Thoughts on the Displaced Group...

...and other related groups.

Soooo, I guess I'm just going to start by saying that I'm a fan of the Displaced genre, despite how cringeworthy it's reputation has become. I admit, it is used more often than not as a 'breakout' story, rather a story that will field a lot of attention, and is often poorly written and grammatically deficient.

Displaced stories are cheap, simply. They tend to abuse the audience of a particular genre by supplementing the crossover of the actual character with a carbon copy version lacking the personality of said character. Not to mention is usually an HiE, again, gathering more attention to boost its own rating.

I'm not a fan of overlooking a story's flaws, but this occurs more often than not by those who read displaced stories, the 'pew pew bam zap!' plot lines distracting readers from the utter clusterfuck of word they are reading.

Or trying to at least.

But just like HiE's, they can be done well.

Recently the Displaced group tried to pull off something that would have created a stable sort of lore around the displaced stories, the original at the time rather hole ridden and transparent.

Yes, there actually is a lore on displaced stories.

That plan didn't exactly work out, and basically resulted a whole lot of jack shit.

I was originally apart of the group, but left soon after this.

It was a little disappointing in all honesty.

I like Displaced stories. I write displaced stories. I believe they can be done well.

But the whole 'building a background on the genre' is just a fucking mess. All it does is lead to ideas of various authors collabing in a circle jerk of 'omg our characters can totally fight together, they goona reck!' , that goes fucking nowhere.

It's like reusing the same peice of paper over and over again, crumpling it up and smoothing it out again, but it gets a little worse each time. That's what rehashing the 'displaced lore' seems like.

With the genre dying down once again and people simply too tired to give a fuck when the newest displaced story pops out of the new stories tab, fresh with Meeester's tears, the displaced group and their related groups have two options.

Change, or die out.

Plain and simple.

Starting over from scratch is my best advice to them, because frankly, this is akin to fixing a sinking ship with bubblegum and duct tape.

And your all out of duct tape.

I don't know why I'm bitching about this.

Maybe it's because I'm growing tired of looking over on the sidelines and commenting under my breath 'that's shit' 'that's shit' and 'that's definitely shit'. Maybe being passive aggressive about this is really getting old.

Whatever.

Comments

[Northern Desert]

I can definitely sympathize with you regarding the...issues that seem to have developed with the Displaced group. I also agree that Displaced fics can be done well ('Warden' is a very good example of such a fic.). The lore itself is a hit or miss with most people, and to be honest it will probably effect my writing very little.

However, the main issue I think people seem to be having is the idea that we need to 'Replace' the Displaced group.

You don't just go an replace a group like that, no matter the name if the concept stays the same the new group will meet just as much backlash. Of course, there are ways of adapting to the group and making one that doesn't act as a replacement, but more as an alternative. Something sweet on the side, but not something that would be overused. When that happens...well we've already seen what it does the the Displaced group.

The only real way to keep Displaced going is to improve (Which they have been doing, but there is still a long way to go) it. I'm not talking about a purge of the Admins, that's basically flipping off the people who have attempted to maintain the bloody system for months if not a year, but more of an adaption to what goes on behind the scenes. More interaction between the Admins and the regular members, that sort of thing.

Anyway, I'm sad that you left but I agree that things got way out of hand that one week and it's still alight, although dim. I have plans of making something that will be a certain blend from groups I like (Such as the Displaced) but try to pick up where they fell. Not as a replacement, but as that sweet little treat on the side for everyone to enjoy once every so often.

[Handyman]

The main problem I've had with the displaced genre is, well, it often encapsulates some of the worst of HiE only exaggerated to one degree or another, and the main character goes from douche in a costume to godhood in no time flat, though that doesn't mean it can't be fun. I do remember Fuck this I'm Having Fun being a refreshing breath of absurdity when I first came upon it and Malideus was actually fun at times, (though reading over it again I can't help but notice all the horribad writing), then he had sex with a dragon, because thats entirely practical, and the entire story descended into murderporn and egowank territory (why the fuck can I not get an anthroverse story that isn't sexualized to hell and back and is actually a decent read? Come the fuck on fimfic) and won a card game against an ensemble cast of cameo Magnificent Bastard gods from various outside fictions.

I don't mind darkness, I don't mind the absurdist comedy, I don't even mind some of the wish fulfilment. But displaced stories are a monument to wasted potential if ever I saw one.

Here, have a picture.
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6541822/1getalife.png