Awareness:Group Effort Quest (Update on message board/Pole!)

[Meeki]

I don't see how it's going to spread through roleplay, though. You can't exactly bring it up in roleplay since it's not part of the soquili environment, and not everyone is going to pay attention to the details of the pet. They may just think it's a blue usdia, and so forth.

While I can understand people wanting to roleplay it for fun, I really don't think roleplay is going to spread much awareness at all since talking about the problem and helping people understand it is the most important thing, and that can't be done in a Soquili roleplay since all the pets exist in the native american time period where none of these things were known. The odds that someone is going to pm another and inquire about the pet itself is very rare.

I do think the guidelines for roleplay though would be a big help and bring a lot of peace to the minds of those that worry it. To an outside perspective, we don't know exactly why people are going for the ribbons. It would be nice to assume that everyone is doing so because it directly influences or affects their life in some way and they understand, but there's always the off chance that someone is going in for it for the color or little things, such as being part of something bigger. So some rules would probably be a big relief.

My brother has a bad case of diabetes, for example. He ends up going to the hospital so often, and it's something that really affects us because his health gets really poor at times and we know that there's always the risk of him dying from it. I also have an aunt that's has breast cancer that was caught too late, so things aren't looking well for her. Those are the only two that really affect me but I wanted to explain so one may have an idea of why I'm a bit mixed about it. I really like the awareness aspect of it, but it would really both hurt and offend me if it was abused.  

[Harperking]

I am also a bit concerned about the roleplay of these guys. My partner is about to go through a stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma, so I am speaking as someone whose life is directly affected by one of the causes you have listed here. I also worked for HIV agencies for seven years.
Yes, awareness is important. But respect is also important. A pony going around in an environment that in no way has any connection to the modern world that begins talking about topics like cancer, HIV (and lets please remember that it is HIV and AIDS is just a latter stage of the illness), or premature birth is not appropriate and not respectful.
How are these ponies going to be rp'd? As any other usdia - they just happen to have a ribbon marking and don't mention what they represent? (that I would be ok with) As spokesponies for what the ribbons mean? (that I have a problem with)
I also have a problem with the questing images that some folks are putting up. Guilting people to give you gold for a ribbon pony is not cool.  

[Umi Hitomi]

Umi likes this idea and would like to take on questing for the brown anti-tobacco ribbon as her parents are fighting the addiction right now. <3

 

[Lita Rutherford]

Ok, i just woke up so lets see if i can get my anwser in a logical order. ^^;


Meeki, True, the odds might be really slim, but you never know, someone might spot the ribbon pony and inquire as to what the ribbon stands for, or, since i have seen some of the people questing have put down what the ribbon stands for on the cert under breed then i might be seen that way. The Usdia will have a ribbon, either item or marking, somewhere so that it can't just be confused as a pretty pink pony or something along those lines. But yes, We'll see what we can do about guidelines for RPing to try and ease your worries and anyone else who has similar worries as you. I have grandparents with diabetes, i have one who we think has Alzheimer's, I have a cousin and friend who are homosexual, two friends who were premature, so i understand being close to someone with the things listed and not wanting them to be misused and abused. I know that everyone who has asked for a certain ribbon (pretaining to an illness and such) has stated having a friend or family member with said. I trust them not to do something completely disrespectful. But yes, back to the topic of RP, We'll see if we can't come up with some guidelines to help ease your worries. if you have anything you'd like to offer up in terms of guidelines feel free to PM me with suggestions.


Harperking, of course. These ponies could not be spokesponies, and we would be sure to make sure every owner is aware and recognizes that these ponies cannot be spokesponies in the Soquili Universe. Their RP would just be like any other. The meaning behind the Ribbons would not be mentioned in RP nor in the Soquili Universe at all, but only for the knowledge of the owners, those RPing, the minds behind the pets these ponies would encounter. They would just be RPed like any normal Usdia with the off chance the owner of the other pony might notice the ribbon and search or inquire upon it. Also i have been thinking of keeping these ponies together in sort of a herd, with their own special teepee (OC of course) that showcases all of them and about their cause, as well group RPs between the herd of Ribbon Ponies. The ponies themselves, in short, won't even know what their markings mean, just as a cosplay of, say, a Pokemon, would not even know what a Pokemon was and therefore simply thinks it has a weird marking and color pattern, so therefore they could not talk about their ribbons meaning since they themselves dont' even know.


I hope I made sense. ^^;


Edit: Oops, forgot. Harper, I don't know if anyone is intentionally trying to guilt trip others for gold. I havn't seen many sigs yet that specifically ask for gold for a certain cause. And if so, i'm not sure what i can do about that.  

[one over three]

Meeki

If these are acquired, do you think they could be unbreedable/unroleplayable? ...

I'm happy I decided not to go for one. If I had I think I'd be stepping down the second someone told me I wouldn't be able to RP or breed something I quested for. I think it's fair and should be expected, even required, that the owners of these sorts of pets treat them, and their cause with respect when it comes to breeding and roleplay. However I think it's going over the top to ban it completely.

If the owner decides to keep their pet non-breeding or non-RP then that's their choice. Make guidelines telling people to avoid certain behaviours deemed as offensives or inappropriate. (Such as breeding for the sake of breeding or using the associated ribbon in RP). Don't ban it completely.

Am I the only one who thinks that telling the little gay rights pony that he/she can't have kids is a little ironic? =P

These pets have a dual existence set up for them. On one side they support a cause. On the other side they're just B&C pets. It can't be that hard for both sides to co-exist harmoniously, can it?

Elda-Chan

2.) I highly doubt anyone who's life has been touched by any of the things these ponies represent will be willing to do/RP anything that would be considered in bad taste or disrespectful toward their cause.

I agree with this. I personally would intentionally do something I felt was disrespectful while representing a cause that's affected my life. You could turn the table and say that someone who's getting one of these just to be 'cool' might, but they really shouldn't be here anyways.

And that's my opinion.

Lita, I'm happy to see so many people have shown up for this. =D You're gonna have lots of little ribbon ponies and many causes represented. Can you send me a friend request from the mule when you get her set up?  

[pippi18848]

Once I get my Usdia and I decide to rp I'm not going to end up talking about autism in my rp's. Because for one it's not part of the soquili environment and two I couldn't really explain autism if I tried. My brother has Asperger's and people ask me alot what it is and I can't explain it. The most I can do is tell them it's a form of autism and where to look it up if they want more info. I've grown up with it and I know how to handle my brother on his good and bad days but explaining what it is is something I've never learned because I never saw the reason to.
I can understand people being worried that someone will end up voicing out what their usdia's awareness is in rp. If they do then perhaps a little warning pm should be sent to them. Some rules for rping these particular usdias would be nice and should hopefully set any worries to ease. As for breeding it doesn't affect me what happens because mine won't ever breed even if these were allowed to be bred.  

[Lita Rutherford]

I did not think of it like that. In thinking of the whole nonbreeding seemed logical and like the right thing to do, however picking out one, well that one in particular, it does seem...kinda mean. Esspecially since gay rights is the number one thing i am passionate about in particular.

I think we have come to an agreement of sorts of the RPing issue, RP-able but with guidlines. However with the point Cyn brought up, perhaps we should re-anylize the breeding aspect?

In fact here is what i'm going to do. Everyone participating: I shall be PMing you each to get a tally of who wants to RP, who does; who wants to Breed, who doesn't.


It has definatly come into light that we will be unable to make everyone 100% happy with this. However, if we can find a common ground, and keep this project afloat, then i'll be happy. Should we try and work out guidelines for not only RPing but breeding as well? I'll see what i can think up in terms of guidelines to give an idea, check back in a little bit in the Message Board section on the first page.  

[Mrs Aware]

On a less stressful note, We got our first donation! Upate on the mules account:

We have 11k saved for use by the group! Of course it might seem small, compared to the amount we may need in the long run, but its a great start!  

[Tygress Dream]

There's another donation winging its way to you smile I'll probably donate to a couple specific ribbons at some point as well but I wanted to give a little to the general goal. Good luck everyone.  

[Lovely-Guardian]

Gah! I'm still having a horrible time trying to figure out how to make my awareness soquili unique. Anybody want to help me out? My mind is blank and all I can think of is the color 'gold'.  

[Meeki]

I am not 100% sure on my take still, I do know that if I go for one, I won't be roleplaying or breeding it by choice, since I believe that the idea should mean more than the ability to roleplay or breed a pet. But I would like to reserve this ribbon if possible:


Child Abuse Awareness.

If anyone else is 100% sure they wouldn't roleplay or breed their pet, I welcome contact and would be willing to donate to their cause. I just don't feel comfortable donating to anyone that will most likely roleplay or breed their awareness pet, I'm sorry.  

[one over three]

If that's how you feel Meeki then I support your choice both in your decision not to RP as well your choice of how you want to spend your own funds.

All I'm asking is that each person gets to ultimatly make that choice for themselves.

Mm... I just thought of something I'd like to get. I hope it's not already taken.  

[`Swirly]

My Usdia will be sig only.

What I'm questing for will look as much like my father as I can, which probably sounds a bit on the silly side. He would represent to me a year that has, in all honesty, been hell. It would also have the effect of knowing that he did make it through it. We all did as a family.

Are we allowed to post our forms in here? I'd like to see what others are doing for theirs!