Guest article by Anthony "Like a Stiletto" Antylion
When you come out of a great film, or just finished reading an amazing novel, you always think about the original things that you experienced while enjoying these subjects. The original things stick to your mind because you’ve never experienced them before, and this is what the aim is of the entertainment media: To give the audience something fresh and new to enjoy.
Role playing is no different, when you think about it. On the internet, there exists and infinite amount of role playing campaigns. A whole bunch of them can be found in the Yahoo! Chat servers, specifically in the Entertainment and Arts, AKA “Ayenee”, section. I am one of the thousands of role players that spend their creative minds in these imaginative and magical realms. Now, you might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with originality? Well, I’m just writing a little about a funny incident that happened one night while hanging about with e-friends.
You see, I love to create role playing settings and worlds, simply because the creativity is awesome. You can make anything and everything. I’m not the best, but I strive to help people find a good, detailed setting that will not only offer entertainment, but at least some originality.
My newest RP is called “Pseudo”, and tells the tale of eighteen strangers who wake up with apparent amnesia on a surreal, alternate future Earth that is riddled with nostalgic aspects that trail many of mankind’s wonders and even more of their horrors. Each of them have strange names and even stranger powers that they must use or abuse in order to discover what exactly Pseudo is.
Now let’s get to the point of this article.
The one night, a girl entered the Pseudo recruiting room I had opened in the server and wanted to join, but when she was confronted with the 18 age restriction (Pseudo is no fairytale), she immediately began to accuse me of being immature and ignorant of other younger role-players. She did not stop there, however. She even took the liberty to point out all the apparent clichés and stereotypical plot points in Pseudo.
She is 14 years of age.
I reminded her that the age restriction was there because I, the creator, wanted it there. Sure, she could have just come back in under another screen name and joined claiming she was eighteen, but that did not matter to her. She really wanted me to change that restriction to much even I could taste it. She left with a few sarcastic notes and I bid her a good evening.
The following night, she IM’d (instant message) me and asked me very casually how Pseudo was doing. After some innocent chit-chat, she laid it on me: My role play had inspired her to make her own role play:
“Transported from four different time periods. Three from each actually. But while usually its your basic '14 yeard old saves the day' or ' year old rules' I only allow some of the characters to be in that age limit. {The CHARATER not person} I need a really old person, a 20 year old pervert, a 16 year old play boy, and a 15 year old no-nonsense girl. They arn't mandatory but I really want them. The rest can be whatever. These three time periods find themselves on annother fraction of earth that it timeless. After a while they shall figure out that there are parts of this world much like each person's own time.”
All right, so she decided to directly rip off my unoriginal, stereotypical and very clichéd plotline so that she could make her own role play. Is hypocrisy a fashion in her household or does it run in her genes? When I accused her of just having taken my idea and just making a worse version, she replied that I was wrong. Now, telling you all about the conversation would be stupid if I could just show you the original text. Here it is, recorded from the IM. (Note: Because the party listed here was a minor, I will grant pseudonyms to both names (no pun intended). Also, to make things easier to read, Anthony's text will be in blue and the girl's text in red. Enjoy - Lame Gamers Today editor and chief god of all that exists)
Minor Nuisance: Hello
Antylion: Whuddup?
Minor Nuisance: Roleplaying.
Minor Nuisance: Yourself?
Antylion: Roleplaying.
Minor Nuisance: Ah so I take it that your roleplay is working out?
Antylion: It's not Pseudo... that doesn't start until the weekend.
Minor Nuisance: Ah
Minor Nuisance: So what roleplay is this? Annother one where no one under the age of 18 may join?
Antylion: Will you get off that? If you don't like it, then leave it. But no, it isn't.
Minor Nuisance: Lol I'm sorry.
Minor Nuisance: I'm not really to iffed about it anymore anyways, your roleplay inspired me.
Antylion: To do what?
Minor Nuisance: To creat an origonal rp with a simular base.
Minor Nuisance: It was interesting, I couldn't join yours, so I made my own.
Antylion: Ah...
Antylion: Just be sure not to make a rip-off, then.
Minor Nuisance: It has nothing to do with your plot. :/ I simply used the base, people being transported to annother place. Thats all.
Antylion: I see..
Minor Nuisance: But instead of useing just one time period, I used four and sent them to a place that is familur in some apects to them all.
Minor Nuisance: Then I placed it up on two message boards as a test run to see how they do on different levels.
Minor Nuisance: Transported from four different time periods. Three from each actually. But while usually its your basic '14 yeard old saves the day' or ' year old rules' I only allow some of the characters to be in that age limit. {The CHARATER not person} I need a really old person, a 20 year old pervert, a 16 year old play boy, and a 15 year old no-nonsense girl. They arn't mandatory but I really want them. The rest can be whatever. These three time periods find themselves on annother fraction of earth that it timeless. After a while they shall figure out that there are parts of this world much like each person's own time.
Antylion: That, my dear, is a good rip-off.
Antylion: Not the time periods…
Antylion: But the concept.
Minor Nuisance: But who says that the point is to go home? Perhaps some wish to live on this NEW time zone. Then there is your basic suicidal people, or the depressionests. These negative fealings could very well cause some misled villanry!
Minor Nuisance: -_-;
Minor Nuisance: So is yours.
Antylion: No, mine might have cliches, but it hasn't ripped off anything. Cliches.
Antylion: Cliches are over used ideas.
Minor Nuisance: Your deals with people traveling to a different place. They have questions, you have an idea for an ending.
Minor Nuisance: *> : /
Minor Nuisance: Stupid yahoo..
Antylion: Ummm.. travelling?
Minor Nuisance: And these characters don't simply wake up in annother place. A message comes to them in their own time telling about it, then they see a black void in the sky and become enraptured with it, a void no one but the three in their time can see. This void causes a hypnotic effect and they black out.
Antylion: You are just trying to get back at me for not letting you join, aren’t you?
Minor Nuisance: How in the world is me makeing a roleplay simular to yours trying to get back at you? o.O;
Antylion: Do I even need to answer that?
Minor Nuisance: Yes you do. I'm 14 and stupid remember?
Antylion: No, you're 14. Whether you are stupid or not is up to you.
Minor Nuisance: -_-; Just answer me question, I have to go.
Minor Nuisance: *my
Antylion: First of all, you were mad at me for not letting you join. Then you accused me of all the usual things, cliches and this and that. Then, even thought you didn't like the stereotypes / cliches, you went and made a rip-off of my RP.
Minor Nuisance: How can mine be a rip off of yours! YOurs is on some surreal world and mine is on another timelined Earth
Minor Nuisance: At least that’s the impression I get from the website
Antylion: “a surreal alternate future where Earth has become twisted and strange”
Antylion: From the website.
Minor Nuisance: Okay my fault and I apologize
Minor Nuisance: I have to go, its was a pleasure to uh...argue with you..sorta. Hopefully we can convers again under more pleasent time alright? alright.
Antylion: How about no.
As a side note... What the hell? Another "fourteen year-old-saves-the-day" story? I was an idiot at age fourteen. A fourteen year old couldn't save crap from crap. God I hate people... It's also worth mentioning that her screen name was a rip-off from Neon Genesis Evangelion, the anime, while we're on the topic. God I hate people. - Lame Gamers Today editor and chief god of all that exists