November's Featured Contributor - Scar!

by **Gossamer** on November 1st, 2011, 3:21 am

1. You are something of a superhero around the site, volunteering first as a Liaison and then later as an AS. Despite being horribly busy irl, you still manage to keep up, answer PMs, and be incredibly helpful. Can you tell us a bit about how you do it?

Oh, open with a tough one. In all honesty it's hard, very hard. I have to set myself a schedule each day and give myself a certain amount of hours for each task I have to do, even then it's not enough time to get everything done! hehe. I find myself scrambling to get everything done. Mod and Liaison duties always come first and my poor PCs have suffered a bit, but I will say I would not trade it for anything! I love my duties here and it gives me a unique opportunity to read some amazing threads I would not have read or even had my attention brought to otherwise. So to make a long story short the magic happens thanks to two magnets and willpower...and lots of caffeine.

2. We know in addition to being a great mod/liaison, you are a lovely lovely writer. What inspires you in your own writing?

Thank you! I draw a lot of inspiration from my own crazy self. My PC's tend to embody traits that I have within myself to a lesser degree. They are the embodiment of my vices and virtues. Rein is my glutton self, my own fat kid mentality really drives his actions and speech where as Kerehi is very child like and innocent. She represents my longing to regress to childhood. Fela is a combination of traits and emotions and that's what makes her so easy for me to write. I myself am a mess of contradicting emotions and ideals.

When I think of my characters like this is makes them very relatable and the writing just comes so easy. Once I can picture the scene so vividly in my mind I can hear and smell and taste it, I just then put my vocabulary to use and paint the picture through my words. I've always had a passion for writing and language, it seems to be the only thing I am really good at doing lol.

3. What does volunteering for a game like Mizahar mean to you? Everyone gets something out of their work here. Please tell us what being the go-to person for both the CS Liaison form and your city brings you?

The completely 100% honest answer: It makes me feel good. Now before you think I mean that in a selfish way and I am only out for myself here, let me explain. Anyone who knows me IRL knows I have pretty low self esteem. I am not saying this for pity, it's just a fact. I judge my self worth by how much I can help other people. I just love it. Knowing I can help someone is the greatest feeling for me. The ultimate boast to my self worth is being able to guide someone and help them achieve their goals. As much as I love playing my PCs I could completely OK with being a mod solely. Does that make me weird? :paranoid:

Also is really gives my creative crazy self the ability to run loose. Not so much in the CS forum, but in Zeltiva. Being able to create locations and events and everything the city needs to be fun for the players is just great. With Mizahar being completely original it gives me permission to go a little crazy when making NPC's and locations. It's nice to let the crazy Lizzy out. (I only wish I had more time so I could move my plans from the back burner into play lol!)

4. What is the favorite part of your job and of the character creation process?

Being able to interact with wonderfully creative people. As CS liaison I feel I get a sneak peak at some potentially awesome players even before the regional storytellers do. It let's me know who to stalk.

5. Which is your favorite PC and what is your inspiration for him or her?

This is a tough one. It's like asking someone to pick their favorite child, if I pick one then the others start fighting. I would have to say Fela. She was first and has grown the most. When I first had the concept for her she was just a watered down version of myself, just a mirror image. She was kinda watery around the edges and generic but as I started playing with her she let herself be known. She was loud and insistent I do things her way. hehe. I'm glad to.

I've let her spread her...er claws? And she has thanked me by giving me wonderfully fun adventures that I would have not originally thought of myself. She's the character that talks to me the most, Kerehi has been pretty tight lipped so I haven't let her out to play much.

6. Why CS Liaison? Was there a passion there for new character sheets or do you just like helping out new folks?

A little from A and a little from B. Helping people in general is a passion for me, but I really love the creative process that goes into making a new character. I've been known in other forms of play (and in writing) to come up with an AWESOME character, but never get to playing because the creation process was more fun than the playing. Sometimes this happens when I play Sims and any Elder Scroll game too... I think I have 6 oblivion characters under one of my Xbox profiles. :embarrassed:

I really just love making people and giving them a back story.

7. You seem to be friends with almost everyone on the site. What’s the secret, do you think, to maintaining a balance so that sitewide you are as respected as you are?

Follow the golden rule: Treat others as you want to be treated.

Sounds simple but it's harder than it sounds. Everyone has their disagreements from time to time but the thing you always have to consider if the position of the other person. When ever I say anything I carefully consider my words and how other people may react to them. Even if I say something that may under normal circumstances upset people I always make great efforts to say it in a way that will not offend people. Words are amazing and powerful tools. You don't have to censor yourself and you can be completely free and open with who you are as long as you understand how words effect people.

8. What are some of the most outrageous things you’ve seen on a character sheet? Naming names isn’t important, just the situation is fine.

Oh me, oh my this is a loaded question.

Some things are just annoying, like blatant thievery, but other things are humorous and annoying. One player that never made it on the boards comes to mind who after completely ripping off a popular anime then proceeded to create their own world. It was as if to say our world which was created for them to play in was not good enough. That is a slap in the face. Both to the players and to the contributors. Hours upon hours have been put into making this site the awesome site it is and that should be respected.

As much as I love the character creation process, I also like to thank of myself and my fellow liaison as the guard dogs of Mizahar with ever watchful eyes and patient guiding hands. If you are serious about playing and you bother to read the starting guide and the lore, I will be your best friend forever; however, if you just turn up your nose to the rules I can quickly lose my temper. It doesn't happen often but It has been known to erupt from time to time. None of the players on here now have really seen it, I think that stands as a testament of the awesomeness of the players on the site. :3

9. If you could give some advice in writing a character sheet out, what are some of the immediate do’s and don’t’s of creating a new pc?

Do read your lore before ANYTHING else! I cannot say this enough. Before you even open the thread you should have the lore for your race completely read through and a good idea of what city you want to start in. Also, ask questions. If you do not understand then flag someone down in chat or utilize the liaison offices (I hate mine is empty most of the time...). To give a shout out to my partner in crime, cowboy, we are here for a reason and are sometimes under utilized by new players.

Don't use the same concept you may have used on another site. Even with minor changes to fit the lore, there is always the feeling of staleness. Always start with a fresh and new idea.

Another great tip for the creation process: If you have a browser with tabbed browsing then you should have a tab open for any and everything you want to include. When I created my first character sheet after about a week of reading lore I had the starting guide and package open. I had another one for my race, another for the city I was starting in, another for each skill I wanted to include and the last tab was for chat. I had all my info in one place and compared all the data against each other bit of data so I knew nothing conflicted with itself.

Now this is a bit extreme for some people...but it works. It's a lot of work but I promise if you have a great understanding of the lore you will last longer on the site and have a lot more fun.

*gets off soap box*

10. Is there anything you’d like to add? Here’s a good time to make a plea for more people to volunteer to help you out or to reach out and make some suggestions in helping to improve the game as a whole. We listen to people. And I know people will listen to what you have to say sincerely as well.

I have two things to say. One is a plea for anyone who just loves threading and has been playing with the idea of being a mod. lol I love grading and creating, but I rarely have time for modded threads. If anyone was ever wanting to be an AS but doesn't want to do anything else other than thread with players: you might want to consider being an AS in Zeltiva..just saying.

The second thing I want to say is a kudos: Everyone on here really should be giving them selves a pat on the back for being just as awesome as they can be. You keep it up..yes you...the one in the back in the orange shirt...you too....you are awesome. And you, and you, and you, and you. I just simply adore everyone on this site and I think that if they do nothing else in their life, they should just do this one thing: Keep being fabulous.

*cookies and love*

<3