Interview with Drifting Pollen
January 19th, 2018
OOC interview
_______________________________________
When did you first begin fight writing?
I started in early 2015, on another forum. Signed up for a tournament, got in some fights to practice before the first round, and ended up enjoying it enough to go looking for more opponents.
_______________________________________
Who was your greatest inspiration when it came to wanting to write out fight scenes?
Wildbow, author of Worm. The fights in that series involve a lot of interesting, well-thought-out powers used in really cool and creative ways. For me, that's a large part of what makes writing fights with people so fun: you can come up with a bunch of intricate abilities and then do all kinds of crazy shit with them.
_______________________________________
Were you taught your craft or were you self taught?
Self-taught. Never had a mentor or anything, just did fights and then... did more fights.
_______________________________________
Have you ever gotten into a grudge with someone over a fight? (Names need not be used)
Yes, actually. One time on a smaller forum I was fighting a guy's character and he kept trying to weasel out of all damage, at one point taking a massive hit and just saying it did nothing. Eventually the admins got called in, and they of course called him out on this and said he had to take damage, which made him salty as heck. He also for some reason got really offended at in-character jabs and taunts, even though I explained to him straight-up they were part of the roleplay and directed only at his character.
Of course, after the fight he remained pretty grumpy about it, so we had a grudge for a while, both IC and OOC. At one point I had my character show up as a spectator to a tournament he was in, and started calling his character rude names and taunting from the sidelines. This, of course, royally pissed him off, and he called in the admins again. However, since all my taunting was purely in-character and wasn't particularly nasty (it was meant to be funny and for most people came across as such), they told him to shut up and deal with it.
In the end even he had to admit that the whole grudge thing was a good laugh, and OOC we put aside our differences and forgave one another. IC though we kept the grudge going, forming a rivalry between our characters that continued through later fights.
_______________________________________
How do you feel fight writing has effected your skill as a role player?
I wouldn't say it's affected my skill at regular RP much. Most roleplaying is based around collaboration and building storylines- you get better by improving your writing, learning to make good settings and plotlines, and working together with other players to create something everyone can enjoy. Competitive fights are almost the opposite: writing usually needs to be clear and technical rather than artistic, there's often no plot other than 'let's beat each other up,' and you're actively trying to fuck up every plan the other player comes up with rather than helping them along. They're very different styles, and practicing at one won't necessarily help you with the other.
That said, writing fights has changed the way I RP somewhat. For one thing, I'm not afraid to throw my characters into situations where they're likely to get injured or killed, since I do that all the time in the arena. I also like to play around with unusual or interesting powers, and come up with ways to make the most of them in the story. There was one group RP I signed up for on here a while back where I submitted my character and the GM asked me what I was going to do with her power, since it seemed kind of useless. I then told him some of the ways I planned to use it, at which point he promptly asked me to nerf it so I didn't curbstomp everything.
_______________________________________
Has there ever been a point you thought about quitting for good when it came to combat writing?
Nope. At any given point since I started, I've always been involved in at least one fight or tournament somewhere.
_______________________________________
Who would you say you want to fight the most?
Probably @darth or @lithfangel. I got in fights with both of them before but never got to finish due to RL time constraints on one side or the other. Would be nice to battle each other properly at some point, though who knows if it'll ever be possible.
_______________________________________
Which fight would you say has the most significance to you?
Johannes vs. The Bull, for three reasons:
- Firstly, the guy I was fighting had been battling some other people in the same thread, which ended with them getting in arguments and leaving in a huff. I then proceeded to come in and have a civilized fight with him that we both enjoyed, with only one OOC argument that was peacefully resolved between us. We even ended up doing some more fights and threads together later on. It was almost a case study on how not being a dick can help these things go better for you, which was nice.
- Secondly, the fight itself was completely ridiculous. The power of attacks kept on escalating, the surrounding terrain was obliterated in various awesome ways, and the whole thing culminated with my character pulling off the most insane plan I'd ever written. The whole thing was just so much fun to write.
- Thirdly, it was apparently a good read as well. I had a guy message me some time afterwards saying he'd read the fight and that it had inspired him to join the forum it was on and try out some fighting himself. I've felt proud of a few of my fights in the past, but this one probably takes the cake because of that.
_______________________________________
Do you feel like you could continue fighting in this current community climate?
Absolutely yes. Fighters quit or get busy with life, but there's often new blood to replace them, and when an arena on one forum suffers a dry spot I can almost always find more battling going on somewhere else. Maybe the community could get better in some ways, but it being like it is won't stop me from carrying on.
_______________________________________
How do you feel things could improve in the Arena board?
More players, more active moderation, and regularly scheduled tournaments/events. It's in a fairly good spot right now with one tournament going on and another getting started with Rilla involved, plus a few new players poking their heads up, so here's hoping things continue on this upward trend!
_______________________________________
Which character have you had the most fun writing with?
Tough question. I'm the type of person who makes so many characters I can barely remember all of them, and each one has been fun in their own way. Assuming you're talking about characters I've written fights with, and if I had to pick one... I'd say Toma Schrei, my tiny psychotic vampire. She's ruthless, fights dirty, and has a power that lends itself well to both quick surprises and carefully planned combinations of attacks, which makes her super interesting to play around with both in competitive fights and in story RP.
January 19th, 2018
OOC interview
_______________________________________
When did you first begin fight writing?
I started in early 2015, on another forum. Signed up for a tournament, got in some fights to practice before the first round, and ended up enjoying it enough to go looking for more opponents.
_______________________________________
Who was your greatest inspiration when it came to wanting to write out fight scenes?
Wildbow, author of Worm. The fights in that series involve a lot of interesting, well-thought-out powers used in really cool and creative ways. For me, that's a large part of what makes writing fights with people so fun: you can come up with a bunch of intricate abilities and then do all kinds of crazy shit with them.
_______________________________________
Were you taught your craft or were you self taught?
Self-taught. Never had a mentor or anything, just did fights and then... did more fights.
_______________________________________
Have you ever gotten into a grudge with someone over a fight? (Names need not be used)
Yes, actually. One time on a smaller forum I was fighting a guy's character and he kept trying to weasel out of all damage, at one point taking a massive hit and just saying it did nothing. Eventually the admins got called in, and they of course called him out on this and said he had to take damage, which made him salty as heck. He also for some reason got really offended at in-character jabs and taunts, even though I explained to him straight-up they were part of the roleplay and directed only at his character.
Of course, after the fight he remained pretty grumpy about it, so we had a grudge for a while, both IC and OOC. At one point I had my character show up as a spectator to a tournament he was in, and started calling his character rude names and taunting from the sidelines. This, of course, royally pissed him off, and he called in the admins again. However, since all my taunting was purely in-character and wasn't particularly nasty (it was meant to be funny and for most people came across as such), they told him to shut up and deal with it.
In the end even he had to admit that the whole grudge thing was a good laugh, and OOC we put aside our differences and forgave one another. IC though we kept the grudge going, forming a rivalry between our characters that continued through later fights.
_______________________________________
How do you feel fight writing has effected your skill as a role player?
I wouldn't say it's affected my skill at regular RP much. Most roleplaying is based around collaboration and building storylines- you get better by improving your writing, learning to make good settings and plotlines, and working together with other players to create something everyone can enjoy. Competitive fights are almost the opposite: writing usually needs to be clear and technical rather than artistic, there's often no plot other than 'let's beat each other up,' and you're actively trying to fuck up every plan the other player comes up with rather than helping them along. They're very different styles, and practicing at one won't necessarily help you with the other.
That said, writing fights has changed the way I RP somewhat. For one thing, I'm not afraid to throw my characters into situations where they're likely to get injured or killed, since I do that all the time in the arena. I also like to play around with unusual or interesting powers, and come up with ways to make the most of them in the story. There was one group RP I signed up for on here a while back where I submitted my character and the GM asked me what I was going to do with her power, since it seemed kind of useless. I then told him some of the ways I planned to use it, at which point he promptly asked me to nerf it so I didn't curbstomp everything.
_______________________________________
Has there ever been a point you thought about quitting for good when it came to combat writing?
Nope. At any given point since I started, I've always been involved in at least one fight or tournament somewhere.
_______________________________________
Who would you say you want to fight the most?
Probably @darth or @lithfangel. I got in fights with both of them before but never got to finish due to RL time constraints on one side or the other. Would be nice to battle each other properly at some point, though who knows if it'll ever be possible.
_______________________________________
Which fight would you say has the most significance to you?
Johannes vs. The Bull, for three reasons:
- Firstly, the guy I was fighting had been battling some other people in the same thread, which ended with them getting in arguments and leaving in a huff. I then proceeded to come in and have a civilized fight with him that we both enjoyed, with only one OOC argument that was peacefully resolved between us. We even ended up doing some more fights and threads together later on. It was almost a case study on how not being a dick can help these things go better for you, which was nice.
- Secondly, the fight itself was completely ridiculous. The power of attacks kept on escalating, the surrounding terrain was obliterated in various awesome ways, and the whole thing culminated with my character pulling off the most insane plan I'd ever written. The whole thing was just so much fun to write.
- Thirdly, it was apparently a good read as well. I had a guy message me some time afterwards saying he'd read the fight and that it had inspired him to join the forum it was on and try out some fighting himself. I've felt proud of a few of my fights in the past, but this one probably takes the cake because of that.
_______________________________________
Do you feel like you could continue fighting in this current community climate?
Absolutely yes. Fighters quit or get busy with life, but there's often new blood to replace them, and when an arena on one forum suffers a dry spot I can almost always find more battling going on somewhere else. Maybe the community could get better in some ways, but it being like it is won't stop me from carrying on.
_______________________________________
How do you feel things could improve in the Arena board?
More players, more active moderation, and regularly scheduled tournaments/events. It's in a fairly good spot right now with one tournament going on and another getting started with Rilla involved, plus a few new players poking their heads up, so here's hoping things continue on this upward trend!
_______________________________________
Which character have you had the most fun writing with?
Tough question. I'm the type of person who makes so many characters I can barely remember all of them, and each one has been fun in their own way. Assuming you're talking about characters I've written fights with, and if I had to pick one... I'd say Toma Schrei, my tiny psychotic vampire. She's ruthless, fights dirty, and has a power that lends itself well to both quick surprises and carefully planned combinations of attacks, which makes her super interesting to play around with both in competitive fights and in story RP.