ADMIN: HOLD ON.

ADMIN: HOLD ON.
Mood: distressed

Hi gang.

I know that a lot of you think that all NA is doing lately is raining on your collective parade, and I assure you that we aren't. But I think there are a few things we need to clear up about player territory and the boundaries between fan assumptions and the right of a player to sort of 'dictate' what is theirs about a character.

You know how we've talked about NA fan fiction before? And how writing NA fan fiction that purports to describe what happens in the game is rude to the players because it assumes that the players don't have the ability to give us that?

Well, the same thing goes for the Martin the Mad Muggle RPG that you guys want to start.

Think about it this way. What if somebody other than Cassandra Claire decided that they were the ones who were going to write Passionate Trousers? What if they started writing and putting out chapters of Passionate Trousers while Cassie was still working on Draco Veritas? What if they didn't have Cassie's permission for it, but did it anyway? What would you all think about them?

Martin the Mad Muggle is given a brief reference in canon, by title only. The entirety of the cast and story line and the idea to use it to parody the coming of Book 5 was purely an NA invention.

Throughout the game there are certain to be other appearances of Martin the Mad Muggle, and the developments of its cast and zany plots. But the cast that NA built is NA's cast. We don't want anybody else to take that from us. Sure, another RPG could come along and do its own rendition of the comic, by doing just what we did, maybe even taking similar character names or situations--but that would be another RPG blatantly ripping us off, and we would treat it as such.

But for you guys to deliberately go and start one, or think that you should start one so that you can have fun with it or make it something you want NA to be, that it's not already--it tends to make us feel, well, hurt. It makes us feel like you don' t like the way we play our characters. It makes us feel like you'd rather take what we've done and turn it into something else rather than allow us the opportunity to take what we've done ourselves and make it what we originally envisioned it, and perhaps more.

I know that a lot of you think our attitudes towards the game and the community are too sensitive. Fine, maybe they are. But you have to understand that some of the members of NA have been playing their characters for over 18 months. They know them inside out and backwards and forwards, and although you all have been having a wonderful time during the last 3 months, it's been very difficult at times for them to watch fans interact this openly, and have the freedom to tell us how they think characters should be played or should be acting.

I am not blaming any of you for this, individually or collectively. Nor do I feel like the players aren't justified in feeling anything that they do. It's just that right now NA and Nraged have a very uneasy and tenuous balance that we all need more time to adjust to, every single one of us. Starting another roleplay based off of NA created characters would only add to that tension, and that is something none of us need, least of all me.

I think a lot of times you guys assume that the players are so in control of their characters, are so brilliant--and they are, they're all amazing--that they don't care what you have to say, that you can say basically anything you like about the characters and it won't matter, or that it shouldn't matter. But whether it should or not, it does matter, to many of the players.

We would consider your starting this roleplay to be disrespectful to the game. NA gets copied all the time by other RPGs, and it's stressful enough without having to watch our own fans do it, because it makes us think we can't do it well enough on our own. The things that happen within our game--we, the players, want them to be ours. Not yours. Ours.

Speaking as a fan, I can honestly say that I don't agree that that is necessarily the best attitude to have. Many of the NA players would disagree with me, but I started this community as a fan, and I stand by your right as fans to voice your opinions freely on the game, because I, personally, don't believe players or authors have sole ownership of their characters. That idea is at the heart of fan fiction itself. But there is a vast difference between voicing your opinions freely and disrespecting the players who are working so hard to bring you the game. There is also a vast difference between writing fan fiction for JK Rowling and starting a roleplay based off another roleplay within the same fandom, a roleplay that is still going on, and a roleplay that many of your own friends are involved in. And as a player, which is what I ultimately will be no matter what becomes of Nraged, I don't think any of us are asking too much from you.

I think you are all wonderful, caring fans, and I think that we as a roleplay owe *so* much to you for it. And the last thing I would want you guys to think is that we're not grateful for all the love and encouragement and support you show us, because we truly are. But with all that love, we would also ask you to be understanding and know that having a fan base like Nraged is difficult for us. And we would also ask the following things:

Trust that we know best how to play characters, and what to do with the plot threads and the in-jokes and the cast members that we create. We ask that you treat our players foremost with respect. We ask that you refrain from insulting a character unless you can talk about their behavior in a way that does not imply that the player themselves is at fault for what the character does. We ask that you be sensitive to the fact that to us, every member of Nocturne_Alley is as important as the next, no matter how minor their part is or what part they play. We ask that you be sensitive to the fact that the players follow closely what you say, and are giving hours and hours of their time to make this roleplay possible, and that every time one of you implies that all those hours and hours aren't good enough, it hurts us as members of NA.

And above all, let us have ownership of what is ours.

If you have objections to this policy, this is the place to voice them. As it stands, the moderators of NA and I as the moderator of Nraged, do not want the Martin the Muggle rpg to go forward.

faelori @ June 16 2003, 18:13:31 UTC

I understand completely. Believe me, I do. :)

I only have one thing to say:

I sincerely hope you aren't saying you consider other HP RPGs in LJ to be ripping you off. Because, and I hope this doesn't offend you, if you do I don't have the words to say how arrogant that is. :)