Hey folks, this is difficult.

I finished exploring all the roles of which there were 52 entries. Some of the roles provided me with an enjoyable read, some others, not so enjoyable. I will address general trends on this batch of roles a little later, as well as share my comments on some of them (good or bad). I suggest that each player beging to write or update their roles for the next contest!

The over-all winners (no particular order):

Yikoti
Dyneli


And those others who were runners up (again, no particular order):

Khaledra
Hunsobo
Sekhuroth
Cratcher
Waserax

All these folks will get a note addressing their rewards in a few days when they are decided.


I will post some infomation shortly on the contest as a whole, and give some insight into my selection methods. Check back in a few days to learn more. And get ready for the next contest!

What's the deal with people entering the role contest over and over? Is this encouraged or should people who win sit on their hands and let someone else have a chance for a change?

(PS: this question is not an indictment of anyone in particular, just curious, since the rewards for winning can be pretty special)

The standard rule is, if you enter a role contest and win something, you can enter future role contests, but any role chapters that you had in when you won are excluded from subsequent judging.

Theoretically there's still a good incentive to keep adding to your role and try to win again, although I'd be hard pressed to name someone who won twice.

General Comments

I enjoy reading roles, its a great deal of fun and gives me a lot of insight into the varied imaginations of other creative people. Roles are tricky when writing, because we often try to force the character towards unreasonable or unattainable heights. I like to start roles with a basic background story that explains how I got to where I am today. Additional chapters are useful for character exploration and growth.

Roles many times have a set path in mind, and they are so rigid and unyielding that the character is not allowed to grow and progress naturally. I personally do not enjoy that a character holds a belief from its inception and there are no more entries, or that character sticks 'only' to that one belief. Never is the belief questioned or challenged in the character's life. As has been said, "the unexamined life is not worth living." (Socrates - Apology 38a). While this belief cost him his life, it is quite appropriate when creating and continuing roles. As each even happens, characters are exposed to more and more stimuli which inevitably *should* cause subtle changes in their perceptions.

It is a rare thing for a character to examine her/his life to discern and discover what answers are uncovered by their actions or lack of actions, and what beliefs they hold or express about themselves and the world around them. With this in mind, I read roles to see if not only the basic guide to "Bob the Warrior" is expressed, but to see if the character is approached as a 'real, living person'. By this I mean, does the character's role show growth or understanding as to why they are there and why things are as they are. When I find such a role, it tells me I have discovered a diamond in the rough, and I tend to keep an eye on them as they travel Thera.

Bleh - enough of that.

Don't - write a role of lists.
Don't - write a role early and never add to it.
Don't - write a role without an atlas (a map that informs the reader what all of it means and why)
Don't - ever believe a reader will understand what your are saying, we do not read your intentions or your mind.
Don't - slap a role together just to put down a reason for behaviors.
Don't - ever be the person who is the son/daughter/aunt of a god/demon/devil unless your rp and alignment can support it.
Don't - forget to give some white space (places without text)...paragraphs and sentence breaks are necessary!

Do - add to your role regularly.
Do - think and consider before you write.
Do - take time to spell check and proof read your role.
Do - use your sense of wonder and imagination.
Do - remember that your creation *should* act within certain bounds.(1)
Do - think: Would someone *really* act like this?

(1) Characters should act not only like their race, but they should act as if they are living. Their lives/roles should reflect the life they lived and not be so out-of-bounds as to make the reader role their eyes is disbelief. Many roles incorporate humor, dark satire, differing points of view, and so on, but they all have something in common: They reflect how the reader should perceive the character and understand what makes them tick.

All this is just my thoughts. If you care less about how you and your creation is perceived, write less and have fun. Know that if the role is not 'interesting' or 'thoughtful' readers will not heap praises upon you. Give it a shot, though...you might just have fun in the process.

>Don't - write a role of lists.

I thought that writing a list with a few characteristics/goals or events in the past are better then no role at all.

>Don't - write a role without an atlas (a map that informs the
>reader what all of it means and why)

I am completely lost here... Do you mean some sort of an ooc explanation ?

>>Don't - write a role of lists.
>
>I thought that writing a list with a few characteristics/goals
>or events in the past are better then no role at all.

I don't mind roles of this form, unless I'm misunderstanding what Eshval meant. Unsurprisingly, different imms like different stuff and pick different kinds of things to win. For example, in our contest in January I tried to give extra credit to roles that people were playing the hell out of in the game, whereas I know other RC judges have been less concerned about that and focus only on the role without regard to other factors.

We're all picking out quality, just in different ways. It's one of the reasons we're trying to rotate who runs these things, to give a lot of different styles of great roles a chance to win.

In most ways, any format of written role is better than no role. If you want to write a list - Likes orc, hates dwarves, eats meat, drinks beer...that's fine, but I have a difficult time getting into a role such as that.

If you want to use a list format to bullet your past life and goals, by all means go for it, again it is not my style or liking to have a list hanging out there with no explanation.

In the end, the role is more for the immortal view than character, though it can function as a reminder of who you are and why.

>Don't - write a role early and never add to it.

It is perfectly valid to give a character's background and it is not a thing that should be updated (it rather should not).

It is not required for a role to translate and describe current character actions like subtitles in a movie. You may just watch the character itself (actually it is a preferred way).

While you personally may build your role in subtitles-style, it should not be enforced in events like the Role Contest.

When you're running a role contest, you can run it that way. :)

See my response to Rodriguez above. There's no getting around that we, as immortals and as judges, like or dislike different things.

While you personally may build your role in subtitles-style, it should not be enforced in events like the Role Contest.

Why not? An updated role keeps us informed about how a character has reacted to their life, what they consider important, and the like is more useful than a role that purely explains backstory. Ideally, when I'm done reading the role, I know what to expect if I watch the character. No one knows at Hour Zero how their character will turn out at Hour 200. Even brief updates help.

If you're writing a role, you're doing it for the benefit of the Immortals. No one else but you can read it, and if you just wanted to write for yourself, you wouldn't need to add it to your character.

You may just watch the character itself (actually it is a preferred way).

Wow! Thanks for the useful advice!

You may notice that there are many more characters than Immortals. An Immortal watching you now may not have overlapped much with you, and may want to get an idea of who you are. Roles are one way to queue the staff towards who is most worth watching, and can help assure that the observing Immortal has proper context with which to evaluate actions.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I find that if I watch a character and there is no role, or a role written at level one (and the character is substantially older), I can easily misconstrue what is happening to/with that character. As an example, a character finds the Bill the Outlander killed a Battle Buddy, so the character I am watching takes vengeance out on the Outlanders. So I watch, and all I see is someone attacking Outlanders with no idea why. Am I going to spend hours watching that character to see if the rp give a hint to what is going on, or will I make a note that 'Character A is slaughtering Outlanders, no idea why?'.

Sure, I will watch for a bit, but as has been noted, there are more players than imms, and I want to do something else rather than learn the intricate details of this situation, what brought them to this point, why and when will (if ever) the slaughter stop. So a couple of these observations and the character's alignment may take a hit. The character complains...and what am I supposed to do? Keep watching as if this were a full-time job in an effort to understand your motivations.

For me, it just doesn't work well. I try to read roles and descriptions on a daily basis, watch characters, give rewards (I love rewards!), and a myriad of other tasks.

Is it valid to write something and never add a thing? Sure. Each immortal will view it differently.


You may just watch the character itself (actually it is a preferred way).

Not really, no. I enjoy watching characters, but for me to watch several dozen characters who play at varied times and days in an attempt to discern their actions is not very effective. I think you have the belief that we have all the time in the world.

That being said, you can approach it in any fashion you desire, as long as you are having fun. It is my hope that you will understand that I was giving 'my' criteria for reading/judging roles. And, oddly enough I also do this to have fun.