Sara

[QUOTE=Marsh][font="arial"][size="1"][spoiler](similar to the mods' Knowing Me Knowing You Thread, only open to everyone).[/spoiler][/size] Just a thought. =)[/font][/QUOTE][color=#b0000b][size=1]You know, after so many years on the inside, it [i]hurts[/i] to be out in the cold.[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]But welcome to the boards, all the same. =][/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]Lately I've been collecting buttons (the kind you use to close the front of a shirt). It is quite the exciting pursuit! I've already been to Hobby Lobby, Wal*Mart, and the local thrift shop. Today I think I shall go to Michael's. People keep wanting to know what I'm going to [i]do[/i] with the buttons, and I don't know. Right now I am just collecting them.[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]A few of my friends bought these this summer, and at least one of them feels the need to "test" them by shooting himself point blank in the leg. "So I know how far away I want to be when we're playing." The last time I was there, he spent the whole night limping around. So, uh, my only input on the subject is [i]not[/i] to do that. [/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]This will be a collaborative story, told through the art of the players. [size=3][center][b]City[/b][/center][/size] Purported to be a place of wonder and magic, it is sought by many--and laughingly dismissed by many more. Most believe it to be nothing but a children's tale. A few claim to have seen it. No one has ever returned from it. It is known by many names. In the desert, it is called [i]Mirage[/i]. On the high seas, [i]Atlantis[/i]. Still elsewhere, [i]El Dorado[/i]. The people who live there know it simply as? THE CITY. You will be playing a character who lives in, or has recently arrived at, the City. Age, gender, race, species, and occupation are up to you. [b]Edit[/b]: I'd prefer that you stuck with "human" or went for an original (i.e., not done to death) species, but my only strict rule here is [b][i]No elves[/i][/b]. I just don't like them. The City is unique in many ways. It is strangely apart from the rest of the world in which it is set. Magic, while it may linger elsewhere, is strong here. The market abounds with spells, legendary lamps, intricate magical gadgets. The City is oddly self-sufficient--while trade certainly takes place at the market, details are vague on where all of the merchandise comes from. Few leave the City, and fewer still are the new arrivals. Our story will probably involve the mystery of the nature of the city, but may just as easily focus on the lives and deaths of those who live within its walls. The details are largely up to you, the players and artists. Your sign up should include the following:[/size] [indent][b]First[/b], your character's [i]name, approximate age[/i], and [i]place of origin.[/i] This is set in a fantasy world (so our countries do not exist), but a description such as "Ali Baba-style desert land," or "Wooded and cold--think northern Europe" would be perfect. [b]Second[/b], a brief description of your character's personality and/or history. Less than 300 words, please. It's an introduction to your character, not a biography or life history. [b]Third[/b], [i]one drawn page[/i] of art, introducing your character to us. This may be in color or black and white, although pages of the actual RPG must be inked black and white images. [b]Finally[/b], a full-body image of your character, along with details and comments on important features, costumes, accessories, or anything else that will make for easier (and more accurate) drawings of your character by others.[/indent] Any art style is welcome, although we may have to draw the line (har!) at stick-figures.[/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]I eat cottage cheese every day up at school. It's one of those things on the salad bar that are just [i]good[/i], and you can eat it with [strike]nearly[/strike] anything. On sandwiches, with cereal, with canned fruit, with fresh fruit, on pizza, with potato chips, with spaghetti, with veggies, on baked potatos, on toast, in soup, with jello, on salad... You can substitute it for yogurt or sour cream, and it is cool, tangy, and delicious. Unless you're lactose intolerant (and even that is a grey area), there is seriously no excuse for disliking cottage cheese. Haters.[/size][/color]

[quote name='Dragon Warrior][size=1']I say just make it yet another choice like the Chapter System. If people want a word limit in their RPGs, so be it. But like I said before, you shouldn't pressure everyone into changing their style.[/size][/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]No one is even suggesting that this be implemented across the Arena. It was brought up as a possible option?yes, like the chapter system?as a way of increasing activity. [quote=Retri]If your [and most people's for that matter] RPG submissions never go beyond a page and a half in Microsoft Word, then what's the point of creating this 500 word limit. It seems like a word-cap for a word-cap's sake if people are already doing it and its a select few who are exceeding such a limit. I also don't really see the point if this is to encourage activity when people already fall within the rule's criteria... it seems the level of activity wouldn't change if the post length has no change to make.[/quote]The point is that in certain situations, people feel obligated to write extremely long posts, to the point where it hurts the RPG rather than helping it. Several of Shy's RPGs have fallen victim to this?possibly due to the fact they were created by him, but who knows? This would hopefully influence otherwise slow-moving RPGS to pick up the pace, and keep people interested (or even aware that the story is still going on).[/color][/size]

[QUOTE=sakurasuka][size=1]True, but two or three who mentioned it put in lin bold and caps, like it would be like dating Lucifer himself to date someone who'd lost thier virginity. I wan't calling out everyone who mentioned it. That's all I was reffering to, that it was stated as if it WASN'T an exception, '[b]MUST B V1RG1N!!!111eleventy-one111[/b]' Whereas 'sweet', 'romantic', 'loves such-and-such-hobby', and anything about preffered personalities were put as a second thought, like if he was litterally THE guy for you and he wasn't a virgin, then he wouldn't even be considered. So I was just trying to get a reply out of one of those few people by asking them why it was so important. Other that the romantic notion of being each other's 'first time', I don't see the appeal.[/size][/QUOTE][color=#b0000b][size=1]Looking through the thread, most of the people who posted that as a stipulation are under the age of seventeen. I think (especially at a younger age), it's easy to expect that others hold themselves to the same standards to which you adhere. It's not even necessarily about the romantic notion so much as it is a sign that you share a value and belief system. That is important (and rightfully so) to a lot of people. I'm a virgin, my first boyfriend wasn't. It didn't bother me, although frankly it was [i]weird[/i] to think about him and his former girlfriend having sex, ha ha...especially since I'd known them both for several years, and during those years it simply hadn't occured to me that they might be having sex. It probably would have bothered me under different circumstances, but the two of them had been in an exclusive, long-term relationship. I wasn't precisely [i]happy[/i] when he told me, but I didn't throw him out on his butt, either. =] We were in a pretty happy relationship at the time, and the fact that he'd had sex with his former girlfriend didn't come into play. He accepted that I wasn't ready to have sex, I accepted that he'd done so already. And as far as dating in the real world is concerned...most people who highly value the virginity of their partners aren't really the type to interrogate about sexual history on the first date. By the time sexual history comes up in that kind of relationship, it's very likely that the couple will be strong enough to work through whatever problems one person might have with the other's history...or find that compared to how they feel about the [i]person[/i], how they feel about the person's past doesn't matter so much.[/color][/size]

[quote name='Sandy']I know the purpose is good, but I don't feel that this is the way we should enforce activity and good quality to our RPGs. There's so many different types of games out there that this just wouldn't work in practice.[/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]Not across the board, certainly. But since Shy's RPGs seem to lend themselves to very long posts and very long gaps in posting, I think it's a good thing for him to bring up. If you're looking for ways to boost participation, something to think about is the length of time taken to create posts and the perceived standard that might cause people to take more time than is necessary. There's a point where the line graph of [i]time taken vs. quality[/i] plateaus, and posts past that amount of time end up hurting the story rather than helping it. Any such limitation would probably initially take place within a carefully chosen group of players, and I don't think that double or triple posting would be a problem among those who understand why the limit is in place.[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]Guys, let's remember that this thread is about hypothetical [b][i]perfection[/i][/b], not stringent requirements a person needs to fulfill in order to be an eligible candidate for dating. [b]If you've already had sex, does that make you less of a perfect guy?[/b] In the eyes of some people, that answer is [i]yes[/i]. Should you be offended? Not really. No one is attacking you, personally, they're just listing the things they want in some hypothetical partner. (If you [i]haven't[/i] yet had sex, does that make you less attractive in the eyes of some people? Again, the answer is yes. Are there a lot of people who don't give a hoot one way or another? Again, survey says YES.) Here's a list as an example*: [indent]-Virgin. I want sex to be something special between just the two of us. -Tall. I want to be swept off my feet! ...Or at least, not tower over my guy. -Red hair! I just find it really attractive on a guy, as long as it's not cut super-short. -Likes photography! What better way to have a picture-perfect history of your relationship than to date a guy who's hobby is taking beautiful pictures? [/indent]That list doesn't mean that I would never date a non-virgin, any more than it means that I would exclusively date redheads or photographers. We are putting people into categories because, to us, there [i]is[/i] a difference between them, and one side of the coin (or dice) is more attractive to us. That's the point of the thread. *[i]List does not necessarily reflect the views of the poster.[/i][/size][/color]

[quote name='Ben']Hang on, first you establish Batman as being a ninja, and then say a famous ninja would be a crappy ninja? Isn't Batman rather well-known? Not only a pseudo-hero of his city, but even in our world, rather well-known.[/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]Batman would appear to be an exception here. I think the point is that he doesn't going around being all "[i]Captain[/i] Ninja Batman, savvy?" Successful ninjas need to be stealthy, and stealth typically does not lend itself to fame. This is why the ninja-crowd is so screwed trying to find cool, successful ninjas--if someone is a successful ninja, [i]no one knows about it[/i]. That's the mark of success.[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]This is something I am definitely interested in, possibly in combination with different "classes" of posts. Say, a flashback/informative post (where it's essential that everyone writing be able to follow and understand [i]exactly[/i] what the rest of the story will be building off of) would be worth up to 1000 words, while an "action" post in a sparlike part of the story might be limited to 500 or 300 words. I wouldn't set the limit much lower than three hundred, because then you run into problems with not being able to actually say what you are hoping to get across--things like 55 Fiction are good writing exercises, but not necessarily something I want to have to tell an extended story with. 1000 words is three typed pages, and in most RPGS, I think that's long enough for any one person to have control of the story. Something fun might be some kind of point system whereby you must "earn" a longer post by first contributing several shorter ones. I think when a lot of people write longer, rambly posts, it's because you're trying to establish too much at once, or are [i]telling[/i] things rather than [i]showing[/i] them. After several shorter posts, players would hopefully find that they don't even need to use their earned "long" post, because they've already established what they want. You don't need to go on for five pages about your character's dark nature and troubled childhood if you've already portrayed his personality through the way he acts.[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]Yeah, you can find some great dirt on anyone who's been here more than a couple years. But aside from the humor in finding the early posts by respected members, no one really cares. Unless you have a specific reason for wanting to delete your old posts, you might as well just let them lie.[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]As for myself, I hang out with a lot of like-minded people, so I don't know what distinguishes me particularly. Among my friends, I'm [b]the one who doesn't like card games[/b]. Other than that, I am perhaps [b]the most likely to start dancing for no apparent reason[/b], although perhaps again I am not.[/size][/color]

[quote name='Fasteriskhead']Being long-winded.[/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]And this is probably the most [i]succint[/i] you'll ever see him, folks.[/size][/color]

[QUOTE=Lunox][color=dimgray] So when I first started reading your post I knew where you were coming from. Graphic novels have never reached any sort of power a classic novel has (i.e. [i]1984[/i], etc.)*. But level of immersion? [i]Persepolis[/i] by Marjane Satrapi is an example of a graphic novel that immersed me completely for the while I read it. [i]Epileptic[/i] by David B. is a great one, too. They're both fun to read and serious as well. The words vs. art will create different opinons on this, but graphic novels have just as much or more power to immerse a reader than a novel can. [/color][/QUOTE][color=#b0000b][size=1]I think Azure is kicking himself right now for bringing up the term "graphic novel" at all, since this post was originally about manga, and we've been refuting him with western works. =] (Props on your choice of examples, though.) I honestly have the same problem as Azure with a lot of manga--I honestly think I just have trouble following what is going on. If it's a result of the art style, the thinner lines, the disorientation of reading the other way around, I'm not sure. I tend not to get in to manga very much, unless I am already familiar with the characters (in which case, I suppose I'm already hooked).[/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]During the summer, I always find myself experimenting with food, and I'm always looking for new, easy snacks to make. Hopefully we can get an exchange of ideas happening here. If you try the snacks posted here, or have your own to add, please post! [b]Recipes posted here shouldn't take more than ten minutes to execute.[/b][/size] [size=2][b]Cucumber Chips[/b]:[/size][size=1] Possibly we could call these "instant pickles," but that seems like a contradiction in terms. [b]Why you'd want to make these[/b]: They're like potato chips, only healthy. And by "like potato chips" I mean that they are crunchy and salty. YUM! [b]You need[/b]:[indent]a cucumber some salt some dill (your mom probably has some in her spice rack) cold water a dish to put it all in[/indent] [b]What you do[/b]: Cut up the cucumber (as thinly and evenly as you can). Put the slices in a bowl with some cold water, add salt and dill to taste. Neither salt nor dill is terribly pungent, so unless you dump your entire container into the bowl, you probably don't need to worry about overdoing it. (And if you do put too much in, you can always dilute it with more water.) [b]Alternative[/b]: Sprinkle salt and/or dill on the individual slices as you eat them. [b]Comments[/b]: This is really quick and really easy, and I happen to [i]really[/i] like cucumbers, so this is a great snack for me. It's also a good one for people who are unsure in the kitchen--if you put too much salt in, you can just rinse off the cucumbers and start over.[/color][/size]

[color=#b0000b][size=1][QUOTE=AzureWolf][COLOR=maroon]People call them graphic novels to increase the appeal, sound more sophisticated than they are, and [b]put them on par with the reading novels they aren't worthy of being on the same shelf with[/b]. But really, how good are they? Now I'm not bashing manga, as I love it as the next person.[/color][/quote]Sounds like bashing to me, darlin. =] [quote name='AzureWolf][COLOR=maroon']However, as I read more and more, I'm beginning to realize that in terms of quality, there's just something about the nature of mangas that keep them from being ever as good as a quality book. The level of immersion is just so poor in manga as compared to that of a book. I guess it might be because of the focus: in a book, you are focused on one word/line at a time, whereas in a manga, you are forced to distribute your focus.[/COLOR][/quote]I don't read a lot of manga: I have a few volumes of One Piece that a friend gave me, but that's about it. So I can't give you any counter-examples from the East. However, in regards to graphic novels in general... You have [i]got[/i] to be kidding me, Azure. The next time you're in Barnes and Noble, spend a little while in the Roleplay/Graphic Novel section. Take a look at [i]Blankets[/i] or [i]Flight[/i], or read a story from any of the [i]Sandman[/i] volumes. There's nothing about the "nature" of a drawn story that keeps it from being on par with a written story. The execution is different (and in my experience, harder to do well), but there's no intrinsic aspect of graphic novels that holds them back from being as good as their word-only counterparts.[/size][/color]

[quote name='RiflesAtRecess][font=trebuchet ms']Well, they're saying that the Arctic will seasonally melt and freeze by the year 2050. So let's hope we either find a way to reverse this by 2039 or we're on some other planet by then. Waterworld could come sooner than you know it. :([/font][/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]Even if the polar caps melted, the resulting water wouldn't flood the entire world. Lowlying coastal areas would be lost, and the climate of the rest of the world would obviously be majorly affected, but most of the landmasses wouldn't be [i]underwater[/i]. I'm just saying.[/color][/size]

[quote name='Lunox][color=dimgray]Shinmaru just stated Batman was a ninja and you don't say anything. BATMAN. You explode at me for calling [i]Miho[/i'] a ninja, but obviously Batman is so ninja-like that it's not even questionable. [/color][/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]Yeah, I gotta give you guys Batman. He doesn't fit in every incarnation, obviously, but Shinmaru's definitely got something there.[/size][/color]

[quote name='Acheron][font=Palatino Linotype][size=3]What makes your posts any better than ours [b][i][u]Papa Smurf[/u][/i][/b]? You say all we've done is shown you pictures and what not, but you and other pirate lovers have done the [u]same thing[/u]!! [b][i][u]Information v.s. Information[/u][/i][/b][/size'][/font][/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]The point is that you are not showing pictures of any formidable (or even likeable) characters who actually qualify as [i]ninjas[/i]. Whereas we have The Dread Pirate Roberts (greatest swordsman in the world), Captain James Hook (the only man the sea-cook ever feared), Keira Knightly (face it, she's a pirate and she's hot), and Long John Silver (the sea-cook in question), among others. You've given us ninja babies (frankly, that's embarrassing) and a couple of admittedly kick-butt characters who, sadly for you, are not ninjas. (PROTIP: There is a reason for this.)[/size][/color]

[quote name='Shinmaru']Haha, I hope that your buddy up there wasn't around for the shower.[/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]Haha, oh man. No, I'm fine. =][/size][/color]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]The administrators aren't robots, guys. They're normal human beings, just like you and me...who are unfortunately chained to a desk in the Site Director's basement. He doesn't let them outside, so it's understandable that they sometimes get a little cranky. He only feeds them when they meet their closed-thread quota for the day, so [b]remember: When you post pointless threads, you are actually doing the admins a [i]favor[/i].[/b] The more often you post closable threads, the more often Dags and Des get fed! Don't begrudge them their small happinesses. Those handcuffs really chafe.[/size][/color]

[img]http://otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25691&stc=1[/img]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]Right now what I [i]really[/i] want is a shower. Summer humidity makes me feel [i]gross[/i]. *several minutes later* Okay, now we're good to go. Right now, I'd really like to have already completed my Bio Science requirement up at school. I'm currently signed up for 18 credits for next semester, and experience has taught me that that is [i]just too much[/i]. If I had taken Bio earlier, I'd be able to keep the rest of my current classes. As it is, I need to drop one of the classes I'm really interested in...or stick it out with eighteen credits. [/size][/color]