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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 22, 2013 16:02:43 GMT -8
Indea - Coulda been worse. I think the funniest example of someone veering dark was the contrast between Suyoi's first character concept and what he ended up going with. Observe the first page of the OOC...
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Oct 22, 2013 19:29:52 GMT -8
In my case the cynicism in Patti's character early on was a combination of (as I tend to do in settings that start out "normal") writing how I think a person would reasonably really feel given her background and the situation and also a reflection of how I was feeling at the time. Frankly, how I feel hasn't changed too much for the most part, though I've had more neutrals than downs lately, but I tried to make Patti take a turn away from her PTSD-lite at one point and I hope I've mostly been able to keep it under control.
Also, I am so glad I've never been dragged into any of the human cess-pits such as 4chan, tumblr, or the comment sections of any website outside of Lookout Landing. I've heard enough Obama is a socialist nazi n****r f****t from the streets and flipping past news programs and in the mockery segments of the Daily Show and Colbert Report that I don't need it injected intravenously into my brain. Frankly, if I had to hazard a guess, I would bet that if I allowed myself consume that side of our culture, I might have actually killed myself by now.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 22, 2013 20:46:25 GMT -8
America, fuck yeah!
Srsly, tho, I s'pose we'd all feel better back on topic... Patti is dandy, sir.
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Oct 24, 2013 1:46:12 GMT -8
You all seemed to understand my "Dark Knight" comment just fine. c-: My favorite Joker, by the way... www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1aWoNvv7aUEwww. That stuff about whole genres being "low art" makes my skin crawl. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a fantastic example of horror social commentary. Horror does not necessarily involve monsters and Freddy Krueger (not that I don't love monsters). Also I find it interesting people see an apocalyptic setting as an escape. I can understand it if you hate where you live or something, but even if I didn't love my home town I see too many downsides to that setting to consider it an escape, even within a fictional setting. When I roleplay my characters always seem to unintentionally drift away from the other characters in their goals, though I like to keep my sense of humor intact while still engaging the plot in various ways. I've been itching to get into an RPG where I play a total go getter type since that also seems fun like lots of fun.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 24, 2013 2:54:38 GMT -8
Kristi- I totes thought you were gonna link to Cesar Romero, but you Hamill'd me. Regarding RPing, perhaps that would be a relevant convo for SUBPAR's OOC? As for apocalypses, I guess ur just less of a misanthrope than the average among us. Though speaking as the GM, I'm not even as misanthropic as the average person. Ain't you a sweetie? -
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Oct 24, 2013 6:17:39 GMT -8
Hamill roll'd! Yours was not a bad guess, though. How did you know I like my super villains campy?
Hmm. As far as misanthropy and I go, I fall under the very common category of female aspie that bonds most easily with other species. While I do care about my own species quite a bit, my thoughts extend to the big picture. Any of that world devastating , gass mask wearing apocalypse stuff goes against my love for the natural world and freaks me out.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 24, 2013 10:15:24 GMT -8
We're a far cry from The Road over there. Our zompocalypse menace only affects humans. Yes, realistically, many domestic animals would suffer if most of the humans stopped caring for them, but we gloss over that pretty hard. So animals mostly are just taking over the world. Black bears roam the streets eating zombies. Rats be running the cities in little rat hats. OK, they are probably not wearing hats, but you get the idea.
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DKender
Only One Skeleton has the Power to Control both Life and Death, Light and Dark, Words and Blank Space, Our Humble Lives Continue Only by the Grace and Magnanimity of This Skeleton
Nay, let us walk from fire unto firey skeleton ...
Posts: 9,204
Gender: Unknown Skeleton
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Post by DKender on Oct 24, 2013 12:47:03 GMT -8
Aw yeeea! I have a treaty/manifesto/theory about animals and the apocalypse I really want to put here. PLACEHOLDER FOR AFTER MY EXAM TOMORROW. I've thought A LOT about this subject, you guys!
Edit: And I'm going to link it to apocalypse writing, for to fit the thread subject "Discuss the Craft" - ;D
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 24, 2013 13:13:29 GMT -8
I have to say I'm more interested in this sort of setting than say the Walking Dead where the zombies munch on critters too.
The domestic creatures would suffer for a while but I imagine it'd start to look more like it did during the last ice age after a while, with few humans to kill and very little surviving technology.
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Oct 24, 2013 13:47:45 GMT -8
@apocalypse as escapism- I will admit to having my "everyone sucks"moments, however I think it's escapism because it puts things in perspective. You're having a shit day? At least it didn't rain frogs kind of thing . It's still a different world than ours and allows you to explore themes and ideas that aren't present in another setting. Usually fantasy settings, I was going to say don't but they do. It's always about saving that world from its death and usually it gets pretty darn close. Also fantasy settings still have a lot more added danger than a real world and are much more cut throat.
An apocalypse doesn't have to just show the worst side of people, it can also show the best. Similar goals, survival, can help people to learn to rely and help each other too.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 24, 2013 15:41:26 GMT -8
For a lot of peeps I think the appeal of an apocalypse is a sense of feeling trapped by the world as it has become. We are politically close to powerless while forces beyond our control steer us toward destruction, lining the pockets of jerks that think bunkers of gold will protect them from the apocalypse their ecological and economical exploitation is sowing, or maybe I'm projecting, haha.
Anyhow, our jobs no longer directly connect to our well-being. I don't advocate going to a system where everyone has to be a farmer, but there's an ennui that comes from going to do your slavery to the man in exchange for renting the needs of your life with paper and plastic. A sense that a world in which you can build your own house and grow or catch your own food would feel more fulfilling than the one we have, whether it's a reasonable way to feel or not.
It's a survival story too, with whatever appeal that has for people. NotLD may have spawned the survival horror genre, and Romero-style zombie apocalypses are still a classic example of it. I'm not sure if I'm making sense right now. L8rs all.
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Oct 24, 2013 15:52:03 GMT -8
Zombie fiction is generally highly human-centric, so other species will usually go unmentioned when it comes to how the new world effects them. Well, among the animals that would do well in a zombie takeover would be small, burrowing critters, birds that can get up high into trees, animals that can swim and spend a lot of their time in water, scavengers that would feast on the zombies, and arthropods in general. Zombies would also initially go the highest concentrations of life such as big cities, but also factory farms. While the initial and horrible death of caged pigs and chickens would be gut wrenching to say the least, the humans will stop being able to run factory farms at the risk of drawing too much attention to themselves. That'd actually be a good thing.
On the other hand, when people die they become some sort of eternal rotten being, and I'm not sure if the shift from constantly produced man made pollution to dead man pollution would be worse or just the same. One thing's for sure the waste wouldn't just be at the dump anymore.
So, yeah. Still too many complications for me to consider this genre escapism.
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Post by Dr. Jar on Oct 24, 2013 16:08:41 GMT -8
I can't say I've ever thought of it as an escapism setting, I enjoy a lot of different kinds of stories and roleplay.
I think fantasy and sci fi are more my kind of escapists fantasies, or imagining something interesting or alien happening in the real world.
In general apocalyptic or monstrous settings are things I consider personally unpleasant and wouldn't want to project myself into.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 24, 2013 16:13:57 GMT -8
It's interesting you can't stop yourself from considering practical implications. How much detail do you feel the need to go into in worlds of dragons and elves and such? Or warp coils and Klingons?
If I wanted to get into the nitty gritty, what's the mechanism whereby this is happening in the first place? What kind of energy is required to mobilize 6 billion dead man-sized things, and how does that translate into BTUs? And how is that energy entering our dimension? Is there an opening somewhere? Is ectoplasm a greenhouse gas?
I have to make clear though, I don't think humans are under any obligation to be consistent. Entertainment is about pursuing what feels correct to you, which is more important than other considerations. Apocalypses don't feel fantastic to you, that's understandable enough.
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Oct 24, 2013 16:45:09 GMT -8
I think fantasy and sci fi are more my kind of escapists fantasies, or imagining something interesting or alien happening in the real world. See... aliens freak me out more than the idea of an apocalypse does. Fantasy can get pretty depressing too though, I never got all the way through but I'd use ' Wheel of time' series as an example.
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