Tag: warcraft (page 6 of 10)

Never Fear Starting Over

August 17, 2010 / / 4 Comments

Bard by BlueInkAlchemist, on Flickr

As more buzz, news and rumors emerge regarding Cataclysm (including some very interesting coverage by The Escapist), a thought has occurred to me. It was only reinforced by the experience I had over the weekend into last night that will become public some time in the next 24-48 hours, to say nothing of writing “The Haunting of Pridewater” twice.

A storyteller should never be afraid of starting over.

The developers at Blizzard aren’t technically starting over. They’re revising and updating most of the original world, partially for in-game lore reasons and partially to take advantage of the advances in graphics and phasing. However, to experience this new content as something other than a max-level fully armored hero astride a flying mount, one needs to start over with a new character. This really isn’t a big deal, speaking as someone who suffers from a condition known as ‘alt-itis’, but for some it’s pretty daunting. I for one will be starting at least two new characters, and possibly one on the Alliance side of things. We’ll see.

In terms of both writing and the other thing, which I will not mention for reasons I can’t explain but involve the preservation of my sphincter, there are times when a creative endeavor doesn’t go quite as smoothly as one would like. Sometimes you know it right away, and sometimes it needs to be pointed out to you. But either way, the only responsible thing is to start over. Unless you’re writing strictly for your own pleasure, you need to write in such a way that other will be interested in your work enough to see it through to the end, and if you want to be successful, you need to transcend the interest of morbid curiosity. In other words, you want someone to check out you work for a reason other than, “Let’s see just how bad this can suck before it ends.”

Even when you have a deadline, you can always find time to start over, at least in part. Provided you’re not coming out of the gate for the first time at the last minute, there’s opportunity to review your work, pick out what works, scrap what doesn’t and begin again. It can seem like a chore, and sometimes it’s a daunting task, either due to the work’s overall length or the approaching deadline, but working through those obstacles and emerging with a product you know for a fact is better by a great factor than your previous attempt is very nearly its own reward. It’s thrilling to have that sense of completion twice, especially if you can compare what came before with what you have now.

How often have you had to start over? Have you had to do it multiple times on the same project? How much better was the end product due to the stops and starts?

Professionals Have Standards

August 8, 2010 / / 2 Comments

Courtesy Valve

I’m getting old.

There used to be a time when I let things slide. Mediocrity would slip right by me and I wouldn’t even notice. Or maybe I’d wave at it. My point is, I didn’t have standards. What I did was good, regardless of how good it actually was.

Looking back, I shouldn’t have been surprised that my first attempt at a novel got so many rejections. For one, I now know that rejections are good. They show you’re doing something. But more importantly, it was crap. It was predictable. It wasn’t written all that well and I didn’t go to the pains I go to now to revise and edit things. I had help in the second go-round, sure, but it still wasn’t all that great.

I know, now, that the problem might be that I spend too much time revising. Trying to get my work to be perfect could consume all of my time. It’s not going to be perfect. It’ll never be perfect. The idea will be to get it to a point of “good enough to not suck.”

I approach role-playing in games the same way. I used to let myself get away with things like “my character is the son of a god” or “ye olde powerful dragons blessed me with immortality.” I realize now how silly, unnecessary and downright juvenile those ideas are, and I’ve ranted about it at length.

Like my manuscripts, I’m worried about my characters being good enough to not suck. This pertains to both their backstories and how I play the game. It’s a lot easier to avoid cognitive dissonance when the tank of the party messes up a pull and wipes the group, when their character’s description has them being a beautiful, all-powerful, liked by everyone and lust object of all NPCs Mary Sue. “So you’ve seduced the Queen of the Dragons and kicked the Lich King’s ass in single combat, but can’t keep the aggro in the first pull of this dungeon. Right.”

Maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe this is coming off as me being a bit of a dick. I know this is stuff some people don’t want to hear. They don’t like the notion of somebody disliking their special little snowflake of an on-line avatar. And I might get told that not sharing my knowledge with others who don’t have as much experience as I do with this sort of thing is rude, even mean.

But sitting down across from a struggling writer and helping them get a better idea of how to frame their narrative, breathe life into their characters and have the plot make sense is one thing. Dealing with strangers who can’t be bothered to use proper fucking punctuation is another.

Maybe it’s pretentious to have standards. Maybe I’m a mean-spirited puppy-kicking old man for not wanting to waste my time being forced to role-play with people who fail at it. Maybe I’m going to while away the rest of my life mumbling to myself as I pore over the 137th draft of my manuscript because I don’t feel it’s good enough, yet, and I assume everything I do sucks.

At least those damn kids will get off my lawn.

Exploring Inspiration

August 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Courtesy Warner Bros

We get inspiration from a variety of places. It might not even be intentional. We catch sight of something, hear a snippet of conversation or music, and suddenly our mind is off on an unexpected tangent. Inspiration runs away with our concentration, laughs at our attempts to focus and taunts us with ideas and dreams until we finally sit down and bang things into some form of coherent work.

Let me give you an example, and I’ll speak in general terms rather than specifics. Maybe you’ll figure out something in the process, or maybe you’ll just be amused or entertained. It’s the least I can hope for.

Inception is pretty inspirational just in terms of getting an audience thinking, and it’s been on my mind pretty much since I’ve seen it. In particular of late, however, has been this piece of music used in its last trailer: “Mind Heist” by Zack Hemsey.

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/Mind%20Heist.mp3]

So why is this music from Inception making me think of this particular character? In thinking about it, there’s one line in the trailer that stuck out. Cobb says to Ariadne, regarding extraction, “Well… it’s not, strictly speaking, legal.”

The things this character does are not, strictly speaking, good.

He has a good goal in mind, like Tyler Durden looking to free the world from the bondage of corporate greed. And he may help someone in need, but only if it suits him. The means at his disposal almost all fall into the realm of dark magics, he consorts with demons, he’s an intellectual snob and shows a lot of signs of being a sociopath. He’ll hear something he’s done or is doing called “evil,” agree, and laugh about it.

But why?

We have to go a layer deeper, like diving into another layer of dreams. We need to uncover what motivates or at least gave rise to this sociopathy, even if it’s of a heroic nature. What might people consider evil, among his actions? Well, evil people tend to destroy things. Going back to the Fight Club example, at times something must be destroyed in order for something better to be created.

In the world in which our subject lives, there are malevolent forces far worse than he. If he wants to continue to enjoy life in general, and his particular lifestyle in particular, the world must be prepared to face and fight back against those forces. I am suddenly reminded a line from The Boondock Saints:

“There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth not to push the bounds and cross over, into true corruption; into our domain.”

I think that’s it. His goal, the underlying motivation for all he does, is to cultivate within himself the power to stand against evil forces on equal footing, unhindered by the constraints of societal morality and seeking a form of karmic, cosmic justice. He has seen evil, stared it in the face, and chosen to become, not the antithesis of it, but a rival of it, a rival firmly on the side of his allies but cut from the same diabolical cloth. To this end he must bend his will and all of his intent, playing things off with casual humor, devilish charm and ruthless cunning. Good cannot exist without evil, after all, and if one is necessitated to become evil, one might as well enjoy the experience.

Now that I’ve found the roots of this inspiration, all I need to do is put it in story form.

Have you ever explored inspiration like this? What have your experiences been? What were the results?

Warcraft RPers: You’re Doing It Wrong.

August 2, 2010 / / 5 Comments

Bloof Huntard

I’ve touched on this briefly in this post and must once again point you fine folks in the direction of Warcraft Sues to give you an idea of what the hell I’m talking about. I’m going to rant a bit, and that means there’ll be some naughty words. Consider the cut below the metaphorical covering of your delicate ears if you are so inclined. If you think you can handle a couple curses directed at people who really deserve it, read on.

Also, this rant is not directed at anybody in particular. I will not be naming names or showing descriptions. This is just me, in general, pissed off at what I feel is bad role-playing.

Spoiler

Listen. I know playing a blood elf makes me one of the ‘pretty boys’ of the Horde. I know that the race in general tends towards arrogance, selfishness and vanity. And I know that we’re going to get a bit of stick on that basis alone, no matter how much we as individuals might try to break those stereotypes.

You fucking sparkling snowflakes are not making this any easier.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain what I mean. In World of Warcraft you take on the role of a character who might not be human. You could be an orc, or a troll. You can be a towering minotaur, an ageless elf, a festering yet sentient zombie or a goat-person from space. These characters have special abilities, and as you gain experience you also gain more power.

Some people feel the need to add extra layers to this setup. It’s not enough to just be a proud dwarven warrior or a disenfranchised elf or an ambulatory soccer ball “eager and precocious” gnome. No, some people feel they also need to be half-dragon half-vampire demon slayers “cursed” with lycanthropy. Seriously, I’ve seen people pulling that, and this is a mild example.

And not only do these morons dump piles of crap on top of their characters, they feel the need to broadcast it every chance they get. They could be standing on the main thoroughfare of a city, which is locked in combat with a particular group of dragons bent on the destabilization if not destruction of the world, and declare to anybody within earshot that they are a member of that selfsame group of dragons. Palm, meet face.

This affliction upon my chosen hobby is serious, but it isn’t terminal. There are ways we can fix this.

How, you ask?

Leave The Poor NPCs Alone

I will admit, I used to be bad about this myself. I used to play a character who was, in essence, a demigod. Moving to Warcraft from EverQuest watered him down quite a bit and helped me realize how pretentious it was of me to make assumptions about characters I’ve had no hand in creating. I think it’s safe to say I grew out of that phase.

When I see somebody saying their character is “this NPC’s master of siege warfare” or “that NPC’s hidden illegitimate son”, however, I rage just a bit. Sure, not everybody has realized how foolish that is, or even how it sounds. Yeah, people are entitled to playing whatever fantasy they want.

I have just as much right to pointing out how much it sucks. Seriously, you couldn’t come up with anything more original? Is it so hard to put one or two or a hundred degrees of separation between you and a particular canon character? Don’t you like heroes that come out of nowhere, from humble beginnings, and have to work their way towards greatness rather than being born into it?

That’s one thing I like about WoW’s achievements and some of the titles you can earn along with them. The key word in that sentence is “earned.” Things that are earned tend to mean more than things that are inherited, especially if you’ve only inherited them due to a lack of imagination. Do what you can to tell a story that, for the most part, leaves the poor NPCs alone.

Especially death knights. You people are special enough already. Your character, already a special something, let’s say an Oreo, has been given an extra layer of power and backstory by being raised by the Lich King and subsequently freed from his malevolent control. You are now an Oreo that’s been deep-fried. YOU CAN STOP THERE. You don’t also need to be a special sparkling vampire or a shapechanging dragon princess or dating the Banshee Queen or anything like that. ESPECIALLY YOU BLOOD ELF DEATH KNIGHTS. KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY.

Strippers Aren’t Automatically Naked

Things have more excitement and generate more interest when something is left to the imagination. A dancer approaching her audience in a gentleman’s club usually has something on, even if it’s designed to be removed very quickly. She’s not just bare for all to see right from the off. There’s something to look forward to, a feeling of the unknown, a touch of mystique.

In other words, do NOT dump your character’s entire life story and all of their secrets into a description box.

For one thing, it’s an area labelled “description” because it should have a description in it. Not a detailed explanation of why it’s totally plausible why you’re the bastard butt-baby of the human king and the orc warchief. Not a listing of all your character’s plans and motivations. And while listing a theme song by title and artist may be appropriate, laying out all of the lyrics of that song is not. Stop it.

I’ve let a paragraph or two of description run away with me in the past. I’ll admit it. I’m not trying to say I’m perfect and all of you suck. I’m saying that we all suck, but we can change that. When you get called on a description being too wordy or too revealing or too face-palmingly awful, change it. Don’t get butthurt, don’t point out how Knaak or Metzen said this or that or the other, just change it. It and you will be better for the experience.

While we’re on the subject, stop talking about how much you hate paladins when you’re surrounded by fucking paladins. You’re a magic-user, Intelligence is likely your highest stat, you’re supposed to be smart.

Grammar And Spelling: They’re Not Just For School Anymore

For Thor’s sake, people, this is basic stuff. I know not everybody has English as a first language, and now and again I’ll see a dangling participle or a sentence ending with a preposition. That’s okay. It happens.

But when I see people consistently and blatantly failing to capitalize and punctuate their sentences properly, my vision goes red. It is not that hard to hit Shift when you start a sentence. It’s even easier to press the period or question mark when you end one. Otherwise, how the hell am I supposed to tell how the conversation is flowing? You’re making me burn extra lean tissue on your sentences and it is pissing me off.

Even worse is the use of abbreviations in-character. A solemn declaration such as “You have no idea to whom you are speaking” loses some of its gravitas when it comes out “Shut up before I break ur face, u no nothing ((just kidding LOL))”. If your character is supposed to be eloquent, make an effort to type that way. Not every sentence you type has to be grammatically correct, in fact I’m sure several I’ve banged out just now aren’t, but can you at least make an effort to make this stuff coherent?

I think I’ve said my piece for now. Play me out, Mr. Durden.

You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else. … You’re not your class. You’re not how much gold you have in the bank. You’re not the mount you ride. You’re not the contents of your flag description. You’re not your fucking Sue. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

Mind the Lore

July 19, 2010 / / 6 Comments

Sarah Kerrigan by Shiramune, courtesy Blizzard

So Blizzard’s having this contest and I wrote something for it. Given that this is a piece of fiction written within an established universe it is, in essence, a work of fan fiction. Now there’s a lot of fan fiction, from the drabbles that put Harry Potter in bed with Draco Malfoy to the novels published in the universes of Warhammer or Star Wars. There are some things, in my experience, that separate good works of this type from the bad ones.

It all comes down to doing the research.

If you want to avoid derailing a character’s development, ensure your work fits into the tapestry of the universe and match the tone of previous works while providing your unique voice, you have to know the facts about your piece back to front. If the universe began as movies, watch them; as novels, read them; as games, play them. Know the characters, settings, themes and moods. A lot of established fictional universes have on-line resources, from basic fan-sites to extensive wikis – make use of these resources.

There’s established lore out there, and if you ignore it, by either not researching it or choosing to omit it, bad things can happen. It might not make the work entirely unsuccessful, but you might have to weather criticism such as “This character would never act that way,” “The timeline of these events is all screwed up,” or “[insert author name here] doesn’t know how to write women properly.”

Walking into a place filled with lore looking to tell a new story can be a lot like walking into a minefield. If you don’t watch your step, your journey will end very abruptly and messily.

Just be careful.

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