Daily Entertainment.

[muji]

Something came up in yesterday's DE that concerned me a little: Have you ever been tagged by someone and then not tagged back/not wanted to thread with them because you didn't know their canon? Why?

For those that have not: do you have a preference to play with characters from canons that you are familiar with? Why or why not?

For mods: Can I make a 'daily entertainment' tag inna backroom?

Comments

[innerbrat]

STEPH I HAVE FREE INTERNET ACCESS BEFORE MY INTERVIEW

- but probably won't reply to this thread. My answer: no, but I have refrained from tagging out because I didn't know the canon. HOWEVER I never tag out anyway because I'm touched in the head.

[muji]

YAY FREE NET!

Yeah, I'm hoping that if anyone replies, it'll be with that answer. Not that tagging out wouldn't be preferable, but I think we're all guilty of that more or less.

[aisforamy]

I prefer to thread with people whose canon I know, but I don't dread being tagged by someone from a canon I am unfamiliar with...I am just not in my comfort zone, which is not always a bad thing.

Also, I tend not to tag out often, because I don't know if others would welcome tags from my pups, and a lot of people don't have contact info in their profiles, so I can't ask them.

[muji]

I tend to be of the opinion that people should be always welcoming of tags from other pups, but that is me. Tag away!

I know what you mean about lack o' info, though. Have you tried the contact list and not found anything?

[calluna]

No and no -- I barely know any of the bigger canons here in M'ways, so.

I TAG EVERYONE! *equal opportunity tagger?*

[muji]

*applause*

[naelwyn.livejournal.com]

I've never (or at least I'm pretty sure I haven't) not tagged/replied to someone because I didn't know their canon. In fact, I like not knowing the canon because I get to learn a new one then.

But I do think I'm just scared to tag out in general. In fact, I know I am because I've had dreams of people yelling at me for tagging their eps. (I have some pretty weird dreams all the time though.) And I think one of the main reasons, among others, is that I can be v e r y s l o w at responding to tags/replies that I'm worried I might annoy people with that.

So I kinda chicken out on tagging EPs, even those that I really want to tag. And I guess that all kind of leaves me in the zone of 'preference to play with characters from canon you're familiar' though in this case it'd be 'preference to play with characters/people you've played with before'?

[muji]

I can understand that -- of course, I can only speak for myself, but so long as there's communication to the other person with "Hey, I might be really slow for X reason", I can't see what the problem might be?

[kali921.livejournal.com]

Not tagging out because one doesn't know someone else's canon blows my mind in a panfandom game. Wow. I mean, why even bother, if that's the case? I figure my character probably won't know someone else's canon (unless said someone is from my character's canon), so why should I worry about it? If my pup has no preexisting IC knowledge of another pup and is meeting them for the first time - well, isn't that the point of Milliways? I hope I'm a flexible enough RPer that I can incorporate a learning curve about the other character in the IC interaction. I figure it'll come out in the wash in the end. Besides, I've been turned onto some great canons by having my pups meet pups from mystery!canons over the years.

I have been guilty of tagging out to characters more whose canon I know, and that's a tendency that I'm trying to curb. I'll tag anyone, me.

[muji]

That's my main viewpoint on it, definitely. With an added 'yup' to tagging characters I know more. Gotta stop that, Steph.

[sdelmonte]

I think that for the most part, I tend to tag pups whose canons are at least easy to understand at a glance. If I can read the user info and get the gist of who the pup is, I cam manage. There are some canons that are just really offputting. If I was picking and choosing those canons I really knew, though, my play would be a lot more limited, since I don't know much anime, or a lot of the books and films and TV shows in the game.

I will note, though, that I am often particular about who I have my pups tag since I can guess what conversations might work and which might not. Gibbs, for example, will not tag women that often, and I tend to keep Kirk away from anyone who is very magical.

I never object, however, to anyone who wants to tag me to tagging. Just be aware that sometimes conversations will fall flat.

On the whole, I think everyone should try to tag pups that sound interesting as characters and not as parts of a larger canon. That's where you can get the most interesting and bizarre combinations from.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

That's interesting about Kirk - I'd never have noticed that, because Kirk is so gregarious in game. Just out of curiousity, to get some interesting meta out of you (your meta is usually awesome, see), why do you feel Kirk should avoid magic users? Is it a SCIENCE! thing? :-)

[canadabear.livejournal.com]

No. I tag back regardless of whether I know a canon or not. If someone's taken the effort to tag one of my pups, they deserve a reply and I see it as a chance to learn about their canon.

I will count myself among those who are wary to tag out if I don't know a canon - especially if the userinfo is lacking. If I can get a feel for who the character is from their userinfo, that makes a huge difference.

[muji]

Do you find that a longer/more 'developed' EP would negate the need to check userinfo?

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

I am woefully low on knowledge of canons outside my own, so I try not to let that stop me if I get tagged. Thank the little grey gods for Wikipedia and Google.

[muji]

Me too! If I never tagged outside canons, DT/FF never would have happened. :O

[silveraspen]

Not to my recollection. I will be a little slower if I don't know the canon, as I try to determine things from the character userinfo that I otherwise would already know, but I tag back who tags me, and I try to tag out as well.

It's easier to thread with a character where the canon is known, but it's fascinating to be working through a thread with a new-to-me canon character. Some really interesting things have come from those, I think; one that comes to mind offhand is the dynamic that developed between Susan Delgado and Ben Hawkins from Carnival. I don't know if the player's still around, even, but oh how I enjoyed those threads, and I learned enough about the canon to want to see it. (Haven't found it yet; will eventually.) Ditto a thread with Susan Delgado and Pat Rin Korval. :)

My largest problem is maintaining slowtimes in a reasonable period.

[muji]

OMG me tooooooo. Slowtimes are difficult as hell, because it takes you so long to get back to that headspace.

[dynastessa]

When it comes to all the canon featured at Milliways, I am sadly quite unfamiliar with a good majority of it.

Thus - I have never backed out of tagging with someone from a canon I was unfamiliar with. In fact, as someone else mentioned, it's a fun sort of challenge and I get to learn about a new canon!

Also, I consider it something of an honor to be tagged by anyone (yes, I'm a dork) so I sort of get all gleeful whenever someone tags me, no matter what canon/fandom they are from.

I find that these days I play mostly with the pups/people I know, but that is only because my schedule sucks ass and when I want to just relax and RP, I hide in my comfort zone.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy tagging out to other people's EPs - because I do. I never had a preference for the character/canon itself. If the EP is intriguing, or my pup can do something within that EP, I will go for it. That's how James met Will, after all!

[muji]

It's usually the EP that attracts me, too.

[misslucyjane]

No: if I'm tagged by a character I'm not familiar with I'll check the userinfo. This backfires, of course, when the userinfo is non-existant or minimal, and sometimes I just don't want to hit Wikipedia: I just want to play the game.

I'm often hesitant to tag a character I'm not familiar with just because I don't know how to approach them--what our characters could possibly have to talk about or where they might have common ground.

[muji]

That's when accidental drink-spilling helps, I find. O:)?

[vivien]

I tag anyone back, and do a little research. As for tagging out, I tend to go for new characters with canons I am familiar with, but not always. Sometimes if the user info looks like fun, I just go for it.

[muji]

Is there something that would turn you off from a character?

(ALSO HI MISS YOU.)

[oh-wowee.livejournal.com]

I haven't dropped threading due to not knowing someone's canon, but due to not understanding a post. At all. There were a couple of times that I just didn't understand a goddamn thing that the person was trying to get across and felt too bad to try and ask them to change the post to make it understandable to my weak little puny human brain.

I try and thread with anyone, regardless of canon. I don't know crap about most of the big-ticket canons here, and try not to let that get me down. If someone particularly shiny shows up, however? TAGGED WITH NO REMORSE.

[muji]

Good example is Toki-Sallie piano recitalthing.

[bcgphoenix]

I have never not tagged back because I don't know the canon; that kind of boggles my mind, too. In cases like Sylar, where I usually need to know some basics in order for him to get an accurate "read" on a pup, I'll either scramble for Wikipedia/fan sites or ping the mun to ask, "Hey, is there anything weird here that would look or sound different to Sylar? How so?" But...it's a panfandom game. Crossing canons is kind of the point, and I've picked up a ton of new canons that I never would've picked up if somebody hadn't tagged into an EP of mine.

I will admit, though, that I'm more likely to tag out into another EP if I'm familiar with the other pup's canon. This is because generally, if I know the canon, I'll also have a better sense of how well the pups will mesh and possibly how the thread will go. However, that "familiarity with canon" doesn't necessarily mean I've sat down and read every book or watched every episode obsessively; it may just be a quick skim of the userinfo, or information I've gleaned from reading some of the pup's past threads.

[muji]

I'm all about giving the userinfo a once-over if I've never heard of the character ever in my life, but that's about it.

[mm_madb]

Know the canon or don't know the canon, I'll tag both back and out. The writing is important, not the universe. If I only stuck with/prioritized higher canons that I know the Arithon-Ramon threads would never have happened...I still have never seen an episode of 24 and don't intend to because I don't enjoy that genre.

If someone tags me with a basic amount of effort into their tag, I'll tag it back. If someone has an interesting EP (and I have the time and some way to respond to it) I'll tag out. I honestly don't care where they came from.

Which isn't to say that I tag all the EPs that I find interesting: sometimes my characters don't have anything to say, or I don't have the time. (Full time animation student, yo. I have two animations of three seconds each due next week, at 24 drawings per second. I haven't had my other two classes and don't know what is due there yet. Plus physical therapy. Plus, you know, talking to friends.)

[varadia]

I have days where I just want to play, so I'll tag the first five EPs that night, regardless of who it is.

I meet so many new people, and I get so many awesome interactions that way.

Plus there's the whole 'finding new canon to read/watch/etc', which is really a lot of fun, too.

[muji]

That I think is a really good attitude to have.

In the way that Aspen should be home at a earlier hour, so I am preemptively excited.

[rowanberries.livejournal.com]

It depends, really. If I'm playing Harth or Havelock, and I really have no idea who or what the tagging character is, because they're meant to be very observant/sensitive characters. A more normal character, I am positively gleeful about playing with unknowns, because it's realistic that they would have no idea, and my own prejudices play no part in it.

That's, um. Most usual with Shelley and her tendency to walk blithely into doom due to a lack of perception.

[muji]

Shelley takes offence at that. :O

[herdivineshadow]

1. I don't remember not tagging. Sometimes... I just tag back without even knowing the canon or looking on the profile page or then venturing wikpedia-wards.


Because y'know. Sometimes I'm just a tiny bit lazy.

2. *shrug* I don't know. I have a preference for following characters whose canon's I'm familiar with, but as for playing? Harder to say. I'm not sure that it makes a difference for me. I mean, if I'm not feeling lazy? Wikipedia and google and profile page can generally fill out the outline of a particular canon.

[scurlock]

I don't think I've ever not tagged someone who's tagged an EP of mine. I know that I have a horrible, horrible tendency to drop threads but that's because I can fail at remembering things sometimes and my brain is iffy when it comes to slows, but I try, really. (This is also a 'if you need a tag, give me a nudge, I won't be offended by the nudge, honest' warning.)

I second Wiki and Google as being your friend.

As for tagging out, I try to tag Doc out as much as I can and there are still some pups that I'd love to have him thread with but I'm just waiting for the right moment or time. It's not an 'I don't know your canon' thing at all, it's just a 'do I have the brainpower for another thread'.

[not_that_spike]

Hell no, hell no.

I haven't been playing anywhere near regularly, but for all my characters, I decided my very first day here that if it made sense for one of them to approach someone else, they would with no questions asked. Every entry post of mine is open, because if it needs to be private I probably won't set it in the middle of a crowded bar.

Now, that given, a lot of mine have been at Milliways a long time and just like in real life, friendships evolve and they tend to go to the people they know. But that doesn't preclude meeting new people and it doesn't mean they don't want to meet new people. But Spike -- not the most gregarious of guys -- needs a good enough reason to talk to someone. It can be as simple as asking if they have a light, though, so it doesn't have to be a deep and compelling reason. Gren and Howl will talk to pretty much anyone and Howl in particular will talk to pretty much any female any time. Hero is a little bit the opposite: since she's from a world with no men, they tend to attract her attention when she's in the bar.

But familiarity with their canon is definitely not something I need as a player. If it's all new, then hey! I get to learn about something new myself, and so does my character.

I wish more people tagged more entry posts. I usually try to tag into at least one or two around mine when I make them which, admittedly, isn't all that often any more.

[wheneveriwant.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I suppose it isn't so much a question as canon knowledge with me, more so a sense of a lack of confidence in my own abilities as a writer. I also try to be overly polite I suppose and try to hit folks up on aim first if I can. If I can't get through I tend to just say forget it. Also my window for tagging and responding is so short I would have to put every single thread in slowtime after just a few hours. But I think I might just be making excuses for the first reason.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

Dammit, you are a GOOD WRITER. And you're also still new - I was very shy and lacked self-confidence at first, too. Tag out to other people's posts! That's what I did, and I felt much more comfortable in game after I started doing that. <3

I love you, hon. I think you're aces. Now, I'm gonna tag Harry's post tonight, if you're for slowtime!

[will_scarlett]

When I first started, I remember just tagging everyone who caught my eye and made Will curious, this is the reason his girlfriend commented on him seeming to know everyone in Bar.

With my masters bearing down on me I haven't been tagging new people as I want to, I have this inner goal in my head that I will tag at least one new person.

For a long time, Will would just tag First Entrances, if work isn't being too crazy I like to do this since it means he meets someone new and I just like the idea of Will being the first person they meet in Milliways.

When my masters is done, I'll go back to my habit of tagging whichever EPs catch my eye though I try and go out of my way to tag untagged ones too. Canon has never been an issue for me since I know so few of them and I now know more because of tagging and going I want to know more.

[tristranthorn]

I have always really admired that you (and Will) tag just about everyone you can. :3

Just thought you should know.

[lostinapapercup.livejournal.com]

I've dropped just a couple of threads in the last three years, but it's certainly never been because I didn't know the canon and never after just one tag. I do think most people are interested in interacting with characters from canons they're familiar with and I'm no exception to that, but I also think it can be equally fascinating to be approached by a character that's unknown to both my character and me. I never plot lock posts, so as far as I'm concerned, anybody's always been free to tag any of my characters. If I need to have a private thread, I'll simply do it in private and link it. If I didn't feel willing to welcome tags from anybody from any canon, I'd stick solely to single-fandom games.

But as far as tagging out, well, I hardly do that anymore. I've had an unfortunately long string of threads dropped on me so I'm often concerned that people just won't enjoy threading with my characters and have a tendency to stick with people who I know do enjoy it. Slow's pretty much a requirement these days for me and most players I know, so as long as everybody involved is on the same page about it, I don't mind a fairly slow-moving thread at all. But I won't prod anyone to post to a thread -- I don't consider it my job -- unless they've specifically asked me to help them remember. And even then I don't want to come across as pushy. All that said, I'll still happily tag anyone if I can see a good reason -- either in the entry post or in the profile -- that my character would have to approach them.

The only people I'm really not interested in tagging are characters with extremely minimal profiles. The community information says that our profiles should have a basic description with any unusual characteristics, so it always gives me pause when someone doesn't have any kind of physical description. And I've seen a few profiles within the past several months with no actual mention of the name of the canon. That's almost guaranteed to stop me in my tracks.

[wakeupnew]

Word on your last point; it's really, really difficult when you don't know anything about a character or a canon, you go to the profile to check it -- and there's minimal information, no physical description, and no mention of the canon's specific name. I've had that happen a couple of times now.

By the way? I've wanted threads with any of yours for ages and ages, so if you ever see any of mine in -- feel free to tag, seriously. I never seem to be around when any of yours have been posted in. I can't promise I'll be incredibly fast with slowtimes, but it's rare that I drop threads altogether. :D

[cheevy.livejournal.com]

Dood.

I'd never heard of Pickles' canon when Minver started sleeping with him.

And as for my own pup -- only one person, in my experience, has ever heard me say "Miniver Cheevy" and recognized it immediately. I frequently get question from people I've never played with before about where Miniver comes from. Same goes for my androgynes, and it was always true for 1900.

Really, I LIKE playing characters no one's ever heard of. It's nice to have recognizable faces and voices, like Faramir, because when I REALLY nail him, people let me know it. But I find it much more interesting and rewarding to let people experience things they never have through my eyes. It feels a little like converting people to my point of view when they play with pups of mine they've never heard of before and get sort of actively engaged in them beyond the usual formulas of where they're from and when. I like that. ^_^

Now that I think about it, most pups my own muses are great friends with come from canons I've never heard of or just plain don't like at all.

If I ever don't tag someone back, it's probably because I don't know they've tagged me. I refuse to have notifications turned on, as it does nothing but spam my inbox, and is completely useless unless I have my E-Mail on all the time. This strikes me as dumb.

[sophistry]

Hm! I will generally always tag back, unless I get hit with something that I have no idea how to respond to - in which case it is (usually) hunt-the-mun-up-on-AIM-time. I'm pretty terrible at tagging out, both due to time constraints and comfort zones/writerly paranoia/etc., but in terms of posts I will or won't tag, familiarity with the canon is a plus, but not a must - particularly if the post/character seems interesting enough. The only thing that might make me wary is - well, something kind of similar to what Pho was saying about Sylar being able to get a 'read' on people. There are certain kinds of supernatural/occult/whatever characters with whom I'd prefer to have a rough idea of how Crowley's demonic...ness will interface, so I'm not going in blind. Then again, sometimes that's what's interesting. ;D

(Also, make that a belated 'yea' from me as well re: daily entertainment tag.)