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Nice one Mael.

He's an angry little man isn't he? xd And predicatble too.

He's funny to watch.

His "Superiority Rants" are rather amusing, and good for a laugh.

Always makes me wonder, "Can this person be for real?"

In all truth I don't think he cares how unliked he is. xd

All that he's saying by claiming to be "The Ultimate RP fighter" is "I fail at life."

Well, I'm sad to see people up and leaving at the mention of magic, or others leaving at the mention of guns, and still more for other reasons. The whole idea behind this tournament was to make it open to everyone of all roleplay styles, and I kind of had it in mind to see clashes like magic vs. technology. What separates the boys from the men, though, is the capability of integrating the different backgrounds and fields of combat and being able to compensate, even in a simple way, for the things that their characters might otherwise be weak against (not to say rule out weaknesses entirely, because they're what prevents a character from becoming a Mary Sue, but I think you get what I'm saying). I agree that balance is key to any good roleplay, and I really liked that quote, "You don't bring an Eva into a Hamtaro RP." However, that's kind of hard to hold true to in a tournament like this, and I obviously didn't want to make it simply "all hand-to-hand", "all magic", "all shoot-outs", etc. Also, something else that kind of goes hand-in-hand with that quote is that one has to keep in mind that different people play different roles for their characters, hence roleplaying. Different situations and different environments, different roleplay backgrounds, spawn different characters, and that's kind of the beauty of holding a tournament like this. It's one part giant fighting tournament for a prize, one part roleplay event, and one part experiment.

You also have to remember that in a roleplay setting where everyone is human, an unchecked deity that comes in and crashes everything down just...doesn't work. Equally, bringing a human into the land of Ayenee where the majority are planeswalking deities just...doesn't work, unless, you find a deity to protect you or somehow align yourself with one to call upon for protection. Thus, the human survives. And that would be the beauty of adapting to the situation, which is what I'm expecting people to do here. If I remember right, HoH didn't have super-specific rules against different powers here and there, but one of the judges said simply, "If people are going to be bringing firearms into this, don't be surprised if others bring in something that can counter."

If you don't like people using advanced psionics or trying to erase you, it's not hard to simply, and creatively, null the powers, develop an immunity, or perform a simple "will check". If you don't like bullets flying at you, it's not hard to wear some armor or a vest, or even develop a spell that stops certain physical objects coming at your character at an extremely high velocity. That automatically narrows it down to being able to engage your opponent with magic and swords, but ruling out their guns. Level the playing field to your advantage. I always loved having my character venture through the many different settings of Gaia, where advanced technology blends with arcane shinobi techniques (even came up with a story as to why this mix is so), and one of the things I never did was limit myself to one setting or just write off the creations of others because I didn't like them. That's fine and dandy if you're running a roleplay where its meant to have a certain setting and rule-set, but in forums like Free For All or Commerce where everything is so diverse, you have to be able to adapt, while still maintaining a balance. As much as I love roleplaying myself, I also love to see the different ideas others put forth.

Some of this stuff might sound very cheap, and so does teleporting opponents out of an arena. I banned teleporting yourself about or walking through different planes solely for the reason that people tend to abuse such abilities. However, there's no rule on teleporting an opponent out of the arena. There's also not a rule on being able to defend against such techniques, even if it's as simple as some of the stuff I listed above. I don't want people to think I'm some kind of cheapo running a cheap tournament, but I simply want this to be open to all castes of roleplayer and don't want to just write off someone's techniques or background in favor of another. As far as destroying worlds goes in the tournament...I would expect, since this is all to be within the bounds of logic and reason, that such an attack would take "many" turns to charge. If someone actually began to put forth a world-destroying technique, I'd think someone, if not all of Gaia, would recognize this as a global threat and put a halt to it. Which is why I always frowned on people using Gaia-destroying spaceships and such...just doesn't really make much sense, unless it's a closed RP. Remember that communication is an integral part of roleplaying as well, and even in this tournament, telling a story is just as much involved as killing the person you're fighting.

As far as AMP goes, I don't get why it's such a subject of controversy. Everything outlined in the AMP is no more than basic common sense.

Oh yeah, to answer a question on shadowporting, I still consider it "teleporting" or "phasing" and it's not allowed (breaking yourself apart into air molecules and loling about the arena isn't allowed, either). It's fine if not abused in other roleplays, but I just decided to ban it for the tournament. However, that doesn't mean you can't slip a bodypart through a shadow and punch your opponent in the nuts through his own shadow, and I don't even see why someone would prevent themself from doing that. It's almost a given for a shadow-using character, at least, and while it could be called "cheap", it gives your opponent something to be afraid of and compensate for, and it's pretty damn comical. Deity, I was under the impression that Shunkido was just a fast-moving maneuver and not actually a teleport, so if that's the case, then yeah, that technique is allowed.

Furthering the subject of different roleplay backgrounds, as far as detail in a post and short'n'sweet posts goes, it's all relative to the situation. I'm a proprietor of putting the amount of detail needed. If it gets you off to write up a four-page post everytime you send something, then by all rights, do it...this is the internet, and you should be here for your own enjoyment. However, depending on how long it takes you to do that, your opponent might be long gone. That's where time restrictions come into play, too. On Gaia, it's not uncommon for a courteous posting time to be three or four minutes, in other areas ten to twenty minutes, and in some taking days might even be fine. So one should base his or her post length accordingly.

Ryugi, I like reading your posts. =) I've seen you roleplay and it's why I invited you. And although Ertai didn't ask, I like reading yours, Ertai, too...whether that be some of your classic short'n'sweet ones like in that melee fight you had with Tifa Lockheart, or some of the more complex ones you post nowadays. I kind of wish you still posted like that, though...I was talking to someone the other day about how people lose their "innocence" after roleplaying for a while. Just like growing up, good in some ways...and sad to see in other ways.

Also, I'm curious...who is Jack Slate? Sounds inneresting, maybe I oughtta invite 'im?

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