ATTENTION: Martial Arts+

[SR Park]

Um, did that get your attention?

I've created this thread on other Xin boards, and have seen someone else create it on the old 552. Also, an issue I've recently encountered has caused the idea for this thread to pop into my memory. We're on a RPB revolving around the aspect of fighting, and while our character may be a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do or a state champion high school wrestler, where do you, as a roleplayer, stand in terms of fighting experience?

Although practical experience in a martial art or some form of combat sport definitely does help in terms of having an idea of what you can realistically apply to a roleplaying fight, those who practice something and roleplay will tell you it is sometimes difficult to translate what you do to in real life onto paper. You'd have to break it down into pieces in order to put it into words and make it work, but sometimes that's not possible. It's just something that, when performed, such as a kick or takedown, you can just feel--and therefore know it was done correctly.

This brings me to another point: a roleplaying fight =/= a real fight. Though we try to adhere to the limitations of reality, many of us bend its rules. There have been things done to me where I've thought to myself, "Wow, that'd be impossible in a real fight," and I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought that about something I've done. But let's face it; it's an RPB. We use it to do things we are unable to do in real life.

Why did I waste time typing that up, you ask? Well, I don't really know. Maybe I just wanted to soften you guys up before asked my questions, which were the entire point of this thread. Speaking of those...

• Do you practice a martial art/combat sport in real life? If so, what do you practice and how long have you been practicing? Perhaps give us a little backstory of how you got into it or why you are currently doing it?
  
• If you don't practice anything, where do you get your fighting knowledge? Television? Films? Video games?
  
• How do you visualize in-character fights? Cartoon/Anime-style? Cel-shaded? High-definition computer generated graphics? An action film, like the Bourne trilogy? Maybe something more Eastern, like a kung-fu flick?

There we go. I just wanted to get some insight into where the members of PHS #42 gather their experience for roleplaying from, and how they bring their roleplaying to life. I always find it interesting in broaden my perspective of a community. I love seeing the diversity in experiences and imagination every member has to share.

Expect to see threads similar to this in the future. Humans are such fascinating creatures! (:

[Allen Daughtry]

I've never taken any form of martial arts, and never gotten into a real fist fight myself, so I have no experience in real world combat. What little I do know I've learned from watching UFC matches and the more realistic martial arts films, but much of it is just basic common knowledge that I've collected from trial and error. It's taken about three years to finally stamp out the differences between reality and fantasy fighting, but I think I've got the basic gist down.

As for how I perceive the fights in my head, it's usually in a Bourne-like live action film style, where different cinema shots are used by my mind to get the best angle, and different moods go by different speeds due to their complexity. Sometimes though, I visualize the fight in a realistic anime art style, like the fight between Spike Spiegal and Vincent in the Cowboy Bebop movie.

[Emi Hitokata]

My school requires girls to take one year of Judo in PE class. That was the worst one year of my life >_> My teacher was this really perverted old guy who always picked out the same girl to demonstrate moves on. Usually, he picks out the petite girls, but this really tall, pretty girl came to our school, so he used her instead >_> Creep...

He hated me. Like one day these middle school kids checked out our class, and he dragged me to the front and actually made me do one of the moves we were learning. Then he told the middle schoolers,"That's how to not do Judo." T_T

I'm not that good at fighting ic, so I often look at roleplayers to get ideas. When I fight, I like to actually visualize my character and my opponent real life style and then make it all slow motion. >_>

[Irisis Soresu-D'Unienville]

I actually imagine them in real life, probably because I work for this amateur film production which deals with a cliche plotline of supernatural forces fighting against an evil overlord (mistress, in this case), and I'm their graphic concept artist. I do the storyboards in a sketchy anime style, though it feels too flat for me. So I can imagine the actors/actresses doing the moves. Then sprinkle in the special effects, in my imagination. And including camera angles and perspectives. Yup, that's how my mind works.

Personally, I've never gotten into a fight nor do I practice any moves. I'm way too much of a pacifist. I'm quite imaginative in thinking up moves at times though, and I don't know where it was influenced, and I realised that I'm not making sense at this point so I'll leave it at that. xD

[zer0]

My character uses some idea of dance and interpretive reaction to music... so I usually just imagine music and apply it into evasion, attack, or defence... it works pretty well to use the body to characterize the music going through my head.

Otherwise a lot of it is based on video games (fighting games like Street Fighter and Soul Calibur), Jackie Chan/Jet Li/John Woo films, Matrix Flash animations... Smash Brothers I imagine is another source... Mega Man games (a lot from Zero)

I did an immensely tiny amount of Northern Shaolin Kung-fu style when I was younger which showed me a bit about form... even less of Red Fist... but spent a lot of my Grade 7 Chinese class learning Tai Chi, the core of my philosophy of world mechanics as well as combat. I don't practice any of those any more but I have occasionaly been to martial arts competitions in the area and watched people perform different Chinese martial arts including Wushu with or without weaponry... occasional sparring etc. It's cool to see how real spars from people of different schools work as you can see that they have to read the new techniques from their opponent.

So yeah... a diverse background ^^

[Jeremiah Sykes]

I dont talk much about my RL fighting experience, but meh...

To start, my dad, Jesse Elkins, was a boxer for four years. He was forced to quit when an opponent illegally elbowed his nose, breaking it dangerously and giving him the threat that he could die should it be broken again. Since i was about five years old, my dad would show me moves, which i had always been fascinated with. At age seven, i began taking Ken Ju Bo Ai, and did so for about four years. After that, i began training in Kung fu and several other seperate martial arts. At a young age, i did underground street fighting, though nothing on a large scale. Ever seen fight club? Something like that, except with about forty teens from inside my school and surrounding areas. I had a personal record in all my martial arts tournaments and street fights that nearly reached tripledigits, and never lost one, except to my father who is a second degree blackbelt in several martial arts.

At age sixteen, i went on to compete for State championchips In Ju-jit-su and Kemp-po, won, then declined to move on to Nationals since it interfered with school and family time (christmas). After that, ive basically quit public fighting, though i constantly train on my own and in gyms and dojos. I am an assistant at a Mixed Martial Arts dojo in salem, and have four medals for Kempo. One for Doing predesignated moves (kaudas) in which i took second, One for a one on one match against someone who was far above my level, another one for kaudas and one for a tournament win in Depo Bay. I've got several trophies, most of them from tournaments, and one large one for State championship.

To put it all together in estimation, ive got almost fifteen years of Kung Fu, BJJ, Kempo, Judo and Bare-knuckled boxing under my belt. I have only been in fights outside of tournaments and gyms that were started by someone else or is friendly. I do NOT fight anymore unless its just for fun, and even then nothing damaging.

When i fight, i try my best to keep things realistic, though i probably imagine it close to Bourne type since this is a fantasy world. I know a lot of the stuff i do and others do wouldnt be possible for many reasons, but hey, its fun anyway right?

[Emi Hitokata]

Jeremiah O.O Wow...

[zer0]

awesome ^^ that's cool. I don't think that kind of lifestyle is for me... but really cool!

[seishounohana]

I've never fought or anything, but I DID learn some Eskrima and arnis this year, which mostly involves practical offensive defense, but nothing more.

>_>

Most fighting I've watched is naruto. However, I've somehow managed to use my knowledge in the field of medicine in my fights. XD I figured that since all my opponents would be human, using the weaknesses of the human body would be quite an advantage.

xD

XD And if you've guessed, I Imagine fights like manga panels. Lulz

[Jeremiah Sykes]

Apr 4, 2009 1:39:12 GMT -5 Emi Hitokata said:

Jeremiah O.O Wow...

Apr 4, 2009 15:41:49 GMT -5 @zer0 said:

awesome ^^ that's cool. I don't think that kind of lifestyle is for me... but really cool!

Meh, its really nothing compared to a lot of people out there. I dont speak on it much since most people think im just bullshitting, which is theyre prerogotive i guess, i see no reason to argue about it.

and its not so much a lifestyle as a way for self defense and to keep in shape...though thinking back on it, it has taken up a lot of my life :/

[zer0]

Regardless, it's YOUR life... and I think everyone deserves to be proud of how they've lived if they think they've achieved something ^^

[Allen Daughtry]

I don't blame you for being reluctant to tell about it David; that is some pretty spectacular stuff, and it would be hard to swallow. But I buy it, since I've heard all the stories from Kyukaku, and he's had some pretty wild events of his own.

[Jeremiah Sykes]

haha yeah me too- just wish he'd put it up here so i'd feel less like a showboater >_>

[zer0]

Hey I trust it's real and therefore not showboating XD

[Jeremiah Sykes]

Apr 7, 2009 19:58:38 GMT -5 @zer0 said:

Hey I trust it's real and therefore not showboating XD

True true

thanks