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Post by Sithies Manager on Oct 6, 2013 7:01:09 GMT -8
What are the things that you think makes someone stand out for Best Darksider? What criteria do you think the Sithies judges should be looking for in nominations?
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Lord Sinistra
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Post by Lord Sinistra on Oct 6, 2013 10:29:48 GMT -8
To me, a great darksider is one who shows a devotion to the tenets of their chosen alignment. I don't necessarily put brawn over brains, as I like darksiders who have a plan; those who see themselves and their cause as just. I think a great darksider is one that has a compelling reason for the lengths they will go to in order to achieve their goals. No believeable villain is ever just evil for evil's sake. I want to see them wrestle with the costs of their actions.
I want to understand their motivations, and I want to see their flaws. I want them to be just as well balanced a character as lightsiders or non-force.
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Post by Walter Avius on Oct 9, 2013 16:43:30 GMT -8
I think there is often this concept that the Darkside is really the easiest of the 'sides' you can choose from. The notion is that you have this character and all you are really doing is giving into this weakness, this corruption. It leads to this sort of mass produced ideology of darkness where darksiders seethe and are ruthless, they break each other, always pushing for weakness, and will betray at the drop of a dime. It's what the stories have told us.
But we (the reader) often lose out on the struggle, the toll that such circumstance produce. These afflictions often go without cost and we find ourselves reading a story about a character that has gained everything for the price of nothing. In the simplest terms, I look for a divergence from this status quo in dark side characters. A unique spin on the old story, told from a new perspective. An obvious price that has been paid or even one that persists, accruing interest. And it may seem like a simple thing to base a judgement of character on, but I find the idea of it refreshing. No one can be the strongest, not in every facet.
And the reason why this seems so interesting to me is because it produces this absence of dichotomy between the sith and the jedi, making the two uncomfortably similar, if not just step wise progressions of the other. While the Jedi must resist the temptation of the forbidden fruit, the Sith must deal with the slow poison that consumption of the fruit has wrought. And a writer can build upon this, creating a more developed character that reveals a spectrum of evil, instead of discreet dark and light sides. A sith that destroys worlds but struggles with the destruction of an orphanage as collateral, a dark jedi forced to kill his former master whom he loved so dearly, etc etc.
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Darian Beviin
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Post by Darian Beviin on Oct 10, 2013 7:35:42 GMT -8
Dark siders come in every possible variety. You have the fallen heroes, the tragic men forced to walk a path they never wanted, the power hungry, the well-intentioned, the completely insane, and the list goes on. More than any of the other alignments, perhaps, darksiders have a difficult group to pick from. Sure, you have people who are all focused on different tasks, and to pick one over another, you have to weigh a lot of different things.
If someone does something, their reasons are always factored. The consequences are glorious or tragic, but often always dire. The villians are the ones who keep the galaxy in turmoil. These are the ones you have to watch. Everything they think, anything they do, every back they stab has a purpose.
The ones who have followers. The ones who work alone. The ones who work in small groups.
Those who murder. Those who are lawful, but evil. Those who toy with the system to suit their needs.
Consider carefully when you pick between them. You might overlook something huge.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Oct 10, 2013 10:25:35 GMT -8
Everything said above is excellent and forthright in what a "Darksider" could/should encompass. There isn't much to add.
Or is there?
The only suggestion that I would toss in is: flaws. Sure anyone can write a Sith, Dark Jedi or just a brooding Force Sensitive Rouge. That's extremely powerful, all but unstoppable and never tires of kicking ass... But what purpose would that serve? Other than to fan the flames of the writer's online ego versus their RL selves? Lets face it. People want to be perfect, we all have a kernel of ourselves that longs for perfection, for completion, for the unattainable. And sometimes that comes across in one's writing of a standard, perfect, one-dimensional character.
This is wrong, and not judgement worthy.
In my opinion. It's the flaws which allow us to grow, learn and adapt. Not just in RL, but also as RPers and writers; for our online personae(s). So, with that being said, Darksiders have a special place in this "flawed" category. As stated by everyone above; it's not so much that every Darksider is "evil" but that they have been socialized in some way to be what they are. Be it a traumatic event, lack of guidance, or a self fulfilling need to rebel against the statuesque. As much as every writer in any of the classes has to impart a piece of themselves into their character. I feel that a Darksider's writer really needs to think about what drives their character to their ends, what really makes them tick, and that's what makes them unique. Though a flaw can be seen as a weakness, in this case it gives the character even more room to grow and become something incredibly complex and sometimes heartrendingly personal, and close to home.
A good writer is one that will suck a reader into their character's frame of mind; regardless of it's context. Make you love them, or even love to hate them, and in the end make you want to root for said Darksider - because - deep down inside us all, we can empathize with their flawed existence, perception, or life choices... Because we've all been there.
And that's my dollar's worth of sense.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2013 10:47:08 GMT -8
At least as far as JvS is concerned, there are two primary flavors of darksider: Palpatine and Voorhees.
The Palpatine-style darksiders are the manipulators. They're the ones that are prone to planning and plotting, always ready to shove a knife into a back and use it as a foothold on their way to the next level. Done well, their work may impact the site as a whole as a particular plan comes to fruition. They come across as subtle, often charming, but there's always that hint of madness and arrogance underneath it all. You are nothing more than a potentially useful tool to them at best, and the minute you lose that usefulness, they'll discard you like a used tissue. It can be genuinely unsettling to write with a good example of this sort of darksider.
When written poorly, there is nothing that resembles subtlety. They will always make sure everyone knows that they're the smartest, the best fighter, ect. They'll hammer home just how evil they are at every given opportunity. One instance that stuck in my mind was a guy that, in a meeting of darksiders, decided to show everyone how badass he was by taking the whiskey out of his glass with the Force and making a skull in the air, all the while boasting about how evil he was. This was, of course, roundly mocked. Characters like that are exhausting to write with, because they have to be THE MOST EVIL THING EVER. Your can NEVER EVER SEE THROUGH THEIR AMAZING PLANS, regardless of how idiotic or transparent they might be. They will always see through your plans (generally by using OOC information,) because you cannot possibly OUTWIT THEIR AMAZINGLY WITTY WIT. It's often quite hilarious to read in hindsight. Some of the more awful instances could pass as parody, if only the writer had enough self-awareness to realize what they were doing.
The Voorhees variety is your psychotic murdering nutjob, the folks that don't seek power so much as they seek chaos. This flavor is both the easiest to write and the hardest to write well. Poor to middling examples will kill everyone in the room for the lulz. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, no real depth to the character. Expect them to spout either manic nonsensical phrases or RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE. Maiming and murdering is just what they do. Such characters, while occasionally amusing, are often quite boring. One trick ponies at best. Expect excessive amounts of gore and attempts to shock the audience.
The genuinely good examples of this sort of darksider are pure nightmare fuel. You're never quite sure what they're going to do next. It's like handling nitroglycerin. They can be completely calm and composed one minute, and the next they're unleashing the next best thing to a snuff film on you. They don't necessarily have to be graphically violent to get the point across. Perhaps the writer is skilled enough with imagery to paint a picture in metaphor, leaving the worst of the details to the reader. Or perhaps they spell out exactly what's happening, but do it in such a manner that it just gives you chills. Either way, they'll manage to scar you for life, and if you manage to get your character out of the story alive, you're either really good or they let you go.
The easiest way to differentiate between this and the run of the mill spree killers is to read a post, then go sit in a dark room for a few minutes. If you can do so without having to fight off a serious case of the heebie jeebies, it probably sucked.
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Crom'nen
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Post by Crom'nen on Oct 30, 2013 6:03:16 GMT -8
I compare every Dark Sider to an old character on 1.0, Darth Dragus (Endor's master, not clone). He wasn't a noob who walked in and first post was "I am the most powerful Sith Lord EVER!" He evil, and yet so darn likeable . He's the bad guy you want to root for. While he had motivations for evil, in the end, he showed that he was conflicted about it, which is one of the things that make him complex and deep. That's what I compare every Dark Sider to.
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