Possible bias aside, this is your most entertaining piece of writing to this point as far as the KOTW threads go. The sincere passion mixed with natural, well-crafted humor reached some sort of joint orgasm in this one. Now go clean up the mess.

I think they handled Sonya in a very interesting way during the course of the latest game. One key thing I noticed and wish I could have seen more of was her transition from a detached character with her own agenda to actual "Earthrealm Hero". At first, her only concerns are that which very directly relate to her, namely Jax, Kano, and her status. I was glad to see that even following her chapter, the transition remained smooth overall, as I did get the impression that even during MK2, she was still too caught up in her own world to be one of the "heroes". Her mind was so taken by Jax's injury that she left the tournament without fighting beside Raiden, Johnny, and Liu, something an evidently annoyed Raiden mentions at one point. Then you have the MK3 era of the story, and its heart-wrenching ending, which sheds a heavy spotlight on Sonya; one that she can't (and does not wish to) run from. If she does take up more of a leadership position in the next game, it will feel much more natural and enjoyable, given the change she went through as MK9 progressed.

That is why I do not want Kano butting in anytime soon. She really does have much bigger things to worry about right now, and in order for her and Kano to settle things, he will, for lack of a better term, have to rise to her level. I mentioned this in the Kano thread: he will need to really grow as a villain, and become a much bigger threat, in order for his rivalry with Sonya to still exist, and END, at some point in MK10's Story Mode. If she simply kills Kano as he is now, it will feel anticlimactic and cheap, like killing a nameless henchman of Outworld. For that ages-old rivalry to have depth in this new iteration, Kano will need to "level up" just as she has.

While he does that, there are many unchecked boxes in Sonya's To-Do List.

I definitely want them to explore this "missing father" aspect of her Story, especially since they were ballsy enough to mention it during her ending. It will be great if her father turns out to have some sort of connection to the tournament, or to another prominent character, and it will be even better if that revelation impacts Sonya's actions in the next game. The writers have really hyped this addition to her story, so it needs to lead to something juicy and surprising. I would love some kind of twist, although I am understandably hesitant to trust the MK writers with "twists".

Moving on: I'm happy Sonya's new goal finally directly correlates with the main story. One thing that bothered me in the past was how she always had something internal going on that ended up drawing her away from the main threat of the story, whether it be the hatred for Kano, or gagJarek, or wanting to save Kenshi and Cyrax, or blow up the set of Sektor & Friends. What she will crave for now is saving Jax, something she will only be able to accomplish over Quan Chi's dead body. Finally, her real enemy really IS the real enemy. I cannot wait to see Sonya step up to the plate and passionately butt heads with the Bosses as opposed to getting sidetracked. She's got a lot on her plate this time, but by the time she's done, not even the plate will survive. Let's just hope Raiden really does end up being a big help this time, as opposed to fucking up her and Johnny's chances of succeeding in in a way that will make my body become permanently stuck in like fashion:

Hey everyone. I'm posting this here, since this is my most popular KOTW thus far, the most recently updated, and the fact that my post about future KOTW was shut down (apparently threads about future MK2011 threads aren't allowed).

So, anyone. Copy+Paste from the closed announcement thread:

Hey everyone. Pull up a chair. Sit down. Make yourself comfy.

You good? Need anything to eat or drink? I could make cocoa...

... Anyway, I've got some bad news. I've been informed by the heads off this site that I have to stop doing my Kharacter of the Week threads. Apparently, they're "clutter" or "rants" and in the interest of streamlining the site, they have to go.

I was told I could just combine them all into one huge, mega-thread... but the problem is, I attempted to do that very same thing. I kept getting error messages whenever I tried to post, half the pictures wouldn't load, and anyone with anything other than a dynamite internet connection wouldn't have half my material that I spent hours on uploaded or seen due to bandwidth issues. Beyond that, I jump back and forth all over those threads (particularly the Sonya thread) and keeping them all separate, and giving each one the attention they deserve, announcing them proudly and dedicating a thread to a character a piece, I felt was the best thing I could do for my ambitious months-long project. I continue to feel that cramming them all together would weaken what I set out to do, beyond taxing the limits of what this site, and people's internet connections, would allow.

I would very much like to keep doing these; I've done these for, wow, nearly 5 months now? I love doing them, and I originally created my KOTW threads with the intentions that they be entertaining enough and good enough to perhaps even draw traffic TO the site and get the interest of the MK team proper.... and, truth be told, I confess I've been actively seeking employment at Netherrealm Studios for awhile now, and was using these threads to showcase my knowledge of the characters, franchise, and people responsible, while forcing myself to do the necessary research to make them worth reading, to be educational, to be entertaining, and to get my own opinions off my chest.

Well, again, change of staff and new change of policies are putting all future KOTW threads on indefinite haitus until further notice.... which is a shame, because that's not what I want at all. I have Jax's KOTW finished and ready to go, and I gladly pour hours into these, but I just can't oblige the requests to put them all in one thread.

So, this is both a post to let everyone know just what the deal is, and why you haven't seen any new KOTW from me in several days. They're done. Ready. I just am not allowed to post them in the way I want. I'm open to suggestions and discussions about how to continue, because, well, I do this for YOU guys, and when I hopefully get employed by Netherrealm Studios (fingers crossed), I can keep doing what I've loved doing and give you guys as much Mortal Kombat love as this manic art graduate can generate.

Hopefully something will give, and I can keep giving you guys these. I know you love them. I love doing them. But I gotta abide by the limitations I've just been given... and they're just not feasible for me to work with. Don't hate the guys in charge; I'm sure they have their reasons (though I disagree), and if my KOTW threads get shut down, I'll think of something else to do for you guys.

You've all been very supportive, and I thank everyone that's read and commented from the bottom of my heart. Here's hoping I can get the rest done, somehow, some way... because I had a doozy of a thread dedicated to Raiden...

Alright, folks. It's out of my hands. I guess we can sound off on what you've liked thus far, what you'd like to see in the future, and maybe get some suggestions on how these can continue.

Wish you guys all the best;
Garlador

P.S. - Personally, at this point, I'm rather upset. I've been accused twice now of "overshadowing" MKO members and staff, of creating these threads as a means of "attention mongering", and basically told that if I don't like it, I can leave and post my stuff to a blog or something.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on, or how those ideas germinated in someone's head. That was never my intentions; quite the complete opposite, in fact. And, lastly... MKO readers, I wanted to post MKO content for the MKO community, the community I belong to, and have belonged to since 2002, for over a decade. I'm one of you, and I've been proud to be with you every step of the way, from the highs to the lows. I love you guys, and, if anyone wants an official statement, THAT is why I created these KOTW threads. For you guys. Here. At MKO. Because you guys are awesome.

... And I'm sorry others felt that my "ego" was making this site WORSE. And if it WAS, nobody ever brought it up.


(If I wanted to deal with this much drama, I'd just read Shakespeare)

As I said, the creativity in these posts is appreciated. We're trying to make a compromise, and I'd like you to continue posting in a single thread, even if it means breaking an update into two or three posts.

I don't know that you're accurately representing what is being communicated. You're entitled to feel a bit put off, given that it's gone eighteen without interruption. Not particularly discouraged, though.

Live long and prosper. Don't create drama where there is none.

EDIT: To reiterate the point being communicated to individuals, and what everyone is on the verge of realizing, is that the forums and site are undergoing reform. This conversation is leading in the same direction as the site. Any understanding from the userbase is appreciated.

Here's the thing, Mick-Lucifer... and I mean this with ZERO disrespect... but I didn't create over 18 KOTW threads over a period of 5 months for YOU, or any ONE person on the MKO staff. At least, I hope you didn't think so (nobody is THAT vain, besides the Kardashians). I created these for the MKO community at large.

... And I'm curious how THEY, not YOU, want these threads to be. How many? Which characters? How frequently? In what layout?

I think I do feel obligated to say that the "compromise" you keep suggestion is something I strongly feel would diminish the intentions and purposes of these threads. Combined into one bloated thread, where you never know which page has the character you want to read over, whether the information is cut into two or three or four posts, or separated by entire pages at a time... it's not conducive to a good read. That's BAD layout. That's BAD writing and planning. And that's why I AVOIDED it.

I'm sorry if YOU disagree, but the thread you closed down, and the topic I posted, are asking, not you, but everyone here, everyone who reads these, what THEY'RE opinion is.

Because I want to hear it. Because I care to hear it. Because I want to do these for THEM. I've always taken every last bit of feedback I've gotten on these to heart, and I know at least a dozen people can stand up and say that I've directly changed or addressed characters or scenarios they wished covered in a certain way.

I'm not the person you SHOULD be dealing with in regards to these. Your members, your readers, your forum-goers... they're the ones you should be talking this over with, because, honestly, the KOTW may be my creation, but they're a love letter to the MKO community. And it's damn rude to butt in and change a love letter to someone else after it's already been half-way written.

I'll continue to ask that anyone that likes my KOTW, and has another idea on how I can continue these, to write me, post here, discuss it, share ideas... you know, the whole "MKO community" thing. I don't wish to feel "vindicated"... I have NEVER asked anyone to rally to my side and speak out against this; quite the contrary, earlier I've asked readers to respect the decision and give me better alternatives and ideas than the ones that I've been given.

Because, well... I DO think we can do better than the "compromise" terms I've been given. And, maybe I'm wrong, I don't think you all want a "compromised" experience either, do you?

Surely you can see that it's just a matter of forum organization. It has little to do with you personally, or the threads for that matter. Don't take it personally.

My suggestion:

Create a single thread. Have the first post as a set of links, for example:

Kano discussion - Page 1
Raiden discussion - Page 3
Skarlet discussion - Page 7

Each link of course simply linking to the pages with the actual KOTW posts. That's a GOOD layout, and a nice way to archive everything (If you also added links to the existing threads, in the end you would have a nicely organized index of all the characters). This also prevents people from having to search for a past KOTW discussion thread in previous pages and bumping them if they want to add something. And it will let people know which characters have been covered, and what you have yet to discuss.

(The reason you were having issues with posting probably had to do with the character/image limit. Were you trying to put them all in a single post?)

Again, I think you're taking it the wrong way. We're not trying to devalue your contribution. We're just asking that you keep it in a single thread...

Since when are you guys in the business of trying to "organize" the forum? Since when is a place where people post whatever's on their mind within the confines of "insert game here" or "series general" or "movies and media", etc., an organizeable thing? I just don't understand where this concept is coming from and what its purpose is supposed to be. It's a bit counter-intuitive to the whole concept of a what a message board is and how they're used.
I mean, exactly what clutter are you trying to avoid, what kind of perfect world are you imagining? And where was this sentiment a year ago when this place was a god damned madhouse and no one would do anything about it and the simple act of getting trolls banned was like pulling goddamn teeth?
Y'know, we had a seperate thread for every character (multiples in Sub-Zero, Kitana, and especially Sonya's cases) back then when we were speculating instead of analyzing, which was a way more useless thing. So how is this worse in any possible sense? Hell, if I were you guys, I'd make Garlador a site contributor and make these threads into articles posted on the front page. This site would be a lot more interesting and maybe have more traffic if the news articles had some op/ed thrown in.

There are over 30 characters in this game, concentrating them into one thread would be both confusing and frustrating for the reader These are extensive posts. Garlador is posting these once a week at most, not 5 times a day or something.

The MK2011 forum is not that active anyway and the community has been nothing, but positive about them and something else I'd like to add, people make a bunch of pointless threads all the time, these are great reads, well written and thoughtful, to compare them to two sentence whinny rants is a bit silly.


These threads have great substance, wit, humor, and charm, it's not like Garlador's thread's are just shallow two second rants.


How could a single thread not be cluttered and confusing about over 30 Mortal Kombat characters? It would also be far too massive and hard to follow at some point, finding a quote you liked or point you wanted to refute would be a burden rather than enjoyment.


I'd also like to make a note that Garlador lists his previous KOTW in the new one each time.

I'm with Garlador on this one. What he's doing is in complete support of the growth of this community.

This is a fighting game forum, and the site is fundamentally flawed. Fighting games by nature invoke massive discussions for each of their characters based on the fact that competitive fighting game characters have so much to study and learn in their mechanics and strategies. Add Mortal Kombat's deep lore to the mix and we could spend months talking about a single character.

Garlador's topics don't only give him an outlet to discuss his feelings on a character, but rather give the entire community a place to share their love and thoughts for that specific character.

This forum is painfully inactive compared to others dedicated to fighting games, and that seriously should NOT be the case. Especially with all the effort the staff on this site put forth to keep us all informed of the latest Mortal Kombat news (however lackluster it may be - the news, not the effort).

Again, I say Garlador's threads bring more to this forum than any other I've seen in since MK9 was announced.

However, I do understand the concern for clutter. It's a fair argument. However, considering the inconsistent trickle of activity on these forums, I don't think it's justified at all. Garlador's threads consistently bring large discussion and are usually the most active threads regarding the series.

Want to know how to fix this? We need character specific sub-forums on this site. It would give Garlador a place to post his threads, give other members a place to discuss their thoughts, and would eliminate clutter entirely.

There's too much discussion to be had about a competitive fighting game to restrict it to a single forum.

But as of now, what the moderators are doing is entirely detrimental to the growth of this community and strongly discourages me from continuing to visit this site.

I don't think there's anywhere near enough traffic on MKO to support that, most of those subforums would be pretty dead.

That's why this confuses me so much...THIS forum, which is the most active on the site, is itself pretty nearly dead, so why try to restrict people's posting habits? How is that going to make anything better? These threads aren't clutter, they're CONTENT, the same kind of content we've always had, except better than most because they're not boring and they generate a lot of responses and conversation, so what is there to take issue with? I just don't get it.

Well that's the problem. As I said, this site shouldn't be dead. Character specific sub-forums should be a standard. Some won't be used that much, true, but at least they'd be there for people when they choose to use them.

Garlador could keep an index thread the main thread, updating and linking to his new KOTW threads in the sub-forums. And perhaps that would create a spark enough to cause other users to create threads sharing their thoughts, opinions and strategies for each respective character.

Well it seems to me, you gotta fix the traffic problem first. Adding character subforums is a good idea, don't get me wrong, but doing it now would be putting the carriage before the horse. Just having them isn't going to draw more people to post.

Mmm... well I suppose fixing the traffic is a discussion for another time. I just think that Garlador's KOTW threads could possibly inspire more users to spend time analyzing other parts of characters, like strategy and their future, given they have the means to do so... without "cluttering" the forum.

There are ALOT of things that could be done to improve these forums. The choice they made with Garly's KOTW threads is, however, not one of them. Instead they are limiting him and the rest of the community who enjoy those threads. Should he do what they ask of him, putting all his KOTW topics into one thread, then discussing those characters individually would become a HUGE clusterfuck (excuse my French). Say he posts a Sub-Zero KOTW, people start discussing it, then next week he posts a Kitana KOTW and then people start discussing her AS WELL as continueing their discussions of Subbie, then he adds another and another and another... The discussions would crisscross eachother in a really bad unorganized way. It is generally a bad idea!

I don't know what exactly is happening in the mods' heads right now, but though their intentions might be good, trying to "clean up" on the forums, they are making some bad decisions in their attempt to do so.

Well this is kinda shitty. I thought the KOTW's were the ultimate highlights of the Mortal Kombat (2011) board. I didn't find them distracting or "attention grabbing" in any way, shape, or form.

:-/

Oh my God this is absolute BULLSHIT and no, it makes no sense.

Are you guys serious? Garlador's fantastic and well appreciated threads by the vast majority of the community are NOT "clutter" to the forum and are most certainly not "rants". How very diminishing of you to refer to them in that simplistic way.

And what the hell is up with this post:



.......seriously?

That was uncalled for and disrespectful. Definitely a false statement.

Honestly MKO admins, the type of user contributed content that Garlador provides in his KOTW's should be celebrated, not restricted. If the justification for Garlador's cease and desist truly is an organizational qualm then citing the once a week entry as "clutter" is a contextually skewed accusation in a forum mired with trite, haphazard, and redundant posts on a DAILY basis. The real issue seems to be policy related, supported by Mick's (paraphrased) comment in the closed thread. "If we let Garlador continue unchecked then by doing so, we are condoning any similar future lengthy user generated content."

My reaction? Why and the fuck would you want to discourage the VERY thing that distinguishes the MKO community from the other major Mortal Kombat sites? Character analysis, story speculation, aesthetic design, continuity discussion...THESE are the conversations that essentially represent the distinction between visiting sites like MKU/TYM with MKO. Garlador's weekly contributions embody that VERY distinction.


Also, to bemoan this sudden interest of "organization" as some means of justification then I fully expect the same expectations upheld regarding the redundant "Matchmaking" and "Strategy" forums, as well as creating character specific sub-forums. You know since we're worried about organization and all.

You're catching on.

Without wanting to get bogged into a debate about whether or not this actually is Garlador Kombat Online, I would ask that you consider that this clerical decision is not the end of civilization as we know it, or a personal attack on anyone or their morals. Please be aware that, as was communicated to the individual it concerned, the decision is part of a larger reform, and that yes. You are all discussing in the same direction as the site. There will be a noticeable change over the weekend, I hope you might notice some already.

Please be calm, please be patient, please don't take offense to my English. Please ponder the subject raised of encouraging further traffic, and consider that we always prefer topics of conversation to remain in a single central area (whether they're a particular type of post with a particular users name branded on it, or not) -- even if moderation has been lax until now.

I couldn't agree more with this post and all the other ones concerning the very inaccurate chosen words from certain people.

What the fuck is this about Garlador "overshadowing users", accusations of "attention mongering", wanting to "get attention", and this garbage about MKO not being "Garlador Online" along side all the other bullshit that has been said?

Seriously, what the hell is going on and why is this even being allowed?

It's not like the KOTW threads NEED to be restricted to a single fucking thread in order to "make the forums a better place", "not cutter" the place, etc.

This is ridiculous and seriously disrespectful to Garlador.

I smell a megalomania complex coming from Mick.

The only possible way to justify this is character specific sub-forums. Otherwise this is just stupid. Sorry to be blunt, it's just wrong. I'd bet money you'd be hard pressed to find a member on this forum who agrees with this decision. I hope the moderators can swallow their pride on this one and admit what they're doing isn't smart.

Or at least tell us what these "changes" will be.

Yes, we get the 'reform' part, however, with all due respect Mick, being the webmaster of this place does not give you the fucking right to disrespect people in the way that you have clearly disrespected and insulted Garlador with your accusations and insinuations. And it is also clear that there are more people who disagree with you.

What kind of reaction do you expect with this kind of offensive attitude? Seriously...

The fact that senior leadership is making snide and petulant remarks about a user who is making POSITIVE contributions to the community and is a decade long loyal member is astounding to me, very off putting.

"Taking attention away from other users" like who? Nobody is stopping anyone from coming up with their own unique ideas to keep the forum fresh I see users making great, memorable threads and contributions all the time.

so much nonsense...........

You know what this thread needs?

Maybe that's the case. I don't know. NOBODY knows.

If character-specific forums did open, with permission, I'd just transfer my posts there, in their "designated" area. I'd gladly do that over any Frankensteining of over 30 character discussions into one super thread.

Indeed it is. This is absolute bullshit.

I know this is not supposed to be "personal" (against Garlador), but, with all those excuses and disrespectful remarks, I'm sorry, its really hard to actually think of this as NOT a personal attack.

He deserves much better than that.