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Mods of Kiseki RPG (kiseki_mods) wrote in kiseki_rpg,
@ 2015-01-30 13:29:00

Current mood:	bored
Entry tags:	concrit meme, meme, mod post, ooc

Concrit meme - Take 79!
Time for our monthly How's My Driving meme!

- Comment to this post with a list of your characters. You may add any commentary you'd like, such as things you'd wish to get feedback on.

- Reply anonymously to the other players, giving concrit on how they're playing/their characterization/their interactions/etc.

- Flat-out negative comments will get screened/frozen/deleted, and can be grounds for banning if they're bad enough. Game rules apply here as well, so don't use it as an excuse to insult others. How can you tell the difference between giving crit and bashing? The second has no purpose. Giving crit means you want things to improve - by clearing out a misunderstanding of a character's actions, by helping a player manage activity better, by pointing out where characterization might be off, etc. If there is a situation with a player that's really problematic and would start big trouble here, consider taking it to us mods instead.

- Simply giving positive feedback is just fine! Of course, we encourage these to be as elaborate as possible, as it's always better to get an idea of why a character/player is doing things right.

This is non-mandatory! If you aren't comfortable with the HMD, or don't feel like posting every time, or whatever the reason is, you don't have to post to it. However, don't be that person who gives crit to others and then doesn't open up for crit themselves.

On that same line of thought - we're a small game! If nobody comments, then the meme doesn't work. If you receive comments, try to leave at least one of your own to somebody else. It's always better if we have many replies, and various POVs.

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betterwithher
2015-02-01 02:35 pm UTC (link)

Sherlock Holmes (

betterwithher)
Steve Rogers (

you_know_me)

Usual concerns apply here (spelling, activity, voice stuff), but any critics would greatly appreciated! I really have been trying especially hard to improve following up on tags and making certain I get old threads before starting new ones. Steve's voice has had issues in the past so that's also been a priority for me, and as stated before, I feel a lot better about him than I did two months ago. But there is always room for improvement, and if so, please let me know!

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(Anonymous)
2015-02-01 05:40 pm UTC (link)

I can't say I have much trouble with Steve's voice itself, I liked what he did during the bridge event and it was nice to see him getting a little more involved.

Which, I suppose, is my actual concern here. His stats list him as being kind, willing to help others and do good deeds, who would get along with just about anyone, who struggles with adjusting to his new life and with expressing his own feelings to others. Yet I can hardly say I've seen this reflected in his threads.

Correct me if I'm missing out on things, which is possible as it's easy to miss threads sometimes, but he seems to not really have made many connections so far. Even his threads with Bucky, who I would've expected would be a huge part of his CR, are usually short or even dropped fast at times (such as Bucky's canon update). He doesn't seem to know much of Bucky's large number of CR, or many of the game's known and popular characters. A sociable, well-known character like Stiles mentioned he's never spoken to Steve directly.

Even the notes on him on the plotting post right now seem very empty - you want him to get a job, but don't have any ideas yourself nor offer any insight as to what he could do - and overall it feels as though Steve has little sense of direction, and it's difficult to get an idea of what you'd like for him to do, in terms of his personal issues, his relationships, or what he could do for others.

Getting more insight on this would be great, as well as detailing out where you'd like threads/CR to go with him. As I said initially, I really liked the effort made for him throughout the bridge event, and would love that sort of initiative reflected in the usual Steve as well.

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you_know_me
2015-02-02 01:16 am UTC (link)

Thank you anon! First of all, I apologize for the rushed plotting post because there were a few things I've wanted to do with Steve, but most of that involves the up coming event, which is a separate post altogether, but I should have linked to that at least . I have been meaning to toss him into the Valentine post as well, so again, sorry for the delays on these points.

You mentioned Steve not having any real connections and that is true. A large part of that was because previously I had been so lost and unsure of what to do with him that I would throw him into a lot of threads and end up not seeing them through. I was also shaky on his voice and approach so that added to the anxiety. Those were all issues that had been brought to my attention a couple of months back, and as a way to try and bounce back from it, I made a conscious decision to drop all of his threads from before the Bridge event, which included all of Bucky's threads. It was something that Celen and I discussed and agreed was a good thing to do. We decided to hand wave a lot of old threads and start fresh with the newer posts. So when we did the Bridge event, I focused myself on the threads there and made an effort to make sure they all had direction and purpose while potentially creating an opportunity for Steve to actually bond with others outside of Bucky, and hopefully get him to have some fun with different individuals. (There's an ongoing thread where he's reconnecting with Constance in the Snow Ball post, so I think the event did help a little.)

After the Bridge, there were a few posts mid January that I was interested in tossing him in like the joint Porthos/Isabella post and other threads in the Snow Ball, all with the intention of following up on some CR he started, some of which was just simply getting him to make friends. Others were more to put him in situations where he'd be more vulnerable or awkward around others, and those can lead to some good threads. Unfortunately, my mother got very sick which snowballed into my getting sick and was followed by some awful personal circumstances involving a close friend of mine (which I mentioned briefly on plurk). All those combined really knocked the wind out of my sails, so to speak, and I was back to slowly trying to ease myself into the game again. In doing so, I was trying to avoid a repeat of what I did wrong last time with him. I didn't want to throw Steve into newer threads without first making sure I had been keeping up with older ones, that all the new threads I started had the same focus and direction I had during the Bridge AU. However, it seems to have had the effect of him not being involved enough and for that, I'm sorry ;-;

I really don't want to make excuses for the lack of initiative or communication on my part, but I hope that at least explains why I sort of dropped the ball in January. I'm hoping February will be a lot less disruptive, and I'll try my best to keep following up on things with this guy. I'm determined to keep improving him and to know that my efforts during the Bridge event were evident makes me even more so. Again, thank you so much for the feedback, anon! I really am sorry for the trouble, but I promise I'll keep what you said in mind and do what I can to fix my mistakes ;-;

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(Anonymous)
2015-02-01 08:07 pm UTC (link)

I'll start out by saying that his is just a minor observation I've noticed over the course of playing with Sherlock. I think you do a fantastic job of capturing his analytical/detective side, and sometimes you're able for him to observe things despite playing with characters you might not be familiar with and be able to demonstrate his observational skills really masterfully.

I will say that some of his more emotional sides, however, seem a bit off. I think that for a while you did a good job of striking his lack of balance without Joan. But, given that you updated him to season 3, the ic and ooc emphasis on Joan seems a little too much. Not that he wouldn't care about Joan nor miss her or seek his companionship, because we know that that's very much Sherlock's thing. However, you're playing him from a point in time after he'd lived in London for six months and thus learned to at least function without Joan. In canon, he also states that it wasn't so much Joan herself as it was the relationship that he missed (which arguably isn't fully true, but regardless).

You see him form a new bond, mentorship, and partnership with Kitty, which demonstrates that he's more than capable of forming emotional attachments with like-minded people who aren't Joan. Except, when you're playing Sherlock, it seems more often that you're using the lack of Joan as a crutch to justify why he isn't around more or being more "sociable" (as much as Sherlock can be). His relationship with Kitty demonstrates his ability to seek out others and form new partnerships independent of Joan.

Not to say that Joan's importance shouldn't be emphasized. But, rather, I think you should be branching Sherlock out more. You had a tentative foundation with Miko in that respect while Miko was still in game, but he doesn't ever appear to be reaching our or attempting to pass on his wisdom to worthy people. Or, for that matter, seems to be searching for a worthy person to teach and mentor.

His update doesn't seem to be reflected in how you're playing him. In season 3, he's far from cuddly, but he seems a little more vulnerable in Sherlock's sense, and has opened himself up to not just Joan, but Kitty as well. I think that Sherlock's playing in Kiseki if you were exploring that mentoring/teaching side more, because as it stands, I haven't seen a whole lot of it and haven't seen a noticeable shift in his playing since before and after his update.

But like I said, you do a great job of his more analytical and observational side, but while you're often quick to point out that Sherlock is an asshole, in some ways, I think you're overdoing it and not exploring the other sides of Sherlock's character: namely, his own brand of vulnerability and socialization.

Of course, perhaps I'm off-base here. I'm far from a Sherlock expert, and like I said, I'm often in awe of your ability to handle such an intelligent and strange character. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, in any case, or at least explain your thought-process behind it if I am mistaken on your characterization approach.

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betterwithher
2015-02-02 02:07 am UTC (link)

Thank you anon! I would like to say, I think you're right. I hadn't really noticed just how often he refers to Joan in his thoughts, but it's true that at this point he would be a lot less dependent on her, regardless of how much he still relies on her.

I will say that as far as him being less vulnerable, I think he's been a lot more so than in the past, but that it's always to a limited extent, something that canon seems to support. In the show, for example, you can see he's come a long way in opening up to others and allowing himself to let people in, but he's also mostly demonstrating this vulnerability around people he's come to consider "family" (Joan, Gregson, and Bell).

I also play him as being in denial about just how decent of a person he actually is and how much some people mean to him. The Sherlock I currently play cares for Kitty, but has yet to realize that he loves her despite making the analogy of him being her "father figure". He says that he's only ever loved three people in his life and names Joan, his mother, and "Irene." In Kiseki he's realized he loves Jamie for who she really is, not just for who he believed her to be, but in the show, he seems to be in denial about his feelings despite evidence to the contrary. I think the point where he truly begins to understand how important Kitty is to him is the episode where a man is interested in her, and he does everything in his power to keep her occupied so she doesn't get upset by the advances or potentially hurt. When Kitty tells him that what he did made her feel "protected and loved," there is a very noticeable shift in how he handles the situation, offering to take her and her date to an exhibit so that Kitty can be around the suitor while feeling safe. It's a very small, but telling gesture, something even Kitty seems pleasantly surprised with.

Sorry to vomit Sherlock feels and headcanons, let me get back to your points >>;;; I have been having him approach others when they're upset and try and have him comfort them in his own way while still not seeing how much he actually cares about them. With Art after the Bridge, he's giving him advice while wanting to maintain some distance lest Jamie decide to mess with him again. With Robin after Porthos leaves, he wants to reassure her while being hostess about the situation. In the Valentine post with Snow, its a combination of wanting to help while also knowing he may not be someone she wants to open with like say, her husband or children. All of these are people he's come to like, but again, he's not always good at understanding how deeply he can actually feel at times, but he'll get there!

But I'll try and be more clear about his vulnerability in the future, because it IS very much part of the new Sherlock and when I update him, you'll definitely see it more. Thank you once more for bringing this to my awareness as well as the Joan fixation. I will definitely try and be more attentive to these matters and work on them going forward ^^

I've been intending to have Sherlock find another person to bond with like he did with Miko and I do actually have two people in mind for that. Stiles and Real!Syaoran are the people I can see him taking under his wing, but I wanted to touch base with their muns first ^^;; I think JL and I agreed some time ago that there was some potential with Syaoran, so I'm going to keep up with their CR and see what happens.

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(Anonymous)
2015-02-02 03:00 am UTC (link)

Thanks for taking the time to clarify everything! When it comes to a character like Sherlock, sometimes it's tough to figure out just what's going on in his head even with the best of muns highlighting in introspection/brackets or with memes on plurk. I appreciate you taking the time to write that all out for me, it definitely makes things clearer. I wish I had more to add to that other than this tiny comment after you wrote so much.

I will add though in regards to what you've said here and what you said to the anon above, I think you could definitely benefit from some more ooc communication. Lately, when you plurk about the game, it's usually with comments like "I can't do tags tonight, will try tomorrow" or "just finished tags, now going to bed", and thus all your plurks become a timeline for your tagging styles but doesn't offer insight into what your characters are thinking or reaching out to other players to get some threads going or hash out ideas. I know that sometimes it can be intimidating to just jump in or something like that, but I think that especially with someone like Sherlock, being more communicative oocly will really help for others to interact with him.

Hope that helps, and again, thanks for taking the time to write that all out. :)

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betterwithher
2015-02-02 01:56 pm UTC (link)

It does help, and thank you for the suggestion about interacting more outside the game. That's something I do have trouble doing, largely because I don't want to bother others or but in when people are plotting things for their characters. But you're right in that it would clarify where I'm coming from in terms of how I play my characters and in trying to get them more involved with others.

Thank you for your help and I hope I don't let anyone down ;-;

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