Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:04 am
Hi, I am new to the forum, and due to this, I was wondering if it would be all right to ask questions about the role play here. I can see you all are a fairly new forum and the first Bleach forum, in my personal opinion, that looks nice and is not sketchy looking or awkwardly set up plot wise. You all on here I feel have put a good amount of work on this so I shall cut to the chase.
I want to begin by presenting you a laundry list of information about myself and maybe forum experiences.
1. I think I began role playing online about three years ago. It has mostly been fun and I enjoy the activity. Yet I do have have some issues, which will be addressed starting in Point 2.
2. A lot of forums say they are AU or have original characters all the time, and yet both kinds of role plays say, "Your character can direct the storyline and become an honest to goodness part of our written work here." I have to ask though, is this really a truth that can be expected of your forum? I get a strong sense that your AU universe has a strong plot based on how you all have changed the history to make it quite interesting with no Yamamoto, the way in which Aizen never rose, to power, etc. As he was a central character to the plot with Yamamoto and Barragan I feel by killing the first two and increasing Barragan's powers you all have gone and made it so that many canon characters can exist, but in existing in this new world their existence is not entirely illogical.
Many of the plots from the manga I feel could be adapted to your forum's plot if you so chose and you have already begun with one strong concept I've found strange, but apparently canon to the events of Bleach. That thing, the wonderful creatures called Blanks and supporting them as new villains are Barragan's new army of Arracanars. That's a good start for providing the forum with two solid threats, and helped in me deciding to join. There may be other things I've wished to say, but you all can respond to this as you see fit.
3. In reviewing the plot, I feel there is an open end in it, Character Creation. Character Creation is an important part of a forum like this I understand because it allows one to make a character for a plot and role play them as fit. In truth, this statement is 100% wrong. In my times of exploring other forums, one cannot simply waltz in and make a character to start role playing.
I hate to say this, but I believe the aspect of character creation makes me fearful of role play. I make a character and then realize I never understood the charater's position in the role play once I made it. For example, let's say I make a Shinigami. These guys are the protectors of justice and go out and stop souls from devouring people. Now the issue with this is, well, one, where would I really start out with such a character, and two, who do I really serve in this role? I want to put very strong emphasis on who do I serve in this role play because Shinigami serve to protect other spirits and because of this, despite their unique forms, have a very powerful hierarchy.
In other words, if I were to join any division, let's say Division 10, for example. Who would be my captain, what would he regularly have us do, and how would I go conducting business for him or myself without getting reprimanded by him or someone else? What I'm maybe asking at heart is where is the depth and meat of character development, where can I go to find it on here "without" getting in someone else's way and interrupting their story line by initiating mine within there's by accident. There are some people who really hate others who jump into stories like that and I feel I do that a lot.
4. I ask this because if I can build a character based on the some of the principles above, well, I then have a character right? Maybe not entirely, I've taken a look at the word count system that is used for technique training and skill building and I've realized a huge issue. I shall be spending many hours just to get the basic skills or ranks I need I fear.
One thing I do not like about role play is the grind fest that these kinds of written role plays are. The reward being a single nice technique after X number of hundreds of words. That kind of role playing is fine to a degree, but I have often seen many role plays where writing training threads is all I feel people do to get powerful and then beat each other up. It's kind of typical when you think about it, this being based on a Shounen manga and all.
Yet what I want to be able to see is fun things happen in training. Not just me in a single thread by myself looking around and wondering "Why am I writing this for myself? That is, when I have no here who can commit to a respond, a response that would keep me interested because I have an opponent other than myself. An opponent who can nag my character by saying their breathe stinks or something." I maybe getting at the issue of, do player training threads occur on here, do battles make your character's blood pump, etc.
5. All in all... I apologize for wasting my own time and yours writing this long, probably strange post. All I want to make sure of is that I commit to a forum where I can actually feel like I have fun, so I have written this to check and make sure this forum can be very fun.
I honestly do not want to step on any toes here and it's been a long while since I've attempted to even try to play a Bleach role play. I just find them hard to get into, but there's so many of them out there that one of them ought to have what I'm looking for. This one I think may be it, but I am taking it slow here so that I don't end up not coming back if it goes badly. I'm a kind of picky person when it comes to story line and how one's characters and their flaws and such affect something, and I'd rather see a nice flowing story come from myself when I write rather than some garbage I feel like I've attempted to put together like on other sites I have been on.
I do not believe I am a bad writer, but I really have no confidence for this kind of thing half the time. So if you all are willing to help, I'd like to enter this world of Bleach.
I want to begin by presenting you a laundry list of information about myself and maybe forum experiences.
1. I think I began role playing online about three years ago. It has mostly been fun and I enjoy the activity. Yet I do have have some issues, which will be addressed starting in Point 2.
2. A lot of forums say they are AU or have original characters all the time, and yet both kinds of role plays say, "Your character can direct the storyline and become an honest to goodness part of our written work here." I have to ask though, is this really a truth that can be expected of your forum? I get a strong sense that your AU universe has a strong plot based on how you all have changed the history to make it quite interesting with no Yamamoto, the way in which Aizen never rose, to power, etc. As he was a central character to the plot with Yamamoto and Barragan I feel by killing the first two and increasing Barragan's powers you all have gone and made it so that many canon characters can exist, but in existing in this new world their existence is not entirely illogical.
Many of the plots from the manga I feel could be adapted to your forum's plot if you so chose and you have already begun with one strong concept I've found strange, but apparently canon to the events of Bleach. That thing, the wonderful creatures called Blanks and supporting them as new villains are Barragan's new army of Arracanars. That's a good start for providing the forum with two solid threats, and helped in me deciding to join. There may be other things I've wished to say, but you all can respond to this as you see fit.
3. In reviewing the plot, I feel there is an open end in it, Character Creation. Character Creation is an important part of a forum like this I understand because it allows one to make a character for a plot and role play them as fit. In truth, this statement is 100% wrong. In my times of exploring other forums, one cannot simply waltz in and make a character to start role playing.
I hate to say this, but I believe the aspect of character creation makes me fearful of role play. I make a character and then realize I never understood the charater's position in the role play once I made it. For example, let's say I make a Shinigami. These guys are the protectors of justice and go out and stop souls from devouring people. Now the issue with this is, well, one, where would I really start out with such a character, and two, who do I really serve in this role? I want to put very strong emphasis on who do I serve in this role play because Shinigami serve to protect other spirits and because of this, despite their unique forms, have a very powerful hierarchy.
In other words, if I were to join any division, let's say Division 10, for example. Who would be my captain, what would he regularly have us do, and how would I go conducting business for him or myself without getting reprimanded by him or someone else? What I'm maybe asking at heart is where is the depth and meat of character development, where can I go to find it on here "without" getting in someone else's way and interrupting their story line by initiating mine within there's by accident. There are some people who really hate others who jump into stories like that and I feel I do that a lot.
4. I ask this because if I can build a character based on the some of the principles above, well, I then have a character right? Maybe not entirely, I've taken a look at the word count system that is used for technique training and skill building and I've realized a huge issue. I shall be spending many hours just to get the basic skills or ranks I need I fear.
One thing I do not like about role play is the grind fest that these kinds of written role plays are. The reward being a single nice technique after X number of hundreds of words. That kind of role playing is fine to a degree, but I have often seen many role plays where writing training threads is all I feel people do to get powerful and then beat each other up. It's kind of typical when you think about it, this being based on a Shounen manga and all.
Yet what I want to be able to see is fun things happen in training. Not just me in a single thread by myself looking around and wondering "Why am I writing this for myself? That is, when I have no here who can commit to a respond, a response that would keep me interested because I have an opponent other than myself. An opponent who can nag my character by saying their breathe stinks or something." I maybe getting at the issue of, do player training threads occur on here, do battles make your character's blood pump, etc.
5. All in all... I apologize for wasting my own time and yours writing this long, probably strange post. All I want to make sure of is that I commit to a forum where I can actually feel like I have fun, so I have written this to check and make sure this forum can be very fun.
I honestly do not want to step on any toes here and it's been a long while since I've attempted to even try to play a Bleach role play. I just find them hard to get into, but there's so many of them out there that one of them ought to have what I'm looking for. This one I think may be it, but I am taking it slow here so that I don't end up not coming back if it goes badly. I'm a kind of picky person when it comes to story line and how one's characters and their flaws and such affect something, and I'd rather see a nice flowing story come from myself when I write rather than some garbage I feel like I've attempted to put together like on other sites I have been on.
I do not believe I am a bad writer, but I really have no confidence for this kind of thing half the time. So if you all are willing to help, I'd like to enter this world of Bleach.