Even if roleplay is cursory, to start off on the best of your ability, consider creating a social media strategy that works for you optimally. Hypefury has a few suggestions.
There is a key to create SMART goals that can be measured. One idea to consider in the SMART system is if you WANT to do it. If you do not want to do it, then don’t.
What is your target audience. It cannot be broad. It must be honed in and the only way to understand your audience is deciding your research.
While reach and engagement is very important in social media, for roleplay there is a watching factor that inherently occurs with each performance and the more in character you maintain. Out of character discussion, while simpler in concept have to be maintained. Roleplay if staged must be organized for effectiveness. Nevertheless, metrics are important for business related posts, no so much for hobbies. And yes, vanity metrics, such as likes and followers mean nothing overall.
Have engaging content. Posting several different concepts in life is confusing to your followers. Posting consistent content sets your expertise for the social media you want. Then content should be a balance between content text and images. A picture is worth 1000 words. Some pictures are utterly controversial, not because of nudity, but because someone, somewhere, disagrees about the content and they want to make their point known. Links that post images are the most useful. Without that image, the text goes unread. Videos and gifs work better.
Social media calendars are essential for specific campaigns for roleplayers. Discussing overall your expertise is a good thing, but directing dates and times of your posts to optimize the interaction with the audience is what you use your social media metrics for.
The issue with strict RP accounts is there is a time where there lots of interaction, then there is a long lull period. Lost of interaction period is when the new content is released. Use your calendar for estimating the concept of that. Use holidays. Prepare featured product releases. All podcasts and video releases. Think about how you are going to lead your audience and persuade them to your ideas of your expertise. Be prepared for hecklers because there is always a schism. Have a plan for that. The lull periods should be used for all your ideas being written somewhere on a blog, or site, etc. Your audience can be referred to your sites that go in depth. Then you can charge for more exclusive information.
Roleplay to the Star Wars Actors Guild 77 (SWAG77) means an outline and script written to perform on social media. Portrayal of a character is NOT roleplay to SWAG77. Portrayal is fun to do, but it does lead to wasted social media time. If all someone wants to do is distraction, shoot the breeze, piddle about, meaningless conversation, and/or trying to make friends you have never met, okay. Define what you want. But if you ever seen our roleplays, they are incredible. Lots of people wake up and watch. But it takes a lot of planning and practice.
Once again, Star Wars fans have appears on the Star Wars Actor’s Guild 77 pages after all the “hate bash pages spewing misinformation” has had their fill ruining the fandom.
We said long ago on this blog that none of these “sites” read and study Star Wars like most RPers do — they just failed Star Wars. And powerful entities, influencers and decision-makers LISTENED to these fools, and ostracized us, mass reporting us to silence us.
We will repeat what we’ve said throughout our SWAG77, when you roleplay (RP) online you are responsible for knowing all your story attributes of your character and class. You need to know both canon AND LEGENDS (Star Wars Expanded Universe: SWEU).
Canon because it gives you direction of the kinds of stories Disney wants to tell.
And LEGENDS because they give you the thematic underlying deeper meanings why the Star Wars story works the way it works.
For example, the importance of HEIR TO THE EMPRE — THRAWN TRILOGY shows how THRAWN emotions while there are no emotions and the logic of the Chiss and the Chiss Ascendancy. But if a fan refuses to read it, then understanding why THRAWN NEVER MET SABINE WREN cannot be examined or understood in STAR WARS REBELS.
Sure, random speculations are one idea to do. But why is THRAWN suddenly wearing burgundy and who are these other burgundy wearing Chiss — one might be surprised exactly who — a fan who refuses to read fails to understand the interconnectedness of canon and Legends Star Wars stories.
We are seeing the same for The Mandalorian.
The sequels were created with obstinate to the fans. As such the last movie, TROS, in story confusion. But, that’s what happens when one fails to understand the underlying overall Star Wars story.
If TROS wanted to tell the story filmed in Star Wars context, the Legends story Splinter In The Mind’s Eye, could have been adapted for film. But, well we know what Abrams did or refused to do.
Star Wars Rebels: The Vernissage: The Thrawn Accords on Mandalore II (8186 words) by SWAG_77
Chapters: 3/? Star Wars: Rebels
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Thrawn | Mitth’raw’nuruodo, Sabine Wren
Additional Tags: Observations, Star Wars Actors Guild 77, SWAG 77
Series: Part 2 of Get Thrawn In Star Wars Rebels
Summary:
Only Captain Thrawn is able to invade and conquer Mandalore to Imperial rule. But he had to serve at a regent for Mandalore before a Moff was selected. What he discovered during his rule, is they Mandalorians, were more creative and inventive that what was let on by the rest of the galaxy. He took one Mandalorian child under his tutelage and taught her art and its interpretation, something forbidden by the Mandalorians and the Chiss, which he was.
Only Captain Thrawn is able to invade and conquer Mandalore to Imperial rule. But he had to serve at a regent for Mandalore before a Moff was selected. What he discovered during his rule, is they Mandalorians, were more creative and inventive that what was let on by the rest of the galaxy. He took one Mandalorian child under his tutelage and taught her art and its interpretation, something forbidden by the Mandalorians and the Chiss, which he was.
Read the following part: https://swrpu.wordpress.com/2016/06/16/mandothrawnaccords2/
A last ditch effort to rebuild the Jedi Order, Luke Skywalker attempts the impossible lessons he learns from a secretly sent holocron to recreate Hego Damask’s experiments of Pregnancies through the Force. He failed. In some ways, he tried the In Vitro Fertilization with heterologous cloning. That failed. Several Imperial scientists that turned to the Rebels before being brought up on war crimes said it cannot be done. That the Force won’t allow biological manipulation like that. Luke Skywalker did not believe it. But with the help of a few of his new trainees, he was able to product one successful living fetus to parturition, and then, he had to give this child up at age 4.
Basically, Luke messed up. Recreating the Jedi Order with more Force sensitive users cannot be rushed. There are no short cuts to become a Jedi. Becoming a Jedi is a natural process, some are born into it, some have talent, like a ray of sunshine. The Jedi Order had its time and now, it must become something new. The Force knows when.
There is a natural way to detect a Force user by another Force user. Kylo Ren pressed a Force Reflex Nub in Rey’s brain where consciousness resides and it triggered her ability to defend herself. It was an involuntary defense mechanism maintained by EVERY Force-sensitive being and they push back violently against an intruder.
This protection mechanism that is in every Force sensitive suggests that users CHOOSE to join the dark side.
Potential New Story Arc Rationale To Get Thrawn In Star Wars Rebels.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the most prolific villains in Star Wars Legends and he should be re-canonized into the new movies and televisions shows. Created by Timothy Zahn in the “Heir to the Empire” novel trilogy, THRAWN has appeared in several novels and comics, but not in the movies and television shows.
In the Get Thrawn In Star Wars Rebels campaign, we must prove to the Disney Lucasfilm about the stories that can be told about Grand Admiral Thrawn in the timeline of Star Wars Rebels. We have to show that this character’s story arcs are consistent with the Star Wars Rebels theme for the show. We the fans, must set this up for them beyond letter-writing and demands. We have to have fun with is process. “This is where the fun begins.”
Our concept for new stories needs to show the rationale for the presence of a male Chiss species in the Empire.
What are Chiss? Chiss are humanoid species from the “Unknown Regions” of the galaxy – the part of the galaxy that was not been fully mapped. Chiss are a spacefaring race with low-level hyperdrive technology – their ships do not hyperdrives like the Star Destroyers, but their ships are handle better in aerial battle. Their colonized area of space called the Chiss Ascendancy.
Highly unique aspects of the Chiss are:
May be a human-offshoot species that its early progenitors were lost in a hibernation space-travel experiment thousands of years ago. After millennia, these “humans” adapted to their planetary environment and appear as Chiss, the blue skin and red eyes with red sclera.
Their genetic divergence helps them work in sparse food and predatory environments.
This ability makes them extremely intelligent with strategic and tactical abilities. Their military logic and strategy are unparalleled.
Their abilities are without the use of the Force. While some Chiss were Force Sensitive, their culture had no need for Force using organizations like the Jedi or the Sith, because it was purposeless in their cultural dynamic. If the members had it, they rarely used the ability, because they rarely acted on their emotion like humans who tend to be emotionally unstable (Darth Plagueis, pp 200).
Chiss are probably taught at an early age overcome emotional disabilities from a cultural perspective. That skill had a deleterious effect that causes situations not handled to gurgle into madness, which is seems to have happened to Grand Admiral Thrawn or as the Chiss would call him: Mitth’raw’nuruodo. He is aggressive and combative in the protection the Chiss Ascendency. The Aristocra, or ruling families, would not permit his actions to go unpunished despite any attack that may have occurred. He was placed on the outskirts of the Chiss space with his Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet to learn any threats to Chiss space. For a long time, there were no battles, until the slavers called Vagaari were racing away from a completely unknown species with huge biological ships (which was later learned to be the Yuuzhan Vong, which did pose as a huge threat on the galaxy). But, by the time his team investigated, he met members of the Republic in 27 BBY and his fleet was able to beat, Trade Federation Droid ships with strategy in aerial battles. (Outbound Flight, pp 266).
Story Arc Rationale
Before Order 66, the Jedi were negotiators and keepers of the peace. They used the Light Side of the Force to keep various species from war and negotiate whatever would bring beings together. However, the Jedi were seen more as a nuisance and had become selective in what they negotiated. The Battle at Naboo was seen by many outsiders as the Jedi infiltrating and forcing their point of view. One theory as to why some people hated the Jedi is because of that selectivity that harms the other group that may be protecting themselves (Ars Technica, 2010). Jedi are supposed to be apolitical and not intervene in territorial disputes, but many people saw them as an imposing force. While most of those individuals were often criminals, it does not mean that forces that could match the Jedi’s, like the Sith would not use that cover story as their basis to sway the body politic.
When the Jedi were slaughtered after Order 66 and Operation Knightfall was active with Darth Vader at the helm, the newly created Empire and its Imperial Military were of the last vestiges of the Republic. Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious), and Darth Vader as Sith Lords were not going to let years of hard work be defeated by an incompetent military. (The Rise of Lord Vader, 2011)
Several tactics were used to make the citizens of the Empire that Palpatine, Darth Vader and to some extent, Governor Tarkin had their best interest:
Protection was one of them. Several planets left from the Clone Wars had been devastated, the Empire would bring in their resources, and take away all that they needed, then leave the planets desolate. Groups of beings had to decide how to move forward. (A New Dawn, 2015 and Servants of the Empire, 2015).
Another one was propaganda to find all “evil” Jedi, that they said betrayed the Republic and the Jedi Hunters brought them to trial, and of course executed. (The Force Unleashed 1 and Star Wars Rebels Season 1). That was when sparks of Rebellion started from groups of beings that knew that it was untrue about the Jedi. The Empire had to battle non-Force users who believed in the Jedi and doubted the Empire.
The Empire used fear to bring any citizens into submission as seen in Star Wars Rebels, Call to Action Episode 11 where Grand Moff Tarkin destroyed a perfectly usable communications tower to break the morale of these “Rebels”. Then in the “Siege on Lothal” Episode 1 Season 2, where Darth Vader ordered the burning of “Tarkintown” to unleash the emotions of the Rebels. Fear is used against the Jedi because the Jedi feel all that pain and hurt through the Force, and they cannot stop the emotional scars it causes them unless they turn to the dark side. And while dark side users feel these same scars, they tend to relish in the pain like masochists and the sadist havoc they wreck on the galaxy. They will continue this psychopathy they are stopped. Most of the time, it takes more than one Jedi alone to stop such a destructive force.
Then the Imperials use a more insidious idea that breaks people’s spirits called, “High Human Culture” or Star Wars Bigotry and Racism. It is well known throughout the Star Wars Legends literature that the Imperials only liked humans. Aliens were disgusting to them. Near-humans and humanoids were acceptable to a point, but for high ranks they were not admitted, except to the Inquisitors – but one must have the Force in order to be a member of the Inquisitors (why aliens were always thought to have Force powers is a different question). Most beings in the galaxy did not have the Force, therefore, they were under the constraints of Imperial discrimination. This idea of bigotry and hatred, called speciesism, seems to have a profound effect on morale. Emperor Palpatine knew it well, and had to assuage these powers, because Sith, could also be viewed as alien.
What would Emperor Palpatine’s plan be to attenuate that much bigotry manifested in human Imperials?
The Get Thrawn In Star Wars Rebels campaign story arc design is to address the speciesism maintained by the human components as Imperials. In short, Emperor Palpatine acquiesces to the last vestiges of the Alien beings that were once part of the Republic that demanded representation. In a “token affirmative action” manner, he advances a Chiss, THRAWN to a high-level position in Imperial rank. Meanwhile Darth Vader is committing genocide on several planets, like Kashyyyk on the Wookiees (Rise of Darth Vader, 2011 and The Force Unleashed 1). Emperor Palpatine can still have his favorite son, Darth Vader, rule the galaxy, but, Palpatine must show the diversity of aliens who question the competence of these sector Moffs led by Governor Tarkin who were overwhelmingly human (Tarkin, 2015).
Moreover, Palpatine has to appease the Mandalorians, because the only way to defeat the Mandalorians is wholesale destruction of all their planets. While most Mandalorians are human, some are aliens and the the ones who are human may have tiny amounts of “Taung DNA” that renders them resistant to the powers of Force manipulation. This incident is much like other alien species, like the Yinchorri. Apparently, this resistance was evolutionarily conserved and developed as a biological protection against Force users (Darth Plagueis, pp 250). For whatever reason, during the Rise of the Empire era, the Sith do not mount a huge overrun of Mandalorians, much it was in the Old Republic wars with Darth Revan and the actions on Malachor V thousands of years earlier (KOTOR and SWTOR).
But having a non-Force user (Force blind) individual that is very smart, a strategist and cunning, would enhance the goals of Emperor Palpatine. Moreover to leave an heir to the daily operations of the Empire. Someone had to rein in Grand Moff Tarkin sudden jump in expenses for some random large weapons project with cost overruns from blowing zetamillions of credits. To have any opposing force to discover the built without a single test, would be devestating. Someone who is realistic and pragmatic that can look at intricate designs like a piece of art and tell Palpatine the truth of this design…called…the Death Star (read our example).
Who other than THRAWN to do that? He can outwit and outmaneuver the Rebels who attempt to destroy Emperor Palpatine’s grand plan for the galaxy. He is the only one with experience with the extra-galactic threat where the individuals are absent in the Force, called the Yuuzhan Vong.
Of course, the Star Wars Legends material will be eliminated or retroactively continued (retconned), but still, we have the justification we need as to why THRAWN should be in Rebels.
The question now is how?
We need assistance on that front. If interested, please join the planning group. It will be active until the new movie, Star Wars The Force Awakens airs.
Some Fans cosplay. Some Fans podcast. And some fans post. But the fans that roleplay on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and G+) are different – their fandom is more intense..
They might cosplay. They might podcast. And they probably post a lot. But if they roleplay, they have discussed and shared their ideas in a post in a character’s voice and the few images that might be available.
To roleplay Star Wars online requires a lot of reading. Reading regularly. Reading references and news articles, and then some more reading. Some roleplayers (RPers) don’t do that, and it reflects on their roleplay (RP). But the good ones are ALWAYS READING STAR WARS ALL THE TIME!
Why RP is not a job is beyond me. RP preparation consumes the bulk of my time. I have to keep up with the latest novels and reference books.
There are many reasons why people RP. However, the most important reason to RP in the Star Wars Actors Guild 77 is fun in storytelling. If RP is just a hobby to mess around and make friends during free time, then why be so elaborate and create fan art, music, fan fictions, dances, youtubes, padlets, etc. for it? RP is too labor-intense as a hobby. Sure, people can just be lazy and mess around in a RP every now and then. But the amount of time it takes to manage a good RP, says that calling it a hobby is offensive. RP is true fandom, just like cosplaying is. And with the advances in social media and interaction with favorite celebrities and character, RP could become a highlight for non-RPing fans.
The Star Wars Actors Guild 77 has conveyed these facts repeatedly to Lucasfilm. They understand the power of roleplay on social media. Some of their workers may think it silly, until they see the SWAG 77 RPers and they know we will honor the integrity of their products and follow their planned organization.
Our formal RPs are fun to watch because we are grounded in reading, writing, and performance. Our delivery is accurate, strong and authentic.
These are the tenets of Star Wars Actors Guild 77 (SWAG77) Roleplay Performances.
Our blog is about what is going on in RL regular profile, non-RP accounts. Imagine what happens in RP accounts when there is a MUSE vs MUN problem?
If 70% of 18+ are using social media and it affects their real interactions with people, and 60% are unhappy with their interactions on social media, think how it affects our RPs in performances? IF SOMEONE SEES RP LIKE A PERFORMANCE!
Most RPers are trying to develop relationships with one another. Some serious relationship that lead to dating, marriage or otherwise. To some people who is very strange, to others it’s the norm. In reality, from a socio-psychological standpoint, it’s unrealistic of how a relationship truly develop no matter the words of the intimacy. Historically it could be true, but humans need physical interaction and not through a keyboard.
Treating RP like creating a movie, television show or play production, makes it easier to digest the psychological connections people erroneously conceive as real relationships, even if on-screen there was a sexual filming. This is why not anyone is an actor without classes.
Once again, Star Wars fans have appears on the Star Wars Actor’s Guild 77 pages after all the “hate bash pages spewing misinformation” has had their fill ruining the fandom.
Star Wars Performance University 