Welcome to Gaia! ::

Chris, I'm so glad you read my PM and have come back! Not only have you come back, but you've posted! biggrin Woot! I'm really excited about this because I love this story.

Also, I've got two people that might work well with the story. One girl recently joined Dragons, and her RP style is very similar to mine. I think she'd be perfect, and she's looking for RPs to join. I'm sure after I invite her here and if she accepts, she'll be at her limit. wink lol. But I think she'd really enjoy it here.

The other guy I've been RPing with recently had to quit one of my RPs b/c he said they move too quickly for him. lol. That was the nicest compliment I've ever gotten from someone quitting. wink So maybe this will be great for him.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've got a third person in consideration... but he kinda mods at times. Usually I can help people to keep their modding tendencies low, but I'm not sure about this guy. lol. We'll see.

And Fox I'm sure will be back. She's very busy with college right now, but I know she loves RPing and really wants to come back. She's been a great asset in Dragons, so we definitely don't want to lose her for Spektral.

I'm so glad this story is moving again! XD If you need me to contact people, Chris, just let me know. And I can't post today b/c I'm at work right now and then I have a football game to go to for two of my cousins. I want to be able to take the time to catch up and then post well. smile So look for a post this weekend! Woot!

Also, I have been working on this great idea for an advertisement for Dragons, one I don't think I've seen done before on Gaia. Maybe we can talk about it and see if it might work for Spektral, too. smile

It's a shame to lose old posts, but we can make new ones, at least.

I think I know one of the guys Laura is talking about - anyways, I'll ask some other guys I know if they'd be interested. It's possible Mitsuki might consider coming back, but I doubt it. It's her senior year and she's working three jobs. Secret is out of the question, she's up to her nose in books.

Oh! Another thing!

I've been learning some really sweet stuff in my computer class here at MICA, and I know some graphic artists on Gaia who are better than anyone I've ever seen! If you think some snazzy new graphics for the guild would be nice, especially once we have a few more people, just say the word and I'll foot the bill.

Sure thing - what did you have in mind? Most of my fonts and stuff are geared towards a clean and precise look. If you want, say, something ornate with lots of curlicues or grungy with lots of texture, you should let me know so I can start raiding stock off the interwebz.

Sorry I didn't post this weekend like I thought I'd be able to. This weekend was crazy busy. Lots of fun stuff, but no time for computers. And on Monday, I spent all day (even some at work xp) on the Occupy Wall Street forums. Go OWS!

But I'm back and hopefully will post soon. I don't think it will be tonight, though, b/c...

SIMS 3 PETS IS RELEASED TODAY!! biggrin

It's coming in the mail and I really want to play it tonight. I'm hoping to get to posting in Spektral tomorrow, though. smile I'm really excited to get the RP moving again.

I mentioned the story to one of the RPers, and he didn't sound too excited just b/c it didn't have much of a storyline, yet. So, maybe if we can all come up with something, then it'd be easier to invite people with an enticing story. Also have to have an idea for my promotion idea. wink

I really miss the school aspect. Those are some of the best RPs around, I think, and some of the most popular. That might just be my opinion, though. If it's considered, though, is there a way to incorporate a magical school in this new dimension they're in?

@Liz: Thank you, I'll check it out when I have a moment.
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@Laura: I'm going to agree with Liz on this one Laura. Although there isn't much of a plot, sometimes the best stories out there are like that. The only 'plot' so far that we made out of this story is that it's a fantasy roleplay that plays off the rules of film and is a world where imagination and creative means rule, giving the roleplayer's limitless options and power to make whatever they want happen, though they will not realize that they were absorbed into an actual film until the end of the story, forgetting that it happened to them. And I'm thinking of having a mock academy awards for this story at the end, using our real life avatar's playing their respected roles, just like that crazy awesome story that we roleplayed to celebrate your birthday a few years back, in the Dragons guild Laura, which I actually thought that was an awesome 'out of the box' approach to the story and I enjoyed it very much. It almost plays off the 'breaking of the fourth wall' aspect in comedies like Blazing Saddles, And the reason why I'm not going to return to the school aspect with this one story besides what Liz said, is also we didn't even finish the school story.

Most of us 'maxed out' on it. So much, that we didn't even finish the last story with Amaranth and her family, and the people that were involved. We lost a lot of long time roleplayers during that story too as it alienated them and they felt left out because they couldn't warm to it. Many wanted to contribute to it, but some of them felt that everyone was acting to cliquey to join in and just have some fun with it, which is something that was always a root standard in the guild. And that's all a major problem.

So, while sticking to a tested formula, like we have been, worked out very well for the short run, it robbed us of the long term point and that was creating a story with friends. Maxing out on that formula and becoming uninspiried is something that would have made me close the guild before allowing it to happen. And I did learn from the experience. It was a great story though. Really it was, and it did have potential, but it died in it's sleep and despite all efforts, the resurrection didn't work out too well.

Maybe, just maybe we could have them visit a school that's taught there as sort of an easter egg subplot and nod to the original series, but I wouldn't want it becoming the current main plot. This story is going to serve as a break from all that to help us get back the fire that we once had. Too many authors in general just stick to a plot like some rule abiding warden or mafia enforcer, and what it does is break the legs of the imagination and puts a bullet in the head of creativity of what can turn a good roleplay into a great one, because they're bound to the rules too much.

It's about as evidently different as watching a manager lead a team, and a leader lead the masses. The difference is as clear as a fresh body of water. We've written at least five or six school based Spektral roleplays to my knowledge, at least four that are in this guild alone and another two that were precursors outside of this guild in the forums, and were inspirations to what it is today. Don't get me wrong, I don't know anyone out there who doesn't want to have 40,000+ guild roleplayers to roleplay with, but to have 40,000+ inactive roleplayers rather than 6-10 dedicated ones is better to me.

Too many cooks spoil the broth, as it's said. I'm not running that race now. It allows me to take those 6-10 people and work with them on their writing and roleplaying one on one, wheras massive groups require massive time, dedication, patience, and people that have a lot of freedom to work on it, which are elements that aren't prevalent yet. Someday, that will be this guild using the techniques that I teach to those people to have them teach it to other's when they and their students are ready, but for now, it's not what we're going to focus on. It's not important getting the bodies in, what is important is getting the writers or the aspiring roleplayers or writers in.

The people that enjoy either contributing to a good story, or coming up with one of their own. And it's even more important helping to invite them in and not ignore their posts. Because ignoring someone's post in a story, is about as polite as giving someone the finger in real life. It's saying 'F**k you, you're not good enough to be here' to them, and if they're ego is super fragile, it's the kind of thing that will not let us have them back. It's about making the new people feel welcomed and them wanting to come back. It's about having values and standards and be willing to work with them. It's about them looking at writing as a means of escape, a means to where they have nearly limitless power to create the kind of story that they want to have, while respecting the styles and writing of other people. Laura, I know that you are a fantastic roleplayer and that you have taken the shows and incidents that have happened in your life , or influenced you, and applied them into your writings. If there are people that aren't willing to help out, I acknowledge that and welcome it.

It saves me plenty of time and allows me and the others in this guild to work and invest into the people who do want to develop their talents and writing and become better writers in the process. Not everyone will want to be a part of this story and I know that this is true. But for those that do, even it's long enough to develop their talents and use what they want and then kill off their character (If that's their choice), I will be happy to have been a part of that development of skill, because I know that somewhere down the line, that will benefit them and hundreds more.

But I have this thing where I have to finish what I started, and this time, it will be finished. The first three stories were so good to everyone that I had people complain to me via PM as to why we weren't starting the next one already. I'm also working on having Masterson not be as much of a God-like omnipotent figure where he has all this power and cannot not do anything. That is a factor that I am working on, and to go to this extent, I've removed a lot of what he can do and put in a lot of what he is unable to do as well. He'll get the superkinetic abilities that he has though but not in the near time. He'll screw up more than he has in the last stories, and it'll be pretty funny too.

Lol. Well, to be honest, you're right about that too. And you didn't have to read all that Liz, that was more for Laura, lol. How do you figure we should invite Enfy's, Phan, and Hanen into the story given their locations/home worlds? So far, for this story, I started everyone on the same note:Brief summary/intro of who they are and maybe an adventure or two, then I've had it so that everyone's character was fedex-ed/ups'ed a reel of film that says "Play Me" and as they played it, they got sucked into the film through the screen that was played on it, landing in different areas all over Galvanetti. Amaranth for example, went into hiding, misses Masterson, living a life on the run, and when she got her reel she played it and landed in a mountainous region and was welcomed by The Creator but she didn't know it was him. And suddenly, they all got summoned to The Creator's office where he's given them the rundown of whats happened. It's about as bat$#!+ insane as Hanen, but that's how it all began in a paragraph.

You're free to join in at anytime.

I've returned. sad Sorry for falling off the face of the earth. Midterms happened and my parents flipped shits and say they can't trust me anymore then called the next day all happy like... I'm uber confused about that... Plus the internet on my campus was out for a while. @_@

But yeah. The busy times have seemingly slowed down. smile

Especially Hanen.