What the hell are we doing?

[Daggertail]

I've just been noticing for some time now a trend on Althanas towards the idolization of the numbers over the writing. I run into people whose spirits are dashed when they don't get a Judge's Choice within three weeks of joining -- I was at level 6 before I got a Judge's Choice, regardless of Cyrus's opinions on my writing, which I take as a lovely compliment. Or I find people who are more concerned about getting onto the top ten EXP chart than on deserving of the honor.

Well there is a good reason why there hopes are dashed when not getting a judges choice. People’s first and maybe only experience with being critiqued on their writing is school and in school the JC range of 80-100 is quite easy to gain while in Althanas it’s really hard and for some, maybe impossible. To those who have won a JC the tilt isn’t as daunting but to some of us who find it hard to get a 60 or 50 it can really eat away at the spirits. But then again you find other members that don’t score your work but give you some appreciation. I think it might be better to have an option to keep the scores hidden and let the words speak for them selves because Althanas’ scoring system is too tilted to allow numbers to accurately represent the judge’s opinion.

People really want to stand out and get noticed and while you can do it through writing, it doesn’t feel as effective is writing a JC or getting a teaser that puts your work on the front page and goes look at this awesome member. And those that can’t got to the next best thing that they can control, EXP and Gold since you can get a lot and it’s a way to stand out. People want to be noticed here and these ways seem easiest.

[DarkStrike]

I don't know about anybody else, but Althanas was expressly considered to be one of the top Rping sites next to Tal'Vorn and GWing (although after a visit to GWing, I have concluded that it is merely popularity that makes GWing so great, and not writing ability). I joined Althanas solely for the reason to improve my Rping and working together with other writers to create unforgettable story lines.

So I do have a certain fascination with the score giving and how fast I can cover levels, because if I'm moving slowly through levels and such, I'm obviously not writing very well. I use the experience and gold to gauge how well I am moving and improving.

The reason people might want to get things is that because we cannot just give our character's anything, we frantically quest trying to achieve the character that we originally dreamed up.

I know Yamihara, Abbie, Kai, and I think BatMoon know this, but Nenal basacally in his progression of events becomes a god like creature gifted with the powerful elements (gua style) Theta (which is death) and Omega (destruction). The dual bone blades are actually made from the bones of the Fafnir and have a lethal poison. To top it off Nenal is the brother, which I was planning to reveal in another quest, is the brother to the Saint Michael, and uncle to his son (a new character I just created on Gua) Arutha.

That's also failing to mention that Nenal dies twice and is reborn both times. First as a Shadow Angel which is my creation, and the race of my first and favorite character Striker, and then dies again and becomes an Angel of Death, an evil incarnate if you will, known as Yinyang, you can read a little bit about Yinyang in my story in Creative Endeavors, "Satan's Return," which focuses around Arutha.

So basacally Althanas is the prologue to Nenal's story, and in order to give the blades their abilities, I have to progress don't I? While I agree, it shouldn't be all about the gold, weapons, exp, and the other nonsense, but I want to progress my characters and by having them interact with other people, they are quickly becoming more and more what I dreamed him to be.

[Molotov]

Well there is a good reason why there hopes are dashed when not getting a judges choice. People’s first and maybe only experience with being critiqued on their writing is school and in school the JC range of 80-100 is quite easy to gain while in Althanas it’s really hard and for some, maybe impossible. To those who have won a JC the tilt isn’t as daunting but to some of us who find it hard to get a 60 or 50 it can really eat away at the spirits. But then again you find other members that don’t score your work but give you some appreciation. I think it might be better to have an option to keep the scores hidden and let the words speak for them selves because Althanas’ scoring system is too tilted to allow numbers to accurately represent the judge’s opinion.

People really want to stand out and get noticed and while you can do it through writing, it doesn’t feel as effective is writing a JC or getting a teaser that puts your work on the front page and goes look at this awesome member. And those that can’t got to the next best thing that they can control, EXP and Gold since you can get a lot and it’s a way to stand out. People want to be noticed here and these ways seem easiest.

I believe you're missing a bit of the point of what Madison is arguing. I don't think he'd disagree with you in that JCs, EXP, GP, etc. are seen as means to getting fame on the site. What Madison is instead suggesting is that is a warped priority, and that our primary goal of writing should be writing for its own sake. Unless you're F. Scott Fitzgerald, then you write to fuel your drinking habit.

In that regard, I don't disagree with Madison. Recently I've had a couple quests that scored in the very high 70s. Instead of taking it as "goddaminity crap, I get no JC love" I was happy because Dissinger (the judge in both cases) offered quite a few comments that said he liked my writing and the story in both cases. Also, in the quest that was a group quest with Letho, I feel we both had an enjoyable time.

If I had been so number centric, I would have given myself an anuerism. Instead, I was glad to get enough EXP to level and now go on to write more neat stories.

[Dorian]

Shyam pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to clarification. But I would like to make one more.

It's not even so much that I feel we should be writing solely for writing's sake, in the absence of any thought given to JCs, EXP, GP, etc. My problem is more with the general sense I get sometimes about how some are writing only for those things. Writing for those things is fine, but there should always be some element of doing it because you can't not do it.

[Letho]

Shyam certainly hits that nail on the head a lot. Poor nail must have major head trauma by now. :P

[Devil May Care]

I'm not going to write some big long thing, but I have felt all along that some people are here for writing experience and some are here for fun, but personally, I am here for both. Since joining Althanas my writing has improved, and I've had fun. If I really care about experience I wouldn't change characters every thread I do! Haha.

Anyways, I'm actually keeping characters recently but not because of experience, but because I want to complete their stories.

[Ithermoss]

If you want stories, drop the canned tournaments, the stories behind them, and the forced battles. Drop the Thayne lore. Drop the powergroups. Drop the rest of the features. Drop the regions. Drop character registration. Start over. Make the entire board solo-writing. Force writers to do their own damned thing. Screw this fictional place we've worked so hard to set up.

Althanas isn't just a place for good stories. It's a place to compete. You want something raw, and straight from the gut, then read a zine or a English grad's manuscipt. The thing is, this is a place where people write in an environment they have SOME control over, but not all. There's a war every day. We've got ki-blasting-not-quite-dead-vampire-samurai. We've got fox-people. We've got soul-sucking-demonic-half-elves. That's what people write about. Really. That's what they like to write about. THEIR character, interacting with the fabricated world aroud it.

We've got more stories in our heads than we can possibly put on paper, or pound out on a keyboard. But frankly, half, if not most of them won't fly here, unless you're willing to retrofit the time/place/character to a fantasy world shared with happenings that simply don't fit with the gem you've got in your head. That, and time isn't exactly a resource any of us really have an abundance of. So, speaking for myself personally, if I'm going to submit something, it's going to be good. It's going to be worth a shake or two. It's going to be able to stand with the better writers here. It has little to do with my personal skill as a writer. I'm not all that great. It has to do with the drive to write a sentence that really hits home. The same kind of drive a baseball player feels to smack one out of the park. A skeptic might say that he's doing it for money. Sure. Baseball players have to feed their creatine habit somehow (). If he didn't want to compete, however, he wouldn't be playing ball against other players on the same field.

If he just wanted to play the game, he'd toss the ball up in the air, and smack it down a grassy field. If he just wanted to compete, he wouldn't necessarily be playing a game that he loves.

You really can't say that it's one or the other.

But who cares? I've never gotten a Judge's Choice in my entire Althanas career. I've beaten some of Althanas's best in battle threads. I don't really think any of you would be overjoyed to see me next to your name in a tournament matchup. I'm not being haughty, just stating a fact. Who really gives a damn? Judge's Choice only carries the worth you feed to it. It only means as much as you let it mean.

To me, well. It doesn't mean a damned thing. Don't let a shiny motherfucking title define your skill. Don't let a trophy be how you determine your worth. Trophies only last but a little while. Trophies are real nice, until they start getting dusty.

[Ürei]

Do not take this as argueing, Ithy. I agree completely with everything you said, but I am not here to compete. I am here to co-exist with other writers and improve myself by writing with others. I understand that those who want to compete have a great way to do it here, thus the creation of tournaments and Power Group wars.

Althanas is not designed for one single thing and thus cannot have one single opinion about it. A hundred different people can be here for different goals and be entirely correct and using the forum to its entire potential and nobody would be intuitively wrong. That is the beauty of Althanas, along with its lovably diverse community, it has an incredibly diverse range of creativity on all fronts. The very concept of Althanas is creative.

I love this place.

[Ithermoss]

That's not arguing dude. That's affirming my standpoint. I agree wholeheartedly.

[Damion Shargath]

We've got more stories in our heads than we can possibly put on paper, or pound out on a keyboard. But frankly, half, if not most of them won't fly here, unless you're willing to retrofit the time/place/character to a fantasy world shared with happenings that simply don't fit with the gem you've got in your head.

I want like...guns, and tanks...and like...ships....and fighter jets! And...GUUUUUNS! and bombs11!11!!!1! and fooken MACHIIIIIINE GUNS! R U KREZY!!?!??? AND WTF IS NUKES!?!?!??!?!?!?!

What you said is true, and following that I just recommend putting them down in a word doc, saving them - and possibly upping them in the creative endeavors forum.