In Which I Say Who My Favorite Of Your Living V7 Characters Is

[MurderWeasel]

Can I get them picks

Marco Volker has made me laugh out loud more than any other character in V7, and there have been some really funny beats this version so that is saying something. He's quirky, unpredictable, and yet at the same time has the edge to him, this hint that stuff could suddenly get really serious with just one or two things going wrong. He's established a great dynamic with Arjen Kramer, as both characters frustrate and torment each other in different ways while still feeling like there's a level of, if probably not actual affection quite yet, at least familiarity and comfort in dealing with a known quantity.

A lot of what makes Marco work so well is his voice, both in speech and in narrative. It has a sort of manic emphasis to it, a charisma that just dares you to question what he's saying. I'm going to pull out a couple of my favorite posts that illustrate this: one when he opens fire on the boat which manages to take something I usually can't stand (CAPSLOCKED. WORDS. SPLIT. FOR. EMPHASIS.) and make it one of the most amazingly funny chunks of writing in the version to date, and another when he mentally flips out over being baited into giving Arjen an opening to complain further, because it's just such a relatable moment of exasperation and yet it leads into a pep talk that is, if imperfect from a results standpoint, at least well-intentioned and also a hoot to read.

[MurderWeasel]

I would also like access to the forbidden truths

I am very down with Thomas Buckley and his adventures with the Cloutless Gang. I actually enjoyed Thomas a lot in his brief appearance early on in Pregame, and was more than a bit bummed when it seemed like he might not make the final hurdle, so I'm very glad he did. What stands out to me most positively about him is ultimately his humanity, as expressed through a really impressive emotional range so far. Thomas has good chemistry with his allies precisely because his relationship with them is actually a little messy. He has moments of doubt or misunderstanding, he gets irritated, and then he takes some time and cools off and realizes that he did some jerkish things and wants to make amends. And, all the while, he has some personal uncertainty in play, an internal journey in tandem with his trials with external relationships. Roundness in characters, and the nuance and complexity that come with it, number among my favorite things to see when they're justified, and Thomas' apology to Lucas is a highlight for me so far because it caught me totally off-guard as a reader and yet the moment my eyes flicked over the words it felt like the most logical and natural thing in the world. That's a sign of some ace character work.

[MurderWeasel]

Me, me, pick me!

(Unoriginal I know but whatevs)

Of your crew, I favor Nick Ogilvie. Nick has a lot of fascinating things going on, and I think much of it comes down to thematic consistency and coherence. I'm fascinated by the degree to which Nick has been changed, as a person, by decisions he made throughout Pregame, and by the extent to which they have shaken the core of his confidence and self-image. Interestingly, I think Nick is actually in a lot of ways his own worst enemy, opening the door for others to hurt and judge him due to this strain of self-loathing that is stronger than anything anybody else brings to bear against him. His real issue seems not to be that he does bad things, but rather that he has acted poorly with full comprehension and ethical awareness of his choices, which gives him precious little room to deny or cushion the blow to his ego. This, in turn, makes it a treat to see him doing things like claiming the moral high ground in explicit and verbal fashion. Nick also has an easy charm about him that pervades even his narrative, making his posts a joy to read on a simple turn-of-phrase level. And he always brings in his major hobby, magic illusions, without it feeling forced and with it added complexity and nuance to the situations in which he finds himself.

[MurderWeasel]

Might as well get on this gravy train before it gets too crowded

Camilla Bell is my favorite of your girls at present. I think what really pushes Camilla over the edge for me is the way she engages with and thinks about the group she has found herself allied with. Camilla feels very real to me due to the potent mixture of fear and uncertainty and a general good nature that inform her choices. She forgets names. She's nervous about the weapons. She's still got it together enough to be irritated by the prospect of unwanted advances from Lucas A, though. That moment, by the way, is a nice little piece of history added between characters in a fairly smooth manner, making them feel more believably like classmates with shared frames of reference and experience despite the fact that they didn't actually ever share a thread in pregame. I also greatly appreciate Camilla's general uncertainty and waffling around Max's plan, the way she weighs competing needs and desires (to stay safe and with others vs. to not be involved in a player-hunter squad whose motives and capabilities she feels doubt towards). She really feels like she's being swept around in spite of herself to some degree, and yet at the same time never comes across as passive or background in the narrative.

[General Goose]

Me, me, pick me!

(Unoriginal I know but whatevs)

Of your crew, I favor Nick Ogilvie. Nick has a lot of fascinating things going on, and I think much of it comes down to thematic consistency and coherence. I'm fascinated by the degree to which Nick has been changed, as a person, by decisions he made throughout Pregame, and by the extent to which they have shaken the core of his confidence and self-image. Interestingly, I think Nick is actually in a lot of ways his own worst enemy, opening the door for others to hurt and judge him due to this strain of self-loathing that is stronger than anything anybody else brings to bear against him. His real issue seems not to be that he does bad things, but rather that he has acted poorly with full comprehension and ethical awareness of his choices, which gives him precious little room to deny or cushion the blow to his ego. This, in turn, makes it a treat to see him doing things like claiming the moral high ground in explicit and verbal fashion. Nick also has an easy charm about him that pervades even his narrative, making his posts a joy to read on a simple turn-of-phrase level. And he always brings in his major hobby, magic illusions, without it feeling forced and with it added complexity and nuance to the situations in which he finds himself.

Thank you! This is actually very great to read unprompted - I do try and go for those things (which you put way better than I could), so it's good to hear that comes off well.

[MurderWeasel]

where can i paypass you 30$
(yes)

Currently, of your characters, I give the edge to Willow O'Neal. Willow's unique character and reactions to situations has been fascinating throughout Pregame, and she has not disappointed at all in-game. A thing I particularly appreciate about her is the way she can read a situation differently from everyone else in the area; the series of misunderstandings revolving around the encounter with Faith was great in part because it created a thread in which, somehow, nobody got quite what they wanted--Faith got robbed, Willow got shot, and Sierra was forced to confront aspects of herself she didn't necessarily want to shine a light on. Basically all of that stems from actions Willow took, because she thought that was more or less the plan.

And, at the same time, I think it's important to note that Willow is not purely impulsive. She's noted as someone who enjoys strategizing, and we see that in play in several places. She's very willing to discuss Faith's fate with Sierra (and ultimately to compromise), and when the scheme she comes up with to mug Arjen and Marco doesn't meet with a good reception from her partner, she's willing to think it through, concede that it's flawed, and go with something else. Willow has this vibe of being very creative in a slightly warped way, but it doesn't take her over, which lets it serve as an asset to her more often than a hindrance (plus makes her a pleasure to read, because you never know quite what you'll get from one of her posts but it'll always be interesting).

[MurderWeasel]

Me, Poly

Billy Trevino is not just my favorite of your kids right now, but part of one of the groups that has most pleasantly grabbed me so far in V7. Billy's alliance quickly decides to help others and do the right thing and seek escape, and while that's not a purely unique narrative arc, it is one I don't think I've seen pulled off with such universal sincerity from its members. One of the things Billy particularly brings to the table is an eminently believable voice. His reactions to the potato cannon are more or less how I'd expect most of my old high school buddies to react, with humor and exasperation. This same sort of stuff characterizes his frustration upon finally catching upon with Mackenzie after she takes off and has a little interlude with a mugging.

This feeds into the second thing I really like about Billy: he takes the role of group dissenter in a fresh direction. He feels like the one with the most skepticism regarding the plan (insofar as there is one), like the least of an idealist in some ways, but all the same he doesn't feel like a bomb ticking down to detonation. We've seen a darker side of Billy, and there's room for that to come back, but right now at least he seems to genuinely believe, to care, to want to try... just with slightly less gusto than his partners.

[MurderWeasel]

henlo yes please feed my narcissism

I have been extremely, extremely impressed by how well the newest addition to your cast, Ramsey Cortez, has gelled with your style. One of your greatest talents as a writer is hitting really unique humorous beats, and I think you actually sometimes undersell yourself by passing it off as just "memeing." There's usually a definite and solid emotional core there, a willingness to go for the gut punch and pull something crazy because it feels right, and pull it off. What does this all have to do with Ramsey? Well, he's had a couple of highlight scenes since his change in management in Pregame that I would've never come up with in a hundred years, and his posts in-game have been knocking it out of the park, getting as much mileage as possible from an absolutely ridiculous weapon draw (and while I'm here, kudos to whoever came up with it—it hits the absolute sweet spot for joke weapons) and tying into Ramsey's posts not just in his reactions to it, but as a physical prop, to be awkwardly dragged around and flopped onto. It makes for a very visual scene, and also one with an odd mixture of tension and levity. Ramsey's a big part of that, bringing in all these more lighthearted moments yet always with a deft hand that makes sure he's not taking the legs from the emotional gravitas in play, and even incorporating himself into it when the time is right.

[MurderWeasel]

Fuck it, we'll do it live!

Back after our brief quarantine intermission with Claudeson Bademosi. One of the best parts of Claudeson is that all throughout Pregame, a huge chunk of the site was certain it had his number, and then when the game started it quickly became clear that nobody had the faintest clue where Claudeson was going. He's a really interesting exploration of themes and mentalities we don't often see, and I love the way a life-ruining catastrophe energizes him and breaks him out of the funk he's slowly fallen into over the course of the events of Pregame.

Claudeson is also exceptionally well-realized as an individual. He has distinct manners of speaking and thinking, which serve to both distinguish and characterize him. He's somewhat overblown at times and struggles to ground himself or get on the same level as his peers, and while there's certainly an element of ego to that, there's also a feeling of a more simple failure of understanding; he can sympathize with others, but he has a hard time putting himself in their shoes and pushing aside his own biases and expectations and ideas of the world. And, of course, there are his thought processes, the constant struggle as he tries to hold true to his own standards while darker, unwanted, tiny intrusive thoughts lurk nearby, often somewhere just off to the right in red so dark it's nearly black.

[Pippi]

I meant to jump onto this earlier but I didn't! So now I am! Wow!

[MurderWeasel]

Tell me which of my awful characters you like most.

Sierra Cook is fascinating to me for a lot of reasons. She's occupied an interesting moral spot since Pregame, sliding between protagonist and antagonist depending on the scene (or sometimes even the post) yet always feeling like a consistent, well-considered character. Her rough and tumble attitude and her willingness to dive straight into something without fully thinking it through have both led her into a number of interesting and explosive scenes already, and throughout it all Sierra has held her own when playing off some very high quality and strong personality characters. I love the chemistry that's developed between her and Willow, the way who's behaving more morally at any given moment can swing in the blink of an eye, and also the way she's had steadily-mounting mixed feelings about what she's doing to the people who've ended up on the wrong side of her stun gun. I'm absolutely stoked to see how she develops as the game continues, especially now that she's in a scene that can't follow the same general progression as the last two (for myriad reasons, not least of all that she has unknowingly already stolen Kelly's belongings). Overall, Sierra just has this energy about her that suggests you can never be totally sure how any interaction with her will go, whether she'll befriend someone whose friends she despises or taze a relative stranger in the eye. She's dynamic, in the best ways.

[Ryuki]

Better late than never, so, yeah, me too please.

[MurderWeasel]

0.0 id like to sign up

My fav of your crew is Jackson Sullivan, for a whole load of reasons. Jackson has had this fascinating internal push and pull since Pregame, as he contends with a short temper and a disadvantaged personal situation while also, more often than not, feeling like a dude who is at his core a good guy trying to get the best result for everyone. It's just, the universe doesn't want him to have it easy, and time and again things come up and throw him for a loop or complicate his efforts and leave him looking worse for them.

He was part of the excellent sequence revolving around the discovery of Abel's body, and from there has found himself tossed into ever more conflict. His split attention and desire to help but uncertainty how to be most effective during the fight with Gervais felt very real to me, as has his poor self-image coupled with his desire to do better, often coming down harder on himself than I think is really merited, or than I think anyone else would. He has this vibe about him that in a lot of ways makes him a very appealing protagonist to me, somebody who's flawed, hurting, and prone to making hasty decisions but always wants the best and is at the end of the day his own worse enemy, and more of a problem for himself than anybody else. He feels human and his processes make sense and I just want stuff to turn okay for him for a change.

[MurderWeasel]

!em kcip, em, eM

Max Rudolph has captured my attention just as he hopes to capture miscreants with his big toothy claw. A lot of stuff plays into my fondness for Max, but I think two of the biggest points are his moral complexity and his confused teenage pretension.

The path of the player hunter is a well-trod one, and one that's had a lot of interesting ideological stances espoused about it. What makes Max stand out to me is that he's both more self-aware about the potential eventual pitfalls (much as he tries to keep such thoughts at least partially at bay) and more cogent in his ethical reckoning as to how his prospective actions are justified. This mirrors his Pregame showing, where he is not easily categorized; on the one hand, he holds (or at least expresses) certain stances and prejudices odious to me (and, I expect, most readers), but on the other, he's a character who's actually involved in actively trying to make the world a better place out of an ideological stance, and not just for the credibility it buys him.

And then, there's the diction. Max typically hides behind mountains of five-dollar words, but it feels just like that: someone unsure of himself taking shelter from an image he crafts for himself, one which leaves him cool and smart and in control, even when he doesn't always feel it. Max's narrative beautifully handles this, too, letting it slip away at times when he's particularly comfortable, and other times showing him struggling to turn off a defense mechanism that has become second nature to him, even when he knows it's not right for the situation. It's a wonderful and successful exercise in voice, and I love it.

[MurderWeasel]

I'm down for it.

I have been extremely, extremely impressed so far by Jeff Greene. Jeff is an ornery sort, with a questionable attitude and some real suggestions that he might cause a whole lot of trouble for people, but at the same time? I think, to some extent, there's a front going on there. Jeff feels like a guy who has, for one reason or another, been pushed or accidentally stepped out of the circles he'd most comfortably fit into, and as a result has told himself, "Fine! I don't need them anyways!" He tells himself that story again and again, but when the time comes to actually be the sort of no-holds-barred type he thinks himself, more often than not he ultimately does the right thing. His journey to Prom with Tonya was an absolute highlight of Pregame for me, because of the way both sides talked around each other, caused these moments of hurt, but also really tried to do their best and developed some real respect and empathy for each other.

In the game, Jeff has the perfect mix of gusto and (perhaps slightly too) quick reactions to make stuff happen wherever he goes. He's a character who doesn't let scenes get too slow, because even if nothing is physically happening, he's got something interesting going on in his head, or is keeping his guard up, or is about to do something himself. I am very very invested in him and his journey, and his current sticky predicament has me on the edge of my seat, just waiting to see how it turns out and shapes him and where he goes next.