Q&A
This article exists to answer questions—some frequently asked, some never asked, but hey, it's all here. If anyone has ideas for more questions to add to this list, speak up! (Feel free to use the discussion tab, even.)
How do I join?
Where can I see a complete list of the characters in this group?
Right here:
- Original Characters (AKA fancharacters)
- Official Characters
What if I don't have my own character? What if I want to join as an official character?
Official character portrayals can make or break the RP for everyone involved. It'd suck for everybody to have to deal with a really poorly played official character all the time. This is why we're kind of careful about it, and don't let just anyone who volunteers play any official character he or she likes.
That said, we'd prefer it if you could join as an original character of your own creation first, if only to show that you're a capable RPer who can be creative, do good characterization, etc., but if you really, really just want to dive straight in as an official character, you can fill out the "submit a character" form and post it as you normally would, just describing the official character of your choice, and then we'll talk from there.
How do I know if the official character I want is available?
Click here to go to the list of official characters. Click on the character you're interested in and scroll down to the "Played by" section. If it's blank (or if the character's profile as a whole is still obviously incomplete), the character is most likely available.
Where are your rules?
Here on the wiki! Most stuff is. Follow this link for the rules: SSRP Rules
I've never been in an RP group before and I'm not sure how to do this. Can I still join?
Sure! It's really not about being an experienced role-player. It's about being creative, committed to writing for fun, and enjoying telling stories. I'd say these are the prerequisites:
- Be very literate and enjoy writing
- Be an avid internet user who's very comfortable and experienced with talking to people on forums and chats
- Be online a lot (If you're getting into RPing, being on the computer should probably be one of your favorite hobbies, because it can be a little time consuming)
- Be friendly, and join to have fun, not to try to be a showoff
I'm afraid I might be bad at making a Sonic character.
I'd say everybody who's "staff" here in this group is pretty level-headed and nice. No one will flame you off the forums if you miss/bend/break a rule when submitting a character. We'll just bring it to your attention as politely as possible, ask you to fix it, and help you out if we can—as long as it seems like you actually at least looked at the rules. (In other words, we strive to be nice, but if you just go and throw something up without even glancing at our character guidelines, it's kind of disrespectful, so it's doubtful anyone will help you much.)
Do you allow hedgehog fancharacters?
In a limited fashion. We're not going to let hedgehog fancharacters comprise a disproportionate part of the cast, so if you're intending on joining as one, time is of the essence. Also, try to be original. If a player-submitted hedgehog is dull, unimaginative, or similar to an official hedgehog, it'll almost definitely get rejected.
Do you allow fox fancharacters?
Again, in a limited fashion. They tend to be overly common, too, so they'll have to be very distinctive, original, and unlike Tails to get accepted. And don't even think about submitting a multiple-tailed fox. Seriously. Just don't even think about it.
What about echidna fancharacters?
Generally not accepted at present. Nocturnus Clan fancharacters could become viable if enough of our members want Sonic Chronicles to be counted as part of the backstory, but for now, Knuckles is considered the last of his kind.
What is the difference between an official character, an original character, and a fancharacter?
Official characters are those made by Sega, like Sonic himself. Original characters are basically "unofficial" characters—in other words, just another term for fancharacters. There are some pedants out there who argue semantics and draw a superficial distinction between "original characters" and "fancharacters," but we just don't give enough of a flip here. We use the terms interchangeably.
Where does everyone get that pro-looking Sonic style art? Do I get it for joining?
They either draw it themselves or commission an artist for it. That is to say: they work for it or pay real money for it. Please understand that stuff like that takes real time and effort from real people who have other obligations in their lives, so don't pester people for free art, nor whine relentlessly about not having art.
Hey, I joined, and I have character art! I want my art on the forum banner!
Lots of people get their characters on the banner. Some have been phased in and out. It's just a cool extra to showcase some of the cast. However, no one has gotten his or her character on the banner by asking. Please don't ask. We may put it there in due time if your art is good, your character is original, and you participate a lot. (And if we ever find the original background files again.)
Can I join if I'm not from North America?
It really just depends on whether or not you would be available to participate. Our RP isn't typically blazing fast, nor do we often have session nights, but if you're never able to be around when other people are, never in the chat, and your schedule is so diametrically opposed to everyone else's that it would force the RP to be slow, the answer is generally no. Otherwise, if you have odd hours and happen to be around when a lot of us US / Canada players are, it may work out.
Who really runs this place, anyway?
Click here to see the team. All administrative functions (character reviews, rules, etc.) are handled by those in the Global RP Mods user group.
So who do I talk to if I have questions?
The best thing you can probably do is just register and post a topic in the discussion area. If you want to ask someone something privately, though, feel free to send a PM to any of the above-mentioned Global RP Mods or the Admin account.
My character got rejected. How many times am I allowed to apply?
As long as you're polite about it, as many times as you want. Generally speaking, we'll only stop people from reapplying if they're rude, refuse to read the rules, or their situation is just... extremely hopeless. (Such as if you absolutely can't commit the time to participate enough, or if this is your second or third time trying to submit a Naruto ripoff character, and you're failing to understand that it isn't going to fly here.)
Are you guys elitists?
You tell us. We try to be friendly, but we also try to have standards. Sometimes, being strict about which characters we allow into the group may make us seem like a bunch of hardasses, but the members we do have like us because this is the kind of group where you don't have to deal with "Darkstorm the Demon Hedgechidna" and his similarly generic, god-mode fancharacter ilk.
(As far as I know, there is no Darkstorm the Demon Hedgechidna out there, but if there is, then I'm sorry for making fun of you. I guess.)
How long has this group been around?
This group started in 2002, but this iteration of it ("Sonic Spindash Role-Playing") only started in 2010. Here's a quick breakdown of our history:
- Started in May, 2002 as the "Sonic the Hedgehog RP Forum," an AOL private chat RP. (This was at a time in that particular RP scene when the word "forum" meant "governing body" and not literally internet message boards.) Website was hosted on members.aol.com. Website moved to angelfire.com that same year. EzBoard was later briefly used for discussion. Founding members were Matt, Rusty and Symon. Mie and Char were the first members recruited. Ben joined a few months later, followed by Darren.
- Renamed to SEGA Sonic RP in 2003 due to lots of conflict and confusion with other RP groups during this time. (Our name was too vague.) Soon became a forum-based RP group; website moved to sonic.toroimerai.net, hosted by Sy. Became hard-lining (yet also utterly clueless) JP Sonic Team purist group. Known for eye-gouging yellow, red, and blue website color scheme.
- Briefly moved to mizurahi.net (Darren's old webspace) following an outage at toroimerai.net.
- Eventually obtained spindash.net domain, and relocated to ssrp.spindash.net.
- Renamed Sonic Classic Continuity RP in 2006, and relocated to scc.spindash.net. At this point, we stopped being obsessive Sonic Team purists and began to want to do Sonic the way we wanted to do it, oldschool.
- SCC concluded its story in a big finale and epilogue, then shut its doors once and for all in November of 2009.
- We couldn't stay away for long. Within a few months, most of us had come back together and decided to pick up the RP habit again. Thus, we opened Sonic Spindash Role-Playing at sonic.spindash.net, and had our first session in March of 2010. And, here we are now.
