That’s Fine, Just No Kissing On The Lips.

“Y helo thar.”

Yes, you may all be wondering who I am and just what I am doing posting on Wolf’s blog. No, I’m not some ingenious hacker, and no I didn’t hypnotize Wolf to let me post here. As you may or may not know, Wolf a.k.a. Wolfgang Visarett is working on a comprehensive guide to forum dueling, and to help him out Tier and I will be addressing some of the issues that Wolf intended to handle, so if you need a question answered, don’t be afraid to hit any of us up.

Now, back to my topic; it seems that in the current age of dueling, the main concept is nothing but fight, fight, fight! Now, don’t get me wrong, fighting is good and all, but it does get a tad stale when the character interaction flies out the window and we get a ten car pile-up of slashing swords and overpowered energy blasts. What ever happened to the romance, people?! Who says there can’t be a little kiss in between two duelists fighting on the same side, why can’t we save a helpless NPC and then get repaid by a sexual fav…er, I mean hug? I’ll tell you who says this, a lot of people….

DeePee: “dueling is fighting... not meant to be character interaction.”

Now, to some degree, I would say that this statement is true, but there is that other 160 degrees that leads me into my next point; wouldn’t forum dueling be a bit more fun, and a bit more appealing to the masses if there was a little background to it? For example, take a look at dueling in its most linear form;

"All right, it's starting," Lizard thought to himself as the gate on the opposite side began opening. All nervousness was lost. The feeling of battle overtook him. His hand was instinctively led to Reiniku's handle.

Then suddenly, an unexpected calm washed over the stadium. Was it usually this quiet when the fighter entered the ring? No, the noise was quite loud on his entrance. What could-

"Wait a second, it's a woman," Lizard did not commonly see women on the battlefield, and those he did see were rarely his target.

As she walked closer, more detail could be identified. Especially that of her face. Instantly, Lizard's thoughts strayed from the battle... 'Is this my opponent... or some pre-fight entertainment? I can't fight like- wait, the fight!'

The steel gates from behind closed. "That's it," Lizard's eyes widened, the direct focus taken off his opponent. He took this opportunity to make a strike.

He made a direct charge towards the female fighter, making a jump just a few feet in front of her. Propelled by the extra force from his tail, Lizard would attempt to end the match quickly by taking a slash at his opponent's throat...

Look at this, I give my opponent the outmost opportunity to take a stab (Not literally, but emotionally) at the female character, and yet he could care less how beautiful she is, and instead charges headlong in to kill her. Now, if I see a female character that I am about to fight, I shall at least hit on her. Now, I’m not saying this guarantees some sort of relationship, which would be up to the other writer, but it does give way to a bit more fun and clever ways to play out the duel.

Now, everyone can run and slash, but to try and plant a gentle kiss on the woman’s cheek while you attack, now that is an art my friend. So what if you leave that attack with your face imprinted by five fingers and an angry palm, it’s better than a slice by a sword into the gonads, right? Now, the reasoning behind this isn’t to just put interaction into the duel, it may also put your opponent into an unforeseen corner, somewhere that they may not be familiar, and it will lead way to you holding the upper hand.

Now, instead of being a gun-totting, magical sword-wielding robots that live to fight, go out there and show some emotion. It lets the readers enjoy the duel more, and it may give you that key advantage to winning…

Corbow6