Tag Archives: Roleplay
SWAG77 Wants To End Star Wars Fan Toxicity By Encouraging Creative Expression Using Soap Opera and Telenovela Formats
Star Wars Actors Guild 77 discovered early that roleplay performances are crafted like soap operas with angsty drama. But to do that, part of the RP had to be staged. A behavioral idea with a lead on to an ending. To action sequences. To a conclusion, and then a cliffhanger ending (or not) to the denouement.
It seems that the popularity of mid-day soap operas is waning for talk shows and reality TV. Streaming services have changed the availability of new soap operas. Many people have grown up with grandma watching her shows:
Soap operas have been around since the 1930s as radio dramatic series. One sponsor was Proctor and Gamble, who sold soap at that time, and therefore, these stories were called “soap operas.”
What is the purpose of soap opera?
Soap operas’ plots express a fictional reality that is inserted into a concrete social reality. The representations built by the soap operas are associated with the daily life and social contexts in which they are immersed. The images transmitted are highly related to society’s values and beliefs.
Melina Ayers
There is a difference between Telenovelas and soap operas in that a Telenovela is a Latin American serial drama similar to a soap opera in plot development but having a broader audience and airing during prime time rather than daytime…Telenovelas are characterized by a continuing melodramatic storyline and a permanent cast.
Editors of Encyclopaedia britannica
Examples of Telenovela
There is disagreement on how Star Wars as a genre is classified. It is science fiction? Is it science fantasy? Is it a space opera? Accordingly:
Star Wars is typically characterized as belonging to the space opera genre. Many classic space opera serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were among the impressions that inspired George Lucas into making the Star Wars movies.
wookieepedia
A space opera is not a soap opera, according to many fans. However, those who say this comment is mostly male and cannot possibly be associated with a show devoted to women daily. It is said that Star Wars is not a “soap opera” because the key part of a soap opera is its duration. Lots of episodes, lots of characters. The people and the (mundane) things happen to them over long periods of time (source).
Fans also say that Star Wars a space opera that is melodramatic movies or television shows, set in space, with plenty of space warfare, and most importantly, cut scenes show the development of different characters like a soap opera (source).
Whereas, there are objections that Star Wars is a space soap opera because of historical precedence. “Space opera” from 1941 author Wilson Tucker as a pejorative term in an article in Le Zombie (a science fiction fanzine). At the time, serial radio dramas in the United States had become popularly known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap manufacturers (source).
But yet, by some critics, Star Wars is separate science fantasy space opera because the genre has more definable rules. Star Wars might be space fantasy or space opera. But its setting is still a science fiction setting. Star Wars’ world is built on science-fictional devices and technology; the technology does not tell the story; there are lightsabers, droids, or hyperdrives. Science fiction is in the Star Wars universe, and by default, Star Wars is science fiction. These science fictional elements, such as starships, robots, and laser guns, are not present in the real world at this time. Until that time, Star Wars is science fiction (source).
Regardless of the cast of characters, duration, and episode; or the lack of space warfare; or the historical precedence; or scientific and technological elements that are fictional, Star Wars in the presence of romantically linked relationships (ships) as read or performed are space soap operas in practice, despite the fandom gender that enjoys the production.
Therefore, the Star Wars Actors Guild 77 (SWAG77) enjoys shipping in the presence of a cast of characters, duration, multiple episodes, space warfare, and lack of historical precedence or science and technology fictional elements, we have created a system where our goal is to read, write and perform our roleplays on social media like soap opera and telenovela developments.
We think our goal works because we have tested several years ago and were able to gauge audience response like watching a soap opera.
We have encountered several problems, such as platform issues, users not realizing we staged our RP productions, nor really knowing we had many back ends and behind-the-scenes work. They think our pursuits in shipping are superfluous and foolish to have sex. And then, when we do serious close to canon RP, we have to use canon characters.
Since the Disney schism of canonicity, we have been stretched to pick a side or assumed we are ignorant if we do not support either claim. We are about the exact techniques used to develop Star Wars as a soap opera on social media. Whatever that takes. We use to recruit, but now, we no longer do this process because it is involved, and most people use social media as distractions or casually discarding comments as useless.
While that content is on personal accounts, we have to determine why there is discordance to improve our product or performance for business roleplay accounts. There is none. Some individuals are “spoons” who like to stir up shit. And it does not matter about the content; these groups’ only guide is to re-creation and world domination that contributes nothing academic with a scholarship to improve lives through reading, writing, and performance with appreciation, like SWAG77 tenets since 2007.
Also, some audience members do not realize how much staging we do for our RP productions. We created our performance plots to see how our audience will respond and hope they enjoy our performance. That makes social media a testing ground focus group. Soap opera creation inherently tests that from a live performance and improvisational training. Other tactic many users on social media do not want to do because of the casual nature of social media.
We think our goals are important to Star Wars and its fandom because of the Disney Schism. Star Wars fans are at each other’s throats levying toxicity that rips into the hearts of fans to wreck their persona. That has happened to SWAG77 members, and we have done it to others in self-defense. It is easier to manage fans in this manner than just to let it go. We cannot say we have not avoided bad and toxic behavior.
However, we believe as long as we stick close to our tenets: READING — preferably Star Wars because no fan is well-read and knows everything; WRITING — because that improves self-expression and clarity in ideas and concepts — it brings value to oneself, and we like to RP Perform, but this is also demonstration directly ones creativity in this fandom with more appreciation for the development of Star Wars. Performing fan art creation, crafts, cosplay, and fan films — anything that demonstrates an appreciation of fandom — end toxicity. Because our tenets are universal, our tenets are broad in their interpretation. Our tenets are long-lasting and expand one’s Star Wars fandom, and we, SWAG77, are about that.
While other groups do that in their own ways, the toxicity, segregation, isolation, and exclusion hurt all fandom, not just the individual.
We end fan toxcity through the encouragement of creative expression and love.
Because as owner, SWAG77 believes what Dr. Martin Luther King, a Jedi (Djedi) before we knew what one was, said:
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SWAG77 Patreon Fanfic Outline WIP: Ty’gen’s RP Performance
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And outline of how the story is written for the Star Wars Actors Guild 77 Continue readingMr. David Oyelowo And Our Block Reasons
In People Magazine “Couch Surfing” Mr. Oyelowo who voices AGENT ALEXSANDR KALLUS in STAR WARS REBELS shares that Star Wars fans disappointment that he voices this ANIMATED character. The animated character appears differently than Mr. Oyelowo — ie The character is white and Mr Oyelowo is Black.
https://peopletv.com/video/david-oyelowo/
Of course that should NEVER matter. One is a very REAL PERSON, PROFESSIONAL AWARD WINNING ACTOR and the other is a fabricated animation in the mind of artists. What brought this character to life is Mr. Oyelowo’s creative voice performance. Nothing else brings any animated character than a professional voice actor’s performance. To deny his ability is to be racist and bigoted.
There is bigotry in Star Wars fandom. We saw it best with Ahmed who voiced and CG MoCAPped JAR JAR BINKS. The harassment he endured nearly caused him to commit suicide. Only until recently has he opened up to speak about it.
While it is not Disney’s or Lucasfilm’s fault at the hands of racist and bigoted fans, it has proven very difficult to quell ignorances and cognitive biases of some ugly sides of fandom.
The Star Wars Actors Guild 77 has been at the attacks by bigots since 2008. We have fended of bigots in ways at first that seems cruel, but when encountered, the sufferers begin to understand why we did what we did. From a small business standpoint, our acts are justified, because we cannot afford a large lawyer representation. Disney and Lucasfilm does not support our efforts. Their people were told lies about us and are fearful of our ire. But our ire was in place for our use until their own workers incurred utterly racist and bigoted attack for the last few years. All the while, our attacks are minimal.
We have our hate on our SENATOR YEMAJA pages.
So here is our small business auto block procedures:
Any post or comment that uses profanity without cause directed to us. We delete, sometimes report, and ban the attacker. Those attacks typically look like “what the f*ck is this sh*t” and use of hateful real life epithets like the N-word.
Massive number of posts when we have never interacted with you. Those attacks appear like more that 3-4 posts. We are not rated to deal with your stalker obsessions. We do not DM people we do not feel comfortable around.
Tag team attack. We don’t play that. Those attacks appear like @1, @2, @3-10 on a post that could be about art from a famous artist.
Telling us what to post — you don’t pay for our accounts, you don’t tell us how to post to it. Who died and made you gods? These attacks look like “you cannot say that. You can only post ____________”
Most of character accounts are in character. They will block on any attempts to learn who the MUNDANE is behind the account. These characters are stuck on social media, that is it. No more, no less. Forcing exposure is OUTING what SWAG77 is trying to do. If a user does not agree, move on, there are other accounts. We find irrational attacks, we will block. These attacks look like, “so you hate the [real life political issue today]?” to gain a confirmation of their beliefs than what we are doing — which is Star Wars.
It is our pages, our user names and involves what we are doing, and deciding to force us to admit something from long ago or unrelated to performance will get you blocked and we will move one. With that, we give you an in kind directive and you get snarky, you are ruining our ability to do business on our streams. Either you stay into the agreement or walk away. If you refuse — such as saying I can post what I want freedom of speech–we will block you. We do not go to anyone’s feeds intentionally to ruin their process, but for you to feel entitled to our posts and your not paying us, it is better for us to silence your bad behavior. What this attack looks like is the user intrudes into the conversation uninvited and speaks outside of the primary post, the user account request redirection and the attacker say “free speech, you should feel one over the other, that hasn’t been what I have expected–” the issue is it separates from the primary goal which is Star Wars online.
We do not sell your stuff. Overriding our ad links, will get you blocked. We have affiliates that we meet our business goals, like a fan table at Star Wars Celebration. When you interfere with our money, illegally, we just block since going after you legally cuts out of our budgets.
Refusal to read our blogs and not staying on topic. We are not only doing this for you. We are organized into a Star Wars fan group to portray our fandom respectfully. Just because you do not like one post is your decision. These attacks generally look like “I am going to UNLIKE this page because I hate XYZ Star Wars Established Canon Disney or otherwise” — you will be banned, your comment will be reported and/or erased. We do not care about your approach, it means you failed to read our blog notes on how we perform our MUSES and that we perform under a storyline arc. If you aren’t going to read and respect that, then we feel our accounts aren’t for your interactions.
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A listing of all our members and their social media. If you block one, please block all of us. Thank you.
SWAG 77 RP Performance Members Accounts
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The Shaping
Below is a sneak peek of this content!
yuuzhanvong77:The Shaping of RealFPJr. https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js...Link
In a lot of RPs, there are gaslighters. They put you down as an RPer and fail to support you. They also get other RPers to reject you. That is called gaslighting.
11 Signs of Gaslighting in a Relationship
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Membership has its privileges
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#StarWars #RP Performance to Full Fanfiction
The Star Wars Actors Guild 77 creative process was created for fan-fiction works with a test for audience outreach. The post is about one of many of our creative processes for the Get Thrawn In Star Wars Rebels campaign.
First, we write a simple script or dedicate a simple idea based on the literature we have from Lucasfilm (canon and Legends). These activities are done privately with SWAG77 members.
For this particular story, we needed to see how well our Thrawn roleplayer interacted with us and how comfortable they would be with SWAG77 roleplayers. The Thrawn RPer has had a very good independent account and has a preference for it because of real-life obligations, such as a career.
Once our story idea has reached a consensus, then we will perform within the context our outline, and our RPers perform spontaneously by improvisation or ad-lib according to our agreed outline. The timeline setting loose, but is during the Star Wars Rebels timeline and continuity.
STORIFY was the post-capture program for this particular performance (a deprecated site).
It is about a visit that Thrawn will take to the planet, Eriadu (which WAS Lothal but has been changed), and Agent Kallus was being asked to set up his visit. Little does Kallus know, he is being evaluated by Thrawn.
After our initial performance, we post-process the transcripts and put them into a prose story format. There will be several re-writes, substitutions and deletions during the editting process. Finally, we create our Archive On Our Own Story (AO3).
Star Wars: The Vernissage – Interlude II
Our works will be featured on several sites, such as this site, AO3, Patreon, and social media. We will participate in several writing challenges, such as NaNoWriMo.
Finally, we promote our stories accordingly to all our social media platforms for the fans to read and enjoy.
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