Another "Will this get me in trouble" topics...

-shrug- It is what it is. I like the look. Does the character share the same name as Nightwing? Nope. Are their stories even remotely related? Nope. Are they even the same ethnicity? Nope.

But, that ain't where my beef is.

My beef doesn't lie in physical appearance, but in the actual creation of the character. When I say piggybacking, I'm talking about the people who say "I'm the son of statesman." or "I'm alternate dimension Dr. Vahzilok." Or "I'm Snake Plysken's son." My beef is with lack of character DEVELOPMENT; The use of a cannon character as a means of writing a "Catch-22" excuse for a past.

Things of THAT nature. Perhaps I should have been more clear 'bout that.

Just stating an opinion. I don't view myself as being wrong or right. I only say what I think sucks and what I think doesn't.

And dude, that character was never played past level 22 or so and was deleted within like 2 weeks of it's creation. Part of the reason WHY I take the stance I do is because if what I've LEARNED from actually participating in that type of character creation.

It's kinda like when a person with lung cancer says "hey, don't smoke." Not once have I said I'm not guilty of this. In fact, it's the man reason why I feel the way I do. Because I've been there, I've done that, and I was honest enough with myself to say "yeah, this is pretty ****** retarded" and scrap the characters.

"Actually, you told the OP in an earlier post to change their outfit because it is too close to the Amalgam character, yet you have a character that has a look almost exactly of a different copyrighted character."

He had the look AND the name. That's the rub. ...I've been sayin' that a lot. ****** McBeth. But, anyways, yeah, he had the name Spider Boy and the look of the character, which is why I suggested this. Look + Name = 2 + 2= 4 reference.

Don't worry about hurtin' my feelings, I got on my big boy undies, I promise.

I just wouldn't do it bro. If you think it might, don't do it. That's usually intuition warning you it isn't a good idea.

However, It would not be wrong for a similar character to derive powers in a similar way from a different insect with a slightly or moderately tweaked costume. That is just a thoughtful homage, I do that all the time.

I'll give you a handy new version of the "If you have to ask" rule. If you have to ask, ask someone who knows. Mail the CS department yourself through the link in my signature or petition yourself in game. That will get you a definitive answer very quickly and with much less trouble.

These types of questions tend to bring out some rather contentious responses, hence threads like this are prone to moderation. I will say that I feel your character steps over the line, but you seem to agree so I'll leave it at that.

I'll leave this thread open for now, but please keep the discussion civil.

On an unrelated note, the discussion in this thread sparked an interesting (to me anyways) question. Is connection to an in game character fundamentally different to connection to an in game organization? If you character claims to be a former Crey employee (a common claim in character backgrounds) or a visitor from accident of Portal Corp you are claiming part of your interpretation of Canon as your character's back-story. Where do we draw the line? Does every character have to be a completely independent creation to be considered valid?

I don't do much RP in this game, just not the way I play. I've done RP before in pen and paper, live action, and MMO's but just never felt the burning need to do it in CoH. I've made characters that were relatively setting independent, and also made those that were heavily intertwined with whatever setting they were in. I've always felt that using the shared assumptions of the setting when done well gave more opportunities for role-play because there were more potential hooks available upon initial contact.

That being said, it can also be the lazy way out. I've done it the lazy way before, and it always led to poor role-playing on my part. My point I guess is that you have to judge the quality of the creation independent of these hard and fast rules. Rules are for CS*, not for role-play. When interacting with characters that are truly terrible m* sues or otherwise somehow offend my sensibilities, I tend to just play it off as if I suspect they are delusional in a group setting, or politely say my goodbyes one on one.

Just my 2 cents.



* Don't break rules that CS enforces mmkay. It's bad and will get you in trouble.

Seems like some are ok with taking a few bits of information for a framework with which to hang their own story but are uncomfortable with taking a whole tree and making a Statesboy-esque character. It requires a more significant suspension of belief that one's character is Manticore's buddy, son, sidekick, clone, evil version, or so on as canon doesn't include it. "You went drinking with Manticore last night? really?"

Saying one works for Portal Corporation is a light touch as oppossed to the much heavier touch of saying ones character is a major NPC's best buddy.

Real life Pen and paper is easier as the DM can just say, "So you want to be the illegitimate son of Elminster/Mordenkainen/Grazz't....uhmmmmmm NO/......uhm.....OK here's it what we can do." Easier to work around it as it's more personal. Not so much in an MMO. We can't all call up BAB and ask to have our storylines included in Blue Steel's canon.

It's very unlikely that anything comes out of whole cloth anymore so getting too upset with it just seems ... meh. *shrugs* Rowlings uses Tolkein uses combined mythological tales from middle ages. Mieville uses Egyptian and Russian mythologies to get away from Tolkien.

Overall though if someone wants to be Statesboy, fine. I can barely remember my OWN canon. :P

I just wanted to say one thing:

A cannon is a gun. A canon is a true writ. Please don't confuse the two. Someone might get hurt.