simpathis: (Default)
Empatheias Mods ([personal profile] simpathis) wrote2014-05-25 12:34 am
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[ application: original characters ]

— APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN AND WILL BE PROCESSED ON WEEKENDS —

Canon Applications are here


IMPORTANT! We are officially in endgame until August 31, 2020. Applications are on a rolling basis. There is a small "block" period from the 1st through the 4th of every month to allow a bulk of apps to be submitted, and then applications can be submitted at any time during the month. Notices will be sent out all at once after the first "block" period, and then between 24 hours to the end of the weekend depending on how many and our schedule. Applications are guaranteed to be processed during the weekends.

IMPORTANT: Only the following types of original characters are allowed to be applied for—

  • Pure OC. These are the typical kind of OC that everyone is familiar with. They are characters that are the player's own creation with their own world that is also of the player's design. There is zero relation to any pre-existing canon.

  • MMO OC. MMOs, or Massively Multiplayer Online games, particularly those with a lot of roleplay and character build-up, have existing world building and lore that they have to follow. These characters are created by the player and can have their own story, but they have to follow the rules of the game lore. We consider "main hero" characters as those who are one of many in a great group that influenced the storyline, rather than the singular Great Hero character. This is to help multiple MMO OCs from the same game to have stories that mesh well together. In the sake of fairness to current FFXIV OC players and consistency with previous mod teams' decisions, we do not currently allow FFXIV Warriors of Light.

  • Blank Slate Canon Protagonists. For our criteria, these types of characters are those which you control throughout the game and essentially make the player the main character. They may have a name and a couple of personality traits, but everything else is up to the player to interpret. Examples of these are most of the main characters from Dragon Age, Skyrim, Pokémon, etc. Important: Please note that this category ONLY pertains to the protagonists of canons. This does not allow side characters or other support NPCs as they have set stories and personalities. This section has nothing to do with how much headcanon is used and is only about the purpose and design of the protagonist character.

The following would not be allowed:

  • Fanon/AU OCs. Characters that are based off pre-existing canons or an alternate version of the canon. We would not allow these OCs not because we are against them on principle, but it could cause unwanted confusion and complications with current existing casts. This type of OC would have needed to be allowed from the very beginning so players would know what they were getting into.

  • Game Native OCs. Currently the game is not ready for such a type of character, as it would introduce other complications and worldbuilding that the interested player would have to be aware of. In addition, it would require more close connection with us the mods than we are currently ready for.


Before applying, please be sure to read the following:

  • Read the Rules and the Game Information.
  • RETURNING PLAYERS! You only need to submit any old application. Does not matter how long ago, as long as it was accepted and you have good standing (ie, not banned), it will be valid.
  • Suggestion: Find some character sheets that have questions directly related to character building. These will help flesh out your application and give some guidelines as to how to write about your character.
  • Feel free to use the most recent test drive both for practice as well as to use for samples. IMPORTANT! If you submit threads as samples, you must submit the application with that character journal. This is the only way we can ensure that the samples are from you and not someone else.
  • Linked samples must have been made within the past year.
  • You may apply for up to two characters per cycle.
  • Do not plagiarize. If we find that the information provided was directly taken by either another player or some other source material, the application will be rejected immediately. If we find this after processing the application, we will revoke the application and have you removed from the game with potential ban.
  • Reusing your own applications from other games is allowed. We only ask any original written samples to conform to our game. That is, we don't want to read samples that are set specifically for another game's premise. Note: this does not apply to threads linked from other games used as samples.
  • If you are rejected, you cannot reapply for the same character for two weeks. However, you can apply for a different character in that same period.
  • Those accepted must fill out all of the required entries within a week to be considered part of the game. Otherwise, we will consider it a revocation of the application.
  • Fill out the form and comment to this entry! All applications must be posted directly to this entry; no linked-in applications allowed.


We have compiled sample applications from our players to show what the mod team and the application moderators are looking for in terms of writing quality and depth. We hope you find these samples useful!


⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉

Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉

Character:
Age:
OC Type: Indicate whether this OC is a Pure, MMO, or Blank Protagonist type of OC. If it is a Blank Protagonist, indicate the canon here.
Point Taken: A sense of time when the character is taken. More applicable to MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs.

World Building:This is separate from the character's personal history. This section is to provide us with information about the character's “canon” in general. We will have no idea what kind of world that the character is coming from, and this is the only place we can learn about it. We don't want an encyclopedia, but we will need to know important details about it so that we can understand the culture the character is coming from and how that will affect how they think and behave. What countries are important? What kind of geography or political climate? Are there any social conflicts that would impact the character or would influence how they view others? For MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs, linking us to wikis will suffice, but feel free to add more to it.

Backstory: While we don't need a play-by-play, what we would like to see includes how the character lived, what choices they've made and why, what events occurred that developed them, and other important facts that will help us understand the character. For MMO OCs: Most MMORPGs will have a set storyline that the player character has the opportunity to play through. Keep in mind that rather there being a singular "Great Hero," all MMO OCs are to be seen as a part of a large group of heroes if you choose to follow the main storyline. Also keep in mind that all MMO OCs will have to follow their game’s canon lore. For example: A character could not save the NPC that canonly died, nor could a mission fail if it is set to succeed. However, your character could have died and or had difficulty fulfilling the mission. It is also possible that your character had no part in the overall game's story and had their own adventures in the world instead. Finally, there can be no romantic or familial relationships with named NPCs.

Personality: We're looking for how they think, why they act the way they do, their strengths, their weaknesses, their thought processes, their opinions, their conflicts, what makes them feel the way they do, their significant traits. When writing your character, be careful! We want to avoid characters that are the super invincible almighty hero that can do no wrong. The one who can charm anyone with a smile, can easily trick and deceive, has the power to bend wills with ease. All characters have flaws—no one is perfect. But more importantly, such infallible characters are not interesting to play and interact with. In short, the character should be realistic, balanced, and well thought out. If we feel that your character does not meet this standard, then we may ask for a revision or reject if it cannot be changed.

Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable if applicable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.

Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.

Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

Sample: We have two sample requirements.

General Sample: We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.

Emotion Sample: This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. A reminder that apathetic characters will also create effects, such as loss of color, surface distortion, holes forming. This section doesn't have to be lengthy, but the effect must be clear for us to see.

The emotion sample can be part of the general character sample. If so, please link directly or directly quote that portion so that it's easier for us to quickly find it.

The samples can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:

  1. Test Drive. You can utilize our test drive to cover both requirements of the sample. So long as there is enough character portrayal and a scene with an emotional reaction, be it within the prompt or done during the thread, then it can be used for both.
  2. Link out + Written. You can link to threads/entries from other games, memes, or museboxes to show character portrayal, and then write an additional short scene for the emotion portion of the sample.
  3. Original Sample. You can write a complete sample that shows both character portrayal and a scene involving emotion use. This can be one sample or two separate samples. If you opt to write an original sample, you are welcome to use any prompts from any of our Test Drives, Intro Logs, Task Board, and even past events. You are also free to change things up and are not restricted to any of these prompts. They are just here to help offer ideas.

Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.


Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.



Clean copy and paste form here:

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simpathis: (Default)

Revision

[personal profile] simpathis 2018-08-06 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
While the application shows promise, there are a few things that either didn't quite meet our standards, were lacking, or incorrect. Fortunately we feel that this can be easily revised. Here are our concerns:

We would like to see more concerning the character's development between starting her journey and her canon point. Given the amount of time covered, we would like more on how leaving home and journeying has changed her.

Please submit your revisions as its own comment in reply to this one. You have one week to submit the revisions, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of your application. If you have any questions or concerns, ask away!
battalia: (Default)

[personal profile] battalia 2018-08-12 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Fourteen is one of those strange ages where too much change happens all at once — where one's ego is generally a delicate thing, and biology demands growth without preparation, and everything is sort of awful and beautiful at the same time. In the Pokémon world, moreover, fourteen is rather old to be starting one's first journey as a Trainer; comments from game director Junichi Masuda and art director Takao Unno indicate that Touko was fourteen at the start of her journey, whereas protagonists and rivals from other Pokémon games set out when they are ten, or even eleven. It would be a gross oversimplification of both fiction and reality to assert that personal change can be directly attributed to any one particular life event, or that a journey must necessitate significant change; instead, change tends to come about not through travel or by the passage of time alone but due to variable combinations of social pressures, personal ambition, and life decisions. I say all this basically because Touko was the sort of individual who, by the age of fourteen, possessed a sort of cocky worldliness — not especially uncommon among persons of that age group — and individuals of that persuasion generally do not change very much between the ages of fourteen to sixteen, save that for some, the impudent audacity of youth develops into mere arrogance, whereas others, like Touko, eventually tire of the performance of wit, and soften their behavior in the years to come.

Ultimately, Touko's journey in itself did not change her core personality, nor her demeanor or the general way in which she interacts with the world, but it broadened her experiences, and the end result of it bestowed upon her a sense of personal direction which she hitherto lacked. She began her journey as what one might, in the vernacular, term a "small town girl," one who believed wholeheartedly in a positive symbiotic relationship between Pokémon and people, and who possessed an apparent natural aptitude for Pokémon battling (insomuch as it is possible to possess a natural aptitude for anything — all skills require some degree of honing, and more likely than not, Touko's mother, apparently a Trainer who once had a journey of her own, had some role to play in this). Unlike Cheren, Touko had no particular desire to attain power, battle Gym Leaders, or conquer the Pokémon League. She pursued these goals merely because the Gym challenge was a convenient compass by which to anchor her journey, because she was good at passing the Gym challenges, and — in the parlance of teenagers — because her friend was doing it too.

Challenging the Pokémon League was, of course, not her only concern at this time; now and then, Team Plasma interrupted her travels with challenges of its own. Of course, the philosophy of Team Plasma was never particularly dangerous to Touko's worldviews: even during her first encounter with Team Plasma in Accumula Town, Ghetsis's argument towards Pokémon liberation rang hollow to her ears, and as for her battle with N, she was tempted, like Cheren, to dismiss him as a "strange guy" and move on with her life. By the time she and Bianca witnessed members of Team Plasma abusing a Pokémon in the Striaton City Dreamyard, however, and by the time she saw still other members of Team Plasma "liberating" Pokémon by stealing them from their Trainers, it was plain to her that Team Plasma was a dangerous presence in Unova, an essentially criminal organization staffed by hypocritical, cult-minded incompetents. Still other thefts by Team Plasma and still more "strange" encounters with N did little to sway Touko of the view that Pokémon liberation was a farce. She was of course aware, at this time, that selfish people existed, and that there were abusive Trainers who betrayed, mistreated and hurt their Pokémon — but still, she believed, from seeing her Pokémon and her friends' Pokémon, that Pokémon were at their best and happiest in the hands of a Trainer. She believed that she had to stop Team Plasma's misdoings whenever possible, not because she thought herself worthy of meting out any kind of justice, but simply because she could — and very often, she was the only person who could.

Knowing that N was the "king" of Team Plasma did not change her thoughts.

Though — as she sat in a Ferris wheel car with him while he implicitly declared himself her ideological enemy — it did occur to her that perhaps something about Team Plasma was worse than it seemed on the surface.

He was strange, to say the least, and perhaps sick, if he could so readily tolerate abuse against Pokémon within his own ranks — but even then, as always, N was not at the forefront of Touko's thoughts. There were other things to worry about. Touko stood in defiance against Bianca's father when he came to Nimbasa City to take her home, rebelling for the first time in her life against a man she had previously recognized as an authority figure; by then, Touko had gained the confidence, the power, and the independence necessary to assert that she and her friends were no longer mere children to be mollycoddled and insulated from the world. Later, she met the Champion, Alder, who questioned Cheren about why he desired power; despite the fact that Alder's question was directed towards her friend, this question prompted a certain degree of self-reflection from Touko as well. What was Cheren going to do with power once he had it? But, more relevant to her, what was Touko going to do with the power she and her Pokémon possessed?

In the end, N was correct when, in Chargestone Cave, he assessed Touko as a "neutral presence" — an individual who, despite an outward display of cheery confidence and an apparent ability to achieve victory in all circumstances, had yet to develop an internal compass by which to navigate the world. Nevertheless, he told her that she had been "chosen" — for what, she did not know, but she was honest when she told him that she had yet to develop a dream. They fought; she emerged victorious, but even that victory felt hollow when, not long afterward, he resurfaced having met the approval of a legendary dragon Pokémon, one that ostensibly granted him enough power to forcibly liberate the Pokémon of the Unova region. He challenged her to find its counterpart, and battle him one last time with the very relationship between people and Pokémon at stake. Then came the panic, the rolling crescendo — and it was through seeing the desperate resolution of the Champion and the Gym Leaders of Unova in a time of crisis that Touko finally understood: the only thing to do with power is defend those without power. As his "chosen" enemy, she challenged the Pokémon League in pursuit of N, then chased him to his castle, where she learned, from his various servants and attendants, that he had essentially been raised in a fantasy world, that he was a mere pawn in his adoptive father's scheme to take control of the region, and possibly the world. She learned that even N had most likely realized by that point that he was raised on a lie, but it would have simply been too painful to admit that truth. Then, and only then, did Touko decide that if she had to defend anyone in the world, she had to protect N from himself.

So she earned Zekrom's approval as its champion of ideals, and she battled N; then, when that was done, she battled Ghetsis, and defeated him as well. And after some talk and a final farewell, it was all over, as these things go. But Touko's life had to continue, and what does one do after a "god" has chosen you as a "hero" — after you have ostensibly "saved the world"? It isn't as though she left immediately — Touko spent quite some time in Unova after that, lending her assistance to the international police and other such things — but personal dissatisfaction and an implacable need to somehow do more took root in her heart. In the end, she left Unova to find N, hoping to see him again, hoping, unrealistically, to somehow feel as she did in the throne room of his castle: the adrenaline, the exhilaration, the exhaustion, the sense that she had finally been pushed to her limit. In the time Touko has spent traveling the regions in pursuit of a man she might never find, she has not been able to feel that way again — but now, as an absentee hero who arguably peaked at fourteen years old, her thoughts are focused less on how she will change as an individual, and more on how she might change the world.
simpathis: (Default)

Accepted!

[personal profile] simpathis 2018-08-14 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Congratulations! We are happy to announce that your application has been accepted.

Please follow these next few steps to officially be considered part of the game. Remember that you have one week to do all this, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of the application.

➟ Reply to this comment with the journal you will be joining with, then join the following communities:
➟ Please comment to the appropriate Taken Characters list: Canons A-M | Canons N-Z.
➟ You are required to create an information post on your character journal for easy player reference. Using your application is perfectly fine! You are also free to use one of our Info Post Templates.
➟ When your journal is added by the mod journal, comment to the Player Contact list.
➟ Introduce yourself in our Player Intro post and start playing!
➟ Use the Character Introduction Log for your character intro!
➟ Please note that while we will create a character tag for you, you will need to type it in the first time you use it in each community for it to show up on the list.


Some optional things:
➟ Review the Game Info, Emotions, Amulet, and Island information pages.
➟ Check the monthly mod post for some announcements and an idea of what's in store for the month.
➟ Make sure you understand how the Network works. Remember, Empatheias uses telepathy as communication!
➟ Feel free to make an Inbox post for any private messages that could be sent via messenger bird.
➟ Check this month's plotting post.
➟ Follow the mod plurk ([plurk.com profile] simpathis) for game announcements.
➟ Join the game's Discord chat. You can join it by following the link here.


If you have any questions at any time, feel free to contact us! Once again, we welcome you to Empatheias, and we hope you enjoy the game!
battalia: (72)

[personal profile] battalia 2018-08-15 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Will be using this journal.
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