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PCA - The Next Step
16 years ago
So what's next for the PCA? It's no secret that things aren't what they were when this thing began. What used to be a wild, spontaneous, fun thing has been bogged down with problems, overall morale in the gutter. Exaggeration? Up to you, but there's no denying that things now are not what they have been and not what they could be. Can the PCA as we know it be salvaged? Yes, but not without work. So what can be done to restore the PCA to its "glory days"? Here are my opinions, take them for what you will.
No more endless legislation
This subject has more than anything been the chief point of the comments, notes, IMs, and other communication I've received lately. People are tired of being told what they can or can't do, people are tired of having their creativity stifled. The PCA, as has been stated before, is a communal art project, not a role-playing scenario. There is no such thing as "canon" beyond what each individual person is willing to accept. Guidelines? Sure. All worlds need some structure, but holding onto them with a stranglehold, immediately denouncing anything that deviates from them in the slightest? Absolutely not the way to go.
People are intelligent enough to judge for themselves what is or is not a good story, character, or idea. And the vast majority of people in the PCA are not strict purists who are merely trying to put text onto the rigid rules and structure of the games that it is based upon. People want freedom to explore the strange and unusual, the freedom to build upon an idea and world, not be bound by the pathetically restrictive rules of a video game. As has been stated in the past, there is absolutely no need for it. If someone comes up with something over the top and insane, it will be ignored by the community as a whole. If two or three people want to make that "their" canon, so be it. If someone comes up with a good idea that is embraced by the vast majority of the people involved but that bends or breaks one of the established rules, what's the problem? They obviously did something good or it wouldn't be popular. That's the whole idea behind a project like this. Everyone can bring and take away whatever they please. But forcing people to jump through hoops in order to conform to the ideas of a few is part of what got us in this mess to begin with.
Darius has got to go
Let's face facts. Darius was a bad idea that was poorly implemented. The focus of the PCA should be on the students and their stories. The rivalries should be between them, not between them and a god-like faculty. Every now and then, sure, the faculty gets to star in an episode of their own, but for the most part they should be background characters. Darius has from day one set out to focus the spotlight on him. He was supposed to be a temporary event to show up, make everyone miserable, and then get run out of town on a rail. But that didn't happen. Nor will it.
Left on his own, Darius will never do anything to warrant his removal because as I've stated, those who control him simply do not want him to leave. In this his purpose has been betrayed and abandoned, and therefore it is time for him to go. He has done nothing positive for the school or the project and is a huge source of diminished morale. Nobody wants him to hang around to tell the story of how awesome he is, people just want him gone, he has overstayed his welcome. An effective villain is one that you want to see the good guys beat, you want to see them gone "in-character". Not so here.
Darius needs to be removed before the PCA can return to the "glory days". There are several suitable candidates that can serve as a replacement, none of which will focus the attention on themselves and let it return to where it belongs - the students and their stories. It's time to admit to a mistake and let it die before it can do any more damage. No excuses, just do what has to be done for the good of the community. If dragging out a failed plot in order to keep the attention on him is more important than the good of the PCA as a whole, well, so be it I suppose.
No more meta-plots, only events
A meta-plot is something (like Darius) that affects the entirety of the school and setting, people cannot choose to ignore it and do their own thing. Events are things like an upcoming dance, spring break, or the big pokeball game. Events give people the option of going along with it or ignoring it to do their own thing. Nobody is forced to do anything or forced to deal with events, unlike meta-plots which force everyone to go along for the ride, like it or not.
This is related to the idea of "don't tell us what to do" but bears mention in its own category. Provide inspiration sure, but don't drag people around by a ring and force them to play along with something that they may have zero interest in and that will ultimately get them to go do something else.
More interaction
In the beginning there was a lot of interaction between the various members of the PCA. Back and forth stories, drawings, comics, and other ideas. Everyone responded to each other to create an ever-growing tale. Then at some point, this stopped. I suspect it is because of the above reasons, but we need a return to that. People need to just pick someone that interests them and do something. Maybe they'll respond, maybe they won't. People are busy, people often have many irons in the fire. But sooner or later something will click so keep at it.
Whenever two people interact in this way there should never be need for a third party to approve of it. I think that if the freedom to express themselves returns this sort of thing will return as well, but it needs to if the PCA is to return to what it was.
Stop the obsession with "real-time"
Some people are far more guilty of this than others. The PCA does not function in real time. It cannot. A story that takes up 10 minutes of "game time" to play out can take months of "real time" to write or illustrate. This sort of art project cannot be bound by time constraints. This means stop trying to apply temporal logic. Your students do not age a year every time the real-world calendar year rolls around. They've had three Christmases and are still a freshman? Yeah, welcome to the Simpsons fiction time. We do not exist in a linear timestream nor should we. We aren't trying to build a canon story, we're trying to tell a multitude of stories all existing in roughly the same time/space continuum. But maybe not entirely.
Point is, focus on telling your story or drawing your art, stop obsessing over the logic and chronology in these things. That isn't the point. Think in terms of chapters, not a cover to cover novel.
Other ideas? Opinions? Feel free to add to this list or come up with your own, this is how I see things having been here since day one and watched things unfold. I loved the PCA concept when it started and have watched it gradually crumble. My interest is in rebuilding it and restoring it to what it once was, but to do that it needs to be built on a strong foundation, not one based off of bad ideas and rash decisions.
No more endless legislation
This subject has more than anything been the chief point of the comments, notes, IMs, and other communication I've received lately. People are tired of being told what they can or can't do, people are tired of having their creativity stifled. The PCA, as has been stated before, is a communal art project, not a role-playing scenario. There is no such thing as "canon" beyond what each individual person is willing to accept. Guidelines? Sure. All worlds need some structure, but holding onto them with a stranglehold, immediately denouncing anything that deviates from them in the slightest? Absolutely not the way to go.
People are intelligent enough to judge for themselves what is or is not a good story, character, or idea. And the vast majority of people in the PCA are not strict purists who are merely trying to put text onto the rigid rules and structure of the games that it is based upon. People want freedom to explore the strange and unusual, the freedom to build upon an idea and world, not be bound by the pathetically restrictive rules of a video game. As has been stated in the past, there is absolutely no need for it. If someone comes up with something over the top and insane, it will be ignored by the community as a whole. If two or three people want to make that "their" canon, so be it. If someone comes up with a good idea that is embraced by the vast majority of the people involved but that bends or breaks one of the established rules, what's the problem? They obviously did something good or it wouldn't be popular. That's the whole idea behind a project like this. Everyone can bring and take away whatever they please. But forcing people to jump through hoops in order to conform to the ideas of a few is part of what got us in this mess to begin with.
Darius has got to go
Let's face facts. Darius was a bad idea that was poorly implemented. The focus of the PCA should be on the students and their stories. The rivalries should be between them, not between them and a god-like faculty. Every now and then, sure, the faculty gets to star in an episode of their own, but for the most part they should be background characters. Darius has from day one set out to focus the spotlight on him. He was supposed to be a temporary event to show up, make everyone miserable, and then get run out of town on a rail. But that didn't happen. Nor will it.
Left on his own, Darius will never do anything to warrant his removal because as I've stated, those who control him simply do not want him to leave. In this his purpose has been betrayed and abandoned, and therefore it is time for him to go. He has done nothing positive for the school or the project and is a huge source of diminished morale. Nobody wants him to hang around to tell the story of how awesome he is, people just want him gone, he has overstayed his welcome. An effective villain is one that you want to see the good guys beat, you want to see them gone "in-character". Not so here.
Darius needs to be removed before the PCA can return to the "glory days". There are several suitable candidates that can serve as a replacement, none of which will focus the attention on themselves and let it return to where it belongs - the students and their stories. It's time to admit to a mistake and let it die before it can do any more damage. No excuses, just do what has to be done for the good of the community. If dragging out a failed plot in order to keep the attention on him is more important than the good of the PCA as a whole, well, so be it I suppose.
No more meta-plots, only events
A meta-plot is something (like Darius) that affects the entirety of the school and setting, people cannot choose to ignore it and do their own thing. Events are things like an upcoming dance, spring break, or the big pokeball game. Events give people the option of going along with it or ignoring it to do their own thing. Nobody is forced to do anything or forced to deal with events, unlike meta-plots which force everyone to go along for the ride, like it or not.
This is related to the idea of "don't tell us what to do" but bears mention in its own category. Provide inspiration sure, but don't drag people around by a ring and force them to play along with something that they may have zero interest in and that will ultimately get them to go do something else.
More interaction
In the beginning there was a lot of interaction between the various members of the PCA. Back and forth stories, drawings, comics, and other ideas. Everyone responded to each other to create an ever-growing tale. Then at some point, this stopped. I suspect it is because of the above reasons, but we need a return to that. People need to just pick someone that interests them and do something. Maybe they'll respond, maybe they won't. People are busy, people often have many irons in the fire. But sooner or later something will click so keep at it.
Whenever two people interact in this way there should never be need for a third party to approve of it. I think that if the freedom to express themselves returns this sort of thing will return as well, but it needs to if the PCA is to return to what it was.
Stop the obsession with "real-time"
Some people are far more guilty of this than others. The PCA does not function in real time. It cannot. A story that takes up 10 minutes of "game time" to play out can take months of "real time" to write or illustrate. This sort of art project cannot be bound by time constraints. This means stop trying to apply temporal logic. Your students do not age a year every time the real-world calendar year rolls around. They've had three Christmases and are still a freshman? Yeah, welcome to the Simpsons fiction time. We do not exist in a linear timestream nor should we. We aren't trying to build a canon story, we're trying to tell a multitude of stories all existing in roughly the same time/space continuum. But maybe not entirely.
Point is, focus on telling your story or drawing your art, stop obsessing over the logic and chronology in these things. That isn't the point. Think in terms of chapters, not a cover to cover novel.
Other ideas? Opinions? Feel free to add to this list or come up with your own, this is how I see things having been here since day one and watched things unfold. I loved the PCA concept when it started and have watched it gradually crumble. My interest is in rebuilding it and restoring it to what it once was, but to do that it needs to be built on a strong foundation, not one based off of bad ideas and rash decisions.
More interaction!
MORE INTERACTION!
Okay, so that was already put up there, but I just think it's incredibly important. The more we interact with each other, the more likely we'll be normed to each others' ideas and systems, and the less conflicts we'll have.
And loosening up when something happens that invalidates/violates personal canon should be encouraged too.
Other than that? Hm. We'll have to see as the future unfolds.
Bah, making me read more than one journal! The nerve of you kids nowadays!
I'm kidding, it's just that, that last sentence sounds like a statement my grandparents would say to me.
I just like sounding like a grumpy old man sometimes.
that and MORE INTRERACTION/ROLEPLAYS!!
Of course, this does bring about sticking point number two. The use of other people's characters. My response to this particular sticking point is that you can talk to the owners of the characters you may want to use and see if it is okay to use them in your future setting. You can discuss what may happen, what may not have happened, what you want to have be your own particular canon.
The point is, there is nothing preventing us from writing future stories, art, or what not or even doing stuff that deals with that past. Carlito has said it, and it does need to be repeated, we make our own canon. Others may buy into it, ask to do stuff in that particular canon, maybe even accept as their own canon. Others may just well ignore it completely. Kinda the chance you have to take.
But it leaves me to wonder about who these two are. BTW, I was off it was a chairman, my bad.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1832260/ it's the Shayman and Arceus, that I'm now curious about.
*Leaves to plot*