Subject: Idea: Ask the Agents.
Author:
Posted on: 2012-08-26 14:57:00 UTC
After reading the "Fourth Wall Mail Slot" trope on TvTropes I realized it would be a fun thing to have PPC Agents answer to random "fan" questions.
Or maybe "Ask the Sunflower Official".
A bit like this (from the webcomic Misfile):
http://www.misfile.com/askash.page?lastViewed=1
Sure, it would be a tricky thing to find a way to make it work, but it sounds funny.
In order to unite the scattered tribes of the PPC into a more perfect union - or just because I've always been quite fascinated by the idea of large numbers of people working together on something like this - I propose a Mega-project. Not a mega-crossover (we've had a bunch of those) but a project. Something we haven't done before. Something we can look at afterwards and say, "You know what? We made that. We're pretty awesome when we work together."
I have a few proposals, arranged in rough order of preference. They mostly consist of everyone doing a little thing, and one person (me) doing a lot of background work to integrate it.
-A PPC Community Choir: My definite favourite. This would involve everyone who can recording themselves singing the same song (I'm thinking the one written by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber for the Queen's diamond jubilee - I think it's called 'Sing', and it's a really nice song), at the same speed (ie, to a recording), and sending it in to me. I would then mix them all together and create a choir effect. If possible, this would involve some people also sending videos of themselves singing it, so a fair number of those could appear (likely multi-panel'd, so not just one person at a time).
I think it would a) sound very impressive (the 'I can't sing!!1' aspect would be drowned out - and I'd only use your best bits, so you wouldn't even need to record it all), b) be easy for everyone else (it would take literally ten minutes), and c) ... just be awesome. But yes, I came up with alternatives.
-The PPC Community Poster: You know those mosaic things where a bunch of tiny pictures make up one huge image? I have a program that can make those. If everyone sent in a picture of themselves, I could make them come together into something bigger - probably a picture of the SO, this is the PPC after all, but something else if people prefer.
-The PPC Community Choose-Your-Own-Adventure: This would be very easy to do with a wiki (either as a subset of The Wiki or a standalone): create a start page, create two dead-link options leading off it. The next person chooses which one they want to follow, clicks, and (if the page doesn't exist) writes the next part of the story. It builds up a CYOA that never has to end (though it can), and which builds itself. The reason I don't particularly like this one is that 'let's write a story together' is not something we've never done before - and it doesn't immediately give the impression of a community working as one.
-The PPC Community Spiderweb: This is the one I could actually just about do by myself (if I had all forever). Make a chart which draws links between every agent of the PPC, and everyone they've shared a page with. It could also, theoretically, be done with authors who've written together, but that would be very sparse. Boarders who've met or chatted is another option, but the former would be almost nonexistent, while the latter might as well be designated 'Everyone---Everyone else'. I quite like this in principle, but a) it's story-related again, and b) not everyone in the Community writes missions, so it would be exclusive. On the other hand, I may have to make one for my own cast of reprobates already.
After reading the "Fourth Wall Mail Slot" trope on TvTropes I realized it would be a fun thing to have PPC Agents answer to random "fan" questions.
Or maybe "Ask the Sunflower Official".
A bit like this (from the webcomic Misfile):
http://www.misfile.com/askash.page?lastViewed=1
Sure, it would be a tricky thing to find a way to make it work, but it sounds funny.
(Yes, in addition to the Spiderweb. This one will take you literally five minutes, so I figure you'll handle it)
The PPC Community Poster will be a tiled mosaic of the PPC Wiki logo, made up of the pictures you send in instead of pixels. For your part, all you (yes, you - even if you've only been here five minutes, you're still a member of the PPC community!) have to do is send in your picture - and your name. These don't have to be sent together - separate emails, separate email addresses, or an anonymous email with a note here to say you've sent, I don't care. I just want to be able to put a credits list in.
As to 'your picture', that can be any of the following (although it's vastly preferable to send in the first):
-A photograph of yourself.
-A photograph of yourself when you were unrecognisably younger.
-A digitally modified photo of yourself.
-A drawing (/painting/etc) of yourself.
-A doll-maker image of yourself (/Sims portrait/whatever - but try to make it look like you).
-A photo of something you think symbolises you.
It cannot be any of the following:
-A photo of someone else. The only exception to this is photos of animals - but I would prefer that they be ones you have taken yourself, not one you pulled off the first page of Google.
-Clipart. That's just lazy.
-Anything that would raise the raiting or discomfort level. Photos of you with no clothes on making a rude gesture with one hand while hugging Fidel Castro with the other are not appropriate (although the CIA might want to talk to you...).
-In a non-standard format which requires me to search the internet for something that reads .zqr files.
My email address is above, or can be reached simply as my username at hotmail dot com.
(And if you have something you'd like to send in but you're not sure it fits, heck, send it anyway. Inclusion is more fun that rules-lawyering)
hS, hoping this works
I've submitted a picture of myself for this, here's hoping there's nothing wrong with it!
Your picture brings us up to a nice round total of, uh, 29.
What? The 9 is pretty darn round!
hS
Technically, it's a drawing of me as a Vel'Vloz'Ress scourge, drawn by the people of Drowtales, so it's not a human, but I think it should count.
Have all the fun with it!
(I suggest that when push comes to shove you use pictures of the Agents too???)
I look forwards to seeing how this turns out. :D
Sadly, this is probably the most recognizable picture of me in the PPC.
It's true - so sadly true...
(I may run into a small problem: for this to work really well, it needs a couple of hundred pictures to start from. There aren't that many in the PPC, let alone likely to contribute. I... think I'll have to use flashpatches as well)
hS
I'm not sure why I forgot this, but since you set up the Temple and the Smiting Closet, I'm sure you have the original image of stick!Araeph. Feel free to use it.
I wanted this to be a Community-oriented poster, and given the number of agents we have (lots) compared to the number of 'real' people whose photos I have so far (nine), we'd be rather lost in the crowd.
hS
There is a Spiderweb by now, but why not to attempt others too? I personally can't quite pick a favourite, but currently rooting for Poster. I don't sing very well - some practice needed - and CYOA could get really messy. So yes, poster.
While sending in pictures could get "don't give out information" alarm for some people, we could make some turns in there. Maybe let people draw pictures of themselves (or Agents, if they have) and send those - paint-people aren't probably that easily recognizable as photo-people. Or a picture of something that they think symbolizes them (I'm still attempting to make a PPC uniform, that means DMS flash patch).
Or a PPC live action film, where only problem (and a big problem) is getting participants in the same place. I sometimes imagine missions as really fancy cop shows... my brain has clearly seen too much TV crime.
I haven't tried that one, but when I made an UNTIL uniform (out of the Champions universe) a couple Costume Cons ago I used fabric paint for both the division badge and the UNTIL logo on the combat vest. It worked well, just use a very small paintbrush instead of the squeeze tip on the bottle.
Getting back on topic, my agents haven't had direct interactions in-mission, but I'm willing to change that. And the mission I'm working on currently should provide a free-to-all NPC. I'm also up for the poster -- by the time we shrink photos down enough to make the master image, no one's going to be recognizable anyway.
While each option seems fun, there are a few flaws that io'd like to point out:
1) For the first and second option, it would require sending in pictures and videos which, if you're like me and you've had it drilled into your head not to share personal information/ pictures/ amorous messages with people on the internet, is something that many people would be reluctant to do.
2)Also for the first one, many people have voiced their concern about not being able to sing, which doesn't really matter as we're not auditioning for Broadway, but less people are going to want to share if their singing is not up to par, diminishing from the choir effect. Also, I don't have any means of recording myself.
3)The third option seems the most feasible in terms of everyone agreeing on it and participating, but a) how will we end it and b) how can we make sure that the quality of writing is up to snuff, especially if it has a lot of different options to sort through.
4) Though yo've already started the spiderweb, I need to point out that doing it by agents would not include anyone who does not have permission and, as I said below, many people's agents do not interact with the agents of other authors.
All that being said, I think the CYOA would probably work out the best, as long as it's kept under control. Maybe have deadlines for the story to end, or a maximum amout of links per story line? Dunno, but I'd really like to work on something like that.
1/ I understand this exists, but since I am probably the most photographed person in the PPC (see, all the gatherings except Edmonton), I can't say I understand it. Additionally, the only person who would know who was who would be me - and you can probably think of ways around that, too (eg, sending the vid/pic from one email and a note that you've done so some time later from another).
2/ This is why I tried to present it as a fun thing, not omuguhserious. I can't sing either, you know. And I'm working on the assumption that most people have a microphone or digital camera around somewhere. I may be wrong.
3/ Who says it has to end? Again, it's a community project. Anyone who wants can cap off a particular strand, but there doesn't have to be an end to the whole thing. If it gets nearly dead, the remaining editors could devote their time to ending each surviving thread, I suppose. As to writing quality - er, we're the PPC. We're supposed to be reasonably self-aware. If you don't think you can write well enough to do it justice (generic you, not you-you), don't write - or ask someone to beta you.
4/ I believe I noted the 'not everyone writes' thing myself. And I've covered your other point below.
5/ Wait, there is no 5.
hS
And on the Wiki, too!
So far it contains only my agents (as taken from my User page), but the system for you to add yours to the Master List is in place. I'll upload a new version in about a day, if anyone feels like contributing...
hS
Every single Intelligence agent is all alone or in a self-contained bubble.
Intel truly is the most isolated department in HQ... but not if I can help it.
*Makes self some tea, starts brainstorming ideas for (Un)Intelligence*
... is how scattered each department is. Unlike a real-world situation, you don't have (say) all the Floaters near each other - because authors don't care about department boundaries when their agents meet.
hS
Caddy and I did have a discussion about that at some point during all our collaborations, since our agents are in two different Departments. We put in a scene of our agents trying to be sneaky and requesting assignments together.
As an aside, I don't know if I put the colors in wrong in my adding of stuff, or if it just translated wrong (though I'm leaning towards, I messed something up), but there are a few people (Dr. Freedenberg, for sure) under the wrong color on the picture. And there are a few colors that didn't look the same on the chart I was looking at when I was picking colors, but look nearly identical on the spiderweb picture, like the magenta and hot pink, and the dark goldenrod 1 and yellow.
... the only people who ever did. ;)
It is a bit of a fiddly process, and I've been hunting down errors as I spot them (for instance, extra square brackets cause a program crash). I'll take a look at the Doc when I get a chance - tomorrow, that'll be - and maybe come up with some alternative colours for the ones that look too similar. Bear in mind I'm colour-blind (red-green), so I may be more restrictive about that than you would be.
Best three errors so far:
-You, I think, didn't put quote marks around someone with three names - which resulted in his last name appearing properly, while the other two were off as isolated units elsewhere.
-Araeph decided 'darkred' is a colour on the chart. It isn't. Cue me, facepalming.
-This one I think is a program error... the last two agents added last night don't show up. No matter what I do. Even if I move them up to the top of the list and write them in myself. It's weird.
hS
That color is on the SVG color scheme, not the X11 list. All those shiny colors are so distracting...
Ouch. It's going to take me a while, if we're counting that.
Got my main agents up, though.
Araeph
Do we just pick a new color if we are working on it and find a department that doesn't have a color currently listed?
I'm looking at Department of Floaters and the All-Purpose Department at the moment.
Sorry for pelting you with questions.
But you've sorted that one out, so.
Question: are you planning on tying together any of those agents you've linked to Miah? Because I've spotted at least a few sets of partners in there (not to mention four nursery kids with the same surname...)
hS
Yes. Agent Miah was my most connected character, and it took me all evening to finish her. I'm going to work on the others today.
That web is looking so cool!
... that so many of them tied in so quickly. From what I can tell, Lily's the only author not linked at all.
And that doesn't seem to (mostly) be running through nexuses (nexii?). Okay, there's Miah, who will doubtless be an anchor for a huge chunk, but other than her... it's just 'people knowing people' as no-one says.
It's somewhat awesome.
hS
Unless I find more things I have forgotten about, I am finished with my characters.
This is turning out to be really fun. And has had me reviewing through stuff I have written. I found that I have quite a lot of missing word typos in a couple of stories that I need to go fix, that I had five characters from stories that I had not entered onto the wiki, and that I am terribly behind in updating my master list of PPC fics.
I also found several collaborations that I started with others but didn't finish, so maybe it'll result in some of those finally being completed.
This has been exactly what I needed to excited about writing for the PPC again.
Thanks, for coming up with this idea.
If you feel a burning need to keep adding things even though your characters are done with, there's a whole lot of missions by people who aren't around any more out there... :P
hS
Do you have any suggestion as to who would be good to start with?
He has lots of characters, but I don't know how much they link in.
I've already done the two sets of DAVD missions, and made a start on Nenya and Rosie... I think I covered the Department of Improbabilities, too. Beyond that...
Well. Probably the best idea would be to find someone whose missions a) look interesting to you and b) you haven't read - then go from there.
hS
Do we include community written characters that our agents have interacted with?
Not just the more popular ones like Luxury and Makes-Things, but also the ones that require permission to be used like some of the FicPsych personnel or the ones that like Kelemen Totth that are free to use, but as far as I know have only been used by one person (in this case, myself).
Thanks for reminding me - when some more people have added, I'll work the Great HQ Genderbend in for mine...
hS
I love their non-message-y flavor.
I've just taken a look, and while it's good for your agents, I think there will be a bit of trouble connecting everyone else's agents. Many agents only interact with other characters by the same author, unless there's a co-write (which doesn't happen very often). The only common denominators I can think of would be if you included agents that didn't belong to anyone, like Makes-Things or Lux because eventually everyone interacts with them. Either that or include the Flowers, which would then lead to a ton of lines sprouting off that go nowhere.
The point is to find the links in the community - which there are more of than you think. Note, for instance, that 'my' agents include seven or eight different authors. I've also cowritten with Neshomeh and kippur - and, counting the Quiddich league, I have points of contact with July and... Sara, maybe?
I've also included at least one RP - the link from Morgan to Colt is solely from two of them, I think - and there's things like the Sue Invasion, which ties in a lot of the older agents.
Yes, some agents will stand by themselves (Sambar, for instance, hasn't interacted with anyone other than the Clover... um, ever). But a) many more won't, and b) that's a writing opportunity, not a problem.
hS
Because I recall Aria and Polaris at the battle for HFA (I could be wrong; I haven't read that in ages) and I know there were many, many Agents at the battle for IAHF (My Agents, Supernumerary, Chalk, Jenka, Mal, etcetc).
There's no have to involved anywhere. But if your agents have a recorded meeting with someone else's agents - which is what this comes down to (not, for instance, both appearing in Crashing Down) - then why would you /not/ put it in?
hS
The CYOA sounds neat, but like lots of stuff to do. And for the choir, while I approve of the idea, my microphone sucks and I really don't have a good voice. Not to mention that I can't sing!!1
But I'd be in for the poster.
I like the Community Spiderweb and Community Poster ideas. I wouldn't be able to participate in the Choir one, since I don't have very good recording equipment. I am also tentatively in favor of the CYOA, because that kind of seems like a huge undertaking.
I can't really sing very well at all, but I might blend into the background of the choir all right. Seriously that is the most awesome idea I've ever heard.
The community poster is also an amazing idea.
And even though the spider-web isn't not about writing, I really, really love that idea.
The CYOA is not a bad idea, but I'm not as excited about it as I am about the others.
This is a great post. Thank you.
All right, I'll probably jump on the CYOA bandwagon because everyone else is. But I think it would be awesome to have a Six Degrees of PPC Agent Separation-esque page in the works.
I think I'll go with the CYOA.
I particularly like the Choir and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure ideas.
Maybe, with the choir we could do two or three songs, so everyone can get to do a song they actually recognize? >.>
I'm particularly fond of the choir proposal, myself. I've never done anything like that before, and it sounds like a lot of fun.
The first two appeal rather a lot. I like singing, and I have no particular worries about anyone being overcome with the desire to find and stalk me if they see my pizza face on the internet. :p
That sounds fun! But I wonder, would t be possible to make two different offshoots of one prompt? Like, page A has options 1 and 2, and Boarders John and Jane fill those two options. Could Boarder James write a second version of option 2? It might get complicated real quick, but it would also allow for a more complex story.
... the spirit of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, doesn't it? And, well, it's already going to be doubling in options every page - that gets pretty big pretty quick.
Of course there's nothing to say you can't have more than two options...
hS
Although you do /not/ want to hear my singing voice! Very keen on the last three and would participate (although not super keen) in the first.
Plus, it will let people who haven't had any experience with working on the wiki try their hand at editing.
And the spiderweb thing would be cool. I would be willing to help out with it.