I’m Back.

So, I realize that I’ve not posted ANYTHING lately.

Yeah, so did we Ayasha >_>

Well.. I’m sorry. I’ve been sick (Not explaining that one) and have had many events in my educational area. So, without further ado… 

 

I’m going to break the rules.

 

DUN DUN DUNNNN!!! You’re doing a bad thing?!

 

Technically, yes. I’m breaking my own rules, by doing a summary of my site- by my site I mean I just kinda made it. The ACTUAL Admining is done by one of my closest friends, and my Mentor.

Shame on you for breaking the rules, though…

Technically, I’m not. I said that I would never do one that I Admined- while yes I am an Admin on this site, I’m only a partial lead. The ACTUAL THINGS THAT HAPPEN ON THE SITE (other than looks) Are because of my Mentor. He’s.. He’s pretty awesome, no lie.

 

So, without Further ado… OVB.

OVB? What the snoffles is THAT?

Order of the Velvet Blade. Quite the site, even if I do say so myself. Lately they’ve been undergoing changes, and I mean CHANGES. Oh lawd the changes that’ve been made. The site is on ‘Update 3.1’ where most of the things have been changed. I’ll be getting into THAT later. First, I have to explain what, exactly, OVB is.

Well go on, I’m tired of listening to your prattling mouth.

Hold thine equines, I am getting to the climax of this report! Yeesh. So impatient. Regardless, OVB is a fantasy site that applies to ALL tastes. How, you may ask? Well, by the Races involved. Not like ‘GIDDY UP YAWNDAH HAWRSE! WE GOTTA RACE TA WIN!’ but, like, ethnicity. 

Okay, I’m interested. Go on…?

Well, there are SEVERAL races (as mentioned in this link!) for one to choose from. There are your typical Humans, Elves, Angels, Demons, Vampires, Were-creatures… But! There are a few that are specific to OVB. Such as, Caelators, Seraphym, and there will be more added as the site grows. That brings me to another point: The story.

Doesn’t every site have a story-line?

Granted, most do. But, in this one, your characters have a heavy impact. And, unlike most sites, OVB’s story-line is split into four. Along with the fact that the site expands exponentially, OVB takes care to involve everyone of their own volition. They WANT you to get in on the story, and even if you join late, they find a place for you in all events.

Expands? Events? What the doodles are you TALKING about Ayasha? You lost us again.

Ah, right. My bad. Expanding the site means that OVB has SEVERAL places for Role-play, and everyone is open to them. When someone starts a topic, they can make it open to everyone- or close it to specific people. They even have solo options, along with several places were only certain races can enter. As for the Events, almost always an event- with REAL prizes -is going on.

Wow.

Yeah, right? Anyway. Even though I actually influence this site a bit, I’m going to be interviewing everyone like I did with ASP (if you haven’t read that article, please go do that!) and, hopefully, convince you guys to have a look-see at OVB

 

-Ayasha (Serephene)

 

The End: Rating of African Stars Pack.

As I close my investigation, I have decided to credit ASP with…

 

Four and a half stars.

 

The drop from five (I don’t expect any site to keep five, just remember that) was the conduction of members. However, don’t let this dissuade you from joining this amazing role playing website! I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I am sure you will. This is the February 2014 Site of the Month, and I am glad that it was my first Role-Play Rating.

 

One on One – ASP

Today- event though I’m sick -I decided to take some of the members to One-on-One interviews, and ask them some questions about the site.

The first person I went to was @ Simms – a lively Moderator who frequently participates in topics and time with the sites members. Being an excellent staff member, I asked if she would participate. Answering yes, we began. Asking the tougher questions this time, I delved into the world of troubles and the past.

Ayasha : First question: What about the site has frustrated you, and how have you dealt with it?

@Simms : I think what frustrated me most is dealing with banned members and such, such as them.pestering you to come back and he like. But I just try to be reasonable with them and make sure whatever choice is made in terms of allowing them back or not is fair for both the user and the rest of the pack c:

What about the site would need improving? I decided to ask this as well.

Ayasha : What about the site needs improving

@Simms : I’m not sure to be rather honest xD It might be good to have a different way to list members, since the members topic is really temperamental. Otherwise, I can’t think of much o;

Asking where the site would go in the near future, I tried to get a little more insight.

Ayasha : What do you think will happen in the near future?

@Simms : I think that the pack will continue to grow in the future, that’s all I can really assume. You never know what could happen!

 

 

 

Playing the Online Hero, Offline

Food for your thought, guys. Just a reflection on what I post as well- after all this is ‘Online’ Role-play. So.

 

Notes on African Stars Pack- Details and Features.

As you may know, I have dedicated the beginning of the month to the website- African Stars Pack, a Wolf/Canid role-playing forum. While I will be looking at side sites during my investigation, I will be mainly focused upon the ASP site.

African Stars Pack banner, created by Soran for the use of the ASP website.

So, of course, I was going through this new land’s strange and mysterious objects… Guess what?

They have an art page.

So, here I am, wide eyed and bushy-tailed. Having seen a conversation about Manips (Character snaps, with their name and an example of what they look like), I decided to ask about their talent.

[20:08:19] Ayasha : Would anyone… Care to give art examples?

Blythe : Sure!

Blythe : Hold tight

Blythe : http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/365/9/7/zahr_bba_by_onikashi-d707eq0.gif

Kahla : My profile pic was done by an artist on here named Kehaar~

Blythe : I made this banner for Zähr

Blythe : I also drew this

Blythe : http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/197/6/5/waterhole_by_onikashi-d6dsd82.png

Ayasha : I’m actually enjoying that!

Ayasha : Could anyone do one for me? Or, even, of themselves?

Hoping to get an example from scratch, I Pursued a scratch art example. Notes on this will be added later- an attempt to show you that they do not fake this amazing talent. Seeing @Zähr online, I decided to ask him if he had any special talents, in particular.

@Zähr : Drawing, I suppose o:

A user by the name of Anarchy is doing a ‘Group Picture’ while I type this up and, hopefully, it will be done by the time I am finished interviewing and giving notes upon this wonderful site. Now then, moving on to the features… The Art and Literature page that can be found HERE is a feature. This is what brought up the whole “Special Talents” thing, aha. Regardless, we move on.

Asking the members about the features of the site, I scrounged up….

Striker : ooo there is games, lulz and more

 Nefertiri : uhh…*thinks* I like how it is well organized if that counts.

Anarchy : my favorite feature? the roleplay and ability to make new friends

Going more in depth, I decided to ask about things that were special to the site, like Role Play Shops.

Anarchy : ooh those are exciting (events), and shops are a great way to show off your skills and see others skills

Nefertiri : my thoughts exactly Anarchy.

(Me asking what they meant) Ayasha : Show off skills? What do you mean?

Nefertiri : art, and poems.

Anarchy : ^

Anarchy : and stories

Nefertiri : oh yea, forgot the stories

Anarchy : x3

For my final question, I asked them what was their favorite site feature (that was unlike other sites) that attracted them the most.

Lynn : I like the games on here, also the art, role play, and the users on this site. All of those things are pretty awesome on this site.

Kehaar : For the most part, the layout is fairly neat and organized, it’s active and welcoming. Everyone seems to be enjoying it here for the most part. We also have various rp events which make everything a bit more interesting, fun, and exciting

Kehaar : There’s almost always something for you to do here.

Kehaar : Even though you’ve asked for things other than the community, that’s probably one of ASP’s nicest qualities

Kehaar : I suppose thats it, I’m rather scatterbrained so I’ll keep it short. c:

And here is where I go on to.. Details! In character creation- there are a lot of Ranks. So many, in fact, that I will Link the rank page. Quite a few, eh? Anywhom, there is a lot of information. So, I’ll just link you guys here and let you look at all of that, but point out what really sticks out to me.

Believe it or not, you aren’t just stuck to a Wolf with this site. There are several other Canid species to choose from, including wild dogs, Jackals/Coyotes, Foxes, and a few others. This information can be found in the link to the information.

So, since February is the African Stars Pack month, there is still plenty of information to be found on this site. I hope that the links provided in this page satiate your thirst for knowledge that can be found on the ASP website!

Remember that I do get MEMBER QUOTING. You can click on their names from their quote to be linked to their profiles, and you can also click those highlighted words to go to the sites that are referenced in the sentence they can be found in. If you feel as though I have stepped upon any Copyright bounds, feel free to POLITELY  comment and point it out. All information can be found, in, on, and from the African Stars Pack website.

 

African Stars Pack- First Encounter.

As I walk into this lovely RP forum, I note how detailed and extensive the sites are. Deciding to interview a few of the RPers, I came up with this (direct quoting):

Directly asking what brought them to the forum, two members (Death and Kahla) piped up.

Death : It brought me here because I was interested in playing an African Wild Dog. I left back then and returned now with a new character, which ironically is a wolf.

Kahla : Well, what originally brought me here was a Sim game called LioDen. Someone advertised for the African Stars Pack, and since I was just getting back into role-playing after a long hiatus, I thought why not? The friendly community and uniqueness made me decide to join. C:

Liking where this was going, I continued with my questioning. Namely, “What about African Stars Pack has kept you here? and what is your favorite feature?”

-Note, while I was here, a few new people joined. They received a VERY warm welcome, and a few bows as well.-

Death : The site has kept me here, or has me returned because of the fun and kind community that is around here. There are always people who are willing to help you get started and roleplay with you. My favourite feature is the fact that you can earn ranks with skills.

Kahla : I think the thing that has kept me here the most is the people. I’ve made so many incredible friends on here, I just don’t think I could bear to part with them <3. We also have cool events every once in awhile, so I never get bored. My favorite feature is the fact that you can buy additional things for your character with ‘stars’ that you can earn

During this question, one of the Moderators (@Simms) came on. Very polite, he allowed me to continue with the interview. Asking if he would answer my next question, I continued with the interview.

How has The African Stars Pack changed since opening? Or when you joined?

@Simms : Oh, it has changed significantly o: We’ve had many changes go on within the pack during the long period its been open for, ranging from the rank system to how we go about hosting certain activities

@Simms : Although, one thing that has always stayed the same is the friendly community =D

Death : Uhm, for me, not much has changed since I joined, but then again, I haven’t been here for very long. But one thing changed, there are now animal cards with information about the animals around the pack.

Kahla : I’ve only been here for a couple months, but I’ve heard of some changes that have happened, like the ones Death and Simms said :3 I apologize for not being more helpful with this question

Finished with my questions, I happily told them that they were my first post, and that they would be offered a link. Not only were they polite about the interview, but they were friendly- though not forcefully so. First rating:…. ***** FIVE STARS! ***** (note, that I was asked to join the site -note that I have to because I must give a more indepth view into this amazing site!- And it was more polite than not)

10:46:01] Arcane : Little is going to do that after she interviews

[10:45:32] Arcane : Little is interviewing us for a blog of hers c:

[10:45:42] Ginger : ;o

[10:45:43] Kahla : I guessed, but I didn’t want to be wrong c:

[10:45:44] Striker : did ya post at the Visitor Center??

[10:45:50] Arcane : Striker

[10:45:57] Kahla : Striker, bro, she’s going to

[10:46:00] Kahla : Chill XD

[10:46:01] Arcane : Little is going to do that after she interviews

[10:46:12] Striker : hm ok ok

[10:46:15] Brier : Yayz!!! COPKIE!!! NOM NOM NOM!

[10:46:28] Arcane : No need for caps, Brier o.o

[10:46:29] Striker : I was checking, and testing, hehe

[10:46:48] Striker : its Cookies, not Copkie, lol

[10:46:56] Striker : but seems funny lol

Now, I have begun to get in touch with this community. 🙂