HOW'S MY DRIVING?

[paradisamods]

HOW'S MY DRIVING?

Comment with the names of the characters you play for feedback on your roleplaying. Other players will then reply to your comment telling you what they honestly think in a constructive manner. While both praise and critique is welcome, we'd like to remind you that this is a valuable tool for many of our members. We'd like to request that all comments remain constructive.

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<b>Fandom Name Here:</b> Character Name - <lj user=> <B>Link to HMD:</b> <a href="http://----">Individual HMD Post Here</a> (optional) <b>Loss:</b> <b>Canon Point:</b> <b>Notes:</b> <b>Specific Crit Requests:</b>

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Comments

wow this one is long

[thano.livejournal.com]

mmm_paradise

☛ has been here for 2.5 years
☛ thinking about adding on a supernatural/paranormal vulnerability. it really should have been there all along. :(
☛ no real thoughts, will continue truckin' :|b

kindnessing

☛ has been here for 2 years
☛ might be adding on more consequences of experimenting with his dark spore? let me know if you need me to expand.
☛ doop doop doop truckin' along.

givingchase

☛ has been here for 1 year
☛ should be more active. way more active. :/!!!
☛ frains frains blah blah

hardonic

☛ has been here 6 months-ish
☛ already switched to non-font text during action logs, but will stick to text for the journal.
☛ voice/characterization issues errrrrrwhere. if you've got something to point out, let me know.

in general:

☛ clarity issues! i have been getting several complaints about joshua and dave being very difficult to talk to - they're both the type to go off on impenetrable tangents without really caring if the other person understands them. more than once i have had people im me asking what they're talking about or telling me they spent forever looking something they said up. i have been thinking about adding links to more salient details the reader should know to understand the basic gist of their spiel, but i want to know what you guys think.
☛ HOMESTUCK CAST: vis a vis the text permissions post - should i be putting it up monthly or bimonthly (as in once every two months, derp)? I was already thinking about putting it up again tomorrow in light of current events and the recent cast expansion. :D
☛ MY ACTIVITY IS SHIT, I SHOULD DROP A CHARACTER, I AM THINKING ABOUT IT. :(b

[neutraltwin.livejournal.com]

That clarity issue one is a tricky one: my personal opinion is immediately to say no, stay true to the character even if it makes it a little harder to understand, but linkin' up some shit couldn't hurt!

On the text permissions, monthly, I think! Wouldn't want these things to have resentment building up over a two-month period. :(

On dropping a character...THANO I LOVE EVERY FUCKING THING YOU DO. That first. But dropping one may be best, so you can focus on raising activity across the board. Sora especially is one of those awkward types that seems ooc if they're not RIDICULOUSLY ACTIVE. So, it might help! One character less is such a load of stress off anyone's back, seriously.

except don't drop dave i love dave
and i have no crit on your actual playing so we all good there ♥

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

Roger that. I'll try and see if I can clean up my grammar and writing skills too! No need to confuse people with unintentionally tangled sentence structure. I probably need to canon review Joshua as well. *^*b thanks!

One vote for monthly, thanks!

I am putting that to serious consideration like... all day errday. It's coming down between one or two of my characters, and it'll be a wrench, but it's gonna happen. :D thanks for the feedback, though!

Re: wow this one is long

[(Anonymous)]

you are very good with your characters and their voices when you are around. however at this point it does seem like you really should look at your load closely and consider letting someone go. you really seem to be spreading yourself too thin and I feel like from an outside perspective it seems like your characters have in some ways withdrawn to prioritizing castmates above everyone else when they thread, which is sad because it lets some cr that worked hard to stick with you before those castmates arrived fall to the backburner and those people deserve good amounts of attention too.

you seem to have casts popping up on every side now so I see how it might be hard to decide to bow out with someone, but I think it would help you and allow you to make a better commitment to the game and building cr with the characters you had leftover.

Re: wow this one is long

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

Thank you for phrasing this so respectfully, anon! I'm putting this under really serious consideration and I do think it's best in the long run that I dropped someone. I'm just... waffling over who, to be honest. I love all my characters and it's gonna be tough letting one go.

Maybe I should give myself a time limit, because waffling is only gonna get me so far. :/ Hmm... I guess I should drop someone by this summer? And I should know who I'm dropping by next... weeeeek. Someone hold me to this! I have no willpower whatsoever.

Re: wow this one is long

[(Anonymous)]

I understand that it's probably difficult. I've agonized over dropping characters before and You've had some characters here for a very long time. However it's probably best for you as well to destress yourself by lowering your commitments, rather than posting with one character and realizing you have to scramble to make AC with another one.

some questions I would consider thinking about this: whose voice is coming the most easily? whose tendency to get involved in big-time plots and such requires the most commitment (do you have time for those commitments?)? do you have a hard time coming up with posts for some of them? posts are the basis of AC in para though comment threads can count for passing AC. I think if you give yourself less to commit to you will probably do better with the commitments you have.

[valerie]

My only crit is

if you drop Dave or Sora I will shank you in your sleep.

♥

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

SCRE

[(Anonymous)]

Just a quick note on the clarity thing-- that's... actually one of the big things that turned me off to tagging Joshua. I'm used to both playing and playing against cryptic characters, so I don't think it was him just being a complicated and ambiguous dude.

It feels more like you assume that we're following you on things, or think that you're being more clear than you really are? Maybe it's just a lack of hints?-- via more specific wording and clues in bracket stuff? idk

It's not anything really huge, but it does make tagging and flow of conversation really difficult at times.

1/2 holy shit was it really this long

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

Hmm... If it's all right (which I hope it is because I'm going to do it anyway, derp) I'm going to assume that you know nothing about the World Ends With You and explain Joshua's role in the game. If you read this and still believe that something about him still feels off, or if my way of expressing him through his dialogue can be fixed or improved, please feel free to correct and critique me further!

Joshua's first and only motivation is to improve and stimulate the Soul of the people around him. You can call Soul raw creative power or a basic block of matter; either way, you can make incredible things out of Soul using your Imagination. The World Ends With You blurs the line between physical reality and psychological conflict a lot; some of your best attacks are fueled by pure teamwork, and spreading memes to improve your chances in combat is a basic gameplay mechanic. Joshua is a bit special in this sense; in one of his superior's reports, he's known quite well to be the type of person that puts a lot of stress on the Soul, whether for good or ill. If you directly translate that over to the game's events and Joshua's actions throughout, you realize that it just means that Joshua is very intelligent and very, very annoying about sharing anything but the most relevant (and obvious) of details. Getting anything solid out of him is like getting milk from a rock. (I.E. Neku asked Joshua what they were looking for after he gets a new tracker installed on his cell phone. His reply? "Well, put simply... I'm looking for what this tracker is tracking. :)") One of the running themes throughout TWEWY is the difficulty of understanding another person's point of view and the consequences (and benefits) of conflicts between two opposing POVs thereof. Joshua hits that view hard several times throughout the game, and despite what he may say, it's impossible for him to do his job without knowing exactly how intelligible (or unintelligible) an idea is. No matter the obfuscation, I try to keep in mind an underlying idea that he's trying to push the other person into thinking, or saying. Basically, he's trying to get people to think on their own, without going in and directly putting the words in their mouths. Controlling people is actually a huge character flaw (among many) of his, and he's working to make sure that whatever he does, he isn't pushing his own point of view on the other person without their consent. This is really difficult for him because he's naturally pretty bossy, but it's an essential part of keeping his powers in check (and it's pretty fun for him), so he tries. I really, really do want to keep him in character, and the line between being unintelligible and being IC is something I tread with every tag I post. I think a LOT when I tag with him; I try to see his reply from both his perspective and the other character's perspective, and from there I try to make a tag that can be responded to without jeopardizing his characterization. Basically, I'm trying to be unclear in the clearest way possible. It... is really hard. aaaauuuuggghh

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

So, what does this mean for you guys? It is very hard to have a normal conversation with Joshua because he makes EVERYTHING a point, a lesson, and an argument, and he does it because he can't help himself AND because he doesn't particularly care to clarify himself AND because it's an essential part of his character. He's running his own agenda against the castle, and a part of his plan involves antagonizing most people he meets. He leads people on merry tangents to keep his own intentions secret. It works well, but it does make conversation with him offputting - and it really should, considering his motivations. He tends to start conversations, then to lead people exactly where he wants to go. It's very, very difficult to start a meaningful, non-creepy conversation with him, and near impossible to get to know him on a personal basis. I want to stress that Joshua is a sociopath, and if your character gets creepy vibes off of him, then they should leave him the fuck alone. Seriously! I didn't app him to be a very popular character. However, if there is a better way to express his intentions WITHOUT being overly opaque, please tell me what I can do. If elaborating on his ideas in the tags would work, that is something I can incorporate right away. If there are any more ideas you can fling at me, let me at 'em. Otherwise... well. You have my thoughts here. Come at me, bro. :D

[oftheforsaken.livejournal.com]

Not going to lie, I really don't see a frequent posting of the permissions post to be necessary, if at all. If people have issues, they'll go to the posts themselves, and doing this is just shoving the characters/cast more and more into people's faces which is pretty much why the fandom gets so much flack in the first place. Informing people "Hey, don't forget this is here! Hey! Look at us! Hey." is excessive in my opinion, and makes the ENTIRE cast seem like we're this pushy with throwing our "special needs" out there for all to fuss and meddle over. :/

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

You've definitely got a point. :/ I've been kind of worrying about that myself, which was why it was only a consideration. Um. but how else do i tell people i love them and i care and i want to help them. ;;

Anyway, that's definitely a vote for nixing the posts. Thanks!

[oftheforsaken.livejournal.com]

I am sure people know by now that we mean to not bother anyone, nor do we intend to flaunt our shiny new cast while stepping on their toes. We're all relatively polite and considerate here. Really, if it ain't broke? Don't fix it.

There are also a few personal issues re: Homestuck cast that I would like to bring to your attention, but I'd rather discuss those with you privately.

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

I have company arriving any minute so...I'm going to see if I can avoid tl;dr and get this out. >.>

1 - characterization: You are lovely. Amazing. Wonderful. Fun. Don't stop.

2 - activity: You already know this is an issue, so I won't harp. I'd love to see you keep all your chars, but it's a balance thing. You're the only one who knows what you can handle. I will say this is very much countered by your willingness to backtag. I'm willing to deal with slow tags in nearly all cases as long as there's backtagging.

3 - text permissions: Eh... I don't think they're necessary. Yes, people have been whining, but I think most of us are aware that the permissions posts are there and that you guys are more than respectful of what people want. The fact that Homestuck is a fad is dragging this up more often than it would normally, and I think posting monthly or bi-monthly might only aggravate the problem...which is silly, because you guys are fantastic and our community is a pretty tolerant one. I think you're okay.

4 - Clarity: This honestly is an issue I had been having with Dave (and Homestuck in general. Not just you). I'd tried tagging him a few times and I usually ended up giving up because I couldn't figure out what was being said. With the plot, however, things were MUCH smoother and now I feel like I have a base to work from. I don't think you need to clarify, but links might be a good idea if you know they're being particularly confusing in a tag. Just a thought.

Overall? You are awesome. Keep on being awesome.

/runs to finish cleaning

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

lovey, you're the best ♥

1 - ♥

2 - I feel like backtagging just ain't gonna cut it with the activity I've had lately. :| this is a problem. ennnnnnnnn. Thank you for being so understanding about it though.

3 - Roger that. :) another vote for nixing them entirely. thank you so much!

4 - Right! I'll start incorporating them into Dave's tags right away. ♥ Thank you.

rofl go entertain your guests, have fun!

[jammin-with-ed.livejournal.com]

I don't have any CR with Joshua, so I can't comment on his clarity, but after having had 3 of my guys hanging with Dave I have to say

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

I adore your Dave, so very very much. I, personally, haven't had any issues following him, but I say go with whatever helps the most people understand the guy.

[givingchase.livejournal.com]

Right, I will! Thank you so much! And I'll definitely tag your guys much, much more. ♥ I WILL GOOSH OVER YOUR CHARACTERS FOREVER AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW NORA'S CANON. You're lovely, thank you.

[eat-me-beat-me.livejournal.com]

Awwww <3<3 You should totally look up Pump Up The Volume!! You totally shooouuuuld!!



Also, proof that I adore Dave + Nora CR- I actually drew something for Dave... and it's actually the best thing I've ever drawn freehand.

[ectobabble.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're aware of your activity, hon, because you really are a fantastic player - you can cover a wide range of characters, and do it well, and I just ... fff, want you around more. Selfish as that may sound. In particular, I REALLY want Harry to get to know Joshua, and I backtagged their thread in the music room for a while, but I just had to drop it recently because it's been so long that ... he's changed a little, and gotten used to some of the castle's weirdness, so it's strange to have to put my head back in newbie mode.

That being said? Your Dave is pretty much 5000% perfect. If anyone questions that, I will just point them at the Slenderman rap that just landed in my inbox like a box full of motherfucking boonbucks kicked out of the sky.

Rock on, coolkid.

[hardonic.livejournal.com]

that's perfectly all right! I'm the kind of player that can backtag forever, but i completely understand losing steam for a character after so long. :Db it's all good!

and i will address the problem so hard, it will not even know what hit it

skljafdfdasdlkj I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IT, i spent a half hour of my life on that shit aoifjeaewoj

[stalkershiki.livejournal.com]

Well, you know I love you and your Joshua. He can go off on tangents a bit, but... that's his character. He's made to be confusing and strange. And... I can usually follow what he's saying relatively well. Sometimes a link or two couldn't hurt, but I think for the most part that you should just keep doing what you're doing. Because it's awesome. :D

[kindnessing.livejournal.com]

thanks ♥

[dancinpenguins]

I started reading Homestuck almost solely because I fell in love with your Dave, and stalked him everywhere, including backreading shit on Paradisa Lost when we finally got linked to it.

Now that I've seen his canon, I still think he's incredibly IC. And awesome. :3

[hardonic.livejournal.com]

... Holy damn, this is incredibly flattering! Especially since I'm fairly sure we only have probably a thimbleful of cr? Lawdy lawd, thank you so much, and I'm so glad you like Dave! ♥ I hope I don't disappoint!