A brief overlook on the characters i play

Dark Oasis

Gera

Harem Slave, child of pain, tool of revenge.

Born under traumatic circumstances in the sultans prison. Brought up in the Harem. Her mother, the victim of the sultan, then Harem slave of the President, had sworn to make Gera the tool of her revenge. She concieved Gera during one of the rapes in prison and brought the little girl up to become tough and never to show any distress. She would stick needles into the child and conditioned her never to cry, but to endure and wait. Brought up on hate and surpressing and enduring any pain, the child grew into the perfect tool for her revenge. A Harem slave, to the outside obedient, quiet, almost like a shadow, never complaining. But who knows what goes on inside her head, what is hidden behind the shy smile and those soulful dark eyes. And she can wait, oh she can wait until the moment is perfect.

Dark Oasis Land Group, Dark Oasis ~ RLV Prison; Posh Resort; Harems; Maze, Eluria (218, 46, 75)

Hidden Valley

Lady Gera:

20 years old

Dark hair, dark brown eyes, slender, 5'4 tall.

Bio:

Lady in waiting at the royal court, had been attending on the queen until the barbarians took over the castle and village. She is a princess from europe and came into the queen's service through her marriage with a Lord. Given into matromony at the age of 12 ( fairly normal in medivieal times in the high ranks) she became a widow at the tender age of 17 and has been with the Queen all this time. The raid and the enslavement of her queen left her lost and devasteted. She was captured by Sergeant Scarmon, combat group leader to the Barbarian Lord Enanilluc; Champion to the Horde Priestess. So far he has spared her, perhaps intimidated by her bearing. But who can know what goes on in the mind of a Barbarian, a wild animal...

CathrynDawn Resident, *~*~Hidden Valley~*~ Medieval times deviant role play, Hidden Valley (180, 186, 36)

Dead End

Dead End: Waitress Gera grew up sheltered and is not hardened up to life. She trusts people because she can not imagine that anybody would hurt her on purpose. She is a serious person. Always getting deep into matters. She is also very passionate. She works as a waitress in a restaurant at Dead End.

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Perdition: Gera, a citizen, possibly working in an office or shop

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Blackiston

Gera, Shop Girl, office worker

Free Roleplayin Blackiston A project of the Improvisation RP Group.

Skybox above for RP. Current theme: Urban Life.

LBS Group 30, RP Aera: Ground Medieval/ Skybox Urban , Blackiston (149, 70, 921)

Dark Den

Whatever happened to naive little Gera? She was like an Alice in Wonderland. But something happened. Now she is a loner, riding her motorbike through the island, observing the others often from a distance. She was toying with the idea of joining the police force in Glint. But then found out there is only the Molesteri, so now what? Some think she's completly off her rocker and that may be so...

Terra Cura, PRG - the People's Republic of Glint - No Voice Chat, Glint (6, 79, 22)

RP-Box Blackiston - Impressions Part 3

When you pass through the dark tunnel you'll come to the old cemetery. It used to be open but now they've put up a high fence there and the warning signs tell you why: Zombies! Best thing is to stay away from the fence. There is a high stand for shooting. Some people get a thrill out of it.

I usually stay away from there.

Some mad scientists are working on a solution to the undead threat. I've heard they do weird experiments with the Zombies. Trying to tame them maybe? This part is still under construction, maybe a building where the scientists work, will be added. (When I am on my own here I never dare to rezz the Zombies because they scare the shit out of me :) I always wait for Dunnagh or some friend to be here before I do)

RP-Box Blackiston - Impressions Part 2

You get to the lower side of town when you go down to the underground station. Filthy place. The toilets are a sight. (I used a lot of buildings from the wonderful sl-legend Acardia Asylum, nobody ever captured the urban ambiente better)

On the right side you will see the movie theatre. Luckily they don't show boring main stream. Instead they run the old cult movies and favorites like Clockwork Orange, Night of the Living Dead and so on...
On the left side is this sleazy night club. They have the usual stuff, pole dancing and more. Could be partly Bordello, I am not sure. People from the cartel hang out there and plan all kind of corruption. This part of the street still needs some tarting up, excuse the pun :)

This is my favorite part of the lower side. Down by the water. Its dirty and bleak but it has a sentimental feel, maybe because of the old victorian street lamp that stands there. Wonder how old that is? From there leads a tunnel to the old cemetery.
Now brace yourself for the last part of our little sight seeing tour...

My own RP Sim - Impressions Part 1

For a while now I rent a large beach parcel in the region of Blackiston. Above it I have a skybox for RP. We toyed with an medieval setting for a while but more recently its been urban themed.
Here are some impressions:
This was the uptown, next time some impressions of the lower side of town...

Zombie Apocalypse at Perdition!

This Halloween weekend has been role play bliss galore!. By chance Gera landed in Perdition where they had a Zombie Apocalypse weekend. Instantly Gera was in the game. Running for shelter, hiding with other survivors in a bar and an empty school. But it was not at a mindless "shoot 'em to pieces" - game. There were dramatic story lines developing between us. This special situation, where it was all about surviving in the face of death opened the door to wonderful scenes, dramatic emotional dialogue. Bonds were fastened quickly. Not to mention the terrific props: The Zombies were so well made and realistic that they scared the shit out of her and my heart was constantly beating with fear. Gera was in a turmoil of emotions. Relief and instant bonding with the guardsman who saved her, and in the end torn between shock and mourning when her new friends, one woman particularly, died and turned into undead walkers. My RP starved heart was never happier. It also has possibly opened the doors for Gera to play in Perdition now because through this RP she has made friends with the regulars. Never thought that Zombies can make your day :)

The importance of communication in OOC

The ooc rp security policy in capture sims is all about SSC. Safe, sane, consensual (SSC), originally imported from the BDSM scene its the common way in role play to protect the players. And yet, it does not grip at the base. Traditionally when we think of roleplay going bad we think of physical attacks, bodily harm. But its a grey zone. Fact is, most roleplayers get hurt by psychological brutality and by verbal attacks. „Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never harm me“? Wrong! The essence of fantasy, or roleplay lays in our heads, our souls. We create a character from our imagination and hence this is where the characters life base is located. This is what must be protected, not the pixel body. The avatars body, as important as it is,( because this is what brings the fantasy to life, this is what makes it real) is yet a hollow shell. We can’t not feel the physical pain, we can only imagine it. But we can very much feel the emotional pain as this pain is without doubt hurting in reality. We are talking about the "The person behind the keyboard".

The approach in every good roleplay must be this: A healthy balance between IC action, supported by OOC communication behind the scenes. This does not mean that we mix OOC and IC . It means that we connect with the other player, that we create a base, a possible trust; but at least goodwill, kindness and respect.

An ideal role play would be this:
Two characters get into a verbal fight. They shout at each other. Call each others names, or more typically one character calling the other character names. Now while this scene goes on, the two players will communicate behind the scene in IM. Sometimes a simple smiley with a wink is enough to assure your fellow player that this is all okay and purely IC, and that OOC there is no problem. No hate, no hard feelings. A simple smile in IM can do wonders. A lot of heartbreak could be prevented, if players from time to time would remember that.
Especially the players who have the upper hand in the game. The player behind the dominant character should always look out for the player behind the submissive character.

What we have to keep in mind is, that a good roleplayer will fall into his/her role. For a submissive, more vulnerable character this is a extreme brave and dangerous thing to do. Yet, it is a natural consequence when a player plays intense and authentic.
The player who inhabits the dominant position must be aware of that. A simple "Are you okay?" in OOC can safe lives. Character death is a terrible thing when done by the own hand of the player who has given up on his/her destroyed character.

Now its usually advised that you should remove yourself from the rp situation when it becomes dangerous or even just uncomfortable. I say, this is not a solution at all.
It can be helpful for the moment but a lot of players are then left with their damaged character and no help at hand.
The ideal situation would be, that the conflict which has occured IC can be resolved in IC. If this is not possible anymore, then it must be taken care of in OOC with BOTH players involved. Again, communication is vital.

And that is really the crunch point.

Most painful rp experiences end with the hurt player breaking off, unable to play on. The result is often more than a broken story line. The hurt player is almost always alone with the pain. No mod helps here because outwardly the situation was resolved when the player removes him/herself from the rp situation.
Yet I know a lot of players, many good and tough ones among them, who had to go through this and had to go through this alone.

This is where we need to improve moderation.

A mod should guide the two parties. Victim and committer. Both are emotionally confused at this point. Communication can heal wounds and, more important, clear up misunderstandings.
Open ends, conflicts that are not spoken about, can damage a character forever.

A topic that always becomes prominent here is the question of drama.
"I didn’t ask a mod for help because I was afraid that I would cause drama."

We have to define the meaning of this word more clearly. And we have to step back from making generalizations. Drama can be good in IC, bad in OOC. But a person who is hurt, should never be cast off as a "drama queen". First we need to investigate and communicate. Not all players want to stir drama. In fact I have met far more people suffering in silence because they wanted to avoid being accused of stirring up things. This gives a great playground for bad people who enjoy hurting others and who can only feel good by making others feel bad. And we get a lot of them in roleplay. Particulary in Capture Roleplay and BDMS.

Another important issue is shame. Usually a player who has been victimized will feel shame and this prevents him/her to seek help. We must strongly work against this. We must emphasize that no problem in roleplay will ever be laughed at. We need more sensitivity here.
For a passionate role player, rp is never a game, it is a play that feeds from our souls. We wouldn’t be doing it if it was not of great importance to us.

The plain truth is: Whenever a character is destroyed, a real person behind it is bleeding.
Good enjoyable roleplay does not have to stay light and humerous to be enjoyable, it’s absolutely fine when there is heavy drama and intensity as long as we remember OOC this simple quotation:
Be excellent to each other!

Gera Heliosense

Another little crisis

Two days ago we RPed Gera's trial in the Dark Den. I had been very excited to do that. When we did though I soon got myself into a mess. The RP was very heavy for me. My character was accused of many crimes, her words were twisted and used agains her, her weaknesses were reveiled and put on show. All in all pretty normal procedure in Glint. And absolutely great RP. But somehow I couldn't take it. I felt bad ooc. I couldn't cope with the fact that my character was hated so much. I thought I must have done something wrong because I never intended to get my character to be hated. There are some brilliant players who can do that but I never could which is the reason why I picked a character that is usually soft and tries to get on well with others. After a while I even got worried that this hatred was not just IC. Yes, what if the players really didn't like me and the way I play Gera. I literally choked up during the RP. My character said less and less. When it was over I was in daze like my character. She went outside the building and another player who plays one of the new judges stopped her and said she would like to take her to lunch to get over the shock. But I was so shaken from the trial RP that I couldn't play. I said to her ooc that I was too shaky after the heavy RP , that I couldn't cope with it right now. On top of that I crahshed as soon as we were starting the lunch scene. She was very kind and understanding. I was ready to log off when another player whom I admire alot stopped Gera and took her over to the garage for a quiet talk. He too noticed that something was wrong with me ooc. He asked and I told him that I was worried that this heavy RP trial had been more that just a game, that it was meant to get to me ooc. Thank god that I was honest about it because then he told me something that lifted a rock from my heart. He saidthe good, regular players that people like, tend to get the harder plays.You dont take that time and effort for someone you dont like ooc.
I can't even put in words how much his words meant to me. How he calmed me down and made me realize that everything was fine. I love Glint and its players so much, love the RP there. This sim is my home and I really need to get my head straight.

Better now

Where have they been hiding you? That was delicious!!!
That was surely the best RP I've had here...and I thank you for it!

Isn't SL wonderful. Just after I had posted here, I went inworld to the DD. Went to the church, not looking on the map and found myself in front of a fairly new player.
We started to rp and it was just awesome. He was witty, descriptive, just basically a very very good roleplayer and after we had finished the scene, he IMed me ooc and said the sentence above.

Now I feel so much better. Maybe my roleplay isn't that bad after all. So I get up, dust myself off , take a deep breath and get back into the game.

Personal RP crisis?

Lately I am not happy with my roleplaying in DD. I find its neither witty nor does it always make sense. I find it a struggle to play true to my character bacause lately my character is in some sort of crisis and she is unsure who she really is. I notice that I am playing not as bold as I used to. I am very careful lately and get insecure about everything, even about the fact that I am not a native speaker. Also I do a lot of typos. We've got a lot of very good roleplayers at DD and I fear I am not up to standart. I don't know why I never worried about all this before. I just hope I get over it soon.

When rl eats sl

Since I had a change in my rl schedule, my roleplaying in sl has come somewhat to a hold. This is mainly because of the timezones. Before Timezones didn't bother me. I could be online daytime or nightime. I pretty much worked around my rp partners who are mostly from overseas. But now I haven't seen Dunnagh for example for over a week. I hope we can work out a new schedule. Because without any rp my sl would loose all sense.

First post

My new blog will be about places and people I've met and my roleplaying in second life.