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

[saltprince]

Could I convince you to talk to me about where you're pulling the "Loki loves children" thing from? I'm not necessarily doubting it, it's just become increasingly prevalent in how you play him and I don't see it in the films, so I'm just wondering where it's from.

[complicatedliar]

I think that's a very fair question. There are two primary reasons:

1) I've pulled a bit of background out of mythology and some of the standalone comics where it doesn't conflict with what I'm getting from MCU because there is just no background in those movies for him. In The Trials of Loki there's a little story where Loki decides to save a farmer's family (farmer, wife, and the crippled son) from a troll when none of the other gods have bothered to help. He specifically intervenes because of the boy, when the other gods don't really care since it's just one family and Asgard doesn't really want a war with the trolls. Given Loki's background, the fact that he would care about this kid none of the other gods gave a crap about really made sense to me.

2) In how he plays Loki, Tom Hiddleston has said pretty often that whatever Loki has convinced himself he wants or need, what he truly wants deep down is acceptance. Children and animals both generally just accept people and love them as a default until that trust is proven to be wrong. (As an added bonus, they give that love and acceptance without really demanding any personal vulnerability in return.)

Let me know if you have any more questions about it or would like to discuss it more. I definitely don't want to be weird and OOC with him, though he's already experiencing some character drift just because he's having to deal with so many humans constantly.

[saltprince]

Okay, that makes sense. I confess where I started to become confused is where he's going to great lengths to still be buds with Elicia (making that anti-lying stone (which struck me is odd for me to do because it would entrap him? Maybe I'm reading too much into that), dealing with Stark&co, making a somewhat pleading argument to Elicia's guardian (Winry) ) and when he's making the argument to Molly that her being in the village was endangering the children. While I was like "oh, cool" about him liking kids (though I still wondered where it came from) when he was going to such lengths for kids, I felt a little baffled by it.

Put into the context of the troll story it does make more sense you went in that direction though.

[complicatedliar]

The anti-lying stone is more of a calculated risk for him. It will only work for Elicia so he doesn't have to worry about it being taken away from her and used against him directly, and he thinks not even Tony Stark is enough of a dirtbag to actually try to use Elicia like that. But it was more a moment of desperation where he wants someone to believe in him. So yeah, that was a little... hm.

One angle to consider the pleading with the adults is that yes, he really likes Elicia and wants to keep hanging out with her. But the other consideration (because he never does anything for just one reason) is that if he goes to those kind of verbal lengths at least, it makes him look really good, and kind of makes Tony and the Avengers look more like the bad guys in this situation. Because hey, Loki is really a nice guy, he likes kids, right?

The thread with Molly is another case of dual purposes too. Because Ikki and Elicia are basically the only two people he gives a crap about in the village, so he is concerned with their safety. But on the other hand, demanding answers of someone because of the children is a way to try to hit them emotionally and force them to answer when they otherwise wouldn't. You see politicians using the won't someone think of the children argument all the time to get their way with ridiculous stuff. So he's setting himself up to be able to start doing that when it's something he wants anyway.

Does that make sense? XD

[saltprince]

Yes it does, and that's excellent because it alleviates a lot of the stuff I was fearing. I don't mean to offend you but Loki is an oft-"woobified" character who a lot of people tend to play off as less of a bad guy than he really is/can be. And in Loki's first few posts I was excited! Because it seemed like you weren't one of those people who make him into a woobie and it was only recently I was starting to get unsure because of these concerns.

But with the multi-point angle, that's really awesome. Thanks for clarifying to me. ♥

[complicatedliar]

Not a problem at all. I definitely don't want to make him a woobie. I don't necessarily think he's evil as the term is classically used (and of course, from his viewpoint he is the hero of all the stories) but he's still very selfish and manipulative and nearly amoral.

Though unfortunately, there isn't that much opportunity for him to be a glorious douchebag right now since he's trying to make allies and that's requiring him to play nice. But I've really got to be careful about this, for certain. I'm really glad you asked, because I need other people to check me from going off the deep end.

<3