These are the guidelines I've gone by since I started making characters here. I thought I'd put them up here, so everyone can have a read. They might be good guidelines to go by for new folks... I dunno. You have a look, and let me know what you think. By no means are these rules, just suggestions.
Look, I Remade Sephiroth! ...what? That's not New?
Most people like to play really awesome characters who are good at everything and always have an answer to any situation. Very few people like to play with folks that have those characters. Often, they're referred to as Mary Sues and they usually lack certain creative traits referred to as "flaws" and "vulnerability to the world around them".
When making a character, put it through a "Mary Sue litmus test" or two. At the end, you may find out whether your idea falls under this category or not. Also, run the entire character concept past a few other people - people who are not your parents or closest friends. If you do, the opinions you get back will be more honest, and you should be able to get an idea for whether your character is too powerful or unrealistic in some way.
Over 9000?!
Power level is a relative and imprecise figure, but can generally be sorted into "low, medium and high". For this, it is important to know the qualifiers of high power, and to know that the more of them you have, the more powerful your character is. Here's a quick, but not limiting, guide:
Versatility - The more versatile a character, the more powerful it is.
Skill - The more skilled in each area that a character has at his disposal the character is, the more powerful he or she is.
Strength - The physically stronger a character is, the more powerful the character is.
Intelligence - The fewer clues a character needs to figure something out, the more powerful it is.
Limits - The fewer limits the character has, the more powerful it is.
Qualitative-quantitative words - These are things like "never", "always", "almost" and numbers like "one", "ten", "hundreds" and "thousands". The placement of these words is the most important thing, but it's important to remember that never and always are very strong words, which can have a significant impact on a character's abilities. Qualifying a "never" with "almost" is rarely a good fix, because saying that something "almost never" happens to a character is effectively the same thing as saying "never" happens to a character.
With Age Comes Wisdom, and Grey Hair
Maybe you've had a look at some of the existing characters on
ZU and said to yourself, 'Hey... that character is really freaking powerful and awesome. So if I make my character only half as good as that one, I should get kudos for making a weaker character.' The problem with this statement is that you could be looking at Rain, Zorlo or Cadenza. These characters are ridiculously powerful, and any character with even a tenth of the power of these monsters is not really fitting for a new character in
ZU.
Go look at Wisp Quill. See if you can find the original version, or just look at that one, or any of her other characters. Her characters are top notch for their starting power level and the amount of detail she’s put into them. While in the EH, you'll start with a character, and it will become gradually more powerful as you play it in threads. Generally speaking, that's how the EH has worked since inception. Do some characters start more powerful than others? Yes, they do. New people in the EH, however, do not start with exceptionally powerful characters.
You Mean I'm Not on my Own??
Concept, power level and experience aside, let’s talk about the councilors, their job, the aim of the EH. The councilors here are volunteers who have to apply for the job. None of them get paid for it, but they did have to put in hundreds to thousands of hours of work and dedication to the EH before they could be selected for the position.
When a councilor talks to you about something that’s a problem, it’s not personal and it’s not because they want to, but because it is the job they were hired for, and they do out of nothing but the goodness in their hearts and the love of a good, fun roleplay.
As far as I’ve understood it, the goal of the EH is twofold. The first is to provide writers with a fun, free-form and mature writing environment where they can interact with others in long or short term roleplays without fear of being degraded or disrespected by other players. The second is to help writers of all ages and amounts of experience to improve their writing and roleplaying skills through interaction with other players, and especially the councilors.
So, when a councilor approaches you about something, you need to be able face up to it. If it hurts your pride somehow, then you swallow your pride and grow from the experience, instead. Don’t give the councilors here grief about something they’ve said to you, not only because they aren’t getting paid for this, but because they are only trying to help you. They don't have ulterior motives.
I have personally had councilors talk to me about my own roleplay, but because I knew they were only trying to help, I didn’t look at it from a point of view with my head stuck in some orifice and I fixed it. Turns out, it created a better experience for everyone involved.
You Mean, I'm Really Not on my Own?
Often, a writer will have difficulties on trying to think of what to do next. So what do they do? They network with each other, they plan events out in advance, and they work together on the gist of what will happen in the next few posts.
There is no reason you should feel shy about asking another player in a roleplay for help on what to do, or feel frustrated because you don’t know what to do by yourself. Don’t hesitate to plan something ahead with someone, or ask for help. We are all here to enjoy this experience; only very few people would not be willing to work with you on something. Needing help with your roleplay and/or getting inspiration, are just more reasons that the Councilors are here.
07-08-2009, 12:50 AM
