Lack of documentation on a few points.

[arulinlightwind]

I been watching for the past week. The posting and role play are great. But yet there is a lack of documentation on a few points, one in case how dose one tell when to shift from post to post based on rules that are not posted? How much control do you allow of another's character or do the moderators control the flow?

[Kiernan]

If I may be so bold as to answer these questions, then allow me.

By "shifting from post to post," I assume first that you mean the casual posting between the characters. Firstly, if you were not the last to post, and you want to post something from your character's sub-plot, or add to the overall plot, you may post a message from, well, preferably a third-person perspective (we need not the I's and you's but the he's and she's, or it's if you outright hate your character). Of course, if you don't want to put in your two cents, then you just don't, and sit back and wait for something that concerns your character to pop up. Double posting, here, as on every other forum I've ever been on, is outright annoying, please don't do it. There's no rule against it, but there's a 'modify' button for a good reason.

On the other hand, you may be referring to the space between threads, such as (to use my character, Akaitora as an example), the difference between Homeward Bound and The Familial Bond. Homeward Bound takes place in the morning, and The Familial Bond takes place shortly after on the same day, the 46th of Summer (last I checked).The time is posted at the top of the thread, as was explained in the rules. Since this part was in the rules, I assume you were referring to the the former.

Now, let us move to your second point of interest, god-modding. Again, there is a clear outline as to what you can do with other player's characters in the 'rules' thread. Here's how much control you're allowed to have over another character: None. Granted, when the mods put a character up for grabs, feel free to take it and make it do whatever you want, within the bounds of the rules set down. However, if I'm currently playing as Akaitora (and I'm always going to be playing as Akaitora, he is half of the embodiment of me in Equestria), and you were playing as , oh, I don't know... Thunderlane, You cannot, in your post, have Thunderlane jump out at Akaitora, wielding a knife, and stab him once in the neck, thrice in the chest, once in the left foreleg, and once in the wall behind him, leaving him to bleed to death in a back alley somewhere. Granted, It's very likely that Akaitora would be in some dark alley, but he's very agile, and would dodge at least four of those, and have the fifth barely clip him, and then apply his knowledge of exterifugal force to flee up the side of the building, before coming back to counter his assailant, should he follow. However, Thunderlane could stab at Akaitora, and then I post what he did in response, most likely dodging the assault, as he has with stones hurled at him over the years. But again, the 'rules' thread already explained that.

As for the flow of the sub-plots, the players in charge of the characters are in control of the flow. For example, take a look at Wrong Side of Town. The authors for the involved characters moved that from one evening to the next morning, had two good meals, some alcohol, and a restful night's sleep.

I hope this answered your questions, most of which have already been answered by the 'rules' thread. If you think to complain that all of my references were to threads that I was in, don't. I use them because they are decent enough examples, and I remember then well because I was deeply involved in them, and feel no reason why they shouldn't be my examples of choice. If you were going to complain about my remarks being snide, or that I'm a snob, it won't do any good, because I know I'm a snide snob. And I am so because the bulk of the questions you asked were already answered, in a thread you claim doesn't outline them well enough.

Gim-Palarcanus be with you.

[Nightbow]

I'm going to assume that you mean how we move characters from one thread to another.

* If your character leaves a thread and the story continues elsewhere, please write so at the bottom of your post. Even if you write ICly where your character is going, make it extra clear with a note within brackets. If your character is simply leaving the scene, just state that he/she is not present anymore.

I think it's pretty self explanatory.
When my character Knight Shade goes to save Whisp and Kail in the forest, he leaves Refuge and appears in The Champion.
Now I admittedly could have labelled the treads more clearly (I forgot, since The Champion had not been written by the time I "ended" in Refuge - fixed that now) so that he can more easily be followed, but that is what the post topping the threads should do - state the current time.

I believe Kiernan already covered the "turns" between the characters, but I'll add: you are welcome to suggest a phase. Should you post in a thread with lots of things going on and many characters in play, just say: [hey guys, please wait for me!]

Control of other's characters, or god-modding, was covered here:

3. Play nice. It is important to be fair in a role playing game. This rule forbids you from god-moding and auto-hitting, two big no-nos. Every character has strengths as well as flaws!

God-moding means that you take control over another character. If you don’t play as Seashells, you can’t decide how the character will act or react. Example:


Bubbles was sneaking up on Seashells, giggling uncontrollably as she did so, but Seashells couldn't hear her. Just as the lavender pony passed the thickest part of the bushes, Bubbles leapt out and yelled: “Boo!” Seashells thought her heart would stop, gasping with fright. “You really scared me there!”


Auto-hitting is when you don’t give the other player a chance to dodge your attack.


Rarity grew even more irritated. She picked up a small round pebble from the ground and hurled it towards Apple Jack, whacking her with a soft “thud” at the back of her head.


To avoid this, remember to have your characters try to scare the other character, or try to hit another character. You may also write what your character does depending on the outcome.


Bubbles spotted Seashells from her hiding place as the lavender earthling strolled by. Bubbles had gotten the brilliant idea to give the arrogant pony a good scare, and the mere thought of her frightened face threw Bubbles into a fit of giggles. Creeping closer through the greenery, she hoped that her snorting had not alerted her victim. Bubbles lay in wait. Three … two … NOW! The yellow pony leapt out of the shrubbery, screeching as ominously as she could manage through her smiling; “Boo!”


Rarity could not stand it. She tapped her hoof irritably against the ground, feeling a pebble underneath her. At a whim, she picked it up and hurled it aimlessly towards Apple Jack without much thought behind her action. Quickly realizing her deed, the unicorn’s eyes widened. If she hit her friend, she would stay frozen on her spot, desperately eyeing the pony for any signs of harm done. If not, Rarity would merrily whistle the Winter Wrap Up tune, obviously guilty.

I hope that answered your questions.

[arulinlightwind]

On the God Moding part:There is a little counter-conflict in those rules stating that you cannot interfere with planned a IC event (form of moderator god mode might I add). That is why I was a bit confused on how much that rule stood against the non-god rule that your rule state. As to God mode controlling that is very well understood and I agree, if someone starts that hogwash, I'll start raging on the OOC board in protest. Still there is a conflict of interest in the rules, might want to address it.

(As to what is below, this details more of why this kind of God intervention towards positive or negative outcomes are not always a good idea. My opinion of it, nothing more. Please leave the flame throwers out of it.)

This kind of GM/Mod god mode can ruin a game, making it linear. I'll respect the rule; doesn’t mean I got to like it. It gets boring especially in rpg video games that force it. FF series in general for example. No spoilers here but it certainly got boring not to mention it personally pisses me off that there was no way to have saved certain characters. That why I role play in non-linear games. Mind you I do know of a few cheats like how to bring back General Leo in FF6 but he really isn't in the game storyline. That besides the point but hope you get the jest. I do prefer a scenarios based systems to where if said character(s) figure out a solution and can make for a chess like check mate or stall mate in which case said opposition cannot find a solution to create the negative outcome then alters the timeline/story. On the other hand if someone 'really' messes up, it could be worse then the alternative. I.E instead of that character breaking a leg, it basically crushing it skull into a blow in other words cuasing said character to O.K/die/etc.

Please do have consideration I make it a career to find cracks in systems and fix them as a software engineer and an architect, hacking since the 90s (I am a white hat, makes more money and keeps me out of the cell with Bubba if you catch my flow on that). So this kind of stuff gets caught by me on a regular basis.

As for the shifting / moving on in post, I believe I understand now, I can concur that it makes better sense to do so; save you have a character that can create dubs of itself, can listen in on and to gain knowledge of, or can astral (i.e split form, shadow clone, astral projection, Portals , etc), happens quite a bit in such places as Castle Beware but it a slightly different post system. If I do something like this it will be done on the strict knowledge of this information that it must be done on extreme an care basis as to not get out of hand. As said before, that conflict of interest is why I asked this question as well.

I'll continue to lurk, watch how things progress. I may never character up but I am enjoying the story so far. I do thank Kiernan and Nightbow for the responses on this matter. Maybe I could of been a bit more clear on the reason why I asked so that it could be better understood but I think I have the jest of it... Now to the sad part of this...

Kiernan: The snide comments, were frankly quite expected. Why would any of those who would have Becka as the co-mod have any less of an attitude then what she had with me in the past? I am amazed that you admitted that you would put the snide comments in the snide paragraph. I read the post covering the last paragraph, wasn't that bad, till that last comment....I also expect a double standard. Reason why I am testing the waters, you gave that proof yourself to support this, in trying to provoke me. Ensuring I do not waste my time creating a bio, thank you, seriously. It takes me about a week of careful thought in a character, save blank slates, then writing the back story and figuring out the details in this another week at least to this if not more for head down mind spilling to a word document about 2 - 3 hours a day. That an investment for me if I am serious on a story. I took time in thinking if I should even responded to that. I have because why ignore this, this is how things are going to be. There is no point in denying it, that is foul hearty to try to sweep it under the rug.

I may still yet withdraw this part and keep it to myself but if not know this I will not create a character till I am certain that not only the story is a fit but the player-ship. Simply put, every word said is measured. I might leave, re-read the post and change my point of view several times before the final cut is made.

By the way, I do not slam those for using experience as a tool. I would have to slam myself first.

[Nightbow]

Oh goodie. My board has been active for a couple of weeks and we have a drama thread already.

Looks like I once again have to guess what part of the rule thread you have misinterpreted. I assume the OOC etiquette.
And the only thing I can find there is that I have written to please not interfere with characters in a thread that isn't open to you.

If it states [Closed to so-and-so, will open for others after the first page is finished], then please let the people who started the thread have the first page to themselves.
And that is what it is - etiquette, playing nice, staying friendly. I have seriously experienced RP-sessions that became completely messed up because one person kept posting ahead/auto-hit/stopping deaths that where meant to happen despite being asked nicely by all parts involved to lay it off .

We are here to have a good time. Do I have to repeat that this is a bunch of RP enthusiasts/amateur writers getting together for the fun of it? Not a video game? Not a system that you need to debug?
I always say you are welcome to me with questions, and I am willing to discuss the game overall, but you can't even choose a topic. You are just looking for ways to get me out of balance, and that seriously upsets me.
But why am I wasting my time with this? You know these things already.

Kiernan: The snide comments, were frankly quite expected. Why would any of those who would have Becka as the co-mod have any less of an attitude then what she had with me in the past?

This is where I draw the line. You don't insult my co-mod. You don't insult my fellow players.

2. Be kind. This is a big one. Love and tolerate (okay, we can’t demand you to love) your fellow players. If you have any problems with what someone is doing and you can’t solve it amongst yourselves, contact a moderator.
If you cause drama on the site, you get three strikes and then you are out. No ifs, ands or buts. I’ve seen unnecessary drama kill far too many good RPGs.

As a member of the Eventide forum, you abide by its rules. It doesn't matter how prettily you wrap them up, this is the second time you badmouth other members here.
I didn't want to do this but; Strike one. You have been warned.

Know that I am done in my life with ignoring people who do things just to hurt other people.
Here it comes again - get over what happened 7-9 years ago, or go spend your time on another RP board. Because I'm not going to discuss something that happened on C03 before I even joined. It has nothing to do with Eventide, me, or any of the other members.
Don't let me see you talking badly about anyone again.

I think you've been provided enough IC and OOC info to join if you really wanted to. The issue here seems to be with the people you must share the board with. So please, cut to the chase and tell me where the real problem lies?

[arulinlightwind]

I was cross referencing rules, part of being me I guess, to try to understand and involving my experiences. I may not had completely understood everything, then again I got more then I asked for. Maybe you should had a stroke at age 6 (love to see you make it as well off as I have) and living with a hole in your brain where a blood vain clotted and blew like a gas main. I would be happy to give you , Nightbow, a day in my shoes. Maybe you might know what it like to be me and understand, yet it impossible, wish I could give you a taste though.

Kiernan provoked that, I saw the provoke and made a stance, yet of course I get attacked for standing up for myself. Double standard? I think so. I will accept the fact you have the power to rip anyone here who you deem fit to do so. Your judgement though bias has made the call to batter me. Now if I misunderstood Kiernan's last paragraph so be it, I am not without my flaws. Not my first time of misinterpreting.

I was giving my opinion on some stuff, even noted the area. Yes, I can see that you don't want dynamics in the story, you want bits of it linear but it was just my opinion. Not forcing changes here.

Part of being me. I go all over the place at times.

---

I think you've been provided enough IC and OOC info to join if you really wanted to. The issue here seems to be with the people you must share the board with. So please, cut to the chase and tell me where the real problem lies?



Simply put , I do not want to be judged, damned because of my drawbacks. One of them I just revealed, the blasted stroke. Sometimes I have issues fully grasping everything, sometimes I read into things and get a cross reference that some folks may not thought of. Makes for a hell of a developer, not the greatest in communication skills.

Two, you got someone who judged me harshly before and I hold a hell of a long term memory (my short term memory is crap). Frankly, I am watching for what is expected yet hoping for a miracle. Just about to the point of just saying forget it on the miracle. I don't want to get my hopes up just to have them crash down. Did that before years back, that why I am so fickle on the idea. I want to but no way I am putting the invest in till I see change in this.

At first, I thought if I read up on the rules and lurked I could see if it was going to work. I had questions and saw it as a possible way to understand each other *Luaghs at myself for believing that*. I asked, what I got was answers yes but with 'your stupid' under tones in the form of 'it in the rules...' because I didn't quite get it the first time, or maybe even the second time. Yes the rules may be easily understand for others but I needed a little help because it did not seem to cover everything to my mind. Left hemisphere stroke entails a very cautious typical type of personality. Go look on stroke.org. So I am not always sure if I understood everything...


As for the character I was thinking about trying out...

Was thinking an travelling elven (yes I know non-pony but at least it would give a little unique minor character. Even 3rd gen has non-mlp characters) type silk merchant/enchanter to have something to play with but if I can't get answers without the 'how dumb are you' tone so I can play without issues; why brother. I do not feel like dealing with that level of hogwash.

Now am I going to get hung and quartered for

[Nightbow]

Any place, under any given circumstance, someone with authority will be viewed as biased, no matter what. I am trying to run a game here. Not rule a country or anything.

I asked, what I got was answers yes but with 'your stupid' under tones in the form of 'it in the rules' because I didn't quite get it the first time. Yes the rules may be easily understand for others but I needed a little help because it did not seem to cover everything.

Well if that is the case, then I am sorry. I never meant to imply that you were stupid, but you introduce yourself as a professional and say that you came on this site to "help" me make a proper RP, because I apparently can't, then you tell me to run a post-by-post as if it was a video game.
But your questions weren't exactly easy to understand either, but rather sounded nitpicking.

You are not getting away by blaming this on a medical condition.
You attacked Becka who hasn't said anything hostile to you on Eventide. You sassed Kiernan who tried to help you. And you're patronizing me, even though I'm trying to satisfy you by answering your posts.

We're just trying to have a good time here. What is it that you want me to say? What is it you want to "see change" in?
Do you want me to say that I'm sorry? Do you want me to beg you to join with a character that doesn't meet the basic requirements?
That's not going to happen. In that case you are waiting in vain.

You can't expect me to change my tone after how you've treated us, even since your first post.
If you stopped making me not want to log onto my own site, then maybe my responses would be a little more pleasing.

Why would I create even a light character? Was thinking an travelling elven (yes I know non-pony but at least it would give a little unique minor character. Even 3rd gen has non-mlp characters) type silk merchant/enchanter to have something to play with but if I can't get answers without the 'how dumb are you' tone so I can play without issues; why brother.

If you can't accept a no, then indeed, why bother?
You haven't even asked me if you can play this kind of character, now have you? Because I'm willing to discuss ideas, but I also have conditions and reasons for those conditions.
If you don't want to play a "light character", why put energy into quarrels instead of characters?

I feel like you're not listening to what I'm saying. I don't feel we have an issue here. As I understand, there is no problem. This is what according to me, have happened:

1. You introduce yourself as a professional programmer.

2. You bash Becka for something that happened almost a decade ago, that I had no part in.

3. You complain about the boards, the story, the rules, and the moderators.

4. You post in the conflicts board but fail to specify what the conflict is.

5. You bash Kiernan and Becka.

6. You complain when I give you a first warning for breaking the rules a second time, calling me unfair.

7. You blame it all on your condition.

8. You enrage me by making it sound like *I* am wasting *your* time.

The only conclusion I can come to is that you are still mad at Becka. That is your problem. Becka is and will remain my co-mod.
Why you want to stay is beyond me.

I'm giving you one last chance here to turn this around. I'm not gonna keep up this useless babbling forever. If you can't state what the problem is, I'll lock the thread and you are free to either post on the joining board, the Questions and suggestions thread (if you have some constructive question or suggestion, not to fight), or leave.

[arulinlightwind]

As for the issue I had of understanding how the laws work. It been done with. The only issue I had was with the rules.

[Kiernan]

I'd love to see you be bludgeoned by a group of people, then left bleeding , propped against a decommissioned tank for six hours when you were seven, so you could try on my shoes. But that's not going to happen, either.

And forgive me for wishing you ill will, but you've done naught to further anything on this site, save for dissension.

If you're not clear on how something works, ask how it works, but don't go about it by saying that the rules don't cover any part of it. The fact was, the rules did cover it, and if you wanted a more thorough explanation, you should have said something closer to: "I'm a bit confused about something, could someone go into detail about this."

And if you think I'm trying to provoke you... Oh, who am I kidding, of course you do. You made that quite blatant. when someone whom I don't like (and know that it's solely because of the way you portray yourself through your choices) tries to verbally assault someone I do like (solely because of the way she portrays herself through her choices) I tend to defend the people I do like, because, if you've paid any attention to what was said, we want a site that is fun, and bashing other people isn't fun.

Some life lessons that I've taken to heart:

Play nice with the other kids.

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

If you act like you're thick, people are going to treat you as if you're thick. Therein, if you act as if you're going to cause harm, people are going to treat you as if you were going to cause them harm.

The meaning of these three are all the same: If you will play nice, and work with us, rather than against us, then we'll play nice too. Otherwise, keep your bad choices to yourself.

And don't think that just because you have a recognized medical disorder, you get to do whatever you want. If that were true, I would have my Dissociative Identity Disorder flowing everywhere here, and there would be four users named Kiernan. (For those of you who don't know what Dissociative Identity Disorder is, most people keep confusing it for schizophrenia/split personae)

And I was snide long before I arrived here, I'll have you know. I didn't even meet Becka until recently. So don't you dare make a claim that my attitude came from her. If anyone's to blame, it's the Irish, solely because of their genetics.

That being said, I do support Becka's decisions, because they are within reason. Yours, on the other hand... I don't want to play a My Little Elf RP, I want to play a My Little Pony RP, and I will thank you to stay within the rules that have been set down.

If you can't stay within the rules, well, Galaris be with you.

[Nightbow]

Good. Since the questions about the rules have been answered, this thread has served its purpose and will be locked.

I look forward to view any future posts with new eyes.
(But that doesn't necessarily mean that things are forgotten.)