#me vs forcing myself to keep those starters shorts

[insidi0summoved]

@americanedpsycho 〃 starter call : not accepting

" We're not so different after all.  Rather amusing, isn't it ? "

[borreloadsavagedragon]

alright tell all of us your thoughts about kaito :)

I did not forget… I have just been con crunching but now I’m free to become the worse

Minor Zexal and Arc V spoiling ahoy

How I feel about this character:

Oh no you’ve opened a floodgate… welcome to oversharing hour with Jay

I’m very normal about Kaito, just ignore the two full cosplays + the EVA foam Orbital work in progress I have mapped out, the wall scroll that’s at my work computer, my ita pin bag, and the fact that I’ve done everything I can to make his deck competitive viable and god dammit am I still trying please print this deck a god damn banger starter, Konami, I can’t keep doing this without your help-

Short story but I used to be suuuuper YGO Vrains favoring from 2020 into early 2022, but I found myself drifting from it because one can only tolerate so much subtweeting and catty behavior over personal preferences, and I’d never really finished Zexal before, just has a half baked idea how it ends, like I watched a chunk of it when it first aired but never finished and proceeded to forgot most of it, so I picked it back up after deciding to pick up Kaito to write in an RP server with some friends because I remembered liking him and… well I didn’t stand a chance when I got back to him fjdhdhd

I deeply relate to the theme of self-inflicted loneliness because it’s easier to be by yourself, just getting walked out on, left in the dark, or even being shafted for reasons out of my own control, I really get that

Also taking on too much if it means the people you love will be ok even if the ending result is you’re not ok, where he is after his Duel with Yuma at the end of Zexal I and getting to repair all of those relationships he was damaged by is where I want to get to in life

Bonus fact that’s minor spoilers for another spin off, but I’m… not a huge fan of his portrayal in Arc V, I like that he’s there and acknowledge that it’s a different Kaito and I love all Kaito Tenjos as they exist, including the Structures Cosplayer, but… yeah, not a fan, I’m a big fan of showing vs telling and Arc V to me feels like it’s ALL telling for all of its supporting cast most of the time

All the people I ship romantically

The better question is who I don’t honestly because that list is far smaller, but if I had to pick favorites I’m very partial to Ryouga, Mizael, and Edo-

Something about rivals to lovers resonates with my very being, even if Edo is less of a rival and more of an enemy until Arc V does it’s usual-

I’ve written for Challenge and AntiHero both already actually, my docs is 99% Challenge Wips that are slowly coming along tbh, and GalaxyMaster takes more time to write since most of those are… you know what I’m getting at LOL

I stg Gallop's one mission was to make Kaito Tenjo a dating sim protagonist because I have no other excuse for why they gave him so many boyfriends and even girlfriends across Zexal and Arc V, Yugioh’s surprising most eligible bachelor

My non-romantic OTP

nervous laughter

Chris.

I like to think of them more as divorcees who are just fine staying apart

Also gestures vaguely at the first answer

My unpopular opinion

I don’t know if I have many tbh, besides disliking Arc V’s rendition of him / not liking mentor at all lol— Like maybe how I genuinely believe he’s the strongest rival bc his record was the best even after he was put up against forces behind human understand and was even considered dying majority of the time of Zexal while remaining arguably mostly human, Zexal’s wack

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

Oh my god, the duel I hate the most in all of YGO is Kaito’s duel against Heartland because not letting Kaito win against someone who’s become representative of the garbage he was put through is SO UNSATISFYING

Yuma coming in and finishing it up is symbolic in its own right because of the importance of bonds, but to me that was and always should have been Kaito’s moment, let Yuma and Astral show up literally any other time and I’m fine with it

ALSO WE DON'T GET THE RYOUGA AND KAITO GRUDGE MATCH, though Kaito solos everytime, I’m so sorry Ryouga

[gingywritesimagines]

Mistakes and Decisions (Part 1)

Title: Mistakes and Decisions

Chapter: 1

Fandom: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda/ Love, Simon

Pairing: Leah Burke x fem!reader

Description: After a series of realizations, you break out of certain sticky situations in search of a new start… and definitely some new friends

Warnings: toxic friendships, cursing, Martin Addison (evil fucker is a warning on his own. Fuck you Martin Addison, go die Martin Addison), heartbreak, further evidence that Simon Spier deserves to be loved

A/N: As promised, my Love, Simon fic series. This is how we’re wrapping up 20gayteen folks. This is pretty much as much anti-M*rtin *ddison propaganda as it is a Leah fanfic (I’m angry and self-projecting, sorry). Also, this has some Suraj appreciation stuff because we know next to nothing about him but he seems like a chill dude who unfortunately got stuck being friends with M*rtin of all people. Anyway, I’m thinking of breaking this into five parts (one for each of the remaining months of the year), let me know what you think

You knew being friends with Martin Addison was a mistake.

Of course, it wasn’t all terrible; being friends with him almost guaranteed you a role in the school play, and you were introduced to Suraj, who was kind, funny, and actually a pretty good friend.

However, despite being friends since elementary school, the bad vastly outweighed the good. After years upon years of “friendship”, judgement became clouded, shadowing the fact that he was often manipulative and somewhat controlling, and just a douchebag in general. This unfortunately meant that it took you forever to realize these truths. When you did find out, it was because of the little things: his “brutally honest critiques” that became much more frequent, little comments and suggestions that seemed more about keeping you a certain way than being honest or helpful, the way he blatantly cast you aside with a hint of a holier-than-thou attitude whenever Abby Suso was around, and the sketchy way he acted around Simon Spier that made you all kinds of uncomfortable. However, there were some not-so-little things that helped you realize the truth too.

For example, Bram’s Halloween party...

You had lunch to yourself that day, since Suraj was working with Ms. Albright on instrumentals for the play, and While looking for a place to sit, you saw Simon, Abby, Bram Greenfeld, Leah Burke, Nick Eisner and Garrett Laughlin sitting at a table talking. They were all clearly very engaged in the conversation, and you were contemplating joining them, when you saw Garrett stand up.

“All right, hey, guys, Halloween party Friday night!” he hollered at passers-by, “Friday night, Halloween party, okay? Bram’s house!”

You giggled as you watched him point out a random freshman who you were pretty sure had never met Garrett before in his life, “Hey, little guy!”

“Me?”

“Halloween party. Friday night. Bram’s house. Be there.”

You laughed some more at the look on the freshman’s face, prompting Garrett to turn around when he heard you, “(Y/n)! Party at Bram’s house, Friday night, you in?”

“Sure, I’m in.” You chuckled, “If I can come sit with you guys.”

An instant chorus of “of course” and “hell yeah, come sit down” flooded your ears as Garrett led you to a seat across from Leah and Simon. The rest of lunch was fun, filled with joking and laughter, and plans for the coming party.

A couple days later, you got a call after school. You answered reluctantly, seeing as hardly anyone called you, but you weren’t sure why you were surprised when the first thing you heard was a butchered German accent on the other end of the line.

“Why hello there, Fraulien.”

You sighed immediately, pinching the bridge of your nose, “Hi, Martin.”

“What’s with the sigh?”

“Well, for starters, your German accent needs serious work.”

You heard Martin scoff, and then the faint sound of shuffling, like he was digging around for something, “My German accent is fantastic, grumpy pants, and that’s not why I’m calling.”

“Then why are you calling, exactly?”

“I have been invited to a party this Friday-”

“Bram’s Halloween party?”

There was a pause, and a noticeable change in Martin’s voice at his next sentence, “You already know about the party?”

“Yeah.” You said slowly, “Garrett invited me right after Bram told him about it. I was thinking about asking Suraj if he can drive me.”

There was another pause, and for a moment you thought the line had gone dead, “Martin? You still there?”

“I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

His voice was strained as he ended the call, as though he was talking through gritted teeth. You were confused but ignored it, choosing instead to focus on picking a costume.

When the day arrived, Suraj picked you up at 8:30, decked out in a clearly home-made Waldo outfit. 

“Nice costume.” He commented, gesturing to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent outfit you’d thrown together.

“Thanks! And thanks again for driving me.”

“Of course. What are besties for?” Smiling, Suraj pulled out of your driveway and headed for Bram’s house.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you? Not even for gas money?”

“(Y/N), the only reason I’d ever let you pay me is if you’re going to pay me in memes.”

You shook your head at that, laughing, “Of course. How ridiculous of me.” 

You spoke the last part in a German accent when you turned to see an unholy amount of props for the play in the back seat.

“Yeah, please don’t tell Ms. Albright I left those back there.” Your friend laughed, “Your accent is great though! Way better than Martin’s if I’m being honest.”

“Yeah, his needs work. What he doesn’t need is to know that I got that good from watching and re-watching the X-Men animated series over and over and over again until my accent was on par with Nightcrawler’s.”

“Nice!”

The two of you continued to laugh and joke until you made it to Bram’s street, parking a few houses away since you were certain there’d be no space any closer to the house. When you walked in, Garrett was wrapping up a karaoke performance of Megan Trainor’s No- jumping around to the beat in his Michael Phelps costume- and Simon was waving you into the kitchen with him. You bid farewell to Suraj and ran over to compliment Simon on his John Lennon outfit.

“Thank you, agent.” he smiled, “Bram was just about to pour us some drinks, do you want anything?”

“Not right now, thanks, I’m okay.” you turned to Bram, “Nice costume though! Tourist?”

“Um, excuse you, I’m post-presidency Barak Obama.” Bram corrected you, chuckling,

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Obama. I mean nothing but respect for my president.”

The boys laughed as you turned to Nick, “You didn’t dress up?”

Nick shook his head, turning around to show you the nametag taped across his shoulder blades, “I’m Cristiano Ronaldo, man.”

You cringed slightly, “Loving the effort you put in, Nick.”

“Shut up.” He grumbled, chuckling as Bram nudged him and handed the boys their drinks.

A large portion of the party went by in a blur. You spent some time chatting with the boys in the kitchen, then went to the backyard to find Leah and Abby (dressed as Yoko Ono and Wonder Woman, respectively) and dance with them for a while. Abby mostly just swayed, hiding from Martin who came up behind her, but Leah joked around with you as best she could.

“I can’t dance for the life of me, I’m warning you now.” She laughed.

“Come on.” You giggled, “I’m sure you’re fantastic.”

You gently took her hand, twirling her around and relishing in the small smile that etched across her face. You’d always liked Leah; she was kind and polite and undoubtedly pretty. She looked even prettier twirling, hand in hand with you, in the neon lights of the party and the glow of the illuminated swimming pool behind her-

Your moment was cut short as Abby was dragged away to play Beirut, and your stomach growling sent you inside for snacks. As you turned into the kitchen, you found Garrett there, poking his head into the fridge.

“Hey Garrett!” you greeted him cheerfully, but the second he heard your voice, he bolted.

“Garrett?” you called after him, confused as to why he was blatantly ignoring you, “Garrett! Stop!”

You grabbed his wrist, forcing him to turn and look at you, “What is going on? Why did you just run from me?”

He took a shaky breath, looking very reluctant to tell you anything, “Look, I’m sorry, (Y/N), I didn’t want to, but I had to.”

“You had to?”

“Look, Martin- he told me off. Yelled at me about inviting you here and gave some speech about how you’re off-limits to, like, everyone. I’m pretty sure he threatened me, and that’s not a big deal because there’s no way in hell I’m afraid of Martin, but I listened because I didn’t want anything to happen to you. You’re really nice and you’re super chill and we all love hanging out with you; I’d hate myself if something happened because of me-”

You saw Nick standing a little ways behind Garrett, looking between the two of you and nodding, as though confirming that Martin had told him the same thing.

“Wait, wait, wait.” You cut off Garrett’s rambling, practically seething with rage, “Martin did what?”

Garrett gulped, but before he could say anything, the devil himself turned the corner.

“Hey guys!” Martin greeted casually, throwing his arm across your shoulders and shooting daggers at Garrett in a not-so-subtle manner, “Garrett, what are you doin’, buddy?”

“Martin.” You began calmly, gripping his arm and quite literally throwing it back at him in anger and disgust, “Did you threaten Garrett to keep him away from me?”

The boy glared between you and Michael Phelps repeatedly, before feigning innocence with a scoff, “What? No, that’s ridiculous. Why would I do that?”

“Oh.” you turned to face him, “So you didn’t tell him off for inviting me to this party? And you didn’t tell everyone that I’m off limits?”

You saw his face change, but he slipped back into an innocent smile quickly, “No, no, of course not.”

Garrett looked between you and Martin with an expression that mixed both fear and curiosity, as you shook your head angrily.

“You lying son of a bitch!” You lunged at Martin, straining as Nick and Garrett held you back. Your anger grew as Martin’s face turned guilty and he ran for his life. You broke free from the boys’ grasp and chased after him, more than ready to give him a piece of your mind, when you saw him run into Simon. The poor kid looked annoyed too, but it got worse when Martin threw up all over him.

“Really?” You heard him cry, gesturing angrily to his shirt, “Really?”

Martin ran off again, and you went to follow him when a gentle hand held you back by your shoulder. You looked up to see Suraj gazing down at you, an almost regretful expression on his face, “Leave it. I’ll take him home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, “You just take care of yourself, okay?”

“Thank you, Suraj.” You hugged him one last time before he slipped out into the crowd. As he left, you turned your attention as far away from Martin as you could.

“Simon!” you called, racing up to him, “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

He went to answer you, but froze momentarily, “Why are you sorry?”

“What?”

“Why are you sorry? (Y/N), you did nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, but Martin just threw up all over you and-”

“So?” Simon asked, a small look of concern evident in his eyes, “That was Martin, not you. (Y/N)…. how long have you been apologizing for Martin? I don’t think I’ve noticed before, but every time Martin screws up, you’re always right behind him with an apology. (Y/N), I’m sure you mean well, but how long can you keep doing that before it messes you up inside? How long before you realize that no matter how badly it messes you up, Martin probably isn’t going to apologize for that?”

You sighed, realizing that he had a very good point, but you still didn’t say anything. Simon opened his mouth to say something else, but a small voice behind you cut him off.

“(Y/N)?”

You turned to see Leah behind you, holding her hat in her hands. She fidgeted with the brim a little before speaking up again, “I heard what happened, with Martin and Garrett.”

Your face fell at that. You hated that this drama had flared up and that it happened at such a public place. Leah sighed and cleared her throat.

“Look, after the party, I’m going to sleepover at Simon’s.” She paused, looking over your head at Simon for consent before continuing, “Do you wanna come with us, (Y/N)?”

You sniffled, picking your head back up and smiling at her weakly, “I’d love to.”

After getting Simon a change of clothes from Bram (on old t-shirt and his mom’s white cardigan), the three of you marched back to Simon’s. Spier, being very drunk, was draped between you and Leah, stumbling and slurring and making you both laugh at his antics. He even started murmuring songs from the play, trying to do the choreography as he walked and almost knocking you and Leah over in the process. As you got closer, Simon suddenly yelled.

“Oh my god!”

“What? What?”

“My parents are still up.” He cried, running a stressed hand through his hair.

“Okay, okay, um.” Leah racked her brain for a quick solution, while you focused on keeping Simon upright, “Okay, you know what? Here, come on. I need you to think of something really sad like the documentary about how all the whales hate living at SeaWorld.”

“Too sad!” You and Simon protested in unison.

“God, okay.” Leah chuckled, exasperated, “Then just don’t say anything at all, and we’ll ditch the barf shirt until tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Simon nodded and you watched as Leah chucked the bag with Simon’s trashed clothes straight over the roof of his car.

When Simon started to topple over, both you and Leah grabbed him, “Si?”

“Yeah.”

“Just, as little as possible.” Leah reiterated, “Say as little as possible.”

You tried to all sneak in, but Mrs. Spier called out before you all made it upstairs, “Hey, guys!”

Leah cringed before leaning into the den, “Hey!”

“Come talk to us! How was the party?”

“Oh, it was really fun! Yeah!”

“Aces!” Simon added, trying really hard to not look as drunk as he was, “Hey, uh, you guys remember (Y/N), right?”

You waved to them both and watched as Mr. Spier squinted at you, clearly trying to remember you. Mrs. Spier recognized you instantly.

“Oh, yeah, (Y/N)! I remember you from the fifth grade science field trip! You told me I was pretty.”

You giggled, “You remember that?”

“Of course! Are you sleeping over too?”

“Oh yeah, my ride backed out on me last minute and your house is a much closer walk than mine, so Simon invited me. I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh, no, of course, sweetie! Of course, you’re always welcome here.”

“Are you saying that because she’s Simon’s friend or are you saying that because she called you pretty?” Mr. Spier joked, resulting in a playful slap to the shoulder from his wife.

Leah chuckled awkwardly, grabbing Simon, “Well, thanks for letting us stay over!” 

“Oh, Leah, of course!” Mrs. Spier cried, oblivious to Leah shoving you and Simon up the stairs as discreetly as possible, “You’ve been staying over for 10 years, you don’t have to thank us.”

“Oh.” Leah laughed, inching her way towards the stairs, “Yeah, thanks.”

You all made your way up the stairs, very cautious of Simon’s stumbling and the fact that his sister was still asleep. After Simon sobered up a little, you all got comfortable in his room, figuring out sleeping arrangements and such. Simon was on his bed, Leah was on a bonus pull-out mattress, and you were on a blow-up camping mattress on the floor.

“Do you ever feel weird?” Leah asked suddenly.

Her and Simon launched into a conversation as you zoned out. The night’s events played out in your head, and the more they played, the more they made you sick. It seemed like the only good thing that came out of tonight was this, Simon and Leah, taking care of you as only Leah and (drunk) Simon can- with kind words and a soft distraction.  

“Hey.” Leah spoke gently, placing her hand over yours and drawing you back to reality, “You okay?”

“Yeah.” You reassured her, shaking your head, “Yeah, it’s just this whole Martin thing has been exhausting. I think I’m gonna go to sleep.”

They both looked at you sadly, nodding in understanding and watching you slip further under the blankets- not once letting go of Leah’s hand.

“Goodnight guys.” You offered them a small smile.

Simon returned it, “Goodnight, (Y/N).”

“Goodnight.” Leah whispered as she squeezed your hand before letting it go.

You smiled again, brighter this time, and fell asleep gazing in the direction of the two kind souls ahead of you. No matter what the future held for you in terms of friends, you knew these two seemed like a pretty good start.

Taglist: @mcoomcoo @fandomsneverdie14 @berry-kitten-paws @tina20213

[1358456]

Gold Version Joy Run

Something that I wanted to do. Just like Yellow version, I will not restrict myself whatsoever. Which means... bring on the shenanigans.

Also, very important for me! This is the VERY FIRST TIME I actually do a full Gold version run with all the glitches at my disposal! So this is a new experience!

Let’s dance.

Right off the bat, a little f*ckery. Hey there, Silver boy. My croc is bigger than yours. ... What? Temporarily named as “Leviathan” since... well, let’s just say that the early Korean version of a certain scripture translated “Leviathan” as an alligator/crocodile. ... Gators don’t breathe flames from the mouth.

Critical Pokemon captured! Huhuhahahaha! Oh, Hoppip gets THREE moves at level 5, and one of them is Splash?! Ohohoho!

Once again, Silver boy, my croc is bigger than yours.

Splash in the third slot, eh?

Sorcery! Huhuhahahaha! Nickname: Apocalypse.

Here’s a little... side-product. ... Now that is a hell of a Rattata. No Rattata in existence can possibly have almost 400 HP at level 100, let alone level 69.

Or have that much Def, Sp. Atk, and Sp. Def. ... Or that low of an Atk. ... Dude. This guy can take hits and nothing else.

Turns out, you don’t even need a Graveler to whip Whitney’s ass. Geodude is fine. “Whits Bane”. As in, “Whitney’s Bane”. ... This was its literally only purpose.

So... this guy here... was a Quilava. Its data got corrupted during the demon magic bullsh*t, and it became an unstable Rattata. Which, when “stabilized”, became a level 1 Jigglypuff with Pokerus. ... Yep. I just force-spawned Pokerus. Because why not.

They are... parasites. Tiny little life forms stuck on the Pokemon. ... That’s nasty, dude.

The sorcery continues! Rock Smash in 3rd slot. Nickname: Leviathan. The true one. Behold the leviathan, monster of the sea! Its strong scales are its pride!

... Apparently this run’s ID gives me Smog and Fire Spin. Because those two moves were on all five Pokemon that I used this glitch to hatch. ... Which means this Lugia here is 2/5.

Nidorino! ... A Normal type Nidorino. ... ?????

“You could never catch a legendary Pokemon anyway.” ... You were literally just whipped by two of them. You blind f*ck.

Turns out, Morty is insanely easy if you... you know. Mewtwo doesn’t get Psychic until level 66, but... it gets Confusion at level 1.

Chuck’s Poliwrath was blasted so hard, its sprite died. RIP. Also proof that this was the result of shenanigans. Not only do I have a Lugia that’s level 24 (when the lowest you can get is 40 in Silver), but... Aeroblast. Aeroblast is only available in Silver version, since Lugia gets it at level 1, and then learns a new move every 11x level (11, 22, 33, 44, etc). So at level 40, it has Aeroblast, Safeguard, Gust, and Recover. In the wild, a level 44 one would’ve erased Aeroblast for Hydro Pump. So in Gold version, the level 70 Lugia does not have Aeroblast. In Crystal, the level... 60? Lugia does not have Aeroblast. And there is no such thing as a move re-learner in GSC. ... Similarly, Gold is the only version where you can get Sacred Fire. ... Which means, poor Crystal version. Doesn’t get sh*t.

Speaking of Sacred Fire... Shenanigans! Whirlpool in the 3rd slot. Nickname: Phoenix. 3/5.

Somehow, this doesn’t feel fair. Lance in the Pokemon League. Getting one-shotted. Hmm...

Well, that’s the Pokemon League down. EASY! But this time, I’m going all the way. Kanto!

Hey, this is the guy that kills your game. Talk to that thing and then open the Coin Case and then your game gets f*cked. Something like that.

Hmm... Kanto, huh? Then I get access to Grimer, and therefore Acid Armor... Hmm...

Huhuhuhahaha! Acid Armor in 3rd slot. Nickname: Doomguard. Apparently you can’t use numbers, so... I couldn’t name it as “135″. Boo. Ehn. It’s not shiny, so... 4/5.

“This Gym is great! Only girls are allowed here!” ... Yeah, maybe that line is better deleted in HGSS. ... The HGSS line makes no damn sense. Just deleting this guy would’ve been better.

... Were you... having a date right in front of someone else’s house? ... What is wrong with you?

Oh you poor, sad little man. Living in a cave, since Cinnabar Island burned down. Volcano eruption. Well, at least in HGSS, you modified the sh*t out of the cave floor in Seafoam Islands. In here, you’re literally just a dude sitting in a cave all by yourself.

Janine. You sad f*ck. What is this? Level 36?! The weakest Kanto leader by far. Even weaker than a Johto leader. That’s just... pitiful.

Oh, I remember this. The trainer house? Oh, I spent a lot of time here back in actual Gold version, trying to get Metronome to get Transform so I could Transform into the Smeargle with Sketch, so that the Mewtwo would get Sacred Fire. And I succeeded... twice, since I accidentally deleted Thunderbolt, so I had to do this glitch again, but for Thunderbolt.

Johto Leaders must be pretty pathetic because I beat them? You f*ck. Here you are, sitting all by yourself in a Gym clearly made of Lego, and you’re calling the Johto Leaders pathetic?

Well, now that I annihilated this f*ck with Mewtwo (for a specific reason), I now have access to Mt. Silver, and thus, my 5th and last addition to my team. Oh, SNEASEL!!!

Final shenanigans. Beat Up in 3rd slot. Nickname: Temporus. 5/5. It ain’t a Dragon, but hey. Time thingy. And so my team is ready. Level 59 Mew, 56 Mewtwo, 55 Lugia, 55 Ho-oh, 55 Celebi. Time to take on Red with his level 70+ team.

Oh yeah. GSC Mt. Silver requires Flash. ... Flash is for sissies?!

... Wow. Can’t see sh*t except for an item that’s... ... How would you even see that?!

So... Flash is necessary. Cool. Adding in a level 5 Togepi with Flash. The team is ready.

Mt. Silver. So... here is a “hidden” path that leads to a cave with literally nothing in it. ... Like, what the f*ck was the point of this?

And another hidden path to another hidden cave with literally nothing in it. ... WHY?! Were there supposed to be some cool hidden sh*t here that got canned at the last moment?!

... So, that’s how pitiful Pikachu is. Level 81, got outrun by a level 59 Mew (base 90 vs. base 100), and one-shotted by Earthquake. ... See, this is why I can the Pikachu as soon as possible in Yellow version for a Mew. Pikachu ain’t my starter. MEW is my starter!

And ANNIHILATED! You poor sap. I have a bunch of Pokemon 20 levels lower, and yet... EASY. Why? Because Legendaries have much higher stats than other Pokemon. And in RGBY GSC, every stat gets “EVed”. ... PKRS also helps out greatly. In short, all my Pokemon are better by far. ... Which is why I restrict myself to non-Legendaries only in other normal runs. It just ain’t fair otherwise.

Now that I finished the game, I guess I’ll go to the one thing I always found super cool and very f*cking meaningless. Edit the time to be Monday, and make a beeline for Mt. Moon!

... F*ck. I forgot about this encounter. Way to ruin it, dude. It’s a huge step down from facing Red to facing you. Boo. ... Also, now you f*cking notice? You weak pathetic f*ck. Dude, you don’t need love to raise Pokemon. You’ve been using violence, and you’ve been mislead that you need love and affection. ... Dude, you need knowledge. Violence can only come properly afterwards. ... This is a reference to the elder’s questions in Crystal and HGSS Dragon’s Den. “What do you need to raise Pokemon? Love, violence, or knowledge?”

The Clefairy dance in Mt. Moon Square! Only on Mondays at night. This is still in HGSS, I think. The Clefairy dance and... leaves you a Moon Stone before running off, which means the Moon Stone is the only evolution stone you can get infinite amount of times. The others, you get like... two. Fire/Water/Leaf/Thunder Stones require you to be in Kanto for some f*cked up reason!

Now then, Gold version joy run is over. Lots of shenanigans happened. And here is my final team:

Caught Snorlax with a duplicated Master Ball, removed the Leftovers, duplicated that 5 times so all 5 of my Pokemon can have one. Constant HP regeneration for Pokemon with PKRS boosted stat experience, and with base HP stats of 100, 100, 106, 106, 106? That’s pretty freaking cheap, man.

Psychic: Level 40, but... who has the time for that? Duplicated TM 29: Psychic 4 times, so... yay. Shadow Ball: TM 30, again duplicated. Earthquake: TM 26, duplicated. Ice Punch, TM 33. Purchased in Goldenrod! Yay for not having to use the duplication glitch!

... And PP maxed for the PP 10 or lower moves using the duplicated PP Ups.

I ain’t waiting for level 66 for Mewtwo to get Psychic. Duplicated TM!

Psychic, Earthquake, and Shadow Ball. ... Just like Mew. And Ho-oh. DUPLICATION! But look. When there’s one...

There’s the other. With a symmetrical moveset.

... Celebi doesn’t learn Psychic by itself. ... TM. Also doesn’t get Giga Drain by itself. ... TM (duplicated). Shadow Ball? Also TM. And since Celebi’s movepool is as shallow as Keldeo’s, I let it keep Leech Seed. And with Leech Seed and Leftovers, Celebi here was able to easily annihilate Red’s Snorlax despite its Amnesia. EASY!

And there you have it! An easy-ass annihilation of Gold version. ... All you have to do f*ck up the game. At one point, the Dex said that I owned 39 Pokemon. But the Dex only showed me the “owned” icons for 19. Which means, I apparently owned 20 Pokemon that I never saw. ... Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Poor game. But at least “POOKYPOOKY” didn’t appear this time.

[thesummonerofaskr]

Salt 2: Tharja

Rant under the read more.

Oh Tharja. How I hate thee. Let me count the ways. I was ready to do a rant upon this character back during the Enduring Love gauntlet after she won, the only character to take two wins after multiple gauntlets and prove that people absolutely enjoy psychopaths more then they love to admit. And I mean... I like psychopathic characters to a degree as well. I’m just more aware that if half of these characters I like were real, they would deserve to die in horrible, painful manners. But Tharja... Tharja doesn’t click with me. I don’t find her entertaining. Still, I decided not to do the rant then because I figured it would prove nothing. She took her second win and surely wouldn’t be in another gauntlet for a while, right?

Well now we have Winter Vs. New Years. And since as with any gauntlets they do internal eliminations first, we already have a million people predicting that the final match will come down to Winter!Tharja vs. NewYears!Camilla. And needless to say, while I am loathe to admit it, I do understand the anger and frustration that comes from the fact that the reason these two characters are so popular has less to do with personality and more to do with their physical assets. Because a lot of people who play this game consist of two groups, those groups being prepubescent straight men and prepubescent lesbians who see big tits and immediately rate that character high because “daaaaaaaaaaaaaaayum!” Meanwhile Faye from Shadows of Valentia has a similar personality with a more modest character design, yet notice how many people despise her because she isn’t built like a supermodel. A good number of these people who hate also like Tharja and/or Camilla. You wanna talk about double standards?

Now to be fair I know there are reasons to like Tharja. I like Camilla. And Faye, while cute, doesn’t get a lot of writing outside of her obsession for Alm. But if I had to take any of these girls in real life, it would definitely be Faye because she’s not ready to murder Celica for her man. That being said, though, why do I hate Tharja personally? I like Camilla. I like Henry. I even like Peri. It doesn’t get more problematic then Xander’s literal problematic servant. What’s my beef with Tharja?

Well for starters her personality doesn’t appeal to me. Tharja is dark and broody. She intentionally acts this way because she doesn’t care for social contact and because she feels it is the way a harbinger of death, destruction, and doom is meant to act, heavily contrasted with her fellow Dark Mage in Awakening in Henry whom is upbeat, cheerful, and has a bad joke or pun at the ready even while committing horrible acts of atrocity. Both are morally bankrupt as far as ethics go, but who sounds like the more entertaining character out of the two? Camilla may be as obsessive as Tharja, but she’s also got more charm in her unbridled and unquestionable love for her family as well as her adoration for children and animals. Tharja’s just kinda... dull to me. She’s either dull or scheming. All of her good acts feel forced because it doesn’t seem like the character she is. It’s similar to Peri’s support with Odin. Most of her supports involve her being heavily problematic and being scolded for her practical murder fetish, yet when Odin does it, she’s apparently leading a group designed to rehabilitate the disorderly such as her. I love Peri for being more entertaining, but she’s a psychotic bratty womanchild! Where the fuck did that come from?! But for Tharja, that’s nearly every support she has. The only one where you could see her being that nice is with her stalker crush Robin. Speaking of which...

My second gripe is that it’s never explained why exactly she’s obsessed with Robin. Nor is there any real way to headcanon it either. I once posited it might have something to do with Grima, but was then reminded that Tharja is willing to destroy Grima for Robin, meaning she cares for the man more then the dragon. So why is that so? I don’t know. Nobody does. Compare that to her expy in Fates, Rhajat. Corrin saves Rhajat when she’s a little girl from a life-ending experience. Then they save her again during the Faceless rampage. Rhajat was already smitten the first time, but the second time around sealed her obsession for Corrin. Camilla’s obsession? As she explains in her support with Niles (another popular character whom I despise, go figure), she saw Corrin as a scared, lonely child who now had the entire world against them as a Hoshidan in Nohr. During the Concubine Wars, she was a living weapon against her half-siblings, unloved by her own mother and hunted by her other family until the bloodshed ended and she was able to live peacefully with Xander, Leo, and Elise. She doesn’t want Corrin to feel as alone as she did and so she utterly smothers them with affection. She knows that her other three siblings can handle themselves since they also lived through those bloody times, but Corrin is this sweet, naive person who can’t even murder Hoshidan prisoners on King Garon’s orders. Clearly they need more affection and more time to grow in Camilla’s eyes. Faye doesn’t have as much writing either, but there’s at least enough to headcanon why she’s obsessed with Alm. She might’ve had a regular old crush on Alm as a child, but then Slayde comes to Ram Village ready to kill Kliff, Gray, and Tobin as well as her, though it’s implied in his dialogue and the dialogue of his men that she was also considered a target for rape! Because God knows the women can’t be spared in pre-Tellius Fire Emblem stories.That would naturally be a very traumatic experience that was delayed long enough for Mycen to come save them by Alm acting like this brave hero, charging out and punching Slayde in the face despite the fact that it would’ve cost both him and Celica dearly if Mycen didn’t show when he did. Psychologically speaking, Faye could very well see Alm as an anchoring point, something comforting to her now scarred psyche, and thus that dependency manifested itself into an obsessive desire that causes her to become more and more unhinged when she goes into battle alongside Alm and the others in the name of the Deliverance. But if I keep going on about how much I like Faye and how much I wish she’d gotten more development, we’ll lose the topic completely, so onto the final reason I hate Tharja.

You know what all of these characters I like do that Tharja doesn’t? They respect their children. Camilla loves children. Faye doesn’t have children as far as I know, but I imagine she would love them even if she does disappear for days on end because of that mangled psyche of her’s. Henry and Peri both end up surprisingly good parents despite their usual disturbing behavior. Even Niles, whom I stated above I do not like, is a good father... well as good as a Fates parent can be. Tharja, however? Tharja openly experiments with magic on her daughter. And here’s the thing. We’re not counting the Tharja in the future who went mad with grief and started experimenting on Noire to “make her stronger” or whatever. In Noire’s support with her father, she’s come down with a runny nose and it’s Tharja who cursed her with it. Progressing further reveals that he tried to get her to undo the hex only for her to move it to him as well. Noire gets upset because that was how it was even in the future and thus it seemed to her that nothing was changing, so by their A-Support, her father goes balls to the wall and takes all of Tharja’s cursing implements, which makes Tharja chase him around violently and this... lifts Noire’s spirits because it’s different. I’ve seen people try to defend this by saying “it’ll make Noire stronger,” but that is often used as an excuse by abusers to defend what they do to their children in real life. It hits too close to home and I find it absolutely disgusting that this is used by some of her fans to excuse her actions. A few others have mentioned it should be taken as goofy, but again this is a character who seemingly values tradition over mischief. I doubt that she meant her anger to be taken as if in jest. So as far as I’m concerned, she did it because she knew she could, because she knew Noire had taken it before, and because she figured Noire made an easy guinea pig, making her a shitty mother and a disgusting human being.

I can forgive a psychotic personality in fiction. I can forgive obsessiveness. I can forgive violence, especially since I can be quite an aggressive person myself. I can forgive a lot of things in fiction as long as the characters are entertaining. I don’t expect to make people like Peri or Camilla if they hate them. If either of those two were real, I imagine the former would need to be put to death immediately and the latter put in a psyche ward at least if not put to death as well. But Tharja isn’t just dull, uninteresting, and morally bankrupt. She also represents how disgusting some people will get in order to defend her. You can tell me how disgusting I am for liking Peri because “I’m woobifying a serial murderer,” even though I haven’t called her anything short of disturbed and monstrous, but I won’t try to turn around and convince you that it’s not her fault since her father raised her to kill people and encouraged her as a child to murder her butlers and maids since it made her happy. He should be put to death too, sure, but Peri is far too broken to realistically save and only Fates’ stock writing could even hope to try. I’m not gonna tell you to dislike Tharja if you’re reading this and like her. I only hope you have proper reasons to like her whilst accepting that she isn’t a hero, she isn’t a nice person, and she isn’t morally just in her actions.

Or you could like her because she has big tits, I guess. Seems to be the go-to reason for Tharja/Camilla fans.

[misterrad]

Analysis Essay - Lesson Share

Most often, I write and share things about the big ideas in education. I don’t tend to share a lot of stuff about, you know, what I teach. But, hey, you know what? I just did an analysis essay unit that worked really well, so I thought I’d pass it along to anyone who may want it.

See, 8th Grade is a real big year for the brain. Many students are becoming increasingly capable of abstract thought. For most districts, this means that students start tackling Algebra in 8th grade, moving away from the more concrete concepts of years-prior.

Anyone who has taught Algebra, or at least next-door to it, knows the process can be downright painful for students whose brains are telling them they aren’t quite ready to figure out what the hell x is.

The same is true in Language Arts class, where we start to move past book-reporty projects and sentence-starter worksheets and towards things like literary and cultural analysis. It’s our Algebra, the concept that will be a foundation to nearly all upper-level work in our subject. As I wrap up my first major unit introducing Analysis, my students are widely showing that they are ready for that next-level work so long as it’s scaffolded, and show they can thrive when given freedom of what they read and how they read it.

Intro to Analysis:

    To introduce analysis, we spent a few fun classes practicing deconstruction on lots of different pieces of media. We watched commercials, movie trailers, and music videos (with one class-discussion-type-assessment around Beyonce’s Formation video). Students practiced writing down the pieces of what they saw, and were introduced to Critical Lenses (if we watch this commercial and isolate race, what do we see?  Ok, now, let’s watch it again and look only at Gender).

    My favorite intro day is when I gave the students copies of Picasso’s Guernica without any background information and had them deconstruct (literally, with scissors) the painting into the pieces that they see, and then create an analysis by re-constructing it on another sheet in a way that created meaning.  The discussion that followed in nearly every class led to some brilliant insight on the work.

    Oh, a note here about “bad” English students. Years ago I noticed that students that came to me feeling like they were not very good at reading and stuff often thrive at analysis. Also, some students who are very good at playing school and doing worksheets struggle mightily at questions for which there is no right answer. So, you know, keep an eye out in these discussions for new leaders.

The Analysis Essay:

Books:

    I’m convinced this project wouldn’t work half as well if I told the students what to read. Instead, I gave them a few days to look up books they may want, read excerpts and reviews, and do their best to choose a book they were truly excited about. I approved them, but did my very best not to say “no” to anyone. I started the process early in order to give students a chance to track their books down at libraries and track down copies of books myself as best I could. I also put in a bunch of work over the last couple of years to build up a classroom library that is full of new, high-interest books that students want to read, specifically books by and about people of color and women.

    The results were pretty sweet. Students continually surprised me with their choices and the lengths they would go to track down a book they were interested in. All this meant that students were, more often than not, excited to have time to read.

Reading:

    I didn’t require a lot of students during the reading phase of the project. I had students write out a hypothesis for their essay, what they thought their essay was likely to be about, and suggested rather strongly that they figure out a way to track lines and quotes from the book that matched that hypothesis. I also gave students choice about how to track those quotes while they read. Some took and annotated pictures on their phone, some used tabs and post-its, and many folded a sheet into their book and wrote down lines as they came across them.

Writing:

    As we got towards the end of the project, I realized that it was more important to me that my students wrote a few great analysis paragraphs rather than longer essays that were less wonderful. I decided to keep the whole project to four paragraphs, with an introduction and three analysis sections.

    Again, we did some all-class practicing, reading a short piece of text together (I used the Dave Eggers forward to my book, because I really really love it), deconstructing it into an argument and three pieces of evidence, and then writing a paragraph.  Students did those in a day, and the next time they came in, I divided them into two groups; one that needed more help on creating the analysis, and a group that got the analysis right and was ready for a challenging writing activity.  I sat mainly with the first group, helping them work together to construct an argument and find quotes, then checking with each student to make sure they wrote an effective analysis paragraph.  The other group was introduced to the concept of Active vs. Passive voice through an activity they could do in a self-directed way in small groups.

Active Voice Quickly Activity

    Once we got through those activities, students were ready to start planning and writing. To get them thinking about Thesis Statements, we had a class discussion about a rule or law that should be changed. Many groups picked Dress Codes, and we worked together to come up with a main argument (“Dress codes should be eliminated”) and supported arguments (“They are sexist, poorly enforced, and limit expression”). We used our conversation to write a thesis statement (“Dress codes should be eliminated because they are sexist, poorly enforced, and limit expression”), they got over the fact that I tricked them into talking about thesis statements by getting them all worked up about dress codes, and I set them to writing their own using this planning sheet:

Introduction Paragraph Planner:

    Once their Introduction (with Thesis statement) was done, students could break up the supporting arguments of their thesis into different paragraphs and add quotes from their book as evidence, then write them into quality analysis paragraphs using this planner:

Analysis Paragraph Planner:

    Quite honestly, I struggle getting kids to edit (and peer-edit) well. This sheet was my attempt for this project to focus some of their efforts in cleaning up their rough drafts before turning them in:

Editing Doc

Wrapping Up

    Now that we’re wrapping up and 156 essays are finding their way into my inbox (and, soon, taking over any free time I may have dreamed of having for the next week), I’m feeling really good about how this project went.  If I were to do it again, I would give them more time to read (many students had to start organizing and writing before they were all the way done with their books), and would keep the end due-date from bumping right up against the end of the quarter.

    That said, trusting the students with a lot of choice in what and how they read, in where they sat and how they used their time has worked really well for a great number of kids. Funny how when you give kids freedom over their learning, they tend to do more than when you force them all to do the same thing.     Especially when trying to push them to new, challenging kinds of thinking, giving them choice seemed to be especially important.

    Hope some pieces of this help some of you, and I’d love to hear how things go if you do use any of them. Please free to use and change any or all things linked here.

[coruscantholonet]

Survey Results Part 3 : The Negatives

Been dreading this section! The question was “ Would like to hear what you feel could use improvement? Please be constructive! “

My comments will be in bold.  Identifying comments may have those portions redacted.

Combat System Related

“The combat system is tremendously complicated to configure and use. You have to make templates to guide the new players or they will not attract you. In my case I have decided not to use it, it requires too much time and there are faster options that favor roleplay “

The template suggestion is a good idea.  This is one of the easier to learn systems we’ve used over the years though, if anyone has any trouble configuring it feel free to poke any online staff board or ask in the Discord, we’re here to help! 

“ LRS needs to be balanced, going all points offense is just too much of an advantage “

We’re constantly testing and considering options,will look into this further!

“ Everything. Meter being #1 on at the moment. “

Sorry you feel that way! We do have meter as a “needs improvement”, and high priority in that category.

“ Less complicated systems not everyone is waaaaayy into the Dungeons and Dragons Aspect. i myself am from a era in SWRP where everything was Combat Meter. People will debate that combat meter is not rp and they are right from a certain point of view. However before we attacked someone or another group we extensively rped out the scenario these days its all DICE MATH DICE MATH i am horrible at math i come to SL to relax and just play out my character with the occasional battle here and there. Now i am aware thats all the current generation of SWRP but the freedom is very limited i'd prefer old school honor FFC above meter and dice but i realize there is a huge trust issue in the community which i gotta admit is somewhat logical considering the amounts of people that god-modded in the past especially the Sith and Jedi who all were SUPAH powerfull. Hell i'm a sith too but i hide it and play like Palpatine nobody knows i'm sith unless they are sufficiently alligned with the force to sense the intense dark energy hidden. 

 Eh long story short. Focus more on ROLEPLAY and less on DICE or any other system.

 In the end we all come to SL to escape the hectics of life adding complicated systems like CLOCKS [Large Events only as far as i heard ] does make me want to just walk away. Turfs work pretty neat but requires more consistent rules like Take 1 turf a week to prevent Big groups such as my [REDACTED] to Streamwall it all I can go on for hours but wont bother you guys ;) I love the casual rp on the sim that's what drew me in “

“ feel like things like clocks and turf are bloat “

We’re looking at things like Clocks & Turf for revision or termination.  Those behind it are no longer with us, and we do feel it’s current version is too heavy.  The add ons such as that are not mandatory for players to know, they’re more for group leads and often something they can opt out of as well under certain circumstances.

“ Make LRS more like d20 “

I wish this one elaborated a bit more.

“ Only thing I can really think of, is maybe more instructive ways to teach the LRS system, notecards can be helpful. Explain such things like weapons, armor, items, in general to be obtained, where to get them etc. Host events to maybe entice people to get them. And maybe, have more items with different stats, mind you I realize some share different stats, but from what I can see in the starter items, very few have different stats. Not saying, starter items should be powerful, just saying the things I've noticed. I could be mistaken with the items itself, and may need more experience in it. Anyway, thank you for your time :) “

Some good suggestions here.

“ Leveling/Rank system is kinda meh'. While I do like a system that has leveling/rank to it keeps people honest and cuts down on meta/god emoting and shit. I feel like the gaps between some of the higher ranks and lower ranks seem like kinda insane. Which might be intended if so then I suppose it's fine but I feel like Emi basically can't interact with certain people in a hostile manner once she learns their abilities cause you she would have be insane to try it again lol. “

The gaps are actually much less significant than they have been in the prior systems we’ve used such as SWT & Chimera but will look further into that.  I’ve personally lost to a 1 on a 5, so it’s not invincible mode by any means.

Build/Setting Related

“i feel it might be nice to see more places for people to sit and hang out around coronet, maybe replace some of the derelict vehicles or make it so you can sit on them like benches. id like to see more items handed out as mission rewards even if rarely. “

“ I'd like for there to be more places to sit in Vreni and Corenet. benches or just something as simple like being able to sit on clutter such as crates, vehicles, or even ledges. “

Been working on this, adding in more benches, small parks, etc.  As well as getting more staff the ability to generate items that can be given as rewards. If anyone is running a storyline that they want to request items for ask in the Discord or ask me directly, if I’m busy I can at least point you to someone who can help

“ more fun, less stress ... but I have no clue how to make that happen other than just focusing on RP and letting everything else go entirely “

I agree! I assume this one is more about staff than the playerbase as we’ve been pretty happy with the low number of OOC player vs player incidents.

“ Rentals availability notifier “

“ It's hard to find personal rentals. I wish there was a map or something that showed where there were rentals available. “

“ more rental homes i feels like there's not enough rental homes especially on the lower section there's like 4 i beleave maybe bump this up a little if possible as i would belave it would make it better for more people to have homes there. “

Since the survey have added enough rentals to catch up on the waiting list.  While the waiting list is now empty they are all full last I checked so will add more.  The waiting list is why the boxes often auto-lock and do not notify.  When we do have freed up rentals and no list I let people know in Discord announcements. If you want to get on said list let Zenless know, specify which of the rental types/location.  Generally go down the list when one becomes free but if I don’t hear back from someone in 48 hours move on to the next person.

“ The island build kinda tbh “

Would have liked elaboration as to why, I personally enjoy the contrasts in setting.

“ Add a area we can rez items we buy “

We do have a build box, but yeah need to be in the landgroup to rez, this is to protect the sim from griefers.

“ I feel like the furries need to be toned down, a lot of them seem to be pushing the limit on what is okay for a character. Otherwise I don't have a whole lot that comes to mind. “

If you have concerns about an avatar, contact a GM or an Admin.  No one else should be confronting people about avatar appearance.  Mentors will help those wondering if their avatars conform as well.

“ More open areas, like forests, deserts and snowy mountains, depicting the different Corellian environments and bringing more RP scenario options. “

Worked on it with the addition of the RP scenes, currently there are 4, we may switch them up now and then, any player can use these for their adventures. As of writing this we have a snowy one, a shadowy planet, a jungle and a minimalist desert.  It often depends how many prims we have free how details these are.  Things are also added to them specifically for a story, etc.

Story Related

“ Perhaps get more people involved IN the Holonet so we have a wider scope of story coverage from other factions/sources. “

“ StoryLine for the sim. News Reports. “

Would love to! Contact Zenless anytime you have something you would like printed on the news, we’ll take anything from briefs to full length articles. It’s generally me (Zen) who ends up writing most, but would love to have more contributors.

“ Easier access to groups. More storys that involve the "lesser" people that arnt part of a huge faction. Less hiding the roleplayers in faction bases. “

“ More events and gatherings for other time zones. It sucks that all of them are always at 9PM at night US EST. Some of us have jobs... “

“ Perhaps slightly more conflict between the groups. “

“ Most improvements are at the group level. All group leads should be working to give their players some daily content. Whether it be a small quest, large mission, or just something to progress their IC storylines. Right now it seems group leads are more there for policing than GM (game master) “

“ I feel that the Storytellers should put out more events, as well as come to defining the terms of the Clock System in a Simple way. There is too much confusion even among Admins about it. The Sim Build should also be improved to reflect 4D Coruscant. While an Island is nice it is only ever used for beach parties or the Jedi. Whilst every other RP is taking place in Coronet City or the Event Boxes. I am sorry if this was not very constructive but typing it out is a lot harder than explaining on voice. Come hangout with myself or talk to [REDACTED]. “

“ leadership in groups focusing on small scale rp to advance players char's ICly “

“ Could use more roleplay opportunities such as organized events. “

Lot of similar themes in these 6 so I’ll touch on them at once. Our group leads have been great and have been the primary ones responsible for the high levels of activity.  On the other hand since the start we had a story team that did not put much time and effort in other than those who were also group leads.  There was a main story arch yet few if any segments were ever run, and when these people left they asked for their stories not to be used so we had to go back to the drawing board. We’re working very hard to get more people involved in stories/running stories, do let me know if you are interested as we’re always looking for more aid.  Typically we bring on people as mentors first, find out what they do well and help with stories if desired.

“ Not having jedi trying to confiscate lightsabers as if they are the cops... “

You could go to CorSec ICly.  This one really seems like an IC issue as it is technically a violation of Corellian policy/law.

Staff/Management/Leadership Related

“ I feel there is a bias that favors the Jedi with staff “

“ the admins other than Eva do not seem like they care about the players “

“ Some of staff can at times be out of touch with the playerbase and comes off as elitist “

“ One owner has to go as per the jedi discussion on the jedi discord. The rest of the sim is fine. “

“ Admins “

“ Easiest suggestion. Unity. This admin team, just like the old 4D, is being trapped in drama. Things need to be unified and aligned to help the admin team mesh, instead of argue. “

“ some of the staff come off as condescending and rude mostly jedi who are also staff “

“ Consensual basis of decisions by the staff. Seems like things are constantly at odds. “

“ tessa and perry should not be admins “

“ Really wish the admins could be more approachable and stuff :l Except for Ootarian, he cool :D “

“ stop taking on owners who are terrible admins but just have money. wil,perry,lone,keely and so on “

“ I feel the LRS could be slightly more balanced rank-wise. I'd also like to see more LRS items but not too many. Less staff drama would be nice as to not fracture the community and kill RP. More sim-wide events such as Pazaak tournaments, races and even combat-oriented ones would be welcome “ 

“ Not a big fan of LRS but it’s better than most dice systems. Would like to see consensual agreements on staff rather than seemingly duking it out “

As some may have noticed there has been an overhaul of staff, much of this will seek to address any of the comments here. Everyone knows I say what I think to a fault.  So I’ll be transparent in my POV (take as you will) though I’m sure some are going to be unhappy I even touched on this.   The SWL Community was in bad shape after what happened on 4D for those who were here for that, I made a bad judgement call in some of the people I partnered with as our views were incompatible. I was very depressed after 4D (our prior region), and didn’t input as much as I should have when it came to staffing the sim, so they filled the staff with those who I’d consider their “friends”. Staff often became a battlefield of ideology between myself and what I saw as a circle of friends.  In no way am I ever a perfect angel, and there are patches that I could have navigated better so I am responsible for the conflicts within staff as much as the departed are.  Sometimes people just don’t work well together.  What’s done is done though and moving forward I feel we’ve been making a lot of progress in having a more cohesive team.  Still some rough patches as any sim with a decent sized playerbase is going to have it’s share of arguments, but I can say for certainty that everyone involved in leadership now genuinely cares about the community and that we’ll do our best to listen to the players and strive for consistent improvement. 

“ Telling myself that "You seem to be breaking the system, the sith might need their own story system" isnt encouraging. We are here to help the story move along but because we are the only ones really using the Clock system. Our use of it in my opinion should be rewarded not, not discouraged so that way other groups are encouraged to use it also. And this isn't me complaining, this is how what is being said is being perceived. “

The staff member who said this is among those who departed (who have been mentioned often here). We’ll strive for a fair environment for everyone/all groups where goal posts aren’t moved on a whim.

“ More freedom and less bureaucracy “

You and me both :D

“ My friend who had been rping here for a few days before me and participated in two events got told she couldn't rank up because she "only earned 1 exp" meanwhile I got enough to level up and that isn't cool because we both pretty much did everything together so it feels like there might've been some bias there. “

I know it’s repetitive but the person who did this is among those who departed.  Fixed this personally as being consistent is of extreme importance to us.

“ Maybe a little more staff so no one feels overburdened. Would love to see currency added to LRS (kind of like Chimera), most inventory items/upgrades/mods/etc. Otherwise, I love this place. Great people and great fun! “

We are currently interested in taking on another mentor or two as there is a lot of work to be done, but we’re being careful in that we want a staff that can get a long to avoid a lot of the feedback that was brought up here on staff environment being internally hostile.  

MISC

“ Clear advertisement of those willing to mesh-build or animate on commission for players would be nice! Even if we don't take them up on it, knowing it is available helps. “

I like this suggestion, will think of ways to try to advertise for them.

“ - More sim events for common people 

- More story events at current scale before we try and move large scale. We really haven't even tested the waters here and yet we're trying to move larger? It's like an amusement park with one slide saying we need to buy more land rather than build more attractions in the available space to entertain people. Lets try and utilize the current setting to its fullest before we decide it needs to go larger - The main social hub moved to a neutral ownership.

 - More balanced meter 

- Less outrageous things being brought onto sim. The more outrageous things get, the harder it is to bring content because that content gets dismissed by one person with the snap of a finger rather than being a tension and toil to overcome It also puts newer players at a huge social disadvantage. “

This one touched on a lot of things so put it in misc.  Pretty much touched on everything but “outrageous” in other sections.  What people consider outrageous is very subjective but we do try to avoid anything too crazy.

“ A lot of people are a bit bossy and obligating others what to do with their character, especially how they look. That makes people, certainly those who put a lot of effort in them, really pissed. Maybe a send out that we all should respect each other in how we look and how we roleplay. Not everyone is a rich ass who can buy what they want or so experienced in roleplay as the other. So the basic thing is respect. “

True.  If any issues with an avatar or anything else, a GM or Admin should be contacted.  Players hostilely confronting other players is often something that will be considered a minor offense which can lead to disciplinary scenarios.  If you need any help do let one of us know, it makes me very sad when I hear about someone being given a hard time over something like that.

In conclusion, thank you to everyone who filled out the survey.  This was the hardest section to give feedback on as it does touch on a lot of “drama” elements.  I’m not the smartest admin, def not the most PR or PC, I speak from the heart.  It means a lot to me that after six years and all the obstacles that people are still here. I’ll do my best to try to improve everyone's experience.  Please keep in mind we are a VERY diverse role-play community and it’s literally impossible to fully please everyone, sometimes the good of the many will outweigh the good of the few but the tyranny of the majority is also something you always try to keep at bay.   

SWRP as a whole has now lasted about fifteen years as you can trace it’s origins back to 2003 while the first groups and sims really got going in 2004 with groups like the Mandalorians under Dazzo Street,  Jedi under Marcus Moreau and others,the first Galactic Empire.  Then in 2005 sims exploded with Korriban, Sirius, New Holstice, Tatooine, the founding of GAR & DLOTS.   We may have had to do a lot of adapting and changing with the times to still be an active community, but fifteen years is an amazing accomplishment for any roleplay community.   We’ll have our ups and downs but I think we’ve proven ourselves to be as resilient as they come.  :)