Tips/Suggestions for Application Writing
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I've been noticing over the last few weeks that there really aren't as many faction spots being filled, which somewhat disappoints me. What I think some people don't realize, is that getting a faction character approved is one of the best ways to get yourself in a position to greatly benefit the server early on in your CoA career. So why don't more people apply for faction positions? I've spent some time over the past few weeks surveying new players and a few old players alike - and a lot of the newer players all had a similar response: Either they are afraid of how the DMs might respond - or they'd just rather steer clear of an application process altogether because its too much work, or requires too much thought and effort.
The purpose of this thread is just to let people know a couple things. First off, the DMs aren't there to hurt anyone - they won't bite. The application process is there so that the DMs can asess someones idea, and either approve of it, or give the writer advice on how he can fix things that wouldn't make sense. Secondly, the application process isn't really 'that' hard, and it doesn't take as much effort as one might think. As long as you have concrete ideas and plans in your head, the application is a piece of cake.
Below are a few guidelines that you might want to consider when writing 'your' next application.
–-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Race/Class/Alignment/Level
- Self-explanatory. Include the race, class, and alignment of your character - and if your chracter is one that is already existing in game, jot down his current level as well.
2. Faction you want to join/special thing you apply for
- Also self-explanatory. Just state the name of the faction; House Fezznick, City Militia, Etc.
3. Whether you've been in a faction, which one?
If you've been in a faction before, jot it down. If you've never been in a faction before - simply type 'none'.4. Account name(s), characters played recently, usual playing times (time and time zone)
Include 'all' your login names, along with important characters that DMs might know you as. Also include your time zone (PST, GMT, Etc.) - and what times and days of the week your typically online.5. Why you (not your character) want in that faction/that special favor?
This is a question that a lot of people get stuck on, and I don't understand why. Obviously, the DMs want to hear something more than "I want faction loot", or "I think me having this faction character would benefit the server in a great way". When you apply for a faction character, you should have a good set reason in your mind beforehand of 'why' you want to play that character. Afterall, DM faction slots are limited, so the DMs naturally want players who have a set idea what they want to do with that character sometime in his career to somehow benefit the server in some way. Example: "I want to play a character in House Fezznick because I've talked to all the faction member's characters in game, and they have all expressed interest in my character joining their house. I think my presence could benefit the likes of this house because my character already has a good deal of conflict going on with some characters in House Bhaliir - and I can use my faction position to further push the conflicts of these two houses to a new level." Something along those lines might work for you. Bottom line for this portion of the application: Be specific, but make sure your honest at the same time.6. Very brief bio of the character.
As the title of the section states, list a brief bio of the character. This usually doesn't have to be anything long; just talk about your character's background, how he came to be in Arabel, and give some hints of information here and there about how past experiences in your character's life shaped how his personality came to be. Important: Try to avoid common cliche' backgrounds such as "My father was a guardsmen, he was killed by Orcs, and now my character wants to be a guardsmen so he can claim revenge against the Orcs." While that is a background that makes perfect sense, the DMs probably read several applications with this content everyday, and they want to see a background that is new and unique.7. General outline of goals, plans, storylines to pursue.
This is another one of the questions that I found a lot of people have difficultly with. Basically, in my opinion, this is the section where I'd list the 'most' specifics about my character. Once you have a background and personality for your character, you want to brainstorm on several goals and storylines that you might want this character to be a part of. For example, a goal from a member of House Bhaliir might be to eliminate the Orcs from the City of Arabel. Great. However, make sure you are 'SPECIFIC' about your goals in mind. You want to talk about the goal/goals your character is going to pursue, and then you want to tell the DMs 'how' your going to go about this goal, and how its going to be approached and played out. The more you have things planned out beforehand, and the more specifics you include - the better chances you have of getting your application approved.It's also best if you indicate some sub goals for whatever goal you're achieving. Essentially showing us what you plan to do to achieve the big goals your character has (the short term stuff that is being done to achieve the long term goal). Yes, your short term goals may change as new situations arise, but it'll give you a better idea of how to get started on your goal, and it'll let us know that you've actually thought about your goal and how you'll get there; Not just writing a goal you never intend to pursue, hoping we'll approve you.
8. Anything else you want us to know.
Usually, this section should be left blank, unless there is actually 'something else you want the DMs to know'. The end.I hope this helps for some of you who are currently in the process of working up applications. If anyone has any questions on anything I just said, I understand my wording above in some places might seem somewhat jumbled, so simply drop me a PM or something if you need clarification on anything.
Prestiege Classes:
Also keep in mind that if you someday want a prestiege class for your character, make sure you put that in your application as well. Preferably somewhere in the 'goals' section is where it should go. Make your goals leading to that prestiege interesting so that you can give the DMs a reason to want to watch your character as you complete the goals in game. The DMs will naturally monitor your character either way, but your chances of earning the prestiege class will be better if your ideas prove interesting.
(Note: Even if you aren't applying for a faction position, a prestiege class application is 'still' required before character creation.) -
Thanks, Combs. That's a fairly good summary. I wanted to add that the majority of rejected applications are due to a poorly written point 5. That is the single most important piece of information we're looking for: how will the server benefit from you getting this position/PrC/subrace/favor.
Behind that, the second worst offender is not reading the faction requirements. Not all the requirements are absolute, we've had evil guards and priest retainers and such, but for us to approve a character that's out of the norm YOU have to work harder to convince us that it will be worth it. Generally speaking, the more removed you are from the requirements, the harder it will be to convince us and the less likely it is you will be approved.
And then of course, the attempt to say what you think we want to hear. "It will be good for RP", "I will foster conflict with other factions", "I have many plans for this characters", and so on. We don't care about your opinion, we want to know the specifics of how you plan to achieve that.
Avoid those three pitfalls, and your application will have gone a long way towards approval.
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Also keep it sane and do some research about what you're applying for.
Some examples, that have happened:
A tiefling that claims to be a half or quarter demon.
A Thayan Knight that served in the "thayan army".
An Assassin that isn't planning on actually killing someone.Neither of those are feasable, the first is more then a tiefling and we don't need daddy demon paying us a visit. For the second there is a distinct lack of a unified Thayan army, and the third just doesn't make sense.
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Also, sometimes we reject applications for non-full factions because all we get is oddball concepts or "special" characters. For instance, in the last couple of weeks we receive only one basic militia app and three PD scout apps (scouts are a minority, we already have some playing, and going to the PDs without going through the militia is harder).
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I have a question: If an application is denied, is there a reply sent to the person? I sent in an application for a description change on one of my characters a few days ago, and have no idea if you guys just haven't read it yet (I would imagine you get flooded with these things), or whether it's been denied. Or whether it's been accepted, for that matter. I haven't logged in with the character since, because I'm a bit anal about the description.
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We respond as soon as we get the application and post it, and then ask you to check back in 2 weeks about its approval. I presume people who don't check back at all ever, really weren't serious about their application anyway.
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And the corollary would be if you don't hear from us at all in a while, say a week, ask to check if we actually received/saw the application. It's easy to miss one application in the sea of messages that's our email account.
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@Amberholme:
Could you give me some examples as to what might be good to put there when applying for one of the aforementioned prestige classes?
Thanks.
I may be totally wrong here, but it might help to think it like this: What will you do after you would have been given the prestige class of your choise? Will it involve other players to some nice plotting or will you just keep on running trough quest gaining exp and gold like nothing happened?
A goal that you would achieve with help of this class, a goal that involves other players in some nice RP. Thats what I think. You need to present a somekind goal of how would you make it matter to other players that your character has changed somehow.
Does this make any sence?
No actually, thats a common mistake too. I don't care what you claim you'll do after you get a Prestige Class. The operative word is really "prestige".
Tell me what you're doing now, immediately and specifically now with your character that improves the server for everyone, increases fun, and gets you more involved, and at the same time highlights the Prestige Classes requirements and "flavor".
IE A necromancer should already be obtaining some goals and actively doing something with the undead before he's given a PrC, an assassin should already have built a name for himself as a killer for hire, a champion of Torm must have built a name for himself as a respected warrior of his god.
Look at a prestige class more as "I've accomplished some exciting server influencing deeds, and given back a lot of effort to the server and so I think I've earned this reward for my character" rather than "here's something I promise to do if you give me this favor."
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Does this apply for the factions as well, or just the prestige classes?
Should perhaps the "How will the server benefit from you getting this position/PrC/subrace/favor?" be canged to "What have you already done to make an impact on the server that is in-line with the specific position/PrC/subrace/favor you are applying for? Please also give an outline of specifc actions you intend to take to extend upon what you've already done towards achieving this position/PrC/subrace/favor." ??
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In factions, we generally hope that you've at least demonstrated what you can do and not simply what you hope you can do someday in the future. However, we also realize that a faction is a position that makes it easier to accomplish something and make a lot more leeway.
