Shit no one cares about

Bear with me here, it's 2 AM, I'm tired, and I should probably be sleeping rather than typing this. I'll probably look at it tomorrow in horror and then delete it. But anyways, here goes.

Most, if not all, of you are missing the point. The point of applications / approval threads. It's not a happy fun time where you can go and post "accept!" and a smiley face for all your friends. It's a serious and essential process for ensuring the quality and accuracy of every character in Olden.

Why do we have applications? Because not every character concept is pure gold. In fact, not every character concept is even above the level of "bullshit". Sometimes people create characters that don't fit the lore at all, defy all logic and reason, or are ridiculously over-powered and the player's way of exerting power over others to make him- or herself feel good. That's why we have approval, and applications. They're a filter. Everyone gets to look at the character / ability / item and make sure it doesn't totally contradict the setting and established canon, and also isn't some OPed Mary Sue. It's a preventative measure, that ensures shitty characters can't last longer than a week (or however long it takes for the page to end up in the Denied section).

Bad characters ruin people's fun, and make RP a living hell. They are the killers of good RP, and good RP communities. Applications are essential in keeping them at bay.

So now that you know why applications exist, here's how you all should go about looking at them.
1. Read the page. Read the god damn page. READ IT. Don't just skim over it, and don't ignore the biography. Read the entire fucking thing. Remember, no one's putting a gun to your head to go over this application. If you're not an admin, you don't have to pass a verdict on it at all, you can just ignore it. But if you're going to open your mouth, don't do so until you've read the entire thing and actually know something about it.

2. If you deny it, explain why in detail. Be honest about what's wrong with it. Don't hold back. At the same time, be constructive. Don't be insulting or arrogant. Acting like a dick is far less likely to get that person to change their character. They're going to ignore you and think you're just a dick. Which you are.

3. If you accept it, also explain why. What's good about it? What's being done right? You don't have to be as detailed as if you denied it, but give some basis for your decision. Prove you actually read the damn thing.

4. I know this is irrelevant, but it needs saying. If your character gets denied, don't throw a fucking hissy fit. Nobody's perfect, even the best of us have had characters shot down. If someone (or multiple someones) doesn't like your precious character, consider for a moment that maybe your snowflake isn't as awesome as you thought, and maybe you should do something to correct that.

This is why I don't post an opinion on a character page unless I've actually bothered to read over it, or at least thoroughly read the important parts and skimmed the less important parts, which in my opinion are:

IMPORTANT
- Skills/Abilities
- Physical Characteristics (like height and weight and anything out of the ordinary, like purple eyes that shoot fire)
- Lore Details (do the skills/abilities fit lore, does their backstory fit lore?)

SKIM
- Everything Else

Basically my point here is that you have to read the entire page before putting a comment, you don't have to review it over and over, and memorize it word-for-word, just make sure you understand the character they're applying for, and try to get an idea about WHY they're applying for it.

In other words, I agree with Munroe.

I think the biography is one of the most important parts of the page. If the biography is badly written (as in grammar errors, complete lack of thought / effort put into it) that tells me that the person doesn't care about creating a quality character. In my opinion, the perfect biography would clearly and logically explain why the character is in Surna and where they acquired their skills and items, and be interesting enough to encourage people not to just skim over it. I spelled it out in my recent character creation guide.

Also, just to make something clear, I don't presume to dictate to the entire community. This is not a command, it's just something I think ought to be done, which is why it's in complaint form. I'm not going to hunt you down if you choose to ignore it, but I will be disappointed.

I don't go to character pages because I hate reading biographies. But when requested, I will spend the time to peer review.

Maybe if biographies weren't so long and boring I would read them. It's hard to care about something you have no actual reason to care about.

What's been scaring me away from Olden as of recent is very close to Thoro's last point. I see a character that has something that doesn't work, people blindly accept it without giving so much a thought, and I am so fucking sick of playing the bad guy and pointing out the flaws.

Either people end up hating me for ruining their misconception that Olden Roleplay means "do whatever you want even if it doesn't work" or the roleplay becomes more and more nonsensical. I'm not going to do the approval process by myself.

thorogoodd wrote:

Maybe if biographies weren't so long and boring I would read them. It's hard to care about something you have no actual reason to care about.

If you're going to pass a verdict on a character page, you have every reason to care about the biography. If you think it's too long and boring and not worth your time, don't accept or deny the character. Don't do anything.

Munroe wrote:

thorogoodd wrote:

Maybe if biographies weren't so long and boring I would read them. It's hard to care about something you have no actual reason to care about.

If you're going to pass a verdict on a character page, you have every reason to care about the biography. If you think it's too long and boring and not worth your time, don't accept or deny the character. Don't do anything.

Unless of course I can see something blatantly wrong with the character without reading the biography like chain guns or laser eyes. In which case I will very easily deny it without second thoughts.

thorogoodd wrote:

Unless of course I can see something blatantly wrong with the character without reading the biography like chain guns or laser eyes. In which case I will very easily deny it without second thoughts.

Even in those cases I would suggest reading it, if only to have a laugh at the steaming pile of failure the biography almost certainly is. But seriously, it will help you identify everything wrong (or right) with the character. A thorough analysis never hurts.

Munroe wrote:

thorogoodd wrote:

Unless of course I can see something blatantly wrong with the character without reading the biography like chain guns or laser eyes. In which case I will very easily deny it without second thoughts.

Even in those cases I would suggest reading it, if only to have a laugh at the steaming pile of failure the biography almost certainly is. But seriously, it will help you identify everything wrong (or right) with the character. A thorough analysis never hurts.

Good thing theres always Thoro in Thorough.

1) Never accept someone because their character may be good for roleplay and be fun to be around.
2) If you apply for a rare race and there are already other characters of the same race, be logical and don't try to make yourself an exception to the rule, even if it's just RP and for fun. Some race's are rare for a reason, so keep an eye out and don't accept so easily just because it's 'RP' and you just want to have 'fun.'
3) Don't be so accepting on new people just cause they found out how to make a pretty page. One day of roleplay isn't long enough to trust them with powerful characters.

Reager wrote:

3) Don't be so accepting on new people just cause they found out how to make a pretty page. One day of roleplay isn't long enough to trust them with powerful characters.

I strongly agree with this. Looks are entirely optional and should not affect the outcome of a character application.

https://aeriaroleplay.rpg-board.net/t204-brenna-arrakis

Time to show what you've learned. Like I said, I'm out of the Olden game until further notice, so don't rely on me to catch this stuff before it hits the fan.

COUGH.

SNEEZE.

A lot of the new people that are coming in have the habit of asspulling because they don't know any better. To the point of where they're using mana-powered power armor and are "finding" full sets of armor in the woods. Half of the people I see have full plate armor.

There's a lot of godmoding and meta going on, too. At one point, a character was giving out a false name and the other RPer called them out several times ICly because "she can tell you're lying, not even the most experienced liar can completely hide all of their tells." This would imply that their character has studied body language so well that they can guess to 100% accuracy at the intent behind the slightest flinch or movement. Which the character didn't have and didn't apply for. Even then the player himself didn't say that his character had any tells. It's different for each person.

Give it time. Tell one of the admins and they'll straighten things out. You all need to be patient with this new influx of players.

Sure, they're not all amazing roleplayers, but being elitist pricks and stuck-up cunts about anything they do will only drive them away.

Honestly, I'd say that's Olden's biggest problem nowadays. "Old" members not being humble enough to realize that being an absolute cock-end to every new player is what drives them away. Pull the stick out of your ass.

And no, this doesn't mean you shouldn't say anything.
Tell them when they're doing something wrong, but do it in a polite and down-to-earth manner. And if they won't listen, contact an admin so they can talk it out with them. Simple as that.

See, it's even in the post. I honestly had no idea that was there.

So there you go.
Rule #2: Don't be a wank.

Follow it.

If everyone listens to rule #2, Olden may actually have a shot.

Horizon wrote:

Give it time. Tell one of the admins and they'll straighten things out. You all need to be patient with this new influx of players.

Sure, they're not all amazing roleplayers, but being elitist pricks and stuck-up cunts about anything they do will only drive them away.

Honestly, I'd say that's Olden's biggest problem nowadays. "Old" members not being humble enough to realize that being an absolute cock-end to every new player is what drives them away. Pull the stick out of your ass.

And no, this doesn't mean you shouldn't say anything.
Tell them when they're doing something wrong, but do it in a polite and down-to-earth manner. And if they won't listen, contact an admin so they can talk it out with them. Simple as that.

Guys, be polite.

While I call you all cock-ends.