LESSON The Art of Hijacking

Diana

LOOK HOW CALM SHE IS
Original poster
ADMINISTRATOR
MYTHICAL MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Not accepting invites at this time
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
10AM - 10PM Daily
Writing Levels
  1. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
Genres
Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy, Thriller, Space Exploration, Slice of Life
Hijacking; The act of controlling another person's character by roleplaying actions and dialogue for them in your post.

Hijacking itself is not a bad thing. It can be used to help get characters through a scene where you need quick back and forth interaction. It can also be used to get a scene unstuck when a player has gone missing and it's necessary to remove their character from a scene without damaging story integrity.

The problem with Hijacking is that many people over use it and abuse it. They don't ask permission from other players, or they write a character wrong. Sometimes it's use to god-mod all the other characters in to doing what the Hijacker wants. Things like this really annoy players, as you're taking away their ability to roleplay for themselves. Roleplaying is meant to be a player stepping in to the shoes of their character. Having another player write for them is stealing their opportunity to be creative and react to events. Thus, Hijacking should only be used as a last resort!


Hijack if...
  • You have permission from the player and you've told/planned out the scene that you're hijacking for.
  • A player has gone missing for too long and you desperately need to move on without them.
Useful Tips
  • Use Hijacking as a last resort when moving on without someone. Many people get really mad when their characters are written for, even when they were missing and didn't post on time.
  • When a scene is planned out with another member, make sure you write their character as true to personality as possible! When in doubt, ask the other player what their character would do/say in response to a certain comment or action.
WORKSHOP EXERCISE

Exercise One: Write a four paragraph scene where you don't have any dialogue or action for another character except your own. That includes NPCs.

Exercise Two: Write a four paragraph scene where your character is interacting with another members's character. Try to keep the hijacking minimal and within character.
 
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