As an SI author, I feel a need to point something out here.

Yes, SI's are an ego trip...depending on how you write them.  Most SI
writers take the assumption: "If I was there, it would be better."  The key
to writing some of the best SI's I've seen, from Brett's, to Ed's, to Zen's,
to Bert's, and even (sometimes) some of the Eyrie works is to say something
different:  "If I was there, it would be DIFFERENT."  Not better, different.

That's something I work very hard to avoid in my SI works.  I'm not trying
to fix all the problems in that universe, hell, my SI character's got his
own damn problems to solve, thankyouverymuch.

As for getting girls chasing my avatar...well...I don't feel bad about that.
When you look at my main SI target, you look at OMG.  What do you see?  A
guy, who's generally considered "not that desirable" being chased by at
least 2 different women, sometimes up to 4 or 5.  Not bad for a guy who was
considered to be too short to interest girls.  Therefore, I don't think it's
THAT unreasonable for yours truly to get in romantic trouble when he's
involved in that "universe"...hell, it's comedy, if the C&C I get is any
indication.

Now, probably my most controversial work has been God's Toy 1.X.  It's BGC,
and it's SI. It's got a cliche opening, just because I wanted to parody a
few of the others out there.  But look at the first "main" story, A Steel
Child.  Do I make things better?  NOPE.  Well...I don't want to spoil future
stories, but I'm of the firm belief that some things in the story just HAD
to happen.  I'm not changing them...much.

As for someone else's comments about how the best SI characters have
faults...well, hey, I can understand both sides of that.  It's DAMN HARD
writing good, interesting SI fics.  Especially when you start to bring up
stuff about your past that you'd rather not be spread around, like personal
value systems.  Probably the most respect I have for the Eyrie authors is
their ability to bring in a LOT of personal pain into their stories.

GWLUTB, I respect your opinions with respect to SIs.  Hell, a lot of people
share them.  Do I give two sh*ts?  Not in a million years.  I write for my
own entertainment a hundred times as much as I write for anyone elses.  To
hear that someone enjoyed my work is a nice bonus, but it's not essential
for me.

Next time I post a work, SI or not, feel free to critique it.  I even
encourage you to.  But make it useful C&C, OK?  That's all I ask.  "It's an
SI, and therefore it sucks" or some other piece of generalized flamage is
useless to me, and a waste of bits for you to send.

--
Christopher 'God-Boy' Angel
c_j_angel@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/~ca_godboy
International Man of Megami-sama.