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aoisakana - blog owner
Thursday, March 20, 2003
--- Being Descriptive in Your Posts ---
Next point.

   Playing a character is not simply typing out words onto a screen. One should be descriptive in their actions/posts. Anyone could slap on a name and type in any sort of actions such as:

   ::appears suddenly::

   to me this simply conjurs up the image of 'poOf' the character apears fairy-god-motheresque though without the glamour and sparkles. It leaves the post empy and lacking as well as making the typist (the person behind the character) seen unimaginative, when this could be the opposite. When you make a post, you should consider as many angles as possible. "How" is the main question. Working on the previous example, we should ask 'how did they appear? by what method?' 'was there any effect that those around them may have felt or seen/heard if they were looking/listening?' etc. For example, with Avemano a similar post would be:

   ::The doll sat in the window of an old antique store, staring silently out at those that passed by the large glass panes. The single streetlamp in front illuminated her like a spot light would on a stage; the smile draw upon her lips seemed to let those knows how she revelled in the attention - that is, of course, the reason why Avemano chose this particular antique shop to gain her rest. And so, she sat there...though, in one instance the doll existed behind the glass and in the next moment a man's shadow passed over her and then it was gone; dissolved into the shadows like sugar in water. From a nearby darkened alleyway Avemano formed, stepping out of the rippling shadows as one would from behind a satin curtain. The shadows slid from her mortal form, like silk upon skin, as she stepped into the flood of artificial light created by the street lamp.::

   The latter example answers the two questions listed earlier.

- how did she get onto the street?
   -- by dissolving into the shadows and moving from that to the shadows in the alley

- would one notice if they were paying attention?
   -- perhaps: the shadows were rippling but perhaps not since it was dark...I left the mention of it being empty or not open so that anyone who would like to join in (ie: 'spotting' her emerge from a wall) would be able to.

   While you don't have to be descriptive in -every- single action your character commits, it's not a bad idea to get some practice because it comes in -great- use during fights. By describing, how, where, when, etc, in your fight posts, you help your opponent know -exactly- what sort of injuries they should sustain or how they should block it with little to no confusion. This also will help with reducing many of those ooc arguments that break out during a fight based on misinterpretation of the opponent's actions. An action such as:

   ::strikes at you::

   contains quite a bit of ambiguity - in fact it would cause a -great- deal of confusion. 'Where are you striking at?' 'How?' 'Which direction?' 'How hard are you hitting?' 'Are you using a weapon?'

   A post from Avemano would go along the lines of:

   ::Swiftly Avemano moved towards your left side at a hard run, claws at that moment sheathed into herself; as she neared you, her left arm raked upwards, claws extending out at the same moment and digging into your soft flesh rapidly. Idealy there would be contact, her claws would rip through your torso, ribcage and all; rupturing all the vital organs you needed to survive - job done. That was the ideal scenario but nothing works out to be as planned; any amount of injury you suffer from will work to her advantage; at this point, it was all she could've hoped for. The attack brought her several feet behind you; the momentum of the run forcing her to do so though the contact slowed her down slightly. Quickly she pivoted on the balls of her feet to face you once again, crouched down and alert.::

   Again this explains the questions I listed earlier:

- where was she striking at?
   -- she was aiming at tearing up through the torso of her target

- how?
   -- a running attack. As she closed in on her opponent, her claws raked upwards.

- how hard was she hitting?
   -- hard enough to rip through the flesh and bone

- was she using a weapon?
   -- her claws, built into her body, were her weapons

   Of course, the above example could be worded differently, in a much shorter and condensed way such as:

   ::She ran at you, claws raking upwards and tearing at your body as she closed in before coming to a halt behind you.::

   It's shorter, and takes much less time to read of course but it while the longer post takes a fair bit of time to read and write, it provides a clear image of what Avemano attempted to do to her opponent while in the shorter, condensed post, there are a few items of confusion left:

1: it tells the opponent what they should have happened. Most of the time people like it better when you suggest what the damage is instead of telling them what you just did to your character. But it is not completely wrong when you do it that way.

2: it doesn't tell you what distance Avemano is from her opponent. A foot?, right up against the opponent? It's hard to make a proper counter attack when you don't know all the facts.

3: claws? where did they come from? did they extend while she was in the air or while she was on the ground?

4: when she landed, is her back still towards her opponent or did she turn? (we would automatically assume that her back is still to her opponent)

   This last example is a fairly simple attack as it involved absolutely no abilities; this attack is completely physical which makes it easier to interpret. But once you want to and -do- involve abilities and powers then it gets a tad more complicated. Now, if everyone knew, every power written by WW, AD&D and all FF abilities as well, then it wouldn't be any problem to just do something say [celerity 1] and everyone would understand what you were trying to do. But things don't work that way. The problems that start to occur here are usually the conflicts between free form abilities and pre-written abilities.
 aoisakana 11:23