Standardization of the Dark XII

[gorrad]

I'm making this post to bring to light an issue that's been present in our fair site for far too long: The Dark XII. Cursed with a string of RPers who have a tendency to, for one reason or another, quit, a major problem has developed.

The Dark XII are constantly changing. Completely different backgrounds. Our #10s have been laid back chess players, haughty kings, and our current (rather inactive) prophet. Our #8s have been cats, hotshots, and lazy bums. When one roleplayer leaves, we're left with an empty spot, soon to be replaced with someone entirely different, forcing people to retcon away almost every speck of development that character had in previous incarnations.

My proposal is simple: A standardization. Currently taken XII members, and the last taken incarnation for the open slots, are the characters. That's not to say a new roleplayer can't change a few things around: expand on history, change powers a bit to better reflect what they think the character should be, etc. But the point is that the basic personality, history, weapons, powers, etc. stay constant.

The only downside to this is that those taking members of the XII have less freedom in making them. However, what this would do is make the XII like the Organization: The characters are set, but the specifics are up for interpretation. What we gain is the removal of canon characters that are not, by definition, canon. They're original for each person.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated. We could probably fit this into 5.0 with little to no incident.

[shiay]

Meh... I still think that members that seem committed and active on the site for a certain amount of time should be eligible for Dark/Org./Canon characters. What's the point of having an RP with someone that's just going to leave a few days/a week/a month later, leaving you hanging in a thread. As you've stated, people that have taken the Dark members have had a tendency to just up and leave.

[Larxene]

Standardization I can agree with -- as long as it is a loose standardization. The thing that I find appealing about the Dark XII, and perhaps what others find about them too, is the very fact that they are in essence a blank slate. They can be creative with these characters, something being wrung by the neck on this site these days. I also feel that there should be some degree between consistency from RPer to RPer as the character switches hands.

So yes, a standardization that permits some degree of creativity on the RPer's part.

And to avoid weighed-down, hackneyed interpretations decided by us due to imbalances -- we should hold a contest, for each Dark XII member, basically to select a template found most creative as a basis for future individuals that aspire to take up the reigns. This way we have more interpretations, characterizations, and creative means to study and find which works best for the site(and not for the few).

I fully expect this idea to be not even examined, and discarded.

[alan8or]

Actually... I rather like that last idea of Cadey's. It makes a lot of sense to me.

And yes. There ought to be some standardization, in my opinion. But we need to leave it open as much as possible, too.

[Admin]

I agree with loose standardization. As Cadence said, my main purpose for the Dark XII was to allow players to make these characters there own and therefore more entertaining to role play.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to have a post requirement for Dark XII members. Let's say 100-200 posts? That way the member who chooses to make a profile for said character has already proven themselves an active member and we would have to worry less about loosing them.

[sagefirefox]

Standardization is a very good idea. Too many members are leaving soon after they get their Dark XII member's accepted. What I disagreed with was the fact that we should keep the weapons the same. I think we should allowed the person that is going to take the Dark XII member to choose the weapon. Let their imagination take place, after all, they can't exactly do much.

Dilan has had spears and harpoons, I don't think a new Dilan is going to have a chainsaw as a weapon any time soon. So maybe we should just allow them to choose the weapon, appearance a bit, personality a bit, and history a bit? The power is what we can have absolute control on I believe.

Also, post count is another good thing xD