[Illusion]

This is a question that's been on my mind since the taskal wars, what do you think about the overall story? What do you think about the writing style? Do you think it's interesting? Any criticism you'd like to address?

Personally I have a on and off relationship with the story, it's like Lord of the Rings meet Star wars. It just doesn't work, but I will admit the story has those moments that are interesting. But I think it's sad that I read the story 3 times now, and I will get lost in confusion reading the taskal wars. The story looks like something role-players wrote, and remembering characters and or caring for them is hard. We need more definite characters and more ways to define them. The only definite character I know we have is Pandora and that's only because she's been on the header since forever.

[Jurinjo]

Yeah the story is mostly a cover for events so there's an explainable purpose to them. But I never really feel a part of it all. Granted most people will honestly want the items more than to feel an attachment to the story. Yet I've noticed how much effort gets put into them and...yeah if they're trying to get me into it...it's not working for me. =x I've felt more immersed in the world of Gaia even before zOMG and reading the comics (which was a great tool enough).

I think what made Gaia an easy world to enter was the user's connection to the NPCs. They said hi to me by name and seemed happy to see me (lame reason isn't it? xD; ). They sometimes spoke in the announcements and told the story of what was going on in their own bias. It wasn't really a whole narration either so I didn't have to put effort into understanding what was going on as if there is an absolute to worry about. You would know some things with certainity but quite a bit was of opinion.

One of the characters I maintained an attachment to most was Timmy. Everything about his story was so tragic- I hate Dr. Singh. And my interaction with them was reading dialogue in their announcements for new evolving items.

So in short they should focus less on narration as they creates an illusion of absolutes, which is a bother for me cause I feel like i"m stepping on a plot or world setting I shouldn't be changing (even accidentally). And last, but most importantly, a connection to the characters.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I'm not going to offer my opinion on the story (for reasons that ought to be obvious) but I'm curious about something from both of you, if you don't mind elaborating.

Illusion, how exactly is it similar to either Star Wars or Lord of the Rings? I'm going to assume you mean the fantasy/sci-fi style of it, and not actual plot elements or themes, because if so, I really don't see the similarities, personally. There's no "quest" element or "chosen one" element present in the story, which are rather respectively integral to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

And Jurinjo, do you feel that way when you read books? If not, why? What's different? I'm not even sure I understand your complaint, to be honest. (Not that I don't think it might be valid; as I said, not weighing in on the issue.)

[Jurinjo]

Feel what way? An attachment to characters? I honestly do like characters particularly how they evolve, their decisions and thoughts. Strange though that in stories I tend to actually focus on the series of events leading up to the climax. But I think I'm getting distracted.

My complain is in the story telling. Personally, I think it would be easier to get into the story if it wasn't written like an epic narration.

[Behemoth]

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

[Jurinjo]

Behemoth posted a behemoth post lol

I got a migraine so I didn't read thoroughly but I think I agree with everything you said.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

No, Jurinjo, I meant do you have the same issues with a protracted narrative structure when it's in a book as opposed to being on a web-page. I'm just curious. I know I, personally, find it harder to read long passages on a computer screen.

And, Behemoth, for what it's worth, I pretty much completely agree with all of your points. I have, in fact, read all of Limyaael's rants, have taken no less than 6 creative writing courses, and am nearly finished with the B.A. in English, but... I'm pretty late to the site-writing party, not to mention, it would take a complete reboot of the site story to implement any major changes at this state. But, who knows what opportunities there will be in the future.

[Illusion]

Originally Posted by Suzerain of Sheol

I'm not going to offer my opinion on the story (for reasons that ought to be obvious) but I'm curious about something from both of you, if you don't mind elaborating.

Illusion, how exactly is it similar to either Star Wars or Lord of the Rings? I'm going to assume you mean the fantasy/sci-fi style of it, and not actual plot elements or themes, because if so, I really don't see the similarities, personally. There's no "quest" element or "chosen one" element present in the story, which are rather respectively integral to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

And Jurinjo, do you feel that way when you read books? If not, why? What's different? I'm not even sure I understand your complaint, to be honest. (Not that I don't think it might be valid; as I said, not weighing in on the issue.)

I was giving an example that sci-fi and fantasy doesn't just doesn't work. :/
Behemoth pretty much summed my opinions on NPC's. So not much else I can say xD

[Suzerain of Sheol]

That's a legitimate point, Illusion, about the fantasy/sci-fi split, I hope I didn't imply that it wasn't. Though, I think it would be more accurate to say that it is very difficult to make sci-fi and fantasy function together in the same universe, not that it's impossible.

[Behemoth]

Hooray for the future! And yay for English. I'm also an English major but I'm on the more journalism geared side of the program.

I dunno, I actually think combined fantasy/sci-fi is actually pretty common; for example, there's Gargoyles, The Giver, Marvel/DC, and even Star Wars itself. It's all a matter of defining its place in the universe and seeing how and why the two would interact.

I'm not sure how well it's defined in Trisphee though, since it doesn't really seem we have all that much of either except in the items. I mean, the basic ideas of Trisphee have a lot of high fantasy elements -powerful gods, evil monarchs that must be taken down by the heroic rebels and a lost heir, magic crystals- but there doesn't seem to be all that much magic outside of vaguely defined magic in the combat system. Doesn't seem to be all that much scifi either outside of the history threads and items. Everyone's fighting with swords and the most advanced thing seen is a swordgun. Heh, I don't really know where I'm going with this though.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

You raise good points. I, unfortunately, can't really elaborate on them given my position, but I'm grateful for your perspective.

I think the problem with combining those two genres is that science fiction, on the whole, is more utile than fantasy. Unless you're talking an extremely high-magic setting with magic infra-structure all the way down to the common citizens, sci-fi is just too advanced in most cases for fantasy elements to even be relevant. And so, to make them relevant, the fantasy elements have to be played up as super-powerful and able to compete with the efficiency of advanced technology... which leads to stuff like Warhammer 40k where you power-armored, genetically-engineered super-soldiers charging into battle with monomolecular chainsaws against space demons. :p

[Fey]

@.@
Okay, I really read none of what anyone posted, so feel free to ignore me if I repeat some already mentioned bits.

I personally, have no idea, nor want to even bother finding out, what the storyline(such as it is) is for this site. I really have no emotional investment in other peoples characters(unless I've rped with 'em), and this is no different. What little bit I've skimmed I've not found all that entertaining, or really relevant to why I'm here. I get items because I want the/they look pretty, not because a certain character had them. I participate in events because I like the people here, not the characters that someone made up solely to fill in the writing position(which, IMO is one of those 'wait, why are those even JOBS??' thoughts every time I see it). I mean, really, is somone here because of the plots and rps of the moderators?? If so, have you talked to the people here?? a much better reason to stay IMO.

Now, to cover my butt, I'm not badmouthing the writters. You have your position cause someone likes what you do. That's amazing, I don't have that job, so more power to you. Am I gonna read the 'storyline'? Probably not unless I have to to pass some quiz around here, even then, maybe not.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

If you don't mind me asking (all of you), what would make you more interested in the story? I presume most, if not all of you read fiction of some sort, so what elements of that are missing in the site's story?

[Fey]

well, I personally and not a big reader of fantasy stuff, so there's really little story wise that will change my mind. I know it was mentioned elsewhere if we'd be more interested in it if it was done in comic style, and yes, that would interest me more. I'm a huuuuuuuuuuge comic nerd, so the pretty pictures will induce me to care, at least enough for the next installment.

[Coda]

Apparently people haven't heard of spelljammers. >.> Magic-based sci-fi is perfectly reasonable, and it definitely seems that's what Trisphee is using. It's a popular choice in Final Fantasy games, as well; magic and technology work together instead of competing with each other. Spaceships that travel due to magical forces instead of giant rockets (the aforementioned spelljammers) are just one common example in fiction.

[Fey]

::doesn't play FF type games::
uhm...pretty comics yes?
and I swear I read that as Starjammers the first time and went all foamy at the idea of Corsair running around here with Hepzibah.....