Hello again everyone! I'm here, with another wonderful thread (that will probably tank, but I am trying to help!). This thread is for general RP discussion. That includes the merits of various roleplay styles, creating characters, character development, anything that has to do with RP in general. If the thread gets popular, I could introduce things like a topic of the day/week, maybe do some scheduled discussions so that we have an hour or two to post in "real time" format, or anything else I can come up with. The only rules I have for this thread are simple. Be courteous, and respect the opinions of others. So long as those are followed, I am happy. __________________________________________________________ To start things off, I will ask a question. Remember, everyone is allowed and more than welcome to reply. After all, the more actively we discuss things, the more chances we have of improving our personal RP styles, and learning new things. __________________________________________________________ Which do you think is better: A massive and in-depth character profile that reveals every little quirk of the character, or a more simplistic one, and revealing the character through RP so that they develop more naturally? Why?
This is one I’m a little divided on. For me, it depends on entirely what I’m going to be using the character for. If I’m creating a character profile for someone who appears in a novel, then I’m more likely to try and flesh out everything about them as it can lead to discovering new and interesting things that I can later toss into the plot. When it comes to creating a roleplay character profile, I tend to start with simplistic histories and then develop more fleshed out ones. My older characters also tend to have more thought out histories because they have a lot more life to account for. :P I often find that if you define your character’s history too much early on, you can pigeon hole yourself. This can sometimes (but not always!) stunt your character’s development, and overall enjoyment. It really comes down to your personal preference.
As a wanna-be character designer I actually have strong opinions on this mater. It is my opinion that a simpler character profile is definitely the way to go. First off, the point of a character profile is for people to get to know your character. If you have a huge massive in-depth thing, people will get turned off and not want to read it. It is very tempting to write that all out (I should know, I have had my share of massive character bios), and it is definitely good for developing your character. If you know that much about your character, all that stuff SHOULD be written down somewhere for your personal reference. However a character profile is not a place for developing a character, it is a place for showcasing your character. Rather than explain every detail, it is better to use highlights, the most prominent features of your character that are most obvious or most relevant. For example, when you draw a cool picture of Batman you don't draw a super detailed thing with every gadget he has ever or will ever use. You draw and awesome silhouette with pointys on the head and an awesome cape shaped like bat wings. It has just as much important information about Batman as the previous drawing, and is probably more fun to look at. Having a shorter character description also forces you to really dissect the core aspects of your character. For example, you could say that a character "is a very hard worker, and gets good grades and does amazing work but is never quite satisfied with the outcome. And every time he gets a bad result he has a mental breakdown. He is also very competitive and hates losing at sports. He doesn't care what others thing of him, but he can't stand letting people down." You could go on and on, when ultimately, all you have to say is that this character has a chronic fear of failure in most aspects of his life. Core traits affect almost every other aspect of a personality to varying degrees, and by identifying these core traits and how they interact, not only is your character deeper, but you can more easily predict what your character will do in every situation. I honestly believe that roleplaying is a richer experience if you have a well developed character, and don't develop them as you go along. That sort of character development will lead to flat and generic characters because you will end up sculpting your character around the action rather than sculpting the action around your character. It will end up being what you want to happen and what you want the character to say and do, rather than what they actually WOULD say and do. People tend to want their characters to be perceived a certain way and they will modify their character's personality from situation to situation to still have them be perceived that way. For example, if a character is very smart, a player would always want that character to be perceived as smart. However, if the topic of conversation turned to something that that character has no business knowing anything about, the player would be tempted to simply give their character knowledge so that the character continues to be perceived as a smart character, rather than for that one scene, have their character look like a complete moron. I actually think the movies Thor and Avengers are great examples of this. Thor is a super powerful, courageous, proud, and arrogant character. While in Azguard these qualities make him a really cool and regal character. However, when he gets to Earth, those same qualities make him a crazy ass. They did not change Thor's character to still make him appear cool and regal while on Earth. They kept his qualities exactly as is, and as a result our perception of him became very different. But it is that differing perception from situation to situation that makes him awesome. In Avengers, most of the main characters had previously had movies where the actions of the other characters were specifically tailored to get the desired reaction out of the main character. In Avengers, since all the main characters were all mixed together (like they are in roleplaying), the interactions between the characters were much more interesting in Avengers than they were between the characters of the individual movies. So yes, if you want something to happen a specific way, you should be creating action that will result in your character acting in the desired way, not forcing your character to act a certain way so that what you want happens. My final point, is that even though having a consistent character is important, so is character growth. People change and so can characters. They can be effected by events or others and their personalities or reactions to situations can change over time. It is simply important to make a distinction between when a character is changing because of character growth, or changing so that the roleplayer can get the desired result out of a situation. Like Thor. Yes again. Thor changed through the course of the movie because he was experiencing character growth due to the events of the movie, and obviously learning the customs of Earth. Character growth is a very important aspect of a character, and is what should be developed while roleplaying, not the actual character themselves. And that is my opinion on good characters.[DOUBLEPOST=1352158219][/DOUBLEPOST]I feel like a pretentious jerk after posting all that. So I am going to add that most of the characters I have ever roleplayed with I had created probably the hour before. So their depth was pretty much puddle sized, they had really generic personalities. But I had a ton of fun, and I did develop my character as I went along. I guess I just didn't implement a lot of the stuff I roleplayed into the final character. My characters sorta went all over the place, cuz I did mold my characters around the situations to get what I wanted. But through trial and error I was able to identify what reactions were genuine to the character and which were forced. And I only implemented a small portion of those traits into the actual character. So that is a way too. So yeah...
I love detail. In characters, in worlds, even in art. But when I think profile I think of a point of view, like a profile photo shot. One look in a direction that gets an overview of what you are actually looking at. So as far as characters go I'm of a like mind to the previous post. Short... even that can be a point of view. All of the inner workings and quirks, as previously said, should be put down somewhere... mental note write down all the crap in your head about your fourty bagillion characters... so there is a good place to reference. Now, you still need to give enough information to draw someone in and want to play with that particular character. Perhaps a brief history or something of the sort along with a physical description. The rest can be discovered through tons of roleplay! As with most of my characters, my reference info usually changes through the evolution of the game. Eda, for instance was one that I all of a sudden wanted to take a different turn with. I had fun twisting her recent history.
