We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!

[rileybabe]

Kris here with another idea. What do you guys think of House cheerleaders for Quidditch matches. Yes, I do realise it is a very muggle thing, but it would give a chance for students who could not make the team still particpate.

And, keep in mind, there are quite a few half-bloods and muggle borns. I'm thinking the cheer squads could be available to 4th years and up, both girls and guys (if they want!) and the squads would of course wear uniforms in their house colors. Meaning, red and gold for Gryffindor Lions, green and silver for Slytherin Snakes, blue and black (or is it silver? i can't remember) for Ravenclaw Ravens, and of course yellow and black for Hufflepuff Badgers.

Also, I've thought of a few rules. There can only be ten cheerleaders per squad, and squads cannot use eachothers routines! Any one person caught stealing another houses routine, faces possible elimination from the squad. Any house team caught stealing another houses routine, faces disqualification and possible automatic disbandment.

Of course, punishments are really up to the heads of house to decide, those were just a few ideas I had. Say for example, Gwen decided to be a cheerleader instead of on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and say she had written a cheer and was practicing it, and someone from say...Slytherin was spying on her, stole the routine, and gave it to their squad. That person would face punishment.

Also, any house graduate who wishes to come back and be a cheerleader may do so. For example, if Andie decided she was tired of being a barmaid, she could come back to Hogwarts and cheer for Ravenclaw as she is a graduate of the house.

Also, say I had come up with a cheer for Ravenclaw, say something like...

The Ravens are here!
Stand up and cheer!
We're second to none!
We're number one!
We're on the top!
We can't be stopped!
Ravens on top!
Ravens we rock!
Go go go, Ravens!
Go, go, go Ravens!
Go Ravens!!!!

if I decided to use that for Ravenclaw, then no other house could take it and change the mascot to theirs because that would be cheating. But of course, you guys already knew that, right?

[Noah Yves]

...Err...Kris, this has nothing to do with Magic or Hogwarts...

Let's get back to cool ideas like the Mirror of Erised, eh?

Honestly, it's hard enough to get members for a quidditch game. I think you might have a bit trouble enforcing this idea...

I actually hope cheerleaders never come to Hogwarts. Hahah...

And if they do, they better be Veelas in miniskirts or shower me with gold.

[rileybabe]

I belive I specifically acknowleged that? And what is wrong with team spirit? What if you had a character who didn't make the team, this would be a way for them to still particpate. And cheerleading, is a sport. No matter how much people may think it's just for airheaded mallrats (yes, some people still think that!) does not mean, that it doesn't deserve respect.

Also, why does everything have to be exactly like Hogwarts? Yes, we are a Hogwarts site, but does that mean we can't tweak a few things? I mean, come on, there can only be so many Forbidden Forest threads before that gets old... who knows, the cheerleading could actually be a good thing. And if, hardly anyone even does Quidditch, then why the hell do we have it!? Yes, it is a wizarding sport, but if no one is going to play it, why have it? And I never said I was going to 'enforce' it. If I did that, that would mean that I would force people to do that. Not only would that get me kicked off, but it'd probably also put me at the top of every Ridder's Hitlist, and that's something I don't need! lol ;D

[Noah Yves]

Well, it just doesn't feel like Cheerleading really belongs on Ridd. I think people should focus on clever plots rather than clever rhymes... because that's the kind of thing your energy should be spent on, on a magical RP site.

I'm sure you can find loads of other, non-magical RP sites that have cheerleaders and things of that sort.

I do agree that the site could use something new, although its simplicity is kind of Ridd's charm. However, I'm still 100% behind your Mirror of Erised idea.. I think implementing things like that would work out better!

[rileybabe]

Then what does? Because quite frankly, I'm tired of every little thing revolving around magic. Yes, it is a school for magic, but why does everything have to be about magic?

But, if it doesn't work out, what do you guys think of a Battle of the Bands? I still need to work that out...but just give me some input and ideas...

[Noah Yves]

I think Battle of the Bands could work if you went about it a different way.

Ridd is in need of another Hogwarts Ball - if you are really intent on showing off your character's musical ability, you could always ask the admins to be the entertainment during the dance?

I think everything has to revolve around magic, because most people come on the site to experience something different than everyday reality.

[Narcissus Drachen]

It's nice to see you on a role, Kris, but I agree with Darin - cheerleading isn't in the spirit of Hogwarts.

I understand why you might be bored of everything revolving around magic, but personally I don't feel the same way. To me the magical element is central to everything here, so don't think I'm shooting your idea down just because it's 'different'.

The main point I want to make is this: cheerleading isn't British. I've always read the Harry Potter books as being very traditional and having a strong sense of national identity, including the foreign schools, and I admire JK Rowling for making her corner of the Wizarding world so proudly Old World. Cheerleading is a novelty over here that some people have picked up, so sure, muggles-borns could know what it is, but at best all we'll put up with is mascots for our football teams (thus, Quidditch teams - remember the Veelas and Leprechauns?).

That's just my feelings about it, because it sort of falls under the same category of there being a night club in Hogsmede, a village no bigger than my back garden! But what does everyone else think?

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Humm…Sorry Kris but I agree with Amy and Darin. Cheerleading has no place in the Harry Potter world.

The whole point of Ridd is being able to escape away from normal life into a world of magic and fantasy and trust me in my fantasy world of dragons and wizards there are no cheerleaders…although I am sure in Darin’s there would be hehehe (Love you really mate!)

I agree fully with Amy that Harry Potter is British and Hogwarts is set in Britain and cheerleading just is not British. At our sporting events you have your chants that are normally 50% expletives and derogative terms and are normally accompanied with rude hand gestures to the opposing supporters…if we sent people onto a football pitch wearing hardly nothing to do a few gymnastics they would either be assaulted or have beer cans thrown at them! (Please do not get me wrong at this point, I think Cheerleaders are very talented people and there is no way in hell I could do what they do…also not all us Brits are fowl mouthed drunks hehehe…just the majority hahaha!)

Anyway I am going totally off the point…if you want to show support to your house Quidditch team supporters are allowed to post in Quidditch to help cheer on the players! You never know if you show enough support I might even award house points for the post…this also means Graduated/other adults can join in as well because in the books other people came to watch the games!

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

meh, ok. i see the point. but, how would we do the battle of the bands thing (if we're going to that is) at first I was thinking everyone just RP a band in their posts, but then i thought, why don't students actually develop bands? like if the whole drama with Ash, Laney, Fay, Cris, Maxi, and Bray hadn't started, Calypso could've competed. But since it did, Ash's new band Crash World can compete, and Calypso could probably find a new lead singer, and other students, or adults even could form their own bands. Or, like Andie, they could be soloists...any more ideas on that?

[Polaris Stormwrath]

I think that the Battle of the Bands is going to be more difficult to suggest/RP/get accepted than the cheerleading thing. Not only will you not be able to actually 'play' or sing, let alone be able to hear the music.

That's what the battle is based off of, the 'sound/music' produced by the band, not music being typed out on a forum.

Don't get me wrong, I love music more than the average person and am quite knowledgeable on the subject (Having took a lot of theories classes) so it makes me sad when others can't hear or appreciate the music produced. It looses it's edge and uniqueness if the 'judges' can't hear the music being played, thus kind of defeating the point.

It's kind of dull (sound wise) and hard to RP. I mean, would they have to RP like this?:

'Polaris stood atop of the stage, nervous from the crowd. Before the band started up, she drop tuned her bass to drop C and test strummed the four strings. E, A, D, G. With all of them perfectly tuned, she began to do a few chords, switching between strumming patterns and changing riffs accordingly.

About 1:32 into the song, Polaris then started her bass-tastic solo, shredding up and down the fret board. Am, B, DM, C, Ef, Fm, Cs, the notes being played were amazingly fast and better than everyone elses!"

See what I mean? You can't get the full effect of uniqueness, sound and the distinction between one band from another. Besides, how difficult and boring would it be to RP out all the technicalities of music?

The words you read cannot compare to music in any way, since they do not talk, let alone even have a sound. Unless you count the clacking of your keyboard.

[Echo Keir]

Um... this thread kind of seems... out there, to say the least. Cheerleaders at Hogwarts? Battle of the Bands?

I really don't see how either of those could work. For one thing, cheerleading takes a lot of physical effort, and it would be impossible to RP all the neccesary skill and precision between ten different people, much less the choreography and acrobatics involved.

Same thing with the bands. There have been attempts at Hogwarts bands before. People usually end up just posting things like "John started a basic riff pattern on his bass" "Lisa picked up the pattern and followed along with some jazzy chords on the keyboard." etc... etc... etc... It's painful to read and it really doesn't do justice to anything.

Those two things just aren't cohesive in RP. I can understand getting tired of everything being centered around magic... but that's kind of what this site is all about. I'm sure there are other RP sites around that would be more open to cheerleading and bands and things like that though? For Ridd, things just need to be more fantasy-based though. Maybe you could brush up in some of the lexicon sites and bring some more cool ideas like your Mirror of Erised one though!