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+--- Thread: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? (/showthread.php?tid=14876)
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Coatleque - 01-09-2016
Coatleque was dead for a month. Nobody noticed.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Teadrinker - 01-09-2016
If I ever did it would be because I personally felt it was time for them. For one of them, her death is completely and totally off the table. One of them I feel like if I was going to do it her time sorta came and went but it's still on the table. People tell me all the time "Omg she's such a great character I can't believe you have the balls to be evil." But she's such a goddamn pain to play that....bleh. The other is just budding so too early to kill her.
With the folk I RP with, character death is really at the player's discretion. Everyone's been pretty awesome about it and before any kind of significant loss/kidnapping or things like that warning usually goes out to players who have characters close to them and I think it goes a long way to prevent any kind of hullabaloo and just allows things to play out. Works for us, anyway.
Injury is 100% totally on the table as is just about anything else. If I know the players involved and discuss it with them there is very little I won't touch or at least give a shot at. Even things I limit out, if I KNOW you and it's something you wanna go at then I'll probably be on board but would reserve the right to halt the process if it felt too icky.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Solenne - 01-09-2016
I have one alt who is very likely to die in the course of her redemption arc. If I go in that direction with her, I intend to plan it carefully so that it is meaningful. For my other four characters, I have no current plans to let them die. There is so much more to be done with them before that happens, if it ever happens. And I'm fairly certain I don't want my two main characters to die young. Michaux in particular deserves to find happiness and live a full life, given how tragic his life has been up to this point. I might retire him someday, but I doubt I would ever kill him off.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Faye - 01-09-2016
(01-09-2016, 07:01 AM)Caspar Wrote: I think that there is confusion over the distinction between frustration over lack of communication and bleed.
To clarify about my own post, there was no confusion, it was in response to seeing posts here outright stating that folks didn't want characters who are close to their own being killed off because it was "forcing" their character to mourn and because of the effects it would have on their own character. I think that's kinda silly. If you let your character get that close to another, then you should know you're setting your character up for the potential risks of heartache and loss.
It's okay to say "I don't want ____ to happen to my character," (though that's still a little iffy for more "hardcore" role-players, so I can understand why they might still call it "bleed") but if that's the case, the burden rests on that player to take measures to avoid it happening to their character, not to expect everyone they RP with to curb their RP to fulfill their wishes. In this case, if someone, for example, does not want their character to mourn the loss of a lover, they should make sure their character doesn't pair up with a character whose player is open to character death.
As much as I jokingly threaten to kill Val if he ever kills off his character, it's because I would be sad to lose the dynamic of Val and Faye that I enjoy RPing. I don't care that Faye would be sad. Characters being sad sometimes is a part of RP. I knew the dangers of my character becoming so heavily invested in another, so I'm ready to roll with the consequences (just as when Faye's adoptive brother was killed off by his player and she mourned him for weeks). If someone writes themselves into a corner where their character cannot function if something happens to another, no one is to blame but themselves. Rather than give the other person grief for killing his/her character, they should try to find a good way to retcon if they're not happy with the RP.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Lan Darklyn - 01-09-2016
I'm totally fine with my characters suffering grievous bodily harm as well as death as long as it makes sense in the story. I invest a shit ton of time in my characters before they even hit the RP scene and I hate the idea of that work being wasted. However if it is appropriate to the story line, I will kill them off as I have done with characters in the past. Though I am not quite to the George R. R. Martin level of killing off my characters lol.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Chompie - 01-09-2016
(01-09-2016, 09:17 PM)Lan Darklyn Wrote: I'm totally fine with my characters suffering grievous bodily harm as well as death as long as it makes sense in the story. I invest a shit ton of time in my characters before they even hit the RP scene and I hate the idea of that work being wasted. However if it is appropriate to the story line, I will kill them off as I have done with characters in the past. Though I am not quite to the George R. R. Martin level of killing off my characters lol.
Oh, THAT'S the reference I was thinking of! Yeah, I've never really been a fan of the George R. R. Martin School Of Everybody Dies All The Time So Get Used To It. XD
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Eses Fafa - 01-09-2016
Absolutely not. It's not that I'm okay with people killing off their characters, it's just that I am EXTREMELY lazy with creating new characters, especially on XIV which requires I go through a massive story and an agonising leveling process unless I happen to Fantasia and name-change which STILL costs money.
Secondly, starting a new character with a new story is awful. It takes me about two years before I can get a character's story properly settled including the majority of their past events, their family, travel history and training, since there's always SOME detail I forget that comes up later. Nah, I'ma keep this one immortal..thooouuugh she could stand to suffer permanent damage at least.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Caspar - 01-10-2016
(01-09-2016, 06:06 PM)Faye Wrote:I get that it's not really about whether you personally are attached to the character or not, and that seems to be probably the best way to approach it, but I also think that the internal logic of people's stories can force a writer's hand. It's not necessarily only something like writing yourself into a corner. Maybe you had joined plans and they were ruined, so you're forced to retcon awkwardly. That sucks and I think a lot of players are looking to avoid being put in that position in the first place. For that reason, getting blindsided by someone dropping their character without warning is frustrating, whether or not you should have seen it coming in the first place, and I understand why players get mad about it. It's a legitimately frustrating thing to get flaked out on or worse. I just don't think people should nuke friendships because of it. It's not an IC decision to kill a character; it's the player's decision, because nothing happens in your story that isn't under your control. Just as well, it's perfectly legitimate to become wary of RP with that person if they prove themselves to really not care all that much about how that decision affects your RP. But a personal grudge over that is definitely unreasonable. They killed their character, not their pet kitten. And here also my attitude towards characters shows its other side; since they are a device designed to articulate a story, they can be designed with planned obsolescence in mind. At a certain point, the character can and should go.(01-09-2016, 07:01 AM)Caspar Wrote: I think that there is confusion over the distinction between frustration over lack of communication and bleed.
To clarify about my own post, there was no confusion, it was in response to seeing posts here outright stating that folks didn't want characters who are close to their own being killed off because it was "forcing" their character to mourn and because of the effects it would have on their own character. I think that's kinda silly. If you let your character get that close to another, then you should know you're setting your character up for the potential risks of heartache and loss.
It's okay to say "I don't want ____ to happen to my character," (though that's still a little iffy for more "hardcore" role-players, so I can understand why they might still call it "bleed") but if that's the case, the burden rests on that player to take measures to avoid it happening to their character, not to expect everyone they RP with to curb their RP to fulfill their wishes. In this case, if someone, for example, does not want their character to mourn the loss of a lover, they should make sure their character doesn't pair up with a character whose player is open to character death.
As much as I jokingly threaten to kill Val if he ever kills off his character, it's because I would be sad to lose the dynamic of Val and Faye that I enjoy RPing. I don't care that Faye would be sad. Characters being sad sometimes is a part of RP. I knew the dangers of my character becoming so heavily invested in another, so I'm ready to roll with the consequences (just as when Faye's adoptive brother was killed off by his player and she mourned him for weeks). If someone writes themselves into a corner where their character cannot function if something happens to another, no one is to blame but themselves. Rather than give the other person grief for killing his/her character, they should try to find a good way to retcon if they're not happy with the RP.
As for the "curbing your RP for someone else" bit, I think that it goes both ways. By the same logic, a player who kills their character off purely for reasons that suit themselves may be inconveniencing the other players, and should consider communicating with them to mitigate that. They definitely have little ground to complain that others are being unfair to them by being disappointed by that plot development. Protecting the personal entertainment value of a RPer's "baby" works only so far as the realization that the other RPers are likewise protecting the personal entertainment value of their own characters, and your own character is not inherently more worthy than theirs. I think a lot of the problems in RP stem from the expectation that you shouldn't have to adjust to others. Every stem in the vase bends. To me "deal with it" is essentially the only wrong answer.
On the topic of specific mourning, I think it's probably that a lot of those players are fine with a mourning plot, but spontaneous character death can put the plot in the center of another more pressing and more interesting RP plotline, so you're given a choice between maintaining consistency of writing your character and participating in the RP you actually enjoy. I think it's decisions like that which frustrate people most. A retcon can fix it, and might honestly be the solution I'd pick in those circumstances, but not everyone considers it an option. An alternative would be to put the mourning plotline in a "floating" indefinite span of time outside of the ongoing unrelated plot, and RP it when you're feeling up to it later.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Khunbish Avagnar - 01-10-2016
Well...for persona reasons I ganked my prior toon...but my current one? That really ends up depending on how plot stuff unfolds but like random stuff outside of the character's personal storyline, grevious injury as far as I go as long as it doesn't make them unplayable.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - FreelanceWizard - 01-10-2016
I largely don't have any problems with character injury, but character death is something I want to be tied to the closure of a narrative. When I've killed off characters in online RP in the past, it's always been to conclude their story, and after letting my RP partners know why it's happening. Having been on the receiving end of RP partners just simply vanishing, only to come back some time later and say, "Oh, well, my character died, ta-ta," I don't really want to put anyone in that position. Randomly having a character die, unless that's the sort of RP a group likes, tends to leave some feelings raw -- in much the same way people can get raw when an author, by plot twist, kills off a beloved character in a story.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Oats McGoats - 01-13-2016
Death? Nope. Injuries? Yep.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Shofie - 01-17-2016
The short answer for me is: Yes.
Longer answer: Shofie has been seriously injured a few times, including at least one incident which caused her to miscarry (and subsequently has led to her being unable to have more children). It's basically the only scar she has IC.
I had a character slated for being murdered eventually (she was not a Good Guy) but a huge change of plans ended up stopping that.
I don't think I could ever kill off Shof, though. She's a little too near and dear to me for that.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Marcy - 01-17-2016
Marcy is a lit fuse -- without proper contacts or guidance, he's prone to doing stupid things that will inevitably get him murdered or worse. I'm not fond of drama-drawing and playing "injury of the week", I like these things to have impact.
He's up for killing if there's extensive consent on both parties' side, and if the characters and players he is involved with agree.
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Aden Dellebecque - 01-17-2016
If a death really fit I might go for it, but in general, no, it's not something I'm open for. I haven't been in an RP scenario anywhere in all my years of RPing where a PC death had a positive impact on the story. It's always ended horribly, though often not right away--or at best just neutral. I realize there are other people out there who have had good experiences with it, but I, personally, have not, and with enough frequency that I'm just not a fan of it. I'm not going to subject other players to that without a good reason.
Injury, even catastrophic or career-ending? Definitely down for that. I tend to avoid it because it makes me feel like I'm taking away attention from other characters, but some of the most compelling RP I've done has been related to this. In other circles I have a reputation for being particularly brutal to my characters, but here I'm actively avoiding it because it can be construed as attention-seeking behavior. Once the character is somewhat well-established, sure. People have to have a reason to care before it becomes compelling subject matter for anyone but me. As I'm fond of saying, you have to build them up before you tear them down (and then build them back up again).
RE: Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury? - Tamm'lin - 01-18-2016
Killing? It has to make sense and just ask me before you gank, because I might be in a plot and don't want to be all 'Sorry, lol - Tamm's dead.' Otherwise? Go ahead.Â
Maiming? I mean, she's got two missing teeth now, is wearing an eyepatch from getting her eye socket all messed up, and I'm sure next fight she's in, she'll probably be stabbed or something; So, short answer, yes!