tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10578986251269994692024-02-20T18:58:17.173-05:00More Opinions Than You RequireRants about writing and various other things.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-9048059019857093872012-12-10T21:36:00.002-05:002012-12-10T21:36:55.811-05:00Let's ease back into things, shall we?Well that was a hiatus. Or a blog death. Here I go reviving things, or something.<div>
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I'm not sure when I'll be able to start up with new content, but I figure it'll be sooner if I can remind myself that this exists more often. So, I'll start by posting recommendations to articles I find, because a lot of the time other people say things a hell of a lot better than I ever could.</div>
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So without further ado: I've been in several arguments within the last while about whether or not women actually did anything in history. Apparently women never fought, or held any sort of power, that sort of thing. Sure was news to me. Historically treatment of women has been lousy, but that doesn't mean none of them ever did anything. Historical records can hardly be called free from bias.</div>
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Today I was reminded of those arguments by an excellent post I found on the subject. Have a look at it <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/12/historically-authentic-sexism-in-fantasy-lets-unpack-that">here</a>, and also have a look at some excellent commentary I found <a href="http://celynbrum.tumblr.com/post/37656793248/historically-authentic-sexism-in-fantasy-lets-unpack">here</a><span id="goog_306166412"></span><span id="goog_306166413"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a>.</div>
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More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-9510762258453839002011-08-29T15:57:00.001-04:002011-08-29T15:58:34.970-04:00On ClimateWhoa. Okay, I seriously did not expect to be dead for quite as long as I was. I'm about to be incredibly busy again, but hopefully healthier, so posting will hopefully get more regular.<br />
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Had a hard time deciding what to write for this rant. I have this great long list of things I need to write, so here's a worldbuilding one as sort of a warmup. (Yes, it's a "things the writer thinks would be interesting to see" rant, alas.)<br />
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Remember the weather rant? Weather's a good plot device, moves people around, screws things up, all that good stuff. Zoom out, a bit, though: weather happens in the context of the local climate.<br />
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Climate is a pretty big deal.<br />
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Climate affects what food will grow, what animals will inhabit the area, how people will work and play and eat and dress and move and live. Climate is a factor in what people consider to be lucky or unlucky. It can affect the way religious beliefs form. Climate can determine how hard or easy it is for a culture to live or die.<br />
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For the most part, people write the climate they're familiar with, and the cultural elements that come with it, with maybe a couple of "stock" climates thrown in for good measure (desert heat, polar cold, etc). The main setting is usually in the familiar climate. From the standpoint of not getting things horribly wrong, that's a good thing. I think it misses some interesting opportunities, though. With a little research, an unfamiliar climate can make for a very interesting setting.<br />
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If you're working in a fantastic setting with a climate found somewhere on Earth, look at how real cultures have adapted to it. Then consider some more implications-- if there's magic or advanced technology, how do those elements interact with the climate? What are people working on? You're more likely to see inventions or spells to cool the air and provide water in a hot desert climate than a temperate one. What does your culture think of the climate? If they depend on the rainy season to keep their crops alive, rain is probably not seen as the nuisance that it is in areas that rely less on it. If you're inventing a set of religious beliefs, think about how the climate affects those. For example, in the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin, the desolate afterlife that the people of a world of small islands and vast seas believe in is a desert, the Dry Land. If your setting is bitterly cold, a belief in a "good" or "bad" afterlife may result in a cold Hell or a warm Heaven, and in a hot climate there may be the opposite belief. How the climate affects daily life even affects a culture's perception of good and bad, and thus the way expressions of speech form: look at the common ideas of a rainy day as something that needs brightening, a nuisance to be put off until a later time. In a dry climate, that idea may well be absent, and rain is likely considered a blessing. You can get some good ideas for all of this by looking at real-life cultures, though if you're not trying to make an obvious counterpart, be careful how much of a mirror you create. Climate can even drive conflict, if the inhabitants of a harsh climate decide to expand into a friendlier area (think Ganondorf's ambitions from Wind Waker), or characters are stranded in an area without the ability to deal with its weather every day, rather than a single storm.<br />
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Climate is very rarely the focus of a story, but its functions shape the world and drive how it works. Paying attention to the climate is just another way of making a setting deeper and more interesting, and it would be cool to see more people using climate as a tool to shape their settings.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-44790253917241882842011-06-07T23:39:00.000-04:002011-06-07T23:39:22.397-04:00More on Discrimination in Fantastic Settings: The Skyhook SocietyHey guys! Sorry I've been dead lately. Unfortunately I'm still fairly dead and have not got another full post written up yet. However, the <a href="http://borderhouseblog.com/">Border House</a> does.<br />
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I argued that having the same tired discrimination tropes that we see in daily life was not necessary in settings completely unlike real life. We almost had a discussion in comments (guys! Check back on your comments occasionally! I respond!) and I think I want to do another post on that at some point, but I found an excellent post on the Border House that brings up another good point: the way discrimination is shoehorned into fantastic settings often doesn't make any sense. It's worth a read. Here's the <a href="http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=5528">link</a>.<br />
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I should be a bit less dead later this week, so we'll see what I can get together in terms of real posts.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-65351072596399056322011-05-14T17:02:00.000-04:002011-05-14T17:02:13.326-04:00On Knowing What to Expect From Character InteractionsNot all character interactions in a story, especially an RP, are fun and butterflies. (Well, they darn well had better not be, anyway.) Interactions can and should go sour, they should spiral into arguments or awkward silences or send the characters off sulking in opposite directions, because realistically nobody is universally liked, and nobody universally likes everybody. A "negative" interaction can be just as sound and interesting as a "positive" one, often even more so. Sometimes, though, when I see an interaction go bad, shortly afterward I see one of the players involved, often the initiator, react with surprise and dismay: <i>why won't anyone interact with me?</i>, they say.<br />
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Well, here we go to answer that question. Note: This is about the reactions of <i>characters</i>, not about how to respond to constructive criticism from <i>players</i>.<br />
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<b>Calm down. Take a deep breath. Remember: Unless you've been deliberately trolling, other characters' reluctance to talk to your character is probably not about you.</b><br />
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An interaction going bad should not be a surprise. If your character has done something to make another character dislike or distrust them, it should be easy to see that coming. Your character might not see it coming-- obliviousness is certainly an acceptable character trait-- but as a writer, you are most likely already aware of barriers to conversation. Even if your character hasn't done something to this character specifically, if you've deliberately written them as creepy, or deceitful, or combative, or generally unlikable, there's a good chance that the interaction won't go well. There's nothing wrong with this. But if your character has some trait that is not conducive to friendly chatter or close heart-to-hearts, don't be surprised that trying those kinds of interactions go poorly. Realistically, they should.<br />
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Likewise, be aware of the other character. Is the character you're talking to skittish or slow to trust people? A nice chat about feelings probably won't work. Are <i>they</i> written as combative or angry, do they hate everyone? Unless your character is specifically trying not to, they may make this person mad. So long as the other writer is not known to be a troll or have a particular dislike of you, the character in question is not a "voice of the author" character, and the character's behavior in the interaction is consistent with their overall writing, a bad reaction to your character is most likely nothing personal.<br />
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This also applies if you're looking for other characters to initiate interactions with your character. If it's consistent for your character to keep to herself, and the other characters in the party are all fairly antisocial, you may be out of luck... unless you get creative. Look for other ways for characters to connect. Not all interaction is speaking; if two fairly silent characters end up doing daily weapons practice at the same time, for example, they'll probably get used to each other's presence, and build up comfort to talk to people. It may just take time for a character to open up, just like it would with another person.<br />
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Of course this can be frustrating, especially if your character has made herself untrustworthy and most of the party won't talk to her, or if your character's perfectly nice but the rest of the party all hate everything and won't talk to him. Just remember that it's most likely not about you.<br />
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What if it <i>is</i> personal? Well, if the other player is trolling everyone in general, the GM likely already knows about it, but you might put in a word anyway. If they seem to just have taken a dislike to you, it may be a little more difficult to handle, but try to put together a case of instances of attacks on your character being inconsistent to the other character's other writing. <br />
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And if nobody wants their character to interact with yours because you've been trolling, well, that's your own grave you've dug. But if that's the case I doubt you're reading this, or care.<br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Writing rant disclaimer:</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Some of you may have read some of my fiction or participate in an RP I am part of. If you notice that something in my writing has something I have labeled as a problem in my rant, go ahead and tell me so! I may not have noticed that I'm doing whatever it is, so that can help me! However, I do want to keep this place polite, so please no unnecessary bashing of my characters, or, for that matter, anyone else's, be it a fellow commenter or a fellow RP'er. </span></i><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Disclaimer 2: Most of my readers, at this point in the blog's lifetime, have probably been or are currently in some campaign I'm in. I'd like to reiterate that this is NOT about <b>you personally</b>. Certainly I hope it will be helpful to some of you, but it's about a phenomenon I've seen in general, not the specific actions of one player.</span></i>More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-65799337529890911492011-05-01T17:14:00.000-04:002011-05-01T17:14:22.682-04:00Random Question TimeGoing to be dead for a while due to finals, so starting a new blog category is clearly the way to go: random questions! These'll show up when I'm too dead to write! So, for this one:<br />
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<b>What was your favorite/most-remembered song or soundtrack from video games from when you were a kid?</b><br />
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Pokemon Silver/Crystal for me.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-86194342288755884942011-04-19T19:06:00.001-04:002011-04-19T19:17:39.684-04:00On Discrimination In Fantastic SettingsThis applies to both RP worldbuilding and story-writing, and has already been done (probably better) <a href="http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=4957">here.</a><br />
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So incredibly often I see settings that are clearly not historical, but set in some romanticize, fantasticized past, a "here there be dragons" sort of a place, with corrupted, vaguely rose-tinted versions of the sexism, racism, ablism, homophobia, and other discrimination that ruled in the corresponding time period of world history. "It's historical," creators too often shrug when asked why. "To omit those aspects would be unrealistic." Or sometimes, slightly more justified but wait no not really, "Utopian societies are unrealistic." News flash: If we do ever get rid of discrimination, there will still be societal strife from different sources.<br />
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"Unrealistic." Your main character's dating an elf, he has a magic sword and a hyper-intelligent flying horse that doesn't need to eat and you're saying you can't cut the discrimination of the time period you're supposedly emulating-- because it would be <i>unrealistic</i>.<br />
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Bullshit. Is it really that hard to imagine a society without those issues?<br />
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Now, plenty of good writers do include discrimination in their societies, but they <b>treat it realistically, as the complex problem that it is</b>, and show its effects. They show how<b> it gets into all facets of society</b>, not just as a few jokes made by less savory characters, or a few incidents of ill-treatment. They don't just treat it as an excuse to have characters be horrible to whatever group. They show that <b>no group is perfect</b>, depict everyone (not just the good guys) as people, and don't use the tired, rotten trope of the hero high on the societal privilege ladder saving his poor simple minority friends who can't help themselves. They don't apply the rosy filter of "but it was the good old days" to it. And of course if the setting is actually historical and properly researched-- medieval Europe or imperial China, for example-- historical accuracy is a legitimate answer. "Alternate timeline" settings may also pass, depending on what ways they are alternate in. <b>But if it's not portrayed as a complex problem, and hasn't got any real basis in history to be true to, I really don't see why it's necessary. </b><br />
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This is probably not the last you'll hear from me on the subject; future posts may go more in-depth.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Writing rant disclaimer:<br />
Some of you may have read some of my fiction or participate in an RP I am part of. If you notice that something in my writing has something I have labeled as a problem in my rant, go ahead and tell me so! I may not have noticed that I'm doing whatever it is, so that can help me! However, I do want to keep this place polite, so please no unnecessary bashing of my characters, or, for that matter, anyone else's, be it a fellow commenter or a fellow RP'er. </i></span><br />
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Blog note: You might notice the "Frustrations" label. "Frustrations" posts are usually going to involve a fair helping of my opinion and social commentary. Keep this in mind, and feel free to disagree in comments, but do so civilly, please.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-79744737404119261092011-04-19T00:30:00.000-04:002011-04-19T00:30:09.466-04:00"Helpers"Okay, so I didn't know the school computers ran a bunch of Steam games. That's pretty cool. Thanks for that knowledge, dude next to me. Can you tell me how to access them? Thanks man.<br />
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Wait. Why are you still hovering? There's a controls tutorial and I'd already worked out that it was WASD. No seriously, I know how to play a game. Dude, you've worked with me, you know I'm going into game design for crying out loud. No! Seriously! I can do this myself! No! I don't <i>want</i> to do easy mode! Didn't you have <i>homework</i> to do?!<br />
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Granted, I have not had the experience of being (assumed physically) male in a setting where software or games were in use, but from observation, the "hovering helper" behavior is most often targeted at females. It's not restricted to gaming; I've seen it with software, and math homework, and the like.<br />
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I could write it off as politeness, but really... no. It's not politeness, but a failure to take me-- to take women-- seriously at work here. The "helping" behavior is founded, as near as I can tell, upon the assumption that the help-ee doesn't/couldn't possibly know what she's doing (or, apparently, how to ask for help...). Again, I'm not talking about, say, a beginner's class where <i>everyone</i> is getting hovered over, or helping a known beginner who has already asked for a walkthrough; this is just what I've observed from using computers in labs and classrooms, with girls and women of both unknown experience and known competence. Especially in the latter case, it's insulting. I've played games before, but clearly I'll need help to play another one? Er...<br />
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So... especially if you know that I've used a computer, played games, learned software, done math, worked physics problems, or done whatever before, please acknowledge that. Please acknowledge that I have the agency to ask for help if I need it, and don't start hovering unsummoned. Please don't insult me like that.<br />
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(Think I'm misinterpreting? Tell me so in comments, but show me reasoning and keep it civil, please.)More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-15524142039166447592011-04-14T23:00:00.002-04:002011-04-14T23:03:59.125-04:00On Weather and Terrain: Pitting Characters Against Their Environment<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Female Characters series of articles is still in progress, but now for a break: let's talk about the weather! (No, really...)</i></span><br />
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<b>Conflict, when handled properly, is interesting.</b> I've said it before, I'll probably say it a million more times. A story doesn't run without a primary conflict, which usually presents itself in RPs as a main enemy. There's also usually a healthy (or even poisonous) dose of inter-party conflict. Other character-driven conflict often puts in an appearance as well, with NPCs interacting with the player characters. There's no shortage, in other words, of character-driven conflict. What doesn't always get enough of an impact, I think, is the conflict that the environment itself causes by way of weather and terrain.<br />
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<b>It isn't always 65 and sunny out</b>. There are acceptable breaks from reality, as I'll write about in another article, but constant lack of obnoxious weather is not one of them. Depending on your setting, it will get hot, or cold, and it will rain, or fog, or snow, or hail, or windstorm, or... well, there's plenty of things the weather can do, with varying degrees of unpleasantness, and therefore varying kinds of effects on your characters. Even a character who lives outside all the time won't be unaffected by the weather.<br />
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It would be a lot more convenient to ignore the weather, it's true. But why go with convenient when you could instead have interesting? GMs, think about the climates and weather of your settings! Players, think about how your characters are going to react!<br />
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Weather creates all kinds of challenges. For example, rain. A little light rain won't do more than annoy you... unless you're stuck in it for hours, and the misery it generates increases exponentially. What about heavy rain, though? For starters, where are you? If you're in the desert and on high ground, heavy rain may be a blessing... but elsewhere, it's a curse. Not much grass, but lots of dirt? Keeping your footing will probably be difficult. Hilly country with loose soil? Watch out for mudslides. At sea? Mind the waves, and the wind that tends to come with storms. Near a river? Flood watch is in effect! Are you unlucky enough to be in a network of ravines? You're in serious trouble-- good luck getting out of the way of the flash flood probably headed for you. If there are high winds, or hail, or lightning, things just get more fun! Kiss visibility goodbye, too. Blizzard conditions provide similar loss of visibility and footing, with the extra fun of hypothermia risk. High winds on their own can ruin your day; on flat grassland, with no windbreak, strong wind will steal anything not bolted down, including possibly you, and lord help you if you're flying for whatever reason. Wind across a sandy or dusty area can kill visibility with a lung-clogging sandstorm-- get inside! Even just the sun beating down on a hot day can be pretty harmful if your characters are low on water. <b>Really, you don't even need to get into disaster-level events like hurricanes to ruin your characters' day-- regular weather will do fine.</b><br />
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On the other hand, weather can be helpful. Rain in the desert, or after a drought, is refreshing; a breeze on a hot day is a mercy; a moderate tailwind behind a flier or a ship gives a speed boost. Rainless clouds can cut down on glare. You can use weather other than 65 and sunny to help your characters out! Why not go for some variety?<br />
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Can weather be bad for your characters? Yes! Is it strictly bad for the story? No! <b>Weather adds an extra level of realism to a setting, and can help to shape and direct the story.</b> It definitely gives your characters something more to do on their way than just bicker at each other.<br />
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Weather is generally a function of climate. Climate isn't the main focus in this post, and will probably feature in later ones about world-building, but I'll just make the aside that varying the climates your characters travel to could probably make things really interesting. I want to see more than just temperate everywhere (of course, I'd also like to see these other climates be done right-- do your research).<br />
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The other environmental factor that can cause direct and immediate problems or advantages for your characters is terrain. What are they standing on, running on, fighting on? Flat plains and gently rolling hills get boring after a while. Use something interesting!<br />
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Is it sand? They'll probably be slowed down some. In a fight, if your character doesn't mind fighting dirty, it's something to throw, but it's also something to slip in. It gets hot in the sun. And, as the mockable line goes, "It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." Rocks? How big are the rocks? Flat stone is even footing, but can be slippery when wet. Boulders are difficult to traverse, especially with mounts. Pebbles can be slippery, or uneven, and may get stuck in horseshoes, boots, gear, and (if your character goes barefoot) feet. (Aside: Gravel is really, really mean to your feet.) Thin grass or bare dirt can get muddy, and mud is messy, hindering, and slippery. Tall grass hampers movement, and in the tallest cases, visibility. Woods are full of underbrush and tree roots to trip over, as well as little holes and drops that a horse or person can break an ankle in, but full of places to hide if you know what you're doing. Deep snow hinders movement and hides holes, obstacles, and ice, and can make evident or hide tracks depending on wind conditions.<br />
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High ground grants an advantage in battle or against floods. Low ground can mean shelter from wind. Uneven terrain can be bad for footing, but a surefooted, agile character can use it to lose a more unwieldy pursuer. Familiar territory can make things a lot easier for a character; unfamiliar territory can harm them quickly. Have characters react to terrain that puts them at a disadvantage, and use terrain that puts them at an advantage! Just think of how much more interesting a fight scene can be when you factor in terrain. A disadvantaged character can move to different terrain to turn things around; a bad spot of footing can ruin a fight for a would-be winner. <b>Terrain adds both opportunity and interest to a setting.</b> Use it!<br />
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In summary: In addition to character-driven conflict, you can introduce plenty of conflict to a story or RP just from the environment itself.Terrain and weather and the way they force characters to react can make a setting a lot more interesting and interactive, and I'd like to see them factor in more.<br />
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Recommended: Limyaael also has a <a href="http://www.forresterlabs.com/limyaael/rant135818">rant on weather</a>, that covers some different aspects that I didn't go over. Also, when you write weather, make sure you're accurate; Wikipedia has good notes on a lot of different kinds of weather and effects of weather that you might want to check out if you're looking to include weather you're not used to.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-43365204267805685132011-04-13T23:18:00.001-04:002011-04-14T23:02:51.519-04:00On Female Characters: Not So Different, Really<i>"What do they think their mothers do, when the lords are at war and a raiding party strikes? Stay in their solars and tat lace?"</i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">--Salma, from <u>First Test</u> in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series</span> </i><br />
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All right, this is here by popular demand; I was going to get around to it eventually after some unrelated rants, but people convinced me to do it now. <br />
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Too often I read female characters that have me frantically backing away. Sometimes it's because they're written solely as props to male characters; sometimes it's because they're written with personalities that draw heavily on stereotypes and just plain don't make sense. These two major problems have slightly different root causes; the former tends to be more overtly sexist, while the latter, I think, stems from the idea that Man Minds And Woman Minds Are Inherently Different-- and that each cannot truly comprehend the way the other works. This is laughably untrue. I don't dispute that there are different genders (not the same as sexes, by the way), but the lines are a lot blurrier than society drives us to believe, and they certainly aren't incomprehensible to each other.<br />
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When I write a character, I try to write a person first, a member of a given gender after. While one's gender certainly affects their personality, there is not some box of Man Personalities next to a box of Woman Personalities with nothing in the middle. Ultimately, a character's motivations, beliefs, and actions are a lot more important than what's between their legs. Of course, this goes for people of either gender writing people of either gender, but I see far more problems with how female characters are written, possibly because the majority of RP'ers are male. In fact, I think that unconvincing, oversexed female characters may be one of the reasons we don't see more female RP'ers, but I digress.<br />
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Let's start off with some myth debunking: Women are not less intelligent. Women have not got some in-born instinct to propel them to the home. Women are not hysterical or inherently illogical (any more than humans in general are inherently illogical, anyway). Women are not genetically predisposed to disliking mathematics, to liking cute shoes, to wanting to dress to increase their sex appeal. Women are not weaker, personality-wise, than men. (Physically they don't have to be either, but I covered that in a previous rant.) We good? Okay, awesome, on with the show.<br />
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Women have motivations just like anyone else, and the spectrum of motivations they can have is no more narrow than the spectrum of motivations men can have. Career goals, devotion to family, devotion to a cause, loyalty, these are just a few. I would not call it sexist to have a female character be motivated by her goal of starting a family. However, to claim that all women are motivated by family, or that women can only be motivated to start a family/please their man/etc is both sexist and utterly false. Be careful with what motivates your female character, and choose her motivations for good reasons. If she wants to find a husband and start a family, <i>why</i>? If she wants to run away, cast aside all things traditionally feminine and become a fighter, <i>why</i>? Both ends of the spectrum require a lot of thought; otherwise the first character may come across as sexist, and a character who's running away from home to become a fighter because she hates dresses will likely come across as immature (which can also be sexist by playing into the "woman as unintelligent and overemotional" trope). (A younger character who hates dresses may be <i>inclined </i>to attempt to run away in a fit of pique, but I doubt she has the means to actually pull it off.) <b>Your character's motivations can be as complex and conflicting as those of any male character you'd write, and they don't necessarily need to be sound in-story, but you should have good reasons for giving her them (hint: "because she's a woman" is a terrible reason).</b><br />
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Women act in accordance with their motivations, occupations, and situations just like anyone else, so make sure your character's actions make sense based on who she is, what she wants, and what she regularly does. When multiple motivations conflict, generally the more important ones will take precedence (escaping the villain trumps looking good, for example). Is she a combat medic? Then why is she freaking out about blood getting on her sleeves in the field? That's a part of her job! If she wants to become a master fighter, she's probably not going to be spending lots of time obsessing over clothes (she might well want to keep a good appearance when she's not fighting, but any OMG SHOPPANG~ behavior is going to trigger eyerolls.) If she's a genius studying to become the next big thing in astrophysics, she's probably not going to be engaging in large amounts of mate-chasing (she's allowed to have an interest in the finding a lover, of course, but if that's not her main goal, then don't make her act like it.) <b>Just because she's a woman doesn't mean she shouldn't be consistent to her character.</b><br />
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Well, all that is obvious, you say, but why, then, are there still differences? Why do the motivations of female characters tend to fall into different categories than those of male characters? The caretaker, the nurse, the love interest, the one close to nature; these are but a few of the tired group of consistently appearing roles female characters are allowed to want to play. The reason for this, of course, is societal influence-- both in-story and out.<br />
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We are constantly bombarded with messages about what, supposedly, we are. <i>Women are mothers. Women want romance. Women are not good at math. Women are frivolously obsessed with fashion. Women are somehow "closer to earth" than their loutish male counterparts. Women are not fighters. Women do not get angry. Women are neat and clean and remain untarnished. Women are overemotional. Women are fragile. Emotion is feminine. Feminine is weak. </i>These are stereotyped. <b>And a character that fully conforms to all stereotypes about her sex is most likely unrealistic.</b> A character may fit into a few, but make it clear that there is a reason besides "because she's a woman". Sure, some girls are bad at math-- but not <i>because</i> they are girls. Clearly some women are mothers-- doesn't mean it's the right thing for them all to be, or that they all have the maternal instinct. Watch your stereotypes.<br />
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There's nothing wrong with being motherly or nurturing. There's nothing wrong with wanting companionship. There's nothing wrong with being good at cooking (it's damn useful, really) or with cooking something for someone else because you want to do something nice for them. But if you're picking such traits as society's beating us over the head with for a character <i>solely because she is female</i> or treating such traits as inferior, you've got a problem, and probably a caricature where a character should be. Likewise, don't flout one negative expectation only to reinforce another-- beware, for example, the Strong Female Character <span style="font-size: xx-small;">TM<span style="font-size: small;"> who eschews all femininity to the implication that femininity is weakness. (I've got another rant to do solely about the Strong Female Character<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> TM<span style="font-size: small;">, but one at a time.)</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The other part of the effect of society's expectations, as I said, is in-story. Many RP settings emulate the past, which was even less friendly to females. Of course, <a href="http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=4957">as has been noted</a>, </span></span></span></span>unless you're going to use it for useful commentary on gender issues, why even bother including the misogynistic element in your idealized, magical past-clone? But that is another digression and another rant also. If you're in a setting where your female character is limited by a society that, like ours, treats her as <i>less than</i> or worse, she's not going to be unaffected. The strongest person in the world will still internalize, to some extent, a message that's been sent to them since before they've learned to talk What she does with that internalization is the key factor in whether I'm applauding, giving a dubious look, or throwing things. Does she take it fully to heart? Please tell me, then, that she'll find some of it proved wrong and start thinking for herself; character development's not a male-only field either. Does she reject it entirely? Then I want to see how, and how it affects her-- we can chant "sticks and stones" all we want, but the fact is, betraying society's expectations and opening oneself up to hate that way takes its toll. If she's breaking all society's expectations, society's going to react, and it won't all be pretty. I want to see how she copes with this. Does she accept some parts, and not others? Show me how she makes those decisions. Make it clear why she rejects which parts she does. Does she exploit it, use it? Does she use it as a cover, hiding steel with lace? Be careful with this one; characters that do this can be fantastic, or they can just end up perpetuating unwanted norms and stereotypes. <b>Overall, how does your character react to society's expectations of her, and why does she react the way she does?</b> Yes, this does require thinking.<br />
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In summary: When writing a female character, don't buy in to the myth that females are <i>less than</i>, or even just alien, and not to be understood by males. Make her understandable: give her her own motivations and show us why she has those particular motivations. Keep her true to her motivations, occupation, and overall character. Be aware of what messages from society are influencing how you write her, what messages from society she is influenced by, and how she reacts to them.<br />
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<b>TL;DR: Women are people; write them as such.</b><br />
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I didn't expect this to become a series, but then I had more that I couldn't fit into this one, so there will likely be two more rants regarding female characters: one about relations with other characters, and one about Strong Female Characters <span style="font-size: xx-small;">TM<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span><b> </b>More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-39525751743086390692011-04-13T14:23:00.003-04:002011-04-19T00:30:37.301-04:00Disappointment<div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.1up.com/news/fumito-ueda-last-guardian-trivia-new-projects">This</a> is fairly old, but I just stumbled<span style="color: #444444;"> across it. The main attention-grabber:</span></div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Early in development, the main character in The Last Guardian was female, but the team ended up going with a boy. The reason: they thought it would be more realistic that he would have enough grip strength to be able to climb around, and because they wouldn't have to worry about camera angles with a girl who wears a skirt."</span></span></div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">...What the hell, guys. First of all, the culture in your games clearly is not analogous to any historical culture, so why the hell would a skirt be culturally necessary on a female, or even a skirt without pants under it? Second-- main character is a kid. Before puberty, size and therefore strength differences are a lot smaller. Both justifications fall flat on their face. Maybe there are justifications that don't; I'd love to hear them. But right now, I see no reason why this game should not have had a female protagonist.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I absolutely loved Shadow of the Colossus. I was looking forward to playing Ico (despite it having a rescue-the-princess dynamic, it looked pretty good to me). The Last Guardian was on my definite to-play list in the unlikely event that I got or borrowed a PS3... but now, I'm not sure I'll want to hand over the sixty bucks that says, among other things, that I'll buy those justifications.</span></span></span> </div>More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-72020892087634023092011-04-03T02:32:00.003-04:002011-04-03T02:42:47.336-04:00On Female Characters: Obeying the Laws of Physics (also some biology)Disclaimer: This is mainly written for the dudes, because I'm assuming most females have a pretty good idea of how females work physically.<br />
Okay, so you want to write a female character. Shying away from personality differences for a moment (that's a whole other rant), you're probably going to be including some of the physical differences. If you're into females, you may be thinking about going for fanservice. So for this rant, I'm going to cover the biological and clothing-related aspects of being female. Physical stuff comes first; clothing is after.<br />
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Clearly women aren't built in the same way as men. There are several <i>tendencies</i> at work: women tend to be shorter and lighter, have wider hips, and tend to have less muscle mass; it tends to be harder to put on muscle, and easier to hold onto fat. <b>These tendencies are not set in stone, so do not include them in your Grand Unified Theory of Why Men or Women are Better/Stronger/Etc.</b> Women also tend to be more resistant to cold, and have higher pain tolerance and be more dexterous. Again, these are <i>tendencies.</i> There are just as many body types for women as there are for men, and work, eating, and exercise habits have just as much of an effect. A soldier isn't going to have a super-thin waist or thin muscle-less arms. However, just as with men, many different body types can be attractive. Big boobs, tiny waist, and nice hips are not a prerequisite and if you insist that every female character have them I will stab you with pencils.<br />
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So I should probably explain some things about breasts, since the people who most need to read this rant don't have them. They obey the laws of physics. They are heavy. They get in the way. Of course, your character's opinion on them will depend on her own body image, but not every girl wants huge ones.<br />
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Two more notes on breasts: binding and realism with sizes. Be mindful if your character wants to wrap hers up to pass as male for whatever reason. Wrapping them flat is probably impossible over a certain size, and it's dangerous to try if you don't know what you're doing; wrapping too tightly can cause suffocation. Even if it's not to the point of being dangerous, it can be painful.<br />
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Be realistic about how big your character is. If she's young, she's not going to have big breasts, and she may well be uncomfortable about them. If she's underweight, they're not going to be big-- they're globs of <i>fat</i>, guys, that stuff goes away when you starve. If she's very athletic and doesn't have much body fat, they won't be very big either. However, it's not impossible to be well-endowed and athletic; one can be strong and still have a layer of healthy body fat <i>given the right diet</i>. Just be reasonable about it; note that Olympic athletes tend to be pretty flat, so if your character's doing that level of work and eating similar amounts of food she will likely be flat too. Sure, you can defy this for the sake of fanservice if you really want, but keep in mind that someone reading whatever you're doing who actually has breasts will probably stop taking you seriously if you're being blatantly unrealistic about them. (Yes, girls on the internet exist! Oi!)<br />
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The other physical aspect that may be relevant depending on what you're writing is menstruation. Hey, get back here, I see you hiding under the desk. It's really not that scary and I'm going to make it as quick and painless as possible. Now, ignoring periods is something I'd consider to be an acceptable break from reality (there will be a rant on acceptable breaks from reality later); <b>it's just fine if you don't do anything at all with them (many would consider ignoring them to be the better option), but if you're going to include them, you'd dang well better do it right</b>-- that's the only reason I'm talking about them. Okay, so it's a cycle. Comes every 28 days or so, sticks around for three to seven. Incidentally, a woman is most fertile on average about 14 days after her period ends (though that estimate won't necessarily save you from unplanned pregnancy). Some women aren't as regular (especially if they're malnourished or hyper-stressed), but in general, after the first one, it's not gonna be a surprise; I don't want to see a character suddenly mystified by the fact that she's bleeding when it's something that happens on a regular base it. As for what happens, we don't really need details here; suffice it to say that yes, it's annoying to deal with, and no, it's not just spontaneously bleeding all over the floor. I shouldn't even have to mention that latter bit but I've seen someone write it and augh what the hell, sir.<br />
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The more important part is the symptoms that come with periods, because these are what I see messed up all over and good Lord is it ever irritating. Okay, so there's really two sets: PMS and symptoms of actually being "on the rag". So PMS. The butt of all jokes and proof that women are irrational, emotional weaklings, right? Seriously, guys, grow an imagination and come up with some jokes that are actually funny.<br />
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Yes, PMS can cause mood swings. In terms of being "bitchy" or "irrational," though... that's not what it is. I've heard it described as a loss of patience, and experience tells me that this is a pretty good description. Everyone has things that bother them.<b> Most people learn to shove those bothers to the side and not say anything, but there are times when we just can't do that; if we're really tired, or hungry, or in pain, or stressed, then the irritations tend to come out. PMS is just another thing that removes that ability to ignore that which annoys. It's not an excuse to turn a character into a rabid bitch.</b><br />
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People tend to confuse the PMS moods with the symptoms of actually being on one's period. The P stands for "Pre-"; it means <i>before</i>, guys. That means when the messy bit starts, the moods often go away. However, physical symptoms can kick in during either stage: cramps, headache, feeling generally ill. Cramps hit in the midsection and can extend to your legs or a general sort of "everything hurts" if the body is feeling particularly assholish. Yes, a woman may be irritable at this time-- because being in pain tends to do that to people. Pain can range from not even there to "I'm taking today off and staying in bed", and it varies from person to person. Being in good shape helps. Tea helps. Ibuprofen helps. Getting used to it... well it doesn't help, but it means one will learn to keep functioning through it. In short, some pain is expected. I do not expect to see your fighter being reduced to a twitching pile on the floor, though.<br />
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There's another rather important physical consideration that I'm leaving out, which is pregnancy. I'm not getting into that because frankly I don't know all that much about it either.<br />
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<b>If the periods scared you off, you can come back now, it's time to talk about clothes.</b><br />
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Whether or not your character is concerned with looking good is something for another rant, but there are a few physical realities to women's clothing that you're going to need to consider. In particular: skirts, heels, coverage, and tightness. I might also deal with long hair.<br />
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I have no issues with anyone's right to wear or prefer a skirt. However,<b> the reality of skirts is that they are not generally practical for someone doing any amount of adventuring. </b><br />
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Short skirts do not go well with activity. Unless your character doesn't care that she's flashing everyone (hint: most women actually do) when she runs or kicks, a short skirt with nothing under it is right out. <b>Some form of pants under the skirt can easily remedy this. </b>This isn't a complete skirt veto.<br />
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Tight skirts go even worse with activity. Tighter skirts restrict the amount one's legs can open. Yes, that sounded dirty, but seriously: try running without moving your knees more than a foot apart. Doesn't work too great, does it?<br />
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Long skirts do not go well with activity. Maybe it's loose enough to run in, well that's a bonus. However, fabric obeys the laws of physics too; fabric has weight. Fabric bunches and tangles and gets caught in things and gets grabbed and gets stepped on and suddenly it isn't loose enough to run in. If a character in a long skirt needs to run (really run, not just sort of do the girly jog thing) I expect to see her kilting it up to make things easier.<br />
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Skirts do not go well with horseback riding, or riding astride whatever fantastic mount. I'm looking at you, fliers from Fire Emblem. If the skirt isn't too long or tight, this can again be very easily remedied with the addition of pants or leggings under them. But getting into the saddle without something on her legs is something I don't really see any woman with sense doing. Having done a fair amount of both horseback riding and skirt-wearing (obviously not at the same time) I can assure you that in order to be comfortable, the two activities are mutually exclusive. Of course, there exists the sidesaddle, which admittedly I have no experience with, and you can still be pretty badass in a sidesaddle (I know there are women who jumped sidesaddle) but you're not going to be fighting sidesaddle. Fleeing, maybe. Fighting, no.<br />
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Heels. For the purpose of this discussion, a heel is anything over about an inch and a half; below that you can still be screwing everything up, but riding boots and the like also tend to have reasonable heels. Okay, so I know people who can run in stilettos. If it works for you, good for you. However the medical reality is that heels aren't very good for your knees. More immediately, heels break, and heels are not good with terrain. If you're running around a city where everything's nice and flat, heels might maybe work. Out in the wilderness, no. Really tall heels are also not going to work well with riding any sort of animal. <b>My advice: unless you really know what you're doing, ditch the heels on your action girl, it just makes it easier to avoid all the plausibility issues. </b><br />
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Coverage. This is mostly for girls who are going outside or getting into fights. If you've got armor, for cryin' out loud make it more than the chainmail bikini. I will stab your chainmail bikini chick in the boob and watch her bleed out. <b>Armor exists to cover the vitals so they don't get stabbed, not to be metal lingerie.</b> As for going outside, there's this thing, it's called climate. Not wearing much in a tropical climate, okay, that might work. In temperate climates you're going to get a little chilly. Not wearing much in winter in a cold climate? What the hell are you doing? Oh that's right, you're freezing to death. I suppose the lack of clothing will make it that much easier for the wolves to strip the flesh from your bones. In the desert you might think it would make sense to not cover up but mostly you're just making it easier for the vultures to pick your sun-poisoned, dessicated corpse clean; the sun and the dry air are cruel mistresses. Clothes exist for a reason. Your female characters need to wear them just as much as the male ones do. Also a quick note: riding astride isn't particularly fun without long pants-- saddles aren't always that kind to bare skin.<br />
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<b>If your character isn't fighting or braving climate extremes, still make sure that what she's wearing won't get her mistaken for a prostitute in her culture,</b> unless she actually is one. (And given how many mistakes people tend to make in portraying those, I kind of hope she isn't.)<br />
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Tightness. Skintight clothing often, but not always, has practicality issues. I already covered tight skirts; tight pants can also be an issue depending on material. Skintight jeans are not good for doing high kicks. Spandex leggings are, if she's comfortable with the lack of things left to the imagination. Tightness also has the advantage of not being easy to grab, but again, pay attention to whether the material can stretch and accomodate for motion.<br />
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Long hair: Okay, I really don't think there's anything wrong with long hair. I actually like long hair. It's just that past a certain length, you have to be actively doing things to keep it growing. Butt-length hair, waist-length hair, okay, that can be natural... floor-length hair better have a reason. Also for those of you who haven't dealt with long hair: Hair has weight. Hair has volume. Hair gets in your face. Hair can get in the way of movement much like clothing can. Hair can be grabbed. The easiest way to deal with this is to pull it back, braid it, put it in a bun for the fighting and the running and so on. If she's a real badass, maybe she even braids something spiky into it to keep people from grabbing it. Just be mindful, as always, of the laws of physics.<br />
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<b>TL;DR Females' anatomy and clothing are subject to the laws of physics just as much as males'. Also, no spontaneous bleeding on the floor or PMS jokes.</b><br />
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Sometime soon, I will do a rant on the personality aspects of writing female characters. No way could I neglect that.<br />
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<u>Writing rant disclaimer:</u><br />
Some of you may have read some of my fiction or participate in an RP I am part of. If you notice that something in my writing has something I have labeled as a problem in my rant, go ahead and tell me so! I may not have noticed that I'm doing whatever it is, so that can help me! However, I do want to keep this place polite, so please no unnecessary bashing of my characters, or, for that matter, anyone else's, be it a fellow commenter or a fellow RP'er. <b><br />
</b>More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-14689447850135857572011-03-30T22:46:00.000-04:002011-03-30T23:10:15.630-04:00On the Player CharacterThis is going to be a fairly basic, commonsense guide to writing a player character for an RPG (play-by-post, or tabletop, or what-have-you). Some of you are going to read this and think, "well, duh!" And that's fine. Not all of this is obvious to everyone, though, so I'm just aiming to help.<br />
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So, you want to create a player character! Depending on the game, you may have a class system to work with, or you may have free rein. Regardless, you'll want to create a character that's believable. So, onward!<br />
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I'm going to stress two key points: plausibility and limitations, which are really just a more specific section of plausibility.<br />
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Who is your character? How old are they? If they're going to be some sort of adventurer (and in RPs, a player character usually is) they'll need to either be of a reasonable age to go adventuring, or else have a really good excuse; young children or elderly characters <b>will not realistically do well on an adventure.</b><br />
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Where do they come from, what is their culture? You need to consider this carefully. Where they come from will affect many things: what language they speak, what their accent is, what local culture they're used to, what food they like. If there are multiple races or ethnic groups in your campaign's world, where your character comes from will likely affect their view on different groups. While traveling, it will affect things like what weather they're used to, what flora and fauna they know, and what customs they will and won't know about where they are. In combat, it will affect what weapons they may know, and how they fight; a character from a culture based on Europe is not going to fight with a katana, and a character who comes from a culture where honor is important is unlikely to throw sand into someone's eyes in in a fight, unless they've decided to abandon honor.<br />
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It may be tempting, if the character comes from a culture with a lot of aspects you consider to be negative, to have a character refute all those aspects. Don't do that, <b>it's usually not realistic.</b> They may disagree with <i>some</i> aspects of their culture, but when I see a character who goes against every negative aspect their culture has, I know something's up. The thing is, both positive and negative aspects of culture tend to be ingrained and enforced. Maybe your character has the fortitude to stand up to her culture's rampant misogyny, or classism, or racism, or slavery, or xenophobia, or emotionally restrictive formality, or concept of honor that often bars her from doing what's right. I really doubt she'll have the time or energy to attack all of them at once. I also really doubt that, when people put pressure on her to go back to conforming to those norms, that she'll be able to resist <i>all</i> of that pressure. <b>To do so would be superhuman.</b> Which leads into...<br />
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What are your character's flaws? They need them, and there is a balance to be struck. A character without enough flaws, or who only has "interview flaws" (i.e. things like "too compassionate" that aren't really flaws) will not be well received by other players, even if they are fun to play-- <b>they're not realistic</b>. A character with too many flaws, on the other hand, may not be fun to read, or play, and they probably won't get much interaction with other characters, or come across as particularly heroic if that's what you're going for. Certainly some people have more flaws than usual, but <b>it may not be realistic for them to be one of the good guys.</b> If your character is intended to be an antihero, more flaws than usual may be acceptable, but be aware that these flaws will have an impact. To elaborate: <br />
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<b>Flaws have consequences.</b> If you're writing a story on your own, you may write a character with a character who is irritable and gets angry at his friends a lot, yet his friends never call him out on this, or get frustrated right back and leave. In an RP, you had better be prepared for those friends to get angry, because they're controlled by other people, and they don't exist to make your character well-liked. The consequences of flaws can provide some really interesting conflict, though. They can provide incentive to improve (and your character can improve from their flaws; just remember that it takes time, and they won't be able to get all of them.) If your character's flaw affects another character, the inevitable change in those characters' relationship can provide some really interesting character development.<br />
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A note on the aforementioned "interview flaws": Certainly too much of a good thing can realistically be poisonous. If your character is so compassionate that he gives the last of his food to starving refugees, he's got a bit of a problem. A character that cannot tell a lie can get herself into all kinds of trouble. But it's not realistic to have a character whose only issues are too much of a good thing. We all tend to be a little mean occasionally, for one thing. <br />
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Does your character fit a stereotype? <i>Really pay attention to this one.</i> If you meant for a player character to be a stereotype, there may be a problem, unless this is a more lighthearted RP-- and even then, watch out. If you didn't mean for them to be one, make doubly sure that they really aren't. Certainly they may conform to some aspects of a stereotype, but <b>people don't tend to actually be walking embodiments of stereotypes.</b> Characters are meant to come across as realistic people, not cliched devices.<br />
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Be <i>especially</i> careful of negative stereotypes. If your female character is unusually hysterical/obsessed with shopping/frivolous/weak/whatever, and a point is made of this, I'm going to want a real good reason for it, and I'm going to be very dubious even then. If your character touches on some sort of negative racial stereotype, I'm probably just going to start throwing things. Likewise if your non-heterosexual character is depraved and perverse. <b>There are all kinds of stereotypes that just need to die. Don't perpetuate them with your characters; it's both adding to discrimination and bad writing.</b> In general: If your character has a trait associated with a negative stereotype of group X that they belong to, there had damn well better be a very good reason for it besides "because they're an X". I can take a woman who faints when surprised if it's caused by a medical condition (no, "hysteria" is not a medical condition); not so much if it's because she's a "fragile woman."<b> Write a person, not a caricature, not a device, not a trope.</b><br />
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What can your character do? Hint: Not everything. Outline what your character is capable of, what skills they have. You don't necessarily need to tell anyone everything at the start-- you can keep things secret, as surprises-- but <b>figure out what your character can do, instead of pulling skills out of nowhere as you go.</b> Knowing beforehand will be useful, too; if you know all your character's skills, you can immediately try and figure out what they can use in a certain situation. <b>Make sure that it makes sense for your character to have the skills they do.</b> A country boy in a setting where reading is mostly restricted to nobility and clergy needs a good reason to know how to read. A young noblewoman in a society where women are barred from combat needs a good reason to know how to use a sword. Unusual skills are not impossible to have; you just need to think of <i>why</i> the character has that skill. Maybe the country boy was training to join the clergy, but dropped out; maybe the young noblewoman's parents want to quietly begin to break down the gender restrictions, and tutored her secretly. Also, if a skill is one that society says your character should not have, they need to act like it. If the young noblewoman is going to be lose her status or be branded a criminal for learning swordplay, she's probably not going to openly talk about what she knows.<br />
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It's certainly possible for your character to learn new skills, but <b>learning takes time.</b> If your character picks up a sword for the first time, she's not going to be a master in a week. A character can be well-suited to something and take to it "naturally"; they can be talented, certainly; but that's <i>still</i> going to take time and hard work. <br />
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On the flip side, what <i>can't</i> your character do? Certainly they can't break the physical (and possibly magical) rules of the setting. If they're young, it's unlikely that they'll be a master of anything, or at the front of an academic field. If they're physically out of shape, they're not going to be able to outrun an athlete. <b>Limiting what your character can do is not a bad thing.</b> If your character can get out of any scrape he gets into, he's going to get boring. Having limitations introduces conflict. Conflict is interesting. Having your character figure out what they can do about their situation <i>within their limitations</i> is interesting. And if your character somehow doesn't have limitations, if you let them do anything, it may be exciting for you for a little while, but nobody else is going to want to read that. In an RP such behavior tends to be called out as godmoding and condemned. <b>A character that can do anything is boring and unrealistic.</b><br />
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In conclusion, just keep in mind that you want your character to come across as a person; you want them to be believable and three-dimensional, not incredible paragons or flat caricatures. Hope this was useful!<br />
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<u>Writing rant disclaimer:</u><br />
Some of you may have read some of my fiction or participate in an RP I am part of. If you notice that something in my writing has something I have labeled as a problem in my rant, go ahead and tell me so! I may not have noticed that I'm doing whatever it is, so that can help me! However, I do want to keep this place polite, so please no unnecessary bashing of my characters, or, for that matter, anyone else's, be it a fellow commenter or a fellow RP'er.More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057898625126999469.post-37696429315287439162011-02-23T18:24:00.000-05:002011-03-30T22:56:26.100-04:00In which I introduce the blogHello world!<br />
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I'm just some person, with a lot of opinions. I've been considering getting a blog for a while now because there are lots of things that I'd like to rant about. I will try not to be terribly boring about it.<br />
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To start out with this blog is probably going to be a lot of rants about writing, especially in the context of a role-playing game. Over time it will likely grow to include rants about many other topics.<br />
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On the subject of the writing rants, since they'll be the majority of the blog for a while: the writing rants are inspired by the wonderful ones <a href="http://limyaael.insanejournal.com/">Limyaael</a> did. She knows a lot more about this stuff than me and hers are likely a lot better; I just found that a lot of issues in text RPs I've been in are kind of unique to the format, so I thought I'd address those at least a little. Read hers too, though, they're excellent, and are much more broadly focused than mine will be.<br />
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With that... let's go! (sounds of fireworks that turn out to not be celebratory sparklers, but just the writer spontaneously combusting from the surprise of actually having started a blog)More Opinions Than You Requirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687947874257708551noreply@blogger.com1