On Characters and Monotony?
Jun. 24th, 2005 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehappyfangirlI remember talking with the ex a few times about players and their relationships with their characters. I didn't understand why people would hold onto a single character for so long, playing the same one in different incarnations, different games, sometimes at the same time. I didn't understand how players can play the same character for YEARS, letting them gain even more experience, power...and not get:
- bored, as the challenges your character faces become less and less troublesome (this is more in the line of freeform play, but it can happen in other games too, if other players' characters are less powerful)
- confused as to which incarnation of the character knows what about who and...yeah
- BORED with playing the same personality/mentality/advantages/traits
- possessive of the character's motivations/personality/goals that any sort of questions from other players about the character is met with defensiveness because the player knows said character inside-out.
- bored
I'm sorry to say that I still don't understand it.
Before beginning my Mod-ly adventures with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
westchester_x2, I'd seen characters played for that long in my usual freeform Changeling haunt, and so far the only results I'd seen of this, with the exception of ONE, are that the characters become direct extensions of the players' egos. They've poured heart and soul and fiction and sweat and tears into the character and how dare ANYONE suggest that perhaps they should be retired or the player might want to try to play something/someone else.
Until I started reading the rants atbad_rpers_suck and playing in more fandom-based games, I didn't realize just how prevalent this phenomenon was.
I have all kinds of character ideas, and I tend to tailor them to the specific needs of the story (or my desire to play) and theme being presented.
I like to start 'fresh' with a new character when I join a game, and love to watch an inexperienced character grow and be shaped by what happens in the game. I like to start a newly-forming game on the same creative footing with my fellow players, especially then.
I liken it to a TV spinoff - you have all these new characters whose actors are still unsure of, and it takes maybe half a season for the actors to settle into the role and make it more than just "hothead father" or "young punk" or "angsty child of rape". But there's Established Character, who practically oozes depth and whose actor is completely at ease because good o'l Detective Munch has been played in not one, not two, but THREE different series before joining this cast. EC makes the other characters look even more exaggerated and awkward for that very reason, and while it helps to ground the show into established canon, I don't like to see it so much.
I've only ever "ported" a character from one game to another, and that was only because I'd barely scratched the surface of her personality before I left the game, and I changed her in a pretty big way before introducing her into the new game.
The ex suggested that people who tend to stick with one character for a long time are players who have never been on the other side of the screen and are used to sticking with one or two characters, whereas people who have Modded/GM'ed are used to coming up with several characters for the PCs to interact with have more of a desire to try other character types and such. In nearly every instance, I've found that to be the case.
I guess it's a bit of a peeve, but barely so. I'm not even trying to insult players who enjoy playing the same character for the long long term. I suppose I'm just looking for insights as to why people find it appealing?
Just curious.
Crossposted tobad_rpers_suck
- bored, as the challenges your character faces become less and less troublesome (this is more in the line of freeform play, but it can happen in other games too, if other players' characters are less powerful)
- confused as to which incarnation of the character knows what about who and...yeah
- BORED with playing the same personality/mentality/advantages/traits
- possessive of the character's motivations/personality/goals that any sort of questions from other players about the character is met with defensiveness because the player knows said character inside-out.
- bored
I'm sorry to say that I still don't understand it.
Before beginning my Mod-ly adventures with
westchester_x2, I'd seen characters played for that long in my usual freeform Changeling haunt, and so far the only results I'd seen of this, with the exception of ONE, are that the characters become direct extensions of the players' egos. They've poured heart and soul and fiction and sweat and tears into the character and how dare ANYONE suggest that perhaps they should be retired or the player might want to try to play something/someone else.Until I started reading the rants at
bad_rpers_suck and playing in more fandom-based games, I didn't realize just how prevalent this phenomenon was.I have all kinds of character ideas, and I tend to tailor them to the specific needs of the story (or my desire to play) and theme being presented.
I like to start 'fresh' with a new character when I join a game, and love to watch an inexperienced character grow and be shaped by what happens in the game. I like to start a newly-forming game on the same creative footing with my fellow players, especially then.
I liken it to a TV spinoff - you have all these new characters whose actors are still unsure of, and it takes maybe half a season for the actors to settle into the role and make it more than just "hothead father" or "young punk" or "angsty child of rape". But there's Established Character, who practically oozes depth and whose actor is completely at ease because good o'l Detective Munch has been played in not one, not two, but THREE different series before joining this cast. EC makes the other characters look even more exaggerated and awkward for that very reason, and while it helps to ground the show into established canon, I don't like to see it so much.
I've only ever "ported" a character from one game to another, and that was only because I'd barely scratched the surface of her personality before I left the game, and I changed her in a pretty big way before introducing her into the new game.
The ex suggested that people who tend to stick with one character for a long time are players who have never been on the other side of the screen and are used to sticking with one or two characters, whereas people who have Modded/GM'ed are used to coming up with several characters for the PCs to interact with have more of a desire to try other character types and such. In nearly every instance, I've found that to be the case.
I guess it's a bit of a peeve, but barely so. I'm not even trying to insult players who enjoy playing the same character for the long long term. I suppose I'm just looking for insights as to why people find it appealing?
Just curious.
Crossposted to
bad_rpers_suck
