The Bandwagon Carries A Heavy Load; Dirt-Biter in Review

Thank you for being the first unabashed reviewer.
All of the silliness mentioned, such as magic-money, Marathon infection, cartoonish states of depression and crassness, and the limb-dominoes?
They're entirely my fault and I regret every single one of them.
Though they're in no way justified (I'd do unspeakable things for the chance to take them back), lemme try to pick apart why they happened, if nothing else than as a warning to other players.

"It bothered me a bit later when Dirt-Biter proceeded to pull money from thin air. There was no real in game representation to any of the business that Tetanus was suppose to have. Still, lets buy a million flamethrowers, the hospital needs work? Here, have this comically large moneybag full of funding. It was one of the many instances of players not really adhering to the story/aesthetic of Tetanus Fields that really pulled me out of it."

This was entirely me having a problem saying "No" to any and every idea that got tossed my way for Tetanus; I've since improved, but, it's still something I struggle with regularly. (my default assumption is the person offering the idea or suggestion always knows better)

"Then there was the self mutilation/suicide attempts. They only really seemed to exist to garner attention and slap on another people of cybernetic hardware. All of these instances were pretty much a next day or two fix. No real advancement, no solid after effect. Just "I have metal parts now, I look cooler". Even when she had come back, one of the fits things I heard had happened was she cut up her leg and had it replaced after being away for awhile, but I will get to this later. After all that though, just sorta hand waving it away and getting new organic body parts... My sighing could not be contained and was heard collectively around the world. The rustling in the trees you heard several months ago? That was me sighing."

This was a two part mistake;
1) I got lost on the way somewhere; Dirt-Biter does have a tragic back story, but, I began to take that in "ridiculous amounts of self destruction" direction, which, on hindsight was plucking stupid. Leading to;
2) Trying to fix that with some scif-fi regeneration treatment non-sense.
The regeneration was roleplayed out over several days, with other players, but, in no meaningful way that's remembered or become part of anyone involved, so it might as well been a next-day hand wave.

"The final straw for me in regards to Dirt-Biter as a character was on Marathon. Where after several players have been crafting the story and fallout of the spore disease from Alioth for about a month. We had two player characters infected and locked into the hospital in Marathon. Dirt-Biter broke in somehow, got infected due to sheer stupidity, mangled her leg as mentioned above, and went into a "mild" coma. This was ridiculous insertion into a running plot that made little to no sense, and what was made worse was after doing all of that, not even two days later she was cured and fully functional. It was a spit in the face of something people had worked hard to create, and add weight to, and it was shrugged off. I can't adequately express in words how much I despised this."

For every bit as much as you hate it, Twitch; I never stopped kicking myself in the gut over this.
I wandered onto Marathon one day, had no idea what was happening, and proceeded to dig my own grave with non-sense.
It wasn't until several weeks after the fact that I realized the immensity of what players were doing, and I extend an apology to everyone who worked hard on that event.
Again; this was a lurid mistake that I in no way stand behind, defend, or even enjoy acknowledging.

"After that, it all seemed to spiral down hill. The go out of her way to help you Dirt-Biter was gone for most cases. She became self centered and maliciously rude. She turned her back on her people by never returning, she sold out and betrayed every single old contact she had and the people who took her in. She devolved into a freakish cartoon character that existed primarily to shock people being being crude or outwardly disgusting. I once remarked, in discussion that Dirt-Biter had become the Charlie Sheen of the server, but in reflection I found it to be true.

She suffers from what I call, consequences of convenience. They are there when you want them to be there, but most of the time they are hand waved. This is a huge problem with many players. She isn't really a character anymore, just a vessel for whatever you seem to like doing at the moment. While I haven't roleplayed with her in awhile, I doubt much of any of this has changed."

All of this; I never forgot or forgave myself for those previous mistakes, and proceeded to make even more mistakes in a desperate attempt to bring back even a smidge of what made Dirt-Biter fun.
Another facet of the shit-diamond is; escalation demand. (alongside the consequences of convenience) Look at long-running TV shows or any media; characters stop growing and become exaggerated phantoms of what made them great, in an effort to constantly out do themselves.
Dirt-Biter lost the niceties and cranked up the crudeness for sheer shock value as time went on; more reactions from being gross and ridiculous than being a nice, if a bit off-key, person.

"When i did roleplay with her, I found her to be an interesting character. Quirky, with upbeat attitude and crude (not really outwardly lewd either) ways at this point. She was what I considered to be the Junkyard Momma. She was looked to by people to be a leader, and while she wasn't the most suited for it, she took it seriously. The people on Tetanus were her family, and she was willing to go to bat for them no matter what for. Tetanus was a welcoming colony much in part to the mentality of togetherness Dirt-Biter instilled in the people there."

This hurt so much to read; all the crap that had built up suddenly expanded tenfold;
It was one thing to see all the dumb decisions in a pile.
It was another to see how far she's fallen.

So; that leads to the end, and hopefully the earlier mentioned lesson;
-Sleep on any major decision about your character or colony; don't jump in if it affects other players majorly, plan and discuss.
-Keep a solid idea of what social role your character fills; keep it written down if that helps.
-Never create conflict for conflict's sake; same with progress. These happen naturally and are much more rewarding with patience.
-Lastly; if you make a bad decision, roll with it. It's much better than hastily fixing/voiding, and can lead to new arcs you never considered before.

I do still plan to bring Dirt-Biter out of retirement (she's been rotting at Union since God-knows-when), and, honestly this fills me with bitter hope and resolve to bring her back to the character she was, not this;
"Charlie Sheen of the server"

 

I can't apologize enough for blasting through this event with the subtly and tact of a shotgun;
On hindsight, reading logs and hearing about it, this was an amazing story arc with alot of involvement, work, and heart.