Silverlust's Application

[Silverlust 0]

Out-Of-Character

MineCraft Account Name:

When I login to MineCraft, I use db7363.

How old are you?:

I was born 48 years ago, but I don't believe I ever grew up.

Time-Zone/Country of Residence:

I live on the East Coast of the United States.

Do you have a good grip on the English language/good grammar?:

Depends on who you ask. I had to look up, "lol."

Small 2-3 Sentence Description of yourself:

I was born into a military family and have travelled all over the world. Right after graduating from high school, I joined the Marine Corps infantry to earn money for college. I planned on getting out after my first enlistment, but was having too much fun so I made it a career. I have since retired from the Marines and now work for the government.

How much time could you be on the server weekly?:

I am usually good for a couple of hours a day, more on the weekend.

What do you know about Roleplaying? Give a definition of what it means to you:

Roleplaying is a way of entertaining yourself, and hopefully others, by taking on the persona of a character that interacts with the environment and other characters.

What experience have you had in Roleplaying, if any?:

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons over 30 years ago and within a year I became the Dungeon Master. Back then, story mattered. Today, I'm sorry to say, computer roleplaying games are more about the grind of leveling. The story no longer matters. Take World of Warcraft for example, you can play for years and never get immersed into the story.

In your own Words, define what the act of Meta-Gaming is:

Using real world or out of character information to influence how your character acts. Let's say you were building your house and needed a bed. If you go to the MineCraft wiki to find out how to craft a bed and do it, that's meta-gaming. A true roleplaying way of solving this problem would be like finding a carpenter in town and either have him make you a bed or ask to be his apprentice. If you were to become his apprentice for a period of time, then it would be part of your persona. From now on it could be reasonably expected for you to be able to craft any type of wooden furniture. However, it doesn't mean you can make a stone furnace. The game mechanics on how to make the bed are irrelevant. What matters is how your character learned how to make the bed.

In your own Words, define what the act of Power-Gaming is:

Power-gaming is a style of roleplaying where a character's actions do not allow other players to roleplay or are unrealistic.

Lets say our young hero comes across a nomadic tribe of sheep herders. It is obvious that these people are upset and extremely nervous of strangers. After a little conversation, he uncovers that the daughter of the tribe's leader has been kidnapped by an evil cattle barron. They can't afford to mount a rescue, because they think that the barron is trying to separate the herders from their sheep so that he can swoop in and scatter or kill the flock. It is agreed that if our hero can rescue the fair maiden, the tribe will give him two red and two black sheep as a reward. Our intrepid young warrior follows the directions given and upon leaving a small grove of trees, finds himself at the foot of a stone tower. So far, so good...

Now here's where things start to get ugly. Our character can see the daughter's MineCraft name tag towards the top of the tower and that there are three other characters between them. Because it is fairly late in real time, he decides to wait awhile to see if the players are going to log off. They don't, so he walks up to the door and *knocks on the door*. He hears someone coming to the door and when this character looks to see who's there, our character *forces his sword through the view port and pierces the guard's eye, killing him*. Then he *kicks down the door* and starts running up the stairs...

The abusing player used information that the character in the game could not have known, another example of meta-gaming. With this information, he kills a guard without allowing this guard to participate in the situation. Power-gaming! Emoting that he kicks down the door to the tower, which one would reasonably expect to be reinforced; is clearly not very realistic. Power-gaming! The problem with this style of play is that it ruins the story for everyone. Think about the guard you killed. How can this character take you prisoner and get promoted if you killed him without even allowing him to play. In this particular situation, it is clear that the story has been developing for awhile. Just like a classic western movie, a range war was taking place and within 30 minutes of game play your character stumbles into the story and completely disrupts the storyline. In the end, because of power-gaming the storyline has been compromised.

What do you expect this server will be like?:

The single player version on MineCraft is great for building. The multi-player version adds to the experience, but also distracts from it. Player versus Player combat and griefing become commonplace because players get bored. Most multi-player servers try to mitigate this unwanted behavior by adding a lot of server modifications without providing the characters a reason for the modification. Adding McMMO doesn't make a roleplaying environment. I'm looking for an environment where I can experience the story and not just read a story.

What other server(s) have you played on and why did you leave them?:

I don't remember any of their names, but they were all listed on the McMMO website. I left them because the characters were not roleplaying. To me multi-player MineCraft is not about building, crafting, or even the grind of leveling. If I want to build, i'll play the single player version of MineCraft. If I want to chat, I will join an IRC chat server. But when I want to immerse myself into a good story, I want to role-play.

Have you read, understood, and agreed to the rules?:

Yes, I have.

Do you promise to abide by said rules, and laws? This includes the Server, Forum, and TeamSpeak set Rules:

I have read, understand, and agree with the rules. I should say that I couldn't find any special rules for TeamSpeak.

How did you hear about us?:

Lots of research on google.

Have you voted for the Lord of the Craft on Minestatus? Which vote number were you?:

Yes, I believe that it was 1399. If this server delivers half of what I am looking for, it will get many more votes in the future.

In-Character:

Character Name:

Silverlust

What Race are you?:

Human

What Sub-Race are you? (note, you aren’t required to have a sub-race):

None

Biography (Please make this at least 2 paragraphs long. This must include the history of your character and his life as well as age, appearance and personality, etc.):

Silverlust was raised on a small farm near an equally small farming town many leagues south of Cloud Temple Sanitary past the great desert. His family wasn't wealthy, but grew their own food and never went hungry. There wasn't much time for education or much travel; however, his imagination took him to all of the exotic locations in the traveling peddler's stories. He grew up to be an average young man, who's only claim was his ability to make anything grow. Considered to be quite the catch by all of the available young ladies, he thought he would marry the prettiest lass in town - until...

Waking up in the middle of his family's wheat field, he couldn't even remember his name. How did he get here? What happened? Starting to gather his wits, he grabbed his hoe and started to run home. Arriving where his home should be, nothing remained but a charred husk of a house. There was no sign of his family. No sign they even existed. Panic started to set in. As fast as he could, Silverlust ran to town. Somebody, anybody, has to know what's going on.

Town was razed worse than the farm. Nothing remained. The Green Grass Inn, gone. Master Turoc's mill and millstone smashed beyond recognition. The only sound, his breath. Not a bird chirp. Not even a breeze through the trees. What happened?

What is your Character's ambitions?:

First, learn to survive on his own. Once established, try to figure out what happened to his family and community. Finally, become strong enough to exact revenge.

What is your character’s favorite tool? (sword, pickaxe, shovel, etc):

Silverlust has used a hoe his whole life... But, it's hard to exact revenge with a farming instrument. He'll have to work on this dilemma.

What is one of your Character's most skilled talents?

Being the son of a successful farmer his whole life, if he finds a good plot of land he'll be able to feed the masses. If done right, that means power.

A screenshot of your skin (must be in proper format):

Other Information about your Character:

Silverlust understands that the world is a very cruel and inhospitable place to survive when you have start over. He will look for friends fast...

Open-Response-Questions

Whilst traveling from the Cloud Temple you see a small halfling, being harassed by two armed warriors. They appear to be trying to steal money from him, how does your character respond?

Not having much experience in the realities of the world, Silverlust would have to hide. He emotes, *drops to the ground, making as little noise as possible*. Ouch. OUCH. He has landed in an ant hill. The ants are starting to swarm and he begins to panic, emoting *brushing off the ants stinging him, making too much noise*. The thugs hears him rustling around and one of them starts to head over. Now he is in full flight mode, but it is too late. The warrior is catching him. As best as he could, he tries to get away, but something hits him on the head and he starts to lose consciousness. The last thing he remembers is the warrior cursing him for making him run...

Your character wanders into Alras, and comes across a small stall, behind which a well dressed man is standing. He’s offering various wares, the merchant turns to you and says in a posh accent " 'ello there, what can I do you for today?" What is your character response?

"Good day, good Sir." Then emotes, *looking at the items for sale, pretending to be interested in the merchandise*. Then asking, "Any idea where a simple man of simple means could stay in a clean room for a couple of days? I so need a few days rest before I continue my quest."

Whilst wandering in the wilds, your character comes across a small hut, which looks abandoned. Inside it you see a chest containing a few iron bars, and a golden sword. How would your character respond?:

Being that Silverlust has lost everything, there was no way he could pass up this windfall. But how could he repay the Gods, or at least the rightful owner? After much thought, he decides to spend a couple of days planting a garden and cleaning the place up. If the owner doesn't come back by the time to leave, he will take the stuff knowing that the food could be used as payment for these unwanted or unguarded supplies.

Hungry and lost in the wilderness, you stumble across a small trading camp nestled among the forest, they greet you you in the common tongue, how do you respond?

"Good day, good Sirs." Then emote, *scanning the camp for any possible sign of danger*. "As you can clearly see, my clothes are rather tattered." Smelling something cooking, emotes, *stomach starts to rumble loudly*. "What might you have that could possibly fit?"

You hear word that bandits occupy the road outside the town in which you have been staying. The town guard have gathered, and are asking for assistance to help eliminate them. The leader of the party is offering a reward for any who offer their support. How does your character act on this information?:

Someone knows what happened to his village, and he doubts the candlestick maker is the answer to his prayers. So he is always eager to question the shady folk of the region from a position of strength; therefore, Silverlust would further investigate the situation. He would emote, *scanning each member of the party, measuring their relative strength*. Feeling that he would come out of the fight victorious, he would volunteer by asking, "All I have is this hoe and it wouldn't be of much good in a real fight... Any chance I could be armed with a good sword in lieu of a reward?"

[Aryon 679]

Accepted.

Nice application. Please wait for a GM to implement you.

[Aryon 679]

Moved to Accepted Forum

[shiftnative 3103]

Implemented