G'day ladies and gentlemen,
You'll notice that this particular blog has no structured title or mentioned learning outcome. Why? Because this isn't me nerdily breaking down lightsaber duels or RP constructs. This is me getting up on my soapbox and sharing my personal opinion. Strap in, team, this one is going to get spicy.
WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND, DUDE?
Over the last few days, I've noticed a couple of instances of people having bright ideas about how other writers should or shouldn't express their creativity. Nothing annoys me more. Sure, everyone has opinions (including me, just ask anyone I Skype with), but there is a line between being respectfully and obnoxiously skeptical about someone's idea. And I emphasise respect ... every writer here is entitled to a degree of respect regarding their ideas and creative ventures.
Now there is a time and place to let someone know that their new faction might not be a viable option. JSC is the master of taking people aside and being like "dude, this isn't going to work right now, but here's how you can make it work later". But when you're very obviously invested in another faction/idea that is similar to or could be in competition with the idea in question, and you join their OOC thread, for example, to tell them that their idea sucks, it comes across as false and conceited.
TL;DR: There's too much "you can't do this" than "you can do this" coming from the writer community these days, and usually for reasons directly related to competition for activity rather than actually trying to be helpful or constructive.
So the next time you feel like telling someone their idea is "unoriginal" or "not going to work when there is already a perfectly good faction that is pretty much the same", ask yourselves the following questions:
1. Who am I to tell this person that their idea is no good? (i.e. do I actually have anything constructive to say?)
2. Am I emotionally invested in this discussion? (i.e. am I invested in a faction/idea that is similar to this idea and could I possibly lose membership/activity to this idea? Am I biased against this idea based on circumstance?)
3. Does my post come across as passive aggressive? (If prompted, I'll give an example in the comment section below
)
4. Does my argument actually makes sense? (oftimes, they are emotionally and therefore don't)
And lastly, and possibly most importantly ...
5. Am I being a d***?
In summary, take it down a notch guys, competition is a good thing. Both user-created and factions appropriated from canon are a good thing. Activity in general is a good thing. Learn to let go a bit, chill, and let people do their thing.
You'll notice that this particular blog has no structured title or mentioned learning outcome. Why? Because this isn't me nerdily breaking down lightsaber duels or RP constructs. This is me getting up on my soapbox and sharing my personal opinion. Strap in, team, this one is going to get spicy.
WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND, DUDE?
Over the last few days, I've noticed a couple of instances of people having bright ideas about how other writers should or shouldn't express their creativity. Nothing annoys me more. Sure, everyone has opinions (including me, just ask anyone I Skype with), but there is a line between being respectfully and obnoxiously skeptical about someone's idea. And I emphasise respect ... every writer here is entitled to a degree of respect regarding their ideas and creative ventures.
Now there is a time and place to let someone know that their new faction might not be a viable option. JSC is the master of taking people aside and being like "dude, this isn't going to work right now, but here's how you can make it work later". But when you're very obviously invested in another faction/idea that is similar to or could be in competition with the idea in question, and you join their OOC thread, for example, to tell them that their idea sucks, it comes across as false and conceited.
TL;DR: There's too much "you can't do this" than "you can do this" coming from the writer community these days, and usually for reasons directly related to competition for activity rather than actually trying to be helpful or constructive.
So the next time you feel like telling someone their idea is "unoriginal" or "not going to work when there is already a perfectly good faction that is pretty much the same", ask yourselves the following questions:
1. Who am I to tell this person that their idea is no good? (i.e. do I actually have anything constructive to say?)
2. Am I emotionally invested in this discussion? (i.e. am I invested in a faction/idea that is similar to this idea and could I possibly lose membership/activity to this idea? Am I biased against this idea based on circumstance?)
3. Does my post come across as passive aggressive? (If prompted, I'll give an example in the comment section below
)4. Does my argument actually makes sense? (oftimes, they are emotionally and therefore don't)
And lastly, and possibly most importantly ...
5. Am I being a d***?
In summary, take it down a notch guys, competition is a good thing. Both user-created and factions appropriated from canon are a good thing. Activity in general is a good thing. Learn to let go a bit, chill, and let people do their thing.
