HMD | July 2013

[these_balls]

EVALUATE MY BATTLING!

Trainer Tip: play nice and keep it civil.


things to keep in mind:
→ This is encouraged, not mandatory. We will not penalize you for not using it.
→ Feel free to link your personal HMDs if you would like, just in case someone doesn't want to use the mass HMD post.
→ this is more for actual critique and discussion. Please don't just blindly praise a person or just call them horrible. If someone's doing a wonderful job, you can tell them, just tell them why, or even where they're showing off bonus perks. If someone's doing a not-so-wonderful job, tell them why, give them things to improve on if you can. Examples, links, things that can give them something to work on. Meaning, no bashing, flaming, or nasty behavior. Please keep it civil.
→ Anonymous is turned on! But note: anonymous is a privilege, not a right. If it's being abused to bash players, please be sure to let one of us know and we'll step in or freeze threads if necessary. If anonymous is abused too much, it will be turned off for the next HMD.
→ Don't take this all too personally! Remember that roleplay is a game, and crit is supposed to help, not make you feel horribly. No one is perfect, we've all got room to improve. Please keep that in mind.

→ MOD/GAME HMD

Comments

[thecalmone]

The Kimblee thing is my fault. I actually forgot that Edward told him he was here, but I actually spent some time picking over how to have him react to the man otherwise. You have to keep in mind that he's in no physical shape to go around picking fights with people right now, and being outright rude is asking for people to respond in kind.

Yes, these interactions have been over the network, but that doesn't mean he's not keeping an eye to the future. I'll need to be clearer with the meanings behind his emotional responses in the future as I didn't think it could be interpreted that he was treating either like an acquaintance he was on good terms with as I meant to convey his suspicious caution with Kimblee, and his vague alarm and bewilderment with Envy, who happened to roll in at a good time to catch him with his guard down. Especially given Envy's shocking civility.

I didn't intend to downplay any of these things, but Alphonse is mostly being cautious and trying to get information before doing anything, because that's the pitfall that always catches him and his brother out when they do things and he's fully aware of that. He also knows that he's no longer as easily fixed as he used to be. Thus, I apologize for not being clear enough, and will remedy this in the future.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't understand why his reaction to Envy would be only vague alarm though. If Envy's civility was shocking, then why wasn't Alphonse shocked? It's especially glaring since reactions in FMA tend to be grossly overexaggerated for the sake of humor, like Ed's screaming reactions to being called short. The range of emotion I've seen out of Alphonse so far has been confused, vaguely upset, or as you said yourself, vaguely alarmed. Even if he's being cautious, he shouldn't be flat and one-dimensional.

[thecalmone]

And I didn't intend him to be. I know I wasn't on my best footing for his very first post, but I promise that I've been doing my best to fix that since. I clearly need to be more expressive about it if he's coming off that way though. With Envy I believe that it's mostly the fact that it's been over the network and not in person that's made him temper his reactions. It helps a great deal that between the brothers, he's really not the one to go tearing off before thinking things through. Not without Ed leading anyway.