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 Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 11:00 am
Been busy with some things recently, sorry.
On the topic of the class, I'd be up for being able to explore more of the campus. I need to get on finishing the current assignment though. I would like to get that completed before leaving. Perhaps if you wanted to move things along you could make it as a hw assignment of sorts ingame, like for returners for PSY201?
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 11:21 am
Got it, Mel. :D (Can I call you that?)
I don't mind whatever pace and whatever number of lessons are left. I'm just excited to participate in the other classes so I wanted to get an idea of how long until that would be possible.
What's boring isn't the lessons, but the inaction in the thread. My guess is that a lot of people are committed to this project, but few people take the initiative to answer assignments right away, and fewer still how to start up interaction in a classroom setting when it's not lesson-oriented. I don't know if the latter is expected of this RP though, and it's mainly the first point that bugs me.
The teaching staff is friendly and the lessons are great; they're insightful. I think one thing they need are more examples that are relevant to the literary world. There was a list of social groups that can be found in a school, but I was surprised when classic ones like damsel-in-distress, the wise old man, and the mentor were not mentioned as well. Another thing is that definitions need to be a little more clear. I could kind of extrapolate the meaning of an archetype to be a stereotype of some literary sort and there was a ' are examples of archetypes', but there was no precise 'Archetypes are .'
The next point is a more general point. My observation is that people here just post their answers to assignments and then disappear. Players either don't read everyone's posts and/or they ignore other characters that are interacting with them or could potentially interact with them (which is pretty much everyone else in the RP, since we're all in the same room). See, the teachers make references to just about everyone else in the RP, but a lot of the other RPs seem to be in their own little bubble. I don't know this matters to anyone other than me, but to me there doesn't seem to be much of a sense of community in this RP.
Btw, I like the guild renovations that are going down. There's visually less clutter now that a lot of the stickies and announcements have been filtered out, which is appreciated.
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 10:20 am
Watervoir Got it, Mel. : D (Can I call you that?) I don't mind whatever pace and whatever number of lessons are left. I'm just excited to participate in the other classes so I wanted to get an idea of how long until that would be possible. What's boring isn't the lessons, but the inaction in the thread. My guess is that a lot of people are committed to this project, but few people take the initiative to answer assignments right away, and fewer still how to start up interaction in a classroom setting when it's not lesson-oriented. I don't know if the latter is expected of this RP though, and it's mainly the first point that bugs me. The teaching staff is friendly and the lessons are great; they're insightful. I think one thing they need are more examples that are relevant to the literary world. There was a list of social groups that can be found in a school, but I was surprised when classic ones like damsel-in-distress, the wise old man, and the mentor were not mentioned as well. Another thing is that definitions need to be a little more clear. I could kind of extrapolate the meaning of an archetype to be a stereotype of some literary sort and there was a ' are examples of archetypes', but there was no precise 'Archetypes are .'
The next point is a more general point. My observation is that people here just post their answers to assignments and then disappear. Players either don't read everyone's posts and/or they ignore other characters that are interacting with them or could potentially interact with them (which is pretty much everyone else in the RP, since we're all in the same room). See, the teachers make references to just about everyone else in the RP, but a lot of the other RPs seem to be in their own little bubble. I don't know this matters to anyone other than me, but to me there doesn't seem to be much of a sense of community in this RP.
Btw, I like the guild renovations that are going down. There's visually less clutter now that a lot of the stickies and announcements have been filtered out, which is appreciated.Yes, you may call me Mel ^__^ Glad you noticed some of the guild changes (we also organized the subforums and that was a chore). There's a bunch more in the making - such as the Challenge which you should all go do. Right now. Go do it. And a few more things we're still working on. Vay and I have noticed (and been disappointed with) the students' tendency to ignore others. I am hoping that there will be some community building outside of class because that was the whole point of the Academy - to give everyone in the guild, regardless of their skill level and RP tastes, a place to hang out with everyone else. Vay has been trying to stir up interaction by asking the students to help each other and not getting onto them for interacting (except that one time with Isa and Jikial but that's because those two are old friends and they need to spread the love) but he's having enough trouble just getting y'all to do your assignments in the first place. I'll try to get the teachers to be a little more thorough in their explanations but at the same time we don't want to drop too much text at once. In general we've realized the teachers need to go more slowly and the students really need to work faster (or at all). Because of that the next classes will be broken up into fast and slow tracks. For example there will not be just another PSY101 but a PSY101A as well to accommodate our accelerated (faster) students. This may cause longer wait times for classes to actually 'make' (get enough students to run) but it should help them keep going once started - at least that is the theory. So. Now let's all start talking about what class we would like to take next. Also, more teacher evals. Don't make me have Vay include this as an assignment. Speaking of assignments - y'all should do yours. I gave you one. Go do it.
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 1:33 pm
Watervoir,
I completely agree with you in the assessment of having inactive players. While part of the reason why I interacted with Jikial was because we're good buddies, the other reason I had was because I was afraid that the person I interacted with would ignore me (*cough* Venom *cough*) or wouldn't ever reply to me.
Of course, there can be too much love spread (for example, the way Jikial and I went on about magic), and I also see it getting to the point where anyone would just want to skip the huge back-and-forth thing Jikial and I had.
What I like to see is actual RPers interacting in the OOC thread. When you reached out to Mel here, I get to see that you're honestly excited and you want to interact with others. This at least tells me "oh hey, someone who DOES want to interact. Let me find a way to get her chara and mine to talk." I think another part of the problem with inactivity is not just having the characters ignore each other, it's the players themselves not attempting to communicate with another. I remember my first time being here with no friends and thinking "oh God, they're all better than me, no one will want to help me get better, and maybe their characters will leave me behind in the story." After reaching out to the players, I found that they would help me, and it got our characters to interact within RP's more often. If I hadn't attempted to PM someone with a question or an idea, I doubt I would have as much fun RPing here.
For providing your thoughts here, for having such enthusiasm for SDRP, and for noticing the changes the Crew has made, I want to thank you. mrgreen I hope that our characters can get some interaction within the RP.
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 1:53 pm
Cool beans. <3
In the RP I run, I encourage people to post in the OOC lots so that they'd get to know the people they're working to build the story with. SDRP's OOC has been really quiet, and I wasn't sure if that was just a part of the customs of the guild or what, so I haven't spent a lot of time here with discussions. I can talk up a storm sometimes in OOC threads, but at the same time, I know small talk posts can swamp the more important and substantial messages like GM announcements.
I've read all the posts in this RP. Isa, I don't think you had to clip off the interaction right away as you two did after Ivay made that post, but you were going at it at quite a fast pace and it would have been nice if you branched off to other people too. No harm done though, so don't worry about it.
Lately, I've been having Zane run around making a fool of himself because I'd been waiting on people to pick up on an interaction hook. It hadn't worked too well and so I took the direct method of interaction and had him throw that piece of paper so that it hit or be caught...
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 9:56 pm
To be honest, I have little interaction with this guild. I hoped that I could make some friends here in this thread and learn at the same time. I need to pick up my game a bit more and interact with people ingame. Speaking of which I'll probably post tonight, just as soon as I understand this test thingy. Kinda confused about it still. neutral
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 10:28 pm
No worries Dragn, I think all of us are in the same boat about getting our characters to interact. We all tend to be socially awkward and/or introverted. xd The test thingy is a little confusing. You can click on the link and look at all the personality profiles and pick the one that suits your character, or you can do what I did with Reina. I ended up going to this site and taking the test as Reina herself. Sometimes when I have a problem figuring out a character, I take a personality test as that character and seeing what that says about the character. Sometimes it really helps me figure out a lot of details I didn't know were missing. Be careful though, sometimes this can fail and it doesn't exactly match the character that you've made (which might mean you have to take the test again or look up different personality profiles to figure it out). And Watervoir, hey, we're at least somewhat talking...if Zane feels like being a bit cooperative. I'd also like to mention, that it's not exactly me in there. That's Reina's perception of me (which is a weird concept to write about). I have a habit of talking to my characters. So when she drew "me" into the RP, she drew an incomplete version, and I can't say what she did and didn't get right. I'm very tempted to get myself erased, if only so that "I" don't have to keep being her crutch.
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Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:24 am
umbraja Watervoir Is there any idea yet about how much longer this class would go for? Not necessarily in terms of time spent in real life, but more in terms of the number of topics we still have to delve into or an estimate of the number of assignments we've yet to complete. A big part of teaching is being flexible so we can't be completely certain how many more assignments are needed to finish out the lesson plan. Also, it has become apparent the original lesson plan was overly ambitious so has been through a few revisions already. If the class is getting bored or overwhelmed we can discuss (here) cutting the class short after just a few more assignments. What didn't get covered can be pushed into PSY 201 after a bit of a break to let y'all explore the campus and interact socially. We're still working out some of the details of the campus though so that will probably be a week or so before opening up (which should be about enough time for the last few assignments). Sorry things have been sort of haphazard here. Y'all are the first class and as such it has been somewhat experimental. We've also been a bit busy with other major renovations to the guild itself. Please reply here with your thoughts on cutting the class short and any input you have on how the class is going and suggestions to do things better. Consider it a teacher evaluation - be honest but civil. Hello there ^_^ I think the class length is just fine. Considering there are quite a few people who are participating, length is nice to allow everyone the chance to turn in assignments but I almost wonder if there should be a point system. If you don't turn something in on time, you get a point and if you get so many points you have to retake the class? I don't want to be too harsh because I completely understand that crap comes up and you can't avoid it and getting in a post is the last thing on your brain but it's causing us to lag a bit more than we probably should be. I don't think assignments should be cut but I do believe that we should pick up rp speed or I'm afraid we'll be stuck in a sort of limbo. As for player player interactions. I would love to be more interactive with the students. However, I feel a little weird at the moment. I'm not sure who to consider for my character to participate with when I'm unsure if that person will respond to my post (causing me to wait in limbo for response or if I should move on). I feel a little awkward too, talking to students and interacting when technically we are in class. It's just a situation I've never dealt with. Are we allowed to stand and have a conversation? Can we swing from the ceilings? Or are we supposed to be respectful of the class atmosphere and stay in our seats and whisper to our fellow classmates?
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Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 9:11 am
Isa-sama And Watervoir, hey, we're at least somewhat talking...if Zane feels like being a bit cooperative. I'd also like to mention, that it's not exactly me in there. That's Reina's perception of me (which is a weird concept to write about). I have a habit of talking to my characters. So when she drew "me" into the RP, she drew an incomplete version, and I can't say what she did and didn't get right. I'm very tempted to get myself erased, if only so that "I" don't have to keep being her crutch. Mhm, continue talking to him if you'd like. I'll make him interact. : D I know it's not actually you there. Zane asked Reina about it earlier and I haven't forgotten. And I think it could be a good character development moment for the drawing Isa to go off camera for a while. I'm indifferent to whether you actually do or not. As for Misery's point of what to do in class, from what I can tell, it's safe to wander and talk so long as you do the assignments and work within common sense and the rules on the first page. Btw, I think Eva should totally join our conversation circle~!
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Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:13 pm
DragnGuy7 To be honest, I have little interaction with this guild. I hoped that I could make some friends here in this thread and learn at the same time. I need to pick up my game a bit more and interact with people ingame. Speaking of which I'll probably post tonight, just as soon as I understand this test thingy. Kinda confused about it still. neutral If you have questions about the assignment please ask in class. You're probably not the only one confused so an answer would benefit the others and it would create some interaction. Though Isa did a good job of explaining it, feel free to ask anyway. Countess Misery Hello there ^_^ I think the class length is just fine. Considering there are quite a few people who are participating, length is nice to allow everyone the chance to turn in assignments but I almost wonder if there should be a point system. If you don't turn something in on time, you get a point and if you get so many points you have to retake the class? I don't want to be too harsh because I completely understand that crap comes up and you can't avoid it and getting in a post is the last thing on your brain but it's causing us to lag a bit more than we probably should be. I don't think assignments should be cut but I do believe that we should pick up rp speed or I'm afraid we'll be stuck in a sort of limbo. There is a point system (more of an actual grade) and y'all have been told of it. Some sort of incomplete grade will be given for those that drop due to life and such and they can make the work up to get a real grade later cuz we know life happens but for those of you that do finish you will be graded. Grades will be based on participation (assignments and student interaction), writing quality, and improvement. Countess Misery As for player player interactions. I would love to be more interactive with the students. However, I feel a little weird at the moment. I'm not sure who to consider for my character to participate with when I'm unsure if that person will respond to my post (causing me to wait in limbo for response or if I should move on). I feel a little awkward too, talking to students and interacting when technically we are in class. It's just a situation I've never dealt with. Are we allowed to stand and have a conversation? Can we swing from the ceilings? Or are we supposed to be respectful of the class atmosphere and stay in our seats and whisper to our fellow classmates? Go out on a limb and make a try at interacting with whoever you find interesting. If they don't respond fast enough just move on to someone else. People will probably pick up if someone starts talking to them. As for what to do - you could start with actually doing the class interaction assignments I've been giving you. They are intended to create interaction by giving y'all a topic to discuss. You can really assume one for every assignment, just talk to the other students about the assignment. Talk to the students, not me. Just turn to whoever you're talking about and actually talk to them. Start a conversation about your characters. I'd like you to stay on the topic of the lesson at hand but won't fault you if you want to talk about something else. In fact if swinging from the ceilings is something your character would do then I won't even fault you for that. I might tell you to stop but I won't hold it against you.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 11:23 am
Next assignment will be one of context. We're going to define our Genres.
A genre is a categorization of an artistic work characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. Genres generally depend heavily on the work's setting (character's world), the tone of the piece (character's personality), and the overall plot of the story (character's past actions and future plans). Style differences can be the break between two similar genres and a character can often fit into multiple, complimentary genres. However, keep appropriateness in mind as high school drama characters generally do not do well in the post apocalypse.
Those are just two examples of common genres. There are a wealth of other various genres in literature, film, and video games that work for RP characters.
For this exercise we're going to build compound genres to try and pin it down a little better. The basic concept here is to find a term that best describes your character's culture then pair it with a term that best describes your setting's lore, and pair those with a term that best describes the nature of your character's personal story. Your culture is the basic attitude and technology level of your people and is most easily described by selecting a real world historical period. Your setting's lore is the existence and type of magic in your world and there's a list at the bottom to help with that. The nature of your personal story is the sum of events and thematic elements within your life and best described with a literary or film genre.
For example, Mr. Pointy Ears there comes from a post apocalyptic culture, with a fantasy lore (has elves) and his personal story is basically a spaghetti western (that's a film term describing the westerns of Clint Eastwood's era which were directed by Italians and filmed primarily in Spain). So his genre is a post apocalyptic fantasy spaghetti western.
List of common Western Cultures: *
- Distant Future: next few thousand years
- Near Future: next few hundred years
- Modern: western historical period from roughly 1980 to present
- Vietnam: western historical period from roughly 1960 - 1980
- Postwar: western historical period from roughly the end of WWII - 1960
- Great Depression: western historical period from roughly 1930 - WWII
- Prohibition: American historical period from roughly 1920 - 1933
- Victorian: western historical period from 1837 - 1901, like the works of Charles Dickens
- Renaissance: western historical period from roughly 1450 - 1600
- Medieval: western historical period from roughly 400 - 1450
- Classical: western historical period from roughly 700 bc - 400 ad
- Prehistoric: before written history
The following can fit within some of the above
- Post Apocalyptic: After the fall of a previous great culture
- Apocalyptic: During the fall of the current culture
- Steampunk: Retro culture usually with a Victorian feel but heavy focus on steam and clockwork technologies. Sometimes Post Apocalyptic.
* I'll come up with a list of eastern ones if anyone is interested, these just cover Europe and the United States.
List of common Lores:
- Fantasy: presence of old magic and mythical creatures. Like Lord of the Rings, WoW, Harry Potter
- Paranormal: presence of unexplained pseudo science and modern monsters. Like Supernatural, Twilight, X-files, Fringe
- Super Hero: presence of extraordinary individuals in an otherwise mostly normal world. Like Justice League, Avengers, X-men, Heroes and most other comic books
- Soft Sci-fi: presence of advanced technology, maybe aliens, usually in space, often in the future but without real science to explain things. Like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, most things with Star in the title (Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica)
- Hard Sci-fi: presence of advanced technology, maybe aliens, usually in space, often in the future but with real science to explain things. Like the Alien series, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gattaca
- Realism: lack of fancy stuff
List of common Stories:
- Epic: complex story with a large cast and heavy impact. Like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars
- Adventure: questing and exploration. Like Indiana Jones, Star Trek
- Horror: intended to scare and unsettle. Like the works of Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock
- Slice of Life: the everyday mundane. Like most sitcoms
- Romance: in the modern sense, people falling in love. Like most chick flicks
- Mystery: search for answers, often related to a crime.
Subgenres of some of the above
- High School Drama: slice of life focusing on high school students.
- College Drama: slice of life focusing on college students.
- Professional Drama: slice of life focusing on a certain profession. Like Mad Men, The Office
- Action Adventure: type of adventure with little plot, lots of fighting and explosions.
- Crime: type of adventure/mystery focusing on committing, solving, and/or preventing a crime. Protagonists are usually law enforcement or criminals.
- Film-Noir: type of crime story popular in the 1940-50's focusing mostly on a tortured anti-hero (stereotypically a cynical PI or detective) and dangerous women in a corrupt urban setting.
- Classical Western: type of adventure focusing on the rough life of the American Old West in a black and white morality where the protagonist often literally rides a white horse and right makes might. Like John Wayne Westerns.
- Spaghetti Western: type of adventure focusing on the rough life of the American Old West in a darker tone with the protagonist often being a bad guy and might makes right. Like the Dollars Trilogy, Red Dead games, the El Mariachi Trilogy (not technically but in the style of)
- Revisionist Western: type of adventure focusing on the rough life of the American Old West in a more realistic light with female and Native American characters often featured. Like Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, True Grit
There's a lot more but I'm done for now. Reply with more if you've got ideas to add.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 10:04 pm
That's a good list. biggrin
Posted, and tried to wrap more people into the mix.
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 2:53 pm
Posted. Not sure if that's what you wanted. I'm open to any changes if anyone wants to throw some my way. Also responded to you, Water.
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 3:14 pm
I realize now that I don't know if Sigma's fingers on his left hand are visible or not hahahahaha.
Also, I think keeping an active OOC might help keep this RP active.
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 6:12 pm
Sigma's fingers aren't, but he has moved around enough for everyone to see them at some point. Too bad you didn't catch his raptor-talon feet though.
Also, he is listening to this going down.
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