All right. As promised, I apologize for assuming you were a mod. I thought that strictly due to the timing coincidence, and because I could imagine the mods having some difficulty in their current situation. No offense was meant to your status as a player, and I'll consider your responses as such.
Our perspectives on Czes as a character seem to differ a lot, and to be completely honest, I'm not sure how much discussion is going to help. You're ascribing OOC goals as the deciding factor for how I play him, and with that kind of assumption, any reasons I give will (and seem to) be taken as an excuse. But your main complaint is a lack of background, and I can provide some of that if it would help.
Czes arrived in October 2013. He began searching for explosive materials the first month he was there, and has been building, selling, and using his bomb formula ever since. His motivations through the years have changed a little-- initially, he was under the impression test subjects killing each other might force a response from their captors. After learning about the clones and purpose of the Box, that plan became useless and he started trading instead for personal profit and to build contacts who would owe him favors. In canon, as in the Box, Czes is an alchemist who specializes in explosives, and has developed formulas more powerful and stable than any conventional explosives in his time. Examples of his bomb sales can be found in several posts (123456, to pick a few).
While Czes had no idea what the barrier's source might be until recently, and certainly no way to even consider destroying it, he's shown interest in the question before. As early as January of 2014, he talked with Loki about how it might be involved with the technicians' rituals-- and how it might be powered or disrupted (7). Later in the same year, when the barrier first became permeable from the outside, he investigated the tree that fell through it (8). He spent months studying it after (9, 10), and more recently considered the merits of dying in lava repeatedly if it would get him out (11). Czes has been focused on escape since the start of the game, and the barrier is the obvious problem keeping him from that.
Czeslaw's abilities stem from centuries of alchemical practice, and his resources have been gathered over the last two years. A full list of his current inventory can be found here. All of it was requested in resource posts. A lot of your criticism seems to stem from the assumption that I haven't played him long or put in work, and while you're entitled to say so, I'm not sure how much you know about what Czes has or hasn't done over the last few years. This isn't meant as criticism, just acknowledgement of the difficulty; Czes has tagged into more logs than any active character in the game, and I wouldn't expect you to have read them all. While you may not feel I play the character well, I have been very careful to build up his supplies and knowledge every step of the way.
The last point of ICness to address is the technicians. While I certainly won't dispute that they've shown control over vast resources, Czes has never been directly harmed by a technician. He's never been tortured by their hands. He's never seen any sign that they are anything other than fallible humans who've spent decades hiding from the people they hurt. This train event is the first time in the history of the game that the technicians have confronted player characters without a barrier to keep them safe, so yes, he sees them as both distant and vulnerable. Claire viscerally proved himself to be a terrifying monster. The technicians, Czes sees as more similar to himself.
I'm not going to reply to what you've said about me OOCly, since while it's upsetting, it's not especially relevant to Czes. However, I am sorry that I've come off as some kind of overbearing plot stealer. I'm more sorry that you don't feel like you could tell me to stay out of your plots. The last thing I wanted to do was limit other people's options, and while I realize you likely don't want to un-anon yourself (and I'm not asking you to), if you or anyone else puts forth an idea that Czes' efforts could damage, I'd be glad to work with you to avoid that. When it comes down to it, though, the metaplot is a game-wide thing, and your view that Czes isn't the sort to involve himself is one I respectfully disagree with. I hope this background helps make that seem more reasonable, even if our character interpretations aren't the same.
I'm certain that you'll do whatever you think is right and continue to ignore general criticism about your behavior as a player and in-game behavior. As you're already showing that you do not seem to want to change anything that you are doing.
It does not alleviate any issues that I have with you, unfortunately. But you already knew that you were going to just be feeling like you are giving excuses. So we're at an impasse. You don't think you're doing anything wrong, and you don't intend to change.
So, there's no point to do anything else on either of our parts.
I'm sorry we couldn't reach an accord. When you'd laid out so much concern first about Czes' behavior not matching canon and then about it having no basis, I hoped that discussing the canon and in-game foundations might be constructive for us both. That's clearly not the case. I admit to some confusion why you'd say all of those things if you didn't care about them after all, but when it comes down to it, I suppose that's not what matters.
What is important is that you feel uncomfortable as a result of my actions. If there's anything I can do to make things less awkward for you, please feel free to approach me again. As above, I'm willing to work around your or others' ideas. I can exclude him from your plots or try to tailor the effect of his own actions on you. I can alter my own ooc behavior within reasonable boundaries. But you're correct that I'm not willing to downgrade Czes to "just surviving" in the game rather than being a participant in its story. Not as a result of this.
You've leveled a lot of accusations about my character's OOCness and about my impatient, lazy play style. But you've also told me repeatedly there's nothing wrong with a character trying to take actions in the metaplot when they have the position and motive to do so. I agree, and after two years of maneuvering under a constant threat, I feel this applies to Czes.
Thank you for voicing your disagreement. Thank you for highlighting concerns for me to be more careful of from here on out. Whatever your issues with me, I'm grateful for your courage in speaking up, and I won't forget anything you've said.
I hope your own plots prove rewarding.
Edited (correcting two typos; "about first about" and "discussing of the canon") Date: 2015-06-28 01:28 pm (UTC)
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2015-06-27 09:10 am (UTC)Our perspectives on Czes as a character seem to differ a lot, and to be completely honest, I'm not sure how much discussion is going to help. You're ascribing OOC goals as the deciding factor for how I play him, and with that kind of assumption, any reasons I give will (and seem to) be taken as an excuse. But your main complaint is a lack of background, and I can provide some of that if it would help.
Czes arrived in October 2013. He began searching for explosive materials the first month he was there, and has been building, selling, and using his bomb formula ever since. His motivations through the years have changed a little-- initially, he was under the impression test subjects killing each other might force a response from their captors. After learning about the clones and purpose of the Box, that plan became useless and he started trading instead for personal profit and to build contacts who would owe him favors. In canon, as in the Box, Czes is an alchemist who specializes in explosives, and has developed formulas more powerful and stable than any conventional explosives in his time. Examples of his bomb sales can be found in several posts (1 2 3 4 5 6, to pick a few).
While Czes had no idea what the barrier's source might be until recently, and certainly no way to even consider destroying it, he's shown interest in the question before. As early as January of 2014, he talked with Loki about how it might be involved with the technicians' rituals-- and how it might be powered or disrupted (7). Later in the same year, when the barrier first became permeable from the outside, he investigated the tree that fell through it (8). He spent months studying it after (9, 10), and more recently considered the merits of dying in lava repeatedly if it would get him out (11). Czes has been focused on escape since the start of the game, and the barrier is the obvious problem keeping him from that.
Czeslaw's abilities stem from centuries of alchemical practice, and his resources have been gathered over the last two years. A full list of his current inventory can be found here. All of it was requested in resource posts. A lot of your criticism seems to stem from the assumption that I haven't played him long or put in work, and while you're entitled to say so, I'm not sure how much you know about what Czes has or hasn't done over the last few years. This isn't meant as criticism, just acknowledgement of the difficulty; Czes has tagged into more logs than any active character in the game, and I wouldn't expect you to have read them all. While you may not feel I play the character well, I have been very careful to build up his supplies and knowledge every step of the way.
The last point of ICness to address is the technicians. While I certainly won't dispute that they've shown control over vast resources, Czes has never been directly harmed by a technician. He's never been tortured by their hands. He's never seen any sign that they are anything other than fallible humans who've spent decades hiding from the people they hurt. This train event is the first time in the history of the game that the technicians have confronted player characters without a barrier to keep them safe, so yes, he sees them as both distant and vulnerable. Claire viscerally proved himself to be a terrifying monster. The technicians, Czes sees as more similar to himself.
I'm not going to reply to what you've said about me OOCly, since while it's upsetting, it's not especially relevant to Czes. However, I am sorry that I've come off as some kind of overbearing plot stealer. I'm more sorry that you don't feel like you could tell me to stay out of your plots. The last thing I wanted to do was limit other people's options, and while I realize you likely don't want to un-anon yourself (and I'm not asking you to), if you or anyone else puts forth an idea that Czes' efforts could damage, I'd be glad to work with you to avoid that. When it comes down to it, though, the metaplot is a game-wide thing, and your view that Czes isn't the sort to involve himself is one I respectfully disagree with. I hope this background helps make that seem more reasonable, even if our character interpretations aren't the same.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-28 09:35 am (UTC)It does not alleviate any issues that I have with you, unfortunately. But you already knew that you were going to just be feeling like you are giving excuses. So we're at an impasse. You don't think you're doing anything wrong, and you don't intend to change.
So, there's no point to do anything else on either of our parts.
Bye.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-28 01:22 pm (UTC)What is important is that you feel uncomfortable as a result of my actions. If there's anything I can do to make things less awkward for you, please feel free to approach me again. As above, I'm willing to work around your or others' ideas. I can exclude him from your plots or try to tailor the effect of his own actions on you. I can alter my own ooc behavior within reasonable boundaries. But you're correct that I'm not willing to downgrade Czes to "just surviving" in the game rather than being a participant in its story. Not as a result of this.
You've leveled a lot of accusations about my character's OOCness and about my impatient, lazy play style. But you've also told me repeatedly there's nothing wrong with a character trying to take actions in the metaplot when they have the position and motive to do so. I agree, and after two years of maneuvering under a constant threat, I feel this applies to Czes.
Thank you for voicing your disagreement. Thank you for highlighting concerns for me to be more careful of from here on out. Whatever your issues with me, I'm grateful for your courage in speaking up, and I won't forget anything you've said.
I hope your own plots prove rewarding.