Activity Check Results / HMD

[lucetimods]

The results for the Activity Check are in. Please note that the following characters were either inactive, didn't post to the activity check, or failed to speak to a moderator about their activity. Also added were characters who have dropped recently, for your convenience.

Copy-paste the following here:

manage_circle del_read absolutewill manage_circle del_read brokenpromise manage_circle del_read chibifalenas manage_circle del_read devilsuppressor manage_circle del_read eyesofremorse manage_circle del_read faithfulstudent manage_circle del_read fowlplots manage_circle del_read gungho manage_circle del_read hark_a_suicune manage_circle del_read silpheed manage_circle del_read smackmywitchup manage_circle del_read tenerezza manage_circle del_read tibias manage_circle del_read trashed manage_circle del_read silpheed manage_circle del_read holyknights manage_circle del_read airbound manage_circle del_read sharpness manage_circle del_read penstabby manage_circle del_read chainedraven manage_circle del_read bereavement manage_circle del_read nikori manage_circle del_read divinacommedia manage_circle del_read mythmaker manage_circle del_read burningdownfate manage_circle del_read powdersup manage_circle del_read happierdays manage_circle del_read selfinteresting manage_circle del_read dogboy manage_circle del_read thelittlemacthatcould manage_circle del_read cladinthedark manage_circle del_read skyborne_mage manage_circle del_read former_third manage_circle del_read kindhearted manage_circle del_read abetteryoda manage_circle del_read handmotions manage_circle del_read returnthyname manage_circle del_read fearless_leader manage_circle del_read reversible manage_circle del_read illusionarymoon manage_circle del_read consultsdetective

A number of you passed the activity check, but barely. (You know who you are.) Try to pick things up, as it's no fun to character-squat.

If there are any mistakes here, please let us know! Additionally, if your character was removed and you're still active, feel free to appeal to one of us about keeping your character. However, please remember next time to stay active and post to the Activity Check. Thank you!

And as always:

HMD

How's My Driving?

This is a crit post for both the community and game and for your characters. If you have something you'd like to see us improve upon with the game, PLEASE TELL US HERE! Anon commenting is on, but if anything gets really nasty there will be warnings and thread-freezing. This isn't required but everyone is encouraged to take advantage of the advice of your fellow players!

Just some pointers: no taking cheap shots, no dragging personal issues into things and for the love of all that is wise and great, please double check your replies and comments before posting them. Sometimes a change in phrasing can make all the difference between a helpful tone and a condescending one.

ALSO ALSO: We'd like to clarify that HMD means HMD- which means it's okay to have both good and bad crit. Some people have expressed concerns about posting good/bad crit when a character already has bad/good crit posted. We'd like to encourage you guys to do it anyway! You can drive well or badly, and even good drivers make mistakes. So give it a try \o

Comments

[not_a_troll]

He is so interesting...holy shit. *U*

I don't know his canon very well but damn, I like him!

[complicatedliar]

I really need an opportunity for him to be mean... I've played it before and it's kind of fun even though inside I'm cringing and being like OH GOD HOW CAN YOU SAY THOSE THINGS.

I'm having a hard time finding that opportunity, since he's not one to be mean just because considering he's in a weak position right now. Maybe someone will finally make him lose his temper. XD (Hell, if anyone can get him to go off, it'd probably be bitty Loki...)

[not_a_troll]

I think bitty!Loki could do that, yeah. :D

[but first the horribleness that is the zombie event ;A;]

Luna

[knightofratatosk]

Emil Castagnier | Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (knightofratatosk)
Richard | Tales of Graces (ledbythewind)
Jack Vessalius | Pandora Hearts (of_sablier)
Gai Tsutsugami | Guilty Crown (voidseeing)

Getting back onto my feet here after a rocky couple of months when my (now former!) job sort of went to hell. Gai was the one who took the brunt of that but I think I've hit my stride much more with him now and am more comfortable with him as a character in general.

[complicatedliar]

I've got to see how the zombie event goes, but I'm thinking it might be one of the opportunities I've needed for Loki to be a stone-cold bastard. Even if inside he's like... dude no one should ever have to kill themselves as a kid what even. XD

[not_a_troll]

I have a lot of fun playing with your Grune, even though I am not familiar with her canon.

<3

Re: Saralinda

[not_a_troll]

Your Jack is flawless. I wanted to say this earlier but ahaha, thank god for HMD's!

[greenjacketed]

i could make this comment really short by simply telling you that threading with you -- regardless of the character combinations -- has constituted one of the most fulfilling rp experiences i've ever had. the sustained, layered stories we've worked on are all stories to delight in.

but let me try and expand that thought a little further. unpack it -- if you'll allow me to be so fascetious to use such a tired, beaten-horse of a term. and let me start with drusilla. i appreciate how much of a challenge she is to play and how draining she must be and although i know otherwise, i gotta say that you make it look effortless. there is a haunting internal consistency to her othrwise seeming inconstant verbal wanderings. she is raw and unquestionably the villain she is supposed to be, not inspite of her vulnerabilities but because of them. the fact that you allowed me and mine to stake her was phenomenal. no matter what, i'll always be grateful for that.

i know i've already talked a lot about jack in the past. i've been in and out and up and down and all around those films with you and even reading the price of freedom together -- they've all been excellent opportunities to hear your headcanon and your thoughts on characterization. i envy you your ability to craft those parts of the story. you add such richness and depth to sparrow. it completes him without undermining him. the way you've fleshed out his family situation is endlessly compelling and disney could learn a thing or two from you.

finally, in general? you and i got a good thing going on. we've got a great tagging rhythm. i love your sense of narrative and flow. i've rarely felt so secure in the give-and-take of both tagging and plotting. outside of rp, chatting with you is so comfortable and non-pressurey. and our vacation down at your place was a real vacationy highlight.

my only crit is that you really gotta do something about those pants. gawd. :|a

[herotypical]

in jail for indecent public exposure. that's where.

no no no. what i really want to say is it's pretty hilarious because at least more than half the time, it's ME who feels as though YOU put me to shame with your well-thought-out rp and sometimes it's ME who feels like I'M throwing out these slop-tags and YOU do something amazing with the jammy breadcrumbs i've spread all willy-nilly.

but i figure if we're both feeling like that, something must be working. right? right???

[herotypical]

oh and also i envy your ability to actually type words in an order that makes sense and isn't riddled with the worst typos ever.

[all7seas]

STOP IT YOUR WORD ORDER IS JUST FINE. SOMETIMES A LITTLE FRENCH BUT FINE. LOVE IT.

[zumo]

.........

I'LL JUST TAKE THAT AS A COMPLIMENT THEN, SHALL I

[all7seas]

Yes, one day this will happen, all the jailing for the inadvertent nudity.

I HOPE IT IS WORKING I think it is. This is the longest I have been in a game ever and I chalk it up to the fact that you and MANY OTHERS are so quality. It's a really high-functioning playerbase like that. Is highfunctioning the word I wanted? I D E K. I want a pretzel.

Jenny

[truthin_bones]

Temperance Brennan | Bones | truthin_bones
Katniss Everdeen | The Hunger Games | stillplaying
Geordie Riddell | Newford series | keepsmehonest

[eyesofstrength]

He does, but from what he's seen, it makes him think less of most people in Luceti. He sees all the crying over people dying when they come back in a week, and happiness about them going home, when they may never come back. All that makes no sense to him and he sees it as the humans being weak and deluding themselves.

That's where I'm running into issues. He's a stubborn git and there's pretty much no one left in Luceti who actually is aware of the fact that he'd rather die than have to lose someone else and that his reckless tendencies come from the fact that he wishes he was dead and would stay that way. Honestly, his next stunt will be to try and get an injury bad enough to leave him comatose for a long time. And I just can't come up with some IC way to get hm to want to live again for his own reasons and not for the sake of a person who might leave.

[fortunefail]

Actually Luna, I got the feeling that it was Emil and Jack who took the brunt of it. Rather, it seemed to me like Gai and Richard in particular were getting 'priority' over the other characters. What's coming next isn't criticism so much as it's a... Well, a bit of a word of caution.

This is a little difficult to put into words right, hm... I think what it comes down to is that I'd see you actively tagging with Richard in particular whenever you had the time/opportunity, and occasionally bringing Gai up on Plurk in a "That's our Gai!" kind of way. So even if you weren't 'comfortable with him as a character', he was getting around. Emil, while being in quite a few threads, seemed to be put on a backburner. It showed in how long it took for you to get Emil's return post up, and afterwards it showed in how little you actually commented on said return post, with tags that would go out once every four/five days. I'm averaging things out here, of course. Sometimes it'd be two days, sometimes it'd be seven days.

Now, I know the general interference of activity wasn't and still isn't your fault. I know you've been through hell and back these past few months. This isn't a slap on the hand for infrequent comments or anything like that. I know this is also going to sound like castmate bias, and in a way, it is. That's because I'm concerned I will ultimately lose a castmate. The worry that I have here is that I'm seeing Emil go the same route that Regal did. That is, when the going gets tough, you start to prioritize certain characters over others instead of balancing the time that you have evenly. Then, when you get back on your feet, the character 'left behind' has trouble catching up. It might be the same for Jack, but I don't keep an eye out for him in particular. I haven't seen him around much, but I could just as well be looking in all the wrong places, so in no way can I make a real opinion on him.

Again, I'm not faulting you for anything (I cannot stress this part enough). I'm just pointing out that this is something to be wary of. Once a character falls behind, it's tough to get back in the mojo. I had the same problems with quite a few characters myself and ended up having to drop them. I would hate to see that happen to Emil, because you've still got the voice down perfectly.


tl;dr: you're doing a good job coping with shit life's thrown at you, but you need to be careful you don't lose Emil's muse in all the chaos.

[zumo]

Oh you I love you to bits as well, thank you for this <3

But YES, I am thinking post-series Willow would be better and will definitely be plurking all my rambly thoughts on that in the future! o7

[zumo]

Aww thank you very much! If she survives my Giant Hiatus of Doom, we can definitely do this!

[mountain_sage]

Well, being in a long coma won't help his issues, obviously. And it won't help you get him out there to fix those issues. Unless you mean to put him on hiatus while you ponder it over?

Perhaps this draft might open up some opportunities? I can imagine Leonhardt and Saleh having a discussion about protecting those they care about, and what it's like to lose them, etc. It could happen either after putting down Kain, or in the draft aftermath. Again, it's just a thought. I'm seeing a great opportunity for CR here, whether Leonhardt gets infected or not.

[knightofratatosk]

Haha, actually, Emil routinely has more threads than all of my other characters, I just tend not to plurk about his threads as often. But he's my character who is around the most-- I have a definite tagging bias towards him because he's fun and easy to play. His tags are usually the ones of mine that get done first.

The problem with the Ratatosk post is that once I started tagging it, I realized just how out of practice I was with playing RATATOSK as opposed to Emil. It's something I need to canon-review and fix, because while Emil has been getting complacent in Luceti, Ratatosk really should be coming out more than he has. That's something I need to work on, for sure. Thank you for bringing it up, though, because I do owe an explanation as to why I've been slow on that. I plan on rewatching a lot of the parts of the game with Ratatosk this weekend just to renew my grasp on him (I would play except my US Wii is broken and I don't want to mix voices too much by playing the Japanese version instead).

Trust me, the day I drop Emil will be the day I leave Luceti. He's like Yuan is for you-- he's my forever boy and I can't imagine NOT playing him, nor would I want to not play him. And Jack is very much around too, just quieter. I think I've got about 9 or 10 threads going for him right now.

tl;dr I have a definite PLURK bias when it comes to Richard and Gai but Emil and Jack are still going quite strong!

[madonnya]

Oh, that's what it was? That does explain it, then! I can see my worry was totally unwarranted. Yeah, I imagine a quick canon review can fix the Ratatosk issue in no time at all.

Carry on, then, carry on! Forget I said anything!

[knightofratatosk]

Hahah yep, pretty much I started tagging and then went "OH SHIT WHAT AM I DOING?" I don't want Ratatosk coming off as a totally one-note "RAWR I HATE HUMANS" character because there's so much more to him than that and I want to try to get that across in this log, even though he's not quite in his right mind. I figure some canon review ought to help with that and with his voice in general.

Emil's voice is just fine. Honestly, I'd be worried if I ever DID start having problems with his voice because he's like a fluffy blond barnacle that just won't go away. XD

[sundead]

So is Madoka going to ask someone what a lolicon is now...

[madonnya]

For what it's worth, I think you're doing just fine with Ratatosk so far. When I said "You've still got his voice down perfectly" I was pretty much thinking of the log, because that's the most recent example of Emil/Ratatosk threadings I could think of.

[happyends]

If Ayumu won't tell, she might have to take desperate measures, okay.

Like asking Kyon.