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Author Topic: May have wrote myself into a corner here....  (Read 3049 times)

Saede Riordan

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May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« on: 23 Jun 2010, 17:29 »

So I just finished redefining Nikita as a character, and largely that worked, it fixed the massive plot holes surrounding her as a character, made her much, much less of a Mary Sue, and created hardlinks between her and the Angel Cartel, which is something I wanted to achieve for a while.
However, it also caused some major issues.
where I am is that nikita is majorly fucked in the head and getting worse, she has horrible nightmares, occasional hallucinations, can't stay focused on things, and is super duper submissive, to the point where she can barely make her own choices on what to wear. This is largely stemming from the fact that she spent the past 4 years being remote controlled, and she has no real clue how to make her own choices. Also, Nikita wants to prove herself to the cartel again, that's the reason for her running a corp, and that's the reason for her running off to stain. That's where I am with her right now.

where I want to go, well, rp wise, I really am not sure what I want to do with Niki, I want her to develop close friends, and have people to lean on. I also want to play out Nikita's mental issues in an interesting way, I don't ever really want her to get over them completely. OOCly, I want to run a corp, and I want to have my name on the map. At the same time though, I actually have a lot of fun rping a submissive character, its a trait I have IRL that I can never really express, so I really enjoy having a way to get it out. I guess that's where I want to go

The problems I am running into are:
1. Nikita in character's mental issues.
2. I as a person, OOC, am incredibly submissive, meaning that as a CEO, I'm really, really not well set up. I don't see this as a problem, I like myself this way, and I'd make a great director, and I'll do as good as I can running the corp, but I'm not sure if I really can do it.

so yeah. Issues, plans, problems, directions.

Please help.
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Arvo Katsuya

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #1 on: 23 Jun 2010, 18:07 »

...not to mention you're already gunning for an alliance when you just established yourself as a new corp. Too much at once. Slow down.

I find that more meaningful 'character redefining moments' are fully realized when they come gradually over time, as the result of a buildup of conditions and events that may as well cause a breaking point for the character to happen. It may take couple weeks, or several months. When you allow things to shift at that speed, you also give yourself the time to focus on what your character's current motives are. Be flexible with them. Why do you need 'direction' or 'plans' for every waking moment the character has? Perhaps the dynamics of the people around you may also alter the course in ways you not have originally expected. There's also the aspect of when those events finally do happen, you have alot to stuff to look back on and appreciate. In short, its good to play a balance between the 'scripted' and 'dynamic' forms of roleplay.

As I personally don't know too much about the Angel Cartel, I'm afraid I can't help you there but looks like Aria has been around to give you a number of pointers in their perspectives as a veteran loyalist to that faction.

Finally, even though after things are done and said we have differing viewpoints, I'm a bit disappointed in the path you took. As a player you are stating you are 'submissive' OOC to shape your decisions through your character, but went the way of demonizing Sansha's Nation in your character's personal storyline and perspective she has of it. Completely valid, but I feel that I doubt she'll ever have that doorway 'open' to her anymore willingly. From an OOC standpoint, I'd think if you looked into the 'whiter parts of gray' that resembles the faction and what it stood for, you might have enjoyed playing it out. Would have been interesting to see another Sansha girl running crazy inventions, and giving Izzy a run for her money in that niche. :P
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Saede Riordan

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #2 on: 23 Jun 2010, 18:43 »

...not to mention you're already gunning for an alliance when you just established yourself as a new corp. Too much at once. Slow down.
Yeah yeah, I know, but its sort of a matter of I want to have the alliance to begin with ahead of time, for faster wardecs, and to make sure I get the Alliance name I want. but I'm not really going to rush that, I know it will take months, and I'm prepped for that

I find that more meaningful 'character redefining moments' are fully realized when they come gradually over time, as the result of a buildup of conditions and events that may as well cause a breaking point for the character to happen. It may take couple weeks, or several months. When you allow things to shift at that speed, you also give yourself the time to focus on what your character's current motives are. Be flexible with them. Why do you need 'direction' or 'plans' for every waking moment the character has? Perhaps the dynamics of the people around you may also alter the course in ways you not have originally expected. There's also the aspect of when those events finally do happen, you have alot to stuff to look back on and appreciate. In short, its good to play a balance between the 'scripted' and 'dynamic' forms of roleplay
Yeah, honestly, the arc was rushed, I admit that, but it was largely to De-Mary Sueify Nikita, and everything else came secondary to that. Things will slow down now, but I need a direction to steer towards before I raise my sails.

As I personally don't know too much about the Angel Cartel, I'm afraid I can't help you there but looks like Aria has been around to give you a number of pointers in their perspectives as a veteran loyalist to that faction.

Finally, even though after things are done and said we have differing viewpoints, I'm a bit disappointed in the path you took. As a player you are stating you are 'submissive' OOC to shape your decisions through your character, but went the way of demonizing Sansha's Nation in your character's personal storyline and perspective she has of it. Completely valid, but I feel that I doubt she'll ever have that doorway 'open' to her anymore willingly. From an OOC standpoint, I'd think if you looked into the 'whiter parts of gray' that resembles the faction and what it stood for, you might have enjoyed playing it out. Would have been interesting to see another Sansha girl running crazy inventions, and giving Izzy a run for her money in that niche. :P

Its just that OOC, I never liked Sansha's Nation, they as a group never appealed to me, same with the Guristas, they seem pretty cool, but I don't want to RP them, I wanted to RP as an Angel, so thats the path I took. Yes, it has closed doors, and I accepted that before I began.
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Casiella

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #3 on: 23 Jun 2010, 19:46 »

De-Mary Sue-ification (I love that phrase you used! :) ) will take time. It takes a track record and a different way of interacting with others, not just how you see the character. Note, I'm not calling Nikita-c a Mary Sue, just working with your phrasing. Please don't take things the wrong way!

So take your time, enjoy the transitions, and really explore the character & how she works with others.
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Ghost Hunter

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #4 on: 23 Jun 2010, 19:55 »

Errr, so about that Mary Sue correctional thing.

Was that before or after you tried to godmod hacking Ghost's interface?

Maybe you didn't see it as such, but your choice of words implied the effects happened without any chance for counter-input from the other party (me). I'm wondering if you know how to do responsive IC escalating?
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Saede Riordan

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #5 on: 23 Jun 2010, 21:25 »

Errr, so about that Mary Sue correctional thing.

Was that before or after you tried to godmod hacking Ghost's interface?

Maybe you didn't see it as such, but your choice of words implied the effects happened without any chance for counter-input from the other party (me). I'm wondering if you know how to do responsive IC escalating?

that was after, but I hadn't ever really done the whole reactionary back and forth RPing thing, a few of my friends walked me through that a few days ago and taught me how to do it and stuff, so yeah, accidental godmodding acknowledged, sorry bout that, still learning things.


but uh guys, none of you have really looked at how I can deal with my problems now. Wherein IC stuff, and OOC stuff, don't mesh, and OOC stuff and IRL stuff don't mesh. I know there are other things I need to work on, but that's not what this topic is about. The other things I need to work on, I have people helping me with already. ^^
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Ghost Hunter

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #6 on: 23 Jun 2010, 23:12 »

Errr, so about that Mary Sue correctional thing.

Was that before or after you tried to godmod hacking Ghost's interface?

Maybe you didn't see it as such, but your choice of words implied the effects happened without any chance for counter-input from the other party (me). I'm wondering if you know how to do responsive IC escalating?

that was after, but I hadn't ever really done the whole reactionary back and forth RPing thing, a few of my friends walked me through that a few days ago and taught me how to do it and stuff, so yeah, accidental godmodding acknowledged, sorry bout that, still learning things.


but uh guys, none of you have really looked at how I can deal with my problems now. Wherein IC stuff, and OOC stuff, don't mesh, and OOC stuff and IRL stuff don't mesh. I know there are other things I need to work on, but that's not what this topic is about. The other things I need to work on, I have people helping me with already. ^^

mmmmk, was wondering. I'm willing to help give pointers on the action/reaction thing.



Quote
The problems I am running into are:
1. Nikita in character's mental issues.
2. I as a person, OOC, am incredibly submissive, meaning that as a CEO, I'm really, really not well set up. I don't see this as a problem, I like myself this way, and I'd make a great director, and I'll do as good as I can running the corp, but I'm not sure if I really can do it.

1) Hang out in places where other people RP, avoid trying to be a dramaqueen/marysue attention tool. Attract people into getting involved with her as a character and seeing if they're willing to help her. I know there's a couple bleeding hearts in every bar channel. As people may not hop on board immediately, it would be wise to insert some power yourself OOC to alleviate the problems. I say alleviate because if you come on too strong, people will OOC think there is some serious baggage for you as a player and not as a story element.

2) There is a difference between submissive and spineless. A submissive person is willing to defer and concede their own opinions or actions to a superior of their own free will. A spineless person is tooled and ordered around regardless of what they think of it themselves.

A CEO can be many things. A CEO can be a fascist dictator, a despot, the chairman, or a director on a council who has their powers solely because game mechanics don't allow for others to share it. The important thing is to realize how you want your corporation's command structure to function. If you don't feel you can be a dictator or a one-man power holder, create a council. You will ultimately hold some unique sway others won't be able to (as the original visionary), but for the large part command leadership will be shared.

I've seen every type of leadership imaginable of this game, from despot to communism. They have their ups and downs, but if you as a person involved in it cannot agree with it at a fundamental basis it will break down. So, find a structure you're comfortable with. Filling in the spaces will be a simple affair after that.
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Ghost > So yes, she was Ghost's husband-
Ashar > So Ghost was a gay Caldari and she went through tranny surgery
Ghost > Wait what?
Ashar > Ghosts husband.
Ghost > No she was - Oh god damnit.

He ate all of them
We Form Moderation
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Mithfindel

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #7 on: 24 Jun 2010, 00:30 »

Character development, in the IC sense: List your strengths for yourself. Focus on them. Aim to develop them. That's how athletes are trained. Possibly focus on an individual field, prioritize.

Corporation development - the idea would be to find people who complement your weaknesses. There's a piece of old German military advice on choosing personnel: "I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!" You'll need good directors.
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Nikiruu

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #8 on: 25 Jun 2010, 02:50 »

Quote
1. Nikita in character's mental issues.
This is something that will take a while to work through.  The best way to do this is to borrow from "RL": find a support system.  Friends and/or loved ones to help with the transition, and to identify specific issues that need to be worked through.
Quote
2. I as a person, OOC, am incredibly submissive, meaning that as a CEO, I'm really, really not well set up. I don't see this as a problem, I like myself this way, and I'd make a great director, and I'll do as good as I can running the corp, but I'm not sure if I really can do it.
Identify your leadership strengths, and recruit others who can help fill those gaps as directors.  Again, a long process.  If you have the patience, it will pay off in the end.
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Mebrithiel

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #9 on: 11 Jul 2010, 14:51 »

A CEO can be a fascist dictator, a despot

Signing in on that one.

Just an interest Niki, but I noticed some of your chars summit posting and your responses would have pleased Meb to a certain extent.

It's not exactly IC knowledge, but it's probably pretty obvious to all but the most blind/stupid pod pilots, that Meb is a massive domi. She enjoys power over everything and only ever defers if the idea suits her desire for destruction, domination, flair and danger, or that she was thinking on the same lines, but was too worried about bringing it up incase her peers thought her even more batshit crazy.

She's also (me too in this) taken over her sisters corp and started running it her way in the means to create her own following akin to when she ran Blood Inq. I reckon there's room in there to help each other learn2CEO and develop a char relationship. Meb's mostly straight but I reckon there's room in there were the relationship more torture garden and less romance  :twisted:

Just an idea. Would make it even more interesting considering Meb has a distrust of most Angel affiliates not called Kyoko or Aria. Could be the beginning of a rather weird business relationship between generally opposing factions?
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Saede Riordan

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #10 on: 11 Jul 2010, 16:53 »

Just an idea. Would make it even more interesting considering Meb has a distrust of most Angel affiliates not called Kyoko or Aria. Could be the beginning of a rather weird business relationship between generally opposing factions?

that could be really interesting, and I would be game for it if we can work it out ICly
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Mebrithiel

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Re: May have wrote myself into a corner here....
« Reply #11 on: 16 Jul 2010, 03:18 »

Now I just need to be online more and find an IC reason to strike up a convo  :roll:

More IGS behaviour like Niki's showing should do the job  :twisted:
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