Trisphee - View Single Post - What do you think about Trisphee's Story?

Behemoth · 04:35 PM

At risk of sounding mean, I don't think it's a storyline so much as it is an RP between admins who aren't that experienced in RP in the first place. ;^^

While I do like the basic ideas behind the plot and it could make for good RP if there were more people on the site -this place really needs to advertise- I feel like those elements are underutilized and if it's meant to be read as a story instead of a RP, it doesn't draw the reader in much if they aren't the ones RPing the characters. It's also hard for new readers to become immersed in the world because there aren't handy summaries available and to be honest, most people are going to be turned off by having to post-stalk old event characters just to understand the current situation. Accessibility should always be a priority.

One of the major problems is that the characters are ultimately shallow and for the most part, the major players can be summed up in two or three traits. While I know other sites and even professional works do it, that doesn't mean it's a good example to follow. I mean, my impressions of the main characters of this event can be summed up as: evil tyrant who does it all because she's a villain and is inexplicably loved, violence-obsessed warrior who does it all because she's a villain, and determined and/or plucky hero guys. I feel like the main characters and their motivations are so shallow that one can't make a connection to them, so I'm honestly more interested in the less important ones like Reiquesa and Zeo. They should, like, team up and have slightly awkward parties all around the galaxy.

So I think more work should be done to develop the characters and really examine their motivations, emotions, and responses so that they're more than just archetypes. I'm not sure relying on narration so much really works in the context of the forums (that isn't to say it doesn't have a place) so I feel like the developers of the site should explore alternate methods of storytelling that make it easier to access the information and present it in a fun way. To use Gaia as an example (I know a lot of people on small avatar communities dislike the site, but they're pretty much the only professional-run avatar site and do a lot of things right), one of the most beloved events was Halloween 2004, where they told the story entirely through NPC journals in both the guild and journal systems, secret codes that the community unlocked, and user interaction. Basically, characters and a story should work to make a userbase interact with each other, even if it might nominally drive them apart IE taking faction sides and whatnot.

So, to improve the focus of the site, I think that the developers should look into what they're really going for with it, as in deciding on whether it's meant as a RP or not and ways it can be told/expressed. As well, I think that storytelling methods should be researched. I'm not saying anyone needs to go out and take a bunch of English classes (though it never hurts! I <3 my literature classes) but look into character building exercises. For example, you could try a couple of prompt challenges with your characters. As well, there are tons of communities oriented around writers, so check them out. I know there are critiquing communities on LiveJournal and elsewhere. Look into world building sites and see what their advice is. Another great resource is Limyaeel's rants on fantasy and scifi. There are links here, here, and here. Also, could we have a thread in the History forum with basic information about who's who and what's happened in the plot? Some more information about the other races/planets couldn't hurt either, but I might be saying that 'cos I play, like, the only Tangi on the site and am pretty much making it up as I go along, heh.

Wow, this turned into a long post. O.O

Behemoth twitch			#5
	At risk of sounding mean, I don't think it's a storyline so much as it is an RP between admins who aren't that experienced in RP in the first place. ;^^ While I do like the basic ideas behind the plot and it could make for good RP if there were more people on the site -this place really needs to advertise- I feel like those elements are underutilized and if it's meant to be read as a story instead of a RP, it doesn't draw the reader in much if they aren't the ones RPing the characters. It's also hard for new readers to become immersed in the world because there aren't handy summaries available and to be honest, most people are going to be turned off by having to post-stalk old event characters just to understand the current situation. Accessibility should always be a priority. One of the major problems is that the characters are ultimately shallow and for the most part, the major players can be summed up in two or three traits. While I know other sites and even professional works do it, that doesn't mean it's a good example to follow. I mean, my impressions of the main characters of this event can be summed up as: evil tyrant who does it all because she's a villain and is inexplicably loved, violence-obsessed warrior who does it all because she's a villain, and determined and/or plucky hero guys. I feel like the main characters and their motivations are so shallow that one can't make a connection to them, so I'm honestly more interested in the less important ones like Reiquesa and Zeo. They should, like, team up and have slightly awkward parties all around the galaxy. So I think more work should be done to develop the characters and really examine their motivations, emotions, and responses so that they're more than just archetypes. I'm not sure relying on narration so much really works in the context of the forums (that isn't to say it doesn't have a place) so I feel like the developers of the site should explore alternate methods of storytelling that make it easier to access the information and present it in a fun way. To use Gaia as an example (I know a lot of people on small avatar communities dislike the site, but they're pretty much the only professional-run avatar site and do a lot of things right), one of the most beloved events was Halloween 2004, where they told the story entirely through NPC journals in both the guild and journal systems, secret codes that the community unlocked, and user interaction. Basically, characters and a story should work to make a userbase interact with each other, even if it might nominally drive them apart IE taking faction sides and whatnot. So, to improve the focus of the site, I think that the developers should look into what they're really going for with it, as in deciding on whether it's meant as a RP or not and ways it can be told/expressed. As well, I think that storytelling methods should be researched. I'm not saying anyone needs to go out and take a bunch of English classes (though it never hurts! I <3 my literature classes) but look into character building exercises. For example, you could try a couple of prompt challenges with your characters. As well, there are tons of communities oriented around writers, so check them out. I know there are critiquing communities on LiveJournal and elsewhere. Look into world building sites and see what their advice is. Another great resource is Limyaeel's rants on fantasy and scifi. There are links here, here, and here. Also, could we have a thread in the History forum with basic information about who's who and what's happened in the plot? Some more information about the other races/planets couldn't hurt either, but I might be saying that 'cos I play, like, the only Tangi on the site and am pretty much making it up as I go along, heh. Wow, this turned into a long post. O.O Last edited by Behemoth; 08-13-2011 at 04:35 PM.
		Posted 08-13-2011, 04:32 PM