I'll try and get a post up by the end of today

Quick heads up, you've all got till Sunday to post your intros. Such will be accepted later on too but the rest of us will carry on and you'll have to hop on board in a different time and place.

Also Justin is definitely not accepted. We had a little chat about him in the OOC and those posts are already deleted so I assume he's been dealt with. I'll try to ask an admin/mod to remove his CS and post but if its impossible please just ignore him.

Last but not least congrats to all for your very first and utterly amusing posts! ^ ^

Great posts everyone! Looking good so far.

Just to let you guys know, I'm xinnone. I ended up changing my user to something much cooler-sounding, lmao.

Anyway,
@OSIEIPPO I have a few questions regarding your character, which was brought up to me when you mentioned that you'd "fixed" him. Though I'm not the GM, nor did I ever have to approve of Ralph, his mental illnesses are extremely surprising. It appears as though you've flippantly taken the issues of depression, social anxiety, schozophrenia, and "etc" (whatever that means) in justifying his personality. Not only that, but he is seriously unmedicated as well, which would be impossible. He holds a decent job, is the sole caretaker of his daughter, and is about to have a surprise party that very same day. A mentally healthy person would struggle with those difficulties already, and yet, Ralph seems unphased. Being dropped off into another world would be shocking in it of itself, let alone to someone with clearly very serious issues. For instance, if you woke up in the middle of nowhere, I doubt that introductions would be the first thing you'd think of. I'm not saying that he shouldn't have a mental illness (mine has panic attacks, for example), but you must push towards understanding what sort of personality traits would arise with someone who shouldn't even be able to function.

He's also a none white dude in a land, if we're actually in England, full of white folk who assume all none-white folk are Islamic heathen. Just saying...

@RisenDead@Wind Wild

Right, that adds on to another couple of questions that I had unanswered. Specifically, where and when are we? Because if we're assuming the Middle Ages, then different parts of Europe were at different instances of fruition. Specifically, the southern parts of Europe were doing extremely well (the Golden Age of Islam had taken over in quite a bit of places, excluding most northern regions (of Europe for example, AKA their Dark Ages). Like, I know that we've decided to use modern English for the world that we've constructed, so any other details from the OP would be helpful. I'm also aware that we collectively chose to pick a time & place later on, but now since we're into the story, I'd like to know before all of us start describing different places/times.

@Medusa He is a reflection of myself irl to be honest.

I suffer from the some of his ailments, am unmedicated and yet i lead a normal life. In the CS i mentioned that he enjoys the simpler things in life. There is a reason for this. As of now all he knows is he is outside in the middle of the day with some strangers who seem as confused as he is. He is smart enough to understand himself and has dealt with these problems so long that he has developed his own little ways of controlling them. (which is how i maintain personally)

It's just the first post. He wouldn't have chosen to introduce himself had he seen any other option. What should he have done? Ran? That would have only succeeded in tiring him out and stranding him alone. Remain silent? For someone else maybe that would have worked but Ralph knows he's too intelligent not to at least attempt to figure things out on a step by step basis. As of now he sees no immediate danger, only confusion.

Like i said previously, this is only the first post. Trust me, if i have the opportunity to show you all who Ralph is then hopefully you will understand. He will unravel, eventually. He has barriers up to sustain his mental health but they won't last. Character development is important to me and i will delve deeper into his mental state over time.

Just as irl with my own mental health issues, most people i meet would not guess that i suffer from depression and social anxiety. It's in this way that Raphael is modeled after myself.

@Medusa He is a reflection of myself irl to be honest.

I suffer from the some of his ailments, am unmedicated and yet i lead a normal life. In the CS i mentioned that he enjoys the simpler things in life. There is a reason for this. As of now all he knows is he is outside in the middle of the day with some strangers who seem as confused as he is. He is smart enough to understand himself and has dealt with these problems so long that he has developed his own little ways of controlling them. (which is how i maintain personally)

It's just the first post. He wouldn't have chosen to introduce himself had he seen any other option. What should he have done? Ran? That would have only succeeded in tiring him out and stranding him alone. Remain silent? For someone else maybe that would have worked but Ralph knows he's too intelligent not to at least attempt to figure things out on a step by step basis. As of now he sees no immediate danger, only confusion.

Like i said previously, this is only the first post. Trust me, if i have the opportunity to show you all who Ralph is then hopefully you will understand. He will unravel, eventually. He has barriers up to sustain his mental health but they won't last. Character development is important to me and i will delve deeper into his mental state over time.

Just as irl with my own mental health issues, most people i meet would not guess that i suffer from depression and social anxiety. It's in this way that Raphael is modeled after myself.

I empathize with you, I really do. Although my issue isn't with Ralph's "character development." We all just posted, so I understand the need to delve deeper into his personality. I do have a problem with your flippant use of mental illnesses, such as the "etc." What would that even entail? Schizophrenia (for instance) is also extremely serious, and without medication, would leave someone unable to function in normal society (to varying degrees). I couldn't fathom someone dealing with that + whatever issues you've chosen to have him possess. I didn't mean to get into anything when I posted, but Ralph clearly cannot be capable of being "considered very attractive," "having a genius level intellect that is rarely used," or a magical affinity "for the sciences, such as athletics and the arts." Plus, apparently he has to deal with a long list of mental disorders and a small child! C'mon, I understand the need to create a really cool character, but this guy is just unbelievable.

I can see your point. I'll rework him. Sorry.

Medusa, please refrain from taking up GM duties in the future. I appreciate you voicing an opinion or concern but demanding someone change their character just because you don't understand them isn't something I like to see.

Obviously one post isn't enough to judge a character and neither is the CS. There's a reason I wanted a sketchy description of the character and not their life story. Ralph isn't your character and as such he can't be modelled based on what you think is reasonable.

Osieippo, I haven't had the time to see any of your latest revisions but unless there are any major changes then he has been approved by me. If you want to have a compromise with Medusa, you can just say something like he's on light medication or has an undiagnosed condition since recently. Even if he is being medicated there will be no pills in this age so he's still going to have to go without - doesn’t make a difference to the story. If you don't want to change anything thats also fine as far as I'm concerned.

@Wind WildEh Medusa made some valid points. I will make a few changes because I have already come up with a few ideas.

@Wind WildI never mentioned that I was taking your place as GM? Lmfao. I was stating that Ralph wasn't a realistic depiction of what mental illness does to a person, and it was extremely offensive. I understand that you want to hold on to your false sense of authority here, but his character was totally unrealistic. I was pretty civil on my part, so I don't understand where I seemed "demanding." Your character also had an issue with the whole "appears anorexic but really isn't" description, but I held my tongue there too. These are real diseases, and just because you want her to be pretty and thin, it does not equate to a disorder as severe as anorexia. The personality of a character is necessary in building up a storyline, and if you flippantly use such serious descriptions and then forget them two posts later, it's sloppy writing.

@Wind Wild I don't really want to get into a conflict, but I think everyone has the right to their own opinion. @Medusa didn't actually demand @OSIEIPPO change his character. She only pointed out some of the things she thought were problematic, and that's not the prerogative of the GM; everyone is able to point out their opinions on other characters because this is a group roleplay that requires we function as a team. If there are some grievances, I'd prefer people express them in the open rather than harbor some sort of secret dislike. OSIEIPPO took Medusa's comments super gracefully, too, so I don't see what the problem is with her pointing it out.

In terms of the actual quarrel being discussed, I have to agree with Medusa here. Mental illness is just as serious as any physical illness. If you wouldn't say, "...has an extremely slender build which can often be mistaken with cancer" then you shouldn't make a comparison to an eating disorder. It doesn't improve the reader's understanding (eating disorders are illnesses, not body types), and it's not really a valid point to make. Again, I'm not here to pick fights, but mental illness is an extremely serious issue that affects a large number of the population, so we shouldn't trivialize those struggles as something that can be plopped into a sentence without any explanation. Sure, Ralph isn't my character either, but I think everyone should take other people's input into consideration, especially if they're voicing their concern over something that they think is unresearched/offensive. (No offense meant to OSIEIPPO either because I'm very glad he's taken this so well and is willing to mend that particular part of his characterization.)

@Medusa Dahlin' we a'int but humble, part time fiction writers, please show a little grace to us who have not had the experience necessary to be so brutally accurate in our character depictions. I understand how frustrating erroneous depictions of RL can be, but please remember we aren't here to write out Real Life. We're here to play. Play a role that we invent for ourselves and those we choose to write with, to be specific. So try not to be so critical of our depictions, we're trying to write a story, and have fun, not be the most accurate writers on the web. What I'm trying to say is that, your posts all seem very critical, which is understandable, but not necessary, and in Wind's case unwelcome. (I presume on the grounds that she's not keen to deal with player strife, but that's my guess, not her words)

Thank you for being so civil in communicating your point of view, forgive us if we are used to certain word patterns being associated with certain tones, which may not be the case in your writing, or anyone else's. Does that clear things up?

EDIT: ... And I took to long to post again, and got beaten to the punch be someone who said it better than I did. Oh well. Thanks @Mistress for adding a clear recap of events.

Thanks for the compliment, @Tracyarmav. My issue is that I think criticism should be considered welcome, not unwelcome. I can't speak for everyone, but I know my main goals as a role-player are to develop accurate characters and improve my writing. It's certainly an escape and something we do for fun, but that doesn't mean we should be insensitive or inaccurate in our depictions of people. Ultimately, our characters are people: not real-life people but representations of them. That's why I understand what Medusa's trying to get at; if we were here to create unrealistic characters, we'd join different role-plays in different forums - and unrealistic does not mean problematic. Critical analysis is good as long as it's defended with evidence and is not too harsh. I'm here to play, as you mentioned, but my immersion is disrupted when someone creates a character I believe is unrealistic, and that makes my experience worse. Personally, I expect realism and research from my role-playing partners. I stated before that we're here to work as a team, and that does mean voicing concerns. Being critical is the way to go, in my opinion, because it helps us all grow as people and as writers. My assumption is that everyone here (in the Advanced forum) is interested in improving their writing and characterization, and if that's not the case then you're probably in the wrong place.

Nah, I'm not trying to say being critical is bad, just that word patterns can be perceived as carrying a particular tone, even if that's not accurate. I'm just to tired, congested and distracted to do so coherently. I'm sorry for that, but it's the card's I've got right now, so please bear with me, or at least try not to strangle me while you wait for something coherent to come out of my corner. (fair warning, you could be waiting a while)

@Tracyarmav
Do not use the phrase "dahlin" or any sort of hint at condescension when speaking to someone, as clearly you don't belong in the conversation in the first place. It makes you sound crude and your opinions are clearly invalidated by using that sort of low-brow "joke." I had an issue with the characterization of some people (and couple others did too), and offered my criticism. If you want to learn to be a better writer, you have to learn how to take advice instead of just brushing people off. There are lines that shouldn't be crossed, and we've already seen a few based on our posts and OOC comments, including yours. I was attempting to offer honest feedback, and expect a certain type of realism when dealing with people who call themselves "advanced roleplayers."

@Medusa Umm, sorry, Darlin' is a term of endearment where I'm from... >.>

Also, I claim no labels as my own, I just enjoy writing certain kinds of RPs and with certain RPers, this SL caught my interest. I'll gladly admit I'm stretching myself to write in the advanced section. I was trying... nvm, I failed and that's that, all the necessary points have been made, and I have no contention with anyone right now. Thanks to everyone for being civil, it's nice.

Wow this got overblown fast. All of you, please relax. My point was very simple and still stands: I want everyone to play nice and get along. Suggestions go, commands don't. I'm sorry if you got offended, but I had to warn you because your words seemed too aggressive and presumptuous for my liking. I'm glad you didn't mean it that way and so everything's sorted, you get your changes and I get my warning.

I'm glad Osieippo didn’t get offended by any of this as players' happiness takes priority for me over accuracy. Like Tracin said, we're here to play and I want to see a team spirit and not battles of wit or anyone being beaten down for not being perfect. Neither of us is.

Now, to avoid debates like this sounding like arguments in the future, I'll ask you to consider your words better in the future, Medusa. I'll be honest when I say I do not like your manner of criticism beyond the very first remark you made, and I'll tell you why. This is not real life, true, but some rules should be transferred from there and basic social grace is something I want to see on my threads. I have had to work with extremely stubborn individuals in the past and you strike me as one of them. I won't go into details because you don't seem to be able to take the same criticism you dish out so easily, but please try your best to be a good team player. I know it's not easy for everyone, the forum seems to be divided into "people you can work with" and "people you can't". Now, I like your character and I like that you have the initiative to clear things up when misunderstandings arise. I value those. But I value Osieippo's ability to listen and accept criticism and his creativity also. This should not be a matter of who is RIGHT and who is WRONG in depicting a certain person.

If we're to talk accuracy let me tell you this: what I HATE more than anything is people judging others by gross generalisation. "All religious people should behave like this, all mental patients are like this" are statements that irk me more than anything, because they reveal the prevailing part of society that thinks they know better than anyone. People who like to impose themselves on others exist everywhere and the forum seems to be an especially rich soil for people to fuel their ego with imaginary achievements. Now, this is the personal side of it that you're welcome to ignore but it's not something I say in vain and it does stem from a university degree in anthropology that I'm NOT going to rub in your face, claiming to know better than anyone what cross-cultural interaction looks like. But I know what the lack of self-reflection and generalisation are. By the way, RisenDead has a minor in Medieval history he's also not going to wave around and beat people over the head with.

Now, the more important point is this. Neither of us, me included, know exactly what mental illness is like. We all seem to know bits and pieces and that's good but please understand that neither of us is in a position to judge based on that knowledge. Again, we can suggest, question and ask for clarifications but not JUDGE. Saying someone isn't believable based on the image you have in your head and using exclamation marks and an aggressive language is judging and if you fail to realise that, Medusa, I suggest you re-evaluate your behaviour and try to look at your self from another person's perspectives. Ultimately it's not my job to teach you how to get along with others but it IS my duty as a GM to try and make sure everyone is on an equal footing.

Lastly, on the matter of personal criticism I want to point out the character is modelled on myself and is thus as accurate as it gets unless you're calling me unbelievable. In which case, fair enough, I'm an imaginary creature, I can live with that. The anorexia remark is something I have heard in the past and thus a product of my own life experience. Do I think it's an accurate description of my figure? No. Do I think there are people out there who think it is and throw the term around lightly? No, I know there are. As for my position as a GM, I see we have different opinions on what that entails. For you it seems to be about ensuring the quality of the text produced is as great as possible and throwing people out if they don't fit the idea I have in my mind about how the story should go. For me it's about ensuring no players are bullied, resolving misunderstandings and trying to ensure we have fun writing. I do not have the authority to kick anyone out but I do have the authority to tell you off or praise you when you're doing something right or wrong.

In the future I'd like to avoid such conflicts. I'm worried that some might not play nicely with others and that criticism might lurk around every corner and about everything we write. Let me say it again: this is fiction, this isn't a book, this will be imperfect and this is not your thread. If any of you have a problem with any of those, then the door is that way. But it's a warning because I don't want you to be here expecting something that's not going to happen. I don't want you to waste your time and I don't want you to waste mine. All that said, play nice and we'll have no problem. Hopefully we've cleared things up and I'll never have to spend an hour writing ridiculous posts like this again. Obviously if you don't change your attitude it means this isn't the right place for you because I don't take kindly to people beating people into submission and pretending that's being "helpful".

I'm going to have to apologize, because I ended up skimming a lot of that. I didn't intend to make this as dramatic as you think this needs to be, and never once implied that I was some sort of expert on mental illnesses (as you aren't either). However, I don't understand how your anthropology major (congrats for you) would come into play, as mental illnesses are not culturally based. A lot of us have degrees here, none of which have to do with whatever point you're attempting to make. We ended up solving the issue by OSIEIPPO graciously agreeing to change his post. I never once bullied him, and instead pointed out factual remarks, which was supported by another roleplayer on the thread. The truth is, someone with such a mixed bag of mental illnesses, unmedicated, is impossible. Also, my point was that an eating disorder is not a body type, and since you just hate "gross generalizations," you might want to fix your own character on that front too. The issue is with you writing an essay about some dictatorship that I'm trying to take a hold of, which isn't the case. We solved the "problem" long before you even logged onto the site, and I'd hate to see any of this imagined discourse against me go further. This rp is your train wreck, and you're the conductor. In your own words, "wow this got overblown fast. All of you, please relax." I'm not going to reply to these back-and-forths since they've really been a waste of everyone's time. We got over the situation quickly, and I'd rather just end this here since we all seem to be such busy people.