dangan oc review

yes and no!

i haven’t forgotten about this blog at all, but you have to keep in mind my own busy schedule. as it’s just one person running this blog, things kinda live and die by me, unfortunately!

Hey there!!! First off, you don’t have to be sorry for anything! This is a blog to help people with their apps - a question about how to improve apps is anything but something that you should feel sorry about! Now, first off, I just need to give you a short disclaimer. I’m not every mod - some mods might like to see other aspects of apps improved, but in general, here’s some of the more common issues I see, in no particular order than by what just came to my head:

Explanation - One of the old adages of writing in general is to show, not tell. Just telling me that your OC is mean gives me almost nothing to work with compared to telling me why the OC acts mean. Overexplanation is much better than underexplanation! Don’t let any potential question go unanswered. 

This is a double-edged sword, though, as you want to be sure to stick to only explanation that would serve in helping understand your character. I don’t need to know how your OC’s grandfather was a coal miner, for instance, unless it plays into something that affects your OC. I don’t really need to know how your OC takes their coffee unless it’s part of an overarching need to stick to a certain set of habits. Fun facts are nice, but it’s really easy to cross over from giving fun facts about your OC into padding your app with fluff territory!

Length - This is a constant source of anxiety for people. Nobody is going to get mad at you for having a long application. Nobody is going to think any less of you, either. The same principle goes for short apps. As long as you cover your character well, your app will be fine! I’ve seen absolutely brilliant apps that were very short. Straightforward characters are just as good and valued as ones with amazing secrets!!! The point, here, is to not even consider your length in any capacity when writing your application. You’re only going to psych yourself out and come up with too much fluff or not enough information. Believe me, as a former mod, when I say this: length alone literally does not (and, to prospective mods, should not) matter even a little bit.

Contradiction - Surprisingly, one of the bigger issues I’ve seen in app reviewing is a lot of people have contradictory elements to their character. Your character can’t be both talkative and reserved - if they’re like that in separate situations, tell me, and why! Your character can’t have their weakness be a frail body with little athletic ability to speak of, and also be known for outrunning anyone who wanted to chase them.

Self-revision - Honestly, many issues in applications can be fixed by reading over your app a couple of times. Anything important you didn’t say, say it. Any issues you find with contradiction, you can change it! Some people just write their apps and then send them in, never to look at them again. That’s bad. Not to say you need to make a revision during any revision period a game might have, though! If you do revisions you’re happy with yourself before sending in your app, then you don’t have to do a revision. Just keep in mind the mods’ work schedules. Make sure if you do send in a revision that you only revise relevant information.

Overreaching - It’s always nice to have your character do amazing things. It’s super cool to have a character who does super cool things! But you have to keep in mind… These kids are high school students. They’re not going to become a democratically elected president or something like that. You have to realize when you give your character some aspect of their backstory that isn’t logically reasonable for a high schooler to do. If your backstory seems really farfetched, chances are it is.

Avoid random additions - What I mean by that, is if you give your OC some sort of medical condition, or some sort of secret - make sure it influences their life. I’ve seen too many apps that just come out of nowhere and all of a sudden their OC is suffering from some sort of debilitating illness. Do your research. Treat these things well. The vast majority of medical conditions influence daily life in some capacity.

Spend time working on your OCs - This doesn’t need much explanation. It’s very easy to tell, sometimes, when people don’t spend much time fleshing out their OCs. It’s possible to make a really good OC in a short amount of time, but it’s also very easy to make an underdeveloped OC with limited time.

Research - Having knowledge of what your OC does can give you an edge in your writing style and your app to create a very memorable, great character. With some titles, it simply may not come up - but research never hurts.

Whereas research is sort of optional but highly recommended with titles, research is a requirement if you wish to portray medical conditions, gender identities you yourself have no clue about, etc. In general, do the work and research - be overprepared rather than underprepared. If you portray a medical issue incorrectly in your app, that itself may be ground for rejection entirely.

Unnecessary dark elements - Realize people have triggers - if your character is heavily triggering, recognize that. I’ve seen many OCs that are literally characterized by triggers before anything else. If your character is triggery, that doesn’t make them bad in itself - it’s whether or not the triggering elements are the forefront of your character or not. If people could be triggered by your character, the key is to recognize whether people will literally constantly be triggered by your character or not. Be careful of titles and personalities that are focused on these triggering elements, as those are the two sections that are the most at-fault.

For example, someone who studies the ocean is fine, even though people have triggers of the ocean. The ocean isn’t going to be brought up in every single conversation. But if your character is blatantly and heavily coercive and primarily concerned with NSFW themes, then please just don’t. If you want to apply with some sort of SHSL murderer, please don’t. Seriously.

Mod Monobear here!!! As of today...

POW!!! Mod Usami is no longer with us! So it’ll just be lil ol’ me runnin’ this blog all by my lonesome. But that’s fine! Nothing will really change. With that said, There are still some apps in the queue! As Cynismi apps are closed, the only apps you should not be sending in are apps for Doubt Academy 6! Other than that, fire away! I’ll edit the blog to reflect these changes!

“I just realized I forgot to make a post. Er. Huh... Is it hot in here?

Updated 6/28/2015 at 11:45 PM!

Hello everyone!

Mod Monobear here, with an extra fluffy announcement! We’re changing things... Slightly. From now on, we’re only going to do private reviews! This is to keep your character’s information off of the public sphere so that we can copy and paste exactly which sections we’re talking about when we’re talking about them. It just makes it easier for everyone! We’ll send you an ask with the portion of the link that counts (/tumblr/private/whateversomestringofcharacters) and you can fill in the rest easy peasy. We’ll also make a list and keep it updated with all of the apps that we review so you can check back to see if you should have received a link! All for delicious, streamlined ease of communication.

Six plus potentially a couple more that haven’t been sent in yet, but the mun has expressed interest!

How spicy!

First review sent out, it’s 4:42 in the morning and I feel GREAT!!!

Hello, anon! Thank you for sending in a question!

There is no form!! Just send whatever app you want to send us, so long as it is not a Doubt Academy 6, Cynismi, or Project Miami hopeful, as we wouldn’t be able to review it!