Volume Virus's Non-Canon Roleplay Training Thread

[Volume Virus]

Lesson Four: Storyline Ettiquite

Plot points (AKA arcs or storylines) are the spice of life here at KJT. Sure, killing time between arcs can occasionally be fun as well, but who doesn't love a good rescue mission or raid? However, those involved in storylines sometimes make a few slight errors that end up affecting everyone involved in the thread.

First off: never abandon your group in the middle of a storyline; at least, not without warning. Everyone has points in time when they have to do something, be it for a day or a week. However, if you're the one leading the way in an arc, it can be disastrous if you're away for any length of time. The best way to handle this is to relate the main events that you have planned to someone who you know is going to be around. This deputy can either play for your character or merely drive the arc in the right direction. Arson and Red have a particularly good system of this. However, some people simply forget to come online and drive their threads, leaving everyone else to flounder. Please don't do that.

Second, be sure to run any major plot points past anyone it effects. Yes, one of the best part of roleplays is the spontaneousness, but I'm talking major plot points as in the death or major injury of your character. That way, they know what's coming before they panic. If you just want to stage a coyote attack or a safehouse discovery or something, you don't need to run it past them. If it's something that's bound to make your entire thread panic because they have no idea what to do when your character suddenly loses an arm, please, tell your threadmates.

[Volume Virus]

Lesson Five: The Mentality Spectrum.

A quote from Electric Revenge's latest post sums up the most common Killjoy mentality:

Apr 17, 2012 14:27:39 GMT -5 Electric Revenge said:

I may kill Dracs, but I'm not a murderer.

I'm not usually one to quote, but it just seemed to get to the point in the shortest amount of words. Most Killjoys see nothing wrong with killing Dracs. They don't have emotions, they don't have art or music, they don't have anything to live for. Why should the Killjoys care? So most of them equate the Dracs to small animals, like rats in the food source or bloodsucking mosquitoes, and kill them as necessary.

There is a small group of Killjoys that aren't like that and actually realize that they're killing a human every time they kill a Drac. This is usually a belated reaction that exists in very few people. Honestly, even though I try to make Volume one of these characters, I rarely remember to give her any remorse for the faceless Dracs she kills. This mentality is hard to keep up in the storm of "Dracs are Vermin" sentiments and is, technically, not the right one for a faction at war. A feeling of guilt with every human killed may eventually get you killed. It's probably out there, though, and is best shown by the people who took in Red even though she was a member of BLI and would fight for her regardless of the fact that she was raised by rats.

BLI also has two different mentalities, although they don't show theirs as often and try to stay neutral and drugged. Most of the BLI characters lean towards a desire to "fix" the Killjoys. Almost like missionaries, they believe that the poor, dirty desert-dwellers are misguided fools who must be made Better in order to become real people who have functions in society. They are all for Wolfblood treatments and capturing the Killjoys, but it's never appreciated when they're killed instead of fixed.

A few of the BLI workers, however, think the same of the Killjoys that Killjoys think of BLI: they are vermin who must be wiped out. This is the view Killjoys think that BLI has of them and the one they have adopted in return. In some cases, this is true, but not for what seems to be the majority of our Dracs.

My suggestion for your characters: pick one of these mentalities and stick to it. Again, Angie is my problem child when it comes to this, as she has jumped between mentalities in the past. Honestly, that's fine too. There are some people who can't hold a steady opinion of something and waver between one side and another. It's part of the reason why there are Independents in politics. If your character has a specific mentality, however, you must also get into it. If you have a BLI character and a Killjoy, for instance, you have to understand both points of view, much like you need to be able to know both of their characters inside-out. Know their motivations for thinking this way and be prepared to defend your mentality and keep it steady. A firm believer in the "Burn-BLI-Down" doctrine, for instance, would be horrible at defending BLI's "Change-for-the-Better" doctrine.

Think this post was good? Redundant (you already gave us a get-into-character lecture!)? Have tips for next time? All are helpful.

[Glass~Vendetta]

I think this was a very good subject to touch on. Some of people might not have the right mindset. I also agree that very few killjoys have much, if any at all, remorse for the dracs they killed.

However, I like to think that there is a middle ground between the remorseful and the bloodthirsty. Some of the killjoys are just trying to be heroic, perhaps thinking that by killing a drac, they are bringing justice. Maybe they would be remorseful, but in their eyes they're avenging the deaths of innocents or of their past comrades. They see dracs as killers of their kind, so it's natural, to them anyway, to kill these dracs for closure or something. But I digress....

I really like your posts. It's like a little refresher course, I keep seeing things I need to improve on. Personally, someone who can make two very different characters with such strong opposition is a good writer. I think that's all....yep. x)

[Volume Virus]

...yeah, what Glass said. There could indeed be that third mindset that I completely skimmed over. However, again, most Killjoys are chock full o' bloodlust.

I'm glad I'm helping, seeing as that was the point. Thanks. :]

[Arson Anthem]

Very well written, Vol! It's definitely something to keep in mind. When you imagine the killjoy world, don't just think of the car chases and bottle-to-the-head from Na Na Na - also think of Party Poison's expression when he pulls off the drac's mask. There are people under there, after all, and you have a lot of range to play with in terms of your character's point of view. Personally, I love playing the opposite ends of the spectrum, from Arson to Captain to Max, and everything in between.

[Electric Revenge]

I don't know if I should be honored or what for quoting me. I guess it is the main mentality that most killjoys use, but Electric has motivation for why she thinks like that. I used to really make my characters black and white, but now I'm really playing with the shades of gray that can exist in between. Things in Electric's past have driven that mentality home. I don't want to spoil her reasons here though; that's what the main story is for!

In any case, another wonderfully written post. It's great thinking about all these different things that people may skip when coming up with their characters. I always have a nagging feeling in my mind that a character of mine is cliche or too Mary Sue-ish, so its good to have something there to give me inspiration to flesh out my character more.

[Volume Virus]

You don't need to feel bad, 'Lec. You were honestly what inspired me to write this just because I read that and wad like "Whoa, so true."
It's never good to have a Mary Sue. They have to be flawed a little bit. XD

[Volume Virus]

Lesson Six: How to Post Effectively (or: This Is A Lit Forum So Let's Write Like It)

Everyone knows that posts are to this forum what body paragraphs are to a good essay: the part that everyone's looking at and judging you on. Like body paragraphs in an essay, they should be well-thought out and nice to read. In my opinion, at least, posts should take time to write out. Not only do you have to check for continuity, but you also should make it good so that the people reading it don't read it and gnash their teeth because they wanted a nice, well-worded response and they got something like "*turns away* sure". (If I just quoted anyone directly, I swear, I didn't mean to.)

The thing that aggravates me the most about posts sometimes is grammar and spelling. I'm not saying that we should throw anyone who capitalizes a wrong word or misplaces a comma into a tar pit. You don't need to have stellar grammar that would make an English teacher weep for joy (although it's super-great if you do). It's just preferable that you follow the basic rules. A period at the end of every sentence and a capital letter to start it off. Proper nouns correctly capitalized. Commas to separate clauses. You know, the stuff that you were likely taught in sixth grade. Some people, when they get on the Internet, throw the rules of grammar out the window and go crazy with uncapitalized Is and the wrong forms of their. However, and I cannot stress this enough, this is a lit roleplay. That means that, even if you don't know the rules of grammar perfectly and don't write like you're typing out a term paper, you at least try. Commas. Periods. Apostrophes. Being able to distinguish between their, they're, and there. The "Shift" key. It should be simple.

The second problem, which is usually only irritating when you have to reply and only sometimes annoying to people outside your thread, is the content of your post. One of the things that made my heart sink the most when I looked back at my first few posts was how short and stupid they were. I would have posts where all I said was something along the lines of "Goodnight. *falls asleep*" I'm ashamed of that time, because I gave anyone who would reply to me nothing at all to work with. That just led to more and more five-word posts. There's actually a rule (more of an advisory thing than something that can get you reported, but a rule nonetheless) against those. Writing seven words for every post you make may get your post count up, but it doesn't make you a valued member of the society. It just makes you irritating to anyone who is forced with the challenge of figuring out how to respond to something like that. I'm not saying that anything under two lines of text is horrible. I'm not saying that short posts never work in context. I'm not saying that everyone hates you if you've ever written a contentless post (that's probably the opposite of the case). But, again, see my this is a lit roleplay thing. We like long posts. It's lovely to read them, because you feel like they're advancing the story. The tiny posts don't give you that sense of satisfaction, because it seems like they were written out in three seconds by someone who just plain doesn't care.

In short, I'm not trying to offend anyone, but look at your grammar and take some time to write more than a single sentence if you can. Thanks for your time.

[Volume Virus]

Lesson Seven: Storyline (and also Backstory) Etiquette Part Two (Or: We May Be In The Desert But There Are No Islands Involved.)

I've been noticing lately that people have been starting to create storylines that center completely around their character (perhaps including a best friend or significant other) and leave little room for others. I know I've been guilty of this in the past (if anyone remembers a certain "Tower Incident"), and I've seen it done plenty of times. Some types of "human island" behavior (or egocentric behavior, but I saw the term "human island" coined on a blog and I think it's cool) include: having a character storm off and make people come get them, having an enemy from the character's past show up and pick a fight, or having your character get into an argument with numerous threadmates at once for no fathomable reason. This is a method of drawing attention to that character. Yes, you may be developing a backstory for your character as you do this. I am all for backstory development. It just shouldn't involve doing the roleplay equivalent of standing in the middle of a room and shouting "EVERYONE, LOOK AT ME!". It may get everyone's undivided attention, but they won't be happy that you interrupted what they were doing for whatever you're going to come up with.

On the topic of backstories, here's a short little blurb that didn't deserve its own lesson: I know it's easy to draw a friend or two into your character's backstory if they join up. That's fine, because backstories are flexible. Just make it make sense. If you say "Oh, I've been wondering how you've been for years!" or "I missed you more than anything in the world!" or something, it makes no sense if they have never spoken of that person before in their entire membership on this fine site. If they're that big a part of your life, they at least deserve a fleeting mention.

Also, seeing as no one read my last post that I know of, this is still a lit roleplay. Is it really that hard to hit the shift, comma, or apostrophe keys?

[Glass~Vendetta]

I read it. (Woo, I hit the shift key SEVERAL TIMES.)

[Volume Virus]

Yay! Thank ya. I just haven't noticed a difference in the people who that post was aimed at. XD

[Bullet Ringer]

I read everything O.O, but I'm a little nerd like that =] Keep posting!

[Firebird Freedom]

well I must say in the defense of some grammar problems. I sometimes post from an Ipad like i am doing now. its retarded and annoying so excuse some grammar and spelling because we all know the tortures of auto cucumber.

[Volume Virus]

...auto cucumber....

I post from an iPad a lot too, namely every single thing I've posted before noon. It's still not hard to hit the shift key or get to the apostrophe, and it autocorrects a lower case i to a capital I, at least mine does. I wasn't talking about typos, because everyone makes those. Even the typos that change to different words. My problems are the capitalization, punctuation, and your/you're and their/there/they're errors I see. Technically speaking, it shouldn't be an excuse for anything except typos.

[Firebird Freedom]

Yeah Im going to go die in a ditch now... my Ipad is almost brand new its still stupid to me.... and I am embarrassed by that...