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+--- Thread: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? (/showthread.php?tid=7433)
What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - 岡本　秀樹 - 06-23-2014
Sorry if I seem like I am posting a lot Q_Q I just have questions as I want to get to know what RPing on here is like. Anywho my question here is "What kind of character is most appealing to you? Likewise, what kind of character is LEAST appealing?" From my experience most people tend to enjoy more down to earth characters in normal settings with their own uniqueness. But nothing too dramatic. And seem to dislike overly dramatic top of the world characters and outrageous backstories. BUt everyone is different which is why I want to hear about your ideal player to RP with and unideal. I am sure it could help some new players get an idea for what kind of roleplay will get them the most player support and what to avoid (Like me :3)
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Hyakki - 06-23-2014
I love roleplaying as and with average joes. Hard working characters that weren't born perfect and act like normal people, not special snowflakes.
Least favorite... Star elf vampires (half)
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Val - 06-23-2014
(06-23-2014, 03:34 AM)Xieveral Wrote: I love roleplaying as and with average joes. Hard working characters that weren't born perfect and act like normal people, not special snowflakes.
Least favorite... Star elf vampires (half)
Pretty much this
Two of the three characters I play are just ordinary people without any super depressing past or anything. They both have their faults and strengths and weaknesses, but nothing out of the ordinary. For me, realism is the best thing and I try to be as realistic within the confines of the lore as I possibly can be.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Mercurias - 06-23-2014
I enjoy RPing as characters who are bombastic and a bit over the top in terms of personality. Loud, a bit obnoxious, fun-loving, and entirely aware of their reckless thrill-seeking. They're normally moderately-to-very skilled in one particular area and very deficient in at least one other (often multiple). The sort with absolutely no sense of shame. As often as not, they're very ill-received IC and rather loved OOC initially, and then people adjust and friends stop staring in surprise and horror after a while. Flirtatiousness optional, as I've done it both ways. Basically, someone who gets reactions from a crowd, but isn't a a special snowflake outside of sheer force of personality.
My LEAST favorite character is the quiet sort who hangs back in the corner with a fascinating inner-dialogue and background. It may be interesting to YOU, but it's too hard to engage in roleplay with strangers, and meeting people in random RP is something I really enjoy.
I'm CURRENTLY roleplaying a character who is basically a tsundere sort around strangers and is being slowly edged out of that role and into a genuinely helpful guy, with all kinds of stumbles, failures, and awkwardness. He fails way more than he succeeds, and his reputation precedes him to the point where he can make enemies purely by word of mouth. He is having a horrible time and I'm loving every second of it, because it's entirely his fault for being a jerk in the first place.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Sounsyy - 06-23-2014
I think XIV has some dark themes that you don't see as much of in other FF titles. So I enjoy seeing roleplayers and characters who embrace those darker sides. A lot of times tragic backstories and deeply scarred characters seem almost cliche, but I think XIV offers a grisly enough setting to where those kinds of stories can exist without being over the top.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - 岡本　秀樹 - 06-23-2014
So umm... Is it possible for someone to have a darker/depressing past BUT still be an average joe in the now? With his imperfections and trying to get by in life through hard work like everyone else?...
Also in response to disliking quiet characters who hang in the back corner with fascinating inner-dialogue. Isn't the reckless thrill seeking the perfect and unarguable excuse to starting up a conversation with these kinds of people? I mean it IS reckless right? And the thrill of potentially meeting an interesting back story might stir up the adventurous side of anyone if they are reckless enough. Although I do not think I could pull off a character like that. I think it would be interesting to see ^_^
You all have some very good input. Thank you for your responses.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Vali - 06-23-2014
(06-23-2014, 04:54 AM)岡本　秀樹 Wrote: So umm... Is it possible for someone to have a darker/depressing past BUT still be an average joe in the now? With his imperfections and trying to get by in life through hard work like everyone else?...
*raises hand*
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - FreelanceWizard - 06-23-2014
I personally like characters that are plausible within the setting, have narrative justification for how they are (and for their uses of grey areas in lore), and are three-dimensional. While a character doesn't have to always be showing the many facets of their personality, interesting characters, IMO, have fears in addition to hopes, things they don't like to talk about, quirks, fatal flaws, and the like. They can have dark spots in their background or not; in XIV, that's rather more likely, frankly, for while "I am an orphan and..." is a bit cliche in most settings, in XIV, it makes perfect sense due to the Calamity. I also like characters that have lore-compliant, narratively consistent ways to work the mechanics of the game into their story, since the mechanics are, I feel, often a valid source of lore. I realize that's not an especially popular opinion, though.
What I don't like are characters that are "special snowflakes" in the setting, bearing in mind that the setting of XIV does set PCs apart from the norm; I'm more referring to things that can't exist in lore as written or revealed through mechanics (half-faerie vampire werewolf cross-breed ninjas from the Naruto setting, to give an over the top example
), extremely "unspecial" characters to the point of lunacy ("I may have level 50 in every class and am walking around IC with an unglamoured Curtana Novus and full Darklight armor, but when someone stomps near me, I scream in terror, and even children can beat me up"), and characters who have absolutely no weaknesses or flaws -- which is different, IMO, from a character with weaknesses and flaws who comes up with a way to compensate for them to some degree. I'm also not a huge fan of characters who are extremely needy to the point of demanding the center of attention, which is part of why I don't really like child characters.Honestly, the most attractive characters to me are those that are RPed consistently, have reasons for the things they do, and develop over time as they face challenges and new events in their life. If you can get those three things down, your character will be great, I think.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - TheLastCandle - 06-23-2014
(06-23-2014, 03:34 AM)Xieveral Wrote: I love roleplaying as and with average joes. Hard working characters that weren't born perfect and act like normal people, not special snowflakes.
More of this, please.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Dogberry - 06-23-2014
I find that my characters tend to be broken people, picking up the pieces and trying to find their way in the world. They've either encountered a personal tragedy that shattered their illusions, or, in one case, were too young to understand the ramifications of what they strove to be and suffered the consequences all the same. They often have self-destructive tendencies related to vices or personal alienation and trouble relating to others. They are often convinced their problems are unique to them.
I don't really know what that says about me as a person that I seem to enjoy playing characters like that. You can make a wide range of characters with that framework, and each one seems compelling to me.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Jancis - 06-23-2014
Well said. I'm not much over the top and it helps a lot for a character to need others in order to survive because it builds a role play community. If someone is too great at a plethora of things then no one else can fill in their gaps.
I think limiting magic is also important to small bursts, serious need situations, and to give it holes where it can fail. Someone who has too much ability or knowledge in a wide variety of magic fields better be really really old and can't do much else than talk or summon power at times of ultimate need.
I personally like to play filler characters that have a few quirks and try to support others. They take a fall often, because they're not enough people willing to lose a lot of the time, and don't go on about their past.
In these kind of games it should be a given in the community that everyone has lost a lot and it's just a part of life. Everyone dealt with the Calamity and war in some form or another.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Clover - 06-23-2014
What's important to me is that the character feels alive and makes sense. So long as those remain true, I should enjoy RPing with them.
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Eva - 06-23-2014
As others have posted, my personal preference leans more towards those who dabble in the mundane, and the obscure. Interesting characters to me are characters who don't always win the battles, who have real flaws, and feel real emotions and suffer real pains.
What has become irksome to me is when the in-game jobs are used to define characters. There is soooo much in-between and plenty of gray areas, and crossover can occur as well. I think the jobs as they're given should cater to the characters, not the other way around. I internally roll my eyes when I see someone announce, "I'm so-and-so and I'm a dragoon." That's great - don't get me wrong - but what else??? And more importantly, why?? I'm always wanting to know reasons for things - I can't get enough of that in RP.
For my own part? "I'm Eva... and... well... it's rather complicated and... how much time do you have...?"
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - Clover - 06-23-2014
Ah, just a note. I love mundane characters (I play those myself, most of the time), but powerful and non mundane characters are very good to get others into plots.
I used to play in an Aion RP server where, one day, the GMs decided that making super powerful characters would be forbidden. The result? Nothing happened any longer because everyone was normal *laughs*.
Variety is a key factor in my opinion, so I find both kinds of characters are necessary ^^
RE: What is the most appealing kind of character to you? - C'kayah Polaali - 06-23-2014
(06-23-2014, 02:37 PM)Clover Wrote: What's important to me is that the character feels alive and makes sense. So long as those remain true, I should enjoy RPing with them.This sums it up for me, pretty much. Though I also try to ensure that my characters (as others have pointed out) have areas in which they aren't competent, mainly to provide more hooks to RP with other people.
Now here's an interesting point, in my mind: Just because a character isn't competent in some area doesn't mean that they have a huge glaring weakness that shows up everyday. They might not be aware of this weakness; they might not care about it; they might structure their life such that this weakness simply never comes up. To them, they may be self-contained and capable. Yet when they're faced with a problem that plays to this weakness, they're suddenly faced with something they can't do themselves.