Elite roleplay: Q&A and OOC
28 Sep 2016, 2:09am
1. No special pandas. You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake.
1a. Don't use weird colors in your posts to point out your dialogue. We can read just fine, thank you.
2. Spell correctly, please. See that red squiggle that appears beneath a word sometimes? It means it's spelled wrong. If you right click it, it'll suggest how to correctly spell that word.
3. Actions you take probably won't really have an effect on the universe (see rule 1) and should generally reflect the state of the universe in-game. No, you aren't friends with/are a personal representative of Aisling Duval. No, a planet in the Kremainn system isn't going to randomly start breaking apart for no apparent reason. (If the planet is still there in-game, now you just look like an idiot.)
Rant over. Let's use some common sense while RPing, eh?
28 Sep 2016, 2:17am
Also, playing Iron Maiden on a jukebox in 3302 is like playing Mozart in a jukebox now.
ie, retarded, and liable to get you thrown out of the bar for being a dweeb.
Last edit: 28 Sep 2016, 3:44am
28 Sep 2016, 2:21am
RP participants/logbook writers of Inara, I have a few requests, and more than a few observations:
-Please, those few of you who feel the need to write dialogue in color: stop. Just stop. It's distracting, it's cartoonish, and it reduces your work to one level above that of a singalong children's show where the ball is bouncing above the lyrics that are being sung. Furthermore, it's patronizing. We're all adults here- and if we aren't, we've at least all been to school. We understand what quotation marks are for. Millions of books have been published without either the authors or the publishers feeling the need to give dialogue special colors to lend the reader special help to know when a character is speaking. So do us all a solid and please stop. You're undercutting your own writing when you do this.
-Observe the fundamentals: spelling, punctuation, and proper use of paragraphs. I won't say proper English, because realistic and well-written dialogue often gleefully thumbs its nose at proper, structured language. But these things are core to anything that can be called competently written. I understand that not everyone here may speak or write English as a first language- but do try, at least.
-Think about what you're writing when you pen dialogue. Say it out loud. Would you say what you've said in a regular conversation?
-Callsigns. For the love of all that's worth reading, give your characters a real name. If you've paid even the slightest bit of attention to the lore, people still have names that are perfectly recognizable to us. I promise that two guys named KillerDragon87 and VenomHunter_69 having a conversation at a bar is a scenario that no one will take seriously. Use a little imagination for your characters beyond your account names!
Use a little bit of common sense and humility. Don't be yet another incredibly rich, young, good-looking pilot who knows , hangs out with, and even dates major figures in Elite lore. Don't be afraid of writing setbacks and failure into your plots and backstory. Don't be afraid to let your character be a nuanced, flawed person. Everyone, all together, repeat after me: Perfect is boring.
I repeat: perfect. Is. Boring.
I regret the negative tone of my/our pleading, and implore you all to look past it and consider what we have to say. We at the Inara Writers' Guild love Inara. We love this community. And as elitist (pun not intended, I swear!) as we risk making ourselves out to be, we're actually big fans of many of the writers here who participate in RP and write logbooks, even if we've never corresponded. Thanks to Artie and his tireless efforts, we have something unlike anything else in the Elite online community. We're all here because we wanted something more than just a Frontier account. We care about the game, we care about our characters, and those of us who write logbooks and anticipate in RP all love a good story. That's what makes Inara a true, bona fide gem.
Steps off soapbox, resumes space adventuring with Kyndi
Last edit: 28 Sep 2016, 3:48am
28 Sep 2016, 3:39am
I see no issue with people writing their speech in colours. I find it often helps differentiate between a characters thoughts and verbal outputs. Even more so if a user is RPing multiple characters. We can all read, but there's still nothing wrong with making it easier. Even best selling authors often resort to the likes of italics and bold to seperate the two. (And for the record, most books are black and white because it's cheaper to mass produce in black ink than blue or red. Not necessarily just because the author chooses to use black)
Obviously the whole thing with a planet breaking apart is a tad OOT but upon reading it I think he just means it appears as though it is doing so. Although I don't know for certain.
As for the Iron Maiden in 3302... We have docking computers that play 'Blue Danube' and a few other pre 20th century pieces yet Black Sabbath is waaaayyyy beyond the realm of possibilities? Given the way information is stored and shared here in 2016 I find it immensely hard to believe any pre-34th century media, be it music or movies, no longer exists. Unless you wish to enlighten us to exactly what music is available in the 3300s because it's even more unlikely that the bar would be silent.
28 Sep 2016, 3:41am
As for the characters names, I completely understand how obnoxious some of the names may sound (do you honestly think I like having the '1000' at the end?), but its somewhat of a necessary evil for those of us who end up playing Elite on the Xbox. If I have to pick between naming my character "Jacob Cartlidge" and having to tell just about everyone from that point forward that my gamertag is actually "cartlidge1000" or simply leaving it as it is, I'm going to pick the latter. As long as a player doesn't refer to themselves as "KillerDragon87," why does it matter? Isn't this supposed to be an enjoyable experience anyways?
28 Sep 2016, 3:48am
28 Sep 2016, 3:52am
In response to the whole music thing, I believe what I said was, "playing Iron Maiden on a jukebox in 3302 is like playing Mozart in a jukebox now." Do you really think anyone would put Mozart on in a bar? Fuckin' no, nobody does that, and that music is only a couple hundred years old. Do you really think its plausible that anyone would play a thousand year old song in a friggin' bar?
Besides, nobody listens to classical music like that anymore, except for movie villains and pretentious rich people.
Last edit: 28 Sep 2016, 4:13am
28 Sep 2016, 3:56am
Simon DaturaMy general rule of thumb is speech marks for dialogue, italics for internal thoughts or emphasis.
And it's the rule of thumb for many professional writers all over the world. No need for differently colored dialogue.
@Carrtlidge1000: Of course these logbooks are for oneself! But since you write for others, I have to ask: would it fly in any other context to decide that colored dialogue is a good idea? Would it fly in a reputable periodical? In a university-level creative writing or journalism class? If so, which ones, and if not- why is it a good idea to flout these rules just for sake of knee-jerk contrarianism?
And as far as your account name vs. your RP name- I don't see what's holding you back from just RPing as a guy named Jacob Cartlidge. Everyone will understand that the perfect account name isn't always available.
28 Sep 2016, 3:56am
I'm saying as long as I don't refer to myself as Cartlidge1000 I'm should be fine. If I add the numbers it becomes a problem.
28 Sep 2016, 3:58am
28 Sep 2016, 4:08am
Desert Fox CXVIIIn response to the whole music thing, I believe what I said was, "playing Iron Maiden on a jukebox in 3302 is like playing Mozart in a jukebox now." Do you really think anyone would put Mozart on in a bar? Fuckin' no, nobody does that, and that music is only a couple hundred years old. Do you really think its plausible that anyone would play a thousand year old song in a friggin' bar?
Besides, nobody listens to classical music like that anymore, except for movie villains and pretentious rich people.
People play all sorts of music in bars, ranging from the "current cool song" to the cheesy ones like YMCA, even oldies such as Don't Stop Me Now. Literally (for me) the only thing preventing punters playing anything older is the fact they are unavailable on the jukeboxes.
Guess that makes me either a Movie Villian, or Pretentious and Rich. I'm happy with either.
If I'm perfectly honest, I think the issue is less "The music is too old" and more "I don't like it turn it off"
Edit:
XeknosThere's also something to be said for classical music somehow persisting through the ages, while Iron Maiden, to be honest, probably won't survive much longer past 2100.This just proves my above point. It's feasible for Mozart to survive millenia but not a band that has been going strong for the best part of 40 years and still produces best sellers and sold out shows??
28 Sep 2016, 4:10am