents are purposely abrupt, it often gives the impression that Spock is less interested in what other people have to say, and more interested in furthering the agenda HE has in mind at any given moment. I would assume Spock would be more curious as to the motives and reasoning behind other's actions first, and save the business for a more convenient and appropriate time. He comes off as cold and aloof and far more abrasive, considering the emotional advancements/realizations he made in the second movie (which did have a heavy subplot regarding how he treats others on an emotional level and addresses his lack of consideration for how they feel), rather than subtle and sarcastic with an impossibly high tolerance for Jim Kirk levels of Jim Kirk-ness.

Honestly, at times, he comes off almost...and please forgive me if I'm misinterpreting things...as if he's looking to pick a fight with certain characters? I suppose I'm curious as to where all this animosity is coming from, if I've missed something OOC or handwaved, and wondering why you have chosen to emphasize these qualities in him which, in my opinion, are a far cry from the stoic yet subtly sassy second-in-command we've all come to know and love.

[redjay]

Sam
Character Name: Jason Todd
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: redjay
Focus: Visibility and any tips of amend it for an underground-ish character like him

[12goingon113]

Bing
Character Name: Michaelangelo
Canon: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage)
User Name: michaeljangelo

Character Name: Aang
Canon: Avatar: the Last Airbender
User Name: 12goingon113

[fotia]

Chiqui!
Character Name: Marius Pontmercy
Canon: Les Miserables
User Name: saisamour
Focus: Marius isn't exactly the most bubbly, sociable character there is so I suppose I'm concerned with the usual: do I leave enough to react to in tags? Am I making him too boring? Etc etc. :3

Character Name: Leo Valdez
Canon: PJO/HoO
User Name: fotia
Focus: Planning to canon-update him soon-ish to post-House of Hades! In the meantime, just a general "is there something off about his character" or w/e