This is actually my third writing. It is a relatively coherent and somewhat rambling statement about creativity, role playing, Youtube Poops and fan fiction.
The first exists only as a hard copy. If I have time, I will transfer it onto digital media.
--------------------------
What is it that attracts people to the personal lives of celebrities? Is it a sense of jealousy? Or are their imaginations and fantasies at play? Those same forces compel people to imagine that they are underwater explorers/action heroes or the general of a large military.
These two forces are also responsible for many pieces of art such as the Youtube video phenomenon known as a “Youtube Poop”. Youtube Poops, despite their scatological name, rarely have outright lewd or pornographic content; however they may contain profanity. There is no one definition of a Youtube poop but a key feature of is that they lack any semblance of a plot and they usually resemble collages of various movie clips (both audio and visual). The Youtube Poop creator JitteryDragon is a rather well known Youtube Poop creator. He uses the Land Before Time sequels as his source material, thus they do have a coherent plot. However, his videos do fit the definition of a Youtube Poop because he splices in sound and video clips from other sources creating a collage effect. The effect can range from cool (a Pteranodon playing the opening chords of Fly by Odyssea on the electric guitar) to funny (an Apatosaurus shaped geological formation rising out of the ground set to the opening chords of Drok from Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge) to bizarre (random cheering and profanities).
Of course, such creativity is not limited to the video and sound collages that are Youtube Poops. Writing is also a valid outlet for creative energies. These writings can take the form of novels or fan fiction. Even though fan fiction is derived from published sources, they can deviate from the source material so far that they can barely be called fan fiction. A good example of significant deviation from the source material is the 106,938 word fanfiction Out of the Shadows by the author known only as a “DarkHououmon”. Even though it is based on the Land Before Time franchise, no one would mistake it for anything that Universal created. For instance, the entire tone of the story is extremely dark. Not to mention that the story itself is extremely violent and bloody. As a result of the writer’s graphic descriptions of death, mutilations and predation, the story got slapped with the equivalent of an R rating.
Internet role playing has also been another outlet of creative energies. An Internet or “forum based” or “text only” roleplay is analogous to a collaborative effort in writing a novel. In addition, there are aspects of acting as well. The person known as the “DM” (Dungeon Master) or “GM” (Game Master) sets the basic outline for the role play. The players, who play the role of a character they choose (hence the name), post following the given outline. It is not uncommon for the players to add their own twists and turns to the roleplay; indeed, it is almost expected. Role plays, like novels and movies can have many genres. Various permutations of science fiction and fantasy seem to be among popular of roleplay genres. In addition, roleplays can be a veritable mÈlange of genres. In addition, roleplays span a spectrum of seriousness, ranging from the absurd to dead serious.
A textbook example of the “absurd roleplay” is the Insane CafÈ created by “Nick22”. True to its name, it has an almost complete lack of seriousness, even though has a (semblance) of a plot. Also true to its name, it contains a hodgepodge of characters from all different genres. In sharp contrast is Darwin’s Soldiers created by “Serris”. This roleplay is very plot driven and lacks the quirkiness in the Insane CafÈ. Also, in contrast to the patchwork of genres in the Insane CafÈ, Darwin’s Soldiers is a strictly science fiction work.
