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singularityooc2010-06-28 08:53 pm
singularitymods.livejournal.com) wrote in singularityooc2010-06-28 08:53 pm
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I N F O ; A P P L I C A T I O N S
| APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED They will open on 01/08 |
RESERVES ARE OPEN They will close on 01/08 |
| app and character limits |
| Players may app up to two characters per app round, and can play up to a maximum of ten. Moderators reserve the right to restrict how many characters a current player may apply for if it appears they are having difficulty maintaining activity with their existing characters. While not an absolutely immutable rule, before a player applies for further characters, we would like to see one post a month from all their characters already in the game or regular commenting on other characters' posts. This is not an AC requirement and no one will be removed from the game for not meeting it. It is a guideline to help ensure that our players can keep up with their character load. Since we accept AU characters and characters with CR from other games, we have a restriction on how many copies of a character can be in the game at a time before they become unavailable. As such, only one canon, one AU, and one other game CR AU will be accepted, for a total of three different versions. In the case of malleable protagonists, we allow three different versions. That could be three "canon" versions, or two canon and a CR AU, or any other combination. This is still the same effective cap in number as for other character types, but includes a little flexibility about how we define AUs for the purposes of the game, since any two Couriers or Grey Wardens can be very different, yet equally canonical. During the app round, a mod will reply with acceptance, rejection, or request for revisions as soon as possible. Please note that the mods and app team make a strong effort to respond to apps in the order received, but the mods may appear to skip over some apps depending on their familiarity with the canon or because of ongoing discussion amongst the team. Some apps are easier calls than others, but no app is ignored. If you would like to know the status of your application at any time, please ask a mod. When apps are closed, (stated in the status block at the top of this page) reserves will open here. |
| what is appable |
For the most part, any character is appable, provided the player can demonstrate the ability to play them. Singularity accepts characters from all media, with a few exceptions:
Occasionally, a rapidly-developing canon like Homestuck or Red vs Blue may throw plot curveballs. For well-established characters, this is not usually a problem, but minor characters may be substantially altered by new information. While not strictly banned, if your character is likely to be affected by revelations in the near future, we ask that you hold off on an application until the story arc is resolved. |
| original characters |
| Original characters are welcome, but only from existing players. This might seem unfair to some applicants, but we'd like to see how a player performs with someone else's character before playing their own. OC apps are given closer scrutiny than fandom apps, because we are essentially serving as editors in their case. Fandom characters have already been through the editorial process, and have been vetted for inconsistencies and implausibility. (Some more successfully than others, but we work with what we have.) |
| playing closely-related characters |
| As a general rule, a single player is not allowed to app two closely-associated characters. These would be siblings, lovers, close companions or rivals, etc, regardless of whether one is canon and one is AU. An exception is made for characters who naturally "go together." For example, 3 and 4 from 9, or Doc infected with O'Malley from Red vs Blue (since O'Malley has a different personality inside Doc as opposed to inside someone else). Players don't have to app pairs like these together, but they have the option. Additionally, both characters will count toward your character limit, so please app wisely. Another exception: characters with multiple personalities, whether perfectly healthy and functional or resulting from a psychological condition like Dissociative Identity Disorder can arrive with those personalities intact, and will count as only one character, regardless of how many identities they have. |
| playing physically-incompatible characters |
| Characters that are physically incompatible with the human-scaled, O2 environment of the station may be converted to a more compatible state--for instance, Na'vi from Avatar would be able to breathe oxygen, and Omega Supreme from Transformers might find himself only as tall as Optimus Prime. Characters without independent bodies (for example, the AI Cortana from Halo) have the option of being inserted into a mechanical body or some sort of mobile platform. They can always switch out to another body later. If you have a character with attributes not covered here and are not sure how they might live in Singularity, please visit the Contact page to speak to a mod or app team member. |
| apping from alternate universes or timelines |
| Singularity accepts multiples of all characters, but only one "canon"/original universe (OU) version of anyone. All others have to be alternate universe (AU). The least complicated AUs are the canon AUs, like the Kingdom Hearts versions of Square Enix characters or the various Commanders Shepard from Mass Effect. "Canon AU" is something of a misnomer; malleable protagonists and canons with multiple continuities are equally canonical and the apps are judged as such, but any duplicates are considered AUs for game bookkeeping purposes, such as community tags and caps on the number of multiples. Player-made AUs are also appable. However, this doesn't mean that any given player-created AU is going to be a good match for the game. You should be able to explain convincingly why your version of the character fits and will be playable while remaining recognizably a canon character. For instance, Commander Shepard can plausibly be male or female because the setting of Mass Effect is gender-egalitarian and the story does not change more than superficially with the player's choice of gender for their Shepard. On the other hand, an AU where Commander Shepard was not human--say, a Turian--would require the plot of the Mass Effect games to be entirely rewritten because it would change everything about the background and motivations of the character, and would make no sense without substantially altering the sociopolitics of the universe. A case where gender would matter is for a Disney princess like Ariel from The Little Mermaid or Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Because of the gender roles assumed by the setting and the major effect this would have on the character's relationships and the story itself, it goes beyond the scope of an RP character to simply do a gender change. Players may find it easier to app from AUs where one key event from after the story is well underway is altered--for example, if Luke Skywalker had accepted Darth Vader's offer at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. It is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one, to explain why Luke would have chosen differently in the AU. Star Wars would still be recognizable as Star Wars, and Luke as Luke. However, an AU where Luke and Leia were raised by Vader fundamentally alters the premise of the story; the plot of the Star Wars trilogy would be entirely different in a universe where Leia hadn't grown up on Alderaan as the adopted child of a Rebel leader and Luke had never been a farmer on Tatooine or met Ben Kenobi. The idea, while compelling, is material better suited for a fanfic than RP, where you as writer control not only your character, but other characters' reactions to them, and have the opportunity to set the stage for the reader and guide their expectations. RP is a collaborative exercise for creating and exploring stories jointly, and intricate AUs are a bad vehicle for this. Mods and app team members do reserve the right to reject or ask for revisions on an AU app if that app includes AU information that does not seem to make sense for the character/canon being apped. If you are trying to AU a children's movie into an unnecessarily dark scenario with cannibalism and murder and what have you, or you've turned a serious, philosophically-inclined canon with adult themes into a lighthearted slapstick AU universe, you may be asked to change the AU to fit the canon better, or have your application rejected entirely if the mods can't see how the AU could be made acceptable. Keep in mind that canonmates and gamemates in general will be directly affected by your AU, and not everyone may be comfortable with what you've chosen. Signing up your character's canon friends to interact with someone from a world either substantially more horrifying or substantially sillier than their own is not particularly considerate to their existing players, or to any who may app in the future. As a rule of thumb, the more extreme an AU is, the harder it will be for castmates to interact with, and a good AU for the game should not deliberately put castmates off from interacting. Plausibility and interaction dynamics are especially important in AU applications. An individual player is not allowed to app two versions of the same characters, no matter how distinct the AUs may be. If you are at all unsure whether an AU concept is suitable or not for the game, visit the Contact page to discuss it with a mod or app team member. |
| apping from other game canons |
| "Can I app a character I used to play at another RP and keep their memories of having been there?" Yes! Singularity considers game-canon RP characters as acceptable AUs. Just include all relevant character development under Setting, Personality, and the AU justification section. It's especially helpful if you can provide links to CR charts, threads and screencaps that help to illustrate how your character has changed. Characters with CR imported from other games come with a few restrictions:
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| other guidelines |
| Players are expected to familiarize themselves with all of the game's information pages (linked at the bottom of each page) before playing. If anything is unclear, use the Contact & FAQ page to answer any questions prior to apping. Serial apping, character squatting, and other activity issues can result in a warning, a strike, or the boot. Lying on the application in any capacity is grounds for expulsion. The same goes for plagiarism. After you submit your app, the mods will evaluate it and come back with one of three responses: ACCEPTED, DECLINED, or REVISIONS. Instructions for any necessary revisions will be included in the response. Apps posted during closed periods will be ignored until the next app round. Likewise, revisions submitted after the 72-hour window do not result in an automatic rejection, but will not be judged until the next round. |
| to apply | ||
| The application is divided into four parts: Player Information, Character Information, OC/AU Justification, and Samples. There is no upper limit on the length of apps. | ||
| Player Information Your Nickname: OOC Journal: A sock is fine. Under 18? Singularity does not have an age limit; this is just for reference. Please be honest. Lying about your age is grounds for expulsion from the game. Email/IM: Characters Played at Singularity: |
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| Character Information Name: Personal name - family name, aka Western order. Name of Canon: If apping an OC, just put "original." Canon/AU/Other Game CR: Reference: Links to a wikia page, fansite, scanlations, etc. For obscure characters without a lot of information available, the more references the better. For OCs, a link to any place containing an applicable run-down of their story is helpful. Canon Point: Please don't just say "end of S4, E26." "Right after he finds out his mother's dead at the end of S4, E26" is much easier to understand for those not canon-familiar. Setting: Please describe your character's canon setting in a way that would help someone who is not already familiar gain an understanding of the universe. This doesn't mean the plot, but rather the major factors which shape their world and make it [if at all] different from ours. Is it our modern-day Earth with a slight twist? Is it the 22nd century and humans are part of a galactic community? What are the political bodies? Does magic exist? How is it used and by whom? You are encouraged to describe your character's role in the context of this world, so we can get a better perspective of who they are. Are they a normal high school girl? An adviser to a king? The leader of the Autobots? This is especially important for OCs and AUs, so please take all the space you need. This section should not necessarily be identical for characters from the same canon. Just as one character's highlight episode may not be important to another character's history section, not all details of the universe are equally relevant to all characters who share a universe. Any Star Wars app should at least mention the Force and the Jedi, but they are far more important for Luke Skywalker than they are for Han Solo, and the setting writeup should reflect that. Conversely, details about underworld are important for Han, but not for Luke. Please be aware: We do not want a plot summary. This is not a history section. If you would like to write a summary and include it in the reference section, please feel free to do so, but it is not required. Applications that go into detail about plot yet do not provide a solid explanation of the universe itself will be sent back for revisions. This is by far the most common reason we request revisions on otherwise good applications; before including plot events in this section, please consider whether they are relevant to an explanation of the setting rather than the story. A decent rule of thumb for which plot details are necessary for this section is to think about what events in the history of the canon universe brought it to the state it's in at the point in the timeline from which you're taking your character. Those are the pieces of information that help explain the setting. Events which have a significant impact on your character but not on the universe are better covered in the personality section. Events which are not watersheds for the world or your character are better left out entirely. We request setting rather than history because a plot summary provides little insight into character. Being able to explain the setting and your character's role in it in a coherent fashion demonstrates your understanding of both canon and character. Personality: Describe your character's personality. This would include their outlook, motivations, general experiences, and anything you feel necessary in order to communicate who they are as a person. Referencing events in their canon to support your interpretation is encouraged, but please don't provide pure summary without analysis. For characters with little canon information, this section is especially important. Without much canon to fall back on, we need to see that you've thought out the character in a consistent way that's well-supported by whatever information is available. Minor characters almost invariably require extrapolation from pure canon to become fully-realized; this is the section where you should lay out that extrapolation. Abilities and Weaknesses: Please outline, even if just in list format, your character's skills and/or capabilities, as well as their weaknesses. We would also like to see suggestions for power limitations if applicable. Please see below for details about what this entails. Notes On Power Limitations: If your character has extraordinary and game-breaking abilities, such as teleportation, time manipulation, magic, telepathy, a gun that blows up planets, or anything that puts them at a significant advantage over every other character in the game, we would like to see your suggestions for power limitations. Singularity does not forbid powers, but we would like players to think of this as the setting for stories. Every character should have their ways of triumphing and every character should have ways of being defeated, even if they were the most powerful individual in their original setting, because we want to create plots and CR that are more than just ‘this guy is the most powerful guy ever and no one can stop him from doing what he wants.’ This goes for heroes as well as villains. We want to see your suggestions for limitations because you, the player, would know best how to level down a character without making them unrecognizable or unplayable. You are welcome to lock abilities, downgrade overpowered weapons or items, or even AU weaknesses that don’t exist in canon--for example, playing a vampire character who suddenly finds the blood of willing victims far more nourishing than that of the unwilling. Another suggestion would be a ‘shot limit,’ where some ability that used to come naturally to the character in canon suddenly becomes extremely difficult and physically taxing and can only be used so many times a day. For powers like teleportation and telepathy, we have in the past asked players to keep these abilities confined to whatever zone or city the character is currently in. As a rule of thumb, if your character has any kind of destructive ability that would damage the station significantly, like a hull breach, or kill another character without them being able to stop it, you want to limit that ability. Blowing up buildings is fine, as any involved characters may be able to escape such damage. Instant kills and blowing up entire cities are not fine. Please note: If your character has any kind of ability that would directly affect another character in a way that can’t be countered, such as a telepath who always knows where everyone is all the time, you the player must always ask OOC permission of the other involved player(s) when your character uses that ability, whether or not that ability is being limited. An example of an ability that can can be countered is super strength, and this would not require OOC permission from other players to use. Mind powers, reading the future, telekinesis, and abilities like time manipulation cannot be countered and thus require OOC permission before they are used in-game. The mods and app team reserve the right to recommend greater power limitations than what has been suggested by the player when they deem appropriate. Inventory: There is no real limit to what characters can come in with, but please provide their starting inventory, including any weapons or other devices. Players can always acquire other items from the Junkyard. As with powers, if your character regularly carries a conventional item of ridiculous destructive capability around (is that a canister of anti-matter in your pocket, or are you just happy to see us?), we ask that it not come through the Rift with them, or that it be damaged or reduced in power. Appearance: This is most relevant for characters who do not have a canon appearance, or who are altered when brought to Sacrosanct. If using a PB, please provide the name and a link to a photo in addition to a description. Characters without bodies may be given them, or some other kind of mobile platform. Characters with unconventional appearances, like the tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell or some of the more out-there Transformers designs also benefit from having a visual aid. Age: |
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| OC/AU Justification If AU, how is your version different from canon, and how will that come across? Again, AU versions need to make sense. We don't need a doctoral dissertation, but please take the time to walk us through your AU and how they fit together. If OC, did you run your character through a Mary Sue litmust test? Here's one, for reference: http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm And another: http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html And what did you score? There is no hard and fast score for rejection. It's just one factor we'll be looking at in regards to your application as a whole. |
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| Samples Log Sample: 200 words minimum. The setting can be their transition from their canon setting to Sacrosanct, a purely canon setting, or anything else really, as long as it shows how you will be playing them in the game. If you would like, you can use a sample thread or log in place of a log sample, but please clear it with a mod first. Please write your sample to focus on your character's thoughts and motivations, rather than as a miniature fanfiction featuring multiple other characters. It's fine if other characters feature, but the majority of the sample should involve insight into your character. We have gotten some very good fic-like samples, but this section isn't just a test of your writing ability; we would like you to demonstrate understanding of the character, as well, sort of the "show" to the personality section's "tell." Network Sample: Describe your character's first experience using the station's network. It can be text, voice, video, hologram, or game; intentional or accidental. Keep in mind that "the device turned on by itself!" just doesn't happen here. |
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| sample applications | ||
Several of our players were kind enough to grant us permission to use their applications as examples of what we're looking for:
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| Fill out the following application and submit it below: | ||
| thank you for your interest in Singularity please contact the mods or app team with any questions | ||
| Welcome to Sacrosanct. Please watch your step: |
| setting - gameplay - taken - reserves event archive - hiatus and drop - contact and faq maps and locations - requests - job board - deaths |
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| IMPORTANT NOTICE: Singularity is moving to Dreamwidth. To accommodate the move, the December reserve round is being extended through the first week of January. The January app round will run during the middle two weeks of the month. The new dates are reflected in the status block at the top of the page. Please see singularityooc for announcements concerning the move and its effect on reserves and applications.We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you for your interest in Singularity! |
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