Althanas Community Radio Presents: The Essence Of Roleplaying

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

ACR makes its grand return by letting our very own Karuka/Mongrel/Carmen Sandiego Alydia Ettermire take the lead!

You may have seen her thread where she asked you to define roleplaying and the Althanas experience. She and her guest, Andy (me) go over your responses and put the pieces together as to what makes our wonderful little website what it is!

And, of course, as a little bonus, there is a discussion about the implementation of the AP System and what could for the website and its future!

And remember, as always, if you have trouble streaming, you can right click on the link and download the episode.

Feedback to the points made and your thoughts on the show concept as a whole are greatly appreciated, kids.

The Essence Of: Episode 1 (http://www.althanas.com/world/podcasts/EssenceOfEp1.mp3)

[Alydia Ettermire]

Many thanks to Andy for recording, editing, and co-starring in this episode!

[Rayleigh]

I appreciate your support of the AP system, Michelle. There's been a lot of negativity surrounding the program, despite it only being released yesterday, so I'm excited to hear that you understand one of the main motivations behind it.

Andy, to address your example, writing a few hundred words on a single workshop could potentially earn you those 2 AP. You won't have to write two workshops. AP in workshops is actually incredibly easy to earn (we did that intentionally) - see examples here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?30378-Workshop-That-s-The-Wrong-Door).

[Kryos]

I quite enjoyed the Podcast. Thank you Michelle and Andy for producing it. Really fun.

Feedback:
I really enjoyed the initial setup. As I haven't heard any previous podcasts, I don't have anything to compare it to. But, I liked being able to hear discussion surrounding the answers that we, the members, supplied. Having recently come back, it was fun to hear about things that I was unaware of.

I also really enjoyed the expansion of the theme of questions you guys did. The questions you polled us with had to do with the nature of Roleplaying, and how Althanas factored into that. Then, you guys discussed the essence of Althanas and whether or not it was a roleplaying site. I had never considered that before, and upon reflection, pretty much agree that some more traditional aspects of RPing don't really exist here. That unknown of how another member will respond to what I do in a thread and all. I still think that can happen, especially in some battle threads. However, even if I know what is going to happen, it is the manner in which it does that I look forward to. I remember that some of the best moments were when I was writing with one of my friends from another site, and when she finally posted, I would get so excited, not because I already knew what would happen, but rather the beauty in which she wrote it. So, yeah, good job expanding the topic from the original questions.

Now, the AP system. I don't want to get into it too much besides that I can understand why a change like this could be considered necessary, and also the flipside of having limited time to write and earn AP. But I have already seen a bit of the debate on the forum, and felt that the amount of time spent on the podcast debating the AP system, well, wasn't so good. While I feel that the podcast is a great avenue to discuss current events on Althanas, I think that the AP system took up too much time in a debate between the pros and cons and other options, that it left a bad taste in my mouth by the end of the podcast, which I was a bit disappointed about. I would rather come away from the podcast on a more upbeat note and feeling, and use it to really dig into writing.

May I suggest that, rather than debating something that is a hot topic that has already been debated considerably on the forums, a simple discussion, instruction and analysis of the current topic would be better. In this case, rather than arguing over it, I would more have appreciated going into detail on how to earn AP, with examples. I know I only can speak for myself, but having recently come back, it would have been better to learn how to begin working with this system, rather than seeing how controversial it is. For instance, what exactly is required for a 1 point AP workshop response? Or, what are and how does one go about getting Tier 1, 2 and 3 content approved? What does it mean to get a "summary" approved for 3 AP?

Anyway, those were my big thoughts concerning the podcast. However, I did enjoy it overall, and am greatly looking forward to the next episode. Good work guys!

DFTBA

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Giving this a listen now. Already cringing at Andy's horrible breathing. ;)

I'll edit for feedback when it's finished.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

HEHHHHHHHHHHHN

ohai

HEHHHHHHHHHHHHN

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

It was a good episode overall. You are both great to listen to and I enjoyed what was on offer.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed that my comments on "What is Althanas to you?" were taken a little out of context, and seemed to skirt around the core of what I said with regards to this place being a bastion of creativity and also a place that is getting stronger even after fourteen years. It seems to have made me out to be using this place as a "kick back and relax" type of place, but in reality I take my writing very seriously, and behind all the fun "Shin" moments i'm keen to succeed here and am always working hard to write some good threads (evident from my scores).

Still, keep it up. Looking forward to the next episode.

[Alydia Ettermire]

Question: if we end up doing more episodes, what are other topics you'd want us to discuss the Essence Of, and who would like to guest star?

[Cards of Fate]

Id love to see you discuss things like morality in characters, building a compelling character, some of the more compelling parts of RP we dont discuss often!

[Flames of Hyperion]

Grr. I'll have it on the record that my usual post is 1000 - 2000 words in size. 3000 is pushing it, even for me!

That said, thank you for reading between the lines for my answer to the first question, and noting that Althanas covers a lot of what I termed as 'disadvantages' of roleplaying. I'm with you both in that I think of Althanas as more than a role-playing site, although it does cater to both 'role-playing' and 'gaming' styles as well as 'story-telling'.

With regards to AP, I can see both sides of the argument - you did a good job of presenting it - and overall I'm in favour. I agree with Kryos, though, that we need examples of what constitutes a 1AP workshop contribution vs. a 2AP contribution, etc. Linking from the AP guide page to explanations of the various methods by which we can earn AP (i.e. the different types of workshop judgements, content approval, summaries) would probably be a step in the right direction.

In particular, I think there's a misconception that workshop contributions must be on the level of a 'professional' judgement. I couldn't disagree more. Even a few lines of "I read your thread. I thought this was good and that you could work on that" would not only earn you a few AP, but also (should) make the day of the writer who submitted into the workshop. Speaking for myself, there was nothing more discouraging than to submit one of my works to the workshop, only to find that only one person (bless you, Karu) bothered to offer feedback.

EDIT: I'm liking Cards's suggestion for the next podcast. I'm also tempted to suggest that you touch base with recent threads on Althanas (without setting a bad example by admitting that you haven't read anything in the past few weeks)! Perhaps get your guests to promote their latest pet projects? Namedrop a particular thread that you think is promising / would help develop critiquing skills through a workshop?

[Alydia Ettermire]

EDIT: I'm liking Cards's suggestion for the next podcast. I'm also tempted to suggest that you touch base with recent threads on Althanas (without setting a bad example by admitting that you haven't read anything in the past few weeks)! Perhaps get your guests to promote their latest pet projects? Namedrop a particular thread that you think is promising / would help develop critiquing skills through a workshop?
Actually, Dr. Flames, this is something I hope to avoid doing. Both the tried and true ACR and the Shinquisition highlight threads and focus in on Althanas in microcosm. I'd rather focus on the acts of creative writing and how they apply to Althanas in a more macro sense, using answers and opinions from our listeners to fuel the conversation. I'm not against highlighting threads - it was my favorite part of being cohost of the ACR under both Paul and Andy - but it's a need that's being fulfilled.

[Flames of Hyperion]

Aha, I see and fully understand. Thank you for clarifying ^^.

[Fez_The_Kid]

Oh, and, I'd like to officially thank Karu for her uplifting compliment.

[Storm Veritas]

I like the format quite a bit, even if somehow Andy converted me from Boston / Irish to New York / Italian. Either way it was really funny.

I'll keep listening, even when my accent isn't being hilariously butchered.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I was wondering when you were going to yell at me for that. ;)

[Karuka]

Storm, you could always join me on air to show us how Boston/Irish really sounds. :D

[Storm Veritas]

Be happy to!

[Rayleigh]

AP has been given to all participants of this podcast.