Welcome to Gaia! ::

Æmy! Don't goooooo! You're right though. After a certain amount of time, it no longer becomes fun, and it becomes taxing, a chore. I've tried to help out in PLL, but it's just not active. As for HA, I was thinking of a cannon, but I'd either butcher them, as you aptly put, or I just simply didn't know them. I implore you to stay in, and let other mods take over characters. I'm with you on the inactivity. If you're in the skype chat even once a week, you can post. My cell phone is from three years ago...It can make a post on Gaia anywhere there is cell coverage. I was in PA going 120 mph down the side of a mountain and I told Sayrike to wait a little for me to post. I posted on my friend's laptop in a motel.

Yet you guys complain of not having motivation or having writers block. This is a roleplay. Do I have to count the number of s**t posts I made in PLL, VU, and SG? I made them just because it was a conversation, or a minuscule action. Not everything has to be detailed down to the grit. If you have writers block, POST ANYWAY. I'd rather have a s**t post so that others can still have fun, than be full of it. Sure, some people like Chicka and Banshee...I can understand them not having internet. Others, I cannot. In High School, I was not allowed on my Dad's computer but for 10 minutes a day. That means I can to read three separate roleplays and post as such. I did it. So please, just stay active, or ******** around so others can stay active.

To keep things as neutral as possible, I'm just going to make a list of my responses.

• I will not be discussing moderator-related issues between mods (current or old) in a public forum. This was established almost a year ago as a common rule. Even should I have an issue with something, I'm not going to call them out on it in front of a crowd, which only forces them into a defensive position because they feel attacked. If you say something that may or may not be insulting to someone in private, they're far more likely to respond rationally, and an actual, mature discussion can be had. Do so in public, and suddenly 'Hey, all eyes on you, center of attention, you are being JUDGED.' Walls go up, instincts kick in, and rationality's kicked out. Basic psychology, really.
  
  
• I will, however, point out that the original plot for Hawaii/Angel Grove? That was on Kichi's suggestion, and he, myself, and I thiiiink James (?) built on it from the ground up in a chat session one day. I do take plot suggestions into consideration- when they're given. But even then, not every idea can be incorporated.
  
  
• Certain canons can only be played by mods or by people with trusted information on the plot, such as the main villains, the Wise Ones, or characters with too much plot-altering power. Of these, I play Kuja, Kefka, Seymour, and Hades. Kefka and Seymour I enjoy, but nobody's asked me for the others.
  
  
• Your idea about everyone taking a canon: was it 'poo poo'd, 'not fun'd, or misinterpreted? That's sort of an important clarification in the process of who may or may not be at fault and why it's not currently instated.
  
  
• I never claimed I can't figure out why, and to imply as such is somewhat insulting considering our conversation just yesterday. I know why. Inactivity. I simply said I can't control that. There's a difference between being ignorant and being unable to control something. How do I control how often people post? I've yet to develop mind control technology, but I assure you I'm working on it o_o

Any other points will likely be discussed amongst the other moderators, since that's where they belongs, as we all agreed months ago.

I may have had more to say if I'd seen this later in the day, but I'm exhausted and in desperate need of a nap, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pass out on that bench.

EDIT: Oh, and about abilities.

I can sort of agree with you, in personal opinion, that it might seem people don't earn them. I don't really agree that it's a headache to change out abilities that haven't been unlocked yet, and I don't about scratched out abilities either, because some of us have great ideas that need to be written down for later.

However, ignoring all of that, I'm going to have to bring up realism. For one, a very large portion of the abilities on people's lists? They're all variations of a very basic root ability that are only listed for clarification's sake. You could list 'Fire' as an ability, and then technically just RP casting it in a dozen thousand different ways- as long as it's a fire spell all the same. The only difference is some people like to clarify and make lists of each of those dozen thousand ways.

And for the abilities that -are- separate from each other, people do have to unlock them or figure out how to do so (or they should, anyway). But magic is a tricky thing, especially considering we -all- have it. Even Cory, the melee-based anti-magic king, has magic. And magic is not a science. It's an art- you take your energy and you mold it in pretty much any shape you can think of. If I can mold my Light energy in the shape of a sphere or a disc, why on earth would I be unable to mold it into, say, a sword or a beam? It just doesn't make sense when you consider that magic is only limited by your imagination. And let's face it, we're all writers here, we all have BOUNDLESS imagination. So yeah, if you've earn a root ability, and you think of a creative way to mold that root ability, why shouldn't you be able to learn it?

Like I said before, though, I agree with you that people should have to earn the root ability, at the very least. Just all of a sudden having an ability doesn't make any sense; you need to RP the process out, which is what quite a few people use the ATE for.

I know where you're coming from, on pretty much all counts, Amy. Kinda part of the reason why I took my own hiatus. I'd suggest that instead of just plain leaving. Makes things more fun when you come back! >w>

I do feel guilty that Riku and Seph were shoved off on you when I poofed. I figured the mods would let them out to whoever was capable and actually wanted them, not just... however you got them. I could have sworn Louis was taking Riku... (tried typing that as "Rhiko was taking Riku," and my brain refused to admit that was proper English). I would quite gladly take them back in a heartbeat, but I have asked around and gotten some advice, not naming names, that until I can make sure to keep the characters separate from myself, wait to take them back, if I do at all. I remember getting comments at how stellar I was with Riku, and I would love to have him back--when we can all agree I can be trusted not to fangirl OOC him to high hell. I don't feel like I'm there yet... >.> I'd even take Seph back, if I thought I'd be allowed to!

For the rule about canons, I've caught myself wondering several different times what the hell happened to that. I know it's still listed in the rules, I've seen it there, but I have yet to see it enforced. Unless we're counting random world-related characters in that rule now, which wasn't the case originally. Or if we're counting replicas, which not everyone has (yet). I know it's worded as "non-Earthling character," not necessarily canons, which I guess is to compensate for all the original characters running around. Still, seeing more people other than Kyle with canons would be nice.

I'm not going to comment on the abilities except to point at what Kyle said, grin and nod my head like a fool, and cling lovingly to my list. I did notice that most of my abilities are pretty much just a variation of each other, but there are others that I would never have thought up on my own. I kind of think of them as a "welcome back/early Christmas/early birthday/covered for every gift-giving reason you can possibly think of (and a few more just in case you forgot any) for at least two years" present from the mods and anyone else who had a hand in making and approving them.

The main reason I don't post so much is... well, yes, it's partially the "can't think of a good post," but it's also a lot of the fact that I want to give people a chance to respond to my posts/what's going on around them/etc before I jump back in and run right over someone else that could have been affected. As for the "can't think of a good post," hell, there are times when I can't even think of a bad post! Not even "Bobbi nodded at Kyle."

Aaaand as for the world plots: If I could think of any, I'd suggest them!

*double-checks to see if there's anything missed*

I think that's it... o_O

Well, no one ever said it was required to list every variation. It's all preference; some prefer to do it this way in order to make sure an idea for a creative use is okay in the future, whereas others prefer to just leave it blank to all for some mystery and uncertainty.

I, personally, prefer the former just because I'm likely to forget the majority of my ideas, but I don't force everyone to do it that way- there's no rule on it. I could, though, make a file with all my variations (current and future) and strip my ability list down to its root abilities. Nothing actually changes but the appearance of the profile, so if that's the only issue with that...

Boom, baby.

I like how you keep having to specify on "natural" Drives all because of HA!Cory.

Dear members of the Queen's Quest:

Where the heck are you? .__.

We gave you guys a chance at some 'relaxation' time... but as a result, some of you just up and left. I understand, it's nearing the end of the school semester, some of you don't have inspiration, but... I mean, the entire side of the RP is essentially dead at this point. We have Bobbi and Dani who post... semi-actively, and Kyla who's trying to come back. There's Cory, who's just re-entering the fray, and hopefully that'll stir up some activity, and then we have some canons... but really, that's it.

I have to echo what Raziel said. There are people who are pretty active elsewhere, such as the chats, but the RP shows no signs of such activity. If you guys can chat for hours upon hours, why can't you throw up a post that's only a few sentences long, reacting to the necessities? Some of you are just so worried about your posts being 'adequate', or your posts being long enough, or... just other nonsense.



That was an entire post. And you know what? That's all it took. It didn't require eloquent details of his thoughts, it didn't require a page-and-a-half of exposition about the manner in which he was sitting. Length and detail does not make a 'great' post.

I'm in a Creative Writing: Fiction Class, and of the many things I've learned, one lesson sticks out the most when it comes to this scenario: sometimes, not only is it 'okay' to be shorter rather than longer, but it's actually better. We're currently having to read and critique each other's short stories at this point in the semester, and just last night I had to read a piece that was beautifully written. It was, quite honestly, a masterpiece of detail and metaphor- she used both in ways I've never seen before.

However, the story on the whole simply didn't cut it. She could have cut 70% of her paper, and the exact same message would have gotten across, and probably would have been better executed.

When you're typing up a post, go over it and ask yourself 'is there anything I can cut without ruining the message?' If the answer is yes, do so, and continue to do so until you can't anymore.

I feel like, for some of you, that's one of your biggest reasons for not posting- you're worried about making your post extravagant enough to compete with others. Don't. As Raziel said, we'd much, much, much rather a 'crap' post than no post at all. And considering you're playing as yourselves (mostly), it's not like you have to worry about staying in character.


As a side note: people with multiple characters. For the love of all that is holy, if you're going to claim multiple characters, I want to see as many posts with them as I see with your 'main' character. Villains are excluded because there's not really much to do with villains besides sit back and drink tea. But seriously. Some of our canons are just kind of... sitting there. Doing nothing. I'm just as guilty of this with not posting as Kuja lately, so yes, I'm currently yelling at myself, too. Please, just post as all your characters. If you can't find the inspiration, then maybe it's time you gave them up to someone who could.




This may or may not be elaborated upon later. My mind's currently haywire and I was supposed to close the office ten minutes ago. x_X

Honestly, I try to post when I can, but if I don't, it's because I may miss a post that I can respond to. Like your post with the alien police. I missed that one entirely. Completely my fault, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.