How's My Driving | June 2015

[ironwood]

HELLO CHELONAUTS! It's been a while since we've had a game-wide HMD post, so here's the first one of our new arc!

How's My Driving?
While each and every character must have an HMD page available, we offer a game-wide 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.
  
• 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.

To make things easier, here's a handy-dandy code box:

<big><big><b><i>Player Name</i></b></big></big> <i>Character Name:</i> <i>Canon:</i> <i>User Name:</i> <user name=""> <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

[ironwood]

This comment is for feedback on the modteam (Li, Am, and Pur) OR for game related concrit, including any related to the changes made since the reboot. Some areas that have been notably changed are: monthly itinerary posts, AC overhaul, Reward Points system and NPC involvement. If you want to let us know how you feel about these (and any!) aspects of the game, please do so here!

SPECIAL NOTE! We are also looking for feedback specifically on the Zeshora Landfall, including the writeups, description of the locales, and variety of things for PCs to engage. Any suggestions on how we can improve (or anything in particular you like) are appreciated!

If it's just one mod answering, we'll put our name in the subject line when we respond, so you know who's replying! (But rest assured, all three of us are reading everything!) If it's something that needs input from all of us, we'll drop a quick note to let you know we're getting you the answers but we may need a bit of time to talk about it (because TIMEZONES).

Thanks!

[deadclumsy]

Kristi

Character Name: Nymphadora Tonks
Canon: Harry Potter
User Name: deadclumsy
Focus: I've had a bit of a bump in keeping up due to health issues, but other than that, I think I'm most concerned about her voice. I haven't played her in years, so I'm still trying to get a feel for her again. I'd also like to hear any concerns others have, or...anything, really. If you have advice, I'd love to hear it.

[(Anonymous)]

I would never have thought that you haven't played her in years. It's been a while since I read the books, but I haven't once looked at one of Tonks' tags and thought it sounded odd.

I don't actually have anything more to say than that, but I hope the reassurance is enough?

I love the icons. :D

[deadclumsy]

Thank you so much! It was very reassuring.

[denyamenti]

Li

Character Name: Jack Frost
Canon: Rise of the Guardians
User Name: wintershepherd
Focus: Not going to lie, Jack has been really hard for me to write the last couple months. Even after canon review, I feel like he's stagnated in the game. I like the CR he has, but I feel like there's nothing to challenge him to grow, so he's plateaued. I'm not sure what to do about that...

Character Name: Yami no Bakura
Canon: Yuugiou
User Name: denyamenti
Focus: It seems like an awfully long process, but Bakura's getting more adjusted lately. There are a lot of backsteps for him, but it's fun for me to have him find footing. He's in that grey area where he's much less a bad guy than he was, but he has no earthly idea how to be anything else yet.

Character Name: Stork
Canon: Storm Hawks
User Name: merb
Focus: Now that he's been here a few months, and started to integrate in with the techy types, my next goal for him is to start adapting Atmosian tech and offering it, so that he's contributing to the city.

[backwordscompatible]

I know I'm forever biased when it comes to Jack, but I would argue that there are still plenty of growth opportunities and things for Jack to continue getting involved in. Even potential new storylines.

(I say this as someone going through a similar ordeal with Zatanna, so basically I'm giving you the same advice I'm trying out myself.)

For one, at his core, Jack is meant to be here for the children, right? But it's been a while since I've seen him interacting with the local little ones. He's also put on a ton of weighted responsibilities on himself, for a Winter Spirit who was once known for shrugging responsibilities in favor of fun, and has rooted himself in a single location with a single goal rather than getting out there in the city. In that time, he's experienced loss, but in terms of people leaving, not necessarily dying (there were even comments about him starting to think the Welcome Center was cursed). Normally I would say this is nothing that Jack wouldn't have already gone through in his 300+ years as a Spirit, but the difference here was that these were people he could always SEE and INTERACT with and form RELATIONSHIPS with. He even had his scrapbook, in which he tried to write down memories and the like of people who'd left. He had those experiences in the Dream realm, getting to relive his greatest dreams and heart's fondest wishes. Very emotional situations for him he'd never quite learned HOW to deal with, when you stop to think about it. He's changed a LOT and I think it would be interested to see him realizing and reacting to all these changes in such a relatively short time in his afterlife.

At the height of all this character development, though, what I remember most about what you do with Jack is that you expand on his previous 300+ years as a free spirit. Headcanon, sure, but it expanded his character and gave him more than surface motives drawn soley from the movie. Your headcanons always read like you LOVED being able to tell these stories, and I'm wondering if maybe you go back and look over some of what you'd come up with...or maybe expand even more and come up with new Jack stories...that might help inspire you to give him new things to do.

[wintershepherd]

Thanks for the suggestions! Sorry it took so long to reply. I can definitely try to incorporate more regarding kids and the headcanon, but I'm not sure what you mean by having him realize and react to his changes, or rather, how is actually go about putting it in a thread without it coming across like he just hasn't paid attention for three years.

[backwordscompatible]

Yeah, I kind of kept that part a bit vague because I didn't want to dictate or direct his character too much.

But what I'm thinking, maybe, is less of him JUST realizing it and more of it having been a subtle, underlying thing that had been eating away at him for a while but he never said anything because he didn't want to burden people or because he was focused on his responsibilities or something like that. So the "realization" isn't so much him not paying attention as it is he one day stops long enough to have to suddenly face reality.

Again, it amost ties back into his character nature. He used to be so free spirited and open, but even then, he was still kind of lonely (watching, but not getting to be a PART of), so it's actually incredibly IC for him to (subconsciously?) pull back for a while once people start proofing. Keep things to himself and distract with other things, because that's what he did for 300 years before.

[wintershepherd]

Sounds good! I'll see if I can work it in.

[needmetoo]

Gorse

Character Name: Xion
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
User Name: needmetoo
Focus: I'm trying to work on reaching out more in regards to CR and, more importantly than anything else, backtagging more so that I can actually make progress with that reaching out. Also I'm trying to balance being in two games again, along with RL. Basically just... any feedback in general in regards to balancing and keeping up with things would be great.

And also characterization is always a worry so that would be great too.

[backwordscompatible]

Hina

Character Name: Zatanna Zatara
Canon: Young Justice
User Name: backwordscompatible

Character Name: Midii Une
Canon: Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
User Name: unetrustworthy

Character Name: Aya
Canon: Green Lantern: The Animated Series
User Name: looksfine


Focus: I'm...actually not sure, which is part of the issue. I've been in Tu a long time. Zatanna, for example, was first accepted in November of 2012. I don't want to say I'm tired of the game yet, because I'm not, but I'm starting to wonder if the longevity is getting to me? Just in terms of character grown, personal storylines, and even reactions to the current plot twists and events. Basically, I want to make sure it doesn't seem like I'm still playing just for the sake of playing, if that makes sense.

[stonebird]

Riddle

Character Name: Alayne Stone Sansa Stark
Canon: A Song of Ice and Fire
User Name: stonebird
Focus: I'm open for all sorts of plots/feedback! It has been wonderful to have Alayne in an environment where she can relax and make friends - but I am not against shaking that up.