[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Have you ever discussed threads with other people? Particular one-versus-one threads? I know most of the time people make comments about the character or the thread in the cbox but I never know if people actually ever discussed it. If they do it beyond formalities and try to tackle it intellectually? I don't know but for me when I discuss threads (finished threads, that is. I won't discuss threads during. Just becomes awkward) it's like talking about a chess match. I make comments about awkward posts on my and the other person's part and share the thoughts I had on here and there to explain why I decided to do this and that.

I usually predict responses too because I do try to incite a certain reaction from the person. Like if my character explicitly said something that I know should affect the char because of the char's background, I have an idea of the flow it's going to go. So on thread discussions, I point out parts that were unexpected to me - good and bad, and parts that I felt were ignored.

I don't know if other people pour this much thought about rping xD I don't discuss threads with everyone of course. Only those I feel I am a bit close to and those I can sense can appreciate the thread like I do.

[Elena]

Yes, I do discuss threads, ongoing and ended, and I find it benefic for all the involved writers. it also might spark new plot ideas.

[Zozma]

Definitely agree that discussing threads can spark new ideas. I actually find it more beneficial to have a good rapport with the people I'm RPing with so that I can send them PMs and say "HOLY COW, I just got an idea and I think you're gonna love~ it~!" Haha! I spend a lot of time helping other people with plots, too, though, even plots that don't concern my characters. Although I admit, after a few times from the same person saying they can't think of an idea, I grow weary of holding their hands. You can't expect everybody else to do all your work for you.

Anyway, I also find it intellectually stimulating to discuss character psychology. I have an enormous love of this, discussing why characters might do one thing or another. Sometimes, my characters do things and it's a small hint at something else in their plot or story line and it's so much fun to watch other people's reactions when they discover these things and realize my sneaky butt had been hinting at if for ages.

For example, I had a character who was being experimented on and for a long time, other members and many other characters believed he was simply a raging psychopath. He did a lot of crap to a lot of people on the forum but he was screwed up in the head and even he had no explanation for his behavior.

However, I don't like it when all the bad things happening to characters just happen to befall "innocent" characters who did nothing to cause them. I am a very big fan of actions = consequences and that all believable characters make mistakes. I also believe that characters who do bad things aren't necessarily "evil."

For example, I had a character who said something really cruel to his boyfriend on accident (he has a habit of blurting things before thinking). He was told to get out and never come back so he went home, heartbroken. He called up his BFF and cried on his shoulder. BFF told him to go back to see his boyfriend in a couple days after he calmed down to smooth things out. But in the meantime, he invited him out to drink with him for the night to forget his troubles. The two ended up drunk screwing each other and they were caught by the boyfriend's BFF, who went to the boyfriend and told him what he saw, adding that he believed the two were always cheating behind his back. Obviously, that caused a huge rift and guess what? My character's not innocent. He made a LOT of mistakes and now he has to live with them.

I like discussing character flaws, mistakes, troubles. I like to throw a lot of trouble at characters and make them work it out. Some of it's fairly mundane, some of it's soap opera quality. I don't really care what it is, as long as we're all having fun.

[WRATH]

This might not make sense and for that I apologize.

I've never actually discussed threads with another person because I've never actually thought about doing so, but I do think about threads (and the characters involved with them). Honestly, getting inside a character's head is the greatest thing ever to me -- it sparks aha! moments and suddenly things start falling into place? I personally don't like having a lot of super detailed, fleshed-out plots; maybe having a direction or two you'd like them to go in, sure, but more likely than not things will deviate from what you planned initially.

Going into threads with another person with an end in mind is entirely different than threading with said person and arriving at an end -- maybe your characters end up better friends than you thought or maybe they just don't like each other at all, but either way it creates a little window into both of their minds. It's more fun to see how things unfold than it is to follow a set script at times, I think.

As Zozma said, character psychology is really intriguing. The question I ask is "Why?" Why are they this, why do they do that, why are they what they are at that moment? And how they act in threads definitely helps answer those questions, which lead to new questions and new answers and more aha! moments (which, again, are totally awesome and I feel very accomplished when I do have those moments).

Really, though, Zozma said it all quite well and I agree with it wholeheartedly.

As for predicting how it's going to go, I do that as well and hopefully I get the response I was gunning for -- but when I don't, I think it's pretty awesome too.

[gojira]

when the discussion allows, it interests me more to know how another player (not character) perceives my character. it's always fun for me to see how anyone else breaks my character down, because more often than not, they're able to tell me more things about my characters than i actively know about them.

i like discussing threads from any sort of pov though, but mainly because i enjoy listening to how people perceive and react to how the thread turned more than anything else.

i can never predict anything, btw. i don't have a good grasp of my character, and it's probably why plots never go according to plan right ari

[WRATH]

i had a feeling that was going to come up

[gojira]

because i know you read this thread

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Zozma the Articulate

Aug 2, 2013 23:04:08 GMT -8 WRATH said:

I personally don't like having a lot of super detailed, fleshed-out plots; maybe having a direction or two you'd like them to go in, sure, but more likely than not things will deviate from what you planned initially.

I simply tend to refrain from speaking everything I had in mind even though the thread does end to the direction of what I thought it was going to be. I learned that, well, people probably react badly when told what to do or when it feels like they're not contributing. I never meant to make it like I'm in-charge but with my rush of ideas, people get the impression that I want things to go my way. The way I explain things is probably a factor. I'm able to describe exactly how I feel things would go and how characters would react. I meant to flatter people when it seems like I know how their character would react because I made the effort to understand them. Reading their profile, their posts, etc. But most people end up becoming overwhelmed and it sucks when they just tell you "no" flat-out. Worse if when they actually ignore some of the things you said.

Obviously, something happened to Tanz regarding this

But yeah as far as discussing threads is concerned, I don't do them with most people. Not anymore.