[OOC] Arena FAQ/Advice

[ImportantNobody]

Imagining a tough character getting beaten up by a child is amusing, at least.

[Bartimaeus]

Hmm ill have to come up with a backstory of some sort to fix that problem

[Impaqt]

@Bartimaeus At the risk of quoting myself, I think these points pertain most to this conversation.

However, while we're being honest with ourselves here, most of us know when we read our writing on children that it comes across weird, but for the sake of "adding that extra cuteness" or "Provoking some feeling from the innocence of a child", we cut corners and go over the top. I'll be blunt here. It's sloppy and it's bad writing.

Stupid Anime. Stupid Cookie Cutter Children, that are usually just adults in child bodies or emotional annoyances. There. I got that out of my system.) I don't hate anime. I watch it myself, but sometimes, I just have to cringe.

you have to attack mannerisms. There are, quite simply, things kids like and do not like doing. For example: children under five are very prone to tantrums. Consistently writing a child who is quiet, never complains, and always does what they are told, leads me to hope that you have some brilliant subplot about them being a robot or similar being. Otherwise, something is wrong.

The final check in the behavior of children is physical action. In a normal situation, children do not outrun cars. They don't cook three course meals on their own. They don't jump off buildings and turn out okay or lift things twice their weight. Unless your child is a superhero, in which case you can feel free to make them jump off as many buildings as your heart desires.

A Child is as Multi-Faceted as any other character. The expression of these “facets” will differ in many cases to those of an adult

Child characters are not adults

Another case of this is children being completely unfrightened by severe injury or deformity because of their innocence. Just being around other people gives the child a general template of what a healthy or well-formed person should look like. A child's survival instincts will usually steer them away from anyone who does not fit the template. These instincts are so powerful that some small children are terrified by even small deviances from the template - some have been known to cry in terror when someone puts on a hat or a pair of glasses.

Sometimes a child will be portrayed as intelligent enough to pull off a relatively sophisticated con or prank, yet can't figure out why their victim would be angry or upset about it. To pull off a con of any kind requires you to have a relatively good comprehension of human behavior. Furthermore, the whole point of a con (eg, tricking little Sally into turning loose of her dolly) is getting someone to do something they would never do under other circumstances.

Children who are completely fearless in their ignorance and innocence, blissfully frocking into situations where grown adults would wet their pants in terror. This is Hogwash. Children are just as fearful as adults are, if not more, because they haven't learned the not everything that makes a loud or strange noise, or crawls out from under the bed, won't hurt them. Although children are more impulsive and get get themselves into more danger than adults, they still have survival instincts.

As a last note, writing completely from a child’s point of view can rob the work of necessary perspective.

Try to allow for adult exposition etc. (for example, have my narrator looking back from a future place, slipping the odd insight in here and there — though there are other methods.)

@Impaqt

If you want an adult, make an adult. Don't make a child, but really it's just an adult with the added "Cuteness" and "Innocence" which is exactly what you're trying to do here. Don't. For the sake of everyone's sanity that might unknowingly fight this character, don't. If you do keep them together for some unGodly reason, make a clear line where this is a child and this is an adult, and don't EVER cross those lines. For example, your Demon should never ever come to the front and control the child. It's boring, unoriginal, and plain bad. I'm not a fan of multiple personality characters though. Most people aren't, I don't think. They tend to be fatally bland. I think that's what most of these guys are trying to get at. A common mistake in authors is trying to fit way too much in one character, that their character becomes non-relatable (Why is this word coming up as incorrect on my screen?). Once you do that, you lose all interest. This is more-so I think in Roleplays where people try to make their characters fit every niche' as possible. I imagine, this could be an even greater problem in an Arena setting. So, these guys aren't going to play coy with that kind of thing. They see it and recognize it and will murder it if given the opportunity. The simplest character is probably, more often that not, the best one.

[Bartimaeus]

Maybe the demon has put ideas in her head that tell her to destroy all religion because its a selfish pursuit that would corode the world and put it in darkness, but he cant do it without her help because he needs a body of passage? Pretty crude idea, but just puttin it out there.
would that be a reason?

[Impaqt]

My youngest characters I'd probably play as would be around 8 to 12 where it's more reasonable if they are an awesome prodigy they can still kick some butt.

@ImportantNobody

Also, I agree with this. 5 might be too young for an arena setting character. I can't really see you legitimately explaining how it is that a 5 year old came to fight monsters and so forth. 8-12 is much more reasonable.

[Bartimaeus]

So your basically saying i should remove the demon if i want people to fight her?

[Impaqt]

So your basically saying i should remove the demon if i want people to fight her?

@Bartimaeus

I'm saying you should remove the demon if you want to create a good relatable character that doesn't try to fill every niche' and has room to grow upon. Proper story telling.

But yes. I'm not much for sugar coating. I'm trying to watch my sweets.

[Bartimaeus]

Mmm well would you say Scylla (an ancient beast) is a good example or bad example of what you are saying is unnexceptable?

[Rilla]

Personally, if I'm making a character and I have to jump through tons of hoops to get to the motivation, or the reason why they do what they do, to me - it's not a good character. If I have to add a bunch of stuff to justify why he's doing this, that, or the third, because I don't wanna change some other part of him; then I have to learn to change the offending party or come up with something else.

[Bartimaeus]

Im kind of looking for an innocent approach thats why im making her so young. Maybe she could be under the.wing of someone who is bad so she does what shes told (sometimmes).

[Bartimaeus]

Or perhaps i could make her a new race, and call it like a bloodchild or something and they stay eternally young with a lust for violence?

[Impaqt]

Mmm well would you say Scylla (an ancient beast) is a good example or bad example of what you are saying is unnexceptable?

@Bartimaeus

Scylla is not a proper child. Scylla is a monster who is portrayed as a child. There is no child like attributes to her at all, other than being presented as a midget. If you want to write a midget though, go for it. Just don't make the false claim that it is a child, with a child like perspective, innocence and demeanor. Call it for what it is.

[Bartimaeus]

Okay hm im in quite a ruck here, i need to find a way to make it realist for a child or 7 or so to fight grown warriors.

[Rilla]

Okay hm im in quite a ruck here, i need to find a way to make it realist for a child or 7 or so to fight grown warriors.

@Bartimaeus

9 times out of 10, you won't. Unless the child comes from a very strict, warrior orientated class in which children are indoctrinated into the warrior caste as soon as they can walk and hold stuff. Even then they'd have a high death rate, because they are children.

[Bartimaeus]

I think i might have it tho.
Maybe she is some kind of slave and is forced to enter tournaments by her masters, because they are too cowardly to enter themselves, and then she escapes and she continues to fight because it is the only way she knows how to make money to survive.

[Rilla]

Why wouldn't she have /died/ in an early fight?

[Impaqt]

I think i might have it tho.
Maybe she is some kind of slave and is forced to enter tournaments by her masters, because they are too cowardly to enter themselves, and then she escapes and she continues to fight because it is the only way she knows how to make money to survive.

@Bartimaeus

If she's forced to fight, then it's already unrealistic of a child. She'd sooner throw a tantrum and get herself killed

[Rilla]

<Snipped quote by Bartimaeus>

If she's forced to fight, then it's already unrealistic of a child. She'd sooner throw a tantrum and get herself killed

@Impaqt

Or cry in terror.

And die.

mainly die.

[Bartimaeus]

But they tell her she will die if she doesnt fight, so she does the best she can, until she can escape via a whole in the wall that her opponent makes by missing, and she runs through it and escapes.

[Rilla]

But they tell her she will die if she doesnt fight, so she does the best she can, until she can escape via a whole in the wall that her opponent makes by missing, and she runs through it and escapes.

@Bartimaeus

And no one manages to stop a young girl child from escaping?

--
Why not just make a golem, or something, in the shape of a child?