First off, welcome to Dark Forces!
Now then, you're obviously interested in applying for a character here on the game. To make this easier on everyone involved, we've assembled something of a primer to the process.
Starting a Wiki Page[]
- Please create an account. This way you could be contacted via the wiki, follow pages and be recognizable when communicating/editing on the wiki.
- It is highly suggested by the wizcorp that you go into Preferences and set your Site Layout (under the User Profile tab) to Monobook, and to disable Rich Text Editing (under the Editing tab). Wikia's default settings are atrociously hard to navigate.
- Change Bob_Smith to the name of your character for: http://darkforcesmush.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Smith
- Click 'Add to this page!'
- Now, add your background and other character information to your new wiki page!
Please remember, content is more important than formatting. If you are new to working with a wiki and having trouble with formatting, do not worry. Just focus on the content and the format can be adjusted later.
Application Style[]
Yes, we use stats and dice and whatnot here on Dark Forces.
However, what we're really interested in are the characters. Sure, your character might have Dex3 or a specialty in Performance with the flute. That doesn't tell us anything about what kind of person they are.
Thus, we encourage the focus of the app to be on the person, not their stats. Tell us what your character is like, their dreams, their hopes, their fears and those little things that drive them to screaming aggravation. Get into your character's head. Once you've done that, picking stats should be much easier, as well as meshing much more smoothly with the concept itself.
Finally, please make sure to proofread your app. This will not only keep Malkav from eating your face, but a clean, grammatically correct app proves to the wizcorps that you are capable of the standard of writing we expect from our players on the MUSH proper. If an app contains egregious errors, or so many mild-moderate ones as to make it difficult to read, the app will be denied until it is properly proofread. Minor errors are no big deal; we don't expect everyone to have English degrees. Keep in mind, however, that the application wizzen don't have a lot of patience for badly written or poorly proofread apps; we have lives, too. That said, we aren't intentionally trying to make the process difficult. Work with us, and we'll work with you. Easy!
Staff Interaction[]
When you've gotten everything written up, stuffed your character into Category:Pending Characters and started the "waiting for approval" dance (which is remarkably similar to the "I have to pee" dance), this is when the staffers come into play.
What we do:
- Read through the app to make sure it's coherent, clean, proofread, etc.
- Check the math on your sheet to make sure you didn't use more or fewer dots than you thought you did.
- Check to make sure the dot allocations make sense with the described character.
It is very rare that all this checks out on the first go, so don't feel at all discouraged if you receive a comment on your Talk page instead of an approval stamp! If nothing else, we may simply need some clarification on a point or two. And regardless of how much or little needs work, our suggestions are simply that: suggestions. We're here to help you get the character ready for play.
However, if the concept is truly atrocious, believe us, we'll tell you. Some things you just can't save.
Conversely, if we don't tell you the character in question needs to be taken out back and shot, there's a good chance you can get it into play with a few tweaks here and there. Your app-staffer (app is short for application, you'll see this abbreviation a lot) will be in contact with you in some form or another to help you work out just how much needs to be fiddled with and in what way. Communication is key!
Approval![]
So you made it! Your character's been approved! What now?
Well, there's two options:
- If you've set an email in your Preferences, we're going to send you a Private Message here on Wikia telling you the login information for the character in question (login name and password).
- We'll tell you to contact us in-game, and just page you the information there.
Once you've logged in, that's when you start Character Generation, or CharGen.
We're currently still working on an automated system for this, so there's a good chance you or a staffer will need to set some stats or whatnot manually. Feel free to call for help if needed! That's what we're here for!
And that's really about all there is to it. See? Not so terrible.