2010-03-16 [NOOOPE]: Sexy

2010-03-17 [Alexi Ice]: Love it!

2010-03-17 [wicked fae mage]: Genius!

2010-03-17 [Akayume]: Sounds fun. (:

2010-03-17 [Akayume]: I do have a question, however. Does the 400-900 include the words used for "character name", "character setting", so on and so forth? Or is it counted without those included?

2010-03-17 [NOOOPE]: They really shouldn't make much of a difference. Honestly, if you've got 912 words, we'll cut you some slack. Don't worry about it.

2010-03-17 [Akayume]: Oke, I wanted to make sure. I mean, I know that's kind of... Yeah. ^-^ I just think it would really suck to write up something and then be disqualified because you went over by a little bit. >.O

2010-03-17 [Aeolynn]: I had to go back through the sheet and take stuff out pertaining to the rules XD look it over like a checklist...

2010-03-18 [The Dizzy Raven]: so did this place just open?

is the deadline for the ending or is it a deadline for making characters?

2010-03-18 [windowframe]: It's the deadline for submitting your character. The RPing part will take as long as it takes. :)

2010-03-18 [The Dizzy Raven]: ok awesome! thanks for answering my question. I'll create a character as soon as I can! ^_^ I'll probably get it to you this weekend if not sooner.

2010-03-18 [Yuriona]: Hey I was wondering, is there a limit as to the number of characters we can submit or are entrants limited to just one?

2010-03-18 [Evolution X]: *points to paragraph above rules* Each contestant will pick ONE of their original characters

2010-03-18 [Yuriona]: Aw dang... missed that. >< Thanks for clearing that up! *notes new rule*

2010-03-18 [The Dizzy Raven]: I have two/three questions: Can we post up the wiki of our character even though it's not finished? Then complete before the deadline? And are we allowed to decorate it and then make a section for the judges to post questions?

2010-03-18 [windowframe]: No, decorating it and added a section for the judges to ask questions are unnecessary. We just need a plain, simply page with your character bio on, and nothing else.

As to posting it before it's complete, I don't see why not (but then again, I don't see why you'd need to either), if it's not complete (i.e. not between 400-900 words) by the deadline, then it will be disqualified.

2010-03-18 [The Dizzy Raven]: ok thanks :)

so, would that leave character pictures out? like ones drawn by the creator of the character?
(I hope I'm not anoying with so many questions. ^_^')

2010-03-18 [windowframe]: Yes. That's one's actually mentioned in the rules. :P
Don't worry, it's not annoyed. We're glad people are interested. :)

2010-03-18 [The Dizzy Raven]: haha ok ^_^ and thanks

2010-03-19 [Yuriona]: Don't worry... I hear there's gonna be an OC art contest soon. *rubs hands together in anticipation*

2010-03-19 [The Dizzy Raven]: really? cool ^_^

2010-03-24 [Rice]: Can we put more than one character forward? I have a second character I'd just love to use in this too.

2010-03-24 [Evolution X]: rule 8

2010-03-24 [Rice]: XD I SUCK!

2010-03-29 [Silver Moon]: is this for everyone?

2010-03-29 [Evolution X]: well they let me in... >_>

2010-03-29 [wicked fae mage]: Yes, silver :)

2010-03-29 [Silver Moon]: Ok I will submit one of my characters

2010-03-29 [wicked fae mage]: Just remember to use the given character sheet :)

2010-03-31 [Silver Moon]: ok ^-^

2010-03-31 [Baldursson]: Saw that I miised the deadline to start this one. I will start getting ready for the next

2010-03-31 [wicked fae mage]: The deadline is next month

2010-04-05 [The Dizzy Raven]: I still have to finish some bit of my character, but hopefully what I have done qualifies so far. I have at least over 400 words. I want to put more up though

2010-04-05 [Baldursson]: Wicked Fae thanks for pointing out to me that I looked at that wrong.........now I can get a char in here........sigh now which one to put

2010-04-05 [wicked fae mage]: No problem...and pick a name out of a hat?

2010-04-06 [Baldursson]: :)  now I will pick one from a story line I have been doing forever

2010-04-19 [Evolution X]: ACKS! It's tomorrow! *panic*

2010-04-19 [Hedda]: Hurry hurry!

2010-04-19 [Alexi Ice]: Good luck!

2010-04-19 [Kyrinn]: Oooookay, I have one I can enter, just want to clarify: This is a character Ive played from a roleplaying game called Slayers d20. Can I submit this character? I can certify it is completely original in design, just that it was created for this game system. Or, does this have to be a strictly online rp character? 

2010-04-20 [Veltzeh]: Hmm, I should've asked that too. Oh well, I don't think I can change anymore.

2010-04-20 [Kyrinn]: Me too. since no one has commented Ill jsut have to assume its alright because I will be at work til after the deadline today anyway. :)

2010-04-20 [wicked fae mage]: *Eagerly waits*

2010-04-20 [Alexi Ice]: As long as it's your character. I belive RPG is a general idea, thought I am not the mod of this particular contest. As long as this character is yours weather it's from an online or real life RPG or like my character is from a series of stories I write. As long as it's not stolen work or anything, it should be fine. Considering in the layout there is not a link for the RPG which he/she is a character on ^^

2010-04-21 [NOOOPE]:

EVERYBODY!

2010-04-21 [The Dizzy Raven]: awesome :)

2010-04-29 [Falx]: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow... Very excited. ^_^ *squee!*

2010-04-29 [The Dizzy Raven]: yay ^_^ me niether

2010-05-01 [wicked fae mage]: *gets into dark age clothing and sits stewing wizardly ingredients*

2010-05-04 [Yuriona]: Uh... today is the 4th and I don't think any interviews have started yet. So does this mean they won't happen until after the fifth now?

2010-05-04 [Alexi Ice]: The mods for this contest have not commented in a while O.o I wonder where they went?

2010-05-04 [Rice]: No doubt busy with school work or life, as most people tend to get. I'm sure this will all take place in due time. PATIENCE! :D

2010-05-04 [wicked fae mage]: Patience is a virtue except when the enemy has a battering ram outside the door.

2010-05-04 [Rice]: Good thing we don't have an enemy then aye. Means we can all sit back and chill.

2010-05-04 [wicked fae mage]: Right...*chills*

2010-05-04 [Alexi Ice]: I have brought it up to the Council. Hopefully they will at least annouce what's happening sometime soon. Until then please check out a few of our other contests. Origional character contest, ECM centaur, EPRM usually has something going on. Thanks.

2010-05-04 [NOOOPE]:

Shit just got serious in real life. Unforeseen events have lead me to push the questioning forward yet another week. I swear, that's the last time things'll get bumped. This will happen, starting next Monday

2010-05-04 [Mortified Penguin]: No need to shout. I'll do the questioning for you.

2010-05-05 [Alexi Ice]: Thanks for the announcement.

2010-05-05 [Duke Devlin]: If you need to push it back again, do it! Real life is important.<3

2010-05-05 [wicked fae mage]: What is this real life everybody speaks of?

2010-05-06 [Duke Devlin]: LMAO Love it. ;)

2010-05-18 [Yuriona]: So... yeah. Still nuttin' happenin' here. I assume everyone's real life has been as stupidly busy as mine has lately. D:

2010-05-18 [windowframe]: No, we're just doing a preliminary judging of all the characters and discussing them so that we can formulate the best questions to test your ability. Stuff is happening alright, you just can't see it. :P

2010-05-18 [Yuriona]: You can do that? :O I wish I could do stuff invisibly... then I wouldn't have to worry about what to wear. >_>

2010-05-18 [Rice]: But then you're power might run out, and thats how accidents happen. You're walking down the street and BANG you're butt naked surrounded by a photography group taking pictures for evening news.

2010-05-18 [Yuriona]: Assuming that seeing me naked wouldn't make them all scream and go blind instantly. ^__^

2010-05-18 [Rice]: Did I mention that they are also a group of middle-aged balding men who consider seeing a naked woman a sign of the second coming of Jesus?

2010-05-18 [Yuriona]: You mean I'd cause mass hysteria from the belief that the world was coming to an end?? Cool!

2010-05-18 [Rice]: And just with your naked body. That's impressive. Anyway. BACK TO WHAT THIS WIKI IS ABOUT!
Any idea on when the questions will be asked? Just so I can ready myself. *rolls up sleeves*

2010-05-18 [windowframe]: No, sorry. Hopefully soon (soon being a few days, rather than a few weeks).

2010-05-18 [Rice]: Alright thanks. :F

2010-05-18 [Eyden13]: Hey at least this is a step forward. ^-^

2010-05-18 [Alexi Ice]: There are a few questionaires floating around in diary entries and things that you can take as your character for practice, though. Just to be prepared.

2010-05-18 [Eyden13]: can you sent me the link to one of those. I'd really like to use mine before the questioning.

2010-05-18 [Alexi Ice]: Sure. I used one for a diffent character and posted it in my diary but I know of a couple

2010-05-18 [Veltzeh]: Someone could collect those (or links to them) on one wikipage! :)

2010-05-18 [Alexi Ice]: That would be a good idea!

2010-05-18 [Veltzeh]: I also have a few character questionaries hidden somewhere around my computer, I'll see if I can find them.

2010-05-18 [Eyden13]: Yay!

2010-05-21 [Flisky]: The Three Person Interview - this is something I did a little while ago when I had writer's block. ^_^ Maybe it might spark some ideas.

2010-09-16 [Alexi Ice]: I really wonder how you judge something like this, ya' know?

2010-09-16 [windowframe]: Well a lot of it is seeing if people can actually RP the character they gave us in the bio. Then it's a case of seeing which characters avoid the biggest cliches and so forth.

2010-09-16 [Alexi Ice]: I read most of the profiles, once the judging is over, do you think I could see what you liked/disliked about the people? I'm curious as to how to make myself a better RPGer and this seems like a quick way to do it...also it's just something I'm really interested in

2010-09-16 [windowframe]: Humm. Personally, I'm happy to give individuals feedback on their character/performance if they ask for it, but not to give one person feedback on everyone else - that would just be unfair unless we gave the same info to everyone, and that's just way too time-consuming. But I'm not sure how the others feel even about individual feedback, so we'll discuss that.

2010-09-16 [Eyden13]: I'm in for individual feedback. It can't so anything but help.

2010-09-16 [NOOOPE]: I feel that's a little unfair for us mods, however. When an art contest, poetry/prose contest or photo contest goes on, the mods are not bothered to give the contestants critiques. Usually a winner is announced and the mods/judges are trusted with their decision.

Since characters can be very special to their rpers, I see why you would stress about the details our decision, but this is a competition just like every other competition on elftown, and if the mods don't have the time or motivation to give you feedback, they are not obligated to. Expecting feedback is not fair.

I mean, if one of the mods is willing, all the power to them. But still, I think you should all treat this like any other ET comp, and if you don't win just say to yourself 'better luck next time'.

2010-09-16 [Flisky]: I agree with [NOOOPE]. Feedback would be appreciated, but not entirely necessary. If a mod does not have it within their power to do so, it seems unfair to demand for it. ^_^

2010-09-16 [Eyden13]: I Agree ^-^ But I like it, but wouldn't mind if I didn't get it. I guess I should have said that I'm cool with just Akane getting feed back.

2010-09-16 [NOOOPE]: No one is getting feedback unless the mod is willing to give it. It doesn't matter who asks for it. No one should expect feedback.

If you truly want a critique of your character, maybe you should set up a character critique forum or wiki. You could even have your friends read your contest page and ask their opinion.

2010-09-16 [Alexi Ice]: Lol! Awesome, I created a discussion. That's not really what I asked for. I don't want critique of anything, I want to know how you judge this kind of contest. I.E, what are you looking for, things like that. As I said, after the contest is over so no one changes their style to fit the format. I've never participated in an RPG contest before, it's got to be differnt from the others, right? Kind of like the story contests, except your interacting with other people. It just all seems like such an alien contest...

I do like the idea of having people read/critique the contest page. You might want to stress that that should be done once the winners are annonced so no one becomes a better RPGer halfway through the contest, you know?

Anyway ~

2010-09-16 [NOOOPE]: RP Contest Ideas <- this is where I submitted the idea for this contest. There are other ideas... most of which we're not going to do. The first one on the list is this contest and my suggestions for judging it are basically what we did.

First, we three mods read all the bios and discussed how original, well written, and interesting they were. We then assigned the bios a score out of 10, 10 being perfect.

We then did the interview, which was again, to see if they could write, but more importantly, we wanted to see if they could stick to their bio and play the character they presented. If they did indeed rp their character accurately, we would then determine how interesting that character was to interact with. Basically we were trying to assess whether we would want to be in an rp with that character.

When the interviews were completed, we listed the pros and cons of the experience.

The final decision will be based on the bio score and the quality of the interview rp.

2010-09-17 [Alexi Ice]: Thank you! That's amazingly interesting, and so complicated! It's differnt for most contests after all. Ohhh...*Follows the link

2010-10-11 [Falx]: Congrats, [Ms. Steel]!

2010-10-11 [Rice]: WOOOO PARTY FOR [Ms. Steel] ~

2010-10-11 [Flisky]: Cool! Way to go [Ms. Steel]!

2010-10-11 [Ms. Steel]: Wow! Thanks a lot! :-D

2010-10-11 [Falx]: Just wondering if there's some way to get feedback on how we did and/or find out what we can do to improve.

2010-10-11 [NOOOPE]: If any of the mods are willing to give feedback, they will. If not, we do have some wikis we referenced that highlight rp cliches. I could post them. Also Text Adventures has tons of how-to rp wikis with great advise.

2010-10-11 [NOOOPE]: Actually guys, here are some good wikis that can help you figure out how to improve your rping:

Captain Kiva's Article
RP: Bad Bios
A Plea for Greater Character Diversity
List of bad clichés

Note, all these were written a while before this contest. If your character conforms to any of the cliches, you now know why you didn't win.

2010-10-11 [Rice]: I'm afraid I can not remember my horrible depressing past...for I have...AMENISA! And I'm also a mute, with two-toned hair, eyes that change colour according to my mood, and a dark connection with every single character that was ever created...ever.

2010-10-11 [Rice]: LMAO! I shrivel and die when ever I look at some of my origianl role-plays, and the amazing characters I created when I was 12.

2010-10-11 [NOOOPE]: Yeah... me ages 12 to 16... didn't happen. I was... frozen or some shit and some horrible writer took my place. Honestly, I think I joined this site when I was 13. If you find anything written by me before 2007 NOT ME.

2010-10-11 [Rice]: Oh god it's awfull. It's like, what was I on? Terrible writing, horrible plot lines, and the most god-powered characters in existence.

2010-10-11 [NOOOPE]: Mary sues all the way. I- uh I mean that horrible impostor had this one character... ho-ly shit, it was the definition of mary sue. It was basically me, but prettier and good at everything who was dating my favorite character in the show the rp was based off of. She was totally a tough-sue like lunnie's page describes. I recently found all the ancient drawings of said character and threw them out.

2010-10-11 [Evolution X]: The thing is with me... my first character, or among them, is still active... so I have to look at him, cringe a bit adn try to make him less and less Mary Sue as possible. Even though he has my name.

2010-10-11 [NOOOPE]: Mary sues can work sometimes, one of the wikis stresses this.

I think a big problem with character building is that everyone wants to be the main character and the main character is rarely the most interesting. The side characters are ALWAYS more awesome (except for House). However, rps shouldn't be a main character with side characters set up. Think, Xmen vs Batman. Every player's character should be a main character, no single player should dominate. When submitting a character to an rp, people should be thinking how their character completes the whole, not how their character is the bestest person ever. I feel that's why so many rps fail. People are upset that things don't revolve around their character when things aren't supposed to in the first place.

Bleck, rping. Thou art a cruel mistress.

2010-10-11 [Evolution X]: That's why my guys tend to be able to steal a spot light with a amssive break down, but then are able to quietly step back once everyone's calmed them down and put a paper bag over their head!

2010-10-11 [Flisky]: Feed back would be good, but I cringe to see what might be said...

2010-10-11 [Evolution X]: same... that and my Mod was Chel... and I pretty much talk to her all the time. And she's wanted TNT's babies hard ever since she first met him.

2010-10-11 [Aeolynn]: The first character I ever created in 2002 is still alive and kicking for me :) just been revamped sooo many times.

And yes, I agree, looking back on super old rps is terribly painful D:

2010-10-11 [Chel.]: *headdesk*

2010-10-11 [Eyden13]: Congrats to the winner.

2010-10-11 [The Dizzy Raven]: Congrats!!!! :D

2010-10-12 [NOOOPE]: I have characters from third grade... a good chunk are from 6th grade actually. But they have had such major makeovers it's insane. I guess old isn't bad.

2010-10-12 [The Dizzy Raven]: That's awesome. :) It's good that you keep up with your characters, too. I have characters from 6th grade also, but they've changed so much you'd forget what the originals were like. I just have a hard time keeping up with my writings... and it's one reason why I lack in role-playing these days. I used to do that 24/7 while I was home-schooled. I don't know what happened to my old spark. :(